sandcastlegod:

Corey was concerned for Argo and Harmony and hoped their situation worked out as best possible. But he had something much cheerier to look forward to after dinner. Irina had snagged him an English translation edition of a magazine that had an interview with Kseniya. ( Read more... )
It had only ever really been a joke, of course. 'Saving himself for Kseniya Simonova.' Of course it had. Of course any rational person knew that he had little chance of meeting her for any length of time and that she was several years older than he. It had only been a joke, explaining his perfectly legitimate lack of interest in pursuing girls right now in terms of his adoration of Kseniya. It wasn't really any more purely-speculative an infatuation now than it had been before.

But...

When it came absolutely down to it, Corey wasn't always a rational person. And he'll just curl up sadly in his room.

perenawska:

Irina didn't mind playing taxi for the Champions. They were her team, her family now, and she was glad to help them when she could. A portal from New Orleans to New York was opened and Irina waited for Lyta to go through. Irina had called ahead because her Highness' aim and temper were legendary and Irina didn't want to provoke her if necessary. Especially in her current condition.

Lyta had wanted a shopping trip with the Grand Duchess and the arrangements to meet in New York were made and Irina was more than happy to provide transportation. She had offered to get the Grand Duchess in Boston, but Anya was already in New York.

"After you," she said to Lyta.

ladydevil:

first she went through all her clothing. Then she tried to o her hair in different styles. She then tried playing different kinds of music. Then she ended up finding herself snapping one CD in half because that pig from Weapon X had sweet talked her into buying it all those months ago when she was still new to this universe and so naive about the dangers here.

She manages to get dressed in something that feels normal after than small temper tantrum. Finding that she wants to get out of the building she decides to go see if the other girls on the team are up for getting out of the base for the day. The boys can fend for themselves.

Heading into the kitchen where everyone seems to meet up she waits to see when everyone will find themselves drawn into the kitchen. It should be easy to talk them into going out.

perenawska:

Irina sat on the barstool in a bar down the street from Champions' headquarters. She didn't feel like going back there just yet, but this place was close enough to make her feel like she was home. Since the incident with rescuing the kids and with her father, Irina hadn't been back to the Champions' headquarters. She didn't want to see the stares or the look of accusation in their eyes.

She didn't blame them. The man who had experimented on children and had done many other horrible things was her father and she hadn't told them. Granted she didn't know about the horrible things he did until Nicholas worked his mojo on Alexi, but it didn't matter. He was a horrible man, a monster, and she had stuck up for him. She protected him from them and didn't hand him over to the authorities like she should have.

Irina gulped down a shot of vodka and refilled the glass.

Maybe it was time to move on. It's not like the Champions were going to forgive her any time soon and quite frankly she didn't blame them. She had in a way betrayed them and she deserved everything she got in return. Leaving Russia and home hadn't felt this bad.

Irina sighed heavily and drank down another shot.

It was time to call the Winter Guard and get reassigned.

lytaworthington:

Through clever research (also known as sneaking a quick pick at her i.d card when she wasn't looking), Lyta had found out that it was Irina's birthday. While it wasn't thirty, twenty-nine was still a pretty big reason to celebrate. Lyta'd bought her a new pair of brand-new, top of the line throwing knives, and fully intended on taking her out drinking with anyone that wished to join them. It was all on her.

Small box containing the knives in hand, Lyta knocked on Irina's door.

perenawska:

Irina had to concentrate on the image that Lyta had sent to her, but after a few moments she had been able to open a portal to a spot just inside the main building. Her knives had been out and ready when she stepped through. They went flying through the air heading toward the two guards that had been standing near the door. The knives hit them in the chest and they fell to the ground. Stepping through portals and into trouble was quite common for her.

"Let's go," she called back to the others.

nextgen_holiday:

What Makes a Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so,

He called it ... Dad

temperence:

Alisa could not help but find herself frowning as she lay back on the Therapist couch. Every session was pretty much like this, since Nick got her to actually go. She was never happy to be there, and never happy to hear what her therapist "tried" to recommend to her. She put her arms under her head, and just listened to Doctor Kimes go on, and on...

