The sun was just beginning to appear over the horizong but Luke was already busy. Earlier in the week he had posted flyers for the first pool party of the season and today was the day that it was scheduled. Having taken it upon his shoulders, Luke had gotten up at aproximately 5:00 a.m. and then immediately launched into his work. By 7:00 a.m. four large coolers had been packed with ice and then loaded with drinks. Bottles of water in one, gatorate in another, bottled tea in the third, and mixed sodas in the fourth. After carrying the coolers out to set by the pool Luke grabbed all the chairs he could find and brought them all out to set up on the pool deck.

"Ghost is bringing the condiments, CS is in charge of plates and plasticware, I've got the burgers, brats, and buns, and Alexandra is getting desserts." Luke muttered as he jogged across the lawn and back into the mansion. After fixing another cooler to contain the uncooked patties, the blind man took care of setting up several tables for food to go on and then finally made his way inside to get dressed and leave behind a small gift he had picked up.

At about 9:30 Luke slipped out of his room again wearing a pair of swimtrunks, a plain gray sleeveless t-shirt, and pair of cheep black sandals. At first his gait was normal as he strolled down the hallway with a paper bag in one hand and a beach towl thrown over the other but as he passed by the entrance to hall that led to the women's bedrooms, his movements suddenly became stealthy. Kicking off his sandals and dropping his towel, Luke jogged down the hall before pausing in front of the door of one Ghostly person. Quickly hanging the bag off of the door handle Luke jogged back over to his shoes and towel and then cheerfully made his way back outside to the pool.

After lighting the coals to make sure they would have plenty of time to heat up and burn down before he started cooking, Luke stretched out on one of the chairs and just enjoyed the feeling of the sun beginning to warm his skin. It was gonna be a great day.

***

Inside the mansion, one plain paper bag hung still as it waited for the woman whose name apeared on its label to find it. In its depths was a bikini with matching wrap as well as a note.

~~ Ghost,
Life has been busy and extremely serious for you since your store opening. You've been so wrapped up in the professional life that you're beginning to forget how to have fun. Here's a little presant for you to just get out and live a little. Have fun and don't forget your sunscreen!

~~ A Friend

Raina awoke from a pleasant sleep to find the sun streaming in through her window and heating her skin. It was starting to get warmer earlier and with a happy little sigh she sat up in bed and stretched. Star yawned at her feet. She glanced at the clock- 9:30, wow she slept in! Usually Star woke her up needing to pee much earlier- oh great... did Star have an accident?

Raina shifted around in her bed to find a wet spot on the blanket. She let out a little moan. "I appreciate the sleep in... but I'd rather you wake me up then have an accident on my bed." she stood up slipping into some sandals on her floor. "If I move in with Luke... you seriously can't do that." well that was something she hadn't thought of before. Taking Star to Lukes. When he had offered the invitation for her to move in- the one she was still considering- had he taken into account Star? "Thankfully pee wont turn me into a fish." she laughed spinning around and pulling the blankets out from under a groggy puppy.

******

After a trip to the laundry room to stash the pee soaked linen Raina had an interesting time trying to wax her legs. Shaving wasn't really an option unless she wanted to go fish which wouldn't get the job done anyway... but waxing was messy, and needed oil to clean it off... and left her skin red and blotchy. But she'd be damned if she had hairy legs on pool day.

*****
Finally satisfied with the way she looked in her lime green bikini and silky smooth legs Raina picked up her beach towel and sunscreen. She was going to offer to be the impromptu life guard today... after all... here at the mansion she could be herself... and she was the only one who could breathe underwater. Granted, it wasn't the top thing on her list to go in and get wet and turn all mermaid... she was planning on parking her butt on a chair on the grass away from the water. But she was better than anyone else once it came pool time... and who knew? Maybe she would stop in for a dip if people seemed ok with it.

