6035/Look Who Came to Dinner

Look Who Came to Dinner
Date of Scene:	21 December 2018
Location:	Xavier's School, Westchester, New York
Synopsis:	Magik discovers Emma in Xavier's mansion and assumptions are made - by both parties.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Magik

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Emma Frost has posed:
The first batches of cookies had been set out in common areas, and Hank had done a great job of hiding the presents. Emma coyly not committing to exactly *when* she'd bake him his cookies, while still planning to without fail. It just didn't preclude keeping him guessing as to whether or not she intended to keep up her end of the bargain.

A small amusement, but an amusement nonetheless.

The lounge is empty but for Emma. The holidays leaving the school nearly depopulated, and staff as well as students had been fleeing in droves home for the holidays, leaving behind only a few support staff, and those who had nowhere else to go.

Emma fell into the latter, though most assumed she'd drawn a lot in the former. She merely chose not to disabuse others of that notion.

She lounges indolently upon a loveseat, legs curled up, and a book in her lap. A tumbler of scotch, and a stoppered decanter at her side. A single cigarette lined up on an elegant silver case, with an equally elegant silver zippo sitting beside it, unlit as yet, but The White Queen pauses time and again to consider the thing.

Her book isn't open.

Magik has posed:
There is a bright flaring of light in a circular disc that hovers in the air near the door. Slowly it begins to descend, at a slight angle. As it lowers, it reveals a woman standing there with long blonde hair. She's dressed in a cable knit cream colored sweater and a pair of well worn jeans, as she slowly is revealed by that lowering disc. Then the disc reaches the floor and disappears, finally revealing the brown boots on her feet. She glances around the teachers' lounge with pale blue eyes and starts to reach out a hand as the light flares at her feet.

That's when she sees Emma.

In a flash of light, she is wearing an armored sleeve and there is a bright silvery white sword in her hand. Illyana's frown is dark and the shadows in the room seem to lengthen a bit. "What are /you/ doing here?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma would be more concerned about the abrupt arrival of someone into the teacher's lounge by such methods.. were she not Emma. As it is, her first reaction isn't one of concern, but calmly looking up from her drape of the loveseat while simultaneously assessing if she needs to prepare to react.

It's a question that's easily enough answered within moments as the other woman speak.

"How nice to see you again, Emma. Aren't you looking well." Emma's tones are droll, and an eyebrow arches delicately as Emma makes her point, following it up with an equally dry, "Illyana. I wasn't aware you'd been added to the faculty."

Magik has posed:
"Added to the faculty?" The comment on how she should've been greeting Emma wasn't lost on her. She simply ignored it. "Like you're a part of it?" She laughs a bit, dismissing that as sheer insanity. It had to be a joke.

She doesn't lower the sword nor does she advance though as she eyes the woman on the loveseat like she's certain Emma's a serpent that will strike at any moment. "What are you doing here and what have you done with the X-Men?"

Someone really should've filled her in but considering how little time she's managed to spend at the mansion since her return, she missed a memo.

Emma Frost has posed:
There's a light laugh from Emma, who remains nonplussed, even in light of that sword pointed at her. Emma shifts position, swinging her legs off the loveseat as she comes to be upright again; book set aside on the small table beside her; her cigarette looked at longingly for a second or two before her hand stops its hover over the slim thing, and settles upon her tumbler of scotch instead, drawing it to her lips.

"Done with them? My dear, I've joined them. And do put that silly weapon away. Do you honestly think in the stronghold of..."

And that's where it hits her.

"Oh, my dear. You actually think I've done away with them. That I'm sitting here gloating at my victory."

Magik has posed:
"Joined them?" Illyana's voice breaks slightly she hits such a high note of surprise on that second word. Her eyebrows are lifted high up on her head, eyes wide.

"Wait, I 'ported into the wrong dimension, right? This isn't the one I'm from. It can't be." She reaches out to her stepping discs, touching on them briefly then focuses on Emma again as her mouth gapes open for a second before she snaps it shut audibly.

"This is the right dimension. And the right time. And of course I think you did away with them. What am I supposed to think? You weren't exactly on good terms with Xavier's when I graduated."

Emma Frost has posed:
"And you weren't quite so quick to fly to the worst possible conclusions about another the last I saw you, either. I seem to recall a lot more along the lines of second chances, and benefits of the doubt. I could ask what changed."

Emma gives a negligent shrug, and sips from her drink.

"Of course I know what changed. We both do. Or I wouldn't be here. Which should answer your question adequately. You act like you believe it impossible for our goals to align, or that I'm some sort of monster." A pointed look Illyana's way. "Did away with them all? Truly? That's what you believe of me?"

Magik has posed:
"Or locked away somewhere with your Hellfire Club allies tormenting them," Illyana points out, since it could be less than doing away with them. After all, taking out all of the X-Men would be a bit much for Emma alone.

Is it a conspiracy? She considers a long moment then reaches out a hand as a stepping disc appears. Out of it comes about a dozen imp like demonic creatures. She gives them an order in some guttural language then they are scampering out of the door and into the school proper. Her little minions will let her know if there has been an attack or things are normal.

