MESS HALL
In the old days, the place where the mess hall is located would have been the den and the library. Beautiful classical style rooms with furniture made of polished oak, lavish couches and the smell of books and cinnamon wafting through the air. Now, it is a large barren room with an adjacent kitchen, with all the charm of a school cafeteria. The industrial kitchen is manned during the day by agent Blocht, one of the more unfortunate company men, and his lackeys, forced to cook for their own as well as the mutants they hate. Blocht is a rotund man who is clearly not fit for combat duty but makes a mean stew. As tasteless as eating in a room bathed in white halogen light, on cheap plastic tables and chairs (and a large metal chair for Vlad), the soldiers and agents who eat in the mess hall every day are still eating for the best stocked kitchen in the wastes, short of Salem.
X-Men EoD Time
Wednesday, August 13th
The smell of breakfast was heavy in the air despite the almost sterile environment.
Lire inhaled appreciatively as she stepped in the door. A vague thought passed through her mind as she fondly remembered the many books that had once inhabited this area but she soon turned her attention to where the food was waiting. She approached the line; distinctively aware of the looks she received, some scared and some twisted in disgust and most tainted with hate although they tried to hide it. She browsed through the selection; filling up her plate with eggs, toast and sausage. Towards the end of the line she reached for a bottle of water then paused. She raised her gaze to stare directly into the eyes of the man who had been glaring at her; her aggression obvious as she pinned him into place. She didn't share the ideals and love for humans that her fellow X-men had; however she did owe Xavier a debt and she regretfully looked away. Releasing him from her paralyzing stare as she grabbed her water bottle and crossed the room to sit down and force herself to eat instead of slaughtering the man like she so wanted to.
Private Blocht had quietly been preparing breakfast for the soldiers who were sure to come back from the night shift, wistfully thinking about his next rotation to Salem, or maybe even out of the god damned stinky wasteland he was stuck in, when he noticed Lire. He knew the girl's powers well enough, and he knew what she was going to do, since she did it every fucking morning. "I swear girl.." he let out gruffly, "You do that one more time and im'ma get commander Glint to poke hole in ya' head."
Nathan strode in to the mess hall with a purposeful haste. He took a sniff of the air, catching the scent of the breakfast basics before letting his face fall in to a scowl.
Couldn't they try to be at least a little creative sometime? He stepped up to the line and took a tray, filling his plate with the mostly bland, and nearly tasteless food. He shuffled along the line, finally grabbing his own bottle of water, and giving a curt nod to Blocht before turning to go find a seat of his own near Lire. At times like this, the mutants couldn't risk not staying together for the most part. He sat down and looked at the girl, giving her a nod before starting to pick up some of his eggs and eating.
Lire's finger's tightened on her fork at Blocht's words. How
dare he threaten
her!? She thought darkly; completely disregarding the fact that she basically started it. She was absorbed in her food; cheering herself up with thoughts of the torture she could put Blocht through when Nathan walked in. By the time he had picked up his food and sat down her mood had improved; a small smile even managed to escape as she imagined stripping the skin from the captain with one of her knives. She turned to look at Nathan and gestured at the food. "I'm almost ready to have stew for breakfast and eggs for dinner if it would mean a change." She said with a sigh.
Stalking into the mess hall,
Elizabeth, like Lire, was well aware of the looks she got, and like the girl, she didn't back down from confronting them, keeping eye contact with them until they chose to look away. She made no attempt to hide her anger for working with the humans. If they had to suffer their presence in the household, then they had to put up with her tempter. Sorting out a little bowl of something that looked like a porridge, Elizabeth also grabbed the smallest spoon she could find and a little bottle of juice, before walking over to join the other two. "Morning." She said briefly before seating Ivan on the table, as due to any lack of booster seat, he was far too small to reach the table and eat at the same time. However, food seemed far from the boy's mind, as now he had a surface to smash his toy animals into, before again crashing them into each other, adding the appropriate growls and crashing sounds as he felt was needed. Knowing he would recognize that there was food by him soon, Elizabeth left the spoon in the porridge, gently brushing her hand over Ivan's hair and moving to get her own breakfast. She trusted the other two mutants to keep an eye on him while she got her normal large breakfast, assuming Vlad wouldn't be too far behind them. Moving back to the food, she began to sort out her own pile of food for the morning.
