Nightmares at Xavier's

[Loa]

((OOC: If any other students wake up becuase of the fight, feel free to run into this thread with your pajamas on!))

Alani Ryan shot up in her bed, her eyes wide. She stared out the window, with its curtains open, at the forest behind the school. Oh my God! What WAS that?

Glancing down at her sheets and pajamas, she was glad to find she hadn't activated her power in fear like she had the last time. She blew out a sigh of relief, sending a lock of hair fluttering.

She looked around the room, and saw that Sam was still asleep. Alani frowned, then leaned over, her sheets drawn around herself. She reached out a foot towards Sam's bed, wiggling it in the air, but she couldn't reach it.

"Sam!" she whispered. "Sam!"

Sam didn't stir even a tiny bit, but Alani was a little too scared to get out of her bed. She wrapped the sheets around herself more, then snuck a hand out towards the tissue box on her nightstand.

"Sam!" she whispered on last time. Sam still didn't move, she she chucked the box sideways, hoping to hit Sam's foot or leg. But other than surfing and swimming, sports were never Alani's thing, and the box wound up flying directly into Sam's butt.

"Oh! Crap!" Alani said quietly, then covered her head with her sheets.

[Crypt]

Liam's eyes snapped open as the loud roar slipped through the soundproofing of his room, bouncing around in his head. He clapped his hands over his pointed ears, growing and rolling off his bed to the floor.

And then it was over, the sound blissfully dying off. Liam spun in the darkness, his eyes picking out every detail around him. Ignoring the grumbling in his stomach, he grabbed his goggles and headed for the door, long fingers grasping the handle.

The goggles slipped easily over his head to hang around his neck (the lights were usually out in the mansion at night, so he was able to walk around without them most of the time), and he started to pull the door open when a slightl breeze slipped through the crack in the door and he slammed it closed. Pants! Liam had lived alone in the wild for so long that he hadn't had clothes, and he was still more comfortable sleeping without them, but that meant that he had to focus on putting them on when he woke.

Grabbing a pair of ragged pajama pants, the bottoms torn badly from recklessly shoving his feet through and having the nails on his toes catch and tear, he darted back to the door, pulling it open and slipping out into the dark hallway.

[phase]

Hannah was running down the hallway, her little feet carrying her as fast as they could towards the door.

She'd slept most of the day after her outburst, and was still not quite sure what was going on.

Kitty wasn't in her room when she woke up. So she got a bit scared, and had decided to investigate. She ran right past Liam without seeing him.

[haxxor]

Sam dreamt in pictures, bright flashes of image followed by unconnected thoughts and emotion: huge sadness at a swingset back in Sweet Hill, the face of an old teacher and the sound of a school bus's brakes, a sudden jolt of pillow on her cheek and a slap on the ass -

No. Wait. That last one had been real. Sam woke a split second before the box finished its bounce to the floor, cluttering softly, as cardboard did, against the wood and carpet. The tiniest scent of burning fabric rose to her nose as the jolt of panic the surprise wake-up had created traveled down the metal frame of her bed, gently searing the places where metal met carpeting.

Well, it was bound to happen anyway. Now hopefully it would fuse and not do it again.

Sam grunted and shifted, bunching herself up to stretch, which she did, luxuriously and slow, listening to her roommate swear and shuffle around while she tried to make sense of the noises around her.

"Mnnf," she said, then pushed the covers off and sat up unsteadily, feeling almost stuck to the pillow. She glanced at the clock.

"You have got to be kidding me," she muttered, her voice low and still slurred with sleep. "Alani, what's up?"

She tugged her camisole down so it covered her stomach again, pulling her soccer shorts around so that the seams were actually on the sides before forcing a hand through her tangled hair, brushing it off her forehead and up in a comical cockatiel peak. It was way too early - or late, whatever - to be waking up, even for a mild insomniac like Sam.

[Crypt]

Liam stepped quietly through the halls, listening for anything around him, when the sound of small feet slapping against the floor echoed off the walls in front of him and Hannah zipped around the corner, breezing right past him. There was a frantic look in her eye, and to Liam she looked like a wild animal that had been spooked badly.

