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Tempest

While Alexandria stood there, stock still with the new Alpha recruits, she watched another newbie enter the scene. Tsukino had waltzed in, not really offering a word, and took a seat upon a nearby couch to read a book. Her attentions transfixed on the young man entering the lounge next, Leonardo, or so he introduced himself as.

“Hi,” she said, her nerves still sitting at the forefront. Why was she nervous about this, she could not tell at all. Perhaps it was meeting new faces considering that she herself was one as well. But Leonardo made a small gesture to the woman sitting on the couch, confirming the auburn tressed woman was Isabella.

Another shirtless man walked through the lounge, depositing an apple upon Isabella’s lap without saying a word. She wondering to herself what his deal was, but knew it’d probably be best to just again leave it be until she got to know her new team a bit better.

Just like that, Isabella began to greet each individual recruit personally. Though, Alexandria was a bit embarrassed by showing a slight bit of formality. That embarrassment subsided though when she heard her new team leader suggest one of her nicknames, either Bella or Isa.

“Ok Ms… I mean, Bella, she said to the Alphas leader, smiling a bit. It seemed her nerves were slowly going back to normal. She didn’t say much of anything else as Bella chatted up Leo momentarily before introducing the shirtless man who’d given up a gift of fruit. Gideon was his name. Not much more time was wasted with the group before the offer to go outside for a short walk, something that really made Alexandria smile more than before.

Stepping out of the way to let the shorter woman out of her way, Alexandria did not hesitate to follow the group out of doors. Though she was curious as to how it was Isabella was able to walk backwards, leading the kids through the halls and not trip over a single thing at all. That thought again immediately left her mind the moment they stepped outside.

The weather becoming a bit more volatile wasn’t a lie at all. It looked like a storm was brewing up over the horizon, but Lexi didn’t care at all. Feeling the wind against the bare skin of her shoulders and arms made her feel even more at ease, every single frayed nerve she had after she’d been promoted was gone. The wind was definitely a harsh one, tossing her ponytail from her shoulder. Again, that made no difference to her.

A smirk adorned the Texan’s face as she began to fall back to her old habit of playing with her lip piercing while following the group. It literally took everything in her power to not adjust the currents of the wind to her liking and just fly away. She wanted to but everyone in the group, especially Isabella, seemed so genuinely kind.

The group had approached a set of bleachers that was set up haphazardly in the middle of the lawn, and within no time flat, Isabella had taken a seat while offering the others to do the same. It wasn’t that Alexandria had to ‘spread her wings’ but… she really just could not help herself. Sometimes, being in mid-air was a bit cathartic for her. Just like that, she concentrated for a moment, letting the currents of the stiff wind that was blowing surround her and lift her up to a seat that was a couple rows higher than where Bella was sitting. And just like that, she crossed her legs and sat underneath her feet, leaning forwards a bit to listen in on the conversation.

“Awww… you only get into trouble twice a week?,” Alexandria said with a bit of a mock whine to her voice. “Might have to change that.” She wore a beaming smile, knowing that she, herself was completely joking. Hopefully everyone else did as well. After her little crack, Isabella opened the floor for a brief Q&A.

Before Alexandria had a chance to pipe up again, Tsukino had asked when their first Danger Room session was… right off the bat. Not that Lexi was against it, but… so soon? If that’s what Siren wanted… then she’d have no choice to abide, right?

Again, the wind began to pick up in ferocity slightly, which made Alexandria want to make things a bit easier for all the congregated Alphas. Closing her eyes briefly, she commanded the winds to at least still around the bleachers where they all sat. Which they did, turning from huge gusts to a seemingly gentle breeze.

“Hope that’s a bit better,” she said to Bella before speaking a bit further to the group. She figured she’d be the one to break the ice and formally introduce herself to her new teammates. “I go by Tempest whenever it is we’re in a training session. But you guys can either call me Alexandria or Lexi. Whichever you prefer.”

