The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)OOC: Hope it was ok to start the next section of GSF in this new thread, this is how i thought it was meant to continue. Post isn't majorly long, but it should be ok, theres only so much Taylor can think about at one time
Taylor had walked over towards Matt after he had gestured towards him, He had indeed been accepted by Storm as one of the scouts to walk the edge of the swamp and he hadn't really realised what he had just got himself into. He had breifly spoken with Matthias about who was going in which direction and had quickly checked that their intercoms were working so they could keep in contact as they scouted, he didnt fancy the idea of being stuck out in the middle of no where when they spot the other teams they were hoping to stop. They had talked briefly, Taylor always seemed to feel a level of icyness when with Matt, he wasn't sure what it was, probably him being a little to paranoid, but it didn't stop him being friendly to the guy, he hated people that held grudges and he wasn't about to join them.
The pair had said goodbye and set off in their opposite directions, Taylor had caught a glance of Angie before he left where the team had set in wait and their eyes met for a second allowing Taylor's grin to reappear and a weak wave with his yellow palm before he set out of the bushed area they had stopped to talk to Storm in and began the walk.
It hadn't taken long form Taylor's boredom to kick in, he wasn't used to being alone that much any more, he had always thrived on being social until that became impossible because of his muattion, since then he had learned to try and get on with his own compnay but often found himself feeling down or frustrated by being stuck in this predicament. But since he had got to Xavier's and started socialising again (especially with Sean and Ben, and now maybe Angela) he was finding it much harder to go out and about on his own, unless in the end he was going to be meeting with someone.
The electical mutant plodded gently around the edge of the swamp, ensuring to keep himself quiet and hidden where possible, he found his ability to jump to extreme speeds very helpful when he found he had to dart from one hidden place to another. As he looked out hoping to see signs of something he watched the light distanced mist roll over the swamp, sticking closly to the ground, he half cussed himself for not looking more closely, if there was a team here they weren't about to stroll right through the middle of here, they would still be trying to keep their head down even if they had discovered the paths that Gold Strike Force had laid out.
For another ten minutes he put his mind solely on the task at hand but after that he found himself getting bored again and his mind wandered, he considered messing about with the intercom but he didn't think that Mathias would see the funny side of it, not in this position anyway but he did think it would be a good idea to check in with him, he held a button in and spoke quietly into the microphone inbedded in the device after he had found a dark spot for him to crouch into so he wasn't spotted while communicating;
"Taylor to Matt. Still nothing here, any luck your side?" As he crouched and awaited a response he kept a keen eye on the swamp, even though he wasn't really watching it to clearly, his mind had trailed off to what the rest of the team would be up to right now, there wasn't much they could do until either Taylor or Matt called back to them, but it didn't stop Taylor thinking about Angela.
He hoped that Madision would be ok to his friend, he guessed Angie wouldn't be to best pleased with the pairing, but if it was a toss up between Madison and Frost he thought Angie had the best deal. He would have rather spent time back there with her awaiting the other team but he knew his abilities were better suited out here, he would just have to wait until later to chat with her again, and in a away its what kept him going. He wanted Angie to see him do a good job, in a was he wanted to show off in ront of her and he found himself blushing to himself for a second, he hadn't really had chance for romantic interests for a long time, and he was surprised that he had discovered someone he got on with so quickly. But he had warned himself off a little, he didn't want to do anything to soon, there was a big chance that she wouldn't see their friendship as anything more and he didn't want to put himself in another vunerable position. But constantly a little voice in the back of his mind reminded him of how well they got on and he smiled a little again.
The yellow skinned mutant kept low and began to walk again, he noticed some movement in the distance and for a second thought he had spotted something, but he then watched a small rodent scuttle out of the bushes and into the swamp and he calmed a little, maybe Matt was having better luck?
(OOC: It’s fine, Will, don’t worry!)
To Contrast, the electro-powered boy was like everybody else, a stranger that was slowly growing into the status of a team mate as he got more familiar with who they were, how they were. It usually didn’t take a long time for Matt to be able to judge a person – his intuitive guesses tended to be surprisingly precise most of the time – and so he was already quite sure to not what to expect of everyone. That didn’t mean he was suddenly feeling all safe and at ease with this rather unfamiliar situation. Unfortunately for him, Matt tended to appear detached or even slightly arrogant when being uncomfortable, something that usually disappeared with time but as with Taylor, he often unwillingly succeeded in giving at least one person the wrong impression.
