Day One: Introductions

[Rogue 4]

Natalie looked up at him, meeting his gaze for the first time since they had begun dancing. "Marcus... you told me not to tell anyone...and I didn't. Not exactly anyway..." She thought about it for a second, and at the expression on his face she continued before he could say anything. "I didn't use your name. I didn't imply who you were. But when Kelly and Lance sat me down to calm me down...I did tell them what happened before. And I wouldn't have told them if I didn't trust them completely, and even trusting them so far, I didn't say it was you out of respect for the friendship that I really hope we still have."

[Drake 53]

"Not yet, I'm afraid," said Kurt. "We've had a busy first day."

"Eh, I'm afraid I'm not much of a swimmer," said Hailey. "But I'm up for working on a tan and I can built a mean sand castle."

"Really?" said Kelly, "Well sometimes we hold sand castle competitions here. I'll let you know when one comes up."

Hailey grinned and she got a little twinkle in her eye. "Yeah, I'd like that."

***

Marcus couldn't seem to look away from Natalie. "Umm...look," he said, "a lot of crazy stuff has been happening to me today ever since I saved you. Suddenly I'm finding out about all these other people like me, living here in Greendale. It feels like I'm being pulled into something way bigger than this relaxed life on the beach and it's confusing the hell out of me, you know?" He looked back in the direction where the others of the Brotherhood were sitting. "I made some new friends who know what I'm going through." Marcus looked back to Nat, and said, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop being yours."

[Rogue 4]

Natalie looked down for a second, and when she looked back up she gave him a halfhearted smile. "Even if I'm just a normal person? I mean I know that you think I might have this thing with my hearing...but I mean, even if I don't?"

[Drake 53]

"Of course," he said, returning the half-smile. "I guess I didn't know what I was talking about before. Not all...normal people are bad and hate mutants."

[Rogue 4]

She nodded, smiling more warmly. "You'll always have me as a friend. And I'm really sorry for getting all freaked out like that before...it's just I've never met a mutant before, and you were right here in front of me the whole time. It all felt so far away from here, like you said."

[Drake 53]

"Yeah," Marcus said. He smirked and added, "I guess I can forgive you this one time."

[Rogue 4]

"Shoot." Natalie laughed. "I used up my one forgive. Boy am I in trouble the next time I screw up."

[Drake 53]

Marcus found himself smiling more. He was wrong afterall about Natalie. "Yeah, you better be careful." He looked around at the crowd of people around them. "Hey, do you want to get out of here? Go for a walk?"

***

Peter turned to Chase, who had been rather silent during the conversation. "So where do you hail from? England, da?"

[Andy 60]

"Yeah," Chase replied. He hadn't really spoken to Peter much put was glad of the attention. "London, to be exact. We only just moved here, and already my dad wants to move back - which is why I was asking about rooms for me and my brother. I think we'd be better off here, with other people like us."

[Rogue 4]

"Yeah, sure." Natalie replied. "It's kind of stuffy in here anyway. And loud." She was thrilled that everything was moving back to normal...well, sort of normal anyway. And she was glad that these new developments hadn't changed Marcus. The Marcus she'd seen earlier in the mall may have been stress induced, but he had still scared her.

[Drake 53]

Peter glanced over at Lance and Kelly then looked back to Chase. "Yes, with other people from outside this country. Being part of a group makes things easier to deal with." A half-smile tugged at his lips. He knew what Chase had meant but didn't want everyone around to know. "Is your brother around here too?"

***

Marcus led the way, out of the party and into the night. When things started quieting down, he asked, "So you snuck out from another grounding, huh?"

Edited May 9, 2008 by Drake

[Rogue 4]

Natalie nodded as they walked down the beach. She felt relaxed, and strangely at home here. The sound of the waves crashing down soothing her. "Yeah...my dad was being totally irrational again. Is it selfish of me to wish my mom was still around just so that she could keep him in check?"

[Andy 60]

"Yeah, he's somewhere around..." Chase scanned the crowd looking for Danny, and spotted him sat at the same table he'd been at all night with the guy Chase didn't recognise. He nodded in Danny's direction. "Danny's over there, pretty hard to miss, seeing as we have the same face, " he chuckled.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Andy

[Mara 29]

Moving through the crowd, Joseph ran into Cat. "Hey, chica! Fancy seeing you here." He grinned.

* * * * * * * * * *

The loud pounding amps were not helping out August's headache. One that seemed to have developed after arriving. She excused herself from her friends on the pretense of going to the restroom. Which she did heard towards but had decided not to come back from very quickly. She slipped into the restroom a few moments later, glad for the music to be duller this far away.

