Eva Bell

Eva smiled gratefully as Jubilee helped her sit up. She hated being so weak and needy but knew rushing things would only make her condition worse. She managed another giggle at the cute nurse comment. "Mmhmmm, there's a beautiful tall blonde one who made me feel much better... actually I don't think she was a nurse." She grinned through her reddening cheeks, the memory of Nadia staying with her bringing an even bigger smile to her face. She instantly wrapped the scarf around her neck and giggled. "Or the Star Wars logo if a skull is too difficult?" She removed the scarf and ran her fingers over it, lost in thought for a moment. "I missed the city too... I wasn't sure if..." her voice cracked and she found herself blinking rapidly, "I wasn't sure I'd make it back."

Tandy sat near Eva’s hospital bed with their phone on one knee, and their notebook on the other. They were copying down a classmate’s notes they had helpfully sent them, since they hadn’t been paying much attention in that class. It was something to keep them busy, while they waited for Eva to wake. They heard her shifting in bed, and glanced up with a smile. “Hey there.” They closed their notebook, storing that and their phone in their bag again. “I haven’t. But, God, it’s a relief to see you awake,” they admitted without thinking. “How are you feeling?” 

Eva's first attempt at sitting up failed as her weak arms weren't able to support her weight. Her second attempt worked, though she groaned with the effort and then smiled as Tandy expressed her relief. "It's nice to be awake," she said in a soft croaky voice. "After what happened I wasn't sure if..." she stopped short as a shiver ran down her spine at the memory of Mastermind's attack. "I'm just glad to be here." She smiled warmly at the question. Of course everyone asked it and there wasn't really an honest answer she could give. "I'm good. Tired and achy and bored but things could be worse. How have you been?"

“Well I admire your resilience,” Evening mocked, the sarcasm perfectly clear in her tone.  She would never admire anything about the woman that stood before her.  Her whole life was littered with horrifying stories involving the Brotherhood under the leadership of Polaris and though her parent’s had taught her to not hate others, she found that very hard when it came to Brotherhood members.  She had to admit though, that seeing the green haired woman visiting Eva was an act of caring she had never expected to witness.  It was unnerving.  “I’m the weirdo?” She spat back, throwing a dirty look Lorna’s way.  Evening’s face remained completely impassive, not reacting at all to Lorna’s words but she straightened up to her full height and balled her hands into fists as the other woman started to advance on her.  A voice in the back of her mind said ‘just give me one good reason’ but it never came.  After Lorna had delivered her threat Evening leaned towards her, showing she wasn’t afraid.  “Me hurting her should be the least of your concerns and trust me, you will never find me.  But every time you’re anywhere near her trust me I’ll know about it and if you or your band of brothers hurt her again there will be no rock you can slither under that I won’t turn over.”  Her glaring eyes followed Lorna all the way to the door and only when it was fully closed did she release the breath she had been holding and work to calm herself down.  Evening perched on the edge of Eva’s bed and took Eva’s hand in her own, holding it tightly.  “You have a weird way of choosing your friends mum.”

Pietro had just stepped out to grab a cup of water, he hadn’t had a lot of free time to check on Eva, so he was relieved when he was finally allowed a reprieve to visit his friend. Moving to take a drink, he stilled as he heard movement, the cup lowering as Eva spoke. “Hey.” His gaze darted to the door, did he get a doctor or someone now that she was awake? Deciding against it, he offered the cup of water to her with a shrug. “Oh, you know–just the past thirty hours. Drew a mustache on you while you were sleeping and everything.” He gave a chuckle and leaned back in his chair. “Joking. How’re you feeling, Sleeping Beauty?”

Eva smiled at his smart reply and slowly eased herself up into a sitting position - doing her best to hide the discomfort it caused. Her hand shook as she accepted the water, her limbs no longer used to moving or being used. "Is that all? I should go back to sleep and make you wait longer," she sassed in her croaky voice. "I hope it was a proper moustache with curls at the end and everything." She smiled brightly, grateful for the playfulness and she took a sip of water before passing it back. "Oh I feel great, want to go and run a marathon? Or swim to New Jersey or something?" She joked.

