Welcome to Gaia! ::

Katarina was well aware that Gideon knew how to pronounce her name properly…But had, for some reason or another, decided that he needed to say it incorrectly. Perhaps to try and get under her skin, the way she got under his…It wouldn’t have been the first time. H.Y.D.R.A. agents were all trained to unsettle their enemies…It wouldn’t have been the first time that someone had tried to turn tables on her. Though Gideon gave off the feeling that he didn’t care one way or the other so she couldn’t be positive one way or the other.

To be fair, she likely deserved a snide comment for calling him a Grinch. Truly…To leave a small creature stranded atop a shelf like that, was nothing, if not a little grinchy. “I think you do hate kittens…The Contessa would be proud.”

That he picked on something weaker, smaller than himself. Not that the Contessa really had any sort of preference when it came to animals. She surrounded herself with enough shifter’s and were’s that a normal domestic house cat or golden retriever would never do it for her. She liked animals that had a human’s intelligence. They were useful. They were her eyes and ears to places that humans could not be.

Gideon remained with his back to her, and she frowned… She didn’t enjoy speaking to someone’s back. But then again… She wasn’t important enough on his radar to grant much face time. Not that she could blame him. Were their situations reversed, she couldn’t say that she wouldn’t treat him much the same way.

H.Y.D.R.A. and the Contessa had learned from their mistakes….Gideon hadn’t been the only agent they’d ever lost. It was simply that most of them either returned to the fold when they realized they couldn’t run… Or were assassinated by other actives for going against the cause. They’d learned to give their assets a sense of belonging…A family to protect, within in system. It was a comfort that they were allowed…That was brutally used against them. Watching those you care about be punished for your mistakes was…Worse, than any torture. It was most easily done with shifters because of the way they bonded and organized outside of the Institution…Sometimes they remained on their own—The lone wolf, so to speak. Mystique was one of those…But even she seemed to have her family. Katarina knew that being at the Xavier Academy, and not being held in a cell was treason…But so was leaving Rome without permission. She wouldn’t be surprised to find her body littered with red laser sights once leaving the school grounds.

They’d give her a choice…Return to that which she knew—To the family that she knew… Or die. She was a female Judas…However the Contessa was not as forgiving as the good Lord above…Chances for Redemption were grow slimmer and slimmer, until there was no other option left for her but death.

If Katarina were any other girl, she would have flinched at the tone Veritas used with her… But instead her expression remained blank. Gun-metal blue eyes shifted in the light, guarded, because they could not be anything else…But there was no dishonesty in them. They were simply empty… As if she were reflecting back the emotions that others would expect to see…

The auburn haired woman didn’t know how to express herself. Not her true self… She could be a sassy chic teen from Italy without trouble. Vapid and witty. Deadly as a point blank gun shot to the temple, or a blade through an artery… But beyond that, there really is no sense of self.

She was a shifter that had long ago been taught to think in terms of ‘We’.

“Doubtful, X-20. You’ve never been in the mind of a hungry lioness, protecting what belongs to her… For taking revenge, for what has been done to her…There is little more beastly, than when she is asserting dominance or stalking her prey.”, she returned, her lips falling into a delicate frown. She recalled the taste of human flesh stuck between alligator teeth. Recalled throwing it up later when she shifted back.

She listened to him silently, eyes flickering over him the way a pupil would a teacher. Interested, but of course, with ideas of her own. “Look around you, capo… This is the wild. Flatscan’s chasing and murdering mutants…Mutants trying to wipe out humans… Do you know that in some villages in Romania, our kind are able to be hunted certain times during the year—Like duck season?”

“I don’t see where it takes much more than that. Whomever is left standing, at the end of any war, would be considered the victor. Opinion and semantics…They don’t matter… You are what you are. Alpha.”, she returned quietly, her eyes flickering back towards her nails as they slowly shrunk back to normal. They made a strange sliding sound…Like bone grinding together. “I wouldn’t be able to smell it on you, if that weren’t the case.”

