6493/Was That One Lump Or Two

Was That One Lump Or Two
Date of Scene:	13 February 2019
Location:	Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Kitty relates being run over by a yacht to Kurt. Scott, Erika, and Lorna arrive and discussion turns to Rachel Grey's arrival
Cast of Characters:	Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Polaris, Souvenir, Cyclops

---

Shadowcat has posed:
It is a cool day, with Winter still here but Spring starting to try to make itself felt more and more. Temperatures sometimes climbing above melting and the plants ready to push forth new sprouts and buds when a long enough warm spell comes along. But for now, the sky overhead is still filled with the white-grey of clouds, and a cool wind whistles down from the north.

A black sedan pulls into the driveway and makes its way up to the school. Parts of it shine like it was washed not too long ago, but the areas around the wheels show plenty of spray from the wet pavement as if it has traveled a distance. It pulls up to the school and stops. The passenger door opens and Kitty Pryde climbs out. She's wearing a sweater and jeans, and is sporting a noticeable lump on her forehead, the bruise suggesting it is recent. She leans down to talk to the driver, giving him a grateful smile. "Sure, I'll be happy to rate you 5 stars," she tells the Uber driver. "And I'll get some ice on it. Thank you for the water." She closes the door and the car pulls away, heading back out of the school.

Nightcrawler has posed:
And having returned to the school from abroad in just the last few days was Kurt Wagner. Already seen as the good cop to Logan's bad cop to some of the students, he had just been settling in recently, and making the rounds of hellos and giftgiving that accompanied his trip overseas.

And here he was, chasing away the winter with a long-sleeved sweater worn over a collared cream shirt. Brown slacks down below, and while he didn't wear shoes so much... he had some sandalish things that he was using to keep his bare feet off of the cold earth.

Currently, he was squatting on the stairs up to the mansion, finishing a conversation with one of the students. Bringing up his hand to ruffle the boy's head, the student turns, and so does Kurt, his eyes drawn to... "Guten dag, Kitty," he says, tail waggling in the air behind himself.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde looks over to the school, giving a bit of a weary sight but one accompanied by a look as if she's glad her trip is over. "Kurt," she says as she sees him. "Kurt!" The twenty-year-old moves over to him, looking like she wants to hurry but moving a little slower than normal as if she's sore. "Oh I missed you so much," she says as she gets to him, and will try to throw her arms around Kurt to give him a big hug.

Assuming he lets her, the smell of the ocean is strong on her sweater, that salt-water smell that has to be washed out. Her hair is a bit more mussed than normal as well. "It's been way too long," says the girl who left the team to go to Oxford, and hasn't been back in the last year. "How are you?""

Nightcrawler has posed:
Kurt was always open with the hugs - strong and warm as he returns the hug given openly and without judgement. "I am good! I have heard that you returned just recently as well, ja?" he says, drawing back from the hug, mischief on his grin.

"You have fought supervillains, demons, and maybe even aliens..." he says.

"But what got you this time?" he asks, pointing with his tail down towards Kitty's knee as he withdraws, tucking his hands into the pockets of his slacks. "I'm guessing Bobby has something to do with it. Or surfing - but it is far too cold to go surfing in the northeast, ja?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde stays in the hug longer than just a quick greeting. Expressing how truly good it is to see him after so long before finally letting go. "I wish it was a good story," she says, looking up towards her forehead as if trying to see the lump she definitely can feel. It might even be big enough she can glimpse it. "I went to see my friend Barbara on the coast. She got called to work, told me to take her sailboat out while she was gone," Kitty says. She takes a seat on the steps, stuffing her hands in her jeans pockets against the cold.

"I guess this big old party yacht thing just ran me over. I had my earbuds in, didn't hear it. Just turned in time to see the hull whack me in the face before I could react. Knocked me out. I guess it sank the sailboat completely. Next thing I knew, someone from Atlantis had me on the beach giving me CPR. I must have coughed up about half of the Atlantic," Kitty tells him.

She gives an exasperated sigh. "That would be a heck of a way to go out, wouldn't it? Here lies Kitty Pryde. Defended Earth from Galactus. Killed by a yacht drunk driven by 'Tre'."

