The ornate golden doors of Sanctuary loomed ominously before the solitary figure of Simon Smith, yet they gave him no need to pause. Simon had witnessed the rich and eccentric before, and while the gates of this assumed haven looked like something that belonged to the Louvre it was simply another example of wealth and power going to an individuals head. They were meant to intimidate, to dominate. Simon's reactions however was a mild a chuckle.

'It seems as though I've come to the right place' he mused as he made his way inside. Surely anyone who could afford such an expensive eyesore for an entrance had no limit to their financial reserves. 'If worse comes to worse I could always take the doors themselves. They would reach a fair price I'm sure.' Immense though the gates may be, but they were nothing a hurricane couldn't carry.

Letting his eyes wander around the hallway Simon would have to admit he was somewhat surprised by the choice of decor; it was rather bland, in comparison to the doors at least. The floor was tiled with a cheap imitation marble that caused his footsteps to echo deeper into the complex, the walls for the most part were bare with either prints of famous paintings or potted plants placed at random intervals. The ceiling overhead appeared to have been made by the same craftsman who had created the gates for they the colour of burnished gold and functioned as well as any mirror. More likely than not though it was simple translucent plastic which housed a myriad of security camera's, for it was impossible to consider that actual gold would have been used in it's conception.

Proceeding down the hall at a leisurely pace Simon swiftly found himself at an unmanned reception desk with a notice simply saying "Out to Lunch". Glancing at his own watch Simon noted that it was sometime past noon. 'Most likely tried to get off their shift early' he though wearily as he withdrew the calling card he had received from Abyss and considered his next course of action, should he wait here for the receptionists return or should he make his own way in?

'Decisions, decisions...'

--

If someone would come to greet me it would be much appreciated, if not I'll let myself in and enter another thread.

With the meeting over with Syn decided to go for a walk in the foyer. She loved how the entrace looked and made one feel little amongst the larger things in life. At least that's how she felt about it.

Walking down the hallway she noticed Lisa wasn't at her desk. Perhaps she was off on another tour or maybe she was just taking a break. There was a young man standing near the desk looking as if he was thinking of mutliple things at once.

Syn approached the boy and looked him over. He was dressed fairly casual and had a descent appearance about him. "Welcome to Sanctuary. Are you seeking a place to stay or just passing through?"

Turning towards the one that had addressed him Simon raised an eyebrow at the sight that greeted him; a young women roughly his own age with a rather unique hair style and quite suggestive clothing. 'Typical female' he thought dismissively. They were all the same; they lacked the strength or the skill to do anything for themselves and so relied on their physical allure to get their way.

Keeping his face neutral despite his negative thoughts Simon tilted his head to the side and paused a moment while he considered his reply, "...I am seeking employment" he said at last, "I was told by one named Abyss that I may be able to find an employer here" at the mention of Abyss the elementals hand flicked up and displayed the Sanctuary business card the crimson mutant had given him. "Tell me, do you know where I can find Dorian King or..." he paused for a moment until he recalled the second name, "...Syn?"

She plucked the card from the guy's hand and looked it over as if she was actually examining it but in fact she was playing a game. She didn't care if it was a Blockbuster card. "Abyss sent you here huh?" She looked him over. He didn't seem like much. Maybe her brother just needed and errand boy or something. "What sort of work are you hoping to find? If you don't mind me asking that is." Syn was waiting to see how much information she could get out of this boy before letting on to who she is.

Allowing the card to be plucked form his hand Simon let his gaze wander as the girl occupied herself with inspecting the cheap piece of paper. Why she needed to do so escaped the elemental completely, but it was none of his concern. He had other things on his mind, he truly needed to find some sort of employment soon or he would be forced into taking some remedial occupation which he would despise.

"What sort of work are you hoping to find? If you don't mind me asking that is."

Simon gave a short sigh; she had sidestepped his question, replacing it with one of her own. Under different circumstances the young man might have entertained her for a moment or two with some elaborate work of fiction. Now though he needed to find a reliable source of income and couldn't afford to waste time answering the questions of some annoying parasite.

