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Night has fallen. The students have long since gone to sleep, though rumor of a new arrival spreads quickly; a fiery woman in purple and gold superhero attire. Still, the halls have gone silent, given the faculty have learned by now just how to quiet things down and make sure the students get a good night's sleep before the day's studies.
As such, it might seem odd that there are sounds coming from the kitchen. Sounds of someone… cooking. At half past ten.
Kwabena is clothed in gym shorts and a tank top, bare foot, and appears to be cooking something resembling dinner. There is lamb in one skillet, onions roasting in another, and a pot of boiling water with some other goodness wafting into the air and out into the kitchen. Plus, there is the obvious scent of cigarette smoke among the many spicy flavored that pepper the air.
Julie comes in after a relatively-late night, except perhaps for a Sunday, her arrival perhaps presaged by the sound of a V-8 rumbling around toward the back of the mansion's garage. When she finds her way to the mansion's mess-hall, it's to make a beeline for the coffeepot, taking up a mug and dumping sugar into it. "Ay, something smells pretty good," she says, on spotting Kwabana. "Anyone ever sleep around here?"
"Not often." Tessa walks in a few seconds later. Despite the whispers of rumour-spreading students, she fell right back into her usual routine. And that means, at this time of night, she needs tea. A snack perhaps as well. But that always turns into a full-on meal. She has, in the past, ignored her hunger in favour of work. "So little time in the day for sleep."
Oil splashes into the skillet filled with diced lamb, followed shortly by a healthy dusting of garlic and curry. Kwabena looks up, cigarette perched out the corner of his mouth, and smirks. "Depends," he answers. "On whedah dere's class, or… global threat, alien invasion…" He stows a spatula after stirring up the lamb, then leans over to check on the onions. He exclaims something in his native tribal, and quickly removes the onions from heat before throwing them in with the lamb.
Tessa gets a salute with cigarette in hand, and he turns to go and check a kitchen timer. "If you ah hungry, I can make more." Suggesting he's about to eat all of it, which is… something.
Julie pours herself some coffee, "Yeah, that and opening the season at Englishtown." Tsks. "People from outer space, what canya do. I'll have a taste, maybe, but really I just filled up on pizza, so don't worry bout it." She taps the side of her head and glances to Sage with a query. "How's things upstairs?"
For a moment she considers, then nods at Kwabena. "Please. That smells very good and I haven't eaten since lunch time." She bypasses the coffee and goes for the tea instead, seeking out the brand and flavour she prefers before making it. Might be full, but this is Tessa. She'll drink the whole thing. "So far so good. I'm still monitoring her mentally. I'll have to sit her down for a more thorough examination, however."
"Authentic Ghanaian cuisine," Kwabena tells Diz and Sage. "You will think to get I digestion but you will not."
With that being said, he spins about to grab another chunk of lamb, and gets to work at chopping it up. He has absolutely no skill here; the lamb is chopped into cubes, but on more than one occasion the knife comes into contact with a wayward finger, which merely poofs into smoke before reforming.
"Lorraine is also settling in," he offers. "She is seeing the nurse for examination, and Jean has asked us to help her to find a control for her abilities." He glances toward Tessa at that, before reaching for the wayward onion and getting to work at chopping it up as well. In short order, he's scraping the onion and lamb into a plate, so that he can pour the fresh raw materials into their respective skillets. "Not ready," he says, of the food, and goes to find a serving bowl.
Julie quirks a brow toward Sage "Her? Who's her? I meant Kwabena, here." She puts together the name 'Lorraine,' though, the girl she'd set everyone looking for in the first place. "She's here, though? I meant Shift here come back from Africa pretty mixed-up, and all. Someone over there in Ghana seems to be doing more creepy egghead things to mutants."
"Jean took a look at her? That is reassuring." And of course, Tessa will do what she can to find a way for Lorraine to maintain control. As Kwabena puts more lamb onto the grill, she pauses nearby, if only to watch exactly what goes into cooking it. "Apologies," she says to Julie. "I assumed you had heard by now. We," she gestures between Kwabena and herself, "Brought Lorraine back here after we found her as the cause of some… ruckus in Queens. Unintentional on her part, as it were. Someone caused her mind considerable damage."
"Hmm?" Kwabena asks, distracted. I mean, cooking! He's straining couscous from the boiling water, then finally seems to realize what it was Diz was asking. "Oh. Upstairs. See, I thought you meant…" He nods his head upward. "Upstairs."
