Millie turned off the shower and stretched muscles that were sore from another "Logan Session" that had ended a half an hour ago. Ow. At least I'm not near as sore as I was by this point three weeks ago. Or even last week. That's gotta mean something. She stepped out of the shower stall and wrapped a towel around herself before stepping over to the mirror. She reached up to wipe it off with her hand.

He's tough. But fair. I think he'd be fair about training if it killed him. And at least I'm not so terrified of him I squeak whenever he looks at me anymore. Then again, it's hard to be terrified of the guy who you asked to teach you how to not get your ass handed to you. Or, at least, it's counter-productive. If that's not the same thing. She reached for her brush to start combing the tangles out of her wet hair. Getting dressed and ready was a matter of routine and she let herself go to auto-pilot while she did it, allowing her mind to wander.

Thank goodness I didn't miss the start of summer session. Even if the homework is piled as high as the ceiling. Hmn, I still need to do those lab sheets today. Somehow, the Institute had gotten back into a routine. Things had changed, that was obviously, but there was still a routine. And that helped get a sense of security back. At least, it helped her.

Millie finished getting dressed and cleaned up her mess in the bathroom before opening the door and heading down to her room to put her things up and get her books. She had plans to head to the kitchen to study. She was starving, for one, and this time of day, the breakfast rush on the kitchen would be over with and the lunch rush not happening for a few hours. Plenty of time to get a snack and finish up those lab sheets.

Lab sheets, stretch, sonnet, run, weed the flower beds, Ms. Munroe will water the plants so I don't need to worry about that, stretch again, Oh! Gotta call dad at some point today. She wrote a mental itinerary. God, at least she wasn't bored!

She got to the kitchen and dropped her bag on the table before going over to raid the fridge. A few minutes later she had a plate of apple slices, cheese, and cellery sticks with peanut butter and a glass of milk. She popped an apple into her mouth and dug out her biology book and opened it to the page she'd carefully marked with a brightly colored sticky note. Her notebook, pen, and highlighter followed and she buckled down to do some serious studying.

((open to all. Feel free to interrupt. It's just science, lol))

Millie gnawed her lower lip as she approached the door to Logan's office. In theory, she'd done all this second guessing herself stuff in her room and out in the gardens before actually getting the courage to come up here. She knew that Logan was a pretty cool guy, and she wasn't completely frightened by him anymore, but he was still more than a little daunting.

Right. The worst he can say is no, or that he's too busy, which he very well could be and that would make sense. But, he's also the go to guy for training around here, and dammit, Mill, you need it. You know you need it. At least if he does veto the idea, he might be able to tell you who would have the time.

...and inclination.

She got to his door and didn't hesitate. If she did she'd lose her nerve. This wasn't like with Ada, where she could hem and haw outside the door. If she didn't just do it, she knew she'd turn right back around. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.

Millie had talked herself in and out of going to see the councilor several times. Even now as she raised a hand to knock on the mostly open door, she hesitated.

It wasn't that she thought that there was anything inherently wrong with going to talk to someone about what had happened. It was just that she really didn't want to relive it. It was bad enough that the nightmares were so vivid that sometimes she woke up feeling like he'd been standing over her and breathing in her face. Did she really have to add insult to injury, so to speak, by breaking down in front of a total stranger?

But she knew it needed to be done. That just didn't make her like it any better.

Finally, she took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the door. Here went nothing.

When Millie had gotten back, it had taken everything inside Jamie to not jump on her. Really, only two things had kept him from it: the fact that there were too many people around for him to get to her easily and she looked like she was hurt pretty bad. So, he'd sat outside the infirmary, waiting til he could see her. When Mr. McCoy let her out, he'd told Jamie to help her to her room because she needed to rest. So, Jamie had done that.

Now he was laying on her bed with her, in his brown puppy form, with his head on her lap. He'd put her Cookie doll on the pillow next to her head before he'd settled himself. He just wanted to be sure she was ok.

