The Silence (Open)

[Gigabyte]

Date: Friday, Jan 5, 2024
Words: 208
Tags: Open
Notes: An open thread that can help lead into the weather issues happening around.

She didn't make mistakes.

Theoretically, of course, Sierra was human and to err is human. Statistically, however, Sierra hadn't made a mistake regarding her calculations and her mind since her abilities manifested nearly two decades ago. To start now was illogical, especially when she was so meticulous in combing through her data.

Yet, somehow, the past few active mutant genes she had identified had been lost.

"Pip, run a diagnostics test," she commanded her laptop.

Affirmative. The laptop softly whirled as it did just as she said while Sierra leaned back in her chair. She took a deep breath and glanced over at the low burning fire in the library's fireplace, allowing herself to momentarily get lost in the cackle and dance of the flames.

She had been working on pinpointing a few signals of activated mutant genes on her network, but they had recently been erased from her data, and the silence was unnerving. It was proving difficult to figure out why, and frustration was eating at her. In fact, it was eating at her enough for stray sparks to sneak out of her fingertips and hair. She did her best to gently feed the sparks into Pip and the manor's outlets while trying to keep calm.

[Nightcrawler]

_{Words: 164
Tags: Gigabyte, open}

"Uh, Sierra...?"

Kurt rounded the corner of a bookshelf, a book hanging limply in his hand as he noticed the stray sparks emerging from Sierra's hand and fingertips. She seemed to be mostly in control of the stray electricity, for she was obviously sending the sparks into her laptop and the nearby outlets. His tail twitched behind him anxiously, however, at seeing how Sierra was distressed enough to spark at all.

"Is everything alright?" Kurt asked, coming to the side of the woman. He spared a glance at the laptop's screen, not long enough to understand what she was working on (not that it was any of his business at the moment, anyway), but returned his golden gaze to Sierra. "Is there something I can help with?"

If it was a computer issue, he probably would not be the best to ask, but Kurt highly doubted Sierra of all people needed help with a computer. Perhaps something was wrong with the manor's electronic network.

[Gigabyte]

Tag: Nightcrawler, open!
Words: 203

Diagnostics test successful. Nothing atypical was found.

Sierra's eyes narrowed as she heard her laptop's results from its test. She hadn't expected anything abnormal from the results, but a mistake in the diagnostics would have explained why she wasn't able to retain the information on the found, active mutant genes.

She glanced over her shoulder at the sound of her name and greeted her friend with a soft, "Hello, Kurt." At the man's questions, however, she sighed and turned to give him her full attention.

"I'm not sure if there's anything you could help with," Sierra admitted. With a gesture to her laptop, which now showed a screen full of crisscrossing lines to represent the wide network she used in her search for new mutants, she said, "For some strange reason, the past few active mutant genes I have identified with Cerebro's help have disappeared from my network. It's unknown to me as to why or how which is, frankly, annoying. There is nothing wrong with my systems, so that cannot be contributing to the problem. It's as if someone is finding the mutants before we are and shielding their active signal...

"If you have any suggestions or possibilities, I'm open to them."

[Jubilee]

Jubilee was never a fan of the library, or reading in general. It had always been boring and tedious in her mind, usually preferring to be outside or practicing her gymnastics over staring at a wall of text on a page. How anyone found it relaxing boggled her mind. Alas however, the young woman had found she felt in need of some teaching tips, more so how to stay organized when it came to teaching young minds at a school.

If this had just been gymnastics classes as she taught back in LA then it would be different. But, this was more of a school setting, so she had expectations like lessons, lesson plans, step-by-step, P.E. requirement standards, etc., things she felt she wasn't exactly the best at. Luckily, the mansion's library usually had a fair number of books, including help guides and tip books to be better organized, figure out planning, teaching tips, whatever she could get her hands on.

The only downside was Jubilee had been skimming reading, and writing down things in a notebook since early that morning, scouring two to three books at a time in the hopes it might cut down on the time. Boy had she been wrong...It felt like it had been days she was scanning through the texts, feeling her eyes having a hard time focusing after some time. 'Ugh, I need a break.' She thought to herself as she leaned back in the chair, slouching slightly as she rubbed her already tired eyes. "And here I thought I was done studying my life away." She muttered under her breath, finally blinking a few times to focus her gaze and pushing herself up from the chair. But with being drawn away from her own researching did the familiar voices of Sierra and Kurt reach her ears, surprised she hadn't noticed them before. She really had been engrossed in her work hadn't she.

Curious to what her fellow X-Men were up to, Jubilee moved silently down the closest book aisle, turning her head slightly to listen as Sierra explained about having trouble tracking new mutant activations. It was odd that mutants seemed to be found then suddenly disappear unless their mutations allowed for them to go unfound like her own natural psionic shields. "You don't think someone is maybe using tech like Magneto did do you?" Jubilee prompted after listening for a minute, stepping from behind the shelf, looking concerned. "Or could it be connected to this freaky weather patterns happening recently? Don't know about you two, but just seems an odd coincidence...Plus, the only ones we know who could affect the planet on such a scale aren't presently around that we know of."

Tags: Gigabyte, Nightcrawler, open!

