Tricity pushed the gas down a little harder as the familiar sight of the trees passed in a blur. The smell was even distinctive as she wound up the path, leading to her home. It was only another minute before the large mansion grounds came into her view and a small smile revealed itself as the large gates opened for her.

There were many people outside and rightfully so. It was a gorgeous autumn day. It would probably be one of the last warm ones left before the winter came into town. The loud roaring of the mustang came to a stop as she pulled up to the main door and stepped out. She could see the many pairs of eyes watching her now.

Tricity gave a smile and nod to the ones watching her and immediately picked out a familiar face who started sprinting her way. "MISS TIPPER!!!!!!!!!!"

Janie came barreling across the yard and threw herself onto Tricity, wrapping her arms around the woman's legs. "Hello, Janie! I've missed you so much!" Tricity bent down and tugged the girl away to get down to proper hugging level. "You look so much bigger!"

"I am! I am!" The girl gave a little twirl and stood up on her toes. "Where'd you go? We missed you! Miss Neena said you were coming back soon, but never when!"

"Well... I needed a little vacation for me and Sevion."

"Who's Sebeen?" Janie crinckled her nose and looked up to Tricity as the woman stood again.

Tricity moved the driver's seat forward and within a few seconds, pulled her son from the baby seat in the back. She went back down to the girl's size to present her son. "This... is Sev-ee-on."

"OOOOOOOOOOH! You named him!" Janie put her face within millimeters of Sevion's to examine the baby. "He grew too." She looked back to Tricity with sad eyes. "Miss Tipper... Are you gonna go away again?"

Tricity smiled and kissed the top of the girl's head. "No. I don't plan on leaving again for quite some time. Hey, you want to try and find Neena for me? Then you can help me with the baby and my stuff. How does that sound?"

"OK!!!" Janie immediately took off in a run.

Smiling, Tricity removed the baby seat from the car and placed it on the ground, putting Sevion inside. She then opened the trunk and removed her suitcases and several other smaller bags. It was impossible for her to pack light. "Let me get those..."

She turned around to see Johnathon taking a suitcase from her hand. "Damn, it seems everyone has grown." Tricity smiled at him. "How ya doing?"

"You know me..." He flashed his winning smile that had every girl in the mansion drooling and started piling the suitcases on the front staircase. "Nice to see you back again." His eyes went down to the baby. "Guess this makes you unavailable, eh?"

Tricity smacked him in the back of the head with a smirk. "Don't even..."

Sam felt the wind rushing against his face as it ran through his hair. It was autumn and a perfect day out, the sun was high in the sky and there weren’t a lot of clouds insight. Sam tightened his body to pick up speed as he rounded a corner and was coming to a loop.

“Best idea I ever had,” Sam said as he hit the loop. Sam spent the last two hours creating a giant ice slide in the courtyard, completed with loops turns corkscrews and tunnels. The best part about this was Sam finally could goof off, it had been a while since he cut loose out in the open and what better way than to attract a lot of attention with a giant slide race course made of ice.

Coming to angled jump Sam lifted his arms up and did a summersault in the air and then a small turn resulting in him landing on his stomach, now he was finally a penguin. Sam continued to pick up speed as he turned his head back to see his competition in the race, “How you doing back there?”

She'd come across Steel in the early stages of his slide building and naturally, she'd been intrigued. Like the typical man, he'd wanted to make it a competition the moment the slide was finished. At least she'd convinced him that the slide should be open at the top all the way along. It would have been too claustrophobic otherwise.

“Best idea I ever had.” Ghost was too busy wobbling to keep her feet underneath her. It'd also been Steel's idea to make the first ride showy. 'At least stand up', he'd said, 'How hard can it be?', he said. It had seemed like fun at the time. How did she get egged into these kinds of things?

