Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
The morning hadn’t seemed to start off too well with Riley, first all of X-Force had to meet in the hanger for an emergency mission, and Riley had been out all night so he passed out at his laptop in his study, oblivious to the call on his communicator and the numerous announcements summoning the teams to the hanger. It hadn’t been until Connor run to Riley’s room to check why he wasn’t getting ready in the hanger change rooms, then Riley would have been in a lot more severe trouble then Wolverine telling him off about taking more attention in his responsibilities as team leader – something Riley undeniably didn’t look cheerful about.
The was only Green Strike Force, Gold Strike Force and X-Force in the hanger at the time they boarded separate blackbirds, Riley grumpily dropping into the pilots seat since he was ordered to fly the smaller version of black bird. Giving Riley a blank look, Angela glanced at Catherine but hurried over to sit beside Lauren, the singer who was steadily gaining more popularity still felt horrible for having suggested they go to Iowa and as a result had lost their child. Personally Angela was surprised he was flying, she hadn’t known Riley could pilot it, she’d barely seen him drive his own care, and from what she’s gathered it was usually Catherine who drove. There was a consideration about going over and asking if he wanted her to pilot but decided against that… offering meant talking to him and right now he looked like he’d rather be left on his own to concentrate.
Contrary to Angela’s fears, Riley ended up handling the jet wonderfully, allowing her and Lauren time to chit chat about their favourite subject, mindless babbling of one thing or another that somehow found it’s way to something Aussie related and from there to a comment on Lauren’s favourite footy team. It did feel weird for Riley to be flying; in fact he was tense and withdrawn from the concentration he was pouring into doing everything absolutely perfect. Every part of Riley screamed that he ought not to be flying; he shouldn’t be handling anything to this degree if he can have dizzy spells on horseback (And this isn’t even including the fact he was exhausted as well). Part of him knew he shouldn’t even be leading any sort of mission, what if he let them down while they needed him? At least he knew something about it, even though it wasn’t as much as he was supposed to since he’d slept in when the teachers wanted to brief him on what was happening, but Sean had been told all about it as well so it wasn’t too bad at least…
Taking his team now over water, the glistening blue surface of the sea speeding past hastily beneath them, their destination, an island Xavier had managed to buy, one of it’s many purposes was to be used a training ground for his students and older X-men alike. When they did arrive, autopilots kicked in to finish the landing procedure with Riley only helping keep it steady while the jet manoeuvred itself. Landing them in clearing, tall rocky edges surrounded them that would prove difficult to climb, especially considering they didn’t have the equipment, trees and ferns chocked the edges of the clearing and a mouth of a cave’s entrance was the only visible and logical way out.
“Alright everyone, outside.” No one was wearing their uniforms, after all, this was a ‘spare of the moment’ thing, and in real life situations you don’t always have the advanced suits protecting you. Which made Riley look a little fishy since he was in a green army styled camouflage t-shirt, with what Catherine would recognise as his green Initiative vest, which wasn’t zipped up, and matching trousers that looked as if they were brought with the vest since they both matched in colour, fabric and style. Riley’s boots, sleek, black and polished as usual, looked like they would suit a trip camping then Angela’s new white sneakers that which she regretted putting on now.
It helped that Riley fell asleep dressed like that (boots and all) but he had been dead set on changing if Connor had basically demanded him to open the door and then dragged him down to the hanger to be informed on the days event. Riley hadn’t been very pleased sine he’d hoped to do something relaxing this weekend… not rough it out in the woods, he’s done that more then enough in his life to still find it entertaining. Though there was a slight different feel to it since it wasn’t with the Initiative and on top of all of it, Catherine was here with him.
“We all have a small supply of food and water, the rest we get ourselves,” Was the first thing he said once everyone climbed off the jet, “The objective is to get from here, to the top of the mountain, once we get there we win.” Maybe Riley wasn’t in the bed of moods to be explaining this because he made it sound awfully easy by not only the casual way he said it or the words he chose, but also by the dull look on his tired face as well. Quickly rubbing his eyes in an attempt to clear away the exhaustion, he moved over to the jet again and opened a storage hatch, pulling out a single back pack (telling everyone how little their food and water supply was since other things were in there as well) Riley shut the hatch and slipped the bag onto his back.
“Our mission is to get to the meeting point, we have a map, we’ll find a place to sit down and look over it, but we’re not allowed to remain by the jet for more then ten minutes. The catch is that we’re going to be hunted by other teams who will try and stop us, we gain and lose points depending on our actions, teaming up with another group reduces our points but heightens our chances of success. Team with most points that reaches the finishing point wins,” What exactly it is they win he had no clue, but he knew it would take two days and his hand was already rubbing over his chin, there was no way Riley would let Catherine see him with a stubble in case it reminded her of Marc, he wasn’t too worried, he did have his pocket knife in his vest if he really wanted to shave… he was just a little worried over the chance of cutting himself and not realizing it again.