She headed outside with Star at her heels. She made quick time getting to the pool and watched a handsome Luke setting up. She stood and watched for a moment and then made a foxy whistle. "Well hey there handsome!" she called out "Like my suit?" Star ran over, tongue -a-slobbering to greet him.

How could anyone miss all of the flyers everywhere around the Mansion? Every turn: POOL PARTY! Everytime she went to pee: POOL PARTY! Everytime she closed the fridge: POOL PARTY! Well, if there were so many signs to go to this pool party, why not go? She hadn't been swimming in a while, but she'd be darned if she ever admitted that she actually couldn't swim. Living on the streets since she was young made it hard for swimming lessons so she settled on pool wading instead. The alarm went off, reading 9:30, but she read "Holy crap: hours run this early?" Mildly cursing through her mumbling morning breaths, the did the only thing she found actually worked when she really needed to get up, phased through the bed so she hit the floor.

"GAH!" she moaned when she landed on one of her shoes. Stupid...stupid mornings...stupid shoes...stupid beds... hopefully the pool was smarter. Rolling out from under the bed, she crawled to the bathroom and took care of herself. Just some wake up cold water in her face would suffice. Bikinis...one of her enemies. While she did look good in one, it was something she hated doing, she hated looking like she graduated high school. With a sigh, she put it on and wrapped herself in a towel. Underpossessioned Fade never had the proper things to go anywhere, nor did she seem to care if she had to make a U-Turn to get something she forgot. Just the sauntering kind of mutant girl.

Walking out of the Mansion, the sun thought it was a great idea to stab her eyes with an overwhelming stinging feeling as she was not prepared to see it. A fit of blinking followed as she tried to keep her eyes from watering. Didn't work, she looked like she cried. Maybe if she rubbed her eyes, she would look more presen...nope... now she had red and purple splotches under her eyes. At this point, she really didn't care that she was tired. Really didn't care that she just got sunstabbed. Really didn't care that a couple was making out next to the barbeque. When she noticed they were the only two out there, then she kind of cared.

Not wishing to ruin any kind of moment, she just simply bent down and motioned for the puppy to run over and say hello to her. If she couldn't get a hello from a human, she was perfectly happy with a puppy greeting. "Here, pooch" she kissed the air, signaling the dog to come. After just one year, she had managed to find the X-Men nearly completely replaced. Where had everyone gone?

((Thanks for the invite!))

It was another long night but long nights with a girlfriend you haven’t seen in forever always made that night better, “Stop that tickles…Le- Cammie” Sam muttered as he tried to brush the tongue from his ear as he reached a furry face. His eyes now open and his head slowly turning to the small Tabby Kitten that was defiantly getting more affectionate and defiantly bigger. Sam grinned as he turned around to the his cat and picked her up and brought her to his lap. “Morning Cammie!” Meow! cried the cat as she started to purr in his lap as she started to snuggle into him. Looking to the right side of his bed Sam let out a high pitched whistle and said, “Wanna go out side?”

It took about twenty minutes for Sam to get ready and his dogs let out for a brief time out on the balcony which he used time for time as a training ground for bathroom uses. Though for Cammie and Roxxie it seemed pointless for they both came to use the litter box perfectly. Grabbing the plates and the cups and silverware Sam looked to his small heard of four dogs and one cat and said, “Be Good! I’ll be back in an hour or two and if your good we can go for a walk!” with that the dogs let out a bark as the kitten let out a small meow as she slinked her way back to the pillow that Sam slept next to for that was her pillow and no one else’s.

Walking down the hall and towards the pool Sam stopped at the back door and scratched his leg with his addias sandals. Hair left messy, white shirt to match his blue and white board shorts with flower prints on them Sam walked out into the sun around 9:30ish a.m. with a smile on his face, “Love the sun!” Sam said as he stretched into a yawn still holding all the plastic ware for the party. “Ladies and gentlemen!” Sam yelled to Luke Raina and a girl he wasn’t familiar with, “I have brought the plastic ware so fear not! The party shall not stop!”

