Welcome to Gaia! ::

Location: Underground(Alkalai Lake Base)
Thoughts: Frosted Leion emotion_awesome

This Aren made a final attempt at lightening the mood, pouting at Leion being cutting off from saying something funny. Leion followed in silence, the trip wasn't as long as it seemed but the astoundingly awkward silence after Narcissa had said "you'll be alright." was rather stifling, not just from the suddenly softer expression, but from the obvious tension between the two of them that 'accompanied' him. He heard from the communicators that they were taking him to see Emma Frost, the last time he had seen her she had been a mess, cradling Scott Summer's visor to her chest and screaming with wild eyes for them to just leave her for the Sentinels so she could be with him again.

Narcissa held the door open for him and said they would be outside, at least they seemed to care about his privacy, Emma didn't read minds out loud, but she would likely discuss what she found afterwards. But when he walked in, this woman was not what he was expecting.

At all.

The modestly dressed Miss Frost he knew would have a seizure if she saw this. This Frost showed as much skin as possible while still being able to be called 'decent'. Her white clothes were immaculate next to Leion's bloody and dirt covered rags and it made him feel a bit weird to be enclosed in a room alone with someone wearing so little. "So. . . you're going to pick apart my mind to figure out. . .what's going on?" He asked tentatively unsure if this woman was a stronger or weaker telepath than his Miss Frost.

"That's right Dear, now sit still" she said disabling his motor functions for his arms and legs, Her mind penetrated his thoughts easily, this man had no psychic shielding or training at repelling invaders. Dark and violent images passed into her mind, dead bodies of people resembling her students, Scott's lay not far from Leion in this memory. She saw a family history, a sister greatly resembling Narcissa, being taken away for training in a military program, being freed by the Brotherhood, being taken in by Xavier's for rehabilitation after being caught at Magneto's great attack.

So many things wrong and different, Blake Tanner missing his right eye from a childhood accident, Kerrigan Schwartz deciding that drealocks and black hair dye suited her, Roland Chevalier, no Bellicosa missing an arm and an ear with no trace of morals, Aren Johnson was hard to recognize as the counter to Aquene being white and having a completely different mutation, Narcissa Faith Evans Leion's sister and a calm woman who respected authority, there were so many others with differences that almost shocked the White Queen, but none so much as the fact that in this young man's mind Scott and her were completely reversed. The images of the White Queen in his mind were dressed like she was some sort of school teacher and the images of her lover were all half-naked.

She really didn't have to dig that far down to come to the realization that this Leion was from another earth, he did not belong in this universe. But she kept digging until she came upon the last memory he had of her clutching Scott's visor and screaming, a shell of a woman pleading for death. That was enough she didn't want to see anymore.

"Indeed, you are not who we thought you were, but you are at the same time." in his final memory she had seen him infront of a Sentinel when suddenly he has the sensation of teleportation and wound up in this base. Their Leion was supposed to be teleported in by Gateway, leading her to the conclusion that Gateway must have ******** up and traded the two Leions, and going by the last scene in his head, there was sad news to be delivered. "You seem to be from a universe that is parallel to this one and if your memories are any indication, you'll need to learn the differences and adapt, because you may be stuck here. Depending on your interests I can talk to Forge" she gazed at him with curiosity and waited for him to respond, she was prepared to give him a little nudge if it was necessary.

Leion's eyes widened as she dug through his mind, bringing the scars to the surface when she finished she let him know what she had discovered. He couldn't believe it. An alternate universe? Well he could believe it with the differences he had seen so far, but it was still so hard to accept. She offered to speak to Forge about giving him a way home, but from what she saw in his mind she should know that there is nothing there for him to return to, no friends, no life, just being hunted. "I- " his voice caught in his throat as he thought of his parents, though they probably already thought him dead "I'll stay, there is only death waiting for me in my Universe." His voice was sad, but he had to face facts at least here he wasn't being hunted, and though they were different he could still see the ones he had lost.

