Not So Bad (Miss Tris x Shadows)

[Miss Tris]

“I can’t believe he got assigned to our team,” complained a raven-haired woman. Her purple eyes were affixed to the screen of her phone, the device currently displaying the school’s roster. “How the fuck he did get accepted in the first place?”

“He probably blackmailed some person of importance within Legendary, Inc.,” speculated another. It was a male that spoke this time, his tall and lean frame leaned nonchalantly against a sidewall of the team’s front room. He was also staring at his phone, idly swiping some app or another.

“A fucking villain,” the girl continued angrily, spatting the last word like venom.

“To be fair, his father is a villain,” a third dared to offer. Another young woman, this one blonde and blue eyed. “That doesn’t necessarily mean—”

“Yes it does, Barbie,” the dark-haired woman interrupted. Barbie was her pet name for the blonde, whose proportions of bust to waist to hips was downright unnatural. With painstakingly well kept blonde hair that hung to the small of her back and bright blue eyes, the nickname had been the perfect fit. Although, to be fair, Alyse had also considered the name Princess in light of girl being as naive and annoyingly happy as a Disney princess. Purple eyes lifted from the glow of the screen to leer at the one that dared defend the honor of a villain. “Don’t be stupid enough to think the bastard turned. This is an infiltration.”

“You are terrible,” Sparks – aka Barbie – said matter-of-factly. “You’ve not even met the guy and already you’ve decided he’s evil.”

“Better than blindly trusting a villain,” countered the other.

“Blindly trusting?” Sparks returned incredulously. “There’s a middle ground to damning a person and blindly trusting them, Alyse.”

“With you? There really isn’t."

Sparks screwed up her face defiantly and prepared to fire back but the leaning man intervened. “Girls, girls… Really? We’re already fighting over him?”

“She can have him,” the dark-haired beauty decided. She reclined in a more relaxed position on the couch and redirected her attention back to her phone. “It’s obvious she’s dying to fuck him.”

Sparks was standing across the room from Alyse, near the end of second couch. She grabbed a throw pillow and…well…threw it. At Alyse’s face. The dark-haired woman hadn’t caught sight of the action in time to defend it, taking the painless but forceful blow in full force. Immediately she bounded up from her position on the couch, charging at the offender. The blonde squealed and ran to reinforcements, hiding behind the frame of a fourth person within the room.

The woman with cyan hair groaned – she didn’t want to get involved, but nor was she going to let Alyse cause physical harm to Sparks. She stretched out her arms to stop the dark-haired woman’s wrathful approach. “Both of you, that’s enough!” Her voice had a natural command to it, and she was the type of person you didn't want to fuck with so usually people obeyed her direction. A frown tugged at the corner of her full lips. “We’re not doing this. We’re not fighting amongst ourselves.”

“You’re right, Brianna,” Alyse agreed easily enough. “We need to save our energy for fighting Dusk.”

“He’s one of us!” Sparks fumed. “We can’t build a team with—”

Brianna raised a hand. It was enough to stop the blonde from talking and discouraged Alyse from offering any more on the subject. After a long, thoughtful pause, the cyan haired woman spoke gently but firmly. “Alyse, Jonathon is one of our team. Don’t go out of your way to be a bitch about it. Sparks? Don’t…be stupid. You’re entirely too willing to trust a stranger and it’s going to bite you in the ass one of these days.”

Alyse pouted but didn’t talk back (which was a pretty rare thing for her). Sparks looked wounded over Brianna’s criticism and didn’t say anything in return.

