Xaviers!

After a short flight from the Point, Miranda lands outside the mish-mashed manor, trying to make sense of the spatial distortions around it and where the Institute student dorm should be. Unfortunately, she's having very little luck in that regard.

((Open))

"Headmaster?" Sam says, looking at her phone as she navigates the confusing hallways. "What the bloody hell is he on?"

That catches Miranda's attention and she shakes her head trying to sort out perceptions and possibilities of this person walking her way. "Mum?," asks the confused woman who is obviously older than Sam is.

The flock bristles at that, and Sam's gaze snaps to Miranda.

"...okay, you'd best tell me you're not some mythological being I mothered in another life."

She reacts to the flock by pressing the button on the cylinder in her hand, the device snapping out into a metal staff, though it seems more reflex than aggression. "No... Sorry... So disorienting here. You are... but you're not."

"So you don't know what's going on here either. I was leaving class, and everything went weird. And there's some tosser sending mass e-mails."

"It's some sort of dimensional... There's probably better people than me to explain. Tell me, have you seen some... secondary school students around? Their dorm should be around here."

"What? No. This is a university. This is where the classrooms are."

"You... slipped through from somewhere, didn't you?"

"I... yes. I'm Miranda Weaver-McManus. I teach students at Xavier's Institute in Maldon. It's on the same campus as Xavier's University." The way she recites it, it's almost like a centering ritual and she seems to recover herself a bit.

"So you're really... bloody hell."

She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs.

"...wait, Nailah?"

She nods, "It's a long story. And... not really you, I guess? Things are so overlapped here that I keep seeing possibilities in everything."

"Of course not. And the me that Will talks about isn't really me either. And I can only half-remember my prior incarnations and let me tell you that doesn't work as an excuse when someone who knew them comes knocking," she says with some frustration.

She thumbs the button on the staff and it retracts down into a cylinder again. "I've seen enough that I can understand that. Even the Morrigan has limitations, whether she admits them or not."

"Aye well, your mum's probably better at it than I am. Seems to be the trend."

"My mum's been at it a lot longer than you have probably... no offense. It's 2035 where I'm from. I'm not really sure which year is the prime year here."

"For me it's 2019. No idea what year it is where Will's from."

"Wait, is that what this is about? Did you lose a Will?"

Sam gets the telepathic impression of confusion from Miranda as the woman loses her grip on her telepathy briefly. "We lost Uncle Will on a mission about a month ago."

"Oh my god. Was it... like a black hole or something like that?"

"I think so? I pestered Mum for details, but she wouldn't tell me much. I'm basically on the home guard team for the Institute. Daughter of the Morrigan and all that making me a bit of a target out in the wild."

"Okay, I have good news and bad news for you."

"The good news is I think that's our Will."

"The bad news is he spent a billion years under an ice cap, fifty as a pinball machine, and is presently split into a sassbucket and a doormat."

"I mean... not a literal doormat. But sometimes a literal doormat."

Despite the eye-binding, Sam can swear there's that moment of blinking disbelief. "That's not... wait, you're serious?"

"We know he's from another dimension. It took him awhile to remember it. But he's got this like... weird energy that a few dimension-hopping baddies were after him for, that stabilizes something?"

"I don't think he was conscious all those years under the ice-cap and he was a blank slate when the government found him. But his Sam put this sort of... box in his mind? To keep the important bits of him safe."

"I don't know about anything like that. That'd be between them if they set that up. Mum is the protective sort though."

"Okay, so I think I can find him if you want to find out. At least half of him. He's probably sleeping in the janitor's closet."

"Again."

"After I told him to quit that."

"How many janitorial closets do you think this place has at the moment? It could take us a while to find them all."

"No, no, he has a favorite, you see..." She says, already heading out of the building for the dorms.

"I..." She looks helplessly at the surrounding hallways before following Sam outside. "I just hope the kids are okay."

"They're probably back on your world, aye? And if Will was the key to bridging this stuff before, he might be again," she says as she navigates around a fair bit of craziness, steadily winding her way towards Will's favorite janitor's closet.

She knocks.

"Entre vu!"

Will blinked up at Sam. "Sam! What can I do...for...."

She trailed off when she saw Miranda. "...Miranda?"

She takes in the changed appearance. "Uncle Will?"

"Will, everything's gone kind of... extradimensionally pear-shaped. I found Miranda over in the manor, and she said she lost her Will on a mission a week ago her time. Black hole. Sound familiar?"

"Miranda!"

The clatter of brooms and mops as Will slammed her way out of the closet, ending up sprawled at the feet of the two women, would catch the attention of anyone else within this hallway.

She was grinning like an idiot as she tried to stand up, righting herself, though her feet were still caught in the debris.

"Oh my god, Miranda! How are you...WHY are you here?!

Sam, Samsamsam. Sam -- this is Miranda! This is my..." she paused, counting off on her fingers, "ok, let's just stick with niece for now, Miranda! Oh my God.

Miranda--this is Sam! She's been a huge help since I've been here."

She was going a mile a minute.

"I don't know why I'm here other than there's been some sort of incident. There's people from other places here too. It's kind of headache inducing. How... How are you doing?" She asks before wrapping him up in a hug.

"Better, now," she grinned, tears staining Miranda's shoulder. "God, you smell like home."

"Dimensional stuff? You mean...you didn't mean to come here? Sam...uh...your mother didn't send you to find me?"

Will looked back and forth between Miranda and Sam. "You found her out there?"

"She was searching the manor. Apparently on her world they keep kids there?"

"Of course, the institute! It's, like, a mutant high school sort of thing for kids who can't really attend normal high schools. C'mon, let's go see if we can find it."

Will wrapped one arm around Miranda's waist, and another around Sam's, beaming as he pulled them in closer.

Miranda seems absolutely comfortable with this, hanging her staff back on her belt. "Everyone's missed you, Uncle Will."

"Like I said, it's ah... been longer for him than it's been for you."

"Far, far too long. But Sam and her pack here has been taking good care of me," she smiled, giving her a squeeze. "Universal constants, am I right?"

"I suppose. Wait... pack?"