Calley joined them, all right: in a gah!ing mess of flailing arms and very wide eyes, he joined them. There was a decently sized, entirely graceless splash that accompanied his joining.

And then there was a very large Bengal tiger where the Italian boy had been. It broke back up to the surface with a murrCOUGH and somewhat lunged, somewhat paddled, somewhat clawed over and up the side of the pool. It clung to dry ground, halfway in and halfway out of the water.

gasp wheeze murk choke

It looked exactly like what it was: a very wet, very large, very unhappy cat. Its ears were back and its fur was slicked into unkempt spikes that clung to its skin, and made it look smaller and more angular than it ever would otherwise. Though 'smaller' was a very relative term. The claws on its front feet dug into the pool deck floor. With a final cough, it swiveled its ears back... then turned its head, slowly. Very slowly. Its slited blue eyes burned past Katran and over to its target: Grumpy McDeathwish. Its ears sunk down to court the sides of its head. Under the water, its tail lashed in a convulsive twitch. Its body language couldn't have been more clear: Not cool, Grumpy. Not. Cool.

Shreds of blue swim shorts and a soaked gray towel floated up in its wake. Also not cool.

Calley's stunned entrance sent Vibe into a laughing fit. Just the look on his face had her flailing around, trying not to drown as she fell out laughing. She clung to the side of the pool, crying in mirth.

When a tiger popped out of the water, instead of a scrawny kid....

"Whoa...."

It was Vibe's turn to be stunned. If she ever knew what his mutation was, she'd forgotten about it, because a cat that size was the last thing she expected to see.

Ooohh.... and he didn't look happy either....

For once Vibe had the grace to look uneasy. She attempted to put on a aloof air and pushed herself lazily away.

"Why the look Tigger? I thought tigers liked the water?"

They did, didn't they? She was pretty sure she'd seen that on Animal Planet, or something. Yeah, tigers liked water. So surely he wasn't too irritated.

"Nice bathing suit, by the way."

Watching the boy fall into the pool with a nudge from Vibe was pretty funny. Eris laughed as he went splashing in against his will. But when a tiger emerged on the other side of the pool, Eris stopped laughing. The boy had done exactly what she hoped someone in this confrontation would, he had revealed his power. He was obviously a transformer of some sort, maybe into cat forms only, but probably even mroe than that. Animal creatures. Eris didn't like cats too much, she backed away from Calley in the pool.

"Nice mutation..." was the only words she could find to describe her emotions at the moment. The boy was now naked, if he happened to turn back into his human form that was. Eris wasn't too interested in seeing such a sight, so she turned her back on Calley and looked at Vibe. "Nice. Look what you've done. You didn't happen to use any powers to nudge him along did you?" She smiled niavely, intentionally so. She hoped to get two pieces of information at the same time, she was more straightforward here, although somewhat deceptively.

Wet-furred and steaming though he was, Calley's whiskers still fanned back smugly as the two women stopped laughing and started appreciating the fact that he was a large graceful predator. His hind claws scratched and slid against the pool wall, under the water. Graceful. Yep. With an growl, he finally found enough purchase to haul himself up and over the side. Aka: back onto dry ground.

> "Why the look Tigger? I thought tigers liked the water?"

Standing on the pool side, the tiger swung its large head to give Grumpy another look. A minor tweaking of his vocal chords later, and he was able to reply:

"Oh, I like it, Grumpy. I like it a lot. How about you come out of there, so I can show my appreciation?" His words carried a rather large, rather sharp lisp: that's what happens when you're speaking through rather large, rather sharp teeth. His whiskers fanned out to the sides and his ears turned to face the back wall as he stared down at the red head.

> "Nice bathing suit, by the way."

The red head with a death wish. Calley had been looking for someone to practice killing. He was working his way up to the Boss Fight, after all. His left ear twitched as he seriously considered it. Not here, of course: he wouldn't do anything here. But opportunities did crop up, on occasion. With a dismissive tail swash, he sat down. A coarse lick of his paw later, and he was neatly grooming behind his ear. Not that it would help anything. His poor, poor fur. And yeah, Grumpy wasn't on the meal menu. Her sister was too Wonderful.

"Where is your sister, Grumpy? Did she get hauled off?" He asked curiously. Not because he didn't know: he definitely knew. He'd personally been eating a very delectable pigeon as he'd watched it happen. He asked 'cause he didn't like her right now, and that was the sort of question that wasn't very nice to ask.

> "Nice mutation..."

