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Omega - Not much in a party mood, but wanting to get there

To his chagrin, Christian’s energies completely fizzled out along the path to the bonfire. Lucky for him, they were so close to their destination that he didn’t need Raine to give him another refresh of energy. He had worry wash over him as he never heard Sophia say anything in response to him calling her name or even try to turn around to join up with the other two.

A matter of minutes passed as Christian and Raine walked in complete silence, the only sounds that were heard were the unmistakable noises coming from the beach party. Soon enough, Christian found himself stepping into sand that gave way underneath his feet. They had arrived at the party, per orders, but Christian couldn’t hardly see anything. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust from being in the darkness of the paved path to the bright burning light the bonfire provided.

He didn’t waste much time looking around for Sophia, knowing full well that if they didn’t meet up with her on the path to the party, she had to be there already. Or so he hoped. Christian’s eyes darted to and fro between the attendees of the shindig, doing what he could to find her. From what he could tell, everyone was off doing their own thing, which was to be expected. That was when he finally found her, standing off in a small grassy patch, away from the festivities. Not only that, there was a small group of students, hovering near her. They were all unfamiliar to Christian, but he was certain introductions would be had eventually. Hoping Sophia would see it, he waved in her direction briefly to let her know that Raine and himself made it to their destination. In time, he’d talk to her, of that much he was certain.

Christian knew this was a party, but right now, he didn’t want to socialize with anyone really. At least not now, maybe in a little bit, but his adrenaline was still coursing through his veins. With that, he found a decent little spot in the sand and sat away from everyone. The moment he sat, he felt a raw spot on his shoulder, no doubt from where Cissa hit him with that small burst of energy. It wasn’t as bad as the shots he took in Limbo, feeling almost like an irritating sunburn. He didn’t waste a moment in peeling his shirt off and looking over the damage incurred.

His initial assessment was right: she DID burn a hole in his shirt. With a sigh, he just folded it up as best he could and sat it next to him. The way he positioned himself, he felt the folded up knife hit his leg, causing him no small amount of discomfort. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the knife, overlooking it momentarily before unfolding the blade and overlooking the thing. While inspecting the blade to sate his curiosity, he wondered what exactly this knife was used for. Muggings, killings… worse? Christian sat pondering the whole thing when he collapsed the blade into the handle again… this time, throwing the knife straight into the bonfire. Sometimes, he hated what things people brought upon others.

Christian sat there collecting his thoughts and found himself stuck on one in particular. He stood and brushed the sand from the seat of his pants before sticking his ruined shirt into his back pocket. He knew what he was about to do would be against his better judgment, but he thought maybe a clear conscience would help to at least put him more into the party mood. Figuring now was as good a time as any to try and speak with his friend...

Christian passed by Jack on the way to his destination, acknowledging his much bigger friend with a curt nod. It wasn't too long when he was standing near where Sophia was. Not only that, Shandra was back from the town and trying to take care of some of the others it seemed.

"Howdy," Christian said to everyone who was standing in the general vicinity, noting the newer faces that he had only seen from a distance. "Don't know if I met most of y'all. Name's Christian." He managed an inviting grin on his face before turning his attentions to Sophia. She looked as if she were crying earlier?

"You alright there, munchkin?," Christian asked his friend, no small amount of concern in his voice whatsoever.

Alphas: being responsible and promoting inter-team
cooperation

Hoshi quietly listened to the plans to move the party to a more private place. She wasn't all that opposed to the idea for two reasons- someone needed to keep an eye on the drunk people this close to the ocean, and she really needed to stretch out her wings- she wasn't sure if there were humans here.

Just as she was about to agree to join the fun, Shandra walked up, asking about why they were there. "Eh, we were required to come?" she asked. "I had no idea it was actually a requirement. good thing i decided to come." she added sheepishly. Hoshi tilted her head at Shandra. "you could come with us, you know. there's food where we're going. Besides, I think I'm one of the few people NOT drinking and I'll need help keeping an eye on them so they don't wander off and drown. Also, it would be promoting inter-team cooperation, if you need an official cause." Hoshi offered cheerful smile to Shandra. "though like you said, we should find out from Kerri why we are here first and let her know where we are headed. I say Kerri cause Bella's occupied at the moment." she added as an after thought.

Alpha - Bonfire

Still, Bella feigned complete innocence about the whole thing—Her teasing smile perfectly contrite as she kissed his cheek gently in mid spin. She smiled truly though when his arms wrapped around her waist… She did love him so. He thought of himself as being so cruel…So gruff and immeasurably dangerous, that he didn’t see the rest of himself. The kind part of him that wanted to help Narcissa…The part of him that wanted to protect her, that did silly pranks with Evie… He was as she was—Simply in his own way. “She could flay the flesh from your metal bones. And if she isn’t in her right mind—Do it with a song in her heart. I'm allowed to be jealous of a man eating nuclear bomb with sociopath tendencies if my boyfriend wants to spend time with her on an island, rather than me.”

