November 2021

In the wake of the Halloween incident, Topaz asked for volunteers to help her clear out Avalon on discovering that the pocket dimension had become dangerously unstable. During the clear-out, Topaz and her volunteers were attacked by inter-dimensional creatures bent on plundering the magical collection themselves; the group was forced to retreat but Topaz was trapped when Avalon collapsed. Great was the concern and mourning, until Marie-Ange Colbert announced her readings showed Topaz had a future - and therefore wasn't dead. Amanda Sefton set about organising the magic users into a rescue attempt. In the aftermath, Darcy Lewis took the opportunity to have an uncomfortable talk with Doug Ramsey about her priority in his life, when he seemed to be focused on everyone else's but her feelings of loss.

In the meantime, Amanda's secret "project" also continued and she organised a last-minute X-Force mission to rescue a secret asset within a Sentinel laboratory before the Brotherhood of Mutants could attack. The mission was successful, barely, with Kevin Sydney hit by an EM field and losing control of his powers. He spent the next few days as 'Nora', a female persona based on his former secretary in the CIA; while the asset was revealed to be none other than Clinton Barton, who had spent the past two years in various missions for SWORD, including infiltrating the Sentinel lab.

Jean Grey revealed to Gabriel Cohuelo that she had quit her job at Claremont Hospital in the wake of the terrorist attack and the increasing anti-mutant attitudes among the staff. Maya Lincoln-Lopez asked for more hand-to-hand training from Kyle Gibney and for suggestions for a less lethal weapon than her knives, after the incident where she probably killed someone. Alani Ryan also sought out more training, from Angelo Espinosa, following the Avalon incident while Artie Maddicks, spurred by the talk of self-defence in general, posted about the risks of concussions and the difficulty in avoiding lethal consequences when protecting oneself, sparking quite the discussion. Quentin Quire asked Gabriel to help him find someone who could teach him about guns, winding up with Kevin (now back to his usual shape) and some challenging of his opinions on government agencies.

The reality manipulators - Arthur Centino, Felicia Hardy and Wanda Maximoff - inadvertently created a major lucksnap while trying to get Topaz back, resulting in weirdness with cable television and things not closing. Fortunately it only lasted a day or two; even better, afterwards the magic users (with some artistic types) cast the ritual Amanda had been having the mansion work on for weeks and succeeded in helping Topaz find her way back out of the space between dimensions. Unfortunately, it did mean leaving an Eistein-Rosen bridge open in the basement of the chapel, something which Clint undertook to guard/study.

And while all of this was going on, Laurie Collins began her work with Nathaniel Essex and his son, Nate, in return for his promise to fix her missing arm. She kept this to herself, and whenever Darcy asked too many questions, Laurie was using her powers to distract her attention onto something else.

Timeline

Nov 1 - Monster Mash: Darcy vents her feelings about magic books. Felicia thanks Kevin for her birthday gift.

Nov 2 - Laurie texts Kyle to say she owes him an apology. Monster Mash/The Color of Horror: Topaz posts to xp_teams to explain what happened on Halloween - a magic book brought in by Darcy appears to have been booby-trapped but the spell was warped by the magic of Avalon; the book is no longer there and ripped a hole in the pocket dimension in the process of leaving; Avalon is collapsing and Topaz will work at retrieving what artifacts she can. Doug and Darcy go out for mini-golf and Darcy loses a wager.

Nov 3 - Arise, X-Man: In a much better frame of mind after her retreat, Laurie talks to Doug about their break up, with Darcy mediating.

Nov 4 - The Color of Horror: Topaz updates the Avalon situation, asking for volunteers to help clear out the books and artifacts as the dimension is collapsing faster than she anticipated; the magic users pack while the volunteers carry, with appropriate safety measures; Avalon is attacked by mysterious (and highly creepy) creatures with the same aim as theirs, plunder Avalon as much as possible; the mutants fight back, but are overwhelmed by numbers and Topaz sounds the retreat; holding the attackers back so the rest of the mansionites can escape, Topaz is trapped in Avalon when the dimension closes completely; Darcy notifies Maya about Topaz; Marie-Ange notifies X-Force; somewhere in the dark and cold, Topaz wakes up and decides to try and find her way home; Darcy notifies the mansion at large what happened; Darcy lets the rest of the magic users who weren’t there know what happened; Doug texts Darcy to let her know Marie-Ange’s ‘quick and dirty’ reading shows Topaz has a future still; Betsy asks Hope A. to catch her up on recent events with Topaz; Doug takes a shell-shocked Amanda to Marie-Ange and the witch has an idea about what to do, although she needs to talk to the other magic users first. Arise, X-Man: Laurie meets Essex’ son Adam (or Nate, as he prefers) and while helping him, she gets some telepathic feedback typical of a teenage boy and they talk about it.

