Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gym

“No one else has been lucky enough to know you.” Aurelie said with a small smile, her eyes shimmering with the truth of it. Most people had immediately written Kat off as a liability - someone who could never be trusted. As soon as they knew her past, they assumed they knew her. But there was more to the ex-hydra agent than simply her history. They just needed to looked beyond the surface. “Besides, what I know of Bella… I’d definitely rather have you.” While she didn’t harbor the same amount of hatred for the hispanic that Katerina did, the two had never been close.

Unable to talk the Italian out of whatever she had planned, Aurelie asked for her not to do anything that could get either of them in trouble before Bella-2 took off toward Roland, asking for help in training. Hesitant to put the guy in any sort of a hold, she opted to ask for beginners. Nodding at the Bella imposter’s assessment of her strength, her expression still seemed tight. “There’s a fair amount of core training required to perform ballet, yes. I’m just not sure if that sort of training translates well to combat.”

“I’m not sure my abilities work that away…” She said, not buying the idea that martial arts would aid in developing her abilities further.. “My focus is within my mind, not kinesiology. I’d be better off doing yoga and meditations.” She giggled at that, striking a pose with her hands in front of her chest, pointed to the sky as she balanced on one leg. “Ommmm.”

Before they could actually start to train though, Bella and Christian interrupted. The werewolf guessed along the same lines as Roland, believing one was a doppelganger. Resisting the urge to giggle at his almost childlike assessment of the situation, she nodded. “I’d say you’re right.” Raising her eyebrow, she glanced between the two Bellas and cocked her head to the side, a grin brightening her features. “But do you know which is which?”

Roland devised a way for the real Bella to emerge, and Aurelie could almost feel her friend’s annoyance as she melted back into herself. She fought the urge to snicker at the mention of hives. Truly shocked that Kat had been able to pilfer something of Bella’s without her noticing, it didn’t take long to figure out exactly what sound manipulator wanted back. Shrugging apologetically, Aurelie tightened her ponytail as a way of fidgeting. “I’m not in here enough to keep track of which bag belongs to whom.”

“True.” The telekinetic agreed. “Serious lapse in judgment on my part, I assure you.” She murmured, her tone overflowed with unconcealed regret, making it an easy guess that she had fancied more than just a friendship from the ex-spy. She didn’t care if Bella made the distinction. They hadn’t been friends before, and Aurelie hadn’t exactly made her intentions known to anyone but her roomie. “It won’t happen again. I’m swearing off the whole idea of men until I’m thirty.”

Christian requested that Kat return the clunky watch as well, and Aurelie looked to her feet, knowing that her bestie would be angry and disappointed that Christian had chosen the other side of the line. Aggravated, Kat agreed to give it back, holding her wrist out for the Alpha leader to take it. In less than a second, she had Bella on the floor and she sneered a question toward Roland. “Kat…” Aurelie whispered with an edge to her tone.

“Don’t get yourself in trouble.” But as she was saying it, Bella had already chosen to defend herself, using a blast of sound to nauseate the shape shifter enough to force her to let go. Kat fell to the mat; Aurie stiffened, ready to use a shield to keep them apart should her bestie go after her again. Relaxing after a few seconds of quiet, she hadn’t expected the brunette to dart after her again.

Whispering so that only the leader would hear, Aurelie watched the two dance uncomfortably. “I can pull her off of you… but she would see it as betrayal. I can’t. She’s come so far..” For the first time, she gave the Alpha leader some insight on their unlikely friendship. The telekinetic knew they were fighting an uphill battle; Katerina was as feral as they came. It wasn’t that she didn’t recognize the amoral qualities in the woman; she just saw beyond them. If they ever wanted to soften her edges, get her to understand right from wrong… it would have to come from a place of friendship. And Aurie had that in spades. Despite their differences, Kat was her person, her best friend.

Bella finally seemed to get Kat pinned, asking if the Italian had grown tired of their war. The blond looked at her feet when she talked about Leo, unsure of the pang’s she felt from hearing the declaration. It was one thing to know… another to hear it. And though she would never forgive him, the sensation troubled her. Burying it for now, she took a step forward before Roland beat her to the punch. He took the watch, his voice nothing but a growl from her standpoint.

Kneeling down next to him, she tugged at her bestie’s wrist. “Let’s just go.” She whispered gently, hoping that she would see to reason. “None of this is worth fighting for.” Glancing up at Roland with sapphire eyes, her smile still brightened the room as she tried to diffuse everyone’s anger. “I guess this means I’m off the hook for training today, huh?”