She cried when she was asleep. There were stitches on her chest and arm and lots of other little cuts that didn't need to be sewn together, but were angry and red on her skin. It made Jamie angry and he wanted to bite whoever had done this to her. She smelled like salt and blood and antiseptic.

Jamie didn't know how long he'd laid there before he fell asleep, too.

It was the pounding of her head between her temples that made Millie take those first tentative steps back towards awareness. It would have been easy to shy back, slip back into the darkness, and she couldn't be certain that she didn't do that a few times already. She had vague memories, more like dreams than actual events, of being carried and dropped to the ground with the harsh clang of metal on metal around her and of being rocked or held with what felt like long periods of blackness between each event.

But this time she wasn't allowed to fall back into darkness, nor was she allowed the freedom to wake up completely. Not just yet. She couldn't move, but she could feel, a little. Her head was aching fiercely, two pinpoints of throbbing pain in the back of her left arm, her throat was dry and her tongue felt thick in her mouth. She couldn't move her body, her arms and legs were limp, and her eyelids felt literally glued together and heavy as lead. It was like being trapped inside her own body.

It would have been worse, but she wasn't alone. She could feel that now, too. She hadn't dreamed someone cradling her, and she felt a large hand brush over her hair. She was aware enough now to know that was real, and she was relieved. She couldn't move or speak or open her eyes but she wasn't alone.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. What had happened? She remembered going to the museum with the children. It had been fun. She and Hank had taken their group of kids to see the exhibit on...

She must have drifted again, because when she came to herself again she could move. Her arms and legs no longer felt like limp nothings and she could move her own head. The ache in her head was worse though and her arm still throbbed a bit. Whoever had been holding her when she'd come to before hadn't let her go in the interim, however long or short that might have been.

She swallowed and managed to moisten her mouth and throat enough so that her tongue didn't feel so thick and clumsy. It took her eyes a few moments to focus after she'd opened them, and she'd stared blindly out of them while they cleared. When they did, the face was blessedly familiar.

"Hank?" she murmured, her voice soft and still drowsy.

Brenna had always had a thing for history, she was a bit of a nerd in that respect, so a trip to the history museum actually sounded like it might be fun. Granted, she'd have to keep an eye on some of the kids, but that was okay. And she actually enjoyed it when they asked questions and she found she could answer them; maybe there was something to this teaching thing after all? She'd never really been interested in that or kids before but a lot of things had changed since she'd come to Xavier's Institute.

The place was almost echoingly empty on a Friday afternoon, there weren't any other school groups exploring but theirs. It was rather nice to basically have the place to themselves.

She ended up taking a group of kids that weren't in Ororo's classes off to view the Egyptian exhibit. “Why did they wrap the bodies up like that?” Sarah asked, all but pressing her nose up against the glass to stare in at the sarcophagus. “And what's with all the weird pictures?”

“They wrapped the bodies to preserve them, the Egyptians believed in an afterlife where they'd need their bodies just like they did in life.” Brenna stepped up alongside the girl. “The pictures are their written language, they're called hieroglyphics. Each picture represents a word or a concept, usually related to the gods in some way; the Egyptians were deeply religious and included that in their every day lives.”

“I heard they stuck hooks up the dead guys' noses to squish up the brain so they could get it out,” Luke said, making a scary face.

Sarah wrinkled up her nose at him. “You're gross, Luke.”

“He's right, though,” Brenna told her. “Either that or they cut a hole in the back of the skull but they much preferred to leave the body otherwise intact. They also removed the internal organs and put them in canopic jars,” she said, pointing to a row of ceramic jars with various tops depicting gods like jackal-headed Anubis.

She looked around to do another swift head-count and immediately noticed two of the children, one being Jubilee, missing. “You guys seen Jubes or Frankie?” The other kids looked at each other and then at her, shrugging. “Go se,” she cursed in Mandarin. “Alright, let's go see if we can't find them.”

