#emma001

   A soft smile fell into place on Ororo’s lips as she looked down on the lawn of the mansion and saw a familiar game of baseball taking place, the shouts wafting in through the open window of Emma’s office, even the smell of brimstone that indicated Kurt was teleporting from base to base. It was good to see that some things did not change, and that this was one of them. When the universe shifted, when reality itself turned on its head, the X-Men came home and played ball all the same. Perhaps more than anything, it restored the belief in her that things would be alright. At the same time, she felt a pang, watching them play. Whenever Ororo returned to the school, she would wonder why she ever left again. It was home, in a way no other place could be. She believed her place was with SWORD for now, and yet ... “I believe they have a new mission for me. I was contacted this morning. It’ll be difficult to leave again.” Her confession came with a sigh, an exhaustion that had sunk in five years ago and hadn’t yet left, though she managed a smile when she turned to Emma. It had long ago stopped being strange that someone she had once considered one of her worst enemies was now the person she looked towards to reassure her… even if Emma typically did so in her own way. 

         “Though I trust your hands to keep them all safe, Emma, or better yet, your mind. How are the students settling in? I admit, I find it tentatively encouraging that we are yet to have any major explosions.” 

She could ask Carlisle anything, knowing the answer she would receive would be glimmering smiles and held-back laughs. He was an open-book whether he wanted to be or not, honest to a fault, even in his half-truths. They had been friends far too long to believe nothing was changing in his gaze. It was falling more so on one than most times before, and that was always where the danger laid. He was too oblivious to catch it, heart too willed by simple pleasures to catch. It relied on her to be the voice of reason, as it always did.

"Thank you for making the time to see me, Mrs. Reeves," she spoke the moment the editor of Axed appeared in her office's doorway, open specifically for this very occasion. "I hope Mr. Fairchild did not embellish the invite with his own interests when he met with you." Siobhan was at her desk, standing over the neatly organized papers, vision rising to give Emma her full attention with a hand gesturing to the empty chair. "Have a seat, please."

Hestia wasn’t sure if she was sold on the radio show yet. Yes, Maddy was proof that they could reach out to like-minded people who wanted to join the fight - but they were also putting themselves out there. If the wrong people managed to crack into the broadcast… 

Still, she wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. At least not yet. Hestia had decided that she needed to see how it worked before she could make a proper opinion of it. After that, she could begin the process of thinking through any potential flaw or figure out how to protect themselves in case they reached the wrong people. So when her day off aligned with the broadcast from the Potter estate, she’d taken the opportunity to go. 

Something about the house gave her chills now. Maybe it was how it had once been so bustling with life, and now it felt like a living memory of a tragedy. It made her somber enough to not mind that the first person she ran into was one of Dorcas’ little gang. 

“Oh, hello Emma,” Hestia greeted, taking a few steps over. “Are you here for the-” 

Her words were cut off by the sound of pandemonium. The building went from mournful, to filled with sounds of shouts and something scarily like an explosion. Hestia jumped, closing the distance to Emma. “What the hell was that?”

Adrian surveyed the camping equipment in silence, before eventually picking up a few of the stakes and searching for a grassy area to put them. Did he just put them in the ground and then tie poles to them ? Shrugging, he glanced back at Emma. “ I’m surprised you decided to come, honestly. I thought we’d scared you away after that birthday party Noah brought you to once. ”

“DIEEEE!!!!”

A loud, and rather a bright explosion surrounded the beast that had decided to bare their fangs to him, and down the creature fell with the attack obliterating it. Easy and no sweat, as he walked back to the street-side with his hands still smoking from using his quirk. No major injuries or scratches. 

Though, he didn’t realize a younger kid had been watching the chaos he had gotten thrown into. Either way, he had done his job. 

Stomping on the pavement reached a crescendo the closer to her destination she sailed.  The night blanketed over the town with only a few pools of light from the street lamps. This was the highlight of her freedom, and for Spring a sense of fictional hope that she would someday have her freedom from the clutches of Blackvale. People that got in her way no matter their statue were violently shoved out of her way if they didn’t move on their own accord. 

Spring had hoped her hunger would subside the other pattern her raging thoughts threatened to display. It was one night and she doubted that Emma would want to explore anything further with her. It added onto her frustration that she couldn’t will the mental pictures of Emma in her mind. The touch of the woman’s flesh, the taste of the woman’s lips. The carnal map of her friend’s body. 

The sidetrack thoughts almost had her huffing irratibly past Emma’s home. Spring found her way to the woman’s door and paused on the threshold to pick up one of the cats. Crooking her finger to rub underneath the cat’s chin. “Go claw some fucking wanker.” Spring hissed and released the cat before she used her fist to bang heavily on the door. “OI EMMA. I’M FUCKING PECKISH LET’S FUCKING GO.”