The X-Project

Alison speaks to Marie-Ange about the visions, and what she'd seen for Alison, and the cryptic email nicknames. A basic plan for using M-A's visions to help the X-men is discussed. Also, minor invocation of devil woman and apprentice in regards to uniforms.



Standing in front of the door to the room Marie-Ange shared with her roommates, Alison stared at the handle, and the reflections of light on it which change with every minute motion. Finally, taking a slow breath to steady herself, she raised one hand and knocked on the door, the sound echoing too loudly or so it seemed.

"Dawnbringer," was all she said once it opened, looking at Marie-Ange with a look in her eyes that spoke of an understanding which went far too deep.

She probably should have gone to Alison with the visions like she had with Nathan, but talking to Nathan about it had been hard enough. "It is hard to explain. Well, not hard to find the words, but hard to start." Marie-Ange finally said after a long period of thought. "I was not trying to be secretive on purpose, or confusing."

"It's all right." There was something that needed to be done though, and Alison took a small step back, with an expression which said that she expected Marie-Ange to follow. "There's something I think you should see."

The hallways seemed to have become longer on the walk down to the briefing room. It felt like it was taking much longer than it should to walk there. Some of that was probably fatigue, some was worry about Nathan. Some was just that at the moment, she didn't want anything to do with that subbasement and its contents, but this was probably, no definitly necessary.

"Sit down, please." A dimming of the lights, and an image sparked to life on the briefing room's screen, a camera's eye view taken from the still functioning security systems of the Mistra facility, focusing on the training barracks hallway and a swarm of operatives heading down a hallway. Alison watched as images she's lived through scrolled by in silence, the smells and sounds of that day coming back to her even now.

For a long time, longer than she was aware of, all Marie-Ange did was shake her head slowly and try to remember to breathe. Stunned was not the word, and she wasn't sure shock was either. Overwhelmed might have come close. The crush of people, a living wall of what looked to be certain death. Solid waves of light pressing them back. She'd see it, not the same way, but ... "I was right.." Marie-Ange whispered, nearly silently.

"Bringing the dawn," Alison repeated in a faint tone of voice, nodding slowly. And because Nathan had told her, about the other name, the one Marie-Ange had coined for him. "And holding back the cold." Rising to her feet, Alison walked to stand by Marie-Ange's chair, looking at the stunned expression on the young woman's face before kneeling down. "You were right."

Still stunned. "And a great change in destruction and chaos.." So much positive change, so many children saved, and so many lives that could actually happen freely. Free will, freedom of choice. Which, Marie-Ange thought absently, was ironic considering that she'd seen this. "I .. did it help, at all?" she asked cautiously.

She'd not thought of it until after, when reviewing the tapes, the realization that this was what Marie-Ange had seen hitting her so hard she'd forgotten how to breathe for a moment. "It's helping me now. I didn't know anything more than the name, before. But I went back in the database, and read over every entry you've made." She turned to look briefly at a stack of notes, neatly piled on the corner of the desk. "And then I cross-correlated with missions that followed, or went from memory on general mansion events. I think... you may find it interesting reading." She tried to offer a smile, despite the unsteadiness at seeing events replayed on a screen that way.

Marie-Ange glanced at the stack of notes. That was .. . an awful lot of paper, and people never used 'interesting reading' unless it either meant something very very good, or really very terrible. This did not seem to be one of the times that indicated terrible, which meant that perhaps her accuracy was better than she thought. Something that was just a touch mind-boggling. "I should, I think talk to the Professor, or you and Ms. Munroe and Mr. Summers together, and try to see if my notes can be helpful ahead of time, rather than after the fact? Some kind of system?" She wasn't even sure of the proper terms for this sort of thing.

"It will take time," Alison said, though she smiled at the same time - a touch of wonder, something like hope. "And it will probably be very frustrating for you at times, while we try to work out things. But I'd like that." She looked at the notes she'd taken again, then back at Marie-Ange. "It'd mean starting up a database for you, tying it into the restricted files as well as the general access stuff. You might still be filtered out of things, but... the COs and XOs wouldn't be. Or Charles. We'd be... making it up as we go along, yeah? You wouldn't be alone in that, though."

"It is already frustrating to have all these notes and only so much to do with them." Marie-Ange offered. "My precognition is breaking new grounds everywhere, so more new ground can only help." She thought for a moment and frowned. "The drawings might be hard to put into a database maybe? The notes I make on them, I always think I have left something out." She could handle being filtered out of things. There were parts of the business of the X-men she really did not want to know about yet. She knew a bit more than she wanted already just from a handful of visions.

"We can scan the drawings in easily. Flatbed scanner, we can pick one up for you anytime and install it in your room. Hank can set up a secure link up for you there so you don't have to trudge about the mansion at all hours of the night too." Resting her chin on the arm of the chair, Alison listed the possibilities. "You can keep a recorder with you, too, with mp3 capabilities, easy to transfer to the database. Between that and your drawings and the notes you'll make..." It was good, to be able to focus on something like this. Even as uncertain as it was - Marie-Ange was willing to try, and it meant so much, just that alone. "You should probably talk to Doug about it, too. I'll bet you he could come up with a few more ideas, that would suit you even better."

Marie-Ange paused, and smiled softly. "If I ask Doug, he will go on for a very long time about databases and programming key words for images, or some other such.. computer thing." But watching Doug go into computer-land was kind of cute. He got very intense about it, and enthuastic and excited, so she enjoyed giving him a chance to do that. "He will probably have most of a system designed in his head an hour after I ask."

"Good." And it involved Doug as well, and Alison smiled. "You could even probably nab Paige into to trying to work out a filing and categorizing system for it all." Team work was a good thing, after all. "I'll let you run with that - but remember, if you need anything at all... talk to either the Professor, or any of the team leaders. We'll help, any way we can. Not a taking up time issue - we want to do this." She was speaking for Ororo and Scott without consulting, and held no worry for it. They'd agree. "And in the meantime... I need your help with something a little more mundane."

"Paige is good at those things." Far better than Marie-Ange, who was still managing on a haphazard study schedule and classes that didn't need a lot of memorization and overstudy. Life drawing was good that was. "I am... not." She tilted her head at Alison, who was definitly wearing the Devil Woman smile, if a bit subdued from fatigue. "Oh dear. This does not involve my boyfriend and a skirt does it?"

"No." Alison couldn't help it, Marie-Ange winning herself a tired, yet genuine laugh. "That's more Lorna's thing," she said with a conspiratorial wink. "No, it was... something else. But suited to your skills." Somehow, since the weekend, Alison had set her mind on this. "I want a new suit design. I think I know some of what I want already, but I thought I'd let you have fun with the rest."

Marie-Ange broke into a smile. "Ooh...I had some thoughts about that myself, because really, I do not have enough pockets, and it is really very frustrating to have to put my cards into my shirt." She had done that -once-, and it had been very uncomfortable, not to mention awkward. "I should get my big sketchpad and do some drawings..." She would probably have to talk to Clarice for the exact patterns, Clarice was good at that kind of thing, but the designs themselves should be drawn out first. "But maybe not here, because the light here is really -very- bad for trying to draw.."