The Grounds

Tracey's devious smile grew when the one he wanted to talk stood up and gave him a firm handshake. His tone was light, but his stare was judgmental. Is he sizing me up, I think I like this guy already. He was very proper with his introduction. "Tommy Castellano. Looks like you made friends with our girl there huh pal? Legs is easily the most interesting person in this place. You know how to pick em, I'll give you that." Tracey simply smiled a bit. He understood that Tommy and Cataleia must be very good friends or possibly dating, so him calling her legs was most likely appropriate. Tracey, though, still had a problem with it. He looked over to Cataleia to see her tongue was stuck in a soda can. He smile grew wider at the sight. She seemed to be so embarrassed and her body let off a pinkish glow. She was really quite cute, now that he looked at her. It was odd, while originally conversing, he hardly had paid attention to her looks. Before he could reply to Tommy, she jumped in between them with a beaming grin. Is she protecting me? How sweet.

“I’m glad that you enjoyed the gift. Cattleyas are my favorite flower. Kinda my signature, too I might say.” She looked up a bit with a shrug as if saying ‘eh’ before looking back at him. An expression that Trace didn't really understand. “I’m glad that we’ve got a bit in common. We should talk more.” Tracey simply smiled a genuine smile. "I would enjoy that." She then walked over to the window. He then heard the disgruntled voice of the other male in the room. "David. I'm David." The disdain in his voice couldn't be more obvious if he smacked Tracey in the face with a sign that read I Don't Like You. Unlike Tommy who was airing on the side of caution due to his recognition of a colleague, David seemed to simply dislike him for no reason. Tracey then remembered all of the eye rolling he had done when Cataleia was talking to him. Perhaps he had a crush on her and he was just being petty.

He hadn't really been paying attention, but suddenly Cataleia suggested they all go swimming. Tracey was up for it since everyone else seemed game. She was out the door in a heartbeat. She suddenly popped her head back in and addressed him. “Oh, Tracey, love. You should join us at the party tonight. You too, David.” she smiled. "I'm always up for a party." he stated, returning the smile. He could taste the hate seething off of David. Tommy then told them the directions to the lake and soon they were all out of the room. Tracey then sighed and walked up to his room.

He came back down wearing his swimming gear. Which were white speedo briefs with two red koi circling each other on his ass. It was standard swimming suit in japan for someone his age. He had his sunglasses, his towel and a bag of dice hidden in the towel......you never know. He made his way to the lake and arrived in time to hear David asking about the party. Tracey simply laid his towel down near the rest of theirs. He then took off his white tee revealing all of his tattoos. He took off his sunglasses then ran towards the lake. His eyes briefly flashed purple and his speed increased ten fold and used the speed to rocket himself 20 feet into the air. He then came back down in a swan diving fashion and made a rather small splash as he entered the water.

HE closed his eyes as he allowed his body to sink down into the lake. He could feel the Life force of all of the organisms that made their home in the lake. Every fish, every insect, every piece of algae. All of them danced through the water in a synchronized ballet that was their day to day existence. It was beyond beautiful. He was down there for a;most two minutes before he realized he needed air. He was pretty deep in the lake, his eyes glowed purple and accelerated himself towards the surface, but stopped himself before he shot out of the water like a dolphin. He didn't really feel like showing off, so his head simply broke the surface and he took a large breath. He then adjusted himself and began to float on his back with his hands behind his head. He simply looked up at the western sky.

"So, while we're alone... what do you think about the new students?"

Cat heard Tommy’s voice suddenly causing her to slightly jerk a bit. “Oh shit. Scared me.” She blinked rapidly before shaking her head. She grinned over to him and splashed some of the murky water at his face. “You mean what do I think of Tracey, right?” Smirking, she swam closer to him and behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder. “You jealous, Mister Castellano?” She purred into his ear, letting her lips brush softly against his earlobe. There was always some sort of sexual tension between them and his stunt back at the lounge would not go unpunished. Laughing softly, she swam backwards away from him, floating on her back and closing her eyes. “David is alright. I haven’t known him long enough to impress me and we haven’t had a conversation yet. Tracey is pretty cool. He’s got great taste in music and entertainment.” She swam towards him again and bit his shoulder. “You’ve got some competition there, Bonbon.” Giggling, she swam away from him and dove underneath the warm waves. When she came back up, she could hear David’s voice.

