December 2006

Jean Grey settled back into the mansion, establishing old connections and making new ones, but her return was not without issue: Logan clashed with Scott Summers over his unresolved feelings for her, and Theresa Cassidy tried to protect Bobby Drake from Scott's residual anger regarding the events of Not So Plain Jane. Bobby himself eventually talked to Scott about it, coming to some degree of resolution.

X-Force again 'borrowed' one of the mansion's residents for a mission, this time David Haller. Acting on information provided by Nathaniel Essex, a source very few of the team trusted, they invaded a secure complex in China, where a mutant by the name of Xorn was being held for use as a weapon. Whilst Pete Wisdom, Sarah Morlocke and Remy LeBeau neutralised the guards and Mark Sheppard, Wanda Maximoff and Marie-Ange Colbert took out the communications and security array, Sofia Mantega-Barret, Betsy Braddock, Doug Ramsey, Amanda Sefton and Haller tried to make contact with Xorn, whose incredible psychic ability put him in touch with every mind on the planet and potentially threatened to blow up a large part of China unless he was stabilised. With Amanda shielding them from Xorn's radiation, Betsy using her psychic knives to produce a link between Sofia and Doug and Haller acting as an amplifier, they were successful in communicating with the mutant whose consciousness had been raised to many times above normal people's and managed to contain his power by means of a helmet designed by Forge.

In the theme of resolution, Ororo Munroe and Nathan Dayspring came up with a team bonding exercise involving free sparring. Various issues were aired in the ring: Kurt Wagner's problems with Scott's decision to abandon Mystique to the Chinese government in Tibet; Angelo Espinosa's resentment of Logan's implication that he wasn't fit to teach self-defence; Logan's long-standing problems with Nathan and Scott; Ororo's resentment of Jean following her return. It was a somewhat successful experiment, despite the concern it raised in some students.

Crystal Amaquelin and Medusa Amaquelin organised their own version of stress relief for the students in the form of the Winter Ball, which was a resounding success. Mistletoe featured heavily, with Angelica Jones and Julio Richter and Forge and Laurie Collins both commencing relationships of a kind as a result. In a different kind of stress-relieving activity, Doug, reacting badly to the evidence of Marie-Ange dating newcomer Garrison Kane, took Amanda out drinking. The night ended with them sleeping together, and resolving in the morning to remain friends but not pursue a relationship.

Alex Summers returned to the school, by means of being used to turn his girlfriend Vida Rocca into the Living Pele, an ancient Hawaiian goddess with the power to control the island's many volcanoes. Red X was called in to help with evacuation and Shiro Yoshida managed to locate and rescue Alex. Working together, they defeated the girl and Alex made the vow to train in his powers so that he'd never be used by someone else again. To that end, he returned to the school, much to his brother's relief. He and Shiro shortly afterwards began an intimate relationship.

A late Halloween gift from Infectia threw a spanner in the Christmas plans of X-Force. Confined to the brownstone for the duration of the holiday, they found themselves falling back on drunkeness as a coping mechanism. A game of Truth or Dare among the younger members got out of hand as Doug acted on his long-standing feelings for Marie-Ange under the mistletoe and Mark and Amanda decided they were too good friends to be able to do anything more than an aborted make-out attempt. Amanda also received a rare glimpse into Sofia's personal life when she overhead a phone call from the other woman's father.

Ororo returned to Kenya with no intention of returning, however Remy discovered she was causing climatic changes that were proving catastrophic for Africa. Kurt had a serious training accident, getting stuck in a teleport and burning himself, but during a visit on her release from the brownstone Amanda discovered she was still able to Heal. Much to her distress, the spell still required the energy from living beings, and she went straight to Jean with the discovery. The matter was discussed and the decision made to ask Cain Marko and Logan to volunteer their services. The spell was more successful than intended, with the self-imposed scars also being removed.

The end of the year was seen out with an all-ages party and HeliX benefit at Silver. In the spirit of the New Year, Haller and Betsy resolved to make another attempt at a relationship.

Timeline

Dec. 1 - Jean begins reconnecting with the mansion's residents, and Marie has some issues for Scott regarding himself, Jean and Logan. Scott and Jean discuss Tibet and their actions regarding Mystique. Operation: Xorn: Nathaniel Essex shows up in the Snow Valley offices and tells Pete he needs the help of X-Force, explaining the Chinese government are going to execute a powerful mutant called Xorn whose death may result in the destruction of China; Betsy reacts badly to Essex' presence and Haller is there to help.

