Time Stand Still || Mission
Nov. 10th, 2020 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsStorytime! Now that the mansion people have established that they have a bunch of future people on their hands, they need to make sure they're trustworthy. Cue the uncomfortable interviews and exposition!
Trigger Warning: Discussions of death and violence.
Jean and Topaz interview Ellie, Ruby and Garnet, and Shakti. There are two Topazes. It's very confusing, and very anger-inducing once the time travel group tells them exactly what they're here to do.
Topaz looked over the group, raising an eyebrow. Time travelers here to stop something bad wasn't really the best description of anything. And they definitely didn't seem like they were willing to talk, if the hostility in the air was anything to go by. She looked at Jean and shrugged as if to say, No bloody clue.
After living at the mansion by this point, Jean had learned not to be surprised by much. Time travel was a new one, though. She tried to roll with the punches by this point. Meeting Topaz's eye for a moment, she glanced back to the visitors thoughtfully, giving them a smile.
"Well, we can at least do pleasantries, can't we? I'm Jean, but you probably already knew that. What are your names?" she said.
Thinking calming thoughts, just the way she'd been taught when it became apparent she'd inherited some of her biodad's loud-thinking habits, Ellie glanced toward the others from her time and fought down what she knew to be irrational hatred. She was usually excellent when it came to compartmentalizing, having learned from the best, but she found herself hard pressed this time.
Just the sight of the younger copy of the woman who'd destroyed everything she held dear... it was frustrating, knowing her thoughts could be calm as anything, but her emotions would inevitably give her at least partially away.
"Pleasantries are a waste of time. Time which none of us have to spare." Ellie said, voice flat. Not unaware of the ridiculousness of her party's codenames, she continued, "You can call me Emerald." She raised her chin toward the two who looked like twins. "That's Ruby. That's Garnet." She gestured toward the last member of her group currently present, knowing her codename was likely to strike the mansionites as incredibly odd. "And that's Topaz."
After a short pause, she raised her blonde eyebrows ever so slightly and continued, "So, now that's done, let's all just move on, shall we? We need to talk to the Professor. And Summers. Preferably the older one, but we'd settle for the younger, if necessary. Or, y'know. Whichever of the team leads is actually leading? Don't care which team. The clock, as they say, is ticking."
"Honestly, E." Ruby and Garnet were rather amused at Ellie's co-opting of the gemstone theme, but they went along with it. One of the pair examined her nails while the other looked a bit intently across the room at where Emma Frost was interrogating the other half of the group. "Way to step on the moment." Not that they expected different, Eleanor was always...quite direct. It was refreshing most of the time, even if it was frustrating right this second.
"Is there anything-" "-you'd like-" "-to know-" "-Ms. Grey? After-" "-all, a girl's-" "-got to have-" "-a few secrets." At least they weren't doing the creepy twin stare while they whipsawed the conversation back and forth rapid fire between their two bodies. That would have been a bit much, they supposed.
Shakti rubbed the center of her forehead with two fingers. Ellie did remember that there was already a Topaz present, right? "It's a very long and urgent story, and we'd really rather save resources by telling it only once," she said. "We don't even need to meet with them in the flesh, if you're worried about security. Video or hologram will do nicely."
Topaz' eyebrows slowly raised, her eyes fixing on the young Indian girl. Topaz. Was someone trying to replace her? "Summers One and Two are busy," she said slowly. She'd battle for her name later. "And Professor Xavier is out of contact at the moment." Not entirely true, but she wasn't going to give this weirdly gem-themed named group that much information. There was something weird about all of them. The hostility from Emerald. The way Ruby's and Garnet's emotions seemed to... fluctuate but run on the same wavelength at the same time. And of course, the presence of another Topaz. It wasn't exactly a common name. "I'm guessing this isn't a problem that can be solved by one or two people, but if you give us something to work with, we can take it back to our teams for more assistance."
They knew way more than anyone should about things around the mansion, and it put her on edge. Her eyes flicked between them again, feeling like she was trying to solve a puzzle. I really hope Doug and Ms. Frost are having more luck than we are.
The variety of the reactions from the group, coupled with the sense of timeliness was not lost on Jean. But blindly rushing into something was not something she wanted to do. Much like making a medical diagnosis, sometimes taking the small bit of time you did have to gather up the facts when making a decision often made the difference between life and death.
"It's Dr. Grey, actually," Jean corrected politely. Something a group of time travellers who knew them should have known (curious). "And I understand that you're on a timeframe, but if you were in our position I'm guessing you would be more than a little cautious too. There are a lot of you here and you're in a hurry. You know us, we don't know you. And some of you are not very forthcoming to the people you want help from. You have to know how that looks. Earn our trust and we can vouch for you with the others. Either way you're still eating up time trying to explain yourselves to someone who may or may not believe you. It's probably better to start with us. If you know us, you know I'm a telepath and our Topaz is an empath. With your permission, we can know if you're telling the truth." She'd rather not do it without permission but she would if she had to. If the group turned out to have bad intentions she didn't want to get anyone hurt (or have to repair the mansion).
"So let's maybe start with a quick synopsis. When are you from, what are you here to stop, and when does it happen?" Ticking clocks often meant impending peril from something.