With Kat on her feet, Aurelie hooked her arm into the Italian’s at the elbow. “Well, now that you’ve shaken everyone up and proved they need to stay on their toes… what would you like to actually do?” She asked, pulling her away from the gym.

Realizing she’d forgotten their bags, she dropped her hold on the ex-hydra agent. “Oh wait.” She said, jogging over to pick up their stuff. She took the time then to whisper one more thing for Bella’s benefit, her lips barely moving. “I’ll reach her. I promise.”

Bouncing back to the shape shifter, she bumped into her with her hip. “So really. Now what?”

▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ⇡⇡ 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 smirked entirely to herself when the sad sack before her deigned to allow a chuckle. Was it really so hard for him to break his bubble of sorrow? The Red Queen couldn’t imagine feeling so hollow over losing someone she’d never had. So mute and gray. As if nothing would ever be right again. She could, however, emphasize with the feeling of being broken. She’d been that way. Once.

“I know it.”, she reiterated cheekily without apology or an ounce shame.

He seemed to accept the notion of sowing his oats somewhere else but still looped his thoughts back to the sound user. For of the life of her, she couldn’t understand how many, many of the men that breezed through the Academy wound up with a crush on the typically unavailable Alpha Leader. Even one of the gay ones. What was she missing? Were her lady bits made out of biscuits? “When the right girl crosses your path at the right time…You’ll know it. You won’t even remember the name Isabella.”

Narcissa didn’t actually believe in fate. She believed in statistics. Generally speaking, there were probably a couple hundred thousand women, just as pretty as Stone, just as compassionate, and just as perfect for Blake as anyone else. His desperate desire to stop being alone wasn’t invisible to her. Therefore, she felt comfortable saying this, because it stood to reason that he could run into those women by accident. It was a numbers game. He was rich, white, and handsome. The odds were definitely in his favor.

He chose not to take her seriously about her distaste of butchered sayings and she seemed entirely confused when he questioned her vocabulary. “Bollox is a perfectly normal word. You southerners and your—“, she raised hand to the level of her eyes so she could imitate a fainting damsel. Not only that, but she adopted a heavy Georgia Peach accent. “Iced tea and kissin’ cousins.”

“It’s a miracle that the North simply didn’t let the South secede. Morons. I’d have packed their bags for them.”

Narcissa was relatively certain that the only people in the deep-south that didn’t carry guns were the axe or chainsaw wielding serial killers. But, that was just her personal opinion. She couldn’t really remember traveling much lower than North Carolina on the Eastern half of the United States. California was a much nicer place to visit. Better shopping. Less chance of getting shot when she wasn’t looking for being a godless yuppie. About equal chance for being a mutant.

Blake ignored her rant on his background and continued to address her thoughts on why he’d sat on his a** for so long. She would have preferred that he made the choice out of self-preservation. It fit the selfish t**t he was trying to paint himself to be. Again, he claimed to be trying to make the best choice for her. He thought she was happy. He wanted her to be. Her eyes rolled. He always made decisions alone. He wanted a relationship but he was in no means ready for one. At this point, he wasn’t even a very good friend.

“Omission is a lie.”, Narcissa responded simply. He was confused. Friends didn’t want to stick their bits inside each other’s bolts on the regular. Example. She and Aren were not friends. She didn’t know what the hell they were—but ‘friends’ was not on the table. “It doesn’t matter how you paint it. You’ll never be good for anyone if you don’t stop trying to control things behind the scenes to keep them safe and happy at your own expense. You’re not her father yet you’ve essentially elevated her to the status of a woman-shaped child.”

She desperately tuned him out when he talked about Isabella’s fall out with Gideon. Instead, she mentally gloated about hitting him with a slush ball. Blake seemed to fall into the masses where it was believed that everything was perfect between Gideon and Isabella. She’d spoken with him on Catalina with drugs making their tongues loose. It hadn’t been anything close to perfect for a long time. Funny, for being the woman’s best friend, that he hadn’t caught on sooner.

“You would have been better off being honest with her. That’s all I’m saying.”, she spoke up when he finished, refusing to delve into that train wreck any further than she had to. There were too many slick and sticky feelings all over this conversation. It was going to take the entirety of the hot water allotted to her room to wash it off. And then some.

He claimed to have own his issues…But from where she was standing, he was just a lost little boy. A lost little boy on a lonely little island of his own making. “You haven’t. You’re taking the burden from things you shouldn’t and ignoring most of things you should. You have tunnel vision. Accepting what is and isn’t your fault has got to be on some sort of AA meeting board somewhere…But you need to do it. Then you can move on.”

