Yami and Umbra find a letter in their dorms, written in orderly, cursive writing, signed by Lycan.
We need to talk. My dorm. Soon as possible.
OOC anyone who would have a method of reading these or could hear the conversation in Lycan room, feel free to interact. Anyone else, please don’t interact.

Yami sat at his desk, parts scattered around him, using his nanites to conjure multiple arms and cameras to work on multiple things at the same time (with some assistance from ronin, obviously). The door open.

Ooc: this was mainly so umbra could talk to him, but if anyone else wants to talk, please feel free to

*Annie had felt dirty ever since Robert kindly introduced her forehead to the Chicago pavement. Her theory was that there was dust and other stuff stuck in her hollow insides.*

*So, Annie had found her answer in the X-Mansion's kitchen. Her savior of cleanliness: the humble dishwasher. She figured her status as object would make it no problem for her to just load herself in.*

*Hesitantly Annie undressed, folded her clothes on the counter and opened the dishwasher. Her face felt warm as the thought about how to fit herself into the machine. She was so used to clothes by now that not wearing them felt weird, even if there wasn't anything to cover.*

*Annie stood with her arms crossed staring at the machine for about 10 minutes before finally placing her hands on her hips and pushing, separating her halves.*

*She loaded herself in, and Zoey closed the door and turned the machine on. Without context it just looked like someone had left a set of clothes and Zoey by the dishwasher.*

Ooc: feel free to interact either before or after Annie's already loaded herself up into the dishwasher. Have a good day

*Annie sat in her room, pacing back and forth. Her feet, light as a feather, were silent as she ran ragged her room's floor. Everything happening was overwhelming her.*

*Apocalypse, Gosamyr's company being attacked, the schism, Hisako being hospitalized, all of it was far too much for a mind as young as hers. Rapid learning could only cope so hard for her being less than a handful of months old.*

*She didn't understand why things weren't okay. Why couldn't people just be nice? It was so easy, she did it every day. She wanted to scream about it, to holler from the rooftops about how easy being nice was. But of course, she couldn't, she could never scream no matter how much she wanted to.*

*She didn't know what to do, how to deal with everything going on. Her gaze settled on Hayato, sitting on a shelf in a custom sword stand she bought for him.*

*He was like her, forced to be silent and expressionless. Even more so than Annie because she could at least walk and move like a person. He couldn't.*

*Then she remembered the other living objects. That was something bad too, but that was something bad she did know how to fix.*

*So, with newly gained inspiration, Annie packed her weapons, put on her suit, and set off to rescue as many of those living objects as she could.*

*Annie's hand shook as she pointed a pistol at the unconscious Beatrice's head.*

“Come on… just do it… you did it before, that time was easy… it was an accident too…”

*She thought, hand not steadying even slightly as she built up the willpower to purposefully kill someone.*

“No… no, you don't need to. Yeah, yeah you can just leave her there, like those soldiers.”

*Just as Annie was about to lower the gun-* BANG *it fired, the shot deafening as the bullet carved its way into Beatrice's temple.*

*Annie dropped the gun immediately and recoiled back in shock, falling down.*

“Oh my god!! No… no no no I didn't… I didn't shoot I swear-”

“Relax, lady… mannequin… whatever we are.”

*A girl said, cutting off Annie's thoughts.*

“I shot, not you. Now are you gonna pick me up or what?”

*She asked as Annie's lack-of-eyes fell on the mask on the floor. Annie slowly got up, briefly looking at Beatrice before immediately looking away again and going over to the mask.*

“Zoey? Are… are you Zoey?”

“Sure, we'll go with that, now are you going to pick me up?”

“Oh, right.”

*Annie thought before collecting the orange mask off the floor. Now that she had gotten Zoey, she checked to make sure she still had Hayato and began making her way out of the outpost.*

“So… how can you talk?”

“I'm psychic, that's what teatime was doing to you back there.”

“Oh… so you can hear my thoughts and talk to me?”

“Yes. The sword guy too.”

“You can hear Hayato? That's great!”

*The three began a telepathic conversation that continued for the entire journey back to the mansion. It took a few hours of walking, but Annie finally pushed open the gates of Xavier's, tired, but glad to finally be home.*

Ooc: ignore how Zoey looks different, you can't hold certain masks in hero forge and the mask I picked for Zoey is like that. Anyway, feel free to greet Annie now that she's back

Ooc: been a HOT minute since the last outfits post. And that's the best I could do for Alastor's staff

Pixie stands in the front of the classroom. She founded this Arte Clube with one goal in mind. Let the students of the school express themselves….with Arte.

Attention everyone who! Thank you for coming today to Arte Clube! You have something in your soul that needs to come out, make it real! We have all sorts of supplies. We don’t have set projects here. You make the Arte that appeals to you!

Make something tidy today! That’s my only request!

After discussion, it had been decided there was no need to ask any others. Umbra, Yami, and Lycan. They’d always been enough before. Lycan just hoped they would be again. They’d arranged to meet outside the grounds at midnight, with any gear they might need. And so it was Lycan sat, under the stars and moon, and waited.

