Forest Fright

[blauerdamon]

Forest Fright

what's up?

In the early afternoon on Saturday (3/1), the Xavier Institute is attacked by an unknown mutant who manipulates the surrounding foliage, trapping the X-Men and one of their students in a forested maze. The situation is quickly brought under control, and seems to be the result of a messy international custody battle. The incident doesn't even make the local news thanks to the X-Men's quick response.

the incident & volunteers.

Shadowcat is out for a brisk walk in the wooded area surrounding the mansion, something they’re very familiar with. Strange, then, when they notice that the path is trailing off, and the number of trees has grown hauntingly dense. They can no longer tell which direction the mansion is in, and before they can come up with a plan of action, woody vines erupt from the forest floor and entangle them.

Meanwhile, Empath is out on one of the verandas enjoying the afternoon and keeping tabs on a couple students who are messing around with their powers on the lawn. Suddenly they hear the distressed shout of their teammate from beyond the treeline. One of the students, Veronica Milanović, is a firestarter who’s always eager and never in great control of her powers. The second she hears the scream, she takes off into the forest.

Empath narrowly catches up with Veronica. She overzealously uses her powers to light several of the trees on fire, which causes the foliage to react violently, attacking both student and teacher. Empath and Veronica work together, with them helping Veronica to finally get her fire powers under control for the first time.

White Queen rushes outside, where more and more students have arrived to check out the commotion. The forest is visibly overgrown now, with thick trunks making it hard to enter. White Queen makes quick time by telepathically tracking Shadowcat to navigate to the thickest part of the forest, where they find Shadowcat knocked out and bound in vines. They work to free them as the team finally regroups.

When the X-Men corner the source of the trouble, they catch a glimpse of a normal looking man with a black moustache. Rather than fight, he makes a run for it, using his control over vegetation to assist his escape. Once he’s gone, all of the trees return to normal, and the overgrown plant life recedes. It’s like nothing ever happened.

Well, besides the trees that Veronica set on fire.

resolution.

Later they learn that the man behind the forest’s eruption was Thomas Cassidy, an Irish mutant who was mistakenly convinced that his niece, Theresa Cassidy, had been sent to Xavier’s in secret. It seems like he’s in the middle of a very messy custody battle over the girl, and had plans to steal her away from the American school.

He escaped the scene of the crime, and his current whereabouts are unknown. He likely returned to Europe.

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AFTERMATH

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

All the adrenaline is pretty much gone already - ultimately, this little... adventure had been mild, thankfully. A mere annoyance that will likely be forgotten by their trip to Genosha. Even so, Emma is feeling a little fussy over Kitty, not liking that anyone had managed to knock her out.

Once all the children have been wrangled and reassured and everyone has settled back into the mansion, Emma has forced Kitty to rest in one of the comfortable sitting rooms while she fetches her a cup of tea, which she's currently returning with.

"I'm going to talk to someone about setting up better perimeter sensors," she complains as she reenters the room.

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty's brain is just as much a tangled pit as the forest was. A sense of pervasive shame for being caught in the way she was. (Never being caught was supposed to be her One Thing. How could she possibly fail at her One Thing?) She's indulging in a moment of self-pity. But she's still thinking about next moves at work. The alien technology of the Demutanator. How to request birth records from Alaska. It's enough that she tries to bring her mind back to the present when Emma comes back in the room so as not to grant her an instant headache. She flops her head to the side of the sofa and concentrates on the plush feeling under it.

"I can't believe they got an entire maze in here. That's so annoying. What was that going to do anyway???"

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Emma gives Kitty a pitying look, the other girl's tangled thoughts just as messy as when she'd tracked her down outside. Sorting though them is possible, but not necessary, and so she simply shakes her head as she puts out a coaster and then sets the mug of tea on it.

Afterwards she seats herself in the armchair to the side of the couch but still angled towards the coffee table, the proximity of her seat allowing her to reach out and gently touch the top of Kitty's head before she settles back.

"Distract and delay, I imagine. But... are you feeling alright? I think you've got too many things going on in your mind."

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

She frowns at the look. That's pity, she doesn't need to be Manny to tell that. It's the worst feeling of all to receive. "I'm good." She snaps, and immediately feels bad about doing so. She winces, apologetic, and takes a penitent sip of tea.

"I do have a couple dozen projects right now. I didn't sleep much. That's all."

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

It's difficult for her to find too much fault in Kitty - she'd react the same, she thinks, if someone had looked at her that way. The bite in her companion's tone and the following apologetic reaction is brushed away with a wave of Emma's hand.

"Can I do anything to help limit the projects? Or help with the sleep?" She pauses, letting out a small sigh. "There are a lot of things going on right now."

