Cooling off period [Tag: Pyro <3]

[Deleted]

Lexi had directed Charles to bring them straight home and by home she had not meant the manor where she spent nearly every waking moment. Her 'home' was located in the countryside although it would never replace the home she had once had back in England but as she didn't think she could ever step foot on English soil again (the mere thought of it sent stabbing pains through her chest) this was the closest she would ever get to it. Despite hating being rich and spending most of her time ignoring her bank balance Lexi still had a slightly warped sense of what was considered small. If anyone had bothered to ask her what her home looked like she would have described it as being quite a small property...in actuality it had at least six rooms (two of which were occupied by Charles and the two maids), was located in a sprawling gardens surrounded on the one half by forests and at least two out houses- one used as a greenhouse.

As the car pulled up the driveway to what could only be called a mini estate Lexi looked through the window, her forhead pressed against the glass and the unknown male mutants head resting on her lap as they had had to lie him across the seat of the car in order to keep him in a semi comfortable position on the journey back to hers. In fact as the car finally rolled to a stop she had to clutch at him to stop him rolling off the seat and as her door was opened she levelled a glare at Charles who had in fact pulled up like that on purpose as he didn't approve of her bringing such a person home...and he had been worried about that school! Lifting the male's head up so she could slip out she then helped Charles get him out of the car and into the house where they were greeted by one of the two maids. "Fetch some hot water would you please? and my medi kit?" Lexi asked as she passed her, not stopping to see if her orders were carried out.

Half an hour later and Lexi found herself sat on the edge of one of the guest beds in what she called the 'red room'- simply because it was done out in red and black- with the still unconscious mutant. Blushing she looked down at him, her eyes taking in the bare chest and the bruises that covered it...although if she were honest she hadn't been looking at the bruises themselves until she had forced herself to remember what it was she was meant to be doing. Having had Charles strip and bathe the male before she had entered it had taken the two of them to get him bandaged up enough to cover any fractures he might have incurred from his scrummage in the bar. Once Charles was out of the room Lexi had taken over and had rubbed her specially made salve into any cuts and bruises they hadn't wrapped up- the ones that weren't all that bad- and once that had been done she couldn't help but admire him.

She was afterall a woman and she wasn't going to pass on an oppurtunity to check someone out as it were. In the bar she hadn't been able to really take in what had been happening as thanks to the insane child and the drunken idiot the two of them hadn't even been able to have that drink together. Never mind, things had happened and that was the end of it. Finally however she had to force herself away from the bed and her patient and see to getting herself cleaned and patched up. Making her way to her own room she gathered up a fresh towel before heading to the bathroom where she inspected her back once she was undressed, frowing at the bruise that had started to form before sighing to herself. "Damn." She would have to get her salve on it once she had showered....

Fifteen minutes later and she was feeling a lot more fresh and having made sure that there was nothing left from her night out stayed beneath the scalding water not really wishing to return to reality just yet. Besides it was heaven on her poor muscles to stay just where she was and she hoped that it would loosen any that were wound just a little too much from where she had been supporting his weight in the sewer. Having her eyes closed and far too engrossed in what she was doing she didn't even notice if the door happened to open and it was with a soft sigh of pleasure that she pulled her sopping wet hair over the one shoulder so she could allow better access to her aching neck.

[pyro]

***

Pyro wasn't sure what to expect when he opened his eyes again, but it sure as hell wasn't a pillow beneath his head, or a sheet draped over him. The sewer he could have seen coming, but not this. His eyesight was still somewhat bleared, but not so much that he couldn't make out the colors of black and red dotted around the room he was in. Not to mention his head felt like a truck had backed over it, catching his neck, arm and ribs as it sped off. As curious as he was to test the damage, he refrained from moving, at least until he clarified things, both mentally, and visually. He remembered a bar... he could taste alcohol on his tongue. Had he got in to a fight? Possibly, considering the agony his ribs were in. He remembered a woman... he was almost certain he had bought her a drink. Had he slept with her? Also possible, especially considering his current state of undress.

At that, the pyrokinetic attempted to lift his arm, his damaged arm first, before flinching and allowing it to rest beside him again. He tried with his undamaged arm next, fingers crawling blindly along the carpeted floor in search of his clothes, only to come up empty handed. Clearly, he didn't remember enough of what happened to him. Then he smelled smoke, not from anything on fire, but from his own hair. There had been a fire, not here, but when he had been injured in the first place. That was enough to have him springing up from the bed, and springing up from the bed was enough to have him cringing in pain, biting down hard on his lower lip, and actually managing to draw blood as a result. His neck was seriously damaged, while his ribs and arm screamed out from such sudden movements, it was nothing compared to the pain his neck underwent.

