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Omega: Seaside Concert
It had been a long sobering experience for Varian. He wasn't sure of himself or of those around him anymore. He lacked faith in most of those around him and no one had been able to convince him otherwise. Maybe it was just seeing Narcissa the way she was, or maybe it was the consequence he had for suppressing the feelings of Carlos powers for so long. Those feelings mixed and churned with his own, had sent Varian to a silent state. It didn't cause him to regress, he was in a completely different state of mind, one that was new to him, one he was still trying to cope and understand. It was a whole new world now.

Narcissa wouldn't allow him to hug her, touch her, or anything. It didn't take long before Varian no longer wanted to try and help. Carlos made him sick, Narcissa had burnt heart, his brother was no where to be found. Once again he was lonely, and had no where to go. He refused to sit back and be a lonely child following the shadows of those that walked around him, he just wasn't sure where it was that he fit in at, and that was what he had to find. His place in this world that he had now been sat in.

He knew he could easily get along with Isabella. That could hold some merit and make him seen by Narcissa. They two seemed to have this... oil and water kind of relationship. Music always greeted and welcomed music. But he thought this to be unwise. He would rather keep himself to his own team for now. He had learned the value of teamwork and knew he had not found his place on this team yet, and he needed to do so.

He wasn't sure where many of his teammates were but he figured he could find a few of them somehow. When ever he played people did usually come. It wasn't that hard. And with the view of the beach and the sun, he could amplify the beauty to those who's ears were trained in music.

He had a new violin now, replaced the old broken beat up one he put together after the demon blasts. He still kept it; it was his war scar just as Alek had picked up on his body.

Varian was floating in the air, his shirt tucked into his back pocket, his flip flops on the ground where his feet were. The wind caught his trunks and tosses them here and there. The violin was tucked under his chin, his concentration on his instrument as he summoned sound by running the bow over the strings. The sound that was emitted was always beautiful and today was no exception. The only difference was the desperation for human contact in his music that was carried by the wind caused by the crashing waves.

Alpha: Trying not to have a panik attack.

Molly for the most part was tuning out the rest of the world her attention focused on the screen of her laptop as she typed away working on a report she had started before they had left for Limbo. The report was for a little pet project she wanted to try out. She needed to convince everyone else to let her do it though. She really wasn’t sure how long they had been here before she started to get that itch to actually leave the comfortably cool confines of her room to the sweltering heat of the outdoors. Molly tried hard to ignore that feeling that she should be out socializing with the others. They were at the beach most likely and the beach was connected to the ocean and the thought of going out there and looking into that endless plain of water twisted her stomach into a tight knot.

The clock continued to tick away the seconds and Molly found herself drifting in and out of focus and finally sighed heavily and sat up on her bed. Molly looked out the window gnawing on the inside of her lip and finally stood up. She put her laptop away and rifled around one of her bags before producing a book. She snagged her sunglasses and started out all the while telling herself that she didn’t have to go near the water in order to hang out with people. She didn’t even have to look at it. She could sit back on a beach towel in the shade and be visible without ever setting foot near the water. After all she couldn’t go swimming...she didn’t own a swim suit.

As she padded into the hallway and down towards the foyer Molly knew that excuse wouldn’t save her more than once, twice if she was lucky. She was going to guess that this place had a small store of supplies just for situations like that. Also she knew they had passed a few shopping centers between the airport and the condo. Finally outside Molly didn’t have to look far to find the rest of the people here. She could hear the commotion down at the beach. She stood there and looked around her mind starting to stall for time. Beach towel. She shook her head and walked around till she found where they were stored and helped herself to a light blue one. Tossing it over her shoulder Molly forced herself to walk towards the beach.

By the time she hit the sand her stomach was tied into a tight knot and the sweat starting to collect at her brow wasn’t from the heat. Molly licked her lips apprehensively and finally looked around easily spotting people on the beach. She spotted a few umbrellas with a few beach chairs sprawled under them and hesitated. They were closer to the water then she wanted to be. She took a deep breath. Come on Molly. It’s just sand...sand near water. It’s nothing to be afraid of...all you need to do is walk over to the umbrella and plop down under it and read. She tried to rationalize that with herself for several seconds. Finally she forced herself to walk towards the umbrella and didn’t stop for anything or anyone. Once there she picked a chair and threw her towel on it and settled into it and immediately buried her nose into her book keeping it between her eyes and the water. Just don’t think about it...just don’t think about it. Focus on the book... She thought to herself trying to force herself to relax.

