”I can’t believe you!” Perhaps if Racheal hadn't still been slightly wound from her rant, she would have cringed slightly. Okay, so she still disliked the idea of team work, but she had actually silently agreed to give it ago, and yet she had already felt like fighting one of her co-team members. Part of her wondered if life wouldn't have been better if her main morph had been the more sociable lion rather than the anti-social tigress who continued to silently fume.
Perhaps, she decided, she should apologise to Garnet. After all, this was her team, and she had just helped in causing a rift. Not that Max would get an apology. It wasn't that she was stubborn, though she could be, but more that she wasn't actually sorry for having ago at him.
”We will cross this open area to get into the woods. It is not actually safe there but at least we will not be as easy a target as out here. Now, I did not make the rules, I did never lay hands on your timetables and I certainly forced no one to come here so if you want to blame or mock about someone, call in Jean Grey’s office or look into the mirror… or try for once, try with all honesty.” Somewhere in her mind, something asked a simple question. Why should she care any more? Hadn't she been thinking why not just leave? Was it really just on Thursday that she had actually agreed on doing any of this. She could have simply walked out of those gates and back into a world she actually understood. People didn't worry her much, despite her dislike for crowds. But to her, the institute was a cage. She had no reason to be there, and now she felt trapped.
”You may be surprised by the effect this can have…,” Hadn't they all tried earlier? And they had succeeded as well. But there still seemed to be something missing from all of that. Despite actually getting the raft done, she couldn't help but feel like they had missed out on something important back there, something that might have actually helped the team.
"Whoever thought up teams should be shot". Okay, maybe his view was a bit of an extreme, but to say that she was unhappy here would have been an understatement. Oh, she loved the island, it was the task that she really had the problem with, and perhaps the fact that she neither knew nor got on with the other team members. To her, it seemed that they were either going to be freaked by her, like Paige and possibly Casey, or just a right pain, like, well, Max. Although not one to normally pick holes in people, she could easily spot the divide and perhaps would have been happier if she could actually see where she fitted in. Gypsy, Max, Jess and Garnet seemed to have the strong, outgoing personalities, but also seemed, at times (if not all the time in her eyes) to take it to extremes, whilst Paige and Casey were the quieter ones. And although she knew she was naturally a quiet person, she still felt that divide. Why couldn’t life be simpler?
Not only was the thought of leaving weighing her down, but the control she had used to stop herself morphing had been quite extreme for her, rare for her to actually have to use it. So, falling back into an uneasy silence, she turned, deciding to keep out to the side of the group. Not that, in her mind, any of them would actually miss her.
"Why should we try?" … "You just said we can’t do it, you just told us we don’t have a chance… you don’t think we can do it." Darn that boy. Why did he have to make a comment that actually had some basis right then? The last thing she wanted to do was agree with him, but she decided that, at east then, there was nothing to really agree to. In reality, Garnet’s idea of getting to the woods had somewhat made her happier, though it was entirely for her own selfish reasons. In the woods she could at least get some sort of peace surely. Why did Max have to make such a point right then?
"We’re all screw-ups and we are fully aware of that, none of us wanted to be part of this shitty little group, but we decided for reasons lost to us at the moment, that we’d actually turn up for the stupid meeting, every one of us probably wants nothing more then to be anywhere else," Hang on a moment, she thought, going over his words. Hadn’t she made a similar point earlier? Well, at least she had some validity to her earlier rant, even if that area had been slightly off the subject. "Our reasons are different to yours Garnet, and I bet everyone has formed a sugar-coated twisted little lie onto of that to explain why they are here, but we’re here, and this is us trying Ferelle!" Although Racheal wasn’t exactly certain about many phrases, she knew well enough what he meant. Was her want to fit in really just some sort of excuse for her? The longer she thought about it, the more truth she saw in Max’s words. Why did she have to agree with him? Would hatred be too strong a word still? Perhaps, but she knew it bordered on that, and beneath her rather now tame surface, her anger boiled slowly. But as ever, she gently compressed it.
"You want us to be a team, then let us do things for crying out loud! Stop doing everything for us and saying we’re not trying and that we’re doomed for failure!" Her eyebrows raised slightly at the comment. Green eyes turned to the group, wondering their opinions on this, after all, she didn’t want to voice an agreement with him if possible, but that didn’t mean she didn’t. What had she done since coming on this mission? Collected vines, helped tie knots and put wood together and then get in a fight. Brilliant for team building, she was sure.
As her eyes wandered to and fro between the different team members, her eyes finally registered Paige’s condition, though she managed to force herself not to stare. How could she have not noticed the poor girl’s condition earlier? Okay, so there wasn’t anything she could actually do, but she could have at least realised. It would have only been fair. Suddenly, a nagging thought hit her. She still hadn’t managed to apologise to the healing mutant! Silently she tried to remember what she still had to apologise for. There was interrupting her, then scaring her – okay, that one needed a lot of apologising – and now possibly this, though she couldn’t see any reason to right then. Although it seemed a bit minor to apologise for having previously interrupted her, she was determine to do so, and possibly put things slightly more right.
"Why couldn’t we cut the trees and move them in pieces if needed to have Paige and what’s his name build the damn raft? Because it was easier for you to move them!" … "Why couldn’t we row here ourselves? Because you did it faster on your own!" She forced herself not to nod at his words. Instead, almost curious eyes turned to Garnet. Part of her had issued caution earlier at the tone of the fire mutant’s voice, but now an slight interest had been sparked. And a slight fear.
"We’re going to bßtch, we’re going to moan, that’s a given, so let us have something useful to bßtch and moan about without you making things so quick and easy by doing everything for efficiency sake, you’re not here to keep up with other teams Garnet, you’re here for us win or lose, and we’ve done what you’ve asked, so start asking more and stop doing everything, then you’ll see us trying!" She couldn’t help but wonder if Circe really did think that if, as earlier, it was quicker and easier to do stuff herself, she thought she could survive out here. At that, she continued to wonder at how the fiery mutant would hold up stuck on an island alone. Even so, there was a mild warning bell ringing in her head. Garnet’s power was fire, and if she suddenly decided to use it for anything like attacking… Why hadn’t the feral mutant thought of this before? She managed to push down the slowly appearing fear down into the depths, to join that bubbling anger. Sure, fire was deadly. And nasty, AND very very hot. But that was no reason to fear it really? Just because it had destroyed her life, that was no reason to be scared… was it?
"Things change. It's a fact of life. Things are born, things die. That doesn't give you an excuse to complain"
”And as for being edible…. If you really want to try to eat a fully grown Siberian tiger, bring it on. I’ve not lost a fight with her in 14 years, and I miss my old play fights..” Something in the area or Paige’s windpipe suddenly contracted ... she hoped to God that Rachael didn't morph, the dark tear lines that had appeared on her face hadn't been missed by the youngest member of the team. She took a couple of squelching steps backwards, looking nervously at Max and Rachael. She wanted to say something, she didn't want Max to get hurt, there was a part of her that was angry that Rachael was picking on Max, Max had only said one little thing, maybe Rachael wasn't used to being teased.
"So.. what now?" Breath escaped from her lungs in a small sigh, relived that Rachael seemed to have got her temper under control again. The last thing she wanted right now was members of their team to start fighting one another; it had been bad enough in the training rooms. The relief was short lives, Garnet's voice lifting in protest at the bickering...
”I can’t believe you!” Was this how it was always going to be? Everyone shouting at each other, she'd been so proud to be placed upon a team but now all she wanted to do was to leave it. She wondered who'd thought it seemed like a good idea to put her on a team with all these strongly willed characters ... perhaps they thought some of the others confidence would rub off on her ... if they had then they were sorely wrong, she was just overly intimidated by the others. Listening as Garnet she suddenly realised that no they hadn't been forced to come away here but at the same time they'd not been told where they were going or what they were doing, if she'd known she wouldn't have come. Poor Dr McCoy would be looking after the med bay and she wouldn't be there to help him, he'd been so rushed off his feet recently and she felt he needed her there to make sure the med bay ran alright. The thought that he'd managed perfectly well by himself before she'd started going down to the med bay hadn't crossed her mind.
As Garnet turned away Paige found the older woman looking at her, taking in the state of her appearance. One of Paige’s hands instinctively moved to her hair, tucking a stray length of hair behind her ear, her eyes dropping submissively to the floor. The cold air that was pressing around her and causing her to shiver slightly suddenly warmed up. Paige flinched ... aware that Garnet was using her powers on her, for a moment she felt a small flush of anger over the fact that Garnet hadn't asked her before using her powers, she was well aware of what Garnet's powers could do to someone. The next moment she was glad of the warmth that seemed to hug her. The clothes that clung damply to her were still cold but the feel of the warm air against her hands, neck and face was nice.