Turning on the ball of his foot, he moved after her, calling out in a soft voice. "Hannah, stop! Come here!" He held his arms out open to her, natural instincts kicking in from somewhere. Such a young member of his cloud needed some sort of comfort, especially with whatever made that sound out there.

Finally catching up with her, he stopped and kneeled down, black eyes focusing on her in the moonlight spilling through the windows. One ear twitched as he heard a groggy voice through the wood door in front of which he'd stopped. No, two voices... ones he'd heard before.

Still, there wasn't as much time to worry about that. First, he had to calm Hannah down.

[phase]

Hannah turned when she saw Liam. And nearly any other little kid would have been scared to death by what they saw; Hannah was not like most little kids.

Whimpering, she ran straight into his arms.

"Scary. Everyone's scared." She pressed her face to his neck, almost dizzy from the feeling of everyone waking out of dreams- let alone the sounds echoing outside.

[Loa]

"You have got to be kidding me. Alani, what's up?"

Alani pulled the covers around her neck and peered at Sam in the dark.

"Sorry about the kleenex box!" She whisper-screamed. She pointed a sheet covered hand at the window. "There's something happening outside! Didn't you hear that scream?"

Alani turned as voices in the hallway came through their room door. Her eyes widened and she looked back at Sam.

"Someone's in the hall! What if it's that Stryker guy? Or Mystique? Or Dracula???"

[haxxor]

Sam thought she saw a dim shape in the dark, though her eyes quickly adjusted; it was shaped like Alani. Alani being consumed by a rancor. But they were not on Tatooine, were they? Damn.

"Sorry about the kleenex box! There's something happening outside! Didn't you hear that scream?"

Sam turned with slightly more enthusiasm - well, interest, more like - to the window, peering through it as best she could, but all she saw were dimly-lit grounds.

Then someome began to speak in the hall, and fear lanced up Sam's spine, crackling around her head as visible proof, the room light now with the strange, flickering golden wash of her sparks.

"Someone's in the hall! What if it's that Stryker guy? Or Mystique? Or Dracula???"

"It's not," Sam said (not very confidently) as she slid out of bed, padding across the carpet to the door, trying to quiet down her sparks. She did - mostly. One still popped up every few seconds, but it was better. But she couldn't hear much through the door, possibly because she'd never been good at putting her ear to doors and had always screwed it up, so she carefully turned the handle to her and Alani's room and stepped quietly out, hanging out her door, one foot still in the room. The sparks kicked up again, two or three bursting around her head within a second of each other, before she quieted them down.

Through the gloom in the hallway she couldn't see much; all light was afforded by a big bay window at the end of the hall, which let in nothing but moonlight and very filtered streetlights from all the way up on the avenue. She could make out an extremely foggy shape, though - an oddly lumpy shape, as if it was carrying someone, a child... or hugely lumpy weaponry.

"Hello?" Sam whispered, against her best instincts. "...Count Dracula?"

[Crypt]

Liam wrapped his arms around Hannah, lifting her easily and cradling her against his chest. His wings curled protectively and he rose back to his feet. "No fear. All's fine," he mumbled to her, his eyes scanning the dark hallway.

His bare chest rose and fell slowly, calming him. He wasn't actually feeling any fear; he'd fought creatures stronger and larger than himself in the Highlands, and besides the fading scars that crossed his body, he'd always been fine. He was curious as to what made the noise, but he was also fine not having to find out first hand. Instead his awareness shifted to something else.

There was movement in the room next to him. There was more speaking, and then his ears picked up soft footsteps and the occasional pop of something. One of the voices was coming toward the door, and Liam took a step back as it slowly swung open.

Still holding Hannah close, he watched as Sam poked most of her body out, glancing around. Her eyes fell on him, and he knew she couldn't see him as well as he could see her, but he took a slow step forward, hoping that the moonlight would illuminate him.

"Hello... Count Dracula?"

Liam stopped for a moment. That had been a name he'd encountered in his research, limited though it was. And it certainly wasn't one that he wanted to be associated with. Though closer than she knows. Instead he called out quietly in his quiet, low voice. "Liam."

[Loa]

Alani panicked as Sam got out of bed and walked to the door. She was curious about the sparks coming out of her feet, and wondered briefly if they would mark up their carpet, but forgot about that entirely when Sam put her hand on the door knob.