Megan was situated rather comfortably on her chair when people began to flood the lounge. She was about to get up and kind of shoulder her way over to Isabella for an introduction when to her surprise Narcissa addressed her. ”Eh? Yea sure alright. I’ll try not to be too much of a problem.” Megan had one of those someone needs to make up my mind kind of tones in mind. The tone and message in Narcissa’s quick rundown of the change of plans didn’t bother Megan. One only needs to be here for a few days to learn about the infamous Narcissa. Megan figured she couldn’t POSSIBLY be as bad as everyone thinks she is. Before the moment was over she introduced her second in command Kerrigan and Megan gave her a wave. Any questions? ”No I think that covers for me it really.” She said not wanting to cause problems right off the bat. Megan was a bright and self sufficient girl she should be able to pick up anything she needed to know rather quickly and without having to be told more than once or twice. Plus she was thinking that she was going to be walking on eggshells this next few weeks so she might want to keep on the straight and narrow as they say.

So she would probably have to toss the Alpha roster she had been given earlier this week seeing as she wasn’t on the Alpha’s anymore. Plus the black and blue uniform in her locker and probably a few other things she may have missed when getting the run down on her spot in the Alpha team. As Megan mulled over the logistics of having to swap teams she could hear people talking and shook her head slightly to bring herself back to the present situation in time to hear Kyle’s taking his life into his own hands with the speech he gave. Seriously you only had to know of Narcissa’s reputation to know that this was going to end very badly unless they two knew each other well enough for such banter. Megan seriously doubted that was going to be the case and was now glad she had picked a chair instead of the couch for a place to set. The crossfire was not a place she wanted to be caught in at the moment.

”Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Orchid offered politely with a nod toward Narcissa in response to her greeting, a false smile creeping upon her features. The girl had a reputation amongst those at the Academy, but Orchid was never one to take hearsay seriously. She had to see the fire that made this girl famous, and feared.

The Latina nodded in Kerrigan’s direction and offered her another of her smiles when Narcissa introduced her to all the Omega newbies. She took a seat not too far off from the rest as her team leader explained some of the basics of their status as new blood, adding to it her own words obviously meant to intimidate her loyal subjects. Upon asking whether they had any questions, Orchid simply shook her head softly. The blond obviously had power, sway over her fellow students; that was something the hair manipulator could definitely respect.

Respect did not have to entail liking the girl, however. There were very few people Orchid did like. They were all rivals to her, every last one of them fair game. She would earn their trust, grow in power, then play them all as she always did. They would all be pawns to her. But first she had to have full control of her abilities; until then she would stay quiet, fall in line like a good little soldier, and allow the others to continue to believe they were in control. Along the way she would perhaps plant minor suggestions in the others, make small offers and gentle diplomatic pushes that would seem like nothing at first, but rippled in her favor. It was the proper way to do things.

Of course, some people were stupid enough to not see it that way. Case in point, the little loudmouth hipster making his way into the room and calling out the Omega leader with a string of intentionally poorly disguised insults. The boy clearly had some high intellect, and yet for all his brains he was stupid beyond measure. He was clearly trying to get some desired reaction from the girl, which she could not help but feel was rather silly; such a thing was not something one did personally. Animals were used as test subjects for a reason. She scoffed and rolled her eyes at the idiot’s actions; he clearly had no idea what he was doing.

The boy paused for a moment and went on another annoyingly wordy tangent, stopping only to show the blond something on his laptop Orchid was not able to see due to her position, but it was only natural to assume it had something to do with his boring banter. He continued his talk for what seemed like decades, and ended with a thinly veiled challenge, revealing for the class his entire hand. It was clear by his words that whatever he had shown the leader was something deeply personal. It was the mention of fragile little emotional barriers that gave it away. A few wordy insults were no such thing, and she doubted such would even cause a rise in Narcissa.

He was trying to let her know that he knew something about her the others didn’t, and he was not afraid to use that knowledge against her. It was almost endearing to see how naïve the boy was for his incredibly poor attempt at blackmail. By doing so he had given the team members present an insight as to how he worked, and revealed any plays he would soon attempt. It was hilarious, and she made no attempt to hide the fact that she felt it was.