The intercoms Storm had handed out after their first Danger Room session sure were handy devices though maybe a bit cliché like the badge-like devices they were. Usually, people would wear them somewhere on their chests to make sure the highly sensitive microphone would pick up their quietest whisper, the red “X” on black background having something of a target shouting “Please shoot me!”… at least as far as Matt’s cynical thoughts were concerned. Then again, it was a dark shade of red and fortunately none of those flashy blinking gadgets that were bound to attract attention, a mild red glow that was only visible when you knew what you were looking for the only sign for an established connection. By default, the communicators, that had half the size of a grown man’s palm, were set to “auto-adjust” so that, no matter whether shouted or murmured, their voices would be clearly audible at the other end, the volume at which transmissions were to be emitted another thing that could be set according the what the situation demanded.
The windrider had explained all those things after distributing the advanced devices also mentioning that they would all be set to a particular default at every mission’s beginning in case somebody had forgot to switch to the appropriate settings – a fact Matthias had quite welcomed. After all, his memory was so impressively low, he had even found himself forgetting a friend’s name for a moment, so chances were he’d be going on a mission demanding stealth and discretion with his communicator set to extra-loud so it could be heard over music. The thought of Storm’s voice shouting their top secret tactics for all opponents to hear called a self-ironic grin on the pale mutant’s features as he made his way towards the woods – carefully following the path he had somehow managed to keep in mind.
*That’s definitely not my day,* the light-elemental thought in annoyance more scolding himself than fate. His pants were still soaked from when he had acquainted the cool and squishy depths of the swamp, the thought of people actually doing this as a means of relaxation sending shivers down his spine… or maybe it was just the cool wind that decided to come up before he had the trees to block its path. Though struggling hard to prevent it, a only slightly muffled sneeze cutting through the relative silence. Just as he started to bet with himself how many hours it would take him to get seriously ill with a health as instable as his, a hot wind came out of nowhere as if the Sahara had got sick of it and kicked it out of the deserted area to roam other parts of the world. Strangely enough, it didn’t touch his face or any other area of his body that had not been covered by mud either, letting his clothes dry with unseen speed – a fact that let him discard the slightly panicky thought of already having got into an ambush. Green eyes scanning the sky close by, he spotted Storm casting him a slightly ironic smile before she disappeared into higher layers of the atmosphere.
Thankful for her aid, he could still not help but wondering whether he would have been sent home if he had fallen sick. After all, the whole thing had something of a summer camp… just without the marshmallows. Then again, maybe they could have that later along with a nice and disgraceful cumbaya singing session around a campfire. Forcefully distracting himself off those mocking thoughts he knew were not fully justified, Matt set foot on safer ground and as soon as he entered the trees’ shadows… disappeared. It was no gradual fade-out of his form, no dissolving into darkness, but a sudden vanishing in the very moment he activated this insignificant rudiment of what had once been far more impressive powers.
Yet the time of watching his way had long not passed. Not a single ray of light was to touch him or the cover would disappear only to return once he moved into completely shadowed areas again. Luckily, the closeness of the swamp meant a high concentration of nutrition and more than enough water both of which had led to a dense roof of luscious leaves that created lightless bands he could wander unseen. Nothing that did not seem to belong into the scenery could be heard or seen, a fact Contrast was thankful for at the moment but knew would bore him immensely after some time had passed.
"Taylor to Matt. Still nothing here, any luck your side?" The voice was quiet enough to only be heard in direct proximity, yet still it made him jump which, fortunately, nobody would have seen even if there had been anyone around. After taking a second or two to calm down his breath, Matt pressed the button which actually was two-third of the device. ”Nope, nothing around here… guess there’s some waiting time ahead,” he replied keeping his eyes glancing around to make sure he wouldn’t end like your typical nameless character being knocked out because he was stupid enough to stop paying attention to his surroundings. It was just then that he realised the soft shine of the communicator was still enough to lift his disguise. Glad he had noticed that before encountering anyone, Matt detached the gadget, whose backside had the ability to cling to fabric of any kind unless you pressed a small release button at the side, and readjusted it upside down so that the light-emitting part was covered by the fabric of his jacket’s upper pocket. *That should do.* He nodded to himself once more disappearing into nothing.
"What am I doing here again? Ah right… resisting the urge to blind Frosty… I bet mud-brown is just her color though."
