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Gabriel has arrived.
*
Rio de Janiero.
It was hot. Thank goodness. But a moment in the shade did wonders for Jean, as a few of the construction workers that she's managed to gather together with the rest of the money she had borrowed from Worthington, she felt horrible about not getting more. But once they saw the american dollars (which is a lot more than their own currency), they jumped at the chance.
Materials were brought along as well as machinery, and while the rest of the X-Men who followed them out helped, Jean took up cleaning after the messes that were left behind, and.. well, going along with whatever the workers thought best for the tiny village.
But she flopped out apparently, staring up at the sky, taking in the general hum of the workers, and completely wanting to douse herself in ice cold water because it was sweltering!
*
Rio de Janeiro, where summer lasts all year and the tropical thunder rolls in at noon without fail. Or there's suddenly a redheaded girl in the middle of the village, a green-limned portal shutting behind her. Maybe Warren Worthington the Third is the bad boy around town, but evidently Scarlett, bohemian pacifist and soul thief, has her own ways of getting around the world very, very quickly. Heavy clothes suitable for the Siberian tundra, but infinitely more stylish, practically drop off her body without any actual effort on her part. The scarf unwinds and tumbles away. Her heavy coat sloughs off, and those ski slope worthy pants puddle around her narrow ankles, along with the boots that somehow unpeel themselves for her to step out of. Behold, from the carapace of snowy winter, the long-legged girl in a batik skirt and a bikini top that would have her censored in thirty-two states and regaled as a modern fashionista in France.
"I see my pine tree is thriving," she comments, for there is — of all things — a transplanted pine that showed up yesterday, and she personally stuck into a rather large hole. The village has a pine, and now Logan can't complain for having nothing that reminds him of home.
"This is poetry in motion, cherie," she calls affectionately to the other redhead in residence, picking up her spare clothes and slinging them over her arm. "I thought I might miss the humidity, but truly, one never does. How goes the building?"
*
Nightcrawler hasn't once spent a day of leisure at the beach. Since his arrival, Kurt Wagner has launched, with gusto, into the humanitarian work he was told would be happening when he was invited along. While not an X-Men, he knows a few…and has chastised a few due to their rather lax view on their mission. His was not to enjoy the sun and sand. In fact, he didn't even bring along a pair of swim trunks (not that he owned any). He stops to drink water, grab a bite to eat, and sleep but otherwise he has thrown himself into the work. Whether it's helping with building or delivering food, of which they have an abundance of, to those in more need, he seems to be always on the go.
He probably knows that he needs to go the extra mile in order for folks to seem him as a bringer of Good rather than Fear. However, he does it with good humor.
*
To say he was a bit reluctant to return to the jungle after having wandered it for nearly a month was an understatement, yet Gabriel had been convinced by certain parties that it was good and needed to be done. The heat was less of a bother to him than to be expected having grown accustomed to it by a large degree during the wanderings. But the construction work, that was definitely something that he had no means ot help with but it did not stop him from assisting in other ways, namely serving as a pack mule for carrying things around. Sure, others might be able to do it with less effort but where is the fun in that?
It is why presently Gabriel has a stack of 2x4's about 12 feet long over each shoulder that he is carrying towards the main area of construction, being careful not to stumble over any debris in his path while he works and trying diligently to focus on his task rather than get distracted by the others around. A task that is failing him as people start appearing out of thing air or taking naps.
*
The men were great. A table was sat out in the middle as they began to draw on it, the leader of the pack instructing them in their brazillian tongue. Pointing here, yelling there.. which causes Jean to sit up, stand.. and give a slight heave of effort. "Hooot.." She complains, finally picking her pack up from her shade to drag her ass along the surface of the ground. At least she kept her sandals on, there was no need for her to damage her feet while out.
"So far." She comments towards Rogue, finally placing the pack of canteens upon the table next to the forman, a hand reached out to lightly pat his shoulder as he gives her a smile and she moves on. "Logan went to town to get more wood supplies. Julian is carving out the road a little bit better so that people can come in.. Gabriel is.."
She turns to look at him, staring for the moment.. one hand reaching out to try to grasp Rogue but thankfully.. she couldn't reach her. "Uh.. Kurt. Kurt. The blue beauty. I think we're going to start doing more cleaning in a moment. But the inside of the finished little hut looks nice. I think the water wheel comes tomorrow.. though, I think I should clean out the turbines first.."
*
Portuguese is actually a language that Scarlett can get by in, if she has to, though she's far from perfect. But knowing its sisters, especially French, eases her to at least interpret when necessary; desperation won't leave them up a creek, either. There has to be someone evil around she can poke if need be. "Pity I hadn't the chance to talk to 'Berto. This is his native area, and I am sure his foundation would happily kick in a few cubits of wood and nails if we needed," she muses, dumping her pile of winter wear on the nearest seat in the shade. No one needs that kind of clothing; they aren't going to Tierra del Fuego any time soon. Right? Unless, of course, there are penguins involved.
"Gabriel is carrying a forest," she helpfully notes, joining Jean in the sun. Her usual sun hats would help here immensely, but she doesn't have one. Weaving one can come later. Her gaze slants to the arm reached for her and she edges away slightly. "My control's for naught, darling. I've been skydancing but it wipes little of the pain away." In other words, the pretty young lady is warning them all she is deadly, but given the heat, she's not covered throat to toe in a ghilly suit. Though when Logan gets back, maybe she might consider pouncing out of leaves to terrorize him. Why not? "It is coming along nicely. How are you going to clean out a turbine?" The tip of her head leaves this inquiry open. There are days when it's odd to have only an adulthood education. Some things go awry.
