Owner	Pose
Rachel Grey	For all Rachel's independence, there's one place where it's not uncommon to find her lingering: the kitchen. Many of Rachel's early memories are from the kitchen at Xavier's in her own world. It's a safe place. A good place. And then there's the fact that neither Hounds nor mutant detainees generally got a lot of ice cream where she came from. So now that summer has settled in, she's taking advantage of the kitchen stores, sitting at the counter and eating ice cream...directly out of the carton. And shockingly, unobserved, she actually looks happy. Instead of brooding. Wonders may never cease.
Kitty Pryde	Maybe there is a cosmic sense of balance, a Yin and Yang even across people. For as it turns out, anyone who has had a chance to catch Kitty unobserved would find Kitty hasn't looked as happy lately. Distracted, if short of brooding. She finished work early today, beating rush hour back to the Sanctum Santorum for the magic trip that returned her to her room in Xaviers, covering 50+ miles in a step. It took more steps to make it down to the kitchen, Kitty's stomach grumbling. She'd missed lunch, her head buried in her work until her phone was reminding her it was time to go home. So all in all it wasn't shaping up to be the best day. But as Kitty steps into the kitchen, the sight of Rachel brings at least a little bit of her normal smile back to her face. "Hey Rachel," she offers as she comes in, still wearing slacks and a cream-colored blouse from work. Her badge is still stuck to a belt loop, proclaiming she's Katherine Pryde, employee at Stark Industries. Kitty moves further into the kitchen, heading for the fridge. "Anything especially good in there? Any of Sam's fried chicken perhaps?" she asks on her way to check the contents.
Rachel Grey	"Full disclosure, I didn't look past the ice cream," Rachel admits, smile wry as she digs out another spoonful. Chocolate peanut butter fudge. Definitely not something that's really meant to be eaten by the pint, but hey. She's enjoying it. "Someone last night said there was leftover roast and veggies, though. Carrots and potatoes might be a little picked through, saw some of the younger kids leaving when I came in, but there's probably some left." She tilts her head, still enjoying her ice cream as she gives Kitty a closer look. She's not pressing with her mind yet, but she's close. "You okay?"
Kitty Pryde	Kitty's eyes show a little more warmth as she watches Rachel enjoying the ice cream. She doesn't know a lot about what it was like where Rachel came from, having heard a general description. But even so Kitty can imagine that ice cream would have been a delicacy, if not unheard of. The fridge is indeed well-stocked. Just about anything someone could hope for is in there. Kitty eyes the roast, lifting the lid on the container to check it out. With so many choices she does what is predictable for her. Kitty grabs a container of milk, shutting the fridge door and going to grab a box of cereal. Crunchberries. She gets a bowl and spoon and joins Rachel at the table. "Yeah, mostly. Have a few things on my mind, but, hopefully they work out," Kitty says with a little shrug. "Everyone's on edge about something. Big metal robots for most everyone else," she says, as if that wasn't what was on her mind. Though, it is on her mind too, just not solely. Kitty takes a seat and pours her bowl of cereal. "I don't mean to interrupt your peace," Kitty says, as if she knows what she's about to ask will do just that. "But... we haven't really gone into too much detail about your life, and where you're from. I knew it was upsetting. But I'm kind of wondering if knowing more might give us any insights. If maybe what we're facing with Sebastion, if there's any parallel. Hell, he could be from your time for all we know. We do know he's from the future," she says, frowning.
Rachel Grey	"You know we're gonna come back to the part where you're not all right, right?" Rachel smiles faintly, poking at the ice cream with her spoon even as she nods. "Yeah. No. You've got nothing to apologize for. I mean, I showed up here a whole damn mess and you all still took me in. And no one's been...Everyone's been good about it. And you're right, the more you know, the better our chances." She takes a deep breath, lips twisting as she lets it out slowly through her nose. "It all started with Senator Kelly," she begins. "He was an anti-mutant Senator. Pushed for registration. And then he was assassinated by a mutant. And things started to go downhill from there."
Kitty Pryde	Kitty spoons up some of the cereal to her lips, and gets a faint smile for Rachel as she crunches it while she chews. Kitty gives a little acquiescing nod, as if accepting Rachel will pin her down about Kitty's mood later. She continues to eat slowly, though her attention is mostly on Rachel. "I've been glad to have you here. I understand why I'd have gotten close with you," she says, giving a soft smile over to the redhead. Kitty consumes another spoonful or two while she listens, before the detail causes her to get a thoughtful look. "I don't know if he ever had an assassination attempt, but he's still a Senator here," she comments quietly. Kitty brushes back a few of the stray locks of hair that were left free from her pony tail. "Backlash because of the assassination? What did people do?' she asks.
