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 Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:14 pm
  Kitchen
Flour dusted nearly every surface of the kitchen; the counter, the floors, knobs on the cabinets… everything. It also had made its way into her dark tendrils poking out from behind the handkerchief on her head. It, and the white line on her cheek might have been endearing if it weren’t for the other pieces of wreckage scattered throughout the room.
Glancing around, hazel eyes darted back to Daylia before landing on the latest culinary disaster. The whipped cream she’d tried to make had congealed into a paste. “Well, I think that one went better than the last attempt..” Her focus trailed back to the stacks of bowls already in the sink - some of them still smoking with the remains. She had already burned two cakes, made a cake-soup, splattered what was supposed to have been buttercream icing on the ceiling (which still occasionally dripped down onto the tile with a nice ‘splat’ sound). The fried chicken had been even worse - and her panic of throwing it away had melted the trash bag to the can.
Sighing, she pulled the laptop closer to her and restarted the video. “Why am I even bothering trying to learn from Gordon Ramsay? This was a complete waste of money. I told you we should have started with ‘Cooking for Dummies.’” She said disdainfully. Hooking a thumb back to her chest, her eyes glittered with the truth. “I’m definitely a dummy. It’s a wonder that I didn’t kill Bruce when I tried to cook for him.” Pursing her lips, she thought about it for a second. “Actually, it’s too bad I didn’t try a little harder to kill him.” She said earnestly.
Tired of trying herself, she let out a deep breath. “I think I should give it up while I’m still within sight of the topsoil.” She clicked the laptop shut, dusted off her hands and searched her best friend’s face. “I can’t be trusted in the kitchen. We really just ought to find another Alpha to force into being our short-order chef.”
And just as soon as she suggested it, who but an Alpha walked passed the kitchen. “And here’s our contender.” She murmured, hopping up from the bar stool to chase after him.
Poking her head out into the hallway, she called out to him. “Hey! You! It’s” She tried to remember the boy’s name. “Abe, right?” Something like that anyway. “We need your help in here.” Fluttering her eyelashes, she shot him a coquettish smile intentionally made to make his knees weak. “Would you mind helping some pretty girls out? I got this tutorial and it just keeps going wrong.” Her pout should have been illegal with as effective as it was.
Sauntering up to him with a lithe sway of her hips, she pulled at his arm and hooked hers into it at his elbow. Leaning into him, she amped up the Southern Belle charm as though it had never been shut off. "Someone able bodied like you will surely do better than me. What do you think Daylia? Is he the right man for the job?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 4:21 pm
  The gym ended up being a common place for him. Whatever her real intentions, Katerina had conditioned him to look forward to the gym, which had the effect of joining Charlie more often than he usually did. The sparring sessions he had with the Alpha constantly proved to him that he wasn’t such a badass outside of his mutation, and he decided to start getting into shape. Honestly, the decision wasn’t that hard: often times, he’d get restless and usually worked it out via marathon runs around the base, or somehow convincing one of the other Omegas to play fetch with him without revealing it was actually fetch via a poorly disguised “reflex exercise” excuse. His animalistic side had gotten more involved in his daily life, and if it didn’t demand more food eaten, it was more activity, so lounging in his room wasn’t really an option unless he suffered a pulled ligament or some other minor injury that required some light napping.
However, form and poise wasn’t really his game. That was Charlie and Katerina’s thing: they knew how to move around and use people center of inertia or whatever it was called in battle. Even if Kat had tried to get him to be more coordinated in fights, he doubted that there wasn’t much that could stand a few repeated blows from him. Even out of his transformed state, he had higher than average strength, even if his physique didn’t give off that impression. Of the two, Charlie definitely had better muscle definition and had the Adonis body type, but Christian’s muscle structure hid a powerful system, one that could grow stronger with more conditioning. So while Charlie took a more well-rounded workout regime that improved his capabilities, Christian focused more on strength building. That meant lots of weights, something that usually garnered attention when one ended up benching a large amount of weight in one exercise. Of course, there was always the school lecture he’d received from Charlie concerning exercise safety with weights, culminating in refraining from “showing off” via unsafe amounts and a lack of spotter for the heavy duty stuff. Naturally, Charlie and Christian were each other’s safety buddies during said exercises.
This morning was a little different. For one, Christian got ready much faster than Charlie did, most likely due to their shenanigans last night that nearly got them in trouble. Long story short, Charlie and Christian might have gone to bed nursing a few bruises and battered bodies from broomstick jousting with pillow armor. Thanks to his mutation, Christian only needed some sleep for his body to heal up whatever damage had been done to him. Unfortunately, lacking the same regenerative qualities he did, Charlie was more sluggish in the morning, prompting Christian to head out faster than Charlie. Even without him, the gym had become routine, so he decided to get in some of the more tedious reps out of the way.
There weren’t many people in the gym at first, but he didn’t pay much attention to it as he grabbed some dumbbells and worked on some bicep curls. The weight amount wasn’t impressive, but he kept himself doing steady reps of them. It wasn’t the most intense or exciting exercise, but he had to start with something. By now, the stench of sweaty gym people started to become very noticeable, and he was beginning to pick up scents of people whose scents he had already learned. None of them were really that noticeable, so he stayed in his own little bubble and kept focused on his lifting. Eventually, he tired of it and moved on to something that always seemed to get intense: the bench press. This was one of those routines that Charlie harped on about safety, in that it required a spotter and that he shouldn’t bite off more than he could chew. Unfortunately, that warning was a distant whisper as he loaded up an impressive but visually concerning amount of resistance.
He lifted the bar and immediately felt the challenge. His mind went through the proper technique Charlie showed him, trying to engrave the soles of his shoes into the floor and keeping his torso steady. It wasn’t the most professional form, nor was he looking like the poster child of weight lifting, but the bar was rising and lowering, and he hadn’t broken his rib cage yet. He must have been doing it right so far.
He was pretty sure that any strength improvements he made in his human form carried over to this transformed state, but he wasn’t sure it was the same the other way. He almost considered dipping into his werewolf form when he was approached by a feminine form, asking if he brought a spotter. His form didn’t slow, but with a strained look, moved his gaze to the woman greeting him, the visage of Isabella Stone, Leader of the Alphas greeting him. There was something about her that he felt like he needed to remember, but it wasn’t coming to him immediately. He expression softened just the slightest, but it just as quickly went back to stress. “He’s late.” he nearly wheezed out, steeling himself as he let out slow breaths. She offered to help him out, acting as Charlie’s stand in. “Yeeeeah, my original spot buddy woulda said that too.”
She must have been nervous about something, because she seemed worried about talking too much. He slowed down and gave off the least confident chuckle. “H-hey, if you wanna help, I’m not gonna stop ya. Safety first! I tend to get carried away.” he reasoned, his form faltering slightly at his slower pace and his longer response. His eyes returned to the bar and his grip tightened. “You scratch my back, I’ll try not pull a joint scratching yours, and stuff.”