Lire glanced at Ivan and her face relaxed for a moment as she watched him play. For some reason she enjoyed having the child around; something about his innocence just made her want to keep him safe. Of course it helped that Flame and Vlad had her respect for the the most part; nonetheless Lire unconsciously shifted in her seat; putting herself in a position that she could easily catch him if he happened to lose his balance.
"Yeah, but even if they swapped around breakfast and dinner, we're still stuck with turkey sandwiches for lunch,"
Nathan said in a cold, dry manner, taking up another bite of his eggs. When Elizabeth came to sit down, he replied in brief with a "Morning," of his own, not taking his eyes off of his plate. He cut into the sausage, slicing off a bite sized piece before stabbing it with his fork. Having the child around was of very little relief to Nathan. He didn't like the idea of children getting caught up in this mess, especially after doing exactly that to his sister. He wished every day that there was a better place for kids like Ivan to grow up, but still couldn't help but let a slight smile escape from his face as he listened to the boy playing on the table. Maybe there still was something to this hope thing, and that there was a future for the mutants.
Ivan's mock battle sounds soon turned into that of cars, despite the fact the toys he held were animals. He didn't seem distressed at all by
Elizabeth leaving him on the table, too caught up in his own actions. He did however stop when one of the toys ran into the side of his bowl, staring at its contents before dropping what he held and sticking one finger into the mix. Luckily it didn't seem too hot for his little hand, and upon pulling his finger out covered in the porridge, he stuck it in his mouth to eat the contents off it. About to repeat his actions, Ivan stopped, looking at the spoon that sat in the bowl, and picked that up instead, dipping it in and feeding himself. He paused only to grin at Lire and Nathan, possible hoping for some sort of praise from them, his tiny teeth standing out brightly compared to his mocha skin. During this Elizabeth managed to fill a couple of plates for herself. She had learnt long ago food was little more than fuel to keep her body going, it was easy to lose the joy out of eating when it was a major requirement for her powers to work. She returned to join the other three, slipping into a seat and taking the top carefully off the top of Ivan's juice, not an easy task to do with claws.
"They don't always serve turkey sandwiches... I'm pretty sure last christmas we had roast beef."
Lire answered. She smiled at Ivan and clapped her hands noiselessly in applause as he attempted to feed himself. When Flame came back she scooted back into her original position.
"Good morning, team,"
Vlad greeted to his fellow X-Men as he entered the Mess Hall and was finally able to stand as if he weren't being squished by the low ceiling and walls. He made eye contact with Blocht and nodded in clear 'hello,' but soon looked elsewhere since neither side was fond of the other. He spotted Ivan sitting on the table and went over to the young boy, scooping him up into his large arm and letting him rest flush against the massive Russian's side. "You want some of papa's breakfast, don't you?" he asked the little boy in his arms, who squealed with boyish delight as Vlad started to walk forward, the sudden height and speed thrilling the young lad, who was used to dad by now. However, in his excitement, he dropped one of his toys and started to twist in Vlad's arms to try and get down to reach it, face screwing up in a frown that soon erupted into a cry as he pointed, red-faced and wailing, at his toy. "Hmm?" Vlad turned as his son protested and saw the MIA giraffe, squatting down to grab the thing and give it back to the boy, who was now clapping his toys like cymbals, all sign of tears gone save for his wet face. "There, now, how about some of this?" he asked as he got out three plates and started to push them along the counter, using tongs to heap them with eggs, sausage links, pieces of toast, cottage cheese, and even fruit, which he pushed into the breakfast potatoes uncaringly. He gave some of his food to Ivan along the way, who was content to sit and chomp the food that Vlad fed him, toys clutched to his chest. As he passed Elizabeth on the line, he gave her hip a soft bump with his in a convincing act to keep from letting his news weigh on his chest, smiling at her with a hint of his old playfulness as he then stacked his plates on top of each other and went over to his metal chair to sit Ivan on his lap and start to eat.
Nathan's mouth curled a little at the corners as he watched Ivan eat from the bowl, giving back some semblance of his old personality. He knew that the kid had plenty of people here to take care of him, seeing as many of the mutants here at the X-mansion regarded him as a sort of non-biological nephew. When Vlad stepped in to the room, Nathan gave another quick nod and a "Morning, Cap'n." He picked up a slice of dry toast, taking a bite from the corner and chewing deliberately before setting it back down and taking the water bottle up, twisting off the cap and taking a drink.