Oh no! She'd forgotten about the jump. Sam somersaulted gracefully while Ghost tried to back pedal. Sam landed on his tummy pulling off a penguin-esque tummy slide that was strangely natural looking for him. Ghost jumped a bit too soon and far too hesitantly. She had to use a large gust of wind to keep herself from missing the far edge and falling backward on her butt. Her feet came into contact with the slick ice again and she wobbled finally feeling like she was getting the hang of this.

“How you doing back there?”

The extra push sent her rocketing forward with new speed. It was frightening and kind of exhilarating all at the same time. "Back where?" Ghost asked as she zipped past him, boosted by yet another gust of focused wind. It somehow felt safer with the wind at her back. Ghost even had the courage to turn over her shoulder and wave 'so long' before the loop-de-loop.

You know what wasn't good for science reports on the adaptation of deep sea marine life to utilize light in hunting? GIANT ICE SLIDES. The Italian teenager had his back pointedly turned on that scene as his hand scribbled notes. The notes slowed. Slowed. Slooooowed. The scrawny eighteen year old refused to go inside. Not while it was this beautiful. But... GIANT PENGUIN ICE SLIDE. He shook himself, and kept writing. Writing. Wriiiiiting...

One might think, at first glance, that this particular teenager was made of sterner stuff: that he was not so easily distracted by trivial matters as GIANT ICE SLIDES OF FUN. This particular teenager, after all, was reclining quite easily against a Bengal tiger. A rather large Bengal tiger. Rather larger than the teenager himself, actually. The tiger didn't seem to much mind; it lay quite contently in the sun-baked grass, its neck held at a dignified arch as it studiously looked down at an object balanced atop its paws: an open text book. A textbook with a few large creases in the preceding pages, where heavy paws had managed the trick of turning pages. The tiger was not, was not, was not looking at the GIANT ICE SLIDE OF FANTASTIC AWESOMENESS BEYOND THE CAPACITY OF THE HUMAN MIND TO HOLD (though maybe not beyond a tiger's).

Calley's new power growth was splintering. He was able to become more than one of his forms, at the same time: hence the teenager-splinter and the tiger-splinter, both diligently at work. And it would really be a great power for multitasking, if there wasn't the small issue of the ICETASTIC SLIDE OF TEMPTATION. He would not give in, he would not give in, he would not--

The tiger's nose twitched; then raised, with a curious sniff. The teenager mirrored the motion, even if a human nose wasn't up to the task. That's how Calley first became aware of the woman's return. Mrs Tipper. Alias: Tricity. Recently a mother. Captain of the X-Men. Headmistress of Xavier's Sister School for Gifted Children. The last time he had seen her, he'd been grooming himself as a housecat outside of a certain door. The door may or may not have been labeled "War Room", and he may or may not have been video taping the faces of every X-fool that went in or out of the room. That was back when King Pharmaceuticals was the hot thing, and none of them were thinking far enough ahead to see the Registration Act about to crash down on their collective heads. He'd started as a student at the Mansion while she was still around, but never really met her. And after the Camps, she'd apparently taken herself on a well-earned vacation. Not that Calley was the sort of person who poked after information like that. At all. No, Calley was sure-as-sure just a happy little Mansion resident, studying on the lawn, and refusing to take part in the silliness of an ICE SLIDE SO BEAUTIFULLY FANTASTIC THAT HE MIGHT JUST CRY.

The tiger's ears flicked backwards as the woman started talking. She was really back, then. Not just checkin' in. Which left Calley in an interesting situation: he knew the woman, but the woman probably didn't really know him. Awkward. As her suit cases rolled by on their way to the front door, the tiger stared up at her and the teenager turned his head and gave a wave.

"Hi," Calley said simply. "Welcome back, Mrs Tipper." He had the good grace to blush. "Umm, sorry--I was kind of eavesdropping," he apologized, pointing to his tiger splinter. The tiger twitched its ears dramatically. "My name is Calley. I don't know if you, ah, know me. I moved in right before the Stalker raid. It's good to have you back. I've heard a lot about you."

