X-Men, The Next Generation (Revived)(IC)

Hank McCoy smiled as he looked out of his office window and into the grounds of the Greymalkin institute. It was a brilliant day. The first of many to come.

Yesterday had seen the reopening of the institute as a school, and thanks to the recent 're-boom' over the past 20 years regarding mutant births, the school had recieved a large intake of students.

No longer were the mutants an endangered race. They were no longer numbering 198, but closer to 4000. The school itself had taken in just over 300 students, though most of them were in their early teens.

But that wasn't the only good thing about today. This morning he had, after talking with some of the other teachers, decided to create a new team of X-men.

He smiled, and sat back at his desk, looking through the files of the five he had decided were old enough to be up the task.

First there was Lucy Quant, a technopath, who had, until recently been in juvenile detention for breaking and entering. Next there was Juudai Fyuushido a young man who could manifest psionic objects, most notably a suit of armour.

The final three folders he didn't need to even read. The first belonged Christopher Frost Summers, the brilliant son of his old friends Emma and Scott. The kid was basically his nephew, and Hank knew instinctively that, with his Optic Blasts and Diamond form, Chris would definitely be up to the job. Also there was Chris's cousin, Eric Summers, The son of Havok and Polaris, Grandson of Magneto.

The final of the five folders belonged to his son Bobby, a green furred flame-thrower. As he thought of his son, his thoughts quickly turned to that of the boys Mother, Hank's wife, who was currently off in Shi-ar space somewhere.

Sighing, he opened a drawer and pulled out a fifth folder. Carylee Dylan Smith, a young mind reader, he had rescued. He thought over her folder, trying to decide whether or not to offer her a place on the team.


Minutes later his mind was made, and he decided to offer the positions to the kids the next day. This way, if any of the teacher's suggested anyone else for the team, he'd be able to offer the person a place at the same time.





OOC: http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=658828

One bare foot tapped in time with music no one else could hear, but Lucy's pen tapping on the side of her notebook was audible to anyone. The headphones on her head had been rescued from a pawn shop, and were total vintage 1970s. The iPod Touch connected to them, however, was not vintage in any way. Her lips moved silently to the lyrics as she studied the math book in front of her. Calculus wasn't something she was really thrilled to learn, but it wasn't hard.

As the song she was listening to ended, a voice came over the headphones. You know, listening to this rubbish isn't helping you learn.

The blonde girl sat up, her foot stopping. "Okay, first of all, it's been proven that listening to music helps with the study of math. Second of all, it's not rubbish."

There was a sullen silence for a moment, and then, Fine. But you're showing way to much skin for someone your age.

"If I'd known you'd be the only snobbish, mother-y iPod in the world, I'd never have bought you." Lucy looked down at herself. She was wearing what she thought of as her "one of the guys" clothes - a pair of white shorts that stopped several inches above her knees, and a green ribbed tank top - and shrugged. "Besides, I'm comfortable."

Your bra straps are showing! I am not snobbish, and you . . . oh, you're impossible! The music started again, a new song.

The girl giggled. "And yet you keep trying to make a lady out of me." After a moment, her pen and her foot resumed their rhythms. She'd decided to do her homework in one of the open areas of the mansion instead of in her room, but this wasn't much more conducive to concentration. People kept walking by and stopping to chat - which wasn't bad, but it did mean she'd finished two problems in the last half hour.

"I'm still not sure what I'm doing here." The youth who spoke was tall and lanky, just on this side of being skinny. His hair was a sandy blond, a bit looser and longer than his mother would probably have preferred. He was dressed for the weather in a loose, casual style. He wore a slate gray t-shirt that showed an image of two men's heads, facing away from one another in a faded, outline style. One of the men was bald with high, arching eyebrows, and a noble, compassionate countenance. The other's eyes burned with passion and zeal, though much of his face could not be seen because of the unique helmet he wore. Down the middle of the shirt were the words "They Live." Dark blue jeans were tucked into hardy brown boots. "I know what just about everyone else is, but myself."

