It had been a long couple of days, and an even longer last few nights. Lexie hadn't been sleeping well at all, but if she was completely honest with herself, that wasn't anything new. In fact, everything had been a lot harder lately, but being around the mansion definitely made things seem a lot easier. She still hadn't heard from her mother or her stepfather, but she tried not to think about it too much when she could manage. Today wasn't one of those days unfortunately, and Alexis's head was practically swimming with everything that was on her mind.

Alexis crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself tightly as she made her way across the mansion grounds. Everything seemed so quiet. She didn't like it.

Plopping down into the grass, she took a deep breath, kicking her legs out in front of her. The grass felt good and cool on her skin, and she couldn't help but smile a little as she sat there. She reached down, removing her shoes and sinking her bare feet as far into the grass as she could manage.

Leaning backwards, she placed her hands behind her head and relaxed in the grass. Before she knew it, she was drifting off back to sleep.

(OOC: Permission to GMod Shin and Thor, Shin will be posting tomorrow)

Glad it was such a beautiful day Sam decided to spend it some of the day running with his massive Saint Bernard who has of late has seemed to put on a little weight. He wasn’t a puppy any more and it was obvious the amount of time he spent sleeping opposed to playing and exploring seemed to increase. Too much of the dogs displeasure however Sam decided it was time for Bruno to start running, and not just a short walk up and down the halls but rather a run around the mansion. Something that Bruno made obvious he wasn’t a fan of at all the fact that Sam threatened to leave Bruno behind was the only thing that kept the dog moving.

Despite Bruno being so big he was about as big as a baby as any dog could get. The smallest stuff scared him, rain, flies and every once in a while strangers. The only time Bruno could be away from Sam was if he was in Sam’s room sleeping on his bed with a certain feline friend inches away from him. In fact the only reason he thought that Bruno willingly came out running with him was because both Shin and Sam’s old dog Thor happened to be running around the same time as them.

The constant sound of shoes or paws smacking against the cement made it clear that there was literally nothing going on outside on the mansion grounds. Looking around and deeming it eerie Sam looked over to Shin who had his dog keeping pace right by his side, “Why do you think the grounds are so dead today?” Sam asked Shin as there running had come near an end as the made it towards the area where the started close to an hour ago.

Glancing down to his other side Sam reached out and patted Bruno on the head as the large dog let out a loud panting sound only before laying down and sprawling out and squirming slightly in the cool grass.

"I dunno. It's a Friday... maybe they're all in class, or wandering around in the city..." Shin pondered.

His black and white zebra-striped tennis shoes pounded the pavement as he ran along beside Sam in a pair of forest green running shirts and a black tank top. His bangs bounced with every motion of the jog, keeping time with the tail wag metronome of the Siberian Husky at his side. Thor didn't get it. What was Sam talking about, nobody around? The birds were twittering through the air, flying low this morning. Worms didn't dig themselves. And the squirrel in the tree a few meters ahead of them was gnawing a nut as all squirrels should at common durations. Flowers were pricking their yellow heads out of the soil to mutter vague insults on the wind. The whole world was busy right now. How could Sam be insisting it was like some barren wasteland? Of course, there was the fact things did seem quiet. He sniffed the air and sneezed, just to be sure.

Something seemed different. He stared off towards the direction of an unfamiliar scent, body stiffening like a bird hound that found its kill. The Asian walking him jerked to a stop, glancing back at the dog weight that had stalled his movement.

“Something wrong, Thor? Find someone?”

“Ruff!” Thor took over, tearing the leash from Shin’s grip as he ran towards a blond girl spread out on the lawn. A tongue lolled out to lick at her face.

Shin chased after Thor, cautiously as they came upon the girl. “Er… sorry!! He doesn't usually do that, and... THOR!!” Shin jerked the husky away from the young girl's face. "That is not the proper greeting to give the poor girl, seriously. Doggy kisses. Sheesh. Sorry, again..."

A hint of redness touched at his cheeks as he fought against the overly-friendly dog for control of the situation.

Lexie bolted upright, her hands flying towards her face. A dog. It was only a dog. She blinked, confusion registering on her face as her gaze flickered back and forth between the two men. She wiped her hands across her face once more, trying to hide her look of disdain. After all, she was the one who had fallen asleep outside.

"It's alright," she smiled after a moment. "Seems like he was just trying to be friendly is all..." She reached a careful hand out to touch the dog, her gaze moving up to look Sam and Shin in the face. She stopped herself just short of petting the animal and allowed her hand to fall into the grass. "Nice dog..."

