9939/Winterizing the Roses

Winterizing the Roses
Date of Scene:	06 November 2019
Location:	Student Gardens, Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Several residents of Xavier's Institute help Ororo secure her rose gardens for the winter.
Cast of Characters:	Storm, Surge, Samuel Morgan, Multiple Man, Nightingale, Cannonball

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Storm has posed:
Most of the gardens around Xavier's Institute are more akin to an outdoor botany lab than the sculpted hedgerows that were there in decades previous. Surely many generations of Xavier-hired gardeners were spinning in their graves when expensive grass pads were swapped out for gravel beds, drainage ditches, and greenhouses. Both permanent and temporary ones have been installed.

Ororo clips the last of the buds from her rose bushes and gives the sorry-looking plants a look of apologetic regret. They're one of the prides of her growing experiments and consistently provide a spot of beautiful color in the 'ornamentals' section. She starts wrapping them in a mesh netting to keep them from spreading too much and looks over at the student detail raising a temporary greenhouse around her. A few of them are setting aluminum poles into the ground while others are unrolling the plastic sheets that'll form the walls around the rose bushes. "You might find that it works better if you put that crossbeam around the other direction," she suggests with a polite diffidence to one of the students.

Surge has posed:
Usually Nori is late to details. She's late to everything. When she dies, she'll be late to her funeral! But Ororo is... kind of a hero of hers and so here she was, right the hell on time, even if she didn't bother to dress for working out in the garden. She's wearing a flanel shirt unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, cut off shorts that use to be someones dress slacks, but now end just below her knees, and right above her combat boots... and a pair of welding goggles up on her spikey shock of electric blue hair.

Right, she's also got on those god damned gauntlets.

Big, obtrusive, and IN HER WAY WIELDING THE POLE!

"Ugh, yes ma'am." She says in an attempt of polite difference to Storm as she's corrected in where the beam might better serve. "Hey, jackass..." Murmuring to one of the bigger guys, all covered in scales like a lizard, "Get it together, you're letting me embarass myself..."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    What Bean knows about gardening, despite his name, you could write on the back of a very small napkin. It was just one of those things that had never come up, and he was unlikely to ever need to know. So when the call went out for volunteers to help out in the garden, he leapt at the chance. No better way of learning than by doing.

    For the sake of the plants though, he's confining himself to driving in the poles for the winter greenhouse. Dealing with delicate plants might be a bit too advanced for him, but swinging a hammer and putting poles in the ground was just about his speed. He's even making sure to mark the spots for the poles, measuring them up twice, before setting them up.

    "Easy mistake" he mentions to Noriko with a smile, kneeling down in the dirt to make sure a pole is seated properly. "All those pole ends look the same to me."

Multiple Man has posed:
It has been a week. Oh, Lordy has it been a week. Between growing case work, supernatural tomfoolery and trying to pay the bills on time... it's been rough. Factor in dying once and the usual Madrox mayhem, he's been very non-visible as of late. Which is great if you have a red visor and a stick surgically implanted somewhere. Not so much if you want to get some work done.

Which is what a gaggle of Madri are set to do as they all march in a loose group to the gardens. Dressed identically to the last man, they carry tools of the groundskeeping trade. Madrox Prime? He's on a riding lawn mower. Smoking a cigarette, wearing a ridiculously massive sun hat and generally ignoring the not so quiet conversations of his Dupes.

When the mass of Madri arrive, they all stop. One throws a rake down in exhasperation. Others busy themselves with tidying up. Trimming. Sweeping. The mower engine dies and Jamie OG stands up, foot planted on the hood of the hot rod red riding lawn chopper. Captain Morgan on a sunday rampage. "Heyo, Ororo. Noriko. Scales." An upnod as he takes a drag off a cigarette. On school grounds. Terrible. "Anybody see a Me run by in a speedo with a hockey stick or an umbrella?"

