[Plot] A Lonely Island

[Chase Delacroix]

"She only wants her boyfriend back. It's what we all want," Chase said solemnly with a tinge of withheld anger, praying Collette could bounce back.

[Colette Rosenhof]

The dense pink substance didn't respond to any outside stimuli and remained fairly inert until the water was introduced. Once a source of hydration was discovered it immediately began to absorb it like a dry sponge, visibly plumping as the cells rehydrated themselves. A very simple rudimentary face formed, just two "eyes" and a mouth, but it was enough to let out a refreshed little gasp and ask for "more pwease" in a high-pitched voice. It began to look around, the face just moving over the otherwise still surface, looking up at Chase and Diego, and at the one who had wrung her dry - that one actually prompted a bit of movement, the shape of the "gumdrop" shifting to try and lean away from her but reluctant to leave it's damp spot. Her eyes eventually fell upon Mr. Spencer, where at first they seemed confused, then grew wide and shiny. They'd solved a mystery! There was no doubt about it, she knew Basil well enough that the resemblance was immediately obvious.

[Edmond Spencer]

"Of course." He chuckled.

"Kiwa." He commanded again, and snapped his fingers. The implication was clear. 'Chop-chop'.

Once he'd made himself heard, he turned his back and started walking away from the assembled group, still not having really addressed any of their questions.

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

"You are seriously pushing it Spencer..." she muttered under her breath, but nonetheless did as she was told.

What Diego and Chase would see was not unlike what the might associate to 'water-bending'. The woman would collect moisture from the air, and then slide it under the gelatinous entity and continue this until the other female was more or less reformed.

[Chase Delacroix]

"I don't know why everyone's hands are too tied to help your son," Chase said to Ed, "Frankly I don't care. Ours aren't. So please, tell us how we can."

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond paused in his retreat (perhaps for trousers) and glanced over his shoulder, though not directly at Chase.

"Don't you think if I had the answer to that, I would have already had someone on it?"

[Diego Zapata]

"We're X-Men. We may be young but we've done the impossible. Any information could help us do that," Diego interjected.

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond's face turned away again, and he continued walking off.

"All in good time." He replied. He didn't seem in any particular rush to exposit.

[Diego Zapata]

"Oh, riiight, after pants," Diego nodded.

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

After the man had walked out of sight (and earshot), the woman had more or less decided she was done helping Colette whether she was 100% back to normal or not. She seemed to have limbs now, so that practically meant she was whole again, right?

"Mmmmnooo." The woman observed to Diego, hitching up her skirt to start making her way along the beach in Edmond's trailed footprints.

"He's just incredibly lazy and not much looking forward to this conversation. Trousers have nothing to do with it. If you had pressed the issue, it wouldn't have been the first time he made a monologue with his dick out. Definitely wouldn't have been the last time either." She answered in a semi exasperated tone.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Well, now I know where Basil gets it from," Chase smirked.

"We'll follow as soon as she can walk again."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette did have limbs again, four of them even, and was reforming into a somewhat humanoid shape. She didn't have the complex details or the opaque bubblegum-ness that she'd had when she'd landed, if anything she looked very much the same consistency as when she had first arrived on the college campus... just a lot smaller. What had once been her blouse became a makeshift dress, the sleeves hanging long and loose past where her arms ended. She looked at the rest of her clothing, and then to Chase and Diego.

"Ehm, pardon." Came the soft, high voice - not as high as it had been before, and certainly more mature, but still not quite her old self. "Could I trouble one of you to help me wiz zis? I fear zat carrying so much will be difficult for me in my... current state." There was a little glance at the woman who was the reason for her current stature, though she could have left her as a raisin so at least there was that.

[Edmond Spencer]

Once the group managed to collect themselves and follow along, they'd find the pair conversing to one another in hushed whispers which Kiwa was sure to cut short once she saw the group.

Now dressed, Edmond was wearing a pair of hakama in an obnoxious shade of pink not all that off from Colette's own, and a haori made of a print fabric that looked like it belonged on a throw pillow from the set of Saved By The Bell. Definitely Chisaki's handiwork.

Underneath the coat his chest was bare, and not. He wasn't wearing what one would define as a shirt, but he was wearing a waist harness. With the right clothes, such a piece could be subtle enough.

This guy didn't seem versed in the fine art of subtly.

He was also still rocking those shades, a classic pair of Rayban Wayfarers. The same style as Basil.

[Colette Rosenhof]

With shorter legs, Colette had to walk much more briskly than the others just to keep up, and her gait was awkward - she still wasn't as elastic as her normal self.

And now she had an idea of what to get Basil for Christmas. He'd look good in it, Edmond was proof of that. If they ever found him. And she had so many questions that she was having difficulty trying to choose one to start with.

[Diego Zapata]

"First, what the heck are you... actually, I don't wanna know," Diego commented.

[Chase Delacroix]

Yeeaah, definitely his dad.

Chase coughed awkwardly. "So, uhh, when I called Chisaki she seemed to imply that she could talk if we met in person. We received some coordinates for where we could find her, but we didn't expect to find Basil's father."

"Though from your unique wardrobe, I assume she's here too."

[Edmond Spencer]

"Ah. Yes, she is." He chuckled awkwardly.

"She's back at the house. Seeing a.... paternal figure nude can be traumatizing, especially for a girl like Chisaki.