She smiled deviously as Kerrigen attempted to steer the conversation in a different direction, perhaps out of fear for the safety of the child before them. The group fell into an awkward silence soon broken by a laugh quietly escaping Orchid’s lips. The laugh grew a little louder and for a few moments it was all that could be heard from their little group’s direction. It was a femininely gentle, yet haughty laugh. She finally stopped and looked up at the arrogant little whelp. She looked him up and down for a moment, then finally spoke.

”You’re clearly new at this game, aren’t you, child?” she said toward the boy with suggestions of a laugh behind her words. ”He’s absolutely adorable!” she said toward the other women in the group. ”I’m sorry, I’ll let you all continue,” she said with a motion of her hand as if passing a torch toward the others, this time looking at Narcissa. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, head shaking, still laughing quietly behind closed lips.

Now we're lyin' in the shade
Sharpenin' the blades of our rivalry
Untidy lies, they could never disguise
The truth behind the door
Feelin' grow nearer, then disappear again some more

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




Apparently, Aurelie was one of quite a few new Alphas; that made her feel immeasurably better. Reggie, Tsukino, Marcel and Alexandria and Robert too were new additions to the Latina's team, and just bouncing up to introduce themselves right after she had. Maybe the transition wouldn't be too bad after all. But given the whirlwind that her life had been, she tried not to remain hopelessly optimistic. After all... Scott's reasons for “promoting”(aka ripping her from her comfort zone) her were sketchy at best.

She smiled at each one of them, the expression growing more genuine when Leonardo gave his own warm welcome. “It's nice to know we're in good hands then.” Aurelie murmured sweetly. Little by little, her nerves settled – the familiar face one she was sure had been with S.H.I.E.L.D. at one time. And she found small comfort to see someone that wasn't a complete stranger.

If he hadn't, he'd certainly taken liberty to share with her new team leader what Aurelie's interests were. b*****d. It had caught her off guard. “I look forward to it.” She said, bobbing her head to try and appear enthusiastic. Of course he'd have told Bella that... just to make sure that the Julliard reject would play again. Why he thought it important... was beyond her.

Rather than remain focused on that, Aurelie's cerulean orbs took in the sights of the room, how fast the lounge was becoming populated. One platinum blond man came in, depositing an apple for Bella, and the telekinetic found it endearing enough that it distracted her from the lines that painted his abdomen rock solid.

One girl asked when they'd be doing danger sessions and Aurelie grimaced – not particularly looking forward to those at the moment. Alphas probably trained a lot more; they were busier. But a few bad sessions that resulted in puncture wounds with class clown Quill had done wonders to make her apprehensive of practicing in groups. And the Alphas were probably triple the size of Scott's small team. More accidents would no doubt ensue.

Bella suggested that they take a walk, and Aurelie followed without question. Her flesh pocked with goosebumps when they went outside – not from being cold, but from how the wind seemed to have a bite to it... no doubt telling of a storm to come. The wind whipped her long blond locks to and fro, and Aurelie absently checked her wrist for a hair tie. No luck.

Lucklily, Lexi quieted the wind about the bleachers, and Aurelie grinned then, silently thankful that the ringing in her ears had ceased momentarily. “Nice to meet you.” The blond said to both girls that had introduced themselves to the team. (Reggie and Alexandria).

“My name is Aurelie.” she voiced, falling into a comfort zone that was impossible to deny when the entire team seemed so sweet. “The Corsairs called me Cabriole on the field, but under the advice of Cyclops, I'll be Allegra in danger room sessions.”

Awkward introduction made, she looked to the group, waiting for the others to follow, and then for whatever protocol that this brought with it to happen.