Nightingale has posed:
     When word goes through the proverbial grapevine amongst the student body that miss Munroe needed help, well, there were likely very few who would deny the call. The mansion's resident winged healer certainly was not one of those who would say no. After returning from Evolution, she changes quickly into her sneakers, light blue jeans, and white t-shirt, and ties her hair back in a ponytail. It was nippy, yes, but there would likely be enough work to keep her from noticing the chill too much. For the moment, she joins the fringe of the gaggle of students that is undertaking various tasks under miss Munroe's watchful eye, observing to see where she might best pitch in.

Storm has posed:
Ororo dusts her gloves twice and peels them off her hands. The old leather work gloves are near worn through from honest use. The winter chill is just starting to settle in; Ororo's in canvas pants and work boots, with a well-worn black-and-red flannel shirt that looks borrowed from Logan.

"We tried one year with two groups, each doing one-half of the tent. It worked marvellously right up until they both ended up building in the wrong direction." A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth, taking any sting from her words. Ororo's management style is fairly hands-off; she explained what the goal was, and let people assign themselves to jobs and figure out the best way to do it.

She lifts a brow at Jamie's question. "I'm not the keeper of your various selves," she reminds him with a grin. "But do try to find him before someone's overly traumatized, perhaps?"

Surge has posed:
Noriko was so jacked up on electrical charge she barely felt the cold. A bundle of radiating energy like an overstuffed microwave burrito left in for thirty seconds too long... touch her and it's lava. Tongues, shall, be, burnt.

She offers a brief nod and a glance at Bean, acknowledging his attempt to aleviate her concerns for having goobered up the pole business, "Yeah, I don't do a lot with poles." That's an inuendo, barely camoflaged. It is said quietly though, for the sake of the younger students because she's still trying to be on her best behavior over here.

This was one of the first times Nori had ever volunteered for any work that wasn't more like being voluntold. She had very smooth hands, ya see.

Jamie's question, it has her laughing, "I cannot and will not live in a world where that is not a thing we get to ask... Hey, has anyone seen a naked me running around carrying a paracel in a floral hat?" Still laughing as she extends her fist out to Shannon for bumping, "Fucking priceless." Pause.... Eyes on Ororo, hoping she hadn't heard that, "FREAKING priceless... the price is freakless... o..." Cough.

Stab the pole in the dirt. Busy busy Surge beaver over here.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon fistbumps Noriko and rolls her eyes, chuckling. "Tell me about it, Zap. You guys going to be okay down here with the poles for this greenhouse? Because if so, I've probably got a pretty good shot at spotting the stray from the air." She rolls her eyes and gigglesnorts. "Can't be any worse than some of the shit I've seen since coming here, for sure. Errr... sorry... some of the /crap/ I've seen." Yeah. Uh-huh. Self-censoring might not be that effective around Logan and would get her a talking-to in the opposite direction, but was perhaps a necessity around miss Munroe.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Seen one like that go by, five minutes ago." Bean confirms, utterly unconcerned and giving Noriko a wink. "But I think the one with the chainsaw got him a little while ago, dragged him off to the compost heap." It's said at a perfect flat level, because Bean can't help but joke with the rather enigmatic groundskeeper. He always wonder, would always wonder, and yet never could bring himself to ask any direct questions. So the host of Madri running about are taken in stride... but that kind of sanguine consideration had to be broken by a joke from time to time.

    Working on the other side of the flower bed from Surge, he quickly glances over to Storm. "Miss Munroe, why are we setting up a greenhouse over the roses? Are they susceptible to cold?"

Multiple Man has posed:
Ah, the smell of hard work, fresh turned soil and clipped greenery. If it wasn't for his work as the grounds team, he'd be a ball of anxiety and urban aggravation. These excursions are vastly theraputic. For Jamie. For everybody else? Well, they have to deal with more Jamie. "And -I'm- supposed to keep track of them? That hardly seems fair." He complains with a hand over his heart. The other pointing his cigarette around like a weapon as he gestures animatedly. "Stormy has a point though. You, you and... god no, not you. Are you crying again? Just... just go and find Bath Salt Florida Jamie."

Sending his Dupes on the mission, Jamie OG snap-points at Noriko. He caught that! "Hey! Work is work. Don't shame me." Was that in reference to the pole comment or his wayward Dupes? Hard to tell as he doesn't elaborate. He does, however, shout after his retreating selves. "I may have a floral hat! Code Yellow!"