He was glad that got a laugh outta her, despite how his tone was not full of energy. He got two more reps done before he shakily shelved the bar and let out tired breaths as he felt his arms and chest pulse with strain. He wanted to make sure Bella was ready before he started a new set.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
Flabbergasted at the apparent disbelief in his performance, Christian tilted his head up to Isabella. “Hey, mutation or not, I thought I did pretty good!” he said, surprised that Isabella had such a strict coach mentality. However, he saw that she wasn’t looking at him, but somewhere across the room. He followed her gaze, and fell upon a frightening familiar form of...Isabella. Only, it wasn’t in some reflection: this other Isabella was caught up in some other routine with Roland and Aurelie. Immediately, his mind went to one name: Katerina.
Except. His eyes went back to the Isabella that was with him. The shapeshifter had the tendency to get close to him in someone else’s form and spook him. Lately, it’s made him very paranoid of anyone who approached him. He sniffed the air in a single whiff, as if trying to relearn the scent. “...is that you, Kat? I’m surprised you didn’t drop the bar on me by sitting on it or something.” he said, crossing his arms. “Not that I wouldn’t have entirely appreciated the view, cause that’s one hell of a way to bench press.”
He’d found her out. Sure, she didn’t smell like Kat, but she could have hid it with with the smells of the rest of the room, because he couldn’t smell her at all right now. He’d take in this small victory and gloat right here. “Might have gotten me if you came as Charlie though. Don’t do that though: that’s like three nights of not being able to look Charlie in the eyes.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 6:24 pm
Aʆєxaηdra Ӎaʀiʆèηє AgηèȿCodename:Flairer ❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀ (()) Aren did have a point. She hadn’t expected to find herself living underground either when joining the X-men. “I might have still come along knowing such.” She admitted before faintly shrugging. “But, I think I really would have if I found my head looking like one of those voodoo dolls.” She tried to jest at the fact Aren admitted to one of his goofy transformations. “How did you ever stand that?” The idea of her head double the size or insanely small felt unnerving.
She listened to the way Aren spoke of his childhood. His tone made her heart clench a bit. Poor guy. “Exploring always has intrigued me. I always wanted to know what was on the other side of a door. That kind of thing.” She smiled over at him. “I can only imagine the idea of exploring vast lands instead of a building.” Alex furrowed her eyebrows briefly before slowly moving her limbs into a yoga pose called the Tree. “Think I would have been terrible at the other two things you mentioned.”
Okay, doing this pose might have not been the best idea. Her right leg that held her up trembled and she wobbled slightly from side to side. She tried to keep herself still as best as she could. Luckily, Aren’s remark distracted herself from the bodily strain. Her cheeks briefly reddened before chuckling. “You are right. It is a bit surprising.” She rested her left leg back on the ground. Enough of that. “But, we should probably be grateful the former hasn’t happened yet.” The latter she couldn’t vouch for not happening.
At least Aren was honest. She giggled at the way he looked so displeased right now. “You better have good…ninja skills then.” It took her a moment to recall the name of those Asian stealthy people in the TV shows. “Otherwise, she might catch you.” Narcissa really did unnerve her and made her wonder if the woman had such capabilities. She never wanted to find that out personally.
Her giggling only increased at his actions. “Hmmm…maybe it would be best you stay as silent as a church mouse then.” She glanced around slightly and tried her best to mimic the loud whisper. “Or just find a way to turn invisible.” She smiled before tapping chin. “If you can’t do any of that, well…. then you better pray Lady Luck is on your side.” Considering she had no idea what Narcissa was doing, she only assumed that wouldn’t be too hard….right?
“Though, you sure you shouldn’t be more worried about getting caught around an Alpha?” She tilted her head slightly to the side while moving her arms above her head. “She might flambé you for that.” ❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀ "We will drink our fill of Alpha
Then, of golden sunshine that spills into Simulation Room
Till our brains intertwine with Aren"
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Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:07 pm
Rectify Dorm Room - Lachlan's Room  The simulation gone wrong and getting hacked by one of the alphas aside, things at the academy base had been pretty routine. Of course, the punishment for technically disobeying the rules of the simulation had also been another event that strayed from the ordinary, although it hadn't been a particularly pleasant one.
Growing up on a farm, however, had made Lachlan no stranger to hands on work at the crack of dawn. Every year his stack of responsibilities had grown,
his contribution expected to be made without a fuss. His parents had relied on him to help keep things running, and that's exactly what he'd done ever since he could remember. There was a part of him now that even felt guilty for having gone so far away from home. His parents still needed the help but they knew he needed the help this academy would provide him with more.
One day, though, once he was satisfied he wouldn't harm another individual, he planned to settle back down on the farm, become a simpleton that would fade into the background once again. Lachlan didn't really have any visions of grandeur or plans for greatness, he simply wished to help others and naturally that list included his family, who he owed more to than he could ever hope to sufficiently thank them for.
It was for that reason, along with the fact he didn't trust himself not to hurt someone, that he hadn't really made much of a point of making too many friends or getting particularly close to anyone (Bella being an obvious exception to his typical pattern).
So naturally, when the gentle giant awoke to the unfamiliar sensation of a foreign individual assailing his personal space by means of snuggling up to him, a hand dangled overtop of his shoulder and against his chest, he was eons away from being pleased unlike a lot of young men his age might be.
Grace would not be the word used to describe his reaction to the intruder in his bed. The moment Lachlan became conscious enough to realize someone was in his bed with him, he instantly panicked, immediately throwing his arms up in the air as if he'd heard the police order him to do so. The gentle giant's lunge was so sporadic that the momentum managed to throw the unassuming farm boy right off the edge of his bed.
"Wha-" he exclaimed, half dazed, clearly disoriented and confused until a small glimmer of clarity made its way into his eyes upon investigating who was occupying his bed, "Eden? What are you doing here? How did you get in here? Oh my God, you scared the living daylights out of me, not to mention you could have gotten yourself killed."
Lachlan was still seated on the floor drawing heavy breaths, waiting for his heart rate to kick it down a few notches. He'd run marathons where his heart had been less rampant than it was now.
As opposed to babbling on and making a further fool out of himself, the gentle giant chose to remain seated on the floor and await the bubbly floating woman's explanation as for why she'd broken into his room and crept into his bed.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 5:53 am
Is there any just cause for feeling like this?
On the surface I'm a name on a list.
I try to be discreet but then blow it again.
Code Name: Siren
Team: Alpha
Location: Gym
Ability: Sound Manipulation
Thinking: Why me? █║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌│║║█║█║▌│█║▌│║║█║█║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌│║║█║█║▌│█║▌│║║█║   Not for the first time, or the last, Isabella felt like she was mothering too much. Maybe she did worry more than she needed to. But, she’d rather be thought of as boring and conservative versus ignoring something that could possibly go terribly wrong. Emerald eyes watched Christian raise and lower the metal bar with what appeared to be a bit of difficulty. Then again, most men in the Academy that she saw trying to do that, would probably have dropped it on themselves by now. There were a few exceptions of course but the strained look on his face left her wary. “You should have waited for him silly. That, or tried some cardio. Cycling is boring but hill settings are your friend. Sprints are good too.”
