Welcome to Gaia! ::

Owen found that he was surprised when his chilled fingers finally gripped the top of the stone wall. He barely remembered finding the first acceptable foothold, and now here he was at the top of a snow-covered wall that only several minutes ago he had decided to climb at all.
He sat down facing the inside, letting his legs dangle and ignoring the wetness seeping into his pants from the snow that he hadn't even bothered to brush away before he sat down. He rather liked the view from up there; he could just make out a mansion a ways away from the gate, and he figured with the sounds he had heard, there was definitely somebody home. But as he craned his neck and looked as far as the wintry weather would let him, he didn't see a soul. He shrugged; they must have all gone inside.
Figuring some nosy passersby would bother him if he stayed up there much longer, he placed his hands down on the wall, hoisted himself and landed with a thump on the snow-covered ground. Brushing himself off, he looked around, wondering if he ought to run off before someone found him trespassing. He spotted a tree close to the wall and made for it, figuring it would at least keep him safe if there were any guard dogs.

“Shame, it looks really fun!” Mizu replied closing his eyes momentarily, putting a tiny finger to his lip as he pondered the idea again in his head, he never imagined himself eating and he wondered if he actually had a stomach would the food be visible as it moved its way down into it, Mizu had never really thought of his existence before, it wasn’t normal but then again nothing about him, his host or her companions was normal either. He opened his eyes again and looked away from Lance to the cat-girl not wanting to dwell on what he couldn’t do any longer, his mouth curled into a small grin. “The names Mizu, real simple and easy to remember!” He said in a proud way putting his hands on his hips.

Valerie stopped for a moment in the doorway to the living room and trained her ears to the sound of her companion boldly proclaiming his name, she made a ‘squeeing’ noise and skipped back the way she had came back towards the kitchen, she put a hand on the doorframe and peered inside with another odd sound escaping her mouth before he noticed what she wanted. “Ahh Mizu-Kun there you are….I know you love your freedom ‘an all but don’t run off without me knowing ‘kay!” The Blonde exclaimed rushing over to pick the small creature up in her hands with a happy look on her tanned face.

Mizu looked less than content as he was lifted from the ground; Valerie pressed the small ‘water baby’ affectionately to her cheek and let Mizu climb onto her shoulder leaving a wet residue on her face, Mizu promptly disappeared through her skin to ponder eating in the privacy of the teens body. Valerie, now glad she had found her friend turned her attention to the people in the room, one she was familiar with, the other not so. “Lance!” she blinked slightly leaving a dead silence in the air for a moment before a smirk spread over her face. “It sure has been awhile!” She said with a sparkle in her blue eyes, she was certainly going to have some fun now!

"It is," answered Lance, in regards to eating and his usual sarcastic tone had returned. Hurriedly munching off the last bit of his sandwich, Lance clapped his hands clean, in the hopes of making an exit for himself when Mizu's owner came skipping in, blocking his way. There was a sort of choking noise of discomfort from Lance as this happened, which only gave away his existence.

"Yeah, it has," coughed Lance, frowning as he peered over at Valerie. He honestly did not want to know what she had planned for him, as he was ready to bust a crack in the wall and climb out, should he need to.

===

Seeing that Sarah, was about to burst with anticipation, Victoria chuckled as she waited a few moments more, so that Rouge and Becca were ready as well. Flipping down her visor and taking a second to get used to the slight distortion in vision, Victoria pressed her key into the ignition before slowly leading the way out of the garage and ultimately, toward the Brotherhood home like she had planned.

===

Enjoying the silence that had seemed to fall over the X-Mansion because of the winter break, Professor X could be found upstairs in his study, with nothing more then a cup of coffee and a familiar book to keep him company. Though he was mostly engrossed in this particular chapter of the worn hardback tucked propped up neatly in his lap, he was still vaguely aware of any activity in the area.

From what he could tell, there were a few of his gifted students in the kitchen, it seemed, a few more in the garage and others scattered elsewhere on the property. He did not pry into their minds of course, which was something he prided himself on greatly, but there was one mind in particular that jumped out at him. It was a mutant...a male...and he had just clambered over the X-Mansion's tall, stone wall. Professor X shut his book immediately at this, but set it down with care, as this young soul had no intent to harm. He was simply curious...and perhaps more than a little bit cold.

Owen? Charles invited, telepathically, and peaked out the window in the hopes of catching a glimpse of him. This is Charles Xavier, founder of this institute for youngsters like yourself...at the very least, would you like to come in for cup of tea to warm yourself?

After taking his little nap Conner shut down the Velocitys lights, then the hangers before entering the lift and heading back up to the mansion.

With his workload completed his time was now his own again and he had no idea how he should spend it. I could just veg in front of the TV he thought but immediately discarded that idea, he felt like doing something in town but I'm broke 'till the end of the month...but that's never stopped me before he added the last part with a wicked grin. With the roads as the are the X-van will pretty much be useless in getting to town. He began to plan as he stepped out of the elevator and made his way to his room. I could take one of the snowmobiles but the prof wanted those kept back for emergencies only. He reasoned out as he changed into something more appropriate for the weather and as an extra precaution he took his tool roll with him; inside it was every tool he usually needed when he had had to use...subversive means to get money: lock picks, PDA, knife, etc. Making sure he had his other essentials; wallet phone and communicator, just in case. Conner headed straight for the garage, not bothering to check in on the rest of the household.

Sarah watched as Becca and Victoria ease their snowmobiles out of the garage. She carefully gave her machine some gas to get it moving. As she was sliding out of the garage she noticed the garage door leading into the mansion open. She didn't get a chance to see who came out since she gave it some more gas to catch up with Victoria and Becca. Her technique was a bit jerky but as they made their way through the snowy court yard she started getting the hang of driving it and smoothed out. "This ain't so bad now."

It took Victoria and the girls a while, mainly because snowmobiles weren't exactly welcomed on the highway, but they ultimately arrived in the worn part of town that marked where the Brotherhood lived. This street had yet to be plowed, so Victoria was able to coast up the full length of their driveway without any problems. Veering off into a grassy bit just in front of the garage and to the left of a familiar green jeep, she quickly shut off her engine. Pulling her helmet and goggles off in one motion, the brunette briefly shook her head as a habit before dismounting and turning to face her friends.

"And we're here," she announced, grinning as she peered briefly up at the smallish mansion. "Cannon-fodder central. Also known as the Brotherhood mansion, I guess."

====

Though he was sure Owen was not looking, Professor Xavier gave a small cheery wave to his small figure from the window in his office before sending a quick telepathic response to his statement. Watching the young boy sprint across the vast lawns, Xavier then eased himself away from the window and started for the foyer, intending to meet Owen there and greet him before he wandered off to look for the 'insect' that had invited him in.

Shandra smiled and shrugged slightly, "Well I would give you another demonstration but this one would be more destructive. Let's just say if somethings coming at me I can toss it back with more force."

She paused for a moment, "So what can you...do?" it had taken a moment to find the right word. Sometimes it wasn't even doing anything so much as controlling something, then sometimes it was making other's do things, among other things.

"Well," Blade felt herself slightly embarrassed. "Nothing as destructive as you. I can just make smoke. And control it." Blade held out her hand and concentrated. After a minute a small cloud of gas appeared in her hand. "This is laughing gas I believe. I can make three kinds of gas at the moment. Laughing, knock out, and tear." Blade forced the gas to disappear before it was inhaled. "The more I make, the less powerful it is." She shrugged as she explained the weakness of it.