Aberrant: Mutant High - Caught in the Act [Complete]

[Cirque]

Aradia grit her teeth and pushed harder. It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough to get the roll of carpeting through the window.. it's just that it was awkward. She'd tried to teleport it in, but it was just too large. She'd had it cut to the proper dimensions when she'd ordered it, but she hadn't realized how much carpeting it would take to cover the ceiling of the main student common room until she'd seen it all rolled up at the shop. She'd already laid down a bunch of hardwood flooring that mimicked the look for the wood-beamed ceiling nicely over the room's existing carpeting. She'd already attached the lighting fixture to the hardwood floor and arranged it to stand upright as if it were hanging in a gravity-defying upward manner. She'd teleported most of the small furniture into a small storage room that no one ever went into, and had the glue prepped and ready to get the tables and chairs secured. Fortunately the lounge was decorated with lots of student-ready, easily movable, contemporary-looking furniture. The large high-def flatscreen even attached conveniently to the wall, so all she'd had to do was screw in a new attachment upside down that would hold the TV firmly in place. The only thing she was really concerned about was the couch in front of the TV.. but she had a couple ideas, and she was sure at least one of them would work.

All she needed to do was get the carpet secured to the ceiling. And for that, she needed to get it pushed through the window. She still had a lot to do, and while she was plenty awake for it - she'd taken a long nap late that evening so that she'd have the energy tonight to pull this off - she only had about four more hours to sunrise to finish the setup. She muttered angrily, not expecting anyone nearby to hear her - after all, she was standing outside the window of an area not directly by any of the student dorms at two o'clock in the morning, knee-deep in snow.

"Damnit, this plan went better in my head when there wasn't a frickin' blizzard to contend with!"

[GDP_ST]

A soft golden glow threw Aradia's shadow up against the wall, and for a horrible, disorienting moment the young tearaway's heart leapt into her mouth as she wondered where those four hours had gone. Surely the sun couldn't be up already!? Had she lost track of time that badly?

A second thought occured to her a second later. Doesn't the sun rise on the other side of this building...?

Risking a peek over one shoulder she saw a tall, blond young man who was, to all appearances, standing on thin air. Quite apart from the fact of his hovering, the guy was wreathed in a shifting, eddying golden haze which cast golden refractions from the drifting snow around him as flakes that came too close slowly melted before they hit the ground. He brushed back a stray lock of his golden mane, which glistened quite distractingly with snowmelt, and went back to watching her with an air of bemused fascination. Seeing her catch sight of him, he essayed a faint smile.

"Your room not have a carpet, then?"

[Cirque]

"Holy shit!"

She froze, staring at the blond Adonis as she waited for her heart to stop pounding from the scare. But after a moment she realized that she wasn't scared anymore, but her heart was still beating fast in her chest and that probably had more to do with the heartthrob standing in front of her than with being caught mid-prank. She blinked a couple times, pale green glowing eyes flickering down, and then slowly back up over every inch of that glowing, golden body.

"Wow.. I mean.. um.. hi."

Her eyes met his at the "hi", and after a beat he saw her regain her composure, and if it hadn't been for his own sunny glow he wouldn't have been able to see the faint flush that blossomed in her cheeks. She was attractive by normal standards, though she was no Violet or Sonja. But Aradia had wit, and the smiled she flashed him was both charming and ironic, her response deadpanned, laced with a touch of amusement.

"Old one doesn't match the furniture. I'm redecorating."

[GDP_ST]

"Oh." Alex merely nodded as though the whole situation were commonplace and turned in mid-air as though to go before his deadpan demeanour cracked and he turned back with a smile sparkling on his face. This school certainly wasn't short of entertainment: Warren as a roomie, super-powered food fights in the cafeteria, Violet... Bad! Focus! and now strange green-eyed girls who wrestled with carpets at 2 am. Alex hadn't been able to sleep: his body clock was a little off from travel, plus there was the fact that he never slept well on the first night in a new place. So rather than tossing and turning and adding that to his glow as sources of Warren's irritation, he'd pulled on t-shirt, jeans and his heavy black wool overcoat and decided to go for a little night flying practice. He loved to fly, had done ever since the pants-wetting terror of his manifestation had given way to realisation that he was alive and airborne.