"That uh...Tracey kid. He's uh...something. I just hope he's not in the mood for a swim. So whats the party going to be like? Never been to mutant party, sounds pretty fun."

“Hostile much?” She eyed David with a light smile on curved on her lips, though she shrugged a bit. “It’s like a human party. But so much better. Mutants get to show off what they are and what they do and not get shunned for it. It’ll be fun; Trust me.” She closed her eyes, thinking about the party. She could hear Tracey splash in and Tommy began to interogate him, starting with the question of his powers. She rolled her eyes and dove deeper under the water, kicking her feet. She never onced open her eyes because she hated the dirty lake water and knew that kids peed in it all the time. She was going to bathe vigorously after this. She surfaced once more, her legs giving powerful kicks to propel her through the water. As she bobbed up, she rubbed the water away from her eyes, glancing over at Tracey. “Nice tats.” A grin graced her face as she looked them over. She had her own plethora of tattoos, and was only thinking of getting more. She swam alongside Tommy and glanced at the two boys, deciding to stay silent for a bit and just enjoy the water while observing them. Sometimes you could find out more about a person by watching them rather than talking to them, enjoying the time spent in the water as the sun began to go down and the moon slowly began to rise up. It was getting a bit dark, but her soft blue glow gave enough light for the four the see.

As Tracey was lounging in the water, he heard Tommy speak to him. "Shit Trace, I was about to break your balls over them goldfish titey whiteys you got on but hell... That little trick of yours has got me scratching my head. The hell are your powers anyway?" Tracey smiled slightly at the jab at his swim wear. He straightened himself out and looked over to him. "Well, firstly, The Koi are a symbol of wisdom and longevity and have been the guardian of my family for 17 generations. So on that note, Moka-moka Su-su. Secondly, you wish you could pull these off." Tracey said with a devious smile. He was obviously just joking and poking fun at Tommy. He then swam a bit closer to them. "As for my powers. I can actually do a lot of things. As far as my understanding of them go, they are psychic in nature. I can coat objects or people in a psychic field and either accelerate the speed in which they move or decelerate. I can also harden the field, which in affect changes the density of the person or object. I can flick a die and make it move at the speed of a bullet. The smaller the object, the faster I can make it go." He explained it rather teacher like. He then closed his eyes and breathed in. "Another power I have, Ive possessed for a long time, since I was about 5. I can sense and feel all living things within a 500 yard radius of myself. I mean all living things. People, animals, insects, plants. Even the micro-organisms currently attaching themselves to you as you swim in the lake." He smiled at the last part, simply playing a joke on them......though, there actually were things attaching themselves to them, but, that's what happens when you swim in a lake. He looked back at them, specifically Tommy. "I can even sense if someone is a human or mutant....or something else. I can't read their powers or anything like that, but still. Along with this power, I can sort.....lock on to people. It's hard to describe." He said scratching the back of his head, trying to find the right words. He sort of just gave up. "Back in Tokyo, everyone called me Sogekihei. It means Sniper."

Tracey noticed it was getting dark, when Cataleia mentioned his tattoos. "Nice tats." she said with a friendly grin on her face. Tracey looked down at them and thought about each one of them. What each one of them meant to him. He looked back at her with a weak smile. "Thank you. Each of them mean something to me." He then spun around and pointed a thumb to the large detailed tattoo on his back. "This one took almost two years to finish. It is a tradition among my family to get your tattoos done the old way......by dipping a piece of sharpened bamboo in ink and continuously jabbing it into your skin until the tattoo is complete. It may take a lot longer than the electric needles, but it shows a sign of conviction to it. You can't get a tattoo on drunken fancy if it takes over a year to get, you know what I mean?" Tracey said with a small laugh. He spun back around and looked towards her. "Your tattoos are interesting as well.......perhaps one day you will tell me the stories behind them." Tracey spoke in a soft and respectful voice.

