WELCOME TO NEXUS.

[//WhiteQueen]

A fine brow rose at a voice calling out from behind her. Yes, the man behind the presence eavesdropping on them had something to say. Her smile grew at the suggestion. "I am positive Scott and Jean would rather I did not,' the Queen's eyes slowly swinging back toward the two of them standing there. Emma being there was probably enough to deal with; having her out there on missions of all things might be complicated. She certainly wouldn't keep her mouth shut if the "leader" in the team seemed to be making bad decisions. Any such concerns would be dispensed with the utmost discretion, of course. "My skills would be better served here, or in the city." Which was, truthfully, to say Emma didn't want or need to out herself as a mutant.

She could always adopt her alter ego, but then no one knew about that little ability did they? No need to waste it showing off to people that wouldn't care given their history together. Best save it for a time when it was truly beneficial.

Frost remain silent as Drake stammered in the face of Scott's idea, greeted an old "friend," and then left with a laugh. Even James, shortly after, made his own escape. Well at least everyone got in a round of pleasantries without a brawling breaking out. Baby steps. As for her own part in these light hearted events, well when she had nothing good, or snarky, to say Emma didn't waste breath saying just anything; that task was left to everyone else present.

Which brought her to Scott. The Queen smiled as his ever so gentle effort to learn more about what she was doing outside of Xavier's. "In progress, Dear. Really nothing worth mentioning right now. I will be sure to let you know the moment there is any worth while development." Complete fabrication. Frost would let them know, when she felt like letting them know, once everything was complete and ready for operational status. Provided something didn't inform them prematurely. For now, Emma was happy to let everyone think whatever they thought they knew.

As for Jean, well Emma didn't really respond to the woman excusing herself and slipping out of the room. Her blue eyes had ever so slowly turned, along with her head, in the direction of the calm voice of one Tessa Niles.The edge to those icy rings melted only a little when the White Queen smiled politely. "What an unexpected surprise." The problem was the unexpected part. What was Tessa doing here? Emma knew Shinobi hadn't been taken with his Father's old adviser/confidant, but the X-Men? No, Emma did not see the logical connection of Ex-Member to X-Men; the goals of the two organizations were completely different.

She turned her attention then back to Scott to observe his reaction. The man was the leader, present, and the woman had asked a question. Was Sage on the guest list? Maybe Frost needed to examine today's Surprise Guest list before any one else surface. Sebastian Shaw himself perhaps? Have a little reunion.

[Lonk]

The familiarity of Bobby's humor was the probably the most welcome of touches Richter had experienced since returned to the states. The feelings it invoked were warmer than the meticulously maintained facade, and circle drive that greeted him as he stepped out of the taxi, stronger than the inviting dignity of the hallways which drew him deeper into the ancestral mansion. Of course James and him had been comrades in arms if not friends, and they would have to catch up later, when everyone wasn't in such a hurry.

Julio waved to the two as they left and returned his attention to Cyclops and Jean who had no issue taking him on as a member of the team. Work things out with Cable? They'd tackle that problem when they came to it, but he'd at least try to explain himself. So he'd gotten the answer he'd wanted, he had other questions though. Why did Xavier decide to open this place up to the public, and what did that mean for the X-Men and those members who kept secret identities? Before he'd managed to barrage the couple with questions a another visitor, a woman, appeared at his back.

“Does that also include one such as myself?” she said. Richter turned to face her and was met with a question. She wasn't very tall, or overly built, and the tone of her voice wasn't notably imperious or demanding. Her presence was none the less imposing. She carried herself with poise and discipline, while her choice in clothing reminded Richter of the women Wolverine seemed to attract. He couldn't see her eyes clearly and couldn't tell her age which likely also contributed to his impressions. It wasn't that she wasn't unapproachable, but Richter felt he'd need good reason to solicit her attention. Still it seemed rude to ignore her.

“Tessa?” he asked, repeating the name he'd overheard from Jean, hoping it wasn't nickname. He knew better than to get too formal too fast. He offered the woman his hand somewhat self-consciously, “Julio Richter.” He didn't bother her with small talk, something told him he'd be talking to himself before long. Instead he stepped away from Tessa to let her continue her conversation with Scott and addressed Emma.

