[EP] Recon Mission

[st_ormscoming]

Ororo had been at the inn for only a couple of weeks and while she'd gathered some information it had been limited in nature. She'd decided to expand her search and it had the added benefit of getting out of her room.

She'd heard there was a beach, that was something that she'd never seen before in real life. Ororo had seen it in pictures and on TV, but not in person. The closest beach to Cairo had been two hours away and not worth the trip on the bus. She'd needed the money that she stole for living, nothing frivolous like a beach trip.

That wasn't the case now, so she'd walked in the direction others had said to go until she smelled the salted water on the air. Ororo paused, before she caught sight of it and just felt the difference in the atmosphere, it was nice. She continued on until she reached the line between the pavement and the sand. Ororo bent down to take off her shoes before she stepped on the soft sand. To others, it probably would have burnt the bottom of their feet, but hers were so used to hot desert sand, that it didn't register. The only thing that did was the difference and she liked it. There was a small smile to her lips and she ran to the water's edge to kick the salty sea letting the water splash around her and on her.

Ororo had stayed at the beach until her stomach growled from hunger which sent her back toward the inn and food. She thought about getting the meal to sit outside by the pool, but she found that she preferred the ocean water. At least for now, so she'd found a table to enjoy her grilled fish and vegetables. It was another meal that she rarely got, even at the Professor's mansion.

Comments

Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

Sunny had of course noticed that the black population of the inn had increased exponentially, but knowing she hadn't been in any good place to be nice and cheerful to new people, she just hadn't. Truthfully, she still didn't think she was in a good place to do that, but Emma was going to get sick of her company sooner or later, so she really should at least get out of the kitchen. A good chunk of her free time had gone into making Nigerian foods that only she and a few other people were ever interested in.

Her own plate was full of her comfort foods--jollof rice, fried plantain, and some chicken from Kahni (because why let the man waste his talents?). Now that she had the proper spice rack for it, she could make anything taste just like it had come from her mother's kitchen, and that... helped.

She passed Ororo's table, stopped, turned back. "Care for some company?"

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_ormscoming]

Ororo glanced up at the question and nodded. "Sure." She gestured with her fork for Sunny to sit down. Everyone that she'd seen since arrival had been mostly white. It really wasn't that different than Professor X's mansion, beyond some of the mutants were blue.

It was also nice to see someone 'different' in looks like her. She was still getting used to her white hair.

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

"Settling in all right?" Sunny found herself asking first as she took the offered seat. There were so few people and so little new to pay attention, a new face practically shone in their surroundings until the novelty wore off. She extended her hand over the table. "Sunny Nwazue."

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_ormscoming]

Ororo shook Sunny's hand, "Ororo Munroe and yes, I'm beginning to settle." She made a face, "I never thought I would miss the abandoned building that was home in Cairo, but it is better than my room."

Except for the decor, her room was quite nice, especially compared to the abandoned building that had been home for most of her life.

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

Ororo said it so plainly that Sunny nearly blushed for it. She had been raised in a solidly upper-middle class household by any standards--her mother a doctor and her father a solicitor. But, she reasoned, that anything so freely tossed out to strangers was not something a person was actually embarrassed about.

Still rather than homelessness she allowed her attention to be snatched by the name and the accent. "Egypt, but neither of those are an Arabic name," she mused, her tone lifting the observation vaguely into a question. A British surname made sense, though. Scottish, if she wasn't mistaken. The UK had rather a problem keeping its paws off Africa until not that long ago.

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_ormscoming]

"My father was from America, New York. My mother is Kenyan." Ororo was actually born in Harlem but her parents moved to Cairo when she was three months old so she considered herself Egyptian.

She took another bite of her fish and swallowed before saying, "you learned quick to defend yourself with a non-Egyptian name." There was a flash of amusement as she added, "and they learned quick that I fight dirty."

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

It took nothing at all to switch between one accent at another; Sunny did it as easily as breathing, American for Nigerian. "I grew up in Nigeria looking like this," she said with a wry smile, gesturing to herself and meaning her skin which was lighter even than that of most white people she'd ever known. "I can hazard a guess." When you were a little girl alone with a funny name and a funny look among the monsters that were other children, you had to fight dirty. She'd call it fighting smart, personally.

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_ormscoming]

"I can imagine." She briefly wondered if she was a mutant and that was the reason for her coloring but since it seemed she grew up like that, Ororo assumed natural coloring rather than a mutated X gene.

"Did you come here from Nigeria?" Ororo was curious about those that arrived at the inn.

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

Sunny switched accents back just as easily. "I was there when I arrived here, yes. I was supposed to be going back to London for a job, but..." She shrugged. But at least she'd been home with her friends rather than in London when she'd been snatched away. "Did you come straight from Cairo?"