“It’ll take two days, and a lot of ground to cover, we have to keep our eyes open because not only are other teams preparing traps for us, but there may still be old traps from previous training missions, is everyone ready to go?” Glancing down at his watch as he checked the time, not wanting to lose points by staying next to the jet for longer then they were allowed, Riley then glanced up to pay his team more attention, a lot more life seeming to flush into his face since when he first arrived at the hanger.
To Be Continued: X-Force Members
I can't dream another dream without you by my side..
Sean had arrived at the hanger early to make sure that at least he if not Riley was there when the other members arrived. It wasn't that he didn't trust that Riley wouldn't arrive promptly, it was more to do with the fact that with everything going on with his dad he had been unable to sleep and due to hsi constant tossing and turning in bed Dawn had quickly begun to loose a good nights sleep to. A twinge of guilt had flowed through him when he thought of Dawn, because of everything they had not had any good alone time for a while and it wasn't fair. And now with these team missions begun seeing Dawn was not an option for the next few days; he was going to have to put in some serious effort when he got back, with both family and Dawn.
He had been slightly surprised when Riley had not turned up on time, and was tempted to check that he was alright after his rushed arrival (as he knew that Riley took great pride in being a good leader) but he had decided against it, it wouldn't have been the best time to get into anything like that and he suspected that Riley would have a good few others he would rather confide in. So when he did arrive to the hanger Sean greeted him with a slight incline of the head and followed him onto the small jet their team was to be taking.
For him the journey had been silent, Lauren and Angela had been talking behind him about everything and nothing, he couldn't speak to Riley about anything, he assumed that a breifing would take place when they arrived at their location so there was nothing that Sean really had to say to his team leader. Talking to Cat was not an option, he hated it but it seemed like any chance of reconcile between the pair had denimished since their first meeting in Lost Angels. He had never had a problem with Cat herself more how negative she could be towards others; and most of the time it had been directed toward him. He didn't like to think it but couldn't help wondering if the relationship between her and Riley had been the whole reason that the two men had also not taken to each other particularly easily.
The jet made a soft clunking noise as it touched down, Sean hadn't even realised that they were approaching their destination his deep thoughts taking him away from everything around him.
“Alright everyone, outside.” Sean had been the first up, he instantly missed knowing that he did not have his uniform, although unlike some of the others his dress would not affect his powers their was more of a comfort thing about it. Instead he was wearing a pair of distressed jeans and a navy tshirt that he had grabbed off of the cair in his room when the call for the team members had first gone out. Luckily he had had a chance to change his glasses for his visor, if that had not been the case then he would already be at more of a disadvantage.
He had stepped out into the cool air of the island they had landed on and took in a deep bretah before turning back towards Riley with the rest of the team focused on him as he spoke.
“We all have a small supply of food and water, the rest we get ourselves, Our mission is to get to the meeting point, we have a map, we’ll find a place to sit down and look over it, but we’re not allowed to remain by the jet for more then ten minutes. The catch is that we’re going to be hunted by other teams who will try and stop us, we gain and lose points depending on our actions, teaming up with another group reduces our points but heightens our chances of success. Team with most points that reaches the finishing point wins, It’ll take two days, and a lot of ground to cover, we have to keep our eyes open because not only are other teams preparing traps for us, but there may still be old traps from previous training missions, is everyone ready to go?”
Sean listened intently to the briefing Riley gave them, Sean felt a little excited at the idea of an off the wall mission, it made sense to test team response in such situations and it also meant that he might be able to do something that would take all his troubles at home off his mind for a while. Sean looked at Riley neutrally and nodded in acceptance of his question, the sooner they got started the sooner he could start worrying about winning this mission and not his fathers condition at the institute.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
For a weekend morning, Lauren had woken up remarkably early. It wasn’t as if she always intended to sleep in until noon, it just happened every now and then as she loved her sleep ins on the weekend and didn’t like being woken up early. Though to make things better, she wasn’t even all that tired when she woke which worked perfectly as when she had just finished getting changed from her pyjama’s into the clothes she was going to wear for the day her communicator went off asking for the members of X-Force to go to the hanger.