His teenage self stood up, one bare foot carefully keeping in contact with the tiger's fur as he tucked his notebook under one arm, and stuck out his hand with a small, I'm-in-the-presence-of-a-legend smile.

Tricity walked across the lawn, waving to the various people who were outside when her ears caught the exhilirated sounds of people laughing and screaming. It was then her eyes fell upon the massive... ice slide? the students were thoroughly enjoying. 'Awesome.'

However, her attention was taken by a young man who waved in her direction. His face was familiar, but a name wasn't coming to match it. As Tricity approached him, he introduced himself and offered his hand. "A pleasure to meet you Calley. And it's just Miss Tipper," she replied with a smile, taking his hand in hers. The sounds of the thrilling ice rides caught her attention as she looked back over at the massive structure. "I've missed this place... How do you like it, Calley?"

(OOC: lmao Calley "GIANT ICE SLIDE OF FANTASTIC AWESOMENESS BEYOND THE CAPACITY OF THE HUMAN MIND TO HOLD" "ICETASTIC SLIDE OF TEMPTATION)

"Back where?"

Sam frowned as Ghost shot past him, “Hey that’s cheating,” still frowning and feeling like a little kid, Sam said “Oh so we can use our powers then huh?” concentrating Sam created a small ramp off of a turn. Sam jumped the ramp and free fell for a second only to shoot across the race track only to land several feet in front of Ghost. Sam’s attention was distracted for a second as he saw a tiger a boy and a lady that looked familiar, thinking to himself, ’Why does she looks so familiar, I don’t think I ever met here before who is that?’ turning his head as he continued to speed along in front of Ghost he asked her, “Who was that?”

“Hey that’s cheating,” Ghost only laughed, pulling her body in tight around the loop. After the scary upside-down part she whooped and turned back to check on Sam except that.. he wasn't there. When Ghost turned around again he was in front of her again! "Wha-!" She was backpedaling again just to not run into him.

“Who was that?” Ghost had to take her eyes off of her feet to look in the same direction that Sam was looking. She saw a tiger, a brown-haired lanky young man she'd seen sulking about recently, and... someone new. Ghost conjured a breeze to gust from between the speakers to bring a bit of their conversation to their hungry ears.

"... meet you Calley. And it's just Miss Tipper... I've missed this place..."[/color]

"Tipper... Isn't that the name of the headmisstACK!" Yeah - she'd been looking at her feet with good reason. Because she'd been distracted elsewhere, those feet were betraying her for lack of attention. She fell onto her backside in a spill of arms and legs that she felt come into contact with Sam's legs. Oh great. This was just going to snowball.

>> "A pleasure to meet you Calley. And it's just Miss Tipper."

"Ah! Sorry!" Calley burst out with. His eyes very prudently did not flick down to the little bundle of baby flesh sitting in the car seat. And this answered one of his questions: why he hadn't really heard anything about a 'Mr Tipper'. Not that he had anything against kids born out of wedlock, or anything. It was just, umm... a back step into awkward territory. And not the familiar awkward territory that cropped up around the Mansion, like "Where did you get that scar?", "Do your parents love you?", or "So, how 'bout that Registration Act?" It was a whole new kind of awkward. He couldn't quite help himself: though his human self kept looking at Miss Tipper, his tiger self slowly stood up and curiously nosed a large head towards the baby's car seat. Its ears swiveled forward; golden eyes blinked twice. Tail curl. Whisker fan. He'd never actually been this close to a baby before. This one wasn't crying as much as he'd expected. It didn't even smell that bad.

>> "I've missed this place... How do you like it, Calley?"

