>>>"I'm sorry about all the trouble I put you through. I should know better. If you ever need anything, you can contact me. I'd like to make it up to you."

Sebastian gave a curt nod to the ribbon bedecked girl. She was certainly forgiven if he was. Things were getting started though, and he didn't want to be in the way. The two of them could talk more later.

Two of the Abyss brothers made an appearance, but they seemed more inclined to dump a pile of pants on top of the nonchalant boy with rainbow boxers than they were in pounding their fists through his own unicornish brain; that was a relief. Like Isabel, they seemed to have forgiven him for his part of the King Pharmaceuticals escapade. The room continued to fill with half familiar faces who Sebastian could not place alongside names inside his head. For having lived here nearly a year, he hadn't done much socializing with the other members that lived here and he wasn't quite certain why. He had spent his time mostly in his office, healing when needed and wandering the city when not. His mindset was off a few years when it came to recreational activities, perhaps.

Finally it seemed the meal and the accompanying meeting were called to order. The food arrived under silver domes and the unicorn was pleased to see that even vegetarians ,or herbivores as the case may be, could find enough variety to constitute a feast. Someone it seemed had been thinking of him. That, more than the mounds of food, made him feel welcomed by the family, even if he was more of the black sheep here than anyone else.

The unicorn man ate as he listened to Isabel's speech. The more he heard, the less sense it made to him. The facts didn't add up, but he wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to add up to, so he kept quiet for now until he could figure it out.

First, the X-men were blamed for attacking the pharmaceutical company. That might have been true, Sebastian hadn't been on the outside and had no idea what had sparked the fight between his back up and the Order's defense forces. He wasn't sure how the X-men had been dragged into things and somehow implicated, rather than the Kabal. It seemed that there were a lot of scapegoats in this scenario.

Second, Syn was proclaimed dead, but the last time the unicorn man had seen her she'd merely been unconscious, or very very convincingly pretending to be so.

Third, Garrett had shot her, that much was true, but unless he came back to the pharmaceutical company after he destroyed the virus and finished the job his failed bullet had started earlier it couldn't have been Garrett who killed her unless there had been some lasting side effect of someone's powers of which the unicorn shifter was unaware. It was very possible; particulars were important and in some cases could be deadly.

Seizure was labeled a traitor, which made sense considering he'd apparently been rather high up in the Order's hierarchy and had acted against the rest of the group by destroying their virus and injuring their leader. That was really all, though. Sebastian himself had helped as best he could to destroy the virus and apparently hadn't been in the right place at the right time to save Syn from Garrett the second time around, if he had indeed come back and killed her. Yet, the unicorn shifter was invited to the dinner party to help plot the downfall of the traitor, who was also his roommate and collaborator. Whose side did that put him on?

The blonde lady next to him patted his hand reassuringly. Good healer. Stay on our side and we will protect you. Gulp.

Talk of revenge against Seizure and the X-men ensued. Sebastian and the Kabal remained very quiet and ate their vegetables. Blood flowing through the streets, heads rolling, thinning down the numbers at the mansion, etc.

A few things were of interest amidst the general call for violence and bloodshed:
First, Mars, he was pretty sure it was Mars, gave an update on both Garrett and Syn. There was a pang of guilt more strong than any he'd felt yet at this little dinner party at that. Garrett was somewhere, probably severely wounded by one of the other five Abyss brothers, and Syn was missing. Or rather Syn's body was missing. He still had a hard time imagining how Syn could have died. She had seemed so strong and so alive. Both of these, he felt, were his fault.

Then, the dream was brought up again. It was a strange phenomenon, this mass shared dream. The Abyss brother's theory was something to think about another day.

Next, a few of the Order members including the girl who, last he'd seen had been attached to the stop sign, the absent Pluto, and the blonde girl next to him seemed to be more than okay with the destruction of Haywire. A thing of the past, something that never should have existed, something that would cause future ruin if dreams and portents were to be believed. Perhaps that was why he was forgiven for his own part in the betrayal. He had only been after the virus that most of them didn't care about anyway, hadn't abused clout and standing, hadn't shot anyone.

Finally, the blonde girl with the strong voice and big ideas proposed that they take over the Bronx and turn it into an area where mutants ruled and humans paid for their protection. She sounded a bit like Zeus, and a hundred other mutant supremacists that had come after him, who thought mutants should be paid to not hurt others, who thought humans should just be killed off, who thought mutants should take their rightful place as rulers and gods over mankind. Sometimes it worked and mutants did make it to the top of the heap for a few years before humans again wrested control with their crusades, witch hunts, inquisitions, and concentration camps. The wheel turned around again.

Calley, brother of Slate and owner of the big mouth finished stuffing himself full of food in time to agree that it sounded like a pretty good plan to him. Oh and the Order sucked and he was a former Kabal member and a former X-men something. Someone needed lessons on what not to say and when not to say it. So different from his brother, it was hard to believe they shared the same face. One was ready to change the world into something better, while the other seemed incapable of even changing into a pair of pants let alone coming up with a unique idea.

Isabel sat silently as the others that had gathered started to speak up and interject their opinions and ideas for the future. Her plate remained unattended, her stomach not quite feeling up to having any sweets that were carted out to those that wished for dessert. She wasn't really hungry for anything in ways of a meal. Her mind was elsewhere and her body was beginning to itch for something other that sitting still and behaving. She wanted to leave the Dining Hall and set some plans, any plans, into motion, to get out and do some damage in hopes that her antsiness and grief could be relieved to some extent.