Rachel Grey	Rachel grimaces at the mention of Kelly being alive - talk about complicated feelings - but she doesn't continue down that road. "They elected a president whose platform was basically, get rid of all the mutants," she answers, rueful. Another spoonful of ice cream. "Things weren't great, but they got a lot worse when- There was a villain who was doing what bad guys do. Mom and some of the others went to stop him. He set off a nuclear bomb in Pittsburgh. Killed all of them, and plenty of other people as well. And that was the end of hope for mutants." Rachel's voice is carefully even, strictly controlled, as if she's reading for a history book on tape. "The X-Men were fugitives. They fought, but they were on the run and outnumbered. That's when they got Dad. That's when they started with the Sentinels. Which eventually brought them here." Rachel falls silent for a moment, eating another spoonful of ice cream slowly. "They killed pretty much everyone, including the Professor. But not me."
Kitty Pryde	Kitty continues to eat, picking around the crunchberries themselves to eat the golden colored bits of cereal first. Leaving her, if she keeps it up, just a bowl of crunchberries. They make an Oops All Crunchberries version which Kitty had tried. But it just wasn't the same, not having to work for it. Kitty isn't really thinking about that though, as Rachel relates how things went down. Even if it isn't her Jean, or her Scott, it still impacts on the slender brunette. Kitty clears her throat as they get to Rachel not having been killed. "I remember you mentioned about... the hounds and, escaping," she says quietly. "If you'd rather not tell that part again," she offers. Kitty will reach over, just lightly touch Rachel's forearm for a second before pulling the touch back.
Rachel Grey	"It happened. Not saying it won't take it back." Rachel presses her lips together, though she doesn't drop the illusion that hides the marks. "They took me. They took some others. People who had talents they could use. They drugged us, tortured us, brainwashed us, until they could use us to hunt down other mutants. And destroy them." That part, at least, gets a slight wince. She remembers all of it. Every emotion. Every death. No matter how hard she may push it down. "But yeah. Eventually I managed to break through and break out. Found some others who'd escaped. Including the Kate from my universe," she adds with a small smile in Kitty's direction. "We fought. We mostly died, but we fought. We caught wind they were working on something else, something bigger. They called it the Nimrod project. Kate and I were pretty much the last ones left, but we went in to try to destroy it. But something went wrong. We couldn't set off the bomb. They chased us, we ended up in some room that was- she couldn't phase through. And I was pretty sure we were going to die there. But she...did something. Set off something else inside me. And I ended up here instead."
Kitty Pryde	Kitty stirs in her bowl for a bit during the parts about Rachel's time as a captive. Her expressions show the same caring that Kate Pryde's eyes would show years in the future. Just without those little age lines beside her eyes. Kitty lacks of some of Kate's hardness, perhaps. But there have likely already been glimpses of the same inner core that allowed Kate Pryde to survive as she did. The tale of Rache's final days in her time is fully new to Kitty. "Nimrod," she repeats sotto voce to herself, stowing that phrase away. As the tale wends on, Kitty bites her lip and winces at the mention of something Kate - she - couldn't phase through. "I've only run into a few things, and more... difficult, than unable to," she says, frowning at the thought such a thing exists. Or will exist. Kitty says softly, "I'm sure she'd want you to have the chance you have here, for a life. I know I would want that for you." Kitty clears her throat, the gesture clearing a little of her own emotion away. "Any extra details on this Nimrod project? Any chance it was anything like Sebastion or that could have one day led to him? He seems to be mostly Sentinel technology, but with some organic components."
Rachel Grey	Rachel is quiet for a moment, poking at the ice cream with her spoon. "A lot of the stuff at the end is still kind of...smoky," she admits. "I'm guessing getting thrown back and across a few universes is probably not great for the psyche. But...But yeah, it sounds similar." She stiffens, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "It was definitely higher tech, making things more...available. Smaller. Built in. They couldn't beat mutants without mutants, and they hated it. So they wanted to be more themselves." She looks over then, a pained expression. "You don't think...Kate, if it's here because of me..."
Kitty Pryde	Kitty is immediate in shaking her head at Rachel's question. "No. Even if it managed to make the same trip you did, it wouldn't be because of you," she tells Rachel quietly, and continuing to shake her head. "And you're a blessing to us, Rachel. You've given us a warning of where things could go, at the very time that we needed it, perhaps. We may not have this assassination to spark matters that your time did. But obviously some of the same things are happening here. We know the urgency. We're getting more of the heroes on our side to combat this." Kitty reaches over to give Rachel's hand a tight squeeze, if allowed. "We're going to beat them, Rachel. And you're going to help us do it, I know." The brunette gets another smile finally, one that says just how glad she is to have Rachel in this fight with them. "Are you going to come on the raid of the factory that Sam is putting together?" she asks.
Rachel Grey	"If it's going to hopefully stop these things? Yeah," Rachel says quietly. "Anything. Whatever it takes. And if you need me to talk to the Avengers, I'll do that too. I've been..." She pauses, taking a breath. "Seeing other people fighting next to us, like Thor and the guy from last night. That gives me some hope. That maybe we can make a difference. Maybe we can do it." She gives Kitty's hand a squeeze in turn, then slides out of her chair, putting the lid back on the ice cream. "I need to do some research. Look into a couple of other things. But I'll let you know if I find anything useful. Promise."