Room 330, Saturday Morning

[genesishero]

Evan was sitting on the edge of his bed, a piece of paper in his hand, which was shaking, just slightly. Old Lace was awake, but resting her head in his lap, coiled around him on the bed. Ozzy was curled up at his feet. He'd had the paper with him in an envelope for most of the week, putting off opening and reading it because of who it had been sent by.

Evan had a complicated relationship with Logan. Seeing his name on the Jean Grey School letterhead as he had pulled out the letter didn't help that.

The contents of the letter helped him even less, just raising more questions than anything else.

Uncle Cluster -- Fantomex -- was alive somewhere, and being kept in a high-security prison in The World.

Logan needed Evan there, to help get him out again.

Evan's time on the island was done. Just like that. Headmistress Pryde had left, apparently ages ago, Storm had taken her place, and Logan needed Evan's help to get Fantomex back.

He needed to pack. He had... more books than any one kid could carry, on any subject under the sun. He wrote a little 'Free' sign on a piece of loose paper, and had Old Lace help him lug the majority of them out into the hall. There were a few, mostly the ones he'd read with Sholeh while she was here and, um, the magazines that Wade had left for him, that he didn't have the heart to part with. Packing Ozzy and Old Lace's things came next. And while he did that, he placed handwavy phone calls, to leave messages for Rosalind and Mr. Constantine, to tell them that he wouldn't be back to work for them again. There was already a portal booked for him, courtesy of Logan, set to leave in just a few hours.

He would have argued if Logan had called him back under almost any other circumstance. The island was more a home to him than the Jean Grey School had been, after all. But then there was Uncle Cluster, who, in spite of all of the lies and hurt and everything horrible he'd done to bring Evan into the world, was still more family to him than anyone on the island. Maybe that was just the way Evan had been programmed. Maybe there was no way he would ever be sure. But right now he was certain of one thing.

It was time to go.

[OOC: Open door, open post. Last chance to talk to Evan before he vanishes forever. Feel free to loot the small mountain of moddable literature sitting out in the hallway.]

Comments

[not_a_moonie]

Alana was on her way back up to her room when she all but tripped over the pile of books. She knelt down to thumb through them like the good nerd she was; when she leaned her head in Evan's door,it was with a look of concern on her face.

"Hey, are you sure you want to give away every Barry Plodder book?" she asked. "'Cause I'll take them if you are."

[OOC: Usual weekend SP applies,I'm afraid. *clings to Evan*]

[genesishero]

"Take all you like," Evan replied, glancing up from the bag he was packing and attempting a weak smile. "I would be happy to know they're in good hands... they're good books, you know?"

Apparently most of the books in the hallway were, going by the cracked spines and the signs that they'd been read over and over and over again.

[OOC: Weekend SP is fine! <3]

[not_a_moonie]

"I know," Alana nodded. "I spent a whole shift at the bookstore reading the first one a while back. So, hey, thanks. Free books."

She raised her eyebrows at his packing. "Okay, so ... you're going home, huh?"

It wasn't exactly a hard guess. But it was a disappointment. Alana didn't see Evan that often, but every time she did she enjoyed talking to him.

[genesishero]

Evan winced faintly, and swallowed a growing lump in his throat.

"It's not quite home," he noted, "but yeah, that's close enough. My old school... the headmaster there says that my uncle needs help, and he needs me to be there for it."

[not_a_moonie]

"Oh, well, that sucks," Alana commiserated, leaning against Evan's door frame. "Do you think you'll be back once you're done helping your uncle,or is it going to take a while?"

[genesishero]

Evan rocked a little on the balls of his feet, and then lifted his shoulders slightly.

"I don't know," he admitted. "The last time I saw my uncle, he was dead."

Short answer: It's complicated.

[not_a_moonie]

"Ah." Alana bit a thumbnail thoughtfully. "Does that, um, happen a lot where you're from?"

Because in her world, dead meant dead. Usually.

[genesishero]

"Way more often than it should," Evan replied, running his fingers awkwardly through his hair. "That, um, doesn't make it any less of a surprise, though."

He reached for one of Ozzy's squeaky toys, and stuck it into his bag.

"I've really got no idea what happens from there. I want to come back. I don't want to leave. But if Uncle Cluster is really alive, that might change a lot of things."

[not_a_moonie]

"Stupid families," Alana contributed, not really meaning it but feeling frustrated and sympathetic, and wanting to commiserate. "They pop back up and whammo, you have to be ready to say how high if you say jump. I'm gonna miss you, Ev."

[genesishero]

"I'm going to miss you, too," Evan replied, offering her a little smile. "But... hey, you'll have some of my books to remember me by, right?"

A beat.

"I can try to write?"

That seemed a little less 'take this Barry Plodder and think of me.'

[not_a_moonie]

"Sure, and if you do I'll write back," Alana said. "But if you can't, I'll make up awesome adventures and decide you're busy having them with the dinosaur."

[genesishero]

"Well, I wouldn't go having them without the dinosaur," Evan replied, giving Old Lace a fond pat on the nose. "We're kind of hard-wired into one another. Where I go, she goes."

... Literally.