Looking at Books

[Fleet]

He shrugged lightly to heartstring as she spoke to him. Still holding his cocky smile he responded. "Well think of it this way. The way we met in the hanger, you will always remember who I am. Ember huh? Well she is on my team and we had a work out just yesterday. I am sure I could find something of hers for Lurai to use."

Turning a bit now to look to Lurai. He was a bit more interested in seeing her then just hanging out and helping. She made him feel different. And he was always able to relax around her. "Hey there Lurai, so how are you doing now?" He asked after their time in the maze this morning. She had seemed to get a bit bothered when they were running and playing an interesting game of tag.

[HeartString]

"Yeah, that's uh, well one way to look at a bad first impression. But like I said, you seem like a gentleman today, so I'll work with what I've got here before me." she smirked a little at the young guy. 'He must really like this girl, she seems to sooth him' she realized.

"As for Ember," she turned to Lurai trying to recall the smell of her friends body wash. "Yes what does she smell like? Oh, well she uses a great body wash. It's like a black raspberry with a hint of vanilla maybe. Does that help?"

Standing between them she felt Lurai's emotional connection to Jumper also and thought 'How nice, they like each other. This is so sweet.'

[Puppy~Love]

Lurai smiled at Kyle, her face blushing slightly. "I'm good" she said smiling softly to herself. She looked up at him and couldn't help but admire him, butterflies swarming in her stomach.

Lurai averted her gaze from Jumper and nodded vigorously at Tracy. "Yeah that's perfect, just give me a minute to recall the scent" she said closing her eyes and focusing on her nose. She started to sort through scents in her mind trying to remember black raspberry and vanilla. Slowly the smells came back to her and she stored them in the front of her mind, and began to attempt the sort the actual smells in a hundred yard radius. She could smell the soap off of Jumper and reasoned that he'd probably just took a shower. She loved the smell of him, it tickled her nose and heightened her senses. She pushed his smell aside and tried to get a scent. So many smells were in the building she found it hard to differentiate. She numbed her senses completely only focusing on her nose. No sound seeped into her ears, and her vision blackened completely, she numbed her body so far that if anyone touched her she'd never even feel it. All that was left was her ability to smell and taste. The taste an easy thing to completely ignore.

It's as if she could see the crevices and curves of every inch of the institute, traveling so fast she had to make sure to get through every sense. The whole process took about five minutes until she locked onto a stationary scent in the girls dorm. She let out a sigh as she opened her senses back up. The air conditioning and light seeming twenty times lighter than before. Her hands automatically went up to block the light. "Oh ow" she said blinking her eyes incessantly as they watered. Her ears drooped down trying to dim the loud sounds.

[HeartString]

"Do you have her scent?" Tracy asked softly not wanting to seem insistant because this was supposed to be for a fun little bit of exercise sure, but the girl was really doing HeartString a great favor and saving her alot of legwork. "Can you lead us to her?"

Looking to Kyle she asked "Ember's your Team Leader, right Jumper? I was wondering if you noticed anything about her lately." Tracy didn't want to let on how she had felt hardly the slightest hum of any emotion when she had bumped into Aideen earlier in the hallway nearby Miss Frost's office. "You know, like anything different?"

It could have been the stress of being put in charge of her team, but that wasn't it. There was definitly something 'off' about her, if Tracy didnt know better she would have almost thought the girl was a simulation, like how the CGI people in the Danger Room always felt to her, like an emotional blank slate.

[Puppy~Love]

She shook her head from side to side. “The only scent resembling what could possibly be her is one in the girls’ room and it’s completely stationary, no subtle movements or anything, it’s not living, that much I’m positive about, there’s no undertone of a natural scent, these are scents that are characteristic of humans and animals. Think about it like DNA, it's unique to each individual, you have that scent then it’s possible to track anyone anywhere, it’s much harder if they are farther away, but I don’t think she’s that far, it's too strong. My best bet is she’s outside somewhere and as long as she’s in a good radius of the building I’ll be able to get her” she said moving over towards the window. She unlatched the lock pushing the glass upward feeling the cold breeze of the outside. She sniffed the air as her hair flopped in her face. Closing her eyes she let out a deep breath.

She started to separate the distinct smell of nature with that of synthetic soap smell. As much as some people thought the scent of some soaps were amazing, to her it always smelled fake, the curse of a good nose. Soon she locked onto the smell. “Gotcha” she said to herself and began to filter in the smell of nature, each tree, twig, and leaf all having a distinct smell. The familiar scent of fresh water caught her nose. Not of a stream or a creek, something bigger. “She’s by water” she said coming back into the window. “That’s about all I can tell you, I’d check the lake. It didn’t smell like creek water or spring, so it’s relatively clean but not so much. Definitely something you’d need to boil. If she’s not there she’s in the woods somewhere by a creek that’s been tainted by humans. If she’s not by the lake though, give me a holler and we’ll go into the woods, I’ll be able to track her easily from there” she said shutting the window. “But I highly doubt she’s in the woods, the scents too close” she added turning back to the two waiting for either to speak.