There was a mumble from Casey's direction but she didn't pick up what he was saying, her eyes were still looking at the floor, her hands wrapped around her rather defensively... at least no one had laughed at the fact she'd fallen in the lake, she supposed she had this fight to thank for that. She was glad when Casey fell into step a little off to the side from her as they walked. She somehow felt a little safer knowing he was there. There was a nervous glance over at him from Paige before her eyes dropped down to the floor again. She should say something shouldn't she? ... but as usual in the presence of a stranger her head seemed to empty of all thoughts.
She attempted not to listen as Max started shouting at Garnet, her body drifting a little closer towards Casey, footsteps hesitating as she fought the desire to turn around and look at him. She kept her eyes miserably on the ground in front of her.
ooc: Sorry it's not long but I've got stupid assignments to get in
(OOC: Um… Angie? *raises hand* ‘m lost here! Where did Garnet say they couldn’t make it?? May needa edit the following post then but for now….)
She walked on. Words were uttered, protest, complaint… attack? Still, she kept on walking. This was not the place to react. It was a mission, one she had to complete. It wasn’t safe where they were and still, every harsh step forward became more difficult as Max continued launching verbal missiles at her that heated up the anger still boiling inside of her.
"You want us to be a team, then let us do things for crying out loud! Stop doing everything for us and saying we’re not trying and that we’re doomed for failure!" Everthing? Two things she had done one of which was actually a task she would have transferred to a single member of the team if it had been a telekinet and the other had been meant as a reward. Why was everything she was doing taken and distorted into something ugly? Why were all her attempts of being a good leader going towards unmarked dead-ends? Yet they had still not reached the woods… she couldn’t allow herself to stop their walk just now. Watchful eyes kept checking their surroundings while her mind was anywhere but focused on this mission’s success as she wanted it to be.
Just a few more second and they’d be there, just a few more meters just… ”…so start asking more and stop doing everything, then you’ll see us trying!" There! Whirling around with burning eyes, Aurora seemed to almost pierce the stone-shifting mutant with a look that showed fury she began to have problems with keeping concealed. Assault after assault had been hitting this wall and slowly it started to crumble – a fact she hated to face. Her voice a hissing that showed all too clearly that she would have shouted if it hadn’t meant to attract those they had to avoid, the fiery mutant replied while shortly taking off the warm cover she had installed around Paige. An argument meant strong emotions, strong emotions meant lowered control… and lowered control could mean a flame that would turn poor Paige into a pile of ashes.
”If this is you trying, Chadstone, then you won’t survive a single day outside in the real world.” The way she stressed his surname showed only one thing about his speech that had insulted her. Aurora wasn’t entirely sure why – maybe it had been the way how he had said it, but for some reason just calling her by her last name like that made her eyebrow twitch. ”You’re only happy when you’ve got something to complain about, aren’t you? If I hadn’t transported the trunks, you’d just have had to change your little speech calling me lazy letting you do all the work. If I hadn’t moved the raft, you’d have moaned about having to make paddles. I thought you’d be glad to be saved from something as tiring as rowing before the real thing starts but obviously I forgot to consider your eagerness to work. My apologies, I didn’t quite pick that up earlier from when you complained about doing anything at all.” The mocking tone in her voice dripping with sarcasm was the only outlet she felt was saving her from bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. They weren’t even able to talk among another normally, how could he go on about she needing to give them more to do when it seemed almost impossible to get them even to listen properly when she explained something?
”Besides, I never said we couldn’t make it! But seeing as you can’t even shut up and act like a normal human being for ten minutes, it could be even tougher than thought. Then again, you’ll probably stop doing that once I gave you more to do you can complain about, right? Your logic is really amazing, Max!”
They couldn’t just continue walking now, not as infuriated and distracted as she was… and chances were high the infamous school bully would not see their debate as finished but continue his rant which would certainly make them quite an easy target. Struggling to get herself back under control, Aurora inconspicuously tried to slow down and deepen her breathing focusing on what was supposed to be of higher importance.
”Racheal, do you think you could check the way ahead of us?” she asked the animal morpher with a strained smile. It seemed like a good idea since the Feral would be the one most probable not to be noticed by anyone with her animal instincts warning her of dangers others wouldn’t even see. Maybe the time she needed would suffice to settle things… hopefully.
"Being my own sensible and grown-up self I will go and make a stand saying that we are SO going to lose... starting farther off than anyone else, being a bunch of loners and all. Yet looking at the upside, at least we will never have points taken for cooperating with other teams."
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
Racheal had to admit, she was impressed by the fire-mutants show of self control. And grateful. Despite her giving up attitude at that moment, part of her did want something to come of this. But she had, for the most part, lost the original idea which had even brought her to the x-men, and perhaps, she thought, agreeing to be a member of the two teams had been her attempt to find it again.
"Racheal, do you think you could check the way ahead of us?” A smile played on her exhausted face. Could she? It wasn't just the idea of having some alone time, but as soon as she was out of sight, she would be able to morph again. And she could see some logic in Garnet's decision. Not only could she hopefully keep away from the other teams, but Racheal also felt abit like a catalyst at that moment in time, so she was happy to keep out of the way abit.
"Sure" She nodded as she spoke, her motion showing slightly more enthusiasm than her voice managed to muster at that moment. Okay, so she still felt abit of a loner, but at least the idea of being able to use her power had cheered her up abit.
Avoiding the temptation to break into a run, she started walking towards the woodland and away from the group, morphing slowly and and carefully into her jaguar, managing to fight the temptation of the tiger. She reached a small distance from the group, before realising somthing, pausing to turn back, the light black spot-circles on her skin hardly visable.
"Do you want me to try hunting as well?" She telepathically whispered to Garnet, uncertain over her reaction of the voice in her head. Strangely, Racheal could 'whisper' to most people easily enough, but to telepathically communicate to a group - which actually took her less control - was more difficult. Perhaps it was because she was used to the idea of only having to talk to one person. But at least she had found out quickly that she actually could 'speak' to over people in this fashion. She had been worried that it was a 'twin-thing'.
Her eyes focused on the fire-mutant, the Feral's eyes sharper still as she had shifted them to their more enhanced cat sight. Pausing the morph was uncomfortable, and she hoped that Garnet would decided quickly.
__________________________________
OOC: Short post I know. Just got off work and had to reply lol. If you want Racheal to *accidentally* bump into one of the other teams, please say (and where/whom). Considering the up and coming plans (I don't know how much some people know, as it was an attempted secret from me), I actually need a rather exhausted Racheal for tonight - otherwise her mildly enhanced senses could be a problem.. Anyway, back to planning my ultimate Racheal plans (and saving other characters - or creating them!)
"Things change. It's a fact of life. Things are born, things die. That doesn't give you an excuse to complain"
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
(OOC: *Looks around* … I could have sworn she mentioned it, I coulda sworn! She could gone behind ya back and edited it out to make me look stupid… damn you Loza! …)
”If this is you trying, Chadstone, then you won’t survive a single day outside in the real world.” A reckless look of indifference seemed to be his reply to that, a look which clearly stated he cared little towards the real world and where he fit in – he fit in where he was told to fit in and he hasn’t yet been told to try to be nice to any of the people at the Institute. Not that Max let his whole life rotate around his parents, but everything he did or didn’t do was highly due to their influence and the fact he was afraid of losing the immense benefits they offered him by doing as he was told. ”You’re only happy when you’ve got something to complain about, aren’t you? If I hadn’t transported the trunks, you’d just have had to change your little speech calling me lazy letting you do all the work. If I hadn’t moved the raft, you’d have moaned about having to make paddles. I thought you’d be glad to be saved from something as tiring as rowing before the real thing starts but obviously I forgot to consider your eagerness to work. My apologies, I didn’t quite pick that up earlier from when you complained about doing anything at all.” A few steps towards her drifted him slightly forward before smoothly hovering to a stop. He didn’t care entirely for her attitude but there was something so provocative about her when she flared up like this… he found himself mostly watching the way her lips moved with her blazing flaring gaze alit in the background. There was little Max cared for at the moment, but he had one goal, and that was to impress Garnet, and even if he despised everything she made him do, he would do it – he’d complain of course – but he’d get it done nonetheless.