Emma walked over to the door and opened it looking between Narcissa and Aren "You're going to have to work things out with this one. . ." She started explaining the situation filling in Narcissa with the details she had found and letting her know her thoughts about the Leion they had known. She wove the two of them into her office so they could speak with him further, there were obviously going to be a lot of questions.

xxPeyton was in a good mood at the moment. A bad mood would likely have received the teleporter in more soured spirits. Even so, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the Englishman’s statement that he was always where he needed to be when he needed to be there. “Yeah, I’m so sure.” the sarcastic statement slipped her lips accompanied by a shake of her head, sending blonde curls bouncing around her shoulders. This guy was one of the most ridiculous men she’d met - he walked around with a cane for ******** sake! - always with this chivalrous bullshit. But it wasn’t the worst quality a guy could have. And somehow she didn’t mind him too much. He wasn’t exactly an anomaly like her friendship with Aspen, he wasn’t particularly obnoxious, but he also wasn’t someone she’d ever expected to give the time of day. She didn’t normally waste her breath on people so polite, who let her essentially walk all over them.

At least he was cocky, not completely spineless…

And she did have to address the ‘ma’am’ issue. He replied, stating that it would be his ‘genuine pleasure’ and the blonde nearly rolled her eyes again but as soon as that word fell off his lips again and she instead shot him a glare. While she silently decided what a suitable punishment might be her earthy gaze threatened the safety of his very being if he didn’t bend to her wishes. So he wasn’t quite the doormat she often made him out to be in her mind. Pushing her buttons a little kept him from seeming like a spineless coward, while not blatantly pissing her off avoided him the title of ‘obnoxious blockhead.’ It was a dangerously narrow line to walk but the teleporter apparently had good balance. The longer she knew him the more she began to realize his tact. It was something she wasn’t sure she liked yet. In lieu of a verbal warning, she left it to her stare to keep him in line.

He was content with waiting for Aspen with her. She just couldn’t bring herself to take off without the redhead. Before her friend’s return however, a shapeshifter had made the decision to take her appearance and try to ruffle some feathers. They were living on an underground X-Men base so the appearance of a second Peyton really hadn’t taken the blonde by enough surprise to elicit much of a reaction. She wasn’t all that impressed with it either. And the idea of people bouncing quarters off of her a** was less than amusing. She pushed the girl’s arm away from her in discontent. When Julian questioned her about her ‘twin,’ Peyton’s eyes narrowed slightly, unsure whether he was really so dense, or just getting on her nerves again. The shifter claimed to be ‘the pretty one.’ It was a comment that instinctively had her on the attack, though her she currently had more than one target and couldn’t fully commit to either of them. “Poor thing’s delusional.” She told Julian with a mock pout. “She’s never really been all there, you can see why I’d be embarrassed to tell anyone about her...” She leaned in closer to Julian as she spoke, covering her mouth and feigning a desire not to let her ‘twin’ hear her, though made no actual attempt to even lower her voice.

While Peyton may have been more blunt and direct in her ways, it didn’t mean she didn’t notice cunning and subtlety when she saw it. She smirked at the shifter’s senior citizen comment and Julian asked if he really looked so old and she offered a nod. “Like an old gimp.” She stated, matter of factly. That was for calling her ‘ma’am.’ He would be an idiot to think she would let him get away with it so easily.

Apparently the shifter was sore at him blocking her path, and Julian gave her a long-winded apology that she didn’t particularly deserve. She could go cry if it was really that upsetting to her. But Peyton skipped commenting on the matter as the shifter’s reaction to Julian’s ways proved more pleasing to the blonde. She confirmed with a small nod and half-sympathetic expression accompanying. “He’s a flamboyant old geezer...” The conversation turned to setting low expectations vs compensating for something, and when the shifter commented on Julian’s size the blonde had to stifle her laughter, attempting to hide the smile behind a hand. It would be clearly evident in the rest of her face anyway. “Is that what you’re setting low expectations for?” She asked the seemingly ten foot tall teleporter, amusement saturating every one of her features - even altering her tone with the inability to subdue her smirk. Eyes turned to her copy with a gusty sigh. “What a shame; some guys just don’t have anything going for them.”

With the ‘two blondes’ comment Peyton had reached her limit with the shifter, and she had chosen to depart just in time. But not before the blonde made sure she knew to keep walking. It left her with one more comment about her a**, causing her eyes to roll again before her attention turned back to Julian. He ‘reassured’ her, letting her know that one blonde was plenty for him. “I hope you’re talking about yourself,” Her stare subtly turned into a glare. “If you think you’re going to be having any fun with me then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, Jeeves.” She would dash any hope of that right here and now.