As Ivan's screech began to sound throughout the room,
Elizabeth closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, stopping in mid action. She loved her son more than anything in the world, but she could always do with less screaming and less temper tantrums. She knew the current situation and settings was hardly an ideal place to raise a child, and for not the first time she questioned why she, Vlad, and Ivan were still here. They could just run off, leave this mess behind and vanish, leave someone else to clean it up. Times like these, she had no good argument to counter that thought, other than a stupid sense of duty and responsibility to Xavier's memory and the other mutants here. Luckily enough, any tempter tantrum was cut short, and she even managed to return the hint of smile Vlad gave her.
Cringing when Ivan began to shriek, Blotch turned to the rest of his men, who were staffing the kitchen as if to tell them to keep it quiet. With a shrug, the rest of the kitchen staff went right back into packing dozens of rations for the Company men on patrol. Figuring it wasn't a bad idea to get the mutants to move out as soon as they were done eating, Blocht leant over the counter, "Oi. Commander Shosakovich." he said, trying to speak over Ivan's screaming, mispronouncing Vlad's last name. "Commander Glint is probly going to wanna see ya. He said you got 'some tickets in' and whatnot." For an instant, the guy looked like he was about to go back behind the bar when he remembered something. "Oh!, And one of yous ought to go up and wake up bluehead, hell if we're gonna send one of our people to do it."
Just catching the 'bluehead' comment,
Catherine entered, shaking her head. "No need, I'm up, I'm up." She gave what seemed like a mixture between a wave and a stretch, to show her presence. She moved over to the food counter, staring at the selection. As usual, she was staring into space more than anything, before eventually grabbing some porridge, placing her crisp packet on the tray with it. When she went to sit down, she smiled softly at Ivan. "How's the big boy? Like Daddy's meat better than boring porridge?" Her voice sounded soft, but slightly bland, as if no energy was in it. "Then hands off mine, kay?" She stuck her spoon in her meal, letting it go just to see it stand up in the mess. She barely liked it, but was sure that others would worry otherwise. She took out a crisp, scooping some of the food up with it, before placing it in her mouth. It might not have been the best idea, but the taste certainly woke her up. "I swear that's not the first time I've tried that cra-nasty stuff." She tried to curb her language near the small one. She lent her elbow on the table, her head landing on her hand. "So, any news?"
"Sure thing, Block,"
Vlad replied, returning the mispronunciati
on without so much as a flinch as he continued to eat with one of the few metal forks provided. Ivan got a morsel here and there, mostly grabbing at his oversized father's plate with a loooooong reach from his place on Vlad's lap. Breakfast disappeared quickly into the Russian's bearded mouth as he clearly intended to complete the meal in record time, heaping forkfuls of food rising every little bit, much to wee Ivan's astonishment as he opened his mouth every time, and every time being deprived. When two of the three plates were empty, the young father wiped his mouth and plopped his son onto the table to pick as he pleased off the last plate, which was full of food a toddler could safely munch. He scooted back in his chair and then stood, looking to Blocht as he made yet another disparaging comment, this time about Catherine. Accustomed to these displays of mutant intolerance, Vlad merely blinked and then watched as the blue-haired woman entered. "Problem solved,'' he said straight to Blocht, as if telling him to thank his lucky stars. "I am on my way to the war room now," Vlad replied, figuring that's what the portly cook meant by 'tickets.' "And I am expecting a package from headquarters today." Looking from the round human to his fellow X-Men, he said "Please make sure it is delivered expressly to me."
"Gotcha, gotcha." replied simply Blocht with a dismissive shrug, assuming the mispronunciation was part of Vlad's accent. As he rinsed a couple of glasses that one of the patrols had just used. "The boys on rotations from Salem ought to be here in a few hours, I'm sure one of them will have yer package."
Lire forced down the rest of her food and ran her hand through her short hair. She wasn't exactly feeling generous or talkative as she picked at the last few crumbs as Vlad finished his food; Blocht's remarks irritated her to the point that she seriously started to consider how much trouble and how likely it would be she'd be caught if she used a couple of his men in an experiment.
Nathan finished scraping up the last few bits of his food, saving a piece of toast for last, which he used to clean of the plate. He sat back, drumming his fingers on the tabletop, waiting on the rest of the mutants and for direction, as well as waiting to see that his sister made it to chow on time.