”Besides, I never said we couldn’t make it! But seeing as you can’t even shut up and act like a normal human being for ten minutes, it could be even tougher than thought. Then again, you’ll probably stop doing that once I gave you more to do you can complain about, right? Your logic is really amazing, Max!” The words swirled and to truth be told none of them made any sense other then the last six words.
Is she always so tense? There was something bordering amusement in the back of his mind, sure, people he didn’t know or didn’t like yelling at him always made him furious, but Max was always the type of guy that could never resist a hot tempered beauty throwing enticingly degrading remarks. Well, it upset him of course, but the likely hood of him turning it into some form of hostile foreplay was extremely likely.
Garnet addressed Racheal and the still stone skinned Mutant remained with his eyes entwined over Garnet’s form, a slight tugging at his hurt pride demanding a hasty reply despite the fact Max was trying to focus on not moving more then he already was to her, no no… he has to stay at least two meters away, otherwise he’ll do something that will probably get him into trouble. Deciding to ignore the comment about acting like a ‘normal human’ – something he didn’t consider himself since he was a mutant! The repulsed indignation was swept aside in the current of desires forever present and demanding of attention that burned within every fibre of his being.
"Of course I’ll complain at this point if you make me do more things." The tone was a complete shift to a matter of fact and insistent need to get his point across. He didn’t get along with anyone aside from Gypsy really and it wasn’t like he actually knew her, she just took classes with him, and they never even sat together. If it wasn’t for their attitudes they’d have no reason to actually interact with each other at all! Garnet herself seemed oblivious to his existence (she didn’t give him a pat on the back or anything for a job well done, or any other variation of physical gratitude!), and no one else meant enough to him for him to give a thought about at the moment. "But at least I’ll try and get them done." Since he was closer now Max kept a stern attempt of looking at her eyes and nothing else, no matter how tempting or infuriating it was for him to be so angry and yet so desperate for her affection and not the faintest clue if he could possibly repair the damage he keeps causing. If it wasn’t under such strenuous circumstances then he’d have been doing a hell of a lot of better instead of continuously having tiny bursts of aggressive moments.
"Give me a try Garnet." A sly and almost charismatic air seemed to caress the edges of each word, "Give me an honest try, who knows, one day I might stop complaining." Ok, he knew well enough she was attempting to give everyone an honest go and they weren’t making it easy, but he just assumed she’d guess that he was talking about her trying to give him more things to do so that he could do them – and that way he hoped he could also impress her.
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
Why should we try? Jess stopped his previously sarcastic and somewhat violence oriented thoughts for a moment at this, glancing up at Max. As much as he hated to admit it this was a valid thought, certainly one that had crossed his mind but when he had tried not doing anything he'd been dragged back. The dark haired mutant glanced over in Gypsy's general direction remembering how she had actually gotten him to contribute. Now it came up again though, the same question that he had been asking himself since the moment he was asked to do something here on this deserted island. His radar for trouble seemed to tune in and Jess abandoned the thought of reading as he walked or of attemting to ignore every team member for as long as possible as he focused dark eyes on Max.
With the next words the New York born mutant had to check himself in order to not nod along. His intense dislike of Max and the desire to pummel him hadn't faded and it likely never would but it calmed for a moment as Jess listened to the words. Truer words had never been spoken, Max was saying what he felt all along but hadn't actually put into words...well at least hadn't put into words in such a blunt way. A lie for why he was here. That was more or less true. He'd encountered the wrath of adults before and he had certainly let down people people before, disappointing them and practically watching their faces fall. It wasn't as pleasant as he led others to believe and yet he had done it before so why was he shying away from trouble now? Why had he decided to give only minimal leader to their team leader and the more pressing question why had he decided to show up in the first place? He could have been hiding out with a good book right now easily enough and yet he was here. It was true though, Jess thought to himself. No one was here because they wanted to be and they must have all had different reasons. Even the pipsqueak overachiever didn't look particularly happy to be here. There was a reason why their team of outcasts had been labelled exiles afterall.
Casey was shocked at the outburst. He hadn't expected Max to blow up at Circe like that but on the otherhand he also hadn't anticipated Jess getting away with no work earlier or the almost fight between Rachael and Max so maybe it wasn't so strange that he be shocked. He had to admit that he didn't want to be here anymore than the next mutant. He was here because he had been told it would be good for him socially, because he had power enough but not the courage and the confidence to take control and use them against others that much. It hadn't been his decision, not really. Casey had been offered a position and being the meek person he was who always agreed with authority he had accepted. In retrospect the blue eyed boy thought that that hadn't been the brightest decision, especially for someone as intelligent as himself. He wasn't bragging it was just the way it was. Somewhere in Max's rant was came a line about letting he and Paige build a raft and a spark of something shot through Casey. What's his name that's great. He doesn't even know who you are Casey and in all honesty he won't by the end of this mission either, Casey thought wretchedly. He tried to convince himself that it was a good thing and that trying to make himself invisible had worked but some part of him was having none of it. He wanted to be known as Casey not as 'that other guy' like the extras on Star Trek in the red shirts who always got killed off. He deeply resented being as invisible as he was and yet he wouldn't put up a fight or speak up with a name because that was just who he was. Little ol' reliable meek Casey. Perhaps he was doomed to be that person for forever.
Jess hated that Max was right. That everything he said was hitting the nail on the head so to speak and that the boy he hated so much was managing to say exactly what was on his mind. He hated that they had a similar mindset at the moment more than anything because he hated the thought that he and Max were not so different afterall. Actually Jess didn't care if it was something useful to moan about. Sure something worthwhile meant a better arguement and one much easier to win but he could moan about just about anything and he intended to. Afterall if Max was going to step up and lead the rebellion crap than he could step up his game and not worry about being the one tattled on or at least not to the same extent. Co-operation. Interesting thought and maybe Max was right again. Maybe if Aurora gave them more reign they wouldn't run wild. Maybe they'd actually give working a try. That was awfully optimistic for Jess' usual viewpoint but he didn't entirely disagree, even if his powers had a more specific useage and wouldn't be so handy for doing something except possible in contact. Doomed for failure though, now that seemed a little overdramatic.
Casey glanced over at Paige to see what she thought of all this and although she seemed to be getting a little closer to him she didn't turn and look at him. She didn't look good though and he didn't mean that in the sense that most people would take it in because he certainly didn't think that. He meant that her condition didn't look good and he hoped she'd be okay. And I thought the feral girl's speech was a rant, Casey thought to himself faintly. Maybe it was just that Max's words were more generally directed for approval or maybe it was that he was ranting to their leader of all people but it was intimidating and made him momentarily glad that he was meek and that Max didn't know his name. Judging from Max's opinions of everyone else on the team and his words to them thusfar Casey thought that maybe it was better not to register on his radar than to be in danger of verbal or in certain cases physical assault. He almost held his breath as those wide blue eyed fixed on Circe. What kind of a response could she have to that? he wondered.
The trying comment almost made Jess smirk. Almost. He wondered if they had really been trying at all, he knew he had been giving the bare minimum to get by anyway. What was the point in doing your darndest if there was a whole rest of a mission to finish and one that you didn't particularly want to be a part of to begin with? The response was scathing in its sarcasm which rivalled the sarcasm level he had at times. It was approaching commendable actually, as was the fact that she hadn't incincerated someone by now. Still didn't gain her much on Jess' approval scale but it was interesting if nothing else. Normal. Now there was a laugh, the only normal people around were boring people and if Barbie was one of them then the few points she gained would be plummeting quickly. She made it through the whole reply without exploding and Jess shook off the urge to clap mockingly. Probably wouldn't help things, he understated in his head, even if it would have been amusing. Pity though, he'd wanted to see what sort of a fight Max would put up and what their oh fearless leader could do. Twice now confrontations and not a move from Max. Jess felt an urge to provoke him just to see if the stone mutant would do something other than stand there and hurl insults from a safe distance.
As soon as it had begun the confrontation came to an end. Yet again crisis averted, it was like a super hero movie except no one had any budget for special effects so it had turned out like this or something. Casey half expected Circe to be on strings. He felt a form of admiration for their team leader for keeping so cool. He didn't have that kind of control, he felt pain and he'd gotten used to the verbal because he couldn't defend himself in the conventional way. He could only resort to scaring people, knowing their deepest secrets with a touch or by doing some sort of a warp. She had such active powers though, what he wouldn't give for that sort of ability. Casey wondered if it was easy or if that sort of self-control and control of powers was mastery of somesort. Either way his respect had gone up a little, not that he was the one whose respect Circe had to gain.