She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself for a moment before reaching for her shoes. A pink tint rushed to her cheeks, and she did her best to hide her face from Sam and Shin. "I uh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep out here like this..." she whispered, her gaze directed towards the ground. "How embarrassing..."

Stopping abruptly as he noticed that his old trouble making husky, Thor had stopped running completely to investigate something that was amiss with the grounds. Curious as to what it was as well he looked down to Bruno who was panting heavily, a grin appeared on his face as Bruno watched Thor pull away from Shin. Bruno turned his head slightly and looked to his leash then to Sam and stood fully erect on all fours making it look like he was to do the same thing as the adventuress husky but instead he looked to Sam and then turned tail and ran behind Sam letting out a small whimper. ”Heart of a Lion this one…” Sam said as he rolled his eyes to Shin.

Following Shin and Thor to a location on the grounds of the Mansion Sam spotted Thor attacking a young woman on the ground who was most likely awoken to a wet and slobbery tongue letting out a small laugh as Bruno went to sniff the mystery woman Sam said with a cheery tone in his voice, ”Hey Alexis, don’t worry about it sleeping on the grounds, I for one actually approve the idea, at least the grounds are being used right?” Sam let out a small laugh as he pointed to shin, ”Alexis this is one of the other mansion greeters and a friend of mine, his name is Shin.” turning his head to Shin he said, ”Shin this is Alexis, one of our new residents I helped her get situated a day or two ago.

Looking at the twinge of pink on her face Sam again let out a small chuckle and said, ”No need to be embarrassed, I fall asleep wherever I can,” it wasn’t necessarily a lie seeing as Sam has fallen asleep in almost all the main rooms of the mansion. His eyes trailing down to the large dog that was poking his head from the safety from behind his leg Sam grinned as Bruno sniffed the air around the woman to determine if she was friend or foe.

"Alexis, huh? Thor says 'nice to meet'cha'." Shin added wryly as the husky eased back. He rubbed the dog's neck, and applied gentle pressure to his hind quarters, forcing him to sit down. Thor looked up at him, tongue lolling out loud in a bark. Shin smiled down at the dog and ruffled Thor's ears. "There, there. Calm down. She's new here. We don't need to scare her." Thor relaxed. Shin's eyes rose to meet Alexis's face. "Welcome to the mansion, Alexis. And like Sam said, no worries. I've tripped over worse."

Shin turned his smirk towards Sam, explaining. "One time, I caught Alexandra conked out on the kitchen table. And Ghost always seems to pass out in the strangest places... you know, I caught her snoring in the library once? Those comfy chairs must've done her in." Thor glanced back towards Bruno as Shin spoke, panting smugly as the big dog checked the girl suspiciously, as if she might suddenly sprout a cat's tail and ears.

"Nice to...nice to meet you, too..." Alexis stammered, a nervous smile still on her face as she reached out to pet the dogs. She sat herself up a little bit straighter and kept her eyes on the two men that were standing there with her. "The mansion's been so quiet. It's nice, but I don't feel like I have much to do..." Of course, being new made things a bit harder on the young girl, but at the same time, the mansion seemed like it was the best place to be. She was among like people...safe...understood. It was the kind of place someone like her needed to be. "So far though, I really like it. Thanks for being so...welcoming." Again, she could feel a blush rising to her cheeks, but she did her best to ignore it.

Jumping up, she dug her feet into the grass, stretched out, and offered each of them another tired smile. "Looks like nap time is over." She did her best to stifle a small yawn as she glanced back and forth between the two of them. She loved meeting new people, but every once in a while, embarrassing little situations like this one popped up.

"You two wouldn't mind...I mean...would you care to have company?" She asked, carefully moving a strand of hair from her eyes. "You don't have to...I just...it seems like it'd be a little bit more fun than sitting out here all by myself." She averted her gaze to the dogs once more and couldn't help but smile again. Curiosity was a strange thing, and she couldn't help it. She was new around here, after all.

Letting out a small laugh Sam nodded, ” There are a few that choose to sleep in weird locations Nika for example fell asleep in a tree until the branch broke, and for the life of me I still want to know how she landed on her feet, must be the cat in her?” Sam gave a small nod to Shin before patting Bruno on the head, ”She’s good people go say hello!” nudging Bruno a bit the large dog took a step closer to her sniffing the air once again until Sam nudged him yet again.