Clearing his throat, Jamie hops off the mower to join the students proper. "Five minutes? God. Well. I could be anywhere by now. Hopefully a compost pile. Always wanted to give back to the environment. Not sure that was the original plan but... eh. I'll take it."

Storm has posed:
Ororo rolls her eyes over a tolerant smile; Jamie's madcap antics seem a source of amused exasperation with the weather-bending mutant. "Heavens forbid one of these days one of you /does/ try bath salts," she chivvies Jamie. A pink bandana's on her head, helping to hold her wild white hair in place; she adjusts it absently and turns to look at Sam.

She flashes an approving smile and nods once. "Yes, very good, Samuel," she tells him. "Roses are very delicate flowers. The genus is Rosa, from the family Rosaceae," she clarifies. "They were originally cultivated in China and the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, New England's a poor habitat for them. They don't survive well in the wild-- well, they don't grow as well, I should say," she clarifies. "Snipping the buds and keeping them under cover keeps shock-frost from killing them. Sort of like trimming your nails to keep one from cracking," she suggests as a clarification.

Ororo glances over to Noriko and Shannon. A brow is lifted quite pointedly at the murmuring obscentieis. Ororo can, clearly, make them out quite well. "Are you making progress over there, ladies?" she asks of the two women in a pointed tone.

Surge has posed:
"Progressing like social reform, Ma'am!" Nori says with a startled tone when Ororo lays on the pointed intent in her voice, "We're almost same sex marriage with this greenhouse... Which was ... nevermind, shitty reference." Waving her hands back and forth, she turns to use her hands, read: gauntlets, to dig into the earth. There are mumbles, under her breath, that are definitely not directed at Storm. No, they are directed at herself.

Stupid Nori, being stupid infront of the nice lady who knows a lot about roses. "Damn..." Kneeling down, dirt all up in the important circuitry bits of her very expensive 'school provided, definitely not dangerous if they break because she could drain all the electricity for a quarter mile and turn into a super nova of shocking revelations' gauntlets. "Ugh, dirt gets everywhere, that shit is so true man.. I guess it's pretty important, dirt, but does it have to be so clingy? NO, dirt, You stop it... we need to see other people." Waving her hands wildly trying to get it out of her finger joints.

It does not come out.

"HALP!"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Live and learn. Bean nods in response, standing up and testing the seating of the pole before heading over to the next divot he had already pre-dug with just his fingers. His hands are caked with earth, and he doesn't seem to mind one bit. There's something... relaxing about this. "Wouldn't they be better off moved indoors then? Or are their root systems too large to move them?"

    Two taps of the hammer, light ones at that, start the point of the pole into the looser earth, using muscle power to drive it deeper until, at last, the attention of the hammer is required. "And just how cold does it get here, over winter?" But his honest inquiries come to an end when Noriko shouts for help. In a flash, he abandons the half-seated pole and hurries the length of the flower bed, rather than attempting to run over it and risk damaging the plants he has just been told are very delicate. "What's wrong? I'm coming, hold up."

Nightingale has posed:
     By now, Shannon is making pointed 'kill' gestures near her throat, shaking her head at the stream of colorful metaphors coming from Noriko. "Ix-nay on the profanity," she stage-whispers. But what comes next has her face-palming. A call for help? From the normally unflappable, indomitable Noriko? That was unheard of! This was the girl who would rip the head off of a Sentinel without a second thought!

     However, when she sees what's wrong, she groans softly, having to bite back a few oaths of her own. "Not good. Hang in there, Zap.. ummm... Bean?! Could use a hand over here?"

Multiple Man has posed:
"You'll know if or when it happens, Ororo." A drag off his smoke, he exhales upward. Politely. He's a gentleman, after all. He's quick to remind people of the fact. "Oh, I'm afraid we all would." Jamie shakes his head, that easy going baritone dropped low into mock worry. "Until then..." He trails off, taking in a bit of knowledge himself.