[Fleet]

Jumper watched Lurai intently as she concentrated. This was her element. He knew she was good at tracking, but as she started talking he could only blink. It was amazing how she deduced all that from here in the library, all the way to her room and then to the lake or even further. He began ot think there really wasn't anywhere she couldn't track him or anyone. So with a grin and a wink he spoke up. "Well now Lurai, that is most impressive. That is one hell of a talent you got there."

Then he turned to address Heartstring. She had asked him abotu how Ember had been recently, and lately the topic of Ember had been a touchy situation with Jumper. He had began to resent her for all the attention she seemed to be getting. He was over reacting, and he knew it. But it seemed every teacher he ran into was wanting ot find her or talk abnout her. Again he knew he was over reacting but when she had been assigned team captain, it had struck a nerve in Jumper. But with his usual outside demeanor he chuckled and planted his cocky smile on and shrugged. "Well the only thing I noticed from Miss high and mighty was that she was too good to talk to her team or hang out with us. I mean she is so cut off to us. I haven't seen or heard from her since the last practice a couple days ago. And she was supposed to be our leader? I don't know, maybe she is upset she was replaced by Rogue or something." He didn't speak maliciously, just with a tinge of jealousy of the attention she had gotten.

[HeartString]

"Yes, that's very impressive." Tracy could feel the swirling emotions from these two kids and steadied herself to it, when she was new at the school this sort of washing over feeling would often overcome her, now she was far more capable to shuffle through the emotions she picked up on and not become entranced by them.

"Although I thought you would have picked up on her smell in this room, she was here not long ago. Anyway, can you lead us to her?" she asked a bit confused that the wolfling had to go through all the trouble of finding her scent so far away in the dorms, but pleased that she'd given her a rough idea where Ember might be.

"Jumper do you still want to go?" She had felt the raw bitter ravaged emotions issuing forth from the young man and didn't want him to feel forced into helping. "I know what you're feeling. It's apparent to me you feel snubbed, by her and maybe Cyclops as well for putting her in charge, but I myself was passed over for a leadership role and it made me stronger. I had to realize that I wasn't ready and I looked inside myself for the reasons why I didn't get picked to lead and worked on them. Self examination is hard sometimes, but you'll figure it out."

[Puppy~Love]

Lurai turned to the woman and smiled. "It's called a dead scent" she said simply smiling at her. "It's not supported by a pulse and the first thing I did was filter out the smells in here, she's obviously not here, I was the only one when I came in" she added looking around the room. "One day I'll explain it all to you, my smell is my most developed power and then my hearing, but its very hard to turn off each sense, I fear it might be a price not worth paying. I was going to go an ask Dr. McCoy about it, but I just haven't had the chance yet" she added stretching out her body a little bit more. "It's not a problem though I can lead you to her, I'm banking on the lake so we should just walk there" she said moving over and grabbing Jumper's hand.

When Tracy spoke to Jumper about his jealousy of Ember her heart sank slightly. It made her sad to know he felt this way. "I think your perfect Jumper and no title or position can undercut the ability and control you have over your powers. It's remarkable. I may put up the front, but you are levels ahead of me when it comes to your abilities. It makes me a little envious of you" she said leaning her head on his shoulder. "Your amazing as you are."

[Fleet]

Ju,per smiled wider still as Lurai came to him and took his hand. He squeezed her hand firmly and looked ot her. Again she was able to relax him and he leaned in to her as she rested her head against him. "Thanks Lurai, that means a lot. But what you just did was amazing and shows a lot of control as well. I could never do something like that. SO there is no reason to be envious. Your just perfect, like me." He winked and then looked to Heartstring.

"Sure I'll still go." Jumper said. He still refused to let anyone get to him, even Ember. He wouldn't let anyone see he was hurt. Besides he felt with Lurai with him. He didn't need to worry about what others thought. As long as she was happy with the way Jumper was, Jumper could be happy with himself. He had never thought this way before. It was an odd but a good feeling. "You know I could just go look around the lake and be back here in about 3 seconds. And as for being snubbed, You're right, I wasn't considered for a reason. But as much as I may have to look at myself. Cyclops may need to look at the decision he made. I do not need to be leader to lead. " He grinned as the classic Jumper confidence found its way out. He had thought a lot since his confrontation with Cyclops. And even though others might not see it or care, Jumper had changed a lot. Yes, he had issues, and some deep issues at that. But he was stronger then most gave him credit for.

[HeartString]

'This might not be such a good idea, this guy isn't going to help much if he sees poor Aideen. Who knows he might just flip out on her, he doesn't feel like he's wrapped too tight. If the spikes I feel in his rage aren't kept in check this kid could be really the worst thing to subject that damaged young woman to. Besides he seems happy at least with the wolf girl.' She considered a lot of things by what she felt in others emotions which made her easy to get along with, what many people would simply call 'nice', but she could turn that power to her advantage if she was inclined to use it to manipulate others.