“‘Mom’, wow, that’s… wow,” Nadia said. "None of these, though, it seems,“ she commented, nodding towards the silver visible―but no longer weaponized―on her hands. She could have been hiding them, but she hoped if her future child inherited those that she would have discouraged hurting herself to hide a part of who she was. She hoped Evening’s future was safe and secure enough that she never had to make the choices Nadia did. "Huh, yeah… I can see it,” Nadia  said, and stroked Evening’s hair, assuming by the way she leaned against her hand that she appreciated the contact, much like Eva did. She wondered if in Evening’s past, Nadia’s future self did the elaborate hairstyles her present self often did to help Alma manage her wild hair.

Evening smiled at her mother's awkwardness, recognising it mirrored in herself sometimes although her other mother was the more awkward one, so it was impossible to tell which one she took after more in that regard. "'Momma' was my first word, and I said it to you... which gave you gloating rights for... well, let's just say you still bring it up sometimes." She glanced down to Eva again. "She's 'mummy' or 'mum'," she explained, the words holding a slight Australian twang to them. "You're 'mommy' 'momma' or 'mom'," she said sounding like Nadia would had she said the words. Evening grinned and a mischievous glint came to her eye as her mother mentioned her silver veins. "Only when I paint them on to look more like you," she tilted her head towards Eva, "originally using expensive art supplies until I got bought my own set of silver paints one Christmas." She hummed happily as her hair was stroked, she had also inherited Eva's love of physical contact - or had learned to appreciate it as they were definitely a family of huggers.

“You said you were busted though,” noted Cole. “If you promised him you’d keep Eva company, why are you busted?” It really wasn’t in his interest to strike up conflict in a hospital room. He wasn’t in the mindset to do so, and it certainly wasn’t why he came, but some of the things he was hearing from the girl didn’t entirely add up to him, so he he spoke up, rather than keeping it to himself. At the invitation to come in though, he stepped away from the door, reaching behind him to pull it shut in the process. There was something unusual about the girl but he couldn’t put his finger on what, exactly, made him feel that way about her, the more he gazed at her. He neared the foot of Eva’s bed, glancing between her, the machines, and the young girl he did not know. “I’ve been told that talking to or around someone even when they’re unconscious can be a good thing. It might seem odd, but supposedly, it can help them recover.” 

“Yeah, busted for being such terrible company,” Evening confirmed guiltily with a very Eva-like shrug.  “I have a rep for talking too much but here... Nothing.  I’ve drawn a total blank.  I want to tell her something cool and interesting but...”  She sighed and her head dropped.  “Sorry... rambling.”  She moved from the foot of the bed round to one side where the bedside table was covered in cards and distracted herself with them, smiling as she saw certain names she recognised in separate cards who would end up as a couple and some as the opposite - at least in her version of their future anyway.  She glanced back up at Cole when he spoke again and nodded.  “That’s what Steven said.”  She slipped into her Australian accent to impersonate him easily as she had grown up hearing the accent from Eva.  “Never let it be silent, mate.  Always be talking even if it’s about nothin’.”  She sighed.  “I failed and let him down, let her down.  I let everyone down.”  She was actually talking about the promise she had made not to interfere in the past, but he didn’t have to know that.

Cole wasn’t planning to stay long. As far as he knew, not much had changed with Eva’s condition. Still, the hospital was nearby where he had been running errands, and he figured talking to her for a little while couldn’t do any harm. As he clipped the visitor badge to his pant pocket, Cole elbowed the room handle down and pushed it open with his shoulder, half expecting Eva’s brother to be there. Instead, he found a young, unfamiliar brunette in the room. Seeing yet another unfamiliar face associated with Eva only briefly caught Cole off guard, but what surprised him more was how young this person was. “I guess so…” he trailed off, leaving his eyes on the girl. “I didn’t know someone else was here or else I would have waited.” The attendant at the nurse’s station didn’t say anything about another visitor and the more he thought about this and the girl’s words, the more he grew suspicious. He kept this to himself for the time being while asking, “Are you gonna be long?”