Calley wasn't helping the situation. His continued display of foolishness and lack of caring over their loss was infuriating. Why the hell was he even there in the first place? She would ignore him for the time being, lest she get blood all over the recently cleaned floor and tables. Besides, no one wanted desserts that had been saturated with the stuff. It was a terrible waste of food.

Mars' reassurances that Seizure had been dealt with was a pleasant enough surprise. She hadn't been aware that he'd been found by anyone in the Order, though she wasn't completely taken off guard that if anyone had found him it had been the Big Guys. She wasn't so sure she'd ever see the man again if he'd run into Abyss and the others. At the moment, she didn't particularly care. It was one less problem for her to worry about in the mound of issues that seemed to just keep growing.

No identification notifications about Syn was a lovely little aid in hoping the young woman was still out there somewhere, but Isabel couldn't quite bring herself to house any significant amount of the feeling. If she were okay, she would have returned to the Sanctuary, wouldn't she? It was an unpleasant thought to think of why a body hadn't been recovered and returned, or on the opposite end of the scale, why Syn wouldn't have come back to the Sanctuary. She preferred not to dwell on either possibility and simply leave things as she had stated them. She could only hope that the closer the end of such a discussion got, the less it would continue to hurt.

Dreams and the danger of Haywire were brushed off as issues of lesser importance. It was of course odd that so many seemed to share one dream, but she didn't want to risk her mind wandering too far over such a phenomenon. And she didn't care if Haywire had been a poor decision. Good or Bad, it had been their work and it had been destroyed by one of their own with unnecessary consequences. Instead, she let her attention focus more fully on the mention of the Kabal. That must have been what the unknown mutants had been a part of. She had never personally interacted with anyone from New York's third Faction. She knew there had been a truce between it and the Order shortly before and during the Registration Act. Apparently that truce was now dissolved.

"If the Kabal was so willing to aid the X-Men in their destruction of our building, then I think it's perfectly fair that they also share in the punishment," she commented, disturbed by the fact that she was likely the only one who knew little to nothing about the Faction. Perhaps she would speak with Lisa again later on in the evening and see if the woman had any information filed away about it or its members that could have been gathered while Isabel had been locked away in the Camps. She'd rather not remain completely ignorant if there was another rival for her and her companions to worry about.

Lori's disapproval of their thoughts on revenge was somewhat disappointing. However, she could behave for a while longer while the Order attempted to regain some organization. In any case, there were plenty of people out in New York. Her frustrations could be vented at her leisure. Now was the time for planning. And she did like the blond woman's plans. A small grin was given at the mention of the noticeable lack of law enforcement lingering anywhere near the Sanctuary. Isabel, of course, liked it that way and planned to keep it as such. Humans were bothersome enough without giving them a badge and a false sense of confidence with it. Extending their reach even further suited her perfectly. Concealing herself anywhere had never been much of an option anyhow, thanks to her disposition and somewhat dramatic flare.

"We won't be turning anyone out onto the Streets," she interjected, turning to look at Gore as he spoke his piece. "Just because we claim a bigger territory for ourselves doesn't mean the Sanctuary is going to wind up deserted. It just means there will be less humans causing problems for us, and hopefully a somewhat lesser need to protect our kind from those humans." More about an attack on the X-Men. She didn't particularly mind, but another fight on their grounds could go badly for the Order.

"If we're going after the X-men, slicing them up might not be the best approach," she continued, even though preventing physical harm to the X's made her stomach turn in protest. "If we hit them, we have to get them where it hurts. And what do you think they crave in dressing up and doing all their good deeds for the citizens of New York? They want the public's approval. They want equality and the only way they can get that is to do whatever they can to make the public think they're the good guys out to help everyone. We turn the public against them and they'll have a real dilemma on their hands." She would leave scheming against the Kabal to those that knew the organization a little better.

And then the CalleyCat spoke again, successfully drawing her attention and rekindling her temper. She bet that butter knife would make a wonderful replacement for his eyeball. Back around one wrist her fingers curled, squeezing until one hand began to tint purple while the knuckles on the opposite appendage went white. Nonchalant, goofy, insulting the Order and insulting her personally on top of it. She bit down on her tongue to prevent herself for saying anything to him. She was not going to make this an argument between Calley and herself. God help him if he ever ran into her alone. It wasn't likely that he'd get off without so much as a scratch next time. She would kill him.

"I think Lori's idea has a lot of potential," she managed, dragging her glare away from the shifter and attempting to allow it to mel away into a more relaxed expression. "While they may not necessarily know who's behind it, people do know that there are mutants out there causing trouble for them. I think it's about time we step up and give them a more concrete reason to fear and respect us."

One by one Meld listened as people made their little speeches and made their opinions known. She picked at her desert half heatedly once it arrived, not having much of an appetite. The more that was spoken the more disgruntled with the entire situation she became. Didn't they see how entirely pointless all of this was? They were supposed to be an organization dedicated to furthering the mutant cause, ensuring that mutants were able to take their rightful place in the world and yet here they were, focused on revenge against fellow mutants. Mutants that they should be learning to work hand in hand with, not pointlessly fighting with. There was also the fact that the vaunted Order hadn't done a single thing to actually further that cause since she had joined it months ago and that fact, more than any other, angered her.