“This is going to be interesting,” commented the only male in the room. He remained leaning against the wall, arms folded over themselves, watching the girls. There were five females in total on their team, and two guys (himself and the villain); it wasn't hard to imagine the sort of drama and absolute fuckery that would be afoot here shortly. For the moment, Victor occupied his mind elsewhere, making silent comparisons of the three girls before him. Sparks and Alyse couldn't be more unlike the other, personality or appearance-wise. Where Sparks was sweet and caring (and naive), Alyse was purposefully confrontational and looking for a reaction (and self-sufficient). No doubt being just as gorgeous as Barbie (although a bit more realistically proportioned, her chest was just as well endowed) added to her sass; she realized she was pretty and used it to her advantage often, whereas Sparks seemed oblivious to her physical appeal. Brianna was altogether different than the other two. She was taller, more athletic, and lithe. Whereas Sparks and Alyse kept their hair long, Brianna's was cut short. It was well styled, with jaw-length bangs that angled towards her earlobe, the rest of her hair in close-cut layers. The cyan of her mop made the magenta of her eyes all the more vivid. A pop of color between the dark and the light, what with Alyse not outgrowing her Gothic tendencies and Sparks resembling a traditional Barbie doll.

In truth, everyone at Legendary, Inc’s Platinum League Academy was gorgeous. The heroes that attended here had been hand picked, their appearance having as much merit as their powers in the decision. If they had been less pretty, or less powerful, they'd be Gold or Silver League material.

Brianna extricated herself from between Sparks and Alyse. “Everything will be fine,” she assured the party. She was the team leader, after all. “We just need to get adjusted to each other.”

And adjusted they would get. Teams in attendance at Legendary, Inc’s Platinum League Academy lived in a team space. That is, each team was given a floor of their respective hall. Their space was structured much like the traditional family household: they had a living room, kitchen, dining room, four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. Presently the four speaking members were in the living room, awaiting the moment that Dusk would arrive, their attention never too far from the front door (which actually a direct entrance/exit to the building elevator). The other two girls were in their rooms.

For a while no one talked. Alyse went back to her couch (and her phone), Sparks and Brianna sat on the other, and Victor continued to stand.

When the door opened, the man stepping over the threshold would find four pairs of eyes upon him.

“You’re not welcome here,” Alyse informed him.

Sparks looked both offended and apologetic. She jumped to her feet and hurried to make the new acquaintance. “Don’t mind her, Jonathon, Alyse is just a bitch. I’m Sparks,” she offered a hand.

"Welcome to the team," Brianna spoke cordially. She stood to greet the newest member but she did not seem particularly rushed to approach and shake his hand.

Victor remained where he was and said nothing. He intently watched the villain, curious how he would adjust to his new environment.

 

[Shadows]

It was certainly crazy, the young man dragging along a suitcase of personal belongings realized, as he walked through the halls leading toward the elevator which would take him up toward his new living arrangements at the academy. The son of one of the more hated villains in recent memory deciding to stray away from his fathers path and join the side of the angels? Perhaps it was a decision made out of a desire to right his families continuing wrongs? Or maybe it was a choice done out of a simpler need for not wanting to live on the run any longer?

Truth be told, while the young man code named Dusk did have a want to do some good in the world, it was largely the latter reasoning for his decision to walk the path he’d chosen. A life of moving from one area to another every year, sometimes even multiple times a year, all thanks to his dads ‘work’. ‘Work’ which Jonathon found out about in his early teens after stumbling across part of his fathers uniform one day.

Yeah, most kids biggest worry when snooping around the master bedroom is their accidentally stumbling across a parents sex toy. His was finding one of his dads masks which was burned on one side by a near miss encounter with somebody’s laser vision.

The conversation which came out of this after his mom walked in on his discovery was a lot less frightening and far more awkward then one might expect. Dad was the shadow manipulating villain Nocturne. Mom was one of his long retired henchmen (or henchwoman) who stopped participating in his crimes before he was born so that at least one parent would be with their son if a worst case scenario happened. And now Jonathon, who inherited his fathers powers, knew why he was so good at hide and seek growing up.

Despite this, life carried on much like it had before for the next several years, only with Jonathon now being in the loop on why they moved so frequently. His parents going from one city and town to another, often taking up aliases where needed, with their son tagging along for the ride.

