TDM 007

[etrayamods]

content warnings for this TDM include: violence, potential death, body horror, physical transformation, loss of senses, loss of autonomy ⏵ arrival⏴ Arrival does not happen as Aurora usually plans for it. New characters are introduced to the AI, then informed of a mission that they are required to participate in before they can return to their home base of Etraya. A world called Aphaia is falling apart, and while there is nothing they can do to resolve this broken world, they can participate in the Gamerunner's Stratagem. Their mission is simple: step through the glowing purple portal that Aurora creates once they've had time to listen to her, and survive until a similar portal reopens in front of them, allowing them to return to Etraya. The Gamerunner's Stratagem is something they have been working on building for quite some time. She informs all newcomers that they will not be present on this world that long: their exit will appear to them exactly when it's meant to, allowing them to meet the others who have been recruited to save their worlds. She provides each and every arrival with an earpiece, allowing them to communicate with the other Etrayans. Aurora suggests taking a bag full of supplies along with them, which she will fill with a few generic items as well as any specific items they may need: synthetic blood for vampires, protein bars for those who may burn through calories faster, medication for anyone who requires it. ⏵ aphaia ⏴ Aphaia is a neon-lit, chaotic planet. Cameras are everywhere, every action and inaction is judged by the 'audience'. Towering holograms advertise upcoming events while flashing leader boards track the most "popular" players. Contestants are thrown into challenges, many of which are games of skill, survival, and deception all to keep the viewers entertained. Not participating is an option! However, avoiding playing along and not putting on a show will quickly cause participants' score to go down, and scores that reach zero? Well. Unfortunately, there are only so many resources left on Aphaia. Their wildlife has died off, their planet is falling apart, and most others in this galaxy were either destroyed from the inside out, or warring planets trying to gain control of remaining resources destroyed them to avoid others getting involved. Their natural resources are depleted, and only those who manage to keep their scores up are given the luxury of having any supplies. As soon as one steps foot on Aphaia, as soon as they breathe, they intake nanotechnology which tracks their oxygen consumption, their food, everything they do or need. As soon as their scores reach zero? They disappear. There one moment, and completely gone the next. Their communicators go offline, and while everything they were carrying will be left behind, no one will be able to find them. They are simply--gone, erased from existence. This is a death and counts as a death as outlined in the game FAQ! Please keep this in mind. "Points" that go towards their total score will be assigned to contestants from the moment they drop down on planet. This will be visible using the HUD on their earpiece, and will be randomized at the beginning. For the sake of the TDM, we ask that no one be assigned Paragon initially, but you're free to use other ranks! The possible rankings are: 100: PARAGON 99-80: LUMINARY 79-70: CHAMPION 69-50: CONTENDER 49-30: UNDERLING 30-0: SHADE Ranks may change daily, or even hourly depending on the kind of situation one has found themselves in. Are they having a very public break up in which it comes out that they wronged their ex? They may go from a Champion to a Shade before they can even blink. Did they save a defenseless reporter from the big bad villain of the week? They may find themselves quickly elevated up to Luminary and given all the benefits that comes with being upper class. The world is their oyster, they only need to figure out how they'd like to utilize it! Aphaia is broken up into four districts. The Colosseum is a dynamic battle arena where combatants fight for entertainment, with shifting environments controlled by the audience. Victories earn points, while losses depend on performance. The Symposium is a lavish social hub for top contestants, where alliances and betrayals are made under the audience’s watchful eye. The Agora is the public center of Aphaia, where contestants engage with the audience through polls, interviews, and challenges to maintain popularity. It also houses the contestants in high-rise apartments. And Backalleys provide hidden spaces with intentional blind spots for secret dealings, though the Gamerunner is always aware of what happens there. ⏵ st★rlight soirée ⏴ Something special is happening in the Colosseum. Lights flicker as the arena shifts, rearranging itself into a grand, glittering ballroom - if a ballroom had stadium seating, paparazzi drones, and an ever-changing floor plan designed to disorient those within it. Silver chandeliers pulse with artificial starlight, their glow refracted through the crystalline floors. Music swells, but it sounds - unnatural. It thrums through your veins, setting your blood alight with the urge to dance. Why is the ballroom designed as if intentionally put together to throw off one's balance? Well, it's time for the Panopticon Prom, of course! The Panopticon Prom isn't just an adventure in dancing and impressing your most recent crush. It's a test of endurance, cunning, grace, and charm. The floor beneath your feet moves as if it has a mind of it's own, shifting to the beat like a living creature all of it's own. It tilts, undulates, even vanishing in sections to keep dancers on edge. After all, it's difficult to keep up one's pace if they're falling through a hole in the floor to the foam pit below. Drones zip through the air, catching every stumble, every misstep, and every attempt to throw off others on the dance floor. This is a competition, after all; and what fun is a dance battle without having the freedom to thwart someone else on their road to victory? The rules are simple: You must dance with a partner. This can be an ally, an enemy, or someone you intend on using as a stepping stone to victory. It matters not, as long as you have one hand (or limb) on them at all times. The longer you last, the better your chances. Endurance is the name of the game, meaning one must pace themselves on the dance floor. While epic twirls and impressive moves will garner more attention, it may also hurt your chances in the long run. You may sabotage others by throwing