Hotel Heat

At first, Lafayette had thought he was having a bad trip. He still wasn't sure that he wasn't tripping. But on the bright side, there didn't seem to be any vampires after him, so he really couldn't complain. It was kind of a pleasant change of pace.

Booker was amused, and somewhat mindblown. But mostly, amused. It had been one week since he had arrived on the strange island. In that time, he had experienced lots of sex, met an alternate, and older, version of himself, and met many odd people, many of which he had managed to have sex with. He had even slain a group of demons with his new gun, some kind of mystic gun.

If he hadn't grown up where he had, and seen the things he had, he might never have believed this, but he had. He had, really, still, lost his shit at first, thinking he was crazy. But the influence of his older self and a few others had changed his mind. He had found, this last week, that he felt almost like a part of his life that had been missing was finally there. So, now, sitting there on the rock, looking out over the island, he just grinned.

He could live like this. Sex, adventure, and magic. Yeah. He could deal with this indeed.

Lorna was in her study when Professor Winters was announced. She'd been in there all morning, reading a book about astrophysics. She adored math, and wanted to know as much about everything as she could.

She hoped the professor would have a new book for her. She liked his recommendations best. She straightened her pajamas, sitting up straight as he was shown in. "Good morning!"

A few days into the stay at his mom's house,. Lysander had the next move planned out. With a plan in place, he went to find Emma, who had been staying too, until they could get things settled. He wore a set of khaki pants, a black t-shirt that said 'Han Shot First", and tennis shoes, as well as boots.

And a safari hat, in bright red.

Emma sighed softly as she woke up. She was in a soft bed, and someone was next to her. She gasped, sitting up quickly. She was still wearing her naughty librarian costume, including the thick black glasses and bright red lipstick she'd worn to the party.

She relaxed when she saw that she was next Lysander. Thank goodness for small favors.

Of course, she still didn't know where she was, but at least she wasn't alone or at home.

The dragon landed gracefully outside the hotel, using his teeth to control his prosthetic tail flap. He landed as though his legs were too weak to hold his body up, his ears listlessly curled outward, as though he had little interest in his surroundings.

He curled up on the sand, make a sound that was a lot like sighing, with just the slightest hint of a whine to the end.

His Hiccup was gone now, and Toothless had nobody to be his companion anymore.

A sound from the woods surrounding the beach made him sit up, curious about the person who approached.

Rex surveyed his surroundings. It wasn't unusual for him to wake up in different places than he'd fallen asleep. At certain times of the year, especially around the Grand Prix, it was pretty normal. Inspector Detector could be a real piece of work.

Still, this place didn't seem like the Inspector's doing. Mostly because the man rarely took the time to dress Rex in his racing outfit, with identity concealing visor.

He looked around the island, noticing its people first and foremost. They were an odd collection, and he realized immediately that something was very, very wrong.

"Where am I?"

He asked the first person he saw, as he watched a woman lift off the ground flying(!) to the nearby building, her fairy-like wings sparkling in the sun.

Madelyne wasn't a stranger to unexpected things. It would be fair, in fact, to say that she was pretty damn used to them by now. Her life was really just one unexpected thing after another, and it was quite rare that those things were nice.

This, she blamed on Sinister and her own possibly cursed existence. She glanced at her companion, who was swaddled into a tight bundle at her feet, before finding the source of most of her pain and misery.

Scott Summers.

He was sleeping, the bastard, with Emma Frost. They truly deserved each other, being both cold as ice, and manipulative in the extreme when it suited them.

Without much ceremony, she gave him a vivid dream about the little child at her feet, making sure he knew damn well it was she who had given him this dream.

I hope you choke on it, too.

Cat and Vance Get Their Act Together.

Cat hummed as she got dressed. There was a party already in progress down in the living area, which was mostly just an excuse for the high society types to kiss each others' butts. But they were kissing each others' butts at her birthday party, so that made it okay. Of course, it was Vance's birthday party as well, but he probably wouldn't enjoy himself as much as she intended to. It wasn't every day a girl became legal, after all.

She checked out her reflection in the mirror, shimmying her hips a bit to make the fairly scandalous dress slink over her bottom. She smirked, sliding into her pump and heading out into the hall.

Tonight was going to be fun. Hopefully, at least.

Lorna was flopped over the bed she shared with Alex, her hands cupping her still aching breasts gingerly. Her first Danger Room session after her surgery had been more than exhausting. Flying was the only time she felt even halfway normal. It was the only time her body did what she expected of it.

"Ugh. I'm never altering my body surgically again."

It had been a long day, and Lorna was very tired. She'd gone to a doctor's appointment downtown, and been spotted by one of the guys she'd met at the club. To make things double super awkward, her mother had been with her, and immediately questioned her on the whole 'Lorna' thing. Much embarrassed stammering had ensued, and to top it off, the guy had realized what he'd done and looked vaguely horrified. Great.

Not only was she dealing with constant headaches, but now her parents knew about her secret double life.