She grew silent again when he spoke, her eyes lingering on the floor… Even when he faced her, they never really met his. It was an unconscious, subservient action. It had taken her some time to figure out the mysterious X-20…Veritas, but once she had, once it clicked for her, that he was truly above her in the food chain… That she would be staying to repay the debt she owed…Old habits fell into place. Inwardly she cringed, when he asked how badly Madame Hydra wanted her back. Honeyed dark waves of hair fell in her face as she sighed outwardly…Her tone grave. “Badly. I know…Too much about her operations.”

“I know her secrets. Legally, she is my mother… I was to become her, should something happen to her. I left in the night…Ran. I’ve been running ever since. They’re always just two paces behind me.”, she explained, omitting the reason she’d fled in the first place. Who even knew if the current Contessa was truly the Contessa? She was sure that she wasn’t the first replacement trained…They had it down to a science. “It is only because of that knowledge that I’ve managed to escape as long as I have… Still, sometimes they catch up with me… And I have to kill them.”

Katarina leaned forward, resting her brow against her folded hands… It almost seemed as if she might have been praying for a moment…But she remained silent, still. Slowly her hands opened, and her fingers slid into her hair—Holding her head, as if it were suddenly too heavy.

“The Contessa will weigh the odds…The cost of attacking the Academy…Or the cost of what I know getting to her enemies.”

Her voice was softer then, smaller as she came to a realization.

“I fear, they will come… X-Men be damned.”

Omega, Location: Lounge
Should I? Should I not? Hell I don't know.

Bianca said something about going to help with decorations for prom. That sounded like something fun to do, and something Roland could probably get behind. He’s a big guy, he could be useful and help carry things. Perhaps in a bit he’d try and flag down Isabella, see if anything needed to be lugged around. He was the kind of guy that frankly didn’t care if he was going to be used as a pack mule. If it was for something good, he’d be on board.

Aurelie got a little nervous when she admitted to needing help with her work. To admit that she needed some answers wasn’t something to be nervous about. It was something to admire, to say you don’t need help is something of an issue. The fact that she is trying to be a pharmacist is a laudable goal, something he probably should consider. Then again, getting his GED would be pretty important as well.

“That’s great, I can imagine with all the things you need to know any of us would need clarification. Hank is always helpful. I mean, I know I definitely wish I had someone like him to clarify a few things from the old days.” he definitely needed him when he had to dig a bullet out of his leg. The things he did were answered by Dr. McCoy with a lot of words and phrases, like: “idiotic”, “foolish”, and “You used WHAT size pair of pliers?” He got the tongue lashing of a lifetime with that. But he understood why he was saying that. He was frankly terrified of what Roland had to do to himself in order to survive at certain points. In fact, he was the most vocal and supportive in his therapy sessions when he was brought in. He may have also been the one that petitioned for him to be in the X-Men program, in order to act as another form of therapy.

When she peaked interest at his personal history, he remarked, “Well to tell you the truth, the stories I have are not for the faint of heart.” Roland had quite a collection of scars, each one with a different story to them, “There’s a story to each of my scars, and I have plenty. Though to be fair, my tattoos are a bit better to tell in present company.” he flipped his arms over to reveal the two tattoos on his forearms: Durendal on his right arm, Joyeuse on his left. The two swords of Roland, his namesake, and Charlemagne respectively. These were from when he was first reading stories about Charlemagne and his Paldains. 12 great knights that fought for their king, with great valor and courage. It was something that Roland attempted to emulate everyday, and could even attest to it being the reason, aside from Sonja, why he didn’t become like the others he fought against.

Aurelie said that he wouldn’t make a good chaperone, and that he needed to be merry, “Well, I really wouldn’t know about prom, or anything other than being a protector. Considering I never went to high school.” he likely wouldn’t share anything beyond that, unless he got to know her better. Though it was a start, something that Dr. Grey would likely praise. Unlike most of these kids at the academy, Roland had no formal education, everything he knows he learned from his uncle or books he had acquired over the years. He was a self educated man, in the literal sense. When Dominik came up, it proved to be a bit of a saving grace for him. He’d rather not elaborate on his background as much as he could.