"So..." he drifted down towards her, extending a hand and secretly proud of how quickly he was gaining control of his flight ability. He made the descent seem so natural that it was almost as though the snow-clad ground came up to meet him rather than him coming down to it. "I'm Alex Andrews."

[Cirque]

She watched him descend, and remained unruffled enough to deduce that she was a student who'd been around a little while. She shook his hand politely, and her grip was strong and confident.

"Aradia McConnell. My friends call me Ari."

They studied each other for a brief moment, a bit unsure where to take the conversation from there, all things considered. Finally, her lips twitched in amusement, and she glanced back down at the carpet sticking out of the window and hanging over the snow-covered bushes lining the edge of the building.

"Well since you're here, I don't suppose I could get a hand, could I?"

[GDP_ST]

"If you tell me what I'm helping with, sure." Alex gave her a look that definitely belonged to an older soul, but the quirk of his lips betrayed the fact that he had at least some clue that this was not, strictly speaking, curricular activity. And that he wasn't altogether disapproving of it. "You can tell me while I help you, how's that?" He flashed a grin at her and moved to take up one end of the carpet, his feet leaving the ground once more as he took the weight. Small flares of light shone in his aura, causing Ari to wince at how UN-suited her unlikely partner-in-crime was for sneaking around.

He grunted slightly with effort before nodding to Ari. "Alright then. Let's ease this thing through."

[Cirque]

"I told you.. redecorating."

She flashed him a wicked grin, then glanced around nervously to make sure that no one had spotted them just yet.

"Don't suppose you've got a dimmer switch on that, do you?"

Alex shook his head, looking both amused and apologetic, and she nodded in response.

"Alright then, let's make it quick. You push, I'll pull."

And without another word, she disappeared with a black implosive burst, almost as if space was closing in on itself quickly. It was almost silent, the only noise that accompanied the power in the stillness of the night air was a very quiet sound that resembled a vaacum made as it was covered by something that cut off the airflow. Then, from the other side of the window, he heard her murmur quietly.

"On three. One.. two.. three!"

He pushed then, using his momentum from flying to shove the bulky carpet roll through the window as Ari pulled it in on the other side. The carpet hit the ground with a quiet thud, muffled by the fact that Aradia caught most of the weight as it came through, before it impacted the hardwood flooring.

Once he made it inside, the young teleporter's joke became obvious. She had already dealt with most of the small details - pictures were hung upside down on the walls, and higher up too to mirror how far they would normally be from the "floor". They appeared to be standing on a hardwood floor that mirrored the appearance of the ceiling overhead, including having somehow duplicated the raised plaster medallion in the middle of the floor/ceiling where the chandelier had been positioned to hang. The only thing the room was missing was furniture, and the carpet that they were holding, which he imagined was probably pretty close to the carpet that was installed under the "ceiling" he was standing on.

She walked over to the wall and placed a hand on it, and then stepped up, the way one would if they were climbing a ladder. He expected perhaps a short hop to reach something on the wall, but instead she almost seemed to attach herself to the wall, walking up it with the balls of her feet and the palms of her hand, until she reached the bottom "hem" of the curtains. She had secured all of them upside down, so that they appeared to hang to the "floor" naturally, and all but the one they had just climbed through were drawn shut. She transferred her movements to the ceiling, and appeared to kneel - the way one would if they had been kneeling on the actual floor to fix the puddle of curtains as they hit the floor - as she drew the heavy draperies shut and adjusted them. Except on the ceiling. Dizzying. Then, just as he was starting to adjust to the oddness of the girl's wall-walking escapades, she dropped, as if she suddenly became unstuck, and with a half-twist she landed silently but gracefully in front of him. She stood up and flashed him a grin.

"That should block in the sunlight, so to speak. So.. whaddya think?"

She gestured around the room idly, trying to conceal her delight at the mostly-finished prank. It wasn't often Aradia got to own up to her own escapades (at least officially), and hearing it straight from someone's mouth was always different than hearing the rumors. Besides, she was never around at first discovery.. it was just too risky.