“I don't know a lot about you. I've heard somethings. Most of that hasn't been very flattering, sure. But if you're chilling out in these hallways it must mean the people here are okay with you. Julio.” Again he extended a hand and quietly prayed the White Queen wouldn't humiliate him. “People don't usually come here to hang out, and a lot of people are seem to be dropping in. I don't think I've ever seen Cyke so popular. It makes me think something big is happening possibly something serious. Do you know anything about what's going on? I leave for three months, come back and the place is a school.”

He left it somewhat vague hoping the White Queen might interpret this as an opportunity to talk. Of course she might just as easily use it to shrug him off and volunteer nothing at all. Growing up with the X-Men, he imagined the White Queen as an exceptionally guarded and calculating individual, dealing exclusively in half-truths and deceptions. Though she'd insisted that was very much a thing of the past, and had clearly worked to develop an alliance, if not a working partnership. Those kinds of relationships required trust. And trust required confidence. Confidence which, in turn required information exchange. So she simply had to talk to him. Couldn't she see their relationship depended on it?

Pushing the creepiness aside, it occurred to Richter somewhere along this train of thought, that his desire to capture the exclusive attention of Emma likely had more to do with the fact that she was Emma Grace Frost and the attributes that name implied, than his professional curiosity. He halfheartedly chided himself to maintain better focus in the future.

This post has been edited by Lonk on Jul 9 2012, 10:30 PM

[Rd Cyclops]

Jean excused herself and left; nothing unexpected in that as she seemed to be taking the brunt of the orienteering of the Helix class to the Mansion and grounds. And their numbers swelled, it was almost time to begin their formal training classes, but that lay in the hands of the Professor, just as his own all-encompassing education had been, but not before one last addition joined the room.

"Does that also include one such as myself?" Tessa; Sebastian Shaw’s girl Friday herself, and just as complicit as Emma had been in the Hellfire Club’s attempts to take control of the Phoenix as their Black queen that had backfired spectacularly for a planet full of asparagus people. For Jean to leave then with only the barest of greetings was understandable then, considering that the redhead he’d been forced to watch helplessly sacrifice herself on the blue are of the Moon was not the same woman, but he had suffered through it every step of the way.

Scott had taken his time to speak, trying not to let his temper get the better of him as he viewed her from the top of his lenses; his head tilted down to face the table. His breathing was heavier now – even more so that than when Warpath asked why he was still alive – and almost snorting heavily from his nose ”That depends… can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blast you through the wall and back to the Hellfire Club!“. The fact that he was willing to greet Emma as a friend spoke of the way she had sought to redeem herself since and the work she continued to do towards their greater good. Tessa, on the other hand, had made no such reparations and given his understanding that the Inner Circle of that infernal club had seen a coup of sorts take place and a new order take the helm; Sebastian Shaw was out of the picture – and possibly even dead – so now she wanted out and sanctuary from them?

Her explanation had better have been spectacular than, but she did have their current open-door policy and their storied history of taking in any waif and stray with a mutant ability to work against his strong reluctance to her living under their roof, but there was also the philosophy of course to keeping your enemies closer…

In any event, other matter were about to take precedence, as a telepathic shout echoed around his head, but this was not the familiar, loving tone of Jean, nor the authoritarian Professor; this was Betsy Braddock, and it was urgent. ~Logan and I had a situation at the pub. I'm injured. He's been taken away, unconscious. Don't know where. I need help.~. To the observer, Scott’s head would have been seen to shake slightly as he tried to listen in and given that to his knowledge, Logan was still many miles away ‘getting back to nature’, so how was he now in the pub with their Japanese accented Brit. That in itself asked more questions then he’d get answers to, but the only one who might have known was Betsy… and that’s where he needed to be.

