1964-01-01 - Let's Go Save People!
Summary: Jean tells the story of the man and his family. Time to go on a rescue mission!
Related: Everything under Operation Lollipop
Theme Song: None
logan nightcrawler jean rogue 


Night time. The construction of the village was almost finished. While there were no working bathrooms or sustainable plumbing here in this little patch of the jungle of Rio de Janiero, Jean herself was still struggling with one other worker to get the water wheel to work. They've made progress, which was great. But the rust amounted to a lot, and the worker himself eventually gave up due to the falling of the night, and went back home to the city with the promise to return with metal and more tools.

Yet it was quiet. Jean herself opted to stay out in the village herself, ever since that last encounter, something mystified her beyond belief, in fact, it near had her unusually giddy and it prompted her to build a fire in the middle of the village, and with the assistance of Rogue and others, lay out a few logs so that marshmallows could be roasted, chocolates and graham crackers to be shared, and water to be spread out amongst the three under the cool nights guise. She couldn't wait to tell them the news, however terrible, but what she interpreted from the angry man, it sounded just like something that would be underneath their belt. Something they could handle.

Jean remains by the fire, marshmallow upon her stick, occasionally dipping it into the flames here and there. A box lays upon the side of her foot as she remains pressed, drawing the marshmallow out to look towards it with a wrinkle of her nose..

..the glow of eyes that refract in the night remain behind her. Held at bay. The animals what lingered within were still curious. And voiced their concerns through quiet hoots and chitters.. while waiting for the two to arrive.

"You can't eat marshmallows." She calls out into the darkness, obviously talking to the animals. "And that's only because I don't know what would happen if you get it." She looks over her shoulders into the darkness. "We will go fishing in the morning. I promise. I don't trust my footing out there and I cannot fly like my friend."

*

Nightcrawler has been working on the village pretty much non-stop from morning to night. Seeing as it's dark and work has ended, he's pretty much getting ready for bed; he rinsed off a little and his hair is still damp even as he makes his way towards the firepit that was built. "Should that be going?" is asked as he gestures to the fire. "Und I can eat a Marshmallow if I like, danke. Why?"

*

In the last few hours… another of those curious green limned portals opened and Scarlett ended up shoved back through, transported a matter of miles in moments. Whomever has her at her beck and call — a blonde woman of exotic perfection, as it happens — certainly seems to think that the redhead never needs to sleep. In some ways, that micromanager might be correct; the bohemian rarely catches more than a few hours at a time, often vexed to rise by wide-eyed horror. Those disappearances never last more than a few hours, and they have been somewhat sporadic, though it might also help that she returns often with a needed tool or food, compliments of thoughtfulness.

Roasting marshmallows or making smores is something, sadly, Scarlett knows almost nothing about. Therefore following Jean's lead eases her, while she also finishes stripping a stick of leaves. "Still abominably hot. I am so glad not to be in the jungle year round," she sighs, poking at the base of the stick to assure it has the right degree of bend. "I wouldn't blame you for avoiding the riverbanks in the dark. Enough nocturnal predators out there, jaguar particularly, might make it a hazard. I doubt the poor jaguar would know what it came across."

*

Jean raises her brows as Kurt approaches, her eyes gone to the fire, then studying the small village as a whole. "Well, it's a little bit cool, and there's no gas lines out here this far. I figure if I start the scorch, the people who inhabit this place could continue." Dumb ass. But either way, she continues to roast her marshmallow, then gives a faint bob of her head. "Oh, I'm sorry Kurt. I wasn't talking to you. I was speaking to our friends back there. They're a bit hungry." She gestures towards the darkened line of the jungle, but doesn't elaborate further. She was sure that he would get the hint, if not? She'd go on to explain.

It was a little instruction, for once the marshmallow was toasted properly, she sticks the stick in between her legs to hold it aloft, two graham crackers taken along with a flat piece of chocolate. This was made into a sandwich, which was squished with the marshmallow, hot as it was, spreading. She doesn't have to explain, Rogue possibly learned by doing. And.. as of the jaguars?

"That's who I was talking to. There's a family of jaguars out there, and a few birds. And I believe.. a few monkies. The tiny ones. I don't know their names." She smiles a little, then gestures Kurt to sit. "Please, sit for a while. I have to tell you both a story of this place. And possibly why fate brought us here."

