Back to School!

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THE STUDENTS RETURN

Starting on September 1st, students that left the Xavier Institute for the summer begin returning and new students begin arriving. Classes will not start until the following week, so students take this time to catch up with friends and teachers, meet new peers, and get settled. This is aided by the staff, who are enlisted to help with everything from airport pickups to tours to providing guidance to the nervous and uninitiated.

It's a hectic first day back. [Character A] finds themselves in the middle of a developing rivalry between two new students and is forced to find a way to deescalate the situation. Come on, you just met!! They'll have to keep an eye on that. Meanwhile, Remy LeBeau and Manuel de la Rocha have to run an unexpected rescue mission when a student loses control of their powers on the drive back from the airport and creates an anti-gravity field that leaves several vehicles stranded in the air above Hutchinson River Parkway. That was close!

Charles Xavier holds a meeting on September 2nd to which all staff members and X-Men are invited. During this meeting, he announces that he'll be rolling out a plan suggested to him by Emma Frost: dividing the student body into squads to help them learn to work as a team, build camaraderie, and prepare to handle the threats that young mutants may encounter. This will also help to ensure that every student receives more one-on-one attention and guidance. While the program is opt-in, he encourages them to become mentors for their young charges. This will be announced to the students on the first day of classes, giving them some time to decide and to consider who might be a good fit for their squads.

For the rest of the week, students continue to trickle in and soon the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning is bustling again!

THE SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS

Starting on September 8th, classes begin again! The school year opens with an early assembly during which staff members are introduced, squads are announced, and campus rules are reiterated. After that, it's off to class!

Right away, the students are abuzz with talk of squads, codenames, uniforms, and other important matters. Like which squad is the toughest ([Character D]'s seems to be the front runner), which squad leader is the coolest ([Character E], apparently!), which squad name is the lamest, and who probably got picked last. Apart from this distraction, however, it's a return to form. Just another start to another school year at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

Come the afternoon, classes end early so the squads can get introduced and participate in an informal field day! This includes events like a relay race, an obstacle course, tug of war, and kickball, all interspersed with Scott Summers-themed trivia questions (at the insistence of Kitty Pryde). Happy Birthday, Scott! Each game won and each trivia question answered correctly earns a squad one point and at the end of the day the winner is announced, receiving a first place ribbon and a pair of sunglasses with bright red lenses. ...Stylish! The event comes to a close with a picnic on the front lawn.

All in all, it's a pleasant start to a new year.

THE FIELD DAY WINNER WILL BE RANDOMIZED NEXT WEEK. STAY TUNED!

FORMS

Fill out the forms below to establish your character's staff role and to outline your character's squad!

<b>CHARACTER NAME:</b> Character's name. <b>CLASSES:</b> What is your character teaching this year? Have they picked up or dropped any classes since last year? <b>CLUBS:</b> Is your character sponsoring any clubs this year? Have they picked up or dropped any clubs since last year? <b>REPUTATION:</b> What is your character's reputation among the students? Are they fun? Are they cool? Are they tough but fair? Are they definitely a supervillain in disguise here to ruin everyone's good time? Is this reputation deserved? <b>OTHER:</b> Does your character have any other roles around campus? Are there any other details to add?
<b>CHARACTER NAME:</b> Character's name. <b>SQUAD NAME:</b> The name your character gave their squad. <b>SQUAD COLORS:</b> Each student will have a unique uniform in their squad's colors (à la Academy X). What are the squad's colors? <b>STUDENTS:</b> Each squad has 6 students. Identify any specific NPCs that are on your character's squad and otherwise describe the squad. Feel free to be as detailed as you want (giving them all names/codenames/powers/etc.) or as vague as you want. More details can always be added moving forward. This is just to establish the information that matters to you as a player. <b>APPROACH:</b> Did your character take any particular approach when selecting students? Do they know what approach they'll take in trying to guide their squads or establish a rapport with their students? <b>OTHER:</b> Any other details you'd like to include.

SCENES ⮾ FORMS ⮾ OOC ⮾

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Comments

SCENES

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Any scenes that occur during these two weeks can go there!

FORMS

[367 367]

Post your Squad and Staff forms here!

OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[367 367]

You know the drill.