Letting out a small grin Sam walked over to Luke and said, “I have no idea where you want these…New girl…” Sam blinked at the new woman and waved to her as he looked back to Raina and said, “Your looking lovely today!” Sam grinned to and gave Luke a hidden wink as he asked, “It is never to early to start grilling, point me in the right direction and I shall get some early, early lunch going!”

A gentle nudge. Ghost blinked against the hard, cold glass. This mess had been a week. Or... yeah. Ghost blinked several times and was nudged again.

"Why are you here? I though I was opening today?"

Blink, blink. Ghost sat bolt upright and looked at the large calendar that served as a schedule. Her eyes scanned through the days as she wiped the slobber off her cheek. Doom set in as her own handwriting greeted her on the day that was today: Ghost and Shin off for Pool Party.

Oh. No. "I was supposed to get condiments!" One moment she saw Aurum's too wide eyes and the next she was incorporeal and out the door.

No. No wait. She had to slow down and think things through properly. Get the condiments then go incorpore-- oh dear. Well, it was a bit late for that wasn't it? And where was her wallet? Ghost slipped back into the store and became solid. She straightened her wrinkly yesterday's clothes and waved to the Aurum who was shaking his head upon exiting her office. "Have a good day!" And she grabbed her things from her desk and skipped out the door. Well, she still had time. The party didn't start until 9... something.

***

Anyone recently staying at the Mansion must have believed Ghost was having wild parties or an affair of some kind with as many times that she came home in the morning in the same clothes as she left yesterday. Today, she came home with a grocery bag full of ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Ghost didn't care for any of the stuff personally, excepting the lettuce and tomatoes, but she'd seen people eat hamburgers with these things before.

Ghost showed up to the party, still rumpled from yesterday, to hand off the goods. She waved to Raina and Luke and CS and his mystery date. Yeah, that definitely wasn't Leila. Nothing surprising there. Seemed lots of romantically involved mutants just split the mansion without warning. Ghost understood and therefore could not judge. But she could pass off the condiments. Ghost handed the bags to CS. "Can you and your snookums get this set up? I still have to change. Thanks!" There wasn't even time to object. As soon as the bags were touching CS's hands, Ghost was off running, big grin on her face.

***

No, a big frown on her face.

On her bed, Ghost had a bikini spread out next to her typical suit. The bikini was, of course, not of her choosing, but it wasn't all bad... it had a skirt thing. But oh! She couldn't wear that! That was like... going outside naked! It was for women with curves like Raina, not a string bean boy-shape like Ghost.

She considered her choice of a swimsuit, bought in Hawaii and still never used, the black suit was rather like an old-timey one, or maybe a scuba suit that came up to her knees and elbows rather than her ankles and wrists. Actually... when had she last been swimming? She tried to remember and honestly couldn't. It'd been years. Ghost frowned at the note. She knew how to have fun... it just... didn't involve a bikini last time she checked.

Usually Deathstar goes for a morning jog, but this day she decided to sleep in a little later. The bright rays of the sun replaced her alarm clock waking her up at exactly 8:30, Deathstar desperately tried to recreate night by putting a pillow on her face but to no avail, she awakes due to the sun relentless attempts to wake tired aching body. "Damn!" she says as she throws her pillow across her room, She slowly lifts up her upper body rubbing her sensitive eyes thanks to the mr. sun, She lets out a much needed yawn, twists her torso to get out of bed, quickly falling to the floor once her feet touch the floor "Theres my earring, maybe this isn't a bad day after all" she says while her face lays on the floor getting a quick glance underneath her bed locating lost items she haven't seen in days.

Standing up regaining her composure, she rubs her neck gently massaging joint pains."I need a quick shower", she says before she notices a flier on nightstand announcing a pool party, "party eh!, I think I'll need to check it out, hey!, I need a vacation anyways" Deathstar says to herself while walking to her dresser pulling out her skimpy bikini. The two-piece bathing suit is made out of black see-through sheer material with pink metallic horizontal stripes covering up her private spots, Deathstar was never shy of showing her body she work so hard to keep up. Slipping on the bikini she throws on a thick white cotton robe, lets down her red-streaked hair and heads toward the pool area barefooted.