He slanted an ear towards Katran. "Thanks," he said lightly. "Though it's surprisingly useless. Be better if I could turn into a housecat, honestly. Much better camouflaged for a city." He contemplatively paused to re-lick his paw, before moving to the other ear. "Or laser beam eyes. A tiger with laser beam eyes would be kinda kick-butt."

"Oh, I like it, Grumpy. I like it a lot. How about you come out of there, so I can show my appreciation?"

"Yeah. I think not."

The Talking Tiger was a neat trick, but considering the source, Vibe found herself underwhelmed, at least with the talking part of it. Judging from the bedraggled expression, the feeling was mutual.

"Where is your sister, Grumpy? Did she get hauled off?"

Vibe's stiffened in the water. For about two whole seconds, she resembled a surprised child, completely lost and vulnerable.

She lowered herself in the water, until only her eyes showed, narrowed to glowing green slits. The concrete sides of the pool vibrated slightly, like a small tremor. Calley had obviously hit a sore spot.

Nice mutation..."

"Thanks. Though it's surprisingly useless. Be better if I could turn into a housecat, honestly. Much better camouflaged for a city. Or laser beam eyes. A tiger with laser beam eyes would be kinda kick-butt."

"Invisibility would be better," the angry redhead rose out of the water enough to growl out, before sinking back to eye level again.

(OOC: Hope you don't mind me tagging along for the party )

After his extersizes, Voltaire wandered through the training halls hoping to find a pool or a sauna of some sort to blow of steam. As he walked through the hallways he hears a big splash coming from a few doors ahead. He placed his town over his shoulder and walked to the door. He peeked to see who was there. He spotted Calley, the kid who ate like the world was going to end the last time he saw him. He heard some female voices too but he couldn't see them. As he slowly opened the door a little bit further to peek he tripped and stumbled through the door. he stood up straigh and blushed a bit. "Mind if i join in" He said with a shy smile as he scratched the back of his head.

(OOC: Welcome.

Angry as she was, Vibe honestly didn't hear Katran ask about whether or not she'd had anything to do with Calley's mutation. Currently she was fuming, and resembled a redheaded crocodile in the water. She wasn't picking up on very many verbal or physical cues being given, instead glaring at the orange and black-striped menace at the pool's edge.

For that reason, when another young man walked in, another tremble ran through the room. Had Amp been around, it would be very likely that the pool, and most of the room, would have been reduced to rubble fairly quickly in a copper-haired temper tantrum.

With that a current impossibility, Vibe ducked beneath the water, and sat on the pool floor. The floor continued to rumble slightly, until lack of oxygen forced her to the surface. A few gulps later she repeated the process.

Wow. It's getting pretty crowded in here... Eris didn't particularly like it when a lot of people started to flock her way. While she used to live for the populous, ever since the kidnapping she had been more distant, afraid of large groups of people. Maybe it was her lack of trust, but more likely it was her loss of inter-personal skills. It was getting to crowded. Yes.

She ducked under the surface of the water and swam to the edge of the pool. Lifting herself out of the water and sitting on the edge with her feet hanging in, the droplets dripped down her shirt and back into the pool, creating the sound unique to such a phenomenon. She flipped her hair with the whip of her head and stared at each of the mutants around the pool. The cat-boy, the red-head, the mysterious boy who had just walked in. I wonder what your power is...

Suddenly, a vibration shook the room. Eris whipped her head around and saw Vibe looked very angry. Probably with Calley. The vibrations seemed to be coming from her direction, but Eris couldn't know for sure. She assumed as much though, and kept the thought of her mutation tucked away in her brain. It was good to know your friends, almost as much as your enemies.

Eris shivered slightly from the cool air that was blowing on her body. Probably some sort of air conditioning, annoying. She stood up and walked toward the new boy, water dripping all the way. Great... I must look sexy right now... ugh. She stepped up to him and lifted a hand to greet him. "Katran, I haven't met you yet."

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Vibe duck beneath the water and Calley continue to lick his paws. "Don't mind them, we're just having a pool party of sorts." She spun on her heels and walked back to the pool slowly, accenting her features with her step. Then she turned her head slightly in the new boy's direction. "Care to join us?" And dove in.

Seeing as the red headed girl kept ducking under the water and later coming back for air made his fiasco seem less important. "what is she up to" he thought. Suddenly the other woman came out of the pool and came towards him.

"Katran, I haven't met you yet."

"I guess we haven't " He replied scratching the back of his head. He made a wavy motion with his hand and said with a smile "My name is malik."

