the phoenix rises

he actually wasn’t really supposed to be here. he was supposed to be at the baxter’s labs with reed richards, looking for answers as to why the acid rain was more acid than rain, and then maybe swipe a snack or two when his brain goes into overdrive. but then parts of the xavier’s institute appeared and cindy—that web-slinging woman who’s apparently kissing johnny storm in hallways now, my god he wanted to scream at her—peaced out of exploring the area. so now he was there as her replacement and while he’s really excited that the portals between realities weren’t fully closed (apparently), amadeus thought he really should be focused on some place where he’d be of more use. “miss grey!,” amadeus called out and waved to catch her attention—if his green skin wasn’t enough of a signal that is, “is professor xavier home?”

( @phoeniixflames )

upon learning that the lower levels of xavier’s had shown up within the jungle, jean had been one of the first to arrive there. she’d called out for him vocally and tried to use her telepathy to reach out to him, but there was 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. it was 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨, and a little 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, but jean had to wonder if she should be glad that charles wasn’t around. maybe wherever he was was better than here. 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 was probably better than 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. hearing someone call her name, she turned on her heel to face them. “oh, please -- call me jean. but... no, unfortunately. i’ve tried everything i could possibly do to try to find him, but... he just isn’t here.” she replied, sighing as she bit back a 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧. “is there anything i could help you with, amadeus? i’m afraid that there isn’t much here,” she added, looking around at their surroundings. “𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, cerebro, the danger room and the med labs aren’t very useful. if we can figure that out, well... things might get a 𝙗𝙞𝙩 easier. i don’t know that cerebro will be of much use, but the med lab would certainly be helpful.”

where are they currently staying?: jean is staying in the sanctum.

is there anything unique/specific to their room? jean isn’t picky when it comes to her room -- it’s got the basics one would need for living, and that’s good enough for her. plus, she doesn’t want to get too attached to whatever room she has, as she’s holding out hope that they’ll get back home sooner rather than later.

are they living near or with anyone else?: jean doesn’t share her room, but lives nearby anyone within the sanctum.

do they have any pets or animals currently living with them? no, but if the right animal came along, jean wouldn’t be opposed to adopting it.

have they done anything to make this feel homey? and if so, what?: jean has a few books in her room, but other than that, she hasn’t done much.

is there anything from the outside world they were able to find or bring with? nothing in particular.

since the rain had stopped and the dinosaurs cleared mj was finally free to leave the compound, not that she really wanted to. could you blame her? she had barely made it out alive. the last thing she wanted to do was venture back out into the forest, literally walking into the danger zone. but she needed to. food wasn’t going to find itself and the damage to the fence needed fixing. “what do you think we should do? hunt or fix this thing up?” she asked the woman not too far from her.

{ @phoeniixflames }

“well... i don’t really know much about hunting. so why don’t we try our hand with this fence? i feel like i’d be able to get a better handle on that than hunting.” jean replied, giving mj a small smile as she nodded for her to follow. “i mean, unless you think you’d be better at hunting? i’m happy to try anything at least once.” she added with a shrug of her shoulders. “up to you, kid. whichever would be easier for you is fine by me.”

jean groaned out as she tipped her head back, choosing to take a minute to catch her breath from where she was sitting by the tree she’d fallen out of moments ago. “at the time it seemed like a good way to get away from either the rain or some dinosaurs. the rain part didn’t really work in my favor.” she replied with a sigh. “my head is killing me. but what about you? did you manage to find shelter?”

“i’m sorry, kate,” jean replied with a small sigh, running her fingers through her hair. “nerves, i guess. i think they’re going around, especially after the whole ‘acid rain’ thing. i start to get more nervous around dinosaurs every time one gets anywhere near one of our shelters.” she explained as she looked out the window of the compound. “what about you? how are you feeling about... all of this?”

“I couldn’t help it. I make them when I’m nervous.” The mutant admits with a slight  smile before looking around them. Everywhere Billy has gone through a portal to has been having hardships. He sighs as he fights off the urge to make another reference. The witch should be taking this more seriously, the situation was to be concerned about. “I promise not to make another Star Trek reference for at least ten minutes.” [ @phoeniixflames ]

“it’s okay,” jean replied, smiling sheepishly over at the younger mutant. “nah, don’t worry about it. if it helps alleviate your nerves, then make all the star trek references you want. even though i might not get most of them. i was more of a star wars girl,” she laughed softly. “unless you want to talk about what’s making you nervous. i mean-- i guess it may be kind of obvious, but if you want to talk about it, or anything, you can.”