them off balance, but keep in mind: everything is televised, and it won't stay secret for long. The arena adapts to the chaos. Expect sudden obstacles, environmental shifts, and sudden changes in the music's tempo. Gravity may shift, walls may close in, but participants can't let that stop them - they must continue to dance, if they wish to win. The audience is watching. Who will make the final cut and become Prom King and Queen? Everyone is vying for the titles: it doesn't matter what rank you started at when you joined the Panopticon Prom. Whoever wins becomes a Paragon until their points drop. There aren't many opportunities to sail through the rankings, but this is a sure way to do it. As long as they can keep up. ⏵ casino royale ⏴ Out in the Agora, another popular quarterly event is being set up! The Casino Royale has been destroyed countless times, but it seems as if the Gamerunner just can't let it go - every time it gets knocked down, it gets rebuilt. There is one rule. One must take a turn at the revolving wheel just inside the door as their entry fee, and whatever the wheel lands on, they must maintain until they exit the building for the night. Sometimes, this is easier: an effect they have no control over and cannot undo even if they wanted to. Sometimes, this is more difficult: an assigned task they must complete. Failure to abide by the wheel once means receiving a penalty. Twice? Certain death if caught by any employee. The wheel's effects are as follows: 1 You must speak entirely in rhyme. 2 Your body has become unnaturally delicate. The smallest injury hurts like a fatal wound. 3 You must avoid stepping into any sources of light. Doing so causes massive burns to appear on any area of your skin where light has touched. 4 You have been transformed into an animal! You can still think as you had before, but you cannot speak or communicate easily. 5 You have been cursed with supernatural strength, but cannot control it. 6 Time doesn't flow normally for you anymore. Each mistake you make makes you visibly younger, slowly erasing your experiences, skills, or even memories. 7 You can no longer form your own words, but only repeat what others have said to you. 8 You cannot meet another person's gaze. 9 You can no longer turn around, physically or metaphorically. If you try to return where you came from, you'll find that the pathway no longer exists. 10 You are given a specific letter that you must avoid using out loud entirely. "A"? Better hope you know enough words without one. 11 Every time you speak, your words come true - but never in the way you intended. Trying to control this is futile; the monkey's paw curls with every new sentence. 12 Within the casino, you lose the ability to feel anything. No pain, no pleasure, no warmth, and no cold. At first it may feel like a blessing - until you realize you cannot feel hunger, or tell if you're injured. 13 Regardless of if you've drunken anything, you still act inebriated. The effect only gets worse the longer you stay. 14 No one can see you. You are invisible, even if you are still able to reach out and touch or converse with those around you. 15 Any special ability you have is gone. You are reduced down to what an average human being is capable of - regardless of if you are human. 16 Violent impulses become impossible to ignore. You are rage incarnate, and you will be heard. 17 Every time you make a decision - to walk into an area, to start a conversation, anything, a small thread pulls loose from your clothing or your skin. Keep making choices, and you may become entirely undone. 18 You may speak freely, but for every syllable you say, your ability to hear slowly fades. You may want to watch your word count - too many, and you may not be able to hear at all. 19 Perhaps you arrived with a friend, or beside a stranger. It matters not: whoever came in either just before or just after you, you feel a powerful urge to protect them to the point of aggression. 20 Love is in the air - at least it is for you. Every time you meet someone's gaze, you feel the need to try and make them fall in love with you, through whatever means necessary. The casino is alive with the hum of conversation, the clink of glasses, and the steady whirl of the roulette wheels. Golden chandeliers cast a warm glow over velvet-lined tables, where fortunes are made and lost with the flick of a wrist. But something feels. . . off. The dealers never blink. The cards never seem random. And the house always wins - always. Maybe it's just paranoia, or maybe this casino is something more than just a den of chance. Tonight, you're not here just to play; you're here on a mission. You've arrived dressed to kill, blending into the sea of bodies filling the casino's floors. But you're not here to win points or boost your social standing - you're here to win intel. Somewhere in this casino is a single flash drive containing information on just how Aphaia maintains their system. The only problem? The House knows someone is coming for it. After all, they're well-aware of the game: whoever retrieves the flash drive will obtain information on how to flip the script, to change the rules of the game to fit their wants and needs, rather than following the current Gamerunner. After all, this is the Gamerunner's Stratagem that Aurora has sent them out on! Many apply for 'employment' within the Casino Royale in hopes of getting insider information on where the flash drive is hidden and what it looks like. However, it seems that even the employees have no clue where it has been hidden. ⏵ NOTES ⏴ This is an extension of our Aphaia Mission! We have included enough information in this post that catching up to current in game logs isn't necessary to play with it, but you are welcome to use any part of the Aphaia setting in your prompts as you'd like. Current players are also welcome to bring the events from this TDM into their in-game threads. This mission can happen outside of time as needed! Incoming characters will find themselves introduced to Aphaia as they arrive. Current characters may find Aurora calling on them to visit Aphaia after the current mission for the Gamerunner's Stratagem. Characters already in game are welcome to post to the TDM, too! Please mark them as current characters in your header. Threads can be kept as game canon as long as both characters get into the game! Please direct all questions relating to this log to our mod queries comment! All other questions can be directed to our FAQ. ⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Comments