Omega - Really?

Christian was snoozing the afternoon away rather peacefully, despite the heat’s best effort. Soon enough, however, his mind was filled with dreams of him back home and enjoying the company of his native surroundings. It was quite vivid to him, which made him wonder where he was. In his dream, it was snowy out and the powder was quite deep. Nearly half a foot so far, and it was still cascading down heavily. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. When he looked dead-on though, nothing was there. Further into his dream, he kept on moving. His pace was methodical and slow, like he was tracking the ultimate prey. That was when chaos set loose. A weird mesh of demons from Limbo and the soldiers who initially triggered Christian’s own ability came storming from the woods. Little did he realize that when he looked down, he was completely unarmed… that was until the same string of events happened that triggered his powers happened.

He was hit with five blasts from the soldiers energy rifles, as opposed to the singular shot. This time, he didn’t just level a quarter mile of the forest. He straight up decimated a good mile’s worth of foliage and the swath of destruction was at least fifteen yards wide. That was when he heard a violin strain in the background of the forest... that was when he forced himself to wake.

“Gotta lay off the churro,” Christian mumbled to himself as he yawned as big as a grizzly bear and stretched out just the same. He looked over out of the corner of his eye to the source of the music and saw Varian playing a rather sorrowful tune. With another yawn, Christian adjusted his hat to what one could construe to be the normal way to wear one and began to slowly stand up. The sun was burning bright, however it seemed he had been asleep for not long at all. The day was still rather young, and it seemed the beach was swarming with everyone who wasn’t inside the house.

After sticking true to his own guns for the most part, he finally decided to join the group. While he walked the short distance towards everyone else, he thought on the fact that this was one of the first times he’d been on the West Coast since he enrolled at the Institute. Even being a full day’s drive south of Seattle, he still felt somewhat at home near the Pacific Ocean. He just damned his own luck that he was still hurt and wasn’t sure if he could enjoy some time spent in the water. Maybe in a little while, but for now, he wasn’t yet fully awake.

The path he trod went towards where Raine sat while she read. He issued forth a quick greeting along with a friendly smile as he walked past where she sat. Christian was glad to see her again. In all the chaos of fighting demon hordes, he lost track of some people throughout the ordeal, and it was always a blessing to see familiar faces around. Especially the faces of those he considered to be a friend. He kept moving towards the closest pier where he saw a boat, which was a good thirty yards from the splash fight.

The moment Christian looked inside the vessel, he smiled brightly. There was a rod, reel, and a fully equipped tackle box. This was something he hadn’t done in a relatively long time and was rather anxious to try his hand at again. He didn’t even care if he couldn’t use his left hand at full capacity, he was only consumed with the thought of kicking back, relaxing, and catching his own meal for dinner. Maybe more for everyone else, depending on what he caught, the size of said fish, and if they asked nicely. Without a second though, Christian slid his boots from his feet and tossed them inside the boat next to the tackle box. A brief struggle later, and he had a spinner lure tied at the end of the line. Hopefully this would catch him something. If not, at least he could say he had a good relaxing time on the pier. With minimal effort, he cast the line as far as he could from the dock and sat down at the edge, his toes a good two feet from the surface of the water.

It didn’t take long for him to get a nibble and after a brief struggle, he reeled in a medium sized salmon. Judging by a gross estimation, Christian thought it was at least six pounds. That could be enough to feed someone for a good week, or a good amount of people for one meal. With nowhere to keep it alive, he decided it best to just throw it back. Then came another casting of the lure and another time to sit around and wait. Though he didn’t wait too long. Christian began to reel in another catch when he felt like he had hit a snag. Then, the reel’s handle began to wildly spin outwards instead of inwards, nearly hurting his good hand in the process.