Deathstar throws on her shades before she enters the pool area dominated by the beautiful glare of the sun. Now out and in plain sight she notices x-mates laying out collecting sun, hugging her robe against her body, she decides to go over let everyone know of her presence. "A party without Deathstar isn't really a party is it?" Deathstar yells, she thought she throw out a couple of sarcastic jokes to get the party started.

Alexandra opened her eyes lazily as the sun shining trough the window had made its way to her bed. With a hazy vision she saw the red digits of her clock shining brightly 09:07 am. With a content sigh she shifted her body to the other side where a comforting shadow protected her eyes from the sun light. Another content sigh and she pulled the sheets around her body with another lazy motion and prepared to go back to sleep.

Eyes opened swiftly and widened. 09:07 am? Her head turned suddenly to the other side facing the cruel digits of the clock. 09:08 am. Alexandra let her head fall back into the pillow. “Pool party. Arghh!” she muttered against the smooth fabric. She banged her head twice against it then got up in a quick motion. “Okay, what to do first?” she said still standing in a seated position on her bed and looking around the room confused. Frankly, she hated herself after waking up, for she seemed unable to concentrate on anything.

Shower, she told herself and rushed to the bathroom to do her morning shower. Yeah, she knew she wouldn’t get there in time, the shower occupied a good fifteen minutes from her time and she still had to do so many things. And the pool party was supposed to start at 09:30 am as far as she remembered.

At 09:36 am, Alexandra looked at herself in the mirror for the last time. Although she was short on time she had taken time to double check her swim suit, after all, she didn’t want to take chances and repeat the pool incident she had with Sam a while ago. The white of the tunic she was wearing gave a nice contrast with the tanned skin she had gained in her Colombian “holyday”. She sighed at the slightly wet hair and its tendency to curl as she didn’t had any time to try to dry it or style it and put a pair of sunglasses on top of her head. Putting on her white flip flops and grabbing her matching beach bag, the female mutant left the room in a hurry.

Half way to the pool she remembered that she was in charge of desserts. A mental face palm as she turned around and made a detour for the kitchen. Five minutes later she was finally getting to the pool and setting the contents of the bags she was carrying on a table in a stealthy mode, hoping that no one would notice that she was being late. Occasionally, she glanced to where people were starting to gather.

Some of them she was familiar with, Luke and Sam to be precise, and from what she guessed one of red heads would be Raina, Luke’s girl. She remembered the red streaked blonde from the movie night but she was unfamiliar with her name while the other girl she didn’t even remember seeing around the Mansion. Probably a new addition she said to herself as she was still setting the dessert table in the stealthiest way possible.

As soon as she was finished, Alexandra headed to the other mansion residents. “Hello, hello.” she said in a bright tone as she dropped her bag on one of the seats. Her glance shifted from Luke to the presumed Raina then to Sam only to be quickly moved to the unknown girls. Geez, and she thought she had gotten over it.

As Luke had begun to hear the sounds of people waking up inside the mansion, he'd gotten out of his chair to double check that everything was where it was supposed to be. With his sonar he could see Raina standing behind him just watching. Well, if she wanted to be a spy for a little while, he'd have to oblige her. Finally she let out a whistle to draw his attention.

"Hey yourself beautiful." Luke replied with a grin as he turned and walked toward Raina, only making it halfway before he was intercepted by the dog. Crouching down he took a few moments to pet and wrestle with the animal before standing back up and walking the rest of the way over to Raina. "You should wear swimsuits like that more often." He said with a grin before leaning down to give her a lingering kiss on the lips, "You look sexy."

While the two of them chatted for a moment, Luke watch as a few other people arrived. First a woman he'd never seen before that chose to call over Star instead of introducing herself. "Makes sense... Raina and I look a little involved." He thought with an inward chuckle. Slipping his arm around Raina's waist Luke walked with her toward the other woman just as Sam walked over carrying a load of plates and supplies.

