Summer Party 2013

[Wolverine]

The lake house provided the space required to set up buffet style food stations for the party. The number of expected guests dictated the amount of food required to ensure a successful summer party. He was responsible for the storage, preparation, cooking, and serving of all the food, while keeping the food at the appropriate temperatures. That means he had to make sure that the staff was keeping the chilled food cold and the hot food hot.

There were several Chef- attended stations and volunteers around the lake house. The first food station offered appetizers to students and guests while they waited in line. While it wasn’t necessary since they have been providing refreshments all evening, the station was setup so that students could pass out samples while answering any questions on the various foods and drinks being served to satisfy everyone including those health conscious guests.

There was a Salad Bar and a food station offering various fruit and vegetables in season. Summer fruits like apples, blueberries, cherries, mangoes, peaches, and raspberries, and vegetables like broccoli, carrots, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, onions, lettuces, spinach, and zucchini.

Then there was the Pasta and Stir- Fry station. The BBQ Grill was set up behind the Seafood Station serving salmon, lobster, and shrimp and the Meat Station serving popular American foods such as grilled chicken wings covered in a special BBQ sauce, hamburgers, hot dog with plenty of toppings, and side of fries. Since preferences may vary, Logan had the Chef prepare Smoked Prime Rib Roast, Grilled Lobster Tails, and a Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Herbs.

On the other side of the lake house there was a Finger Foods station which was basically a long table filled with sandwiches and wraps, chips and dips, and of course an assortment of pizzas and toppings that they had delivered to the mansion for this occasion. Kids love pizzas, he just hope that the 36 pizzas they ordered were enough for the students. The Beverage Station serving water, ice tea, lemonade, and other alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks. Finally the Dessert Station serving cheesecakes and lemon squares and the ice cream sundae bar.

Logan was about to go against his own policy, and start tasting some of the food which he had instructed all the volunteers not to do until all the guest have been served. He was going to sample a little of this and some of that for evaluation purposes only. Besides he had to make his way over towards the baseball field, the basketball and tennis courts before heading back to the pool.

He was about to help himself to some of the food on display at the lake house, when he was sure he heard something like a loud voice calling in the wilderness. He turned his head back towards the mansion when he heard another voice address him. “Sensei, hurry!” It was a plea for help that echo through the nightmarish darkness of his mind as he rushed back towards the mansion and then headed for the pool.

[Deleted]

Koyuki turned to Lois. "I heard what you said last," she told the woman. "And it doesn't work like that." She turned away and started wringing out her hair, now surprisingly dark because of the water. "You can have multiple telepaths in the room and none of them the same. Each mutant, even mutants with the same power, is not the same. Every power is different. But it seems you have to be a mutant to realize that." She didn't add any acidity to her voice, but it was cold. "In this world, either you're a mutant or you're not. There is no in-between. And you have to be a mutant to understand what we go through every day." She left it at that. The other students started smiling. They were all thinking the same thing, but none of them wanted to say it. None of them knew how.

"And just because you're older does not mean you can boss my brother around," Koyuki said, voice still cold. "You will never understand what it's like to be a mutant." She placed her hands on the ground, intending to stand, but winced and pulled her right wrist close, wrapping her left hand around it.

"Nee-chan, daijoubu?" Fuyuki asked softly.

"I must've hit the water weird," Koyuki said quietly, slipping into Japanese again. "My wrist... I did something to it... But it should be fine in a few days." She heard footsteps, turning in the direction of the lake.

"Sensei!" she called, realizing that it was Logan. Fuyuki tilted his head in confusion. She met his eyes. "Can't you hear him?" she asked. She was just as confused as him.

[Deleted]

Well it seemed Lois' CPR training actually came in handy and her shoulders slumped in total relief as she looked over at Fuyuki and smiled; his sister was going to be okay. But then things changed quickly. Lois started to get lectured about how Fuyuki's abilities weren't like that and that telepaths were all different.