"Miss LeBeau... I seriously think you should go to a more therapeutic environment. Perhaps an In-Patient program." The Doctor sat behind his desk, tapping a bright yellow pad with some expensive looking pen. His free hand adjusted his glasses as he continued to speak. "Though you have made great progress, you still are a bit emotionally stunted. You easily get frustrated and angered at some people... mainly this "Lyta" person you keep mentioning. You also seem to maintain a rather... well... unhealthy relationship with this "Nick" person. Though I applaud him for managing to get you to come to therapy twice a week. I fear you degrade yourself around him; he is a tool to lower yourself to how you view yourself. And that is not fair to either one of you."

"Ah take dat as more o' an opinion an' non a diagnosis." She continued to frown, her red on black eyes narrowing quite a bit.

"Miss LeBeau. Some of the things you are going through are from the trauma of the sexual abuse you suffered." Doctor Kimes sighed, leaning back in his plush leather chair, while pinching the bridge of his nose. "You repressed much of it, and once it came out... you have not been able to figure out how to handle it properly. You refuse to go to survivor meetings, you rarely speak about it anymore to me, and you bottle up your rage and anger in a bottle much too small to contain it. One day, that bottle will shatter, and I fear you will, as well."

"Now dat is jus' a hypothesis." She smirked a little, finally closing her eyes. "Ah've met you halfway. Ah come here, ah talk, an' den ah go. Ah take some o' what you say under advisement... de rest ah pretty much drown out."

"Stubborn as always." He groaned, looking back over at Alisa. "You have a high IQ, but you are allowing your emotions to dictate your logic at times. This is what I am trying to get into your thick skull. You have the emotional age of a twelve year old child! You have locked away those emotions for so long; you do not know how to handle them. And because of that, you act out in what I consider to be "odd ways". Alisa, I know I cannot force you to go, but there is this lovely facility in Canada that deals with what you are going through. From the life of a street child, the sexual abuse you suffered from, as well as your own mutant powers..."

"Wait, what does bein' a mutant 'ave to deal wit' all dis shit?" This caught her attention. Alisa raised an eyebrow, carefully looking at Doctor Kimes. This was something she had not done, even since she started to go to therapy here.

"Well, I do not think you have even dealt with the fact you are different from society, in more ways than one. For children who discover they are mutants, a majority of them to not seek help with the emotional damage such a discovery can cause them." Doctor Kimes opened up his desk, taking out a brochure. "This place is specifically for mutants, ones who were thrown away by society and lack any direction in their life. They offer emotional support, counseling, a nice scenic environment, as well as four star accommodations. It's a charity run organization, so you would not be charged for going. I think it would be a good place for you to go."

"Ah'll look it over. But no promises..." That frown was pretty much set in stone as she sat up from her couch. Doctor Kimes walked over, handing her the brochure.

"Look, I think this would be the best course of action, Miss Lebeau. I really do not wish to read in the newspaper that you beat up this "Lyta" woman because you are jealous she gets to live the kind of life you were denied. Or that you died from some kinky game with this "Nick" fellow." He folded his arms over his chest, watching as Alisa slowly got up off the couch and started to head for the door. "Just think this through, Miss LeBeau. You can offer this world so much, if you just got the help you needed."

"Like ah said Doc, ah'll t'ink about it. No promises." She rolled her eyes as she made her way out of the room. She really did not want to listen to anymore of what this guy was telling her. He kept pushing this place each and every session now for weeks! Before he could chime in with something else, Alisa cut him off. "Ah'll see you in t'ree days, ah guess."

"Oh... of course." The doctor just stood there, nodding his head as Alisa left the room, giving off a sigh of relief once she left. She was, probably by far, one of THE most difficult paitents he ever tried to treat. Now he just needed to see a therapist of his own!