And now that their unwanted company had left, she decided to get some clarification from the teleporter. “And you didn’t honestly think that was my ******** twin, did you?” Sometimes he didn’t seem like an idiot, so it made it difficult for her to tell when he was really clueless or just playing along. He didn’t know she was adopted, it wasn’t something that came up in conversation, especially with people who she wasn’t sure were worth her time or not. Unless her long lost twin sister she didn’t know about coincidentally ended up in there new underground home in ******** Canada - which she wasn’t counting on - he could assume anyone walking around looking like her was either her, or a shifter. “My only sister is eleven, and we don’t look that much alike.” She clarified. As in, he wouldn’t be confusing her with her own sister if he ever did meet her. And she had no intentions of that happening anyway.

Aspen was a sight for sore eyes by the time she returned. Peyton was happy to have her friend back, and not to be stuck with Julian and her cheap imitation. The redhead had seemed in much better spirits as well. At least until she’d spotted Julian. She was wary of the stranger and Peyton tried to ease her mind with an introduction. It didn’t seem to help much though and rather than the regular bullshit that came out of peoples’ mouths (usually on auto-pilot) when they were introduced to someone, Aspen skipped straight to questioning his ability to carry their bags. The blonde gave her friend an adoring smile. It was something she had always loved about the brawler. She didn’t tiptoe around, trying to spare feelings or act ‘proper.’ She was blunt, much like Peyton, and she spoke her mind. She couldn’t quite describe the way it melted her heart but the feeling was strong enough it seemed like it radiated from her in a tangible form.

“Oh, probably not…” She answered, her tone almost fluttering while she gave a backhanded wave, as if to sweep away any confidence in the man. “But he doesn’t need to carry them. That’s the advantage of having super powers - he can teleport them to our room.” Wherever that was. But her reasoning was all for nothing and Aspen snatched up the bags before Julian could be put to work. The redhead clearly didn’t like or trust the guy, and to be fair he was a thief, so it wasn’t completely misplaced. But what was he going to steal from them? Their panties? She couldn’t think of anything she had with her that would be worth stealing. But if it put her bunk buddy’s mind at ease to carry the bags on her own then so be it. Peyton wasn’t going to upset the girl. She cared too much about her to do something like that, not on purpose. “I know you can,” She assured the girl tenderly. It wasn’t a matter of can and can’t. “I just thought since Jeeves offered he could do the grunt work. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to.”

Her friend wasn’t a pack mule, and she wouldn’t let anyone treat her as such. But if she was going to insist on carrying their bags, the blonde supposed she would let her. “Can I at least help? I can get my own bag.” She offered. It had wheels so it didn’t require much strength anyway. She wasn’t against doing things for herself, and often did, but if Julian was going to show up and start offering to be her slave she was going to use him as such. Something about the way he acted made her want to abuse him. And she wasn’t particularly cruel to him - not like she was to some others - but she would take advantage where she could, and he was often on the receiving end of her bitchiness. Granted, he often caused it…

When he offered to guide their way instead, the blonde glanced at her friend to gauge how receptive she was to the idea. But ultimately, neither of them had ventured further into the base than the hangar. They had no idea where they were going and the super-breathed gymnast wasn’t going to wander around lost just because the redhead didn’t like their guide. She just wanted to find her room first and foremost. After that it wouldn’t matter as much; they could drop off their luggage and go get lost together. But She didn’t want to carry everything they’d brought to the new base around while they tried to find their way.

“We’re in the same room,” she clarified. “And sure, lead the way.” Regardless of her bunkmate’s reservations about the man, if he could show them to their room, then she was content with it. And she hadn’t missed the comment about fighting. “I can’t believe people are already fighting and we’ve just moved in.” ******** drama queens, everyone. Sometimes she felt like she was the most level-headed person on base, and that was really saying something. They couldn't even make it an hour without a scene.

Roland Chevalier
Location: The Hangar/Med Center
Thoughts: Struggling to get through my own nonsense…

His anger was still brimming as Narcissa chastised him in front of the others, but he didn’t let it show as much as he was earlier. He shutdown the outward emotional output of his anger, let it swelter in him. It was something he learned during therapy.