[Nightcrawler]

_{Words: 276
Tags: Gigabyte, Jubilee, open!}

He was going to joke about how unhappy she sounded to see him, but Kurt held his tongue. Something was bothering Sierra, something that her vast mental and logical capabilities couldn't comprehend. If Sierra couldn't understand something, then Kurt wasn't sure how much hope he had.

She gestured to her laptop and briefly explained the situation she had found herself in, and Kurt's tail twitched all the more. He gently placed his book on the table and leaned down next to her to see the network that she had put up, the crisscrossing lines of longitude and latitude that stretched across the screen giving him some idea as to where Sierra had been searching.

"They are disappearing?" he echoed in wonder. "Were they all in a certain, similar area before vanishing from your network? Or perhaps shielding mutant genes is one of the abilities of the mutants?"

Jubilee had rounded the corner of a bookshelf, having heard part of their discussion and adding in her own comments. "If it was some sort of tech," Kurt said, glancing between the two women, "would you have been able to sense that, Sierra?"

Of course, the sheer scope of such a thing probably wouldn't fall under Sierra's abilities, but Kurt felt it wouldn't hurt to voice the idea.

"The weather has been a bit strange," Kurt agreed. "I'm not sure if we should dare hope that the weather patterns are due to some old friends.

"Could the weather itself be the cause of your search network... breaking?" Kurt wasn't sure if that was the correct term, and he hoped that Sierra would understand what he was trying to say.

[Iceman]

166 words | Gigabyte, Nightcrawler, Jubilee | *throws Bobby in with the other X-Men*

A couple of books tumbled off of the shelf with a loud crash followed quickly by a muttered curse. Bobby picked up what he dropped when trying to get the one book that he had needed, and he was still muttering to himself when he rounded the corner and spotted Sierra, Kurt, and Jubilee. With wide eyes not unlike a deer caught in the headlights, Bobby sheepishly said, "Uh, sorry for the noise... Butterfingers and all.

"Am I, uh, late for this X-Men meeting that I totally remembered we had?" Because why else were the other three in the library, with at least Kurt leaning close to Sierra to no-doubt see what was on her laptop, if there wasn't some sort of meeting or gathering that Bobby probably really did forget about?

Bobby was racking his brain trying to recall if there was actually a meeting or if the other three were in the library by sheer coincidence. Walking closer to the trio, he asked, "What's going on?"

[Gigabyte]

Tag: Nightcrawler Jubilee Iceman
Words: 328

Sierra leaned over to the side to allow Kurt a better view of her laptop. She wasn't sure if he would understand her methods of trying to find mutants, a mapping program with coordinates that were gained from the help of Cerebro, but at the very least he'd get a picture of what she meant.

That, and he was leaning a touch close. With his fur and the winter weather, who knew how much static he was generating that would easily want to jump to Sierra. She really didn't want to add accidentally shocking her friend to the list of worries she had at the moment.

Jubilee appeared, having heard enough of the issue to give her two-cents and offer some possibilities while Kurt asked a couple of good questions. Sierra cleared her throat to answer and gave a soft shake of her head. "There hasn't been a pattern that I have discovered. Not yet, anyway. Different locations, different variables that may have contributed to their powers... If there is some sort of technology behind this, I'm most likely not close enough to sense it. Perhaps one of them is a mutant that can shield or even negate others' powers--"

A crash interrupted them and Sierra jumped. A couple of streams of sparks emerged from her air and dissipated into the air, but she immediately turned to Kurt, her closest colleague. "I'm sorry. No electricity touched you, did it?"

Bobby emerged from the bookshelves, apologizing for the noise before suggesting that the X-Men were having a scheduled meeting that he may have forgotten about. Sierra gave him a quirked smile for his wayward question before it faded when even Bobby realized something was up and grew a bit more serious.

"I keep losing signals of active mutant genes," Sierra said simply. "They keep disappearing from my network before any of us can go and find them. I'm open to any suggestions as to why it may be happening."

[Jubilee]

If it wasn't technology, maybe it was in fact a mutant. Of course, Jubilee's thoughts had gone to the big, bad mutant himself Apocalypse somehow risen from his slumber once more. Though she herself had not taken part in those events leading to the Horsemen and Apocalypse she had sat in her aunt's massive living room, watching on her equally massive tv screen of the breaking news happening around the world. Jubilee had gotten antsy when seeing the broadcasts, wishing she had been there with the X-Men and Brotherhood, trying to keep the world from falling apart.

But, what could a fifteen year old do when her aunt had been strict about her staying out of a fight she apparently hadn't been ready for.

"There's gotta be something Sierra, it just can be a coincidence that these new mutants pop up then suddenly they're disappearing." The younger woman frowned, obviously just as troubled as Kurt and Sierra regarding the situation. But Kurt seemed to agree with her assumption that it was unlikely anyone they had met, at least not being done intentionally by any means. Even if it wasn't Apocalypse or some other powerful mutant, another thought that she hoped deep down was unlikely crossed her thoughts, "You don't think its Sen-" Before Jubilee could finish her words she jumped slightly as a few books crashed from the shelf, turning to find her fellow ex-New Mutant Bobby. What a coincidence all of them had seemed to need the library. "Definitely not planned Bobby, but lucky gathering if you ask me." She mused at his worry, assuring him he hadn't forgotten anything.

