4/30 Issue: Pink and Primed

[Slarti]

Timelined a few days after The Space Curse? and Possessed.

Heather: It was a rare thing that Heather found herself with time off but now that it was happening in proximity to the X-men's headquarters, she decided to drop by for a visit... and free food. She landed on the lawn and folded her wings back, heading inside and wondering if or when she'd be accosted by security personnel. Really, they should all know who she was.

Jean: There wasn't any security ready to intercept her, but there was a redhead. Jean was returning the problematic ouija board and ghost hunting equipment to Beth, along with doing some dishing about Jamie's panic attack and her surprise over it.

Jean: Mission accomplished, Jean was checking on her room and then ready to head out when she took one step outside and was blinded by gold.

Heather: Heather almost walked into Jean then also almost took out several items of furniture with her wings.

Jean: "OHAI!" Jean flailed backward and caught the furniture with her teke.

Heather: Heather looked around her to check the furniture, pulling her wings back against her back, "Hey... Um... thanks for... that..." she gestured at the pinkish glow around the items she'd knocked over.

Jean: "No problem! Sorry for the... whole... eek thing!" Jean took another step back and set everything back in place. She gave her a sheepish grin.

Heather: "It's fine," Heather waved it off, "I'm probably not supposed to be here anyway."

Jean: "Why not?" Jean resettled her purse and moved fully inside, holding the door open for her. "You're totally welcome, since, like, you went to school here, and you're a mutant and you guard the president."

Heather: "Yeah but I'm not an X-man anymore. I'm just dropping by for the free food... and I was wondering if Carol was here but I guess not..." She offered Jean a small smile, "Not that you're not awesome."

Jean: "I think Carol went to run errands or something. I was just bringing some stuff back to Beth." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Of course I'm awesome. It's good to see you. I bet President Stark keeps you busy."

Heather: "Yeah, so busy," she laughed, "But it's free entertainment." She started down the hallway to the kitchen, "He's fun."

Jean: "I bet. He seems fun." Jean decided to tag along. She didn't get to see her huge and shiny friend very often, after all. "So he gave you a day off?" Her head cocked. "How's that work anyway? You can't be with him all the time. He has to pee and stuff."

Heather: "Well I'm supposed to just be in range of him so my powers can pick up on any threat so I don't have to be in the same room, technically... that could get pretty awkward." She gave Jean a fangy grin, "But he does like me to stand around looking all imposing because, you know... I'm huge."

Jean: "And shiny!" Jean returned the grin, then remembered something important. "OH! So... can I ask you something?"

Heather: "Yes, very shiny." She giggled, going to the coffee machine to make a fancy coffee. "Ask away," she smiled over her shoulder.

Jean: "Yooooooou're, like, part alien right? Like Carol?" She lifted up and parked herself on the kitchen counter, swinging her legs.

Heather: Heather nodded, then frowned, "Well... sorta. We're different species... and if you said we're the same to either of them they'd fight you."

Jean: "Yeah, I met Carol's mom. She's a Kree... but you're... um, kinda birdy?" There was no other way to put it, and she flapped her hands a little in illustration. "They're like... birdy aliens?"

Heather: She laughed, "Yeah. They're called the Shi'ar. We met them after the Brood attack... they helped us go after the ones that took Carol.... they're not usually willing to help the Kree but... I'm supposedly royalty or something so they do what I say."

Jean: "Oooo, royalty!" Jean perked up at that. "Should I dust off my curtsy?"

Heather: She laughed again, "Please don't. I'm not royalty here... only out there," she gestured vaguely, "Something to do with these." She pointed at the markings on her face that stood out starkly in black against the gold.

Jean: Jean leaned to look at the markings, and nodded. "Interesting! So... how many, like, aliens have you met?"

Heather: "I met the crew of a ship that were hunting the Brood... I haven't been to my homeworld or anything. I did ask them what it's called... the said the throneworld is called Chandilar and the offered to take me but I was still at school and my parents didn't even know I was in space so..."

Jean: Jean swung her legs and thought about this. "So... do the Shi'ar have... like, fire birds?"

Heather: "Fire birds?" Heather topped up her espresso with hot water and then proceeded to dump a whole lot of syrup in it. "How do you mean?"

Jean: "Yeah, you know... how I do the whole fire birdy thing?" She flapped her hands again. "Dr. Maximoff ran some tests on me and there's something weird in my DNA... like, maybe alien?"

Heather: "I was an alien before it was cool," Heather teased, stirring her coffee. "I don't know much about them, honestly... but I guess I could ask them if you want? They left me some stuff I can use to contact them but I don't know how to work it so I'll have to ask Carol."