"Look, we gave a synopsis to Sooraya when we got here. Before she even let us in the gate. It's not our fault she didn't pass it along. Maybe work on intermansion communication before letting people you suspect might harm you into the mansion. And you will absolutely not be poking around in anyone's brain, Ginger. Fuck that noise loud and clear, you got me? The version of you we knew obviously had better morals. And if you don't keep your Topaz on a tight leash, don't expect us to be civil. We're here as a courtesy to warn you. We don't need you."
Topaz’ eyebrows were near her hairline now. “No one is suggesting doing anything in your minds without your permission,” she said patiently. “We’re aware that trust is non-existent-“ Even if she didn’t understand why, “and we’re walking a tight line. And yes, Sooraya did pass on your summary, but given the... uniqueness of the situation, and the fact that you clearly know us, you can appreciate that we might have a few extra questions.”
Incinced at being addressed directly by the woman who slaughtered all of her parents, Ellie took a deep, obviously furious breath and began, "Take your extra questions, you evil little b--"
"Calmate, sombrita," Ruby/Garnet said calmly but firmly from one of their bodies while addressing Jean with the other. "Believe it or not, despite the other two being kind of cagey, my name really is Ruby and Garnet. No last name, though, our parentage is a bit...complicated. As to the when...let's see." The body speaking with Jean looked skyward for a moment before the other picked up the thread. "It's what...2020ish, assuming everything was calculated correctly? We're about fifteen years ahead of you. Mid-2030s."
One set of eyes cast to each side, sizing up their two companions. Ellie was in no place to be logical about all this, and Shakti was probably dealing with a whole mental mess as well. Needs must and all that.
"We're here to stop her," she said, nodding both heads as one at Topaz.
Of course the first straight answer they got made absolutely no sense. "Stop - what? Me?" They weren't lying, as far as she could tell. Her eyes flick to Jean again, a silent question and a signal for confirmation. You heard that too, right?
Jean nodded toward her Topaz, her attention flickering toward her for a moment before returning back to the other two women who reminded her a lot of the Stepford Cuckoos. Especially when they started speaking in unison.
"I see," Jean said. She tilted her head. For all intents and purposes these people seemed to believe what they were claiming, enough to incite potential violence on Emerald's part.
"Well, I can safely say I wasn't expecting that," she said slowly, thankful her experience with odd occurrences mixed with more than frequent traumatic situations in medicine allowed her to look at things calmly, objectively and not with a permanently surprised Pikachu face.
"What did she do that made you come back to this specific time, and what makes you believe it was our Topaz?"
Things happened. People got possessed. Sometimes there were shapeshifters. She was just getting the facts.
Shakti's eyes darted between Jean and Topaz as they spoke, ignoring her own compatriots. Something, something really wasn't quite right here. She tilted her head to the side, focused on her one-time mentor.
"Where is Adam Destine?"
Well shit. Kicking things right off, I guess, Ellie thought, then glanced toward an almost familiar figure across the room.
Topaz stiffened slightly, just enough to be noticeable. Her own gaze slowly slid to the girl, looking her up and down. "He's dead," she said slowly. "How do you know that name?"
Shakti started to back up a step, but steeled herself. "What about Taboo?" she asked in a softer voice.
A long beat of silence followed the question. "Alive," Topaz finally whispered. "In the wind. Who are you?"
While Shakti's interpersonal drama played out, Ellie narrowed her eyes at the man in the chair - but no, it couldn't be. There was something off... but she was too far away to actually make out what, precisely, the problem was.
Glancing between the group, Jean arched an eyebrow. Both of the names being floated about were ones she was familiar with, one specifically after having patched people up or kept them alive as a direct result of their actions.
"Well, it seems there's a lot to discuss."
Because the day just couldn't get any weirder.
"Oh, fuck this," Ellie said, just 100% done with this awful conversation. If she had to stand near any version of Topaz for much longer, she was going to wind up throwing a knife at her just on principle. Besides, she thought she'd figured out what was so familiar-but-not about the guy across the room.
Nudging her way past Jean, who at least didn't make her want to claw her eyes out, Ellie left her group, glanced toward Nate, and then decided to forego potential backup in favor of expedience.
A pair of arched eyebrows followed Eleanor's departure, then flicked back over to watch the pair of Topazes skittishly looking at each other. "It would seem there is a lot to discuss indeed," Ruby and Garnet murmured. "I trust we've proved our bona fides, Dr Grey, and will not be summarily turned out the door?" They stood and began to walk away. "Perhaps we should leave these two to their tete-a-tete."
--
On the other side of the room, Doug and Emma quiz Franklin, Shogo, Nate, and Talia. There are pop culture references, delightful six-year-old manners, and amusement about revelations of peoples' parentage.
Doug had made his way down to where the group of what were apparently time traveling kids were being staged. He leaned on the cane that he kept around for times when he was feeling more fragile, and nodded to Emma as they met at the doorway. "So, it's storytime, is it, Auntie Em?" he asked, leaning on her arm as they went. "Shall we?"
“Of course,” replied Emma, warmly, keeping her arm steady below Doug’s. She gave the smallest of shudders. “I’m not sure I like the idea of time travelling. It gets complicated enough when I re-write someone’s memories. Re-writing someone’s whole life just seems… fraught. I mean I could end up being stuck with my original nose and that would just be a hideous mistake.”