"The coals are warming and the meat's in the cooler right next to the grill. Buns are over on the table so just set the plates beside them." Luke replied with a laugh just as Ghost came rushing up with several grocery bags of condiments. For a moment Luke felt a twinge of disappointment that she hadn't taken his advice to relax and have fun but as she announced she still had to chance he began to think that maybe there was still hope for her.

"Hi there. I'm Luke, this is Raina, and that's Sam." The blind man finally introduced as he turned his attention back to the young woman that was currently busy with Raina's dog, "I don't think I've had a chance to meet you before."

Before she could reply, two more ladies made their way over to the pool area. First was Deathstar, hiding her swimsuit with a large robe, followed right after by Alexandra who was hiding her swimsuit with a tunic of some sort.

"Hey ladies!" Luke called over to them as he gave Raina a quick squeeze. He had see her get slightly jealous of Victoria so he was definitely going to make sure she had no reason to worry even with all the swimsuit clad females that would soon be nearby. Turning his attention back to the woman with the dog, Luke smiled and waited for her to introduce herself.

Raina grinned from ear to ear as Luke greeted her and complimented her. Though Star made a running dash from Luke to someone standing behind Raina. A little embarrassed that she'd missed someone else arriving Raina spun to see a somewhat familiar face. "Sorry!" she apologized as Star jumped all over the woman excitedly. "He's still a pup."

Luke introduced them as CS arrived giving her another compliment as well. Raina blushed a bit. "It's just nice to be out in the sun!" she announced. Then it hit her "Oh, you're Fade! We met a few times about 2 years ago when I first moved here. It's nice to see you, you look great!"

She really wanted to chat with Fade and see how she was finding the place but the pool party was filling up quickly. Ghost lived up to her name, nearly poofing in with supplies for CS making a few comments that made her wonder if CS and Fade knew each other, and poofing away. Not actually poofing... but Ghost had a way of appearing and disappearing that really did seem... well... ghostly!

Star was rolling around on his back enjoying all the attention and Raina noticed Death Star and Circe arrive. Fade would be happy to see Death Star. That was for sure. She could only imagine what it was like to come back to a mansion full of different people. But hey, people grew up and moved on no matter where you went. Thus was life. She smiled to Death Star and watched Circe. She knew of Circe... and maybe had met her once previously... but they didn't really know each other yet.

She turned to look back at Sam. Two boys... and all these girls. She shook her head with a grin "I might have to call Naveed to even this up you know Luke." she teased.

She spyed a yellow lawn chair back by the bbq and decided it was already placed at a safe distance from the pool so she wouldn't get splashed, but still close enough that if she needed to dive in she could. "I'll be the lifeguard." she winked at Luke, "let's face it... breathing underwater will come in handy."

She let Star do his thing, running from person to person as excited as ever. He'd be tired out soon and return to the shade. She parked her but on the lawn chair and stretched herself out and started applying sunscreen. Watching for more friendly faces.

Hymn was released into the wild called the Mansion seemingly until she found out where home was and how to get there. Though today she had other things on her mind. She picked up that there was a pool party today. She had never been at the pool before and she couldn't swim but it didn't matter. Water was fun if it was undeep and ready to play in. Baths where very fun in that way.

She was running through the hallway like a happy little girl on her bare feet with a pair of short and a big tshirt on. She didn't have a swim suit so she had to do with what she got. She didn't know who was going to be there but she was a secret to the mansion as it is. She hadn't met anybody exept for the doctor and the headmistres in the mansion and she had sort of been avoiding people as it is. But today was different, being at the pool was more of a priority then avoiding people.

She almost slipped a couple of times on her bare feet because of the wooden floor but she was destined to see the pool today. A left, a right, down the stairs, through the door and then there was the shiny shinyness of the bright sun. She was blinded by it and accidentally bounced into the pretty blond girl in a robe. She fell on her but and squeeked. She rubbed it and said: "Sowwy." to the blond girl who she bounced into.