“But are you sure about the blond thing? I’m mean... I’ve always wanted to try blond…”, she trailed off playfully, knowing that he would probably hate it if she dyed her hair. It would smell of the dye for weeks… He didn’t really seem to enjoy when she smelled differently, or like chemicals. Though she could understand it—Seeing that his sense of smell of so powerful. So was Evelyn’s for that matter…She’d learned not to load up on the perfume around them. “If Shakira can pull it off...”

She frowned though when he mentioned Alek, her protective instincts coming to the forefront… Even though she wasn’t happy with Alek, frustrated, furious with him-- She didn’t insult him to others—And even though it was Gideon, she didn’t want anyone else doing it either. She might have voice her frustrations to him...But she didn't... Like it, when others voiced her opinion on him. They didn't understand. She knew he was trying to make her smile…But nothing about the ice user would make her happy, except a total reform. She returned his kiss nevertheless. “Don’t say that about him… He isn’t pathetic.”

“He’s just…”, Bella sighed softly and her step slowed as the song changed tempo, and she moved delicately in his arms, a cross between a ballerina and flamenco… Her lips close to his ear, on her tip toes, she finished her sentence. “He’s just lost.”

The mistakes that she’d made with him…She would likely make them again. It kept her awake at night... Knowing that she could only do things for him that he didn’t know about. Like keeping him on the team. Scott wanted to remove him when they got back from Limbo. Or giving him her blood, when he was in need of a transfusion. He would probably just be…Meaner, more irresponsible if he knew she was still babying him.

But she couldn’t help it. She felt responsible for all of the Alpha’s… She wanted to fix things for them. Father, Mother, Sister, Leader—All rolled into one.

She was slowly learning that she couldn’t be all of those things. And for many problems, she only had herself to blame.

She laughed, though, when Gideon mentioned that they couldn’t be on high alert all the time… She had worked for years to pull him out of his shell that Hydra put him into. And whilst pulling him out of one, she herself fell into one. She would try to…Relax, for him. He was right. “All right. I’ll let them go then. But if they show up in jail or in the morgue…You get to explain it to Scott.”

Bella fell into the second kiss he gave her, and her fingers slipped into his hair, form melting against his—Before she realized they were standing in front of several dozen people who didn’t seem to have a problem with staring. She blushed and pulled away faintly, beginning to dance again as she felt heat move down her neck… She was glad her skin was dark enough that she was spared a red face, but she knew Gideon could feel it, and that didn’t help matters.

She was silent for a few moments…

“Does listening in on their conversation from here count as letting them go?”

Omega: Bonfire, Dancing

Narcissa almost smiled as Antonio and Shandra made short work of the rest of the gang, although it simply came off as a cold smirk and they were gone even before the first porch light turned on. She made it to the bonfire appearing in control and without a hair displaced… They seemed to go their own separate ways, and she fell any energy she’d used become replaced by the heat from the bonfire.

She wove through dancing bodies like a wraith, no one seeming to mind as she interrupted dance partners—Moving from one to the next. Narcissa could dance… She’d done enough of it in her pre-Academy life. She warm to the touch, her hands like honeyed ice… She didn’t care who she was dancing with, male or female—So long as it took her mind off of… Well, to be honest, the scent of blood.

It made her stomach churn… Mostly because she knew that Belasco would have looked on with pride, as she beat the tar out of a few humans. He would have liked it. And part of her missed him… The part the remembered enjoying screaming. She hated herself for that ghost of… Adoration. For the ghost of betrayal she still felt at running him through. She lost herself in motion, and pushed the demon lord from her mind.

No one questioned the black glittering handkerchief around her wrist—It hadn’t started bleeding again so she didn’t worry about it. While she danced, she watched, and her keen eyes found some of her Omega’s off by a fire pit…Others about to leave. She frowned at that… She told them she expected them to be here. But if they wanted to leave… Well, she would deal with it later.

The Alpha’s weren’t hers to punish… But the Omega’s were…In for a rude awakening, if they disobeyed. On or off the field, on vacation, or at school—Her word was law. If you couldn’t fall in line…You were useless. Her cold eyes settled on Varian… He knew better. He definitely, knew better. He had barely spoken to her… And she knew why. But there was little she could do about it until he stopped running from her.

She’d seen him hanging out with that Alpha girl… She wasn’t bad, as far as Alpha’s went—But still, it stung, that he would waste his time around an Alpha, instead of being near her.