Speaking of hideous mistakes, as Doug took in the group...there was a kid who looked like he was just starting -grade school-, who the hell brought someone that young on a cross-time caper? Then again, if they were that desperate, perhaps leaving him behind would have been worse? He sized them up as he and Emma walked over. They definitely looked like kids, at least. A bit nervous - god knows he would have been, and to some extent after the Asgard incident he had been... "God, I feel old," he muttered in Asgardian. Once upon a time he'd been that young.
"Okay," he began as he neared half of the group. "The fact that you are here means we are already giving you at least some trust. Please don't make us regret it." Keeping it as simple as possible for the littlest one was definitely stifling his love of longer words. "The truth, please. Who are all of you, and why exactly are you here?"
"Hallo!" The grade schooler, blond and with a big smile kicked off the ground to float up a few inches, only to be pulled back down. "I'm like a two this, that's what I'm supposed to say. But that is two, and I'm six, so I'm a six this." Half the words came with an odd telepathic resonation, as though he was thinking them just as energetically as he was saying them. He settled down, and scrunched up his face as he turned towards the older of the two young men. "I'm trying to think their words really loud at you, Ronin, okay?"
Nathanial smiled at the boy and signed (Thank you). He looked up at the man who had been speaking and began to sign, (We are from the future. And we are here on a mission)
And that was when Nate left most of the talking to Shogo, something that historians would later agree could best be described as 'A Bad Idea'. The problem, Shogo would admit, with being a technopath is that, while it provides you with an unmatched ability to use technology in wild and wonderful ways, it also leaves you with a distinctly strange understanding of... well, technology. And the physics behind it. As such, Shogo's explanation made perfect sense.
To him.
"The problem, as my partner Crouching Bison so eloquently explained with this hand-wording, is that we seem to have proven that time is less a river and more a rollercoaster where the carts can teleport onto any other rollercoaster track in the park. When that happens, it stops being a strict linear progression of cause to effect to lunch to cause, but more like a big ball of... timey stuff." That bit got away from him. "As for why we're here, and not on the other side of the knot, I think it's because we took a purple turn back during the seventeen, but basically, we're here to stop Topaz from being evil."
He grinned. "Oh, and I want to say hi to mom. But that can happen later. Did you know that the original youtube has eastern european folk dancers acting out sorting algorithms? This is the best thing ever."
“Wait,” said Emma, raising one impeccably manicured hand. “Are you telling me that you come from a time where YouTube is dead, but you’re quoting Doctor Who at me? Just a question: is Doctor Who a TV show or an actual person in your world? Or is wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff a constant amongst time travellers?”
Talia had been staring at the wall, slightly despondent, since her interaction with Amanda. She did perk up slightly at the mention of Doctor Who, patting Franklin once on the head. "We do have our trusty TARDIS and a Bad Wolf of sorts who sent us back here. Would've been nice if she could've sent a message to let us know we were in the right place, though."
"Wait. Back the...f-" Doug's brain caught up just in time about using profanity in front of a small child. "...train up. Two-this. He-" and here he pointed at Franklin. "-is your TARDIS." He'd caught the timey reference, but Emma had beaten him to it, because he'd been putting that together with what the kid had said. "I'm just saying right now, if you pull a sonic screwdriver out of your back pocket-" as he went back to addressing Shogo. "-I'm either going to have a panic attack or explode in a pile of fannish squee."
He paused and considered. "It might be both."
Then the last bit registered. "The -original- Youtube? Oh god, we have a technology hipster. And, uh, who's your mom anyway?" he asked, trying to do the math in his head based off how old the young man looked.
Shogo furled a brow. "Sonic... what? What doctor? No, I'm talking about Doctor Richards and von Doom's collaborarguemnt on the nature of time travel and parallel realities. Is there a Doctor Who who published here? Wait, Doctor Whom who pu-- no, god, you people have the worst names."
This was weird. The adults were being really really weird. Were all adults this weird? Oh god, Shogo thought, would he be this weird when he got older? He didn't want to be this weird!
"And it's not Hipster, it's history! The original Youtube was lost back when they shifted over to 3D technology. Something about an information density singularity or something. And mom is mom. You know, fangs, red eyes, pale skin, throws around fireworks?" he said, miming fangs with his index fingers.
Thank god Doug hadn't been drinking anything when that little revelation had been dropped, because he probably would have sprayed it over the entire room spit-taking. "-Jubilation Lee- is your mother?" he asked incredulously. A fit of snickers came over him, and he tried his best to keep them under control, but within seconds he was howling with laughter and leaning on Emma's shoulder as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Oh god," he struggled to get the words out. "Please let me be there when she finds out."
"Shogo's mommy is funny, she lives in space and she does upside down video chats." Franklin had somehow gotten himself behind Shogo and up on the teen's shoulders. "Shogo I want macadoni cheese and Talia is sad, she needs a macadoni cheese too. And jelly beans. Not the smicy ones."
Talia took a deep breath, scrubbing her eyes one last time, and gave Franklin a smile, ruffling his hair. "I'm good, buddy. But we're all due for some mac and cheese after this."