Speaking of, she had no concept of being raised roughly. Between her, and the others, most of them had a cakewalk. Beating someone to death in an alley with a tire iron over a gambling debt is the exact definition of what anybody would think of as a s**t childhood. He didn’t exactly see how anybody else on his team, save for Aspen, were put in a rough situation.

She likely saw his time here as a deprogramming of his time spent on the team. However, he was thrilled, being away from it all. He didn’t have to deal with the fact that he was quite literally alone. Save for Kerrigan, he had nothing. No family, no home, not even a dog. He was able to retreat into the dark, gather his thoughts, get himself collected. Not have to deal with the insanity that came from being these X-Men.

He glared at her, his golden eyes piercing right into her. He didn’t utter another word, but his eyes conveyed the anger he held in him. Had anyone done something to her, she would have burned him or her to a crisp even if she were given an order. She was just as inclined to disobey as he was. Superior or not, he was in the right on this one.

And he’d be damned if he was getting hell for acting in the right.

She gave him orders to go with Kerrigan down to the Med Center to get checked out. He did not give a verbal response towards her as he offered to lead her there. On the way, she asked about how his face was. He simply dabbed the inside of his mouth, a bit of blood along the fingertip, “Better then expected, I suppose.” he answered, his voice calmer than before.

She then added her own two-cents, saying that he needed to learn how to trust the team. He stopped for a moment, and placed a closed fist on the wall. He took a deep breath as he collected the right words for this.

“I wasn’t protecting you… I was protecting what little pride I had left.” he stated, letting his guard down, “That whole thing could have gone down in front of anyone else. Narcissa, Aren, Bella, anybody. I was hoping for one day where something didn’t go wrong around me. Then… this happened. And I lost it.”

“You saw how they all look at me. How quick some were to judge. Let’s face it, I’m not exactly the golden boy of the teams. But of all the times I get caught up in something, I had nothing to do with it. Normally I’d get angry at myself for letting my impulses get the best of me. But this time, I was just angry.”

“I’m not trying to justify myself, I’m just… trying to explain myself you know?” he finished, his eyes were down to a low glimmer from the piercing rage he was experiencing before. Anyone that would be able to see this would know that he was feeling vulnerable, embarrassed, exposed.

“I get that, I do about trusting my team. But I wasn’t exactly raised in a trusting environment. It doesn’t come so easily as it might to some. God’s honest on that.”

He kept silent most of the way after telling her that, leading her to the Medical center. Elixir simply looked at him, sighed and grabbed the nearest kit “What this time Mr. Chevalier?”

“Strike to the face, surprisingly not my fault this time.” he answered, “Laceration to the inner cheek. Nothing fatal.” pulling a stool up he sat down.

“Feel free to take a seat Kerrigan, shouldn’t be too long.” he opened his mouth and let him get to work.

OOC: Anything I missed let me know!

Luke nodded slightly at Lynette, shaking her hand, eyes refusing to raise above elbow level. He could never understand why the girls in the X-Facility were so damn pretty. It was incredibly frustrating, and worsened his already shaky ability to look people in the eye for long periods of time. “That’s good information to have.”, he glanced up quickly, noting the red heads smile, before releasing her hand, taking a full step back.

If her cheerful attitude was contagious, he really didn’t want to catch it.

He glanced back at Daylia, taking note of her confidence in her threats. “So they’re pretty much just going to keep it safe like delivery guard dogs.”

He hoped she was right. In his experience, teenage boys were assclowns that didn’t really think of the consequences. He knew he hadn’t.

The young man shuffled his feet a little bit, a regular habit, before settling back into a relaxed position. “There’s no need for a sous chef unless we’re making something really extravagant. Cooking is fun. It’s an art.”

The girl went on to talk about how she’d better steer clear of the third floor due to a phase she’d recently exited and he visibly winced. “…Don’t tell me you were in to that teen bop craze.”

Luke looked legitimately a little concerned. “No matter how bad things get…Bad music is never the answer.”

The plant manipulator had to wonder if Daylia realized how scary she sounded. From the way she mentioned revenge, he had to assume so. Glancing towards Gracie and Lyn he seemed a little resigned. “Are all Omega’s like this?”

He’d heard the tall-tales, everyone had, but it was different actually seeing it first-hand.