”Mmmmm, Something has just come up, I’m afraid that I need to deal with.“ He almost growled as he tidied up the papers on his desk, before turning to the White Queen ”Emma, can you do the formalities for me, please.“ And with that he left the office and with a fast stride, headed straight for the Infirmary

[[TBC: Calling for Reinforcements [Med Bay] ]]

[Tessa Niles]

Oh this was interesting as she was just waiting for the answer from Scott while she shook the hand of Rictor "Yes, Tessa or Sage" she said. When she got what she asked of Scott the only thing that came from her was a smile and "Well, that depends on if you could hit me before I were to hit you in such a case were I the enemy, as I am not. That is all the reason you need." she said monotonously right as he suddenly felt compelled to get up and take his leave. His optic blast was fast, but her mind would have surely been considerably faster than the blinking of his eyes. How unfortunate it was that almost all she had come across as of yet lacked significantly the ability to critique as well as call it straight down the mason dixon line; fore, if this were a game of checkers or chess she would have, yet again, already won. They were so blinded by the likes of their own hate and self righteousness that they were naive enough to believe that because one wears white and think herself to be "good" that such was actually even close, for someone of such a devious nature, to accomplishing it. Silly they were to think that she could actually successfully teach them anything other than pure betrayal as well as deceitfulness. It was that of a fact that even she could teach that and much better than most in the building. She was more than sure he heard her as he walked out, and that left her and her old friend alone. "how convenient." she thought to herself.

Her eyes only watched the man with a cute butt, and overly naive mind walk away. She then turned to Rictor and Emma only to smile only momentarily. After that it was back to the straight face that she held on a day by day basis. She was going to have a ball amongst team of mutants, and showing them how to accomplish things in an unbiased nature may be a bit challenging in some regards, but it was going to be oh so sweet to see their eyes widen when they see that all is not as they saw it, and such even applied to those they worked with. Perhaps it was an undermining of her abilities for them to treat her this way, but then again she acknowledge that their aggressiveness was out of ignorance, and the false assumptions in regards to them knowing who their true enemy was. Thus, it made it that much easier to dismiss idle threats as she could have attacked anyone of them, even the white queen herself, if she so wanted to before they would have even known she was there, right around the corner. Indeed, this team needed a lot of work and when she was done proving both to them and all that she was a valuable asset, as well as not an enemy, she would have worked many of them mentally into shape in regard to knowing how to analyze, assess, and then act, rather than shooting then asking questions later...so wolverine such an approach was. She was going to open their eyes to many things, and not so much as even have to use what meager telepathic abilities she had, that is compared to the others. Sage was now on a mission to prove herself, not out of the necessity to, but merely because she wanted to as it was logical to do so.

In the next moment she looked directly in the eyes of Emma Frost who was supposed to be over formalities here. However, Sage had little tolerance and time for her pretentious mannerisms, something she apparently shared with Jean Grey. None of them knew Sage yet, and that was why she understood their demeanors as well as their perspective on things. However, if they so much as thought they could run her away so easily, and undermine any of her own intentions then they would be better thinking twice, turning around, and thinking again; fore, maybe then and only then would the see things with the acute clarity of mind that she housed within herself. "Do not bother Frost, I know my way around exceptionally well." she stated as she walked out as well only looking over her shoulder to speak to the young man "It was nice meeting you Julio Richtor."

[tbc: From Afar]

This post has been edited by Tessa Niles on Jul 23 2012, 11:46 PM

[//WhiteQueen]

"Do not bother Frost, I know my way around exceptionally well."

Emma Frost snorted as the woman left the room only a short time after Scott himself had. "As though I would waste the time." Whether Sage heard the comment or not didn't matter to the White Queen. It was nice to know where the woman stood. How delightful she'd shown where her misplaced loyalty lay. After all, for being a double agent Tessa had been quite useful. Perhaps at times even instrumental in the HellFire's activities. People wondered how Emma slept at night being the cold bitch that she was. Perhaps they would all find a new curiosity in their very own. Little matter that might need discussing with Xavier; oh, but Tessa's discussion with Xavier would be all the more captivating. Were that they would have it in public for Emma to witness.