*************************

It took Alisa sometime to get back to the Champions Base, she stopped by "Papa Gumbo's" and picked up something for everyone to eat. She closed the door with her hip, and made her way into the kitchen, shouting.

"Ah'm back! Ah got everyone some food if you wan' it! If non... well... it'll go ta waste an' Corey will be pissed off! An' we all wouldn' wan' dat!" She smirked, taking out the stupid brochure her therapist gave her. As she waited for the others, she started to leaf through it and mutter to herself. "Seriously ain' dat bad!"

nextgen_holiday:

On the last Monday in May the country pauses to mourn its war dead, the spirit of redemptive sacrifice is extolled and pledges to American ideals are renewed. Flags are placed on soldiers' graves and those who sacrificed their lives for their country are remembered.

The holiday first began in the 1860s to honor the Civil War dead and took place near the day of reunification after the war, it has since come to encompass all war dead. People observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 p.m. local time and another tradition is to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers often place American flags on each grave site at National Cemeteries. The National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol where music is performed, and respect is paid to the men and women who gave their lives for their country.

Families and friends come together for barbecues and cookouts. Kids rejoice at the opening of pools and knowing that summer has begun and school is ending.

a_blessing:

Harmony always opted to go to St. Vincent's for mass on Sunday mornings.  They were one of the rare Catholic churches that still did sunrise services once a month, services that had been Harmony's favorite since she was a little girl back in Kansas.  Nowadays they were more than just favored; now they were practical, given how nocturnal Sin generally was.  He'd been very honest from the beginning--he didn't do the "God thing."  Much to her surprise this hadn't put her off.  Harmony chose to accept it and not to press.  He never stopped her from worship and she appreciated that.  It was just an item of life they could not share but had found a middle ground.  This was, she thought, how relationships were supposed to work.  It didn't mean that she had to completely leave Sin out of the little things that made her sunrise mass so important to her.  Coffee and pastries were also part of the routine for her and sunrise services played to her advantage: this early in the morning there were now crowds, only the devoted slipping from the cathedral and onto the morning-lit streets.

Smiling to herself, she paid for breakfast before slowly walking up the street and back to Sin's.  Her mind was already on surprising him, thoughts far from anything more than that.  Distracted, she misses the way the shadows pull from the corners of buildings and that the birds have stopped singing.   She misses everything until she hears a rustle of wings and then a blood-curdling screech-like noise right behind her as a dark, winged creature descends from the sky and heads right for her sending the other people on the street scattering.  And the winged beast is not the only one, just the largest in what appears to be a small army of gargoyles come to life.

Harmony screams.

temperence:

Alisa did not really tell a whole lot of people when her Birthday was, there was no need to, really. It was just a day she was born, no big deal. Though she did manage to tell Corey and Argo about it, since they were close friends. Nick, well... he knew about her Birthday since it was on her work file. But those were the only people who ever knew besides herself, and her twin brother.

Twenty one years. How the time flies. Ennie was away, missing their birthday this year. Well, physically at least. Alisa took every dime she earned from working with Nick and had his new Harley sent to him, with a big red bow on it and a Birthday card. It was the very least she could do for the brother who gave up everything to protect her. Now, she realized there would be no cupcake this year, no present, no Ennie.

A bit down, Alisa decided to throw her own party... even if she was the only guest. On the roof of the Motorcycle shop, she set up an old boom box she found and fixed up on a table. She tuned the radio on the boom box to a rock station that played her favorite bands
, and then walked over to the side of the roof, looking at all of New Orleans, in all it's glory.

"Well... it ain' like Corey's Birthday, but it's a Birthday, neh?" She spoke to herself. "Well, might as well do sumt'ing..." Alisa took out a spy glass she managed to make herself, and began watching all the cars pass by, using a notepad to mark down each kind of car or bike she say, and what color. "Red one.... blue one... anoder red one..."

perenawska:

Irina had felt like the walls of the Champions' HQ were closing in. While she got out and around the world on grocery shopping trip, she felt like she had been in one place too long. It was time to get out of the place and explore New Orleans a bit. Funny how she traveled all over the world on a regular basis and she had yet to really explore the city she now lived in.