“Dominik is a bit of a character, he’s quiet, but seems like a nice guy. Aren’s actually a pretty good guy, he’s my roommate.” The two of them proved they were quite close friends. Something he could appreciate through those two, “Though the jokes will take some time to grow on me frankly.”

“And with all this talk of prom, I’m considering going now. Though now I need to ask someone out. If you‘ll excuse me I must go about trying to not make a fool of myself. I‘ll catch you around at some point Aurelie.” he finally said about prom. He’d consider asking out Aurelie, such a pretty little thing, but he frankly felt that she was already taken. He was the type to get a vibe on that kind of thing. And with that he got up and looked around. Orchid definitely was not an option. She’d likely break his neck, just as fast as he might break hers. Though now seeing Kerrigan, he thought to himself why the hell not.

Making his way to the redhead, “Hey Kerrigan, got a minute?”

It occurred to her not long after arriving that a lot of the talk on campus was not about important matters, but instead something like the prom. While she personally held no reservations about proms or anything of the sort, she never really found much use for it personally. For starters, they rarely played any music she liked; it was rather rare to find today’s youth listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees or 45 Grave. It was also rather hard to find a date for her, considering the scarcity of other girls who played on her particular team as it were. Also, it simply was not worth the hassle if all she wanted to do was dance with a girl with a chance that she’d take her home, especially when all she needed to do was go to the right club on any given night for that.

But still, she could see what might get younger people so excited about something so pointless. Even above the TV incessantly repeating “news” concerning what everyone already knew about when it came to the MRA, as well the blonde girl at the piano playing some rather sweet music, she could hear chatter either from the halls or from random people within the lounge itself. Apparently dancing for a school function was far more important than the future of the mutant race. Anything for a distraction, she supposed. It would all be over soon though, so it did not matter. The mutants would simply use this as a motive to escalate the war, and in their inferiority the humans would be decimated, then all the mutant children could have all the proms they wanted; sounded like a good enough future for her.

It was a thought that just made her little drawing all the more amusing in her head. A faint smile appeared on her face as she added a bit of detailing to the cartoon. She was giving Magneto’s helmet some shading when one of her team mates decided to speak to her. She looked up momentarily to see it was the one that called himself Kraken(she had yet to get on a first name basis with several of her fellow Omegas). While he certainly surprised her coming up from behind, she did not flinch. ”I only major in it,” she said somewhat sarcastically, though with no malice in her tone, simply a lighthearted jab at a fellow team member. She lifted the sketchbook, turning it toward the boy for him to see. ”What do you think?” she asked with a warm smile. Personally, she didn’t think it looked too bad.

She then turned to the familiar redheaded Kerri as she stepped in, taking delight in seeing her in not a whole lot of clothing; apparently she’d just come back from a swim. Her eyes followed the girl as she slipped into an armchair casually. Orchid couldn’t help but smirk at her remark. ”Sounds like a challenge if I ever heard one.” Unlike in Kraken’s case, she’d actually gotten more than a few chances to hang out with the redhead. Not enough that they knew each other’s life stories or anything, but enough to be able to joke around with her without feeling the need to be careful.

She finished up her cartoon and flipped the page of her sketchbook while extending a thin lock of her hair to grab a fresh stick of vine charcoal. If there was one thing her power was good for, it was definitely multitasking. She picked the stick out of her hair with her thumb and the side of her index finger and held it to the paper, returning the loose strand to its previous state with only a thought. She looked up at Kerri once again with a smile. ”Hold that pose,” she said as she began to quickly make a gesture drawing on the paper of the girl. She then exchanged the vine for the charcoal pencil again and worked on the detail, this time taking great care to keep the drawing as close to photorealistic as possible. It wasn’t too hard, as she was rather talented in such a department, but she still went at a slow pace so she didn’t screw up. Charcoal pencils were not as easy to erase as vine.