He would have been any young man questioning his path in life, except for two things. The first was that he was standing in a graveyard. The fence was high, and though it looked like iron it was far more, and contained many more security devices than it's simple appearance belied. The grave ground was a small part of the estate, but still sizable, and depressingly full. So many dead here. The second were his eyes. If the eyes were the window to the soul, then the soul of this boy was in turmoil. His eyes were roiling, blazing orbs of energy, giving off a steady ruby glow. He looked down at a pair of graves directly in front of him, "I wonder if you ever felt like this, either of you."

The graves the young man was in front of, that he almost seemed to be talking to read "Scott Summers" and "Emma Grace Frost-Summers." Legends. But to him more than that. Dad and Mom. It was almost a decade since they'd died. Leaving him and his sister alone to raise each other. But Ruby was gone now too, she'd ditched him the first night they'd come here.

Chris Summers sighed. "It's not that it doesn't feel...good to be back in this building. Or even to see it being used as a school again, or that Uncle Hank and the others are finally done moping and are actually doing something. It's just that it feels like they're moving backwards." He turned around, running a hand through his hair. "Pretending that everything that happened didn't. That it can just be us freaks up here at our school, safe and unknown, learning to be good people." He grimaced, "But it did all happen. And there's no going back."

He was silent a moment. "I'm going to give Uncle Hank some time, out of respect. But if he puts co-existence ahead of mutant rights or safety, like in the past, then I may have to step up sooner than I thought." But not sooner than he should have.

He looked back at the silent stones. "Well. I better get back." Chris picked up a messenger satchel from where it had been leaning against a stone bench. "I'll see you again soon."


Chris entered the mansion, noticing a few of the students quieting down as he passed. His eyes freaked out a lot of people, even other mutants. Or maybe they knew who his parents were. He nodded at them and kept moving.

He came into one of the sitting rooms, a few other students about, some working, some talking, some pretending to work. Chris waved at Lucy as he sat down at the other end of the table she occupied, after taking a long look at her. He liked her style, and what it displayed. "So...oh, sorry." She was studying. He shrugged, pulling a book out of his own bag and settling back. He opened it to the first page, reading, "A samurai must, at all times, remember that he is already dead. Only when he has accepted this, and come to live as one who is dead, will he truly be able to serve. A man in this state cannot be stopped by anything. Even after his head is cut from his body, he will have the strength to strike down another two men.

Meditating on the roof of mansion Juudai sat meditating, dressed in black silk pants, black silk shoes, red chinese silk shirt and his long black hair tied in a braid reaching his elbows. The young japanese man was training his psionic abilities. After readying his mind he stood up, eyes closed and swiftly leaped off the roof, a sparkling purple light emrged from his back and then two black wings, surrounded by a purple aura, emerged from his back in a flash of dark purple light. His new wings spread out he floated down to the ground elegantly, landing with his arms outstretched.

Moving smoothly like water he straightened up into a fighting stance, one leg forward, the other back, his left hand bent up, closed into a fist, resting against his chest and his right arm straight, palm open. Moving rapidly he rushed forward, used his palm to flip his body into the air, using a force of psionic energy to force himself up into the air, and smoothly landed on top of a lamp post, he then let himself fall backwards and landed crouched, two blades of psionic energy in his hands, ready to strike.

He then stood up, the psionic energy fading away and opened his purple eyes, crushing a light sweat off his brow before stretching, as to easy up his muscles after the light work out. After he finished he let out a deep breathe slowly and blinked as he had an audience of some of the other students. While he normally wouldn't have done this for a work out had he been doing it a lot since he discovered his powers, as to give himself more strength, control and speed using his psionic powers.

Feeling a bit nervous he simply nodded in greeting before moving away to get some peace. Unnoticed by him and anyone else a cute little fox popped out of thin air beneath a bench when Jyuudai tried to calm himself down and followed the asian youngster. Juudai then sat down on a bench and got into a lotus meditation stance, his legs crossed as he sat on the bench, and watched the sky. He was surprised when a cute red fox leaped out of the bushes and landed on his lap and curled up in it, falling asleep. "Hey there, where did you come from?" He asked in a kind voice while petting the fox as it laid curled in his lap.