Her next focus was Nate, trying to summarize the ridiculous conversation (and of course TARDIS didn't have an actual sign), and turning back to Emma and Doug once Nate was caught up and continuing her signing so he could follow along. "Sorry, might be a bit slow now, I'm not the best at..." She wiggled her fingers, "all this." Another deep breath, just like her dad had taught her. Calm. Peaceful. She could do this. "Like... someone... said-" It was impossible to tell who at this point, "we're from the future. We were sent here by my... by a... let's just say by Bad Wolf, to stop something really bad that happens in your time and maybe salvage some of our own timeline from all the Badness. You can probably take a shot in the dark and figure out who my dad is." The words were dry as she gestured toward her blue skin. Calling Amanda Auntie had probably also sold them out. "And to save any horror stories, my mother is Wanda Maximoff."
“I don’t even want to ask about the fangs and the red eyes,” said Emma, rolling her eyes and lightly patting Doug’s hand as he wheezed with laughter. “Let alone the Bad Wolf, which…” Emma shook her head. “We have shared cultural references, which indicates at least a familiarity with the world as it currently exists. Obviously those of us from the present-past can’t be sure that you aren’t all just the most disarmingly chaotic group of grifters or anti-mutant terrorists trying to get free rein in the Mansion for… whatever nefarious purposes spring to mind, because we don’t know what the future holds.” She dropped her hand to her hip, stared at the youngsters arrayed before her. “I presume you’re all familiar with telepathy?”
Standing off to the side to get a better look at the people in the room. He was able to keep up with the conversation and with Talia's help was able to do so. His eyes then traveled to the rest of the room, to the objects around the room, the way Doug and Emma looked. Something just didn't sit right with him. Just how far back into the past did they go? He took a step forward to make sure all eyes would be on him, though he did tower over most in the room, before he signed, (What year) followed by another question (Where is Topaz).
I can translate in sign as needed, Doug's fingers moved nimbly despite the pallor of his skin. Somehow communicating, even with a physical component, took almost no energy at all. As to your questions, the current year is 2020. And...Topaz is right over there. He blinked, and realized what the young man must had meant. Wait. You mean there's a time-traveling evil version of Topaz running around somewhere?
"Oi. I am going to have such a headache by the end of this," he muttered to himself. Then he spoke up. "Okay, can we at least start using actual names instead of trying to be coy, now that the cat is out of the bag? I've counted at least two - Talia and Shogo." He pointed at each in turn, having guessed by the body language reactions when those names were used. "Who are you guys?" he asked the other two.
"I am Franklin Benjamin Storm-Richards!" The smallest member of the group peeped, the name coming with a series of mental pictures, a blonde woman, a tall man with greying hair, arms wrapped around Franklin several times over. "I'm six years old. I live in New York City, New York, Planet Earth." A tall silver building, elegant and beyond modern. A blue jumpsuited blond man, fire racing down his arms. "Now you are supposed to say your name. That's the rule to be polite."
~Oh my god there is an Earth where Reed Richards procreated,~ Doug thought on the tightest most locked-down link he could manage with Emma, since the kid was clearly telepathic. And powerful, if he was powering their jaunt through time. "My name is Doug Ramsey. People sometimes call me Cypher. I'm originally from Denver, though obviously I live here these days." He was actually sort of enchanted by the grade school approach to reciprocal politeness. It had a directness he didn't deal with much these days, between his job and the Court.
"I'm Shogo Lee, also known as White Rabbit, and I'm from space!" He dragged out the a in 'space', as all proper space-dwelling citizens should. "Technically," he amended, "I'm from a really long string of letters and numbers indicating a solar-system coordinate for a super secret mutant asteroid base, but that system hasn't been invented yet and also it wouldn't mean anything to you anyway." There was a pause. "Oh, and I'm adopted by the best vampire mom ever," he added as an after-thought. "Hey, Goose, can you make a picture of Mom like you did with your dad?"
It confirmed what Nathaniel was thinking and he didn't like it. (Nathanial Barton) He signed introducing himself and hesitated at the last one. He was still recovering from the death of his parents, the pain was evident for a brief moment in his eyes. (Son of the late Clint and Angel. And yes, if the Topaz here is not our Topaz, then we need to find and stop her before she hurts more.)
“One of the things about spending any time around this place,” said Emma, with a deep sigh, “is when someone tells you something strange has happened, it normally doesn’t take that long before someone else tells you that there are evil clones around. Or evil twins. Or time-travelling future evil selves. Yes,” she confirmed. “Our Topaz has indicated that she’s met your Topaz. Or at least I assume that’s what her rather odd encounter means. Which means that the initial part of your quest seems to have been successful and you’ve come to the right time and place. Oh, and,” she touched her chest lightly with one finger, “Emma Frost. Part-time superhero, part-time White Queen, full-time fabulous.”
He didn't like that, both Topaz's meeting each other. But it was good to know they were in the right place, just not in their own timeline. (Good job Goose.) He praised the youngest. (I would like to read the report if possible. And the location of where the meeting of the two.)
"At least we got something right," Talia muttered, sighing. They had followed Topaz, even if it had been to the wrong universe. It wasn't all for nothing. Her eyes flickered to the younger, softer witch across the room. Their Topaz had been like that too, once. Even if Talia couldn't fully remember those times anymore. "Now we just have to find her. Or wait for her to find us."
She had a feeling that wouldn't take long.
I can make that happen Doug signed to Barton the younger. Man, between Jubilee, Reed, and Clinto Barto, he wasn't sure which mental image of his friends-slash-acquaintances-slash-exgirlfriends as parents was funniest. "I'm pretty good at finding people and things that don't wish to be found," he told Talia. "I'll get on it."