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Vibe duck beneath the water and Calley continue to lick his paws. "Don't mind them, we're just having a pool party of sorts." She spun on her heels and walked back to the pool slowly, accenting her features with her step. Then she turned her head slightly in the new boy's direction. "Care to join us?" And dove in.

He found himself staring for a while as Katran walked towards the pool and dove in. He shook his head and said: "Sure why not." He tossed his towl on a bench in the corner and stood at the edge. he was a bit tenched seeing as he didn't know what could happen when he got into the pool but he took a diving stance anyways. With a elegant motion he dove into the pool and shortly resurfaced, with no effects from his powers.

((ooc: Just to make sure you've noticed, Voltaire, Calley's currently in tiger form. Hence all the paw-licking. ))

Grumpy's reaction was even better than he could have hoped for. Which actually was almost a bad thing. Not that he was feeling guilty or anything, not about the whole purposefully trying to sink her into a black void of anger and depression and succeeding famously thing. He kept chronically grooming himself, studiously avoiding looking at the lone twin. The lone twin who looked like she'd like to see his head sautéed and served on a silver platter. He ignored the small-scale tremor, too. He knew who was causin' it. And he was ignorin' her.

His ear flicked backwards as a door was pushed open. The stumble that followed made him take his grooming tongue to his back; he looked over it at the fellow who'd just joined their merry little party. He recognized him--they'd had their breakfast ruined by Syn together. Charming.

> "Mind if I join in?"

"Nope," the large tiger answered, and kept putting every last hair of its very wet back in perfect order. Stupid water. Stupid Vibe. Stupid obsessive-compulsive desire to groom.

Speaking of Vibe... she was acting more than a little strange over there. What with the constant cycle of surfacing and oxygen depravation, and all.

> "Katran, I haven't met you yet."

> "I guess we haven't. My name is Malik."

> "Don't mind them, we're just having a pool party of sorts. Care to join us?"

Calley started choking on a hairball. Eewww... Katran was doing a slinky walk. Somehow, that was all kinds of wrong.

And then everyone and their cousin was diving into the pool. The tiger startled a few steps away from the pool side, warily watching as first Katran and then Malik dove right on in, as if the water wasn't an evil ancient force of nature known across country and culture as a killer of men. Slowly and carefully, he padded his way back to the edge, and stared down at the merrily sparkling surface. Sniff--sneeze. Chlorine. Not his favorite chemical. He flopped his long body down, and dangled his paws out over the edge and into the water. His ears were tilted unhappily backwards.

"How can you all act like you like that? That.... swimming... stuff." He waved a paw in a circle, swirling up the water. "And you. Grumpy. Stop trying to breathe underwater. Unless you really think that killing your brain cells is going to help get Wonderful back." Wonderful being, of course, the Wonderful Love of His Life--aka, Vibe's sister Amp. She gave cats food when they begged. She was a very nice person.

Vibe resembled a sunken bouy, floating with the water as everyone dived in. A glaring, copper-headed, arms-and-legs-crossed bouy. Finally she'd had enough.

Despite the set of sharp teeth and claws currently lounging at the pool's edge, Vibe pulled herself mostly out of the water, planting herself on the step in the shallow end. She pouted childishly away from everyone. Her eyes blinked rapidly; she hope they would attribute it to the water from the pool in her eyes, not the tears they actually were.

"How can you all act like you like that? That.... swimming... stuff." She ignored Calley's grumbling, until his next statement. "And you. Grumpy. Stop trying to breathe underwater. Unless you really think that killing your brain cells is going to help get Wonderful back."

She turned to glare at the tiger, all threat he possibly posed abruptly lost.

"Like you know anything about brain cells. Why aren't you out there trying to get her back, if you think she's so wonderful? You could actual do something with those claws and teeth. But nooo! You're back here complaining about being a little soaked. Fat lotta good you are, ya big baby!"

Angrily she slapped the water, hard, aiming the gusher in the tiger's direction.

As Katran emerged from the water after her dive, she caught the drilling Vibe was sending in the cat's direction. Ouch.

The silence in the room was deafening.

It seemed that Vibe's rant had something to do with a girlfriend of Calley's... at least from Vibe's point of view. It made much more sense that these two should bicker if that were the case, if Vibe and 'her' were friends. Katran stood and walked to the edge of the pool, then walked the steps back up to the side of the pool. She grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped her body in it, trying to ignore the fact that she was the only one moving after the awkward and obvious attack on Calley's character.