Right, back to what she was saying...

"Anyway...you don't think its Sentinels again do you?" There was an edge of concern in her tone, recalling how even the older students and Brotherhood had struggled with the mutant-hunting robots. "Mean realistically, maybe the only way we'll know is by going to visit some of these places ourselves to know for sure. Maybe we can find some clues." She finally suggested, beginning to think maybe a more direct approach may be needed.

Tags: Gigabyte , Nightcrawler , Iceman

[Nightcrawler]

_{Words: 354
Tags: Gigabyte, Iceman, Jubilee}

Sierra had responded to Kurt, mentioning how there wasn't a pattern that she had seen yet and mentioned that perhaps one of the mutant powers negated the others. "We do know of a mutant whose abilities negate others', don't we?" Kurt murmured, recalling the young mutant Dorian Leech that had helped them defeat Apocalypse a decade and a half ago. "Would your network find the mutant that negates the others' powers, though? Technically, wouldn't that be activating their own power?"

Kurt had no idea if that was how Sierra's program worked or if what he was suggesting was even possible. How would they be able to help a mutant that could make others' powers null and void? Theoretically, perhaps that mutant wouldn't need their help--

A crash sounded and Kurt tensed, his tail whipping back and forth behind him, due both to the sound and the few sparks that sizzled out of Sierra's hair. She immediately apologized and he suddenly realized how close the pair were. He leaned away slowly to give her space and gave her a soft smile. "I'm fine, fräulein. Nothing touched me."

He was briefly amused at Bobby trying to sound casual while pretending he "remembered the X-Men meeting," and Sierra gave a brief explanation as to what was going on. Jubilee voiced the idea that it could be Sentinels, and Kurt said, "I would certainly hope those creations were not being activated again after so long... The inventor was imprisoned, as far as I recall."

For if it was Sentinels, then the logical conclusion was that Sentinels were snuffing out the mutants that Sierra's network found. When the Sentinels were first brought to the world, they were difficult to destroy, but some of their more powerful allies had been able to do it. Kurt and his fellow X-Men had grown much since then, but their team was small and may not be on par power-wise as the former X-Men and Brotherhood were...

"Does your system save the places where the active genes were found?" Kurt asked Sierra when Jubilee mentioned visiting some of the places to find clues.

[Iceman]

174 words | Nightcrawler, Gigabyte, Jubilee

"Disappearing?"

Bobby came around to Sierra's other side, being sure to not crowd the literally-electrifying woman lest she gets a little too uncomfortable and starts sending bolts out. He glanced at her laptop, decided he had no idea what he was looking at, and turned his attention back to his fellow X-Men.

"What do you mean the signals keep disappearing?" he asked. "Like, they just go blip! and leave your network? Am I on there?" He looked back at the laptop momentarily before going cross-eyed from the screenshot of the network and shaking his head.

"What happens after you do find an active signal?" Bobby asked. "Do you have a way to turn the signal off after the mutant is found and brought here? Could that setting just be stuck and thinks that you found the active mutant already?"

He really had no idea what he was talking about, but he did latch on to Jubilee's suggestion about going out to find more clues. "I am all for a mission! I call driving the Blackbird!"

[Gigabyte]

Tag: Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Iceman
Words: 367
Notes: This will probably be Sierra's last post. You guys can wrap this up.

Sierra took a deep breath and sighed in relief when Kurt made it known that she hadn't accidentally shocked him. He leaned away just the same, something Sierra was grateful for, especially since Bobby came around on her other side. He too made sure to give a decent amount of space between them so Sierra thankfully wouldn't have to feel claustrophobic.

"We do know Mr. Leech," Sierra said when Kurt mentioned the young mutant from their past. "I do not know how his abilities would affect my network. Considering the different locations, I don't believe it would be him, unless he's always on the move, but I may be able to find some contact information for him."

She steepled her fingers before her as Jubilee and Kurt mentioned the Sentinels and their inventor. After a brief pause, Sierra said, "Todd Tolansky may have some information on Mr. Trask. Last we heard, Mr. Trask was imprisoned but under the watchful eye of S.H.I.E.L.D., yes?"

Bobby asked quite a few questions regarding her network and she did her best to answer them. "The signal turns off when I wish it to," Sierra said. "I'm able to filter out the active signals that we know of from those that we don't so nothing gets confusing. You are on here, but your signal, like the rest of us in this manor, is invisible." She gestured to a corner of the screen. "This block represents our manor. If I turn on all the signals, you'll see several dots appear.

"That setting is not stuck on," she continued, "for it's my program. I did not prematurely shut off the missing signals, and have checked just in case."

She paused a moment before responding to the last comment. "That may be best," she said, and her program began typing out code on the screen. "I will continue to be diligent when it comes to finding new active signals and will lock onto them before they disappear. Perhaps then we can create a couple of teams and investigate a site or two.

"I will keep you all posted on what I find," Sierra said, her attention returning to her laptop.