[waxen_wings]

[ Why are half the mutants their age so furious half the time? Some of them - Jay gets why they're mad. Maybe they've told him, maybe someone else has, maybe it's blatantly, unfortunately obvious why they'd be mad at the world, but it's not fair that they're all stuck with so much baggage -

Jay tenses when he hears Nate in his head. It's one thing if it's the Three-in-One linking everybody because the Blob is attacking the school. It's another when some kid he doesn't know just invites himself in.

Because I'm not him. Maybe I am somewhere else. Maybe you're in the Brotherhood. Maybe you're in a boyband. I'm not going to hold you responsible for that.

He tries to not think so quiet, so it comes across, but heck if he knows what thinking loud should feel like. Probably won't matter anyway, the telepath's already there. ]

Go on. You're in my head. Just check and see if I've ever even seen Apocalypse outside of a simulation. I haven't. When you're done seeing if I'm lying, you let me know.

[heartofthedream]

[ THe greatest problem for Nathan and Nate, in very different times, at very different ages, has always been control. She knows that one all too well, too. There is one whole world forever silenced by it. She also feels an endless, weighted responsibility for it. Because it all comes back to her in the end. No matter how you work time, space, and genetics. Another version of her. A clone of her. The powers her children carry because they are hers.

(And how much more does that carry now,
knowing what all she is, and has always been?)

Speed is not one of the things she is denied here in Etraya, even if it isn't the same as being able to cross galaxies in heartbeats. It's still barely minutes, not even to five when she's dropping to the ground, fire melting off her skin, dispersing into the air without any hint of smoke or scent as it goes. Clothes entirely untouched.

She comes down on his side, gentle, slow.
A hand reached out to curve his shoulder.
Unable to not touch him at all. ]

I'm here.

[heartofthedream]

[ Was he this transparent when he was this young, or did she just not notice, because she was too? The kids—hers and those who've flooded the school since—probably help with it, as well. There's a lot of the iceberg he thinks she may have just decreed doesn't exist—marriage, kids, more than a few deaths, time travel, strife, joy; so many things in so many directions.

Even a little bit of it had been too much at first for the man who might be who this Scott becomes when he grows up. And he is, if nothing else, still very much a child. And she's pleased to see him start to smile, even just the littlest bit. There's the smallest huff of a breath, not quite a laugh, but not quite one either. Recovering himself; and trying. ]

Did you, then?

scurries in here late!!!! colosseum!

[stresstokens]

[ From behind Ororo comes a voice that may be familiar, albeit a little higher-pitched than it normal is, with both surprise and pleasure: ] Ororo?!

[ He had been sad when Ororo had left, to a certain extent. A part of him was glad that she had gone back home where she clearly belonged, full of responsibilities and trials and a family that relied on her. But the other part of him had mourned the loss of someone he'd felt he could implicitly trust, who had been level-headed and unfailingly kind in a way few people here are. Not that the people here aren't nice, but...