Eris liked uncomfortable situations... sometimes. But this was a little out of her league. Personally, she didn't want to have to deal with a strange vibration controlling girl and a cat-warping boy at the moment. Instead, she just wanted to return to her home and sleep. Yes, sleep was sometimes good, sometimes. It was better than staying her and listening to these two whine back and forth.

Oh the lack of understanding that the young possess.

She walked to the door and left. Slamming the door and breaking the silence with one last, "Nice meeting you." that wasn't particuarly aimed towards any one person.

And just like that, Eris left the pool area.

The tiger intentfully ignored the red head's movements, even when they brought her to the edge of the pool again. He just kept grooming, hopelessly aiming to get his fur dry and back in place with a combination of saliva and sheer determination. It was a doomed effort, as every wet cat knows in its heart of hearts. But a feline must try.

~ "Like you know anything about brain cells. Why aren't you out there trying to get her back, if you think she's so wonderful? You could actual do something with those claws and teeth. But nooo! You're back here complaining about being a little soaked. Fat lotta good you are, ya big baby!"

His ears were back long before the end of that speech, but he managed to keep grooming... ignore her... keep grooming... He finally turned his glower towards her at the end, fully turning to face her.

SPLASH TO THE FACE!

His face dripped malice. Malice, and water. Where did she get off saying all of those things to him? Because claws and teeth were useful against Stalkers? Hell, a normal human could do better than a tiger--at least they had opposable thumbs. Kind of a must if you wanted to shoot a gun. Pfft. Just 'cause her sister was gone and she was as useless as he was didn't mean she could take it out on him. Just 'cause she was only Grumpy without any Wonderful to balance her out didn't mean she had to bite his head off. Or pull him into the water. Or splash his face. Or glower, or glare, or... cry?

~ "Nice meeting you."

The tiger barely noticed the inappropriately-clad woman leaving the room (inappropriate for a pool, that was). He went back to grooming his fur. His tongue might be bigger as a tiger than as a housecat, but so was the amount of fur he had to combat. Stupid Grumpy. Where did she get off crying at a pool? Wasn't everyone supposed to have fun here? Fun, and giggles, and something-something. Pfft.

He picked himself up with a loud huff of air, and padded over. Three feet away from her, he plopped himself down to a lying position, his head facing out over the pool--not towards here--and his paws dangling lightly in the water. Just the tips. He swished them idly. His tail twitched against the tiled ground in small arcs.

"Umm, sorry. That was out of line. Pretty much all of what I said. Sorry." His ears pressed flat against his head, and he leaned his weight away from her. No doubt he was about to get splashed again for his efforts. Stupid Grumpy. But what was he expecting, apologizing to a girl like her? Stupid him.

"Nice meeting you."

Vibe didn't say anything as Katran left. She didn't care. Why should she care? No one cared about her sister. No one except Vibe, and she couldn't do anything.

She pulled one knee up, and rested her forehead on it. She became extremely interested in the ripples caused by the droplets falling from her hair. And her eyes.

The water magnified the paws padding toward her, and the whufff! of someone plopping down nearby. Nearby the water rippled just a bit; someone dipped their hand into the water. "Umm, sorry. That was out of line. Pretty much all of what I said. Sorry."

Or paw, apparently.

Stupid tiger..... oughtta bust his eardrums. Or dunk him in the pool again..... giant scaredy-cat.... it'd serve him right....

"Nevermind," she muttered.

She continued messing with the ripples. The steady drip, drip echoed off of the walls, at least for her.

"Her name's Amp." Her voice was barely audible. "Where'd you come up with those stupid nicknames, anyway?"

~ "Nevermind."

Calley set his head down on his forelegs. Cold wet fur on top of cold wet fur made... warm wet fur? He couldn't explain it, but he'd take it. His paws kept swishing in the water. The ripples were sort of fun and this much water, he could handle.

~ "Her name's Amp. Where'd you come up with those stupid nicknames, anyway?"

Calley's right ear swiveled the redhead's way. His whiskers fanned away from his face. His tail twitched. Heh. So she was talking to him again, was she? "I know. And yours is Vibe. Nicknames are fun, though. I pretty much nickname everyone I see. Abyss is Santa Claus, Michael is General Shield, Isabel is Win..." He cleared trailed off, but it was pretty obvious he could have kept going for awhile. He'd kept it to Order and Mansion names. Granted that he could have met Kabal folks here in the Labs, but no real need to tie him with them in Grumpy's mind.

"I guess I could actually use your real names, if you want." He turned his head slightly away from her, but swiveled both his ears her way. "Umm, this is probably a stupid question, but didn't you used to not... talk? I mean, you were using that computer-thing at the Resistance meeting."