Gracie commented that she’d never sleep again if she got on Daylia’s bad side and Luke chuckled under his breath at the notion of her needing beauty sleep. That was a laugh. If she got any prettier he’d never speak again. He might have commented on this fact, were it not for the distinct possibility it would have made him sound like a creeper. They’d only just met, after all.

Clearing his throat he changed the subject, latching on to the first thing he could think of. “So I guess the rumors about the Red Queen are true.”, he muttered, a little bit crestfallen. He had reason for concern considering his new status as an Alpha. Daylia all but confirmed he was already on her s**t list. He wasn’t sure what was worse… Referring to her as the Overlord, or the Red Queen.

“Has anyone else realized that the Red Queen was a homicidal maniac supercomputer who locked people in an underground facility and killed them?”

The similarities really bothered him. Especially because they WERE in an underground facility. Sighing, he shook his head as his arms crossed over his chest.

“…Damn…Hated just cause I’m an Alpha. It’s like being hated being hated on cause I’m the black guy. That’s just fan-friggen-tastic.”

The topic changed to pie, something he both appreciated, and hated. Hated, because he was hungry. Gracie mentioned that key lime was her favorite and he nodded. “Key lime is good…But pecan is my favorite.”

“But in a pinch, any pie will do.”

Once the group started moving, Daylia took point to try and find the kitchen, but Luke found himself astonished that none of them really had any idea where they were going. She waved off his concerns and broke into his personal space with all the finesse of a sledgehammer. Her hands on the side of his face he looked at her quizzically. “Don’t most people die on adventures? Usually the black guy first?”

In his own mind, his fears were completely valid. Hadn’t they ever watched a horror flick?

She pinched his cheek in a way his foster-mother might have, but he found no comfort in her words. Instead he returned the favor about personal space, stepping close enough that their noses almost touched. “You’re hella scary, you know that?”

He pulled away and stuffed his hands deeper in his pockets, her vague insult about him not belonging on a team striking a chord. Scott hadn’t thought he was ready for the Alpha’s either. For the first time he looked the Omega dead in the eye, gaze hard. “If you think this facility is secure, maybe you shouldn’t on a team.”

It was first of all, to his understanding, a former testing facility. Secondly…The school should have been secure, but Sentinels had all but kicked in their front door. A healthy dose of paranoia was not only reasonable, but responsible.

Luke dropped the subject after that. He didn’t want to start a fight with someone about ghosts of things that didn’t really matter. Gracie commented that it really depended on what they were cooking, whether she was okay or not with it. She winked at the end of her words, and he got a little flustered. “Well what do you want? I can make whatever you like.”

A cooking contest did sound fun, but glancing at Lyn—He had a feeling he’d smoke her. He was the only Alpha he’d met…He didn’t want to upset her so soon. “I’ll have to pass on that one. At least for now.”

Gracie commented that they wouldn’t throw him to the third floor as a sacrifice and he raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh-Sure you wouldn’t.”

As pale as a black man could get without being dead, the plant manipulator turned when Gracie started mock singing the Beebs. There was just something evil about Omega’s…Gracie was a fox, but just as evil as the other one. “I think you would help. You’d jump in with the singing and dancing while they sacrificed me.”

He watched the women-folk spread into the industrial kitchen like locusts, surprised that they seemed to know exactly where everything was. Though they were only making sandwiches, so it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to get ingredients. He stopped at a prep table and placed a small pile of seeds on it. Almost instantly they began to shiver and grow, ending in a small amount of fresh herbs. They wouldn’t last long without access to dirt, water, or his energy but long enough to make whatever he had planned. He started to bounce around the kitchen, checking the pantry and cooler.

Gracie informed him that they weren't upper class ladies and he shrugged. "I was going to say fine ladies--But I decided it seemed creepy. Which ever you prefer."

Glancing over at what Daylia was creating he chuckled and shook his head. “No, thank you. But I can’t say that I do.”

He really couldn’t say that a PB&J was a work of art—Unless it was abstract. Then OMG was it beautiful.

Turning back towards the stove he began prepping the dish he planned making. Chicken, of course. He was black afterall. Hearing Gracie’s comment about a bake off he paused when he put a little olive oil into a decent sized skillet. Man, the kitchen was huge. It looked like they could feed an entire army. It seemed strange that there were very few other staff members about—But they all seemed to be doing prep work for a group lunch or dinner. “A bake off huh…”

“I guess I could do a bake off. Then you won’t have to find chocolate for your Overlord…What do you say, Lynette?”