In curiousity, the puppy came over to greet the redhead. As people began to arrive, a sudden feeling of regret swept over Fade. Who the hell where all of these people? Had the X-Men really advanced THAT much, to the point that she no longer knew anyone on the team? There wasn’t any chance of her being introduced by someone they trusted, so she would not appear like she was just some homeless girl that based her world upon lies.

When the couple had finished their good morning session, they approached her and the man introduced himself, his girl, and the man who had referred to Fade as “New girl”. Wishing not to be rude, Fade jumped up to her feet. She waved hello to the New Girl Guy, as she had come to see him, then again, it seemed his name was Sam. So a Luke, a Raina, a Sam, and a flood of others she did not recognize. Deathstar entered the pool area and announced it, this caused Fade to smile, at least she knew one person here.

Just as she was about to introduce herself, Raina piped up in recognition. Although it had been so long ago, Fade remembered speaking to Raina and was glad someone recognized her. “New girl? Not quite. My name is Fade, I was once an X-Man, long before Deathstar even heard of us, but as you can tell since hardly anyone here knows me, I’ve been gone for a while. I haven’t exactly been poking my head around to say hello. I don’t recognize many of you, so it’s been a lot longer than I felt. It's good to see you again, Raina, almost didn't recognize you," she smiled, glad to see another familiar face. "Good job setting this all up,” she complimented at the end. No reason to pop in and be like ‘WOAH! LOTTA NEWBIES!’ primarily because it seemed like they were comfortable enough with the Mansion and with each other that suggested that the X-Men were doing just fine without an invisible red head. “Oh and cute dog,” Fade said to Raina, looking back down at the puppy that greeted her first.

If these were the new X-Men, they were most certainly a fancy looking bunch. Not much like the last that had many animal-appearing creatures, although it was fun to watch Emerald and Millie play in the back yard. Still one question remains, she mentally racked through her mind, searching for the answer. She wouldn’t ask directly, not yet, there was the possibility her question would be answered at this party, but Where the hell is Tricity?

Kasumi was sleeping till sound comes to her room she lets out a yawn as her hand comes out and turns off her clock. Today is the poll party she has never really been to one living in a place were there were alot of body's of clean water to swim in. Also she got a new bikini something that she has never wore in her life. Again two cold for things like this. Kasumi looks over it with her eyes she talked with her mother and took pics of her in swimming suits till her mother found this one.
Kasumis mother would not let her get any others Kasumi lets out a sigh as she looks at it. She soon slips off what she has on she puts on the new bikini. Soon she looks at herself in the new bikini she is not use to this she is showing way to much skin yet she looks killer in it. She pulls her hair up into a bun she soon gets the cover up thank goodness she had enough money to get one.

Kasumi grabs her beach bag that is a light tan that has her towel and sun glasses with some tanning oil that is all. No matter how much time she spent in the sun she will never burn it was a nice she thought to herself. She can get nice tans also. She closes her eyes as she smiles some putting on her sun glasses.

Soon she slips on her dark green saddles she looks around as she walks down the hall. She smiles as she feels a bit better she rolls her shoulders even in this cover up she feels half naked. She runs her tongue down her lips . soon she is in the sun. Kasumi looks at the sun and the pool she shakes her head some people are here. She takes in a deep breath. She is happy that she has her sun glasses on she looks at the people that is here.

Soon Kasumi finds a palce well this is it. Kasumi slips off the cover up as she sits on the chair. She leans back as she closes her eyes resting her arms at her side. She is not use to showing all of her spots at once yet they are out in the open now. Kasumi just keeps her eyes closed so she does not know if anyone is looking or not. Oh god she hopes noone is looking. She will bake in the sun for a little while that is all she can do right now.

