Elle

Shivered, feeling a slight disturbance in the air. Touching the rusty gates of the Mansion, " Do I belong here? " Asking herself many times. She was afraid, she was always afraid..she was scared for life at that single moment. Focusing at the scenery, few trees grown on the mansion and vines a grew upon the walls. Dead weeds or flowers layed on the ground, rotting away turning into nutrients for the ground. Stepping closer towards the door she looked around, noticing that light didn't shimmer from the glasses of the mansion.

She had expected light to come from the mansion and somehow it felt eery in a way. Feeling a disturbance and now a eery aura she was totally freaked out by now. Her hands raised, shaking of fear, pushing them open no light came from it. Only light from the sun danced onto the shadows, seeing a staircase and two pairs of doors beside them. She stepped right in the door closing, looking around, "Hello?" her voice echoed through out the main room looking for students or Proffesser. Charles. Walking around te main room of the mansion hearing her own footsteps on te ground, 'CLACK' 'CLACK'.

She'd waited long enough walking up the staircase and as her arms touched the railing. Looked at the 2nd floor as halls layed in front of her. It was dark but she sensed life forms near. It wasn't her power through she felt as if there..were ones near. Suddenly she felt as if she needed to be cautious and so she continued to walk on holding up her small and weak fists, shaking with fear.

<3

His room was dark and hardly lit. While it was day outside, it was so pleasantly dark in his room. It was warm too, his bed soft and light. Even asleep she felt comfortable and almost peaceful. The scent of her own lavender shampoo mingled with the incense that swirled in the air around her. Her mirada of lights were finally becoming more saturated as she gained some strength back.

Curled under the comforter, she murmured something in her sleep, the soft heartbeat of drums playing. Tattoos dancing her her nightsky of a dream, she turned over onto her back, breathing soft and slow. The top of her head peeked out from under the blankets, rain cloud lashes fanning over skin that shifted in color with the gentle thrum of her heart. The colors of a sunrise shifted through her as she dreamed, so far away from the dark cloud of unrest that had fallen over the rest of the manor. So deep in her dreams she slept soundly, peacefully. Maybe it was gentle sway of the music, or the soft smoke, or even the warm caress of the sheets that washed over her light like dark ocean waves, but Asha slept. For once the shadows in her dreams didn't scare her. They made her feel... safe.

The mansion near the professor's office was a buzz with activity. But on the other side of the mansion, Asha slept soundly. Outside the sun had brushed its fingers of light over their surroundings, the golden rays burst life back into the colors of the grounds and lake. The sky was once more a bright blue, the plants a vibrant green and the lake a deep navy. Everything was brilliant and contrasted well with the dark storm brewing int mansion. With the power out, it was still dark inside, the walls that had once offered protection, now seemingly ominous in hiding the creatures in their shadows. What with the sunny clear day outside, it was odd that the lights would of just cut out. Some students sought the comfort of light outside, instead of thinking the worst. While other more cautious students seemed determined to figure out the meaning of such an odd occurrence.

Yet even as the mansion and its grounds trembled in subtle activity, the dorms were silent and dark. And Asha slept soundly, far from anything that might wake her.

Sarina.

The lights remained out for longer than Sarina was comfortable with despite the attempts of Leon trying to keep people's spirits up but it did not look like it was going to well even with her illuminating the dark area around them. The cat man introduced himself as Leon who seemed to be a least sorry for bumping into her the way he did but she could tell the mutant was on edge with the way he was reacting with cat like instincts with a defensive like measure. Sarina was going to break the silence by at least telling the mutant her name as she never got to do so before the lights went out and something didn't feel right.

Once again something stopped her telling Leon her name as a unknown to her mutant round that corner, He was probably attracted to the light she provided as the group kinda stayed close together. She didn't know any of them other than Leon and al this deep inside her had the fire Maiden on edge. The new arrival spoke up telling people to go the lounge to keep them all together, It was a sound strategy but if this was no incident isn't that something that some one would want? all the mutants together? well it be stupid to attack a group of frightened teens with powers so maybe it did not sound so bad. " A good idea" Sarina replied seeing the new guy had a torch. " Take the others to the lounge, I will continue looking for others and bring them back" Sarina then added as she moved out of the way to allow the new arrival with the torch to lead the others away to the lounge before she left to look for others.

Jessica.

Jessica was enjoying the quite and peaceful scene of the outdoors, She often enjoyed watching the sun rise and sun sets. There was a nice slight breeze flowing through her hair this morning and so enjoyed the moment and the peace and quiet, Of course unknown to her there was something afoul going on within the mansion. This institute is the place that JC has come to call home even if she has not been here as long as some other students, Deep down she still missed her parents but felt happy to be where she is now thanks to the help of the teachers but she has still remained relatively shy around other students.

