Tensor

Kitty smiled at Doug as they headed out of the auditorium, into the crowd milling about in the lobby. It seemed as though quite a few of the people there were biding time before they headed back out to face the line of paparazzi again... and a few were headed toward what looked like an employees only area, undoubtedly trying to duck out the back door to avoid being seen altogether.

"So," she looked up at Doug. "After party? Or calling it a night?" Catching the eye of someone she knew, she paused to wave excitedly at them, then put her semi-serious face back on and added, "I'm good either way."

Americans liked to celebrate things. Noah had learned this early into his first year in the country. New Yorkers liked to celebrate nearly everything they could validate and get officiated. They had street fairs and parades every single month. Frankly, Noah wasn't completely certain how the city functioned so well with all the festivities it was mired in. But he was positive it must be an exhausting task.

Having only recently returned from Australia, he had not caught up with current events, and just as he had finished unpacking, he had been merrily ambushed by Robert and Victor. They informed him they required his company on an excursion and gave him the required attire. At first Noah had been skeptical, given the clothing was decidedly lacking in completion. However, as he was unaware of where they were going he could not suitably argue against it. It was not until they had arrived at their destination that he understood.

The Pride Festival was similar to what Noah had seen in passing in Sydney. Boisterous people, colorful booths, and a lot of individuals standing around handing you things for free, asking for signatures or photographs. He could tell Robert and Victor were enjoying themselves. And while he didn't think he could ever enjoy himself so in such a public setting, he was not having an unpleasant time either.

They had paused to rest in an outdoor cafe, ordering cool refreshments and watching the crowd go by. Robert talking non stop and Victor contributing to the conversation with an enthusiasm that was rare. Or at least, Noah very rarely heard him sound as such. A passing band had the brunet jumping up from his chair and running off to join some dance Noah was sure being continually unaware of would not cause any hindrance for him socially.

Fifteen minutes later, the area was slightly less energetic, but still relatively crowded. Noah watched people go buy in pairs, in groups, with signs, and intertwined. Otherwise enjoying themselves and the peace that came with understanding such an integral part of who they were.

He stretched, noting the feel of eyes on him, and relaxed back into his seat. He idly caught his straw by the tip and spun it in his glass. "We should go on a date," he said, without preamble.

Rusty was still getting used to the new school, which was so much bigger than his last one. He hadn't really wanted to leave, but this was apparently the place to go if you happened to have somewhat dangerous, almost out of control powers. That was him in a nutshell. What a sucky nutshell. Although the really sucky nutshell had been behaving itself for a while now.

He was enjoying the weather. It was warm. Headphones in, eyes closed, he was laying in the grass, humming to himself along with the music and not even paying attention to the world around him. It was warm. He was thinking of surfing.

Josh sighed, leaning back in his wheelchair and looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful day. Blue sky, bright sun, cool breeze (which was likely someone's doing) and lots of shade. He didn't know how long they'd been outside, but he was starting to get agitated.

He shifted uncomfortably, frowning slightly when it didn't relieve anything immediately.

Who: Hank and Clint
Where: Hank's room
What: Make up and make out (log in progress; rated adult!)

( I think I've forgotten how to start and end the day without you. )

Who: Teddy and Brian
Where: Teddy's room
When: Last night
What: Drink and get really inappropriately sexual. Brian is the better person and doesn't take advantage.
Warning: NSFW. Heavy genderfuck groping and kissing.

( Don't you...want to? )

Bruised ribs, as it turned out, totally sucked. But the total suck was almost totally mitigated by the fuzzy-and-great drugs and the unending parade of packages. Lois didn't consider herself a particularly charming or compelling individual, although she was confident in her ability to become so onstage, so it surprised her that she received almost daily packages in the mail. More than a few came from people who worked on the cruise-ships with her mom and it only occurred to her a few days into it that they might be trying to woo her mother back via their show of support. But that didn't make the books any less readable or the sweets less edible or the flowers less cheerful, so Lois shrugged it off.