Since she hadn’t been able to have tome for breakfast, Lauren quickly grabbed a muesli bar from a drawer where she had a small amount of food that she had snuck away from the kitchen and ate it as she made her way to the hanger. It might not have been much for breakfast but at least it was something to keep hunger at bay though if she had of known what was planned for the weekend she probably would have eaten more.
Being told to board the smaller blackbird on approaching the hanger, the luck mutant did so and took a seat beside the window. If they were going to be flying for no matter how long it was always much more enjoyable sitting next to the window as you could see everything outside, though everything seemed to move so slow once up high in the air yet planes travelled at a fast speed. Also, it was probably best that Lauren sit next to the window otherwise she’d be peering over the person next to the window to have a look and that got annoying after a little while of her doing that. Soon enough, Lauren was joined by Angela sitting next to her which meant the rest of X-Force were to listen in on their ever topic-changing-conversation that Lauren was able to turn into talk about Footy for a short while until Angela grew bored and found a way to change topic.
“Alright everyone, outside.” Lauren gave a quick look out of the window as she got up and left the jet. She hadn’t really looked out of the window that much after all since she was busy talking with Angela. Though it was probably good that she was distracted since staring at the sea, as beautiful as the colour of it was, could get rather boring after a short while of just plainly seeing that.
“We all have a small supply of food and water, the rest we get ourselves,” As Riley spoke, the luck mutant realised that she was yet to actually even wonder what this was all about. Here they all were on some island and she didn’t even know what for! The least she could have done was get lost in her imagination and come up with some idea.
“The objective is to get from here, to the top of the mountain, once we get there we win.” He made it sound so simple but reaching the top of the mountain didn’t look quite that easy. Then again, maybe it was and it was just some short task that would take the day to complete and they’d be home tonight to sleep in their beds. However that thought was quickly erased from her mind when she saw the sole backpack that Riley pulled out from the hatch of the jet. Somehow that suggested this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Maybe she should have had more for breakfast...
“Our mission is to get to the meeting point, we have a map, we’ll find a place to sit down and look over it, but we’re not allowed to remain by the jet for more then ten minutes. The catch is that we’re going to be hunted by other teams who will try and stop us, we gain and lose points depending on our actions, teaming up with another group reduces our points but heightens our chances of success. Team with most points that reaches the finishing point wins,” It didn’t sound like the best way to spend a weekend by having to get to the top of a mountain with minimal food and water and to be hunted by other teams but at least it was something different! Besides, there was a chance of winning and Lauren never liked losing. She might not be competitive in sports but whenever put in a win or lose situation she always liked a win. Really, who likes losing? So wanting a win was enough to motivate her for the two-day challenge ahead.
“It’ll take two days, and a lot of ground to cover, we have to keep our eyes open because not only are other teams preparing traps for us, but there may still be old traps from previous training missions, is everyone ready to go?” She nodded, though giving a glance down to her clothing she would have liked to wear something more suiting for the situation but she knew well enough that life doesn’t go as you always want it to. But her navy tracksuit pants, that are always worn on lazy days that aren’t planned for too much activity since she hadn’t planned much for the day, and a white t-shirt would do. The blue and white just happened to be her Football teams colours and half the time Lauren never even realised that she was wearing or even matching the two colours up when she did it. She gave a light smile upon realising the colours she was wearing.
Looking up from her clothes the luck-altering mutant decided to focus on keeping her emotions up. Her being happy equalled good luck and if X-Force was to win then they most certainly didn’t need bad luck around. They already had other groups setting traps and hunting after them.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
Offering everyone a faint smile, he turned and lead the way to the cave’s mouth. No one had any questions and part of him was actually glade, he felt awful he had not been more attentive when having things hurriedly explained to him. Sure, he understood what they were doing, but he had been sulking still from being told off by Wolverine who never tolerated slackers, especially when it was a team leader. There was more embarrassment towards the fact he doubted the loud growling voice of the older X-men would go by unnoticed by Catherine who had been amongst the others gathered in the hanger and readying to leave.
Additionally he was so tired, the palm of his right hand rubbed against his eye but it didn’t help banish the tiredness from them. Things were made worse as they entered the dim gloom of the cave, his hand ruffling through his short hair, something that was often a habit when he just wakes up. Dropping the arm to his side as he glanced about the walls of the cave, he stopped to turn around and walk back outside, but paused against and patted down his jacket, turning about to continue into the cave. He had a torch somewhere, there was another stop and he again changed direction to move past the group and head back to the bushes around the caves entrance.
"Hold on a moment," At first the singer glanced around slightly confused, trying not to look too uneasy, surely she wasn’t the only one not thoroughly keen on venturing into a gloomy cave! However, she found herself surprised as Riley knelled down and started breaking off branches of the small trees, pulling off the backpack and neatly breaking them into shorter thirty centimetre lengths and ripping off the thinner useless twigs before slipping them into the bag along with some dry leaves.