STAFF FORMS

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SQUAD FORMS

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Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[blindcut remy lebeau 🃏 gambit]

Character B for Remy pls :> also thank u again im excited to do stuff

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[367 367]

Added! ♥

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

Scott Summers trivia is a nightmare. no one should know any information about him at all actually

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

I must imagine the facts are largely fictional but flattering

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Cuuuuuuteeeeeee 🥰 If anyone wants mine for a scene or something lmk!! Ty Kasey!!! Excited for these idiots to have squads....

Scott trivia deeply hilarious, also

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

I love the idea that Kitty just wrote some 'facts'

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

this somehow bothers Scott too because he thinks games should be fair and accurate

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

I just keep thinking it's like: Which scenario has Scott NOT programmed for the Danger Room? followed by a list of increasingly outlandish answers about dinosaurs and aliens and robots and cowboys. But it's a trick question because he's done all of them.

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

he started working on the anti-cowboy simulation immediately after returning from emma's au

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

Anti-cowboy... XD

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Honestly I should come up with a list we will see

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Ok look…some are real…ice cream flavor is on there

Re: OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!

[glovedup rogue]

THANK YOU KASEYYYY
I want threads with everyonneeee...

SQUAD FORMS: The Hellions (Emma)

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

CHARACTER NAME: Emma Frost
SQUAD NAME: The Hellions 😌
SQUAD COLORS: Iridescent white with black and red accents. But mostly white. They're very fashionable and flattering, of course.
STUDENTS:

• Aline Chevalier - Sophomore: a "telepath who's solely attuned to people's subconscious fears and nightmares." Probably the nicest person on Emma's squad, and a student she worked with last semester to try to improve her power control. Quiet and sweet, likes reading.
  
• Opal Owens - Freshman: Can "possess inanimate objects for short periods of time." Buster's best friend. Friendly but a sharp wit and doesn't suffer fools. Protective of the weak, even though she honestly can't fight very well at all. Likes Chemistry.
  
• Melville Ojokolo - Senior: A telekinetic boy that constantly overestimates his abilities. He's charismatic and something of a troublemaker, with a bad sense of what going too far is. Funnily enough, has very black and white ideas about good and bad. Likes sports and music.
  
• Nico Lau - Junior: An aloof sullen boy that can turn into a tar-like substance, either partially or entirely, and can (poorly) telepathically communicate when in this form. Highly invested in school and photography. Does not want to be here and generally wants to be left alone. Lots of family problems even before his powers manifested.
  
• Amadeus Quiggle - Senior: A non-binary kid that can make psychic constructs. Nico's best friend. More mean-spirited than Nico, and often very blunt (on purpose) because they have a huge chip on their shoulder thanks to their family. Very smart, excels at most subjects.
  
• Esper Jones - Junior: Pretty, mean girl that's kind of a bully. Dragon-y, with patches of pretty iridescent scales, reptilian eyes, claws, and fire breathing/resistance. Likes fashion and her pet lizard, Andrew. Thinks Emma is very cool.

APPROACH: Emma's focus is on scooping up any kids that need focused help with telepathy-adjacent powers, and the more problematic or morally grey children. She's confident she can mold them into people who do good things, even with slightly questionable means, just like her and Manny 😌 Because of the spread of personalities, she'll focus on bonding and putting them into situations where they have to rely on each other. She'll be very direct with them and treat them like adults from the get-go.

OTHER: Eventually this squad will love each other but at first they'll be kind of a hot mess with all that internal friction. Emma is totally expecting this, though, so it's fine. Good luck, girl.

STAFF FORMS: Emma Frost

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

CHARACTER NAME: Emma Frost
CLASSES: Ethics - Warren took over her media readiness class for her partway through last semester, and she's left it with him to focus on helping students more directly.
CLUBS: Nah, but she'll help out with anything anyone asks her to help with, student or staff alike!!
REPUTATION: In general, Emma is well-liked by the students, seen as relatively fair about grading and pretty fun in class. She tends to treat them like adults, which many (but not all) of them appreciate. One point of friction is her mind-reading, which makes some students nervous, even when she agrees to not read their minds. For a subset of students there is quite a bit of distrust because of this. In general, though, she thinks her reputation is accurate.
OTHER: Emma's still doing stuff for Frost International so she's busy, but she likes it that way.