Tracy took a breath and said "No, thank you both. I see you two would probably like to catch up with each other. You obviously are close" she said looking down at their hands grasped together "enough so that Ju,per here has lost all track of time." She smiled at him saying "I thought I saw all you kids out practicing yesterday? Anyway, I'll go by myself and you two can talk. This news about her being replaced might have added to her stress, anyway she did want to talk and I don't think she would feel too open if there were a lot of us that showed up."

"Thank you again Lurai, that sniffer of yours is incredible. Catch you guys later." with that HeartString turned and walked out of the library. She was heading out to the lake to find Ember and thought she heard a familiar voice calling out from the foyer of the mansion as she exited the cozy library. 'Could that be who I think it is?' she thought.

[Puppy~Love]

Lurai felt her hand stretch out to Heartstring but it seemed she vanished as fast as she was there. "I wonder why she left without us" she said looking back up at Jumper. She frowned wondering if it was something that she did. Did she not like her? Was she really that obnoxious? "Did I push her away?" Lurai asked looking up at Jumper.

Kyle looked fantastic just cleaned and smelled even better. Lurai just wanted to sit and smell him, but right now that didn't seem like the best thing. Her nose was so sensitive and she wouldn't tell him, but she couldn't see him too well or hear him at the moment. It was like she pushed her senses too far. She just leaned her head back onto Kyle's shoulder not wanting him to worry.

[Fleet]

Jumper let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulder shaking his head lightly. "Nah, its not you. It was probally me, we haven't really gotten along since we met." Jumper shrugged, as far as he was concerned it was Heartstring's loss. He then turned his gaze to Lurai and smiled wide feeling her resting against him. Lurai did seem to have a calming effect on him. Leading her to a seat he sat down and pulled her down with him lightly and relaxed. It was quiet and nice to be alone with her once again. His hand reached up and ran through her hair lightly.

"Anyway, this just means your stuck here alone with me now. I know its horrible, but I will do my best to keep you entertained." Jumper said jokingly.

[Diesel]

Ian walked with Heather up the stairs and all the way to the large doors of the library. Man I really hope that Spitfire is in here. Both Blondie and Pipsqueak say she don't look good at all. She's just gotta be back to herself. After we found all that in the woods... damn she shoulda never gone through that. She shouldn't have had to sacrifice herself for us. Damnit Aideen, she should have gone to someone else, not gone by herself. We gotta tell her about this, it would mean everything and she deserves it. Damn hard to believe that girl was so brave and selfless, he thought as he pushed open the doors.

Instead of seeing Aideen, Ian saw Puppy~Love and Jumper. Damn. So much for her being in here. Maybe they saw her. He walked over to them with a grim smile. "Hey guys, yo sorry to bug you and all, but you guys seen Ember? We gotta find her, its mad important. Do ya'll know where she's at? It's really important we find her right away," he said with the same determined look. He had to find his friend, he owed her that.

[Aqua]

Seeing the library doors, Heather walked in after Ian. Unfortunately Aideen wasn't there, but she did see her friends Lurai and Jumper. Last time she saw Lurai was when she brought her food after the hanger incident. With Jumper, that was a different story all together. He told her he liked her, and she was just as oblivious as Ian was about her liking him. But Jumper seemed to be moving on quickly considering his hand was in the wolf girl's hair. Good for them, she thought. "Hey guys," she said with a warm smile.

After Ian expressed his urgency to find Aideen, Heather nodded. "Yeah, she needs to be found immediately. Poor girl had gone through so much..." she trailed off, forgetting that Lurai and Jumper were actually there. "She is so brave and just... some really bad stuff happened to her and-" she cut herself off, realizing that wasn't really any of their business. Then again, it wasn't her business either. But being in the genetics lab had caused her to hear everything and understand what had happened to the fire bender. Aideen needed to be told that Nightcrawler and that Logan guy, were alive and well. She looked to the supposedly new couple and waited for their response.

[Puppy~Love]

Lurai smiled as Kyle ran his hands through her hair. She leaned into him comfortable in his prescience. She laughed at his little anecdote. "I think I'll manage" she said with a smirk as Ian and Heather walked in. When they asked where Ember was she sensed a trend with people in the house. Something had to have happened to have everyone concerned about her, but that was none of her business and it was best that she stay out of it unless needed. "Yeah, or at least I'm 95% sure she's by the lake. Heartstring is headed there, if you hurry, you may be able to catch up with her, but she seemed a little off when she left, just to warn you" she said sitting up straight in order to speak with them. "If she's not there, like I told Heartstring, go ahead and come back and we can go into the woods and we'll try from there" she said smiling at the two. "Best I can do" she added looking back at Kyle and leaning back onto his shoulder.