The songstress fell in to place at the head of the bench and positioned herself in such a way that she could take a fraction of the weight from the Omega if necessary. She wouldn’t have been able to lift the barbell alone but between the two of them they should be able to keep it from crushing him and help get it notched back on the shelf. She took a wide stance with one foot forward and one foot back. Stability and balance were the key to being an effective safety net.
“You don’t want to overdo it. When you do too many exercises in a session or lift too much weight too long you start receiving diminishing gains.”, she murmured softly, trying to advise, while at the same time, not distract him. He slowed down and chuckled a little which led her to believe that he didn’t mind her offered assistance. The twisting helix of nervousness that had wrapped around her spine slowly ebbed away. She smiled sweetly when he agreed that safety was important. “Glad to hear it.”
“Some guys can be complete boneheads.”, she spoke with a silvery laugh. That was an understatement. Some men didn’t like taking advice from women in general let alone in the gym. Isabella was no expert but she’d been around the block enough to have picked up a few things. Working with the X-Men and living at the Academy had taught her the advantages of physical fitness. It was far easier to hold her own when she knew for a fact that she could.
He shelved the bar and she waited patiently, making sure she was situated properly, while he took the time to breath. That moment of relaxation was enough to distract her from the task at hand. Hearing her own laugh from across the room set her overly sensitive ears on fire. The words ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ fell out of her mouth before she could stop them. Christian thought that she was referring to his work out and she shook her head. “No—You were doing fine. That wasn't directed toward you.”, she reassured kindly, despite her irritation. She tried very hard not to grind her teeth together as her typically non-existent temper rose. Counting to ten, even breathing, she could feel her hands clench tighter.
What, exactly, was Katerina doing with her face?
Her attention turned back to the werewolf when he breathed in deeply before asking if she was the shapeshifter in question. She didn’t realize that he was analyzing her scent. The sound user sighed and shook her head to indicate that she wasn’t. “No. I’m not her—“, she began, before feeling her cheeks turn pink when he commented on the view, “I would have never added more weight. Especially like that. It would be irresponsible and dangerous.”
Isabella was confused. Did Katerina frequently appear to him as someone else? “Why wouldn’t you be able to look Charlie in the eyes?”, she asked curiously, the whole thing just sort of making her head hurt. She wasn’t sure what Christian was going on about and she was deeply concerned about what Katerina may have been doing in her stead. Nine tenths of the base wouldn't realize anything was amiss. There were others in the gym, including a new Alpha, Wraith, that she was concerned for. She didn't want him getting wrong impression because Katerina felt like pushing her buttons.
“Can you sit tight and give me a minute? I'm really sorry but I need to handle…”, she trailed off, mind completely blown, at how there really seemed to be no visible differences between Katerina and herself. The illusion was just as solid as that which Mystique created.“That. There can’t be two of me running around.”
Isabella sighed deeply as she headed toward the blue training mats where Aurelie, Roland, and Katerina were. “No puedo creer que sea así. ¿Por qué yo?...”*, she mumbled under her breath, feeling her muscles tense, despite the desire to keep things peaceful. As she got closer she could see Leo’s watch around the other girl’s wrist. If it weren’t for that she might have let it go. Seeing the accessory on someone else, even if it looked like her, hurt her already breaking heart. (*I can’t believe this. Why me?)
It was one of the only things she had left of him.
She didn’t think that Roland saw her coming since he had his back to her. That would change, when she cleared her throat gently to interrupt, and waited for him to finish his sentence. She was once again left with the impression that he was a nice person that got a bad wrap. It made her think even better of him than she already did that he was willing to work with a couple Alpha’s when asked. Some Omega's wouldn't risk Narcissa's fury. “Whatever this is…It’s over. Please give it back.”, Isabella voiced quietly and politely as she held her hand out. She didn’t want to fight with the shapeshifter despite the invasion of privacy. She never had. Her eyes flickered briefly over Aurelie. It bothered her, a little, that she was part of this. There was no way she didn't know the truth. Why she couldn't see how cruel her friend was completely blew her mind. She was caught by the dichotomy of being glad they had each other versus the notion that they were toxic together.
“I would also appreciate it if you would return to normal. I’m not comfortable seeing two of myself.”
Katerina would know exactly what she wanted. She would probably also understand that that seeing a mirror image of herself was freaky.
She just probably wouldn’t care.
█║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌│║║█║█║▌│█║▌│║║█║█║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌│║║█║█║▌│█║▌│║║█║ I've lost and found, it's my final mistake.
Loving by proxy, no give and all take.
I should have walked away.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:20 am
  
Gym
Katerina couldn’t help a feeling of territorial possession. It burned her, through and through, that Stone thought she could interact with Christian so freely. He didn’t need her influence. Not after she’d put so much effort in to making him more than what he was. The sound user had a way of ruining the fiercest of men and making them little more than mewling kittens. Hostile X-21 was a prime example, followed by Rossi, and sure was sure there was a countless list of others. She wouldn’t let the dark haired harpy destroy Christian too.
Aurelie supplied the notion that Christian was her friend, and therefore the reason she was annoyed, to which the shape shifter felt wholly undecided. Watching the pair interact through eyes that were narrowed into slits she finally came to a decision and voiced her opinion. “You’re my friend. He’s my protégé.”
“One wrong word, one wrong lesson from her, and he’ll be just as domesticated as Rossi. I swear I will eat her before letting that happen.”
Her statuesque blonde best friend began to weigh in on whether or not ‘caring’ was appropriate but her swift shift into the Alpha Leaders body seemed to halt it. She caught her sarcasm and felt her smirk widen before replacing the nearly menacing expression with a saccharine sweet Isabella smile. “It’s perfectly all right. I don’t care at all. It requires far too much effort.”
Aurelie warned her not to do anything that would get her in trouble with the Senior X-Men and the shape shifter tested out a gentle laugh. It was almost perfect. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Ms. Nissley. I’m the golden child. I would never do anything wrong or get anyone into trouble. I’m such a squeaky clean prissy snob that I probably keep a swear jar.”
The shapeshifter grinned when Aurelie snickered about her assessment of the body she’d slipped into. She posed a little bit, before hopping up and down a few times, as if she needed to scientifically prove her point. It wasn’t like she could actually say anything nice about the Latina and not want to choke herself to death. “It’s just an observation. There’s just the right amount of wiggle.”
The massive hulking form of Roland arrived and Katerina couldn’t help but test her disguise. Aurelie followed along with the ruse, cute as a button, and it only made her feel emboldened. Her hesitation and aversion for making eye contact made it seem like there was a real reason that she needed to be working in the gym versus the scam they were running. Aurelie was the best wingwoman. Ever.
She waited as she imagined Stone would have, patiently, while Roland cracked his knuckles and considered her request to spar with them. He agreed and she beamed up at him. “Great. Thanks a bunch. I was hoping there would be someone around that might be willing to work with us.”