Omega, Location: Library/Kitchen
Food Network, eat your heart out

Entering the library was like stepping into another dimension for Roland. It was a nexus of knowledge for the warrior, and a place where he spent a decent portion of his time. When he wasn’t having conversations with Ms. Grey or Dr. McCoy, training, or in his room. He for all intents and purposes could have lived in the library, it became a home to him. After all, such a curious mind had to have his thirst for knowledge sated in some fashion. He spent a lot of his time looking through medical books and journals based on the human anatomy. It actually proved to have a double effect for him: he not only learned how to treat certain injuries, but he also learned what parts of the body could be focused on to cause maximum damage. The body is a remarkable thing, Roland remarked. For all it was capable of doing, it had a variety of weak points. Nerve clusters, pressure points, ligaments, tendons, bone joints, all of these could be exploited very easily if one knew where to look. He was well aware of a lot of major tendons and joints, but pressure points and nerve clusters were a whole other story, to which he consulted books on the nervous system and even a couple of books on acupuncture which Roland managed to find which now sat comfortably on his desk. He was under the impression that Dr. McCoy had those, or perhaps Professor Xavier tried to use them in some way to help with his paralysis? Who knows, maybe Ms. Braddock had collected them in her travels.

But as he entered the library, he was not looking for any medical books, no books on ancient Chinese medicinal practices, no he was looking for a book on something much different than those. A book simply titled, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by a woman named Julia Child. From what Roland had gathered from talking with Dr. McCoy and Ms. Grey, French cooking was both a wonderful challenge, and a culinary delight for the senses. He almost did not notice Aren, Dominic, Maddy, and Raine he was so focused on finding the book.

He delivered greetings to them, “Hey Dom, Aren, taking a break from studying?” he noticed the books on the table behind them, “Maddy, Raine, looking so pleasing to the eye as usual. Thought I’d throw this out there, but I’m cooking a big meal tonight, beef bourguignon to exact, if any of you have a desire to try it feel free to stop by the kitchen around seven or so. Hopefully some of the new people will come, kind of a nice way to break the ice for them.” he finished by turning towards them as he made his way into the bookshelves, at least that is what Roland had in mind. His introduction to the team was a mixer that lead to being thrust into a nightmarish Halloween themed world. With any sort of luck and divine intervention, these new people would be greeted to a pleasant meal in a good atmosphere among potential friends. He was glad to hear that Dimitri and Tara would come, and ecstatic to hear the tail end of Kerrigan saying she would let others know as well. He liked Kerrigan, the red head seemed to be the type who knew full well when to have fun with her underlings, but when it came down to it she could also bring the hammer down as well. To be frank he only really knew a few people on his team, and a few on the other. He would be glad to at least know more of his own team, hell he could settle with knowing the Alpha squad. Just know a base group of people would be pleasant enough.

He wasn’t entirely sure he was so damn social, hell part of him was questioning his desire to cook. Xavier said that he had to suppress part of him, perhaps this is what filled the void, or maybe this was already there beforehand? Is this really what you are now? A ******** chef? he heard in the back of his mind as his fingers dragged across the books along the shelves. He knew what this voice was, it was himself. Well, a version of himself, a version that came out to play during the Halloween incident. The animal that laughed during his maddening slaughter, the butcher, the animal.

One of the parts of himself, that as scary as it sounds, Roland enjoyed to hear sometimes. The Animal wasn’t one to bullshit, he wasn’t one to play games, and when he had him in his corner, he was a powerhouse. It was this side of him that, if not for both his cleverness and Dom’s compulsive desire to clean up fast, was responsible for a lot of those he killed in his lifetime. If Roland wanted to, he could do some serious damage to the State of Louisiana’s criminal element, simply because he knew where the bodies were buried.

He was the one that dug most of them after all.

His fingers finally grasped upon the book in question, and as he did he felt something in his back pocket. Taking the book out of the shelf, he reached behind and felt a slip of paper. As he brought the paper to his eyes, he had to chuckle as he saw in violet ink a series of numbers and a simple name.

917-342-2391
Courtney

Apparently women thought him attractive, that was a good enough laugh for the mutant. Apparently he "had it", if only he knew what "it" was. He placed the number back into his pocket and quickly left the library.