Or so it was until after he’d graduated from high school and made the rather unexpected life choice upon moving out from under his parents roof. It took some work, much of which done on his parents part which even Jonathon wasn’t fully aware of, but he’d finally managed to get accepted into an enrollment for young heroes after a couple years of jumping through loops and hurdles; both figurative and literal.

Thus, the young man entered the elevator, largely ignoring the varying looks of concern and distrust which were thrown his way until the doors closed shut. “Ugh. Well, he’d warned that it would be an uphill battle.” Jonathon let out with exasperated sigh while thinking back on some of his fathers words while preparing to reach his destination, “Just hope my new teammates are a little more welcoming.”

Dusk knew even when he’d said those words that they were likely to be proven wrong, but there was still a resulting pause of surprise when, upon crossing said threshold after leaving the elevator, he was ‘greeted’ by one of the harder rejections since his high school dating days.

“You’re not welcome here.”

“Wow. High school never ends.” Jonathon muttered with a hint of dry amusement beneath his surprise at this one girls blunt reaction to his presence.

Before he could dwell on that for too long, however, the young mans attentioh was quickly diverted by a more welcoming presence who hurried over to greet her new teammate.

“Hey there. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sparks.” Jonathon greeted her back by accepting the blondes offered hand with a soft smile before bringing her hand up partway as he leaned in to lightly kiss the top of it.

All the while, the dark haired male struggled to keep his focus on maintaining eye contact with her. Was that build of hers all natural? Even by superheroine standards, her body was mighty impressive.

Not that any of the others who greeted his arrival were anything to scoff at, as he took a cursory glance over the others before settling his attention toward the rising Brianna, whom Dusk nodded toward while responding, “Thanks for having me on board. Brianna, right? I realize I may not have been anyone’s first choice for a team member, but I’m looking forward to doing my part and becoming one with the team.”

His eyes drifted toward Alyse while speaking with their leader, as Jonathon fought back the temptation to say anything that might push her buttons. Still, that didn’t keep him from flashing a brief smirk her way, before looking toward the others once more.

The guy in the back didn’t seem like the talkative sort, which Jonathon could respect, even if it somewhat resulted in a 50/50 split on the welcoming parties apparent interest in his being there. Like Alyse, their proportions were perhaps not as outlandish compared to Sparks, but both were certainly far above average in terms of physical attractiveness.

For his part, the lightly tan complexioned Jonathon was similar, with a handsome, if ruggish face framed by short, somewhat messy dark hair and deep brown eyes. Standing at a little over six feet, his build was slender, yet trim, due to hitting the gym a lot more often in the past couple of years in preparation for this line of work.

Then there was Brianna who, after taking one look at her eyes, Dusk was immediately able to recognize as somebody who had some tech work done to gain their abilities. She wasn’t the first cyborg that he’d seen in person, but she was the first to actually interact with him to a point where he could maintain eye contact long enough to almost become lost in their unique pigmentation.

“So, would anybody mind showing me around the place a little? Or showing me where my room might be so I can start unpacking a bit?” The young male asked, before looking to Sparks and (mostly) jokingly suggesting with a sly smile, “Let me guess... you and I are going to be roommates?”

 

[Miss Tris]

"You wish, buddy," Victor finally spoke. He pushed himself from his leaning position against the wall and approached the entrance. He couldn't help but notice a light flush on Sparks' cheeks: although if that had come from Dusk's hand kiss or the sharing-a-room suggestion Victor couldn't be sure. What he was sure of, however, is that he didn't like this villain guy snuggling up to this particular teammate. He tried to be nonchalant about it. "You're stuck with me, I'm afraid." He offered a hand. "I'm Victor."

Victor was of a body type very similar to Brianna's: he was tall, he was lean, and in all bluntness he was effeminate. He was toned, but not muscular. His facial features were soft and he was clean shaven, with a mop of short jaggedly cut dark blonde hair. With bright green eyes and a face prettier than some girls, Victor was a sight himself; depending on who was looking, of course. "I'll show you around the house."