Alec had gotten up at around 5 am without any problems. He didn’t even need an alarm clock to do so as for most of his life this was the wake up hour. Although there wasn’t anyone who would push him around to do his training, ten minutes later he was outside doing his morning jog for about one hour. Another hour was dedicated to working in the gym. He knew very well that in a mansion full of people that could defend themselves pretty easily using their powers all he had was his physical training and that was exactly why he was doing this every morning.

After the workout he had taken his time to take a long shower then headed for the kitchen to fix some breakfast. He never was picky, back when he was at the ACE headquarters sometimes there wasn’t any breakfast at all. So with a huge bowl of cereals in his lap he was heading for the living room to watch tv. There were a few people there, most of them that seemed to have barely waken up but Alec focused his attention on some cartoons as he was slowly munching on his cereals.

An hour and a half later, the bowl was sitting empty by his side as Alec was still watching cartoons. When the Justice League ending music theme Alec sighed and looked around. There were many new people in the living room, some chatting excitedly, some lamenting, but the main subject was a pool party. Oh, he remembered something about that but he wasn’t exactly aware it was today. Back when he had heard it there wasn’t any date mentioned.

Pool party, huh? He pondered whether he should go or not. And as soon as he questioned himself that a mental smack was also involved. When did he start to ask himself about going to a party or not? Sun, water and girls in bikini. That would certainly make up for the average greeting he’d got here, he thought mockingly and a smiled appeared on his face. Making a detour for the kitchen to wash his bowl, Alec skittered to his room to find something to wear.

He didn’t posses many swimming gear, all his clothes were back at his own mansion and he hadn’t got the chance to buy new ones. So picking up a pair of swim trunks and pushing a pair of sunglasses on his nose, in a breath he was outside. His walking slowed down and putting on a relaxed look he made his way where all mansion residents seemed to gather.

From behind his sunglasses he eyed the fine damsels there. Yeah, it was a wise choice to come there. His eyes shifted to the only two men there. He recognized Raina and Fade, besides that everyone was new to him. A smirk appeared on his face as he saw Fade and remembered her in his shirt and without visible legs. “Nice legs, Fade.” he said with a smirk as he took off his glasses and winked at the young woman. His glance shifted to Raina. “Hey Raina.” he waved at her then shifted his eyes again although he wasn’t looking at anyone in particular. “And hello everyone else. Name’s Alec, by the way.” he said in a bright tone, as he slightly bowed in a joking manner.

Asleep in his bed, Mettaliar didn't feel the urge to get up. He was mostly woken up by the rustling in the hallways. He sighed and tried to fall back into a deep sleep, yet the noise combined with the rumbling in his tummy combined with his mind refusing to let him rest combined with the noise combined with the curiosity of the noise decided to be like a rumbling bass drum to his ears as he slowly started to open his eyes and let the sunlight take the sleep away. Plus, waking up to Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" was a very determined fate to let sleep die and get Mettaliar up. He sighed and slowly sat up and rubbed the last bits of sleep from his eyes and the bassoon took his body through the ideas of waking up. He coughed slightly and got out of bed, walking to the door to see what could possibly be going on. He turned around a bit to see a piece of paper on the wall with bold letters that caught his eye immediately. He went over to the wall where the paper was and stared at the words, reading them.

Pool party, eh? He sighed. Why does he consistently avoid these kind of situations? He pondered this himself and thought about how things would be if he actually went. Well, I COULD go on and play guitar outside. The idea made him chuckle. Like his shyness would give him THAT much of a leash! The thought was unbearable and his face already slightly lit up at the thought of it. Well, I could just go out there and relax. Maybe I'll bring my acoustic just in case. I do need to brush up on practice anyway. His mind had won that round. He sighed and quickly turned 180 degrees and walked straight back into his room. Now to get himself ready for the big fiesta.