A smile formed on Christian’s face as he caught the handle and stopped it from moving. However, there was a massive tug on the rod itself. “Crap!,” he shouted as he braced the rod with his left forearm and tried to reel in the fish. It was a fighter apparently, and Christian nearly lost the rod a few times before having to grab hold with his bandaged hand. He ground his teeth through the pain while fighting the animal at the end of the line. The morbid curiosity growing in his mind wanted him to find out what exactly it was he had caught. He was desperately trying to fight this thing, and became slightly awestruck when he saw a rather massive swordfish jump out of the water. That was something he had never caught, let alone seen before.

After a momentary struggle, Christian stood up on the end of the pier and began to fight back, reeling it in with all of the strength he could muster. Another mighty pull from the fish, and he felt himself slid a bit forward on the dock. He tried planting his feet, but soon remembered that he bootless; he’d get no grip at all. “…No… no…. no…,” Christian was saying to himself as he could feel his feet sliding further towards the edge of the docks. It seemed the fight was over as finally, when his heels were the only part of his feet touching the docks, the fish swam forwards with all of its might, dragging Christian straight into the drink.

A few seconds after being unceremoniously dragged into the water, Christian popped up and gasp for air. He was not expecting to see a swordfish, let alone have a fight with one. Nor was he expecting to be tossed into the ocean. When he looked out in the distance, he saw the fish’s dorsal fin crest the surface… with a rod trailing behind it by a considerable length. “Aw,” he said to himself as the only rod that was in the boat was heading off to sea.

Alpha: Heads Up!
After baking out in the sun long enough, Alek finally rose to his feet, his glasses covering his face. He stood up and looked out around him seeing his peers playing in the water or frolicking in the sand. He was wearing a pair of box cut trunks, they were like the new speedo... They were very Aleckzander Truth...

He looked over and saw Evie walking along side Bella and Gideon. He owed a lot to Evie, and he knew just the way to repay her. He could tell she was captivated by something. He recognized the look of being temporarily lost in ones powers. Its a look you start to learn when you around enough mutants long enough.

"Heads up!" He yelled towards Evie as a snowball collapsed onto her head. Alek stood there in the sun, a smirk across his face invisible against the silhouette that sun created against him. Beside his feet was an empty bottle of water. No doubt Evie would take chase, in this callus little game. She was faster and stronger, but she knew better than to touch Alek for to long, it would be a interesting game they could play. Maybe she could pin him in the sand, just like she did in the mud. The old Alek found it... miserable. The Alek Evie hasn't gotten to know, this new one was different. He was able to find fun in such things.

A snowball... on the beach, in the middle of the summer. It was very much the X-Man way to welcome someone back, or say thank you for saving me.

Alpha: Not yet ready... Too soon.

Bella gasped when she heard something large falling outside, only to realize who it was, moments before she heard the sounds of muscle and bone straining, almost breaking. Hairline fractures, that she knew would lace her best friends ankles, for just a few moments. She made a face as she heard it heal, sending her a playful glare. Evelyn was a sight for sore eyes… She wouldn’t bring it up to either of the two people in the bedroom with her, but her eyes grew sad, for just a moment. She missed the old times…. When playing pool and pulling pranks was all they had to worry about.

She missed being fifteen, and on top of the world.

She hid the look on her face with her usual smile, knowing that it probably still wasn’t soon enough for Gideon, or Evie. Ah, the downsides of dating someone and being friends with someone who was faster, stronger, and had all around better senses, skills, and reflexes than she did. Though she smiled… It didn’t quite reach her eyes. There was too much weighing her down. Not just the memory of Limbo… But the reality that was still waiting for them at some point. The reality was… That Isabella was barely sleeping, barely eating, barely breathing without feeling something was inherently wrong.

Bella shook her hair out and breathed out slowly, forcing herself to get out of her dark mood—A real smile replacing the fake. These were her friends, her best friends…She wasn’t going to waste this time off contemplating non-existent doom.

“He’s just been waiting to see what you’ll do first you know… I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of you end up in some kind of…Tropical island jail by the end of the night…”, Bella offered up saucily as she winked at Evie, hearing Gideon’s words about the beach.