Narcissa gave him a carefully worded ultimatum to which he finally agreed with her.

“I know.”

There wasn’t anything cocky about the statement. She was just positive, despite her misgivings, that she had a good idea of what to do. There had been something complicated between herself and a mutant named Carlos. Their relationship had been all appearances, all fire, and flare to make the world jealous. Two pretty people that had everything in each other. From the near business-like outlook she had on relationships she hadn’t expected to be bothered when he crossed the line a second time. This time with the former Alpha leader, Evelyn. The first time had been with her best friend.

She hadn’t expected to feel anything at all when everything was aid and done. It just gave her a reason to break it off.

There were only a few people who knew that in reality—it hurt.

Blake decided that the conversation was over and he switched modes before her eyes. That was apparently that. He asked if she was charged up enough, as if it were as simply as setting out a solar panel, and she scoffed as she pulled away and straightened up. She looked up at the sun in all its glory and sighed heavily, miserably. Her hand opened and light pooled. It wasn’t as fast as she would have liked. But, it was bright. She closed her fist. “I suppose it’ll do for now.”

She turned toward the pool chair that she’d commandeered and folded it up before tucking it neatly under her arm. Once they were gone the snow would stop melting and it would hide that they’d ever been there in the first place. As she passed by Blake she flipped her long golden hair and glanced at him with a certain level of superiority. “And here I thought you weren’t cold.”

With every step she got closer to and closer to the person she most wanted to see. It was pathetic that Aren was the first thing she was looking forward to seeing. Even if it meant going underground. Her heart skipped, her sluggish blood moved, and she caught herself smiling a little. She cut that off when she noticed and her expression filled with ice and vague contempt. They’d promised to keep their distance from each other. She had to keep up her end.

Didn’t she?

☼- - - - - - - - - - 》 》
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

Gabriel Byrne
Location: Kitchen
Thoughts: Cooking it up!

The Vegas gunman had a one track mind, his stomach directing him to the kitchen. He was on the verge of going nuts, but he wasn’t about to take it out on anyone around him. Besides, he was missing his pistol. He opted to not wear his weapon on him at this point, he just wasn’t terribly uncomfortable without it anymore. Being stuck in the massive concrete sarcophagus that was their home for the time being. He guessed it had to do with the familiarity he’d developed down here, he just didn’t feel the need to be armed. That and the fact that any loud noises in a location other than the firing range might render everyone deaf. Gabe was not up for that kind of insanity, or blame for that matter. If anyone was going to be the cause for something going horribly wrong it was likely going to be an Omega at this point.

Speaking of… walking into the kitchen was like walking into a warzone. It was a mess in there, flour danced in the room and it was clear that they were trying to bake, something, taking note of the dough that had become congealed across the countertop. One of the Omegas, Gracie he thought, tried to tug him in to help the two of them. He felt his blood sugar drop rapidly, the calorie burn kicking in, his stomach growling as the Omega tried to ply him. Under normal circumstances, he’d probably turn into a blubbering idiot and go “Oh sure OK!” like a puppy and do what they wanted. But he was way too hungry to be focused on such matters. He didn’t even bother to register their statements regarding his sexuality, it was a childish notion that because someone was more focused on other tasks over a young lady’s charms was gay.

Hunger is a strong motivator, especially for him. August looked inside, asking what happened, and further asking if he had anything to do with the situation. Gabe looked at him and jerked a thumb towards the two Omegas as he prepared his meal “I suggest asking these two. I found it like this.” he answered, not bothering to listen to much else around him. He set the timer, the temperature, and finally set it up to go. Now, he had to simply wait. Lachlan and Eden followed in suit, and he continued to point towards the two Omegas. Eden even offered a kind hello, which he returned in kind.

Taking in a deep breath, realizing that the situation was now a matter of waiting, he grabbed the bottle of supplements he kept on him and pulled a few tablets out. Massive quantities of major vitamins and other minerals condensed into tiny tablets, perfect for a mutant with a massive set of biological requirements to fuel their abilities. Taking three of them and dry swallowing them, he went over to the disaster zone that was the baking site, and went to work. He had some experiences with baking, the end result of being the literal baby of the house. His sister was often the one to babysit him when he was young, and one of the things they loved to do together was bake. It was something that outside the family business he had with his big sister.

“So what were you two making before you bungled it all up?” he asked, looking at the youtube video on the screen “Get the ingredients for this cake and I’ll whip it up. In fact, give me double the ingredients and we can whip up two batches, one for each team. Then we’ll work on the mousse and then the whipped cream. This will take the longest time so I can concentrate on this while I wait for my food.”