Meld dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clang. Good, she hoped that she got the attention of everyone around the table, hoped that she would be able to force some sense into them. "Damn it what's the point of all of this? You talk about revenge and taking the streets and its all pointless. It means nothing to the larger scheme of things!" She felt like swearing, felt like showing them all just how angry all of this made her. As she spoke her voice rose in volume although she never quite got to the point of yelling, never quite lost control of herself or let herself submit entirely to her anger. Never again would she be so out of control as Haywire had made her.

"The X-Men are not our enemies, nor are the Kabal." Not that she knew who the Kabal was but she silently vowed to find out. "All this pointless perpetual conflict with them is entirely counterproductive. All of this wasted energy directed at a group who, at their core, want almost the same thing as we want: mutant rights. So they are less willing and too squeamish to do some of the things that are truly necessary to achieve our dream, that doesn't mean they don't have their skills. We should be using them for their strengths in our cause and allowing them to make up for our weaknesses. There must be a common ground between us and them and we need to find it!"

Meld took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. After a moment she continued, plainly more in control. "And as for taking the streets, what is that going to accomplish? I think we all agree that its sometimes necessary to kill those humans who are a threat to our vision, but taking the streets will only result in mindless terror when what we truly need is respectful fear. Mindless terror breeds nothing but hatred and discrimination but if we can get the right blend of respect and fear then they will come to see us the same way we see ourselves. We must be seen as superior but fair to them, we must show them that we respect them and massacring humans on the streets is not the way to do that!"

Meld took another deep breath and stopped speaking. Hopefully someone would listen. And if no one did then hopefully they would allow her to leave without trying to kill her. She knew what she had just said would likely alienate her from the rest of the Order but she couldn't just remain silent. She had joined The Order under the belief that with them she could accomplish more than if she remained on her own. She was now doubting that fact more and more.

Aura was unsure what to do, she could not help but be deflated by news of their leaders passing. She had failed, entirely to prevent harm to her leader and to protect haywire. Their was much she wanted to say but nothing she could say seemed to make up, for a failure quite like this one. Had she been stronger, then she could have prevented all of this, she was still far to weak, far to useless. This had been the second leader to die under her watch out of the two she had. So Seizzure had betrayed them, she would have to find a way to make him pay as well. Aura opened her moulth several times but nothing would escape her lips. Most importantly, who wa sin charge now, isabel? Well Aura could like that.

Aura had no idea about Lori's plan, extorting the humans could work, but why extort when you could outright kill them all. Why pursue such a useless thing like monitary value from them, their lives were so much better to take. SO much more to the point then robbing them. Then something dawned on Aura, Money had value and that was used to pay for a place to live, if they kept charging cash maybe they could heard the humans away or better yet, simply eliminate them as they were forced to fall behind one by one. Maybe Lori's plan did have a little merit, still her own thoughts meant nothing compared to whoever her new leader would be. Gore was right as well the previous battle had certainly proven they were outnumbered, but who were these kabal people anyway?

As Aura thought abyss's words came to mind and she finally spoke up, the normal conviction in her voice was a deflated as if she had been wounded somehow. "I had one as well, and pluto was in it, we were attacking a city, something about kidnappings" she said trying to recall the flurry of images she had just deemed as the normal random images she saw her head everyday. Her hand shook a bit as her anger and fursy slowly built.

Aura Anger finally shattered her natrully calm state of mind, her loss of self control was apparent as her Aura flared into view and her fingers sunk into the table a bit, as blade formed under her fingers. "I say we take whatever information we have on the x-men and whatever these Kabal fools are and use it to track down their family's. Then we do to them what they helped do for us, as they took one of our family away, i say, we should mount the heads of their parents, brothers sisters, even their childhood pets if we can find them on the gates of the mansion as a warning to all who oppose us. How many of those weak simple minded fools, would still try and fight us knowing the consequences of doing so meant their loved one forever departing this world. The x-men are out enemies for the same reason Seizure is, they are traitors to their own kind and willingly help in our endangerment, even if they were not a direct threat, theor opposition to us puts us in danger every time we try and do anything to help our own kind, such people should be eliminated with the rest of the trash" Aura said not even realizing her right hand had turned to a fist and a pink axe was now deeply embedded in the table. Aura closed her eyes and took in several deep breaths trying to calm herself, but her efforts were failing.

"I do not know this steels jungles customs well, but back in the wood, whare i lived before this, their was only one answer to betrayel, Death. Vengence is importent, it helps those wrongfully stolen from us claim some peace with the gods. As for the Humans i say we slowly wipe them out, make them suffer, have them pay their money to you if you want that pointless stuff, if thats what your after though, why not just harvest their organs? we use to do it back in the woods somtimes when we we needed food, many people out thare are willing to pay large amounts of cash to live after all, and KP is a medicle organization right? However the most importent thing in any group is loyelty without it a group falls apart and can not function as it should and thus whatever action our leader chooses to pursue i will obey" she said, her voice showing her failure to calm down. "Meld's words do have some merit, any action we take, must be calculated and not unguided, their must always be purpose and the humans must learn to bow to us as the rightful heirs to this planet. We do use horses for laber after all humans could be used in much the same way" aura finnished sitting back down for the first time realizeing the slice she had taken from the table. Rubbing her head she could barely keep the images at bay, still she figured some would be about KP, but they were always the same, always the wood.