Quickly dusting off his knees, Riley swang the light backpack over his shoulders once again, unzipping his jacket and searching one of his inner pockets, all items neatly organized and carefully strapped into the jacket so chances of them falling out were highly unlikely. Knowing that if he could bring about a flame Angela could use it to light their way, but he was running out of time to stay in the clearing and honestly couldn’t be bothered at this point, he’ll start a fire later and Angela can take the flames from that to light their way.
"Keep up, watch where you step, and don’t trail behind." Pulling out of the slender black torch, Riley twisted the top to turn the bright light on, "We’ll rest after five hours of walking, another five then we set up camp." Pulling out his glasses, an odd thing for those unaware of the special glasses abilities considering they where in a dim lit cave that was only getting darker and there was definitely no sunlight in there. Zipping up his jacket, Riley handed the torch out to Lauren, his first instinct was to give it to Catherine, but he didn’t want them to think he was constantly going to offer everything to her.
"Stay beside me, Sean, you too, Angela and Catherine, you two stick right behind us." The glasses adjusted to the darkness and cast the entire area in a dim green hue, he could see relatively well save for bright light of the torch showing up as a white glowing blob in his glasses vision. "Sean, I doubt we’ll have any encounters within the cave, but if such an encounter takes place, please reframe from using your optic blasts unless give you an order to," There was an authority in Riley’s voice even when not stressing his commands, it was hard for Riley to act any less then what he was used to and more importantly, trained to do. "Without sunlight to recharge your abilities it would be best to save the advantage of your power for when we absolutely need it." There was one thing that Riley was struggling to do that not many would probably be aware of, and that was not to simply demand things of others under his command at all times. Granted sometimes insisting things was more then imperative, but could save lives, only these were not soldiers and Riley could not treat them as if they were.
As Riley spoke the light from the mouth of the cave grew even fainter, the torch Lauren was holding now beginning to become the sole source of light to guide them. Admittedly Riley wondered if it was allowed for him to use all his Initiative gear, they said anything they had on them at the time was allowed, but did they expect someone to be woken up armed, packed and ready to be tossed in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of odds'n'ends stashed away in his jacket?
ooc: Sorry forthe crummy post... doesn't really give much to reply to does it?
Will you have this dance with me... will dance in my arms forever?
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
The group started towards the cave mouth, it wasn’t far from where the jet had landed but Sean saw that Riley didn’t want to loose any points by staying to close the jet and Sean had to concur, if they were going to do this they were going to do it right. The training hadn’t exactly been the best timing for Sean with everything happening back at the Institute and the fact that he had only just learnt of it, but just as his father would have done he had forced those thoughts to the back of his mind where he could deal with them later, this was just as important, if the institute was to be attacked the teams had to trained and ready to go. For a brief moment the negative emotions that he had been feeling since last night welled up again and he had to force them down, he knew that he had to keep a clear mind, do his father proud, despite what the world was putting him through at this very moment dwelling on those thoughts could only bring further problems.
"Keep up, watch where you step, and don’t trail behind. We’ll rest after five hours of walking, another five then we set up camp." Riley’s voice snapped Sean back into the world and he hadn’t really noticed that they were now right at the foot of the caves mouth, the darkness inside apparent, once they went in there was going to be only two ways out, back the way they came or the other side. Riley’s order to stay together was more important than it sounded, if they lost someone in here the chance that the team member could be found was very slim, just as any other cave network he was sure this one was going to be pocketed with dead ends and maze like paths. To the team’s advantage Sean’s telepathic abilities could help in such a situation, he could reach out and try and locate them that way, but he knew if the one to get lost was Riley he would be no extra help, the man being unreadable as the rock walls themselves.
"Stay beside me, Sean, you too, Angela and Catherine, you two stick right behind us." Sean stepped up beside Riley, the two men would make an imposing sight if they were to be met walking through the caves, Riley was a couple of inches taller than him, but many people could find Sean’s visor slightly unnerving, the eyes being a gateway to what someone was thinking, Sean’s hiding something much more deadly. The group began into the cave, the young man could feel the sense of concentration emanating from everyone, they all were taking this seriously, which would certainly make it easier for Sean and Riley to do their jobs. The air in the cave was stale and thick, and Riley’s light only illuminated the caves dark paths weakly, the group having to be careful where they stepped in case one of the many rocks on the floor tripped them. On top of the team being hunted, Sean felt a slight unease by walking into such an unknown area, everywhere had its natural wildlife, predators, and it seemed that were they were going was a prime home for something that would hunt from the shadows.