[GDP_ST]

His mouth was hanging open a little, as much from the upside-down decor as from Aradia's wall-crawling agility. He felt a brief moment of extreme disorientation, then his naturally resilient mind kicked into gear and he laughed: a low, amazed sound.

"This all your work?" he looked at Ari with some respect as the girl nodded, trying not to grin openly. Alex rose into the air a bit, then turned himself over so that he 'stood' upside down on the ceiling and 'walked around' a little. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fall of blond hair hanging down at least two feet 'above' his head. He tilted his head back and looked down at Ari. "Okay, I'm impressed. Whose room is this? And how far are we planning to go here? Furniture on the ceiling as well as that carpet?" He smiled at her through the golden curtain of his hair, the 'we' clearly signifying that this type of mischief was definitely the Englishman's cup of tea, no pun intended.

[Cirque]

"This is one of the common rooms, when it's got furniture in it. Kind of a student hang-out place, that's why it's so big in here. A couple of tables for playing games on, lots of chairs, stuff like that. And it's all that modern stuff, nothing very heavy, right? That's why I picked it - I don't 'do' halfway."

She studied the work left to do for a moment, and briefly glanced over towards the TV hanging on the wall with a little frown of concentration.

"I tacked the cushions down ahead of time, and I've got some magnet stuff figured out for table accessories. Not quite sure how I'll work the couch, but I've got a couple ideas.. nothing we can't figure out. If you wanna help that is. Another pair of hands would make this go a lot faster. Whatd'ya say, Firefly?"

She flashed him a mischievous grin, and looked up at him with glowing green eyes that seemed to practically flicker with excitement.

[GDP_ST]

"I say 'Why the hell not?' Let's do this thing." Alex chuckled as he rotated in mid-air again and motioned to the rolled-up carpet. "Let's get that up, then."

The two mutants worked solidly for the next hour or so. Aradia was right in her assessment: a second pair of hands, especially attached to someone that could fly, made the whole refurbishment go a whole lot faster. Plus, of course, it made for interesting scenery when Alex stripped off his overcoat and hovered around the room in t-shirt and faded jeans.

They got the tables and chairs up after the carpet, turned the t.v. upside down in it's bracket on the wall, which they decided was probably the best way to handle it, seeing as drilling would almost certainly attract attention of the undesirable sort. Finally, they looked at each other, looked at the nearly completed upside-down room, then looked at the couch.

"Well." Alex said, clearly a little doubtful as he regarded the large piece of furniture. "It's time for those ideas you had."

[Cirque]

She licked her lips lightly, looking intently at the couch. The look on her face was one of determination, and after a few quiet moments she stepped over to the couch and motioned him over.

"Okay, I think we should definitely go all out. I skipped lunch and prepped some holes in here the other day. I've got the anchors, so I think if we can lift this sucker up with some straps, secure it to the hooks, and then load up the glue for some additional reinforcement."

Together, they turned the couch upside down, and as Alex fastened the cords tightly around the inner workings of the sofa, threading them through springs and wooden supports, Aradia fastened the anchors into the small, pre-drilled holes that he hadn't noticed in the wood previously, directly over where the couch should go. Together, the two of them managed to heft the bulky piece of furniture up to the ceiling, and they tied off the straps as best as they could to allow Ari the space to apply the glue as Alex valiantly stood below, ready to try to break the couch's fall if something were to go terribly wrong. Finally the glue was applied, the straps tightened, and the couch pressed flush to the ceiling. It reportedly took an hour for whatever industrial glue she'd acquired for this project to settle, and the two sat quietly when it was done, each having secured the end of a strap that they were holding on to tightly for tension while the glue dried. Aradia had wrapped hers around and was sitting on it in order to take the pressure off of her hands, her head leaning back against the wall.

"So.. you help people with this sort of thing often?"

She glanced over at him, and grinned, looking a bit tired. Her forehead glistened and strands of her hair were tipped lighting with sweat from the effort of hauling the couch to the ceiling, but unlike a lot of girls the hard work hadn't seemed to bother her. He wasn't entirely sure how, but with the young lady's obvious determination, he found himself believing that she could have actually managed it on her own... though it would have been a lot harder.