With a sigh he went to the sink and cleaned out the gunk that was in the bowl “This will not simply do.” he stated simply, working on getting all the crap out before starting anew.

OOC: Lemme know of any problems

Aʆєxaηdra Ӎaʀiʆèηє Agηèȿ
Codename:Flairer

❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀

(())

Alex nodded again with furrowed eyebrows. “So, like taking a really bad cooked meal and still trying to see what is good about it?” She smiled faintly. While she could have used a less humorous example, she didn’t want to cause the conversation to get too heavy.

She giggled at Aren’s idea. “Hey, I might even pay you to make me one if that is the case.” She half-joked. Considering how well his carving had been, she probably would have been quite willing to give him money for one. But, she didn’t know how he felt about his wood carvings being bought.

After he had discussed with her about his name and his home some, she decided his name might as well be pita bread. Not a girl name or the organization. Just something to eat. Food, while not always good, never was truly bad either. “Fry bread? I have not heard of that one.” He made it sound good though since he asked for loaves of it. “What does it taste like? Would it have been something one could have tasted let’s say….in a restaurant or buying some in a store?”

Unfortunately, they couldn’t go to such places to see. She briefly frowned at remembering that. Luckily, Aren kept on talking and now the frown lingered for a different reason. Her name had never given her such trouble. Maybe it was because her name was not some overly foreign name? It seemed the less one knew how to pronounce name, the more people didn’t like the name, etc. She listened to him though until she found herself sighing.

“I wish you had not experienced that.” She admitted while resting her chin on her hands. “But, I know saying that will not change what happened. Just know that some of us would be willing to accept your uniqueness.” After all, she felt it only fitting to accept others for who they are if she wished for the same. It was not always easy for sure. She simply felt it worth a shot. “And it is true some just will not. I would like to say not everyone is that way though. It is simply hard at times to find those that are not.”

Narcissa came up in their conversation and Aren gave her a bit of perspective on Narcissa. The Queen of the Omegas. Yet, a Queen that ruled with a fair and consistent iron fist by the sounds of it. “Now that is a new one to hear. Being so logical it is fault. I have always gotten the impression people like leaders with logic as their main trait.” She tilted her head slightly to the side.

Aren admitted how he and Narcissa’s friendship started. She had never heard the story before and felt herself still in shock. The size shifter explained the story to her. Was that really one of the Alphas? It sounded so strange to hear of one of the past Alphas acting that way. But, was that teammate one of the reasons Aren had felt uncomfortable with his name? She frowned slightly, curious and yet not willing to try and dig at the clearly sore wound even more.

“It is unfortunate people can still act that way.” She started to say with the frown still on her face. “We want to say we are a society free of things like racism. But clearly, it still exists somewhere at the edges where people do not look or…” Alex trailed off before glancing away. “care to look.” A part of her hated to admit people could be willingly ignorant. Just as there was those genuinely not aware of the ways others had to live, there was those that chose to turn a blind eye. “Kind of sadly funny that mutants have the time to be racist when people discriminate against them.”

It would be nice to say all mutants could band together under a common banner of liking each other. With how there was plenty of mutant enemies for the X-men to deal with, division might as well be a part of humanity no matter if someone had the X-gene. “But, all we can do is try and change things in what we can I guess.” She said before trying her best to smile. “Learn and do things better.”

Alex turned to face him and nudged him against his arm. “You can always say you have quite the interesting beginning start to all of this, huh?” She tried to joke. Just in an attempt to slightly lighten the mood.

❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀

"We will drink our fill of Alpha
Then, of golden sunshine that spills into Simulation Room
Till our brains intertwine with Aren"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
▬▬Codename: Oni
▬▬Team: Omega
▬▬Form: Human
▬▬Location: Gym with Lex
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Chi-Chi sighed a quiet huff of relief. She had tried to brush it off as not much of a big deal, and luckily, he believed her. Thank the gods he didn't have the ability to read her mind or anything like that, or it would have made things only more awkward for both of them. She didn't know the social rules of what to do after staring at one another so much. All she could do was look at her feet and try to come up with some way to move things forward, hoping the fear in the back of her mind would just go away. She didn't want to scare the only people who were somewhat like her.