They made their way to the training mats, after Katerina nicked an item from the bench, and she pretended to listen raptly while Roland asked what they wanted to work on. The thought of attacking the giant man with a rear-naked submission made her laugh internally far harder than it should have. She opened her mouth to make a suggestion when Aurelie jumped in. She fought the urge to pout at her attempt to de-escalated stakes but maintained the perfect Isabella persona. “Going over pressure points would also be beneficial. I’ve heard that they can be just as dangerous, if not worse, than a submission hold. Especially if performed incorrectly.”
“As far as holds go…”, she trailed off, using the delay as pretense that she was thinking about their options, before responding. “I think that maybe an armbar might be a good place to start for beginners. I don’t know too much about them but it seems pretty common.”
Her words were punctuated with a reassuring smile meant to put Aurelie at ease. That was what the Alpha Leader had done on their last mission. Only, Katerina meant it. She wouldn’t let anything bad or painful happen to the telekinetic. Stone, on the other hand, had used her charms and false bravado to lure her team into a false sense of security before dragging them down a rabbit hole that led to a kill box. God, she was despicable.
Every hold that Roland had listed Katerina knew like the back of her hand. It had been her job to take targets down swiftly and silently. Guns were often too noisy. Poison, the Contessa’s true passion, as well as devastatingly trained agents were all too common. She smiled at Roland when he mentioned that triangle holds meant they were already in trouble. Oh, if he only knew.
“Here…I’ll go first. What should I start with?”, she asked the tall man with an innocent tilt of her head. It was right about then that she noticed Isabella was standing behind the Omega. That took her more time than she’d anticipated. One would think that she would want her precious cargo back in one piece. Katerina raised her eyebrows and took on a rather surprised expression when Stone called her out. “Give what back? I don’t know what you’re up to but you know Professor Summers wouldn’t like it.”
Her hands fell to her hips, an imagined stance that she thought the sound user might take when she was kindly scolding someone, and she shook her head. “Aurelie, if you don’t mind, please encourage your friend to stop playing games. It’s a little too early for this and we need to get some work done.”
The shapeshifter did her best to look gentle, yet stern, and reached up to brush wayward stands of dark hair behind her ear. If Christian got involved he might be able to tell the difference between them if he got close enough to really use his nose…But it would be very confusing for anyone else involved. She played the part of a concerned leader without immediately resorting to violence. There was nothing threatening in her stance or expression. Unless they were in the loop it was anyone’s guess as to who was who.
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:26 am
▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ⇡⇡ βehind these Ҫ A S T L E Шalls... IT'S SO EMPTY LIVING BEHIND THESE CASTLE WALLS IT'S SO EMPTY LIVING BEHIND THESE CASTLE WALLS IT'S SO EMPTY LIVING BEHIND THESE CASTLE WALLS XXXXXXXXX ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ⋱⋱ On top of the world is ß E A U T I F U L ⇣ ⇣ but ☼ there's no place to fall ▱ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱
◆ Team: Omega
◆ Codename: Solaris
◆ Location: Outside Sanctuary
Narcissa wasn’t one to complain when one of her misfit-children took it upon themselves to hit the gym and improve themselves. Yet, Blake being Blake gave her other reasons for concern. She recognized the signs of someone that was going through a traumatic event that left them grasping blindly for something to hang on to. From one spoiled brat to another she figured there was some sort of substance abuse going on when no one was looking, but truth be told, she assumed that to be true for at least half of the Omega’s. They didn’t know moderation. A little of anything was never enough.
Her drug of choice wasn’t exactly conventional but it still held true. She held an obsession that she couldn’t get enough of. Aren was a person, flesh and blood, but if she couldn’t have what she wanted, when she wanted it, she felt what she imagined withdrawal would be like. The blonde bombshell wasn’t sure if it was possible to become addicted to a person but she certainly understood co-dependency. Aren was just as affected as she was. It wasn’t healthy—but that was the point they’d reached.
Their relationship needed to end. She was a death sentence to any sort of gentle person. Aren didn’t deserve to have the goodness in him destroyed because she was entirely incapable of staying away from him. Their promises of being mature adults with self-control had to stay strong.
Had to.
She was sure that Blake was suspicious of her motivations for including him in her outing but the small woman gave nothing away. Lazy eyes turned towards him as she observed him sitting like a freezing child. She may not have been able to hear him shiver, or see him shake, but his posture said it all. “Admittedly…My team does have a few brutish dumbshells but they are still capable of following orders. It doesn’t matter if they’re let out of the cage. You needn’t worry. They’re still on my leash.”
In that regard, they would obey. No one on the Omega’s would jeopardize their location under her watch. Christian and Charlie were prime examples. They were complete idiots. They’d wanted to come to the surface for a bonfire but with a few concise words she’d dashed away that dream. They were thick but not so thick as to put the entire school at risk for a hot dog.
“Don’t be stubborn, Tanner.”, she admonished the Texan in lackadaisical tones that betrayed her usual need for intense control. He thanked her, but there was little acknowledgment of it. She wasn’t in the habit of letting her underlings remain stubborn when it was against their better interests. “If the suit isn’t enough two feet closer won’t kill either of us.”
The sunspot was silent when Blake eventually explained how he’d been coping with his heartbreak. Or not coping, as it were. Why were men so obstinate? It was as if they had some sort of block between rational thinking that they could never get around.
“Avoiding her, not dealing with it, bouts of violence, and compensating by finding the bottom of a bottle in your spare time sounds very healthy…”, she drawled slowly, charming british tones filled with very clear sarcasm. Narcissa ignored any hurt she may have heard for both their sakes. She didn’t understand softer emotions quite the way she should—and definitely didn’t know how to comfort someone without finding some kind of scorn in it. “How very country of you.”
“Or is it Texan of you? I’m reasonably certain that state is full of drunk, shot-gun wielding, rightwing crybabies… So really… You’d fit right in.”
Narcissa could feel his grin, and knew, he could probably feel the lack of bite in her tone. In her warped mind they were having what she considered to be a very civilized conversation. She was definitely aware of his frequent trips to the infirmary and his newfound anti-social tendencies but she was still trying to decide how to proceed. On one had he was more reliable than he had been. On the other, he was an emotional liability.
He mentioned that he wasn’t running, but that he was looking at law schools, and she remained silent as she processed the information. It was hardly surprising. His plans with the girl of his dreams hadn’t worked out so he seemed to be falling back to the stereotype. Her eyes narrowed a little bit as a certain level of disgust rolled through her. He was throwing a very girlish tantrum—just being incredibly low key about it. When launched in to the whole thing being his fault she sighed heavily as she reached up to run her hand through her hair. Did he even hear himself?
“I’m struggling. I’m going to need you to help me connect the dots…You’re basing your future off of one, barely worth it female, refusing to sleep with you?”, she questioned with a certain mote of incredulity, wondering when this particular Omega had become such a woman. “You mean to tell me that the entirety of your sense of self-worth was thrown out the window when she didn’t immediately give you her ring size?”
What GRADE were they in? Was this conversation really happening? Narcissa felt completely flabbergasted, which was a feat, considering it didn’t happen often. She looked over at him, back at the sun in the sky, and then back toward him.
