Raina was searching for Cold Steel. With her return from Australia and all her catching up at both her jobs she realized she had no idea who she should be checking in with at the mansion these days. Tricity was usually off site and Iris too. That left only a handful of senior x's around with only about two being ones she'd worked with and knew well: Silver Streak and Cold Steel.

There were lots of new recruits that Raina hadn't been a part of due to her absence. She needed to find out what had been going on since she left especially since she only now started to hear the stories of Romania. She needed to know if anything had changed at the mansion, if she was still any sort of leader, if they could accommodate all of her jobs, and at the back of her mind she knew she needed another opinion on this whole Luke situation before people started noticing she was spending more time around Martin. CS was her friend and a guy, he'd give it to her strait that was for sure.

Raina always got along well with Steel. She wasn't sure if it was because he was one of the first friends she made here or in part due to their similar mutations. She also wanted to discuss the possibility of training together and seeing if they could come up with some combo attacks. Raina needed to refocus on working as a team.

She'd searched all over the mansion for him and decided he was either off campus or in his office. She was hoping he was in his office. Standing at the door she remembered she'd recently changed around her office and never really got to enjoy it. She knocked. "Cold Steel Cold Steel are you in?" she heckled like the big bad wolf of the three little pigs.

More paper work stacked up in front of him on his in pile and no matter how many papers he had signed more and more seemed to be replicate in his in box. Sighing slightly he looked to the bookshelf in his room with a whole bunch of random books Streak and him picked up to hide the fact that the bookshelf was actually a secret room to his and Streak’s little club house. He smirked slightly and decided he needed a break after all he had a time before they all had to be signed so why not enjoy the club house for a bit?

Pushing his chair out from under him Sam walked over to the section where the entrance was and performed the correct sequence to get it to open. The bookshelf split apart and Sam used his password and the bookshelf moved back and opened up revealing the entrance to the clubhouse. It had been a few months since had had a chance to come in their so why not get reacquainted with the room he and Streak built from scratch.

The lights in the secret room flickered on and the speakers sounded notifying him that the office doors were opening. Quickly turning around Sam spotted someone he hadn’t seen in far two long. He smiled when she called out for Cold Steel, his codename something that he only liked using during missions or team related activities, Sam was fine for now after all that was his name.

”Raina!?!” Sam called out then waved to her. It dawned on him that he was standing in the archway of his secret hideout. Looking around with his one eye he frowned slightly. The lights were on behind him and they lit up the archway revealing a rather large room behind him.

Letting out a low ‘busted’ whistle Sam turned his attention back to Raina he deadpanned for a moment then said, ”Alright, this isn’t the worst thing you’ve seen me do…” stepping forward and pressing a button on the archway the bookcase door closed behind him giving off a locking sound. His back turned to Raina he made sure the room was locked up before turning around and running over to greet her.

He ran over to her and opened his arms and wrapped them around her pulling her into his office, ”So good to see you!” he lifted her off the ground and gave another squeeze before setting her down. ”How have you been?”

Raina laughed "Good to see you too. I see your office looks just like mine safe for the secret door." she laughed pointing at the stack of papers. She wasn't at all surprised that he had some sort of secret passageway in his office. It seemed like a very Sam and Shawn thing to do. "You're look well too, except for the eye." she stared up at the patch "what the heck happened man? You look like s.h.i.e.l.d!" she teased poking him in the gut and letting herself into the office.

"I've been back for a while now but I kept missing you. I've been just as busy as it looks like you've been." The chairs in his office all seemed to be taken up by paperwork so she slid some around on his desk and sat very secretary like perched on a corner. "I've missed you." she admitted with a smile. "It's good to see a familiar face around here even if it is a pirate one." oh yeah, that would be his new nickname now. Pirate Sam. Pirate Sam and Mermaid Raina. yaaaar.

She stretched her legs. "I've been trying to get caught up with all the news students that have arrived since I was in Australia, I'm doing pretty good thanks to my latest work toy from the aquarium." she flashed the latest blackberry smartphone. "I think the mansion oughta invest in some of these for staff." she winked "quite addictive though. Check it out!" she handed it to him so he could see some of the neat functions. It also had an image of where she stayed on the beaches as the desktop.