Well, no one could say they weren't a passionate bunch. And Lori certainly never imagined them falling in line and bending to her will on the first go, but this? They weren't even listening, or rather, unlike the not-Slate, they were not thinking ahead properly.

And Meld. Dear, dear meticulously metallic Meld. If there was one mutant Lori could rip limb from limb tonight it was her. The thought crossed her mind. It was an idea she only briefly entertained. "You are absolutely right, Meld." Lori's voice purred as if there were more to than just a voice. Skin and husky promises. Nothing genetically enhanced, but it was a good voice all the same. "The X-men and The Kabal alike have their uses, but there need be no common ground for us to make use of them."

"I agree that conflict for the purpose of conflict is counterproductive. That is why I have chosen an achievable task that will serve our purposes. Did I propose wholesale slaughter of humans? No, I merely stated that they must be put under control. Preferably our control. An organized hold on a part of the city gives us a launching place into the rest of New York. Best of all, an organized hold over Brooklyn will provide exactly the kind of healthy respect you have proposed. People should know that is is safe to be in our territory given that our rules of engagement are followed."

"I am not sure the system that is in place is prepared to handle our kind, Meld. You can't possibly hope to be given due process if captured, known mutant and killer that you are." Her eyes widened at the word mutant and her rolling easy tone continued. She was almost too sweet. Almost too knowing. As if the threat was hiding somewhere under the sugar and fluff. Everyone at the table was surely wanted for something. And every at the table knew what the police had in mind for them. Shock collars. A life behind bars with pitiable food, a roommate, and no power. Worse than no power, actually, because they knew what it meant to express their powers and would be unable to do so.

"What of our captured brethren? Do they not rot in the new camps only now labeled prison, cut off from their natural born talent? We should free them as well since we indulge thieves and murders here in this place. Every revolution needs its foot soldiers..." But she was getting ahead of herself. She did not need to introduce more ideas as if thy were up for debate. This group needed a firm hand and Isabel was obviously not going to be that hand. Be it her personality or shell shock. Had Lori more clout she would have simply sent the appropriate people to make it happen. Possibly she could have, but it was best to persuade them of a single course of action if only for this one time. Each successive time would, in theory, be easier as their confidence in her grew.

"Working within the system as the X's are trying has gotten them no closer to their rainbows and sunshine than disorganized chaos has gotten us to ours. So we're thinking outside the box, outside the laws, and outside the system. If you cannot fathom such a future as one discussed at this table then perhaps you would like to try your hand at raising sheep for the slaughter at the Mansion." Lori watched Meld carefully. Calley, the young and pants-less Slate, had been the only one with enough foresight to see the potential and real value in her proposed actions. Lori had thought that Meld would understand. Being an outwardly recognizable mutant, she no doubt caught the most hateful flak in the outside world.

"Aura." Lori snapped at the girl, but then continued a bit more kindly as if she had not meant to be harsh. "I do not discredit the value of your head-on-spike scare tactics, but Meld is right. They are mutants and no matter how misguided or traitorous, they will be given a manner of respect. They have their uses and those uses cannot be fulfilled if they are busy crying and vowing revenge. Take away a man's options and he has nothing left to lose. You don't want to make enemies that have nothing left to lose."

"And yes." She sighed sounding a bit tired now from quashing these foolish ideas and explaining what should have been a simple idea. Some of them were just so young and lost. "Revenge is important, but it is also a dish best served cold. Given time, an appropriate response will become more than evident."

Again she felt like she was ranting, but they did not see the whole picture. How stubbornly short sighted of them. "We face more threats than simple humans. Adaptation has taken hold. There are humans with the ability to wholly nullify our gifts and do not think I am over exaggerating when I tell you that they have already begun to be rounded up and organized to be used against us by the government. We need to take action, start somewhere small to martial our forces, and get organized. This is where we make that stand." And if one more person started spouting foolishness, she might just start throwing things. Like Meld.

Predator had one of his habitual scowls on his face as he walked very briskly to the dining hall, his long legs making swift work of the hallway between him and his destination. His scowl was rather out of place, however, as the Sanctuary and the Order was one of the few things that made him feel genuinely part of something bigger than himself. He usually wore a smile, if a bit fierce, within the walls of his new home, but the news he had recently recieved had certainly wiped that away. It was a message that had arrived in the form of a young wall-walking mutant coming out of the wall next to Predator's bed. Predator had been about an inch away from slicing him from nose to groin when he realized who it was. The boy handed Predator a note, and then fled before he could apologize.

Come to the dining hall for an informal meeting about the future of this establishment.
-Isabel

Predator louched about for a few minutes before realizing that the note meant to come right away, and as such he knew he would be a little late. Though he was one of the newest members of the Order, Predator had heard a little of the difficulties that had occured with the battle at KP. He did not, however, know the full extent of the situation, though he supposed that the dinner would explain most of that. He hoped to see some familiar faces, besides Isabel, at the dinner. He was really looking for Meld, as he hadn't seen her since her incident at KP. Predator wanted to have a bit of time alone with her to talk about what had happened.