She seems like a special kind of lady, that's all. He scurries over, sword in one hand and sharpening stone in the other before he hurriedly shoves his sword back into its scabbard. ]

When did you get back here? [ He visibly tempers his delight. ] D'you remember me?

[ It's worth asking. He knows time passes differently back home, and others have spoken of people who have returned without their memories. It would be a shame if that were the case here too, but he's not about to ambush someone who has no idea who he is. ]

[levelshift]

[Teammates. Teammates is a good word for it, since they barely know each other and have a shared goal. It's a very practical word and that's what Accelerator would go with.

He nods, reaching for the camera with his free hand, grabbing it.]

It's worth a try. [He sounds a little reluctant for the same reason she might be. He's good at being dramatic, but actual acting... nope. That isn't him, and he doesn't like performing for an audience.

It isn't a bad plan, though. They may get way more leeway if they act the part.]

[rudelanguage]

[without missing a beat:] Let's find them. Kill them now. [they flick a glance at a roving drone.] That'd be exciting for people too, right?

[overconfidently]

( He doesn't need to look up. He senses her the moment she arrives.

Fingers there in his hair, the moment she touches his shoulder so gently as if he were such a fragile thing capable of shattering into a thousand different telepathic pieces, he lifts his head then and those bright blue eyes he shares with his father, Scott, look up to her. His left eye glows hot with gold for a moment, flickering until it slowly dims then fades and he lets go of a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.

To see her again... he can't help but feel some sort of way about it and he's just so young in both appearance and his abilities. Not yet having mastered them or even touched the sort of potential he's capable of. Sinister had said as much recently... had said a lot of things. )

Jean...

~giggles~ I adore you.

[heartofthedream]

Yes. Yours.

[ She doesn't flinch at his pull back. The automatic rejection of her words. (More than not, she even tries not to think about the numerous way those two words together are true.) She stays where she is. Doesn't back up, or back off. No fear touches any part of her. ]

Just because you don't remember me doesn't make it untrue.
Very hard to believe currently, perhaps; but not untrue.

[ Though? There is every chance of situations that could make that even more complicated on his side. What time frame? Has he met the X-Men? Or could it be from epically earlier, before that was even a glimmer of a sparkle? But she'd still claim it even if he'd never met a Jean Grey. Or if his world lacked one. Logan is Logan is Logan. One of the most important people to her. ]

Do you remember anything before waking up to Aurora's instructions?

[rudelanguage]

[Knife grits their teeth, lip curling back in a snarl of focus. this'd be fun in other circumstances, but...y'know. circumstances.

so: not fun. whatever. it's whatever! at least they're moving, and lashing out will be encouraged rather than frowned upon. it's something.

the punch is slow enough to follow that they're lucky they can glimpse the movement of her leg and bend himself at the knees to brace for it, rolling up on their toes to avoid rolling their ankles with the sweep.

as they fall back, they catch themselves with hands planting on the ground, leaving them in a bit of a crab pose when their heels land back down. it's brief, and they hop up as breakers would, following the momentum to try and get behind her, even if that means being back to back. they need time to really learn how to evade at this height against this kind of fighter...and unarmed. best to not flash a blade for fisticuffs or whatever. unless they're about to die, they suppose.]

jabbieeeees it's fey hi hello!!! casino!

[stresstokens]

[ Riz has not yet decided if gambling is something he doesn't have the stomach for, or is something he could be utterly obsessed with. He's pretty sure that he could get away with counting cards for poker, at least, and he's good enough at sleight of hand that he could conceivably cheat and therefore become hopelessly addicted to it before he loses all his points and gets thrown out.

Which means that he probably shouldn't start gambling, even if he's a little more tempted by it than he should be. As is, he's liberated one of the stools from the table so he can clamber on top of it to get a better view of what's going on, one knee tugged up to his chest and his chin resting on it. Riz is, while humanoid, visibly non-human; with his large ears, green skin, short stature, and jutting fanged underbite, he sticks out around here like a sore thumb. Him being young also makes him stand out though, admittedly, it's difficult to tell if he's young or if he's just a Goblin. ]

At least televised gambling is like, an actual thing. Watching us all sleep is where it gets creepy. [ He jabs one finger towards a blonde woman who had been winning four consecutive hands, and has clearly gotten overly confident. ]

She's gonna lose, like, super bad in a second. There's no aces left in the deck for her to complete that hand. Watch.