In the awkward silent moments between them, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise, a small way of her body warning her that something was wrong. The tenseness in the air of the gym was thick enough to cut with a knife, and the source was fairly obvious. Her head turned to look at the small group on the other side of the gym, the situation from before now at a level where it looked like some were picking fights with one another. The tense, danger sense she felt came from something that sounded like an echoed, soft boom from where they stood, as one girl had knocked another back, possibly with her powers. From the way it was headed, things looked like they could possibly get worse, too. As much as she would have liked to believe she could, she didn’t want to risk stepping in and getting involved. Unlike your stereotypical bar fight or normal schoolgirl cat-fights, these were mutants. If things were to get nasty and break into a real fight, there would be more damage than just a few bruises and broken bones. For now, it was just better to stay back, but be acutely aware.

Besides, right now, there was a much more interesting mutant directly in front of her. One who's ability to manipulate the dark and shadows completely fascinated her. She didn't even realize something so subtle could be manipulated and molded, like clay. There was something about it that made it hard for her to look away. She could have watched him make different forms for hours, just to see the extent of what he could make. He was clearly well experienced with it, changing the forms with such ease. She wished she could do things the same way. Her abilities required so much concentration, and were still fairly clumsy even though she had had them all her life. She looked up and caught sight of his face, making short eye contact for only a moment. She couldn't help but smile shyly as she saw his face, confident and controlled, with a really nice, bright smile. It was actually kind of adorable...

It was then that she realized she had made a crucial error in basic conversation skills, not even introducing herself to him. She straightened up quickly and offered her hand and name, along with her code name. Oni. Her relationship with her codename was... Complicated, to say the least. Sometimes saying it felt like stab from the past, and other times it reminded her of her family's promise of what could be. She just had to remember to stay positive about it for her brother.

She noted the hesitation he had before giving her his hand, that fear from before piping up in her mind again. Finally he took her hand in his, his hand much larger than her own, and much warmer. Yet she could also feel a slight shake. Was he nervous around her? Was it possible her name had scared him?

What he said next caught her so off guard, it felt as if she had been hit with the full strength of a wave crashing over her. Time seemed to almost freeze in place, as a rush of warmth quickly made its way from her chest to her face, as the bridge of her nose and cheeks flushed a bright red. Definitely not a demon. Something felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her heart when he said those words, wiping away the worry and fear she had around him, as if a wall of worry had just been broken down. But at the same time, it was replaced with what could only be described as a strange heavy feeling that made her heart beat fast but time go slow. She felt tongue-tied and nervous and excited all at once. Her mind felt like it was running a mile a minute. Did he really just call her a... Goddess? And without any hesitation at all?! No one, except maybe her family, had ever said anything so… nice to her. She had lived a sheltered life, and wasn’t used to getting compliments. Especially ones that were so... surprising!

Was that the reason why he looked so nervous before? Had she been misreading him this whole time? Did he even really mean it? The dark parts of her mind were already denying the possibilities as they appeared. Stop it. He’s just trying to make you lower your guard. No one would think that about you. You’re a monster. She couldn't help it. It was a self-defense mechanism to keep from getting hurt by people. Better to be pessimistic and safe than optimistic and hurt all the time. Yet this time, a small glimmer of hope kept her from believing her own lies.

It was at this moment that she really took a moment to see him. He didn't look the type to say things so sweet like that just to possibly hurt someone. Everything about him seemed so genuine. Perhaps it was just the way she was feeling, but in that moment, he looked handsome, with a genuine smile and soft face. She was so caught up in him and what he said, she didn't realize her hand had gripped tightly around his, causing a bit of resistance as he pulled his hand away, snapping her back to reality. She barely caught his codename as he introduced himself, paying attention more to his actual name. She tried her best to re-compose herself again, still stumbling, “I-It’s really nice to meet you, Lex!” She smiled nervously, her face hot as coals.

Something about the way he was around her made her want to explain herself to him more. She wanted to let him in. Maybe have him get to know her more. See her in a good way, like how her brother did. “Well… I uh, I got the name mainly for my mutation, but my big brother was the one who really made it stick. He's the one that taught me to see Oni in a more modern sense, like how instead of monsters, they’re viewed as protectors and guardians. H-he always thought I was meant to help people instead of harm them…” She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, trying to calm down some of the redness in her face, “As for my mutation, it's… well, somewhat hard to explain. I’m sort of a shapeshifter, in a way. Kind of like Feral or some of the others, except my form is less animalistic and more… demonic.”

She held up her climbing gear again, hoping it would explain more as to why she had offered it before. She didn't need the gear, as it had been more for the sake of in case someone spoke up about safety rules for her. Kind of like she had spoken up about making things safer for him. “My mutation also gives me some abilities that allow me to do other things normal humans can't, like be able to climb up walls or teleport short distances. It's... Hard to explain, so maybe... I could show you?” Finding the words to explain what she could do was never easy, so seeing as he had shown her a few of his abilities, she decided she would return the favor.