[GDP_ST]

"Oh, you'd be amazed." Alex's tone was offhand, though the smile following the deadpan delivery was infectious. "Sometimes whole weeks go past without me having to put someone's bed up on the ceiling for them."

He was clearly a little tired himself, but the perspiration dampening his features and hair simply made him, if anything, more eye-catching. Even the way stray locks of his work-tousled mane kept falling into his face was distracting. Ari kept having to resist the urge to stroke them back into place, and reflected that it was a good thing she couldn't move from her current spot to do just that at the moment.

"So given the amount of ingenuity and planning you put into this, I get the impression that you do do this sort of thing often." Alex smiled at her. "When you're not interior decorating, what else do you do around here?"

[Cirque]

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff. Unscrew salt and pepper shaker lids, let greased pigs loose in the hallways, and spell out things with forks in the front lawn."

She glanced over at him and grinned, and he couldn't tell for sure how much was an exaggeration and how much she wasn't kidding about. Then she shrugged a little, and her grin became a normal smile, her tone of voice becoming more conversational and less flirtatious, though it took a bit of effort on her part. He probably had all the girls going ga-ga over him.. she'd keep her ga-ga to herself for now.

"What everyone else does, I suppose. Go to class, hang out, have fun. I'm in the Drama Club and the Martial Arts club, and I'm a student coach for the younger kids' Gymnastics Club. What about you - you're new, right? I haven't seen you around."

[GDP_ST]

"Just started glowing a week ago. Just arrived here tod-" he broke off and ostentatiously checked his watch, then grinned at her. "Yesterday." Alex shifted slightly, swapping rope-hands as he sat against the wall opposite Aradia's.

"I've heard about the Drama club. Someone was talking about trying it yesterday and wondering if I'd fly wingman for them." He cocked his head to one side, regarding Ari. "So what style or styles are taught at the martial arts club? I've got a few grades of Ju-Jutsu myself." He shrugged. "But I'm a long way off from good at it. After the brawl in the cafeteria yesterday, I'm thinking that a little extra self-defence might be a good idea."

"As for other interests... I play guitar, read entirely too much, and like to climb, usually things that I shouldn't." His lips quirked in a wry grin. "Oh, and I'm thinking of breaking into interior design."

[Cirque]

"You should do it, you have a natural talent."

She flashed him a grin, and if it looked flirtatious.. well, she wasn't the first one, and he was starting to suspect she wouldn't be the last.

"One of the teachers here knows enough Judo to teach it fairly efficiently. There's also a student who's a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do, and another who's really good at a mix of several different styles. It might not be the most traditional club, cause we all learn a little bit of everything, but it's a lot of fun. I'm sure people would love to have you join up, even if you don't consider yourself instructor material. We kind of learn a little from everyone who knows something."

[GDP_ST]

"Sounds like it'd be fun." Alex yawned, then gave Ari an apologetic frown. "Sorry. It's been a hell of a long day. Only reason I couldn't sleep was..." Violet. Okay, not just Violet. He blinked a little and shook his head. "Well, everything. New place, new situation, new people." He smiled dazzlingly at Aradia. "Not that that's been all bad. Even my room-mate is interesting... in a 'sleep with one eye open' sort of way."

He was growing increasingly tired, perhaps not so unusually considering that he'd spent the last couple of hours shifting furniture around. But it struck the quick-witted teleporter that Alex's aura was noticeably dimming over time. It was currently not extending much beyond a couple of inches from his body, and wasn't much brighter than a shaded table-lamp.

[Cirque]

"No problem, Firefly. I can tell you're getting tired - someone turned down your dimmer switch."

She smiled at him before glancing over at a clock, then up at the couch as she grabbed a hold of the cord again. She pulled tightly on it to give it some tension, then she stood up and slowly let her grip loosen, until she wasn't actually holding on anymore, just holding it loosely between her fingertips.

"I think the knots are tight enough, and the glue looks settled. Besides, this place has some early risers, and someone might wander in this direction.. you never know."

She teleported to the ceiling, and gathered up the loose amounts from both ropes, tucking them under the skirt of the couch and out of sight. Then she reappeared in front of Alex, feet on the real floor, and offered a hand to help him up.