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)
Hope watched as Matt and Taylor wondered away from the swamp and towards the distant forest with sad thoughts crossing her mind. It was also so difficult for her to be open and herself around people that she did not have any friends. Yet she had actually enjoyed Matt’s company while they were busy setting up the traps. He had made her laugh, and did not show the disdain she saw in the other students’ eyes. She had inwardly cringed when Storm had told her that she would be Frostbite. The mutant had shown nothing but contempt for those in the team whose powers were not as evident as her own. Nadzieja looked at her new partner, trying to be discreet at her studying. There was the power to kill within her, and Hope shuddered away at the thought of freezing to death at her hands.
The young girl also felt disturbed by Frostbites earlier words. She, herself, had no intention of hurting anyone. She didn’t exactly relish the idea of fighting the other teams in the first place. But Hope could imagine that Frost was ruthless enough to try anything. She could easily imagine the mutant claiming that anyone she could injure had no right being on an X-men team. Well, Nadzieja had no wish to be on the team in the first place. She was definitely not cut out for fighting. Her powers were pretty useless, and her allergies were life-threatening weaknesses. She still feared what she could do, and still greatly disliked the feeling of wood or metal passing through every part of her body.
She suddenly wished she was back at the Institute, free to wonder around and be by herself. It had been her home since her parents died and, at three years old, she didn’t have many memories of them. The library and the grounds had been her sanctuary, a place to escape the constant taunts of the other students, and wallow in her loneliness. Lost in her own miserable thoughts, it took her a moment to realise that Angela’s eyes were on her. The girl was obviously as uncomfortable with her partner as Hope was. She had not really noticed her, too caught up in her own problems and quarrels with the team mission to pay attention to the more quiet members. Although now in a similar situation, Nadzieja felt a pang of jealousy as she realised that Angela obviously had good friends, like Taylor.
If she had been the type of person to swear, she would have cursed her almost self-imposed isolation. Hope had spent the entirety of her adolescent life remembering the spiteful words she had heard as a child. Now she did have her mutant powers, yet she still expected people to be cruel and malicious to her. Surrounded by the bubbling swamp, the air damp and humid, she vowed to herself that she would try not to judge people on her childish idealisms. *starting now,* she thought to herself *I’m going to make an effort. What’s the worst that can happen? That I was proved right and everyone is against me?*
Hope moved closer to Frostbite, feeling the hairs on her flesh rise with the continuous cold that surrounded her partner. “So, where do you think we should wait?” She hoped that her partner would change her views of her, after all, she had just tried to initiate conversation. For Hope that was quite a big step.
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)
“So, where do you think we should wait?” For a moment Frost stared with an air of aloofness, more disgruntled towards being teamed up with anyone. Didn’t Storm yet realize that Frost didn’t need any partner? She was better on her own without the hassle of having to watch out for any weaklings who tried to follow the ice elementress around. At Hope’s words however a small sigh slipped forth from the frosty lips, a chill on her breath due to her body’s lack of warmth.
"I’ll go out on a limb here and say; Somewhere discreet." Came the reply that showed Frostbite hardly cared where. Hiding wasn’t needed in her opinion, but staying out of sight could prove fun when ambushing the enemy so she wasn’t never totally against the idea. Besides, not everyone could handle a fight when things weren’t tipped in their favour. This lot was obviously part of that group. That lacked ability to take care of themselves – at least so far they haven’t yet proved their worth to Frostbite. They may have their issues but Madison and Frostbite still have that knowledge that each of them where most capable of handling themselves and so that, at least, earned them some sort of disgruntled respect with each other… even if neither of them admitted it.
"I don’t care." A motion of Frost’s icy hand was directed towards the collection of trees not too far off. "Over there." Came the decision with a finality that was obvious as Frost moved towards the location. Unlike Madison, Frostbite wasn’t born in the school, in fact she was introduced to the school while suffering her depression from the abandonment of her family. So she hardly was aware that Hope had any sort of struggle making friends, the earlier eagerness to help would suggest she was all happy-go-lucky and into the social circle that Anna avoided in most cases. It didn’t mean that Frost didn’t know people, she knew many, most of the time it was because they had some sort of problem with Anna or got on her bad side some other way. Connor for example had little to do with Frost and yet he always managed to ruin the fun times of thrashing Madi in the danger room or out in public. The guy had no sense of fun when it came to someone besting Madison at something, one ought to have assumed he’d gotten used to the fact that Madi and Frost always fight. But Connor acts as if he’s some holy Crusader out to save Madison from the malcontent that his sister always brought upon herself. More acts of human decency that Frost could do without.