The couscous is delivered into the serving bowl, and some of it is scooped onto Tessa's dish. He seems reasonably distracted by the cooking, and is already moving on to spicing up the fresh onions and lamb. "Ah, forks, over dere." He motions to the silverware drawer, as if Tessa didn't already know where it is.
Fresh garlic is going into the skillet bearing onions, along with that cooking the lamb. More oil, more curry, and some coriander as well. "Whoevah kidnapped her, dey also experimented on her. Changed her, into… something." He looks up. "Something powahed. She burns. Everything." He pauses for a moment, now staring at the cooking food, trapped in contemplation for a moment. "Actually," he suddenly says, "Tessa and I were trying to talk about Ghana when it happened. Sirens, explosions, we couldn't just sit and do nothing."
Julie nods, "Well, yeah, there's the whole matter of you and your memory and maybe someone raising mutant armies in Africa, but…" She does glance upstairs. "Glad you found the girl, anyway, never did find that blocking driver from when she got taken in the first place." She pauses and peers. "What you mean burns everything?" She's on fire or just hot?
"Whatever they did to her, she ended up with wings of fire," Tessa explains. "It was tricky getting her back here. We couldn't use a car without her damaging it beyond repair." But they managed, somehow. "I am hoping we'll be able to teach her how to unmanifest those… assuming that can be done."
"Yes, yes." Kwabena stirs the cooking food, then takes a moment to snuff out the cigarette and dispose of it in the garbage. "Something to do with radiation. I think, they 'nuked' her until she… changed."
He steps away, and walks over to wash his hands for a moment before taking a breather to let things cook. "Come to think of it… I saw similar items in Ghana, before my memory lapsed." He looks between the two, frowning. "And I lost memory dis time, when Lorraine nuked me."
The wheels are clearly spinning.
Julie hrms, settling down as Kwabena doles out plates. "Well, we still need to get that back, if there's…. Ah… Wait a minute, nobody eat nothing… I gotta go get something." She's heading for the door and catches herself on the doorframe. "I mean it, I'll be right back, we could end up mutated or something." This time, Dizzy's moving fast without wheels, but she's on her way to the lower levels and back.
"I had considered the link as well," Tessa admits. Julie's out the door as she continues speaking. She notices, but only nods to confirm she's not going anywhere. "Is it possible this… incident in Ghana created that result in your genes? Memory loss when exposed to radiation?"
Kwabena stares at Diz for a moment as she rushes off, then shakes his head and finishes off with the food, dishing it out but certainly refraining from eating.
That said, he breathes a sigh and leans up against the counter for a moment, before turning and fishing for his pack of menthols and a beat up, old zippo lighter. "Maybe?" he asks. "I'm still learning. Dere are… things I have come to control, oddahs dat I cannot. But if dey were… maybe dey were using radiation to mutate de peopah in Africa? To turn dem into mutants?" His brow creases with concern as he lights the cigarette, then offers the pack to Tessa with lifted eyebrows.
Julie comes back in in short order, carrying a little metal box on a backwards-looking handle and waving a little stainless steel wand on a coiled cord as she comes, the box making some incomprehensible crackles as she comes. She hefts the box a little to show what it is, as she comes closer to the two others. "Sometimes I feel like I should be putting more X'es on things around here, but let's look you guys over." She'll follow up with a wave over the food, while she's at it. "Usually I gotta borrow these from Civil Defense, more than you'd think, but…"
"If you'd," Tessa offers, "I can take a look over your genes." Yes, her powerset is bizarrely diverse. She looks up as Diz returns, cocking an eyebrow. "And by borrow you mean actually borrow, or do you mean "borrow"?" she asks, even doing the air quotes as she says the word 'borrow' a second time.
"You mean… I mean, how?" Kwabena considers Tessa with a narrowed eye, before showing the cigarettes and shrugging. "All is fair. If dey fucked me up back home, I guess, should know. Yes?"
He then turns to stare at the device Diz produces, blinking for a moment before asking, "Is dat… Geiger counter?"
Julie nods to Kwabena as she does this. Says to Sage, "If I didn't give em back, I wouldn't have to keep boosting them over and over, would I?" She wiggles her fingers in the air, with an air of mischief, but sobers, and says, a little more grimly, "Someone else could need the things when… Well, if there was any reason to put em there in the first place."
Sage tilts her head to one side, returning Kwabena's gaze. She taps the side of her head. "I can look at someone's genetic makeup simply by looking at them… assuming I have permission. Charles Xavier taught me not to be a snoop with my telepathy, and I take that to my other powers as well," she explains.