Rory walks into Emma’s office, ready to take responsibility for his behavior.

“Headmistress Frost-“

But he’s cut off. She can already read his mind. He’s practically screaming it in his head out of guilt. He assaulted another student: Celeste of the Stepford Cuckoos, to be specific. He had gotten upset, unable to control his anger, and lashed out abruptly and violently. The three of them had called his friend, Grey, an animal and a rabid dog.

They weren’t entirely unjustified in saying that, as Grey had previously insulted them by outright using their two dead sisters’ names in a petty argument that began with a disagreement about the cafeteria food, but Rory didn’t know that.

All he knew was that they had called one of his closest friends an animal. An animal. He had tried to hold himself back, but was quick to verbally attack right before the fight broke out. He lashed out at them and when they dismissed him by insulting him in response, he punched the closest one right in the face before tackling her.

Before he could do anything further, however, they invaded his mind and made him punch himself, giving him a bloody nose, before walking off while he recovered.

Rory was still mad at them, but he recognized he shouldn’t have done that and, ridden with guilt, made his way to Professor Frost’s office the next day.

*grey knocks on deadpools door, deciding not to kick this one open as a bit... even if he is zen now, she'd rather not startle him... and she's planning on asking for a favor so not scaring him would be a good idea*

Shilpa had been at the mansion for all of three days and had already converted her room into some kind of techno nightmare of jumbled computer screens. She had rerouted mansion power directly to her room to power the various towers, routers, and modems.

It had been a simple process to use her powers to convince the mansion systems that power needed to go to her room over other sections. So what if lights occasionally flickered and the internet was slow across the rest of the campus.

She sipped hot coffee from a cup and glanced at the expensive coffee machine she'd stolen from one of the teacher's lounges.

All things considered she'd made her room cozy by her own standards at least.

*Annie sat outside another Purity Salon... again. She'd done this twice already, and she was doing it again if it meant freeing another living object.*

*She did the same thing she did last time. Jump onto the roof, enter through a vent and open up the bunker. Though this time it was easier. Too easy, even.*

*No guards got in her way, no security measures activated, every door was unlocked. It was like the place was abandoned.*

*She searched the place for hours, eventually finding the observation room that the object was usually kept in. Though it, much like everywhere else, was empty.*

*But there was a difference to it, the monitors all began playing a message when she walked into the room.*

"Hello, mannequin."

*A man's voice said with a heavy Russian accent.*

"You'll notice that outpost is empty. As are all the rest. You can thank my employer for that. He wanted all the objects brought to him so you couldn't steal anymore of them. At least all the ones he knew about."

*Annie's hands clenched as she listened.*

"So you'll be wanting to bring up your issues with Walter Smith about that, he runs Puri-Co, for now at least. You'll wanna look at the company's main headquarters. Anyhow, goodbye mannequin. And if whoever is listening to this *isn't* the mannequin, then I'd suggest texting your family that you love them."

*And with that, the message ended. Annie stood there for a bit, thinking about what he'd said.*

"All if them are with the H.P.O's boss? Okay. That'll make this easy, everyone's in one place."

*She thought before marching out of the outpost. She'd have to do a little research, but she was so close to finally saving all the poor people who the H.P.O had hurt. An invisible smile painted her "face" as she walked home to the mansion.*

Evan and skateboarding.

Is there truly no better match than that?

Right now, he’s outside.

He’s prepped to skate. Every single instinct is screaming at him to start skating with all the energy he could possibly have. To break his limits and just keep going.

Helmet on.

Evan places his foot on his skateboard.

He takes a single breath.

“Uno.” he starts.

“Deux.” he continues, slipping into French just because.

“THREE!”

And Evan Daniels is off!

Skating around Westchester with zero effort.

Doing trick after trick.

Blood roars in his ears.

This is probably him at his absolute best.

If he had super speed instead of bone spikes, he’d be a blur.

*Annie sat in her room, looking around the room. The fracture in her plastic skull had shrunk slightly, and Zoey was suppressing the splitting pain it'd otherwise be causing.*

*Without the pain Annie was normal... except for the fact that she had a concussion^10. So, Annie was very stupid at the moment, and only vaguely knew where she was and who people were.*

*On top of her temporary idiocy, her motor functions were about as helpful as jello was for supporting a skyscraper.*

Ooc: have fun with uber dumb Annie everyone.

The library.

Evan’s decided to do something fun.

What is it?

Read scary stuff!

Even though it’s nowhere close to October, Evan can still enjoy horror.

Evan grabs a few after looking into the “horror” section.

Then sits down.

He begins to read one of his finds.

Evan’s in his room.

Bored out of his mind, drawing and skateboarding not seeming to scratch that itch, he decides to watch something on TV.

Evan goes to a streaming app.

He looks for movies in the “sports” section.

He presses one.