"Thanks for the assist and all. I'm actually gonna get some sleep tonight. Totally wasn't expecting that. And trust your instincts on that roommate of yours.. people around here do bite, sometimes."

She flashed him a grin to take the edge off the comment, but the green-eyed acrobat still sounded more as if she was making an observation than a joke.

[GDP_ST]

He gripped her offered her hand and half-stood, half-pulled himself up. Aradia easily balanced as she helped him up, then found herself having to steady the young man as he almost stumbled.

"Ungh... s'good advice, Aradia. Warren's okay though. He's just had a tough..." Alex blinked at her, blue eyes glazed with stunned amazement as he tried to take a step and found that his legs weren't doing as they were told. "... a tough... run... Whaaa..?!"

The glow faded almost completely, only a faint shimmer remaining on Alex's skin as sky-blue eyes rolled back into his head and, without further ado, the sun-god's head dipped and he collapsed forward like a felled tree.

[Cirque]

Aradia's eyes widened, and she dropped down next to him, trying to shake him awake. Even unconscious he was startlingly handsome, perhaps even more so because of the vulnerability of his appearance at the moment. But stunning blue eyes stayed closed, even as Ari lightly slapped at his face.

"Alex? Alex! Shit! Shit, shit, shit!"

She grabbed onto his arm and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to teleport them both to the nurse's office. There were several quiet "pop" noises as Aradia flickered out, and then back into existence, unable to transport herself with something as large as another person. The thought briefly crossed her mind to pick him up and carry him out, but Dr. Chase's office was on the other side of the building, and she just didn't know if she could carry him all the way there running. Some quiet voice in the back of her mind whispered that they were going to get in some serious shit. But she pushed it away with a mental sigh, and touched his cheek lightly. No amount of trouble was worth risking this guy's life over - especially since he'd been so damned nice. And time might be of the essence.

"Hold on Firefly, I'll be right back."

And with that she disappeared, reappearing immediately outside the doorway to Dr. Chase's private room and pounding on it firmly.

"Dr. Chase? Dr. Chase, I need some help!"

[GDP_ST]

Considering that it was the small hours of the morning, Dr Lucia Chase not only responded to the hammering on her door quickly, but also with good grace and a distinct lack of surliness. A petite woman with obvious traces of Hawaiian descent in her makeup, she held a night-robe shut over tropical flower-pattern pyjamas as she blinked once in the hallway's light.

"Aradia?" she sounded surprised and concerned, but certainly not unduly ruffled, and her voice was reassuring. She looked Aradia over quickly, but not seeing any obvious injuries put a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "What's wrong dear?"

[Cirque]

"Yeah, Dr. Chase, it's the new guy - Alex. We were hanging out and he got really tired, and then he just passed out and I can't wake him up!"

A frown flickered across Dr. Chase's lips, and she focused on the young mutant. She tightened the belt of her night robe, and closed the door behind her quietly.

"Take me to him."

They hurried through the halls and across the building, until they reached the main upperclassmen common room. She threw open the door to the topsy-turvy room and hurried in, stepping out of the doctor's way.

"Here. He was glowing way brighter before, I have no idea what's wrong."

[GDP_ST]

Dr. Chase paused for a moment, just one moment, as she took in the upside-down room. Her eyes flickered to Aradia in a mild mixture of accusation and amusement, and then the professional kicked in and she knelt next to Alex's limp body, picking up his wrist and feeling for a pulse.

"Faint but steady. Same with his breathing. Very shallow." She looked at Aradia with the calm air of an inquisitor. "Aradia, Alex is new here, and I haven't had a chance to evaluate him yet. I need to know if either of you were taking any substances. Any at all."

She peeled back one eyelid as she spoke, pulling a penlight from her pocket and shining it into the iris. "Hmmph. That's odd." she said absently.

[Cirque]

She shook her head firmly, her lips tightening into a determined line.

"No - I swear. I mean, we were using this stuff..."

She hurried over to the corner and picked up the bucket of industrial-strength glue and carried it over, setting it down next to the doctor.

"It stinks to high heaven and it kinda gave me a headache. But I swear, we weren't doing anything. Other than.. you know..."