Unknown to him the fox had been a creation of his locked materialization ability during his ride to the school, he had been reading a naruto manga when suddenly the girl sitting next to him shrieked as a guy with transformation power turned into a zombie and puleld off his head and eyeballs. His materialization ability had kicked in when he jumped up onto his seat in shock at the sight of the zombie and had kicked him in the face, knocking the student unconscious, feeling very embarrassed later on for kicking a student unconscious on his first day Juudai had gone to the roof to meditate and prepare some training after lunch, nobody had ever ntoiced the cute fox following him out of the bus and to this moment when ti leaped into his lap, enjoying its creator and master's petting hand.

Bobby sighed as he finished his third cheeseburger and looked around. He had more or less grown up in the Greymalkin institute, and despite having been used to living with the X-men, it would take him a while to adjust to the even larger amount living in its halls.

Out of all the mutants here, his powers were on of the most visible, his green fur making him stand out from most of the others, the only noticeably mutated one was a guy named Sydney, and he looked like a walking pile of rocks. He had to admit though that he was getting quite fed up with people mistaking him for Tom Wagner, the son of Nightcrawler, who was also annoyingly enough, a mutant actor who also happened to have green skin.

He sighed and shook his head. At least when Chris told people he was the son of Cyclops and Emma Frost people knew who he meant. But when Bobby mentioned Beast, most people seemed to think he meant Nightcrawler.

Sometimes he wondered why they couldn't have limited the x-men to one blue furred member at a time. What was worse was that his father had been in the avengers as well....

He stopped his silent rant as he saw an old friend sat reading a book. Grinning he snook up behind the unsuspecting Chris and attempted to grab his book, but not before one of the younger mutants bumped into him.

Bobby suddenly found himself flipping over Chris and crashing into Lucy, disrupting her from her work.

He grinned slightly as he looked up and waved to Chris, before plopping his head back into Lucy's lap.

He grinned at the girl. 'You didn't happen to get the number of the truck that hit me, did you?'

Lucy looked down at Bobby's face, one eyebrow raised, and stuck her tongue out at him. "I didn't. If I had, however, I'd have made sure it knocked you the other way. Maybe down the hall." She slid the headphones down to around her neck, stopping the music with her mind as she did. "Hi, Chris - should've said that when you showed up. But you know," she gestured towards the part of the math book that wasn't covered in furry green mutant, "integrals."

Yanking the book out from under Bobby, Lucy closed it. It wasn't due for two more days, so she had time. She dropped the book onto Bobby's chest. "Here, hold this for now. You might as well be useful." Leaning back, she kicked both of her feet up onto the table, putting her hands behind her head. "So what's new, then? Or do I even want to know?"

.......

Chris sighed as the green furred blur flew over his head. He should have expected this. A moment's peace, and you could count on Bobby McCoy to show up and blow it out of the water. "Bobby, what the hell-" Adding to it was where Bobby actually ended up, falling onto Lucy.

As his friend waved, Chris's lips quirked up into an almost smile before he forced them back down. Committing what could be sexual harassment on their classmate wasn't a gag. Not to mention he'd snuck up on Chris. Close enough that he could have killed him, if he'd been an enemy. "I know your dad didn't teach you to run around and jump onto girls, Bobby. Get off of her." It didn't seem to be bothering Lucy which was...interesting. But still.

However, once she started to use Bobby for a bookstand, he blinked. Was there something going on there? No way. Not Bobby and Lucy. Then the technopath kicked back, which had the accidental benefit of displaying her assets more prominently. Chris gulped, then felt a surge of annoyance. You'd think a life around women dressed in lingerie and tights would have made him better able to deal with this.

"Not much, Lucy." Chris shrugged with a slight smile, "I was just visiting my folks. I should be doing homework, but I can't stop thinking about a few things." She likely wouldn't really care, but why not say it? He wasn't about to hide his agenda, such as it was. "Like what the purpose of the school really is, and if the Headmaster is going to be...responsible with the legacy of the place, you could say."