She was too focused on her drawing to pay attention to Roland’s or another girl’s(Bianca) entrance, but she did raise her eye when another girl(Farren) announced herself to the others. She certainly looked interesting, with her most striking feature being the green hair on her head, something she personally found pretty cool. She knew a little something about seemingly unnatural-looking hair colors. ”Hey,” she offered the girl coolly. For a moment the black with the reddish roots adorning her head morphed into a solid green, something she did to hopefully at least make the new girl smile, and as sort of an unspoken compliment. She sent a wink in her direction as the hair quickly reverted. Whether the green-haired stranger wanted to continue the conversation was up to her.

She turned back to her drawing as Roland approached Kerri, asking to see the redhead for a moment. ”You mind talking here?” she asked the boy, the first time in forever without a malicious tone toward him. ”I don’t want to intrude; I just don’t like pausing in the middle of my work.”

Hearing only one true note









Oh the body swayed to music

Raine's smile never faltered as Felix looked at her with a look of disapproval, putting his feet back on the table to signify his defiance of her little trick. His gaze quickly returned to his book, apparently not sharing her thoughts on the librarians being more lethal than most gave them credit for. She raised an eyebrow slightly at his suggestion that their might paled in comparison to Magneto, especially because they were crushing on him. The brunette laughed slightly, tossing her hair over her shoulders.

"You men always think you can get away with anything if an old lady looks at you over the rims of their glasses, they're checking you out. Maybe you're not that cute - ever think of that," she said with a smug grin, crossing her arms over her chest. Of course he was cute - but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing she thought that in any fashion. Besides, it was this kind of banter that always made her glad to see him. The tail end of his statement made her think that there might be more to what he said than met the eye, but she wasn't going to indulge him with tales of her secret crush-life. Raine liked, and got along with, many guys, and yet they always managed to pass her over for some of the more "desirable" girls around the school. That was part of the problem of going to a school filled with mutants - so many of them could do cool things and had rocking bodies because of all the training they did. Sometimes, it was just a little too hard to keep up.

His next glance confirmed her suspicions that he had just been joking the whole time, but there was always that question with him. However, the change on his face brought a look of slight confusion to her features as well, though she let out a laugh as he mentioned the sense of deja vu. Bringing one hand up under her chin, she appeared to be thinking about something before she nodded towards him.

"You know, I kind of feel it too. And I have the sudden hankering for some chinese food. What's that all about?" He extended his hand towards her, the brunette reaching out to take it with a light smile as he introdued himself to her once more. Unfortunately, he pulled back before she had a chance to make contact - he clearly didn't want to make the same mistake twice by opening himself up to contact with a human bug-zapper. Returning to his book, be dropped the news that he had been upgraded to the Omegas, something she already knew but hadn't had time to talk to him about.

"I heard about that, congrats. But really, it's I that should be avoiding you, for fear of the crazy blonde one nuking me in my sleep for tutoring you still," she said simply, dropping her gaze to her arms folded across her chest. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed by the assignment - now, Narcissa could get her hooks in him and make it even more awkward for it to hang out with her friends. She knew he was kidding with the disease thing, just as she was kidding with being afraid of Narcissa. She didn't fear the girl - she just outright disliked her, for a variety of somewhat understandable reasons. Still, at the end of the day she hoped that it wouldn't prevent the two of them from continuing to be friends, and if she knew anything about him, she had a feeling that it wouldn't stop things on his end. He did seem to like to do things his own way.

Conversation turned to how she had been, the boy motioning for her to take a seat near him. She complied, shaking her head when he asked about the radiation and his fears of her growing a second head. It seemed he always knew what to say to make her laugh - and she didn't miss that fact that he said he enjoyed looking at her head now.

