maskormenacelogs | [OPEN] Our house, it has a crowd

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[OPEN] Our house, it has a crowd

WHO: EVERYBODY who won't cause An Incident
WHERE: Xavier School for ~~Future Corpses~~ ImPorts
WHEN: Any time from the announcement through early September
WHAT: Construction and any hilarity that flows therefrom
WARNINGS: None anticipated. Please warn in your thread if necessary and I will edit.

The future home of the Xavier School for ImPorts looks in worse shape than it truly is; two telepaths and a man with an instinctive knowledge of metal are in a good position to find out anything a broker or a building itself might be concealing. That said, the old hotel has seen better days, and is badly in need of a facelift.

Which is where the unique talents of the ImPort community come in. Who needs a crane when super-strength will do? It makes for a great phot-op, too. Just about anyone can find a task to suit them, from welding to carpentry to sweeping up the dust, and no one will be turned away, at least not before they cause an accident or a fight. There are refreshments, tools, and hard hats in plentiful supply, so grab a cup of coffee and a hammer and start making a difference--or at least banking some goodwill.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Emma Frost is actually working. Someone take a picture.

Her X-Men uniform doesn't look like it's suited to construction. It doesn't look like it's suited to anything that doesn't have an "18+" sign on the door. But, as she's so often counted on, looks can deceive, and her impractical-seeming outfit is shedding the dust and debris of the construction site, remaining as pristine as it was when she walked onto the property this morning.

She's setting a very bad example by not wearing a hard hat, but her glittering diamond form makes one of those entirely decorative, and instead she just looks incongruously glamorous moving around the site, even when she's carrying a 100-pound bag of cement over each shoulder or hauling a pallet of boards up to the second floor with nothing more than a rope and some grumbling. She objects to manual labor much less when it's not tiring or sweaty, really, but she does think they should wrap everything in chicken wire and let Magneto do the heavy lifting.

Despite the emotionally blunted diamond form making her even less approachable than usual, Emma's making real progress on construction. It's almost like she's rebuilt a school before.]

[ So Clementine had offered to help with the construction of the house, and she meant it! Hatchet, screwdriver and nail file (all except the latter still kinda blood) are tucked into her back pocket because it's not always safe even in modern suburbia. And of course, she glanced around as she arrived, searching for the pretty blonde woman who told her to inquire for her when she arrived. But when she arrived on the grounds, she stopped short to stare because there's a human sized shiny statue carrying sacks of cement. Holy balls. ]

[Emma drops her burden into a pile with more cement bags next to where a team is replacing cracked, weed-riddled sidewalk with fresh cement--she will find anyone who writes their initials in it--and dusts off her hands in a mostly-unnecessary gesture. Without telepathy, it takes her longer to spot Clementine that it would ordinarily, but after she's done scrutinizing her gloves for stains and shaking powdered cement out of her cloak, she finally notices the little girl staring at her.]

Oh, hello dear.

[Diamond form squashes her emotions, yes, but she's very fond of children, and that makes it through into as genuinely kind a smile as she's capable of right now.]

[ Clementine glanced around at the workers, and then back to the lady made of ...glass? She thinks? ]

Um.. I'm.. looking for a lady named Emma. Do you know where she is?

[Oh no, too cute. Emma chuckles and switches back to her normal, flesh-and-blood form.]

I'm sure she's around here somewhere.

[ Whoah. Clem's eyes widened in surprise. ]

Whoah.

[ Yeah that's.. that's pretty much summing it up. OH. ]

I'm Clementine. We ..talked over the walki-- [ Wait, not a walkie. She held up her device. ] This.

I remember. Hello, Clementine.

[Emma's tall to begin with, and her X-Men costume includes high heels because Emma Reasons, so she bends a little to offer Clem a hand to shake.]

[ She's never seen someone wear attire quite like yours Emma. But she never read comic books, and sadly, they didn't really have comics as a priority back home. ]

It's nice to meet you. [ She offered politely, shaking the tall woman's hand. She's all ready to be put to work ma'am~~! ]

[Emma's current costume is only medium egregious. Her original one didn't include pants.

...American pants. Not UK pants. She had those.]

Nice to meet you too, dear. Have you ever been on a construction site before?

[She puts a hand on Clem's shoulder and starts to steer her away from the actual work, at least until they can get her a hard hat.]