"Hold it in." Elizabeth spoke softly to those at the table, but a glance up from her plate showed it was aimed mainly at Lire. Her own thoughts weren't too different from the girl's, but this was hardly the place or time to even joke them, as tempted as they were. Vlad's mention of this package caused her to give a nod of her head, making a mental note to keep a presence around the area and to pick it up herself when it arrived. She wouldn't put it past the humans to decide to take a peek into anything meant for the X-Men.
Katie made her way into the mess hall, and looked around quickly before moving too far. When she spotted Nathan and the rest of the mutants, she smiled and waved to them, "Hey Nate! Hi guys!" The girl was still cheerful, even after the past dramatic events, and being trapped in this hellhole. She made her way up to the food line and grabbed herself a plate, filling it up with mostly just eggs and toast. When she reached the end, she took one of the boxed orange juices, and turned around, heading back to the table, leaving Blocht and the rest of the humans be. She took the seat next to her brother and began eating, managing out, "So, what do we have planned today?" between bites.
Lire leaned back in her chair; arms crossed and raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth. She started to say something then paused and closed her mouth again. Her irritation only grew when Katie walked in sounding far to cheerful for that morning. Her feelings weren't logical but then again she really wasn't the most stable person mentally. She cracked open her water bottle and took a deep gulp hoping to stifle the anger that was illogically rushing through her.
Seeing his sister enter the room, Nathan smiled briefly. It wasn't until he heard her talk that what little bit of a smile that he had disappeared, "Kate, I've told you not to call me Nate. Just stick with Nathan, please?" He shook his head for a brief moment, laughing gently at the girl, knowing that his words wouldn't change her mind. He grabbed his water bottle, taking another drink, and finishing off the contents. The plastic crumpled as he cleared the bottle; he replaced the cap and set the bottle down.
"Aww, what's wrong Nate, embarrassed?" Seeing that she wasn't the laziest of the lot allowed Catherine to relax a little as she continued to prod the mess in her bowl. She thought perhaps that was why the place was called a mess hall. She gave a nod to Katie. "Sounds like the Big V got mail, and he's going off to the war room." She smiled, how on earth was that girl so energetic? Catherine was staying up all hours just looking at the computers. Though, that was a nervous habit, and she supposed a helpful one. Talking to the entire table now, she was curious too. "So yeah, what're we doing today?"
"I have no clue." Lire answered as she finished her water and crinkled up the bottle; twisting the plastic until it was unrecognizable. "I hope we at least get to do something useful. It's been to long since I've had some fun." She said with a shrug; to her "fun" meant a fight and not just a spar but a fight where she could take her time to torture and play with the person unfortunate enough to deal with her.
There was a small knot in his stomach as Vlad watched Elizabeth nod accordingly in regards to the parcel he was to receive that day. With the words of Mr. Donahue echoing in his mind from the morning's earlier telephone conversation, Vlad looked over at his young son, currently crunching on two different carrots held in two different hands, and bent over to give him a kiss on the top of the head. "How about we go sit next to mom?" he asked, not a single tone of baby talk in his voice as he scooped up his son, the two toys, and the plate Ivan was eating from. Plopping the contented toddler onto the table well enough away from Elizabeth's plate so that his enthusiasm didn't upset anyone's breakfast, Vlad moved behind his wife and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing just slightly with his newfound finesse to grab her attention and push a scruffy kiss into the juncture of her neck and her shoulder. It was more affectionate than he had been in a while, especially as of the past six months, where his focus was elsewhere and his body didn't seem too eager to indulge in the pleasures he and Liz had known in their earlier years together, but it felt necessary. When Katie piped up, Vlad stood up and looked over to her, unapologetic for his brief romantic display. "I'm about to go check the monitors now. Elizabeth and I will go over the missions this morning and divy them up by the afternoon," he said, as if it were old news that everyone should be used to by now. "I'm going down now. I'll get a hold of all of you to let you know what we're doing. Until then, consider yourselves free." Though he was speaking politely, there was no spark in his eyes left, and as he nodded to his team, Vlad exited the mess hall without the smallest trace of a smile, entering EoD Hall 1st.