Jean: "Yeah... could you? My dad says there's no way he's an alien, or that we're descended from aliens, but, like, telepathy runs in our family for generations..."

Heather: Heather nodded, "Sure, I can do that," she gave another fangy grin, "I'll get all my shit from where I put it and bring it over so Carol can translate the instructions for me. Did you know she can read Shi'ar text? She's like some kind of space ninja."

Jean: "I didn't even know what a Shi'ar was, so no," she laughed. "My dad says being a mutant is the family curse, but I never had the fire thing all the time until after Rachel died... it's like it passed to me."

Heather: Heather thought about that while she sipped her coffee, "So maybe the fire thing is something else then... I'll get Carol to help me work the stuff and see if I can get someone to come and talk to you about it. How's that?"

Jean: "Great! Thanks!" Jean gave her a bright grin and hopped down to make herself a coffee too. "Carol's mom said she'd heard legends about stuff like... well, like me, or like the phoenix anyway, but she didn't know specifics."

Heather: "Yeah and I guess it makes sense if you want to ask about a bird, ask the space birds," Heather nodded, "Instead of the space warriors."

Jean: "See, it's a good idea!" She shot Heather a grin over her shoulder as she fussed with the machine. Pushing the actual buttons was more fun with this thing than using teke.

Heather: "There's space cops too but I haven't met them, just heard about it from the Shi'ar crew. They were really good about answering questions."

Jean: "Did they all look like you? Or am I leaning too hard into this bird thing?" Jean waited for the machine to do its magic.

Heather: She laughed, "Way too hard... some of them had like... some feathers but mostly they look human. The royal family are the only ones that really grow wings apparently... and usually it comes with some less desireable side effects which I also inherited."

Jean: "...does it involve going crazy and blowing up part of New York?" Wait, was she alien royalty too?! Were they cousins?! "Because my cousin totally did that with the bird powers."

Heather: She shook her head, "No... I mean, I guess it could if I had those kinds of powers..." huh. That was a scary thought. "It's like... we see red."

Jean: "You see red? Like... you get mad easily?" Because... she did too. Welp. She pulled a lock of red hair over her shoulder to play with. "Or literal red?" She picked up her hair and waved it at her.

Heather: She shook her head, "It's not that we get mad easily... it's more like when we get really mad we get really mad. Like... kill all the things in front of us kind of mad."

Jean: "Oh, wow..." OMG Rachel! "That's... kinda what my cousin did..." Jean distracted herself by fussing with her coffee and blowing on it before taking a careful sip.

Heather: "That doesn't mean she was Shi'ar or anything... plenty of mutants have that button too - feral mutants especially. Carol is actually on call 24/7 in case I have an incident. If my powers weren't what they are, Bobby would be on the list too because I can't hurt him but... well, I can be made immune. Best chance is to just get me away from stuff. It's only happened a couple of times."

Jean: "She wasn't feral, she was an emo," Jean explained, then stopped herself. "Oh wow, that's awful. I'm sorry. So Carol had to stop you before?" Jean questioned why they had her guarding the president if she was a ticking raegbomb.

Heather: Heather nodded, "But it's very unlikely to happen. I have a therapist now." She gave Jean a fangy grin, "So Carol won't just abandon you if you're out superheroing somewhere, I promise. I'm actually in a pretty low stress job, all things considered."

Jean: "I can't imagine babysitting the president being low stress," she laughed. "I have a therapist too! It's Jess Shaw!"

Heather: Heather giggled, "It doesn't sound low stress but, like I said, he's funny. And my powers pretty much will counter anything dangerous so it's like just hanging out." She found a stool to perch on, "Is she helping?"

Jean: "Actually lately she's been teaching me to cook more than therapizing me," she floated back up to the counter and sipped her coffee. Extra sugar! "But when I was seeing her on the regular, yeah, it did help."

Heather: "I have a SHIELD therapist because... I know stuff," she gave a sheepish grin, "Gotta keep those government secrets secret."

Jean: "You know stuff, huh? Like who the president is sleeping with?" Jean giggled and wagged her eyebrows over her cup.

Heather: She laughed, "I think everyone knows that... but other stuff. I know stuff. I had to sign so many pieces of paper."

Jean: "NDAs? Yeah, I had to sign some to join the X-Men, not that we've done a lot to not have to disclose."

Heather: "It's probably because of stuff Carol knows more than anything and you have freaky mind powers," Heather pointed out, "She has higher clearance than I do."

Jean: "I stay out of Carol's head, and everyone else's. They should make Beth sign extra papers if that's the worry!" She laughed and swung her legs.