*

Nightcrawler looks like he wasn't going to sit…until Jean mentions she wants to tell them a story. Yellow eyes go over to Scarlett for a moment before he looks back to Jean, "I thought it was to help rebuild the village." That was what he was told and that's why he's here. He hasn't once sat out on the beach or even brought swim trunks…he didn't even have any to bring!

As the animals are mentioned, he looks out towards the canopy, "If they are hungry, then it means something may be wrong, ja? Animals tend not to come near humans unless something is wrong." That's what he was always told, at least.

*

"We are in the midst of their territory. If you have been convincing them we mean no harm, Jean, that may be a good thing. I would not wish there to be any conflict with the cats or birds, nor that they fear we will cut away the trees in their territory and deprive them of safekeeping." Scarlett offers a reassuring smile to her fellow redhead, and she points her stick towards the fire to toast the end. It's a matter of practice, rolling the end around until fairly evenly blackened, and giving a properly hardened spike upon which she can mount one of the squashed, whipped nuggets of sugary goodness.

Selecting a marshmallow, she plumps it with a pinch and stabs the stick through the underside. Temperature issues need not apply where she is involved, and she blows a bit of sooty from her fingertips. "There. Now into the flames with you, a dream consigned to toast gold!" An announcement declared with soft amusement, she perches the stick against her forearm for a measure of control. "I made a survey of your waterway, by the way. A few blockages impeded three tributaries from flowing smoothly so I removed the fallen trees and cleared out the bracken. The largest one, I've left because when I move that log, I think we might see a fairly substantial increase in the flow. Right now it's backing up into an oxbow lake. Tomorrow, or after you have the waterwheel working, I can toss it out and keep Julian on standby with a few rocks or some lumber in case we need to make adjustments to the course."

Busy girl, but that applies all the time. Scarlett in a state of idleness is miserable, and ever drawn to dynamic ends. "Do share what is happening. I have sensed the… unease and discord, but I hesitate to name what it is. My mind's been distracted." To say the least. Death and chaos are spinning through the world, carrying her with it.

*

"Well, that's at least part of it.." Jean confirms to Kurt. "..when I found Gabriel here, it was a mess. So I thought that we should at least help, and hope that someone would find this place and think to settle here if they were displaced. That doesn't turn out to be the case." Her lips purse as she takes a stand, then shrugs her shoulders towards Kurt. "Part of the story, I suppose. They're actually curious. They haven't met another like me in a few weeks.." A few weeks? They weren't here for that long..

Taking a step around and having a bite of her marshmallow-filled treat, she chews for a moment, spying in the distance where the water wheel was, her head nodding faintly in regards to Scarlett's information. It all made sense. The water flow was horrible -to- the wheel, it was like a pinch and barely a good drop yet filled with spindles and bark. "I think once that's cleared, the village will be ready to be inhabited." Screw that, because on to the story! But.. "Why are you so distracted?"

With that said, the stick itself was tossed aside, the half-eaten sandwich offered to Kurt so that he could partake in. "Well, the man that I spoke with, his family used to live here. His sister, her two children and husband." She sucks upon her lips, the continues on. "They were mutants. And.. I know this sounds like a sheer coincidence but, I think it's exciting! Mutants, here in Brazil, and we -happen- upon this very spot where they need us.." She grins. "..but.. I think their vacating of the village is all our fault. Because of everything that happened in New York.."

*

Yellow eyes blink at Jean after she shares her story about the village, "There are 'mutants'," he still doesn't like that term, "all over the world, Fraulein Jean." There just seems to be a concentration in New York because they have sort of found each other. But any humor fades as he looks to the village that they're trying to rebuild, "Maybe then, we should finish und leave. Und apologize. It is…sad that all of the prejudice in New York is coming even to here." Maybe they're not really helping with they're vacationing.

*

Logan emerges from the darkness slowly. Jean will sense him first, of course, because she can, because the man is still there, the animal in him receding slowly back to where it normally rests within him. He's been gone for three days, although he told them simply enough not to worry about him. He needed a little walkabout time.

He doesn't fully enter the firelight in part because he isn't wearing anything at all. His clothes tore free at some point along the way. His chest, neck and arms are spattered with blood, some his own, some not. His hair marks a feral silhouette of him as he rests on his haunches and calls out softly.

"Someone mind fetchin' me a pair o' pants and my cheroots? I don't wanna shock nobody," he says, the flickering light reflecting in his eyes.