"Morning." Elizabeth answered Katie, sharing a similar feeling as Nathan had for Ivan, that the girl shouldn't be here, but that it was nice to see family together despite the hell that was going on. Her taunting of her brother echoed this, creating some warmth within the sterile environment. As the conversation went on, she chose to ignore Lire's comment about 'fun'. At times she could feel her own moral fiber thin, as she was thrown into more and more fighting situations against fellow mutants, including some old students of the house. Part of her enjoyed giving into the adrenaline rush and the offensive side of her powers, the other part believe Xavier would be ashamed of her actions. Her smile returned as Vlad moved Ivan closer to her, and she raised her free hand again to lovingly brush his hair away from his forehead. It was a difficult situation to raise a child in, trying to keep him both entertained and educated while aiding in their little make-shift leadership roles. As Vlad moved towards her, Elizabeth's hand shifted to press against his cheek as he planted the kiss on her, the moment of small joy also followed by a nagging feeling. She was worried about her big lug of a husband, as while he tried to hide it, she did notice his shift into a darker mood. "Call me when you need me." She did trust him to lead the group, but wondered if he was being too much of a leader sometimes and taking on too much. Watching his exit, Elizabeth let out a sigh, spearing another piece of breakfast sausage with her fork before chewing on it.
With Vlad answering the question of what to do, Catherine let out a sigh, eager to get out, to breath in the air. Even if the business wasn't pleasant, it was business, pure and simple, and it beat staring at a glowing screen in her room for hours on end. She'd removed herself from the implications of her deeds as best she could. Even if some had to die, it kept the rest safe, didn't it? This thought playing in her mind a little, she stabbed her spoon into her 'meal', which was still mostly full, allowing it to stand as she herself did. "I'm gonna check the courtyard, get some air." She crouched down to give a small wave to Ivan. "You be good, let Mum look after you, right?" As she left, she patted Nathan on the shoulder. "And you look after your sister, okay Nate?" With that, she was off into the EoD Hall 1st.
After hearing Catherine's attempts at mocking him, Nathan just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. His little sister was really going to win out in this case. Though, truly, he despised the name. No one had ever called him Nate before his sister, nor had he even wanted to be called it by her or anyone else, but having someone other than Katie call him 'Nate' really got his feathers ruffled. She had that right. She was his sister. Being shown the blatant disrespect like what he had just seen did not really sit well with him. He had been in the mansion for over 9 years with Catherine, and only now that Katie was here did he get anything like this. He looked to Katie and smiled, shaking his head, "How are you doing, kid? Sleep well? We go some work ahead of us, it seems."
Katie smiled as Catherine teased her brother. Having someone else on her side was nice in the battle of siblings, especially being the younger one. "Yeah, I slept alright. These beds really don't do wonders for my back though." With that, she bent over backwards in her seat, flexing much further than the average person before she got her back to begin cracking. She sat back up, looking over to Elizabeth now, "How are you and Ivan doing today?" Her lips curled into a bright smile.
"Hi! I got food!" Was Ivan's simple response to Katie, possibly accompanied with a few bits of sprayed carrot as he continued to munch through them. Elizabeth's response was less enthused, managing a shrug as she piled her empty plates on top of each other, then moved to grab Ivan's mainly untouched plate. "I may leave Ivan with either you or Catherine later today, Katie, while Vlad and I go over the missions." It just felt wrong to have their boy with them when they were planning out ways to fight a war against their own kind, like crossing some sort of line and influencing his morals for the worse. It would also give her a chance to confront Vlad on some of these nagging feelings. That, and Ivan could prove to be a distraction to them both, drawing them away from what needed to happen and instead focusing on making their boy happy.
Endelyn came into the kitchen and took a brief moment to look around. She gave a wave to Flame when she noticed her and Ivan, and was about to smile. However, she then also noticed Nathan and her smile faded. The two of them had been on rocky terms for a while now, and now everytime she saw him, she felt like she was going to be ill. She loved the man, but he was always too worried about his sister to even think about their relationship. She turned then and merely got some coffee. Any thought of eating food was now spoiler by seeing him so damn early in the morning.
To many people were starting to come into the room for Lire's comfort as Endelyn walked in. She stood up, leaving her plate in place for the mess hall workers to clean up as she walked towards the door. She nodded a greeting to Endelyn before snagging another bottle of water and stepping out into the EoD Hall 1st.