It was infuriating.

As was this entire, lame, vacation. It wasn’t a vacation… They used the excuse of them unwinding…But she knew it was just a test. To see how they could handle themselves in the real world. To see if they could handle life—It made sense to send them to a remote Island, where the X-Jet could be kept not far away on the mainland to spirit them away if need be… And they had the illusion of freedom.

Mutants were never free.

Narcissa spotted Gideon and Isabella, and briefly she debated on cutting in on them. Mostly because she knew it would piss of the Alpha leader. Instead she shouldered hard by the girl, making sure to slam their upper arms together… Right where she had burned her earlier. “How’s your arm?”

She didn’t wait for a reply but continued on, losing herself in the crowd again. She didn’t expect to see Carlos here… Part of her was…Sad, but she forced herself not to care. He didn’t, so why the bloody hell should she? She was tired of… Pretending to be something she wasn’t for the sake of everyone else. Tired of accepting less… No one should have to settle, and simply accept the life she led… Especially not the last month and a half of it. How anyone expected her to be normal astounded her.

She wove through the crowd… The fire glinting off of her golden hair, making it almost seem alive. Everyone around her was too drunk too notice or care the faint shine in her skin… Even sober, very few people noticed. It was what made her look like she’d just stepped from the silver screen…But in their drunken states… they were only able to tell that she was beautiful, and wanted to dance.

Omega: Mommm, You’re embarrassing me in front of my frienddds…

Jacen nodded as the two Alphas introduced themselves. He didn’t really buy into that whole team rivalry thing outside of playful joking around, considering he could think of quite a few members of the other team who could pummel him into the sand. “Nice to meet ya.”

He turned as Eli jogged off, followed by Petra, evidently in an attempt to comfort Sophia. He frowned, wondering what could've happened, but didn’t move off with the others to comfort the girl, instead offering a reassuring smile as they trekked up the mountain. He was next to Leion when Shandra decided to show up. He listened to her “Ah Red, don’t be such a O la’au fa’anoa~” He said, translating along the lines of being a ‘stick in the mud’. He nodded at Hoshi’s suggestion, “Yea, this seems to be the new party. ‘Sides would you rather there be a grip of drunk mutants down with the equally drunk civilians?

“We may as well make sure the group of newbies don’t get gored by a bison or something.” Despite the unlikelihood of that, it still remained a possibility, especially with the Junior X-men.

He shrugged, patting Leion’s lolling head. He didn't know why Shandra was worried about him, though he was aware that he sometimes did the same job of 'protecting' in reverse. "Come on, it'll be fun." He said to the girls.

"Yeah, I had a bamboo thing growing in my room for awhile, but it was right next to the window during the winter... the draft from there killed it...Plants don't like me too much." It was true. Her mother, even though she let Maddy do whatever she wanted most of the time, still had the strict rule that she wasn't allowed to touch her roses.

Maddy bit into the last piece of her s'more left. the chocolate had melted pretty quickly, and she wiped a bit of it off her lips. She handed Vallon his stick back with the marshmallow on it. It was a little burnt, having been done while Maddy was busy eating. He would live. Anyways, what kind of man wasn't good with fire? Every guy she could think of was a pyromaniac at heart.

"My music tastes are pretty random. You probably have never heard of most of the bands I like... I spent a good deal of time in Boston's punk scene. Would explain the closet full of black accessories... But Bahston Hahd Core is its own thing, you know?" the girl said, randomly and stretched. She hadn't liked sitting for too long all day... Actually, she would have gone crazy on the flight in had she not been drawing for the entirety of it.

"I think I'm just gonna go get a drink. I'll uh... grab you something, maybe? Stay here and tend the fire..." She kicked another empty can of alcohol away from their little circle as she stepped off, almost falling out of one of her sandals. She looked around as she walked, not recognizing many faces in the firelight. Most were dancing, or their pitiful excuse for it. She almost ran into one of the people she had been looking for.

"Ah, crap! Oh, Shandra. Geez... Hey, is there anything to drink around here that won't make my face look like his?" she jabbed her thumb at Leion. not that her almost running into the girl said much in her favor. But she'd seen that look enough times. Her eyes grazed over the others there, an odd mix of Omegas around Alek. Oh, brilliant, what had she just stumbled upon? Of course it was her first assumption to think the Iceman knock-off was being idiot or why the red-head was half-supporting Leion.

When she'd first joined up with the team, she'd really tried to hold her judgments to herself. She tried not to think Cissa was bitchy; she tried not to think Alek was a complete douche... Eh. It hadn't lasted all that long... had it? She raised an eyebrow towards the Alpha then looked back at Shandra.