"I'll come with," Sparks decided with a smile.

Victor knew better than to push his keep-Sparks-away-from-Dusk agenda. It would be too obvious. Perhaps sensing the tension in the room, Brianna spoke before the three teammates could disappear down the hallway. "I feel the need to remind everyone of the strict fraternizing policy of Legendary, Inc Academies," started Brianna. "Stating that--"

"Please don't recite the whole fucking manifesto," Alyse asked nicely.

"Just the don't-fuck-your-roommates-or-potentially-get-expelled part," Brianna spoke sharply.

A thoughful pause. "Yes, well. I suppose it wouldn't hurt for Barbie to hear that part again."

Sparks looked at Alyse and just shook her head. She refused to feed in to it.

"Alyse!" Brianna scolded.

"Don't," Sparks interrupted. "Not worth." She turned her attention to Jonathon. "Come, we'll show you your room first so you can drop your stuff."

Sparks and Victor led Jonathon to the guys' room. They had a fair amount of space - with two queen beds and a pair of sizable dressers there was still room to move around (maybe even do a cartwheel, if one were so inclined). Victor motioned towards the left side of the room. "I'm over there," he claimed the space, as if his stuff didn't announce it loud enough. "Settle in and we'll give you the tour of the place."

 

[Shadows]

“Pleasure to meet you, Victor.” Jonathon replied while accepting his hand, though he’d kept to simply shaking it rather then the greeting he’d given Sparks.

Not that a part of Dusk wasn’t tempted to do so, give the feminine elements to his new roommates attractive features. Sure, Jonathon generally thought of himself as one who preferred women, but he had no problem admitting the attractiveness of another male; let alone one that had an appearance with the unique allure like the one standing before him.

“Sounds good to me. Lead the way.” Jonathon replied at Victor’s suggestion of showing him around, before looking over as Sparks offered to come along. “Even better.” The young male added with a barely contained smile, as he certainly wasn’t going to turn down the chance to spend further time with her.

Perhaps understandably, Brianna took the time to jump in with a quick reminder for each of the team about certain rules in place for the teams. Rules which Jonathon didn’t really intend on breaking, though it was definitely going to be a challenge to resist from perhaps wanting to bend them... just a little.

Remaining silent as the three girls made their exchanges, though taking particular note of Alyse’s remarks toward ‘Barbie’, Jonathon then followed along with Victor and Sparks to his room so that he could get settled a bit.

Looking over the interior, Dusk noted how nice and roomy the place was compared to the room he’d been sleeping in at his rented apartment for the past few months. It was the type of thing that would help make any cold shoulders or dirty looks he’d receive a little easier to deal with while staying here.

“Thanks.” He replied to Victor, before taking the moment to put his luggage beside the bed for later unpacking before letting himself plop flat on his back upon his bed for the time being.

“Ahh, yeah... I can definitely get used to staying here. This is a lot nicer then what I’d been sleeping on at my temporary rental apartment lately.” He announced while stretching out both arms above his head for a few moments, then settling to laying on his side while facing the pair.

“So, uh... things seemed to be a little tense out there, weren’t they?” He started with a touch of reluctance, before further remarking with a light shrug, “But I guess I can’t fully blame people for being reluctant to trust me, considering my family history. At least nobody’s tried to blast my head off the first chance they got... or at least not yet.”

A brief chuckle showed that he was mostly kidding with that remark, though Alyse seemed like she wouldn’t mind taking a swing at him if he’d ever given her half an excuse to do so. Dusk figured he’d have to be mindful on dealing with her if they were to get along well enough as teammates. Or he could have some fun by trying to push her buttons in turn. Either option had its plus sides as far as he was concerned.

Looking to the pair, Jonathon couldn’t keep from letting a slight smirk tug at the corner of his lips while thinking back with amusement over their leaders parting words for the trio. “And I’m guessing that particular rule which Brianna mentioned is one that comes up quite often at this academy?” His eyes drifting from one teammate to another, as if trying to see what reaction, if any, they might have while he finished, “But I can definitely see why, considering some of the people I saw from the other assigned teams on my way over here, along with the members of our own group which I’ve met so far.”