Seeing Endelyn walk in to the room, another light smile grew onto Nathan's face, this one, however, slightly tainted with knowing that she was upset with him. Things had been hard since Katie came to the mansion. He had to juggle his time between the woman that he loved, and his sister, whom he needed to protect from the world. In all fairness, Nathan missed what he had with Endelyn before the attacks, and before having to watch over his sister. The smile slowly faded from his face as he went in to thinking about his relationship with Endelyn. They were still engaged, which was one positive aspect he had going for him, but he also knew that he was losing her, and had to figure out what he could do to save that from happening. He stood up from the table, picking up his plate as he moved to his fiancee, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek, "I've got to head back to my room. I need to get ready if we're going out for missions today..."
Smiling as Elizabeth suggested that she could watch Ivan later today, Katie perked up once again, "I'd be happy to watch him! Assuming, you know, I'm not really needed for a mission. I'd be more than happy to watch Ivan while you guys are out." She smiled cheerfully and turned to Ivan, "You hear that? You get to stay with me later! I'll see if I can't find some coloring books that we can color in, ok?"
"I'll seek you out later then." Elizabeth replied to Katie as she stood and lifted Ivan back onto her hip. Sure, the boy could walk, but she took comfort in being able to hold him, acting as her own form of security blanket. For Ivan's part, he returned his grip back to the two toys brought along with him to the mess hall, his attention purely on Katie. "I like colouring! We can play ball. And run. And play. And do stuff!” He then looked down at his two toys, realising they were in fact not ones he wanted now. “Fellafant?” He looked sadly up to his mother, his bottom lip starting to come out in a pout. With a nod of her head, Elizabeth paused before leaving the table, keeping her voice low, “Keep an eye out for this package, do not like them get it.” Before leaving for EoD Hall 1st.
Endelyn allowed Nathan to kiss her cheek, though she still didn't look too cheery about having him come over. She finished pouring her coffee and without putting sugar nor milk, took a sip of the Luke warm liquid. "See you later then." Endelyn said simply when Nathan mentioned heading back to his room to get ready for missions.
Feeling the cold air come across in Endelyn's voice, Nathan drew a scowl to his face. He turned simply from his fiancee and headed for the door, stepping back out to EoD Hall 1st.
Katie smiled as Ivan listed off everything that he wanted to do while they were together, "Well, aren't you just a little ball of energy, huh?" she joked with the child. Hearing Elizabeth's mention of seeking her out, Katie turned her attention to the boy's mother, "Absolutely. You'll know where you can find me. Nate would never let me out on a mission anyway, so I feel like it's the least that I can do."
A second later, the built in communicator on Endelyn's X-men badge went off and Vlad's voice could be heard coming through, albeit a bit choppy; "Team, meet me in the war room in an hour. Be suited up and ready to go."
A few minutes after her own communicator had gone off, Catherine arrived in the mess hall, walking overly calmy to grab a carton of juice, and sitting back down with those still around, giving a smile to the two girls. "Hey Endelyn, you up then? Get V's message too I guess?"
Endelyn glanced at the badge as the message played out, then sighed and took a decent gulp of coffee, nearly burning her throat in the process. Luckily she had already gotten in her uniform, so that part was set. She looked over, snapped out of her daze as Catherine addressed her. "Hmmm? Yeah, I got it." She said with a soft smile. "Just finishing up my coffee before I head down there. Want to come with?"
Katie sat alone at the table for a while, still finishing up her breakfast. She waited to see if either of the other two mutants were going to stop by before heading out, as she still had a large portion of her meal to finish.
"Uh, yeah. I mean...sure!" Catherine gave a large smile of her own, and subconsciously squeezed her carton of juice to drink it faster. "Ready when you are, just needed a drink." Looking over, she saw Katie still around, and decided to go say hi before leaving. "Just gonna pop over there a sec." Walking up to Katie, she ruffled the girl's hair a little bit. "Your big bro already headed off? Me and 'Lyn'll be off in a sec. Behave, kay." Her face on the word Behave said 'You dare make us worry about you more than we already do'.
Endelyn chuckled as Catherine downed her juice. "Easy. There's no way I can down my coffee like that." She said. When Catherine mentioned talking to Katie, Endelyn nodded and followed after her, taking a more gentle gulp of her coffee to prevent herself from burning her throat again. Endelyn nodded in agreement with Catherine's statement. She smiled kindly at Katie, having no ill will towards the girl.
"Me? Behave? What else do you expect?" Katie said, her voice heavy in sarcasm with a smile and a wink to follow, "Yeah, Nate took off back to his room, I think. He had to get ready still for whatever's going on. She stabbed another piece of the sausage that sat on her plate, taking it up for another bite. She chewed and swallowed before speaking again, "And you guys are worrying about me? I get to stay here and watch Ivan. You're the ones that need to be careful. I don't want to hear about any of you not coming back." The girl looked up, mostly to Endelyn, her eyes full of concern.