In deference to Ali's planned visit, Lois had made an effort to straighten up. She picked up laundry with her feet, dumped her various bags of candy into the usual spot, and threw out the stalest flowers. She made a cursory effort at making her bed, a habit she'd never really picked up. And then her energy flagged and she ended up on the bed, devouring her second mystery novel of the week.

Felicia blew into her dorm room as if she'd lived there her whole life. Never mind that she'd spent the morning having her life-force drained, first by blood donation and then by visiting an unconscious Josh Foley. One ultra-powered smoothie later and she'd regained the bounce in her step. And she couldn't have been more obviously new, from the untouched status of her luggage to the way she fumbled with her key. But she appeared as confident (and bored) with her surroundings as any salty K-thru-college kid.

Her roommate was absent when she started to unpack and while Felicia suspected it wouldn't last for long, she made no effort to hurry. Halfway through a single box and she was distracted, sitting on her desk nursing the remains of her smoothie while she flipped through Mortal Evidence, one of her favorites in her ever-growing forensic library.

The beeping was what he noticed first. A slow, high pitched 'Boop, Boop, Boop' that was incredibly annoying. He was accustomed enough to the sounds of hospitals that he knew what it was and how to turn it off, but was also aware it only made that sound when attached to someone. He listened to it for a while, trying to read the patient's stats and not liking what he was concluding.

It wasn't until he tried to move that he realized he couldn't. Nothing would obey him. His eyes didn't open, his lips didn't part, his head didn't roll and his fingers didn't twitch. The only thing that did respond was the pitch of the machine that was suddenly blaring 'Beep, Beep, Beep' in an urgent, even more annoying tone.

It was about then Josh made the connection. The machine was attached to HIM. Which meant he was in the HOSPITAL. Something that was supposedly impossible.

The panic followed almost directly after the realization. Why was he in the hospital?! What'd happened?! Where was he?! And more importantly, where were Kevin and Julian?! Were they hurt too? Were they even still alive?! What was happening?! The questions swirled faster, lumped closer together until Josh's brain was only processing: Hospital. Kevin and Julian missing. HOSPITAL. The 'DEETDEETDEET' of the machine gave way to a screeching 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'

Josh felt the pressure rising and braced himself as it exploded in all directions. And suddenly he could move. His whole body rocked with the start, eyes flying open at the same time as he gasped, back dropping into the bed. His free hand gripped the material beneath him like a vice as his left heel slid against the bed. His body weak and half of it weighed down so heavily he didn't even shift.

And then it hit him. A WAVE of pain that had his chest seizing, and his nerves on fire. His throat was dry and he swallowed to the feel of tubes. Suddenly surrounded by people, he tried to pull at his power and ended up feeling his head explode. He barely felt the blood slide down, but he tasted it as it dripped into his mouth.

Hands gently but firmly pushed him down. Voices, muffled and far away shouted at him. And then his body got tired and he felt heavy and slow, and the pain bled away.

Doug Ramsey was silently cursing his mother as he lugged a basket of homemade baked goods out of his room. Well, not exactly cursing - he knew that she'd sent them for Warren, she'd only called him three times about it and emailed a reminder that it was being delivered. Twice.

He still wasn't sure why she'd sent it for Warren and not to Warren, but Doug had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with her usual insistence that he was studying too hard and had to find a better balance. It was a way to get him out of his room from 3000 miles away. There was no way he was going to eat what was probably half his weight in vegan cookies, cakes and breads. It was rather brilliant, if unnecessary. He wasn't avoiding human contact, but pointing out that he was an adult and capable of running his own life (again) would probably end up with him getting glared at via webcam.

Doug knocked on the door to the next room softly, as 1 am was late enough that some of the other college students might be trying to sleep. "War? You awake?"