To compensate for the utter shit that had been her day, Lorna was wandering around in Time Square, coffee in hand, heels making a comforting pattern of clicking noises on the concrete. She'd hoped that caffeine would help her headache, it sometimes did. Tonight that wasn't the case though, and she kept having her vision fuzz out. That, on top of not realizing how late she'd stayed out, meant that she couldn't drive home until the sun came up, if she didn't want to get a ticket for driving seemingly drunk at night on a temporary license. She plopped down on a bus stop bench, resting her head in her hands. God, she just wanted the headaches to stop.

Of course, the moment she started to cry at the unfairness of life in general, the metal around her for a ten foot radius warped and twisted. There was a sound like screaming, and then pain lanced through her thigh as the bench warped into something sharp, cutting into her. She cursed, then propelled herself into the air. That was when she started to really get freaked out, which only made her powers that much wilder.

There was a sound like thunder approaching the mansion. It was repetitive, rhythmic, and getting louder. It would be difficult to identify the sound as footsteps, if the man making all the noise hadn't laughed after a time, a loud, bellowing sound.

"So, this should be like taking candy from a baby." They didn't know the Xavier Institute was home to a group of mutants (albeit a slightly smaller one than usual, since it was summer break). All they knew was that Xavier was rich as hell, and in the area. Blob was the gatecrasher, but the most important job belonged to the people behind him, who were going to be stealing all the stuff.

Miho peered into the ship, smiling widely. She was home again, thank God. She stepped in and heard the door close behind her. She glanced backward, and then opened the door again. It was her bedroom, as it should have been. Which was a little weird. She pulled her cell phone out and checked the time and date, then facepalmed. She hadn't been gone more than five minutes, in this world.

Oh well. She wandered through the halls, vaguely headed for the training room, where Cable or Domino would no doubt be pummeling teenagers into fighters, or each other into submission. Her eyes were always looking around, and anyone she met in the halls got a hug whether they wanted it or not. She hoped she'd find Sam on the way back.

( Taken Characters )

Sydney yawned and rolled his neck around for a few rewarding cracks before returning to the book in his lap, curled up in a window niche of the mansion. He fully intended on getting this chapter done on coding analysis before 6:30, because the tie breaking Stanley Cup game. And while he had to give a nod, nudge and wolf-whistle to the Red Wings as one hell of a team, for guys at least a decade older than anyone in the League, it was the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had to have hometown pride, even if their tactics were sloppy and attitudes were juvenile.

Also, Hossa had to go down. On principle alone that no one gets to be that shallow and allowed to skate.

He flipped to the next chapter. He had 24 pages to go before he got distracted with the house, hockey or food. Nachos...

Jean was lounging on the stairs, reading a book. Despite the proliferation of places to read elsewhere, she hadn't managed to find a single one that was quiet. Scott was playing video games with Bobby in one, Warren was preening in another, and Alex was messing with the stereo for the living room television, with the Who cranked up so high it was audible in both rooms on either side of the room.

So she had moved to the stairs, not wanting to be holed up in her room anymore. She was definitely wishing that there were more girls than just her. Cat was nice and all, but she was too young and antsy to really talk to, and Wanda was at least a decade too old.

Hopefully no one would come barreling down the stairs and run into her.

Jean was hovering in the middle of the room, watching as things played out. They were testing Hank's abilities, to see what level he needed to start learning at. Even though they were only a few minutes in, Jean was already impressed.

A spider robot was currently gunning for Henry, attempting to shoot him with stun beams. Jean was only there as a failsafe, since some of the robots had shown a delay in their safety mechanisms. Still, she was glad to be there. Watching him move reminded her of the Olympics. She'd watched with her sister in awe at the gymnasts as they worked the bars, and this was no different.

Kevin Sydney sighed and tossed the hi-bounce ball against his dorm wall once again. The stupid creative writing paper was due and he had to punch it out or retake the class. And the teacher damn near resonated 'I-don't-want-to-teach-this.'

Henry was, well, having a bad day. You counln't tell it from outside, of course. He had scored the winning touchdown, made straight A's in his advanced classes, and was poised to go to both the championship and MIT.

And yet... he was not happy.

Henry was a mutant, and kept it close in hand. He wore make up, and slumped some, to make his back look more like a hunchback then a gnarled and solid mass of muscle and bone, and he did his best to keep his abilities in check, barely.

But he had slippedm, in the adrenalin of the season finale and managed to score too many goals, too many wins, all by himself. There was resentment, and there was a little fear in him. Why should he have to keep it all in check? Why must he always hold back? But now, when others looked at him, a little doubt showed, a little suspicion. He had been too good, too fast, and now he knew, his little paradise was over.

Today he was trudging along the path toward the local college to return some books on advanced physic theory and hoping to avoid anyone who knew him.

Belle turned to reply to Nathan's question, her expression playful, a saracastic remark second from her lips. But it was pulled away, drowned in a wind so fierce that she didn't even have time or strength to brace herself. All she could do was grab Alex's hand out of an instinct deeper than any other, and hold on tightly so they wouldn't be separated.

The wind died down a moment later, as though it had never happened. They were sitting on a couch in a neat living room. She looked around, slowly, unbelieving. Every other time they'd gone to a new world it had been on purpose. Now they had been shifted without any time to prepare. SHe reached out with her mind, hand clamping on Alex's like a vice. For the first time in a long time, Belle was truly terrified of what had happened.

( Lorna's year in review for UTR )