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty does consult her phone, still on the Alaskan government website to request records. She puts it away and tries to sort her own mind out with a to-do list for the rest of the day. This further offer of help just makes Kitty smile and shake her head. Gingerly. "You know you already rescued me once today, right? Once is plenty." Finally, she adds, "Thanks."

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

"But you're such a cute little distressed damsel," Emma gently teases, her tone making it clear that she doesn't think of Kitty as a distressed damsel in the least.

"Maybe side projects like Alaska and the tech that made Buster's machine work can be sidelined, for the time being?"

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Emma

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

"Shut uuup." Kitty protests anyway, with very little vitriol.

She knows her reputation and her work already on the team. She's proven herself maybe a thousand times over. It's still one of those weeks her weaknesses and limitations seem to be highlighted, which she hates. Maybe there should be less projects.

"I could cut...some of that." She decides. Not Alaska. But the machine thing, certainly. Kitty stares at her tea mug. "It's one of those things. I don't want to wander away from one thing only for it to become really important later, and then I was slacking, you know?"

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Possibly Everyone? (Open++)

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Now that they are safe, and the miscommunication had been better communicated, Kitty sinks back to the cool ground near some of the scorched trees, surveying them with a tilted head. Everything was fine. The mission had been successful, of course, beyond her embarrassment. One issue remaining.

"If Scoot notices these I say we just tell him we had a campfire that went a little insane." She decides.

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Manny & Open++

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

Manuel, who is currently standing alongside Kitty with a bandaged forearm and hand but is far less scorched than the plants Veronica had unleashed her powers on, nods curtly in agreement. No good can come from validating Scott's tendency toward excessive overthinking. Even if the world seems to be conspiring to do just that.

"Perhaps a training accident?" he suggests, exasperated by this mess they've been left to contend with, "That's not...entirely untrue."

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Manny & Emma & Open++

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

"Training accident," Emma votes after a moment, hovering between Kitty and Manny, looking annoyed at the entire situation and worried about her friends. "Veronica did a very good job getting her powers under control. Kitty, darling, you're not really too roughed up so we shouldn't need to explain anything away there?"

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Manny & Emma & Open++

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

"An accident followed by Veronica's impressive success would also explain all of the bragging she is doing," Kurt agrees, hanging upside down from a branch by his tail, looking contemplative. He also gives Kitty and Manny a once-over from his elevated position.

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Manny & Emma & Open++

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

"My head still looks bad from last week, so I really don't think he'll be able to tell a difference this time." She touches a bruise on the back of it from when she was knocked out, but it's mercifully under a mop of curls.

"The students talking about this in general might be a problem." She admits, because it always is. "Is there a way to limit that do we think?"

She's actually very little good at lying, so is depending a lot on the braintrust here.

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Manny & Emma & Open++

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

"Ah, my dear Kätzchen," Kurt sighs, reaching out to help settle her wild hair and comfort whatever damage that delusional man did to her. If he hadn't been likely to teleport himself into a tree, he'd have made the interloper pay for what happened to Kitty and Manny.

"Do we know anyone with, ah, control over plants? We could say visited?" Then something occurs to him. Still upside-down, he turns to Emma, swaying slightly with his excitement. "Or! An illusion, ja? A test of security?"

AFTERMATH: Kitty & Manny & Emma & Kurt

[frost_queen Emma Frost ♕ White Queen]

Emma quietly clicks her tongue in genuine sympathy along with Kurt's fussing. "We'll get you checked out and then settled in, darling. You and Manny."

"But yes, I think we could argue illusion. Most of the students didn't see enough to really know what was going on."

AFTERMATH: Manny & Kurt

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Kurt casually walks up to Manny. Even without empathic sense, a knowledgeable observer could see the perfectly performed ease in Kurt's walk, the way his tail sways gracefully. He puts this on for media appearances, looking as delicate and handsome as possible. Under the surface is concern and... admiration?

"So," he says, coming to stand next to Manuel, looking at the burns on his naked skin. One beat. Two beats. A pause that's a little too long. "Do you think it will scar?"

AFTERMATH: Manny & Kurt

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

While Manuel has been keeping a stoic face for the benefit of the students, now that they've been ushered out of the area and the situation is dealt with, the pain he's in is visible on his face. And also audible in the string of quick, incomprehensible Spanish expletives he's murmuring through gritted teeth.

All things considered, though, the burns aren't bad. There's redness and some visible blisters, areas where the skin on his forearm and hand is tight and shiny, but it could be much worse. None of the damage had even been inflicted by Veronica directly, but rather by the thrashing plants she'd set ablaze, and he'd made a point of reminding her of that before she'd departed with the others.