*

"Possibly because I am fallen from the stars and witness to a war for which my own efforts could have paused, if not averted, there are aliens treating my home as a waystation in their bloody conflict, and there is not a damned thing I can seem to do about anything?" An answer Jean receives from the redhead is terribly quiet, restrained, for it has to be restrained. Behind the control lies a chord of passion that even the scattershot minefield of her psyche cannot withhold from bleeding, and it shines like the auroral plasma absent from her pale gaze. Scarlett flicks her fingers. "We can talk about it later. None of those cares matter when others here are in need. Here, we make a difference, mm?"

Her gaze flicks towards Kurt, and then back to the psychic. "Why do you think New York has linked them to this?" Rising from the fire, she pulls her scorched marshmallow from the fire and saunters towards one of the huts. Clearly Logan's dressing issues are something she can manage just fine.

*

Jean didn't know what else to call herself and others, but she notes his distaste for the word and quickly tries to find something else to use. "I.. know." She says to her blue friend. "But I didn't know in that same breath. I never thought I would be out of New York in my years. And I never thought that there was anything else -other- than New York. That there would be communities, much like the one in Sacremento.." That was still a sore spot, one that makes her cringe inwardly.

"We just have a little bit more to do, actually Kurt. Once we fix the waterwheel, then we're gone. And they can have their home back. But there's a problem that the man had told me about, they were ran from here. Coralled and captured. And they're somewhere in the city under the governments watchful gaze. And they're afraid."

Yes, Jean could sense Logan. She sensed him out there for a while. Which is possibly why the animals that she were speaking to held upon -that- side of the jungle and not where he had been. But she smiles, she knows of these walkabouts, and knows not to go looking.

Scarlett's, words draw a slight sadness to her gaze. She understood.. and she herself couldn't take it. The sounds of mourning, the feel of it all, it nearly drove the redhead mad. Feeling everything all at once.. but she continues.

"The man said that he thinks that what happened in New York, with everything and everyone under attack, the murder of the President in Dallas, the massacre of the mutants in Sacremento, that the government here decided to take matters into their own hand and gather the mutants to set them for execution. When he caught word, he tried to come here to encourage them to leave, but they wouldn't. He even wanted them to fight. But they stayed their hand. He tried but was hurt. And when he heard that people were here to rebuild, he thought that we came to help."

She does nod faintly, then smiles. "Yes. A huge difference.. I think we should free them and have them see that they're not alone. They need to be rescued."

*

Nightcrawler gives a start when he catches sight of the clotheless Logan, "Ach, mein Gott! What happened to your clothes?" At least he stays in the shadows? He looks to Rogue at her question, "I did not say that the people of New York blame the people here." Jean explains it nicely. When she gets to the part about them being rounded up for execution, his eyes widen, "Of course we have to rescue them! Now! As soon as possible! They cannot be killed because they are different!"

*

Logan looks at the young idealists with new eyes, renewed a bit by his time out in the wild. He'd been among these soft things too long, the bleeders with their houses and their warm clothes and their words. So many words. He hadn't spoken for three days and it had felt so damn good. All they ever did was talk.

"Well, one thing's for sure: sittin' on our asses ain't gonna do much."

*

The redhead's disappeared and reappeared, vanishing off into the woods or vanishing into the skies. Talk she can do… but when Scarlett doesn't do talk, she's not even traceable at times. Probably talking elsewhere at the Congress of Worlds or something ridiculous. Clothes delivered and comments refrained, she shrugs her shoulders. "So, we seek them out and safeguard them, or remove the threats that would harm them. I doubt the latter is easy. However you like."

*

Nightcrawler's sense of emergency was sound. It was the perfect time. Nightfall. The only thing that lights them was the stars in the skies, and a box that was lifted within the air and floated towards the blue man.. a suit. An outfit. It may not hold the X like hers or Rogue's, and while he can be identified, it's what works. Everyone was in agreement.. the time to move was now. Well, soon to now. There was still a call that needed to be placed. Details shared, and tasks made.

"Then we're leaving in thirty. I'll explain everything on the way. Let's suit up." Though, Logan's suit up means he's just going in wearing a nice jacket and a cigar, but it -worked-.

*

Nightcrawler gives a little start as a box is floated towards him and when the uniform is revealed, he looks to Jean. "Thank you…" although he's a little taken aback by the gift. It's not that he hasn't worn a costume before, but this might make him a part of something and he's a little unsure about that.

*

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License