"Sean, I doubt we’ll have any encounters within the cave, but if such an encounter takes place, please reframe from using your optic blasts unless give you an order to, without sunlight to recharge your abilities it would be best to save the advantage of your power for when we absolutely need it." It was lucky Sean had bitten his tongue, the younger Summers was sure that Riley was about to tell him that using his optic blasts in the cave would be dangerous, that he could cause a cave in and that it would be more dangerous than being attacked, and he instantly scowled himself when he realised that the older man was just telling him so that he could conserve what energy his body could hold. He had seemed to think that Riley was going to talk down to him, he knew that Riley didn’t like him that much, and probably wouldn’t be quite like he was if Sean hadn’t been with Dawn, and Sean was slightly saddened by it, he had always tried to be kind to Riley, but to a certain extent he could believe that Catherine had something to do with it. Once again Sean scowled himself, he was getting tetchy already and he knew that it was because of him worrying about home, how would he be when he was tired in five hours. This team had to win, he was dedicated to it, and he would show Riley that he could be a great second command, he already knew that some of the wall that was between the both of them had come down recently, the pair understanding each other a little more and he wanted to make sure it stayed that way, he knew that Dawn would like it if the two men got on better, he just hoped that Catherine would also be ok as Sean still regretted the bad start the two of them had got off on in Lost Angels.
“It makes sense Riley, it will probably be safer for me to use my mind powers in here anyway, I don’t want this rock breaking apart on top of us, we need to win this thing, and getting trapped in here is not going to help towards that.” Sean smiled sincerely at his team leader and pushed all the negative emotions he was feeling back down where they should stay until they finished this mission.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
Ooc: Very sorry for the short post, lacking insperation… but Will – since others have posting problems here with us - maybe you and I post a little and then we leap ahead towards the ending of the missions. I think it would be a pity to miss out on the character development possible here but it’s up to you, depending on ya time restrictions or whatnot, we can organize via MSN or email or something what could have happened if you think you lack the time! I won’t mind.
The walk was boring and rather silent save for Angela and Lauren babbling away. They had stopped a while ago for a quick rest and then hurried along until finally the time had come for the proper rest. They had gotten closer to the mouth of the cave and so the darkness wasn’t too impossible to see in, luckily they had a torch and Riley’s special glasses helped him out easily enough.
The fire was burning – thanks to Riley having collected the wood and dry leaves and ferns earlier – so they were warm at least. Riley had sat back and handed out some of the rations that had been packed for them and the water and almost immediately after he had fallen asleep where he sat against the wall of the cave. It had been four hours since then though, someone had added the spare twigs and leaves over the hours to help keep it burning.
One of Riley’s legs were stretched out before him while the other was bent and had his head resting forward on it, the powerful arms wrapped securely around the knee for most of the time until recently when they had fallen loosely from their grip. The last thing in his dream he remembered was an image of the initiative’s medical chair and then a sudden anguished yell that ripped Riley right out of his personal nightmare. Lifting his head instantly up and snapping open his eyes, heavy and still yearning for more sleep as he stared at the fire which was first to get his attention. The other leg had quickly pulled forward to his chest as the former agent attempted to get his bearings, a panicked heart and alert eyes all that remained to hint of a troubled sleep.
Angela and Lauren had chatted for most of the time and so volunteered for ‘first watch’, though it was probably hard for others to get some sleep with the soft chatter in the background. It got a whole lot quieter when their shift was over and Angela clonked out for some rest, hoping the rest of the teams weren’t out there setting up traps to capture them while X-force was gradually walking its way through a rather spooky cave with only each other as company.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One(OOC: Sorry about the shortness, hope it's ok, thought it was enough to set up some kind of dialouge )
The walk hadn't been particularly memorable for Sean, he was mainly made to fall back into his own thoughts and anxieties for both the mission and what was happening to him and his family back at the institute. The walk had been steady and progress had been made with no early intervention from any other hunter teams which pleased Sean, he thought that they had kept a very good low profile, not showing themselves up as an easy target.
Now Sean lay unable to sleep in the glow of the large fire Riley had built up for some heat, the hard floor provided no comfort to the younger man and that coupled with his deep thoughts meant sleep constantly eluded him. He couldn't help but smirk a little as he tried to sleep when Angela and Lauren had taken first watch, the low drone of their chatter reverberated about the cave where they had stopped, but Sean trusted them to be keeping watch at the same time, he had faith in the members of X-Force. Even moreso in Riley recently which allowed him an once of relief; the once taut relationship between the pair seemed to have slackened recently and that did please Sean, maybe there was going to be some way that he could connect with the one man that Dawn seemed to think was such a great guy.
