strangetrip | [GP / EP] Welcome to the Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Freedom from her bonds had given Illyana more than freedom of movement. It had returned to her the use of her magik and her ability to teleport. These abilities had, in turn, allowed her to finish making ready the library for public use. It was less about collecting books and media from around the premises (and some from Limbo, or donated collections harvested from the Otherworlds) and arranging shelving and seating, most of which had been relatively easily done. It was more a matter of laying the appropriate wards, and negotiating the finer points of the old-fashioned catalog and check-out system, which included odd donated items such as sporting equipment and electronic devices available for rental. Xavin's espresso machine counter necessitated a mini-bar refrigerator, glass-domed cake stands for assorted pastries brought in from the kitchen, and various cafe sundries.

Repurposed from what had been the 'Garden Room,' the library space with its high wooden ceilings, chandeliers, and landscape murals over busy floral carpet still looked somewhat like a touristy banquet hall, yet the area was now also highly saturated with layered magic. The hodgepodge collection of random books and so on were fiercely protected by these magics. When needed and as possible, worn volumes had been restored. The books could not be damaged nor marred from here on out, at least not by coffee spills nor page-tearing or inconsiderate attempts at margin notation. Nor would they leave the boundaries of the library area without proper dispensation, simply stopping mid-air and dropping should the attempt be made at the threshold. Ask at the Desk for Assistance With These Items, prompted the signs on several glass display cases featuring certain perhaps unsettling curiosities within - books in arcane languages, skulls from indeterminate creatures, and artifacts such as a green glowing cube suspended on a chain. At said desk, a gleaming service bell sat waiting, should the staff be needed and not clearly present.

Illyana finished affixing the large engraved plaque to the wall beside the double-doors, and then returned to attend the newly opened library with little fanfare:

Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Established ~01.25.2018 Earthly Gregorian Calendar

Open All Hours

Volunteer Staff on Duty as Schedules Allow

Classes & Tutoring for Most Subjects Available Upon Request

Donations Encouraged

Disruptive Patrons Will Be Zealously Evicted

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's an interesting question, isn't it? How this all works and how our mutations are designed to connect us to each other and to the world." Kitty had her I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm faaaaading face on. Her own mutation had some evolutionary advantage on its face, but she didn't think of it that way.

"Pretty cool how they shape us, too. Sometimes I think me being so fundamentally unstable at a molecular level makes me hard to get a grasp on in the relationship sense too."

"I'm pretty sure relationships are just hard, no matter what your mutation is." Or maybe she was a precog who didn't like to look at the future of her own relationships, worn down from Pyro pushing her away from his brushfire of emotions.

"But the only other mutant I knew who could change density is an ass and doesn't know a good relationship when it's right there in front of him." She looked down and away. Kitty didn't deserve the flash of protective anger on her cousin's behalf. "Sorry. That has nothing to do with you, at all."

"Whoa." Kitty sat back and looked at Emma. Not upset, but assessing. "Whoever he is, he sounds like a jerk. Any chance I know him?" Because it might be easier to start talking about that than whatever he did to deserve that.

"Shinobi Shaw?" It was possible, but no way to know except to ask, when they didn't know what would be the same from one world to another. "His father is Sebastian Shaw. And he's my cousin's boyfriend. We... don't exactly get along. But at least he's been not as much of an ass to her lately." She did have to admit that, and as long as Sabine was happy, that was what mattered to Emma.

Before Emma had even finished speaking, Kitty's expression turned like she'd smelled something foul. "Yeah. I know who he is. If he's dating your cousin, I hope yours is one of the worlds where he's not Daddy's Little Killer."

The look on Kitty's face mirrored how Emma often felt when it came to Shinobi, but she had a lot of practice not showing it, because as long as he made Sabine happy, that was most important.

"If he is, Sabine will find out, and they won't be together any more." Most of their friends had killed, but that wasn't the same thing. And Sabine took death more seriously than many. "And all it would take is one ghost to say something to her. She's a psychopomp. He has always been kind of rude about the Soul Train, though, and anything to do with her powers.

"I think he's just an asshole, though, in our world."

"That's a power I've never seen." And one that would be really interesting to the Professor and Dr. MacTaggart, she thought. "And if Shinobi's hanging around long enough to be rude, he's no Shaw I know. They make pets out of people. Take them where they are. Not hang around where there are people to disapprove of them."

Anyone who could give the women perspective enough to walk away couldn't be tolerated. Unless the women were the ones doing the keeping. That happened sometimes in the Hellfire Club that she'd heard.

"It's a family thing. Her connection is to the past, through the dead. Mine to the future, with the tarot." Talking about Sabine's powers was much better than talking about Shinobi. "We spent a lot of time helping ghosts find peace and move on, before we found out we were mutants and the Brotherhood tried to force us to Genosha."

[GP / EP] Welcome to the Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma

Re: Kitty & Emma