The flickering lights were doing Maya absolutely no favours. Being deaf, she relied solely on her vision for most things, including her powers, so with the light fading in and out she was struggling. In any other situation, Maya could read lips perfectly, but now, as this woman spoke to her, she was only obtaining fragments of her speech. “Sorry, what? A guts-… What?” Maya had started approaching her in an attempt to see her more clearly, but it wasn’t fast enough to stop a giant wing from knocking her to the ground. “Shit…”

“ah-- sorry, should’ve been more specific,” jean replied with a sigh as she quickly moved to help the other up. “c’mon, we gotta run!” she exclaimed, using her free hand to throw a blast of energy towards the dinosaur to temporarily stun it. there was a voice in the back of her head telling her she could just destroy it -- telling her how easy it would be -- but she couldn’t bring herself to. maybe this thing was just scared after the aftermath of the acid rain. “we gotta go, and now. it wasn’t happy before, and it won’t be happy now,”

“JEAN!? BOBBY!? HANK!? Answer me, damnit!” Scott is shouting as he tries to pull wreckage apart. The castle spire from Genosha. He’d been following it’s mark on the skyline since he arrived here. It was the only landmark he could see. But then the rain…he’d had to take cover. He hadn’t done well. His once regal blue and yellow suit has holes in it, burns on his skin from where acid rain ate through the fabric. The back of his neck is especially damaged. Scott didn’t have a choice but to keep his head down through the storm. If acid had eaten away at the visor covering his face…his power would be out of control. It had been years since he’d felt that cold spinal drip of mortal terror at the thought of opening his eyes unprotected and hurting someone. He’d been sent here without a backup, just the one he was wearing when everything went white…and already the quarts had a thin crack across one side. It was holding for now, but who was to say what would’ve happened if acid had opened that crack enough for his power to bleed through? When he’d finally made it to the tower, well, there was no tower. Lightning, fire, and now rubble. They said everyone got out, but Scott didn’t see his team. He didn’t see any of them. Jean, Hank, Warren, nor Bobby had surfaced. They had to be here. He had to just keep digging. Because if they weren’t here, if they hadn’t made it to the savage lands…

Scott shook his head, digging like a madman, tossing metal sheeting aside and pushing past loose rock. “WARREN! ANYONE!? Speak up so I can find you!”

jean was disappointed they were unable to save the genoshan castle, knowing it was one of their few shelters and the home to many who needed a place to stay. but it was gone now. but they’d rebuild, she knew that much. they’d do their best -- they always did. sitting on a rock, she sighs. her hands folded into a fist and rested on her knees, she stares out into the rubble, deep in her own thoughts. at least, until she hears someone yelling. no, no, not just yelling -- calling her name. and she could’ve sworn she recognized that voice! frowning, she gets to her feet and moves towards the source of the voice, and stops dead in her tracks when she comes face to face with who had been calling out to her. it was scott, she knew that much, but... he was so young. why was he so young? she frowns, slowly approaching. “... scott?” she asks, raising a brow. “i don’t -- i don’t understand. how are you-- how are you so young? i’m so confused.” 

“please, call me matt.” being called mister murdock was a little unusual. the last time someone called him mister murdock was in a courtroom and it was the judge overseeing the water pollution case. “it’s nice to meet you too despite the circumstances that we’re in.” he’d rather meet jean grey and the rest of the people under better circumstances, but he doesn’t exactly hold the fate of the world in his hands. he was very much human. “i’m not sure what kind of help i’d be able to give. i don’t exactly have the kind of educational background that they need.” he was a lawyer by profession, after all.

“matt it is,” she replied. “and you can call me jean. i totally get not wanting that formality. ‘miss grey’ just makes me feel old, i guess.” she laughed softly. “professor grey is even pushing it sometimes.” she added. “i’m sure there’s a way we can all help -- we just have to figure it all out. everything’s still so... new, you know?” she did her best to reassure him. “until then, maybe it’d be best to find shelter. i believe there’s a building nearby -- either the compound or the baxter builder. but, do you need any help getting around? roots and vines and such on the ground, i mean--,”

“you could say that again,” jean replied, her arms crossed over her chest as she let out a small sigh. “of all the places, why the jungle? why dinosaurs? i’m still not completely sure whether this is real or if it’s just some weird, sick joke.” she added, moving to glance out a window of the sanctum. "you think we’ll be safe here?” she asked, raising a brow. “it’s not gonna go haywire all over again? i’d rather not walk into a room and suddenly find myself in another, y’know?”

