Monday March 26th| Welcome to the table; Winner takes all
The supernatural wasn't always an easy enemy, neither were the enemies of the more natural world, especially when the likes of Mutants came into play. However despite the powers in play, there always seemed to be a weakness, even if only one of random human flaw instead of as simple as 'vampire equals stake to the heart.' Everyone had their weakness, and on top of their weakness they usually had more underlying those foundations which formed personality and power.
As a child, Riley had always been such a timid and wisful soul, who's head drifted in the clouds yet his body anchored to the ground. The needs of his family outweighed the wants of his childhood, and being the only child on a large farm meant there was always more workload there then hands to manage it. To survive one had to learn how to make the best of the situation at hand, how to focus on the goods and not the bads, to ignore what others had and strive to grasp on what ever was within your reach at any one time.
What was there now to grasp for? Everything. Both good and bad and all that was comfortable for Riley in the last few years was completely stripped away in the last few weeks. As a child it had been so simple, but now it wasn't. Not to Riley, not as it had been a decade ago. And that was perhaps his greatest flaw, where everything had a thousand different reasons as to why actions should or shouldn't be taken.
Family, the one he'd longed for, the one he thought he'd lost forever, the one the Initiative tried to tell him had perished by shoving misleading memories into his head! A lover, who's first crush treated the agent as nothing more then a mantle piece to decorate her side, then Catherine, his first, his only... regardless of the love he's seen in her eyes there's an anger there that consumes all his good intentions. How could someone who he loves so much bring such feelings of elation and devistation? Friends, few as they were still he'd managed not to tend to the needs of both aquiring and maintaining such a precious resource, exploding into the school with a hunger for attention and a thirst for contact.. only to have it all dwindle away and wither.
Or maybe not? And this afternoon was spent trying to reconnect, to attempt to see what could be recovered from the ashes of the past years where all he was had been vanquished from within him and all that was left had been echoes of a past inside a hollow shell. Suddenly the last year that shell was creaking, fuelled by an ambiance of life that struck so hard it had virtually maimed the young man who had no defence against it, where the greatest highs had also pathed way to the greatest lows..
Well for once, if only just this week, Riley was going to make sure that all the lows would finally give way to some highs, his family was here because they wanted to see him, they used whatever excuses, no matter how valid they were, to spend just that much more time with him. Friends, if only Ang and Dawn at this point, were there and making time for him, the teachers were showing their support and even in some regards Catherine seemed to be... well.. replying to his occasional sms's. It was always hard spending time with her alone now, perhaps now more then ever because Riley thrived for someone's comfort, for a distracted from the days to come, to give him a moment of escape.. Sometimes it felt as if the younger Miss Hall was given all the right signs.. but she never followed through, or was he holding back? Perhaps in the end they were both to blame..
She broke up with him.. repeatedly apparently and Riley was too blind sided by the randomness of her departures to even realize half the time. He had to move on. Riley knew it, he'd known it for months, since she first left Xavier's for Washington, he should have never gone after her but he had... he had to.. or at least that's how it had felt at the time. It didn't do any good, she may love him but she doesn't want to, at least part of her doesn't, the part that lashes out at him, that makes him feel as if nothing he does it right or normal, where every effort to explore his first relationship was either verbally attacked or seemingly dismissed and ignored without a care.
Not any more. Not this Finn. Riley had too much pride to bare having to live like he had been living the past year, and hiding away where people couldn't see his hurt hadn't done any help to him. They still talked, they still knew... they still looked at him as if he was an idiot for letting Catherine drag him through the mud. But they didn't understand... they didn't know how special she was, the real her, the Catherine beneath the anger and spite. You couldn't force someone to love you though, you couldn't force them to see the error of their ways and that's where Riley had gone so horribly wrong... He had fought to stay beside her and show her love when all she wanted was to be left alone, where pain was the only release she knew and it didn't only have to be a pain she caused herself.