With the second nudge Bruno took to large steps and was already in the woman’s arm reach. Nudging Thor out of the way so he could be pet instead. Bruno always did like the attention. With a small teasing gesture Bruno wagged his tail in Thor’s face once and walked away as Alexis jumped up into the air and landed on her feet.

”It usually isn’t this quiet, in fact we were both surprised when we came out here,” Sam pointed to Shin then himself, ”Might have something to do with the classes, might be testing day or something.” shrugging slightly feeling that he should know if there was a large amount of testing of the students seeing as he was a teacher. ”Yeah you can tag along but try and keep up, Shin is faster than he looks!” grinning slightly and patting shin on the back Sam picked up Bruno’s leash and then tugged him along as Sam started up his jog once again.

Thor nudged his head into the helpful hand as Alexis's fingers aided him in ridding the itch behind his right ear. Shin laughed at Sam's story. "Really? Nika... the catgirl, right? Wow! Well, you know the old saying for cats, right? 'If I fits in it, I sits in it'... actually, that isn't very old at all..." He scratched his neck with a weak laugh, watching Bruno walk up to the girl and nudge Thor out of the way.

The husky turned to look at Bruno with a 'fine, fine' sigh, and wheeled around her to the other side, sitting down. His tongue lolled out, waiting patiently for her attention on Bruno to wane, and victory to be his.

Unfortunately, this was not so as Bruno’s tail wagged annoyingly in the pooch’s face. The girl sprung to her feet, leaving Thor to sit patiently for that which never was.

“Ruff,” he commented with a sneezing bark. He looked to Shin for attention. Shin gave a whistle. Thor walked back to the boy and sat by his leg instead. Asian fingers crept down to ruffle the dog’s forehead.

“Yeah… it’s weird.” Shin assented when Sam pointed his way. He smirked at Sam’s follow-up comment. “And yeah, by all means. Try and keep up. Sometimes even Thor has his problems.”

And they were off again. Shin took off after Sam, starting slow at first, as if to give the girl hope there was a chance at matching his speed. As they went on, though, one might note that with every 10 steps Shin jogged, his speed cranked up another tiny bit. And he was certain when she’d asked to tag along, she wanted a peaceful walk along the mansion grounds, too…

Alexis was actually glad for something to do. Being the new kid was a pain in the butt sometimes, but everyone around here seemed so welcoming. It made her feel so much better about everything. Being here...being away from her family...all of it. She reached each of her hands forward, carefully petting each of the dogs to avoid any further favoritism. They were both adorable, after all. She ran a hand quickly through her hair and smiled at each of the men in front of her. After a moment, a tiny smirk came to her face, and she met each of their gazes in turn. "Hmm. I think I could keep up, actually..." she told them, stretching out again, just in case.

She wasn't quite expecting what happened next. She stood there for a moment, staring after them as they took off. She let out a soft laugh before taking off after them, breaking into a swift jog to try and catch up. They were right...keeping up was going to be a chore. It wasn't something she really minded, though. Either way, it was somehting to do, and she wasn't alone. Both of those were pluses in her mind.

"Do you guys do this kind of thing all the time?" she called out as she ran, finally falling into step with them. "Or just when there is no one else around?" That was how she'd found her way out onto the grounds, anyway. "Your dogs are awesome..." She sped up a little bit, but still couldn't manage to keep up with the fastest in the group. The wind felt good in her hair though, so it didn't matter.

"I hope I'm not...slowing you guys down..." she added, another blush coming to her cheeks.

A grin crept over his expression as the loud panting of the super sized dog trying to keep pace with the group. The more they ran the more he noticed Shin was getting further and further ahead which was alright with him seeing as they were still in a group and he knew that with Bruno by his side there wasn’t much picking up he could do unless he wanted to over exert the large pooch who was already losing weight with each step.

Turning his attention to Alexis who was slightly behind him Sam nodded his head slightly, ”More or less, if we can find time in our schedule we try and figure out what way we can work out, some times it is running, sometimes it is swimming or some sort of exercise in the DR.” Now noticing the color running to her face as she tried to keep up Sam said, ”I don’t know if your blushing or not but I don’t think that will help you keep pace with us,” Sam teased as he noticed Bruno picking up his pace a little more.

As he continued on his pace his body still breathing in and out Sam asked curiously, ”So Alexis what is it you do for fun, I know it’s not the best time to be asking but, it makes the run that much more enjoyable, you know two birds with one stone!” not only was he giving his body a work out but he was racking his brain as well as he tried to get the new resident better.