"What the fuck did ya do this time, Johnny-Boy..?" he whined; then the nausea set in, as could be expected with the migraine he had recently suffered. He could remember the migraine; remember how it affected his sight. He could also remember a fire, a bar going up in smoke. He could remember the sewer, making his way down along the tunnels... and then ended up here, a confusing turn of events to say the least. He had been bandaged up too, he noticed, feeling the cotton fabric on his arm, and wound tightly around his ribs. He could only deduce one thing from that... he had slept with someone who had been kind enough to fix him up after what was clearly a really bad bar brawl, particularly bad if it ended with Pyro torching the place. While Pyro's memory often failed him when it came to names, he didn't think it was so bad that he'd erase an entire sexual experience.

In any case, he felt way too tense to have just had sex with someone, so that couldn't have possibly been it. Still feeling nauseous, but starting to feel a little less wobbly, he grabbed the sheets of the bed, wrapping them around his waist before standing up. The bathroom would be his next stop, despite the fact he still didn't know where he was, and wasn't entirely clear on what had befallen him tonight, the idea of throwing up in someone else's room wasn't a thought he relished. While his eyesight was somewhat clearer, he didn't notice the steam clouding the bathroom, or the sound of water trickling either for that matter. But the pyrokinetic wasn't so out of it that he didn't realize he wasn't the only one in the bathroom, and in casting his gaze around him noticed he had just walked in on someone in the shower.

Just as he was about to sneak back out again, he stopped for a moment. The shower doors possessed a rather blurred texture, so he wasn't quite able to make out the figure on the other side, but he was certainly able to establish it was a woman, judging by the well rounded hips and ample thighs he could see through the glass. And as his eyes slowly ventured upward, the sight of the vibrant pink hair brought that last piece of the puzzle practically crashing in to place. "That's what 'appened..." Pyro proclaimed, and a little too loudly for his own good, considering he had just walked in on some girl he hardly knew in the shower.

***

TAG: Lexi
WORDS: 755
NOTES: Finally got him to cooperate!

[Deleted]

Staying in the shower a little longer had been a wonderful decision as it was doing wonders on her sore neck and back and not for the first time cursed the brute who had thrown her into the bar last night. She hated the fact that a bruise was going to be so very obvious on her skin but she had lived through worse and had lasting scars to prove it but it was still a nuisance as now she would have to keep herself covered when she returned to the manner as she had no intentions of being asked a million questions about why she hadn't returned home. Wincing she moved herself so her front was beneath the hot stream of water and moved her arms so she could press her fingers lightly against the base of her neck giving a small 'ow' as she did so....Ok, that actually hurt quite a bit! She would definitely need to get her lotion out now which was a pain since she only had the one pot of it at the moment and she had been planning on using it on the other mutant as he had been banged up a little bit more than herself. She supposed she could use just a little of it and save the rest for him?

Of course had she known that the mutant on her mind was awake she would have gotten out of the shower so she could dress and see to him but as she hadn't the first clue she remained where she was. Had she known what he was thinking when he awoke she would have been mortified at the thought of being mistaken for a casual 'one night stand'- the very idea! Lexi had never in her life been with another man and had yet to even have had a boyfriend or anything of the kind. Unfortunately her wealth tended to make those who went after her be after her money or the men simply decided she was too far out of their league to even consider it. It was a shame but she had learned to deal with it and since she had come to this horrid place she hadn't wanted to step foot outside of the school to find one as she found that the males at the school were either taken or interested in someone else. However one shouldn't misunderstand the above...she had long wished to find someone to fall in love with but had just had to accept that it was a dream that would never come true.

It was in the middle of thinking about her lotion and blushing at the fact she had just seen a male semi naked that she heard the door open, and, thinking it was simply the maid ignored it as she had no problems with one of the girl's walking in (as it was all things they had each seen before). It was the male voice that suddenly blurted out "That's what 'appened..." that she froze in horror. What the hell was he doing out of bed! Scratch that. What the hell was he doing in here? Had he not seen that the room was in use? Turning quickly (but not enough to fall over) she turned the water off and fumbled for the towel that was on the rail before wrapping it about her loosely- covering all that needed to be covered but leaving nothing to the imagination as all it did was give the impression that her legs were longer than they actually were and as it hung low on her back showed off her tattoo and the scars that it only just covered.