[Vergere 1]

Catalina smiled and waved slightly, then shoved her hands in her pockets. "Hola, Joseph. I am suprised you came."

****

Kelly motioned around them. "Well, tomorrow when it's less busy, you should come and enjoy the beach-ness of it all. Right now it's a lot crazier than usual... I mean, it's always crazy, just not this bad."

She glanced over at Lance, who was still in conversation with what looked like older teens, then back at the ones that had come to talk to her.

[Ayingel 24]

Lila sat down at a table and observed everything. She was never really much of one for parties, and the people she would even consider associating with barely know what the word means. She sighed. "What a place." Lila didn't usually go to the Cove, especially during the school year. I need something to drink... She got up and headed to the counter to find someone to get her a soda.

***

"Wanna head down to the Cove?" Brad turned his head to look at Gertie.

Gertie was looking at herself in the side-mirror. "Hmm? Oh, sure, whatever."

Brad smiled and started off. They had won the game, and a little celebrating at a party was just what they two of them needed. Not to mention he wanted to show off his date.

Finally, a place to ditch him. She looked over at Brad smiling. What a dork

[Drake 53]

"Not at all," said Marcus. "Not as selfish as me wanting a completely new set of parents. All they do is drink all the time and treat me like crap. I guess that's why I moved out and into boarding house with my new friends."

***

Peter looked to where Chase was motioning and saw a boy who looked exactly like the one standing in front of him, save for a few cosmetic differences. There was someone sitting next to Chase's brother but his face was turned from them, in conversation with Danny. A moment later, the man turned and Peter got a good look at the familiar face.

"Fusion..." he growled. "Chase, I think your brother might be in trouble." Peter grabbed Scott who was in the middle of a sentence and spun him around to face the table in question.

"Whoa! Hey!" exclaimed Scott.

"We have got problems," said Peter, pointing at Neil.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Drake

[Andy 60]

"What," Chase was confused, "what kind of trouble?"

[Mara 29]

"Si, I know. But my mother convinced me otherwise." Joseph glanced around. "Is the band any good?"

[Rogue 4]

"Yes, it's very nice at the Institute." Jean smiled to Lance. "We're very welcoming. I prefer to think of everyone there as family."

She turned to see what was the matter, and followed Peter's gaze. "Is that..." She looked to the strong Russian. "Peter, this isn't the place or time..."

***

Neil was talking to Danny. "So what the hell do you kids do for fun in England anyway?"

***

Natalie looked to Marcus in surprise. "You moved out?"

[Vergere 1]

Lance furrowed his brow and looked over the crowd. "What's wrong?"

Kelly heard the concern in Lance's voice and glanced over at him again, waiting to see what was going on.

*****

Catalina nodded. "Yeah, it is pretty good tonight. I've enjoyed them so far." She shrugged. "Not sure if you do or not."

[Mara 29]

He smiled. "Well, why don't we go check 'em out?" Joseph waved his hand around, giving a mock bow before righting himself and holding out his arm.

FYI, I will be in and out... but not leaving.

Edited May 9, 2008 by Mara

[Andy 60]

Danny was about to answer him, when he noticed some commotion over near the entrance to the Cove. "Pretty much the same as over here I guess... Hey what's going on over there?" He saw Chase over there and added, "Trust Chase to get caught up in trouble."

[Vergere 1]

Catalina smiled shyly, and looked around before nodding and shrugging half-heartedly. "Sure. Why not?"

[Drake 53]

To Lance, Scott replied, "Uhh, nothing. Just an old...friend. He's from New York, where we lived before. We...didn't get along. I think him and Peter have some bad blood. Don't worry, though. We're not going to start anything...right, Pete?"

Peter grumbled something in Russian at Jean and Scott then, to Chase, said, "The one your brother is with. We have dealt with him before. He is not someone to be taken lightly nor is he a good influence on...people like us." He quelled the urge to go metal form and pound Fusion to the ground. Peter suspected that the Brotherhood mutant had something to do with Magneto's capture of his family but now was not the place for a battle. Even though he knew better than to reveal his powers in public, Neil would have no problems with burning this place to the ground and laughing about it all the while.

***

Marcus nodded. "Yeah. After the thing at the mall I went to the trailer, packed my things and left. The place I'm staying at is good, though. I'll be living with people like me in a place where we can practice and develop our abilities together. The lady who runs it...she can transform like me. Well, just into other people, anyway."

Edited May 9, 2008 by Drake