The thought of Dawn sparked a little irritation in that respect, he never understood why the pair had never got together in the past and was probably one of the reasons he had had some worries about them since the young witch had annouced her feelings to him. He just hoped that she too was going to be able to cope with his father current situations, it was probably going to cause strain between them because Sean's attentions are going to be greatly diverted, he just hoped that Dawn didn't see it as him being distant; like many others in the institute thought he was.
The drone of the two girls had slowed and a shift of a new watchman was heard, Sean decided that his attempts to get some sleep weren't working, his mind racing to much, and so he slwoly rolled over onto his back and sat up, propping himself against the cavern wall he saw that it was Riley who had taken the next watch. It was probably a better idea to have two on watch at a time anyway so Sean hoped that Riley didn't think he was trying to check up on his leader, at least now the ruby lensed young x-man was going to be able to do something.
Looking up from staring at his feet he spoke softly, not to much as to wake the rest of the team; "Mind if I join you? I can't sleep and I'll probably be more use as a watchman." A soft smile reached his lips to convey his sincerity, without his eyes some people ssometimes found it hard to see what emotions he was trying to show and so Sean had had to learn to show it with different gestures, such as a friendly smile.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
The queasiness that was accompanying his first moments of waking in the past few days was blissfully well contained, at least he wasn’t sweating, the other day he woke up with gasping breaths and a thin layer of sweat – half stumbling from bed as he tried to drag himself towards the shower. Nevertheless he wasn’t feeling a hundred percent… maybe Catherine’s arms would cure his ailed condition… somehow it may appear rather suspicious to her though if the agility mutant woke up with him snuggled closely against her.
"Mind if I join you? I can't sleep and I'll probably be more use as a watchman." Although Riley had heard the shifting noise of Sean’s body, the former agent’s mind was rather distracted so he hadn’t paid it much attention and the voice directed towards him caused a slightly startled glance thrown over at Sean. How glade Riley was about the fact his mind was shielded from telepaths… for all the suffering the implants gave him, at least there was that positive aspect, even if it did have his downfalls. Thoughts from the walk returned to Riley and his brow furrowed as he looked towards the fire once again.
"Connor didn’t seem right this morning." Alright, so it was rather random considering they hadn’t talked much with each other before, but since Connor and his sister was exposed to Agamemnon the Enright’s hadn’t seem right, especially Connor. But knowing Connor’s relationship with most of the student body was more of an ‘acquaintance’ instead of a friend in most cases made Riley give up on trying to discuss anything further. The eldest Enright wasn’t very chatty about his friendships but Riley hadn’t really seen Sean and Connor talking together…
"Are you ok?" It felt rather pointless to ask considering their rather strained partnership, but generally when someone couldn’t sleep it was for a reason, and Sean wasn’t exactly waves of cheeriness so far. Riley’s post became more casual as his legs crossed and his hands clasped together and rested within his lap as he remained leaning against the wall. Even if Sean didn’t talk about anything at least Riley made the effort of asking, that was something right? It was so much easier in the Initiative…they were all too drugged up on enhancements to focus on anything other then the task they were given, personal dilemma’s were an alien frontier Riley was only recently exploring with Catherine… it wasn’t easy for him to handle everything that had happened, especially the thought of losing her, of her actually dying… He didn’t even want to ponder the thoughts which had flown through his mind at the moment her heart and momentarily stopped, nor did he wish to recall the way they operated on her, the why they held her precious heart and forced it to beat again.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One"Connor didn’t seem right this morning." Sean smiled a little to himself at the idle chit-chat that had started between the two, it had seemed to start so easily as well. In a way he was cherishing this moment, he knew that as soon as word got out about his fathers illness people would be acting as if they were treading on egg shells around him, making sure to offer their thoughts and ask if there was anything they could do and Sean was not looking forward to the awkwardness that would bring.
Conner specifically Sean did not know to well, except for the meetings they had had regarding the teams, so he was a little unsure of what to say in response to Riley's comment. He hoped Conner was alright though, he knew what it was like to be the child of an 'X-Man' and Conner had always been nothing but pleasent with him and so he had never thought of wishing hurt on the man; although wishing hurt on anyone was furthest from Sean's character.
