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poster: Jen date: 21 May 2002, 5:21pm EST Sarah came awake instantly, shutting off the alarm before it had barely begun its annoying whine. In less than 2 minutes, without turning on the light, Sarah slipped out the door, bunk made, ready for her morning run. Halfway down the hall she paused and looked back at her door, something niggling in the back of her mind. Alarm off? Check. Bunk? Check. Dressed? Check. Then it hit her. Cassie wasn’t in her bed. ~~~~~~ A check of their room revealed no Cassie, no purse, and no note, but her things lay otherwise undisturbed. There were no messages on her machine and she wasn’t with Kurt. From the taste of things, she hadn’t been there in ages. She definitely came in last night; she woke me up just as she always does. She didn’t have a nightmare; I would have woken up for that. I always do. So where the hell is she? Do I go find help? For what really? Unauthorized absence from her bed? Cassie was a grown woman. Where she spent her time was her business. On the other hand, she’d been getting stranger and stranger, avoiding everyone, since that mess with Ben. And now she was vanishing in the middle of the night. Damn. Wherever she went it was of her own free will. I’ll just chew her ass for making me worry the next time I see her.
poster: nacey date: 24 May 2002, 4:51pm EST You know, the last thing you'd expect Logan, the bad-ass Wolverine, to be into is yoga. But he's into it, in a big way. So much so that he wanted me to get into it to help myself channel my over-active animal energies and become one with nature, cause if I was one with nature I was more at ease with my 'animal' self. I liked to go into the very edg es of the gardens where the untouched woodlands framed the estate, because the last thing I need is for the rabble at the school giving me shit for doing one of the few things that keeps me sane. Sometimes I saw Hank on his morning walks, and I'd shout him a hello. Right now I was stretching my body slowly and carefully, breathing to my own rhythm, calm... at peace. A scent whiffed past suddenly... sweat and familiar perfume. A smile cracked on my face and I tried to ignore it. I had to warm up for the day, as I was in for some training. My eyes were closed, my arms were straight up above my head, and the chill breeze tried to get past my fully regrown fur. The scent grew stronger, but I kept my eyes closed, fighting to keep my mind on my breathing. "I still don't understand ho you can do that. Don't you need to like get your blood moving?" "It is moving," I said without opening my eyes. "I focus on the movement of the blood in my body... every stretch of a muscle helps circulate more... like this-" Without warning I grabbed for the girl in front of me, tickling her ribs carefully (my claws were sharp). "Ack!! Stop!" She rolled away, coming to rest on her hands and knees, trying to glare at me. I wasn't working; she was laughing too hard. "I'm gonna get you for that!" "Ooh, I'm scared!" I widened my eyes and grinned, feeling my pointy teeth stick out a bit as I did so. I lowered into a stance so I was ready for anything she threw at me. "You should be," she countered, sticking her tongue out at me. "I can kick your ass." I just sniggered, deliberately trying to stir her. "Come on then... unless you're just gonna crouch there looking dangerous and sexy all morning, which I don't mind-OOPH!" Can I just say that it's positively deadly to underestimate the opposite sex? She had me pinned down on the grass faster than you could say Gambit-After-Knickers and those fingers were playing knick-knack on my ribs. Which was bad. Cause now I was screaming and giggling like a baby. Like a little boy without any balls or anything. Giggling and blushing and shaking all over. And then there were more scents. More women... strawberries and a sweet flowery rose smell. Jubilee and Rogue. Ohhhh great. "Woohoo! Go Sarah! You show him girl!" "Holy shit! What are you *doing* to the boy to have him in that state?" "Come on Jubes, don't gawk!" I couldn't open my eyes to see where they were off to, but they seemed to be on their regular morning runs too, so thankfully they didn't stop. "Say uncle?" "NOooo!" The tickling got harder, and no matter how I tried to squirm, she had me pinned. "You really are stubborn." I opened my eyes and looked at her, trying to speak between giggles. "What?" "Stubborn," she said with a smirk. "As in 'unwilling to give in'?" I giggled. "You're supposed to keep going." "Huh?" I grabbed her hands and made motions for her to keep tickling me. "See? Like this. And I go, 'OH please! No! Stop stop!' and you say, 'SAY UNCLE!' and I go, 'NEVAAAH!' and ..." Sarah lifted a brow, and I sighed. "Fine." I took the opportunity to knock her 'arse over tit' as Cameron was fond of saying, and pin her to the ground to administer some tickling torture of my own. "Now you say uncle!" poster: Amezri date: 26 May 2002, 1:54am EST (( OOC: The Hellfire Mansion is located in Massachusetts. I've kinda combined the Hellfire Club/Mansion with Emma's Massachusetts Academy. Okay, okay, I realize that Emma is not British, but she is here. And I've made her really stuffy and bitchy. Heh. {brackets} indicate telepathy. )) Cassandrea had been up since dawn, rudely awakened by Emma Frost's telepathic