"If you're not too busy I wanted to catch up, on the social friend stuff, but also on the x-men front." she explained. "But if you're too swamped I can come back." though by then she might be too swamped.

Shrugging and not really moving to his chair Sam laughed, ”Arggghhh missed you too, and that’s cap’n Sam to you, you scurvy mermaid!” he laughed and moved away towards his desk smiling as Raina made an attempt to make herself comfortable squeezing her self in between his paperwork. Continuing on with the conversation Sam leaned up against the front of his desk, ”Romania happened, a lot has changed for me the eye is just the tip of the iceberg.” he smirked at his ice pun and then pushed off his desk and waved her over to the bookshelf.

”Let’s go somewhere else if we plan on talking as friends, this office has too much of a work atmosphere right now.” reaching out and grabbing the phone he frowned slightly, ”This buttons are so tiny!” hitting a button he smiled as he gazed at the Australian beach, ”You have to tell me about your trip alright?” Sam said making it sound more like a statement rather than a question. Handing the phone back to her he continued, ”I’ll think about the investment so once we step into a friendly atmosphere let me check it out again alright?”

Walking over to the bookshelf he smiled and quickly moved the books about in the sequence to get the first part of the door open, the second part was where he was a little more secretive. Looking up to Raina and motioning for her not to look Sam added, ”No peeking!” when he was under the impression that she wasn’t looking he formed five tips of daggers of ice on his fingers and pressed it into the council. After a minute or two the door opened and the lights in the clubhouse turned on. ”Welcome to paradise!” Sam said as he walked through the threshold of the rooms.

Only a select few were aware of this room, Streak himself and he couldn’t remember if he brought Leila in or not but that was a moot point. She was out of the picture and now that he wasn’t dating Alex he didn’t feel guilty about not brining her in here. It was after all the man cave. If you could think of anything the proper man cave needed they had it. Dart board, pool table, game counsels, big screen, complete bar and kitchen, separated rooms for the bunk bed and the toilet, and his favorite a hot tub. Probably one of the main reasons he brought Leila if he did.

”This is the man cave, and your one of the few women that has ever stepped foot in this place…” he smiled and walked in the massive room and waved his hands over to the bar, ”Yarrrr!!!! Would you like some Rum?”

Raina grinned from ear to ear. Oh yes, hanging out with Sam was exactly what she needed. and Rum. "but why is the rum gone?" she teased quoting an infamous pirate movie as she followed Sam into the secret room. "Wow Sam, Im jealous! Ghosty and I need to seriously come up with something like this for the girls! What is that a hot tub? Oh my such a pad!" she giggled walking around the room. "Though with the amount of work we all do we all need rooms like this."

She found herself the sofa and plopped down. "You know, Rum wouldn't be such a bad idea. It's not like we'd be running about the kids- it's past curfew and we're adults here, in a clubhouse after all". She was dead serious but trying to come off goofy. She hadn't had a drink in a while and if she was going to have one, it might as well be with a friend in a super cool and secret room rather than a seedy bar.

"I read about Romania..." she looked up at his eye. "I can't believe all that happened while I was away. I was studying a group of mutants who were just like me but certainly didn't believe they were mutants even after we proved it to them." she pulled her legs up on the couch and stretched out a bit. There was still room on the couch for Sam.

Opening a cabinet behind the bar and removing a large bottle of rum he set it on the counter and said, ”It’s right here!” pretending he didn’t get the joke but his expression said otherwise, ”We have more than just rum if you’d like something, you can drink it we have it!” no he wasn’t twenty-one yet but that didn’t stop him from purchasing it in the first place thank you T.A.T. for the I.D’s one of the only things he held on to from his past life.

”Took some work and a pretty penny but we are both happy with the way it turned out, Streak did the electrical I did the heavy lifting then we finished with the floor and the walls.” pulling out some whiskey and a Dr. Pepper and pouring them into his glass tumbler Sam poured in the whiskey first then the soda, seventy/thirty the perfect mix in his opinion. He liked to taste the alcohol anyways. ”Way ahead of you, what would you like?”

After fixing up her drink Sam walked from behind the counter to the couch Riana pulled her legs up making not making a ton of room for him but he could still sit down comfortably. ”Yeah it was rough, the eye was one of the few things to happen, I actually got carved up pretty bad, didn’t think the guards liked the sound of my voice, they said I talked to much or something like that.” smirking and taking a sip of his drink Sam shrugged and leaned back on the couch.