Scratching the belly of the little fox Juudai smiled as the little cute vulpine wagged its tail while yipping in pleasure, wiggling in a just adorable manner on his lap. He then lifted the fox up and rubbed his nose against its and it licked his nose. "Awwwwwww ain't you just the most kawaii thing in the word you little kitsune!" Hugging the little red furred cutie pie to his chest Juudai petted the fox before putting it on his head and held up a piece of roasted beef from a sandwich he had in his school bag, the fox happily took the meat and munched on it while Juudai took a bite of his sandwich before putting the warping paper back on and moved back towards the school, the fox taking a nap on his head. Humming softly to himself Juudai moved in a set of dance steps as he walked, he wasn't sure but he felt like dancing for some reason, maybe it was the cute little fox on his head but that didn't make sense. Unnoticed by Juudai was a pair of students laughing at him while one of them used his psychic powers to make Juudai dance.

A pale yet fragile looking young woman was perched in the entry way of the school. At 21 Patricia Wisdom was among the older newcomers but her secerts were only known by a few, having finally gotten the courage to contact the name she had found in her father's journals (the notebooks hidden within one of her duffle bags). But just from looking at her she was her father's daughter: dressed in black jeans, a tank top and a leather jacket complete with black boots. All of which cover the bruises and cuts from the night she up and left Black Air (complete with being beaten in an airport bathroom in Paris).

"Hopefully nobody bloody freaks about the smokes, I need one" as she flipped open a pack of herbals and lit one via a single hot knives (she had gained her father's mutation along with her late mother's empathic side). It never hurts that she rigged herself near an AC vent, one small downside of her powers was the walking space heater factor.

The outdoors seemed to suit Eric fine. After so many years in a room it was no wonder why he liked open spaces. he was invisible at the moment. A trick he'd been practicing for quite some time. In the start he'd simply been refracting all the waves that came off him, which of course left a human sized hole in peoples vision. Now he'd worked with a single few colors and sent back the image of the schools unbroken unmoving brick wall. It was rare anyone inspected brick to see if it had the right holes in it. People just didn't do that, mutant or not.

Watching was one of Eric's favorite things to do, The new recruits. People who drove up themselves or the freak bus as it occasionally was spray painted if it was left too long in a single space. Tom Wagner may have been a movie sensation, but by and large the world still didn't much like the mutants who were different. The registration was hard too, especially when your power seemed to say to the world; makes user catatonic, great abilities rents. At least Chris and Bobby were here, that had helped a lot, having some childhood friends around made things a lot easier. Even if Christopher was a little weird these days. For a few moments Eric thought about going to see him, and asking what was up but he figured if Chris had anything to share he'd come tell Eric himself. Besides there was only so much of his rhetoric Eric could put up with in any given day. For now though Eric let the mirage drop putting up the image of his late grandfather in his youth. The helmet secure Eric kept walking knowing he'd attract some attention.

But not as much as the dancing Japanese boy with a fox on his head.

Lucy looked at Chris, then down at Bobby. He was really . . . well, they were friends, so it was probably all right. "I guess that means a lot to you," she said softly, "given your family and all." She herself only had a vague notion of what that sort of thing was like.

She shifted slightly, lifting her hands to twist her long dark blonde hair into a bun, securing it with her pencil. "It seems like he's doing a good job. Of course, I haven't been here that long, and I . . . well, I don't have the same background you guys do." She also hoped this wouldn't be the start of an argument between the two boys.

With a smile, she thumped Bobby on the head. "Move it, beast-boy! I'm getting up. Anyone want anything from the kitchen? I'm gonna get a soda."

Chris smiled a bit, "Background has only a little to do with it. You have as much right to know and have your say as Bobby or Eric or me." He meant it. Every mutant, well almost, was a part of the legacy here. Certainly all the students were, and they had just as much right to be heard as he did. "But we don't have to talk about it now." Soon though, he'd want to start taking the other students' temperatures on the subject. If he had to make a stand, it'd be good to know who would be with him.

At her offer, he shrugged, "If you wouldn't mind grabbing me one too, I'll owe you one." He grinned at Bobby as she called him "beast boy," "You do have that look about you. It'd make a good Halloween costume. You wouldn't even have to pretend to be unfunny." It was a little unfair, knowing how sensitive Bobby was about being mistaken for Nightcrawler, but his friend had enough of a sense of humor to shrug it off. Probably.

Chris looked back at the blond who's just lit up. His eyes narrowed a bit at that, but she did look like...well, like she'd been in a fight and lost. "...Need it, huh?" His tone spoke volumes of what he thought about her need. "Just not around any of the younger kids, okay?"

