ooc: As mentioned, this is not an arrival post

ic:

Raina burst out of the mansion doors and drank in the fresh air. Her face was wet from crying, and her cheeks burned. The sun was shining, but she could clearly see all the damage done by Iris. She disheartedly walked over to a pile of rubble and sat down with her head in her lap. She felt too old and too young at the same time. She was covered in scratches and bruses and old blood stains. Her hair was back to it's normal red. She started to sob.

Could she really stay in this place? Was there any point? It was just like every place else. She hadn't improved her powers really, and it was true she did make some friends... but it wasn't like she didn't make friends in the last cities she'd been in.

She looked up at the sky, it all seemed so hopeless to her. How were mutants and humans supposed to exist, when mutants couldnt even exist with eachother.

She let out a sigh and looked at the ground- wondering if it was time to run again.

"You know, I wouldn't blame you for leaving. After all this, I wouldn't blame anyone for leaving."

Aurica showed up out of nowhere, leaning against a wall that was surprisingly still up. She had smiled over at Raina, but turned her head so she was facing straight ahead, looking up at the sky. She smiled a little more, thinking about all the happy memories she had, which was pretty much anything before the age of 12. Aurica brought her head back down and started talking to Raina again.

"Realize when I say this, I know exactly how you feel. No joke." Aurica giggled for a second, "Sorry. Let me just say this. We're all mutants, we can all help each other. But on occasions, this kind of incident might just happen. It's nothing we can stop from happening, but it's something we can learn from. This just tells us that there are some mutants out there that think what we're doing is useless."

Aurica sighed and looked up at the sky once more. "But there's only one thing we can do. Believe in what we're doing, and help make a better world." Aurica brought her head back down and gave off a little chuckle for a cliched line. "Man, how corny was that last line. But let me just ask you this, where are you going to go and what are you going to do if you leave here?"

That's when Aurica looked down at the ground. A single tear rolled down her face. She quickly wiped it away and put up a smile once more. Aurica had no other place to go, but it's not as if she wasn't used to being alone. It's the fact she found a place to belong, a place where she could fit in, and not be judged because of her powers, and be liked as a normal person.

"Just remember most of the people out there don't like us. They fear us, and in return, hate us." That being said, Aurica turned around and started to walk around the grounds, waving her head at Raina. "Whether you leave or not though, is still completely up to you."

Mettaliar was leaning against the door. He was listening to the two girls talk. Well, the one girl talk and the other listen. He felt the need to walk over, once the other girl left, and sit next to the one who was crying. He normally wasn't as approaching, though he felt he needed to be friendly to everyone, especially after what had just happened. He kept his distance so she could feel comfortable, yet sat next to her none the less.

"Look," he spoke, breaking the silence, "I know that this could be something that drives you away. It's shocking how someone or ones would do something like this. There are just crazy people out there that will do anything to make a point. Humans have always tried to take down mutants, and vice versa. But look, see how we handled this whole mess? Instead of just backing down and giving up or taking Iris out due to fear, we calmed down and tried to keep Iris calm. Of all the places I've lived, this is the most caring home I've ever been in. Sure, maybe the drama came with me yet as mutants the first thing that we must admit is people just don't like us. They think we're 'weird' or 'crazy' when really we're not." He paused at that moment as visions of back home came in and interrupted him. After he shook that off he continued again.

"I've lived in this place for more than a year and haven't seen much. Whenever something happens, everyone looks out for each other. I have never considered leaving and I still don't. I have no where to run and no one I know that would take care of me the way the kids and adults here do. Sure, we aren't in full control of our powers yet, but one day we will be. Until then we just gotta... I don't know... take the few falls we have and ride it out until we get it. I'm sorry you had to hear about what happened, but at this point isn't it better knowing that than sitting in the dark?" He sat still and looked down. It was one of the few talks he had with people he didn't know well and he felt good letting it out. He just hoped he helped more than hurt.

Ted walked out into the grounds, wondering where Raina was. He saw her sitting on some rubble with one of the guys that was fighting Iris. He decided that she probably just needed some time to think things over, and that having too many people there would likely make things worse. Ted turned to the ruined mansion, and decided that someone had better do something about it. He then decided that construction, without any sort of equipment, was not something he was willing to try. With a shrug, he turned to go back inside.

ooc: aww Ted you left before I got a chance, lol

ic: Raina stood up and looked away with her tear strained face. "Are you sure we're not just being used to fight? I know we want to be treated as equals... but how do we know if we're on the right side? I try to follow my heart... I guess I just need more time with this. It's all very overwhelming." She bobbed her head in a genuflect to Mettaliar in thanks. "I just... I just need to be sure of things. There is so much gray in being a mutant... and this is one of those times I need it black and white."

She didn't feel like talking about it anymore, and as she went to go back inside to her room she saw Ted and ran up to him.

"Hey." she said softly. "Sorry... for... back there..." her cheeks were a little red. "Want some help?

Ted turned back in surpprise. "Oh hey Raina, dont worry about, people can't be expected to go through something like this without just a bit of a breakdown." Ted gave Raina his cheesiest of grins, and then gesturned at the mansion. "So, when do you think this place will be up and running again? Because I'm fairly sure that Tricity isn't made of money, and I'm also fairly sure that this will not be a quick over-night job either." He flashed Raina another grin. "But ah well, can't be helped. I feel as if I should be doing something, but I can't for the life of me imagine what." He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, as if it would cause an idea to suddenly appear in front of him.