In the meantime, she does allow the sword to disappear back where it came from, taking the armor with it. "I do find it hard to believe that you have joined the school. The Professor hired you?"

Emma Frost has posed:
"Well, the Club is doing fine and well, though I don't believe our purposes are so far from a mutual one as you might believe. Or had you not heard that Erik has turned something of a new leaf?"

Emma reaches reflexively for her cigarette, the thing being placed between her lips before she catches herself, removing it, but keeping it balanced between two delicately tapered fingers.

"Old habits," she murmurs almost apologetically. "Business education, if you believe. Your pets won't find anything amiss. A few cookies, perhaps. But nothing untoward. To answer your question, though, yes, Jean herself hired me. You needn't look so surprised."

Magik has posed:
Magneto is one of those confusing mixes for Illyana. At the time she was a student, he was allied with the school. But he had been against them many times before and some after that. He was a mentor for her but at the same time, he had been a villain. And a hero. And a little bit of everything in between. He was also someone she knew cared about the students, despite it all. Now he had his own country that was mutant friendly. It was to be admired even if she didn't agree with all his doctrine.

It isn't long before the imps return. The last one to show seems to be carrying a small stack of cookies it got from somewhere, one tucked in its mouth as well. Illyana frowned at it but got her report from those without their mouths full. The teachers were fine. The students were fine. A stepping disc appeared, taking the imps back to Limbo.

Illyana shook her head. "I guess I owe you an apology." Not that she's really giving one.

Emma Frost has posed:
"I guess you do too," Emma says just as unrepentantly as Illyana's non-apology is given. She regards the younger woman expectantly, even as the cigarette in her fingers is placed upon the silver case again.

"Your histrionics don't become you, Illyana. We, as mutants, need to work together, now more than ever. Only a fool would deny that, and while I've been many things, a fool isn't one of them."

Which, as it happens is a very probable lie given Emma's rather poor choices in love, both past and present. However, Illyana doesn't know about that, and in other matters, Emma is most often considered the epitome of shrewd. And while it might still be a ploy, it's a ploy with a very plausible explanation. Whether or not Emma is lying, her words are the truth.

Magik has posed:
"That wasn't even close to histrionics," Illyana points out, that entire apology thing tossed aside with the accusation. "I simply protect those I care about and, had something happened to my brother, nothing in Heaven or Hell would've saved you from my wrath." The words are spoken like normal conversation, despite the severity of them.

And they are the truth. Piotr, aka Colossus, was the one thing she cared about more than anything. Including herself.

"So what did Jean hire you to do?"

Emma Frost has posed:
"Well, then, my dear," Emma says dryly, returning to a much more relaxed state upon the love seat, "We aren't so very different at all." Because Emma, not that it was generally known, would hold nothing back to protect or avenge those she cared about.

"As to what I was hired for, Business Education. As I've already said. Or did you think that was some flippant remark upon my part?" Emma gestures with her scotch tumbler holding hand to a nearby seat. "Do quit hovering, and join me if you wish. I'm sure you can find a glass easily enough. And if your question was a rather thinly veiled accusation that I shouldn't be allowed near the students, why don't we agree to be rather more forthright from this point on. Feel free to speak your mind, I can't possibly think any less of you for the truth tumbling from your lips."

The other woman is regarded calmly. "Would it be so terrible if I were taking on students?"

Magik has posed:
"All I did was ask what you were hired to do. I didn't imply what you should or shouldn't be." Maybe in her head but that's locked up like a vault so Illyana knows Emma didn't get that information. "I did believe the Business Education was something other than you telling me your position. There was no accusation in what I said and I, for one, am never one to mince words. If I want to say something, it will be outright, not implied or hinted at." Certainly she can be manipulative but

She glances at the chair Emma motions to but shakes her head negatively as she looks back to the woman. "No, thank you. I believe I will go continue my search for Jean." She should've asked the imps if they'd seen her. Hindsight.

Emma Frost has posed:
"Illyana. I've dealt with people much better than you at playing this game of cat and mouse. You might not have said a thing, but the implication was there. Your impression of me is written across your features, and in the incredulity of your tones. I'd have to be an idiot not to understand what you're not saying, and I am not an idiot."

She doesn't look bothered when her offer to join her is declined. "As you wish. Let me reassure you, however, I'm not your enemy. I do think a fresh start would benefit us both, would you not agree?"

Magik has posed:
"No. I would not." It is that simple for Illyana. Especially after being told what she is thinking, implying or saying, when it simply isn't true.

"I was surprised to find you here. Misunderstanding as things have changed since I graduated. It does not change how I feel about you and, until I see something more than insults and you reading more into what I am saying than is actually meant, I think I'll leave you be to work on your..." She flicks her eyes to the liquor and cigarette. "Old habits."

With that there is a flare of power and that stepping disc appears around her feet, moving upward as her body disappears with it's passage. Up the legs, the body, then it reaches a point above where her head had been and disappears. Just as quickly as she had appeared, she's gone.