"Its an herbal and fair enough" as Tricia aimed the smoke downwind and towards the open window. "21 so I'm legal to smoke too" she added in self defense. "Tricia Wisdom, arrived last night" having a feeling her phone message may have only been found within the last few hours. The herbals were among the few things that could keep her steady given what had happened in France only a couple of weeks before: from leaving Black Air to the last couple of weeks hopping across Europe before heading to the states.

Esme Crane, and Montel Ribiero. Pinky and the Brain. Esme was the brain so named because of her telepathic abilities that subtly went into other peoples heads and into the limbic centers offering suggestion. And Montel, Given the name Pinky, because his mutant ability, was to throw pink whirling hands at people. Together the two had been named after an old TV show after two mice who aspired to rule the world. Not a terrible goal he supposed. Still there's were far from it. There's was merely to psychically frosh the new kids.

"Hey, what have we all been told about that?"

Their little grins fell and the dance steps finished as Eric approached. It was the magneto helmet, likely the look didn't hurt much either. "That we aren't supposed to frosh the new kids?"

"Yeah. That's right, no matter how strange foxhead might seem. Run along." Pinky and the brain giggled to themselves and ran off. Being 16 might have also had something to do with all of that. Eric jogged to catch up, being sociable must start somewhere. "Hi I'm Eric, one of the legacy kids. I'm only here a few more days than you, but I'll help if I can. Need a guide to dorms or something? Or just someone to keep you from doing the salsa all the way to the school entrance?"

Bobby grinned as Lucy shoved her book into his arms, and remained quiet as she spoke. Though when Chris spoke about Legacy's....

He was brought back to reality by a thump to his head.

'Beast boy?' He feigned hurt, 'You know what, I think I'll come with to the kitchen, I could do with a soda and a bite to eat.'

Despite this, his mind went back to what Chris had said and began to wonder what he meant. He shook his head quickly and grinned once again, deciding to ask his friend about it later, as he began to make his way through to the kitchen. Pausing only to glare at the young mutant who had tripped him up earlier. The child stood in shock his white hair almost blocking his eyes.

Then he winked at the boy and the fear vanished...as did the 13 year old mutant.

He turned back to Lucy. 'You coming? I thought you were after a Soda?'

Smiling in gratitude juudai bowed to Eric and spoke up in polite tune, his fox still snoozing. "Thank you for your help I wasn't sure why I was doing all that dancing. and yes I guess I am a little lost, I was supposed to get my schedule and my dorm room, I am supposed to have a roommate. But that dancing prank got me distracted." Scratching his neck a bit in embarrassment the young man straightened himself up and held out a hand in greeting, a western way of greeting. "But let me introduce myself first, I am Juudai Fyuushido, called Akuma no Tenshi, The Demon of Heaven, my cousin thought it was a cool alias for me as my battle armor looks a bit demonic and I can create wings with my psionic abilities. I am not sure if it fits me though, but I am not exactly used to being a mutant yet so I am not going to argue with my six years old cousin."

Just some tidbits.

Henry McCoy's Office

Henry smiled as Neal Shaara and Mortimer Toynbee left the office. It was nice to have old friends acting as staff.

Both had come to offer suggestions for the team, suggestions which Henry was seriously considering.

Tricia Wisdom and Cami Raine.

Smiling, He looked over to one side, where he saw an old picture of the original X-men at Bobby's Birthday. He made his way over and picked it up, smiling still as his mind flew back 25 years, to the blackbird after a mission.

'Hm' He had said to Scott, 'Do you remember when we were kids Scott? When everyone called you Slim, and everyone called me Hank?'

'Honestly,' Scott had replied, 'Not so much, anymore.'

His mind came back to the present, and Hank picked up another picture, this time a group one from later on, and sat down in his chair, as he looked over the picture and at friends lost.

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General Abigail Brand's Office.

Abigail brushed her green hair from her eyes, and was about to get on with some work when a Lieutenant burst in.

'What is it?' She snapped.

'Look behind you,' came the reply.

Turning, she did just that, and saw two flaming streaks enter earth's atmosphere.