The White Queen's blue gaze turned to the remaining person in the room. The smile returned as her perfect mask. She'd shaken his hand earlier, but had neglected to respond until now with everyone running off in a hurry. "Julio," how informal of him to introduce himself by the first name, "Charle's mansion has always been a school. Since the unfortunate incident in space, however, it seems he felt it best if everyone were kept close. The Academy further North had its problems," that being it wasn't without its own security breaches, "and evidently Charles felt the students were too exposed." Seeing as how Emma hadn't been raising a secret army... well, not like the Hellions anyway.

She had doubts about everyone being in the mansion of all places, of course. The Academy had its problems, but intrusions on the Estate were of a far graver nature. Unfortunate that Xavier was the one that held all the strings at the time. A matter Emma planned to rectify with her latest project. Next time Frost wasn't going to let anyone else dictate terms. These people wanted to cloister in shadows and harbor grudge let them; the White Queen didn't let others pen her in. And they tried so very often.

"Have you heard otherwise?" Emma asked before giving Julio as warm a smile as her perfect complexion, light blue lips, and sparkling blue eyes could give. What thoughts were rampaging about in Julio's head, she wondered? At least Emma could entertain someone that wasn't blatantly offended by her very presence. A refreshing change at Xavier's mansion. Pity it was only one person to date; aside from James, of course.

[Icebox]

[CF: Start Spreading the News]

Having spent most of the day convincing himself that this was a good idea, along with getting the full treatment before heading into the unknown world of reuniting with his sister, Christian had fought off a couple of anxiety attacks, paid lavishly for a new hair cut, fitted suit, shoes, and accessories, and still had enough money to easily survive within New York for a long time. What Daken had left behind for him to use was a ridiculous amount of money, but when wanting to deal with someone like a Frost nothing but the best could be worn. Emma would, no doubt, be able to spot a fake from a thousand yards and he didn't wish to give any pause to the plausibility that they were related. So after several hours in the hands of professionals, Christian hailed a taxi out to the Xavier's School for the Gifted where the philanthropic work that Emma was supposedly taking part in was located. It was a quiet ride, the music on the taxi's radio was the only sound produced but the blond male couldn't keep his mind from racing, and did his best to focus upon his breathing to attempt to remain calm and his from heart from beating out of his chest. Tonight was going to be a difficult night for him, full of emotions that he could only wish were happy in nature, but time changes things and people, and what Christian was getting himself into was nothing more than a shot in the dark.

Stepping out of the yellow vehicle, Christian generously tipped the woman before turning around to take in the massive school that stood before him. Taking in the vast sight, Christian could feel his heart beginning to churn now that the meeting was only moments away from him, and he felt his feet turn into cement as he just stared in awe of the architecture erected before him. Turning to see if he could have made a run for it, the taxi had already left and there was nowhere else to go but inside and ask for a telephone but by that point, people would have noticed him and how much he stuck out as an uninvited guest. Certainly, he wouldn't be able to slip away in the event people caught onto such a fact, and then the psionic would have to explain to the group why he was there and he would shame the Frost name, and no doubt cause some social deflation on Emma's behalf. His breathing quickly became shallow as he found himself running through horrible mental images of what could befall him, like is Emma wasn't present or if she didn't want to see his ex-junkie brother in a room full of other rich people, God why hadn't he had thought this through before jumping at the impulse of meeting Gracie here. Stupid, stupid, stupid Christian mentally muttered to himself as he began to pace the small entrance way of the school, there had to be something that he could about turning around without calling too much attention to himself, but what? Taking a step towards the door, he heard an automated voice loudly welcome him to the school, and asked that he come inside and awaits the arrival of someone who would be willing to help him... Fuck...

The large wooden doors opened slowly, showing Christian the wonderful interior of the waiting room, and the sounds of voices could be heard as he took a couple steps into the school. Maybe that's where Emma was to be found, but what if not? He had years of etiquette training to survive a night with strangers, all of which were no doubt wealthy and had expectations when it came to mingling with new faces, politely and briefly before turning to their friends in hopes of learning more about this mysterious stranger. Nothing new to one trained from an early age, it was just that most of his cultural understanding and reference points were horribly outdated so making small talk would be more difficult than necessary but by smiling sheepishly and nodding a lot, he could get away with a lot. Stepping towards the voices, Christian took a deep breath and just hoped for the best, here goes nothing.