"What the hell?" She flung open the shower door, fully intent on giving him a piece of her mind but the sight of him with only a sheet wrapped around his waist gave her such a start that she instantly turned bright red -although she blamed it more on the fact that she had been thinking about how attractive he was- and she averted her eyes as she also realised just how undressed she was. Never mind never having been with another man she certainly had never been in the same room practically naked with one! "Uh," She floundered for a moment before she stepped out of the shower, "Excuse me." She moved towards him and only realised too late that the bathroom was only just big enough for the pair of them and as a consequence she had to press against him slightly to get to the door and, still blushing furiously rushed out of the room as quickly as possible.

Once in the safety of her own room she pressed her back against the door and tried to reign in the panic that had settled over herself and especially trying to get rid of the blush that had spread down her neck from her face. Oh how terrible! Why hadn't she noticed him come into the room? And why had she panicked in such a way? She was usually so unflappable and all of a sudden having a man in her bathroom was enough to give her a heart attack. "Oh you idiot," she chided herself as she pushed herself off the door so she could get dressed. "Really, you act like a virg-" She cut herself off because as she was a virgin she couldn't really say anything about it. She moved to her wardrobe, pulling out a long dark green dress that fell to her feet and pooled up slightly before running her brush through her hair although it did nothing to tame the waves and curls that appeared when her hair was wet.

Once she felt a little more respectable (and a little less red) she exited her room and making sure the other mutant was nowhere in sight fled downstairs to find Charles and once she had done so informed him that their guest needed clothing and she suggested that perhaps a pair of jeans and a tshirt would suffice? Before running off to her garden to calm herself down completely as there was nothing in the world that made her relax than the flowers. It was an afterthought once outside that made her close her eyes in concentration. Inside the house she had a lab which she used to create her poisons and since many of these were very obviously labelled as such she hated people going in. So, with only a mere thought the two plants outside said room sprang to life, covering the wood so completely it was barely recognisable. She doubted it would stop him from entering if he so chose but she hoped that he had some form of manners....

[pyro]

***

When he realized just how loud he had been, Pyro's hand quickly slammed over his mouth, not that it would make much difference now, it had already been said, and she had clearly heard it. The water instantly stopped raining down, and the shower door was immediately pulled open so she appeared, pink hair soaking, beads of water settled on her shoulders, and a white towel wrapped around her, making her frame seem longer, and making the tattoos he spotted earlier that night stand out all the more. But before he could even comment on the tattoos, knowing the symbolism of them now that he was aware of her mutation, he got a "What the hell?". Admittedly, the pyrokinetic had probably earned that one, but his mind had been too dazed to register that walking out of a bathroom, which was already occupied, would have been the polite thing to do.

He was expecting an elaboration on her "What the hell?" statement, but it never came. All she did was stand there; eyes focused on the ground, the pale skin of her cheeks tinted a slight shade of red, probably at realizing her own state of undress he imagined. She wasn't simply standing there in the shower for much longer, as she stepped out, and was forced to squeeze passed him to get out of the bathroom, which did get a slight snicker from the Australian, which ascended into a chuckle as he overheard her rush down the corridor. He remained there for a while; a smirk plastered to his lips, as he tried to remember what it was that drove him to the bathroom in the first place. If it had been that nauseous sensation, it was now well and truly gone. So his next course of action was to find something to wear, and get the hell out of here.

When he returned to the room he had previously woken up in, it was to find a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt laid out across the bed for him. That certainly made things a hell of a lot easier for the pyrokinetic, who was beyond relieved when he pulled on the jeans in question, and yanked the t-shirt on over his head. The only appealing feature he believed he possessed was probably his accent, he was much too uncomfortable with everything else, from his eyes, to his lips, to his physique, which, despite what others had told him, he believed was starting to wear away without its usual upkeep. Pyro spent his youth surfing, if not writing, and because he couldn't do the former anymore, not in New York at least, he no longer felt as physically fit as he once did.

Snatching up his lighter from the bedside cabinet, he was soon venturing across the landing in the direction of the staircase, that was until he spotted something. A door, covered entirely by the stems of the plants, positioned at either side of the frame. If that didn't pique his curiosity, nothing in this house would, and glancing up and down the landing, the pyrokinetic flipped his lighter open and sparked it to life. The flames were quickly scooped up in the palm of his hand, before he hurled them at the door, eyeing the stems, spread across the door; he sent the flames along the trails they left, until the door was just that again. With one more quick glance up and down the landing, he slowly edged toward the room, "Startin' ta feel significantly like Mary Lennox from the Secret Garden" he chuckled, and even looked around for a robin fluttering around nearby as he approached the room, pulling down the handle so the door opened slightly, and he could peer inside.