The overcoat clad Multiple Man stands beside Samuel, having deemed the young man wise beyond his years. Jamie looks haggard. Sleep deprived and unshaven. Perfect for socializing with the next generation of mutant freedom fighters and gardeners. "How cold? Too cold. Add in the snow, an occasional radioactive event... a green house will-"

Cut off by Noriko's cry for help and suddenly left standing alone when Samuel darts to the rescue, Jamie rocks on his heels. Narrowed eyes sweeping the distant tree line. "Somebody said they needed the hose?" Bad Jamie. Bad. That's when he sees him. Floral hat wearing Florida Jamie. Sprinting in the distance. "Oh... oh no..." Five Jamies giving chase. One waving a torch? "Where did he even?!"

Flicking his cigarette away, Jamie Prime sprints through the garden. Hurdling a student and shouting back at the gathered class. "Be right back! Nobody look this way! We got this!"

Narrator Voice: They do not have this.

Storm has posed:
"Everyone, please remain calm," Ororo says in a crisp voice of utter authority. She strides quickly towards Noriko with a speed that's purposeful but not rushing. As people reach out to Noriko she forestalls them with a wave of her hands. "No-- don't touch her," she advises the others. "She may have a static buildup." Though no storm clouds gather overhead, her eyes have gone milky white as she stops looking with her eyes and listens to the universe around her. In particular, she stares at Noriko, trying to ascertain what's wrong with the girl.

"Noriko, please calm down," Ororo says in her most soothing voice. "Remember your breathing exercises. Do you need some help with your gauntlets?"

Surge has posed:
Nori... really hadn't expected the reaction she got. That isn't to say a little help wouldn't be appreciated, but it is entirely possible that she was being overly dramatic and would be the first person to admit that seeing everyone rush to her aid... Seeing Storm there all white eyed and serious.. So, what does Nori do? What any teenager in this situation would do when embarassing revelations of probably grossly overstating the severity of the problem is brought to light...

Double down.

"Right, calm.." Breathing calm, she looks around frantically, it probably appears as if she's searching for something to get the dirt out but in reality she's trying to find something to make the situation believably worse without going super nova and shocking everyone to shit. There is nothing... "Oh, snap, look at that..." She is two very important things: A terrible liar and a terrible actress.

The buttons in her palm release the mechanisms that hold the gauntlets locked to her arms and they fall away easily. "Oh wow, everyone, that was great... weow... I.. totally, thanks everybody.." Hands up, all sweaty and stinking of wearing big ass metal things for hours on end, "Crisis averted, you guys.." Pointing around.

"You're rock stars and heroes.. you saved me.. you saved everyone.."

DOUBLE DOWN!

"We were this-" Thumb and index finger held smoshed together, "-Close to all dying."

DOUBLE DOWN

"Now we're fine."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Dilemma. Bean will be the first to admit that he tends to be very bad at picking up social cues. Almost proverbially so, in fact. But he's also, odd as it may seem, pretty adept at picking up body language... and very, very good at analysing team dynamics. So he knows that Noriko is making heavier weather of it than necessary, but he just can't figure out /why/. So what do you do when the wrong word could upset the smooth running of a team? You think twice about saying anything at all.

    He crouches by Surge, heeding Storm's advice not to go too close or touch her. And then, mind working furiously fast, he crafts a plausible story for someone to cling onto. "Must have been those aluminum poles you were holding onto. They're very efficient conductors, probably grounded out the charge before it had a chance to build. Are you okay?"

Nightingale has posed:
     Stepping back as per miss Munroe's direction, Shannon observes the incident from a safe distance, her brows furrowed with concern. What else could she do? This was way out of her wheelhouse.

     What she was also witnessing, as it turned out, was the increase of the amount of proverbial fertilizer that seemed to be accumulating around her fellow student as she hammed it up. The winged girl rolls her eyes and facepalms, saying nothing for a moment. However, her shoulders shake with barely contained giggles for Noriko's efforts at theatrics. "Glad you're okay, Zap."

Storm has posed:
Ororo's eyes slowly return to their clear blue color and she stares a little pointedly at Noriko. Nothing's said, particularly as it relates to the other students chiming in to Noriko's aid. Ororo just stoops and picks up the (extremely expensive) gauntlets quite carefully and reaches for a horsehair bristle brush to scrape some of the dirt out of the joints.