The choice for a covered location with trees was not as random as Frost made it appear. The sunlight wasn’t her greatest friend, especially since sunrays held warmth and warmth never gave her the cosy snuggled feeling most people gained from the precious light or tender warmth. Being more vulnerable to burns and easily able to grow ill on warm days, Frost was never one to stroll about in the afternoon on summer days and perhaps now wasn’t the warmest of weather it still wasn’t nice and cool so it did prove uncomfortable for her.
The shade of the trees however were lacking the warmth of daylight and so she savoured the cool air as they finally entered the area shrouded somewhat by a thin canopy and mostly covered in ground foliage and tall grass. A suspicious study of the dense undergrowth ended with a sever drop in temperature over the area before them, not enough to form ice but a thin layer from frost formed partially over the greenery and a panicked scurry of wildlife emptied the area of any possible dangers that lurked within.
The desire to sit amongst shrubs was not overly pleasant, so instead Frost climbed one of the trees after wading through an area of bushes. Being careful to choose one that had a decent set of branches, thick enough to support body weight and dense enough to conceal the body from sight. A side glance at Hope was diverted back to the tree shortly after, pale hands reaching for the wood and lifting her body into the folds of the tree. From there she had a good view of the swamp, but also had positioned herself so that she could see partially in the opposite direction as well. That at least enabled her to be a scout of sorts should either of the boys fail at their given tasks. Frost hardly cared if Hope wanted to join her up there or scurry off to some other nearby location. Warming up to people wasn’t exactly something Frost was known to do, figuratively speaking of course, but then again, people usually never care to try and break down her defences. Riley Finn had at one point, mostly without even trying, taking her cold demeanour in stride and never once flinching or commenting about the chill she generated when close by or making skin contact accidentally as many others have whined about. As often as Anna praised her own abilities, they were also the catalyst of her misery, but pretending they weren’t causing her a great deal of pain on the social front was easily done by avoiding social life all together.
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)(OOC: Time for some leaping again! I’m afraid there’s no other way to get things moving so…yeah. Feel free to include whatever detail about the skipped hours you want in your reply and tell me if you want things to be edited!
… the handyman just told me I dressed very German… sheesh… HONESTLY, that’s my home clothing, does he really expect me to waddle about in what he’s calling Birkenstocks and jogging trousers outside? *was pretending to be all insulted and got showered with apologies* that’ll teach him!)
Time is a funny thing, isn’t it? It never goes by at the same pace, so it seems, our own subjective estimation hardly ever being correct. With a moment lasting forever and hours flying by as if they were seconds, it sometimes appears that mankind only invented the system of splitting up the day into hours and minutes to have something to be confused about, something to make life more complicated than it already is anyway.
Over the years, Ororo Munroe had got used to this phenomenon, accepting it as an annoying but inevitable part of life that a few hours of lying in wait would always feel like a particularly uneventful and longwinded eternity. To be fair, this time it had actually been more than half a day without anything happening at all, a situation that was rare though not entirely unusual for real missions as the weather-controlling mutant knew all too well. If you were hiding from someone, there was always the risk of being caught that kept your muscles tense, your attention focused – at least for a few hours – when on the other side, however, aware of the fact that there may as well be nobody ever crossing your path… it made things incomparably duller.
She had kept on checking back with those two groups, knowing fairly well how much of a torture being teamed up with those doubtlessly… difficult characters it had to be for Angela and Nadzieja but then again, there hadn’t been much of a choice. If they liked it or not, Madison and Frostbite were the strongest for the time being and so it was only logical to distribute them, so to speak. In intervals of about an hour, Taylor and Matt would give their status report, mostly consisting of a simple “Nothing yet”, their voices growing more and more frustrated and bored as time went by.
It was about ten in the evening when Storm decided it was about time to call it a night. The sun had set a while ago and it had become quite cold, fact that made her wonder how teams without a heat-generating member were to have an at least vaguely pleasant night of sleep. Luckily for them though, Gold still had the jet. ”Everyone, we’ll continue tomorrow. Return to the starting position.” Her voice sounding clearly through the com badge didn’t reveal how tired the windrider really was – one advantage of decades being an X-Man.