"You don't want to know what I expect." Catherine's eyes said it better than her mouth. You heard me. Turning back to Endelyn, she gave a smile at the girl. "Sorry, forgot it was coffee." Catherine never drunk the stuff, hating the taste, so the idea of a hot beverage had slipped her mind. "Oh, and Katie?" She returned to speaking to the girl. "Talking of the little kid, that's another reason I want you to be safe. Don't want anyone worrying about either of you any more than normal, and getting distracted. Could cost us." Realising perhaps that she was scaring the girl slightly, she put a smile back on. "But don't worry about us too much, we're pretty strong. I'm sure we'll be fine."
Katie's eyes widened a bit as Catherine spoke. Wow, this girl was really out there. She was a mutant too. It's not like she was really that much weaker than the rest of them. Her mutation just didn't lend itself towards missions as much as the rest of them. That, and her brother was over-protective. Honestly, she was getting sick of being thought of as the little girl in the mansion. She was a 26 year old woman, she could take care of herself. She spoke cautiously, trying not to offend Catherine, "Yeah, I know. It's really not like I can get into trouble just sitting around here."
Endelyn listened to their conversation as she almost finished her coffee. She could understand how Katie was feeling, and she knew she herself wouldn't want to sit around, feeling useless. She could only imagine how Katie felt with someone being so over-protective of the woman. That was one thing Endelyn was glad Nathan hadn't been doing.
"Yeah, I know. I just...I just worry about you..." Catherine was sure it was more than just worry, but it was the best word she could come up with. "I worry about the lot of you." She pointed over to Endelyn, with a slightly embarrassed grimace. "Even that one, and the rest of the team." Her crude words helped ease her embarrassment. When it came to work, she'd be single-minded, as soon as she had the slightest bit of free time however, her brain seemed to turn to mush, especially around certain people. She thought nothing of it, but tried to focus back on the mission. "Finished with your drink yet Lyn?"
Endelyn looked down at the mug in her hand, then chugged down the last bit of her hot coffee. Putting down the cup, she had to keep her composure as her throat burned again, her eyes watering up slightly. "Yup.." she managed to say after a few minutes. "All done." She barely made any reaction to Catherine's small cover up. Those things really never did catch the dark haired girl's attention.
Katie smiled, "Thanks. I just feel kind of useless around here sometimes. But hey, looks like you guys should be getting ready. I'm just going to finish up here. See you soon."
"Right right, time to go then." Catherine stood up, giving a quick hop and a stretch. "Don't want them to kick our ass." She gave a salute to Katie that turned into a small wave as it left her forehead. "See you around." She started a slightly brisk walk out, turning back to Endelyn. "Let's go let's go let's go!" In a moment, she'd already gone out to the EoD Hall 1st.
Endelyn smiled and put a gentle hand on Katie's shoulder. "We'll be back before you know it." She said softly to the girl before following after Catherine into EoD Hall 1st, forgetting completely about her coffee mug.
Marching into the mess hall with Ivan in hand, Elizabeth led the boy over to Katie, letting him scoot himself up onto the seat next to her, his thumb stuck firmly in his mouth as he watched them both. "Katie, can you watch him please." Dressed in full uniform, as well as Katie no doubt having overheard the communications via Endelyn and Catherine, it was clear where Elizabeth was heading. Brushing her palm gently over Ivan's hair, she knelt down to press a kiss against his cheek, allowing the boy to wrap his arms around her neck in a hug. "You behave for Katie, and listen to what she tells you. Papa and I will be back soon."
Katie smiled as Elizabeth came in and placed Ivan next to her, "Sure thing. You be safe, and I'll make sure that he's well looked after while you're away." She was doing the best that she could to cover up what was going on a bit to Ivan. She didn't want to subject him to the ideas of what may happen, so she kept her calm and composure in her dealings.
"Love you." Elizabeth said to Ivan before letting him go and letting him turn his attention to Katie. Standing up she gave a nod to Katie, "Thank you." Leaving for EoD Hall 1st before she changed her mind and stayed behind.
ACCESSIBLE AREAS
EoD Hall 1st
X-Men: End of Days * X-Men EoD Characters
Stumble!