Realising she had some recovering to do before any awkward questions were asked regarding her presence in the room Evening flashed a very Nadia-esk smile at Cole, who she recognised but was careful not to show that.  “Sorry, I thought you were Steven coming back.  I promised him I’d keep her company but... I haven’t moved since he left and I just can’t think of anything to say.”  She shook her head at his question and as her eyes fell on Eva her smile faded and expression fell.  “Come in, you’ll definitely do a better job of company than I am.  I think she would appreciate that more than me just staring awkwardly.”

Well, the girl isn’t stupid, Nadia began to think, but was distracted by her next words. She watched cautiously as the necklace was removed and offered. She lifted the charm to read but didn’t pull the chain from the girl’s hand. “Ge’catrah,” she murmured. “Evening…” She stared at the word for a moment, as if her aggressive gaze could force it to reveal more information. Then, she looked to the young mutant’s face, and her expression softened. 

Evening stood nervously as she watched her mother look daggers at her necklace, she splayed the fingers on her free hand - ready to make a portal and get out quickly if her idea didn’t pay off but then she saw the softening expression and her mother’s smile that was part of one of her oldest and most cherished memories.  She sighed happily and tilted her head to the side to increase the contact on her Nadia’s hand.

“I’m older than I look,” Evening replied flatly, really not wanting to get too heavily in to it.  “I inherited my mother’s ridiculously youthful looks.”  She had actually inherited a healing factor that slowed down her ageing process but explaining that would have revealed too much.  “It makes getting served at a bar virtually impossible and my driving licence has been tested for being fake so many times I’ve given up on driving.”  She smirked and replied casually, “good.  If you don’t care I don’t need to go into it,” as she moved to Eva’s bedside and closed her fingers gently around Eva’s hand.  She rolled her eyes in exactly the same way Eva did and sighed.  “You should try it sometime.  Y’know if ever you’re in a foreign country in a city you nothing about beyond the wiki page.  You might learn something.  Especially if all the tv has on it is ads for fast food chains.”  She was pleased to have found a way to bolster her tourist story and was careful not to let her accent slip at all.  Evening looked up at the camera and just rolled her eyes as Lorna made it shake.  She hadn’t intended for it to move, the portal she had briefly thrown around it was just to cover her entrance via interference on the feed.  Clearly her aim had been off.  She moved around the bed and slid one of the visitor chairs under the camera.  Standing on the chair she moved the camera back into it’s proper position and then returned the chair and returned to her place by Eva’s side.  “I’m not hiding,” she finally replied defiantly, “and you can quit it with the lame threats.  I’m not scared of you.”

The girl was nervous, threatened—good, Nadia thought. She observed the way the girl looked around the room for exits and objects that could be used as weapons, much how she did. Had the girl been trained to do so, or was it an instinct learned the hard way? Her own instincts warned her not to become sympathetic, lest she need to fight her. Nadia had a sad story, but it only made her a greater threat, not harmless like the girl claimed she was. Still, there was something unsettlingly familiar about her…

Being threatened by her mother was definitely not something Evening had planned for on this particular trip and not for the first time she found herself wondering if coming here had been a good idea.  She had reasons and perfectly valid answers and explanations to all Nadia’s quries but none of them would make sense unless she revealed exactly who she was.  And somehow convinced Nadia that she wasn’t an imposter or shapeshifter.