---Kitchen---

Roland entered the kitchen, seeing several people from his team, Jacen, Shandra, and a couple of others he did not recognize. Christian sat at a table eating, Roland may have briefly seen him during his first night, he distinctly could remember someone yelling about having head back on their shoulders as they swam out of the lake. And then there was Leoin, an interesting name to say the least, Roland did not recognize him at all. He could only guess he was home visiting family at the time, guess Roland could call him lucky. Then again, he’d probably been through worse, much like the rest of this team of veterans.

Going to the fridge, he went to work getting the ingredients out. He’d been smart enough to copy the ingredients down before he made this culinary decision and got them in advance, and it was quite a large amount to say the least. Clearing out a space along the counter near the sink, he got out the dishes and utensils, he needed, and washed some of the dishes that were in the sink. He was going to need an empty sink for all this.

He said to the others in the room, “Hey guys. If you have any dirty dishes feel free to throw them in the sink, I’ll clean them for you. I’m gonna be in here for a while, plus I gotta clean up after I’m done anyway.” By the time he was done, it would take him two to three hours to cook this, and he’d probably have to put it in the oven later on to get it back to a decent temperature.

After all, he did have a cake to bake as well following this.

Omega - Idle hands and whatnot


Christian laughed when Leion mentioned someone setting Cissa on the warpath. How could he forget his first day on the Omegas, what with Reikon running mud through the woman’s hair… and her immediately retaliating. Conversation then turned to another old resident, Alek and what he did to ruin the men’s bathrooms.

“Honestly, I know it would have been more trouble than what it’d be worth, but…” Christian paused momentarily, reflecting on confronting the cryokinetic immediately after the damage was done to the bathrooms. He gave him a verbal dressing down, not that it was his place, but… Christian was right pissed if for nothing more than being woken up from his nap. “I shoulda just decked the guy.”

Just then, Shandra decided to join the little get together in the kitchen, asking if they were referring to their old ‘chum’. “Yea, you caught us.” Christian’s eyes followed her as she took a seat upon one of the nearby countertops. “You remember? The time he froze up the facilities?”

After he finished talking, he turned around and kept to washing the dishes until they had an unexpected visitor drop in on them. Jacen had flipped in through the kitchen window, catching Christian completely unawares. He was lucky he didn’t drop the skillet into the sink and get himself drenched in soapy water.

“Jesus… give someone a heart attack, eh?,” Christian said, setting the skillet down and turning to face his old roommate. “And… I didn’t know that. Not that I look to go jumpin’ from roofs…” He was, of course, referring to his crippling fear of heights he possessed. It was something unexplained as he never used a tree blind back home when he hunted game, he just flat out hated not having his feet on solid ground.

“Ain’t been up to much, aside from the norm,” Christian said, answering Jacen’s question. “Getting’ the workout done and over with, eatin’, cleanin’ up.” With his back to the sink, he leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his chest. The small group that had formed was most assuredly an eclectic one.

Just like that, Roland entered the kitchen as well during this spot of downtime. He was quick to declare that he would clean any and all dirty dishes that were left over from the quick breakfast that was cooked up.

“By all means,” Christian said, stepping away from the sink finally. “Though, everythin’ in there’s already rinsed. Just needs put into the dishwasher.” As he spoke, he wove his way past everyone on his way towards the fridge. The one thing he neglected to do when he fixed his breakfast was get something to drink. Just like that, he opened the door, ducked his head in, and procured a carton of orange juice. The urge to drink straight from the carton was there, but… he didn’t wish to upset anyone that had convened in the kitchen. Not that he’d never done that before, but the less that people knew about him sullying the oj, the better.

After pouring himself a glass and getting himself a decent pull, he set his juice on the counter and just sat there, trying to formulate a plan on what to do for the rest of the day. He had his workouts done and over with, there was no point in overexerting himself. While he took another drink, he contemplated contacting one of the higher-ups on the Omegas. Christian had a desire to do some target practice with a rifle… and without a true firing range on the grounds, it seemed the good ol’ DR would have to suffice. Either that or catch a nap outside, but by judging from the look of the skies when he glanced out the windows a few moments ago, that was going to be out of the question.

There was a sinking feeling in his gut that just wouldn’t go away; today was going to be a very long and very shiftless one.