[ There's a temper tantrum coming. ]

[hauntedsnowfall]

{ ooc: lets pretend Dimi said Lady Aurora before. He may be mad, but he be polite. }

[ The things the other man says only raise more questions. Aye Eye? Androids? And something that limits what they can do? What kind of sorcery is this? It sounds as if there are invisible chains controlling their actions. Dimitri’s eyebrows furrow, but his eyes stay focused on what the other man is saying. Trained on him and taking in every word. Having a crowd watching means nothing to Dimitri.

When the other finishes Dimitri glances down to consider how to approach any of this new knowledge. Quiet and pensive, but only for a short moment. His eyes return to the other man. ]

I’ve already spoken to Lady Aurora.
[ He shakes his head. ]
I could try speaking with her again to see if there is a way to… reach around this programming…

[ Dimitri doesn’t pause, but continues right into questioning. He has so many. ]

What do you mean we are here because someone asked? For what purpose would they wish to visit this arena and… And how did they come by this much sway with the people in control of our destinies?

[agoddessonce]

Hello, Doreen. I do remember you - haven't I said that your name is quite known in certain circles?

I'm glad to fight with you again, assuming that is what is expected of us here while we are away from Etraya.

Are you well?

[ just... gonna skirt around answering the question on needing anything. psh, Ororo is the one usually asking that question! ]

[agoddessonce]

[ She quirks a brow up. That's a lot wearier than she expects from a talking mammoth? ]

No? Have you been here so long that things would not surprise you?

[agoddessonce]

Yes. Time works in strange and different ways. It is a little like how we all come from different points of the timestream, if we happen to be from the same world at all.

Are you alone, Felicia? I hope you've run into others who are indeed from our world here.

[heartofthedream]

[ He looks up, blue eye and gold. There's a tenuousness to Nate that was always only his own—one she'd settled on being there because of his world, and so many terrible things he'd had to go through (and, most recently, for other reasons)—but this time, when he looks up, Jean also sees the likeness of Nathan, so recently much younger than she'd ever known him again. The pride and the power, and the cracks, and the yearning, that swum right below the surface of them, not yet firmed up by the passing of time and experience.

As she watches, his golden eye turns blue, too, as she crouches down at his side. Before she can even think to stop herself—too fast, too soon, too many variables—her hand cups his cheek. Following that (even confusion and ache-tinged) relief with keeping herself his focus, and cottoning the sounds around them. ]

That's better.

[limiterrings]

But you want to, don't you?

[ she doesn't have to be brave in front of him, she doesn't have to grow up fast or anything like that. she's still a child no matter what, and even he can't imagine putting her in a position where he had to let go of certain emotions to be able to thrive the way he does now. ]

It's okay to cry.

[ maria is... still a special person even if shadow thinks he has done wrong. has he fixed this? he isn't sure, but he doesn't want maria to hide anything or force herself to act any other way. that's why he squeezes her hand just a little to encourage her that she doesn't have to be strong.

not when he's here. ]

You should get it all out. Express your feelings or you'll get sick.

[ if she's emotionally constipated, if she hides her feelings, then what will happen when she's really troubled.

the hand on her cheek lingers before coming down to her shoulder to ground her. he knows that she wants more than this, a girl of her age probably wants everything that was taken from her. he has a feeling she mostly wants her grandfather, as much love as he has given her, that's the one thing that he fears will be missing. he can never replace him, he doubts that gap will be filled ever, but he can offer his love and support in hopes it's enough to keep her going. ]

Once you feel better. [ he tilts his head to look up at maria, a concerned expression written on his face. ] I don't want to leave you like this and with him, he's already admitted that he is inferior and cannot make you happy.

[ useless hog. ]

[thelightshines]

[That all sounded familiar to him, except...he tilts his head.] The Arcade? [Apparently a place "teenagers" go to play...Pacman. Whatever that is. Place kids go to play. Maria at least never mentioned such a place.

He's quiet, the other starting to inquire about himself. Should have seen it coming when he got too familiar with Earth things. Shouldn't have asked.] You don't look like a mutant. [So his response is to give Scott a look over and not answer the question.]