[ Gasp! Egreggious..! ... no it's okay she doesn't judge. Although her guardians back home might if they saw Emma's originall outfit! ]

I've helped with fixing up buildings before. some. [ Barricading windows, repairing cardboard fences.. but most, if not all of that, happened at Carver's compound and so much went bad then she'd. .rather not thinkg about it. ]

Nothing like a place like this though.

[Emma's rich. That makes her daring, not wanton.]

Well, first of all, if you're going to need a hard hat and perhaps some safety goggles.

[Neither of which Emma is wearing, but do as she says, not as she does.]

Okay. [ She is agreeable to safety equipment, but she glances at Emma, on that note. Well she's guiding Clem away from the construction site, so they can get safety gear. Clearly Emma is getting it for herself too right? ]

What do you want me to do?

[Aww Clementine, so naive.]

Hmm.

[Clem is too little to be of much use in construction proper, and Emma is not sending her crawling into tiny spaces where there might be rusty nails or some kind of horrid venomous Florida wildlife, so that limits the choices.]

How are you with a broom? The foyer needs to be swept out so they can lay the new tile.

[It's a big room, so Emma foresees herself doing most of the work.]

[ But but Emma...!! ]

I can manage. [ The broom is probably taller than she is, by a few inches, but she knows how to handle one. Though in all honesty the first thing she thinks at the question, is how does she defend herself with one. Long range, so it would work pretty effectively as a weapon, and you could also use the other end to pry things or break windows --

OH sweeping. Right. ]

Is that all?

Wait until you see the size of the foyer.

[Emma fiddles with the band inside one of the hard hats, trying to get it small enough that Clem can wear it and see at the same time.]

Here, try this.

[She doesn't seem to be getting one for herself.]

[ However big it was, it had to be better than scavenging for food, crawling into tight spaces, and infiltrating compounds like a secret agent. ]

Is it really big?

[ Safe to ask anyway. She makes a face, taking her hat off so Emma can fit her for the hard hat. ]

Aren't you going to wear one?

[ well, this he just had to come and see. emma frost, doing construction work? admittedly, this sort of thing is required a lot, but it's still a rather odd sight to behold.

still, there was no way that scott, being the control freak he is, could let the construction of an x-facility go by without meddling. he's been constantly telling himself to just leave this all to emma and charles, but... well, even he had to realize he'd never be able to take a completely hands off approach. ]

Need a hand?

[ okay, she's clearly got this, but whatever. ]

[In a happenstance that everyone but her finds hilarious, Emma ends up doing a lot of the heavy lifting whenever the mansion needs to be rebuilt.

Regardless of other people's opinions on the matter, Emma doesn't want Scott to stay away, but she's only emotionally healthy in comparison to him, so it's not like she's said anything, and in diamond form she's doubly unlikely to.]

No, not really.

[But she dumps a bag of cement into his arms anyway. It weighs less than she does, at least when she's her normal flesh-and-blood self, so she knows from extensive experience that he can carry it. This is either flirting or pique, and it's not like Emma herself can tell the difference.]

[ he would have helped her either way, though the dichotomy between her words and action is... well, actually pretty normal, all things considered. ]

Hopefully this'll be the only time we have to do this.

[ but haha fat chance of that... literally putting a giant X on the gate really does pretty much serve as a target. maybe they should rethink that in the future, but it's hard to break away from tradition. ]

When did you turn into an optimist?

[Why the hell anyone let her design a uniform with high heels is a mystery, but she's managing okay as she picks her way across the site to where they're laying new sidewalk.]

Laurie's not happy. I imagine David isn't, either.

[Not that she cares what David thinks.]

I didn't say I expected things to go that way.

[ but he can dream, can't he... ]

Laurie's concerns are understandable, given what she went through. David... I imagine he'll come around.

[ scott figured david's issues were more with him personally, but hey... its good to know he's opposed to all x-things equally? ]

[Also continuing his streak of setting a bad example for the kids, Robbie is not wearing a hard hat either. It's not like he needs one either - he let Nova's kid sister drop a bowling ball on his head for fun.

He's got on all the clothes that she's apparently lost, a long-sleeved t-shirt, jeans, a bandana in his hair and another tied around his neck. Everything looks gray, including the dust and debris that's almost ankle-deep in the room that he's demo-ing in. Three walls have already had their damaged sheet rock removed, and he's taking a breather when he sees Emma Frost wander by.

Robbie gives her a grin and flips the pry bar that he's holding up in the ear, catching it neatly.]

Hey Ms. Frost. Feel like working out some aggression? There's no mold in this room; it's safe to go to town on the sheet rock.

[Emma stops and looks him over with an expression that's only medium judgmental--so, about baseline for her.]