Though she didn't feel like going alone. She wanted company and she knew who she could ask. She grabbed Lyta and the two of them hit the town.

They didn't get much farther than a neighborhood bar.

The two women were perched on bar stools. Irina had a shot glass and a bottle of Stoli in front of her.

lytaworthington:

Lyta drove her car back from New York. It'd taken her a couple days, but she was back in New Orleans, at the Champions' headquarters.

She'd been away from the team long enough. She'd recovered from being kidnapped and brainwashed (mostly, though she still had the occasional nightmare). Once she'd parked and turned off the engine, Lyta took her suitcase out of the trunk of her car and entered through the kitchen.

She'd unpack her things, but first, she'd have a class of water and make herself a sandwich for a late lunch. She'd drove without stopping as much as possible along the way, food was required before she did anything else.

temperence:

Alisa was lucky enough that Nick gave her the key to the Champions headquarters, and permission to sleep in his room. She really did not want to go back home when she felt like she hurt Ennie so bad, and REALLY did not want to try and break into the place. Alisa had thrown her wet clothes into a corner of Nick's bedroom, and slept in one of his shirts, that he left in his closet.

It was odd for her to sleep in a stranger's room, and without someone at her side. But that did not seem to matter, Nick had a nice, warm bed... more comfortable than the one she shared with Ennie back "home". For the first time in a long time, Alisa actually slept well.. with no nightmares, and actually being comfortable. Perhaps she was just too exhausted from the day's events to have a nightmare. For the whole night, and some of the morning... she was at peace.

nextgen_misc:

The media watched the battle from the safety of Ellis Island while on Liberty Island the battle raged on.

perenawska:

Irina wasn't one for red hearts, chocolate or gushy romantic stuff. She was more the find a bar and drink vodka type. Which is exactly what Irina did and finding a bar in New Orleans was as easy as throwing a stone and hitting one. At least in the French Quarter anyway.

Irina grabbed a seat in the main bar of Pat O'Brien's and ordered vodka. Not a hurricane or any other fruity mixed drink. She was a simple girl with simple tastes.

nextgen_media:

A special report breaks in on almost all channels....


"We're here live on Ellis Island as apparently a group of mutant terrorists, known as the Mutant Liberation Front, have kidnapped a number of senators' children and grandchildren and have brought them to Liberty Island. The terrorists are holding the children in the torch of the Statue of Liberty. They have threatened to kill the children unless their demands are met. Sources have it that those demands are the immediate halt to the registration bill that is currently in Congress.

The children were abducted from their beds in the middle of the night by the terrorists and a note was left in their place. It is unclear at this time whether or not the registration bill will be killed. Congress is in session now debating the issue.

The question on everyone's mind is what is being done to save these kids? Where are the so called superheroes? Where are the Avengers? Where are the so called benevolent X-Men who want harmony between mutants and humans and fight for that?"

lytaworthington:

Having someone that can you teleport you to just about any given destination around comes in handy sometimes. Having decided to stay in New Orleans, Lyta had decided to gather up the remainder of her things from Xavier's.

Another good thing about having someone teleport right to your bedroom, it saved the mess of going through the Mansion, attempting to avoid people that would just ask why you took off so quickly only leaving a hastily written note behind.

Grabbing a suitcase, Lyta began to throw some of her clothes into it. She'd finish quickly and then call Irina to come and get her.

She was so busy making sure her clothes were neatly folded as she put them into her suitcase, she didn't even notice the door was open a teeny-tiny crack. Just open enough for someone to notice if they looked closely enough.

ng_murderworld:

The van that turned down the street in front of the Champion's home looked like any other brown delivery truck. Black and gold letters painting it's side and a man in a uniform consisting of a hat, button-up shirt and shorts the same drab color of his van looking as bored as one could with his job. The van stopped just short of the former night club's entrance. The delivery driver turned around in his seat and rummaged around for the small package he had for the inhabitants.