Of course, no one would catch either of them, if they didn’t want to be caught… But the thought was amusing nonetheless. Besides…The last time they’d all been to the beach together, they’d both dragged her in, kicking and screaming in Genosha… She’d rather go of her own volition this time.

She turned away with an amused smile and grabbed her bag that she’d set by her feet and dashed into the walk in closet, pulling off her white dress, and on her swim suit. Over top the black strapless one piece she wore one of Gideon’s older shirts, white, button up. It came down to her thighs, and she considered that decent enough, considering they were going to be romping around together half naked anyway.

When she came out of the closet, she perched a pair of white Jackie Onassis sunglasses on her head and took the right arm that Gideon offered, a few towels in her left. No doubt Gid and Evie would forget them. She smiled and giggled at seeing her beau so happy—And with Evie they headed towards the beach.

That was, until, once outside on the sand—Bella heard something wet and slushy hit something. Her echolocation told her that something had hit Evelyn… And for two seconds she seemed to blur, her powers rolling as her hackles rose. And then she realized it was a snow ball. She heard Alek taunt her best friend… And she couldn't help it as her gaze went… Cold, at the sight of him…

Of course, he would forgive Evelyn—But not her, never her.

Isabella had dealt with the worst of his temper, the drinking, the whoring himself out, putting others is danger, the attitude… Keeping Narcissa from killing him… Had given him her blood, because she was a universal donor, and even though Evelyn had helped to seal his wound, he’d been in dire need of a transfusion. Even if he hurt her, she would protect him. Not to mention, she was the only one compatible, that had lost the least. Granted, she wasn’t sure if he knew the last part… But he knew what he had done to her over the past few months.

He knew exactly what kind of hell he had put her through, over, and over.

The things he had done, and hadn't cared.

Isabella couldn’t pretend that a near death experience had erased everything, like he had. She was no saint, having tried to be understanding, tried to be nice, tried mean... She had trie d everything... But what he had done was inexcusable. He was one thing, she couldn’t deal with right then… Not here, not when they were trying to desperately to be normal.

She looked at Evelyn coolly, unusual for Bella's usual smiling face. “Kick his a**.”

Her delicate fingers snapped her sunglasses down over her face and she walked away, headed towards the water, without a backward glance.

Omega: Cissa's Room

She listened to Kerri quietly, knowing that her red haired friend would…Understand, on some level. Her frustration, with many things…With being unable to say what she wanted to. Years of speaking her mind, reduced to this. She didn’t even recognize her own voice anymore. When Knoxx pointed out that she had helped her pick out the shoes, and asked her if she remembered, she immediately replied firmly, capriciously “Of course I remember.”

But she didn’t.

There were holes… Where the memories were still mending. Little ones. Little gaps in her memories… Things that could have been considered unimportant… Trivial. Like remembering that she’d been with Kerri when she purchased those shoes… Something that people tended to forget. But it was always things that she knew deep down, she wouldn’t have forgotten, had her mind not been in a trillion shredded pieces. She remembered important things, how to drive, how to fight, especially how to fight… Math, reading… But sometimes, just tying a bow eluded her.

She hated, hated, the healing process.

It was total BS.

She didn’t want anyone else to know that she couldn’t remember everything. That she sometimes recalled them as what Solis remembered, instead of what Solaris remembered.

Suddenly Kerrigan was embracing her, and the frustration faded off of her face—Returning to the familiar, serene expression she usually held. Kerri had a familiar feel, a familiar scent that grounded her, and she sighed in relief at feeling her head atop her own. She shuddered, as she felt like herself… If she closed her eyes, she felt normal, felt human. The red head pulled away, and Narcissa reacted instinctively, her arms going around her, her shorter body curling into Kerrigan’s side. There was nothing…Inappropriate, about her embrace. It was simple nearness that comforted her, the way a kitten curled against its mother.

It had been a long time since Narcissa could have been called a kitten—But she had always reacted better to touch, than to words. It made more sense to her.

Words, often just pissed her off.