So when she's staying here, I go to tan where she's not going to accidentally catch a glimpse of the wedding tackle. You all sort of snuck up on me." He admitted. "You're lucky we suspected you'd be coming."

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

Kiwa's face broke out into a self satisfied grin at his last statement, though she remained silent on the issue.

[Chase Delacroix]

"Suspected because you were listening in," Chase said, "Why else would she have been so cagey?"

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

Kiwa rolled her eyes.

"Or perhaps she identified the fact that a cell phone on a major provider is not the place to provide such information.

Are all Black Lotus this dense, or have X-Corps training standards really shit the bed in the last couple of decades?"

[Chase Delacroix]

"Former Black Lotus. Besides, the Lotus doesn't exactly train its slaves for independent thought," he said in his defense.

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

Kiwa leant in towards Edmond and muttered quietly enough only Diego could hear it.

"I'm slowly realizing why Howard and Harold didn't think the school was enough security."

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond's head tilted to listen, but he did not respond to her.

"Chisaki's hesitancy to discuss matters openly stems from her training as a mum. When mums convene, they are to do so only in person and frequently, they don't even know each others identities unless they must as part of their assignments.

But I suspect even that explanation is.... above your heads due to the lack of information you've been given thus far.

But first things should come first.

I am, as you deduced, Edmond Spencer. And this is my associate, Kiwa Ealdwine.

I could make presumptions about who each of you are, but that's rather rude." He replied, awaiting for them to do their own introductions.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette puffed herself up as best she could manage given her diminutive stature. "I am Colette Astrid Madeleine Rosenhof, of France. Girlfriend of Basil Benson, fellow student at ze university, and friend of Chisaki Watanabe. Zough it seems not as close of a friend as I had believed...."

"I really do not understand why zere are so many layers of secrecy. Does having money really expose one to risks great enough to warrant all of zis? If so I would have assumed more billionaires would be donating zeir salaries or paying zeir workers more razer zan dealing wiz so many headaches. Even your own family claims not to know your location, I have spoken wiz zem personally."

[Edmond Spencer]

" I am certain Chisaki is still as much a friend to all of you as she ever was. No behavior she has engaged in yet has been done for any other purpose beyond the betterment of Basil." Edmond attempted to reassure Colette.

"However, I can understand if friendship under false pretenses is not appealing to you all. I suspect given her past, she did not expect to have anymore friends at uni than she did in secondary, so planning for this contingency probably wasn't in her ledger."

He decided not to address the comments about secrecy or family. Not just yet.

[Diego Zapata]

"Diego Zapata. Chisaki's friend and occasional X-Man slash slayer of vampires," Diego said.

"Which are totally real, so you know."

[Chase Delacroix]

"And I'm Chase Delacroix. Basil is my best friend. And, yes, a former assassin as you already know."

[Edmond Spencer]

"Lovely to put faces to names." He replies, his hidden eyes falling to Colette specifically.

"You're not.... always this small, are you?"

[Kiwa Ealdwine]

"She was normal size and proportions before I juiced her." Kiwa observed out loud.

[Edmond Spencer]

"Thank God." He sighed in relief. " I was half wondering if all that neglect turned the boy into some kind of weirdo and if we should just call the rescue effort off and replace it with a barbecue or something."

[Diego Zapata]

"No more of a weirdo than anyone else at the university," said the boy with the wild haircut.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Wiz all due respect, I would be less... concerning if someone would offer me somezing to drink. After being rung out to dry I can only do so much wiz what I have been given as recompense." The crossed arms and short stature only made her look even more like a fussy child. A sassy child with an expansive vocabulary.

[Edmond Spencer]

"Lunch it is then!" Edmond decreed at Colette's observation.

"C'mon munchkin, I'll carry you. " He offered to Colette, reaching out his arms towards her, not being careful not to just grab the girl in case she declined.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette gave a little bit of a start at the offer, but after looking up at Edmond for a moment she raised her arms in the uppy motion, consenting to the ride.

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond went in for a scooping motion with a 'whoop!' sound, and Colette ended up on his shoulders.

"Come gentlemen. We shall have ourselves some snacks and conversation."

[Diego Zapata]

"I can't say no to snacks," Diego grinned as the boys followed, "Unless a member of the Fey offers them."

"... Also real."

[Edmond Spencer]

The group of five were lead inland at a minor incline, and eventually up a set of stone steps to a sizable, but not exhaustively huge house. Still, in this neck of the woods where space was at a premium, it likely was considered an estate.

Whoever built this place however clearly did so in the modern era, designing it to look as if it was from an earlier period on Japanese history. The roof was tiled and there were some sliding doors, but large portions of it were permanent and the doors seemed to mostly be installed this way to enjoy the subtropical climate in the warmer months.

Edmond sushed the group as the made it to the last step, then called out-

Watāme, come to the window! I've a surprise for you!"

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"Are you wearing bottoms?" The familiar voice called back.

[Edmond Spencer]

Edmond looked down at his legs, as if he needed to check.

"Yep! Most definitely."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

After a moment Chisaki's head poked out of the window, as pastel as ever. When she saw her friends, she disappeared quickly again.

After a moment, Diego's heightened sense of hearing would hear the tell tale sign of feet thudding rapidly against a hard floor, and he was assailed in hug tackle by Chisaki.

"You came." She acknowledged aloud.