messages. Cassie had to quickly adjust to having someone's voice constantly in her head. It wasn't that Emma never spoke, she just prefered using her gifts. Professor Xavier never used his gift as casually as Ms. Frost seemed to. {Do not compare me to that man,} Emma said with distain. The day had started with a stern lecture. "I will not coddle you. You will obey every word I say or you can return to that Academy you ran away from. You will not learn Literature, Math, or any of those useless subjects. I will teach you how to master your powers. To crush those that stand in your way. No one will ever make you a victim again. Questions? No? Good. Breakfast is served promptly at seven, lunch at noon, and supper at six o'clock." Over the course of the day, Cassandrea familiarized herself with the school grounds and training facilities. Emma had made it very clear that if she wasn't sleeping or eating, she would be training. Good. Even with the dreaded Wolverine teaching at the Institute, Cassie felt the programs were too light and passive. Defensive moves were valued over offensive. Students were trained not to initiate attack, but to defuse a situation with as little violence as possible. Ororo Munroe had worked hard over the years to help Cassie control her powers and not "leak" when she became too emotional. And that hard work had helped - had she started to shift while caught in Ben's goo-net, things could have been much worse. But among her peers, what good was her power in a serious conflict? Spellcraft had aided her on more than one occassion, but the delays that were necessary to perform them were often costly. Her water powers couldn't do much damage to a brick or steel wall and she had been trained to use it as a defensive ability, for the most part. The water globules she threw were little more than glorified water granades. No, if she wanted to be a fierce opponent, *she* needed to be the weapon. That's why she came here, wasn't it? Why she left her friends. Why she left Kurt... {Miss Reina, please meet me in the lower level training room.} She wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled her hair into a ponytail. "I'm on my way, Ms. Frost."
poster: Jen date: 26 May 2002, 4:07pm EST OOC: Nacey twisted my arm. Ok no, but she did say to go ahead. Uncle my ass. I let him have his fun for a couple of minutes before tossing him right back on his butt. I was having fun, but I had to get inside - now. "Oh grasshopper, you have much to learn," I purred, nipping at his ear before hopping up and offering him a hand up. "But that lesson will have to wait for another day. I have to go." The General got the last laugh after all; sending me somewhere that 5 months out of the year I wouldn’t be able to go outside. "You could stay and try the yoga. It really would make you feel better, calmer." "Logan’s tried to get me to do that already. I just can’t sit still." I have no problem staying still during a hunt or when I’m supposed to ‘observe and report’, but to sit still and breathe and focus on my inner thoughts and feelings. No way. My inner feelings and I have a deal; I ignore them and they stay out of my day-to-day life. Anger’s still not on board with the plan, but since that appears restricted mainly to Dr. Grey and Annie, I’m good with that. "Besides," I added as another gust of chilly wind swept through the garden, "if I stay out here much longer I’ll be so cold, I’ll be comatose." "Oh crap. Sorry. I forgot." "No big deal." "No, its not. I should have thought about it." Just that quick, he’s bundling me off toward the building. Like I wasn’t going that way anyway. I hissed at him, which, like usual, he ignored. This is an on-going thing between us: him wanting to take care of me like I was made of glass or something and me wanting to be treated like I’m capable of handling myself - which I am. Logan said we’ll come to a happy medium eventually, but that I should expect Max to always be a bit overprotective. "Just promise me from now on, you’ll be careful and let me know before it becomes a crisis." "It wasn’t a crisis, yet," I grumbled, but he’s still staring at me and I don’t think he’s going to leave me alone until he gets the answer he wants. Like I said: stubborn. "I know my limits, Max." He dropped a kiss on the tip of my nose and pushed me through the door. "I know you do, but I don’t. So humor me." "Fine. Go back to your breathing and your happy thoughts." He grinned and gave me one last kiss before loping back across the garden. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There were a few people in the gym at this hour and I stopped to chat with Bobby and St. John for a few minutes. St. John made his usual crack about remembering a towel and I flipped him off, completing our morning ritual before I slipped into the sauna - with a towel. I still didn’t quite have a handle on how to dress or act a lot of the time, but I was getting better. Although, taking on Jubilee as my wardrobe coach probably wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had. I laid down, stretching out on the bench, the heat soaking into my limbs. I liked this place. It lacked the structure and disciple of the other school, but it had a rhythm of its own. A whacked out, edge-of-chaos rhythm, but rhythm nonetheless and as scary a thought as it was, it was rapidly becoming home.