Nov 5 - The Color of Horror: Laurie asks Darcy what she needs; Alani announces she’ll be keeping the library open; Gabriel suggests not going anywhere for a while; Kevin checks in on Darcy and gives her the task of setting up a new system of drops since the old one appears to have been compromised by whoever sent the book; Alex checks in on Kyle and Alani.

Nov 6 - The Color of Horror: Marie-Ange announces that her readings show Topaz has a future and that they’re working on a way to bring her back; Gabriel texts Felicia and is sceptical of Marie-Ange’s method of determining Topaz is alive; Jubilee pops in on Amanda to share a drink and check in.

Nov 7 - Maya asks for suggestions on non-lethal weapons as her knives are too deadly for her comfort in a mission; Kyle agrees to get back to training her in Garrison’s absence. Namor emails Kyle to let him know his concerns about OHSA procedures not being applied during the Avalon job.

Nov 8 -

Nov 9 - Artie provides a run down on concussions and self-defence. The Color of Horror: Wanda emails Arthur and Felicia about trying something with their combined powers to get Topaz back; Marie-Ange asks Doug to hack into Topaz’ student accounts and submit her final project. Darcy checks up on Terry. Arise, X-Man: When Darcy asks for details about her treatments, Laurie uses her powers on her to make her forget.

Nov 10 - Gabriel offers to take up the slack in X-Force work while everyone is occupied. The Color of Horror: Megan asks for everyone to bring their ragoni supplies to the chapel so the spell can be cast.

Nov 11 - Kevin and Jubilee talk about setting up new milk runs with Darcy and address Jubilee’s reluctance to do certain parts of the job.

Nov 12 - Namor emails Wanda to ask about a common challenge. Darcy shares a Taylor Swift video. Doug and Darcy talk about his lack of consideration for her own feelings of loss for Topaz.

Nov 13 - Gabe runs into Jean at a bar where she reveals she has quit Claremont. Operation: Wideawake: Amanda emails Marie-Ange about receiving a tip about another Sentinel project and an asset inside who needs extracting before the Brotherhood turn up; Marie-Ange alerts the team they have a job. Arise, X-Man: Laurie takes Nate to a movie to test his powers and uses an unorthodox technique to calm him down when he panics.

Nov 14 - Operation: Wideawake: The first team - Kevin, Darcy, Gabriel and Doug - get in to bypass security, but Kevin hits an EM field which scrambles his powers and he has to be pulled out; North and Natasha take over the security station while Jubilee and Felicia retrieve the asset, who turns out to be Clint Barton; before the other two teams can get out, the Brotherhood arrives, leaving the third team - Amanda, Marie-Ange, Artie, Wanda and Emma - to use illusions, magic, chaos and telepathy to confuse them long enough for everyone to get out. Back home, Gabriel posts a “I told you so” to the mission having issues.

Nov 15 - Kevin seeks Jean's advice when his run-in with an EM field leaves him powerless and in a different form - known as Nora. Going into the office as Nora catches Marie-Ange's attention and they get a chance to discuss their new intel. Darcy takes Nora's appearance less in stride than others. Clint texts Matt to tell him he's in the city. Darcy posts about her face and its nasty habit of finding solid objects. Jubilee asks X-Force who was closest on the office poll for the asset. Clint texts Natasha to let her know where he is. Doug texts Clint to set up a catch up and drinks session. Clint texts Darcy to update her on his situation. Color of Horror: Following the events of Avalon's collapse, Amanda, America, Darcy, Doug, Marie-Ange, Maya, and Wanda work together to try and get Topaz home. Arise, X-Man: Darcy interrupts a call between Laurie and Nate, though Laurie is able to steer her away before soothing her pains.