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_ormscoming]

"New York." Ororo shook her head. "I had only been there a month before I came here. I thought I would give my father's country a try." She smiled slightly, "but I guess that will have to wait."

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

"Small world," Sunny mused. "Small multiverse? That's where I was born." And if you asked Sunny where 'home' was, she honestly wouldn't be able to tell you if home was New York or Aba. It was both in a lot of ways. Even if in both places home had always tasted of things like the food on her plate which she ate methodically between comments.

Jollof rice was mercifully easy to make. The familiarity of it was always a comfort, if slightly bittersweet in a way it had not been in London. When she'd been in London, she could call or Skype her family whenever she needed that next level point of contact. She was all on her own here. That wasn't what her life was supposed to be like.

Sunny pushed that away. "Sometimes we get portals to other realities. Last time we went to Europe. Perhaps one of these days we'll see New York."

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_ormscoming]

Hurley had mentioned something about portals to other places but she hadn't realized Europe had been one. "That would be nice to see New York." She admitted, then added, "but I would guess you couldn't contact anyone you knew in that Europe."

Ororo was pretty sure that Hurley would have mentioned that part if it had happened.

Re: Ororo & Sunny

[st_igmatized]

Sunny shook her head thoughtfully chewing on a slice of plantain. "No. But there are a lot of Nigerians in London, so I went home as much as I was able." It had helped so much, being able to hear and speak her languages. She was teaching Igbo to Kitty, and peppering the residents of the inn with Pidgin English, but it was hardly the same thing.

[st_eepedindarkness]

The closest to the ocean that Tyrone ever got was the Gulf of Mexico. When he learned there was an ocean here, he decided to come out for himself.

It was a mistake.

Sitting on the sand, Tyrone thought about when he woke up after his brother's death. He had been alone. Tandy had been there, but she stole his hoodie and left. Tyrone had just the ballet slipper at the time. He still hand that ballet slipper.

He pulled it out of his backpack and turned the small, pink shoe in his hands. I wonder what Tandy would think of this place.

[st_ormscoming]

Ororo had walked along the shoreline picking up shells after playing in the water. Her shirt was being used as a carry all for the few shells she decided to keep. When she glanced up was when she noticed that she wasn't alone. He looked to be lost in thought so she didn't want to disturb him but it was rare enough to see another person of color here that she smiled a little when she got closer.

[st_eepedindarkness]

When Ororo approached, his attention moved to her. He smiled back a small, polite smile, and nodded. He also got the sense there were not that many people of color at the Inn.

"Nice day, huh?" He said.

[st_ormscoming]

"it is." Her Egyptian accent soft as she spoke. "Is this your first time at the ocean here or have you been here a while?"

[st_eepedindarkness]

"First time at an ocean, ever." He admitted. "But it looks a lot like the Golf of Mexico. When you look out, you can't really tell it's different except if you know it is."

Tyrone looked out at the water. Her wondered if there were animals like whales here.

[st_ormscoming]

"It is the first time that I have seen the ocean, too." Ororo admitted. "I have seen a river many times but nothing with waves. I grew up in Cairo." She went on to explain.

[st_eepedindarkness]

"Cairo?" He replied. "Like, in Egypt?"

His attention seemed to focus more on Ororo then.

"I've always sort of wanted to visit Egypt, but I don't think I ever will." He said. "it's expensive and my mom says it's too dangerous there right now."

[st_ormscoming]

"Like Egypt." Ororo nodded with a little smile, but curiosity had her asking - "dangerous? Why right now?"

Sure Cairo was dangerous but it wasn't anymore dangerous than any other big city.

[st_eepedindarkness]

Tyrone looked confused as he thought everyone knew why it was dangerous.

"Because... of the terrorist groups there?" He said carefully. "You know, like the Taliban and stuff. Sometimes they target tourists, so my parents don't want to take the risk."

[st_ormscoming]

His explanation didn't stop her confusion. If they were after tourists they weren't mutant haters, maybe they were mutants going after 'normal' people but why tourists only? It was confusing.

"They must have come to Cairo after I left." She reasoned, but she'd also learned that there were others at the inn from her future. "When I left New York, it was the 80s."

[st_eepedindarkness]

"The 80s?" He said. Wow... I know people said there are people here from different times, but it's different when you meet someone. "It's, uh... it's 2018 where I'm from. Some stuff has changed since then, I guess..... sorry."

[st_ormscoming]

She absorbed that information with a nod. It was as she suspected, he was from a time in her future. Ororo had to ask, "are there mutants in your world?" There was hope that there would at least be acceptance by 2018.