Hopping out of his van, 10x10 box tucked under his arm, he headed to the door and rapped on it three times. Not waiting for an answer - there was no signature confirmation requested - he set it on the top step and went back to his van, signed off on his clipboard and started the vehicle up.

By the time the door to the old club opened, he was already driving away to carry on with the rest of his deliveries.

The brown cardboard box, ten inches by exactly ten inches was addressed to The Most Worthy 'Champion' and weighed perhaps three pounds at the most. There was no return address.

sandcastlegod:

They'd started moving into the renovated abandoned restaurant/nightclub covered scrap metal. Corey'd even arranged a recycling dumpster next to the regular one. Once the kitchen was finally covered in his explanatory signs -- one explanation of food storage and recycling having the very direct heading 'You Will Not Waste' -- he took an awful lot of sorted bags of packaging out to said recycling dumpster.

vicious_cycle:

Its been a long ride, though as the Rider goes, a fast one. The trail led him, eventually, to the outskirts of New Orleans, and, of all things, an abandoned amusement park. Before exploring too far, he lets the flems die out, returning to his mortal guise, and hits the nearest payphone to let the team know where he's at.

nextgen_misc:

"Today we cut the ribbon and open a new shelter for the homeless here in Manhattan. The facility has two hundred, yes, two hundred beds and a kitchen that can feed all of them. New York will not ignore the homeless any longer. They are citizens of our city and we will help them."

The crowd around cheered.

"This is but one of five shelters, one in each of the five boroughs, opening today. These shelters are but the first of new shelters that will be opening here in this great city. I urge all New Yorkers to volunteer at these shelters and help your fellow man. There are some that call us New Yorkers rude, arrogant and cold, but I say they are wrong and it is time we show them how wrong they are. Show them by being generous with your time and energy. Show them what it means to be a New Yorker!"

The crowd cheered again.

perenawska:

The cold winter wind blew through the streets of New York and over rooftops. The cold and the wind was a sharp contrast to the warm Southern California weather she and Argo just stepped out of. She immediately spotted Nicholas.

"Are you okay?" she asked Argo. "Sometimes people do not react well to teleporting."

vicious_cycle:

So a bet was laid before him, he'd have to catch her when she had no clothes. He can't help but take her seriously. Rigging the locks to the bathroom was no big deal. She's also had some long days, and he's plenty quiet, so he's pretty sure making off with every item of clothing, the towels - pretty much every scrap of cloth but the washcloth she was using for her shower went unnoticed.
Ok, so sure, he could have peeked, but that isn't half as fun as listening to her reaction.
Everything is laid out neatly on her bed, her blades haven't been disturbed, and so on, and sure, she's a teleporter, but he's pretty sure she's not going to go anywhere that way if its not an emergency and she's unarmed.

He settles in a bit down the hall, sipping at a cup of coffee.

perenawska:

Irina dropped Nicholas off in New York and then teleported out to Los Angeles. She had an address and that was enough to get here outside of the Defenders' compound. No way would she teleport inside of it. Not with six godlings on the team. Popping in unannounced would be asking for trouble.

Irina rang the buzzer on the gate.

perenawska:

Irina had always known her apartment in Moscow was small, but now with two people in it, it felt cramped instead of cozy. Not that she minded having Nicholas here. He was nice company, despite knowing there was a demon inside of him. That part was just a little weird, but weird seemed to be the ongoing theme lately.

She never expected someone to come out of a portal when she opened one, but Nicholas/Ghost Rider had and now they were trying to figure out what exactly was going on and how to battle a demon and a god. She had used all of her resources with the Winter Guard to find out as much as she could about Mephisto and Pluto.

Little was found except the traditional Greek myths and a few mentions relating to the Avengers. What exactly were Pluto and Mephisto up to? How could Nicholas and she stop them whatever their plans were?