“Isabella Stone is a shitty fighter. She’s trash, when it comes to leading, and her back bone is next to nothing. She’s average on the eyes and dreams about world peace and puppies. This IS the person that we’re talking about…Right?”, the Red Queen questioned, still feeling vague shock at the revelation. Perhaps others would have understood sooner but the Englishwoman had always been a little slow on the uptake when it came to matters of the heart.
She pulled up her sunglasses and glared at him, blue eyes intense, and unforgiving. “Grow the ******** up.”
There were so many words she wanted to toss at Blake in that moment that her head felt like it might implode. This was the most accurate she could hope for. Grow up succinctly began and ended her argument. All this time she’d assumed that Blake was just a little more mature than his peers since he always took the high road. Oh, she’d been so, so wrong.
“This has very little to do with her and everything to do with you. A relationship isn't a solution--It's evolution. Figure out your own sad sack problems before getting involved. Right now. You will sit and you will freeze your a** off until you decide to exit the land of feeling sorry for yourself."
Unlike some, Narcissa wouldn’t baby him. Blake, despite her reservations about his character and position on her side of things, deserved better than that. She wasn’t his friend. She wouldn’t just take his side because that was what she was supposed to do. He needed to take a good solid stock of himself. This whole debacle was his fault—but not for the reasons he delivered. He wasn’t wrong, despite her personal opinion, to want the alpha leader. He wasn’t wrong to hope that she might feel the same way.
He was wrong to place all of his value in the possibility of Isabella Stone saying “Yes”. She didn’t really get the whole attraction but she did know for a fact that it wasn’t fair. He was making all of their choices for the both of them. She knew this, because Aren had violated her wishes once, by taking choice away from her. One party making a personal decision alone was such a man thing to do. A selfish, shitty, man thing.
"Tell me, boy wonder, how you can hope to love her, or make her believe you do, if you clearly don’t care for yourself?”
☼- - - - - - - - - - 》 》
XXXXXXX IF I SHOULD TUMBLE; IF I SHOULD FALL; WILL ANYONE HEAR ME
XXXXXXX IF I SHOULD TUMBLE; IF I SHOULD FALL; WILL ANYONE HEAR ME
XXXXXXX IF I SHOULD TUMBLE; IF I SHOULD FALL; WILL ANYONE HEAR ME NO BODY KNOWS I'M ALL ALONE
LIVING IN THIS CASTLE MADE OF STONE
I'M TRAPPED INSIDE IT ALL
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:00 pm
 [ ʈ | ɦ | ҿ ➸ S | i | z | e | - | S | h | i | f | t | i | n | g ]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxOmega - Sim Room
He grinned at the idea of resembling a voodoo doll. “Actually the first time it happened, it was my arm. I looked like Morty when he gets that super arm in the episode making fun of Mad Max.” Clearly, he watched too many cartoons; Rick and Morty being a favorite. “My bicep was bigger than my chest.” It’d been a huge cause for concern, but instead of freaking out about it, he’d challenged his brothers to an arm wrestling match. 3 vs. 1.
They lost.
“I had dreams of being the world champion of arm wrestling.” He said, dimples prominent in either of his cheeks. “When my head shrank, it sounded like I was sucking on helium, so that was fun too.” Leaning back on his hands, Aren crossed his legs at his ankles. “You see, life is a gift. And sometimes there’s bad things, or things you just don’t like, but even in those things there is good. You just have to find it.”
Retelling bits of his childhood caused his heart to ache with homesickness. “The unknown can be so beautiful.” He said dreamily. “Not that any of it is a mystery to me anymore… I can walk through every acre of those mountains with my eyes closed, and never miss a step.”
The deep sounds of his chuckles reverberated through his chest when Alex guessed that she’d be bad at hunting and shook his head. “That stuff takes practice. And patience.” Pulling out an eagle carving from his pocket, he handed it to her. Even for just being two inches in height, the detail was remarkable and an obvious work of passion. “As for the woodworking… it requires a lot of the same. Plus a little vision. My tribal name means ‘Golden Eagle;’ I carry this with me so that I never forget who I am.”
She shifted to the reasoning for being in the sim room, and it dawned on him on just where he was. Chocolate eyes wide, he asked if she thought Narcissa would find out, voicing concerns of being subjected to training. “I have gotten pretty good at avoiding sim sessions… and homework.” He flashed a smile then, straightening his posture out of pride.
“You do make a good point…” Aren concurred, pretending to scoot away from the girl. “She’ll be able to smell you if I sit too close you know.” With a wink, the deadpan tone gave way. “Nah… I honestly think she only tries to pit us against each other because the rivalry pushes us to do better.”
[ N | a | t | i | v | e ] ▂▂▂▂▂▂ ▂▂ ▂▂▂▂xxxxxxxxxxxx  
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:21 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:28 pm
---------------------Eden Rhodes___________________________
-------------------------- AKA VEGA
----------------------------------------- ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪【 FLIGHT 】▪【 LACHLAN'S ROOM 】▪【 HANGING 】 ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 9:44 pm
Gabriel Byrne
Location: Kitchen
Thoughts: And the pestering begins… Two months had passed since the original bout of insanity with the training simulation, and he camped himself into a pattern. He had set up a secure connection with his family back in Nevada, and they sent him news about everything that was going on back home. He had an idea about the national news, the international news, but hearing about local stuff was nice. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, but about goofy stories involving the neighbors and the locals. How some idiot who couldn’t handle Vegas wound up in the Henderson’s backyard with no pants on. They woke him/cleaned him with the garden hose. But then things were not always humorous, they were in fact quite depressing. His parents were still hurting over what happened in New York, each taking it in their own painful way. His mother was attending church more and more, trying to find some way to explain it beyond the whims of a man who was frankly, psychotic. And his father had become obsessive in his work, taking on new clients and projects in rapid succession. He’d even been sending over some of his projects to young Gabriel, asking him to take a look and offer suggestions. Of course Gabe also understood them as Here, have a little fun with these type deals that he’d grown accustomed to. He remembered some of the other famous projects he’d slipped his way, the double-barrel Beretta, the Ruger modifications and even the suppressor he had to hand make, from car parts no less. It was always a bit of fun for him these projects. It was a shame that these were born from grief rather than their usually area of joy and fun. He had a tablet open running through the one idea his father had sent him. It was another weapon modification, this time finding a way to improve the accuracy of an AK-74 without compromising it’s reliability. The Kalashnikov family of rifle was a very interesting one, in that the rifle is surprisingly durable. It can be thrown into the sands of a desert, trudged through the muds of a monsoon, kept out in hard rain, and all you would need after is to shake the rifle out, run some grease through the barrel and it’ll fire like it had been pulled out of the shipping crate. Whatever the hell Kalashnikov did to make this weapon so remarkably hardy lead to a sacrifice in accuracy. It’s considered “good enough” to be able to hit the torso of a grown man at 300 yards, that just wasn’t quality accuracy. For the US military, it was just the bare minimum that they’d allow a weapon to be utilized. That would not do for this particular client. So he perused the plans, looked at the design ideas and what could be a possible avenue of doing this. It was a tricky puzzle, because chances are they’d have to modify and or completely replace the entire guts of the weapon, what makes it go “boom!”, but that would likely compromise it’s durability. Quite a conundrum indeed. He figured he was going to need a meal or two before he could really put some thought into it. A couple of oven ready pizzas and a burrito might do the trick. So he made his way to the kitchen, perusing his tablet on the idea, the thought of food hitting his gut making his mouth water. Of course he was now being dragged into the kitchen by one of the Omegas (Gracie) and being asked if she could help her and her friend with making food. Apparently it wasn’t going so well for the two of them, judging by the mess he saw. Taking a moment he stepped back. “It’s Gabe, or Gabriel.” he said, not with much in the way of anger, just matter of factly, “And this…” he said, gesturing to the mess before them. “Sounds like a you problem.” he finished. Looking at the freezer, he gently untangled himself from her grip, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have my own meals to prepare.” quickly making his way to the fridge he opened it up and let his fingers dance in the air as he picked out what he needed. Much as it may have made some of the more health-conscious X-Men vomit, the staff recognized Gabriel’s high caloric needs and prepared accordingly. Stocking frozen, easily prepared foods like pizza that had a high calorie content. This obviously was only part of his nutrition, which he supplemented with vitamin packs that kept his levels in the green. But at the end of the day, he needed the calories. Quickly grabbing a couple of DiGiorno pizzas, he contemplated grabbing the ingredients for a burrito from the fridge but held off on it. He opened the oven, throwing the pizzas in and set the oven to 350 degrees. He sat down at the table, perusing through the modification tasks that his father had sent him. His stomach growled as he kept on looking at the work before him. OOC: Lemme know if there’s any problems!