jean laughed softly as she looked over at bobby. “did you have a feeling something was going to go more wrong?” she asked, raising a brow. “i’m just glad the rain is gone. but, there’s something weirder going on than acid rain -- i’ve heard the lower parts of the school have appeared somewhere in the jungle. not too far from here, if i remember right. do you want to check it out with me? and i’ve been... trying to reach out to charles, but...” she trailed off, shaking her head. “nothing yet.”

there was something comforting about the presence of jean. whether it was the simple act of her laughing or the fact she obviously had certified bad-ass status as a member of the x-men, may was really glad that she’d found her. “you’re so right. i feel like at least a little bit of warning and we could have grabbed some hair product or something before we-” she waggled her fingers to indicate their, uh, transporting?- “you know.” may listened to her intently, piecing together what facts they had.

“so, big bad takes a shot and then this happens but the ’why, how etcetera’ isn’t exactly obvious. okay, i can run with that,” may nodded one more time just for good measure before letting out a laugh. “probably but only a bit. i’m glad you’re okay though. um, no not yet—,” positive thoughts, positive thoughts, positive thoughts, “but i think any minute now my kid is probably gonna fall out of one of these trees or something. it’d be very like him. besides, us being the only two who got tossed here would just be a really weird angle for galuc- galactus, you know? there has to be more totally confused and obviously not at all freaking out people around. … right?”

jean chuckled softly. “as nice as it would be to be given a heads up before an attack, i think most villains prefer the element of surprise. unfortunately for us.” she replied. she’d experienced that one more times than she liked to count, and knew all too well that a change of heart didn’t come too often. “i hope you find him soon. i’ve been trying all day to reach my students, but to no avail. i think they just aren’t here. which... may just be for the better. kids might love dinosaurs, bu kids in a prehistoric jungle full of dinosaurs sounds like a terrible idea. i mean, if the jurassic park movies have taught us anything--,” she said, waving her hand. “but hopefully your son doesn’t get hurt falling out of a tree or something. though if anyone does end up getting hurt, i’m a doctor,” she added, giving may a reassuring smile. “you’ve got a point there. i have a feeling we’re here because of our stance against him. it’s the only thing that makes sense, you know? but then i have to wonder what it’s like on earth,” she sighed.

there was some sort of irony in it, lorna supposed, that as someone who could control magnetism – she’d become stuck inside her own burning castle made of metal – alongside someone who was occasionally possessed by a flaming bird. “i mean, the whole castle is made of metal – i can move the wall but..” she hesitated, edging carefully close to the wall and flames. the creaking of metal shifting around them made her pause. “the castle is already compromised, if i go moving too much around, it’s going to collapse and i don’t plan on being in here when that happens.” she explained, taking another quick look around before picking up a piece of scrap metal and immediately taking it to window, breaking it open. “a new source of oxygen should draw the flames that way, hopefully enough for us to slip past.”

“if we can avoid moving any of the metal, i think that’d be best. i’m sure that none of us want to be crushed underneath flaming metal.” she replied, pursing her lips as her eyes scanned the area in hopes of finding some sort of solution that would get them out. her gaze quickly shifts to the window lorna had smashed and she nods her head, getting the gist of the plan as she used her powers to smash the remaining windows. seeing the flames grow more intense on that side of what was left of the castle, she grabbed lorna’s hand and lead her towards an opening to get out. looking up at the burning castle, she sighed. “i’m sorry. i know this was your home.”

The rain is a pain in the ass. The whole situation was a pain in the ass. By the time Logan had dispatched the fourth screaming pterowhatthefuck, he was tired, pissed off, and sorely in need of a drink.

Glancing in annoyance at the long scratch from wrist to elbow that one of those overgrown naked chickens had gifted him, he waited for it to start closing before shoving his way through this messed up magic castle.

If one more fucking staircase changed its direction on him, he was going to–

–of course it did. Of bloody course.

Facepalming in annoyance, he shook a fist at the ceiling, then vaulted over the rail, leaping down towards the bottom–

–he landed in a corridor, startling some poor sod who’d probably just been trying to find their way out of this hellhole. 

“Sorry,” he grunted on autopilot. “It’s this bloody place. It just won’t stay still.”

the last thing jean had expected was for wolverine to come plummeting down from who the hell knows where and land right in front of her. shocked, she jumps back, holding a hand to her chest as she tried to calm down for a second. “so i’ve noticed,” jean replied with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. she’d used a portal by the genoshan castle to get to the sanctum, but she hadn’t expected it to be this much of... well, this much of a mess. “we need to get out of here, logan.” she added, fully well aware that she was stating the obvious as she held her hands up to her temples, rubbing them in an attempt to hopefully alleviate her pounding headache. “any ideas?”