Still, he is not enjoying himself.

When Kurt approaches, he pulls in a steadying breath and gestures with his good hand for the other man to walk with him instead of stopping to chat. He wants to get inside and get this tended to. Even through the sharpness of his pain, though, his empathic sense latches onto Kurt's concern for him (which makes sense) and his admiration for him (which doesn't immediately). But it's a curious distraction and a welcome balm for his ego after getting knocked around by semi-sentient bushes.

"...It had better not," he retorts a bit too sharply, then adds more evenly, "What do you need, Kurt?"

AFTERMATH: Manny & Kurt

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Kurt keeps pace with Manny, holding his arms behind his back primly. The admiration mixes with a fair amount of amusement when Manny snaps at him. Kurt's not easy to rile up now that he's seeing his 30's over the horizon. It makes his relationship with Manny much easier than when they were teenagers.

"Nothing." Mostly true. He doesn't need anything from Manny, he just needs to say something. "I know it's not easy, but... you're good with the children."

AFTERMATH: Manny & Kurt

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

That spark of amusement doesn't evade Manuel's attention and he gives Kurt the mildest glare for it, though it's mostly lost in the grimace of pain that's already settled on his face.

The other man's answer, though, seems to make him hesitate and he shrugs dismissively. An unusual response for a man that is typically all too pleased when a compliment or an acknowledgment or an opportunity to preen comes his way. His gray eyes flit downward to the burned arm he's holding carefully in front of him and he restlessly flexes his (fortunately uncharred) fingers.

"I...am good with people," he corrects, "When I want to be. I wouldn't be much of an empath if I wasn't."

AFTERMATH: Manny & Kurt

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

"Raw empathy is an instinct for you. Something you can't stop," Kurt counters. His eyes drift drift from Manny's tense face to the burns on his arm. He doesn't bother to hide how he can practically feel the sympathy pains in his own muscles. "Using that to help others is you trying. Despite it all."

AFTERMATH: Manny & Kurt

[empata Manuel de la Rocha (Empath)]

This silences Manuel for a long moment and he looks over at Kurt, seeming to hesitate.

The truth is, he rarely uses his powers for the benefit of others. Most people will refuse immediately and adamantly if he makes the offer directly and most of the insights he gleans with his empathic sense are used to his own benefit, whether petty or personal or practical. That may be why this feels so different and why Kurt's acknowledgment feels so...ill-fitting. If he were a different sort of person, he might be more accustomed to it.

Finally, he offers the other man a faint smile. The words are coming from a good place and he knows that.

"...You caught me. I'm trying," he agrees, tone initially sardonic before reluctantly softening, "So. Thank you. Though, time will be the judge, I suppose."

AFTERMATH: Kurt & Kitty (Saturday Night)

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

The thing about having promised Emma she wouldn't work on Saturday night was that Emma would definitely later know if she'd worked on Saturday night. It had sounded like a reasonable idea at the time, but when late afternoon stretched past dinner time, and then to the evening hours, Kitty had run out of things to do. There's only so much Housewives a girl can watch, and every time she sits down with a video game or book, her brain wanders.

If her mind wanders, so must she. That's how it goes, generally. But Kitty never likes to be alone with it. She dives through the walls and the floors, delighting in her ability to do that again, but looking mostly for someone to interrupt. Most people are probably tucked away in their own work and worlds, and she doesn't seek them out. Kurt, though. He'd had to respond to a crisis today. He must be worried about Scoot, too, at least a little. Maybe he needs an extra eye. There's the benefit that he won't kick her out, almost guaranteed.

That's about all the time she gives this decision. She hurtles her phased form through the rooms of the house until she's right above Kurt's. Since she's a polite and considerate person, she keeps her eyes closed and announces, "It's me!" when she's sort of near the ceiling fan in case he's doing anything embarrassing in here.

AFTERMATH: Kurt & Kitty (Saturday Night)

[blauerdamon kurt wagner ⚔️ nightcrawler]

Kurt's used to Kitty, but still possible to startle. The most embarrassing thing he was doing was studiously listening to a YouTube video on Solitaire strategies. He immediately rolls over his furniture until he's beneath her, ready to catch her in his arms. "I have you, terrible feral kitten."

AFTERMATH: Kurt & Kitty (Saturday Night)

[passingthru KITTY PRYDE]

Kitty was just going to let herself fall on to the ground with her feet like a normal(ish) person, but this is way more fun. She lets herself be caught, and twirls around gracefully when Kurt spins her. Her feet light on to the floor, weightless, and then weighted again. "Thanks for the save, hero." She laughs, keeping her arms around his neck. "Why are you learning Solitaire?"