"Are you ok?" Riley's second statement both ilieviated Sean's worrys about not seeming bothered about Conner and also made Sean start to think how he should respond to this. He decided he should start to get used to that question, again once news of his father was out it was most likly going to be a common occurance. Taking a soft breath he looked up and tried to hide what he really felt, it was always hard to speak with Riley, although Sean didn't read the minds of his friends he often couldn't help but pick up on uncontrollable thoughts, snippets of emotions, but Riley was like a brick wall. Scott's mind had always been closed to Sean, as it should be, living with two telepaths makes you learn such techniques, but still Sean knew that there were thoughts there. With Riley it was as if there was nothing.
"I'm ok, a bit tired coupled with some things that are taking it out of me back at the institute." Sean suddenly thought that Riley might think that a weakness. "But it's nothing I can't control if your worried about the mission, I will still give it my full." Sean smiled a little in a way to show that he wasn't meaning to be defensive, maybe things were getting to him more than he wanted to admit. But this mission came first, his team came first, it was as his father had always taught him. Sean's eyes drifted around the shadowed cavern that they sat in and he realised that he should probably say something, Riley had obviously just put the effort in and with Cat fast asleep there was no one about to try and twist Sean's efforts at forming some kind of trust between leader and second in command.
Sean took out his canister of water and took a swig and raised it offering it over to the older man "Did you want some? This night has already been long and I'm sure we have a while until we move off. I've got a few rations here to if u want some." Sean pulled out a packet of rations from one of the satchels that they had brought with them from the plane, he hadn't eaten anything since they left for the island, so he pulled out one ration and offered the others over with the water canister. That's a fair offer I think, mayeb some bridges can be rebuilt here At last, something seemed to be going Sean's way, at least it was enough to take his mind off his worries for a bit, until the time for moving off or sleep came when he would once again be left with his own thoughts.
Re: Mountain Cave: X-Force Day One
"I'm ok, a bit tired coupled with some things that are taking it out of me back at the institute." That was odd, Riley hadn’t noticed any issues that might warrant stress… then again he was pretty preoccupied with Catherine and her apparent lack of interest towards him now. That wasn’t exactly true… they were trying to become friends but it was proving only to make things all the more difficult for Riley. "But it's nothing I can't control if your worried about the mission, I will still give it my full." Too tired and rather taken by that next comment, Riley’s expression remained unchanged, placid as ever and yet an inward furrow of his brow had taken place in his mental picture. Was that the only way people will ever think of him as being? Finicky Finn was a name Riley may have deserved and worked hard to earn but that still didn’t mean he enjoyed others acting as if he cared about nothing other then their missions… he always just wanted to give his men the best chances for survival. And a whole lot of them did manage to survive under Riley’s leadership, and the ones who didn’t follow his orders and suggestions would usually be the first lot to be picked off by the enemy.
"Did you want some? This night has already been long and I'm sure we have a while until we move off. I've got a few rations here to if u want some." Staring down at the offered water canister, Riley found his responses were sluggish, his thoughts dragged themselves across his mind and his body slow to listen to what his mind was asking for it to do. Riley’s made enough peace offerings in his life as a ‘commando’ to know one when he sees it, and he wouldn’t be so daft as to pretend that the formal relationship between him and the young Summers was tense and stressed with seemingly little cause to warrant it.
Reaching for the canister, Riley’s eyes unwillingly slipped over towards Catherine. Why couldn’t she be the one who had trouble sleeping, who wanted to stay up and talk with him. Why couldn’t she just sit next to him so they could talk? When the Mrs Summers had insisted Riley talk with her or one of the other teachers about whatever issues he was going through the previous year, he mentioned it to Catherine and Catherine had said that they didn’t need to talk to anyone other then each other. So why was he finding it so difficult to talk to her now? And if he couldn’t talk with her, who would he talk with? He had no one. Not unless you counted Graham, but then Graham was basically in the same boat as Riley, all the initiative agents were lost in this world, none of them understood what was wrong with these civilians, their way of life was seemingly meaningless and their goals in life were bland and pointless. But at least Graham was lucky to have Sam as his girlfriend, she was an agent, she was like them, she understood them so easily. Catherine and Riley seemed to always have fights over misunderstandings or parts of the human life Riley just wasn’t used to. The former agent was busy saving people from slimy slug monsters and giant god-knows-what’s, he didn’t have time nor interest in exploring sexual relationships with woman.
Sometimes Catherine got so impatient with him but other times she was the only one to really understand. Riley wanted so badly to just fix everything between them, to tell her about all the fears he felt when they said she was dying and effect the loss of the baby had on him and way his existence seemed to have dwindled to nothing overnight after they left the Initiative compound… He wanted to be better for her, he knew he could be if he just assimilated into this culture more thoroughly. But at the same time what was the point? She had left him now… and not for the first time, maybe this relationship just wasn’t stable enough, or the foundations needed more work on them before it was built up… if only he had the chance to try again.
