Change is Coming

[367]

CHANGE IS COMING

On Wednesday morning, Kitty Pryde is feeling restless. Too much has been happening recently and it has them on edge. Eventually, they decide to check in on the still-comatose Charles Xavier, only to discover that the symbol on his forehead has changed. That...doesn't seem good. Otherwise, the man's condition remains the same.

Just in case, they ask his nurse to let them know if she notices any changes at all. No matter how small.

Should they let the others know or will that just make them worry...?

⦻ ⦻ ⦻
While it seems like the day might pass without any further surprises, everything changes come evening.

As the day is beginning to wind down, everyone with a mark sees them begin to glow and feels them begin to pulse. While this soon fades for those whose marks have already changed, it only intensifies for the others. The light is blinding. The pulse is throbbing. They feel disoriented and as if they're being pulled out of their bodies. Soon, they pass out.

Fortunately, none of them are alone!

Kurt Wagner is with Bobby Drake in the Danger Room and gets them out of harm's way.
Manuel de la Rocha is with Illyana Rasputin taking a walk around the grounds and catches them when they collapse.
Emma Frost is with Scott Summers in town, having a casual outing in Salem Center. Hopefully they don't make too much of a scene!
Kitty Pryde is with Evelyn Free in one of their rooms.

Is this luck, coincidence, or something else? Regardless, everyone that falls unconscious has someone there to look after them and someone to witness their mark as it changes shape sometime later. Within the hour, everyone is awake again and seems all right.

Evie. Bobby. Illyana. Scott. Now, all the marks have changed.

But nothing significant seems to happen.

In the days that follow, however, all of the marked characters begin to feel a bit...off in a way that's difficult for them to place. Distracted. Restless. Incongruous. Something has happened. Something has changed. But what?

BACK TO CEREBRO

With this rapid escalation of the situation, Emma Frost decides to return to Cerebro with Kitty Pryde and Manuel de la Rocha on Friday (3/21). The trio is additionally joined by Illyana Rasputin, who will contribute magical shielding to the effort. Determined to locate the entity that had shut her out during the previous excursion, Emma retraces her mental steps with her focus on pinning down the entity's physical location. While she is once again noticed and forcefully diverted, she's more prepared now and has an additional layer of magical protection, prolonging her ability to withstand the onslaught. This allows her to make more direct contact with the entity this time before it overwhelms her.

Through this contact, Emma finds a mind that is expansive but fragmented. A mind that belongs to a mutant, but one that is different than those she's previously encountered. She also picks up a clear sense of frustration directed at them, and at her and Illyana in particular. Good. Or not. Most importantly, though, she is able to narrow their physical location down to somewhere in...Antarctica? At this, even Emma's boundless confidence falters momentarily, but no. She knows what she detected and she's certain that she's correct. But she'll need another go at this to acquire tangible coordinates.

When the entity breaks the connection, Emma endures the same disorienting assault on her telepathic awareness that she did before. Adding magic to the mix, however, also results in a burst of feedback not unlike the one they'd seen when Illyana's sword came into contact with the mark. The resulting force knocks all four mutants back, sends a reverberation through all the marks, and leaves Cerebro smoking in a few unfortunate places. Some time for recovery and repairs are probably in order...

WEDNESDAY ⮾ THURSDAY ⮾ FRIDAY ⮾ OOC

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WEDNESDAY

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WEDNESDAY: Scott & Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Dinner has been nice. The food and wine have been perfectly acceptable, the ambience is actually good, and the long table cloths mean that Emma can rest her crossed leg against the outside of Scott's calf without anyone being the wiser.

And this, of course, is exactly what she goes to do as she slowly works on the last of her glass of wine and channels her appreciation for the evening into Scott's mind.

"We should walk around a little once I'm done. I'm not itching to get back to the Institute after being stuck there all weekend."

WEDNESDAY: Scott & Emma

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

In all the years he's lived near Salem Center, he's never been to this particular restaurant. Scott would usually just grab a burger and fries, or else drive home for food. Definitely not go to what is, according to extensive research, the nicest Italian restaurant in town, with an intimate candlelit atmosphere appropriate for dates.

And it really is nice. Scott rarely ever takes time out for himself, and he'll never complain about spending it with Emma. Though Wednesday evenings are normally reserved for maintenance and safety checks on the Blackbird, but he can find time for that tomorrow night, in between grading quizzes and Danger Room training—

The touch against his leg draws him back to the present. "Hmm?" Scott looks at her, doing his best imitation of enthusiastic interest, even knowing that Emma is a telepath and can tell he wasn't paying attention. "Yeah, that's good." (He does not know what he just agreed with.)

WEDNESDAY: Illyana & Manuel

[allhell magik 🖤 illyana rasputin]

It's overcast and a little damp and gloomy today. Not the ideal weather for a stroll around the grounds, but it suits the low mood which hangs over the entire school. With proof of concept delivered, she's moving on to the preliminary stages of casting a circle of protection around the entire school. Today, that means walking the perimeter of the campus to check the suitability of the terrain.

She has a particularly sullen tour guide with her — or perhaps more of a babysitter, given his general level of skepticism when it comes to magic. Given that she's a guest, and in some ways now his employee, she doesn't feel like she can tell him to leave. For the most part, she ignores him as she ambles about the terrain even through wooded and landscaped areas, occasionally poking at the ground with her soulsword experimentally.

"Sooooo..." she eventually intones as she glances at him over her shoulder. "Did you play a character in Kitty's dragon-fighting game?"