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:02 pm
Aʆєxaηdra Ӎaʀiʆèηє AgηèȿCodename:Flairer❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀ (()) “Morty huh?” She tried to sound like she knew what he was talking about, but her slightly dumbfounded expression probably gave away to not having watched that show. “You might still be able to be the arm wrestling champion. You never know.” Aren didn’t look out of shape to her. For all he knew, he might be quite strong.
Her eyes widened slightly before giggling. “I probably should not have laughed there, but you sounding like you are on helium just is….too funny.” She took a deep breath and focused her mind on the pitch of her voice. “I mean you could say every insult in the book while sounding like that and you still would have probably got some laughs out of people.” Her pathetic imitation of sounding like someone on helium stopped as soon as she finished her statement. Her fingers rubbed against the skin of her threat. “Not doing that again.”
Aren kept on, making her come to know more about the way he viewed life. She smiled faintly but warmly. “You truly do have a nice view on life.” She admitted to him. “I bet if a lot more people had that view, it would make things better.” For if good could be found even in suffering, then even the hardest of times would be easier to withstand.
“That is pretty impassive.” She glanced up at the fake sky above them. “I feel knowing how to navigate my home with my eyes closed would only be a fraction of knowing how to navigate a landscape like that.” Alex tilted her head while looking away from the sky now. “Did that take practice? You know, to memorize it so well? Or did it just come naturally over time?” She couldn’t stop herself from wondering if there might be some truth to some people just being really good navigators.
Alex nodded along with a brief and faint chuckle. “You are right.” Then again, she wasn’t even sure she could get herself to kill an animal. But, circumstances of starvation might make her change her mind. She sat down as he handed an eagle carving to her. Gently, she took it and kept it resting in one hand while using the fingers of the other to trace along the craving.
“Did you make this?” She looked up from admiring the way the wood truly resembled the eagle. “I am starting to think you are a man of many talents.” She smiled slightly before handing it back to him. Such a valuable object deserved not to be accidently broken by potential clumsiness. “How did you come to have the name Golden Eagle? I do not quite understand how that works.” A faint frown showed on her face. “And I do not think I should try and base how you were given your name on television and movies.”
Aren probably had gotten good at avoiding things for all she knew. The rumor mill made it sound like some of the precautions on the previous simulation had been because of Aren and his friend’s tendency to ditch or mess around. She always did her best not to assume though. “Once again, you are just proving you are very talented.” She remarked before half joking about Narcissa flambing him.
Who knows if the Omega leader would spare her own team such a punishment?
“And I am guessing you could not get the scent off no matter how many showers you take huh?” She went along with the joke before blinking and tilting her head. “You think so?” Alex found herself looking out towards the fake horizon of outstretched grassy plains. “I mean, I could see how that would work, but…she does seem to act like us Alphas got something wrong with our heads.” At least, that was the impression she got the few times of being around the Omega leader.
“Or maybe I am just not understanding her mindset.” She said honestly with a faint sigh. “If I usually was not so unnerved by her, it would be nice to ask her about her thought processes. But…I have a feeling she would only indulge a Red in such talk.” Alex now pretended to scoot closer to him. “Maybe I could trick her if I smelled like an Omega.” She chuckled. “You think that would work?” ❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀ "We will drink our fill of Alpha
Then, of golden sunshine that spills into Simulation Room
Till our brains intertwine with Aren"
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Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:00 am
▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ⇡⇡ βehind these Ҫ A S T L E Шalls... IT'S SO EMPTY LIVING BEHIND THESE CASTLE WALLS IT'S SO EMPTY LIVING BEHIND THESE CASTLE WALLS IT'S SO EMPTY LIVING BEHIND THESE CASTLE WALLS XXXXXXXXX ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ⋱⋱ On top of the world is ß E A U T I F U L ⇣ ⇣ but ☼ there's no place to fall ▱ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱
◆ Team: Omega
◆ Codename: Solaris
◆ Location: Outside Sanctuary
“Fair enough…”, she responded loftily to the auburn haired popsicle-man in regards to not wanting to hear her scold the children. Truth be told, if the blonde could avoid it from time to time, she might have. Yet it felt like the second she gave them a little breathing room they were getting banned from field work and fighting in the halls. Or, drinking down bottles of whiskey because an Alpha bint broke their widdle heart.
Blake insisted that he was fine, to which, she merely rolled her eyes. Of course he was. Her golden head shook slowly when he mentioned that he was registered as an independent. “Of course you are.”
Narcissa remained unmoved when the good ole boy insisted that his infatuation with Stone wasn’t about sex. His expression seemed genuine enough…But the Red Queen didn’t really believe in unselfish motivations. Even if he didn’t want her in the immediate biblical sense, he still wanted her with him, and no one else. He didn’t seem the type that would be willing to share. “There are very few people that I don’t get a rise out of. The entirety of the human race is driven to eventual debauchery on instinct and a need to procreate. My opinion wasn’t formed from Aren and it isn’t exclusive to men. It’s just nature.”
She listened when Blake began to run through the Alpha Leaders more admirable qualities. Whether or not she accepted his words was anyone’s guess. At the very least, she heard him, with minimal eye rolling and disbelieving facial expressions. That was more than most people got. “I understand what she is.”, the small woman responded after a moment, neglecting to clarify, as to what she meant. The ever kind sound user, to start with, was everything she wasn’t. Most assumed that she simply loathed Isabella Stone for the sake of hatred. Because her blood boiled in the presence of an Alpha. Because their leading practices were different.