~Okay, *that* I did not know.~ Lois thought to herself but in her defense she was only going by the story Koyuki told her earlier about her brother who was in the US being able to still communicate with her back way back in Japan. Lois only figured if he had that range maybe by chance he could call out to this instructor of theirs. How was she supposed to know he couldn't do that? After hearing he could communicate with her continents away? But now knowing that it was different and it wasn't as easy as Lois had thought she made a mental note to remember that little fact for the next time. But it didn't stop there it spilled over to something unexpected.

"...In this world, either you're a mutant or you're not. There is no in-between. And you have to be a mutant to understand what we go through every day... And just because you're older does not mean you can boss my brother around," Koyuki said, voice still cold. "You will never understand what it's like to be a mutant..."

The girl's preachy self-righteous tone came from left field. Lois hadn't expected all that backlash after trying to help and getting the girl to finally breathe. And bossing her brother around? Lois simply asked him if he could get a hold of his instructor using the ability Koyuki had told Lois he had. Okay maybe she didn't understand how this telepathy stuff really works but Lois was working on what she knew at that moment and if her asking him to try contact that instructor of his, if that was considered bossy well she wasn't going to apologize for that or any imagined slight. She did what she did to help and was not going to be apologetic about it. She didn't understand where this sudden shift in attitude came from and all this business about not being like them but Lois wasn't going to get into an argument with a little girl over knowing what it was like to be a mutant because truth of the matter was, Lois didn't know and she never pretended to either, though Lois wondered what brought all this on.

Shaking her head at the confusing turn of events the reporter simply shrugged it off chalking Koyuki's attitude off as nerves and flared emotions from what just happened to her and so Lois didn't really say much about it and just let the girl vent it all out. Even the smug smiles of the other students Lois just let it go. She didn't bother to mention that not one of those smug smiling mutant students did anything to help Koyuki and her brother, that rather than do something about their classmate who wasn't breathing they all just stood there helplessly rooted to the ground and watched not even offering or even trying to get help. The closest thing she got from action was one who gave out answers of their instructor not being there. But Then again Lois understood the power of paralyzing fear, of being caught in a moment of panic and not knowing what to do. Of seeing someone you care about hurt or in danger of dying. She'd been there before, done that before and also knew that sometimes you needed a hand to take a hold of the scene and if push came to shove and no one was acting you can damn well be sure Lois was going to pick up that ball and run with it.

She understood on some level why the mutant students didn't act they were just kids after all and probably the first time some of them had seen a limp and unresponsive body and so Lois didn't throw that fact at them as they stood there smugly smiling down at her. Lois let it all slide because at the end of the day she might just be a simple human too mundane to understand what it was like to be a mutant, but she understood what it was like to lose someone you loved dearly and she didn't want that to happen to Fuyuki. Lois didn't want him to go through what she went through when she helplessly watched as her mother died; she wouldn't wish that on anyone and would try her damn hardest like she did today to prevent it by doing everything she humanly could.

Rising to her feet before she left brother and sister, seeing as how Koyuki seemed okay except for a slight pained wrist Lois spoke.

"I can't even pretend to know or even understand what it is like to be like a mutant. But I understand what it's like to lose family and I didn't want Fuyuki to lose his. And if I was bossy, it's because I cared enough to try and make things happen. I cared enough to not want you dead or see your brother morn the loss of your life. Even if I am not like the rest of you, it doesn't mean I will ever stop caring or trying to help..." she said before leaving the little grouping of people as the instructor seemed to have returned and Koyuki called out to him.

Shaking her head and walking away still trying to understand what just happened, Lois headed over to where the drinks were being served and asked for something alcoholic; she needed a good stiff drink.

[Wolverine]

“I knew this would happen.” Logan growled as he rushed towards the pool. Jean told him it was never safe to leave these kids alone, even for just a few minutes. After all, they’re just children. He remembered Jeannie shooting him the occasional annoyed glance. Everyone seems to be so fond of these young, cute, angelic brats who happened to be his students. Logan snorted in disbelief. He couldn’t hold these brats hands forever, it wasn’t his way. Sooner or later, all children grow up and leave home. Some lessons are only learned the hard way.