Jess restrained the urge to roll his eyes. Just when he had thought that maybe he'd have to remove hatred from his Max vocabulary and replace it with great dislike the word stayed. He'd been with enough girls and recognised flirtation enough to figure out what Jess thought Casey was probably oblivious to. It was slimy in his books. After blowing up at her and criticizing her leading than suddenly he was trying to charm her? Jess got the hot and cold but he didn't understand why Max would want someone like her. Sure he was nice to look at but there was a reason why called her barbie and that was only partially for her appearance despite her absence of blonde hair. He didn't respect her as a mental rival and hell yah that was arrogant but he thought it was true. Sure he'd been with bimbos before but it had never been fun and mostly for show to make another girl jealous or strictly for physical means. He hadn't toyed with them or played the game in this way. Jess just hoped that this whole frigging team mission didn't turn into a game. It was dorky enough as it was but if they bantered the whole time he didn't think he'd be able to take it.
"You done or can I get in a chapter?" Jess commented, hoping that would move them along or lead to an action plan or something of value, anything but idle chitchat. He wasn't one for smalltalk or for making friendly with the teammates and they might as well get the stupid thing over with as soon as possible.
(OOC: Nope, she didn’t
Rebecca, maybe we can discuss things on MSN? My addy’s crimsonsmirk@hotmail.com)
The trace of a thankful smile appeared on Aurora’s features. Racheal was so refreshingly uncomplicated, so unlike most of the other team members. Give them something to do and they moan and haul sarcastic comments at you, ask the Feral and consider it down. Maybe the impression Garnet had of the animal morpher was not entirely true as desperately in need of anything motivating - and be it only the thinnest of straws - as she was, the fiery mutant couldn’t care less about possible misinterpretations. The mission had just begun and she was already feeling tired, exhausted… drained in an emotional and psychological way that, however, also started to show physical effects. It was pure will and the refusal to reveal just how far this constant struggle for authority got her down that let her keep up the charade.
Circe’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a voice in her head that was not her own. A frown appeared on the team leader’s features as she tilted her head and searched those strange eyes – half human, half animal – wearing a questioning expression. *Do you want me to try hunting as well?* More than anything else it was the fact that Racheal was looking at her as if waiting for something that made her realise who was talking to her almost instantly, yet still it was a surprise. She hadn’t known that the Feral was telepathically inclined. A nod and a mouthed “thank you” was reply uncertain of whether Racheal would be able to pick up on her thoughts or needed a verbal reply that, however, would have seemed quite out of place considering that by the sight of it, the question had been directed at no one but herself.
Max’s voice made her turn back to him again inwardly rolling her eyes. Didn’t they have had enough discussions going on during half an hour? The sudden lack of aggressive arguing, however, caught her almost as much off guard as the switch to Casanova she thought to notice in this charming smile as he spoke on. *Is he hitting on me?!* she thought in baffled disbelief while finding herself struggling not to let her mouth drop open. This was just bizarre, ridiculous, the most offensive insult of her authority that… he smelled nice. She hadn’t noticed that earlier since Max had never been standing so close to her before yet as a part of her felt the sudden urge to investigate his proximate form a little closer, Aurora pulled the emergency break. What was she thinking? Or in other words: Why was she not thinking at all?
The spark of responding interest that may have been picked up by Max and him alone for his face was what she had focused on was quickly covered by neutrality. It was a normal thing for her to face the one she was talking to so nobody would have found anything unusual in that which she quickly assured herself of. ”Good,” was her reply, a hint of encouragement in it yet ever so silent as Aurora did not dare to show any kind of sentiment just then.
"You done or can I get in a chapter?"
For the first time, the young woman was thankful for Jess’ seemingly never-ending cynicism. Barely noticeable reluctance slowed down her movements when she turned away from Max trying to ignore a conflict that had begun to cause a riot inside of her. ”We had better cover as much distance today as possible. The closer we get to the target location, the harder it will get.” Signalling everyone to start walking, Aurora briskly walked off into the direction directly leading towards the meeting point.
As long as Racheal was watching out for Hunter teams on their route, she figured it was safe to take the straight way to their target, something they needed to do considering the heavy disadvantage having started off farther away than anybody else meant. ”Stay alert… and keep the bickering to a quiet minimum if you do not mind,” she reminded her “team” not without irony hoping things would finally be starting to improve. Then again, there could only be streets leading upwards from this very bottom they were at, right?
"Being my own sensible and grown-up self I will go and make a stand saying that we are SO going to lose... starting farther off than anyone else, being a bunch of loners and all. Yet looking at the upside, at least we will never have points taken for cooperating with other teams."
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
A smile hid the discomfort which rose from her throat. Nodding slightly in recognition, she turned again, hand raising to her neck which had started to sprout the deep yellow fur of the jaguar. It took more control than she had expected to keep her larynx morphed, enabling her to use her telepathic speech. It was automatic that, along with that, a mental block went up, 11 years of living with a twin who could read her mind had taught her that. There are somethings you don't want your brother to know after all.
Although she was unable to read the thoughts of their firey leader, the nod and mouthed words, picked up by her heightened sight, had been enough fo Feral to get the permission she had requested. She had ignored the others delibrately, part of her wanting to sneak off and not wanting to turn back.
Her hand remained on her throat as she walked forwards, a little swifter now though preventing herself from running. As she massaged it in a vain attempt to relieve the unusual discomfort, she felt the smooth airs flatten into a velveted layer, her fingers growing shorter as she forced herself to avoid morphing too swiftly. Glancing back briefly, her face now once more gaining the dark tear-lines of the larger cats, yellow and black spotted fur appearing swiftly to hide the tender flesh beneath, she watched as the others started to move forwards, she guessed she should be far enough out of sight for them to allow herself to complete the morph.
As if the mere thought was enough, she dropped forward suddenly, thighs and upper arms shortening, giving the impression that her joints had clicked the wrong way as her now paws lengthened. Even as this happened, she managed to keep her forward momentum, the springy agility of the forest based cat coming to be beneath the velvet fur which coated her. Feral practically bounded into the woodland. At a quick glance she appeared fully morphed, till the slightly upset balance of the large feline pulled upon the attention of a missing tail.
As her tail grew out from her spine, the fur following slightly behind the whitish pink flesh, she hauled herself up into the first accessible tree, climbing a short distance, using the height it gave her to look back at the band of 'outcasted' mutants. Rounded ears twitched, the dark spots upon her goldeny-yellow coat breaking her outline, merging her frame with the spotted shadows cast by the trees. She remained in the tree only for a moment, before bounding down the large trunk and deeper into the woodland, the bounding turning to silent run as she raced ahead of her team, ears flicking constantly for any sounds of prey or others.
Once she felt deep enough into the woodland, her path changed slightly, as did her plan. She needed to scout ahead, but also needed to hunt, and no straight line could do that for her. The large feline purred briefly as if satisfied with the run it had had, and willingly changed course, zig-zagging across the path her team was to take. Despite the feline's dislike for the idea of scouting, it was lead on by the promise of a hunt.
Her path took her a good distance from the path, knowing two things. Not only could she scout and hunt this way, but also it meant that she did not race too far a head of her team. She may not want to be there, but some tug of responsibility hit her. If she didn't go hunting, what were they going to eat?
"Things change. It's a fact of life. Things are born, things die. That doesn't give you an excuse to complain"
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
She couldn't help feeling disappointed when Garnet lifted the warmth of her powers. Paige's hands moving to wrap around the top of her arms in a futile attempt to stop her body temperature dropping almost as sharply as the warmth in the air around her. She felt her body responding with a shiver to the cold caress of the air.
”If this is you trying, Chadstone, then you won’t survive a single day outside in the real world.” The team leaders words brought home a sudden realisation to the youngest member of the team. She'd not fully thought about the fact that all this training was in fact in preparation for the day she was sent out on a real mission. There was self doubt taking root in her mind what if she wasn't good enough to be on a team? A moment later she remembered that it would have been one of the teachers that had placed her upon a team in the first place. One of them must have thought her powers good enough for her to be placed upon a team, the thought gave her a sudden confidence boost. Perhaps this was something she could do. Maybe she was looking too much at the large picture while she should be concentrating on the now and present. Instead of worrying about how they were supposed to get to the meeting point and the other teams they might meet upon the way she should be thinking about what was happening now.
