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Team Alpha's Winter Wolf
Location-Library

Varis walked into the library scratching his head at the students there and yawned as he fixed his ponytail. "Oi I hate to interrupt but I'm the new kid here at the school." His thick Irish accent clear though he looked Native American hoping the students around him wouldn't be to put off he walked over to the table where a girl with dark short hair was sitting as he moved through the room he watched the others he hoped they wouldn't mind the fairly rude way he had announced himself though he didn't really care what they thought he was honest and that was one his biggest faults. He was taught to be honest by his parents and he would uphold his parents lessons. As he neared the tables he sat near the girl but between her and the boys closer to her. "My name is Varis O'Hara." He said as he put his feet up as he stretched his arms out and put his hands behind his head showing the bottoms of his sleeve tattoos.

Shandra paused when she heard her name from the mouth of a person she was utterly, well partially at least, annoyed with (Roland). She didn’t turn around to face him because honestly she knew that what he had said shouldn’t make her as tense. Upset, maybe, but it was like it had just gotten out of proportion way too fast. After about thirty seconds it was pretty clear that he wanted to apologize.

‘Guilty conscious,’ is exactly where her thoughts went on that one.

Still, it would have been extremely rude to at least not listen. And considering all the other crap she’d done or put up with over the years to keep up the idea that she herself hated rudeness…listening to him wasn’t going to kill her. At least she didn’t feel pain every time Roland opened his mouth up to talk like she had in the Nightmare world. But the one thing she did find fault in with Roland’s apology wasn’t the fact that he apologized but the fact that he was so inconsistent.

First he apologizes because he has a guilty conscious (or wants to keep up with social expectations). Then he goes into a Hard Knox life story, or at least the start of it, and tells her that he doesn’t often do that. Apparently they had very different version of “barely”. Hell, if anyone who hadn’t read the files she was legally required to fill out knew she was adopted and had run away from home (other than Peta because he didn’t count for so many other reasons) when she’s nearly killed her mother (much less anything else she’d done before the academy) then she’d kiss them and see if they were a telepath all at once. And considering the fact that she’d been at the academy for almost three years now…

Still, she shouldn’t get so unreasonably pick of him.

Shandra let out a sigh as she turned to look around at him from over her shoulder. Her eyes flickered over his face – either he was putting on one hell of an act or he was actually sincere. Childishly, she still didn’t want to trust him. And she still had to figure out where all this irrational emotion was coming from. She felt like an unruly child with pent up aggression who hadn’t had a good night’s sleep.

Oh…wait…

Well, not like she could do anything about that right now. It wasn’t like she even recognized the source, no…so she had no idea exactly why she was still whinging over the fact now that it was over and done. She simply knew she was and that she shouldn’t be.

Still, she kept eye contact from other her shoulder. He deserved…something she supposed. After all, her internal reasoning was being completely unfair and childish.

“Sorry, I just have a lot of homework and things to catch up with even if it is Spring Break,” Shandra finally replied to Roland , her tone and eyes conveying nothing but the truth, after about thirty seconds from the last word to fall from his lips.

Even if she didn’t intend to get back to the make up work till a bit later, after she’d blown some steam, it was all essentially still true. She just wasn’t going to mention the fact that she didn’t trust him enough to feel comfortable eating what he cooked. Nor the fact that most of her still wanted to just hurry up away from him with the sense that he was trying to hurt them. No…politeness was one day going to strangle her.

All the while another part of her was wondering how Leion would react if he couldn’t find his laptop tomorrow morning…Yeah, she really needed to go relax. And she really wanted to swim after Jacen had gotten a light layer of moisture over her from his hair.

“Maybe…” Shandra whispered, biting her lip as she held eye contact with the golden eyed Roland. “I guess we’ll see right? How long it takes and what not…”

Or if it was made into a mandatory thing…she hoped not. Omegas all gathered in one place to eat had always proven to be a bad thing. Meals were just a very big stigmatized situation.

She offered a wavering smile from unpainted lips before she turned her head back to face the front (part of her was prickling at the idea of turning her back to him) and started back off down to her destination.

Her feet lightly carried her in wide strides down to the locker she kept a swimsuit in without once thinking about the idea that it would be better if she just went to the dinner than avoid it. And by the time that thought had surfaced in her head, Shandra was already in the motion of a dive into the pool. Too bad Antonio wasn’t around – it could have been fun to have had an obstacle course after the swim.

Tara liked the sight of him nearly choking on his protein shake and thereby prevented from interjecting whatever he was going to say. When he finally was able to say something, explaining her observations and thereby confirming that they were indeed correct, she smirked a bit, tucking one fist under her chin as she listened with feigned enthusiasm. Raising one eyebrow as he whined how fragile he was, she considered testing that theory. She was pretty sure she could think of one place she could hit him where it really would make him at least tear up a little bit.