It had gotten darker now, as some time had passed, and Cataleia began to glow. That must come in handy. Tommy dried off an apparently was done for the day. "I'm gunna take off guys, gotta get ready for the party. I'll see you all there." Tracey gave him a wave. "See you then." Tommy paused and gave Cat a personalized goodbye. "I know you'll be dressed to impress tonight beautiful. Can't wait to see what you come up with." Tracey smiled a rather large smile but looked down as he did it. He didn't know why, but he had always enjoyed hearing couples speak positively to each other. He guessed it was because he missed how his parents used to talk to each other when he was younger. Tommy then walked off into the night.

Tracey walked over to Cataleia with his towel around his waist. " Tommy seems like a good guy and fun to be around. Cataleia-sempai, I don't know if I'm overstepping my bounds here but, how long have you and Tommy-kun been together?"

Why had she asked if he was mad? That was stupid. But before anything, he swept her into another kiss. She found herself growing bright until a flurry of noises slammed into her ears. Angry voices of Laura, Logan, and Surge interrupted her daze. They were around her in an instant but the thing that caught her eyes was Tommy pulling a baggie of pills from his pocket. She didn't see anything after that - She stood there with shock as he gave an apology and slipped away into darkness. All around her, people were confused and angry. She...didn't know what she was until Logan grabbed her shoulders and brought her back down to earth.

"Kitty! Did you know about this?"

"I..."

"Cataleia, what the hell is going on? Why did Tommy and these people fight......" he then really looked at her. He cocked his head a bit, not sure how she was feeling. "Are you alright?"

“Cataleia, we need to talk.” Laura said sternly, being obvious she was in no mood to argue or throw around insults “Your boy has just dug himself a very deep hole, and you’re going to need my help if he is going to climb out of it. I would also suggest we go somewhere else and quickly. People are going to be looking at you quite suspicously after that.”

Cat shook her head and looked over in the corner where the 'sleeping' man was slipping away. She grabbed Laura and Tracey's hand, twining her fingers with theirs. "C'mon, then." She moved through the crowd, tugging them with her. She didn't even know where she was going - Her mind was blank. She found herself homing in on Tommy's voice and reflexively following it. Her body lit the path down to the lake where he was standing cursing himself as he tried to sort things out. She let go of Tracey and Laura, walking over to her friend. "Tommy..." She rested her fingertips on his shoulder. "I know...you didn't do it..." Of course she knew. They pretty much spent every waking minute together since his arrival - And had even caught a few Zs together. Those two were closer than Cheech and Chong. Okay - Maybe a bad reference at the time. But still.

She looked back at Laura. "You know that he didn't do it. Or else you wouldn't be trying to help him. But we can't talk about it here." Of course they couldn't. She looked over at a rustle in the bushes and huffed. "Dad. Seriously? You know you can't hide for shit around me." She muttered to herself and moved her arm upwards, her palm beaming out light like a flashlight on a shrub. From behind that shrub came a wolf with jet black fur. As it padded over, it began to shift with the sickening sound of cracking bones and sloshing insides coming from the process until a suave, Hispanic man with strange green eyes stood before them. "Well - This is all quite a mess. Why don't we go to the city and talk about this over coffee, yeah?" His latin accent was much thicker than Cat's as he took a stand between Tracey and Laura. Esteban knew what was going on, of course. But he wouldn't say a word. He was just here to help and watch over his daughter. "The Anjos da Guarda...They have some private places. Shall we?" He was as charming as his daughter and then some as he smiled gently and motioned for them to continue back up the path even though they had just come from that way.