At that, Calley could give an honest grin. "I like it a lot." He bent down to scoop up the textbook his tiger self had left on the grass, and gave it a little wrist-shake. "Umm, except for the homework overload. It's like they're trying to cram enough into our heads to make up for all the schooling we missed while the Mansion was shut down. But yeah... this is probably the best place I've been." Another thing he couldn't help: his human self wasn't looking at Miss Tipper anymore. His blue eyes had focused past her, on something that was a lot cooler and distinctly more awesome than she was--no offense to the Headmistress, but it was a giant ice slide. And on that ice slide were two little penguins. Penguin Number one, a certain young lady he'd only formally met as a cat, was about two seconds away from giving her friend's legs a seriously lesson in smackage. Calley hadn't ever personally met Penguin Number Two, but ten percent of the money sitting in his Swiss bank account courtesy of Mondragon Labs said that the guy was an ice manipulator.

"Wow. That's not going to end well." The eighteen year old was not easily distracted. There was nothing easy about an Antarctic ice shelf imported and polished, sitting in the middle of the lawn.

Tricity giggled as the teens collided into one another, twisting into a big ball of limbs. She picked up Sevion and moved across the lawn to the ice slide where it seemed the process of untangling began.

On closer inspection, Tricity realized what a massive piece of work this ice thing was. The constant tingling in her body became apparent as it always did when she was around any form of water. Repressing the constant electrical surge in her body, she touched it with her open hand as the other held the baby. A harmless shock ran through her fingertips. Solid. And.. freezing... 'Ice manipulator.' With a smile, Tric turned back and nodded toward the teens. "How ya doing? Everyone still in one piece??"

"Tipper... Isn't that the name of the headmisstACK!"

Sam felt Ghost run into him from behind as he rolled forward as best he could to avoid it but it was to late. Sam tumbled twice trying to regain control but needed up rolling twice more before he came to a stop.

"How ya doing? Everyone still in one piece??"

Sam looked over to ghost who was now all hazy and no longer solid, “Well I am still in one piece.”

Sam looked up to see the face he had seen a few times in various portraits throughout the mansion. “Y-Y-Y-You’re the headmistress!!” Said Sam in both shock in disbelief. He never before met her but he heard nothing at good things about her. Not only was she an art teacher and headmistress but she was also the leader of the Xmen. Sam grinned as he stood up and dusted himself off trying to make a good impression.

It took a few icy tumbles before Ghost realized that she didn't have to take another elbow to the stomach. She dissipated into her element and then it was simple to disentangle herself as Sam simply fell through her. Ghost shuddered and smoothed herself out as she recondensed, though did not bother to become fully solid again. Just in case.

"How ya doing? Everyone still in one piece??"

“Well, I am still in one piece.”

"All is well on the Ghostern front!" Ghost saluted Tricity insubstantially. That was about to the time that Sam started stuttering.

“Y-Y-Y-You’re the headmistress!!”

"What? You sound like you've seen a ghost." She teased. "I just told you that." Ghost made to bop CS on the head as he was standing, but her hand just went around him and re-solidified on the other side. Ghost laughed and bowed genially. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Tipper. My name is Ghost and this is Sam, he's responsible for all this." She motioned to herself, then the taller boy, and then the ice slide. As if there might be some confusion about who was who between Ghost, Sam, and the Ice Slide.

Ghost peeked around the headmistress to the boy and the tiger. She waved. "Nice to meet you too, Calley." That was what the headmistress had called him right? Calley? Of course she had no idea the tiger and boy were one person let alone that the tiger and boy had once been a cat that she'd met in an alleyway several months previous.

Tricity felt a little bashful as the young man stuttered from her appearance. She nodded to the girl who introduced them both... and the slide. "It's great to meet you guys." Nodding up at the slide, Tric smiled and looked back at them. "Didn't mean to interrupt the fun. I'm surprised there isn't a line of students all waiting for their turn."

"MISS TIPPER!!!!!" Janie came barreling across the yard and skidded to a stop, jumping in between the small circle they'd made for introductions. "Miss Neena said she'd meet you in the War Room. She said she could get the X-Men together if you wanna."