Nightcrawler has posed:
And of course, Kurt will keep the hug for as long as it needs to go. "Well, you can always add details. Embellish, ja?" he says, letting his smile spring brighter along his lips. Of course his eyes go to the lump, his lips pursing a bit.

But his eyes return to Kitty's as the story progresses. "Mein Gott. I hope the police managed to catch him," he says, his concern etched deeply upon his features. "Thank God that you survived, and I hope everyone is okay in spite of it all."

"Except perhaps Tre. He is allowed to go to prison, I think," he says, giving his tail a lash. "Do you want Dr. Grey to check you out?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde is sitting on the front steps. Wearing a sweater and jeans, and looking a little more disheveled than usual as she talks to Kurt. She also has quite a bruise on her forehead, one that raised a lump that will be a few days going away if she doesn't get some special medical care from one of the mutants with healing powers.

"I didn't even talk to them yet. Pretty sure I had a bit of a concussion. Headache is down to just a tiny one this morning at least," Kitty tells Kurt as the two talk there on the front steps. "I don't know that the guy driving the boat was Tre. But I mean, come on? It had to be a Tre, right?" Kitty asks.

"Yes, I figured I'd grab her or Hank. Or one of the kids who heals. We do have someone who heals right? We always have someone who heals," Kitty says, still trying to catch up with the current roster in her four days back from Oxford.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna came out through the front door, a thick wool jacket zipped up with a scarf, and high heeled boots on her feet. A pair of sunglasses were perched on her head and walked with a clear purpose of going out.. Or at least, she had until she nearly ran into Kurt and Kitty, standing there talking on the front steps. The young woman blinked, pausing as she raked her green eyed gaze over the woman's bruises with a frown twisting at her lips.

"Kitty! It's nice to see you, but what the hell happened?" She asked as she came closer to the two. Her boots clicking with each step. Lorna had been gone for the better part of the past year in Genosha, but had come back last month. There'd been hijinks and other schenangians, but the Genoshan Princess was visiting still.. for now.

Nightcrawler has posed:
"I'm not sure. I just came back yesterday. But we still do have a medbay - and I think I would feel better if you let someone from the Academy look at it. Not that I do not trust doctors - but we have access to so much more here, ja?" offers Kurt as he stands on the front steps, still talking to Kitty.

Positive in tone, his concern still leaked out of the edges of his voice, his hand lifting up to point a finger up into the air.

"Do you want me to teleport you, ah..."

That's when Lorna came out, Kurt turning to flash his smile her way, bringing up a hand to push through his slightly shaggy hair.

He was in need of a haircut. "She was in a boating accident... so we should probably help her to the medbay, ja?" he says.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde sees Lorna come out. Kitty rises from the steps where she'd sat down, giving her a soft smile. Kitty's hair looks a little more mussy than usual. She's wearing a sweater and jeans, and has a fair-sized bruise on her forehead with accompanying lump. "Lorna," Kitty says, smiling and offering her a big hug.

"Wow, missed you. I picked the right time to come back. Heard you'd been gone too," Kitty says. She motions towards her head. "Yes, what Kurt said. Had my friend's sailboat out in the Atlantic while she was called into work. This big yacht ran me over before I knew it was there, with my earbuds in. One of the Atlanteans saw it happen I guess, pulled me out of the water," she explains.

Kitty looks to Kurt and says, "That would be great, the teleport. In just a few maybe, after I get to hear how Genosha was?"

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir is roaming around in tall moccasins, odd but there's probably a reason. She waves, oh hey people, and makes her way that way, wincing a bit at walking over rocks in soft soles.

"Hey! What's up? Yikes, what did you piss off? Are you okay?"

Nightcrawler has posed:
"Well, sure, of course," Kurt says, taking a step off to the side, and letting the others catch up. "I'm starting to get a little suspicious. We all took vacations, and now - we come back, on the same day?" he says in his dusky accented voice. "If we were anyone else, I'd call it coincidence, but..."