Raina looked around at the rubble. "You're right, this place is a mess... and it's not like we can call a plumber or something,,," she trailed off looking at the water spouting from a broken pipe. "I guess.. we start at the beginning " she kicked a piece of broken concrete. "get a wheek barrow and clean up this rubble"

Ted laughed. "I have a feeling that any wheel barrows we did have are scrap metal by now." Ted then spotted one of the maintenance robots go past, working away. "Cool, any idea what that is? Whatever it is, it's got the right idea." Ted moved over to it, and helped it start to clear rubble. They soon made headway, and there was quickly a clear patch of what was probably a classroom floor. Ted spotted some claw marks in a hunk of wood. Ripping it out, Ted realised that it was a desk. He also realised that there were few animals that had claws that big. Ted waveed it at Raina. "I think I demolished a classroom on my little run through the mansion. I con't think of anything else that would have left gashes like these."

Raina had to giggle of the insanity of the situation. "You're our Sirius Black ted, you're just misunderstood." she laughed and walked over to where the classroom used to be. "You know, come to think of it I do wonder where we get any money at all for this school...." she made her way around picking up anything that she could. "I wonder where all this stuff should go?"

An idea suddenly struck Ted. "I remember when I first arrived, I was seriously under-fed and almost unconscious. Some guy called Mr. Antonescu gave me a handful of cash, and I think he was here to donate money to the school. Maybe he would be willing to pay for something like this? It's a good cause, and he seemed like a nice guy." Ted shrugged at Raina's next question, and began to toss it all into a small pile. "I have no idea where it should go, maybe we could hire a skip," Ted took another look at the rubble, "Or twenty?"

Raina laughed. "I guess we can't exactly go door to door for donations..." she started to laugh again, and then her laughter accidently turned to tears from the stress of the day. She sat herself down in the middle of the rubble looking around. "where I come from, we'd get these huge icestorms. Rain would freeze the second it hit anything and it would freeze in all these weird shapes. Even though it was terrifying, when it was all done I used to think as a kid it was all so pretty.... I didn't notice all the destruction because I was too preoccupied with how pretty the strange ice looked on the small trees." She stood back up and forced a laugh to break her own mood. "I wish I could be that way with this..."

Ted shrugged uselessly. "At least you had some beauty amongst disaster. Where I come from, disaster was rare, but when it did hit, we all felt it." Ted remembered the day when he first transformed. The first time he had killed someone. His friend. He shook those thoughts from his mind; Raina was the one he was trying to help, delving into his past wasn't going to do that. "This might seem like one big disaster, but you should see it as an oppurtunity. Think about it, this is going to be a huge reconstruction. Maybe we can get a word with Miss Tipper, and make some changes to the old plans? We should get all of us together, everyone who helped Iris, and we should see if we can make improvements to the old mansion. What do you say?" Ted thought this was a great idea. This wasn't a problem, it was an oppurtunity.

"You're right" said Raina. "... and maybe we could create a safe room... for people with mutations they can't yet control! So if someones like you and transforms, or someone like Iris goes haywire (she doesnt realise the pun of her own words!) we have a place where nobody gets hurt..." she looked around at the property. "ick... at the very least, i'm fixing the pool"

Raina walked over towards sopping mushy ground. "If I freeze the water slightly to keep it from running, maybe you can push these ruptured pipes back together. We'll get water back in the school and the pool should fill up again, plus all this water would go back where it needs to be." she looked around calculatng what she needed to do. "You'll have to be quick, because when water freezes it expands and could make it worse, but so far, I think it's the fastest solution... ready?"

With that Raina began to sing, willing the water in the pipes, in the ground, to stop moving and flowing, and where possible return to the well and the pool. She gave Ted a signal to move the giant ruptured pipe infront of them back to it's missing pieces.

Ted nodded at her plan. "I like it, just let me know when to shift stuff." When Raina started singing, the first thing Ted noticed was how beautiful her voice was. Then he saw the water stop moving, and some of it start to go backwards. He saw her signal to him, and he approached the broken pipeline. He placed a hand on either side of it, and then pushed. It was harder to push than he thought, as it didn't move. He put more effort into it this time, and it creaked as it started to move downwards. Sweating from the exertion, he forced it right down into the ground, ignoring the water that was trying to get back into it and soaking him on the way. He managed to push it right down so that the water would flow into the next section of pipe, and then sat back and took a few deep breaths. Without some welding, water was still going to leak, but it was a start. "Well, that should do for awhile until we get an actual plumber to do something." Ted watched as water began rushing into pool, pleased with what they had acheived. Ted turned to Raina, and jokingly said "Do you reckon we should have taken the chance to clean the pool first?" Ted knew it didn't matter, the main point of the exercise was to resupply running water to the mansion.

Raina stopped singing and took an exhausted breath. She turned to Ted. "Alright!" she thought about his pool comment and blushed ambressingly. "Yes, I think you're right..." she laughed. "Wow I'm exhausted, fighting a superhuman really takes a lot out of you. At least we got the water semi-back to normal. I'd say that would fall under emergency care. I wonder if there are any live wires around here? We should be careful of that too."

Raina was exhausted but tried not to let it show. She knew Ted would be exuasted too.