Since he was facing the stove, he unfortunately didn’t see Esben walk in. If he was hungry, he’d have to let Luke know. “How many plates should I make?”


.

Tara took a step back as Roland and Leion went at each other, the brunette trying her best not to roll her eyes. Several people were quick to jump in and try to restrain the participants, though she stayed put. As far as she was concerned, the Omegas should duke it out - it would have to get settled eventually. At least this way, she'd get some entertainment out of it. Said entertainment, however, was short lived with the arrival of the Omega queen bee herself, the sharp tone of her voice enough to send shivers up her spine.

Despite the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, an involuntary grin twitched at the corners of her lips, brown eyes moving between the parties involved. Going against Narcissa's orders, Roland brushed past Kerrigan to confront his attacked himself, the geokinetic rolling her eyes. She couldn't help but shout out for the behemoth to put "it" back in his pants and quit trying to show off to the rest of the group. Sure, it wasn't very sensitive, but since when had she cared at all about trying to make someone feel better. Aren seemed to get it, the brunette tossing him an amused wink as the native american boy claimed she'd taken the words right out of his mouth.

Other students were starting to stream into the area at this point, some of the boys picking up luggage for the ladies. Rather than have a huge group gawking at them, the brunette instead figured she'd let the Omega's sun spot take care of business. A shrill whistle escaped her, getting as many people's attention as possible and move them on to finding their rooms. Waving the group that fell in behind her on, Tara tried to put some distance between them and the fight. Some of them, led by Gracie broke off to get something to eat after their travels, leaving her with a smaller, more manageable group.

Alexandra approached her, stating that she needed help finding her dorm and introducing herself with an offered hand. Her eyes turned down to the hand, then back up to the girl before a likely forced smile parted her lips. "I know who you are, Alex. We've been on the same team for over a month. Tara." Her tone was definitive, if not curt, immediately motioning for them to continue on their way as she made her way towards the elevators. They stopped again, however, when Blake appraoched them from behind, asking if they needed any exptra company.

"I never turn down the extra company of a true gentleman," she retorted, packpedaling enough to slip her arm into his and flash him one of her more brilliant smiled. "That was nice work jumping into the fray like that," she continued, linking her other arm through Alex's and leading them over to the elevators. Pressing the button, she stepped back, waiting for the car to arrive, turning to their male companion once more. "Though, I kind of wanted to slap you a little bit for not letting that play out. I told you that we needed something to entertain us. I could have had so much fun with that one." Pretending to pout, she tossed her curls over her shoulder, brown eyes moving to the blonde girl on her other side.

"So, Alex did you guys have a nice, uneventful, boring flight? Come on, fill me in on all the gossip while it's still juicy."

Where: New Base
Company: Himself, Luke, Lyn, Daylia, Gracie
Thoughts: This Red Queen needs to chiiiiiiillllll


He didn't have to search the place to find the kitchen. He already knew where it was, in fact it was the first thing he went to find when he got here weeks ago. He did the same thing when he first got to the school years ago. It's sort of a habit of his due to his time on the streets, not knowing when your next meal is going to be. So to prevent himself from getting lost while finding food, he would seek out the kitchen first thing when in a new place. So unlike other students, he knew exactly where he was going.

Of course the closer he got to the kitchen, the more he realized he was not going to be the only one there. He heard many voices in the kitchen, talking about everything from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to peanut butter and banana sandwiches (*yuck*), what kind of chocolates the Overlord would want, to a bake off. All of those sound very good to the hungry simian like mutant (except for the Red Queen, that just confused him). Once however he got into the kitchen he realized just who was in the kitchen.....and it is nobody he really knows. Once again, like in the elevator, he felt kind of embarrassed to even be in the same room with them. He doesn't know which of them were "teammates" and which were part of the Omega Team.

But his fears of being alone were abated when one brunette haired lady (Gracie) waved hello before redirecting her attention to two others, another red haired woman (Lyn) and one of the only guys in here besides Esben (Luke). He didn't speak up, at least until Lyn looked at Esben and asked in a roundabout way if he wanted a plate.