WEDNESDAY: Illyana & Manuel

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

If pressed, Manuel wouldn't actually have a good reason for why he'd opted to accompany Illyana on this exploration of the grounds. He certainly isn't trying to be helpful. He doesn't have the knowledge to understand what she's assessing or to tell if she's doing what she says she's doing. He can't even glean any insights from her ever-concealed emotions. In the end, it simply comes down to a combination of curiosity and distrust, both for the woman and the strange power she's brought to their home. He ambles a short distance away, keeping pace with her and idly keeping an eye on her. And on that sword, the memory of which still makes him...uncomfortable.

Why in God's name would she want to carry around something like that? He wonders if she can feel everything it carries like he had or if the experiences that created such an emotional resonance to begin with are burned too deeply into her for it to even matter.

He frowns to himself, looking out at the muddy path ahead and the gray sky.

At the question, which to him is abrupt and completely out of the blue, he gives her a surprised glance. But, really, he shouldn't be surprised that Kitty would tell her about that. She'd been proud of her campaign and even prouder that she'd managed to get them to see it through to the end. The memory earns faintest smile and he shrugs.

"...Sí. But that was years ago. Why?"

THURSDAY

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THURSDAY: Kitty & Scott

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

Scott really shouldn't be distracting Kitty, not when they both have so much work to do. Although technically it's Kitty who phased into his locked office and parked herself on his couch without asking, which would annoy him more if the sound of her typing wasn't like white noise to his ears. Familiar. Comforting.

He still has another stack of quizzes to grade. But the sight of the changed mark on his hand keeps pulling attention, and no amount of reminding himself to focus will get him back on track. So, fine. He's distracting Kitty.

"What does this look like to you?" He holds up his hand.

THURSDAY: Kitty & Scott

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty is secretly very grateful for all the probably hundreds of times that Scott has not kicked her out of his office. She's a lot more able to work without her brain spiralling out into all of her other tasks, if someone else is also there, silent and concentrating.

She still has two projects pulled up; a virtual model of Cerebro that she's memorizing even more thoroughly, to make sure she's not missing any possible ways to effect it, and a bunch of Computer Science projects to grade. Her mind is fairly occupied when a hand is shoved in front of her face. "An eye, Mr. Cyclops." She answers with a quick glance, and sits back in her chair, kind of glad for the distraction. "They might all look like our powers? Which feels so cheap."

THURSDAY: Kitty & Emma & Cerebro

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty and Emma are back in Cerebro's room, to do their best at making several small changes prior to Emma going back in. Kitty comes up for air after attempting to calibrate the machine to cut out some of the interference that Emma had experienced last time, and again feels the tug of inadequacy. She should do more. She hates that there's not more to do.

But there isn't, not for right now, at least. She wipes off her hands of invisible grime and stretches out, her eyes again bleary after so long looking at wires and numbers on computers. She looks to Emma and digs in her overalls pocket, producing a small bag of dragon miniatures. It's time for more real work. "I need to talk to you about my vision for this room."

THURSDAY: Kitty & Emma & Cerebro

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Emma reaches to gently scratch the top of Kitty's head, not unlike what someone would do to an actual cat, but hopefully soothing just the same. She tries to dismiss her feelings of inadequacy - the fact that she can do anything to improve Cerebro is incredibly helpful. She trusts her knowledge and skill.

She laughs as the dragons are presented. "Oh, Charles is going to hate this. Please, enlighten me. Are we mixing dragons and dinosaurs or keeping the sequestered?"

THURSDAY: Illyana and Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Emma knocks on Illyana's door in the evening, a cocktail shaker and two glasses in hand. She knows full well she is magically barred from the other girl's room, but she dares her to reject this hospitality. Plus, they have things to discuss.

FRIDAY

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OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[367 367]

You know the drill. ♥

So, the spoiler I mentioned...you know what's tucked away in Antarctica? It's the Savage Land! A little pocket of prehistoric land surrounded by volcanoes and full of dinosaurs. At this point in the 367 timeline, it's also undiscovered and unknown to the characters. For the time being, at least. :)

VOLUNTEER

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Grab a volunteer slot if you want to!

Since there's a slot for every playable character, I'll assign out positions that aren't picked up on Friday (3/21).

Re: VOLUNTEER

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

G for Scott please 🙏

Re: VOLUNTEER

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

F for Emma~

Re: VOLUNTEER

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Can I get A for Kitty actually possibly
Mostly because she was going to go in there and debate the ethics of stealing some of his blood but then will be mercifully distracted by the mark

Re: VOLUNTEER

[367 367]

Just to note, I did assign out the remaining positions (via coin flip) to get everyone's marks changed~

Happy Friday! ♥

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Yasssssssssss 😎😎😎😎 tyyy Kasey!!!!!

If anyone wants Emma to be with them when their mark changes lmk!! Also if anyone wants her for anything~ I'll do a journal post on Friday with Cerebro intel

I'm... so excited

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

sorry i bother u all the time but if emma wants to see scott pass out...

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Omg this is so exciting thank you so much. Please also let me know who would like Kitty being their marksitter if that is fun!!

She’s gonna fix Cerebro it’s fine

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

Hello! If anyone wants Manuel for a mark-partner or anything else, hmu~ ♥

He hates this. 😌

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

EYE 👁

love this. love the upcoming x-men field trip. if anyone wants scott for anything lmk

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

SO EXCITINGGG

If anyone wants Kurt to be there when they pass out let me know, I'll be back after work!!

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[stroboscopic dazzle 'em]

breathes heavily hello