First things first, what to wear. He sighed as eventually he KNEW it would mean something besides his lucky trench coat. He looked through his drawers and searched through until he eventually pulled out the nicely fitting black with silver designed trunks. He nodded to himself with approval and went to put them on. He walked out of the bathroom, putting his dirty clothes in the hamper and went back over to get his shirt. The nice band shirt he pulled out would do just fine. As he threw it on he looked around the room to find his precious Mike custom. There was no acoustic guitar he'd rather have than the one his friend signed a few weeks before his run-away. He picked it up along with his pick pouch and headed out of the room.

Now onto some fun. He smiled as he ran down the stairs with guitar in hand. He walked around barefoot as he had no sandals to wear and his shoes were just out of the question. He walked out of the house and saw that a few people had already made it outside. He sighed and found a nice place a few seats away to put his stuff down. He placed everything and stood up to see who was there already. A lot of girls had showed up, a few of which he could not recognize. The men who showed up Mettaliar didn't recognize. He shrugged and decided to relax for a while. He laid in the chair and pulled his guitar up. He remembered a few songs that would probably fit the mood. After tuning his guitar he played the first few chords to a Sublime song, "Badfish." He didn't mind who listened, just his way of getting practice in.

Having one place to stay at night still felt alien to Sara. She’d started staying at the mansion after her accident that included her falling down and hitting her head with a bullet that happened to be fired by one of New York city’s X-finest. Sara had been blind for a few weeks, and spent her recovery time at the mansion. She intended to leave, when her sight had returned, but the fact of the matter was, she still had times that her ability to disappear abandoned her. Sara still intended on going off on her own, and leaving the mansion, but for now, with her sight going in and out, staying somewhere, that she knew should be safe, was an odd sort of comfort. A comfort Sara couldn’t describe with exact definitions.

Sara stirred when the sun streaming in from her window, fell on her fur and started warming her with the same sensation she got from a hot towel. She felt her muscles relax even more under the heat and waking became an evil fight of will. Sara’s will to get up early, for once, with the other will that pulled her to sleep in, and enjoy the sun. Sara rolled over and off of the bed. Falling about four inches before her feet instantly tucked under her, and she landed in a crouch. Oh look. Sara landed on her feet for once, and no one was there to witness.

Sara glanced at the time and it already was 9:15. Well there was no harm in being fashionably late. Sara made her way to the mirror where she did a quick combe through with her hair. Leaving the majority of it to hang loose around her shoulder where it waved in and out. She continued the combing around her face arms, sides and legs doing a quick flick motion to get rid of the shorter hairs that had loosened over night, also thinning out her over all fur coat so her body had more of a sleek look, than she would in the winter.

Dressing was simple and quick. Sara had a swim suit she’d bought during a little shopping trip she had taken with Koga. Though that had been hidden away… Sara wasn’t even really sure she wanted to wear it today.. .. .. But it was on now.

The swim suit was a one piece, that sara had altered to let her tail come through the back side. It was a deep red, with a shape that was comfortable around her unusual hips. The back was open so far that the openings came around her sides, to show sections of her mid drift. Giving herself another look in the mirror, she was suddenly very thankful she’d been thinning her fur. Sleek looked a lot better with fur, than fluff.

Sara wrapped a sheer dark red scarf around her hips, and headed out the door and to the pool. No towel was needed, She didn’t intend on getting wet. Just mingling. Something she didn’t get a lot of time to do.

Sara entered the scene with her smooth, liquid like movement. She immediately recognized most of the mutants there, surprising herself, including a face that had shown up almost a year ago. Then there were about three people, Sara had never seen before. Well that’s the way things went, wasn’t it.

Sara eased her way closer, in the general direction of Luke, Sam, and Raina. The people here that she was probably most familiar with. Star, Raina’s puppy, greeted her, and she gave the pup a gentle scratch behind her ears, and on her side, as the dog leaned it’s self against Sara’s leg. Then it was off to mingling.

“Hey, Hope it’s alright I decided to crash this party.” Sara said nodding to Luke and Raina as she went to stand by Sam for the moment. Another man, who Sara didn’t recognize had sat down with a guitar, starting to play. “The music’s nice.”