Dec. 2 - Terry and Scott argue about the implications of Jean's return for Bobby; Scott later discusses it with Jean. Nathan asks Kurt to train Rachel in gymnastics. Logan and Marie discuss his feelings for Jean, and she gets frustrated enough to slap him. Logan's conversation with Shiro about honour and second chances goes much better. Operation: Xorn: Pete calls in Haller and Forge to assist with the Xorn situation and calls Remy back from Europe; Forge meets with Essex to discuss the requirements for Xorn's containment helmet; Betsy encounters Essex and it goes about as well as could be expected; Sofia and Essex are rather more productive; Haller goes to Snow Valley and realises who their receptionist is, before meeting with Essex.

Dec. 3 - Nathan suggests ice climbing as an activity in January. Sam and Crystal train in flight together. Operation: Xorn: The team scrambles to Kazakhstan, where Natasha Romanova has arranged transport to China.

Dec. 4 - Scott takes Forge on a test flight of the new afterburners on the Blackbird. Terry and Pietro meet. Medusa asks to volunteer at the Elpis office.Operation: Xorn: On the plane, Haller and Mark discuss the hook-up that wasn't; X-Force invade China and rescue Xorn, although it's not easy; Xorn decides to wander the world afterwards.

Dec. 5 - Operation: Xorn: Pete outlines two new areas of research for the team - Xorn and Nathaniel Essex; Doug gets stoned on painkillers and Mark takes him home. Forge emails Mark about a HeliX benefit at Silver. Nathan runs into Julio and tries to talk to him about Pietro. Scott and Ororo discuss the personal implications of Jean's return. Medusa helps Terry with wedding planning. Garrison asks Marie-Ange out. Jean and Marie have drinks at Harry's.

Dec. 6 - Operation: Xorn: Pete notifies Charles of the Xorn situation. It starts snowing, much to the joy of the students. Kurt, Angel and Yvette go sliding up the halls in their socks; some of the other residents join in, but Pietro complains about the noise. Jean and Terry meet in the laundry room and talk about the Bobby problem. Nathan announces he and Angelo are going to Oman for the weekend. Scott announces his official return to the team.

Dec. 7 - Haller has a meltdown post-Xorn and Lorna makes him cookies. Garrison comes to Snow Valley to pick up Marie-Ange and encounters Doug; Doug reacts badly to the knowledge Marie-Ange is dating again and drags Amanda out drinking; Amanda and Doug end up in bed together.

Dec. 8 - The morning after, Doug and Amanda talk and agree to stay friends; Mark asks Amanda about her and Doug. Nathan and Angelo go to Oman and are booked into the Grand Hyatt hotel as honoured guests of the government. Scott has another session with Jack Leary. Kurt has his first lesson with Rachel. Marie and Amanda have their beer and pizza night and talk about various matters. Garrison and Angel discuss watching movies with the sound off.

Dec. 9 - Snow wars - the red heads line up against the rest of the school; comments in Yvette's journal lead to Crystal and Kyle arguing about how the other perceives people and Yvette gets upset; Kyle emails the staff apologising and goes to hide in his tree. Nathan and Angelo do some shopping in Oman and discuss various matters. Crystal and Terry work on Winter Ball preparations. Juanita Espinosa and Gail Collins meet and discuss a "parents of mutants" support group. Sofia celebrates her birthday.

Dec. 10 - Pete is cheerful about the death of Pinochet, much to the confusion and amusement of the Snow Valley staff. Nathan and Angelo get philosophical in Oman. Kurt explains to Yvette that people are not angry at her. Jean goes to check on Haller. Haller checks on Crystal.

Dec. 11 - Yvette apologises to Logan for cutting him and he begins to teach her wood carving. Crystal emails Yvette and Kyle about the incident on the journals; Sam expresses his concerns for Kyle; what starts out as an argument between Jennie and Crystal about the posts on Yvette's journal turns into a roommate bonding session when the girls start to open up to each other. Garrison invites Marie-Ange to the FBI Christmas party. Angelo gets back and finds Marie and Amanda have played another prank on him; Angelo asks Forge and Doug for help getting revenge; Amanda visits Angelo and owns up; Forge discovers Amanda sleeping on the couch and they talk about X-Force's methods and China. Shiro flies for the first time since getting addicted to Kick and goes out for sushi with Marie to celebrate. Doug and Forge play racquetball and discuss the Reavers. Julio and Angel help set up Christmas decorations and she invites him home with her.

