[Plot] A Lonely Island

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond had put Colette down, expecting her to be the one Chisaki was rushing to see.

When it was Diego, his demeanor seemed to change ever so slightly.

[Diego Zapata]

When he caught his breath and his balance, he hugged her back.

Smiling, he said, "You're my friend, so I had to tag along."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"No, you did not. But I am glad you are here." Chisaki replied, her face nestled onto the taller boys shoulder, her legs wrapped around his torso.

[Edmond Spencer]

"Mmmmyes. As I recall, you're not exactly part of this whole 'save Basil from the shadow organization effort', were you Diego?" He inquired. All of the sudden he seemed just a touch cooler to the boy.

[Diego Zapata]

"I mean, I honestly want to help and all but, no, I was worried about Chisaki and her role in all this," he answered, obviously not mentioning his lingering hopes of being more than friends one day.

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"Kiki, can I take Diego to my room?" She asked as she slid down the beanpole of a boy, her feet hitting the ground again.

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

"You're an adult, do as you please." She replied, sounding a bit confused by the request.

[Edmond Spencer]

Unfortunately for Diego, Edmond could smell the hope all over him.

"Don't do anything I would do." He replied back quickly and casually in such a way it almost wasn't noticable as a threat.

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"Come Diego-kun! Let us go inside."

[Diego Zapata]

Ooo, I'm a kun now.

"Lead on Chisa-chan," he grinned merrily.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette was just as surprised as Edmond at the attention Chisaki was paying to Diego. To her it seemed as though the girl really had been good at keeping secrets.

[Edmond Spencer]

The interior of the house wasn't royalty lavish, but you could definitely tell Edmond had money.

The layout was such that there was a communal living area, with other five other rooms all adjoining off of it. One of the doors could be closed to hide a staircase to the second floor, and that's where Chisaki took Diego to.

The main room was sectioned off into two portions. One was meant to be the entertaining area, and Edmond had all the best little electronic gadgets to keep him busy, hooked up to a television in one of the corners. A long, but low profile modular sofa acted as the divider between the two halves of the room. Photographs of the trio of them and others who weren't familiar to the visitors. And of course, one of Basil as a little boy. Colette had seen this particular photo before, at the Stolarz family residence.

The other half was meant for eating and as per the traditional standard in these parts, the table was designed so that those who would use it would be sitting on the floor. While the group settled in, Edmond made himself scarce for a moment, only to return with a pair of legless chairs for the visitors to have a seat with him at the table.

Kiwa had disappeared entirely, but if one had to guess, she was likely in the kitchen.

"So.... Where should we begin?" He asked, still wearing his shades indoors, as he poured a glass of water for Colette, setting the pitcher out on the table for her to take more if she needed to.

[Chisaki Watanabe]

Chisaki's room would not be that surprising to Diego in the slightest in terms of decor. It was her side of the dorm, but more.

Pastels and black dominated this little space, as well as 'creepy-cute' imagery and decor of things like ghosts, spiders, black cats, yami-kawaii style, and even a little menharu thrown in there.

Just from his general pop culture knowledge, Diego could spot various appearances by Sailor Saturn, Kuromi, Gloomy Bear, and... Snoop Dogg(?) in this room.

She did have a desk with a chair Diego could sit at in the corner, which housed a sewing machine a top it.

Chisaki flopped herself down on her futon and pile of blankets she'd mostly been living in recently, though for the last couple of days she had at least made an attempt at dressing up, just in case Colette and Chase showed up.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette had considered the townhouse that Basil had "sold" to her to be a mansion in itself. The Spencer island home made hers seem modest in comparison. What would three people even do with all of this space? It boggled her mind. Surely all three could spend their entire day inside and not even cross paths. She looked everywhere as she padded along with her bare feet making little slapping sounds with every step. At least she already had her shoes off, that was one thing she had going for her.

The girl had never sat at a chabudai before, so the practice was a little awkward for her at first. But this was another occasion where lacking bones was an advantage rather than a disadvantage. The sight of the onsen outside had made her fidgety and drawn her attention until she was offered the glass of water. She barely managed out a word of thanks before she took it in both hands and drank like she'd been in the desert for days. She had a lot of mass to regain.

"Um, well, as Basil is ze most pressing matter... perhaps whom might have motive to take him?"

[Edmond Spencer]

"That's a very long story, but I have a few theories." Edmond replied, settling in as he somehow felt like he wasn't going to get out of said long story entirely.

"If one were to say I live out here for my health because the serenity of being away from society helps my mental clarity, they'd be dead wrong. It would be more accurate to say if I didn't live out here, someone would have had me killed by now.

That's why Kiki is so twitchy. It's her job to make sure I don't get a knife in my back, and so far she's succeeded in that.

For Basil, that used to be Howard and Harold's job, until his mother decided to move him onto campus. Having an around the clock, middle aged security detail is not exactly feasible at uni. So against better judgment, Chisaki was called in to become a mum."

[Chase Delacroix]

"And a mum is some sort of bodyguard?" Chase asked.