[//WhiteQueen]

As Emma and Rictor had begun to talk, the White Queen paused sensing someone drawing closer to the door. Her blue eyes slid down the hall in anticipation of that person's arrival. She didn't track every person in a building habitually, but she did keep a telepathic ear to the door to make sure no one was eavesdropping. Espionage was nothing new to a member of the HellFire Club or the CEO of Frost Enterprises; as a woman with planets-full of secrets, she preferred private conversations. If only she could hold them telepathically... but few knew she was a mutant and for now she preferred to keep it that way for the tactical advantage.

She lifted her right hand just a bit to cut Rictor off as the person drew near; not one of the regulars with how the person they moved so timidly. Cautious. Empathy was child's-play to Emma and she could tell there was a lot of anticipation and consternation in the man interrupting their little chat.

When Christian Frost stepped into view the White Queen's chin lifted and she turned to face her brother. She knew who it was, but she didn't know why he was here. More to the point, she didn't know who he'd become over all this time. People changed. Not most people, but given severe enough conditions in life like those Christian and her had undergone they most certainly did. After all, who'd expected Emma to be as devious and independently wealthy as she'd become? She'd been the Black Sheep of the three sisters. No doubt the remaining family had thought she'd end up working at a fast food restaurant when she stormed out.

"Just a moment, Rictor," she said, following up on the nonverbal signal she'd given a second ago.

Staring at the man would be less than productive, however, "Christian." Alright, there was a lot of questions she could ask. How did you find me? Why are you here? When did you get out? Did you escape? Did anyone else know? How was he? Truthfully she'd really liked to know how he found her. If could be a coincidence, but Emma didn't rely on coincidence--too unreliable. "You look well." There was less haughtiness in her voice; a sign of the confusion at seeing him there. Seeing any of her family made her question the entire circumstance of their arrival, but Christian... he'd been gone so long Emma wasn't sure what to think; their past was the only reason she didn't give him an icy reception, however.

[Icebox]

There was much to be thought out, which should have been done before Christian had been so rudely interrupted by the electronic doorman thing, so much conversation to run through his head to see what would have been best when the blond finally found his sister. What could he start with, something that would just take the two of them back in time and act as if nothing had gone wrong, as if he had never been shipped off and Emma hadn't been the one to have saved him before accidentally delivering him into the hands of the maniacs within the mental hospital. Something that would have made their meeting something to be thought about for ages, and people would think that they had lived the perfect posh life Winston had done his best to show off to his acquaintances but there hadn't been time for the psionic to plan ahead since the doors had been opened to him much too soon for his liking, and Christian found himself within a foreign place with one mission and that was causing on his otherwise calm collection exterior. Had there not been voices to gravitate towards, he certainly would have roamed freely around the school to find some composure, maybe even make a friend to take his mind off the fact that he was having a joyous reunion with his sister.

Keeping his hands at his sides, he could feel them start shaking in anticipation as he did his best to keep his face seemingly perfect, nothing above his neck would show off his nervousness and that would be the focus of the attention he drew would culminate. It was easy to fight off sections affected by emotion, as the body was almost much too good at demonstrating when it experienced any powerful emotion. A couple more steps and Christian found himself awkwardly chilling next to the wall, even for someone as trained to deal with social situations, something of this caliber was something that was beyond basic training. Doing his best to keep his breathing normal, the sound of his voice captured the man's attention much quicker than he would have imagined, turning his head he was face to face with his sister... whose appearance wasn't as childlike and flat as he recalled. There had been some major changes in her appearance, hopefully they hadn't translated over into her personality as well; with his mind going a million miles a second, just taking everything in, a goofy smile grew on his face as it was the only thing that was keeping Christian from tackling his sister out of pure joy. There were people around, and it wasn't going to be exactly the most socially acceptable thing to do.