"At this mansion, I'm not sure we can," he says, looking over towards Erika. "Hello," remarks Kurt, bringing up his hand to tap the side of his head. "Boating accident. We're going to have the medbay check Miss Pryde out of course, Miss, hm... have we met?" he asks of Erika.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna embraced Kitty warmly, leaning back to eye the bruises again, before she let go and stepped back, giving Kurt a smile and a flap of her hand. "I've been back for a month. Genosha has been.. well, a lovely little tropical island." She coughed lightly, "But c'mon, we can talk and walk down to the medbay. Then we're not all standing out here getting cold. I was just going to go out shopping to kill some time." She offered with a faint smile on her lips as she glanced toward Erika and nodded to the other woman.

"Because frankly, I'm still not used to the Winter here, and having lived on a //tropical// island," She stressed tropical again, "Does not help."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde smiles over to Erika as she arrives, if just a little weakly. "Yes, I'll be ok. Happened last night. I had a whale of a headache, but it is much less this morning."

Whether walking, or Kurt teleporting everyone, they end up in the Wellness office before long. Kitty explains for Erika, "My friend's little sailboat is... actually I don't know. It sank I gather. I turned just in time to kiss metal hull but not enough to react. Knocked me out. An Atlantean pulled me out of the water, had me on the beach before I came to."

Cyclops has posed:
    Scott was actually in the wellness center with a finger being tapped up with some bandaids and then he was starting to move towards the door when a Kitty shows up as well as a few other women. "Um, hello." Scott says, giving a wave that quickly shifts into being him scratching the back of his head. "When did you get back?"

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir ohs. "So much for big sky defenses. Although I guess it doesn't work as well in two D anyway. Did anyone find out who did it? Is there anything I can do?" She frowns and grumps.

Polaris has posed:
A glance was spared back toward Kitty as Lorna had shucked off her coat, purse, and sunglasses as the group made their way to the Wellness center one way or another. She shook her head, heaving a sigh. "I can help with that if you want. Metal? Easy fix." She wiggled her fingers, a bright green light illuminating them briefly before it faded away into nothing. She rolled her shoulders back, and flashed a grin at the group.

"I've been training a lot in the past year. I could even make your friend a new sailboat if you wanted."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde's face lights up. "Scott!" she says. She goes over to offer him a big, tight hug if allowed, before letting him go. "Just a couple of days ago. I didn't really call ahead, just sort of decided to show up," she says. "Though it didn't stop Bobby from finding out and wrapping every last thing in my room in tinfoil."

Kitty smiles at the team leader. "Really missed you guys," she says, biting her lip for a moment, and turning to make the statement inclusive with everyone. "I'm going to stick around, take the semester off from Oxford. Jean has me settling in with Jubilation, doing guidance counseling while I'm here."

Kitty shakes her head to Erika. "I haven't even talked to the police yet. Unless my friend called them, don't think they even know." The offer from Lorna gets a grateful look from Kitty. "That would be so amazing if you could? I feel terrible. She's a nurse, it's a tiny sailboat but it was her baby. I was trying to work out how to pay for it."

Cyclops has posed:
    Scott gives Kitty a hug, a friendly pat on her back and then he takes a step back before motioning towards the bed. "Glad to have you back, but it's time to look after yourself." The X-leader says with a frown, and a finger aimed at the spot for Kitty to take over and get medical attention. "It's good to have you back." Summers says as he starts to try to head towards the door, and ushering out as many people as he can, got to let the girl get helped first and foremost.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shrugged lightly, flapping a hand as she took up position to lean against the wall to wait and make sure Kitty did in fact, get checked out. "Don't worry about it, We can go out and take a look see. Can't be too hard to dredge up a metal sailboat. Might need some work.. but the hull will be fine. I can promise you that much if it was truly made of metal." She reached up to push her hair back from her face. Long green hair curling back behind her ears as she shifted to glance at Scott. "Hey Scott, I was going to go into town for errands. Do we need anything?"

Could Lorna have checked the list on the fridge? Definitely. Did she want to? Nope.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir ohs and frowns. "You need to let them know. Investigation is all about clues that dissappear fast. Let me know if I can do anything to help?" She sighs some and gets shooed. "Okay, okay, I'm going."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde goes over and takes a seat. She gets the eye test and all the other concussion tests, with a prognosis that she probably did have a concussion but is at least on the mend and to try to take it easy for another day or two, especially if her headache comes back.