”What did they think they were? Gods, like they thought when we went to go visit your home?” Sam asked taking another sip of his drink, that stuff we drank was potent I still see my spirit guide from time to time.”[/color]

"Yeah the spirit animals..." said Raina taking her drink and taking a good long sip of it. She made a funny face. She didn't drink a lot these days and credit to her she honestly thought Sam was over 21. "That was an interesting time." she gave another stretch checking out the room.

"I can't believe something like Romania could happen..." she stared off into space "|after everything that happened here. But then again since Iraq they say the equivalent of the holocaust happens every day." she furrowed her brow.

"I haven't seen or heard from Luke since I left at the end of October." she said after another sip of her drink and a long period of silence. "Just bam, no word from him. It's been almost 6 months." she frowned "Kinda leaves a girl confused." she swirled her drink a bit. Garrett, Martin. Raina always fell for the first guy to make eye contact or speak to her. It came with having a big heart. It usually got you in trouble.

"What happened between you and Leila?" She knew Sam could be a ladies man but Leila was the last person she remembered him dating. She wanted to chat about the x-men too but the drink was getting to her head a bit and it was the depressing themes that were coming first.

Letting out a small laugh at her face Sam nodded his head to the drink and took a sip himself no face was made, it was his drink of choice after all and that’s why he liked it. It was strong in flavored and jammed pack with the kick he needed to get him going. ”I wish I would say I’m surprised but history shows that it is repetitive everything hatred, fear, genocide…” Shrugging his shoulders and taking another sip Sam sighed.

…. ”Luke hasn’t been around much at all lately, I wish I could say I had a lot of contact with him but I haven’t heard from him since a month or two before Romania, as a friend I’m not to worried, he can take care of him self but as a friend of yours I…” he whistled and took a longer sip getting on a touchy subject for him. ”You have been gone for far too long…” Sam said running his fingers through his hair and setting his glass on his leg as ice formed in the cup. ”We split almost a year ago… she disappeared sort of like Luke… the only difference is no one has seen or heard from her…”

Taking another long sip Sam sighed and continued, ”I cut it off with her on my birthday last May, can’t love someone who isn’t around and there was Alexandra around and… well that just went south a few months ago as well.” scratching the side of his face by his left eye Sam shrugged, ”Don’t have the most steady relationship record, and I wanted to break it off with Leila in person but all I could do was leave her a message.”

Sam sighed and looked to Raina and smiled, ”Not a lot you can do about you and Luke I guess, stick around and wait till you hear from him or make an attempt to move on, he’d want you to knowing him…” he shrugged again and took another sip of his drink as the contents burned it’s way down his throat, ”Well!” Sam said as he clapped his hands and stood up setting his drink on the table.

”I need a pick me up, care for some music? Or maybe try to best me at rock band? I’m a wicked singer!” Sam said with a smirk on his face, he actually hadn’t tried playing any video games since he lost his eye maybe she would teach him a thing or two she was after all the music teacher.

Raina was quiet and reflective while she listened to Sam. She'd been so absorbed in Luke when he was around that she didnt pay enough attention to her friends. She knew that then, and boy did she know it now. She downed the rest of her drink quickly and past the cup to Sam. "I'll have another, and I'd love rockband but you're singing ice man. And icing up my drink too I might add." she laughed pretending to order him around.

He was right. At some point she was going to have to make a choice here. Move on from Luke to what, boyfriend number 3 in as many years? It didn't seem like a lot of people to date but when you're only 24 and going at that rate.... no what was is Garrett said about not caring what people thought? That's right. She wasn't going to care what people thought. Raina had a lot of love and caring to give, she was too empathetic. Without a boyfriend or a project she always ended up taking on too much and stretching herself too thin. Like she was doing now between her job.

"Sucks about Leila, and Alexandra." she said after standing up to help get out the rockband gear. "Maybe we both need to be single for a while. Relying too much on the opposite sex." she shrugged as she picked up one of the game guitars. "You know, I always agreed with Stan's dad from South park on these things..." she laughed "I can't play this game worth a lick and Im always telling people 'look, I can play a real guitar!' and I get the 'that's lame, Dad.. I mean, Raina" she was a lightweight in the rum category. That was for sure.