Returning his gaze to the inquisitive women Simon found himself toying with idea of using his abilities to give the girl an impromptu haircut. He quickly dismissed the idea though, he was the one needing information and causing any type of ruckus, no matter how small, would not aid him in his investigation. He would have to be polite and tolerate the girls curiosity, for the moment at least.

Placing a calm smile on his face the elemental gave his response, "Not at all, I am searching for work that pays, the more the better..." Simon allowed his grin to change ever so slightly into an almost undetectable smirk; no one said it had to be a particularly enlightening answer after all.

"Tell me again where might find Mr. King or this Syn character?"

The girl was finding it harder and harder to keep up the facade with this new arrival but it was just so much fun. She had noticed he wasn't paying much attention to her and he seemed to be getting annoyed with her. Yet another fact Syn found amuzing.

His response of wanting to find work that pays well came accorss as something of a mercenary type. Maybe he was a merc. Should he become employed then that meant Dorian and herself would have to ensure he didn't wander off to someone else.

"So then I'm assuming that you are willing to do anything as long as you are paid. Is that right?"

She was hoping to push his tolerance level further but that was put to aan immediate hault as Lisa returned to her desk. "Oh hello Syn. Is this he a new possible resident?" Syn rolled her eyes as her fun was spoiled. "No Lisa. He's just looking for work." Syn then returned her gaze back to the mercenary to see his reaction as he now knew he was already talking to one of the people he had been sent to find.

"So then I'm assuming that you are willing to do anything as long as you are paid. Is that right?"

Simon narrowed his eyes in obvious annoyance, this was the second time she had avoided answering his question and to say he was becoming vexed would be an understatement. 'I don't have time to waste on idle chatter' he thought irritably as he fought to keep a neutral expression on his face. Still he couldn't afford to cause any kind of incident that would ruin his chances of employment, no matter how tempted he was to send her hurtling down the expansive corridor.

Something needed to be done as it as obvious to Simon that the girl had no intention of aiding him. He could simply abandon the girl and make his own way through sanctuary. There was bound to be others located in Sanctuary's maze like corridors, and although they may not be guaranteed to know the people he was seeking they hopefully wouldn't be as irritating as the blonde before him.

Twisting his body Simon made to step around his unpleasant acquaintance and even managed to take a few steps down the tiled hallway until clicking heels registered the receptionists long awaited return.

"Oh hello Syn. Is this he a new possible resident?"

The elemental froze in mid-step, his left foot hanging three inches above the ground. he remained frozen like for that for half a second before returning his foot to floor and craning back with deliberate slowness to stare at the receptionist. "What did you say her name was?" the elementals voice was a dead monotone as realization began to dawn.

Lisa seemed a it surprised by the question but she answered swiftly, "Umm it's Syn... is that a problem?"[/color]

Simon resisted the urge to groan, instead simply closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Turning round to face the receptionist fully he avoided eye contact with Syn as he posed his next question. "I don't suppose Mr. King is free at the moment is he?" As he was talking the elemental sent up a silent prayer that the answer would be yes.

"I'm afraid he isn't available at the moment, I could take a message if you'd like"[/color]

With a short sigh Simon shook his head, "No, that won't be necessary"

After a moment or two of silence Simon turned his gaze towards Syn and met her emerald eyes with his own. It seemed that she was his only option if he wanted to have any hope of working in sanctuary. The fact did not sit well with him but if were paid enough he could easily overlook it. Still he wasn't quite sure how to proceed at this point. "Well.." he said eventually, "where do we go from here?"

"You seem so disappointed to have to talk with me even though I'm one of the names you were told to talk to. I can understand wanting to speak with Dorian since he is the man in charge." Syn continued to look the guy over. Some of her thoughts were dwelling on what he could do. Was he even a mutant or just some human trying to prove himself. "However since he's busy at the moment I'm the next one in line."

She gave him a moment to think before going on. "So, now we're back to one of my questions. What kind of job are you looking for? I'd appreciate it if you more specific because if you leave it to my imagination then you may be doing things less desirable than what you are hoping for."

Omen let herself into the sanctuary-as she did with every other place she wanted to go. She held a cigarette skillfully in the corner of her mouth, taking long slow strides she waltzed into the foyer nothing the others present and looking around at the building's design.

Her heels clicked on the floor, her long jacket open and her blue skin rather obvious Tabitha was definitely a sight.