”Racheal, do you think you could check the way ahead of us?” Paige was feeling more than a little impatient about all this standing around, if she was moving she wouldn’t get that cold. Her pale green eyes looked over at Casey, but he seemed to have a rather neutral expression upon his face. She wished she had the ability to do that.. hide her feelings, especially her feelings for Max. Behind Casey she could see Rachael slinking off into the woods, she hoped Rachael brought back something other than meat, if she even decided to try and get them anything after her argument with Max.
Paige tried to ignore the pleading quality in her ex’s voice as he talked to Garnet. It was difficult not to feel jealous, Garnet was after all what any man would look for in a woman, smart, dazzlingly pretty, rich and to top it off super cool powers. Her gaze dropped down to her hands, her power was hardly likely to impress that many men, they hadn’t seemed to impress anyone so far, but then her powers had a long way to go. At the moment she hadn’t really done more with her powers than heal minor injuries and she wasn’t sure exactly what her powers were capable of in the long run.
‘Errrr….’ In an effort to distract herself from her ranting fellow students her eyes turned towards Casey again. ‘Di… have you started the assignment we were given yesterday? It felt like a mammoth task to force the words out of her mouth. She hated talking to people she didn’t know, the words she wanted to say didn’t seem to be able to bridge the gap from her brain to her mouth.
Ooc: Lady I figured Paige and Casey would both take some of the same classes, if you don’t want that to be the case then let me know and I’ll edit my post, feel free to decide what class it’s for. (Waddles off towards bed)
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
Ooc: Pffft… of course you’d side with HER…*Folds arms and pouts* Erm, sorry for the short post, I was a little lost on what to say…
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There was a reaction. It was faint, it was slight, it was momentary, but it was there. And all Max could do was smile with that charming little grin as Garnet answered him. Jess interrupted things, as was his talent in doing so, however Max had his answer to the disgruntled question that had been disturbing him. There was an interest towards him, maybe it was newly sparked or maybe she had possessed this interest sooner, he didn’t know, but he was positive she had just dropped her guard and let him see his chance before she rebuilt her walls and shut him out once more.
This in itself promised to relax Max more, the idea he didn’t need to try so hard in getting her attention was reliving, all he had to do was improve her opinion of him. Maybe if he killed off all the annoying members who stress him out he’ll deal better, if only they had been permitted to keep their axes from earlier… The amused thought played in his mind as he watched Jess for a moment, a wicked little grin formed in the corner of his lips.
“We had better cover as much distance today as possible. The closer we get to the target location, the harder it will get.” Throwing Gypsy a look of sheer triumph, not caring if she knew exactly what he was grinning about or not, after all, she knew he intended on winning Garnet’s affections since they met up in the restricted areas of the institute before heading to the first training session.
“Stay alert… and keep the bickering to a quiet minimum if you do not mind,” For someone recently told off and having been shouted out by not one but two others, Max looked particularly happy, keeping up contentedly with Garnet’s pace and not slacking like he usually did when ordered to follow someone. He did however note Paige’s condition, and unaware the damage done to her weak immune system was always done he picked up his pace and arrived up beside Garnet. A warm smile first flourished before he got to the point.
"I’m not sure if anyone’s noticed this, but Paige has turned into a shivering puddle at the moment, shouldn’t we get her warmed up and dry? We can’t really have our healer like that, otherwise it throws off the whole ‘getting beaten, getting healed, getting beaten’ strategy." Soaked with charm and trying to be serious at the same time while being his usual teasing self was a challenge he mastered fairly well. It’s gotten to the point he didn’t really see some of the things he said as being offensive in any way, like when he calls Paige Bookworm… he doesn’t do it to make fun of her, it’s simply what she was.
Blue-eyed Casey Chandler listened carefully to Circe's further instructions, blatantly ignoring the comments of both Max and Jess not that it mattered for he wouldn't have commented anyway. He nodded his understanding slightly though it seemed unlikely that their leader would even notice the meeker mutant's slight gesture. Her words were a given but Casey didn't mind hearing them said aloud as a reminder. He had figured things would get harder yet considering at the moment they had been given little to do and had been held up only by bickering within the team itself Casey didn't see the fact that things would get harder as a real problem. The only real problem would be if the team couldn't pull itself together long enough to co-operate against an enemy team. Casey was willing to put things behind him since he didn't really ever hold grudges. Sure there was lasting resentment and bitterness at those who had ignored him and worse picked on him but Casey wasn't about to let something so unimportant in the grand scheme of things affect the team. He didn't quite know why and maybe it was only to be able to tell people that for once he had succeeded at something other than academics but he wanted to reach the team goal.
Jess, on the otherhand, couldn't have cared any less. He was competitive and he wanted to show up some of the other brats around the school but Jess wasn't the type to be driven. He lacked any sort of ambition even though with his intelligence he held some potential for better things in the future. His desire to win was not overwhelming though. He could co-operate if it wasn't going too far out of his way and if it meant avoiding a 'talk' with Jack his 'guardian' while he was here. He remembered being told when he was younger that his eyes would get stuck that way if he rolled his eyes too much but he couldn't help but do that now. What Circe said was the painfully audience. Gee I never would have thought that it would get harder as we went on, Jess thought to himself sarcastically. Aurora was signalling them to start walking though so he reluctantly began walking after her although the dark-haired mutant dragged his feet and walked behind the pack deliberately.
"Stay alert… and keep the bickering to a quiet minimum if you do not mind,” Garnet said aloud as a reminder and Jess smirked. Somehow that didn't seem likely. Not if Max was going to continue to act the way he had been and if some of their fellow teammates were going to continue to be such easy targets. He certainly wasn't about to call a time out just because their fearless leader wanted to stop the arguing.
Casey was now walking ahead of Jess closer to Circe but he had to admit to himself that it didn't seem likely their arguing would diminish. There had been no indication of such a miracle occuring in the near future so Casey didn't exactly let himself be filled with hope.
"Errrr…." Casey looked up at the sound of the voice he recognised as Paige's, tearing his blue eyes of the ground that seemed to the casual observer to have become quite facinating to the mentally powered mutant. Her eyes turned towards him as she continued hesitantly, "Di… have you started the assignment we were given yesterday?" Her words seemed forced to Casey and he could sympathise. Afterall he wasn't very good at talking to most people, mainly because people so rarely wanted to actually talk to him at all let alone to have a reasonable conversation.
Casey's response was similarly soft and he sounded very shy to his own ears as he said, "The one for Bio? Yeah I made a start but I still have to do some more research.." He trailed off a little with a shy smile. "How about you? Did you um..make a start yet?" Casey asked. It still seemed amazing to him that he was having a conversation with another human being and sure it was Paige and they'd greeted one another very rarely in class and she wasn't one of the ones who picked on him but even still it was something. Despite his awkwardness Casey was relieved to have someone to talk to even if it was only smalltalk and for a short while. He also noticed her condition but was almost afraid to ask, wondering if that would embaress her or if she hadn't meant to start a huge conversation and really only wanted some insight as to his homework habits and how the assignment was going.
Jess listened and thought snarkily to himself, Isn't that sweet the geeklings are trying to chit-chat. Aloud he only gave a little half smirk, the expression seeming forever fixed on his face. It was better than permanently looking pathetic or like a confused mess and he really was pissed off at the world most of the time anyway. You're subtle, was Jess' next sarcastic thought as he saw Max sidle up to Garnet and begin speaking with her. Jess wasn't near the front of the group and he couldn't hear the words uttered but even still the charm seemed to drip off of every word. At least they were continuing to move on and the pace was decent, not slow enough to put them far behind how they should have been going although it wasn't a punishing pace. The sooner they got there and this stupid thing ended the better although Jess was hoping he'd get a chance to fight with at least one other person even if it was only by hand since his powers weren't the most useful in a fight.
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
They had stopped! She could even hear birds softly singing around them, close and farther off, it seemed like a miracle to her. Aurora was rather certain it was just a matter of time until someone would say something that was likely to start a new fight but for the time being, there was nothing but sweet, tranquil silence – their footsteps, nature’s sounds and quiet words aside. Amazing it was, the group finally seemed to act like a team was supposed to… and if not like a team then at least like people respecting their leader. For a few moments, the fire-powered mutant allowed her mind to linger on that uplifting thought before facing reality with unheard sighing. Chances were this was nothing but the calm before another storm, a brilliant ray of sunlight miraculously finding its way through thick autumn clouds before it began pouring down again. Yet it was something positive again, the second-and-a-half sign that one day things might actually work the way they were planned with Exiles, although – and Aurora was quite sure about that – those days were more future’s song than anything else.