"Tell me about some of these new recruits!" she said flipping through the song selections.

He blinked or rather more of a wink as Raina downed the drink quickly. She was wincing before and now she gulped it down like some one was going to steal it. Turning his attention to his own glass he nodded, he might have in about five minutes if his ran out but seeing as she was ordering another one Sam nodded his head and took her glass letting out a low whistle relaying his surprise to her thirst.

Walking over to the bar Sam fixed up their drinks again refilling his own and Raina’s, however he made note to put in less rum and a little more soda just incase she was planning on slamming them one after another. He didn’t know if she was a lightweight but he didn’t really want to see what kind of drunk Riana was, she might have been nice now but after a few drinks… Sam shuddered at the bar and remembered a drunk Alex, and a drunken Ghost one was scarier than the other, the other was just down right hilarious.

Nodding his head as he brought their drinks back and set them down he nodded and then picked up the mic, ”Ha, still like the Mickey Mouse one the best, between that and the whale hunter episode.” he laughed and waited for the song list thinking about what Raina said about staying single for a while.

”Maybe, maybe not, I didn’t have any lag time between Alex and Leila and although it’s not really my style to jump from one girlfriend to another, it was a godsend, she was for a while perfect…” lifting up his glass he toasted sarcastically, ”To perfection and waiting on the lover that won’t drive me crazy!” he smirked and before taking the drink he followed his John Mellencamp reference with the back up vocals in a quieter voice, ”I need a lover that won’t drive me crazy!” taking a huge gulp of his drink downing half the contents in one drink.

Shaking his head he tapped the mic, ”Alright so what am I going to serenade you with?”

Raina laughed like a chipmunk. One of those goes on for a few seconds laughs. She accepted her drink and toasted him back. My, she was feeling giddy. "The Mickey Mouse one was hilarious!" she grinned. "With the Jonas Brothers. Soooo funny. Almost as funny as you're not my friend buddy!" she quoted the famous Canadian episode. "And you know, we sooo talk like that back home!" she grinned and took another sip. It was true!

"Oh oh oh okay I have the perfect song for us Sam..." she brought up the controls and flipped through the songs knowing exactly what she was looking for "this one I can play. You better sing." she took another sip.

"Perfect for the guy who jumps from one gal to the next, and the girl who falls in love with everyone she sees!" she clicked on Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs "come on Sam, they dont love you like I love you!" she sang badly but enough to chill the room a bit. She snorted full of giggles. "Oops, sorry." she grinned.

Sam had it down. Sure he went from one girl to the next but he valued each for what it was and didn't seem to care what anyone else thought.

The laugh that turned giggle that sounded like a chipmunk got him, he started to laugh as well then he set his drink down Smirking as the song started to play he looked to Raina with one eye, ”Whoa! Hey if I remember correctly you shot me down the first time we met! Granted I didn’t give you my best lines but still never recovered from that burn.” he laughed and turned his head as the words ran across the screen.

”Wait, they don’t love you like I love you; wait, they don’t love you like I love you; Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aps; Wait! They don’t love you like I love you....” continuing the song he looked over to Raina trying to distract her so she would mess up on the guitar it was a low move on his part but he felt like he deserved the win. Starting to dance to the song Sam started to tap his feet then break out his patent Elvis hip waggle a dance he was proud of.

Closing his eye and looked back to the screen Sam continued his plow of his distraction as the song continued, looking back to Raina and lifting his hand he pointed to he and continued to sing a tad off, ”Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aps! Wait! They don’t love you like I love you …” towards the end of the song he pulled his hand into his chest pulling off a move you’d see one of the boy bands do.

He wasn’t the most graceful singer but he always had fun with it, and he managed not to turn the room to ice when he did it. As the song ended the score popped up on the screen and Sam smirked before looking at her score or his, ”How you’d like de apples? Didn’t turn the room into an icebox but I think I pulled it off… Yaughhuh!” curving the lip up and rocking his hip back and forth to his Elvis quote.

Looking back to the final score he frowned and pointed, ”Hey what do those numbers mean?” he smirked already having an idea for their next song.