At times Catherine would say things she'd instantly regret, sometimes she'd say them and expect Riley not to care because they're only words. But when you say things that are designed to cut deep, the wound isn't always so easily healed. Riley should never have tried to wait until Catherine realized how much she cared, that was doomed to fail from the start, only a miracle would have saved such a relationship. As a psych major he should have known the basics of such human interactions!
No more pain. No more suffering. If he could grasp a demon by it's horns and take control, then why the hell couldn't he have the same strength with those around him? Take control again. Riley's work load florished, his education exceeding his years, his thirst to learn as ever strong, now if only the same vigor could be placed in the other areas of his life, the areas that were so important to him, the family ties and social bonds he yearned for..
"We need a forth person." Dawn's eyes had turned to scan the room, it wasn't at its peak of activity but the group over in the corner watching TV seemed to be cheering a team of some sort on, thankfully not over the top but still... At least they were off on the other side of the room.
"We could always just play girls against guy." The blonde offered as Riley crouched beside their table, his hands petting over the fur of his canine companion, the blue heeler cross labrador wagging her tail lazily as she layed there soaking the attention. The three month old pup had been cooped up in Riley's room so he was keeping Katie with him for a while, waiting for his cousin Emily who wanted to make her way eventually to pick up the pup and take her out to play. The unbuttoned shirt that sat over his white singlet had faint lines of browns and yellows barely seen running across the fabric and yet somehow suiting him due to the earthy colours that clicked with him so well. Neatly pressed jeans and brown boots gave an almost 'worker mans' look to the student teacher, even if a very well presented one.
"Maybe someone will join us?" Riley wasn't sure who, and Riley seemed to intimidate many of the students, not that they could be blamed, unless they were part of the school faculty it wasn't so easy for people to learn that certain actions taken by Riley had been because he wasn't himself. Jean had assured a few students that he hadn't been himself if they went to talk to her about their worries but it was never easy explaining that a known Demon had manipulated one of Xavier's students... not without causing panic.
"You just don't want us to flog you." As Riley stood up, watching Katie waddle her way beneath the table-tennis table and flop down, Riley then glanced over towards Dawn who was smirking slightly after she spoke. In turn he offered a smile back, turning his head and scanning the area quickly. There was no one he knew well... but there was one person he knew of well enough.
"Garnet." There was a polite call for the other teamleader, Riley wanting to catch her attention before making her an offer to particiate with them. He didnt expect she'd say yes... because she didn't know any of them really, especially the other two girls, but moving on was all about taking risks, each step was entering unknown territories and if Riley couldnt invite a classmate to play a game with them, then what chances did he have towards the more serious sides of life? At least Garnet was a familiar face, they had a few classes together and having up to three on one day made interacting with her a lot easier then any other random face in the hall.
"Want to join us in a game? They seem to be under the impression a team leader is easy game.. want to join me in proving we're just as vigorous on the playing field as we are on the battle field?" There was that soft curve of his lips as Riley spoke that held a charm few other then Catherine had gotten to see lately. Frowns and downs were all part of everyone's life, but when it start leading to collapses and surgery, one has to realize that things had gotten too far, and Riley wasn't going to let emotions be the mortal wound he suffers, not after all the things he's faced and over come.
Re: Monday March 26th| Welcome to the table; Winner takes al
More than a week had passed since the teams had moved into their new dorms, and socialising was going... well... let's just say whatever the older team leaders had thought would come from the change in accommodation, they certainly hadn't had Exiles in mind then. Or maybe they actually had, but were under the delusional impression they'd suddenly mutate into a bunch of friendly happy bunnies sitting around a campfire doing the kumbaya and schmores routine. The good thing about not having shared one dorm was that, except during team events, you could just avoid the others. Aurora knew fully well just how unproductive that had been in terms of growing together, but considering that to her it didn't really seem as if there was much of that happening now that they could barely escape one another either, the current situation was pretty much the same as before, just worse.