'What the Hell?'

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The Starjammer

'Why is it, that more often than I not I find you asleep in that chair.' Smiled Lorna as she gently nudged her husband, who was dozing in the captain's chair.

'It's because I find the chair extremely relaxing,' Smiled Alex, 'You should try it someti....'

Waldo's voice suddenly burst over the intercom. 'We have a ship on a collision course!'

Alex leapt up, 'Lorna get everyone up and ready, Waldo, try and contact them.'

Lorna ran off, as Waldo spoke again, 'We have a holographic response.'

Alex felt his blood run cold as he saw the figure portrayed.

'Missed me?' Smiled the figure.

The demon of heaven? My god that was so terrible it sounded like something one of those hacks who write tween drama would come up with. Well Six years old, he guessed it showed some imagination, or a strange vocabulary. Who knew maybe in japan it was cool? It certainly sounded animeish. But who was he to judge.

"Uhh interesting. But here we just use the first name. Would that be Joo Die? Or Foo-You-she-doe?" Didn't they introduce themselves with the family name first in japan? Maybe, but Fyuushido sounded like a last name. "I think I might just call you Judy, or Jude. Like the Beatles. You know. Hey Jude?" Eric moved back a little and projected an image of John Lennon playing his guitar before the end.

"Hey Jude,
Don't make it bad.
Take a sad song,
And make it better."

Then image of a younger Magneto singing a duet with John Lennon caused a small sensation as Eric led the Japanese boy to the school entrance and took him to the large map near the entrance to the common rooms. "You ever heard that song before?"

Lucy walked after Bobby, tucking the iPod into the pocket of her shorts. "Yeah, I'm comin'. Not all of us can navigate this place by memory, you know." The door to the kitchen swung open as she approached, and she went straight for the fridge. That door also opened without a touch and she rummaged inside until she found the soda she wanted. And then she paused. "Damn. I forgot to ask Chris what kind he wanted."

She shrugged and grabbed the same kind she'd gotten. "He'll have to adapt," she said, plunking the cans down on the counter and then heading for one of the cabinets over the sink. "I'm getting some chips too . . . anything you want different, Bobby, you carry yourself. I'm not your maid."

The bag of chips went in one hand, the cans in the others. "Hurry up, furry. I'm not gonna wait for you!" she called out as she headed out of the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind her.

Chris noted the others leaving, but his eyes were on the smoking blond. "Wisdom?" That didn't bode well. "As in Peter Wisdom, from MI-13?" He didn't need her to answer. He'd seen the way she'd lit her cigarette. Well, if she was here, then Uncle Hank knew about it and had approved it. Still...Pete Wisdom only came around when someone was chasing him out of the intel business. He'd never really been part of the X-Men or of the mutant movement as a whole. He wasn't much better than a sympathizer for the British government, almost a turncoat. "...Chris Summers. Nice to meet you, Miss Wisdom."

He paused a moment, "I don't know what brought you here." She was a bit old for the school, if she was 21. "But...this place is meant to be a sanctuary for us. You'll be safer here than anywhere in the world." Although the mansion had gotten attacked a lot back in the day, but it was still true. It was about the safest place for mutants. Which was pretty damn shitty.

Suddenly, he heard a bunch of kids shouting near the school entrance. He looked around, none of the teachers were here...hell. "Damn it, I don't want to be...shit. Please excuse me, Miss Wisdom." He didn't want to be the hall monitor type. Where the hell were the ones who were supposed to be in charge?

He got to the main foyer just as the crowd around a youth with what looked like a puppy on his head was walking next to...John Lennon and a young Magneto. "I always preferred the old Magneto," he dryly commented. "Making friends, Eric?"

The hot knife as lighter trick, that was a trademark move only Tricia and her father used. That was when she made a decision after hearing Chris speak to her, Black Air and her past was offically on need to know status. Nobody knew of the calls between father and daughter and the now shared guilt that would trash both of them. It had been finding her father's journals during a trip home to London that gave her the courage to escape Black Air in the first place (and knowing her father had up and left years before and had recovered). "Likewise Mr.Summers" even she had her proper moments but the Wisdom edge was in full bloom.