poster: Allison date: 27 May 2002, 9:51pm EST "Annie, come on it’s time to wake up," a voice called from the conscious realm. "Whyyyyyyyy?" I groaned. For some reason Cammo was in my room way earlier than I should be required to acknowledge the world. "Your foot is all healed up now, so you can start running with me," he explained. After receiving the most murderous glare I could muster, which isn’t saying much, he continued. "I’ll make sure you get pancakes, afterwards." Ok so I’m cheap. I detangled myself from a pile of sheets and blankets and stumbled into the bathroom grabbing sweat pants along the way. I brushed my teeth and threw on the pants, changing out of my oversized sleep shirt and into a sports bra that I left on the tile floor last night. Half dressed and feeling half alive I went back out where Cameron was waiting, looking completely alert and far too perky. "God should kill morning people," I grumbled. "Mmmm?" was his only response. I yanked open the top drawer and pulled out an old orange T-shirt "Rams, Sedona Co-Ed Soccer". The shirt had to be at least a decade old and was getting a bit tight in the shoulders but I pulled it over my head, struggling with the neck hole. Cameron laughed, "Ready yet?" Mature girl that I am, I stuck out my tongue.
poster: cammogirl date: 28 May 2002, 12:27am EST Max and I had sort of come to an arrangement. I'd take care of things with Annie for him, cause Sarah was getting real jealous. He said it had something to do with *smelling* like Annie, and that it was complicated. I didn't really want to know. I know enough about animal-orientated mutants to satisfy my curiosity and the last thing I wanted to hear was that Sarah regularly sniffed his butt or something freaky like that. I ran every day here as a part of my X-Men training. I usually went for a swim in the school pool in the afternoons. I was the best swimmer in the school. Oh heck, let's face it, I'd be doing Olympic Swimming if it weren't for that stupid 'No Mutants' rule. I watch the swimming competitions all over the world, and I know I could swim faster than those guys. I clock seconds off of the world record when I do my thing in the pool. I don't know why I even train when I don't stand a chance because of my genetics, but the Professor always said that I should keep up with it anyways. And as they say around here, Professor knows best. Well. Annie doesn't seem the morning person, and that's no shame. I guess I'm just one of those strange people that love the mornings. Brisk air, golden morning light. There's nothing better. Except maybe mornings back at home in Perth. I think back to the place... it's paradise. There is nowhere more beautiful than that place in my mind. Not only was it pretty there, it was *warm*. The air was sweet and heavy with the scent of eucalypt trees, and at my house in Cottesloe it was thich with the salt from the sea. I burn eucalyptus scented oils in my room sometimes, just to take me back. Annie looked to me as we ran, tilting her head. Well... I ran. She kinda jogged slowly, and I slowed down so she could keep up. "So what is it you do here?" she asked, panting heavily. "Hmm?" "You don't study, obviously, since they don't do college curriculums here." I cleared my throat. Most of the kids knew about the X-Men, but we usually liked to entrust Professor X with the responsibility of enlightening the new students about the darker cause here. I licked my lips, clearing my throat again. "Ahh... abilities management." She looked to me. "Abilities management?" "Yeah," I said. "The Professor helps teach us oldies how to deal with our strange abilities so we can be integrated into society." She nodded. "I imagine it would suck at a job interview if you started to blend in with the decor." I laughed at that, nodding. "You don't know the half of it." We ran for a little bit more, but not too long as I could see Annie wasn't used to this sort of thing. If she was going to be attending this place, I figured she'd need to get her fitness up. Of course, I wouldn't say *why*. We both got changed and showered, and then hit the kitchen.