SQUAD FORMS: The Novices (Illyana)

[allhell magik 🖤 illyana rasputin]

CHARACTER NAME: Illyana Rasputin
SQUAD NAME: Novices
SQUAD COLORS: Navy & Silver
STUDENTS:

• Blythe Corvetto, senior. Object animation: Blythe can imbue inanimate objects with a small amount of psionic energy which allows them to perform rudimentary tasks for her. The longer and more repeatedly she uses this power on a particular object, the more “personality” it accrues. She has an incredibly beloved 22” ball-joint doll named Lola who is her sidekick. Blythe is absent-minded but kind, prone to daydreaming in class, and interested in prototypically nerdy hobbies like Dungeons & Dragons. Her favorite school subject is history.


• Jonah Jeong, senior. Temporal distortion: Jonah’s power grants him minor chronokinesis which allows him to slow down or speed up time in a small localized area around or nearby him. He can use this to speed himself or his allies up, or slow enemies down. He is currently in poor control of this power, which causes a temporal “wake” around the affected zone, causing unintentional distortions. Jonah is well-liked by staff and other students alike, and is gregarious, empathetic, and good at remembering details about others. He enjoys playing Magic the Gathering and is in a lot of clubs and extracurriculars.


• Ashley Pendergast, junior. Energy bow/arrows: Ashley can manifest a bow made of blue energy which fires projectiles made of similar energy. With some practice, these projectiles can cause various effects. Ashley is a tall and gawky girl who never seems certain of herself and spends most of her time alone. Her favorite school subjects are biology, chemistry, and art. Ashley is the student to whom Illyana showed a large toad in her first month at the school.


• Marlowe Healy, junior. Insect telepathy, control & mimicry: Marlowe is capable of mentally communicating with insects, allowing her to control them and use them as listening devices. Unbeknownst to her, she is also capable of some insect mimicry (such as venom generation, wall-crawling, and loyalty manipulation). Marlowe is a popular, image-conscious teenage girl who is not interested being a gross bug-themed superhero or learning weird magic. She often shirks squad training in favor of hanging out with her boyfriend, much to Illyana’s consternation.


• Star Rodriguez, sophomore. Forcefield generation & near-future precognition: Star’s primary ability is forcefield generation, which allows her to create semi-visible barriers. Over the summer, she began to manifest a secondary mutation, which allows her to see moments into the future — functionally a danger sense which grants her heightened reflexes. Star is a self-possessed and opinionated girl with a goth-punk fashion sensibility. Her favorite subjects are English literature and Drama.


• Justine Fitzwater, freshman. “Vorpal blade” summoning: Justine can summon a variety of magical swords and knives which are all very good at one specific thing and not good for anything else (so named vorpal blades by Justine after the sword in Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, which according to her was a vorpal sword of beheading). Their one purpose is random and unknown to her. While Justine has the least overt magical aptitude of the Novices, Illyana believes she summons these blades from a dark dimension similar in magical construction to Limbo and may be able to tap into that dimension’s magic with training. Justine is a new student this year. She is eager, talkative, curious, and desperate to befriend the other freshmen.

APPROACH: Illyana’s recruits are the students whom she identified as having the most innate magical aptitude, although they will all need extensive training to utilize magical powers of any sort. While she teaches them the rudiments of magic, she also focuses on hand-to-hand combat and melee combat alike. She is a demanding but not unfair teacher, and sensitive to her students becoming frustrated or demoralized, although she doesn’t always do a good job of mitigating their interpersonal dramas.

OTHER: idk man i’m tired

STAFF FORMS: Illyana Rasputin

[allhell magik 🖤 illyana rasputin]

CHARACTER NAME: Illyana Rasputin
CLASSES: N/A
CLUBS: N/A
REPUTATION: Most of the students have gotten used to Illyana’s presence, although some of them are still a little leery of her due to her association with Magneto and her lack of an official position at the school. That being said, she is cool and weird, and happy to entertain questions from students about just about anything, so she has plenty of fun qualities too.
OTHER: With Kurt’s supervision, Illyana is teaching an unofficial magic seminar that meets once a week after classes. She requires her squad members to attend these meetings, but it’s open to anyone who’s interested in learning about magic, even if they have no magical aptitude themselves.