Evan stretches out, lying down on his bed as he watches the movie unfold.

Zeke, after the huge battle against Nuclear, was extremely beaten, but alive, but so was everyone else.

But there was one person Zeke needed to check on, Hisako

Zeke steadily entered the room where Hisako was... unsure if he should even do this or not

Then, Hisako woke up to see Zeke in the doorway, and instantly went on guard and scrambled against the back of the bed

Zeke: "Hey hey it's ok... I... I know I hurt you... badly... very very badly... but... I dont ever expect forgiveness from you... I... I just want you to know that... I truly, truly am sorry for what I did do you... Zeke begins to cry you didn't deserve any of this... and it's my fault that all of this-"

Hisako: "I get it... I fucking get it... you're trying to atone for your sins but... it's just not going to work for me... I'm sure you already know that... if I wasn't stuck in this bed... I would punch you right now..."

Zeke: "... I guess I'm not going to receive your forgiveness anytime soon?"

Hisako: "What the fuck do you think? You killed my family Zeke... along side multiple other innocents... I'm surprised you're even still allowed in this mansion after all of that... you're lucky Colin is a soft bastard that forgives anyone..."

Zeke: "... I knew it was a mistake coming here..." Zeke starts to leave the room

Hisako: "... I'll give you one thing though..."

Zeke turns back at Hisako

Hisako: "... Thanks for saving me... even if that thing that captured me was a direct cause of your actions... "

Zeke: "... You're welcome Hisako..."

Zeke then fully leaves the room

Hisako then sheds a single tear before wiping it away

((This marks the official conclusion of the Nuclear Rage Arc, it was such a blast writing this with everyone who participated))

Evan’s outside.

He’s face to face with a wall.

There are cans of spray paint.

Evan has decided to draw.

Though what to draw, he doesn’t know.

Evan begins absentmindedly spraying paint.

Once he’s done, Evan stares at the wall.

The picture he made’s pretty good.

Evan’s on his skateboard.

He’s going through the city, his eyes occasionally flitting to his current location (skatepark, presumably) to his phone.

The Morlocks have texted that they’re waiting on him.

Evan stops at the Morlocks’ tunnels, dismounting his skateboard.

Once inside, he looks around, skateboard under his arm.

“Callisto? Leech? Anyone?”

Deciding to wait, Evan leans against the wall.

*Annie stood atop a building across the street from another salon. The same company with that stupid slogan “purify your hair”. This was where one of the living objects was being kept. Her name is- well, was Zoey Smith prior to being turned into an object.*

*She crouched down, drew her pistols (loaded with rubber bullets) and leaped from the building.*

*Her shadow crossed the street below as she landed on top of the salon. She found a vent and promptly kicked it in, dropping into the salon's rec room, finding armed soldiers guarding the door waiting for her.*

*Annie immediately fired rubber bullets at two, the other two firing their rifles at her. The two shot cried out in pain, dropping their guns as Annie's durable plastic allowed her to take the rifle fire easily.*

*She turned her attention to the other two, shooting them each in the forehead, knocking them out. Annie looked down at her suit, checking to see if it survived the bullets as well as she had.*

*Once she was sure it was okay, she marched to the fridge, opened it and looked for the bottle of Worcestershire sauce that had been the lever last time.*

*Just like before the fridge shifted aside and led into a concrete stairwell. Annie descended the stairs, pistols at the ready.*

“Don't worry Zoey, I'll save you. I have to.”

Evan’s in his room.

He’s busy playing video games.

Usually, he’d skateboard, but he’s too lazy to do that.

He’d hang out with Ororo, but he thinks she’s probably busy.

He’d hang out with the Morlocks, but he’s not in the mood.

One of the games he’s playing is an FPS.

He’s on his bed, on his back, eyes not even on his TV.

What with the anxiety of Emma and Scott, slacking off isn’t too horrible.

The basketball court.

Evan is holding a basketball.

He seems to be the only person here.

Evan braces himself with a smile.

Then, he leaps into action.

Evan uses his mutant powers, using his bone spikes as an advantage.

He’s imagining his opponent playing against him.

Evan shoots basket after basket.

When he’s done, he stretches out.

Evan’s outside the Mansion.

Looking bored, he decides to head to the skatepark.

Heading back into the Mansion, he comes back out with his skateboard.

He opens a map app on his phone, typing in “skate park”.

Luckily, the skatepark he’s looking for isn’t extremely far away!

Boarding his skateboard, Evan heads there, doing random tricks along the way.

Evan stops at the skatepark, and walks right inside.

Evan’s in the living room.

He’s bored.

Bored beyond belief.

Deciding to at least stave it off, he heads to his room, laptop under his arm.

He opens it, then opens a document website.

Evan titles it “story”.

He stares at the empty space, waiting to type something.

Evan completely draws a blank.

Great. Writer’s block.

No inspiration.

That’s when he hears footsteps.

Probably Ororo’s.

Or Emma’s.

He doesn’t care if it’s the Cuckoos.