Alpha: Double Meanings Sometimes Are Truth

Nothing else mattered at the moment. That was odd for her. Evie was one that always saw the big picture and her place in it. Her life since the age of fourteen was learning to be an X-Man, knowing her place. Cog in the mutant wheel of the battle of good and evil. But right now, none of that mattered. Why? Why now? Was it because she missed Reikon and needed something to hold onto? Was it because she always had wanted to have Carlos' attention secretly? Questions. She didn't like questions. Evie never asked. She always acted. Doesn't matter. Just enjoy now. Now might be the only moments there are.

She smirked at his words about being missed. It had a double meaning to her. Evie always kept herself at a distance, kept her feelings closed off. Don't let them get attached so you can do your job. Maybe she had a martyr complex. She had no problem putting herself in the line of fire to be the sacrificial lamb. All for the greater good. If nobody is attached, nobody will hurt when somebody finally succeeds in her destruction. You'll be missed at some point. That was becoming all too clear and at times it felt smothering.

"I have my comm and told Bella where I was. They know my rogue nature. It will be fine," She snapped herself out of her own lamenting brain. Smiling she tried to hide the fact that for a moment she was doubting her own views on the world and was finding the new balance between her nature and the nature of those around her. But that moment passed and just as quickly, the weight of her own thoughts were off her shoulders.

"So I guess that means you have to make sure I stay alive," she chided. Leaning her head forward she whispered, "I'm kidding. I will be fine. The subtleties of my powers make me a prime candidate to survive something like this... training, adaptation skills, yada yada."

"Besides, we both know what will happen down there. We're going to end up finding the secret base of Magneto and have to battle a hoard of angry mutants," She laughed, amusing herself and splashed him with water. Bouncing on her toes a bit, she was prepping for a dive, "Let's go, my dear. See what this little adventure has in store."

With a nod, she indicated that she was ready. Taking in as much oxygen she could, Evie mentally prepped herself for what she had to do. All senses had to be on. No room for error. Very little margins to play with. She could heal almost anything. But lack of air was lack of air nor did she want to quite realistically put the pressure on Carlos to have to give her life saving CPR. No drama this time. It would be fine.

He dove, she followed. The clock was counting. Nothing in her panicked. Evie was a trained X-Man. Sessions of training with Logan and Betsy were harder than this. She had to trust her senses and follow them. Carlos was ahead of her. She could see some movement, but not as well as he could. Her vision was going to be a liability so she closed her eyes. And she did what he said.

Focus. She felt the vibrations his movement made through the water and could follow their direction. Her hearing allowed her to hear the changes in the water. It wasn't the easiest thing she did, but with focus and the appropriate mind set she accomplished her goal. Evie was not one to fail. She pushed herself, maintained her control on her muscles to help extend the oxygen in her lungs. And when the moments got to the point where she needed air, she could feel Carlos move them into the direction of an air pocket.

She surfaced and took a deep breath. Her body devoured the new air and she said nothing as she righted herself. Opening her eyes the world was black to her. She put her hand out and felt the rocks near them. She could feel the dampness, the sharp craggy rock. A few fish swam around her feet and scurried away. She couldn't see per say but sometimes the sense of touch was more powerful to her because her senses ran incredibly deep.

"Told you I'd make it this far," She muttered still steadying her breath ready to finish the way to the rest of the cave.

Alpha - Patience is a virtue. So is tenacity.

Eli at this point was beginning to get fed up with the others. Granted, it wasn't even his first 18 hours to his team and he was already bugging to get away. Or maybe it had to do with the alcohol in his system. Either way, he wanted to go to his spot. Well, in truth, it wasn't 'his spot.' But the summer trips he came here with his mother and father; and sister too, it was always 'his spot,' or so his mother said. He went back to Petra, grabbed a bottle of vodka and stormed up the hill not waiting for anyone.

He peeled back the plastic seal of the bottle and opened up the bottle, taking a large swig, and followed up with the usual deep breath that chilled his mouth and throat. He moved his way and continued to the top of the hill, passing his way through the campground as a shortcut, now considering he was by himself; trying to be as quiet as he possibly could to not disturb vacationers.

Finally after a bit more of walking, stumbles and a face plant, Eli reached the top of Mt. Black Jack. He plopped down on a rock, over looking the canyon down the way he came. The bonfire rather visible, but maybe the size of a light bulb, and the party goers around it. But that wasn't the reason he came here for. He took another swig of the vodka, and he laid back on the rock and looked at the sky. He scanned the stars that littered the sky and smiled, reminiscing of the times he'd sit in his mothers lap on this same rock looking at the same stars. "Hi mom..." He whispered to himself finding the big dipper in the sky.