"But, more importantly, why would someone want to kill you?"

[Diego Zapata]

Diego sat down and looked around the room.

"Y'know, this is pretty much what I expected your room to look like."

[Edmond Spencer]

"More or less." Edmond replied to Chase's observation about mums.


Edmond paused, thinking of how to respond to the second inquiry. "There was an incident. In the altercation someone died. My original mum got reassigned. I don't know why an attempt on my life was made, but there's no doubt in my mind one was."

[Chase Delacroix]

"Could someone in your family have been behind it? Howard said it was a possibility for what happened to Basil."

[Edmond Spencer]

"It's possible." Edmond conceded, though he sounded hesitant to do so.

"I'm very solidly the black sheep of my family, but I'm still a male. If something were to happen to my brother and his son, I would be next in line to inherit the baronetcy. And from there, Basil."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

Diego sat down and looked around the room.

"Y'know, this is pretty much what I expected your room to look like."

"Yes, me too. That is why it looks this way I think." She replied with her usual airy and seemingly abstract manner.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Which is very likely why he was targeted. Which makes the next in line a primary suspect. But I'm sure you've already considered that."

[Edmond Spencer]

"I have, but that's the problem.

There isn't one. A baronetcy doesn't pass to a female, and Denis only had one son, the same as I. Augusta simply can't inherit the title.

The land would still belong to them in the legal sense, but the last time a Spencer baronetcy was met with no male heir, it simply dissolved. The family estates fell into private ownership, and were divvied up slowly, likely to keep the family afloat. Over time the lands changed so drastically, you'd not even realized it existed in the first place without checking history books."

[Diego Zapata]

Diego raised a brow at the statement but didn't comment.

"So... you didn't expect to make friends, did you?"

[Chase Delacroix]

"Who might stand to gain from either influencing or, hopefully not... eliminating Basil."

Leave it to a victim of brainwashing to consider the possibility. But it was preferable to him being dead.

[Edmond Spencer]

"It's still possible it's someone within the family. I'm not exactly popular. I just doubt it's for that purpose."

[Chase Delacroix]

"Something tells me there's more to this than titles or perhaps even money."

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond paused for a moment, trying to think of how to explain himself.

"I'm.... like you. You have to understand that when I was young, places for our kind didn't exist.

Things happened that I'm not entirely proud of. And that the family wants to make certain never happen again.

That's the other reason I'm here. I'm in a self imposed exile for my own betterment."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

Diego raised a brow at the statement but didn't comment.

"So... you didn't expect to make friends, did you?"

"No." She answered honestly. "I expected to be in university for Benson-sama's last year to keep safe, then I expected to use the money I made to go to fashion school online.

I did not wish to attend Xavier's University. I did not have a good experience at the institute. I know that is not a popular feeling, but it is mine."

[Diego Zapata]

"Did you have a bad experience or was it just... not a good fit?" Diego asked.

[Chase Delacroix]

"I mean, with the not-exactly-bodyguards and all the secrecy."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"Did you have a bad experience or was it just... not a good fit?" Diego asked.

"Yes." She replied, implying both. She looked at her blankets for a moment, contemplating crawling in again.

[Diego Zapata]

Diego left the chair and sat down in front of her.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"There is not much to speak on. I am different from everyone else. Even from other mutants. It is just something I have learned to deal with."

[Colette Rosenhof]

That's the other reason I'm here. I'm in a self imposed exile for my own betterment."

Colette had already poured herself a second glass and was working on that one as she listened - the only reason she wasn't drinking directly out of the pitcher was out of courtesy. When she finished her glass she finally spoke, a little more filled out than she was when she had sat down.

"You are... practicing here, wizout any tutors or guidance?"

[Diego Zapata]

"There is not much to speak on. I am different from everyone else. Even from other mutants. It is just something I have learned to deal with."

"An outsider among outsiders. I think you might be surprised how many of us feel that way. You may have noticed I'm an odd duck too."

[Edmond Spencer]

"You are... practicing here, wizout any tutors or guidance?"

"There is nothing to practice, i'm afraid. By the time I recognized I possessed.... powers, I was beyond training the muscle down. I'm afraid all I can do at this point is contain."

"I mean, with the not-exactly-bodyguards and all the secrecy."

"Ah... of course." He paused for a moment, trying to think of how to explain it.

"There's this... group. I suppose you could refer to it as a club, comprised of mostly aristocracy with no real power in terms of governance. They've operated in secrecy for centuries.

I am-was, one of it's members."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"An outsider among outsiders. I think you might be surprised how many of us feel that way. You may have noticed I'm an odd duck too."

"Forgive me.... but I thought other people enjoyed your company."

[Diego Zapata]

"Yeah.. so maybe it's not the same. I'm not exactly popular, but I'm hardly a pariah either."

"I enjoy your company though."

[Chase Delacroix]

Chase nodded. Between his knowledge of the sort of people who hire the Black Lotus and what he's read in the X-Men archives, he had a good idea who Edmond was referring to. Or a society like it.

"Well, that certainly opens up the suspect pool."