It was his next rant that caused her to smile quite a bit, especially when he trailed off, seeming as if he was bordering on talking just a little to much. He had something to hide - that was good to know. It would give her something to focus on - a project by which she could distract herself. His distraction by Daylia meant that she would be able to come back to this conversation - potentially catch him off guard when he didn't think he was off the hook for now. She didn't need him thinking that she was that interested in his dating life. In truth she wasn't - it was just a fun game she could pass her afternoon with. It made her sound so horrible when she thought about it that way, but she didn't really care at the end of the day.

Oh, how the tables had turned.

Dimitri asked out her and what kind of person, or mutant, she liked to date. It brought a smile to her lips as she popped a bite of salad into her mouth, chewing until he finished his question, her grin widening slightly.

"I would have thought you'd done your homework already. I don't date," she said simply, tucking some stray bang behind her ear as she turned her gaze down to the tray of half-eaten food before her. It wasn't a lie - she'd had boyfriends but never for very long and never very seriously.

"But, when I do go out, I don't have a preference for mutant or not. I find mutants easier to get along with, mostly because they don't look at me like I have 4 heads when I tell them I can make the earth move and that isn't a sexual innuendo." Her shoulders rose and fell with a shrug as she pushed her tray back slightly grabbing the bottle of water and relaxing back in her seat. Her legs crossed casually as she tugged down on the hem of her khaki shirtdress to make sure that it didn't go too far up her thighs as a group of Omegas walked in, some of the new blood if she remembered correctly. Hopefully there would be some less bitchy personalities making it onto their rival team, though it wouldn't make too much of a difference. Cissa was enough b***h for the world to handle in one little blonde package.

"Anyways, I'm bored. Without imminent danger looming around the next corner, life around here is kind of boring," she trailed off, fishing her phone out of her bag and searching through her contacts for someone to text. Maybe she should just waste the rest of the afternoon away in the lounge watching something stupid on TV, or pop in a movie. It would at least get her through the next few hours until she got bored again.

Omega, Location: Hallway/Kitchen
Old memories over a new aroma, interesting to ponder

Shandra told him that she would likely be busy with school work to make up over the break. Adding in the end that she would in Roland’s own phrasing “play it by ear” and see what happens. If that was her polite way of saying no, he had to give her credit. Granted, like he said he wouldn’t hold it against her if she didn’t show. If the girl was concerned about being harmed via food or something along those lines, he felt the urge to tell her one simple fact about himself. One that, while it was part of his character down to his core, he didn’t like to reveal simply so people don’t think of him as an open book.

If Roland wanted her harmed in some way, he would’ve done the deed with his bare hands already, and gone about his business without another thought otherwise.

“Of course, and by all means if that gets in the way I won’t be offended. School work is important after all.”

For someone as social as Roland, he had some dark secrets kept within the recesses of his twisted little mind. Some were interesting, others were haunting and disturbing for a normal person to even think about. Then again, remembering a night involving a blow torch, some pliers, and an abandoned shed in the middle of the bayou, Roland was not one to think of himself as “normal” in any sense. As he watched her walk off towards what he believed to be the direction towards the pools, a slight amount of annoyance built up in his head.

Seems like each time I try to do something nice, blows up in my face. Ah well, no good deed goes unpunished he thought to himself as he walked back towards the kitchen.

From behind him he heard a familiar and gruff voice, “Can’t win ‘em all kid.” As Roland turned he could see the tiny furball of death walk towards him, the familiar smell of smoke entering Roland’s nostrils. Made him want a smoke as well, which wasn’t a good idea for the kitchen. He’d have to settle that urge after the meal was prepared.

“Be nice to win some Logan.” he replied, for a man who could very easily rip apart just about anyone in a matter of seconds, he was a person who could see a situation and tell it how it was. He was a straight shot in Roland’s eyes, something that he could connect to.

“That yer doin’ in the kitchen? Smells… interesting.”

“It’s French.” Roland replied, his voice showing a bit of fun in what was coming next, “Ever have anything beyond nachos and beer Logan?”

“Stop deflecting kid,” Logan said to him, his voice turning serious, “I know what today is for you, so what you’re doin’ in there is some way of forgettin’ about it I‘m guessing. Does Jean know?”

“If Jean knew, you wouldn’t be here now would you? In fact I doubt I’d be in the kitchen, she’d probably have me with her for the day. But she’s probably distracted with all the stuff happening on the news.”