As Much as JC would like to stay out here watching the sun rise in this lovely cool breeze, Her stomach had other ideas as a nice breakfast was needed, not that she always ate in the morning but a glass of juice and porridge would hurt. Letting out a soft sigh she stood up and turned back towards the mansion but stopped before walking inside, Something was unusual about it, sure it was normally quite in the mornings when either sitting in the field or by the fountain but this time it felt eerily to quiet and JC stepped away from the door for some reason she could see through the glass that the lights were out despite some light shining through.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind as nothing but nerves or just being silly the young student walked back inside with the aim to head for the cafeteria but she was not deceived as the lights were really out and this made the student walk further in with more caution, She prayed she would come across some students or hell even a teacher right now and find out what was going on and why the power was out.

~Leon~

Snapped out of his trance by a new light, Leon looked around to see a new face enter the hall. He knew the man. His name was John, and he was some kind of earth-mover. Making the suggestion of herding the students into the lounge, Leon nodded. All his senses were screaming at him that something wasn't right, and even though putting a bunch of untrained scared students in one place was risky, at least they had a chance if something went wrong. Especially if they could get someone like Wolverine or Talon to guard them. Hell, any of the teachers, really. As John dispersed with the students, Leon was about to follow him when he noticed the red-head from earlier had left. Immediately, he darted after her, catching up in no time "Hang on there. I can't let you go alone. There is something afoul in the mansion this night" he said, matching her pace. "Keep on alert, Miss... er what's your name?"

Leon and Sarina walked for a bit more, before something caught Leon's nose. He sniffed for second before his eyes went wide "Blood" and he grabbed Sarina's hand, darting down the corridor and turning the corner to a horrible sight. There were dead mutants strewn about the hall. "Grrrrr.... RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!!!!!!!!" Leon dropped to his knees and let out a primal roar that ripped throughout the entire mansion. A roar of rage, vengenace, and despair. But to those with heightened hearing, there was also a warning. One they could pass on to their companions. Whoever did this, he did not know, nor did he know where they were right now, but he did know this, the entire mansion was now on high alert. And they lost any sense of surprise they thought they had.

~Steve~

Steve was iffy about accepting the drink. He was thirsty, but he didn't really know Jax. What if he was just pranking him? What if-'What if it's just a drink?'. Shakily, he reached his hand out to take it... when a powerful roar ripped through his ears. Immediately, Steve curled into a ball with his hands over his ears to block it out as he suddenly began encased in darkness, muffling the sound. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked around, but was unable to see anything. That was when he noticed the tingling in his arms, legs, chest, and back. Running his hand over his arm, he hit a point where his skin was sliced open, and a thick, slimy branch was coming out. Of course. This was a defensive ball of blood. No wonder he couldn't see. He must've activated it out of fear. Slowly the ball dropped and Steve could see Jax's shocked face. As the blood retracted into his cuts, Steve decided to just head for his room and hide. He'd broken his number one rule: Never show anyone what he could REALLY do. He had to get out of here, before something bad happened to him. Monsters like him deserved pain, after all, right?

John
Among the students in the hall gathered around the girl, only her and one other student seemed to have their wits about them, but with John normally being bad with names couldn't put a name to the cat-boys face, but they both agreed that it would be for the best if the students were grouped together, hopefully thinking along the same lines as John himself, as the earth mover began to herd the students towards the lounge; the two students who had some wits about them went off to look for other students, which made John smile inside as now others had started to realize that this was not a drill of any sort.

As the group of kids moved with John, following the beam of light from the torch John would turn back, to make sure everyone was still with him until the got to the lounge. As the students began to sit down or mill around; John started giving instructions for no one to leave the lounge for any reason until this was sorted, but was interrupted by a loud roar from somewhere within the mansion; the kids became more agitated and fearful and it took John a while to calm them down enough to allow him to leave the students to round up more stragglers...

Jax
Steve seemed to be indecisive about the can of cola being offered to him but after a couple of moments consideration thirst must of won out as he took the can and began to open the can the roar ripped through the mansion Steve had fallen off his chair and something had formed around him, upon a closer inspection, realized it was blood; Jax was a bit shocked to be seeing something like this from a guy whos only power was 'Changing colour'. Soon after the roar died down the blood sphere got absorbed back into Steve, the horror on his face at (apparantly) showing Jax his true power and bolted as soon as he could stand - not wanting Steve to be alone in this sort of situation, not knowing the full extent of his power (or personality) he took off after him.

"Steve" Jax called out to him as they were moving towards the formers room. "This is not the time to be alone - "

Magnus had to wonder why he was doing this. Not checking the danger room, it was his turn to prep it for the next school lesson, it was the fact something compelled him to get into his old costume, more than nostalgia, it was like an old itch to always be training as he slipped out of his room and around the mansion. The lights were still on as he slunk around the building like a shadow behind and between students as he made his way to a wood sculpted column that rotated open to a maintenance hatch.