The grapevine, of course, knew what had happened while the students had invaded Belasco’s castle… But very few people outside the psychics knew what had happened before. And she intended to keep in that way, as long as she could. Of course she knew, it wouldn’t last forever… Nothing stayed secret at the Academy… And she would tell a few people… Eventually.

“I want to see the other Omega’s... If one of us isn't around they'll all start acting... Alpha. Next thing we know they'll be watching Passions and braiding each others hair.”, she spoke up as she slowly released Kerrigan from their tangle of limbs, seeming to have found some of her former authority for the moment. The more she found of herself, the less she was inclined to having something akin to an anxiety attack. Not that she would ever admit to it. “So the beach it is.”

“But…”, she hesitated, plucking out a red bikini from her pile of swim suites… “Forellen is bringing tea. I’d like tea first.”

She really didn’t care if Kerrigan, or anyone else saw her nude—It would be more of a gloating tool later on, if someone did walk in. If the red head didn't want to see, she could avert her eyes, or not. She did miss embarrassing the living hell out of people… Unthinkingly she changed into her swim suit, pulling her much shorter hair up off the back of her neck with a wince. She hated it, so short. Absolutely hated it. She thought it made her look too young.

Within a few moments, she’d applied some tanning oil to her form to even out the partial tan she’d gotten in limbo, and then wrapped a colorful red and white beach towel around her waist—Letting it simply hang on her hips. Her hair was messy, but in a deliberate way, and her face remained done up from the plane ride. Most of the make up would pass off in the water anyway if she went in—No need to reapply. She looked at Kerrigan…. "I don’t know what to do with Carlos. All the progress we made is… Gone. Varian…I remember things he said in limbo… I’m being distant from him, I know. And from a lot of people… I just…”

“…Can’t fix them, and me. Not yet.”

When she was done, she sat down on the edge of the bed and waited for Forellen… It would be ignorant, to ask for tea, and then leave before it was brought.

“Maybe one at a time…”, She was about to say something else when the door opened, and in came tea… It smelled wonderful to her, another familiar scent, that reminded her of old things… Of herself. “Ah, good… Tea, thank bloody god you remembered tea… I would have forgotten bra’s if Emma hadn’t given me a telepathic slap… It’s not like anyone around here would mind anyway…”

She accepted the mug of tea, and quite happily sipped at it piping hot, not at all noticing that it was still hot enough to make anyone else wait and blow on it.

“We were just discussing going down to the beach… I need a tan, want to join us?”, Narcissa spoke to Forellen, falling into easy light conversation with some difficulty. It was good to be a pissy ditz. It wasn’t bad now… Usually towards everyone but the Omega’s she reacted angrily… Even more angry than normal. Her protective streak would make life interesting for them, for awhile.

Omega: Of ice and sand...
Varian swayed in the air, his tune changing from a slow requiem of a song to a more cheerful upbeat tune. He realized that he had subconsciously started playing a tune he very much had tried to avoid. But even he could hear the sorrow and lacking in this new song. Something was definantly missing in Varian's life, and he couldn't completely grasp just what it was. It was making him go stir crazy. They were on vacation, he should be able to enjoy himself here... today... this week... all the time here. But once again he found himself alone. He had a bad habit of doing that, estranging himself away from the group. Before he had Narcissa to help him with that, now he wasn't even sure he had her. She was so distant since the Limbo fiasco, part of him couldn't blame her, but they small portion that did hold blame, trumped the rest. He was mad, he was royally pissed with her.

He felt something unusually cold and wet pelt the side of his face as his feet dug into the sand below him. He brought his hand to his face and felt the small amount of unmelted snow that had stuck to his face. He knew immediately who the culprit was. He knew where Alek was, and he spun around with viper reflexs, threw his arm in Alek's direction, and just like at the carnival Alek was flung into the air, left to crash rather harshly into the crashing waves and firm wet sand.

He scowled as he started to walk away, and smiled when he heard the splash. A smirk of satisfaction. Alek had no doubt hit hard, and the waves would have broke most of the fall. Varian was not really in the mood to play such idol games. He had far more pressing matters on his hands. And first up was to get back to his room and put his violin away and find something else to take his mind off... everything.