HI ELLE HIIIIIII

[stresstokens]

[ For others, being tailed by a looming half-orc, muscled and scarred, would be a rather intimidating prospect. For Riz... well, being tailed is a bit intimidating in and of itself, being that Riz is used to the one tailing others, but that they're a half-orc is only a positive in Riz's book. Gorgug is one of his closest friends, after all, and even more than that? He's missed the sense of normalcy that comes from the racial diversity of home. To be here surrounded by almost exclusively humans has been a strange experience indeed, and just seeing another green guy in the wild is a happy surprise.

Which is why, instead of immediately confronting them, Riz whirls around to see the familiar motions of Thieves Cant being used, and signs back: ] Safe space. Follow.

[ With that, he takes off into one of the backalleys, where he knows the camera's watchful eye is no longer on them, even if the watchful eyes of others are. He turns around and promptly speaks in Orc, having since noticed their lack of an earpiece, the harsh tongue similar enough to Goblin that the harsh intonations simply fly off his tongue. ]

I know Orc too, if that helps. And Common, of course. I guess I shouldn't assume.

[overconfidently]

( Eyes only blink when she goes and cradles his cheek like she does and, after a moment, he frowns, eyes falling shut. )

I... didn't think I'd see you again.

( Feel her again like this. From the moment he first met her back in his own world, there had been an instantaneous link with her — a familiarity he's only ever really felt with her and, in a way, Cable. Just hurts a hell of a lot more with him what with the psychic migraines and all. Even when he'd fallen like a star into the world Jean and Scott hail from — the world he's taken to having to make his own now, he'd tried to reach out to her out of pure instinct.

A lost boy searching for his mother. )

[thelightshines]

[He moves slightly, but will also grab Deadpool by the wrist before the hand reaches his head.]

Don't touch me. [He ignores their introduction, squeezing their wrist just to let em know he could break it before letting them go. They just met and they're already getting too friendly for his taste. Taking a few steps back.] Go find someone else to team up with.

FEY FEY FEY FEY FEY FEY FEY F

[rudelanguage]

[fuck! finally! someone with a brain to communicate without a fucky piece of magic jewelry!! Knife perks up, moving briskly to follow the half-pint. it's almost free license to pin some trust on the little guy...almost. but then, thieves only trust as far as they can throw, and most have fuckin' noodly spindly thief-arms. it is how it is.

their gaze sweeps around the shadowed areas, finding it pretty decent as far as roguish hangout places go. nice. maybe a place to finally catch their bearings and get a fucking grip on things without feeling like they're a breath away from getting shanked?]

...

[aw fuck they're talking gobbledigook; Knife can't even stop themself from looking pained. not you, too, squirt!!

they curl their finger and thumb for the 'c' for Common before grumbling:] This'll be...really annoying if not...

[agoddessonce]

[ Ororo is a little surprised that he picks up on the accidental innuendo at all, enough that she smiles faintly for his acknowledgement of it. But carries on, and so does she. They can be professional! She had so many questions, but they could all wait.

In the meantime, he offers her an actual weapon, summoned seemingly from nothing at all. It's a little surprising that he would offer something that's his own so readily - so she looks at him with brows raised gently as if to confirm that - before reaching out to wrap a hand around the handle. Her lips part; the crackle of power had drawn a soft, surprised oh out of her. ]

Hefty, isn't it? Does it cast power of some kind? There's an energy about it that I cannot quite place.

[heartofthedream]

[ Her logic briefly catches up when he stills at her touch, stares at her—long enough for her heart to skip one beat out of step, uncertain, suddenly worried—and then his eyes close instead, and he doesn't pull away. And the next few beats of her heart ache entirely differently, even as relief, at his acceptance, is an echo around them.

Jean tries to keep her tone light, but the last few seconds have gotten it caught in her throat a touch. ]
Dying murder-planet, and multiversal kidnapping aside, I'm glad you were wrong.

It is good to see you again, Nate.

[catsclaws]

You're not worried about me, are you, gorgeous? This cat can take care of herself.

I did speak to one of your students, but I'm not... in the club.

[ She hardly blames anyone who's a mutant for distrusting non-mutants. And there's the whole 'internationally renowned thief' thing. ]

[agoddessonce]

[ The easy invitation makes her smile. He really was such a friendly man, it's so interesting to speak to him this way, like she hadn't been gone for months. ]

I would love to taste test for you, Dean. Beer, and anything else on the menu.

Though I imagine you'd have plenty of volunteers? An arcade is sure to be popular among certain ages.

[ Kids. Ororo remembers a lot of kids and kid-adjacents around Etraya. ]