Tricity pulled the girl into her side for a quick hug. "Thank you, sweetie." She looked back over to the mansion with a slight sadness for all the heart ache that place had ever seen. "I think that would be best..." She turned her head to face the others once more. "I'm sorry to cut the introductions so short. I think it's best I get settled in and have a chat with Neena about all the happenings since I've been away. It was great to meet you three."

As the Headmistress was drawn to the Giant Ice Slide of Inescapable Awe, much like a moth to a black hole, Calley trailed after her. Both of him did: the tiger at an easy padding pace, and the human, with one arm wrapped over a notebook and textbook and the other scritching almost absent-mindedly at the ear of the tiger. Physical contact was a good thing--it kept one or the other of them from giving an excellent impersonation of cardiac arrest. At this point in time, his actual consciousness was in a heartworm inside of the tiger, so it would be his human self that appeared to kick the bucket if that contact were to be broken.

>> "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Tipper. My name is Ghost and this is Sam, he's responsible for all this. ...Nice to meet you too, Calley."

Calley slid his foot over in a smooth move, touching it against the tiger's paw as he raised up his free hand in a wave. Sam the ice manipulator. Good to know. And Ghost the cat lover. Nice to meet, again. "Heya. Ghost, was it?"

>> "MISS TIPPER!!!!! Miss Neena said she'd meet you in the War Room. She said she could get the X-Men together if you wanna."

>> "I think that would be best... I'm sorry to cut the introductions so short. I think it's best I get settled in and have a chat with Neena about all the happenings since I've been away. It was great to meet you three."

Calley gave a nod. If it was an X-Men meeting she was leaving to prepare for, then he'd be seeing the Headmistress again soon enough, anyway. "It was nice to finally meet you, Miss Tipper. Welcome back."

And that left him standing in front of the two people who were working in nefarious concert to distract him from his report. "So..." he said simply. "Giant ice slide. How's that goin' for you?" He would not ride the giant ice slide he would not give into to temptation he was a strong soul with self-control like an iron bar he--

The tiger was looking upon the structure with all the reverence it deserved.

((ooc: Continued in "Reforming the X-Men".))

"I'm sorry to cut the introductions so short. I think it's best I get settled in and have a chat with Neena about all the happenings since I've been away. It was great to meet you three."

Sam could barley let the words escape from his mouth as he said “B-Bye.”

"So..." "Giant ice slide. How's that goin' for you?"

He looked to the one called Calley who had his hand attached to a tiger. “Cool.” Said Sam as he jumped off of the slide and got eye level with the tiger, “Haven’t seen one up closes in a whil…” Trailing off Sam noticed there was something off about this tiger, he couldn’t place it but most tigers seemed a little different, this one almost seemed to smart… Then realizing he had been seaming extremely rude Sam cleared his throat and held out his hand to Calley and said, “Names Sam.” Then answering his questions, “ I think it’s going pretty well…” he looked to Ghost for her answer and then looked back to Calley, “you know if you want you can get on as well, don’t even have to ask really.”

ooc: Hope you don't mind me jumping in real quick here for continuity sake!
ic:

Raina had recieved the heads up that a new mutant had arrived as she was already making her way down to the entrance we her arms loaded with welcome stuff. She looked frazzled and was doing her best to show Neena she was working hard when she saw a woman heading toward her. It took Raina a second to recognize her, then she felt confused.

Of course the younger ones thought she was a new mutant, they'd never met Tricity before. "Tricity!" she exclaimed running to meet her. "Welcome home! Neena's been expecting you I think she's im her office." she added adjusting the weight of the welcome stuff in her arms. She looked embaressed. "Sorry, only been a greeter for a few months now, I'm a little zealous." she laughed. "But you're obviously not a new mutant, and I've never even met this little guy before!" she exclaimed smiling at the baby but feeling a little pain at the memory of her own.

"Anyway, I wont keep you because everyone wants to see you. It's nice to have you home. "