Of course there was always the fact that she was the group's leader, and thus always an outsider. She didn't want to hover around them all of the time like some fretting mother hen, trying to somehow turn them into friends with her presence and the occasional pep talk. It wouldn't be of much use anyway, would it? Of course they'd all be annoyed and that'd unite them for a moment, but - as she had to admit - Circe didn't want to risk worsening her unstable position by making herself even more unpopular. Maybe it'd be best to try and let them sort it out themselves. For the time being anyway. She had her own life to tend to... or so she hoped. Garnet hadn't exactly been the most social person herself the past months, she realised, going out rarely, buried under piles of work, both of the palpable and more abstract kind. Thus it really was time to dare an experiment.
The recreation room, the final frontier. Whether it was bold of her to go there, Circe doubted, but if nothing else it was at least a place she wasn't seen at all that often. For some reason she always felt awkward going there; maybe because most things you could do there required other people and she always found it hard to decide on something to do that she wanted to ask other people to join. If asked, the fiery girl wouldn't have been able to say why that was so. Maybe the rift that appeared to exist between her and many other students was a reason, or maybe it was her own strange brand of timid uncertainty.
This day would be different though. She needed to get among (relatively) normal people where she at least stood a chance of being considered the same as the others instead of "Leader Barbie". It was hard to tell how far Anna and the selected few other fire and brimstone breathing students had spread their poison, but Aurora couldn't just let fear of rejection keep her from everything, right? She was a fighter, so she told herself, and its not just being a mantra to make her feel better was comforting in a way.
Tabletop soccer ("foosball" as somebody had told her it was called), video games, silly TV shows... nothing around there really interested her, but then again, a lot of the things she hadn't ever tried out herself so maybe that estimation wasn't entirely fair. Looking around the room, Aurora spotted a couple of familiar faces, but none she really knew like Matt or Madison. *I really need more friends...,* she thought, releasing a small sigh as she watched four students having such an obviously great time spinning rods to try and make plastic players kick a miniature soccer ball goalwards. Just as she had decided to simply join someone somewhere to break through that ridiculous cycle of self-pity, Garnet heard someone call her name and turned.
The smile that appeared on her features was an automatism, but recognising Riley as someone she at least had something in common with it was backed up by genuine gratitude. A vague memory of there having been some kind of misunderstandings and slight tension a few months ago when Spike had arrived arose, but were pushed aside as irrelevant. His asking her meant they didn't matter and she for one wasn't even entirely sure what exactly they had been about. Approaching, Circe realised how rarely she remembered having seen him smile, be it in class or during briefings, but as she couldn't recall there having been occasions where it had seemed inappropriate, the thought was just shrugged off. Not everyone could be all smiles and pleasantries when answering a teacher's question.
His question was both welcome and slightly unsettling. Surely this room didn't only hold team members, even if the two girls that were with him at the table probably were. She chuckled, trying to make it sound as lightly as possible. "Battle field? That's a dramatic way to put it." The true nature of the X-Teams was a well-kept secret and although chances of anyone having thought anything of Riley's off-hand comment - or even caught it for that matter - you couldn't be careful enough. "But sure, what are you playing?" she asked, her mood having improved significantly. That became rather obvious when she added, with a wink "Not that it really matters, as of course we rock at every game."
For everyone comes the time when they have to take over responsibility. It stands to argue whether there is also a time when they can get rid of it again.
Re:Monday March 26th| Welcome to the table; Winner takes all"Battle field? That's a dramatic way to put it." True, but hey, if life said one thing about Riley, it was that he had a dramatic way of living in general, so his view on things would usually suit his life style, at least that's the thought that came to come as he smiled back at her comment. The tall dark haired young woman had stated stated her comment obvious in an attempt to try and shrug off the seriousness of the teams. Considering the training island incidant wasn't so long ago, Dawn pretty much considdered the term fitting. And the way Logan and the rest of Xavier's teachers ran their training classes, Dawn was pretty sure anyone would consider even their games to be a sort of battle.