***

TAG: Lexi
WORDS: 628
NOTES: Not as long as I would like it to be...

[Deleted]

Now that she was outside Lex found herself so much calmer and in possession of all of her senses, which now made her behaviour in the house all the more humiliating. "What were you thinking?" She asked herself as she sat down amongst the roses she had grown herself when they had first moved into the house. Her eyes moved to look at the house as her fingers deftly plucked a couple of the roses before placing them in her lap, and once she had a couple moved her hands to her hair so that she could pull and twist it into a bun before she began to 'pin' the flowers into her hair to keep it in place never once looking away from the house. If anyone had asked her what she was looking for she wouldn't have been able to answer them although she supposed she was half expecting to see the other mutant to come running out- but the way he had been beaten up last night she simply couldn't imagine him getting very far and certainly not far enough for her not to notice him getting away.

"Stupid girl," She muttered to herself as she tore her eyes away from her own home and instead looked across the massive gardens she possessed and with a sigh settled herself into a more comfortable position before she closed her eyes, breathing in the fragrances that her flowers provided her- although of course the smell of the roses was far more powerful than anything else right now thanks to where she was sitting but all the same, she was always aware of what was happening in her gardens and she could smell the lavender that grew in the lower level garden and the mint that was in the kitchen gardens. A smile settled on her face as she finally allowed herself to just relax and eventually she nearly even forgot about her guest....

Until a sudden stabbing pain had her gripping her chest in agony, her eyes snapping open as her face twisted into a look of sheer pain. Oh! Oh. what had happened? Gasping she was on her knees in an instant, looking about her wildly as if expecting some great terror to come crashing down on her and it was only until a few forced breaths later realised that the cause of her pain was coming from inside the house. None of her staff were stupid enough to destroy anything she had grown so that left only the unknown male and with a small wail realised that he must have found the only room she had protected with her plants- which also meant that he had abused her hospitality, using his gift to destroy her friends. Tears threatened to gather in her eyes but she forced them back and with a great effort made herself get to her bare feet so she could head back inside.

How dare he do such a thing? Still gripping her chest as the pain had yet to subside she moved towards the house swiftly- if she noticed that the rose thorns about her grew sharper and more pronounced she made no conscious effort to make them normal, instead allowing her emotions to rule her gift as anger and pain was all she felt and cared about. The fingers on her free hand twitched, ready to grab a hold of her normal weapon of choice but it was only through sheer will that she didn't bend down and create the whip she tended to favour when going into any sort of fight- but as she was at home and she didn't particularly want to fight she resisted the temptation but a part of her mind that was more connected to plant life than many realised was whispering to her, hinting and suggesting things that would make many people cringe in horror.

'A fire user! A fire user! He has killed our friends and family! He must be punished...All humankind should suffer for what they have done to us...Destroyers of Mother Earth! Avenge us!'

She ignored the voices, although it was getting harder and harder to do so. This was not the first time she ad heard them and she knew that the plants linked themselves to her and expected her to fight for them. To give them life and to make those about her realise the damage they had caused to the planet by their selfish needs...but right now she needed to get inside and find the male. Make him pay for causing such pain. She had reached the front door of her home before she had even realised it and with a slam had thrown it open causing the maid who had been dusting in the hallway to shriek slightly in fright before quieting herself and making herself scarce.

Lex stalked up the stairway until she reached the hallway where her lab was. Despite the long dress that clung to what curves she had and the beautiful roses that coloured so nicely with her pink hair she looked every bit the avenging angel of Nature herself although it was spoiled ever so slightly by the hand still clasped to her chest, the parting of her lips and the pain that was so evident in her eyes as she watched the male enter her room. "How dare you!" It came out more as a whimper than a powerful statement. "How dare you disrespect my home!" Her eyes moved involuntary from his back to stare at the burnt remains of her plants and another gasp of pain and anguish had her lurching to the side so she could prob herself up against the wall. She didn't know if other mutants were so connected to their powers that it caused them pain like her own did but she was connected in ways she wasn't even sure she fully understood and to see such wanton destruction was beyond painful for her.