11458/Changing a spare tire.

Changing a spare tire.
Date of Scene:	10 May 2020
Location:	Garage - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Changing tires and lives, one day at a time. Scott gets more information about current events.
Cast of Characters:	Cyclops, Nightingale

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Cyclops has posed:
It's Sunday and Scott is just finishing up with his autoshop class with a number of the boyss around campus. They were changing tires all day on several vehicles, learning how to gauge air pressure, tighten nuts and store the tools properly Dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a dirt smudged t-shirt, the field leader is looking very casual as he works. It's hard to imagine him as the stiff and stuffy X-Man that lurks about the mansion.

After giving each boy's hand a firm shake on their way out, he finishes putting away the last of the tools away, then heads over to the car that was currently being worked on to finish putting on the last tire. The radio is playing some old 80's music of the rock genre.

Nightingale has posed:
     Sometimes, life seemed simpler when one is fixing things, or working with their hands. While she had not been anywhere to be seen in the mansion since last evening--not the kitchen, the music room, or anywhere else for that matter--Shannon's finally crawled out of wherever she was hiding, looking pretty much like hell warmed over. Her light blue jeans and plain white t-shirt are clean enough, and not wrinkled, and her white sneakers are in decent shape. But her hair is pulled back into a very messy ponytail, and her wings? They look a little chewed around the edges, for the apparent molting that has been happening. Where she goes, the occasional feather drops, leaving a nice little breadcrumb trail.

     The notes of classic 80's rock draws her in like a moth to a flame, though even a moth knows to keep their distance to a point. She knew what had to be done, but following through wasn't going to be easy.

     "Hey..." Her voice is decidedly subdued, lacking its usual sparkle. "Need another pair of hands to help with that?"

Cyclops has posed:
Glancing upwards, Scott runs a hand back through his brown hair, smoothing it away from his face, careful of not upsetting his glasses. "Good afternoon Miss Lance. I just finished up a class with the boys. Changing tires. One of the most important lessons one needs to understand when it comes to maintaining a vehicle."

He gives her a glance over for a moment, brows furrowing behind his red shades. "Everything okay?" He asks as he twirls a wrench about in his hand on his way to the tool box to place it inside with a clunk.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Good afternoon, Mr. Summers." Shrugging, the winged teen tucked a stray wisp of pale gold away behind her right ear. "Define 'okay'." For several long moments, she simply observes the most basic of auto maintenance. Couldn't hurt to pay attention, could it? However, it didn't seem too likely to stick at the moment, if her expression was any indication. "If 'okay' is alive and breathing, then yeah. If 'okay' is anything other than that... probably not."

     She closes her glacier blue eyes tightly, her fingers curling and flexing. Damn it, Shannon, just say it! Beating around the bush wasn't going to help! "Got a lot on my mind. Things got... pretty bad last night with Kitty in the wellness office. Enough for Herr Wagner to step in. I don't even want to think about it now, we're working on mending fences anyways."

     She takes a deep breath, straightening and... is she actually shaking, as another feather flutters to the ground? "There was more to the report that I was reluctant to add, because it just sounds so damn crazy one would usually wind up in the nuthouse for it."

Cyclops has posed:
Furrowing his brows, Scott turns to face her, folding his arms across his broad chest. "I don't even know what happened last night, outside of your message stating that Megan was injured. It's why I sent Kurt to check on it as the X-Men were currently in the middle of a mission briefing."

"What happened with Kitty? Why was she involved?" He puts the last tool away into his box, then clicks it shut after he turns back to the bench. He continues to straighten things to put into place, because order is important to have in a workbench.

"The X-Men are now fully focused on solving this Goblin Prince situation once and for all and now that Jean is involved, I can assure you, this guy wno't last much longer around the mansion."

Nightingale has posed:
     "Kitty was... not happy that I sent a message instead of running for the mansion. Given the opponent, I was highly reluctant to leave Megan out there." Shannon shrugs. "A lot of harsh words were spoken on both sides. Please... don't begrudge her that. Things could've been handled better, but that's not what I'm getting to here."

     Running her fingers through her already messy hair did nothing to tame the tangles, instead drawing a mild scowl from the girl. "It goes back a bit further than that. Going to be blunt and admit to sheltering a fairy." She taps the side of her head, sighing. "Yeah. I know, it sounds nuts. And Megan's the one who needs help, not me. But it did make me a target, twice. Once at the talent show at Evolution. You heard about that one, I'm pretty sure. But it's why the gremlins were converging on me."

     Shannon pauses, chewing her lower lip. Oh, this was /not/ going to settle well at all. "The other was just a few weeks ago, in my dorm. Wound up with a gremlin visitor. Just one to start. I'd managed to restrain and silence the little booger. Two more came looking, but left when they didn't hear anything coming from inside my dorm." She grimaces. "Before I even had a chance to alert anyone, a portal opened up under the one I'd restrained, and the booger fell right through."

     Closing her eyes, she sets her lips in a thin line for several moments. "It... hasn't always been so easy to get in touch with you or miss Grey. There's a lot of nights I fell asleep studying outside her office or at the landing near the hallway to the staff dorms. Heck, even a few nights I zonked out camping out near the Professor's office." She tries to smile a little bit. "You have no idea how much of a relief it is to see both of you out more. You really don't."