Taylor and Madison, Matt and Frost, Hope and Angela – those were the groups monitoring their surroundings in shifts of two hours each. Storm herself took over the first shift to give her team at least a little rest before they had to get up and spend another time of probably monotonous waiting. At least they didn’t have to go outside, the jet’s monitors providing them with pictures of the surrounding area. The reason why they hadn’t used those only before but patrolled the woods was simple: it didn’t cover a lot. Only what was in direct sight, something that sufficed at night when chances were that other teams passing by would have to use some sort of light to find their way anyway, something that would naturally betray them.
For those sleeping, time was passing differently – once more – the hours of rest seeming short and unsatisfactory. Yet while so many other things were not, this one factor actually added up to the reality aspect of the whole mission. Your enemies wouldn’t wait and graciously give you time to recover before they attacked, quite the contrary. They had to get adjusted to this fact, better sooner than later. Life was never fair but being part of this subspecies mutants had become was adding a whole new meaning to the definition of “iniquitous”. There’s no excuse in ignorance, not knowing about risks and dangers doesn’t keep you from encountering them and so the right preparation, knowledge… it was everything.
Morning came all too soon and with it what seemed like the repetition of the previous day’s ordeal. Hoping the groups had at least built up some sort of mutual acceptance, Storm decided to get them as they had been. Was it too much to wish for an encounter of sorts? Slowly but surely, she found herself not even caring whether or not they won so long as something was happening at all. Unbeknownst to her, this prayer would be heard soon enough… yet in a way that none would have expected.
"Will you proof worthy of this team’s glorious history?"
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)
Nadzieja sat in silence on a mossy patch of ground, idly playing with a strand of her hair. The evening seemed to drag on, but sunset ended quite swiftly. She hadn’t even noticed the sky fading from the blue of day to the steely grey of twilight. She could not see the orange orb of the sun from where she sat, but noticed the orange staining to the west rapidly fade away. Soon enough, it had become night, and the swamp was filled menacing shadows against the darkness. Shivering in her cotton shirt, Hope began to feel the cold seep into her bones, making her skin come up in goose bumps.
Eventually, they all heard the welcome voice of Storm summoning them back to the jet. Standing up was a problem for Nadzieja who had been sat in relatively the same position for the past hour. Her legs had gone to sleep, and she felt the uncomfortable numbness that always heralds the onset of pins and needles. Trying to shake the feeling from her lower limbs, the young girl started the careful walk back to the jet, leaving Frostbite to follow. There wasn’t much point in waiting for her partner, since she obviously did not like Hope that much. Nadzieja sighed out a breath; she had wanted to try and be friendly, but maybe she just wasn’t meant to have friends.
Hope was one of the first in the team to get to the X-jet, and gave a nod to Storm as she waited. The young mutant hadn’t realised how tired she was until she sat down in one of the seats. Immediately, her eyes felt heavy and she struggled to stay awake. Perhaps it was just the warmth in the jet, or that she was exhausted, but she quickly fell into a deep sleep and managed to stay asleep even after the others had boarded.
Nadzieja was woken up a few hours before sunrise for her shift of the watch. She sat by the monitors with Angela, too tired to try and start a conversation, and not wanting to wake up the others. It was difficult to see in the darkness of the early morning hours, and shadows started to take on forms in her eyes. Pointing out a particular shadow every now and then, the young girl checked with Angela to make sure it was just the shadow of a tree and not the silhouette of a person.
After an hour, once looking at the screens had become monotonous and boring, the sky began to lighten with the onset of day. Suddenly, the warmth of the X-jet became unbearable, and Hope felt the need for some fresh air.
“I’m going outside for a moment,” she whispered to Angela, before exiting the vehicle. To the east, she could already see the first rays of the sun through the trunks of the wood. But the cloudless sky was not glowing yellow or pink; instead, the eastern sky was stained red. Nadzieja had a bad feeling about it, was convinced that it was a bad omen. Perhaps something bad was going to happen as the day progressed. Perhaps one of the prey teams would fall into their trap, and someone would get hurt. Feeling suddenly unsure of her idea of the trap, she was on the verge of dismantling as much of the false trail as possible before coming round. The lack of a great amount of sleep must have messed with her senses, she concluded. At any other time, she would have marvelled at the beautiful sunrise, but this morning she must have been slightly mad!