While Syn waited for Zephyr's response she heard someone walking down the huge hallway. The clicking of high heeled boots drew the girls attention to look at the approaching figure. The woman was dressed all in black and all of it was leather. Syn was liking her already. The other thing she noticed was the skin color of the new arrival. Her skin was blue. Not something that was surprising for a mutant as she had seen a kid with green skin in the recreation area a couple days ago.

"Welcome to Sanctuary my name is Syn. Are you looking for a place to stay or do you have other business like this gentleman here."

Omen stopped for a minute and looked at Syn. The woman was attractive with long, red-streaked, black hair. Omen smiled slightly and blew out smoke rings.

When she spoke she did so with a slight west indian accent. "Oh, I don't know a thing about this place. Thought I'd walk in and ask." she took another drag from her cigarette, leaned against the wall and waited for Syn to speak.

"Well, this is a place for mutants to seek refuge. We have rooms to sleep in, recreational area, a medical facility, a dining area and a few other things." Her green eyes continued to look over the woman before her. "Nice outfit by the way. I have a pair of boots like those too."

Syn turned to look at Zephyr to see what he was doing. She was sure he would make some kind of comment about Syn's last sentence.

When Syn said it was a place for mutants to seek refuge, Tabitha stiffened. "Is this xavier's school? Or is it affiliated in any way?"

Just my luck I'd have to deal with another woman' Simon thought with a vague feeling of irritation as he regarded the newcomer silently. He had made no attempt to hide his disdain of woman, in fact Syn had commented on it and her choice of words revealed a new tid bit of information to the elemental, "...I can understand wanting to speak with Dorian since he is the man in charge."

'So that's who I need to speak to' Simon made a mental note to track the man down at a later date.

Pulling his attention back to the present the elemental observed Syn carefully, although he considered the woman beneath him, at this moment in time she was the one he had deal with and so the faster he could analyze her character the faster he could try to turn the conversation to his advantage. For the moment all he knew of the women was that she seemed to enjoy toying with people which most likely meant she had plenty of skill in verbal battles and so Simon was disinclined to test her wit in their first meeting.

"So, now we're back to one of my questions. What kind of job are you looking for? I'd appreciate it if you more specific because if you leave it to my imagination then you may be doing things less desirable than what you are hoping for."

Simon resisted the urge to roll his eyes, hadn't he already made his intentions clear? Morals were no obstacle for him, he would take any task as long as it paid well enough. Apparently the girl before him had been unable to properly interpret his words. Still if the girl was going to allow him to choose the nature of his tasks he may as well select one that allowed regular use of his unique abilities.

Taking a moment to glance at his surroundings once more Simon eyed a potted plant a few feet behind him, directly in Syns line of vision it didn't look to be very expensive. 'It seems that will have to do' he thought in a depressed tone as he met Syns eyes once again, "I suppose I am more suited to physical tasks..." he began slowly, "...I have also been told that I have a certain skill for cutting people down to size"

As the final words left his mouth the elemental called upon a portion of the power inside him and unleashed it. The nearby air was immediately bent to his will and carried out the task it was given; slicing the potted plant to ribbons. Normally Simon loathed the idea of demonstrating his powers for show, it achieved nothing and only informed others as to what he capable of, not something the elemental desired for it then denied him the element of surprise later on. Still one of the advantages of air was that no one was capable of seeing the movement of individual molecules, so to the womens eyes it would appear as though the plant had been decimated by a score of invisible blades.

--

((OOC: Apologies if this post is a little out continuity, I wrote before omen entered and I don't have the energy to rewrite it completely.))

When the woman made her inquiry Syn laughed. "Not by a long shot. The founder of Sanctuary is a man named Dorian King. He has no ties to Xaviers school by any means."

Syn turned back to Zephyr as she replied to her. She noticed him looking her over yet he didn't seem all to thrilled with the idea of talking with her. The whole thought made Syn smile internally. She loved when people did things they didn't like to do almost as she loved playing with people mentally.

She listened to him and then noticed one of the plants fall in pieces. Well, that's interesting to know. Just one problem with that. Did he do it with some sort of mental power or was it something else?

"Interesting talent you have. How did you shred that plant though?"