Cyclops has posed:
"Jean and I often have business that carries us across the world, or even other galaxies. It is why we have a staff that is supposed to be competent enough to fill our shoes when we are away from the school." Scott says with a frown upon his face. "Though now I wonder if we need to evaluate how things have been run and look to enhance the current plan."

Rubbing a hand over his face, he squints his eyes shut so that he can sneak a few fingers under his glasses to rub at his closed eyes. "This is not really my area of expertise and I have reached out to a few others that may be able to offer some insight, but for now, we are working with what we got. We can only hope that Miss Grey and Miss Braddock can psychically track down this presence so that we can resolve things."

"I do not fault you in sending a message. I did after all teach you the lesson of never leaving a teammate behind."

Nightingale has posed:
     Nodding slowly, Shannon leans against the car Scott was working on. "Even knowing that... it was... difficult to hold on. I'm afraid I expressed that frustration to Kitty and it was not taken very well. It was never meant as a slight to you, miss Grey, or any of the teachers or X-men." She smiles a little bit. "When you reached back to help me up, during that parkour run, I'm not sure you realize how much that meant. It made more of a difference than you realize."

     Her brows furrow and she nods. "Mention was made by Pixie that miss Grey has been helping her. It gave me an idea. Slightly risky, but if I can't trust the both of you to keep us safe, then we're in hot water before the pot even boils." She tilts her head, peering over at Scott. "Thinking a little bit like a healer here, to diagnose a problem, it helps to see it in action. Right now, I'm playing host to a fairy. Whatever dark influence it is that's got a hold of Pixie, reacts badly to fairies. Keep me at a safe distance, but in the same room, and see if that gives miss Grey and miss Braddock something more to go on."

Cyclops has posed:
"Does any other staffers or members of the X-Men know about your situation?" Scott asks as he picks up a bottle of water from the work bench, taking a small sip from it to wet his mouth. "Miss Gwynn did not include any of that in the report she sent to me and this is information that we /need/ to have. We can't have our students possessed by foreign entities regardless of what they are." There is another heavy sigh from him as he lifts the bottle of water up and pours some on the back of his neck.

"I will let Jean and Betsy know about that as well." He doesn't appear to be very comfortable with the situation surrounding the...situation. He rubs the bridge of his nose, then slips his phone out from his pocket to scroll through his contacts. No. No. No. No. It doesn't appear that his database of 'super friends' is very helpful at the moment. "Well, thank you for coming to speak with me. It gives me a lot to think about on how to fix this."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon nods. "Kitty stopped by earlier this morning to try and mend fences. I started by telling her." She sighs a little, and lifts her chin a notch. "Had a think about that, though. Figured I ought to have the spine to tell you myself." She frowns a little. "I'll see if I can convince my... guest... to come forward and speak up for herself, hopefully save miss Grey the necessity of poking around and finding the proverbial bats in my belfry."

Cyclops has posed:
"Regardless, I want her out of your head by tonight. You are a child under our care and I am sure your parents will not be too happy knowing that you have a fantasy parasite inside of you." Scott says with a light noise in his throat. "I feel like I have failed as not only an X-Man, but an adult, knowing that things progressed this far under my nose." He gives a shake of his head, then motions towards her Vespa. "Once we clear this up, we can begin your driving instructions and getting you ready for the written exam."

Nightingale has posed:
     At that, Shannon frowns, and for once, she steps right up to Scott. "Respectfully, I have to disagree with you pretty strongly on that, Mr. Summers. 'Failure' would be doing nothing about it once you know. You're doing something about it, therefore, you haven't failed." She frowns and sighs heavily. "If anything, I've been the one to fail you, by not being more persistent in attempting to get through to someone about this."

     The mention of studying for the road and written tests for the Vespa does elicit a bit of a smile from the girl, and her wings droop a little bit less than before. "Thank you. That means a lot, too, like the parkour run. And everything else."

Cyclops has posed:
"It is the faculty's job, including the failsafes that we have in place, to determine the student's safety. At the end of the day, the buck stops here, with me. I am in charge. Therefore, this failure is on me." Scott says with a furrow upon his face. He pats her on the shoulder twice, then starts off as he slides his phone out, tapping on the screen. "I am going to meet with Jean and have a discussion."

"Just keep your head up, Miss Lance. Everything will be fine. Both driving lessons and goblins. This is just another weekend in the life of an X-Man. One day, I may even run the Danger Room scenario involving The Brood. Dealing with parasites isn't new for us. Have a good day and keep both Jean and I in touch if anything new arises."

Nightingale has posed:
     Never had it been more clear to Shannon just how much she had to learn, if she was to have any hope of one day staying on and serving after graduation. She nods once, but still offers a smile where she can. "The buck may stop at your door... but if I have to keep my head up, so do you, sir." With that, she steps back and smiles a little bit more, with a jaunty two-fingered salute. "You have a good day too. I won't be too hard to find, if either of you need."