Shrugging her shoulders, Hope stretched her arm above her head, arching her back to release some of the knots that had formed during the night. It was promising to be a good day, weather wise, and she decided to enjoy the surroundings of the island. Even though they were meant to be on a mission, it was highly unlikely that anyone would go through the swamp. Nadzieja knew that if she came across a swamp, with any choices, she would find a way around it, rather than risk falling into the quagmire water. And since this was their last day on the island, she reasoned that it was best to appreciate the time away from the Institute. *What could possibly happen in the next twelve hours anyway?* she thought to herself.
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)
The screens showed boring images, a few nocturnal creatures moved now and then but even they seemed slow and boring to watch as they scurried or slithered through the shadows. Frost wasn’t bothered by the chilled of the night, in fact she was feeling better the colder it grew. A numbingly cool air hanged about Frost’s body, not intentionally but Anna was pretty sure Matt was less then pleased having cool air radiating from her whether it was on purpose or not. Probably that’s why she was giving him the ‘cold shoulder’. If she ignored him entirely then she wouldn’t notice his displeasure or ridicule. It’d be a shame if he set off her temper, because the young Ms Drake doubted that Storm would take delight in waking to a Matt-icicle.
The Jet’s environmental system was combating the cold however, and the warm air beating against her flesh was not a nice experience. Stupid heaters. The shapely toned legs were pulled up onto the seat and her arms wrapped around them, containing as much cold as she could manage to make herself more comfortable. However her expression radiated emotions of being bored and displeased… perhaps even snappish, hiding the discomfort in a sheet of disgruntled anger. Frost kept her blue-ish grey hued skin tone and white hair. It was one of the reasons she was generating more cold but at the same time the ice elementress would probably fall slightly ill being kept in warm comfortable environment in addition to being surrounded by bodies radiating their own heat and within close proximity to her.
When their shift was over, Frostbite stood rather abruptly, half shoving her way past Matt but pausing as she stared at the resting form of their leader. Storm wouldn’t really mind if she camped outside right? Frost hardly cared, with all these warm bodies around by morning the temperature would have risen and if she could feel the warmth now then by morning she’d be suffocating. Another turn of her slender form had her re-shoving past Matt (who she had been blocking from being able to reach the seats of the jet) she headed for the jet’s door.
"The next two will definitely screw up if left on their own, I’ll be outside keeping an eye out." Hardly caring if she woke anyone up, yet keeping her voice quiet merely being the jet seemed awfully silent and there was no need to waste her energy screaming. Of course Frost hardly cared with Hope and Angela screwed up or not, it was merely an excuse to leave the jet without having him tattle tale and waking Storm thinking Frost was wandering off to get into mischief.
When Angela and Hope had been woken to sit watch, Angela had given Matt a rather stern stare. More one disgruntled at being woken and trying to figure out the important ‘who, where & why’ before remembering the fact she was supposed to take watch at some point. Dragging herself over to the front seats, both Hope and Angela quietly stared at the screens, occasionally pointing out a shifting movement or two before discarding the idea of any of the shadows being a snooping prey team.
“I’m going outside for a moment,” A tired ‘ok’ followed Hope’s statement while distracting herself by glancing over at the others still within the jet, and then around at the jet’s interiors. Waking Storm seemed logical but Angela didn’t feel comfortable waking up a complete stranger who was over twice her own age… and a trained mutant fighter as well. Thankfully the woman woke soon after Angie cast a few stares in her direction, who knows, maybe Angie’s new power was that of waking slumbering adults! …Well alright, she was just teasing herself, but you’d have to admit that’d be a dangerous power to have, imagine all the grumpy old people the world would have, well more then what it currently has for sure!
Meanwhile outside Frost, who had drifted in and our of a rather bland sleep, was content in distracting herself with a few flowers she had collected. Freezing the studs or partially blossomed petals and then dropping them down to the collection of stones on the ground before her, the frosty mutant herself sitting up on a larger rock and watching as the fragile frozen flowers broke or survived each drop. As Hope emerged from the confines of the warm jet, Frost ceased her game which had been brought on by sheer boredom, remaining disgruntled and sitting off on her own without any interest in responding to the fact the others were now waking. That was, until Storm herself appeared and Frost stood up, folding her arms and first half daring the whether witch to whine about Anna not staying within the jet. But surprisingly (or not so surprisingly considering the usual way Storm treated her) there was no scolding, and if it was because Storm noticed her or not, cared or not, or knew or not, was completely unknown to Frostbite, who in turned didn’t really care and set about doing as Storm asked of them, basically continuing her state of boredom, just with company now.