I don't breathe in this form, anyway.

[It's not clear how she talks, but that's the least of comic books' problems.]

[ The resonance of some crystalline structures?

Also, medium judgmental is about what he's accustomed to, anyway, so it's barely registering. ]

Soooo - that's a yes?

[ He offers the bar to her, half distracted by looking around the large room. ]

What's this floor going to be? Classrooms?

[Here is Sukuyo, ready for her interview! She's never done a job interview before-- mainly because she's never had a job-- but they happen on TV all the time, so she thinks she's prepared. She's dressed up nicely, done her makeup and hair, and brought a little bag of croquettes (made with actual food ingredients!) as a gesture of goodwill.

-- And then she sees a woman made of diamonds. And she feels like a dish rag.]

A-Ah...

[ Charles isn't entirely one for massive amounts of hard work, at least of a physical nature -- he can be found instead outside, where he's presently seated at a table beside the allotted refreshments with an open notebook in front of him. His attention isn't entirely away from the bustle of activity -- he's spending more time watching and greeting those who've come to assist rather than burying his face in the work in front of him.

If anyone does care to inspect it, however, he's busied himself with a large list of notes; tasks that are finished and those that need to get done, as well as ideas for future uses of rooms and work on the layout of the building. He's also been doing a small amount of monetary bookkeeping, although he doesn't particularly enjoy that; which is perhaps his excuse for making small-talk instead.

It's times like this that being merely a telepath and not telekinetic is both a blessing and a curse. He lacks the physical necessities for heavy lifting, which he both laments and perhaps is somewhat pleased by -- it is an excuse to sit and take notes, after all.

Part of him does, however, believe that it's probably for the best that he doesn't get in the way. But he can certainly still inadvertently micro-manage from his current vantage point. ]

[Desmond kind of missed the post on the Network, but it's not hard to see or hear the signs of construction going on in town. His job put him on probation for no other reason that he wasn't registered of all things, and rather than waiting for them to fire him, he figures it would be better to find a new job and flip them both fingers before they terminate him entirely. He doesn't have much construction experience. It was limited when he was sixteen, and it was more along the lines of being a gopher for the other guys. But judging by the setup, these guys don't look like pros, either.

So there's some hope for a paycheck when he peeks into the room where Carles is working.]

...Hi. Someone outside mentioned I should talk to you first about helping out?

[ Charles looks up from his bookkeeping with a smile at the stranger, his expression eager. ] Yes. Yes, indeed! Hello.

[ He closes the book in front of him out of courtesy and stands, making his way around the table to hold his hand out for a handshake. ] My name is Charles Xavier. You were interested in helping with the building?

[ that's obvious of course but he thought he may as well ask... welp. ]

[Desmond shakes the offered hand firmly. He's been in enough pr situations to perfect the gesture, as superficial as it can be at times.] Desmond Miles. And yeah, I saw the construction going on. I'm...kind of looking for a new job. I figured you needed help, and I need the money, but...are you offering anything for helping out? I'm here to help either way.

[ ooc: oh no that's fine! and oh god i'm sorry too, it's been a very unusually hectic week for me so i am all over the place w tags :'| ]

A pleasure to meet you, Mr Miles. [ Charles shakes the man's hand firmly before he's gesturing to a seat, although he shrugs just slightly afterward as though to say 'if you're so inclined'.

It takes Charles a moment to reply to the question; it is mostly volunteer work, but that does not mean he's not able to pay -- additionally, he's got a bit of a soft spot when others are in need -- and that takes over promptly. ] We appreciate the help. I could certainly pay you for any work you do; although I warn you, I'm told it's not much. [ "Told", of course, because Charles comes from a world where a pack of toilet paper never made its way over one dollar. ]

Still, perhaps it will help you, for helping us!

[Desmond shrugs. It might open a doorway later on, who knows.] That's fine. Whatever you can reasonably afford. I can pound nails and I can make supply runs pretty fast. I might even get into small places with a recip saw if you need it.

[ Charles raises his eyebrows at that, and while he's about to say that won't be necessary, he stops himself. In truth, a lot of things could turn out to be necessary in the long run. ]

We do appreciate it. There's one of the rooms down this hall, we haven't started work on it yet, but the floorboards need securing. There should be a toolbox there -- I can show you, if you like.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OPEN] Our house, it has a crowd

Emma Frost | any date more or less | open

Hi Miss Emma :D

hello dear :3

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charles xavier | any time! | open

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ugh sorry this took so long

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