Nadia’s eyes widened at the sight of the blue energy that she began to realize was a portal. Her confusion turned to protectiveness, and while the girl was doing something to the security camera, she stepped between her and Eva’s motionless form. Nadia was certain she knew all the mutants and mutates Eva did, but she’d never seen this one, which meant danger—and danger meant Nadia was ready to fight. She channeled her metallic veins, hidden under the surface of her skin, towards her hands, popping blades out of her knuckles in a fashion reminiscent of her old Danger Room teacher. Where they punctured her skin, blood leaked out before her healing quickly sealed the wounds. “Busted doing what exactly?” Nadia demanded. Would the Brotherhood send someone else to harm Eva? What purpose would that serve?

Evening’s initial reaction to seeing the very familiar tall blonde form before her was one of elation, but then she spotted Nadia’s expression, and the metallic veins being deployed in defence of Eva.  Evening had seen those veins used before - rarely, but she had seen them - always to defend her or someone close to them.  She had never been on the receiving end of that threatening glare that seemed so impressive when it was on your side, but having it shot at you truly was terrifying.  She gulped and tried to remain calm. Her eyes quickly darted around the room, taking stock of her surroundings and exits - a habit she had picked up from a young age but probably wouldn’t do her much good here, she would have to talk her way out.  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, much like Eva did when she was nervous.  “Well there’s no point in lying and saying I’m meant to be here, I’m not.  So I’m busted.”  Her nerves made her tone more unemotional, just like Nadia when she was nervous.  “I assure you I mean no harm to anybody here.  I am not a threat, especially not her.”  Her head tilted ever so slightly in Eva’s direction, not wanting a more extreme move to be misinterpreted.

Evening caught the rather harsh reply but didn’t react to it, such responses were to be expected after her rather abrupt arrival.  “Well yeah,” she replied with a shrug and the air of someone explaining something ridiculously simple, “with a stupid one visitor at a time rule and me being on a tight schedule it was either skip signing in or not come.”  Her eyebrows rose and her features turned exactly to Eva’s ‘i’m disappointed’ look - a look she had received more than she cared to admit.  “No, it was in the paper,” she couldn’t stop the sigh that followed the statement, “some chick called Daisy apparently really misses her and the whole office put a get-well-soon message in the local news section.  It was small and easily missed, I nearly did.”  She knew the article existed, Daisy herself had told her so years from now, but she had no idea when or where with the Bugle it was.  But she also felt she was digging herself deeper into a hole with no way of getting out of it currently.  The idea of Lorna leaving was actually tempting but at the same time she was curious why she was here.  Guilty conscious maybe?  “Me shady?  I wasn’t the one pacing.  Maybe I should start quizzing you on your presence here.”

“Don’t get carried away! I haven’t even asked her yet, and at the rate things are going, we’ll never even be able to afford a wedding.” She wasn’t trying to be cynical, so she tossed in a joke. “We’ll be marrying Mando’ade-style at this rate. ‘One together, one apart, sharing stuff, warrior children’—ta da!”

Daisy blew a raspberry and gave Nadia a look that perfectly conveyed her disbelief.  “Do you really think she’ll say no? Cuz she won’t.”  She rolled her eyes playfully.  “She lurrves you too much to say no.”  She laughed loudly at the idea of a Mando-ade wedding, it would actually be perfect, but she loved big events too much to admit that.  “Nuh uh, I’m insisting on bells and whistles, treat yourselves!  It’s only gonna happen once!”

Daisy nodded in acknowledgement of the name, she had heard it before from Eva but was having trouble placing it within a specific event or thing that had happened.  She really should pay more attention when people were talking to her.  “Nice to meet you too,” she replied and looked up hopefully towards Lorna.  “If... if you go see her, please tell her I said hi.”  She watched the green haired girl leave and leaned back in her chair, once again attempting to eat her lunch.

Dinner Time | Closed | Sept. 6, 2016

Steven had actually left his sister’s bedside briefly but only for as long as it took him to have a shower and throw on a clean set of clothes, he’d then headed straight back to the hospital - bypassing the canteen - to return to Eva as quickly as he could.  He stood by his decision but the gurgling of his stomach suggested he probably should have thought things through a little more thoroughly.