Down into the dark he slipped, eyes not needing a torch like so many others as he poured himself like living shadow down the spaces most other people would never fit but his ninja training has him dislocating joints as he made his way through passageways as easily as others pop their knuckles. Soon he reached his destination under the Danger room and proceeded to follow the standard procedure of shutting off the main power to the room above so he could examine the parts to see if any needed to be replaced. Sadly several of the parts were showing signs of needing to be attended to and so he began the arduous task of taking part after part out of the Danger room. Sadly he was unaware that the whole time he had accidentally turned off the power to the entire mansion and not just the area he was working in.

Soon enough he had removed all the parts in need of maintenance and was on his way out of the dark hole. Having lost any real sense of time and it was too deeply shielded down here to even bother trying to call, he would need to get to Forge's workshop before he even bothered to check in. This was just like any number of espionage training exercises to remove sensitive material from the enemy position.

Emerging up from the Art department, he found himself a little turned around but nothing too bad. With the lights out, oops, He thought to play a simple prank to take full advantage of the accidental situation, but who? Ah, there was a perfect target, the living monolith, John. Pointing his finger like a gun, he shot out a black bolt out of a crack in a door at the mantle moving mutant. With luck, he would teleport the terran tiptoe directly down into the storage room under the lobby.

*BAMF*

With mischief managed he slipped out of the door to the hallway when he heard the roar of a leopard, thinking he had been caught with his prank, he scanned for a marker he made for his known locations and was gone on a puff of smoke, two more dimensional slides and he was in the surprisingly empty workshop.
"No point in being in here if there is no power." He mused to himself before leaving a note that these parts needed to be replaced.

With all his work done, he couldn't wait to get his well-toned ninja-butt back where it belonged in his room and to the girl he hoped was still sharing it.

Still hunting the rooms and corridors, room after room of no one being there - Johns searching had unknowingly led him to the corridors around the main art room, he entered the room and took a good 5 - 10 minutes looking under tables, behind some of the drying canvas' and store rooms, but with his search, no students were found, even speaking out in case any of them were using their powers to hide from what ever had caused this, so he turned and left the art room.

With the full chaos unfolding in the mansion and the very little light provided by the torch in his earthen hands the mobile monolith, he failed to notice the blue-furred ninja that he didnt feel the bolt hit him until the brimstone smell hit his nose he knew what was going to happen, but not where he would end up as the smoke and total darkness engulfed him for a moment as the surprise his hand loosened on the torch, letting it clattered as it hit the floor as the smoke whisked John away.

Moments later he reappeared...but something was hugely wrong; he was being crushed - but it was not the instant sensation one would expect from the situation, but it was like his skin was putting up a fight against what was going on; from what John could gather Bamf had only meant to prank John but had miscalculated the earth movers extra mass.

The external pain was slowly gaining in intensity as John opened his eyes to try to see what he knew in his mind where he was - yes he had been teleported underneath the mansion, so in a word - John was doomed.

As the external crushing pain got to a point John was wincing and felt moments away from being ground into his own element, a second sensation had spouted in his heart, as the sensation spread outwards a more familiar pain made itself known - the pain of his mutation kicking things up a gear, as John yelled and cursed as these new pains were taking over (the crushing sensation now slowly easing) the earth mover had only a few thoughts in his mind: He would survive this pain, that anything that happened while he was stuck would not cause any problems from what was going on (mostly his actions causing any tremors or earthquakes within the area of the mansion) and that when he got out he would have to have words with the ninja about doing this sort of shit.

Time passed, John's yells slowly subsided as the pain faded - soon he felt as if his body changed to keep the earth mover alive as it almost half fused with the earth around him, he could still feel his arms, hands legs and feet as he became more acclimatized with the new situation.

Now John knew he would survive what had happened thoughts turned to getting out of the ground and back to helping the kids in the mansion. As an experiment, John slowly pulled his arm to his side, he could see the gap his arm had occupied but instinctively knew that slow and timid movements would keep him down here for a long time - with unprecedented ferocity John began to smash his way downwards - thinking to himself that any damage caused to the structure of the mansion, from the backlash of his actions would have to be repaired by him. It took perhaps about 20-35 minutes to beat through the earth before his fist met something that was there, he had punched through a sheet of concrete and hit air, as the Terrakenetic made the final surge forward he fell from the roof and hit the elevated walk way of the sewer with a thud, he lay there for a few moments, resting from the efforts and the aches of what just happened, he lifted his hand to see if his appearance had changed, it had - his hand still looked like a hand, but it did not have the human look to it, it had an obvious earthy texture and colour to it with small stone spikes protruding from both the hand and arm that was in view and shuddered at how the rest of him must look.like.

Eventually John stood up - and looked at the damage his landing had caused, judging from the distance he fell he must be a lot heavier then he used to be and his skin must be able to withstand more - thinking about what this new advancement would do for John (both the positive and negative) John walked along to the rungs that would lead him to the surface, but the moment he let them take his full weight they snapped and he dropped the few inches back to the walk way.

first new issue, larger mass - will need to get more reinforcements to areas of the mansion...Why cant these things ever be simple?