“Yeah, it’s a dangerous world out there kid.” Logan answered.

Roland looked at him for a moment, his golden eyes looking into the blue killer eyes before him, “Answer me straight with this Logan, because I’m only asking once.”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you take me out of there? If you left me there, I could have gotten to Dominic, and made him pay for what he did.” Roland asked, his voice turning into a low growl as he mentioned the words “Dominic” and “pay”. His anger was even more so on this day, a painful one for Roland.

“I took you out of there because I saw a part of me in you.” he answered, “You are a good kid Roll, you just haven’t gotten there yet. Plus I wasn’t gonna let SHIELD have you, especially that b***h Portman.”

“Portman?” Roland asked, this he had never heard about until now. In Roland’s experiences, SHIELD was never called in for something like this. Federal law enforcement, FBI or maybe ATF if an arms deal went down the same time too, but never SHIELD. They had more important matters to deal with, like save the universe or something, not deal with a mutant cage fight.

“Yeah Portman, a cold b***h of a woman. But as much of a b***h she is, she’s an up and comer in SHIELD.” Logan explained, “With a special interest in mutants.”

The second time he mentioned Portman it got Roland thinking. Hadn’t he heard that name before? He remembered hearing Dominic a few nights talking to a woman named Portman, and he even helped coordinate a deal with some older woman. He knew she was older based on her voice, but he never saw her face. He was too busy loading a crate onto a truck at the time.

“You still got contacts with SHIELD?” Roland asked, his curiosity about the relationship between Dominic and this Portman woman just sparked a new interest in him.

“None that I’m gonna give you.” Logan answered, “However, I did hear that kid Leo was a former SHIELD op. I could be wrong though. Try talkin’ to him at some point.” Roland took that in mind, he remembered seeing him put on armor during their first mission, he may have seen some form of logo for SHIELD somewhere.

“So we on for tonight?” Roland asked him.

“Yep, I got a carton for you waiting. Danger Room at midnight.”

“Sounds good, now if you’ll excuse me I gotta get back to the kitchen.” Roland said to him, his thoughts moving towards midnight. It was something Roland and Logan did this night the past couple of years since he brought him here.

Smoke a lot, drink a bit, and fight in the Danger Room. It was a nice way for Roland to forget and relax a bit, plus he got to hit something. Logan was around to make sure he didn’t get in over his head, or restrain him.

Whichever came first.

Making his way back to the kitchen, he saw that he was just in time to get the rest of the recipe done. Cracking his knuckles, he made his way back to work in the kitchen cutting, simmering, sautéing, and so forth.

Code Name: Siren
Team: Alpha
Location: Outside - Bleachers
Ability: Sound Manipulation
Singing: Desnudate...

Isabella fell quiet as her team seemed to disburse, sending a half hearted smile towards Adam as he made what looked like a harmless, rather cute, pass at Aurelie. In the songstress’ opinion, her green team member meant to harm…But she did glance at Gideon, a simple cautionary look that should not be misconstrued for anything but what it was. Gentle warning.

She smiled at Aurelie, shaking her head, auburn curls and waves bouncing faintly as she did so—“Don’t sell yourself short, Miss Nissley…If anyone here can give me a run for my money, I’m sure that it’s you. “

There were very interesting similarities between herself and Miss Nissley… Both enjoyed music and dance. Back when Isabella had been new to this—She’d also been hesitant. To lead anything, was entirely out of her comfort zone…

Now, things had changed—And not to lead something, felt wrong to her.

Some of her recruits seemed to want a danger room session and some didn’t… To be honest, the latina was not at all overly anxious to toss a room full of new Alpha’s into a potentially dangerous sim. Some students had found out early on, that while damage in the Danger Room is usually greatly reduced by the nature of it…Their own abilities still had the propensity to harm one another. If a student got distracted, made a bad call—And chucked, say, a ball of ice at another student---It would most certainly hurt. Other students were still in the Honeymoon period, and they thought the damage would undo itself.

Those with their heads unintentionally in the clouds would soon have those thoughts cleared away… The danger was real… The pain, that came with being on the Junior teams was very real.

Isa felt…Guilty, suddenly…For things that were well beyond her control.

But it was a dog eat dog world…Especially now—With all the political anti-mutant zeitgeist… It was either fight, or die.

She laughed at the comments she received from mimicking the Wolverine, emerald eyes dancing in the afternoon light. “You’re ever so welcome, Lexi-amor.”

The winds picked back up as the dark haired Alpha left.

Another boy she hadn’t formally met sauntered over… Late, but the songstress really didn’t seem to mind. Not that it would have bothered her in the first place… But she felt incredibly ambivalent over the boy, Brayden. He brought with him the scent of honey and freshly cut apples… And though she’d been debriefed about his power, she still found it strange. But not as strange as the words that came from his mouth.