He levered himself up from where he'd been sitting, and began to slowly move toward the exit, when his attention was taken by a young woman from the other group who was making a beeline for him.
Trigger Warning: Discussions of death and violence.
Jean and Topaz interview Ellie, Ruby and Garnet, and Shakti. There are two Topazes. It's very confusing, and very anger-inducing once the time travel group tells them exactly what they're here to do.
Topaz looked over the group, raising an eyebrow. Time travelers here to stop something bad wasn't really the best description of anything. And they definitely didn't seem like they were willing to talk, if the hostility in the air was anything to go by. She looked at Jean and shrugged as if to say, No bloody clue.
After living at the mansion by this point, Jean had learned not to be surprised by much. Time travel was a new one, though. She tried to roll with the punches by this point. Meeting Topaz's eye for a moment, she glanced back to the visitors thoughtfully, giving them a smile.
"Well, we can at least do pleasantries, can't we? I'm Jean, but you probably already knew that. What are your names?" she said.
Thinking calming thoughts, just the way she'd been taught when it became apparent she'd inherited some of her biodad's loud-thinking habits, Ellie glanced toward the others from her time and fought down what she knew to be irrational hatred. She was usually excellent when it came to compartmentalizing, having learned from the best, but she found herself hard pressed this time.
Just the sight of the younger copy of the woman who'd destroyed everything she held dear... it was frustrating, knowing her thoughts could be calm as anything, but her emotions would inevitably give her at least partially away.
"Pleasantries are a waste of time. Time which none of us have to spare." Ellie said, voice flat. Not unaware of the ridiculousness of her party's codenames, she continued, "You can call me Emerald." She raised her chin toward the two who looked like twins. "That's Ruby. That's Garnet." She gestured toward the last member of her group currently present, knowing her codename was likely to strike the mansionites as incredibly odd. "And that's Topaz."
After a short pause, she raised her blonde eyebrows ever so slightly and continued, "So, now that's done, let's all just move on, shall we? We need to talk to the Professor. And Summers. Preferably the older one, but we'd settle for the younger, if necessary. Or, y'know. Whichever of the team leads is actually leading? Don't care which team. The clock, as they say, is ticking."
"Honestly, E." Ruby and Garnet were rather amused at Ellie's co-opting of the gemstone theme, but they went along with it. One of the pair examined her nails while the other looked a bit intently across the room at where Emma Frost was interrogating the other half of the group. "Way to step on the moment." Not that they expected different, Eleanor was always...quite direct. It was refreshing most of the time, even if it was frustrating right this second.
"Is there anything-" "-you'd like-" "-to know-" "-Ms. Grey? After-" "-all, a girl's-" "-got to have-" "-a few secrets." At least they weren't doing the creepy twin stare while they whipsawed the conversation back and forth rapid fire between their two bodies. That would have been a bit much, they supposed.
Shakti rubbed the center of her forehead with two fingers. Ellie did remember that there was already a Topaz present, right? "It's a very long and urgent story, and we'd really rather save resources by telling it only once," she said. "We don't even need to meet with them in the flesh, if you're worried about security. Video or hologram will do nicely."
Topaz' eyebrows slowly raised, her eyes fixing on the young Indian girl. Topaz. Was someone trying to replace her? "Summers One and Two are busy," she said slowly. She'd battle for her name later. "And Professor Xavier is out of contact at the moment." Not entirely true, but she wasn't going to give this weirdly gem-themed named group that much information. There was something weird about all of them. The hostility from Emerald. The way Ruby's and Garnet's emotions seemed to... fluctuate but run on the same wavelength at the same time. And of course, the presence of another Topaz. It wasn't exactly a common name. "I'm guessing this isn't a problem that can be solved by one or two people, but if you give us something to work with, we can take it back to our teams for more assistance."
They knew way more than anyone should about things around the mansion, and it put her on edge. Her eyes flicked between them again, feeling like she was trying to solve a puzzle. I really hope Doug and Ms. Frost are having more luck than we are.
The variety of the reactions from the group, coupled with the sense of timeliness was not lost on Jean. But blindly rushing into something was not something she wanted to do. Much like making a medical diagnosis, sometimes taking the small bit of time you did have to gather up the facts when making a decision often made the difference between life and death.
"It's Dr. Grey, actually," Jean corrected politely. Something a group of time travellers who knew them should have known (curious). "And I understand that you're on a timeframe, but if you were in our position I'm guessing you would be more than a little cautious too. There are a lot of you here and you're in a hurry. You know us, we don't know you. And some of you are not very forthcoming to the people you want help from. You have to know how that looks. Earn our trust and we can vouch for you with the others. Either way you're still eating up time trying to explain yourselves to someone who may or may not believe you. It's probably better to start with us. If you know us, you know I'm a telepath and our Topaz is an empath. With your permission, we can know if you're telling the truth." She'd rather not do it without permission but she would if she had to. If the group turned out to have bad intentions she didn't want to get anyone hurt (or have to repair the mansion).
"So let's maybe start with a quick synopsis. When are you from, what are you here to stop, and when does it happen?" Ticking clocks often meant impending peril from something.
"Look, we gave a synopsis to Sooraya when we got here. Before she even let us in the gate. It's not our fault she didn't pass it along. Maybe work on intermansion communication before letting people you suspect might harm you into the mansion. And you will absolutely not be poking around in anyone's brain, Ginger. Fuck that noise loud and clear, you got me? The version of you we knew obviously had better morals. And if you don't keep your Topaz on a tight leash, don't expect us to be civil. We're here as a courtesy to warn you. We don't need you."