"You look well."

Doing his best to keep his composure, Christian brought one of his hands up to his mouth in order to stifle laughter as there were dozens of ways in order to have started this conversation but something so formal was almost too much for the blond man to handle. There should have been happiness and tears and jumping and screaming and anything more than a polite greeting from one sibling to another, certainly had the roles been changed Christian would have given Emma much more than a casual salutation. With his free hand, Christian rubbed his forehead where one could see the scars from the electroshock therapy he had endured during his time being treated for homosexuality, as he did his best to remain composed. "Thanks Gracie, I've been okay since getting rescued slash escaping from everything." Casually mentioning things, he couldn't help his laughter permeating his words as he did his best to keep in control over himself. "And you look like you've ... erm, that everything's going well for you. Sorry to have dropped in uninvited but you're not exactly the easiest of people to get ahold of these days. I'm certain Daddy dearest would be so proud to see where you are now, without his money." If possible, his smile seemed to grew even wider the longer he just looked at his sister. She wasn't exactly as how he remembered, but Christian couldn't have been happier to have had this opportunity to meet again.

[TBC: Frost Family Reunion]

This post has been edited by Icebox on Aug 12 2012, 01:38 PM

[Lonk]

What good feelings Cyclops may have been radiating towards evaporated as Scott turned his attention to Tessa, and impelled her to leave the premises on threat of violence. It skirted dangerously close to the line from Richter's perspective. Had he not just asked the man for a position on his team he might have shared some choice words with X-Man himself, complicated relationship be damned. At present he could barely manage to composure to clear his throat and pretend as though that exchange hadn't just gone down. Richter had to wonder what might have prompted him to threaten her like this. He gave a woman another look over, double checking to make sure he hadn't missed something. Her expression hadn't changed, displaying neither bemusement nor outrage, as she passively weathered Cyclop's ire. It wasn't long before Richter found her lack of a reaction a little unnerving, and begin to allow his suspicions to take hold.

The moment passed a bit too late to avoid awkwardness. Sage's response was challenging, almost even aggressive, and she made it clear she would not be looked down upon by the likes of the X-Men. Did she too have a past grievance to air with Cyclops? X-Teams relationships with their past foes might always have been strained but it rarely extended beyond a mutual acknowledgment of their opposing ideals. This might have personal. And how serious was Sage about joining this team, to come here knowing she would be an enemy, you would think she'd have some pressing pressing reason that would allow her to set such differences aside for the sake of whatever it was that brought her here. Cyclops's verbal slap in the face was probably unjustified, but her defiant retort was no less baffling. She seemed more willing to throw down, than suit up. And if she'd hadn't really been seeking an place on the team one had to wonder why she'd shown up at all.

Cyclops's attention wavered, a telltale sign of some kind of outside, potentially telepathic distraction, and with a few words he left them in the pregnant silence of the entrance hallway. Tessa departed soon afterward. Conflicted, Richter turned to wave, likely a bit too slow; he doubted she'd caught more than a silhouette of the gesture in the reflection of her sunglasses. Emma, like Scott didn't have anything nice to say. The best way forward with conversation was probably to resume the old topic and pretend she'd never been there. He doubted even Emma would give him an unbiased account of the woman.

So the Xavier Institute. With a winsome smile she recounted the mansion's progressive shifts towards accepting more and more students. Though he'd lived though some of that history, he'd admittedly learned something, despite Emma being Emma. She was right, after all hadn't Rahne been a member of this selfsame school? His question rephrased was, why had Xavier decided to expand the roster so generously? He didn't get a chance to ask this question though, before an immaculately groomed gentleman strolled though the double doors. They might have been revolving doors for all the traffic moving though the place. Richter granted this was probably how the architect intended the hallway to be used, but this was getting ridiculous.