SQUAD FORMS: The Vanguards (Scott)

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

CHARACTER NAME: Scott Summers (Cyclops)
SQUAD NAME: Vanguards
SQUAD COLORS: Red with gold and brown accents
STUDENTS:

• Esther Khong, she/her, senior - Psychic Chains: manifests chains made of psionic energy to bind and hurt people; is telepathic through contact with her chains. Esther was found through Cerebro when she was 15, and inadvertently chained Xavier in her mind for a day. She thinks telepathy is creepy and hates using her powers. Serious and strait-laced, with a hidden temper.
• Sidney Pridemore, he/him, senior - Power Echo: reflects any mutant power back onto the attacker, but not before he suffers half of the effects first. Sent here by acrimoniously divorced parents, Sidney doesn't want to be attending a mutant boarding school and thinks he can just get himself expelled. Reckless, overconfident, tests boundaries with everyone.
• Braith Lilly, they/them, junior - Invisibility: can adjust their transparency to appear completely invisible; has translucent skin that shows all of their internal organs (like a glass frog); is functionally blind when their eyes are invisible. Braith can't control their powers; they only go invisible when stressed or upset, and fears they'll never turn their skin fully opaque again. Kind, gentle, anxious about everything.
• Clemence Kadi, she/her, junior - Electricity Absorption: absorbs power from nearby sources (including machines and people) to create a damaging electrical aura and enhance her strength/speed/durability; if she overloads, she unleashes a lightning-strike-like explosion. Clemence was once a popular TikTok influencer, and is pissed off about always discharging any phone she touches. Clever, vain, bored.
• Pax Perrine, she/they, sophomore - Concussive Energy Blasts: emits destructive force beams from their mouth when they scream or shout; must speak in a whisper. Despite Pax's quiet voice and mousy appearance, they're actually a X-Men superfan who's having the time of their life at the Institute. Her parents had to be psychically influenced to allow her to attend. Enthusiastic, nerdy, frustrated.
• Thaddeus "Teddy" Berge, he/him, freshman - Healing Sleep: can undergo accelerated healing by sleeping and won't wake up until fully healed from external injuries; cannot sleep unless he has something to heal; can also induce healing sleep in others. Teddy became fast friends with Pax during orientation, and idolizes cool older boys like Sidney. Lazy, easily influenced, faints at the sight of blood.

APPROACH: Scott takes interest in students with destructive powers or powers that are personally debilitating, and orphaned/abandoned kids with trust issues. He has high expectations and is not remotely touchy-feely, but he's very patient and tries to provide safe spaces for his students to have negative feelings/reactions. Every week, he cycles the team leader in combat exercises, to promote confidence.
OTHER: 100% serious about making a rng wheel for students if that's something people want

STAFF FORMS: Scott Summers

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

CHARACTER NAME: Scott Summers
CLASSES: Geometry/Trigonometry, U.S. History, Battle Tactics
CLUBS: Baseball (with Kitty)
REPUTATION: Mr. Summers is the rules enforcer and most likely to deliver a scolding lecture. Most students see him as strict, uptight and unfun, although some might acknowledge he's also fair-minded and willing to give multiple chances. His classes are difficult, but he has long office hours and answers emails within the day. If you find yourself training in the Danger Room with him, you will come out bruised. Despite all of this, Scott is extremely popular with a number of students, for reasons that he cannot begin to understand.
OTHER: Known to take students who need extra attention (but don't want to talk) to the garage to teach them auto maintenance.

STAFF FORMS: Wolverine

[wildlike laura kinney (wolverine)]

CHARACTER NAME: Laura Kinney Wolverine
CLASSES: N/A
CLUBS: N/A
REPUTATION: Known as the X-Man who lives in the attic and will growl at any student who tries to talk to her. Wolverine doesn't share her civilian name outside of the X-Men, but the students have probably heard people use her name, so whatever if they call her "Laura." (Do not call her Ms. Kinney.) As there is a non-zero chance of Laura murdering everyone in the room at any given moment, until now she strictly avoided any socializing with the kids and tried make them afraid of her. Starting this year, she's stepping outside her comfort zone to assist Rogue with her extracurriculars and squad (and anyone else who asks for her help).
OTHER: still on the lookout for her genetic donor to show up so she can kill him