However, she could not permit herself to be lost in thoughts! Watching out for any signs of ambushes – whatever they might look like – or their scout’s return, Aurora led her team on a barely visible though clearly existent path. Northwards, always Northwards with just a tad East and they would get to the Meeting Point without losing their way. For the time being, it was simple and if – what was to be doubted – no Hunter would cross their path, there was even the slightest chance of not being the last to arrive. It had a bit of reverse psychology to take the direct route and one of the few paths Circe reckoned those woods untouched by man to have. Yet it was not to a reckless degree, Racheal and their quiet walk meaning a certain degree of security which was all they could ask for.
”We can’t really have our healer like that, otherwise it throws off the whole ‘getting beaten, getting healed, getting beaten’ strategy," a well-known voice sounded again, Aurora’s alert mind half focusing on Max’s words, the rest continuing to observe their way. A glance of coal eyes was directed at Max showing she was giving him the attention he as the team’s member he was deserved but still having to fulfill her duties, a fact becoming clear when Aurora replied with her gaze examining the area. ”True.” Short and plain, a trace of guilt crossing her features as Garnet realized she had completely forgotten about Paige’s state after the quarrel had more or less been settled. When carefully reestablishing the flow of warmth around Aventurine’s body, Circe scolded herself for this mistake.
”Thanks,” she said quietly with a smile meeting Max’s face again, something that made her realize another reason why she mainly had kept her eyes focused on something not being him. Aurora was anything but stupid, she knew he was intentionally charming with a purpose… but this knowledge didn’t mean she was resistant against it. Somehow managing to keep her features unaffected by this comprehension of her own weakness, Garnet allowed what she reckoned to be the expected time span to pass before – once more – she turned to the healing mutant, rose lips mouthing a “sorry” with sincere apologetic expression, a part of her mind controlling the warmth and adjusting it so that – although still comfortable – it would dry Paige’s clothes rather quickly.
(OOC: Sorry for the shortness… again. If we’re all lost on what to say, we could fade-out and continue some hours later at nightfall or such…?)
"Being my own sensible and grown-up self I will go and make a stand saying that we are SO going to lose... starting farther off than anyone else, being a bunch of loners and all. Yet looking at the upside, at least we will never have points taken for cooperating with other teams."
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
Communicating with others had never been a strong point for the young healing mutant. Talking with her family was easy enough but she'd never attended a school before coming to Xaviers and thus lacked the social skills to make friends easily. She'd found hiding herself away in her school work was easier than the thought of approaching people she didn't know. So rather than attempting to make friends with those around her she'd spent her time in the library completing essays and assignments.
Her arms wrapped around her, trying to conserve a little warmth within her. The sun might be out but there was little heat from it and a cool breeze snaked its way between the trees, its cold fingers reaching out to caress her skin. She shivered slightly, her eyes looking over towards Casey as he began to talk. At least she’d managed to talk to someone on her team,.. that had to be considered to be a start at least. Truth be told she’d much rather be back at the institute, maybe Michael was expecting her to come down and visit him, he’d be disappointed that she hadn’t come. She felt bad about leaving Dr McCoy on his own, Talia would be out here somewhere and Hank would have to manage the med bay by himself. What if something went wrong, like when Michael was rushed in with his wounded side? Who would be there to help Doctor McCoy if she wasn’t? Someone on the exercises might get injured, OK her team mates shouldn’t suffer since she had both her powers and basic medical knowledge but from the sound of things students would be fighting and it would be a miracle if no one was injured.
"The one for Bio? Yeah I made a start but I still have to do some more research.." Talking about classes was safe, it didn’t involve anything difficult like opinions or fast thinking. "How about you? Did you um..make a start yet?" Paige watched the same kind of shy smile she often used spread across his face. She decided she rather liked Casey, on the whole team he was the one person she felt she wanted to be friends with… apart from Max. Paige blushed slightly as she heard him asking Garnet if they shouldn’t dry their healer off, Max could be so nice and thoughtful towards her sometimes.
‘Err no I’m still working on my English one.’ She winced slightly at the thought of all the lost hours while she was on this team exercise. She had research and things to be getting on with yet she was stuck out here in the middle of nowhere where she wasn’t even of any use to her team. There was an awkward silence broken only by the sounds of their footfalls, this was always what happened, she could never think of anything to start off a proper conversation.
A sudden warmth encircling her made her look over in the direction of her team leader, the woman was mouthing something at her. Paige threw a nervous look over her shoulder … was she talking to someone else?....
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)(Matt, tell me if I got Garnet’s history wrong, I was going off a few remarks you make in previous posts with her and I am – (unwisely ) – relying on my fantastic memory!)
For a minor fraction of time it appeared Garnet had better or more pressing matters to concern herself with, as her attention was directed away from Max even as he spoke. However a relieved sensation echoed somewhere deep within the attractive young man who – quite frankly – wasn’t used to being ignored or overlooked by anyone, other then his parents at least.
"True." It shouldn’t really shock him, it’s not like he has been the best of the team, though at least he was willing to put more effort, a smug inner smile crept into the back of his mind as he remembered Garnet on about the willingness to do something and yet complain about it at the same time. Obvious the girl had no idea what it was like to be a real teenager – if only he knew her back when she was a little young, would his heart have flipped a thousand times in awe of the dominating cruelty she was said to have once displayed. In truth Garnet was an example of what changes could occur if you only tried to become mature and give effort, from a bully she evolved into a team leader and respected new generation of X-men.
"Thanks," It took this precise moment for Max to actually realize, with some certainty, that he didn’t need to try so hard for her attention. Sometimes he had to be plainly obvious with his interest towards someone, other times he could sit back and things would just roll ahead without much effort. This realization softened the smile he had in reply to her own to small tugs in each corner of his lips. And that smile remained even as Garnet looked away, a keen look of enthusiasm subtly hidden within a curious gaze as Max allowed himself to do as Garnet was doing – focus in all areas other then each other. Yet, being Max, he more then once permitted himself a discreet examination of the fiery enchantress during the times she either walked ahead of the group for a moment or took a few minutes pause to allow others a short time to catch their breath or catch up with her.
The main break however was held off till nightfall, much to almost everyone’s reluctance Garnet didn’t push them a step further, hopefully the teasing remarks Max had with Gypsy went unheard at least the last one they had about knocking Garnet out and making a run to another team in order to interrogate them for the whereabouts of their jet.
Rather dramatically Max crumbled down to the ground, rolling over onto his back and somewhat stretching his body before happily lacing his fingers together and resting them over his chest. Admittedly he had no clue if Garnet was going to let them actually rest for a few hours (thus provide a chance for some shut eye) or if she intended on dragging them further through the unimaginably boring woodlands.
"Considering there are so many people crammed on this island, I would have thought we’d at least run across someone else by now…" The sapphire gems threw their gaze towards Garnet, who appeared upside down from where she was behind him as he laid contently on the grassy yet also dirt patched floor. "Since we travelled all the way from that pleasant Island getaway, would the others mostly be near the mountain… if not actually at the top waiting for our highly anticipated arrival?" A slight tease thrown in merely out of the habitual need to do so. Max found the prospect of them succeeding unlikely, yet he would drag himself up that damn mountain even if he was the last one to arrive – failure of any kind reflected badly on the family name, as he quite often told. In fact, participating in these games at all apparently reflected poorly on his family name, as the X-men in general (amongst the group his father dwelled with) were often considered annoying pests that let their optimistic ineptitudes to get into the way of more important matters, such as proving the domination mutants have over the weaker subspecies humans were.
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)OOC: Okay, I was originally planning on posting this after more people had posted, so feel free to put in any thing before this happened. But if you need something to say, you can always respond to this lol. Besides, I've been sitting on this post for ages now...
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*THUD* A small form fell suddenly, a rush of brown dropping through the air before landing upon the forest floor near to the small gathering of mutants. A young adolescent rabbit lay still upon the earth, his fawn coat broken by four claw holes in its back, and the same pattern in it’s neck. For those who looked to the sky, they may have seen a small brown bird against the night sky, one which quickly flew off again, wings flapping slowly as the small UK kestrel flew over the tree tops and away from the Exiles once more.