It wasn't until she turned as Sarah's hand was forcefully jerked out of hers that she realized something was terribly wrong. Her TK blossomed in her hands, crackling blue energy that was always there below the surface, but she didn't get a chance to use it. A cold metal collar clicked into place around her neck and the TK died along with the whisper of voices that was always shimmering just out of reach.

She felt the sharp prick of a needle and the last thing she saw before she went under was Sarah's pink hair, the little girl draped over the shoulder of a man dressed in black.

~~~~~~~~~

Jubilee had sneaked away with Brenna's group rather than pay attention to the Westward Expansion exhibit. American history had always bored her to tears, especially because she didn't consider it her history; even though thousands of Chinese immigrants had worked on the rail system out west, none of them had been her ancestors and she was much more interested in cool dead bodies.

After exploring the room with the Egyptian exhibit she'd hung around by the door, arms crossed over her chest while she blew bubbles with her gum. A hand tapped on her shoulder and she turned to find no one there. When she looked out into the hallway her eyes went wide but before she had time to shout or make another move she was already slumping down under the influence of some kind of sedative.

((You can either tack your posts onto this or make your own, it doesn't really matter.))

After classes and after a session in the Danger Room, Rachel was curled up on the couch flipping through channels on the TV. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, just something to catch her attention so she could get lost in it. She flipped past the sports channel where there was something with bikes going on. She surfed past it and then froze.

No. I did not see that.

Rachel sat up and focused on the TV as she flipped back to the sports channel. She blinked, frowning as she caught the glimpse of a paint job she recognized.

"You two didn't," she whispered. "You couldn't."

The camera panned around the field and did a close up on two competitors. Rachel blanched as she jumped to her feet, recognizing the bike that was trying dodge the attack from the other rider.

"Kitty Pryde are you TRYING to get your ass killed?!"


[[OOC: The rec room is indeed open. Kitty and Tamsin are on TV as the bike derby they are involved in is being televised. *grins* Open for anyone who wants to walk by or who has heard Rachel yelling at the TV. This is indeed a gathering post to see about getting all of the residents interacting in one place. ]]

Barefoot in the grass, a nice warmish evening, a mug of tea and a book. This was the perfect way to spend the evening, in Millie's opinion. The big problem was the the trees weren't quite big enough to curl beneath properly, but oh well. Sprawling on the grass was no hardship.

Millie walked with her book tucked under her arm, and her tea in her hand, trying to find that perfect spot. It had to be far enough away that she wouldn't risk getting run over, but close enough that she'd be fairly visible. With everything that was happening, she didn't want anyone worrying about her. She found her spot next to the new lilacs she'd planted a week or so ago.

She set the mug and book aside for a moment as she knelt in the grass. It was the work of a few moments the make the grass a little thicker and plusher to act as a sort of mattress she could sit and read on. Then she curled her knees up and sipped her tea as she just enjoyed the evening for a few moments.

There was something relaxing about the shuffling of cards, the way that they felt sliding through his fingers and the soft fluttering sounds they made. He had been using them since he was much younger, a child on the streets finding ways to keep himself entertained on the cold nights, and later when he discovered his mutant ability, as a weapon.

Remy LeBeau always had at least three packs hidden on his person. Trench coats were good for that. He huddled further into his, making sure that it was done up as he turned another corner. The duffle bag sitting over his right shoulder was old and worn, its dark tan colour somewhat faded with age.

It wasn't like he couldn't afford to buy a new one, more that he didn't want to. This was the bag he had done a lot of travelling with. He was attached to it.

His fingertips tingled as he played with the cards, slipping them into his pockets as his feet stilled and he took a breath, trying to find his center - or whatever rubbish that was - to pull the power back into himself.

He knew the Institute was just around the corner and he blew out a breath, tucking errant strands of auburn hair behind his ear as he picked up his feet and began moving again, concentrating hard on keeping those tingles at bay, that power inside himself.

Once the building came into view with the impressive gate at the front with an intercom and a buzzer, he strolled closer, inspecting the keypad and then looking beyond into the grounds themselves. It looked like it was an easy enough place to get into, the wall wasn't too hard to scale, especially for someone like himself. He supposed it would be bad form to stroll up to the front door, though.