Tricia did seem to remind people of her father Pete Wisdom in so many ways: from the lighter move to her choice of colors (but with more leather and denim along with a black pea coat and matching weapons belt). Several packs of herbal Silk Cuts and a pack of cloves were hidden in her duffle bag (since smoking was a release valve). Plus the striking brunette could easily pass for a model with camera ready looks.

Plus both father and daughter had come clean to the other: her about being pushed into Black Air and his days with MI-13. But her eyes spoke volumes: she was indeed haunted and finding those journals in a box had been the best thing for her.

She realized,*At least nobody has gotten bloody nosy about those bruises* as she shuddered inside, being beaten senseless in a French airport bathroom had only kicked her escape into overdrive.

Chuckling Juudai shoo khis head. "You can call me Jude if you cannot pronounce my name, Juudai is my first name and Fyuushido is my surname, I just speak it in western manner, first name then surname, took a while for me to do that withot saying it the eastern way by reflex." The japanese man then pondered before he shook his head. "Sorry but while I knwo about the Beatles I have never heard one of their songs, I personally like all manners of music from classic to modern, rock, hip hop, pop, rap and so on. But I guess I am a bit of a fan of TM, a japanese band, and I really like H.I.M and Skillet. have you heard the song Wings of a Butterfly? It's one of my favorites from H.I.M. I also like Whispers In The Dark by Skillet." The japanese man then harkled and sang a small tune from the last song.

"Despite the lies that you're making.
Your love is mine for the taking.
My love is.
Just Waiting.
To turn your tears to roses."

"Has no one ever taught you how to dress conservitavely?," Joanne sighed as her friend slipped into the passenger seat of her Toyota. "My god, girl..."

"I am conserving clothing, Jo. See? Don't have to worry 'bout laundry for awhile if I don't wear too much." Cami grinned as she glanced to the woman in the driver's seat, frowning herself as the woman shot her 'a look'. She was quite used to that look. It was one of thoe glances that Joanne gave when she wasn't sure if Cami was being serious or not. Sometimes it was hard for her to tell as well. She'd play it off that she was joking around... but in all honesty, she wasn't sure what she had done wrong.

Right now, however, she truly was playing with her companion.

"I've always heard ya should show off your best assets. Well, I know for a fact my brains aren't exactly going to be winnin' me any points. I may as well go for what god gave me and let the eyes wander. We know how many favors that's gotten me..."

---

"You'll let me know, right, Cami?"

Cami just smiled, leaning in through the dirver's window to give her friend a quick hug. "You'll be the first to know. I mean, hell, I'll need ya to come give me a ride if they tell me to get lost, right?" She laughed as Jo let a smile tug her lips, picking her bags up and slinging them over her shoulder. "I'll call ya."

Taking a breath as her friend took off, she started up the drive, the letter in hand. She needed to find Dr McCoy. He was the one in charge... He'd be the one to talk to...

Of course, with the view coming up before her, the idea of wandering a bit didn't seem too bad either. This place looked huge- a big change from the tiny apartment she'd been locked up in for the past year. Somewhere to stretch her legs! Finally!

Eric stayed still as the oriental boy sang. Not bad, the lyrics made little sense and the wording sounded funny but that was the mysterious island for you. Nothing ever was right there. "Not bad but I think I like mine better. But hey maybe we'll swap CD's like a cultural exchange or something." Not that Eric could ever really listen to one of them.

"Making friends, Eric?"

"Well I guess one of us has to huh Pothead?" Eric walked up and gave his cousin a hug. Pothead being a name he'd come up with immediately upon seeing how his Cousin's mutation had manifested. Bright glowing red eyes. And of course there was the fact that Eric himself was wearing a bucket.

"And you know I prefer grandad like this, when he was vital and alive and meant something, But some of us don't really want to be legacies, they'd rather have their icons alive. Can you imagine John Lennon being here today? He'd probably have some song that'd instantly unite the two, too bad the real world don't work that way."

Instantly Eric regretted the words he'd just told his cousin, but for some reason he couldn't help but be ornery about him. He imagined it was ingrained sibling rivalry, since Ruby wasn't around. He tried to change the subject. "So what do we do about all these kids here?"