Heather: "Her brother works for the government in the UK so she's probably signed more than the rest of us," Heather giggled, "It's good that you stay out of heads though. Basic telepathy manners," she nodded sagely.

Jean: "Yeah, I stay out of heads. I have enough going on in mine," she giggled. "Plus I have that link with Jamie, so his head and mine are pretty smooshed most of the time."

Heather: Heather wrinkled her nose, "That sounds awful, honestly."

Jean: "It took some getting used to, but it's mostly comforting. I mean, it's not, like, foolproof for understanding each other since we still fight sometimes." Her nose wrinkled. "I just learned he's not a fan of ouija boards."

Heather: "I don't think I could do it," Heather shook her head, "Having someone know what's going on in my head all the time? No thank you. I'd rather keep my toxic opinions on the inside."

Jean: "Oh, we're still pretty good at keeping our internal monologues to ourselves... sometimes." She thought about that. "He has lots of ... hims in his head. It's kinda crowded," she laughed.

Heather: "You're definitely not selling this psychic link thing to me," she gave Jean a grin, "Good thing I only get telepathy for temporary."

Jean: That made her laugh harder. "I'm really not, am I? But I love it." Jean sent Jamie a surge of affection. "Honestly, having to learn how to deal with new powers all the time would probably make me crazier."

Heather: "That's the weird part, though. I never have the learning curve. I just know. It's like tapping into this weird collective knowledge base."

Jean: "That's nice. I wish I had that," she laughed. "Well, like 14 year old me wishes she'd had that. It was a trip on the struggle bus when my powers kicked in."

Heather: "Learning to get new powers randomly was weird... I never know what's going to happen before it comes. The wings though? They took getting used to when I couldn't ditch them anymore. I still knock shit over all the time."

Jean: "Especially when people run into you and freak out?" she giggled into her cup and eyed the enormous folded wings. "I bet. They're cool, but I can see how that would suck to get used to." Also she was just sort of huge in general. Jean felt tiny.

Heather: "They do not build doors for winged people... or people who are seven feet tall... with also wings. It's a struggle every day," she nodded, "I have to be hyper aware of everything when I'm in the White House. So much historical shit I can break."

Jean: "They should glue the expensive stuff down for you!"

Heather: "I think they might consider glue just as damaging as me knocking something over and smashing it into a million expensive pieces."

Jean: "Naaaah, just use expensive glue."

Heather: That made Heather laugh again, "Guess I can't fault your logic there. I'll make a suggestion to Tony. Want me to text you if it makes him laugh?"

Jean: "Yeah! That's gotta be a level up somehow. Maybe I can get a bonus," she giggled. "White House decoration preservation consultant."

Heather: "Painting everything pink is not a preservation technique, I'm warning you now," Heather advised.

Jean: "Are you suuuuure?" Jean laughed and slurped her coffee. "I don't do everything pink anymore," she protested, although her frilly pink sundress said otherwise.

Heather: "Suuuuure," Heather totally didn't believe her, "I'll believe that when you go a whole day without using or wearing anything of that colour."

Jean: "I do! I have other colors! I wear green!" She batted her lashes. "It matches my eyes and looks good with my hair."

Heather: "A whole day," Heather said again, "Twenty-four hours."

Jean: "Sometimes even forty-eight hours. Sometimes." She nodded, expression straight.
February 26 12:57 AM Heather: "Pictures or it didn't happen," Heather challenged, "Also what colour is your phone?"

Jean: "There are totally pictures!" She whipped out her phone to show her the proof her in not-pink, then had to hide the case. "...it's magenta."

Heather: "I knew it!" Heather laughed, "Even your accessories are pink!"

Jean: She had to laugh, then sheepishly held out her left hand to show off her pink engagement ring.

Heather: She giggled, "I would forgive you the sparkly, it's bad luck or something to take them off probably."

Jean: "Absolutely. Definitely bad luck," she nodded, a little too enthusiastically. Was it bad luck? Who knows! The ring was set off by her pink nails though, so... hey.

Heather: "There's no hope for you and the pink, I fear," she teased with a small smirk as she finished her coffee.

Jean: "I mean... even my powers are pink, soooo....”

Heather: She giggled, "Yep. It's confirmed. No hope. Even your genetics are primed for pink."

Jean: She let out an overly dramatic heavy sigh and pretended to wipe the sweat from her brow. "I'm doomed to fabulousness."

[Esynthia]

LOL That was really cute, y'all. I'm curious to see what the Shi'ar will say about the phoenix

[Slarti]

Me too.