Dec. 12 - Amanda sees Angelo and Sarah teasing each other on the journals and believes they're a couple; Doug takes her out for comfort food. Laurie asks Kyle to go with her to the Winter Ball and offers Christmas food to the staff, care of her mother. Nathan and Crystal talk ice-climbing. Scott gets a poll of which team members are going to be at the mansion over Christmas. Clarice and Angelo have a Danger Room session with Nathan. Marius finally speaks to Yvette and prompts her to have a flashback to Europe; Jennie and Yvette watch movies and Yvette cries - it's a good thing. Julio and Angelo talk about Smichov. Living Pele: Vida drugs Alex and she and her mother use his power to give Vida the power of Pele, Hawaiian goddess of the volcano. Bobby and Scott finally talk about the events of Not So Plain Jane.

Dec. 13 - Nathan gives Laurie her gift from Oman. Yvette tells Haller and Charles about her two breakthroughs. Angel asks Forge to go to the mall with her and they come back with a very 'special' fish. Pietro meets a runaway Rachel. Doug and Angelo prank Amanda by replacing all her clothes with pink frilly things. Sooraya gets involved in Elpis research and gets her own gift from Nathan. Haller checks up on Doug and thanks Wanda for the babysitting. Pietro talks to Scott about his reactions to his work as double agent.

Dec. 14 - Sofia, Nathan and Rachel have lunch. Angel has a language lesson with Doug and her one-day crush on him is discussed. Crystal suggests to Tommy that he make jewelry for people to wear at the Winter Ball and he agrees. Yvette has a nightmare and Laurie suffers some cuts trying to comfort her. Living Pele: Pele awakens the volcanoes of Hawaii and forces the non-native inhabitants to leave; Scott and Lorna catch the incident on the news and worry about Alex, who is unable to be contacted.

Dec. 15 - Living Pele: Red X members are requested to go to Hawaii to help with the evacuation; the X-Men agree to sit back until evacuation is complete, to avoid harming civilians or causing escalation; Lorna reacts badly to Garrison suggesting he use his position with the FBI to gain more information. Mark has a pest control problem and it's suggested he move into the brownstone. Laurie emails Charles and Haller about Yvette before she leaves for Hawaii.

Dec. 16 - Living Pele: Amanda makes suggestions as to what the Snow Valley members can do to help with the eruption in Hawaii; the Red X volunteers have various encounters doing their jobs. Some of the staff play poker with Pietro to distract themselves. Ororo goes to the brownstone to see Remy, and is disconcerted to find he is still in France. Mark's roach woes turn out to be due to his mutant landlord, and he moves into the brownstone. Doug takes Julio out for Mexican food.

Dec. 17 - Living Pele: Shiro reports on Hawaii, and the fact Alex still hasn't been found; the volunteers continue the evacuation, and Shiro encounters Alex's friend Jared, who tells him Alex was with Dr. Rocca and has vanished; Scott tells Lorna Alex is missing. Yvette feels lonely in a suite almost empty of roommates.

Dec. 18 - Living Pele: Scott asks Garrison to look for information as he proposed; Shiro finds Alex but encounter Pele as they're escaping; Alex comes up with a plan to defeat Pele, and they overload her powers. Forge and Medusa discuss lighting for the Winter Ball. Remy returns to New York.

Dec. 19 - Living Pele: Scott and Garrison discuss Hawaii, and the problem of trouble-magnet younger siblings; later, Scott lets the mask slip with Jean and shows how relieved he is; Alex forgives Vida and decides to never be a victim again. Laurie and Forge run into each other under the mistletoe and the resulting kiss gets a little out of control, possibly due to Laurie's powers. Shiro makes his report and informs the team he and Alex will be returning in a couple of days. Lorna announces her impending departure for the holidays. Nathan invites Rahne to Muir for Christmas. Ororo and Nathan come up with a unique way to deal with the conflicts within the team.

Dec. 20 - Kurt and Nathan discuss Mystique and Kurt's faith in her, without satisfactory resolution. Amanda asks Nathan if she can come to Muir for the holidays. Crystal and Kurt and then Crystal and Pietro discuss plans for the Winter Ball.

Dec. 21 - The students prepare for the ball. Laurie brings Haller food and they talk about her powers training. Mark emails Forge about the HeliX benefit at New Year's. Alex returns to the mansion, for good this time. Fight Night - as a training and morale exercise, the staff box each other into various stages of bruising. Remy receives a delayed postage from Infectia, and the brownstone is put under quarantine for a week as the biological agent contaminates the main foyer.