"Sure," he answered, "I could go for whatever is being served up here," he answered. He was going to serve himself, but hey if someone wanted to offer him a plate, who was he to say no? Of course, that didn't stop him from opening the refrigerator and taking out a Granny Smith apple to hold him over, closing the door with his long tail. As he stepped over to the sink to wash it off, he looked behind him to the other people in the room and gave a goofy smile, "Esben Mateus Ness, by the way, in case you guys wanted to know, of Team Alpha. I hope I am not intruding on you guys' conversation about peanut butter sandwiches, an Overlord and what her choice of chocolate is, and a bake off."

Of course, whoever this Overlord or Red Queen is, she doesn't sound too nice. And maybe she needs to get the permanent stick up her a** out or take some hormonal treatments to regulate her mood.

Name: Leonardo Rossi
Team: Alphas
Location: Alkali Lake
Silence, At Last... For Now.

His little quip had about being thrown in prison for messing around with a minor was well-received. At least his sense of humor hadn't been completely diluted in his time away. Bella mentioned that there was a plane on the way that had people that wouldn't get them a court order to stay at least thirty yards away from playgrounds.

"See? There's still plenty of girls above eighteen that probably need help with their luggage," Leo assured the two, hopefully not completely letting their hormones down.

His thoughts turned back to the plane Bella mentioned, and who might be on it. Apparently there was a good chunk of Alphas, Omegas, and Narcissa coming along. The other Alphas were what he was most concerned with, the ones he knew. The only one he'd seen so far was Tara, so that left a good chunk of his teammates that he hadn't seen yet, namely Raine, Bianca, and Aurelie. The last name rang inside of his head. The blond telekinetic was one of the last people he'd spoken to before he left, and one of the only people he had actually informed of his departure.

Like Bella, she had wanted to go along with him, but thankfully didn't fight him. Leo mused for a moment that if he had let the two come with him, he'd eventually be dragging half the Alphas along on his warpath. She had been one of the bigger reasons why he came back, really. Maybe when he got out of the funk he was in, he'd go talk to her and explain things a little bit more. Not now, though – he was a bit too… cracked, right now. Plus, he'd noticed that Katerina had been hanging around Aurelie a good bit lately. Whether it was to spite him or if somehow the two had actually become friends, he wasn't sure. He almost preferred it to be the former – that way he had a more legitimate excuse to mad at the shapeshifter that he had scuffled with so many times in the past.

It didn't take too long for the group to split up. The elevator came, which Leo quickly stepped onto, despite it already having an occupant, and Charlotte went with the trolley boys. He didn't bother with verbal good-byes, just curt nods and small waves. Bella followed him on, and struck up a conversation with the simian man that also occupied the elevator. If Leo didn't know any better, he would be quick to assume that this man was a new Alpha, but Bella seemed to take interest in really anyone who was on base.

Leo didn't bother with speaking – the monkey-man already started to do enough for all three of them. Eventually the elevator stopped, and as suggested, the man stepped off, heading for the kitchen. When he was well out the door and down the hallway, Leo sighed and stepped forward, pushing the door close button while saying in the lowest whisper he could muster, "I swear, where do we get these people…" and stepped back against the wall, clasping his hands in front of him.

The elevator opened once again on their desired floor, and Leo immediately stepped off, ready to get his bags off of him and maybe rest for the first time in weeks. The rooms were all surrounding the mezzanine, so there wasn't really much of a 'room on the end' that he could take that would afford him a little more peace and quiet than the rest. Luckily, a smaller room that was tucked away in a corner hadn't been taken yet. A small pad sticking out of the wall at a 45-degree angle on the outside was the way to get in – a handprint scan. Leo placed his hand down on it, and it locked his hand in to the scanner, claiming the room as his own.

The door slid open and Leo stepped inside. It was small, cozy – he didn't require much in terms of living space. He placed his bags down on the floor next to the double bed. A nice desk, chair, and dresser were the only other pieces of furniture in the room, which was really all he needed. Honestly, he just needed a shower, food, and a good night's rest before he would be ready to fully appreciate the accommodations. Right now his mind was too clouded from trying to avoid people.

Turning to Bella, he realized in the silence that they were finally alone. Breathing out a sigh, he merely said,

"I suppose this is the part where I say I'm sorry."