*THUD* About five minutes later, a second corpse followed the first, similar in size and state. But a third beast followed this time, though it’s fall was more of a swoop as the bird soared downwards, talons outstretched as they found their mark in one of the trees surrounding the group. The bird hesitated before turning round, harsh eyes watching them in silence. The bird though, was not a completely perfect form, the tips of her wing feathers a golden shade, a hint that Feral had once more failed to completely morph correctly, a small stray hairs on the feathers indicating a hint of the lioness’ hue, though even this was unusually subtle for the morpher, especially as she had made no effort to hide the flaws that normally appeared.
Although the hawk’s eyes were harsh, Racheal herself was exhausted. Not only had she morphed a total of four times (fully) that day, one had been a double morph, where she morphs directly from one animal to another, and she had also had to hold back a morph, which had drained her as it was. Then, to top it off, she had practically dragged the two young rabbits back here, in a morph designed for hunting rodents and small birds. And it wasn’t only exhaustion that flooded her body. Her hips ached as a whole, the strain of both morphing and the effort of carrying the prey back to the group aggravating the deep bruising she had gained whilst on the Thursday rescue mission. However, the stubbornness of the wild beasts within her won through, making no show of her pain as she stared in silence at the small group.
Since discovering the two ‘teams’ which flanked them, she had reported en-route from each of them, keeping out of sight as she telepathically told their leader that the way ahead was clear, but to keep moving. It seemed to her that at least one so-called team was headed on a route which would cross their own path, but hopefully if the small outcasted group kept moving they would be a head of the other group, Green Strike Force, which she had encountered briefly during their break. The other group she hadn’t decided yet what route it seemed to be taking. Inwardly, she sighed. Oh well, at least with night falling she would have expected that each team would stop to rest. Well, she at least hoped that they would.
Neither time did she actually mention the apparent teams to Garnet, only telling the fire mutant that the path was clear, not that they could possibly run into them. Surely it didn’t matter if they passed them, and as long as Racheal kept her scouting duties in mind, she could always warn them in advance if either actually got close enough to worry about. Because the path she took had zigzagged through the forest, rather than taking the direct route that the rest of the team were, Racheal had managed to cover greater ground, but hadn’t moved far ahead of the team. In her kestrel morph, she had found the scouting easier to an extent, able to see a greater area, her eyes trained, evolved to look for movement which could indicate life rather than to admire the beauty of the place. Nor was the bird distracted by the sounds and scents given by the flora and fauna of the island, unlike her feline morphs. The one trouble she had was that her morph was adapted to hunt within meadows and fields, along open grass land, not within the restraints of a forest, and at times her eyes were distracted by the shifting shadows. It was this one thing that silently displeased the kestrel instincts within her.
One thing that, over the last month, had worried Racheal to some extent was the fact that the morphs were, while growing with her as ever, gaining their own personalities, their own spirits, extending to the level where they actually seemed to speak to her, even whilst human. She had grown used to the strong instincts being present when she morphed, from the predatory instincts of her tiger, to the playful wants of her golden retriever. But this was getting to be a little bit more annoying, almost constantly having to settle them. But the morphing mutant drew the conclusion that it was simply her own feelings of being caged, unable to express the emotions of her morphs as she would have normally.
Racheal could feel the force of having remained in morph for so long weighing heavily on her strength. Changing morphs had allowed her to remain in morph for longer, but despite this, she had been in her kestrel morph for over the three hours which fell comfortably for her. After that, she struggled. But having twice fallen into a team during her feline morph, she was unwilling to have risked travelling around in any other morph.
Despite this, she was hesitant over de-morphing. With the bruise running deep in her bones, she knew that to do so would be painful, as the injury would expand to cover the size of a human’s left hip. For nearly two days she had managed to ignore the pain in her leg, even forgetting it till just a couple of hours ago. But now it plagued her annoyingly, although she was determined not to let the others see her weakness.
Perhaps, if the Feral wasn’t such a stubborn character at times, her mood doing nothing to soften her stubbornness, she would have actually decided it would have been a much better idea to morph one of the felines. After all, the young rabbits were about the same size as her, but, as her claws had lain it’s death upon her second victim, the pain within her hips had been exaggerated, and the hawk had bitten into a new type of stubbornness, tiredness adding to her already foul mood. So she had decided, unusually foolishly for her, to carry the beasts one at a time over the short space which had separated her from the rest of the group.
Her head lowered briefly, in a very bird like action of re-arranging her feathers upon her chest, making no move to actually identify herself, knowing that even her thought-speech would give away her exhaustion. In her silence, she hoped that the group would work out for themselves that not only that most hawks didn’t go around dropping their prey at the feet of humans, but also her colouring was wrong for the American kestrel, her plumage a darker, sleeker brown, her body slimmer and more streamline than her lighter, spotted hued, heavier framed American cousins, even if she did lack the easily identifiable blue hood which the males owned.
And so, she perched in silence, allowing her small heart to slowly calm from her efforts, part of her hoping that she could rest now, sleep. And that none dared to try and step on her bad side. Right now, that was the last thing she needed, whether it was pointing out the irony of her bringing back rabbits after her comment to Max about him going off chasing them, or any signs of ungratefulness. Is she were not in a foul, exhausted mood, then perhaps she would have been more accepting of any displeasure shown by her team mates. But not now…
"Things change. It's a fact of life. Things are born, things die. That doesn't give you an excuse to complain"
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
Lady I was wondering if you could tell me if Casey I'd have talked some more to Paige and wether he kept walking next to her or not? I just need to know so I can mention it.
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
The sun had set in the golden splendour of dying glory letting the sea it sunk into appear as if made of that precious metal, just flowing, moving, instead of being frozen into the form King Midas of the legend had found so hopelessly inedible. Nothing but a few rays, a few shimmering specks of gold on scattered yet heavy clouds told this team of the beauty that could be seen outside those woods though, and so the gods' masterpiece ended up as nothing but the cue for Circe to command a halt. Well, "command" was maybe not the right term.... she rather succumbed to the inevitable, loosened the grip before losing it.
An almost amused smile upon Max over-acted exhaustion became her traitor, broke through the frail facade of a detached leader the picture of which she had never really managed to keep up anyway. Instead of acting as she felt and playfully teasing him a little, Aurora - once again - decided for a more responsible action and replied to his question instead.
"I doubt they have arrived at the Meeting Place yet. Although we did indeed start off with the extreme handicap of not even being on this island, every single team will have to face difficulties." She almost grinned when a sudden thought came to her mind. "We may even be lucky and have the the Hunter teams be distracted by the other Prey."As if that been Racheal's cue, the first rabbit dropped out of the skies just as the last word was spoken. A quick, alert glance diverted her worries and let Aurora allow her attention to lose focus for a few minutes, her eyes wandering over the spot they had chosen as their resting place. Lights would probably be a good idea to enable the shift that would be awake to secure the area and warn them of approaching teams to actually see anything... but at the same time, it'd give away their position. Then again, warmth would be needed anyway and no matter how small the campfire, it would always emit more light than small torch-like, burning pieces of wood or hovering flames put into strategically favourable places. To keep up the second ones she had to be awake though and so this option was none to be chosen for anyone but herself.
A second thud pulled her from her thoughts again, the realisation of what it had been and a bird's shadow settling down on a tree too close for a wild creature to choose to rest on making her smile gratefully. "Thanks," she said loud enough for the Feral to hear it though feeling slightly odd speaking to an animal, regardless of what it really was.
Turning to Max again, her still standing form seemed to merge with the surrounding shadows as the rest of day's light faded away. "So? We might at least need a small fire to grill our meal. Is this another of those things you are desperate to be asked to do or may I lend a helping hand?" she asked, the corners of her lips tugging upwards as the teasing grin tried to get to the surface. Her voice not mocking though, not aggressively anyway. Maybe it was a mistake to start being too human around those people. Maybe it would have been safer to regard them as enemies... but Garnet was so tired of trying so hard to do the right thing that she was close to forgetting what this actually was. For the time being anyway.
"Feel free to volunteer for searching dry twigs," Aurora added addressing the whole team. She didn't really expect anyone to willingly do anything but maybe that was something she just had to get used to.. and then develop a habit of threatening them. Those were things far ahead of them though and for the time being, the fiery mutant wasn't even sure Exiles would still be after this mission was over. She most certainly had to report to Storm and although pride forbade to bluntly complain, she knew she'd have to state the facts. And no matter how objectively put, although there were slight improvements, this "team" wasn't really working well. Then again... was she maybe asking too much of them and herself? Who had ever heard of people changing in a day's time? The thought comforted her a little as she waited hoping somebody would indeed volunteer.