She was nervous to see his possible reaction. Part of her hoped he would think she was just as cool as he was to her. She set down the climbing gear and looked around the gym for a good location to go to, her eyes stopping on an area where the exercise equipment was set up. She turned back to Lex, taking a deep breath, before her body disappeared from where it once stood, evaporating into nothing more than a puff of black smoke that danced in the air for a moment in front of him before dissapearing, leaving nothing where she once stood. She then reappeared once more on the other side of the gym, waving at Lex to make sure he was the only one that saw her from across the room. She stood next to the bench press that Christian had left behind, before picking up one of the weights on one side of the bar and taking it off. It was a small prank, and she knew with his strength it wouldn't cause an accident as much as it would just surprise him with the offset amounts when he lifted the bar the next time.

Holding the weight close to her chest, she quickly warped back to their side of the gym, reappearing in front of Lex once again in another small puff of smoke. "See? What do you think?" She gave him with a shy grin, holding up the weight in front of her like a small trophy. The warp-jumps were nothing too strenuous on her. She could do 20 jumps in one day and still not tire out. But the anxiety and nerves of waiting to see his reaction was killing her. Would he like it? Or would he think she's weird and not want to be around her any more? Or perhaps he'd be okay with it, and then maybe she could be more willing to let her guard down around him. Maybe even let him see her for… well, herself.

It was worth a shot.

XX【 】Name: Alexander "Lex" Magnus
XX【 】Codename: Wraith
XX【 】Team Affiliation: Alpha
XX【 】Location: Gym
XX【 】Music: Music to enhance post
XX【 】Actions: talking to Oni, demonstrated powers

At first, he seemed relieved. He had disagreed with her codename, and that was a concern. These were names that were most often adopted by the person it referred to. It was a name that reflected who they were and what they could do. To Wraith, it was an intensely personal choice. Something that reflected the person far more than anything else ever could. Some people believed in the power of a name. Wraith believed in the identity a name could give you. As such, he looked to the person when he knew their name. Siege was aptly named for his ability to create heavy artillery. That made sense. Paladin was a powerful warrior in armor that could fight for what he believed in while inspiring others. That made sense. Wraith was one that could make the immaterial move and become solid like the monster from fantasy. That made sense. This girl . . . this beautiful girl . . . she was not a demon. And yet, he learned that she was given the name for her mutation and from family. The flush on his face blanched a little behind a frozen smile as he heard it. He might have just insulted her. True, her mannerisms didn’t act that way, but he was honestly concerned for a moment as she went on to describe how she saw Oni as powerful creatures- not automatically evil. Protectors and Guardians, meant to help people. Her brother told her that she was meant to help people as well, so the name fit her self-image. What that why she was so timid? Oni went on talking as she rubbed her neck not too unlike how he had just rubbed his head. A movement that he could identify with. She was nervous, but why? Certainly he was no threat. He looked at her earnestly as he tried to read her a bit better. Yes, she was stunning, but beyond that. He began to really see her and noted her nerves. She spoke of her mutation about being able to change her shape. Oni named Feral, though he did not know her. Based on the name, it was an animalistic transformation. She said her form was more demonic, again fitting the name of Oni. Yet . . . she was nothing like that now.

Oni continued about how her abilities made her able to be even less like baseline humans. She could climb walls or teleport. His eyes widened in wonder at that mention. Teleport?! That is a rare and incredible ability. To prove her admissions, she offered to show him. An excited nod showed how interested he was. This place was one of life and wonder. Here was a beautiful woman wanting to show what she could do. Only an idiot would discourage her. She looked around and Wraith was curious to see just where she was going to go. A destination was decided, and he watched intently with honest wonder as she faded into a mass of smoke. “Now that I can’t do.” She was shadows. Not his shadows, but a gathering of mist and smoke that emulated who she was for a moment before dissipating into the air. It reminded him of what remained for a moment when he let a construct go- but this was no mere shadow. All of her was gone, and he noticed her on the other end of the gym. She waved to get his attention but he was already enthralled. Jaw slack again, he saw her lift a weight to unbalance the set that was waiting for a weightlifter. Holding it tight to her chest, she repeated the process of smoky ebb from reality to return to her earlier position. She was proud of her proof, something to show this was no illusion. Asking what he thought of it, he could only breathe out the same reaction he had given to Siege. “Cooooooooool!”