"Thanks Lorna, that would help so much. And you're right, Erika, I'll call them up," Kitty says. As she is given an icepack for the bruise, Kitty adds, "I'll go look through the roster and see if we have a healer. Though I feel pretty good. No reason to make a mountain out of a molehill," Kitty says. She reaches up and gently touches the lump and asks Scott and Lorna, "It is still just a molehill, right? I've got enough nicknames without people adding Everest-head or McKinley-noggin to the list."

Kitty looks towards Scott specifically. "So, I met Rachel," she comments softly, watching his reaction.

Cyclops has posed:
    "It's bad yeah. But no, not Rushmore." Scott says with a frown towards Kitty and then his eyebrows are quickly hidden behind the frames of his glasses, oh she met the daughter. His face also starts to turn red. "Yeah. She's... special isn't she?" The leader asks, obviously he has no idea how to deal with that, it's still a panic inducing situation to even be alone with Jean, especially now they have a daughter.

Polaris has posed:
A glance over Kitty's bruises had Lorna offering a small wince, "Eh.. I bet it hurts way worse than it looks, right? Give it a few days and it'll be gone. If any of the kids try to make up nick-names just toss them through the wall." She offered helpfully. She was helping. Definitely. This was why she wasn't teaching. Her idea of training had come from her father who, half of his training methods were likely sink or swim. Most of them were honestly.

She'd be throwing wrenches at kids if she were in charge. Which was why she wasn't.

A glance was spared from Scott, to Kity and back again, picking up the sudden awkwardness of the conversation. "Rachel...?" She blinked, tilting her head as she squinted at Scott's blushing features.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde seems to agree with Lorna. The nurse comes over, dabbing it with some alcohol that stings a little bit from the way Kitty screws up her face semi-comically. The young brunette woman gives a little nod to Lorna once the nurse is done. "It'll be right as rain in no time I'm sure," Kitty agrees.
    Her eyes swing back to Scott, and Kitty's expression is soft and sympathetic. "Quite a lot to adjust to," Kitty says to him. "I guess I played a pretty big role in her life. It's a lot for me to get my head around. Would it bother you if I came around sometime to talk?" Someone Scott could talk with about it who is not-Jean.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir ohs. "Yeah. Rachel. She means well, just like.. She's already on the hand grenade list, she's sketchy on consent with her abilities, and, I dunno. I haven't figured her out and I don't know how to deal with her yet. She's got a messed up past. I worry for her and about her."

Cyclops has posed:
    "That would help a lot." Scott says, Kitty might remember that Scott never got up the nerve to ask Jean out, and still hasn't, making the whole situation that much more awkward. "I - I would appreciate that." Scott repeats before he looks away from Kitty towards Erika, "What's the Hand grenade list?"

Polaris has posed:
A shake her head follows and Lorna clearly has not caught up to speed with the arrival of Rachel. Sue her, she'd been out and there were a lot of people she didn't know in the Mansion these days. "Slow down, who is Rachel? I missed something, I know." She'd been out and about, frequently coming and going whenever she'd wanted since her brief visit to her father a few weeks ago.

"Why is Scott blushing like someone called him on his socks and sandal's summer wear?"

Shadowcat has posed:
    Kitty looks both thoughtful and troubled at what Erika said. She waits to hear the student's definition of the hand grenade list too, seeming curious about what was meant by it.
    Kitty looks back to Scott and gives him a smile and a sympathetic nod. "I'll come catch you later then. Maybe bring some popcorn and a few beers even," she tells him with a friendly smile.
    Kitty faces Lorna and her tongue touches her lips as she seems to be deciding how to answer. "Rachel is from the future. Her history doesn't seem to match things about our present world. So maybe an alternate timeline. She's Jean's daughter, and looks just like Jean. And her world was pretty apocalyptic. So, imagine how it might be hearing... she remembers someone you care about dying, or... well, you can imagine."
    Alternate timelines. Ho boy.