John shook his head as he tried to think of another way out, quickly coming to a conclusion John closed his eyes and cast his mind back to the mission to save Storm from the Shadow King and that he was able to make a sturdy wall, which he focused on which allowed him to make a pillar which elevated him to the manhole cover which he pushed open. As luck would have it he emerged from the sewers into an area of the grounds near the front entrance but was at the moment obscured by trees, as he looked around he could see no one so he made his way towards the front doors; they were open. He walked inside and called out:

"HELLO?! ANYONE THERE?"

Zagan said
Steve seemed to be indecisive about the can of cola being offered to him but after a couple of moments consideration thirst must of won out as he took the can and began to open the can the roar ripped through the mansion Steve had fallen off his chair and something had formed around him, upon a closer inspection, realized it was blood; Jax was a bit shocked to be seeing something like this from a guy whos only power was 'Changing colour'. Soon after the roar died down the blood sphere got absorbed back into Steve, the horror on his face at (apparantly) showing Jax his true power and bolted as soon as he could stand - not wanting Steve to be alone in this sort of situation, not knowing the full extent of his power (or personality) he took off after him."Steve" Jax called out to him as they were moving towards the formers room. "This is not the time to be alone - "

-Steve-
Steve was panicking as Jax followed him down the hall. Steve had never shown his powers to anyone except the teachers and now... this? Why couldn't Steve just leave him alone. It was right at the corner of his hallway when Steve rounded on Jax "This is the perfect time to be alone! You... you saw.... didn't you? I'm a monster! There are mutants here who complain because they can't turn off their powers, they're jealous of people like me who have "pretty" mutations. How can people call THIS pretty!" he cried, as four insect-like legs of blood burst out his back "And that's not all I have to deal with. There's also the bloodlust! I want more. I crave more... I just... I just... !!!" Suddenly Steve stopped and felt his face. Unbeknownst to him, as he was unloading, several tiny slits had formed in his face, and blood began to seep out, forming into a sort of faceplate, creeping over his face. It had reached halfway when Steve noticed it was there. Quickly he ripped it off and threw it down, backing away as if it was some sort of demonic beast, trying to consume him. Tears had begun to flow as he withdrew again, the pain he was unloading onto this stranger coming back to hit him. "S-sorry. I... I didn't mean to.. to put that on you. J-just leave me alone.... please?" Steve asked, turning the corner.

But as soon as he did, he slipped on something, hitting the floor with a thud and cry of pain. "Ow... what the..." but he was cut off as the strong iron smell hit his nostrils, and the foreign crimson dribbled from his cheek into the side of his mouth. "Blood! Oh, god, no!". Taking a good look at the hall, he found a pool of blood, next to the body of one of the students. Steve clutched his head as he tried to ignore the smell, but it only got stronger. In no time at all, he was grasping his hand, desperately trying to keep his now blood-soaked hand away from his mouth. His tongue slowly stretched out... and... contact...

Immediately, blood pooled out his ears, nostrils, eyes formed and molding around his face, hardening into a blank faceplate. Then two eyes opened as a massive, toothy grin formed on the face, before opening. "Aaaaahhhhahaahahahahaha.... It's been a while since you've let me out to play"...

Jax by this point had had enough, the guy wanted to be alone, fine then, he can be alone and Jax turned to start walking before Steve continued talking after asking to be alone:

"This is the perfect time to be alone! You... you saw.... didn't you? I'm a monster! There are mutants here who complain because they can't turn off their powers, they're jealous of people like me who have "pretty" mutations. How can people call THIS pretty!"

Jax just shook his head and calmly responded to the now distraught Steve. "You a monster? Because your ability is your blood? A power in and by itself does not make a monster, it is the choices of how to use that power makes the monster, kid and I never said it was pretty did I?"

Something started to happen, Blood was seeping out from him in a controlled (but unwanted) way as Steve began to talk about blood lust - this shy kid having a hunger for blood? Nah, not possible - but as Jax was seeing and thinking a mask began to form, but only got half way before Steve ripped it off, returning him to normal. He once more asked for peace, which Jax was more then willing to do, but had only taken a few steps when Steve had tripped over something...a body which was in the process of bleeding out, which once more freaked Steve out, it seemed the kid was struggling with himself as if he wanted to taste the blood or not, half wanting to, half not, the half that wanted to in the end won out as he tasted some of the blood, which seemed to spark a new personality (as far as Jax could tell) and this one was not as sedated as Steve appeared to be. Did this new Steve want to fight or add to the chaos engulfing the mansion - the only way was to wait and see what he would do...

The hunt was continuing as Wolverine had the scent, the problem was getting to them as they were always on the move. They were outnumbered but this person was still a slippery bastard who could in fact deal with most of them, there weakness being covered for the moment. Logan was in the dark hallway that this person had been in before where he began to search a nearby room where he could smell another, a mutant who belonged here and so he tried to get there attention. Unlucky for him this student was dead and it only took him a minute to realize as he found the body, the blood gave off a strong scent though upon smelling that he could feel something else was wrong.

Nightcrawler: "Come in ya, I have some bad news afraid...... A student is down........... We lost one Professor, what do we do, what do-"

Logan had cut him off as he spoke up.