The momentary flicker of thoughts were interrupted by Sean’s presence, the fire light catching his frame and Riley’s eyes shifting back to the younger boy before spacing out on the items now within his hold. The friendship between Riley and Catherine was improving well enough, she’d even shown him how to go shopping. Alright, so Riley still wasn’t actually comfortable going there and deciding things, but at least she was there with him. He’d still not do it on his own, the phenomenal amount of choices for the seemingly identical type of food was just overwhelming and he’d still easily freak out in a serious of mild panic attacks while worrying over which was he was expected to choose and what the differences were.
That had been the greatest hindrance in his life outside of the Initiative. Choices were always kept to a bare minimal within the confines of the underground base, but outside there were choices with choices upon choices and yet more choices and if you were confused you had an amplified amount of other choices to add to the confusion. If Riley ever made the wrong choice while growing up it would lead to nothing but pain, be it emotional or physical for himself or others. Like when he’d go to the school’s dinning hall and line up for meals, he’d just grab whatever plate was closest to him, he did the same thing in the Initiative, Graham and Forrest were identical with the same issues regarding choices, basically all the agents were.
"I’m not worried about the mission." The bland tone of voice made it difficult to understand if that was a supportive comment or a negative one or just a shrug off hinting he hardly cared about these games. "It was always for the people on the mission." He added feeling a little helpless with the fact no one seemed to understand. Riley was still waking up and still pretty tired so he rethought that sentence a few times wondering if it made more sense to someone else then it was making to him at the moment. Why couldn’t they see that though? You can always accomplish a mission one way or another, and while some people charged head on to get it done as soon as possible, Riley would put his men first, Riley would get it done as fast as possible with as many surviving as he could manage.
It was more then the inner moral judgements that drove him though… Riley had been left behind once. He was wounded, he was dying, all because of an arrogant leader and no one was ordered to return for him. Graham and Forrest had been at camp and it had felt like forever before they found him after having discovered Riley’s platoon left him in an unknown state ‘presumably dead’. That also probably lead to Riley’s awkwardness of being on a team without either of them there to watch his back.
Being fifteen at the time pretty much burned the terrifying incident into Riley’s mind, and having a massive demonic creature’s carcass slumped lifeless over you tends to help with the nightmares no matter what age you are.
It was really hard to talk with Sean for Riley because of Sean’s connection with Dawn. She knew of the secret world that Riley had been a part of and was gradually learning more then she was admitting and yet Riley wasn’t sure if she was telling Sean of her discoveries or not. Riley didn’t think she was… how do she bring a topic like his past up? ‘Oh Sean, speaking of sex and romantic dinners, did I tell you Riley was a spy for some mentally dysfunctional supernatural hunting agency, and can we watch a movie after dinner?’
Perhaps making some small talk with Sean would help though… even though admittedly Riley’s skills in small talk were somewhat lacking, but you can only learn by practicing, as he mentioned a few times to Catherine. Though this wasn’t going to be as fun a study as Catherine’s slender physique, but not everything was so perfect in life.
"I was speaking with Dawn the other day, she seems to be handling things better then last year… have you seen what she did with her room in Harmony University?" Riley had been dragged out of his room a few times to go help her with moving some things of hers from her old room that didn’t fit with the shared room she had with Sean. At this point Dawn had basically a mini library set up in her room and the ceiling was set with magic that gave the illusion of a sky, when the lights were out it would fade into night with a starry scattering of diamonds across the velvety oblivion of the night sky. It was a beautiful room but for some reason Riley was always a little uncomfortable being surrounded by magic, probably because he was so used to black magic causing so much devastation for himself and his mission, he gained a somewhat negative view towards enchantments and Dawn was trying to show him the more positive sides.
Riley wasn’t aware Dawn hadn’t really gotten around to showing Sean her room, or her school, or anything to do with her magic’s really since she didn’t know how he might react to the other lifestyle she leads. Knowing she leads it and actually seeing it are two different things. And a lot of the students at the University would mention how their relationships suffered if they ever mentioned, or worse show, any sort of magic. Dawn knew it was silly and Sean accepted her and her life but still, there were things which someone can decide to accept without ever seeing for themselves and some things that are just too much to accept so easily. The potential slayer preferred easing him into her life little by little instead of throwing him headfirst into a realm of wizards and dragons.
There comes an age when people have to take over responsibility. It remains the question whether there is also a time when they can get rid of it again.
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