WELCOME TO NEXUS.

[Betsy Braddock]

Betsy couldn't help but feel a little overcrowded, but she also couldn't say it was something she didn't expect. Bobby was at least somewhat funny when he wanted to be - which was mostly all the time, as it was, - and hence it wasn't as much of a serious burden to carry. Cable, on the other hand, was always serious, always soldier-like. She could admire that about a man, but then again, with his life story, she didn't really think it was so preposterous for him to have become the way he did. Even herself, now as she was, with the experiences she had in the past, she'd be more of a hardened woman, with a thicker skin than she had before. A much thicker skin.

”Logan got taken down… by a girl. Oh that’s hilarious.“

Betsy's violet eyes darted towards Bobby in a glare. "I really don't see what's so funny about it, Robert," she made a point of calling him by his actual name and not his nickname. "From what I could see of her, she fought almost as well as he did. That was no ordinary girl."

She didn't know just what kind of girl she was either. It was hard to tell. And it was something she'd have to ask Logan when he came back. Because he knew he'd be back, either he'd find his way, or Scott and the team would find him before that.

Then, as Bobby explained things, Betsy allowed herself to close her eyes for a moment. It was only when she noticed the very familiar mental presence of Jean Grey, now Jean Grey-Summers for the matter, that she reopened them. Violet eyes moved to the redhead and she had to ponder just what was going through her mind. She obviously didn't seem happy. And Betsy was still not sure, deep down, how Jean still saw her, after the whole incident with her man. And that catfight. And... well, Betsy did push the boundaries back then. Influenced by Kwannon's mind, surely, but part of it was Betsy. She wouldn't try to escape responsibility when it was due.

"You all could stand there debating why Scott did or didn't call you... or you could try to reach them and see if they want help." The Englishwoman spoke after a while. "I'm sure you are resourceful enough to do so. Unless you just decide to put some faith on your leader and let him do whatever needs to be done. I know one thing for sure," she paused, pushing herself to sit more straightly on her med bed.

"I cannot leave here. If I could, I would certainly not be wasting time talking." No, she'd go to the end of the Earth to find Logan if she had to. She owed him his life. And perhaps deep down she just felt more than she would allow herself to believe.

What it was, however? She wasn't sure.

[Atomic Force]

What she truly felt about Betsy Braddock was irrelevent. The complexities of the human mind were sometimes far too overwhelming. Had Betsy made mistakes? Yes. Jean had mountains of mistakes to atone for. Most of them did. Point was, she would be a pretty lousy person for continuing to hold a grudge against Betsy for something she did out of immaturity and ignorance. The Betsy that was sitting in front of her was not the same one who had tried to steal Scott.

[i]"You all could stand there debating why Scott did or didn't call you... or you could try to reach them and see if they want help." The Englishwoman spoke after a while. "I'm sure you are resourceful enough to do so. Unless you just decide to put some faith on your leader and let him do whatever needs to be done. I know one thing for sure, I cannot leave here. If I could, I would certainly not be wasting time talking."[/color] Jean resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Betsy always was a bit dry. Beaten to a pulp Betsy didn't get any better. Jean wasn't about to "waste time" contacting Scott to see if they needed backup. If Scott needed backup, he had a direct line to her. It wasn't a pride thing, but an efficiency thing. There was no point to her being a pest and whining about not being taken, that was for sure.

Her breathing continued to regulate, a calmness centering over her as her mind darted from one thing to another, a potential solution in the works. "Betsy, you are a genius." A smile that didn't quite reach her eyes despite the sincerity of her words moved her lips. She was willing to give Betsy credit. "I'll access cerebro to see if I can find him." Finally, she was feeling useful. Useful Jean was a happy Jean. Deep green eyes alighted on each one in turn, giving them time to add anything before she was off again. "Please let me know if you hear anything." Since she doubted that her dear husband would not fit it into his schedule to update her. They were going to have a serious talk when he returned.

There was one other person whom she knew would benefit from this information if she didn't already know. With a gentle nudge that had become typical between them, she contact Ororo Munroe. ~Ororo, dear, seems we have a situation.~ Jean did not waste time with a summary. She gave Ororo an update via snippets of the short conversation she just had. ~I'm going to see if he shows up with cerebro.~ With nothing else to stand around socialize about, she turned on her heel and headed out.

There were very few who could access cerebro. Jean herself had been intimidated with it for a long time. She still wasn't completely comfortable. She only really accessed it when it was absolutely needed, which didn't help. Fingers involuntarily massaged her right temple, the headache growing a little in intensity as the doors opened, allowing her access to one of the most unique machines on Earth.

EXIT Jean

TBC: Solo Deliberations

This post has been edited by Atomic Force on Sep 24 2012, 09:54 PM

[CT_Bishop]

***[CMF: What’s This?***

Bishop thought of where it was that he could head next, but there was time since there were a lot of things he could show her. It wasn’t as if he had any time to brood since she wasn’t short on questions which was a good and bad thing. As they passed through some of the more common areas he didn’t bother with much of an explanation since they were common at most any residence you would find. Yes they had a kitchen, living area, and other rooms that were larger than what an average house would have but that was to be expected in a mansion. They were also areas that if she chose to stay she would have a multitude of opportunities, and he simply commented briefly as he passed through, ”As you can see there are plenty of things that you will have an opportunity to explore if you decide to stay but per your request I’ll head more towards the other areas.” Thinking about what she had said before he turned briefly as he said, ”Also, when it comes to seeing you I have no doubt that you will find others that aren’t afraid to see you.”