Wolverine: "Sorry to burst your bubble blue boy but we have lost another student. How could this happen, I AM GOING TO GET SOME ANSWERS THEN I AM GOING TO GUT THEM LIKE A FISH."

A loud angry roar filled the com lines before it was cut off, he was going to find this person and rip them a new one but the thing was it was not as easy as he thought it would be. The scent of this person seemed to be everywhere though of course the stronger scent showed him the most recent trail. The pitch black darkness was not going to stop or hinder the man. He would just find a way to deal with the murderer using his sniffer, the one thing that has never really let him down when it actually mattered. Each footstep was heard against the wooden floors of the hallway, he was not being stealthy as it was not his style. The constant sound of sniffy could be heard if anyone was nearby, many students would be in one place now but some would still be scattered about the mansion.

--

The intruder was always on the move unless a target came to mind, she kept herself hidden so no one could find her other then Wolverine, X-23 or any telepath's though they could not hurt her with the device fitted on her. Another student was in sight as she closed up on them and covered their mouth quickly before snapping there neck to make it quick, each kill was a pleasure but nothing was more pleasurable then taking a certain someone out. The body was laid out and left there as she moved, the Professor was up ahead and he knew she was there but could he warn anyone to stop her before she exposed of him. Like a tiger she pounced and jumped the Professor who gave out a warning to everyone a stranger was running about, a message which said stay together and listen to the older mutants.

The intruder had knocked the Professor out of his chair forcing him on the floor where she quickly dispatched him, she had drawn some sedatives in a form of a syringe. She quickly she injects it to knock him out, the rest of it was for her target. The Professor was the most dangerous here following several other telepath's but they would be brought down much easier while protected. She leaves the scene quickly and as she does Rogue turns up with Gambit.

Rogue: "Professor, Professor are you OK?"

No answer was given making her check for a pulse, it was not very easy to find out due to her powers preventing her from touching people. Gambit gave it a go as well and it seemed he was just out cold. The mystery person soon came across a lone person, they seemed to be talking to themselves or someone else they could not see. They stayed quite for a moment to see if anyone else was around before moving by to get a better view. It looked like no one else was here making her grab them and take them into the shadows to do what she always did. Wolverine was close by as she took the life of this student and by the time she dropped them Logan had come into contact with them.

Wolverine: "It was YOU WAN'ST IT?."

The intruder just laughed a little showing they cared not about these people and what she did, this of course angered Wolverine and the two start to fight. Because Wolverine was similar to her target she could use the same tactics or something close to them. With his claws out he went to slash them though by this point they had used there powers making the claws rather ineffective. This staggered him as it shocked him before he felt a kick to the chest followed by another before a uppercut happened. All that staggered him a bit more though he soon recovered before they clashed again.

////////////////////////////////
//Story Arc Change//
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Arc Title:Late on Arrival

Two Months later…..

It had been two months since the intruder had come to collect her target, while along the way killing all those who happened to come across them or happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The mansion now slightly more improved then before thanks to Beast and several others within the mansion grounds. This month was important for both mutants and humans; this was the month that Professor would give his speech on growing matters that involved peace for mutants and humans. Most of the time falling on deaf ears or falling apart when the Brotherhood did something or when something destructive happened from either side though normally mutants were involved, even if they were not responsible for that event the blame thrown at them for obvious reasons.

The speech was to be made in several hours in New York, at the same time the younger mutants were getting ready to go to the anime/game conversion which was also based in New York, both events happening only several blocks away. The group consisted of 12-14 mutants, many of them being X-Men themselves. The blackbird was not in use to the young mutants, Professor X, Storm, Cyclops and Beast had use of that. The young mutants had to use public transport though what made it easier for them as some had dressed up for the event. One had dressed up as a character from the popular anime Bleach, the main hero of the series named Ichigo. One dressed as a character from Tiger and Bunny which was a hero based anime and they had dressed up as Tiger, one of the main heroes of the series.

One went as Dante from DMC and so the gang of mutants were all very different. The centre that was holding the event had booked more than half of the rooms within the building though each room could be changed into a bigger room with the movable fake walls for an open plan space which would be filled with anime, games and sales booths. Outside the centre a long line could be seen going around the block though lucky for the mutants they had VIP tickets which costs more but got them in earlier then those who had the standard tickets. Flyers, balloons, loud music, lighting and people who ran the events in costumes could be seen or heard within and outside the building via the front glass double doors and panels that went across the front of the building.

It had been a while since Plasma herself had done anything big outside of fighting for the X-Men or defending depending on what was happening at the time. Plasma was in the building with the others who came along, some stayed back at the mansion, some went with Professor X and some went to do something else like catch a baseball game or something similar in nature. Plasma dressed up just like the others, of course one or two did not but that was there decision. She was not a big fun of Black Rock Shooter but she liked the character known as Rock. Originally she wanted to be one of these four characters, a Big Sister from Bioshock 2, Maya from Borderlands 2, Samus Aran from Metroid and Medusa from Kid Icarus: Uprising.