Julie's words receive a look from Kwabena that is both ominous and thankful. He may be from a third world country, but he's no fool, and is well aware that the world remains continuously on the brink of nuclear war. He nods his head to her, before motioning to the food. "So, can we… eat without growing tentacles on our heads?"
He turns back toward Tessa, considering her offer before setting the cigarette into a wayward ashtray that he probably brought here himself. "Well. Can not be too safe. You… have my permission."
Julie hrms, and clicks the little wand back into the funny handle after flipping some switches. "Nothing to worry about here, dinner-wise, anyway. Sorry to spoil the presti di abundanza and all, but it looks real good, Kwabena." Pauses and adds, "Don't want ionizing radiation with yer… What'd you say this was again?" She sips her coffee before digging in ahead of others. Nods between Sage and Kwabena. "As snooping like that goes, maybe I could ask about mi familia sometime. Sometimes I think if I can hide this from Mama, maybe I'm not the only one."
Sage just looks at Kwabena. It's a little unsettling, perhaps, given how wide-eyed and yet perfectly neutral her expression remains. It takes a full minute of exmination before her eyes relax. "No, it's not that," she finally says. "I should have known. We'll have to track down who did this to Lorraine… they will likely get us closer to whomever is handling things on the Ghana side of things." Or it could all be a big coincidence. But Sage will hope that helping one will lead into helping the other.
"Authentic Ghanaian cuisine," Kwabena repeats. "Spiced lamb, onion, couscous." He fixes his plate last, then grabs a fork and gets ready to dig in, but not before elbowing Diz in the ribs. "Dere is none of dat," he says suggesting his 'mastery' of the English language isn't merely limited to it and his tribal dialect.
He fails to dig in though, instead staring at Tessa when she stares at him. It does make him a little uncomfortable, but he lets it slide. Mutants are… weird, after all. "You are assuming it is related," he tells her. "May be, maybe not." He sighs then, and shakes his head. "For now, we should eat."
Julie smiles to Kwabena. "Smells great, Shift." She shrugs to Tessa, before starting in, herself. "He's got a point. One thing I know is, there's more than one bunch out there trying to use our kind for one nefarious puropose or others." She does look over to Sage. "I seen some of a few of em, if you think it'd help sort em out."
"We should be sorting them out. Keeping the information somewhere." Sage shakes her head. "And yes, I was hoping the problem was genetic. That, I can handle. And fix, potentially." That gets no further explanation. "But on a more cheerful note - she is right. That lamb smells wonderful."
"Of course dere are," Kwabena answers. "Same old story. Someone always trying to take advantage of anodah pahson."
He welcomes the change of pace. There will be time to sort things out, and with the clock striking eleven, this is probably not the best time to do as such. He smiles whole heartedly when the food is complimented, and he plunges the fork in for a first bite. "Well, I am not ready to become house chef, but… if dere is lamb and couscous, is like magnet to draw me."
Julie smiles. "You really don't think my Mama lets me work on the big mills without knowing how to make a lasagne? That's usually what people want when it's my turn. Some of us mutants can really put it away, too, believe me. I just don't wanna end up caught by surprise if we gotta go get Lorraine down in Africa or something."
Kwabena laughs at that. "Well, because of Jean's 'marching ordah', I don't think we have dat to worry about. Den again, her fathah is… radical. Good radical, but, should keep two eyes on her, if you uhdahstand." He then proceeds to dig into his food as if he hasn't eaten in days.
Julie nods. "Hey, not bad, the lamb. And, yeah, her Papa's a friend of mutants, among other things. Anyone told him his daughter's OK, well, more or less, I guess?"
Julie adds. "Chances are some real uncool guys are leaning on him about all this, that's usually why they'll grab a Senator's kid if they every do."
"I guess Jean," Kwabena answers between bites, "Jean Grey, she is going to make sure he is aware. She is worried about telling him. Worried it will affect his politics."
He shakes his head and leans back against the counter, happy to enjoy the food. "Guess we are gonna have to get to de bottom of all dis. All of dese problems. Is what we do, right?"
Julie hrms. "I dunno. I guess, maybe someone anonymous could be honest. Not say much but his daughter's in friendly hands and hey, Senator, don't believe no ransom demands and you'll hear real soon from your daughter once we figure a few things out, something like that?" She has another bite of the lamb and considers. "Anyway, we obbiously do got a few things to figure out, maybe it's just good if he knows some of the people he's been a friend to is trying to be friends, too. I guess without making that sound too scary. 'Hey, Senator, we're some friendly mutants, we saved your daughter from some kinda bad guys, and you'll hear from her real soon once we figure out why her back's on fire." She smirks. then gets a bitmore serious. "What a world, right?"