And since he was rather sure he needed help, he decided on the boring, normal way of getting in contact with people and he pushed the button on the intercom.

"This place kinda looks like de Hilton," he said to himself, peering through the gates again whilst he waited for an answer, one hand curling around one of the metal bars, his concentration slipping enough that his fingers started to glow.

Millie was excited and more than a little nervous. After puting it off for a few weeks, she'd finally driven into town today to register for school at the community college. Her father had pretty much ordered that she have all the financial bills mailed home because why had they saved her whole life to give her a college fund if she wasn't going to use it when she went to school? There was no arguing with her father when he got into that sort of mood, so she'd given in.

So, great! School. She'd wanted to go back for a while, but had always been more than a little scared of the prospect. After what had happened back home... Well, that wasn't here. It was a new start. Now all she had to do was figure out what degree she wanted to go for. She had pamphlets for all the ones that seemed interesting and had only signed up for a few gen eds for the summer semester (Botany and English Comp II). She'd been sitting at the counter in the kitchen with a pop within reach for what felt like hours trying to figure out what she wanted to do.

This was really more difficult than it should have been.

((So, we shall pretend Jubes did this all for April Fools Day; PLEASE feel free to have Institute residents react))

If Jubilee ever applied herself to her studies the way she applied herself to general mayhem, she'd be a straight A student. She was quite content with a B average.

Armed with a head full of mischief and a few choice props she set to work.

She'd dug out an old cellphone that was useless without a calling plan, but that didn't mean it didn't work, especially since she still had the charging unit. She popped up a ceiling tile in the hallway where most of the classrooms were, set the alarm on the phone and plugged it in; without anyone to turn it off, it would keep ringing its annoying little guts out for an hour every day. At some point, if it wasn't found, she planned on changing the alarm time just to keep people on their toes.

The computer lab was next. With Kitty off plotting dangerous things, Jubilee methodically worked on each keyboard, all 20 of them, prying up the 1 2 3 7 8 and 9 keys off the keypad on the right, putting the lower numbers up top and the higher numbers below. Since that was the order they'd be in on a telephone's keypad, most people wouldn't give it a second look until they tried to use it and got the wrong numbers.

A few people got beef boullion cubes in their shower heads. Several more got marbles in their medicine cabinets.

Every TV she could get her hands on was locked to the Spanish channel.

Logan's laptop, left on the desk in his office, had its word processor's Auto Correct function messed with. Instead of replacing "teh" with "the," it would now replace "the" with "teh." Any time "Institute" was typed it would be replaced with "Brothel."

Her personal favorite was creating a macro on the computer so that anytime Logan would try to use the "back" button on his browser, it would take him to ILovePonies.com.

Then she sat back and waited for the lulz.

Millie had been walking for hours. She didn't mind. She'd enjoyed it. With her car in the shop and all her money going to pay for it to get fixed there wasn't a lot else she could do.

God. Her car just had to choose now to break down, didn't it? Now she would have to put off her trip for months just to find work and get more money. And finding work was going to be the hard part. None of the garden centers or nurseries were hiring. Even the rich and well to do weren't looking for groundskeepers right now. Millie sighed and ran her hand across the bars of the fence on her left as she walked.

It wasn't until her hand ran out of fence that she looked over at the property she'd been walking in front of. "...oh my," she whispered as she saw it. Not the building, (you couldn't call a place that big a house; palace might cover it), but the grounds and gardens surrounding it. They were enormous and extravagant. ...Just one little look around won't hurt, right? The gate was open, after all. And it wasn't like she'd be hurting anything.

She adjusted her backpack and stepped off the sidewalk and into the driveway and into the yard. She walked past bushes that would flower in another month or so, slender trees that were just beginning their lives, and flowers that were just timidly starting to show their faces. She was entranced, and didn't even realize it when she'd walked so far back on the property that she could no longer see the street.

Oh you pretty, pretty things.

[[Open to whoever.]]