Topaz’ eyebrows were near her hairline now. “No one is suggesting doing anything in your minds without your permission,” she said patiently. “We’re aware that trust is non-existent-“ Even if she didn’t understand why, “and we’re walking a tight line. And yes, Sooraya did pass on your summary, but given the... uniqueness of the situation, and the fact that you clearly know us, you can appreciate that we might have a few extra questions.”
Incinced at being addressed directly by the woman who slaughtered all of her parents, Ellie took a deep, obviously furious breath and began, "Take your extra questions, you evil little b--"
"Calmate, sombrita," Ruby/Garnet said calmly but firmly from one of their bodies while addressing Jean with the other. "Believe it or not, despite the other two being kind of cagey, my name really is Ruby and Garnet. No last name, though, our parentage is a bit...complicated. As to the when...let's see." The body speaking with Jean looked skyward for a moment before the other picked up the thread. "It's what...2020ish, assuming everything was calculated correctly? We're about fifteen years ahead of you. Mid-2030s."
One set of eyes cast to each side, sizing up their two companions. Ellie was in no place to be logical about all this, and Shakti was probably dealing with a whole mental mess as well. Needs must and all that.
"We're here to stop her," she said, nodding both heads as one at Topaz.
Of course the first straight answer they got made absolutely no sense. "Stop - what? Me?" They weren't lying, as far as she could tell. Her eyes flick to Jean again, a silent question and a signal for confirmation. You heard that too, right?
Jean nodded toward her Topaz, her attention flickering toward her for a moment before returning back to the other two women who reminded her a lot of the Stepford Cuckoos. Especially when they started speaking in unison.
"I see," Jean said. She tilted her head. For all intents and purposes these people seemed to believe what they were claiming, enough to incite potential violence on Emerald's part.
"Well, I can safely say I wasn't expecting that," she said slowly, thankful her experience with odd occurrences mixed with more than frequent traumatic situations in medicine allowed her to look at things calmly, objectively and not with a permanently surprised Pikachu face.
"What did she do that made you come back to this specific time, and what makes you believe it was our Topaz?"
Things happened. People got possessed. Sometimes there were shapeshifters. She was just getting the facts.
Shakti's eyes darted between Jean and Topaz as they spoke, ignoring her own compatriots. Something, something really wasn't quite right here. She tilted her head to the side, focused on her one-time mentor.
"Where is Adam Destine?"
Well shit. Kicking things right off, I guess, Ellie thought, then glanced toward an almost familiar figure across the room.
Topaz stiffened slightly, just enough to be noticeable. Her own gaze slowly slid to the girl, looking her up and down. "He's dead," she said slowly. "How do you know that name?"
Shakti started to back up a step, but steeled herself. "What about Taboo?" she asked in a softer voice.
A long beat of silence followed the question. "Alive," Topaz finally whispered. "In the wind. Who are you?"
While Shakti's interpersonal drama played out, Ellie narrowed her eyes at the man in the chair - but no, it couldn't be. There was something off... but she was too far away to actually make out what, precisely, the problem was.
Glancing between the group, Jean arched an eyebrow. Both of the names being floated about were ones she was familiar with, one specifically after having patched people up or kept them alive as a direct result of their actions.
"Well, it seems there's a lot to discuss."
Because the day just couldn't get any weirder.
"Oh, fuck this," Ellie said, just 100% done with this awful conversation. If she had to stand near any version of Topaz for much longer, she was going to wind up throwing a knife at her just on principle. Besides, she thought she'd figured out what was so familiar-but-not about the guy across the room.
Nudging her way past Jean, who at least didn't make her want to claw her eyes out, Ellie left her group, glanced toward Nate, and then decided to forego potential backup in favor of expedience.
A pair of arched eyebrows followed Eleanor's departure, then flicked back over to watch the pair of Topazes skittishly looking at each other. "It would seem there is a lot to discuss indeed," Ruby and Garnet murmured. "I trust we've proved our bona fides, Dr Grey, and will not be summarily turned out the door?" They stood and began to walk away. "Perhaps we should leave these two to their tete-a-tete."
--
On the other side of the room, Doug and Emma quiz Franklin, Shogo, Nate, and Talia. There are pop culture references, delightful six-year-old manners, and amusement about revelations of peoples' parentage.
Doug had made his way down to where the group of what were apparently time traveling kids were being staged. He leaned on the cane that he kept around for times when he was feeling more fragile, and nodded to Emma as they met at the doorway. "So, it's storytime, is it, Auntie Em?" he asked, leaning on her arm as they went. "Shall we?"
“Of course,” replied Emma, warmly, keeping her arm steady below Doug’s. She gave the smallest of shudders. “I’m not sure I like the idea of time travelling. It gets complicated enough when I re-write someone’s memories. Re-writing someone’s whole life just seems… fraught. I mean I could end up being stuck with my original nose and that would just be a hideous mistake.”
Speaking of hideous mistakes, as Doug took in the group...there was a kid who looked like he was just starting -grade school-, who the hell brought someone that young on a cross-time caper? Then again, if they were that desperate, perhaps leaving him behind would have been worse? He sized them up as he and Emma walked over. They definitely looked like kids, at least. A bit nervous - god knows he would have been, and to some extent after the Asgard incident he had been... "God, I feel old," he muttered in Asgardian. Once upon a time he'd been that young.