Dec. 22 - Nathan gives Medusa her Christmas gift and she tells him Crown Prince Blackagar Boltagon wishes to talk to him about Elpis. The various Snow Valley staff members bemoan their lost Christmas plans and proceed to get very drunk instead. Students query the beaten up condition of the staff. Crystal surprises Medusa with Blackagar's secret arrival to the school to be Medusa's date at the Winter Ball and he and Nathan have that talk. Winter Ball - the students have their semi-formal ball and there's a lot of kissing. Alex and Lorna talk, rather awkwardly, and then later Alex gets drunk with Shiro and they end up making out. Angelo and Marie talk about him challenging Logan during Fight Night.

Dec. 23 - Nathan, Angelo, Rahne and Sooraya go to Muir for the holidays. Sam and Marie horserace. Marius is invited to go back to Jennie's father's house for the holidays, with a minimum of threats. Logan and Crystal encounter each other for the first time since the incident in the Gym, and they neatly avoid talking about anything. Scott and Kurt discuss leaving Mystique to the Chinese Army and Scott suffers traumatic amnesia in the middle of it.

Dec. 24 - Kurt has his 30th birthday and the papers to officially change his name come through. He and Amanda discuss the manifestation of his teleportation in a journal thread. Marie and Kurt remind each other family is more than the one you're born to. Locked in the brownstone, Marie-Ange gets high off Mark's brownies and Doug and Amanda have a close encounter with mistletoe in front of her. David emails the Snow Valley crew and Betsy, to see how they're doing.

Dec. 25 - Christmas Day - gifts are exchanged, various residents of the mansion go to their families, the Snow Valley crew celebrate in their own ways. Nathan, Angelo and the Pack have drinks at Billie's pub and remember the past whilst making plans for the future. Logan helps Marie have a social life. While the older members of X-Force drink and muse over the last year, the Junior Trenchcoats play Truth or Dare and things get revealing. Marius and Jennie get out-manoevered by her half-brother into kissing and find that no, they're not attracted to each other at all.

Dec. 26 - Mark and Amanda get bored, stoned and make out - it ends in giggles and Twister. Remy gives Mark a Christmas gift - a way out of X-Force should he want it. After talking to Mark, Remy comes across Amanda and they talk for a little while before something on the news catches his attention. The Amaquelins relax at home in Attilan. Pietro and Kurt talk in the gym about the things they have in common.

Dec. 27 - Angelo comes by the brownstone after returning from Muir Island and gives Amanda her Christmas gift. Marie-Ange tries to talk to Doug about the Truth or Dare kiss and gets a rather poor reception. Kurt has an accident whilst training and gets stuck in a teleport, seriously burning himself; Nathan comes to the quarantined brownstone and gives her the news; a distraught Amanda seeks out Doug for comfort. Forge picks up Kyle from the airport. Wanda and Remy train together.

Dec. 28 - Forge and Laurie talk and decide to keep the fact they're apparently dating quiet, given his staff status. The quarantine is lifted from the brownstone and Amanda visits Kurt, unknowingly running into Marius and discovering in the process that she can still Heal - with a price. She goes straight to Jean to tell her what she almost did; Jean discusses the matter with Scott, Charles and Ororo, and asks Cain and Logan to volunteer as donor power sources; Cain emails Amanda about it. Remy checks with Marie that Ororo is still in Africa and then asks Doug to check on weather patterns; he discovers something very wrong is going on and makes plans to go to Africa. Jennie encourages Crystal to come to the New Year's party at Silver.

Dec. 29 - Preparations are made for Kurt's Healing; Amanda is successful in Healing Kurt, more successful than expected; Amanda returns to the brownstone, exhausted, and posts to the Snow Valley comm that she can Heal and what it takes before crashing for several days. Jean announces Kurt's recovery.

Dec. 30 - Jennie and Cain have an encounter in the woods and discuss her powers. Kurt posts to the journals about his recovery. Marius comes to visit Kurt and they talk around the accident.

Dec 31 - Remy tracks Ororo down in Kenya and tells her the manipulations of the local climate are proving catastrophic to Africa as a whole. New Year's Eve at Silver - the fund raiser for HeliX is a great success and people have fun; Betsy and Haller get back together; Crystal arrives slightly tipsy from the party in Attilan; Sarah and Angelo decide to have one last bout of trouble for the year.

Plots

Operation: Xorn

Living Pele

External Links

December 2006