When Predator made it to the dining hall, he blew past the man with the clipboard without even acknowledging his prescence, and left him very exhasperated at the door. He walked in and leaned against the wall by the door, hoping to not interrupt the flow of the conversation with his entrance, though that was unlikely due to the fact that he had a few things to say on the matter.

It seemed as if the previous leader of the Order had been killed by her co-leaderish person, and now this Lori person was in charge, with Issy as her second hand woman. This came as no surprise to Predator, who knew that Issy would have some position of importance. They were talking about how the new ways of the Order would be, and Predator was happy to see that both Meld and Aura were contributing. Predator also saw that there were... Two Abyss's attending??? Abyss had mentioned brothers, but identical? That would take some getting used to. Deciding that was a problem for another time and place, Predator spoke up for the first time since he had entered.

"I don't know how many of you have seen me around before, but you may call me Predator. My take, however much it is worth, on this situation is that no matter how smoothly the transition is, there will be problems. Even if we did things the exact same way as before, each leader has their own little quirks. I don't particularly agree with the objection of wholesale slaughter, but that's just me. Revenge is a dish best served when it is most benificial. These X-Men are but misguided Order members. Yes, we must fight them shall they get in our way, but if they could be re-educated we would have a much larger group. And as for the Kabal, I don't particularly know enough about them to have an opinion. The mobster type ideas are cliched, yes, but have been time-proven successes. Am I near the mark so far?"

>> "If we're going after the X-men, slicing them up might not be the best approach. ...They want equality and the only way they can get that is to do whatever they can to make the public think they're the good guys out to help everyone. We turn the public against them and they'll have a real dilemma on their hands."

Calley gave a fully dignified, like-minded-peer to like-minded-peer nod to Isabel. If this companionability might irk her, clearly it was beyond his understanding. “Agreed with the Lady in Green Nylons. That’d be pretty easy to set up, too—the ‘making the X’s out to be the bad guys’ thing. And fun.” Mutant rights? Pfft. Loyalty? Heh. Fun was clearly the important thing, here. Fun, and never wearing anyone’s collar, ever again. Unless he wanted to.

>> "Damn it what's the point of all of this? You talk about revenge and taking the streets and it’s all pointless. It means nothing to the larger scheme of things! ...but taking the streets will only result in mindless terror when what we truly need is respectful fear. ...We must be seen as superior but fair to them, we must show them that we respect them and massacring humans on the streets is not the way to do that!"

There was only one conclusion possible from that fork-dropping outburst: Calley decided he liked Meld. Somewhat. There was still the little issue of how many times she’d been on the news recently. So she was just into mangling and murder, not mass murder? That was still a step up, by his standards. Still, it seemed that either he or she had misunderstood something. The nice blonde lady wasn’t talking the same-old aimless slaughter, was she? Baby blue eyes blinked towards Lori, as she started to speak.

> “...Did I propose wholesale slaughter of humans?”

That was all the confirmation he needed.

Calley leaned in towards Meld. “Ever seen ‘The Godfather’?” He asked. He had—it was on of his own sister’s favorite movies. His own sister also being a Lory. Not that the name coincidence was making him slightly and unconsciously a bit fond of Lori from the get-go, or anything. The fact that the woman wasn’t trying to kill everything that moved and hadn’t been on the news recently for doing just that was winning her points, as well. “I’m thinking Ms. Lori here is talking more about bringing things under control with a bit of—what’s the word?” He blinked up at the ceiling for a moment. Innocently. “Ah, yes. ‘Subtlety.’”

He approved of the subtlety, as well. He tended to swim happily in the Seas of Subtlety. When he wasn’t shouting out his resume on the steps of local pharmaceutical companies.

>> "What of our captured brethren? Do they not rot in the new camps only now labeled prison, cut off from their natural born talent? We should free them as well since we indulge thieves and murders here in this place. Every revolution needs its foot soldiers..."

Eyebrow quirk, to that. Busting felons out? Guaranteed to increase the concentration of violent people around. Calley disapproved of violent people, by and large. But he was pretty sure he could take care of himself. Err, once he was back up to full shifting capacity. And a ready-made disgruntled army wasn’t a bad idea, if the Order’s next leader could hold them together. And—what was the word? ‘Lead’.

>> "I say we take whatever information we have on the x-men and whatever these Kabal fools are and use it to track down their family's. I do not know this steels jungles customs well, but back in the wood, whare i lived before this, their was only one answer to betrayel, Death. Vengence is importent, it helps those wrongfully stolen from us claim some peace with the gods.”

Calley took this opportunity to flag down another dessert. Cake. Umm. Delicious, and a perfect reason not to reply to that. Not that he cared about that little plan. Not that he and the Kabal’s Leader shared a family, and if any little pink-cloaked girl touched a hair on a Lory-with-a-y’s head, she was going to find herself on the receiving end of that vengeance she liked so much. Not that the fact he cared about his family still was a potentially dangerous fact to advertise in front of present company.

She was wrong, by the way. Vengeance wasn’t important at all. It didn’t do squat: the dead were dead. Pre-emptive vengeance, on the other hand... Idly, he wondered if she had any pets. Funny, how most people did. Funny, how they trusted them so unquestioningly, so close.

>> "Aura. I do not discredit the value of your head-on-spike scare tactics, but Meld is right. They are mutants and no matter how misguided or traitorous, they will be given a manner of respect. They have their uses and those uses cannot be fulfilled if they are busy crying and vowing revenge. Take away a man's options and he has nothing left to lose. You don't want to make enemies that have nothing left to lose."