She had been up making various costumes and to good standards too but somehow found herself changing into the one she thought she would not go as. Her costume was kind of revealing at times though her cosplay coat for the character would cover her for the most part when she was still, it was only zipped at the top and the rest was open so anyone could see her pale skin tone. She felt kind of skimpy but then again it was a Japanese anime and one should expect it. She also had a katana on her, of course not a real one but one that was for show. She was going to pick one up here at the convention just because one could and because she wanted one. She had $500 dollars rolled up and placed in a safe place, Plasma saved when she could though money did not turn up that much as the mansion gave her what she needed for the most part.

An anime theme could be heard playing in the background though Plasma did not know what the theme belonged too. It was kind of cold outside so it was good to be inside the building where the heating could be felt, though it was on a low setting. With a ticket in one hand and the katana in the other she turned round to see what the others were doing.

What could a blue skinned, wall sticking, teleporter dress up as? What else than as Kisame Hoshigaki! The only makeup he needed were the gills on his cheeks, he already had the blue skin and sharp teeth. He had to wrap his tail around his waist to keep it out of sight, but it was a small price to pay to be so utterly free to be able to show off his mutant powers without it thought of as nothing more than a trick of some kind. He was so happy to be here he almost forgot how close he had gotten to not coming at all.

---

Magnus 's room was still blotted out from the sun, absolute darkness but for the single source of light and the reason he came back.The door glided open with no light from the hall to wake her and slipped closed again. Across the room his disrobed from his ninja gear, taking a moment to check his clock, had so much time passed already? She had been asleep for hours and was probably in good need of it. he however felt a need for her.

Were this darkshadow, he would simply slip into the bed and rouse her like they had done so many times before. In many ways no more than assisted relief of tension, she was still able to pass for human and that always left a taint when trying to fulfill any relationship with her. With darkshadow, it was purely physical; with her, he wanted something more and he wouldn't taint it with something bordering on unwanted by simply raising up some minor magics to heighten her senses or alter her inhibitions.

He slipped back into his black silk pajamas and nestled in beside her with a good book known as the Prose Edda. Quietly he read to himself, over time he began to read softly aloud and growing stronger as he poured over the words. He lost himself in the words of his god, even if he knew it well already, it was worth to read through over and over to try and find something new.

"...Bragi svarar: "Sjá saga er til þess, at Óðinn fór heiman ok kom þar, er þrælar níu slógu hey. Hann spyrr, ef þeir vili, at hann brýni ljá þeira. Þeir játa því. Þá tekr hann hein af belti sér ok brýndi ljána, en þeim þótti bíta ljárnir miklu betr ok föluðu heinina, en hann mat svá, at sá, er kaupa vildi, skyldi gefa við hóf. En allir kváðust vilja ok báðu hann sér selja, en hann kastaði heininni í loft upp. En er allir vildu henda, þá skiptust þeir svá við, at hverr brá ljánum á háls öðrum.
Óðinn sótti til náttstaðar til jötuns þess, er Baugi hét, bróðir Suttungs. Baugi kallaði illt fjárhald sitt ok sagði, at þrælar hans níu höfðu drepizt, en talðist eigi vita sér ván verkmanna. En Óðinn nefndist fyrir honum Bölverkr. Hann bauð at taka upp níu manna verk fyrir Bauga, en mælti sér til kaups einn drykk af Suttungamiði. Baugi kvaðst einskis ráð eiga at miðinum, sagði, at Suttungr vildi einn hafa, en fara kveðst hann mundu með Bölverki, ok freista, ef þeir fengi mjöðinn..."

Asha woke gently from the deep soothing darkness of sleep, her eyes comforted with a similar darkness than enveloped the room. There was a new heaviness in the bed, next to her. A new warmth. Stronger, hotter, seeping into her skin with an almost tempting ache. Her hands found him first, their shifting galaxy lights filled with bolder colors. His voice was deep, speaking in a strange and curious language.

"Mangus," her voice was the sound of stardust, gentle yet sweet sounding. Her contrasting hand passed over his abdomen, feeling molten in pleasing, like just touching set fire to her blood. It was a bold and intimate touch, but with her sleep her courage had also flowed back to her. His strange words in his hypnotic voice, she wondered what he was saying. It sounded beautiful in its strangeness and she peered up at him with her moonlit eyes.

"You're back," she said softly, propping herself up on her elbow, rainbow colored hair slightly floating up with her motion. She smiled and stretched with a breathless sigh of content pleasure, her eyes found him again. But this time they raked over his bare torso. Her colors blushed, shimmering with desire. "What are you reading?" she asked softly, curiously, though a bit distracted by his bare skin.

Magnus's stomach twitched and fluttered as he read the foreign language, if he had his father's spatial relation he would have felt her intruding into his bubble space but instead his stomach tightened up to football leather as she touched him. He didn't have a 'sick six pack' like others, he was toned and supple with definition of blue with navy shadows given illumination and contrast with her hands over his azure abdomen. His mind flickered lewdly to guide her hand under the seam of his beltline but he resisted, he could be a better man for her.