poster: Allison date: 28 May 2002, 1:57am EST I began flipping through the cabinets looking for supplies. "Cammo, where’s the Bisquick?" "I said pancakes, and I mean real pancakes," he answered. He was obviously serious seeing as he had busted out flour and other ingredients I didn’t know you used to make pancakes. "Grab two eggs from the top shelf of the fridge, oh and the milk too," he called from the counter. Soon we were mixing away, and I felt like I was back in Dad’s bakery, though we never did make pancakes, just cakes and cookies. Cameron took the bowl over to the griddle and began scooping out the batter; I went back to one of the pantries and grabbed a bag of mini-chocolate chips. I nudged him out of the way and threw a handful on to a few of them. "You want any on yours?" I offered. "Uhm... no thanks. I usually reserve chocolate chips for after-dinner meal ventures," he answered using a spatula to flip them. "Chocolate should be an all day venture, especially on Saturdays.... And all those other ending in ‘y’ days," I popped a few into my mouth to emphasize the point. "Okay, it's your ass, not mine. Not that there's anything wrong with your ass, it's fine. Not that I was looking at your ass. I'm just going to go die of embarrassment now." "Well not everyone’s ass is as pretty as yours, and yes I was looking, those hot pants you call running shorts make it hard not to." He got a buggy-eyed look and the straight face I’d been working so very hard at, was shot to hell. "So that's why you were lagging behind me?" he asked with a wry smirk. "Nope, simply a perk considering the fact that I walk faster than I jog. You’re going to need sweat pants if you’re ever going to convince me to speed up." "The things the men of today have to contend with... I dunno." "Cry me a river, build me a bridge and get over it... and watch those pancakes." "Remind me to tell you that should you ever bitch about your periods. And I've got the pancakes under control, thank you very much." "Don’t worry, I won’t bitch about my periods, just so long as I’ve got my friend Midol near at hand and you never try to figure out when I’m PMS-ing." "Sounds good to me," he smirked. I couldn’t help it; I threw a handful of chips at him while he moved our breakfast onto a plate. Of course he was positioned near the bowl and began to flick little droplets of batter at me. I grabbed the bottle of maple syrup and grinned, this was going to be fun.
poster: cammogirl date: 28 May 2002, 2:16am EST Oh... Annie was askin' for it. Thankfully, I had the much better artillery - I had gluggy batter. Or what was left of gluggy batter after I'd made a dozen pancakes. I dug the spatula in, and with a might flip it went careening towards Annie. And splatted fair on her chest. She squealed then growled. "Oh! You dirty rotten son-of-a-" Another gloop splatted her face. Before I knew what was happening, we were taking what we could of the stuff and smearing it all over each other, shouting and letting out girly squeals as it was cold and uncomfortable. Soon other food products were brought into the foray, and we were both caked with flour, eggs, milk, water and littered artisticly with chocolate chips. I found myself laughing my ass off on the kitchen floor, surrounded by the chaos of the food fight. Well, I was laughing at least until I heard the familiar (and somewhat ominous in this circumstance) whirring of an electric engine. Looking up I saw Professor Xavier looking at us with a faint expression of amusement. "I see that you're settling in well, Annie." Annie smiled meekly at this. "Oh... you know. Comfort food and all that." Professor Xavier smiled at this. "Indeed. Well... make sure you clean it all up, and try not to make a habit of it. I'll get some tea from the mess hall kitchen instead. Good day." He trundled off, and looking to Annie I smiled. "Now that is one cool cat."