Paige's hand was about as close as she could get it to being in an actual fist, and she was doing her best to concentrate on not reaching over to scratch her arm. Her other arm being full of books did help to some degree, but not quite enough. By the time she got back to her room, she was biting on her lip to keep herself from dropping everything and just giving in and scratching and not caring about how gross it would be if she ended up with old layers of skin underneath that she couldn't pull out.

"Hey," she greeted as she pushed the door open. She crossed to her side of the room, pausing to kick a shoe in the general direction of her other shoes, then dropping the books no her bed and sinking down beside them. Fishing one out of the pile, she held it out. "Got the book you needed."

( Somewhere South of Heaven )

( I just want you back. Any way I can have you. )

Two days after Julian was taken to LA, the first pictures began to surface. Soon, all the tabloids were carrying them.

Julian, looking pale and weak. Julian, surrounded by a flock of useless, worried, lower-classification healers. Julian, the way he would have hated to be seen--helpless, his mother fretting uselessly by his side, his brother standing in the background with his arms crossed, brow deeply furrowed.

He didn't like showing his vulnerabilities, but for the tune of several million dollars a shot, the whole world could watch him be vulnerable now.

His mother gave interviews, clearly confused and possibly back on pills, pleading with desperate honesty, asking whoever was leaking the photos to stop, but legal action was never taken.

Julian's father, always a ruthless businessman, bought a new jet and didn't show up in a single shot. He'd emotionally cashed out of his family a long time ago.

Jared knew that he shouldn't be throwing himself into such a funk over everything, but it was just what happened win these sort of scenarios. Something terrible had happened and despite the fact that he was right in the middle of it, he walked away unaffected. Again. Not a scratch, not a bump, not a bruise. It was like he'd been telling people ever since it happened. He hadn't risked a fucking thing.

Petra had. The cadets had. The rescue teams had.

He had been in the center of it and yet still apart from it as he was trapped in his stupid damn bubble.

Rather than continue to hover and be moody around Petra, Adrian, Kitty and the rest, Jared was outside, walking and trying to decide if he should maybe go find Bobby and see if he could talk him into making giant ice slides. Or looking for something equally as distracting. Like maybe trying to bungee jump off a building.

Who: Mrs. Frost and Kurt
When: Today
Where: Kurt's office
What: Discuss Emma's choice to join the cadets

( She was going to study business! )

Katherine Ford carefully smoothed the hair back from her son's face with a gloved hand. She hadn't anticipated the first time she'd be able to do that in nearly two years involving narcotic and stress-induced sleep, and she sighed quietly as she turned away from his bed, wishing she could follow the touch with a kiss to his forehead the way she had when he'd been little.

"He'll wake up soon, Grace. I'm sure of it," she told the other woman in the room as she crossed to Josh's bed...and stooped to give him the kiss (on his cheek, carefully away from the bandages swathing his head) that she hadn't been able to give her own son. "Even if it's just self-defense against mortification." She smiled and reached across to touch her hand gently. "He was such a beautiful little boy," she added quietly. Fondly. "Just as beautiful as he is now."

Who: Emma and Julian
When: At the beginning of the DC trip
Where: On the bus
What: Have a very painful conversation

( I led myself on. )

Kitty wasn't aware of much beyond a slow, steady beeping and a dull pain that seemed to be intensifying slightly as other familiar sounds came into focus. She had a few, very fuzzy, memories of assorted faces hovering over her. Her parents, a SHIELD agent, doctors, friends... none of it really fit into a timeline that she could put together in her mind, though. Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking away the blurriness. It didn't take a lot to figure out that she was in a hospital of some sort, and she turned her head slightly, letting out a whimper as the pain in her jaw spiked. She sucked in a breath then clenched her eyes shut again as another sudden twinge in her torso. Well, at least it was pretty obvious that she wasn't dead. That was something.

Three days after the explosion, two things happened in the life of Julian Keller, both of which could be classified as a tragedy:

1) He still hadn't woken from his massive injuries.

2) His parents arrived to be with him.