He watched her shimmering and shifting pattern for long moments. He was wordlessly admiring her as he put his hand to hers, tracing fingers over the back of her palm and sliding the tips of his pads up over her wrist to the forearm then back again. It was an odd sensation but her natural illumination prevented him from clinging to her since she dispelled the natural shadows he would use to grip her, in a way she left him powerless.

"You were sleeping, I've always been told to leave things of beauty just as they are. 'It is better to leave the rose upon the bush for all to see then pluck it and admire its slow death for yourself.' Then again I've all but kidnapped you to my room, so..."

He looked to the book he was reading and handed it to her. It was a well-worn piece about ten pounds with thick pages of old pulp and a hard cover with velvet book cover to keep it safe. There were stains on the fabric, some mundane, some exotic. It had the scent of age to it, no not age, the scent of experience. This book has been places and been a part of things.

"Its part of the Prose Edda, Norse myth. I got to warn you that it doesn't translate well, it is in icelandic from the thirteenth century..."

He closed his eyes and repeated the last page he had read to himself but to her instead. His hands slipped down to touch her, to put his hands under her shoulders to touch just above her breasts and pull her closer to him. He was trying to drag her nearer to nestle into him if she wanted but he wouldn't force her against her will.

"Bragi answered: "tale of Odin went home and came nine thralls were mowing hay. He asked if they fain that he whet their scythes. They confess it. Hein Then he took of his belt and sharpened ljána, but they thought bite Lea much better, and pale Hein, but food so that he is buying would, would give the hoof. but all said they wish and prayed he sold, but he threw Hein inside the air. When everyone wanted to throw, then were divided so with that each drew ljánum the neck rest. Odin sought a night's lodging to a giant who is called Baugi brother Suttungr '. Topical called evil trusted her and said that his slaves had nine drepizt, but was considered not to know the expectation of men. Odin called him Bölverkr. He offered to take nine men work for the Circle, but said his wages one drink of Suttungr Mead. Baugur said he expected nothing own mead, said that Suttungr was determined to have, but he said he would go with a curse Erki, and try if they would mead."

His skin was so beautifully dark, like pure moonless midnight. There was the strongest urge to kiss that warm skin of his, lean muscle tensing under her fingertips. At least she wasn't the only one effected by their closeness. Looking up at him, she found he had stopped reading for a moment and was instead watching her. His fingers trailed over her arm and she shivered in delight at the foreign sensation. Her colored warmed once more, but were vastly more vivid and golden in their blushing shades.

"I wouldn't call it 'kidnapping'," she said softly, shyly, with a slight smile. He handed her the book he had been reading, which was heavy and covered by velvet. It seemed to be very old and she was a bit fascinated. Norse mythology in Icelandic from the thirteenth century... Fascinating indeed. It was incredible. But her admiration for the book was replaced with a sudden attention to his hands. Pulling her closer to him, she nestled into his embrace. His deep voice rumbled through her gently as he translated the section he had been reading for her.

"Hm," she murmured, resting her head against his shoulder, before turning to look up at him, "It doesn't translate very well." She said it with slight amusement, holding the book carefully with both hands. "It sounds better in Icelandic too," she murmured looking back at the book's pages, "It sounds rather beautiful when you speak it though." Her leg slide against the silk of his pajama pants and she realized she still had on her tattered clothes. Carefully she handed him the tome and, regrettably, slipped out of his bed. Standing, she stretched a bit before looking over at him. Her ever changing eyes devoured the sight too. Running the tip of her tongue over her lips, she smiled softly.

"Do you mind if I borrow some clothes?" she gestured down to hers, "Mine are not so... comfortable." And she could feel him very well in them either, her rebellious mind added. Then she could twine her arms and limbs around his and savor every inch of his warmth and- Her own thoughts were making her blush and since her entire skin showed off how she felt, it was only a minor grace that he might not know that every color had its own emotion. Because when he did figure it out, it would be very hard to hide such wanton thoughts from him.

---

What happened next may have gotten him separated from her for the last two months, whether they got to see each other after that depends on who is telling the story. Suffice to say he grew disillusioned with the school after the reprimands of both the acts of teenagers loves lives as well as other matters. At his fathers insistence, he had gone to "Johnny Geode" to beg forgiveness for his actions forcing the earthmover into his new form of living stone. After that he was removed from duty and training with other students for several weeks. Quietly he kept his head down and did what he was told to do for over a month to finally earn his place back in the student body but it was lip service and nothing more. There has been a marked frustration in him he has been expressing if not radiating in his actions up until this convention where the old fashioned Magnus seems to be emerging.

*Note: Included link contains tasteful nudity but as this site is daunted by the human form is a link instead of being embedded.