But then again, that was just Dawn's opinion, and she did tend to try and protect Riley at times, he had helped her when Max had found out she wasn't a mutant and made things almost unbareable, she felt the need to protect him in turn. And in the end, that was just Riley to make a statement like that, he'd always either dim the seriousness of the situation or joked about it with a hidden air of honesty that only those involved could pick up. While outsiders who overheard Riley usually just took him as being extreme, Dawn just liked seeing him smile so she didn't think much into any of it.
"But sure, what are you playing?" Both Riley and Ang held their tennis table bats up for her to see, not the most extravagant of games but Ang didn't have the longest amount of time and allthough the girls had wanted to introduce Riley to bowling, they worried the heavy bowl was going to be a strain on Riley, not that he'd think so, so they hadn't spoken their intentions. There was plenty of time later on when he was fully recovered and not due in for a heart operation in the coming days. "Not that it really matters, as of course we rock at every game." Finished the Exiles leader with a friendly air of light hearted arrogance, and the girls took it as the channge it was cheerfully meant to be.
It was interesting to be talking to Garnet, none of the others had ever really held a conversation, save for Riley during meetings or the like. But that wasn't exactly a proper conversation, and he had felt awkward about Garnet the previous year when he had been attacked by an elemental and her electric bolt that struck him caused additional pain as it charged his head implant that also shocked him. At this point however Riley didn't really remember any of that, and even if he did he'd have put effort in ignoring and getting over it.. he couldn't sulk his whole life about something slightly effensive as Garnet seeing humor in the attack on him. Not that Garnet was aware of the pain he'd been in, but Riley didn't really feel cheery about the smirk at the time.
Dawn and Ang were part of a popuilar group, but even then, the school had a few different kinds of popular groupds, so while Garnet had her fame about her, it wasn't really the same as what Dawn and her group had, or any other multiple collection of social classes that grouped together yet lived apart on the social ladder. Ang was particularly well known and often liked because she'd made it her business to meet and greet new arrivals, she was friendly and welcoming and people easily found themselves warming up to her. As of late her music career had caused that to slack but she was still both well known and well liked.
"Table tennis, we don't really have the greatest amount of time, Ang has work in about half an hour." A bat was held out for Garnet, Riley offering both it and a friendly smile as he waited for her to take it. Riley remembered Garnets attack on the island and knew it had taken her a few days to get back onto her feet. But Garnet was a smart girl, she knew what she could and couldn't do and by the looks of things the time that had passed had more then rested her and helped with the recovery.
Re: Monday March 26th| Welcome to the table; Winner takes al*So far so good,* Garnet thought not without a certain feeling of relief. Nobody sending icy glares her way, no remarks insulting, well, anything or anybody - it was almost scary. If horror movies were like that however, so Exiles‘ leader decided, then she‘d gladly join the Scream-O-Rama crew who organised regular get-togethers with the latest (and some more classical) shockers, and true mountains of popcorn and snacks. If your life centred around training for a looming war the different parties of which nobody was entirely sure of, you didn‘t really have to worry about diets.
She couldn‘t help but wonder why socialising seemed so effortless and easy at this point. What had happened? What was the reason why this wasn‘t like the past months of her life had felt like? An endless struggle for a friendly kind of acceptance which seemed impossible to achieve without risking to lose what little authority she had, the misery of a loneliness Aurora‘s mind desperately repudiated despite her heart long since having accepted the truth - it all was waning, thawing like even the thickest crust of ice cannot survive in spring.
“Oh thank God!“ she exclaimed with theatricality on a par with Riley‘s, taking the offered bat with a smile that refused to leave. “I‘m sucktastic at card games, and if it had been anything like poker or... I don‘t even know what they are all called.“ The admittance felt easy and not as if there were a barrier of pride to be got over, not as if she were losing anything. Quite the contrary, It was a process that had only just started, and the suddenness of this change in reaction surprised her greatly. Of course it would take some time, time they didn‘t have, but it was a pleasant surprise to know she hadn‘t forgotten how to be carefree.