Baby blue eyes blinked innocuously over a nommed fork, as the Lori-with-an-i continued to speak. This cake was great. So delicious and moist.

>> "We face more threats than simple humans. Adaptation has taken hold. There are humans with the ability to wholly nullify our gifts and do not think I am over exaggerating when I tell you that they have already begun to be rounded up and organized to be used against us by the government. We need to take action, start somewhere small to martial our forces, and get organized. This is where we make that stand."

Another bite of cake, another benign stare in Lori’s direction. Adaptation. Nullification. Organization. This was the first Calley had heard of any of it. Ms. Lori knew something he didn’t. That was a very strange feeling, right there. Was it respect? In any case, the blonde was suddenly on his list of new friends for the next few days.

“Can they sense mutants? Nullification dealie—how's it triggered, and how do you dodge? Round up—voluntary or forced? How many, how organized, and where can I find them?” The unemployed spy asked. The orange-robed man got a welcoming wave; only those bringing new information to the table had Calley’s attention, though, all of the sudden.

Meld couldn't help but feel a little sorrowed at Aura's words. She knew the stance her friend would likely take, knew that she was a soldier first and foremost and violence was in her blood in a way that Meld couldn't begin to fathom. For Meld violence was a means to an end, a way to achieve goalsl that couldn't otherwise be achieved, for Aura it seemed to be almost an end in and of itself. She always worked for their cause and for that she had Meld's respect, something that was difficult to earn, and she had Meld's loyalty for showing her friendship and acceptance when so few others had but she was seeing for what appeared to be the first time just how one sided her friend could be. Where would Aura be, Meld wondered absently, when the war was won and mutants had taken their rightful places as the top of the heirarchy? What was she without the need for the blood of enemies to be spilled upon her blades. A new goal came to Meld's mind then, a lesser goal than that of the mutant cause of course but, in its own way, important all the same. She would show her friend that there was more to life than killing and blood and that there were more option than to merely attack with no thought and no considering. She chose to remain silent for now, however, knowing that this was neither the time nor place for such personal considerings. But the thought was undoubtably planted within her mind.

Meld both listend and watched the faces of those who spoke around her, offering their spirited opinions of the matter at hand and the future of The Order, no longer even making the pretense of picking at her food. Perhaps she had misjudged what the others had meant, Lori in particular, perhaps this really was going to be a new beginning and they really were going to make a difference. Perhaps it would even be worlth giving her organization one more chance to prove themselves, one last opportunity to show that their potential could actually be achieved. If nothing else this dinner had allowed her to feal again, feel more than just the hollow reality that Haywire had offered her and for that she was grateful in a way that she could never vocalize.

Meld carefully considered Lori's words and then finally nodded, if a tad reluctantly. She was plainly more calm and more in control than she had been a few minutes before. "The world as it is now is not prepared to handle our kind. What's needed, I believe, is patience and small steps in the direction of promoting further acceptance, first of our equality and then of our superiority. If we move too fast that will only serve to weaken our cause and result in more hatred and fear. Caution and patience are what's called for. And, of course, I do not suggest we follow the X's techniques of promoting the human cause. I merely suggest that their techniques have their uses and should be made full use of. As for the rest of us, those with the guts and the ability to think outside the bounds of the law, we must put our talents to equal good use. Without working from both within and without the system we will not succeed." Although she had regained her inner calm, her words were no less certain than they had been before, no less passionate although that passion has partially hidden behind her usual icey expression.

Meld nodded in Predator's direction as he made his entrance in the middle of the speaches. If it wasn't exctly warm, and she was incapable of being warm at the present time, then it was cordial and an acknowledgement of shared experiences and shared respect. She was glad he had been able to make it even if she felt it innaporpriate to actually speak of such feelings at present moment. And, it seemed, he even spoke with a little bit of sense, something that was sorely needed. She nodded a second time in his direction, this time a nod of approval at his words. If there was a way to reeducate at least some of the X-men, show them how they were misguided and bring them over to the side of The Order then she could only imagine what could be accomplished...

"I agree with what Predator has to say. And seeing as how I am on good terms with at least a couple of the X-men I would like to volunteer to be among those to try and bring any who are open minded and willing to come over to our side." Her reasoning was nothing if not practical. She knew Ghost to be someone high ranking, at least that's what her observations had led her to assume. As for Mett, she wasn't entirely sure what his rank was but she had formed a connection with both those two and she had reason to believe that they would probably accept her among them, espeically if she could make them believe that she had left The Order and entered The Mansion, if not the X-Men themselves. It brought about some very intriguing possibilities and it was finally something practical she could do. Not to mention something that wouldn't involve killing and she had been meaning to expand her skills beyond that for some time.

Meld nodded towards Calley, realizing before he mentioned it what Calley had meant and where she had misinterpreted her earlier words but nevertheless appreciating the clarification. Calley was rather strange, Meld decided, but perhaps not entirely unlikable. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him yet, truth be told, though perhaps now that he was a part of The Order she would have the opportunity to get to know him better. That, and knowing that Calley had spent time among the X's, perhaps if the others agreed to send Meld in to subtley recruit, she might be able to pick Calley's brain for any manner of helpful information he might have.

