[Sooraya, Haller] The Mess You Made

[xp_legion]

Now that the chaos has settled, it's time for the clean-up.


"I never thought I'd say this," said Jim as he gazed upon the challenge before them, "but I almost wish Hope Summers had just destroyed the mansion again."

What Billy's power-mishap has spared them in contractors it had more than made up for in custodial needs. This hallway was caked in what he'd been told was residue from whatever snail mucin masks were, which was slowly fusing hand-sized balls of lint and dust to the floorboards -- along with what he had the queasy suspicion were shreds of Paige's husks.

And they had to clean it up.

"I remember Hope helped to fix some things up... I hope Billy is doing the same." Sooraya surveyed the hallway. "So... do we have some of those putty knives? I'm not sure how else you want to get this of the wall.... I know I am not gonna be scouring it in my sand form."

"We could try soaking it with ammonia or baking soda -- at the very least that'll buy us time before we have to touch it. And from what I've seen of Billy, he's probably trying to will himself beneath the earth's crust right now. Arthur said he seemed pretty in his head about the whole thing. Maybe he can be a good influence." The telepath gave a rueful snort, adding, "He's pretty good with overthinkers."

Sooraya stared at him, barely hearing the second part. "I vote we do some googling first... before we send half the mansion to the medlab from the ammonia fumes... or create an even worse mess with the baking soda." Pulling out her phone, she quickly typed before frowning: "Okay, apparently snail mucin is proteins and a sugar gel? Huh... so according to this we need something to dissolve that, which is neither ammonia nor baking soda..."

"I could just set it all on fire -- because that never makes things worse," Jim said, the barrel of his sarcasm pointed at his own metaphorical head. He scraped a toe against the nearest hardening lump. He strongly suspected there was some other substance mixed in with this, and no possibility seemed good. He sighed. "Citric acid? I'm not sure that's safe for hardwood. I also don't remember ever having to do this when you were a student."

"Uhm..." Sooraya quickly scrolled down on her phone. "How about we simply start with water and soap? Not too hot, because that tends to congeal proteins... if I am reading this correctly." She shrugged. "At the community center they use vinegar in warm water to remove any egg remains."

"I guess the institutional knowledge earned from dealing with minor vandalism is as good a place to start as any." Jim cut his eyes back to her. "Sure you aren't up for a little scouring? Residue doesn't cling to your silica form, does it?"

"Remember, water and my sand form don't really go together." Sooraya glanced at her phone again, then tucked it away. "So are we gonna go in with water and vinegar immediately or do we want to scoop as much of this mess away first?"

He was halfway through turning to the janitorial cart, but Jim still winced. "Oh, right. Well, let's start with sweeping what we can so we don't liquify more than we have to. I think Madin would appreciate it if I didn't make any more work for them."

Examining the mess one last time Sooraya turned towards the cart. "Any chance we have some of those big orange snow shovels scoop things... they are supposed to have some kind of specific name, don't they?"

"More technical than 'big orange snow shovels'? Actually, let me see if I can save us some time. It's a little below my usual scope, but . . ."

Jim stretched out a hand, and there was a subtle shift in his stance. Rotating his hand so the edge was perpendicular to the ground, he slowly swept it towards his body like a man carefully sweeping crumbs from a tabletop.

The debris rippled as a telekinetic wedge scraped the base of the hallway. Some of the larger chunks rolled towards them as if carried on some invisible tide, but it failed to catch the finer elements. The telekinetic dropped his hand over the meager pile.

"Too big for Cyndi, but too small for Jack," Jim said with regret. "Looks like we're sweeping."

"Scraping is more like it... okay let me go get the orange whatever they are called. A broom isn't gonna cut it." Ten minutes later Sooraya returned, handing one of the ugly things to Jim. "Ready?"

The older man accepted the shovel, one eyebrow cocked. "Is there really a choice?"

Sooraya heaved a sigh and grabbing her own shovel she marched forwards. "Alright. Let's do this." Pushing the shovel forward, the hallway was filled with a kind of screeching sound. Pausing Sooraya surveyed the results. There was a small heap of undefinable debris, but the wooden floor had several small scratches. "I don't know if Madin is gonna be any more happy with this, to be honest."

Jim had reversed his shovel to set the lip against a particularly stubborn concretion in the hopes of chipping it free. "I'll at least try to scrub before they can see it," he said; all things considered, it was the least he could do. "Maybe we should integrate disaster clean-up into GenX training. We already have survival and response covered."

"Clean up is as much as a part of it as those things." Sooraya replied as she attacked the next bit of floor. "And I vote we start integrating this immediately... like right now. Because there is only one word for this: a nightmare."

That brought a smile to the older man's lips. "What, even worse than cleaning up the community center after District X flooded? At least the sewer line didn't back up."

"Okay, that might've been a night terror." Sooraya quickly fired back. "But that was just general ick... this a lot of very specific ick."

Jim grunted in agreement. "Still, kids deserve a place where they can make mistakes. At least here we can also impart valuable life skills, like how to deep clean a carpet."

"Almost makes you wish we still had a chemistry class... creating a cleaning solution for this mess might have been a nice practical project." Sooraya continued to chip away at the mess in front of her, pushing together chunks of undefinable debris. "I mean... 'you are cleaning this either way' would make a nice motivation."

"Maybe you should suggest that to Scott. Turn Xavier's into an extended work study program -- tack on lectures about the relevant skills at the end of Danger Room simulations." Jim's brow creased as a pale lump came free of the floor with an uncomfortably organic squelch. "I can't say I miss treating kids I live with, though. That didn't exactly promote good work-life balance."

Sooraya looked up, raising her eyebrows. "It might be less and a bit of a different context..." She pointed out gently. "... but you're still working with the people you live with, aren't you?"

The scrape of the shovel stopped, just for a moment. "It's not the same, professionally speaking. I still pitch in, but these days most of my work is remote with Muir or volunteering at the community center." The telepath smiled again, but this time it was edged with -- something. Possibly relief, possibly regret. "The mansion isn't my whole world anymore. That makes a difference."

She winced as the shovel scraped along the floor, sending goosebumps down her spine. "In what way?" Sooraya asked curiously.

"It's easy for a world to become small when you put everything into one place, one purpose. Where do you go for relief when things are hard? What countervailing perspective can you fall back on if that aspect of your life is in crisis? You can't keep yourself balanced without alternatives. I didn't make room for that when I worked on Muir. It was . . . a mistake." Jim straightened, casting a quizzical look back at Sooraya. "Isn't that what you do? You have the X-Men, but you have your own work with the community, too. Your life is more than one thing."

"... I don't think it's as much making sure that my life is more than one thing, Jim." Sooraya replied after a moment of considering, leaning on her shovel. "I'd say it's more about being needed in many different places and I try to do what I can where I can."

"That, too." Jim paused, studying the younger woman. "I know your work keeps you fulfilled, and you've always been good at keeping your equilibrium. I just hope you're giving yourself and what you want the same care you give everyone else."

Sooraya grinned, attacking the next chunk of 'stuff' with the shovel. "Even if I were to forget, I wouldn't get the chance. Angel and Alani would be on me almost immediately. Different question though... do you think this is helping or should we look for a different way? I've some doubts."

The telepath looked upon the flooring, and despaired.

"I'll be honest . . . not that I ever want to give it to Cyndi, but maybe sometimes fire is the answer."