 

[Miss Tris]

Sparks and Victor watched from the doorway as Jonathon dropped his things and fell on to the bed. At his remark about his comfort and his former living arrangements Sparks simply smiled, happy that he was already seeing that the lifestyle of a hero was much better than that of a villain. Victor offered no response.

Jonathon spoke of the tension among the party because of his presence, stating that he didn't blame them for considering him on the merits of his family. But at least no one had tried to kill him. Victor looked thoughtful for several moments before speaking. "While it's true that many - myself included - are suspicious of you, it's not something you can't overcome."

Sparks beamed in Victor's direction, proud of his ability to not act like Alyse.

"Just...don't fuck up. More people than you can count at just waiting for you to fuck up. They'll tear you apart over anything."

The blonde woman's smile melted. "I wish I could refute that," she spoke apologetically to Jonathon. "But there is obviously a hard bias against you. It's not fair but it's the truth."

It wasn't a pleasant subject and so they moved on. More amusement was to be found discussing Brianna's reminder.

"Not as often as you'd think," Victor responded with a grin. "It only comes up so often as someone is dumb enough to get caught." Not so subtly he snaked a hand around Sparks' waist as he spoke.

Given the implication, the girl flushed lightly and pushed the young man to an arm's length. "Victor!" she scolded in a whisper. "Don't talk like that, if Brianna heard you she'd launch an investigation."

"Yeah," Victor conceded. He didn't attempt to regain contact after Sparks pushed him away but he did grin like an idiot that he got her to react in such a way. "Brianna is kind of a hard ass rule follower. Always has been."

"Brianna is Victor's twin sister," Sparks explained. If standing next to each other it was nearly impossible to tell the twins apart; or at least it had been, before Brianna took on crimson eyes and dyed her hair whatever random brightness suited her that week. Still, their resemblance remained uncanny.

"Not that it wins me any favors," Victor responded dryly. "She'll turn me in for an infraction just as easily as anyone else."

Sparks gave him no sympathy. "So, Jonathon. Or...Dusk? Which do you prefer?" Once answered she'd use repeat his preferred name and smile. "My actual name is Celeste. Celeste Sorenson," she offered. "I just like the ring of Sparks better."

"Let's go meet the girls," Victor suggested suddenly, hopeful that Dusk would find one or the other more interesting.

 

[Shadows]

Dusk listened in thoughtful silence as Victor and Sparks spoke of how a lot of people saw him and his need to not give them any reason to feel justified in those suspicions. It wasn’t anything he’d never told himself countless times, but it was quite different to hear that familiar advice given out loud by somebody other then his parents. Besides, it’d actually been a while since he was able to make contact with either of his parents, so it did kind of help to hear such thoughts expressed by somebody other then his own inner voice.

Fortunately, the mood lightened back up when it came to the subject of their leaders earlier warning, with Jonathon giving a small snicker over the blondes reaction to their teammates teasing. Dusk hadn’t known them long enough to say for sure either way, but Victor did seem to have a less then platonic interest toward Sparks, which he couldn’t tell whether or not the blonde was oblivious toward. Not that he could blame the guy if that was the case, as Jonathon had frequently found his own gaze drifting her way on multiple occasions.

A look of surprise came to his face at the mention of Victor and Brianna being twins. “Oh, really? Wow.” He spoke while looking his fellow male teammate over closely for a few brief moments.

The resulting added differences on his sisters part, along with Victor largely keeping himself out of the spotlight compared to the others, had indeed kept their new member from piecing that tidbit together. Watching for the physical similarities now, however, Jonathon could certainly see where the two did look strikingly alike.