The reality of it was much simpler. Basic, in every sense of the word.
Part of her bristled when Blake brought Aren into the conversation. He wouldn’t know enough to realize the land mine he’d accidentally stepped on. Blue eyes seemed to grow cold in the bright morning sun, but she didn’t comment on it, and internalized a biting remark. She was required to keep appearances when it came to Aren Aquene. She couldn’t let the Texan know that he’d essentially hit the nail on the head. Save, she wasn’t sure what to think about love. Traditionally she scoffed at the concept. It was a series of chemical reactions that drew people toward one another.
What she felt for the blackfoot native seemed too big, too consuming, to be trivialized by such a tiny and overused word. People threw it around without meaning. Without really understanding the depths of what it could be. She loved a pair of shoes. She loved her favorite lipstick. She did not simply ‘love’ the size shifter. She would do anything to set him free—if she knew how. He didn’t deserve to be bound to her in this way. To suffer and feel beholden to her every want and whim.
“I keep around a lot of things. Useful, things. Aquene is useful.”, she drawled after a moment, refusing to let emotion or any sort of tenderness color her responses. There was no way in hell that the one sided relationship between Isabella and Blake came close to whatever it was between herself and Aren. It was cute that he thought to make the comparison but it just wasn’t accurate. “Just so we’re clear…Falling in love, setting aside how I personally feel about it, wasn’t the stupid part.”
“You keep misunderstanding me. I’m not sure if it’s willful ignorance or if there’s some kind of disconnect because of my accent. I told you to grow up. That doesn’t involve keeping the horse blinders on while you bury yourself in misery. You keep trying to childishly shoulder the blame for every little thing. Regretting every decision that brought you here.”, Narcissa trailed off as she tried to find the proper words to explain her reasoning. Aren was so much better at these kinds of things that she was. “You shouldn’t. For most of it…There is no fault. No blame. It simply is what it is. You can’t help what you feel. The sooner you accept it the better.”
He tried to explain that he was getting better at leaving the island of lost boys and pity parties but the golden haired woman wasn’t so sure. It was hard to believe him when it didn’t sound like he believed it himself. Blake used one of his country-boy similes and she gave a long suffering sigh. Why did he do this to her? “Speak English. You lose IQ points every time you slip into the sound box of a hillbilly southerner.”
Blake went on to wax and wane about how his one true love was impossible now. He was like a bad black and white romantic film. Once again, she wasn’t sure if he knew how absolutely ridiculous he sounded. “Do you realize how many times you’ve used the pronoun ‘I’ in this conversation?”
“First of all…Hold the phone. Gideon showed up when we were teenagers. So you’ve been sitting on your hands way longer than I care to think about. You supported her, held her confidences, using the guise of platonic friendship and of course selflessly never told her how you felt.”, she tried to organize the details of this debacle in her head. The timeline was wonky, and the more she understood, the less and less she could regard Blake as an adult. Everything he’d done thus far seemed to belong to the actions of a chicken s**t kid that didn’t like to share his toys. “Your sad excuse for logic is giving me a bloody headache…”
“You’re assuming far more than you have the right to. You assume that now she understands. You assume that she never thought about it. You assume that since you let your feelings show…You’re suddenly a bad person? That you just weren’t good enough?”, she pointed out, listing things off on her fingers as she went, squelching the desire to go on and on. “Believe you me…If a man didn’t make a move on me for the better part of six years…I would have friend zoned you too. Or decided that you were gay. One of the two.”
She was silent when he went on to clarify how grown he was. How everything he did—He did for her. The sun goddess sat up in the reclining lounge chair and came to her feet. Snow melted away where she walked and reveled green grass underneath. She bent down and scooped up two handfuls of cold white fluffy crap before molding it together so she could throw a sloppy melting snowball and Blake’s head. Missing the first, she bent down, and made another. She didn’t have much time to aim. It melted almost as quickly as she made them. She threw again, shaking off her wet hands with disgust. She hated cold things. “Hi. I’m Blake. I like to lie to myself.”
“Everything you’ve done from that moment on has been for you. You told her, for yourself, and you avoid her for yourself. YOU don’t want to see the pain in her eyes because it will hurt YOU. You can tell yourself whatever you want…But don’t bother lying to me.”, she spoke plainly as her arms crossed, her shapely hip cocked to the side. He had such nice guy syndrome. The blonde had heard about it before it had never assumed it was a real thing. And certainly not for a rich, attractive, son of a politician. She eventually made her way over to the man that sat in the show and stood in front of him. It was comical, almost, that such a frail creature could survive in such bitter conditions wearing next to nothing. The more skin that was exposed to the sun, despite weather conditions, the better.
“Let’s get one thing straight. You were right. Stone and I will never be friends. But if she is to you what Aquene is to me…You’re acting like a self-centered a**. Don’t prattle on about being a bad person. I’m a bad person. And yet, Aren would never do to me, what you’re doing to a good person.”, she informed him in a quiet tirade, cutting to the heart of the problem as swiftly as she could, without revealing the truth about herself. “She was your friend. Your best friend. God and Queen knows how long I’ve loathed the inconvenience of it…But here it is. Her team turned on her. She was in the infirmary for days.”
“And you…This person who loves her to the moon and back—”, Narcissa almost spat out, clasping her hands together in a damsel pose, while fluttering her eyelashes to mock the gesture, ”—You did the worst thing anyone could do. You left her alone.”
It was officially in her rather jaded opinion that Blake didn’t love Isabella as much as he thought. Aren and she had begun because he'd selflessly done what Blake was apparently incapable of.
For all of her faults and darkness...He hadn't left her alone.
☼- - - - - - - - - - 》 》
XXXXXXX IF I SHOULD TUMBLE; IF I SHOULD FALL; WILL ANYONE HEAR ME
XXXXXXX IF I SHOULD TUMBLE; IF I SHOULD FALL; WILL ANYONE HEAR ME
XXXXXXX IF I SHOULD TUMBLE; IF I SHOULD FALL; WILL ANYONE HEAR ME NO BODY KNOWS I'M ALL ALONE
LIVING IN THIS CASTLE MADE OF STONE
I'M TRAPPED INSIDE IT ALL
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Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:08 am
 Location: Pool
At times it was hard to believe she'd already been here for two months, some days dragged on due to the monotony of lecture after lecture, while others felt like they passed by faster than she could blink. All in all, though, the experience thus far had been a positive one, even if the thought of being cooped up inside had a way of eating away at her.
All the wilderness to be explored, all the fun possibilities being passed up simply because they were forced to live in fear. She'd heard stories here and there of the sentinel attacks, how formidable the constructs were considering they were specifically designed to eradicate mutant kind. That very fear was the reason her parents had decided this would be the safest place for her, some place where she wouldn't be exposed to the biased scrutiny of others for being different, some place she would hopefully be safer.
