The Demutanator

[frost_queen]

The Demutanator

What's Up?

The residents of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters wake up one morning to find that their powers don't seem to be working. Like, at all. Though this initially leads to some distress (even though everyone is safe and healthy!), within a day they track down the source of the problem and get to work fixing it! They'll just have to deal with being normal humans for a few days whenever they're at the school. It's fiiiiine.

Volunteer Slots

February 21st: Jean Grey, unsure of what else to do, decides to head out for some outdoors time, and finds that about a mile away from the school, their powers suddenly start working again. Well, at least it seems to be localized.

Manuel de la Rocha is minding their own business in their room when they hear a loud bang outside. Almost like someone running into a door or a wall... They go out to find Kitty, and any others who have witnessed her mistake.

February 23rd: Scott Summers runs a game of tug-of-war (classic mud puddle included) with the kids since it's the only time they can truly play powerless. It's actually kind of a hit, and the students beg them to run more games in the future.

February 21st

On a bright, sunny day, the residents of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters awaken to a strange and somewhat troubling situation - all of their powers are gone, though otherwise everything is painfully normal. Kurt Wagner is the first to notice, and does some quick research and discovers nothing in the news about this phenomenon at all. In fact, no other mutants anywhere seem to be affected, leaving them even more baffled.

February 22nd

The team pinpoints a child's clubhouse in a nearby park, and inside they find twelve year old Buster McKeever and a strange contraption. He tells them that he built this because his best friend, Opal Owens, was struggling with her powers (the ability to possess inanimate objects for short periods of time), and he wanted to make her life easier. He was able to achieve this because of his powers, which give him super intelligence, but once he turned the thing on... well, he's got no idea how to turn it off since he's back to a regular twelve year old's IQ. Notes he wrote suggest that simply turning it off isn't an option, and while it will run out of power within a month, the X-men aren't willing to wait that long. But at least they know the cause! Kitty Pryde updates everyone on their findings.

February 23rd/24th

With the problem sorted out and anyone who wants to helping with disabling the machine, there's nothing to do but just go about life as much as they can.

February 25th

After a few days of work they're able to safely turn off and dismantle the machine, which used a piece of extra-dimensional technology to make it all work. Luckily, after that's destroyed, there's no chance of replicating it or its effects, a relief to everyone. After talks with Buster and Opal's parents, the two agree to join Xavier's to hone their abilities, and maybe be a little bit more careful with mysterious tech.

FEB 21 | FEB 22 | FEB 23 | FEB 24 | FEB 25 | OOC

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FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Kurt is glued to his computer screen, left to hunt-and-peck with his pointer finger. In theory it's not that much different from how he usually types, since he used to do this with a single claw... except that the next finger overreacts with it. It leads him to mash buttons and create a slop of letters and half-words. Right-click, autocorrect. Right-click, autocorrect. Scott sorting through his office over his shoulder is the most normal thing about this.

"They'll be worried, Scott," Kurt says. "Better they hear it from us first. The students are scared."

FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

Kurt isn't wrong. But Scott's job is to think of all the worst things that could happen in any situation—it's the best way he knows of to support their leader.

"I know. But some of the parents..." He pauses, thinking through his words carefully. "If they're told that their child doesn't have mutant powers anymore, with no other information because it's too dangerous to tell them specifics... they'll think it's a cure. They'll want to pull their child out of school before it's reversed."

Never mind what those parents might say to their kid over the phone if they believed their kid wasn't a mutant anymore. But Scott doubts he needs to explain that part to Kurt.

FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

The sound of Kurt clumsily typing stops. His breath catches, and after a few seconds he exhales. Scott is right. For a split second he almost argues, but there are no good counter-points. The implications of this situation were clear to him as soon as he knew what was happening. He’d overlooked the more personal ramifications. (If his mother knew, would she reach out…?)

“Ah.” Kurt’s hands drop to his lap. There are a lot of students who will want it to be a cure, too, just for a chance ant acceptance. “And the ones that want to tell their parents? And… maybe should not?”

FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

"We could tell them it's best for the safety of everyone at the school that this news doesn't spread. But odds are, some of them have already told their parents." Scott sounds a little exasperated about that. Most people would consider him too young to have an opinion about kids today and their 24/7 access to technology, but Scott never had access to a cell phone until he came to Xavier's, or anyone to call outside of the school.

He steps over to the desk—under the pretense of sorting a stack of mail, but really so Kurt has him closer, and within sight. "We'll figure this out." Scott isn't the warmest person, but he's worried about Kurt. The students can't be the only ones who are scared.

FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

"Thank you, Scott." Kurt slumps in his chair and lets his head fall back, watching from the strange angle as Scott doesn't even miss a beat. He's always the solid, iron center of the team. Of Kurt's life, really. "I hate that they have to go through all of this. These terrible details. I don't know why, but it seemed simpler for us. Maybe that is just... nostalgia. Or no one asking about us."

Kurt's instinct is to have his tail lightly knock against Scott's knee, a little acknowledgement that they are in this together. But that appendage is missing, so instead he lays a too-many-fingered hand on Scott's. "Can you take off your glasses?"

FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[seeingred scott summers ⊗ cyclops]

Scott goes still at this request, but there's very little he'd deny Kurt. He slides the frames off with one hand, holding his eyes closed for two seconds before finally opening them.

"It's better for them than it was for us. At least they can put a name to what they are." He's not totally convinced that the world is getting better for mutants, but he has to believe it, for Professor Xavier's sake. Scott's gaze skitters nervously around the room before returning to Kurt. "Do I look weird?"

FRIDAY: Scott & Kurt, before the assembly

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

"No." Kurt's eyes don't waver from Scott. He hadn't expected the way this would hit him like an arrow. Tears threaten to well up. How corny. How melodramatic. But he wants to commit this to memory, so he stares a bit longer. "We have the same eye color."