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)
Initially the idea of being a scout for the group had excited Taylor, the one to spot the enemy first from an undisclosed location, working out their weaknesses and getting back to camp to inform them of the inevitable confrontation with another team. In reality thought Taylor had found that scout had to possibly be the most boring job there was for the group, well, when nothing ever seemed to happen in the stagnant surroundings of the swamp that was gold strike forces location.
Being a team member had always been exciting for Taylor, his last mission to Harmony Market making him feel like he was actually able to do something with his abilities, putting them to use rather then hiding them away whenever impossible, which had become increasingly difficult with his skin. In fact once that happened he had made a vow to not hide in front of anyone anymore, to stop running and to confront whatever happens to him; exactly how he had in the Dying Star when he had been confronted by an anti-mutant human, that guy certainly got more than he was expecting!
When the call had come through on his comm. That the team was to return to their jet his usual excitable self came out again; finally he could get back to the warm and be with the others, even if most of them seemed to glance over them as if he weren’t there. Angela had obviously taken more interest in him, and since they had become friends he found he enjoyed her company and even Hope seemed to now be able to find some way of coping with his exuberance. Taylor didn’t really no the others, he knew Matt vaguely, but not really enough to go and converse with him without a third party, and as for the other two, he was pretty sure that whatever he did to try and gain a little respect from them would be thrown back at him swiftly. Well, with Frost at least Taylor corrected himself, he knew Madison the least and it wouldn’t be fair of him to judge her on how she was with Frost, it was no surprise that she argued back the way the icy mutant was.
Taylor had returned to the jet and had been told that he and Madison had been assigned for the second watch shift. He wasn’t too worried, he knew he could hold his own with the young woman if she was going to start getting all aggressive with him, but it seemed his slight worries were unfounded. Taylor had slept lightly for a couple of hours, not really resting properly, when Storm had come to where the team were sleeping and quietly woken him and Madison up for their shift, he had pulled himself up, blurry eyed and made his way to the front of the jet where all the surveillance screens were, he had sat at one of the seating positions and started the tedious job of making sure no one showed up on them that shouldn’t. He didn’t think that much could beat the dreariness of scouting the previous day but this in fact could, at least when scouting he was able to move around, feel the fresh air against his skin and try and keep him mind occupied on other things, here that was impossible.
The two had sat in silence for two hours until Frost and Matt had made their way to the screens and taken over the painfully boring task that they had been performing. Taylor had swiftly made his way back to his sleeping bag which he had snuggly slipped under and sleep took him. He dreamt a little of things from the past, with Eva’s sudden arrival at the institute taylor had found himself thinking a lot more about the past and what he had been forced to leave behind, what dreams he had had that had been taken from him. But Eva came back with a chance to regain one of those dreams, something the pair of them had developed and idly talked about hours passing as the pair had spent time together.
Taylor slowly awoke to the sound of movement and voices in and around the jet and he awoke with a warm sense of completion, dreams of his past could often be called nightmares, but for once this one had actually given him a good feeling, he smiled to himself a little before slipping out of the sleeping bag and pulling a top over his head to cover his yellow skin. He ran a hand through his hair and then slowly made his way to the ramp that exited the jet, he could here some movement outside and so he wanted to see what was going on. It was obvious that he wasn’t missing anything important, Storm would have woken them all up and some of the other team member still laid silently as they caught up on some much needed rest.
The electric mutant slipped his shoes on and went outside to find Hope and Frost stood in the fresh morning air, a pile of what looked like shattered plants laying at Frost’s feet, he turned to Hope knowing that Frost wouldn’t appreciate any kind of greeting, and smiled “Morning.” he said, his grin wide. He had learnt to curb his enthusiasm a little when with the younger Polish girl, she had been the complete opposite of his personality and so he didn’t want to ruin any kind of steps towards a friendship (or at least acquaintance) by bounding around like a mad man. He stepped a little closer to her and smiled again as he judged his surroundings, a light dew laying on the grass and other flora, for the first time Taylor didn’t really have much to complain about in regards to this island, although he was sure that was to change, especially if he was put back on scout duty.
Re: The Swamp: Lying in Wait (GSF Stage 2)
and waiting...and waiting...
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.
the handyman just told me I dressed very German… sheesh… HONESTLY, that’s my home clothing, does he really expect me to waddle about in what he’s calling Birkenstocks and jogging trousers outside? *was pretending to be all insulted and got showered with apologies* 
that’ll teach him!)
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