"Make sure you bring these to Doctor McCoy and ask him to check them over," Ororo suggests to Noriko. "Just to make sure they're not damaged."

Her eyes glitter with a flickering amusement. "If you're feeling a little out-of-control, I could ask Dr. McCoy to give you a once-over. Some bitterroot tea and fish liver oil might set you right as well. We wouldn't want anyone getting hurt, would we?"

She hands the gauntlets back to Noriko with a knowing, faint smile, and looks at the others. "Crisis averted, children. Let's get these plastic sheets up and then we'll inside for cocoa."

Surge has posed:
Nori tries to look stoic, but she is terrible at pretend games. This is why she does copious amounts of pot... to add chill to her list of available resume skills of which there is precious little naturally. Standing there scratching at the back of her spiky hair, she smiles tight appreciation at both Bean and Shannon.. suffice to say she's.. feeling a little embarassed.

"Y-yeah, totally.. has to be it." To Bean, slow nodding, "God damned Aluminum poles, amirite? Always out to get us..." Says the Japanese student with a wry grin and a glance down at the dirt beneath her booted toes beneath Ororo's intense, if amused, stare.

"Y-yeah, totally.. probably should spend a few days in bed too, I'm worried class might exacerbate the situation exponentially..." She would kick herself if she didn't at least try to get out of class, but she accepts the freshly cleaned gauntlets offered out to her.

They're replaced on her arms with a practiced ease and hum quietly as the locks are reengaged, reading her biometric charge level in a flashing green digital numerical on her inner left wrist. Always check the charge. That's how crisis are averted.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "They'll get you when you least expect it." Bean agrees with a smile, standing up. "Make sure you're okay, that's the important thing." And then it's back to work. The fun bit is only just starting... there's cross pieces to assemble for the roof, the inevitable confusion as to which poles are supposed to go where, the sheer joy of lifting the assembled roof up and finding out that the ground poles are just slightly in the wrong place, the jiggling and jolting of trying to make it fit anyway... y'know, gardening.

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon murmurs half under her breath, in Noriko's general direction. "You are so full of it, Zap. But you won't be after that fish oil. Eww." Giggling softly, she turns her attention to the task of unrolling some of the plastic sheets, pausing to look at the rose bushes. Her brows furrow as she remembers something she read. "Miss Munroe... think I read somewhere that rosehips are pretty high in vitamin C. Think there's any left that could be put to use?" An amused grin quirks the corners of her lips upwards. "Particularly if there's anyone in need of an extra boost to their immune system..."

Storm has posed:
Ororo smiles pleasantly at Noriko. "You may be right, dear," she tells Noriko. "Maybe you need a break from your studies. I'll ask Dr. Grey if she has any good self-directed study for you," she says. "A book report on some classic literature, maybe." She lifts up one of the poles and holds it overhead for Bean to clamber around and lock into place. Pausing only to supervise once in a while, she's doing at least as much work as anyone else there, steadily and without distraction.

"Perhaps Shannon is right, though-- a concotion might be just the thing. Are you volunteering to play amateur pharmacologist, Shannon?" she inquires of the angel-winged girl, mirthfully.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie comes walking out to the garden area, looking about. He finished his shift at the club and is still dressed in his nicer clothes as he comes out for a walk, to find folks aready out here

Surge has posed:
Nori fish mouths at Ororo's redirect of potential more boringer school work, "I am suddenly struck with a renewed feeling of vim, vigor, and vitality, Ms. Munroe!" She quickly chims in because Literature is about as boring as it gets! Also writing! Also reading! "See, look at me over here ready to attend classes... man, I wish there was a class right this instance..." She does not hope for that, there are no wishes for that here.

With her gauntlets in place, she offers Shannon a critical stare with a good natured grin and sticks her tongue out at the Angel Mutant when she SUSPECTS, in all caps, Ororo isn't looking. Haha, you get to do extra stuff, but I smartly avoided it!

Lets see how this train wreck plays out, shall we?