Again, as he had with Siege, he was a mass of whirling thoughts as he stared at the weight. This time he at least had the wits about him not to stare at her. “So many questions! Can you teleport anywhere? Is it limited by line-of-sight? How much can you take with you? Is it instantaneous for you, or do you feel a delay? If there is a delay, where do you go?” All these came out in rapid fire, a series of thoughts where his mind was outpacing his mouth as he tried to wrap his head around such a feat as her ability. His adoration of the ability overcoming his nerves, he was causing a bit of darkness to seep into the area around him. Nothing dramatic, just like a cloud passing over a field on a sunny day. Enough to notice. Several seconds passed before he realized how childish he was acting- like a kid meeting a superhero. His mind screamed that he was blowing this, and immediately got a handle on his power. The darker shade went away almost immediately like a light bulb being turned on to illuminate the area. Sheepishly, he smiled to her. “Sorry.”

“I got excited but such a nifty gift- so much I kinda lost a hold on my own. You are so lucky! Teleportation has real benefits, unlike my shadows. I can make things dark, but only a small amount is able to be made hard.” To prove his point, he summoned up a pillar of darkness to his right, and easily slid his hand through it in a swipe. None of it was anything more than a dark cylinder as tall as he was. When he went for a second pass, his hand emerged with a sword made of the shadow as if he had gripped a chunk of it on the way through. This sword, modeled like a Roman Gladius, weighed nothing to him. However, this one was made hard so when he touched the ground with it, a faint ~ting~ could be heard. It wasn’t quite the sound of metal, nor was it the dull thud of stone. It reverberated, echoed slightly. The material was shadows made physical, so the sound was not like others. “I can only make so much hard. I can make a shield that will stop just about anything, but if I also make a sword, both are weaker. Like taking a block of clay and dividing it up. It still exists, but if you try to make something too big, or too many things, all of them will not hold up to the strain. Right now, two things are about all I can manage since I have to choose to keep them up. If I lose focus . . .” he let the sword and the column go, and they fell apart not unlike how Oni looked when she did her warp jump.

Wraith looked at his now empty hand as a shadow of another sort crossed his features. One of regret. “I want to protect our people. I want desperately to be useful and depended on. But this is all I have.” His fist clenched hard enough to make his knuckles white as he fought against his own limitations in his head. “So I train constantly. I have to get stronger- have to be better. I’m not good enough yet, but someday I might be.” He thought of the heroes that fell before. The ones that strove for equality like the X-men led by their own Mr. Summers. He thought of the ones that fought for the rights of mutants like the Brotherhood. They were led by a visionary named Magneto. Given the choice, Wraith knew where he belonged. The choice, however, was not his to make yet. Both sides either were decimated or went into hiding. So, he was learning and training to be something other than a liability. He couldn’t stand the thought of being a burden. His mind raced back to the present, a shy smile again on his face as he looked at her eyes. It was hard not to get lost in them.

“Sorry again. What do I think? I think you are amazing. You can move in ways most can only dream of and have enhanced strength to fight for what you believe in. Honestly, I’m a little jealous. I'm not even in your league.” He hoped that didn’t sound too whiny! It was just honest. She was amazingly attractive and powerful too! He was just mediocre and had a power good for tricking people or running away. He would have liked to have been like her.

OOC: No worries! Trust me, I understand how life gets in the way. Please don't beat yourself up over it. I'll give you a bit, and if it gets a little long, I'll do what I did this last time. No pressure. ^_^

▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▆▆▆▆▆▆ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ▰ ▱ ⇡⇡ 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: Hallway, Not Far from Kitchen

Narcissa remained silent when Blake turned her words over in his head. She knew that she was right about there being other fish in the sea. She had eyes, and so did he. There were plenty of other women that would fill every check box on his long, long list of requirements. He wanted to be loved. Narcissa found herself squinting at him, as if trying to figure something out, but eventually looked away. She couldn’t understand it. She would never let a lover, or the wish of one, make her feel less than what she was.

Blake picked on her word choice and she sneered darkly when his heavily accented ‘Murica’ scalded her ears. He went on to explain how he didn’t have cousins to kiss and she shook her head. He was so dense. She had a witty retort on the end of her tongue that died when he claimed his cousin had a hairy wart. Her expression was a cross between horror and disgust. He couldn’t be serious. “Just n** it off in her sleep. Problem solved.”

Warts were NOT beautiful. They were warts. They belonged on the witch of a nose during Halloween and nowhere else.

The Texan born Omega went on to explain his thoughts about the secession and her eyes rolled heavenward at the explanation. There was a simpler way to go about it. Just admit that she was right and that the lone star state would be doing the remaining fifty states a favor by calling it quits. “Texas can be absorbed back to Mexico for all I care. It can take Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia with it.”