This dinner was proving to be an interesting study of character. As he worked on eating his vegetarian delicacies he listened and watched more than he contributed to the conversation. He was an outsider whose views were entirely different from most of those at this table, and sharing his opinions would do little to steer the course of this organization. For now, he was more interested in observing, in seeing who among his companions could see the bigger picture and who couldn't, who dwelled on revenge and who was ready to move on to bigger things, and who were the followers and who were the leaders among them.

Issie,
His friend Isabel had a narrow and deadly focus, pointed and sharp like the looks she was shooting towards Calley. She was all for revenge, but seemed reluctant to face the other group in another head on battle. Sebastian remembered the shape she had been in after the the battle last November over stolen the golden doors; she probably remembered it too. She learned and she turned to different tactics when her normal ones failed, such as using the media as a way to turn people against the X-men. From her tone and the way she looked to the others for their ideas, it seemed that she thought of them all as her equals. She seemed uncomfortable with the mantle of leadership that had been placed unexpectedly on her shoulders, raising her up into a position of responsibility. She would much rather get down and fight as a soldier in someone else's army.

Mars and Saturn,
The Abyss brothers remained quiet for now. Sebastian had thought that they would be vying for leadership if leadership was up in the air, but they seemed to be dealing with some of their own personal issues. Grief being the chief among them. The principle among them, or the one that Sebastian thought was the leading personality among the seven, was not even here. It was the two most rational, the two most quiet that had shown up as representatives for the others. That in itself seemed to be a statement that they did not want to be leaders any more than Isabel did.

Meld,
The girl that was half human half machine slammed her fork onto her plate, which caught the attention of nearly everyone.
She could see a broad picture and didn't focus on the small details. She was an idealist; mutant rights was the soapbox she chose to stand on. She wanted to change the whole world all in one fell swoop but didn't know how to do it. She needed a group to help her achieve her goals, but Sebastian sensed that this particular group might not be the correct one for her. She had an agenda and no time for pointless actions or for people getting in her way. She grew easily impatient with the narrow focus of the others at the table. She wasn't above killing and violence if it brought her closer to her goals, but she didn't treat it as if it was the most important part of her existence, like some of the others at the table.

Aura,
She was short tempered and had loose control over her mutation. Her anger fed the aura around her, letting it grow larger as she spoke. It had to be the most menacing shade of pink the unicorn man had ever seen. She was a woman with short term goals, she focused first on basic needs and the things that would ensure that she got them. Money could take care of the essentials, violence against a common enemy would bring their own group closer together, humans were a threat to her safety and were better off dead: food and clothing, belonging, and safety were her goals. To her, right and wrong was black and white. Anyone who was not with them, was against them. A blow for a blow, a life for a life. She could see that planning and foresight were wise, but she didn't seem to be able to calculate the results of a plan more than a few moves into the future.

Lori,
The blonde woman next to him could read people, could vary her voice and tone to draw attention to the important facts. She focused on individuals who weren't responding the way she wanted and used every trick she knew to change their thinking to align with hers. She could put someone down in one breath and praise one aspect of their ideas in the next. She could switch between gentle words and harsh ones in the same breath. Her temper was evident, but controlled; it only showed through when it was beneficial to her. Her words promised compromises and something for everyone without giving up her vision in the slightest. She could plan ahead. If she could get the short sighted ones of this rabble to listen to her, she could emerge as the leader of this little organization.

Predator,
His analysis of the man who had just entered was not yet complete. Thus far he seemed like the type that would agree or disagree with what others said, but didn't have anything new to add. He seemed to be the type that needed a leader to follow and would happily go forward in whatever direction he was pointed.

Calley,
So different from his twin it was almost impossible to think of them as related. If they didn't wear matching faces, he would have his doubts that they were related at all. He was on his third faction, and his vote for what they did seemed to lean towards whatever sounded like the most fun. He was intelligent. He could see the future and understand the complexities of plans such as Lori's. He could calculate what might happen if they followed this plan, or that one. He supported the plans he liked the sound of and ignored the others. He didn't offer much in the way of new ideas, but helped to refine the ones that he found interesting or 'fun'. Like the man who had just come in, he was a follower in need of a leader; however he wouldn't follow just anyone. He was also curious; he pounced onto interesting new information like a cat onto a dangled piece of string. Never mind that Sebastian was also curious about that string. He let Calley ask his questions for him.

Mars twitched…it had been a long time since he had gained utter control of his temper but Calley had somehow managed to make him want to simply go berserk…hardly anyone new that with the majority of their muscle, their testosterone levels raised along with that, and if you noticed people who did steroids tended to have worse tempers. Mars eyes never left Calley at first a Fury was there but it boiled down into something different something a bit more sinister. At first he wanted to blindly range and decimate the runt, but initially he saw Saturn straiten and ready himself in the young man’s defense. Saturn knew as well as Mars did that Abyss and Jupiter and Pluto would take another death of someone they considered kin harshly and thus he was ready to save Calley for the sake of more heartache among those that had seen plenty. But the anger still set there simmering as his glare set calmly on Calley’s visage. He listened as the women put in there two cents every one had their own view on how to do things. Each had a unique view, the spectrum went from Calley’s “everyone sucks”, to Meld’s “lets all hold hands” to Isabel’s and Aura’s lust for violence, Which sounded particularly pleasant at the moment. But then making him proud and feel more than a bit foolish he listened to Charge’s well thought out response to what the other’s were saying, He was on the brink of taking the situation in his fist, but he lacked the tact that she just dealt out firmly, It was exquisite.