Shin dropped back a few steps to match Sam and Bruno's slightly slower pace as they spoke with Alexis. Thor's paws padded along, one in front of the other. He smiled at the girl again, slinking back into petting range. Shin laughed. "Go easy on her, Sam. Not everyone trains with weighted clothing these days. Not everyone trains. And as far as we know, blushing may in fact aid in her speed." He hadn't seen her around before. Who knew what mutations the blushing girl was gifted with? Maybe there was some blood-related mutation that caused the face to become red as flow was regulated to the brain and legs to increase running speed and reaction times? Until such truths presented themselves to declare otherwise, Alexis had the benefit of the doubt.

>>"So Alexis what is it you do for fun, I know it’s not the best time to be asking but, it makes the run that much more enjoyable, you know two birds with one stone!" Sam asked.

Shin nodded. "Tell us about yourself. I haven't seen you around much. Are you new to the mansion?"

She had hoped that they wouldn't notice her blushing, but apparently she wasn't quite so lucky. "Heh..no, the blushing doesn't do anything other than make me feel embarrassed..." she whispered, slowing her pace only slightly as the two men began to talk to her. It was much easier to talk and run at the same time this way, after all.

She looked at Shin and Sam in turn, a wide smile coming to her face. One fun thing about meeting new people and being in a new place was the surprise of it all. New people didn't know you at all, and the 'getting-to-know-you' part was always quite enjoyable for Alex. "Don't worry about me," she assured them, "I'm a bit stronger than I look." It was possibly another misleading statement, and Alex couldn't help but want to clarify herself a little bit. She slowed even more, down to a brisk jog, and thought it all over for a moment before saying anything else.

"I'm from Boston--born and raised," she told them. "And I've got quite a few tricks up my sleeve that have absolutely nothing to do with my mutation. I've been uh...training, I guess...since I was little. Martial arts and gymnastics mostly. Used to compete. Right up until..." She paused and looked down at the ground for a moment before quickening her pace a little bit. She wasn't quite sure how to finish the statement. Coming here certainly hadn't ruined her life, not at all, but she was till struggling with the idea of what she was, and of what that meant.

"Right up until I left home to come here." She finally finished. In an instant, the gloom was gone, and the smile as back on her face. She fixed her gaze on Shin and Sam in turn and let out a feeble laugh. "Haven't really talked about it much," she admitted."I miss it sometimes, but this place is amazing. I'm sure I'll fit in great!"

He nodded his head slightly as he continued running the pounding and panting of the large dog next to him drowned out most of the quieter sounds but he was glad it didn’t effect Alexis or Shin’s volume level at all, he could still hear he perfectly as someone who was running and listening could. A small laugh escaped as Shin commented on her blushing, ”It’s possible it could help…” Sam said as he stepped on a rock that shook his balance.

”Not to many residents that are gymnasts here though martial arts is pretty common, I happen to know Shin dabbles around with the arts.” neglecting to mention his own involvement in the arts or his position as the self-defense teacher. Sam tightened his grip on his leash as his dog started to slow his pace to more of a trot. Again he could feel the dogs need to go back inside but didn’t indulge the dog’s wishes Sam was after all trying to get him to be more active. ”Love to see what you can do sometime in the Danger Room, that place was built to perform in.” said Sam as he looked over to glance at Alexis.

”Home is where you make it, I personally never had a home as nice and as warming as this. I am sure you’d fit in well, have you signed up for any classes yet?” Sam asked changing the subject from home’s to classes in an attempt to get rid of her home sick feeling.

"Boston, huh? Pretty cool," Shin replied as he walked along. Thor glanced at him. He could almost sense the disinterest. At the mention of martial arts and gymnastics, though, he perked right up. "Oh? You do gymnastics? That's pretty cool! I always liked the sports that train one to overcome their own body. You've gotta learn just as much balance in jujitsu as you do in gymnastics... probably more for the latter. And you competed too? That's awesome! Ever place first?"

Shin didn't take the hint from the 'up until'. She spelled it out. Shin paused. "Ah." So her powers had activated, forcing her to leave her old world to come here. That must've been tough. He glanced at Sam as the ice man asked her if she'd signed up for any classes. Shin nodded. "Always important to engross one's self in their studies. It's a good way to meet friends." ... He paused a second. Curiosity nagged at him. Shin was weak. He couldn't help but ask. "Exactly what power do you have?"