They got back to the real problem soon enough and she sighed when he seemed to miss all of her points. Was he willfully this thick? Or was he really naturally this dense. He tried to explain the sacrifices that one made for the person they loved and she felt like pulling on her hair. Did he want to get a girlfriend on become a martyr? She couldn’t figure it out. “You may never have wanted to—but you did. You’ve been the puppeteer and mastermind of your own drama every time your so called ‘plans’ fell through and you went belly up because it wasn’t special enough. ”

She did find the fact that he described Isabella’s need to help Gideon as pathological. Narcissa knew it had dual meanings, insulting, and less insulting, but it was edged with just enough invisible snark that she raised a brow. Even more snarky snark followed when he demanded to know what she would have had him do. “I wouldn’t have worded it that way—but yes. When it comes to a potential lover or a friend I would rather have honesty over chivalry. You held all of this in for so long…”

“It makes it seem…”, she trailed off, trying find the right word. “False. The friendship. The things between you that fostered those feelings of closeness in the first place. Everything you had was built with a lie hidden in the foundation. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t have crumbled when you let the truth slip.”

Narcissa may not have known exactly what happened, or how, but Blake had alluded to the event enough times for her to get the gist. She scoffed a little at his notion of reading signs that it wasn’t meant to work out. The blonde goddess did not believe in fate. She didn’t believe that there was some cosmic force in the universe manipulating her future. It was what she made of it.

She also didn’t comment about him knowing how the Alpha Leader felt now. That was doubtful—But Blake had a habit of not listening to logic so she didn’t want to waste her breath. She tested her ability instead when he asked to leave. He offered to stay, or to send up Aren, and she paused as she gave him a thorough once over. Why did he always mention Aren? “Not necessary. As I said before…This will do. ”

They packed up to leave and head back inside shortly thereafter. Narcissa walked easily, snow melting under her feet, and of course, didn’t miss the chance to tease her Omega. After the overly emo-conversation she’d just endured on his behalf he deserved it. He whined about the slush ball she’d thrown at him and she laughed briefly before her lips fell into a kittenish smile that feigned innocence. “Interesting. I wonder who did that.”

She sat down the lawn chair and leaned it against the wall as Blake locked the hatch. Already, dread was seeping in. Narcissa could feel her light withering as it naturally expended what it needed to in order to keep her self-sustaining. This bunker was hell. She prepared to head down the hallway to get showered and dressed when Blake called her name. She stopped and turned, curious, as to what else he could possibly want. That he thanked her caused her to stare for a long moment. Her eyes could be incredibly intense when she was focused on something. Unnerving, almost. “…I didn’t do it for her.”

She turned away from him then. He would never believe that she was, in her own way, trying to help him. There was no other way to stop him from becoming his own worst enemy. The drinking, the fighting, the destructive behavior…It needed to stop. The golden haired Red Queen didn’t move from where she stood. The entryway to the hatch felt too large and too small at the same time.

“All hearts break Blake…No matter how careful we are. You’ve been lost… But you’re not alone. You are an Omega despite your request for transfer. My, Omega.”, Narcissa responded quietly, with very, very little emotion to her tone. It wasn’t mocking or spiteful in the echoing chamber. There was no superiority. Nothing, that he would associate with the venomous Narcissa Grace.

“Which means I’m here, specifically, to bring you home.“

The small woman continued back inside after that. He wouldn’t have time to question her nor would she acknowledge this conversation if he ever asked about it. She was the Red Queen. End of discussion.

*

Narcissa walked through the halls without aim. She was clothed immaculately in a deep violet cocktail dress with a black lace collar. Her open toe heels were easily four to five inches high with black ribbons that criss-crossed up her calves. Yellow-gold lengths of sleek hair had been painstakingly secured into a side ponytail with a shiny bauble. She barely seemed to breath, her waist pressed impossibly small, her flawlessness giving her the likeness that of a doll. Most would be surprised to see that she wasn’t wearing her trademark devil-red lipstick.

Instead, she’d chosen gloss, and shimmery silver shadow over her eyelids. Every so often she liked to throw a tiny curve ball.

She thought about stopping by the kitchen for a little chocolate therapy but once realizing it was full of people she went the other way. The sun goddess was restless and trying desperately to avoid the simulation room. Aren was there. They’d promised to keep their distance…But her feet kept taking her in that direction—No matter how she tried to go the other way.

☼- - - - - - - - - - 》 》
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