Nov 16 - Maya asks who Nora is. Terry meets Nora while delivering food and have a little power talk. Nora publically posts about her situation and opens up the gates for questions.

Nov 17 - Darcy texts Matt to ask when he'll be dragging his brother back and if she can help. Felicia and Nora have drinks, talk fashion, and plan a European trip. Darcy leaves Jubilee a scarf for her birthday. Jubilee realizes she'd forgotten her birthday and wink-wink-nudge-nudge's X-Force for birthday drinks. Fourteen goes to the medlab to get a check up from Laurie.

Nov 18 - Nora takes Darcy to a gun range and helps her with her gun skills. Alex and Alani hit the mall to buy things for kids in the Mutant Underground. Clint gives Marie-Ange some intel and takes on an assignment.

Nov 19 - Lucksnapgiving: Arthur texts Alex and Kyle when he realizes the combined lucksnap has made everything purple. Arthur lets the mansion know that the strange happenings are likely due to the lucksnap he, Felicia, and Wanda accidentally caused when trying to open Avalon. Alani asks that no one enter the mansion library. Nica posts about "Mojoverse" - which has taken over the audio/visual networks in the mansion. Gabe makes an open offer to the mansion's legal residents for his high-end alcohol that has opened. Nora comments on the newly airing episodes of "The Shadow" - a show which went off air in the 50s. Alex posts about the amazing sports showing on Mojoverse. Clint brings attention to the terrible SyFy-Mojoverse movies that have expanded beyond anything seen before. Darcy realizes that her fridge will not stay shut. Clint texts Amanda to ask what he can do about Avalon. Terry prepares a feast before her food can turn when her own fridge and freezer refuse to remain closed. Alani texts Darcy to ask if Clint is a Lucksnapgiving portal appearance. Arthur texts Felicia and Wanda about getting drunk. Gabe texts Clint to ask what was up with his disappearing act. Gabe informs the mansion that he does not have a punch bowl so there will be interesting drink vessels. Doug weighs in on the wild TV shows of Mojoverse.

Nov 20 - Maya posts about the Martian anime currently playing. Clint texts Molly to ask for equipment to monitor the remains of Avalon. Lucksnapgiving: Gabe texts the X-Force group chat to inform them that his curtains still will not close but hangovers are still real. The Color of Horror: Following the earlier attempts, Marie-Ange, Amanda, Megan, and Meggan help Topaz find her way home. Marie-Ange announces Topaz has returned. Waking up in the MedLab, Topaz is caught up on events by Amanda. Doug shares the news of Topaz's return with Darcy and treat themselves to a celebratory breakfast.

Nov 21 - Clint texts Darcy to ask if she could make Thor appear after he realizes they have an Einstein-Rosen bridge on their hands.

Nov 22 - Clint texts Matt to ask about his loss of gold stars. Alani enlists Angelo in her quest to take self-defense seriously.

Nov 23 - Laurie asks that the mansion residents please keep their life threatening injuries to a minimum, if possible. Quentin texts Gabe to ask if he knows of anyone in X-Force willing to teach him to use a gun. Gabe texts Kevin for a favor.

Nov 24 - Quentin meets Kevin at a range to begin his gun understanding and they talk gun usage by government agencies. Darcy returns Midnight to Topaz, along with some food and comfort.

Nov 25 - Kevin texts Artie the location of his leftovers following their high end Thanksgiving out. Hope A. brings Topaz some food to aid her recovery after her adventures.

Nov 26 - Alani posts an update after a long Thanksgiving volunteer shift.

Nov 27 - Doug picks up Comrade Stabby from Topaz after a food delivery.

Nov 28 - Topaz attempts to sneak into the library, only to be caught by Alani.

Nov 29 - Darcy posts about free rugelach in the kitchen.

Nov 30 - Maya posts a tiktok, commenting on how beautiful it is. Arise, X-Man: During a discussion with Essex, Laurie discovers the importance of his son, Nate.

Plots

Monster Mash

The Color of Horror

Operation: Wideawake

Lucksnapsgiving - event

External Links

November 2021