          AS MUCH AS LAURA DIDN’T WANT TO ADMIT IT, reverting back to her primal state of mind had been as easy as breathing to the young mutant the moment she had landed in… wherever the h e l l this was. going back to that kill or be killed mindset that she had lived basically her entire life with was so easy that it had scared laura momentarily, but when she realized that, for whatever reason, she had been thrown into a world where dinosaurs roamed free and humans were placed, once again, at the bottom of the food chain ━━ she realized that she really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. wiping the b l o o d off of her adamantium claws onto her absolutely destroyed denim jacket, the long haired experiment gone terribly wrong would simultaneously perk up and freeze at the sound of footsteps approaching. similiar to the way a tiger would stalk its prey, the porcelain skinned woman move to hide behind one of the large rocks in the area, the almost silent sound of her claws retracting into her knuckles too loud for the hunters liking as she moved closer to the newcomer. waiting a few moments to determine whether or not they were dangerous ━━ everyone is dangerous, the all too familiar voice whispered in the back of her mind ━━ she would move out of hiding so that she was standing right in front of the person, keen eyes trained on their feet. “ too loud, ” she said simply, referring to their footfalls as dark eyes left to survey the surrounding area for any potential danger. “ dangerous. be more quiet. ”

as a girl, jean used to love taking walks through the woods. the area behind her childhood home didn’t have a particularly large area of it, but it was more than enough for her to have fun as a child. and then during her time as a student at xavier’s, the trees around the campus served as a nice place to sit and study on sunny days. so while their situation was rather dire at times, jean still tried to look on the bright side of things. and, of course, it was always a good idea to patrol around the general area of their shelters in case any threats had come nearby. the last thing she was expecting was to run into someone on her walk. taken back, she takes a step back as she looks at the smaller girl. “i wasn’t--,” she began, frowning. “i’m sorry. i didn’t realize,” she replied, giving the younger girl a smile. “are you all alone out here? we’ve got shelters set up in some of the buildings that are around here -- and any help we can get to both defend ourselves if needed and get out of here would be more than welcome,” she paused for a second. “i’m jean,” she added, holding her hand out to shake.

Emma scoffed a little in response. “I’d rather just turned diamond and snapped his neck but I am sure in the X-Men rule book there is a thing somewhere about not killing other members.” Emma was sarcastic as she spoke before sighing. “Though I wouldn’t of took much pleasure of beating him so unfairly.” She admitted, her own way of saying that she actually didn’t want to take it as far as murder. “Oh, I’m fine. I just need a well deserved massage and a new pair of Manolo Blahnik’s.” Emma shrugged as she placed her hands on her hips before looking to Jean. “I’ve faced a lot worse than a little man in a wheelchair. This situation is nothing more than a fashion blunder.” She said, hoping to put both of them at ease.

“that wouldn’t have been a solution to the problem. what happened wasn’t entirely charles’ fault -- just like those two kids who got... possessed or whatever... and started fighting people. it’s on whoever did that to them in the first place. they’re as much victims as we were.” jean replied with a shrug of her shoulders. despite emma’s words, jean had a feeling murdering charles wasn’t first on the other’s to-do list in that situation. “somehow i don’t think a new pair of heels would be the most logical shoe choice in this... place. i feel like you’d just end up sinking into mud or something,” she added. “glad to know you’re okay, though. maybe we can work together to try to find some sort of shelter to get the hell out of this weather? i don’t know about you,but i’d rather not get rained on, y’know?”

Ororo paused for a second, mulling that one over in the middle of all this chaos. After all, what was new, right? Storm and Jean facing off against the unbelievable, unbeatable and usually really weird. “I admit, it’s always a little tempting but if there’s something that I know better than anyone, it’s that you can’t fight the weather and win.” She added a quick wink just for good measure, a quick smile tugging at her lips. “We can make ‘fists of fury’ our plan B. —Is there anyone else we need to get out of here?”

“good point,” jean chuckled in response, grinning over at her friend. “a fist fight with the weather -- especially this rain -- most likely isn’t something on anyone’s to-do list.” she nodded her head. just about everything lately had been overwhelming, and jean knew just about everyone felt that way, but they were all coping and dealing with it as best they could. “sounds good to me. as for any stragglers, i think we got everyone,” she paused. “did you hear about the fire? or see it?”