She also does some work and stuff. Handing people things. Wisely staying away from the deadly, assassin trained, aluminium.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It's probably cheating to be climbing about on top of a temporary greenhouse still being built, doing more building and engineering when you should be doing gardening. But hey, he knows more about roses now, and the feeling of honest dirt under his fingernails. Bean is about as happy as can be. From his vantage point, he gives Cannonball a wave before setting back to work, with the occasional helpful shout of 'other way around' or 'the other left' and 'no, not that pole, that pole, next to the pole!"

Nightingale has posed:
Shannon cants her head slightly as she regards miss Munroe, with that wry smile widening, shifting her gaze between the statuesque teacher and Noriko. "Not really much of a concoction, unless you count tea as one? Maybe... rosehips and chamomile, to let a sick person get a bit more rest?" The minute that miss Munroe's eyes aren't looking her way, though, she returns the favor by sticking out her tongue at Noriko. "Say that when you wind up having to come see me for burning your mouth on pizza!"

Cannonball, however, gets a look something between annoyance and affection, as he's promptly wing-hugged. "Kept out of trouble after all there, big brother?"

Storm has posed:
t "Well, whatever you come up with, I'm sure Miss Ashida is more than willing to be your guinea pig," Ororo assures Shannon. "Just make sure that you do it when Dr. McCoy's in the lab in case someone needs their stomach pumped."

The last of the plastic tentwalls go up and she looks over at Sam arrival. "Mr. Guthrie, you're a little late if you're here for the garden detail," Ororo advises the fellow. "We're quite nearly finished. You can help put tools away, if you like," she suggests to him.

Once that's all done, she starts beckoning people to head inwards. "Let's get inside and start warming up, everyone," she advises them. "Be sure to clean your boots off before you go inside."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie hugs Shannon, and says "Hey there, and me trouble, never." He grins and says "So, whats Miss Monroe have you guys out here doing?" He will ask looking to see whats going on.

Surge has posed:
Noriko thinks of everything in terms of stomach pumped now. Thanks Ororo...

"uhhh.. listen, I've had my stomach pumped before and I can tell you from experience that nasogastric tubes are bullshit.. swallow water when it reaches your gag reflex my pale asian ass.." Dusting off her gauntlets with a 'bink bink bink' of metal on metal, then rubbing them straight down the front of her cut-off shorts as if she could not possibly find a single care to give about getting dirt on them.

"More like have water in your throat when you gag, asperate, and fuuuuuuu...orking die.." Glancing around at the other students, then up at Ororo as they all head towards the mansion to warm up. "Ellie has been making me watch medical shows... Real Stories from the ER. This one episode, a lady fell in the toilet because her husband left the seat up..." All exuberant, as teenagers do, "... and she got stuck, so they took her AND the toilet to the ER.. does that even sound realistic?"

"I mean, I guess it could happen, but why not smash that shit with a hammer or something.. not like I'm putting that cursed ass toilet back in /my/ house after I've butthole surfed in the bowl... screw that."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    By the time the last sheet is in place, Bean's pretty much ready to go back indoors and drink something warm. Also covered in dirt, mud and other various byproducts of soil. He shakes his head as he follows Noriko, grinning at all the stories. "What did they do to keep the water from going everywhere when they dismantled it? Think about that one for a while."

    As for cleaning boots... he looks down, seeing the absolute state of his combat boots, and grins. "Oh man, I'm gonna have to polish these forever to get them clean."

Nightingale has posed:
     "Shatter that while someone's stuck in it, Zap, and you risk lacerations and various other minor injuries, including blunt force trauma if the instrument used to destroy the porcelain throne is of sufficient size and weight. So very glad I haven't run across -that- one. Now that would be embarrassing to explain." Shannon rolls her eyes and actually giggles somewhat. "That's one healing I'd be sorely tempted to refuse. No way would I want to explain -that- one!" Bean and Zap both get a grin. "So don't come crying to me if you fall into the cr... commode!"

     She smiles some at Sam, shrugging. "Got back and found out about garden detail. But you missed all the fun. Probably too busy working on getting your hearing back after my caterwauling." Chortling, she turns to head inside with the others. "Think miss Munroe mentioned something about cocoa?"