poster: nacey date: 28 May 2002, 8:06pm EST I think Logan must have had it in for me or something. Today's training was really hard slog. Heavy self-defense using my mutations. Let's say that I made quick work of a lot of poor defenseless dummies. "Focus damn it," Logan growled, positioning himself and holding his hands out in preparation. He was taking me on un-clawed. You would be wrong in assuming that he's brave, taking me on when I have claws out and he doesn't. Not a bit. He's beating my ass into the ground. "I'm sorry," I said, sighing, wiping sweat off my brow. "We've been at this three hours already." "Right," Logan said. "We can break for lunch soon. Right now - you fight. Magneto ain't gonna give you a lunch break at crunch time, you got it?" I groaned and nodded. "Yeah okay." "Good." Without another word we were at each other again, and without any words, I was on my back with Logan's knuckles at my throat. "Slack." "Tired," I said. "Hungry!" I smelt a sudden whiff of sulphur, and next to me was a rather worried looking Kurt. "Jesus Kid!" growned Logan. "I could have knocked your head off, surprisin' me like that!" "You would have had to catch me first," Kurt said with a faint smile. His face was drawn with worry. "Wassup dude?" I asked him. "Eh... Cassandrea. I cannot find her this morning." "Probably shopping with the girls," I said. "Sarah went off with Jubes this morning, I think. You could go check with them." He frowned. "I was going to have breakfast with her today." "Probably forgot," said Logan. "You know how women are when it comes to shopping." Kurt didn't look satisfied with that one. "I will go look for her at the Mall." Logan nodded, watching Kurt turn. He growled. "Hey Kurt..." "Yes, Herr Wolverine?" "Tell me if you can't find her, won't you?" "Ja." The boy disappeared in a puff of yellow smoke. I frowned, worry stirring in my chest. "Come on," Logan said, pulling me to my feet. "We'll go again, then we'll get some lunch." "You think Cassie is okay?" Logan stared at me for a long time, then slapped my shoulders. "You heard what I said about women and shopping. Now - defense up. Ready?" I nodded, and Logan attacked me again.
poster: Jen date: 28 May 2002, 9:06pm EST OOC: Special thanks to Nacey for the Kurt dialogue. If Jubilee ever says ‘trust me’... run like hell. I should have known better after our last trip to the mall when she convinced me that the low-rise jeans and halter top were ‘absa-flippin-lutely amazing" and Max spit his soda all over Bobby when I wore it down for movie night. At that moment, I wanted to kill her. What happened after, alone in his room was a different story, and the reason that when she grabbed my arm this morning and babbled something about shoes and sale and Nordstroms and oh-my-god-you’ve-gotta-come that I found myself being pulled though the Galleria by the rabid shopper that is Jubilee. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that chocolate might as well be crack as far as Jubilee is concerned. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A slice of Death by Chocolate Cake, a Mocha Latte and a piece of homemade fudge later... We may be permanently banned from the Shoe Depot after she and some blonde got into a fight over a pair of alligator boots. We got the boots and a new target is in her sights. "Oh dude this is going to super-squeaky weesome!" "Are you sure about this?" "Trust me." I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Going anywhere with Jubes was like trying to get the Tasmanian Devil to walk on a leash. So far, she’d gotten 3 phone numbers and an unrepeatable request that I think she may actually considered for a minute. Given the looks of this store, more unrepeatable requests may be in our future. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hmmm... If *I* were Jubilee on a sugar high, where would *I* be?" Kurt asked himself standing in front of the mall map. He was about to head for the Shoe Depot, when he thought he spied Jubilee and Sarah on the lower level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You actually use this stuff?" Cause I don’t think I even want to know what some of it is for. "Don’t knock it ‘till you try it, chica," Jubilee chimed, heading deeper into the shop. "Aha!" Her shout of triumph peaked my curiosity and, despite my better judgment, I had to know what she found. "Here’s the thing just for you two. And everyone on your wing." "I am going to get you for this," I hissed snatching the ball gag from her hand and shoving it back on the shelf. "Just so long as you get that!" Oh great. Everyone is the store is now looking at me funny and the clerk is laughing. I didn’t think it could get any worse. Then I turned around...and ran right into Kurt. "Aah! Fraulien," He sounded desperate. On the up side he didn’t seem to be paying attention to Jubilee or what kind of store we were in. "Have you seen Cassie this morning?"
Eww. Just the question I didn’t want to answer. "She...uh... she left early this morning." He gave a frustrated sigh now. "But we were to meet today for breakfast." Now she had me worried too. It was one thing to come and go at weird times and avoid us all, it was something else to break a date. "I - I didn’t know she had plans. Kurt, she was gone when I got up to run." Kurt started pacing quickly, muttering in German before looking to Sarah. "I am going back to the mansion to talk to Wolverine." He moved off so fast, for a second, I thought he teleported. I grabbed Jubes and dragged her out of the store, ignoring her yelps of protest. Whatever kinky games she had in mind for Remy could wait until we knew that Cassie was safe.
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