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir tilts her head, "Like, hmm. One of my friends liked playing these characters with huge berserk issues or area effects on themselves. They told us to use their characters like hand grenades, throw them at a problem and then go somewhere else because they are just as dangerous to us as they are to the problem."
"Wonk-future Fallout kid of Jean's. Psychic like whoah, firebird effects. She nearly blew up the danger room, and it wasn't even set up yet. I never found out why. She's got that whole 'light the whole room on fire' vibe going."

Polaris has posed:
A slow blink and a nod followed as Lorna pushed off the wall. "Well geeze. Looks like we'll be ready for Mad-Max scenarios then. Kinda creepy to think that Jean's seeing an alternative universe version of a kid she's never actually had." She paused a beat. "And I thought my family history was messy." She clicked her tongue and made to leave.

"Anyways, I gotta go errand shopping."

Cyclops has posed:
    "Hey, Lorna, could you pick up some 5w30 for me?" Scott says, remembering he has to do an oil change on his car soon and needs to have some ready to put in. Then the brunette loks back to Erika and cants his head a bit. "I'm, not so sure that's a good way to describe her, and it's certainly not going to help her get better if we do refer to her like that." Scott says with a frown. "We're all family here regardless of blood relation or not. We need to act like it."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde gives a little nod that seems to agree with Scott. "She's going through a lot. If we need to help her learn some control, that's something we can focus on," Kitty says. Kitty smiles over to Erika and rests a hand on her shoulder, being careful to avoid touching skin. "If the other kids are talking like that, wouldn't hurt if someone could help get them to cool it a bit. Give her a chance. Most of us have taken a while to fit in here."

Kitty gives a self-deprecating grin "I've had a few moments myself like that." She looks towards Lorna then and waves. "See you later Lorna. Feel free to drop by if you get time later." Kitty takes the ice pack off of her forehead. "Ok, I should really just find someone to heal this, shouldn't I?"

Souvenir has posed:
"When she appeared, she knocked me silly from across the property with a mind scream, shoved a bunch of traumatic memories in my head, later yanked them out again, and then she almost blew up next to me because something she couldn't explain triggered her. At this point, she's kind of making me nervous. I like her, she's nice, she's sweet, I trust her, and when things go wrong, I want her on the other side of the room because I haven't seen a lot of precision and focus yet."

Erika Kristasdottir sighs. "I don't mean to sound detached and mean or anything. Seriously. She's super nice. And her background is weird, and I don't know how to help her deal with it. I think the other kids just think she's weird. That and she has the weird polycule thing going on, so there's probably gossip. I might be able to check for that if I tap a few random bits of trash."

Cyclops has posed:
    "She's probably got some PTSD, and is likely lashing out in every way she knows how..." Scott says with a sigh as he makes towards the door, his shoes clapping against the floor. "I'll go find Jean and discuss it with her, as I feel we are the two most responsible for her. ... Somehow." Scott says as he looks from Erika to Kitty and frowns before slipping out the door.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde clears her throat a little bit uncomfortably. "Well, and... you two are but I guess I probably run a close third. I guess I stepped in when you two... ah... were not able to help her any longer," Kitty says. She's really knocking it out of the park in talking delicately today. Maybe this whole guidance counselor thing is going to work out.

"Anyway, we can talk about that later. And, I'm still finding out from her what went on," Kitty adds. She looks over to Erika and says, "Thanks, Erika. I know it's not the easiest situation to deal with. Just having a kind voice amongst the other kids can go a really long way. Just, you know... hey give her a chance... sort of thing."

Souvenir has posed:
Erika Kristasdottir waves at Scott. "Sorry, I don't know how else to say it. It's not like she's mean, it's like.." She thinks.

"Like you have to tighten a screw in your eyeglasses, and she's super helpful and wants to help out, and she has," She mimes a big piece of equipment, "A drill driver. Does that make sense? Anyway, I don't want to keep digging in deeper about Rachel. Is there anything else?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde tells the nurse, "Thank you for checking me out. Appreciate it." She grabs a package of Advil, just in case, then walks over to join Erika. "Guess that's it. Hey, I heard you were having some issues with your sheets. Is that still a problem? If so I was thinking we could maybe go try to find some handmade ones that might be a little less distracting for you," Kitty says as they walk out together.