"Nah - another leg maybe, but the doctor assures that everything from the chest up is going to remain perfectly normal. Sorry to disappoint, but I think I'll continue to only remain a freak in the capacity I can throw lightning bolts and short out an entire city block. But, no, everything else has been going alright - trying not to give in to the prom fever that's going around. I already have a dress, so you can see how well that's been going," she said with a chuckle, allowing her bag to slide off her shoulder and only the ground next to her chair. He brought up that she was just too fun to tease, the firefly running her fingers back through her hair with a small shrug.

"Well, you know, I have to be useful around here in some capacity. Anyways, I want to hear about what's been going on in your life - enjoying the team upgrade?" A smile graced her lips as she sat back in her chair for a moment, interested to hear what he had to say about being on one of the more active teams. Some people loved it, others weren't really prepared for all it entailed, but she had a feeling he would be just fine. After all, he didn't normally let things get to him - why should he start now?

Ｃｈａｍｅｌｅｏｎ

Ｄａｙｌｉａ Ａｓｔｒａｌｌｏxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ｔｅａｍ Ｏｍｅｇａxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ: The garage .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

""

-----------------¦Team: Omega
-----------------¦Location: Gardens
-----------------¦Thoughts: What now? Well, let's see..

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---------------------¦The agenda for today? Quinn mentally paused to think seriously about the question Christian had asked. Her head would tilt slightly to the side, eyebrows knitting together as she found herself drawing a complete blank. She hadn't woken up with the necessity or even the great desire to do anything specific today. Well, aside from making an attempt to fit in, of course. But, making friends wasn't exactly her strong suit. Aria did rather well in that department for she wasn't as worried about so many things like Quinn was. Having one best friend, though, was thoroughly comforting since there was just something about being utterly alone that wasn't exactly appealing to her. Aria was rather perfect as her best friend, in a strange way. Their personalities were on different ends of the spectrum, but the red head had an easy way of cracking Quinn's shell. She didn't like to think of herself as much of a shy girl, but it had always been in her nature to be introverted rather than extroverted. Besides, being an introvert wasn't all that bad, right?

Hopefully, she'd even end up forging a friendship with the male before them. They were all on the same team after all and Quinn could only assume that she'd be seeing the Omegas more often than she would the Alphas. As of now anyway, she didn't know any members from the latter team and could only make guesses as to how well she'd get along with them. The two girls seemed to get along well with Christian, which was a good sign for their first day as Omegas. It would have left her with a rather horrid feeling if she were to start this journey off with friction among teammates. Quinn was one for smooth sailing all the way, if and when it came to any sort of relations with other people that were like her. When it came down to those "normal" humans though, she didn't really care to establish a bond with them. They had been cruel enough to leave her alone in this world, her family being nothing more than a memory now.

The brunette's head and veil of confusion would return to normal when Christian's communit went off and he announced his departure. Something about a check up? Quinn's eyes would shift from the device to the male as he waved and she let an easy grin form on her lips, "See ya' later." She sang in farewell, throwing the first two fingers of her left hand up in a casual salute.

Her grey eyes would watch him go momentarily before Aria's voice rang at her side once, "For now.." Quinn chuckled in response to her mention of making friends being new for them. She suspected that today would be a day filled with meeting new faces, "It'll be easy for you though. You don't suffer from being socially inept." She let her hip bump playfully against the girl's as her laugh kicked up once again. This time, it was at the impression of the younger girls around the Academy, "You're getting way too good at that." Quinn teased back as she picked up the bag she'd dropped on the ground earlier. She slung it over the outside of her shoulder, letting it hang off of her casually.

Once again, she'd begin to think about what exactly there would be for them to do during the day. From what Quinn recalled, they weren't required to do anything for the day yet, just go about it as they normally would. So, what was normal? She'd hum for a second, as if it would help her think better, "Maybe you should show me your new room.." She'd attempt to suppress that secret hiding smile once again. She wanted to surprise Aria. The last of Quinn's stuff would likely be up there by now, she'd just needed help moving some of her heavier things. Everything else she'd been able to get on her own. It wasn't like she owned an excess of items. Well, aside from clothing, but what girl didn't? ¦

Hearing only one true note









Oh the body swayed to music