The X-Project

I live. And since it's been a while and we've had a few magic-related mishaps recently, I figured it's time for another talk. Tomorrow evening, in the rec room after dinner. There will be a powerpoint presentation on "Don't Touch The Thing."

So, in between the end of school and having to chase Topaz down in India, I've missed a couple of weeks. But now I've got my shite sorted, we're back! Tomorrow's lecture is on Magical Dimensions, including a section on internet memes that are actually real. We'll also have a Q&A on Asgard, seeing how we have three recent returnees (and a few less recent ones) who can talk all about the pros and cons of living in a magical realm.

With the help of some of the teacherly types, I've gotten together a syllabus for my infamous "How not to meddle with the occult" class. This year, since there's a lot of new faces both with the Gen X program and just generally, we're throwing open the doors to anyone who is interested.

When: Thursdays, starting @6:00 p.m.
Where: The sunroom on the first floor, central wing.
Who: Amanda Sefton, with assistance from Topaz and Megan Gwynn.

Class 1: Introduction, or "Magic: It's not all Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings."

Class 2: Demons, or "Yes, demons are real. Here's how to avoid them."

Class 3: Magical Dimensions, including a section on internet memes that are actually real.

Class 4: Artifacts, or "Don't touch the glowy rock."

Class 5: Magical Rules and Ethics, or "Why we don't pester our magically-adept classmates to raise the dead."

As usual, Gen Xers are required to attend, but if anyone else is interested, say so in the comments. Depending on attendance, there's usually food afterwards. ;)

Normally this would be a confidential report to the Trenchcoats and the X-Men, but since you were all impacted by this, I wanted you to know what happened and what was done to prevent it happening again. If you're mature enough to fight, you're mature enough to be told the truth.

The mansion was invaded by demon's under the control of a character called Belasco. The old-timers might have recognised them - they were the same sort that attacked the mansion last time, back in 2004. Belasco wasn't in control of Limbo any more, but he'd set up his own little mini-dimension with the remnants of his demon army and he's been building up since. To attack us, since he sort of has an old grudge and because mutants are good weapons once you corrupt them enough. So he nabbed a bunch of people with the plan to keep them under lock and key until they were corrupted by the dimension enough for him to use - probably to retake Limbo, but it's not like he told me all his plans. Villains - real villains - never do.

I won't go into details about the bit in the middle, since that's personal to those who were there. Better to cut to the end - a group of X-Men that Scott, Jean and I picked out, based on them never having been possessed or gone evil or had certain personal weaknesses and such, went through a portal Strange and Topaz opened. Billy went too, to keep the portal open from the other side. There was fighting, our people were rescued and Belasco is very definitely dead. The dimension itself is gone too - there was kind of a magical boobytrap activated that undid all the magic that held it together. So, no more demon lord, no more demons (from him, any way) and apart from a couple of people, everyone's home and safe and should be back to their old selves in a day or so.

I will apologise, though, for not being here when things happened. Doc Strange and I will be working on the wards, once my magic's back up to full strength, to avoid something like this again. But from what I'm hearing, people did good defending themselves and their friends. Well done.

Finally, I need some energy donors for a healing spell. Healing factors, super strength, super resilience, that sort of thing. No energy projectors or speedsters, since I'll burn you out too fast. And usually I'd say "no minors", but fuck it, after what you went through, you're all able to make informed decisions. Talk to me and Doc Jean beforehand and we'll decide from there.

Since we've got a few new/old faces and school's just started up again, a reminder about the bus run. It'll be happening this Saturday, as per usual, and if you want a lift into New York, be at the front steps by 9 Saturday morning. If you haven't done the run before, try and get in a bit early so I can explain the security stuff. Everyone has to have their Xavier's cell phone, btw, since we can't microchip you all - no phone, no ride.

And the bus isn't just for the kids - if you're looking for a way into the city that doesn't involve driving yourself or taking the train, you're welcome to come along.

So, who's the lucky X-Man pulling ride along detail this week? *grins*

For those who were wondering, the bus run is on for tomorrow. Anyone wanting to go to New York for the day, meet at the front of the school at 9:00 am. If you haven't been on the Magical Mystery Bus before, show up about 15 minutes early so I can explain the security stuff. Including the bit where if you're even five minutes late meeting up at the end of the day, I call in the scary assassin men to fetch you. Ask Laurie about that. ;)

Everyone going, make sure you have your Xavier's phone on you. No phone, no bus. It's the phone or it's Forge implanting microships in everyone to keep tabs on us. ;)

Not sure who the X-Man bodyguard of the day will be - whose turn is it?

Hello, all.

First up, before I start, I ought to introduce myself to the newbies. I'm Amanda; I used to be a student at the school up until last year and now I'm working as a research assistant at the Snow Valley Memorial Centre for Mutant Affairs in New York. Yeah, a bit of a mouthful I know - we tend to shorten it to Snow Valley. There's a few Xavier's alumni over here.

Any way, when I was a student there, my 'uncle' Pete Wisdom had this scheme where he would drive a mini-van into New York every Saturday morning, for any of the students who wanted to spend the day in the city. That stopped when he left the school and I always thought it was a shame. Which is why I came up with the idea of starting it up again. I've talked to the security people and the headmasters and we've come up with something that hopefully should give the students the chance the get off-campus without the hassle of buses or lifts or the rest.

Every Saturday at 9:00 am, there will be a mini-van leaving for New York from the front steps of the mansion. For the most part I'll be driving, but if I'm off elsewhere for work, I've arranged for either Angelo or Marie to fill my spot so no-one misses out.

Once in New York, the day is yours. There are a couple of rules though, for security, since kidnapping seems to be the flavour of the month.

1) Everyone has to give the driver (whoever it is) an idea of where they're going and who they're going to be with before they're allowed out of the van;

2) Everyone has to carry their Xavier's cellphones with them at all times and if there's even a hint of a problem, they're to hit the panic button that's installed in every phone. If you don't know where the panic button is, ask Forge to show you.

3) We're not insisting on the buddy system, but where you can, it's better to take a friend with you.

The van will be leaving at 5:00 pm for the return trip back to the school. Anyone who isn't there (or hasn't called in to say they're running late) stands to have various people chasing after them who will be really, really unhappy with you if you've just lost track of the time. And they aren't the sort of people you want to have unhappy at you.

All right, enough of the grr argh and the rest. The first trip will be next Saturday, the 26th of August. So I have an idea of what size van I'm going to need, if you're wanting to join the first epic trek that day, drop a comment here and let me know? Also, if you've got any questions, feel free to ask.

Looking forward to meeting you all next Saturday.