Weighing the bat in her hands, Aurora eyed it from all sides as if it were a sword, then nodded appreciatively. “Good work,“ she decided, “Alright then Riley, let‘s do this!“ A moment passed in which she wondered whether to just grab the ball or see how they usually handled it. There were as many local rules for this game as for everything else, and you could never be sure which ones were known by whom.
Waiting seemed like a good option, but in the spirit of her freshly re-discovered cheerfulness, the fire-elemental couldn‘t resist continuing the charade. Passing her partner a side glance, she asked with the most serious tone she could muster: “So is this where I do the Xena battle cry?“ Her father‘s beloved vintage DVD collection was full of quote worthy material, but considering its age, it was of course questionable whether anyone of the three knew any of these classics. If Maxwell Ferelle hadn‘t picked some of them for their obligatory family TV nights Garnet hadn‘t really enjoyed during her „beehatch days“ (as she liked to call them), she probably wouldn‘t have had a clue what she was talking about either.
For everyone comes the time when they have to take over responsibility. It stands to argue whether there is also a time when they can get rid of it again.
Re: Monday March 26th| Welcome to the table; Winner takes al"Oh thank God! " While Riley was slightly confused as to why she was thanking god, he remained poised with the bat held out for her and the smile still playing on his lips, waiting for her to continue and hopefully explain herself a little more… if not, it’s not going to be the first nor the last time people’s comments baffled Riley. "I‘m sucktastic at card games, and if it had been anything like poker or... I don‘t even know what they are all called. "Sucktastic? Riley pondered the word, it didn’t sound like anything he knew to be an official word, but the English dictionary was thickening with each passing generation to add new and widely used words. The meaning of Garnet’s creative word however wasn’t lost regardless and it was amusing enough to draw a slightly more prominent smile to the corner of Riley’s lips.
"Good work, " the Exiles leader commented after a momentary study of her bat, "Alright then Riley, let‘s do this! " And with that Riley gave an amused nod, This isn’t so bad, He thought, taking a slight step back to peer under the table so he could see the young canine as she curled herself to rest, It’s moments like these that people like Dr McCoy are proven right… maybe I do over dramatize things a little… this doesn’t seem too difficult, The former agent thought in regards to his lack of socializing over the recent months, though now that he thought that part of Riley also wondered if there had been some sort of bad jinx that’ll negatively effect the situation.
"So is this where I do the Xena battle cry?" The question was asked in Riley’s direction, and the former farm boy turned demon hunter found his mind casting back to the various forms of battle cries he had heard of in the past that came to memory. The songstress found a chuckle escaping from her and carrying over the table, a slight wave of her hand following as if to wave aside the haze of humor fogging the scene. "Xena? Riley wouldn’t know who Xena is… you’re partnered with one of the only students I know that hasn’t ever owned a TV, he’s never even watched Star Wars." Ang let the very tip of her tongue poke out towards Riley teasingly, "Pffsh," Riley gave a slight roll of his eyes, there was something about that fact that people really seemed taken back by, why was it so unlikely or difficult to believe that he and his family never invested in a TV… his grandparents had one, Ben used to watch it all the time at theirs place. And Riley watched a handful of stuff with Ben, but that was almost a decade ago, he couldn’t be expected to remember the few shows he saw, and they weren’t real, so what was so important about them anyway? Wasn’t it better to be part of life then merely watch others play it out?
"Serve’s up," Dawn announced, striking the ball across the table and towards Riley’s side, the serve was straight up, and Riley rebounded the ball towards Angela effortlessly. For Riley it seemed amusing, TV wasn’t so important to him, but to others, like Catherine for example, it seemed to be a lifeline that was the core centre of any home. In fact most places had more then one TV in them nowadays, so thinking that someone managed to grow up with little to no access to a TV was almost awe-inspiring as far as what these others let Riley to believe. "Team leaders barely have time to breath, let alone listen to stories or random documentaries from a screen, we have to keep you slackers in line,"
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