"Sam!" she whispered. "Don't go out there!"

"Hello? ....Count Dracula?"

Alani couldn't suppress a small smile, though the thought of Dracula actually answering her from the darkness scared the smile away. Then a voice did answer, and Alani became scared in a very different way.

"Liam."

Liam! she shouted in her head. She quickly ran her hands over her face, checking for drool or sleepy dust. She tucked her hair behind her ears and jumped out of bed and skipped over to the door. Running her fingers over her hair one final time, she peeked her head out beside Sam's.

"Hey, Liam," she whispered.

[haxxor]

"Sam! Don't go out there!"

Sam might or might not have paused briefly with her hand on the knob, but seriously - even though she was a little freaked, she had too much cold common sense to be delayed long by imaginary vampires.

Mostly.

She hung out the door, ready to pull herself back and blast whoever was at the end of the hall, but he turned to a just slightly better angle and Sam was struck with recognition -

"Liam."

"Oh thank God," Sam said, exhaling. The sparks went out for good above her head, leaving behind nothing but a random trace of woodsmoke from the vaporized dust motes. "Did you hear anything? Alani said she heard screaming, but I slept through..."

She felt Alani bob behind her, peeking out next to her; she must know Liam too. Not that Sam really knew him, she doubted arguing over speakers once really counted, but it counted in her world.

Sam moved the rest of the way out of the room and over to Liam and his young charge, glancing behind at Alani to see if she was coming, rubbing her upper arms in the sudden chill.

"Is it okay?" she asked, glancing down at the kid in Liam's arms before noticing it was the freaky little ninja-girl who'd scared the crap out of her on her first day at the Mansion. "Do you know what happened?"

[Crypt]

Liam watched with interest as the sparks flickered out, the faint burning scent making his nose twitch slightly. His arms shifted around Hannah and he took a step foward, moving closer to Sam so she'd be able to see him better.

"Did you hear anything? Alani said she heard screaming, but I slept through..."

He had just opened his mouth when Alani's face slipped into view and his jaw shut quickly, his wings flaring slightly in surprise. He knew he had recognized the voices, but he hadn't been expecting to see her. Not that he didn't want to, but she made his stomach feel all... wriggly.

He watched her with wide eyes before turning back to Sam nervously, his toes curling and digging small furrows in the finish on the floor. Her second question echoed in his head, and watching her rub her arms suddenly made him very aware of the cool air against his skin and the fact that his face was feeling very warm.

"Sounded more like roaring to me. Large animal roaring." Should have put on a shirt. "Don't know why."

[Loa]

Seeing Liam without his shirt on caused Alani to blush, and to be thankful that there was only low lighting in the hall. Topless and with Hannah in his arms, he looked like a guardian angel - She could've melted on the spot. She fixed her hair once again, though it didn't need it.

"Sounded more like roaring to me. Large animal roaring."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," replied Alani. "I've never heard anything like it."

She looked down the hallway in the opposite direction, surprised that more students hadn't come out. Either they hadn't woken up or were too afraid to get out of their beds, like she had been. Thank God for Sam or I'd still be hiding under my sheets, she thought.

"Do you think we should get a teacher?" she asked, looking at Liam more than the others.

[phase]

Hannah turned around in Liam's arms, pulling them around her like a backwards hug as she listened to the others talking. She knew Alani, and remembered Sam from the other day.. but still shook a little from the volume of emotion flying about the place.

"I can find Miss Candice if you want, then we don't hafta move out of the hallway."

Something crunched, a tree or something, and Hannah winced. "Maybe there's a monster outside."

[haxxor]

The entire exchange flew completely over Sam's head. Unlike the vast majority of her sex, she'd never been too into the whole subtext thing; couldn't pick it up, couldn't insert it into a situation. She was the antisubtle.

She figured Liam was just being weird and bug-eyed, as was his wont.

Instead of smirking at their little amour, then, she bit her lip and considered what kind of large animal might be loose on the grounds. "There's that Beast guy," she said slowly, "but I'm not sure he's the roaring type. And wolverines don't roar, they just kind of make this little yowly noise..."