Sarah Covenry was something of a slut. Everyone knew it. She had experienced her second warning considering her promiscuous activities and today she was pushing the boundaries to the utmost. Technically she wasn't doing anything wrong, legally, but the professor did not look fondly on her setting a negative example for those younger than herself. Thankfully he didn't read the minds of his students on a regular basis or she would have been long expelled. That prompted her to don the outfit she was wearing this day. It was almost like sticking up her middle finger at the professor. It was little more than body paint, just long swathes of green flesh accented with thick lines depicting twining their way about her limbs and small leaves glued to her skin. She'd died her hair red with a temporary die and had painted her lips with the most crimson of of lipsticks she could find and had a brilliant scarlet jacket, so tiny, it's very purpose was laughable.

Sarah enjoyed comics and this character, Poison Ivy, was one of her favorites. The woman was powerful, domineering, unflinching in her confidence and was achingly lovely sort of like Emma Frost. Sarah had considered dressing up as Emma but feared two things. One, she was worried that nobody would recognize Ms. Frost. The X-Men weren't typical heroes after all. Secondly, she feared reprisals. The White Queen didn't have the restraint or the morality of the professor. She might enjoy pushing a few telepathic buttons inside Sarah's head while the Professor wasn't looking. She'd also considered dressing up as Oola, the Twi'lek from Star Wars but this wasn't a Star Wars convention, nor May the Fourth. She'd also already done that in the Danger Room. Her character, Arla in their Star Wars recreation where they helped the core cast throughout the original movies was also a green Twi'lek and had taken Oola's place in order to sneak into Jabba's palace. Like Oola she had been sent down to the Rancor and eaten. Later, her severed lower leg was used by Luke to jam the rancor's mouth open in the pivotal scene to follow.

Slipping sultrily across the red carpeting between booths of the convention, Sarah enjoyed the constant pointing and whispers that followed in her wake. The best part was the totally locked up rigid pose that Sebastian had demonstrated. She would have given anything to see his face behind his annoying fan-boy mask. That boy had real hero idolization problems. Wanting to be a hero, training to be a hero, acting as he thought a hero should. He was just so boring... except, of course, when Sarah teased him, he began blushing scarlet and tried to act nonchalant, as if he had no physical desires. She would have given a lot to see his face when she walked out but he had that damn iron man mask. Sebastian had decided on something she simply didn't understand. He was encased entirely in some plastic armour made to look like Iron Man's, only painted in Captain America's colours and sporting Thor's sizable helmet wings. Wielding a red, white and blue shield in one hand and Mjolnir in the other, Sebastian called himself, the Iron Avenger, an amalgam of the Avengers' three largest heroes. There was nothing sexy about that costume, not in Sarah's opinion which was a shame since Sebastian was slowly developing into quite the athlete. A shame he was thin boned or he might eventually look like the godly figure of Scott Summers. It was also a shame that he was completely devoted to the unattainable uber-bitch Kitty Pryde who pretended he didn't exist. Sebastian, Sarah thought, would make for a fun tumble.

John
It had been a couple of months since that nightmare attack on the mansion and his forced physical mutation, after that horrific event John had undergone intense training from a number of the more experienced X-men members though mostly Iceman as his power was nearest to Johns, and because of said training John was now able to take on a form that was almost human (his skin tone still resembled the element of earth but he looked more like 'Thing' from the Fantastic Four then he had two months ago.) So when he had heard about this convention in New York John was one of the first to take interest - he had always enjoyed computer games and even some anime (mostly Naruto and Death Note) but with his powers and their current state, the only character he could really pull off was Thing but if people asked him why he was more brown in colour then orange he could just say it was an original alternative universe version - after all lots of people cosplayed characters like that.

John had used his powers to get to New York (one of the only things he had been able to manage during training was the ability to almost 'swim' through earth) as he was worried that causing a bus to sag under his mass would start odd questions. He had got to the hotel where he was staying (the professor had managed to get John a ground floor level room) in good time and was ready for the convention when it started. After unpacking he had walked out of the hotel in his costume (no clothes on apart from the fantastic four shorts normally worn by Thing [apparantly another of the side affects is John only seemed affected by extreme weathers]) to enter the Convention with the other School mates, all of whom had VIP passes.

Jax
Things had improved for Jax somewhat, with the friendly and encouraging environment of the school - he was able to learn to get along with others, mutants and non mutants alike.

Taking the opportunity to get out and mingle with some of his house mates and other games enthusiasts (Jax had learned that he really liked video games and movies) he signed up, but with more hesitation then the others. The thing that bothered Jax the most was who would he make his costume on? The only really criteria he had was that it covered/obscured his eyes (being larger then human eyes and insect like) it would cause issues, even at a place where everyone was in costume, and so he took to one of the many computers in the mansion and did a web search for characters who were known for wearing masks which either covered the entire face or at least the eyes.

That was a few days ago, he now stood with the rest of the younger housemates (having been told he was to use public transport) in a very convincing DareDevil costume (with mocked up billy club) at the VIP entrance to the convention, hoping to spend some money on either computer games or some powerful cards for his TCG's he liked to play.