"Being my own sensible and grown-up self I will go and make a stand saying that we are SO going to lose... starting farther off than anyone else, being a bunch of loners and all. Yet looking at the upside, at least we will never have points taken for cooperating with other teams."
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
(OOC: He might have made a few more small talky questions, it would depend on the reaction he got. Most likely school and safe other subjects and nothing too wordy or deep so a little to keep them both semi occupied but not too much. Hope that answers it for ya!)
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
"I doubt they have arrived at the Meeting Place yet. Although we did indeed start off with the extreme handicap of not even being on this island, every single team will have to face difficulties." Yeah, but crossing the ocean on a dangerous looking raft built by nerds wasn’t just difficult, it was suicidal!! "We may even be lucky and have the the Hunter teams be distracted by the other Prey." The first carcass that plummeted to the ground not too far from where Max was laying caused a slight flinch from the startled Chadstone. The following cadaver to fall revealed the source of a bird which was bombarding them with dead animals. Max had propped himself up a little onto his elbows and scrunched his lips and nose a little, frowning slightly as the second one landed much closer to his chosen place of rest. An instant later however the handsome features were relieved of their disdain and taken on a more tired look as he yawned quietly and fell back to the ground.
"Thanks," For all Max new about animals, Feral could be a Hawk, or small eagle, or some other random bird of prey. But drowsy eyes focused on the creature for the moment, more tired from the fact he hadn’t had the best sleep the night before and he wasn’t exactly an outdoors person so the activity and stress was tiring him out sooner. "So?" The sapphire gems shifted back towards Garnet, a darker hue due to the shadows surrounding them and yet still alit with their usual spark of mischief, albite slightly fainter while occupied with so many distractions. "We might at least need a small fire to grill our meal. Is this another of those things you are desperate to be asked to do or may I lend a helping hand?" A playful smirk danced across his lips, but the mention of a meal reminded him of the gathering that has already started, and was probably at its peak, if not slowly wrapping up soon enough. By now his parents would have rung his phone countless times, put a ban on his account in case he was out and that way restricting him from affording anything and last but not least, probably called the acting headmistress with demands of finding out where Max was. The youngest Chadstone was only glade that these missions and the teams in general were a secret, so even if an influential family knew of the X-men’s place at Xavier’s no information would be given out to them just because they are aware of the teams existence.
"Feel free to volunteer for searching dry twigs," Snapping out of his somewhat dazed moment, Max shook off his own worries and thoughts and returned to Garnet who seemed in a lighter mood now then ever before – around this team anyway. A charming little grin flickered onto his features once again and he gave a rather disinterest motion with his hand that quite obviously suggested she could go right ahead and do as she pleases regarding the fire.
"If the grill is anything but a hot plat then I’m going to avoid it at all costs if it’s all the same to you. Open flames and constant distractions seem a dangerous mixture for me, so I’ll go fetch sticks." Gradually rolling onto his stomach after an attempt to sit up failed miserably with the lack of effort he was willing to put in, Max then pushed his form up off the ground and dragged himself to his feet. "If I find any twigs of doom bent on our destruction and plotting for island domination, I’ll be sure to call for help." He commented since none of the others seemed overly eager on lending a hand and he wanted them to know that with or without them he’d manage just fine. Bunch of slackers. Wasn’t HE supposed to be the spoiled rich kid? On top of it all he would have assumed the bookworms would have taken delight in being good teacher’s pets.
Re: Stage 1 Cleared - Welcome to Level 2 (Exiles)
Casey couldn't help but smile ever so slightly as he saw Paige wince as she replied for he had correctly interpreted her motion as a thought of the precious hours devoted to schoolwork she would lose. It wasn't really so strange that the thought should cross his mind, afterall he was a straight-A student, the type who was the first to come to class and the last to leave the classroom and schoolwork was always first and foremost on his mind. Although his grades would ensure him just about any job he wanted and he enjoyed the challenges of assignments and classwork Casey sometimes wished he were more like everyone else. He tried to deny it but there was little he wouldn't give to avoid the taunting remarks, the avoidance in the schoolhalls if his fellow students noticed his precence at all.
The english one. As she said it he remembered the assignment he hadn't yet put much work into. It wasn't because he had been procrastinating either, it was just that with Casey being more interested in the sciences than in the humanities he tended to complete his homework for his favoured classes first. There wasn't much to say in reply to that though, he certainly wasn't outgoing or courageous enough to launch a conversation about how she was finding the english assignment or about the lost hours here that could have been spent on homework. His azure eyes flickered up to glance over at Paige briefly before he wretched his gaze away and stared at the ground once more. The silence that followed wasn't golden as the saying went and while awkward Casey lived in a world of silence most of the time, blocking out the things he didn't want to hear and being ignored the rest of the time. He was used to it and he wasn't used to talking to a person without having to mutter a comment or play the part life had given him as a victim.
The silence continued as did the walking until Casey looked up from his fixed spot upon his shoes and was surprised to see that night was beginning to blanket the area in an ever increasing blackness. He was able to run quite fast if he wanted to but Casey was a firm believer in the fact that a person shouldn't run unless being chased and so he hadn't had much in the way of physical activity. When at last they seemed to stop he half collapsed, half-sat on the ground and thought vaguely that he had never been so glad to be off his feet before in his life. Jess was less dramatic or needy in his ways as he picked a spot, lowered himself to the ground and took out the book that he kept constantly in his back pocket. On his end things were completely silent as he merely started to read, becoming engrossed in the book almost instantly.
Casey was more alert, listening astutely to Max as he talked about the other teams on the island. So far Exiles had been lucky enough to not come across another group although silently Casey doubted that some of the other team members saw this as fortunate like himself. He was half relieved and half disappointed that Aurora didn't think other teams had yet arrived at their meeting place, feeling that to have the pressure off might have been nice but on the otherhand he did have a desire to win. Casey doubted it was as strong as desire as most but he was used to succeeding in his schoolwork and he wanted to be able to succeed here too. No matter what it took. The rabbits falling from the sky was a shock until he realised that it was no unnatural occurance nor a freak coincidence. The fact that it might serve as their dinner on the otherhand was a little unsettling at first until Casey reminded himself that he had dissected worse in class before.
"It's raining hares," Jess commented more to himself than to anyone, having looked up briefly at the first thud. That seemed to be all the commentary for the moment that his team would be subjected to though and unphased he returned to his novel, wetting his finger so as to turn the pages easier as he looked fown once more.
"Feel free to volunteer for searching dry twigs". That casually phrased order (or was it more like a request?) came from their leader and Casey wondered who would go and how many volunteers would go. He didn't want to make the first move though and didn't want to get dubbed the team leader's pet by Max, Jess or Gypsy as was surely inevitable if he began gathering.
"If I find any twigs of doom bent on our destruction and plotting for island domination, I’ll be sure to call for help." Jess shot a dark glare in the direction of the blonde boy. At least he was actually doing something productive, compared to some people. This thought was accompanied with a sharp look in the direction of Casey and Paige. Even before his glance had hit home though Casey was clumsily getting to his feet.
"Um I can..that is I'll find twigs," Casey mumbled, his cheeks flushed a shade of pink with the embaressment of not finding the words and of being the centre of attention for once. Jess was half-amused and half-disgusted. As the blue-eyed boy stumbled off into the forest Jess thought, 'someone should be taking bets on whether or not he makes it back and with what.' Personally he was going with would come back but not with anything useful and it would take a long time. Who knew though, maybe Casey would manage to escape the boring predictable pattern he seemed to be stuck in.
Jess was content to ignore the instructions however, he sure as Hades wasn't keen on wandering through the forest looking for, of all things, a few dumb sticks. Instead he turned dark eyes to the dead rabbits and to the feral. Remind me not to get in her way, he thought with a grudging sort of respect for her and her shapechanging abilities.
"So what's for dinner, Hazel and Fiver?" Jess asked with a smirk. The book reference was intentional, he wondering if anyone else would pick up on it. Paige might have stood a chance but he didn't know much about how booky the others in the group were and aside from an interesting way to ask if they were eating the rabbits the comment would be a test of sorts. It was almost funny how much he read, he was betting more than even the science geek, yet he didn't get called on it the way some of the others did. Again probably because he was different in that he had no problem sticking up for himself by letting fists fly.
"Don't even think about it, I'm not going," Jess added, his stubborn denial coming across through his handsome features. He wasn't about to actually waste his time with that when he had so many more jibes to make and people to glare at, not to mention chapters to read. "I'll take a raincheck."
…)
) – relying on my fantastic memory!)
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