When she spoke of not seeing being a hero and controlling her abilities he didn’t doubt her, yet at the same time he knew of times where people found new uses of their abilities every day. He had been an example of that, he tended to throw himself into the thick of things, and it had proven useful since he had such a strong understanding of his abilities at this point. It had saved him more than one time and he had a feeling it would only be a benefit going forward as well. As they headed down to the bottom level he looked to her and said, ”As far as being a hero or abilities, it isn’t always a choice that we are granted. There are times that we are able to surprise ourselves on just what we can do with our abilities, and as far as having a desire to be a hero it may not be something we are given a choice about.” Not wanting to dwell upon it he briefly waived one arm to the war room as he said, ”We can go into any of the rooms except for the training room, which unfortunately I believe was being worked on at the moment.”

He stopped for a moment before he quickly added, ”I promise you the training room is not a testing room, and in case you are curious it is called the danger room. But that is because the simulations that take place in there can be very real.” With that he kept on down the hall as he tossed out, ”These areas are normally as you said not on the agenda for the first tours. But they are used extensively by the X-men when it comes to trying to respond quickly to situations.” He figured at the moment that he would leave it at that, but he wasn’t sure what she would ask in response so he didn’t increase or slow down his pace, wanting to give her the opportunity to ask away. Entering the room at the end of the hall he said, ”And this Laurie is the Med Lab. This will possibly be used for medical classes, but most importantly it’s where we work at patching ourselves up. Feel free to look around….”

He paused as he caught sight of the purple haired woman he had just seen a few hours ago it seemed. Shaking his head he tried to ignore the shape she was in as he said, ”Sorry for intruding. Betsy, this is Laurie, a potential new student here.” Turning to Laurie he said, ”Betsy is a teammate and will help with running the school.” He had at least managed to get some introductions but for the moment he had to bite back the urge to ask Betsy what happened. She looked as if she wasn’t in the mood to talk at it in length.

[//Transonic]

[Continued From: Xavier's Mansion, Upper Level Dormitories: "What's This?"]

Laurie looked around as they went, but found little really unusual or out of place. Well, the downstairs hallways were... out of place. It caused one of her white eyes to narrow to a fine line at how surreal it all looked compared to the main level. Like, was she in some kind of spy movie or something? Guess the lower level was the X-Men side of the place? So... psuedo-spy level stuff. Clandestine vigilante group bordering on private militia. What wasn't to feel uncomfortable about? At least she hadn't seen signs of them all being a cult or something. Not a large amount of busts and pictures of their glorious leader. You might check for guns, but they were mutants... they didn't need guns.

Bishop's stump speech about abilities and heroism caused Laurie's fine, chiseled lines for eyebrows to lift. "Yeah, but I'm not exactly going to look for that chance." She didn't want to tell Bishop off, like she'd never be a hero and screw all of them if they thought someday she'd change her mind. Nonetheless, she was not here to look for trouble. She wasn't here to make a name for herself. She was here to survive and try to make sense of it all; to come to terms with the world forced on her after growing up on what felt like a different planet. Could it happen? Well... probably. Laurie just didn't see it though. She hadn't exactly been brave when the changes began. Laurie ended up jumping off a bridge, unable to cope at the time. Would she really be stronger in the face of a gun or something?

As they continued, she echoed quietly, "Real simulations?" What did that mean? Like... dummies or teams or something? Only simulations she knew were on computer and they weren't exactly great for learning how to fight evil or whatever the X-Men did on a daily basis. So... what was a 'real' simulation? Wait... wasn't there some show with, uh, projections or something? But that didn't exist on Earth. That was just a show. Right?

"Situations," she breathed, finding Bishop's casual mention of everything around her so weird. "Fighting against militant mutants and anti-mutants. What sort of 'situations' does that include, anyway? Like physical confrontations?" The place seemed so organized. Completely decked out. Over the top. Danger Room. War Room. Medical. No, the X-Men didn't beat up thugs in parks. They were ready to wage a lasting engagement with their adversaries. And they just.. let people come here, see all this, and leave without joining, huh? Did they even bother with Non-Disclosure Agreements or something?

Patching themselves up? Just how extensively? Everything? Guess it made sense considering they were vigilantes. Couldn't exactly go to the Emergency Room, right? "Yeah," Laurie sighed quietly, "probably not somewhere I'll be too often." Disease? Injury? She didn't even know what happened if she got injured or if her organs could be damaged or if she'd even age. She was a blue girl made of crystal... What the hell did that even mean?

Laurie blinked as Bishop stepped forward to apologize to 'Betsy' while Laurie drifted off to the side to examine some of the high-tech equipment sitting about. Maybe this place could tell her what she was now? Maybe there'd actually be a reason to come here. A smile wavered on her lips at the thought. Would that 'seal it' then? Finding out what she was... would be accepting it, right? Might as well get use to it? But what else could she do? No one bothered mentioning a 'cure' or something. Probably like curing being Black, or Asian, or Hispanic... a stupid idea.

The blue mutant blinked and turned to look back at 'Betsy' when she heard Bishop introducing them to one another. "Hello," the smile solidified, but remain faint in the face of someone new that looked like she needed to stay a while longer in Medical and didn't look altogether amused at that thought. There were two other men in the bay that Laurie glanced at before her gaze settled on Bishop and Betsy once more. "Just looking around," awkward, she thought. "I have never seen a room like this though." She slowly moved over to a console with readings on it, curious what it said about Betsy to get an idea what the place could do. This all felt surreal as well. How did they have all this? Hospitals didn't look half this advanced any time she'd visited in her youth. Maybe this was all a very elaborate hallucination...

[TBC: Xavier's Mansion Exterior, Entrance: "Without a Cause"]

This post has been edited by //Transonic on Oct 16 2012, 07:24 PM