Richter took in a new suit, definitely custom tailored, matching shoes, accented flourishes, and a do that could only have pulled off by the most skilled of hair stylist. All in all the man was probably wearing more money than Richter could squeezed from his dwindling savings before he'd booked a last minute international flight across the North American continent. It occurred to Richter's long dormant inner thug that this get up was probably intended to intimidate people like him to giving them a wide breadth. But Richter knew opulence, and knew it wasn't half as impressive wielded like a weapon as it was wielded casually. The get up was only a tool advancing the man towards some greater purpose, but the confidence was lacking. The implied ease of the clothes seemed to clash with a subtle anxiety welling behind his eyes. Richter felt it more than he saw it and the hints of fading scars peeking around the edges of his suit only highlighted the contradictions surrounding this newcomer.

“Christian, you look well.” Emma apparently knew him, and turned from their conversation to give him her full attention. Richter half-believed the two bore a resemblance before he considered his apparent nervousness and concluded they'd be more at ease with one another were they actually siblings. They were on a first name basis though, and if anyone knew the the familiarity such a greeting implied, it was Emma. Yet, her words were so measured, Richter had to wonder if they were even friends. Richter knew it was rude to look on at their meeting. One could easily accuse him of eavesdropping, and doubtless would if they walked in to find him so thoroughly transfixed on the exchange. It might have been the obvious intrigue budding before his eyes, or it might have been the spontaneous concurrence of beautiful people. Richter could not avert his gaze.

Daddy dearest? Gracie? It seemed to Richter that this was as delicate a moment for the Emma as it was for anyone coming from a complicated family situation. He hadn't known Emma had siblings, but that was probably because he hadn't looked. But as their awkward greeting continued Richter began to hear more that enough to make him uneasy. So Emma's relationship with her father had strained to a point such that he'd decided to 'cut her off'. He knew from wasted hours watching Entertainment Tonight, that things like this happened only in the most dramatic circumstances. The show's commentators often went on to gossip about the prodigal child's incoming financial and social ruin with relish bordering on sadism.

The shame was intended to force people into complying with the wishes of whatever authority figure held the purse, but that only worked so long as the ostracized party didn't prove themselves equally successful without their support. Such things demanded respect, and Richter would've loved a compliment Emma on it if there was a way he could bring it up without having to admit to eavesdropping.

“I'm going to go search for an empty room, I want to unpack before all the insanity returns.” He turned to collect his bag from the couch. “It's been fun.”

[To Be Continued: The Great Equalizer]

This post has been edited by Lonk on Aug 12 2012, 07:45 PM

[//WhiteQueen]

Frost stood still as Christian spoke, not moving or taking her eyes off the man before her. It was unsettling seeing him there. There were implications... and then there was Emma's honed skill at anticipating the schemes of others. After all this time he just walked in through the front door? The only member of her family she wouldn't expect a knife in the back from given the earliest opportunity. Was it the same man? Was it even Christian? Of course, he probably had expectations from her with the way he stared and tore himself away briefly as he adjusted. Emma couldn't just "let go," however. Others could be wild and carefree, but she had too many enemies and not nearly enough friends. Price for playing the role she did.

Thankfully--and not because he was bad company--Rictor soon excused himself. "We will talk again later," the White Queen replied as the man gathered his things. Her eyes lingered on Christian, but her voice remain as cool and clear as polished, Antarctic ice.

"Christian," Emma stepped forward to take one of her brother's hands and pull him to the side toward an empty conference room slash living area. Didn't seem to be any need to explain as she hurried the two of them inside and slid the doors shut behind them for a bit of privacy. Last thing she wanted was one of her esteemed "Fans" walking down the hallway and bumping into the brother she never mentioned. Not that Christian should be offended seeing as how she didn't talk about any member of her family unless it was absolutely pertinent to a business endeavor.

With the doors shut behind her, Emma slowly stepped forward away from the wood panels. There were several questions that came to mind, but this shouldn't be an interrogation (hopefully). "How long ago did you...?" Escape? Get released? She wasn't even sure regarding the conditions of Christian's internment, or if he'd gotten our years ago and only now found her. All of which could play a part in why he was here today. Happy reunion? It... was possible, but it having been so long Emma hadn't expected to see Christian ever again.

[TBC: Xavier's Mansion, Main Level Living Area: "Frost Family Reunion"]