“Braiding hair?”, she questioned in Wolverine’s voice, with mock outrage—Though she chuckled neck, her nose scrunching faintly as her head tilted. Her tone was infected with a gentle Spanish lilt at her next word, repeating what he’d said. “Tele-tube-ees?”

“It’s all right Mr. Callaway… I’ll be late for my own funeral…”, she teased, casting him a cheerful smile… The Alpha leader was never one to give anyone anything but her best. And despite the fact that she was tired… Stressed out about the on goings of the world… She would still smile, and mean every bit of kindness she showed…As a leader she gave it her all. “Nothing important… You’ll have to learn everyone’s names and codenames…And be careful if you leave the school grounds… You have to follow the rules of Noah’s Ark if you do leave to go to the city—Two by two.”

“And you have to let me know somehow, email or otherwise…Just to be on the safe side…You’ve seen the commercials I’m sure.”

Yes… She was sure he’d seen them, heard them on XM or Sirius Radio…. There was a particularly vicious ad going around now for Plan C…. It wasn’t the fact that someone would chose to do it… But that it was becoming an alternative for promiscuous teens to contraceptives… It terminated the pregnancy ruthlessly, regardless the month.

She winced when Leonardo joked about other dimensions… She’d be ever so close to trying to make out with the Omega Leader, in the guise of Sally the rag doll. “Leo… You don’t know how much I wish I could promise you that. Sometimes…Missions just kind of find us.”

He had no idea—How sick she was, of alternate dimensions.

“We’ll get some training done… But other than that…We all need a break, I think…”, she intoned to Adam, catching Reggie’s grateful smile with one of her own.

“I’m not making fun of anyone…”, she pouted, before grinning slowly. “Mimicry is the highest form of flattery.”

Her eyes lit up however as Bianca came over, the girl garnering the songstress’ full attention…“Afternoon B…”

She was still…So afraid that the girl was upset with her over what happened in Catalina… Bella was the type of person who couldn’t stand the thought of someone being upset with her for any reason. The girl started to apologize, and Isa waved her hand in the air—Waving such a thing off. “Don’t worry about it amor—Please don’t. I don’t blame you.”

If it weren’t for the fact that she had a team to look after… She might’ve disappeared too.

Isabella didn’t fail to notice Gideon asking her to a movie, and her head turned to look at him—Giving him a soft smile, that was just for him. He always knew when she was starting to feel overwhelmed and needed a break…Spring Break for the team leaders hadn’t really been anything but Emma and Scott drilling them on procedure. Over, and over, and over.

Her head tilted as she caught the sounds of music…Music being played. She smiled, just faintly—Reading the sound as it came to her. Curious, she followed it back to voices in the music room, and yes, to a conversation with Leo and Aurelie…Though she wouldn’t have eavesdropped, had the music not intrigued her…Most voices at distances, she blocked out as best she could…But she couldn’t turn her ability off. Couldn’t unheard things. Her lips moved, though no sound came… Her words hitting both of them without any real intent. ~I see how it is. Playing without me already—See what I get you pair for Christmas this year.~

And with that, she tried to withdraw… She didn’t need to know anymore, than Leonardo’s file gave her. Not unless he wished her to be aware.

Her eyes turned to Gideon, and she smiled again…There were still Alpha's about that might have questions, so she would remain, until they no longer required her presence. “Depending...Perhaps later this afternoon...A walk sounds nice. I don’t think being cooped up in the theater would help me at the moment…”

Omega – Why is it even called eavesdropping?

Jacen watched as a boy who looked a bit like Mason (Not being racist, they totally look alike. Could be brothers.) walked into the kitchen looked at all of them, and walked out. “I’m gonna guess that was a new kid?” Jacen supplied. There was supposed to be a grip of new students being indoctrinated… Yay…

Shandra’s glare caused him to hang his head sheepishly, leaning away from her in a childish attempt to avoid it. “Uh, my bad.” He said, unaware as to any other negative stimuli that may have put her in such a mood. Her sudden departure only further increased the worry that his act of drying wet hair had single-handedly ruined her day.

He turned to Leion, hopefully he hadn’t gotten wet as well, but before he could say anything, Roland up and left as well, apparently to talk to Shandra. He could faintly hear the two talking, if you could call it that, and felt better knowing that at least he hadn’t been the only cause of Shandra’s leaving. He managed to tune the rest of the conversation out as he turned to Leion. “You seen the new Omega recruits yet?”