She gestured guiltily to the room, and blushed a little, looking more embarrassed at getting caught than she did at perpetrating the prank.

[GDP_ST]

"Alright. Leave the glue here and let's get him to the infirmary." Dr Chase said, voice still a little absent as she peered into Alex's other eye. "Very interesting..." she murmured to herself, then clicked the penlight off and dusted off her hands. "Get his arms, Aradia."

* * * * *

Fifty minutes later, and the LHA's newly-arrived mutant was hooked up to a heart monitor in the well-equipped infirmary, the examination light reflecting golden off his bared chest while Aradia sat nearby, torn between concern for Alex and wondering how much crap she was going to get into. Dr Chase was speaking quietly on the phone in the corner.

"Yes, Director. No, I don't believe they were. It's as it seems: a prank. Yes, she's still here. She doesn't want to leave until she knows he's alright." A pause. "There are no signs of any allergic reaction or poisoning. His pulse is steady and so is his breathing. Both are faint, though. It's almost as though he is in a state between hibernation and a coma, if I had to guess right now. I'm going to need to take him to the lab, I think. There's a lot of anomalies in his physiology that the equipment here just can't determine." The doctor was facing away from the bed, her tone professionally baffled as she spoke with Director Drumm. It was understandable that she missed what was happening behind her.

Before Aradia's eyes, the shimmer on Alex's skin was growing, strengthening into a faint aura. As she peered closer, trying to make out whether it was wishful thinking, she realised that it was real: maybe a half-inch or so, but still a definitely glow. At the same moment Alex took a deeper, clearer breath.

[Cirque]

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied him, then she hopped up out of her chair and moved closer to him. Her hand hovered near his chest, just to be sure, and she could could see the faint glow of sunlight on her hand, as if she'd moved it out of a shadow.

"Hey Doc. Dr. Chase, I think something's happening!"

She peered down at him in concern, a little wrinkle of concentration forming between her brows as she studied him. She laid a hand on his arm and shook it very gently, the way you would when trying to stir someone awake who was sleeping.

"Alex?"

[GDP_ST]

"Mmph." Eyes the deep blue of a Caribbean sky blinked, then focused on the glowing green orbs gazing down at him. "Aradia..." Alex flicked his eyes left, right, up and down, taking stock, then looked back at her. "I feel odd."

Dr Chase arrived, having hung up the moment Ari called. "Odd how?" she asked intently, gently pressing Alex's head back and flicking her penlight into his eyes. From her vantage point, Aradia could see faint golden sparkles in the depths of each pupil as the light hit the eyes.

"Well, kind of... drained." Alex said with a frown on his handsome face. "Not tired so much as enervated physically." He looked at the doctor. "What happened? And who are you?" She smiled at him.

"You fainted on your partner in crime here, who came and got me. I'm Dr Chase, the Academy's physician. And you, young man, are an interesting medical conundrum even for the Lawrence Hunt Academy." The doctor's eyes narrowed a little as she pursed her lips, considering him. "I think we better take you over to the main lab and run some tests. I have a theory, but I'd like some confirmation." She turned to Ari.

"Aradia, Director Drumm and I are in agreement that the scare you've had tonight is probably punishment enough. You did the right thing getting me, and that counts for a lot with the Director. And me." She smiled warmly. "Go and get some sleep, and when you wake up the Director respectfully requests that you set the common room to rights. Alex, assuming he is able, will join you in that."

Alex nodded from where he lay on the bed, throwing Ari a wry grin. "Sorry about ruining the prank, Aradia. It was a good one."

[Cirque]

The Doc could see her visibly relax, and she flashed Alex a little smile and a shrug.

"Sounds fair enough. Besides, it's freakin' four-thirty in the morning.. by the time I wake up, I'm hoping everyone's seen it already. So 'ruined' might be a slight exaggeration."

She winked at him, and then smiled at the Doc before heading to the door. She stopped with her fingertips resting on the handle and glanced back over her shoulder at Alex, shooting him a little grin.

"Glad you're okay, Firefly. Thanks for the help, and I'll see you around."

And with that, she headed back into the darkness of the hallway and headed back towards the dorms, relieved that no one had been hurt and looking forward to people's reactions the following day.