Like knowing effective cleaning and all that.
*
*
Nightcrawler notes the arrival of another…in yet another bikini. As if they're on Holiday. There's a brief frown before he moves to the men at the table, glancing about as if waiting to see if they need him for anything specific. A few of them may speak German or, with his mishmash of languages, they're at least able to communicate. A smile tends to go a long way. As he catches sight of Gabriel with the wood, he moves over to help, "Where are we going with this, mein Freund?" He may not be as strong as the others, but he's intent on helping wherever he can.
*
Looking up at Kurt and his approach, Gabriel offers a polite nod before he glances in the direction of the main construction area where a large building is being put up, some kind of gathering hall type place. "There." He replies as he shifts the wood a bit to let Kurt take a few of the heavy beams but keeping most on his own shoulders. "There are about three more loads left as well but they are not to bad once you get used to the weight."
With the shift of weight done, he continues to carry on and calls out in a voice a little bit louder, having caught some words. "It is not a forest. It is a derivative of the forest."
*
"Uh huh.." Jean helpfully admits in regards to Gabriel. But, Jean had always known the danger that Rogue poses to herself, perhaps that's a reason as to why she attaches herself to her friend so. "I know, I did offer to help. Well, she did. Not me. I don't know her plans until she's already done."
With that said, she begins to step out of the shade, her hand waving Rogue along to allow her to look into the construction close up. "I.. think I was going to use a lot of water and telekinesis. I think my control is finely tuned now. I can lace a needle and thread with no issues at all. Though I need glasses, that was something that surprised me."
Watching Nightcrawler and Gabriel work was something like a dream. She stopped just in time for another worker to rush by, pencil in hand to hand towards the foreman to point aggressively. Jean watches for a moment, her brows lowering as she tries to discern the language. She couldn't understand it for the life of her, but she knew those tones and emotions. "Should we ring the lunch bell for them and we take over?"
*
In all fairness, it's only a bikini top matched with a patterned cotton skirt tied at the hip and reaching Scarlett's ankles. She looks rather like any of the girls her own age in Rio, and a good number of surrounding states. She might drop into the middle of Belo Horizonte, with no one the wiser. "Point taken," she answers Gabriel, a trickle of white lightning laughter chasing his statement. "The point remains, though, you carry quite a bit and save someone a good deal of work." Appreciation goes there even as she considers the lay of the land and where to throw her work, though much of her own talent lies specifically to identifying balance or mowing down random trees by yelling at them. "Water and telekinesis? That sounds lovely. Should you need the aid, or someone to pull you out of the creek…" Humour there, if she's willing to hear it, follows a response to Jean.
"I think we ought to handle this. Tell them 'Almoco?' They'll know you're asking if they want to eat."
*
Gabriel sets the large stack of wood down and nods to the workers in acknowledement of the task before he turns to begin a walk back towards the other stacks, a trudging step that lacks much bounce; the beginning of exhaustion from the morning tickling through him.
"Did someone say eat?!" He asks suddenly having picked up some trail words of food. When is Gabriel not ready to eat is the true question?
*
"I probably would need the help, to be honest. I need help with a lot of things." Though, getting water to the village was important. That should at least be done first before the cleaning. Jean's mind was going in every which direction, that she barely heard anything that Rogue had said, up until 'almoco'. "Huh? Oh! So that means, food, right?" She asks to make sure, taking a few steps to move towards the table to make the motions of eating. "Al-moko?" She asks, looking towards the men hopefully..
But at least one of them looks nonplussed.
The foreman of the group cracks a whistle as he begins to call for the men for food, them having their setup that Jean and Kurt created earlier of food and water for them to eat and drink. Hats were off, vests were taken off, even one man takes off his shoes as he settles into the shade and they all begin to quietly whisper in their hushed tones.
Yet, one man lingers behind, his hat soon drawn from his head and snapped towards the ground in frustration, enough to make Jean jump in her spot, a worried glance gone towards Rogue and then towards the man in question.
"Uh…" She slowly approaches him, both hands shown as she tries to catch his gaze with a dip of her head. "Are you okay, Sir?" He begins to speak, but he looks towards the men who stare towards him omniously, then motions towards Jean with a point towards the deep jungle below.
"Alone?" She asks him, and it takes a moment for him to register, and yet if anyone could see the way his eyes nearly glaze over, and brighten, it means that he finally understood by way of transported image. "Okay. Give me a moment."
Glancing back towards her friends, she offers up a smile. "Yes, Gabriel. Eat! I'll be back in a little bit, alright?" Which means, Scarlett, dear heart, is in charge.
*
While the others might stop to take a well-deserved break, Kurt keeps on going. He'll eat when they're done. The most important thing is that the others get their break and their food; while he has the energy, he'll keep going even if it means teleporting slats of wood individually. At least it all gets there and the others might not have to work as hard when they get back.
*
Almoco: Portuguese for lunch. They can get the picture pretty fast from there.
Jean may be comfortable following a stranger into the forest, but the bohemian does what she can to measure his intentions. Her lips tighten a fraction, her eyes growing frosted and pale, attention leveled beyond the man and woman into the forest. Perhaps an angry jaguar might choose to stalk out now, though it seems unlikely. Scarlett being in charge is probably concerning, all things said and done.
"All right, food! They have their venue and meal, which means we make the best of this lovely place." She walks over to pick up one of the lumber beams, and if the men smirk among themselves for her trying to wrestle one of them, they might be left speechless when she turns it on end and moseys across the field. They certainly can grumble angrily in their wake, over the food offered to them, furtive looks delivered upon the trees. Like they're expecting something. Tanks, bulldozers, tribes lacking human contact.