"Okay," he began as he neared half of the group. "The fact that you are here means we are already giving you at least some trust. Please don't make us regret it." Keeping it as simple as possible for the littlest one was definitely stifling his love of longer words. "The truth, please. Who are all of you, and why exactly are you here?"
"Hallo!" The grade schooler, blond and with a big smile kicked off the ground to float up a few inches, only to be pulled back down. "I'm like a two this, that's what I'm supposed to say. But that is two, and I'm six, so I'm a six this." Half the words came with an odd telepathic resonation, as though he was thinking them just as energetically as he was saying them. He settled down, and scrunched up his face as he turned towards the older of the two young men. "I'm trying to think their words really loud at you, Ronin, okay?"
Nathanial smiled at the boy and signed (Thank you). He looked up at the man who had been speaking and began to sign, (We are from the future. And we are here on a mission)
And that was when Nate left most of the talking to Shogo, something that historians would later agree could best be described as 'A Bad Idea'. The problem, Shogo would admit, with being a technopath is that, while it provides you with an unmatched ability to use technology in wild and wonderful ways, it also leaves you with a distinctly strange understanding of... well, technology. And the physics behind it. As such, Shogo's explanation made perfect sense.
To him.
"The problem, as my partner Crouching Bison so eloquently explained with this hand-wording, is that we seem to have proven that time is less a river and more a rollercoaster where the carts can teleport onto any other rollercoaster track in the park. When that happens, it stops being a strict linear progression of cause to effect to lunch to cause, but more like a big ball of... timey stuff." That bit got away from him. "As for why we're here, and not on the other side of the knot, I think it's because we took a purple turn back during the seventeen, but basically, we're here to stop Topaz from being evil."
He grinned. "Oh, and I want to say hi to mom. But that can happen later. Did you know that the original youtube has eastern european folk dancers acting out sorting algorithms? This is the best thing ever."
“Wait,” said Emma, raising one impeccably manicured hand. “Are you telling me that you come from a time where YouTube is dead, but you’re quoting Doctor Who at me? Just a question: is Doctor Who a TV show or an actual person in your world? Or is wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff a constant amongst time travellers?”
Talia had been staring at the wall, slightly despondent, since her interaction with Amanda. She did perk up slightly at the mention of Doctor Who, patting Franklin once on the head. "We do have our trusty TARDIS and a Bad Wolf of sorts who sent us back here. Would've been nice if she could've sent a message to let us know we were in the right place, though."
"Wait. Back the...f-" Doug's brain caught up just in time about using profanity in front of a small child. "...train up. Two-this. He-" and here he pointed at Franklin. "-is your TARDIS." He'd caught the timey reference, but Emma had beaten him to it, because he'd been putting that together with what the kid had said. "I'm just saying right now, if you pull a sonic screwdriver out of your back pocket-" as he went back to addressing Shogo. "-I'm either going to have a panic attack or explode in a pile of fannish squee."
He paused and considered. "It might be both."
Then the last bit registered. "The -original- Youtube? Oh god, we have a technology hipster. And, uh, who's your mom anyway?" he asked, trying to do the math in his head based off how old the young man looked.
Shogo furled a brow. "Sonic... what? What doctor? No, I'm talking about Doctor Richards and von Doom's collaborarguemnt on the nature of time travel and parallel realities. Is there a Doctor Who who published here? Wait, Doctor Whom who pu-- no, god, you people have the worst names."
This was weird. The adults were being really really weird. Were all adults this weird? Oh god, Shogo thought, would he be this weird when he got older? He didn't want to be this weird!
"And it's not Hipster, it's history! The original Youtube was lost back when they shifted over to 3D technology. Something about an information density singularity or something. And mom is mom. You know, fangs, red eyes, pale skin, throws around fireworks?" he said, miming fangs with his index fingers.
Thank god Doug hadn't been drinking anything when that little revelation had been dropped, because he probably would have sprayed it over the entire room spit-taking. "-Jubilation Lee- is your mother?" he asked incredulously. A fit of snickers came over him, and he tried his best to keep them under control, but within seconds he was howling with laughter and leaning on Emma's shoulder as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Oh god," he struggled to get the words out. "Please let me be there when she finds out."
"Shogo's mommy is funny, she lives in space and she does upside down video chats." Franklin had somehow gotten himself behind Shogo and up on the teen's shoulders. "Shogo I want macadoni cheese and Talia is sad, she needs a macadoni cheese too. And jelly beans. Not the smicy ones."
Talia took a deep breath, scrubbing her eyes one last time, and gave Franklin a smile, ruffling his hair. "I'm good, buddy. But we're all due for some mac and cheese after this."
Her next focus was Nate, trying to summarize the ridiculous conversation (and of course TARDIS didn't have an actual sign), and turning back to Emma and Doug once Nate was caught up and continuing her signing so he could follow along. "Sorry, might be a bit slow now, I'm not the best at..." She wiggled her fingers, "all this." Another deep breath, just like her dad had taught her. Calm. Peaceful. She could do this. "Like... someone... said-" It was impossible to tell who at this point, "we're from the future. We were sent here by my... by a... let's just say by Bad Wolf, to stop something really bad that happens in your time and maybe salvage some of our own timeline from all the Badness. You can probably take a shot in the dark and figure out who my dad is." The words were dry as she gestured toward her blue skin. Calling Amanda Auntie had probably also sold them out. "And to save any horror stories, my mother is Wanda Maximoff."