But no other students had heard it, apparently; it might have been high-pitched or very soft, Sam reasoned, if the young girl, who had unspoiled ears, had heared it as well as Liam, who was animalistic - and maybe Alani had good hearing, or had been awake.

"Do you think we should get a teacher?"

"I can find Miss Candice if you want, then we don't hafta move out of the hallway. Maybe there's a monster outside."

"Might be a good idea," Sam said to the little girl. "Just to be sure... I think it's probably just one of the kids, or something in the forest. Maybe one of the telepaths is projecting dreams again, I don't know. It could be anything here."

God, she was freezing.

[Crypt]

Liam hung onto Hannah as she turned in his arms, and he listened to the others speak about what to do. And while it was true that Liam knew very little about the world of computers and cars, large wild animals was something he knew all about.

"No," he said calmly, matter-of-factly in a way unlike his usual skittish demeanor. "Roar that loud? If it was close, would have been on us by now. 'Sides, sounded like pain, not hunting." He glanced around, letting his senses search the area, ignoring the others for a moment. "And no other noises? Not nearby, not hunting us. Safer here."

Hiking Hannah a little higher in his arms, he looked back at Sam and Alani.

[Loa]

"I think it's probably just one of the kids, or something in the forest. Maybe one of the telepaths is projecting dreams again, I don't know. It could be anything here."

Alani giggled a little at that. With so many kids with so many strange powers - hers included - it might have been silly for her to panic so quickly. But knowing that Hannah and Liam had had the same reaction made her feel much less foolish.

"And no other noises? Not nearby, not hunting us. Safer here."

Alani smiled at Liam. "I do feel safer here with you," she blurted out. "...Guys. With you guys."

She looked down at the floor of her bedroom, hiding her face from the others. Oh, just kill me, Dracula.

[phase]

Hannah felt the zing of Alani's emotions run from her toes to the top of her head, tickling in a little electric pulse that made her heart beat excitedly.

Suddenly giggling, she held tightly to Liam. "Lani!!!" She said accusingly.

Fear could only hold for so long before the child's survival instinct kicked in. Much different than Liam's, hers was built around protecting her psyche. Lifting her head from Liam's shoulder, she looked towards the doorway, biting her bottom lip with a smile.

[haxxor]

Sam nodded at Liam's knowledge of animalia, which made sense, given that it was... him. She as going to trust him on that one. She knew a little animal science, but had concentrated more on human and mechanical. Who wanted to be a vet when you could be a neurologist? Or, really, anything other than someone who had to stare at puppies all the time.

Puppies freaked her out a little.

"I do feel safer here with you... guys. With you guys."

The whoosh was almost audible as Alani's unsubtlety flew straight over Sam's head.

Sam opened her mouth to speak and then gave Hannah a weird look as she giggled and shouted Alani's name.

Well, okay. Sam thought she felt a little electrical pulse emanating from the kid - but she obviously operated on some sort of weird energy, which could easily convert to bioelectricity. Besides, Sam never knew what she was dealing with around here; everyone's powers were eventually in her domain, in the web of current that formed the hindbrain. Not that she could really control that (too complicated), but living in the Institute was like living in a power plant.

"Well," Sam said, "you can either feel safe with Liam out here or safe with me in the dorm. If it's safer in here, I'm going back to bed."

With that she stumbled back to her and Alani's little dorm, still walking with the awkward shambling stalk that the recently-awoken all have in common.

[Crypt]

Liam's eyes watched Alani curiously. He knew no one else could see, since it was too dark for them to notice details, but she was turning red again as she looked down. She seemed to do that more often, and he was still trying to figure out why. Have to ask someone.

His focus shifted to Hannah as she blurted out Alani's name, her voice loud right next to his ears. Shaking his head, he looked down at her. Something obviously struck her as amusing, because she was giggling with that high voice of hers. So much was flying around his head that he didn't understand, and he blinked and focused on the sounds from outside, listening for anything else that could present a danger.

Nothing except the normal sounds of the night.

And then Sam was speaking again, and walking into her room, muttering something about going back to bed. Liam looked at Alani with his black eyes one more time and then lifted Hannah up with his strong arms, looking her in the face. "Get you back to bed. Where do you sleep?"