His nostrils flared as he let go of the last drop of temptation of tossing the banquet table out his way and attacking Calley. He reminded himself of the tricks that the boy had learned recently and stopped wondering at his easy confidence. Of course he wasn’t worried about being smashed. Mars could do so a thousand times apparently and the boy could calmly watch from above as a mouse until he was done.

He watched the happy little conversation bounce around the room, he watched and waited, waited and watched. He looked into his palms, The order was already gone, at least as the lumbering rabid beast that it was. Oh it would still be a wolf no doubt, but this wolf would have a purpose, a collar, an absolute lack of foam at its mouth. It would be subtle and so much more efficient.

He accessed the room as he had been the rest of the time and listened as Lori, gave them all a cause to agree on. Even meld wouldn’t be able to resist the need of stopping someone who might be able to make her limbs fall off by simply walking by her would she? He decided silence would best suit him as he observed Lori take her role. He would take up the mantle that Abyss had carried for Syn. Had she ran the Order without opposition the whole time? In this nest of Vipers? Not a chance. But few got past Abyss to have the chance to bother her. How many would be usurpers had been caught in the hall and there thirst been quenched by the big red brute? He would Advise and cast his shadow behind hers to ensure that there was at least one that she would be able to trust unwaveringly.

As Mars surveyed around the room his eyes met Sebastian’s briefly an eyebrow raised as he recognized at least one other mutant seeing the best option as observation first. He offered a small smile and then continued to follow the conversation.


Saturn sneered at the mention of the adapted, still kept in the dark about so much information that he could have been given. Saturn had played right into Lori’s hands as most of the others would as well, he opened up his loyalty to her as he spoke, perhaps he was seeing what Mars himself was accessing. He waited until the others had their say waiting for a quiet moment during the Q&A.

“When do we start?” He asked deferring to Lori, and hoping to lead the others in such deference. If there was one thing that the Order absolutely couldn’t stand against was absolutely no leadership. If he had heard Mars praise of the woman and let that influence his decision then so be it. Personally he knew how to make the world a better place, and it wasn’t just genocide for the humans…it included blowing the whole damned thing up. How much better of would the universe be? But he doubted he could sell that goal to anyone other than a fellow Nihilist.

Later as a quiet aside to Calley.Saturn stated “I have an answer to a couple of those questions and know at least one to exist, I bet we could find him if we tried.”

Aura was unsure of this plan and unsure of Lori who seemed to have have grabbed the reins of the conversation. Still Aura calmed herself, her Aura, flowing against her skin. The Aura siddenly began to flow to Aura's finger and though the aura retreated from the rest of her body, the aura at her finger tip stayed small untill it to blinked out of excisstence. She Sat back down keeping her Aura in check, she reasoned to herself that the true Order died with syn, however AByss wa sstill her guardien, and if he decided to follow this woman, Aura would do so without question. Aura saw things quite diffrent, taking away options made the target desperate, and that meant the target could be more easily lead, into oblivion. Still she wanted to see how the conversation would hold out.

Aura smiled at Predator as he opened in on the arguement, Aura knew he would support the idea of massive human cullings, an idea that took her back, to her first few months of training, a Human every day. The idea brainwashed soilders could be counted on however was asking to fail, a soilder had to be loyel becuse they beleived in the cause, brainwashing as Aura understood it left people to open to relapse and betray their new found comrades. Those who joined in Aura opinion should join for the cause not forced into beleif. Still Aura reasoned maybe her idea was to rigid, after all she had never encounterd a brainwashed person before and had no real idea what might snap them back.

Aura wonderd about useing felons and criminals to fill the ranks, her mind was raceing with the new idea, maybe if they took in converts from the x-men and took in criminals they could boost their ranks, once large enough they could crush the X-men and these Kabal people in a single swipe, then one just to crush the humans and finnaly the criminals themselfs. But Lori wnated no mass murder and Even Aura's latest idea ended with a lot of dead people. Would their be a plce in such an Order for Aura to fill, she was a soilder, she barly understoof business as it stood and had only recently gatherd a slight understanding of what cash really was.

Melds plan could work, spys could do wonderd if used right, still her idea would be to slow, if they gave to much time the Humans might litterly find a way to erase them for their rightful places as heirs to the earth. A glimmer of a new idea formed within Melds words, if they did try a slow steady pace, people might not react as bad, combined with gaining numbers. Aura knew they already had links to the police or atleast syn had them. if those links lived on, then maybe they could do this, slowly taxing the humans untill they failed to pay their dues and had to be taken out, or maybe just those who failed to pay whatever fee. Aura ahd no idea how the fee,s could work, but not paying could get you arested, could the order make the fear much worse? And if they could maybe they could even use people who owed them cash as patsys.

Seeing abyss take Lori as leader, by asking when they started made any comments Aura had on the conversation, mute and void. They would be doing this, it had already been decided and So Aura's thought snow shifted to making this work, her recent ideas seemed to at least loosely fit into what Lori was going for. How would they begin was indeed an intresting thought and when Aura had trouble thinking of. Her confusion wa s abit evident on her face.