“I don’t even want to ask about the fangs and the red eyes,” said Emma, rolling her eyes and lightly patting Doug’s hand as he wheezed with laughter. “Let alone the Bad Wolf, which…” Emma shook her head. “We have shared cultural references, which indicates at least a familiarity with the world as it currently exists. Obviously those of us from the present-past can’t be sure that you aren’t all just the most disarmingly chaotic group of grifters or anti-mutant terrorists trying to get free rein in the Mansion for… whatever nefarious purposes spring to mind, because we don’t know what the future holds.” She dropped her hand to her hip, stared at the youngsters arrayed before her. “I presume you’re all familiar with telepathy?”
Standing off to the side to get a better look at the people in the room. He was able to keep up with the conversation and with Talia's help was able to do so. His eyes then traveled to the rest of the room, to the objects around the room, the way Doug and Emma looked. Something just didn't sit right with him. Just how far back into the past did they go? He took a step forward to make sure all eyes would be on him, though he did tower over most in the room, before he signed, (What year) followed by another question (Where is Topaz).
I can translate in sign as needed, Doug's fingers moved nimbly despite the pallor of his skin. Somehow communicating, even with a physical component, took almost no energy at all. As to your questions, the current year is 2020. And...Topaz is right over there. He blinked, and realized what the young man must had meant. Wait. You mean there's a time-traveling evil version of Topaz running around somewhere?
"Oi. I am going to have such a headache by the end of this," he muttered to himself. Then he spoke up. "Okay, can we at least start using actual names instead of trying to be coy, now that the cat is out of the bag? I've counted at least two - Talia and Shogo." He pointed at each in turn, having guessed by the body language reactions when those names were used. "Who are you guys?" he asked the other two.
"I am Franklin Benjamin Storm-Richards!" The smallest member of the group peeped, the name coming with a series of mental pictures, a blonde woman, a tall man with greying hair, arms wrapped around Franklin several times over. "I'm six years old. I live in New York City, New York, Planet Earth." A tall silver building, elegant and beyond modern. A blue jumpsuited blond man, fire racing down his arms. "Now you are supposed to say your name. That's the rule to be polite."
~Oh my god there is an Earth where Reed Richards procreated,~ Doug thought on the tightest most locked-down link he could manage with Emma, since the kid was clearly telepathic. And powerful, if he was powering their jaunt through time. "My name is Doug Ramsey. People sometimes call me Cypher. I'm originally from Denver, though obviously I live here these days." He was actually sort of enchanted by the grade school approach to reciprocal politeness. It had a directness he didn't deal with much these days, between his job and the Court.
"I'm Shogo Lee, also known as White Rabbit, and I'm from space!" He dragged out the a in 'space', as all proper space-dwelling citizens should. "Technically," he amended, "I'm from a really long string of letters and numbers indicating a solar-system coordinate for a super secret mutant asteroid base, but that system hasn't been invented yet and also it wouldn't mean anything to you anyway." There was a pause. "Oh, and I'm adopted by the best vampire mom ever," he added as an after-thought. "Hey, Goose, can you make a picture of Mom like you did with your dad?"
It confirmed what Nathaniel was thinking and he didn't like it. (Nathanial Barton) He signed introducing himself and hesitated at the last one. He was still recovering from the death of his parents, the pain was evident for a brief moment in his eyes. (Son of the late Clint and Angel. And yes, if the Topaz here is not our Topaz, then we need to find and stop her before she hurts more.)
“One of the things about spending any time around this place,” said Emma, with a deep sigh, “is when someone tells you something strange has happened, it normally doesn’t take that long before someone else tells you that there are evil clones around. Or evil twins. Or time-travelling future evil selves. Yes,” she confirmed. “Our Topaz has indicated that she’s met your Topaz. Or at least I assume that’s what her rather odd encounter means. Which means that the initial part of your quest seems to have been successful and you’ve come to the right time and place. Oh, and,” she touched her chest lightly with one finger, “Emma Frost. Part-time superhero, part-time White Queen, full-time fabulous.”
He didn't like that, both Topaz's meeting each other. But it was good to know they were in the right place, just not in their own timeline. (Good job Goose.) He praised the youngest. (I would like to read the report if possible. And the location of where the meeting of the two.)
"At least we got something right," Talia muttered, sighing. They had followed Topaz, even if it had been to the wrong universe. It wasn't all for nothing. Her eyes flickered to the younger, softer witch across the room. Their Topaz had been like that too, once. Even if Talia couldn't fully remember those times anymore. "Now we just have to find her. Or wait for her to find us."
She had a feeling that wouldn't take long.
I can make that happen Doug signed to Barton the younger. Man, between Jubilee, Reed, and Clinto Barto, he wasn't sure which mental image of his friends-slash-acquaintances-slash-exgirlfriends as parents was funniest. "I'm pretty good at finding people and things that don't wish to be found," he told Talia. "I'll get on it."
He levered himself up from where he'd been sitting, and began to slowly move toward the exit, when his attention was taken by a young woman from the other group who was making a beeline for him.