Raina laughed so hard that for a moment she feared it was possible to have rum come out your nose. She swaggered a bit with the guitar enjoying every bit of Sam's bad dance moves. "Oh dear" what a crooner.

It got to the part of the song where the guitar solo was and Raina tried to concentrate. The rum didn't help... things were getting a bit blurry. "stop stop you jerk!" she yelled trying even harder to do better and stepped closer to the screen as if it would help. His boy band dance moves however put her over the top. "Steeeel!" she wined trying to recover as best as she could. Laughter over took her again.

It was nice to laugh this much, even if there was a buzz behind it. And it was nice to have this much fun with a friend. Raina just hadn't stopped much to be social these days. It was starting to show.

"Oh those numbers just mean you cheated!" she yelled in a happy tone. "And my darlin, Im much to old for you. I don't want a reputation as a cougar now do I?" she teased again since there was barley 4 years between them.

She didn't mind joking with him about her powers either. He knew what it was like. No matter how warm the two of them were, there was always ice at the core. Steel got it. That or the drinks were really kicking in to her thought process.

"Well I guess the winner gets to pick the next song, but if I bomb it I'm switching to drums." she put the guitar down for a moment to stretch "I think we need some chips or something, you know in Canada we have ketchup chips? They're the best thing. Ever. "

Shaking his head glad she was enjoying her self, ”No cheating here I’m just a better musician than you is all!” said Sam not really believing the comment, she was a far better singer than him and she had the experience, all he had was the rock band and maybe the harmonica everything else he was pretty sure she could destroy him in. Reaching down to take his drink he almost coughed it back up when she called him Darling and then said she was too old for him.

Taking a step closer to her he grinned, ”Listen here, sweetheart!” Sam said in his pirate voice trying to sound a little like cap’n Jack Sparrow, ”Dated girls twice my age, sides it’s a good thing you didn’t go for the ice sculpture trick, seeing as your having this much fun now I doubt you could handle me on a regular basis!” he blinked which looked like a wink due to his one eye and then he took a step back to his position before and took a sip of his drink again.

”Shame too, could have made such sweet music together,” laughing at his joke he shrugged, ”Guess I’ll have to settle for beating you on rock band!” searching for the song he smirked as he thought of the new recruits, ”Some I have had my eye on but as of right now nothing is written in stone, two of the new recruits are actually students of mine, Koga and Gawain, both of which show promise though this is just between us. I don’t dole out compliments often less their ego inflates.”

Sam selected a song and continued onward, the screen changing to say The Fixer- Pearl Jam. ”Ketchup chips?” he asked his face trying to imagine what it tasted like, ”I’ll take your word for it I guess…” his face scrunching up imagining the chips don’t sound all that good.

Quickly running over to the cupboards before the song started he hopped over the bar like island and then reached for the one next to the fridge pulling a few bags of potato chips Sam ran back and dropping them on the table and picked up his mic as the song started, ”Yeah, Hey, Hey, When somethings dark, let me put a little light on it. When somethings cold, let be put a little fire on it. When somethings old, let me put a little shine on it. When somethings gone, I wanna fight to get back again!” he continued his singing and like before he was throwing out dance moves from all era’s doing his best to distract Raina, a robot here, a hustle move there, event he moonwalk made a brief appearance, all of which he had perfected long ago.

ooc: sorry for the absence, I still may be a little slow with everything going on and Easter
Ic:
"Oh, so you date the women from Cougar Town?" she did a fake cat swipe with a growl laughing when she finished. "I've pulled that ice sculpture trick on men." she admitted. She remembered showing it to Luke. And maybe a guy or two in between.

She did pretty all right on the song while Sam belted his heart out. She watched him enviously. He wasn't a great singer but he could sing without freezing a room which was more than she could say. The sad thought made her reach for the drink again and she finished it off.

The room was swimming a bit but she was feeling the buzz. Inside she was embarrassed that she'd allowed it to get this far but on the outside she was simply aching to let her hair down and have a good time so it canceled out to be a bit of a neutral.

When he finished she simply grinned at him, "I bow to the master" she stood up to bow and fell on her butt laughing. "Clearly I'm in the midst of an epic performer." she snorted out after laughing. "what should we do now?" she looked up at him