There was a crowd of students and guests in which he had to push his way through, shoving his way to the front towards the chaos beside the pool. He looked around at the faces to see who was here as his sense of smell detected the twins, not a single whisper goes unheard. Logan glanced at Koyuki, relieved to see her sitting in an upright position on the ground and then glance over his shoulder at the crowd of people with an expression of strong disapproval. He needed to disperse this crowd to give Koyuki some breathing room after her near-drowning experience.

“Foods Ready!” Logan’s eyes narrowed as he growled out the words. “Everyone head down to the lake house for the BBQ!” It wasn’t a suggestion as he commanded the other students to direct everyone to the lake house for the barbecue. Logan pulled four students aside and told them to check on each station announce this to the remaining sections of the campus, and then follow the remaining students down towards the lake house for the barbecue.

“You alright?” Logan said kneeling beside Koyuki, trying to prevent her from standing up while conducting a medical evaluation to determine the full extent of her injuries. Rendering emergency aid to a victim was something he learned from the combat medics during World War II. “What happened here?”

[Deleted]

Koyuki's eyes widened when she realized that no one else had heard his footsteps. Something couldn't be right. But she would worry about that later.

"Telepathic attack," Fuyuki said quickly. From a good distance away. Too powerful to be a student here."

"It wasn't an attack!" Koyuki exclaimed. "It was an SOS. Sensei, I know where he is." She looked over at Fuyuki, who nodded and telepathically connected the three of them.

I know where the Professor is! Koyuki told Logan quickly. He's in Nepal somewhere. But the communication was staticky, like he was using some other mutant's powers to find me. I don't think it was natural. Koyuki sneezed.

"I must've gotten water up my nose or something..." she muttered, sneezing again. "I can't smell anything but chlorine." She sneezed again, then her vision bloomed, causing her to wince and squeeze her eyes shut. Her ears seemed to clear suddenly, and she could hear everything that was going on around them in the entire pool area. She could almost smell the panic her brother had felt when she'd been unconscious.

Fuyuki cried out in surprise, severing the telepathic connection suddenly. Koyuki had placed one hand on her head, the other hand behind her on the ground. The pain in her wrist was just on the edge of her thoughts as she tried to deal with the sudden increase in her senses. Her mind went blank, and Fuyuki quickly took her into his arms. He could feel her pain, could almost see how she saw... And it was starting to drive him crazy. Just then, Koyuki passed out again, saving both of them from insanity.

"Sensory overload," he explained quickly. "I think the near-death experience increased the sensitivity of her vision, hearing, and smell. It overloaded her consciousness." He closed his eyes for a moment and felt for her brainwaves. "She should be fine after she sleeps a while... Her mind has to get used to the new abilities." He opened his eyes, bright blue and shimmering with worry for his sister.

[Wolverine]

"Telepathic attack?" Cerebro was connected to a network of computers and should have detected a telepathic attack so why wasn’t he notified? The computer must not be functioning properly which means that he would have to remind Hank that damn device needs repairing. It would have been nice if someone around here managed to upgrade their systems so all X-Men received a warning of any impending threats.

Logan had a feeling he already knew where this conversation was going to lead once Koyuki and Fuyuki exchanged glances and with a simple nod, Logan sensed the presence in his head establishing a telepathic connection. What was the point of sending all the guests and other students away to the lake house if they weren’t going to communicate like ordinary people?

After all this time Professor Charles Xavier finally managed to send an SOS and a clue to his location. Logan wasn’t surprised that Charles Xavier was alive and knew Chuck still had a few tricks left up his sleeve. There was some type of charged electrical energy causing interference and Charles using some mind transferal technique to use another mutant’s ability to detect someone like Koyuki. That would explain why the War Room computers didn’t automatically send out mass notifications.

Logan began thinking of Jean and what she had said about the Professor when he was distracted by Koyuki sneezing followed by the sudden outburst of emotion from Fuyuki. The mind blast of information from Charles must have been too much for both of them to handle after all Chuck is an Omega Class Telepath. The physical effects of the near-death experience only made matters worse. There’s only so much a person can take.

"I’m taking both of y’all to the mansion’s infirmary."