Logan’s gruff voice carried from the conversation in the hallway just around the doorframe. He had never really gotten along with that particular teacher, despite the fact that Wolverine was one of the few people at the academy shorter than he was. The man just rubbed him the wrong way. And the fact that he called him 'Bigger Squidboy' during class didn't help. As Roland came back into the kitchen, Jacen watched him get on with the cooking. “I still don’t get how you guys do that.” He said, speaking of Roland and Leion’s ability to cook. Jacen’s culinary skills ended at shoving a stick through a fish and sticking it in a fire.

Alphas, the winning team; seeing an opening.

"I don't do homework." Dimitri told tara. He let her take in the fact that he didn't pay attention to his dates, or the women he talked to whether they were in bed with him or not. It didn't hurt for her to think for a few seconds that maybe he was horrible with schoolwork as well. His pause was done just to see a reaction from her lovely face he wouldn't mind waking up to before he finished.

"Im a no-good private school boy remember?" he grinned.

It was about time that Tara was talking about herself. Dimitri felt like he was getting too deep on his feelings the morning after. Useless information he felt Tara didn't care about. It wasn't as if her view on Dimitri would suddenly change after. When she told him that the dating scene wasn't for her, he wanted to call bullshit. The geokinetic had another point when she explained that those with powers were more friendly and were easier to get along with. Those who didn't have their gifts were more hostile to her. That was the main reason why Dimitri kept his powers hidden from his dates that were human. His date at the introduction party was a perfect example of how one would more than likely react. Humans weren't the only one missing out on the fun; Dimitri kept his powers hidden from a lot of mutants as well. Hell most of his teammates right now would probably not get to see too much of his powers.

Still, Dimitri didn't understand why she told her non-mutant guys that she controlled the earth. A lot of people have secrets that they don't want to share with the world. They would die with them before mentioning any clue about it. That was how Dimitri saw in in his eyes. His dates didn't lay it all out on the table so why should he? Perhaps he would if his power was similar to Tara's, or even Bella's. Switching your voice to another person would have been a talent in most of the world's eyes rather than a mutant power. Maybe it was because his powers had a higher chance of causing serious injury or death. The Alpha learned that first hand back at hawaii.

"But why tell people you go out with that you can make the earth move?" he thought to himself, forgetting about the sexual innuendo that was implied. He was so curious he didn't even see it. If he had a chance to talk to her again maybe he can ask her more about it. That was, if he didn't scare Tara by being serious.

It was only when Tara mentioned that she was bored and that the mansion was mostly boring did Dimitri noticed that time flew by fast. He wanted to talk more to Tara. Maybe she was trying to play him again; leave him wanting more. Or she wanted to change the conversation the way Dimitri did. His Alpha teammate had yet another point cringed on the inside she mentioned life around here. Imminent danger didn't have a pattern like it did with firefighters or police officers. With those two careers, danger was almost showing itself every second but varied from small danger to big danger. Here, weeks flew by with no sign, not so much as a ding dong ditch from prejudice teenagers. Then out of nowhere they are in a different reality, have dates in hell, and go out of control at beaches due to gas that tainted the entire zone. He was starting to become a bit paranoid.

While Tara played with her phone, it gave Dimitri time to think where the two should go next. It also gave him time to check out who was coming in the cafe. He saw two new girls on his radar and instantly remembered that they were getting new members on the squad. The first girl he saw he noticed that she was checking him out a bit; looking at his mid-section. The second he looked towards her she went back eating her meal as if she knew she got caught inspecting the goods. If she wanted she didn't have to inspect the goods with her eyes, she could use her hands, or her entire body. She was shorter than Tara but like the other girls here, had a nice figure. Dimitri was a fan of short girls(especially behind closed doors) and from her first impression, already wanted to get to know her. He would have to introduce himself later however, when Tara wasn't around watching every girl he was googling. As for the other girl, she was short as well and had a unique hairstyle to her, covering the majority of her face. It was a good look for girls that could pull it off; needless to say Lambchild pulled it off. He focused his attention back on tara who was still buzy surfing through her contact list, app store, whatever she was on.

"You wanna get out of here?" he asked. "We can go to the game room, play tennis outside, or watch what's on television. I got nothing to do till dinner time."
That was a lie for Dimitri had a few things he could take of. Getting a workout in at the gym. Talking to the parents was always a good thing. Then there was the danger room, but it was a bit risky. Getting in touch with his friend Warp, who he hasn't seen since catalina was on the list too. If Warp heard anything about Dimitri's sister, or had a lead, then he definitely had no problem scratching off whatever he had planned with people.

"Don't worry it's not a date. I'll just say im paying you to be my friend." he joked.