While safer was unarguably the better alternative, that certainly didn't make it the livelier option.
Knowing she was limited in her options, no matter how many the facility provided, just made her yearn for the ones that weren't available. She missed back home where she'd go snow boarding or skiing with her family or friends. She hadn't missed the snow when they'd flown in. Of course, she hadn't initially realized they were going to be confined to the indoors with no chance to experience outside.
There was a solid security system in place to trap them inside but Farren soon found her thoughts wandering back to some rumours and tales about the supposed simulation that had happened just before she and Chi-Chi had arrived. Someone had mentioned how one of the alphas had tampered with the simulation itself via his mutation. It lead the fighter to wonder if that meant this supposed alpha had the capability of lifting the system's measures long enough for her (and perhaps a couple others) to go outside.
Boredom could sometimes be dangerous in itself. Leaving a schemer like Farren alone with her own thoughts was always a potential recipe for disaster. She craved adventure just a little too much, had always liked taking the risks that others would rarely brave. Life, as many tended to say, was too short. Her time to live was now and this set up really didn't feel much like living.
Thoughts and boredom aside, the athletic adrenaline junkie decided her time would best be occupied doing something as opposed to entertaining possibilities. There was always another time for seeking out the alpha who potentially had the solution to her problem.
Today she'd decided she would venture down to the pool to take a quick dip. Of course, a dip for Farren involved numerous laps the length of the pool and back. She had a lot of excess energy the majority of the time and the only way to keep herself from bouncing off the walls was to keep herself busy with exercise.
Routine, however, wasn't something Farren was particularly fond of. Knowing what to expect was boring so her training regiment was rarely, if ever the same. Today she'd decided on the pool, a place she didn't normally frequent. Usually the gym was her go-to, her current hobby studying and training in wing chun.
While she was an mma fighter and knew full well that the applications of wing chun generally weren't able to be practically applied to most actual fighting scenarios, that didn't stop her from taking an interest in the art. The combinations and theory behind the technique still intrigued her. And while she was certain most would have difficulty applying it to an actual fight, part of her liked the challenge in it. Not every technique in wing chun was reactionary as many liked to presume, after all.
For now, though, she would focus on her pool laps. She wasn't a complete hard-a** about her regiment, considering she was wearing a simple blue bikini as opposed to a sporty one piece better suited to her purpose. Front crawl was her technique of choice as it required her to practice her strokes along with breathing, it took a bit more out of a person than leisurely doing a backstroke.
She already had a plan in mind for once she completed her laps as well, some under water resistance training. Holding her breath, seeing how long she could remain on the bottom of the pool, simple endurance exercises. Being able to hold one's breath for a decent amount of time was not a bad skill to have by any means as far as the kinetic absorptionist was concerned.
Farren's form was not completely flawless but anyone who wasn't a professional swimming critic would likely have a difficult time deciphering what she was doing wrong. While athletic, that certainly wasn't to say that Farren lacked grace. Her strokes were methodic, her breathing in sync, her focus unbreakable. If anyone took the time to watch, they would see the amount of intensity she put into her exercises. It was obvious this wasn't her first time around the training block.
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Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:19 am
Rectify Dorm Room - Lachlan's Room It was true Lachlan wasn't particularly comfortable around people, more so being within close proximity of them considering one of the last people he'd tried to help had wound up in a wheel chair for the rest of their life. As far as Lachlan was concerned, that was more than enough justification to be fearful of being physically near anyone. His capabilities were just too deadly to the ordinary individual. There were few without mutations or powers of their own capable of surviving being crushed by super strength. It wasn't a boast of superiority on his part, simply a cold hard fact. Most people's bodies weren't built to withstand the force he was capable of issuing.
Most people were fragile and all it took for Lachlan to accidentally hurt someone was to forget his own strength. He often felt like a bull in a China shop. It wasn't a very comfortable existence considering he was a very mindful bull who didn't want to accidentally break anything or gore anyone.
In Eden's case, his reaction hadn't been because he didn't like her or didn't consider her a friend. On the contrary, it had been because he was rightfully concerned for her well-being. She didn't seem to comprehend exactly how much danger she had potentially placed herself in. All it would have taken for him to crush her would have been to roll over forcefully in his sleep or thrash about from a nightmare. He couldn't count the number of beds he'd accidentally splintered since his mutation had decided to surface.
Lachlan sat on the floor, visibly flinching and grimacing as he watched Eden's head hit the ceiling. His panic had managed to create a chain reaction: him falling out of bed followed by Eden being startled herself and flying into the ceiling. Obviously Eden hurting herself or being startled awake had not been his intention.
As if he hadn't already felt guilty enough observing the scene, Eden called his name in visible distress as she rubbed her head. While some might have had an iron resolve where her pouting was concerned, in Lachlan's case it only served to further his guilt. Every gesture the girl made wracked at his heartstrings. He'd never meant for her to be scared or hurt.
Guilty puppy dog baby blues met Eden's chocolate doe eyes. "I'm sorry, Eden. I just had no idea that you were there and when I woke up I wasn't expecting anyone to be there, I didn't know what was going on and I freaked out a little."
There was a small pause as he gathered his thoughts and he mentally slapped him for forgetting to ask, "Are you okay?"
It was evident the gentle giant was a flustered mess. If the frown wasn't a dead giveaway then his disheveled head of hair and his delayed thought process certainly was. The way he was more insistent on apologizing than concerning himself with the fact his a** was still flat on the floor.
When Eden assured him she was okay, Lachlan allowed himself to feel some momentary relief. However, her gaze toward the ceiling as if she'd missed the implications behind his initial statement did trouble him and he decided to clarify to assure they were on the same page. She needed to understand why she'd been in danger. "Just so we're clear here: you were in danger because of me, not because of you. I have super strength that I can barely control while I'm awake, when I'm asleep there is no insurance policy that I won't crush you somehow. It's not something I care to admit but I've broken a few more bed frames than I care to admit ..."
His gaze then found the floor, as if he was ashamed of himself. In reality, he was. His inability to control himself had paralyzed someone for life and constantly put others in danger on a daily basis. Until he was able to control his strength to a satisfactory level, to the point where it was instinct as opposed to something he had to focus on, he would not let up on himself. Even if he did learn to control his strength properly, he couldn't take back the damage he'd already done. The last thing he wanted was to permanently damage another person, especially someone as bubbly and pleasant as Eden.
While some may have been enticed by how absolutely adorable and innocent the girl before them was and would have readily accepted her invitation, Lachlan was more than hesitant. When she invited him to come back to bed, the farm boy's response was a visible frown of uncertainty. Had she not heard a single word he'd just said? "Eden, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. In fact, I'm almost positive it's not a good idea. I don't want to end up almost hurting you a second time."
He realized that out of context the conversation would almost sound like he was a jerk boyfriend that was trying break up with or make excuses to his girlfriend. He shuddered at the thought of accidentally offending her and was quick to add, "It's nothing you did wrong, I'm just, I'm a walking, breathing hazard."
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