Filing that away for now, Jonathon returned his attention to Sparks while moving to sit on the edge of his bed. “Either one is fine, but Jonathon might work better, since we’re going to be teammates and, hopefully, friends.” The young male offered, before smiling up at the blonde and adding, “And thanks for telling me, Celeste. But if you prefer Sparks, then I can keep calling you that, too. The name does have a cool, but cute ring to it, so it seems fitting.”

Before their conversation could go much further, Victor jumped in with the suggestion of meeting the other girls. It was hard for Jonathon to not read into that interruption a little, but brushed such thoughts aside while nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, you’re right.” The newest member offered while getting up from the bed with a slight stretch, “I should really get meeting everyone out of the way. See if there’s anybody other then Alyse that I should be mindful of trying to bust my balls the first chance they get.”

While said mainly in jest, Jonathon did hope that the remaining teammates would be more on the accepting side of the spectrum, rather the death stare end of things. But whatever the cases may be, he was intent on trying to make the most of any situation thrown his way.

As he prepared to follow the others lead out of the room, Dusk gave them a smirk before suggesting with a (mostly) tongue-in-cheek intention, “And I’ll definitely try to keep the advice you two gave me in mind. You know, in case anything ever comes for either situation.”

 

[Miss Tris]

Unceremoniously Victor led the way to the girls’ room, cutting out into the hallway and walking a dozen paces before stopping to face their threshold. He gave a couple of graceful taps and the door seemingly opened itself in response. Inside, the room was much like the mens’ - it was the same size, same layout of beds and dressers – it was unlike theirs in that two massive desks took up the remaining wall. The girls’ company would have to walk into the room to see both of the inhabitants, their side by side desks placed upon the same wall as the entrance. The visitors were pretty well ignored.

“Fuck me,” one of them called out after several moments. “Damn it!” she hissed. No doubt company would understand they were not being spoken to as both girls wore headsets and were very much occupied raiding. “Well, that’s a wipe. Ten minute break, guys.” The woman nearest to the door glanced in the direction of her visitors as she removed her headset. “What?” she asked, somewhat irritated, eyes defaulting to Victor as he had led the group in to her chamber.

“The new guy is here,” Victor motioned towards Dusk. “Since you ladies couldn’t be bothered to greet an arriving team member, he is here to see you.”

“We’ve been on this raid schedule for months,” the other woman spoke defensively. “Do you understand how difficult it is to choreograph a weekly schedule between ten adults? …Even a thirty minute late start can fuck the whole operation.”

Victor shrugged. “I guess I just don’t see the appeal in digital treadmills,” he eyed her monitor with a unique combination of distain and confusion. “And it seemed rude, besides.”

“Fuck off, Victor,” the woman signaled that she was done with him by shifting her sight to the next in line: the new guy. “Sorry, what is it…Dusk?” She stood. As if he wouldn’t have noticed the woman’s appearance before now, it was fully on display as she approached. Her skin was a deep and true shade of red, much like the classic red lipstick that is often interposed over black and white in photos for dramatic effect. She was just inches shorter than Victor, if not considering her horns, or just as tall if they were included. The thick dark grey protrusions emerged from the hairline of her forehead, parallel to her temples, and were approximately five inches in length. The horns had a graceful curve to them, arching back towards her crown before shifting to sharply point upwards. “Truly, we meant no slight in not greeting you at the door. We’re just…very busy.”

“It’s much more important than it looks,” her female companion chimed in, her attention remaining on her keyboard and monitor.

“Yes,” the red woman flashed a smile. Just as she was about to ask Jonathon if he played video games she suddenly caught herself. “Oh! Sorry, my manners are terrible,” she offered a hand. “I’m Lilith.” Lilith was referred to as the Demoness, which is to say it was her heroic code name, but she didn’t particularly love it. The name was obvious and unoriginal…but of course it stuck. End of the day Legendary, Inc. could market her however the hell they wanted so long as they kept her comfortable.

And she was comfortable. Lilith was not an actual demon, of course, but her creator had genetically manipulated her to be the closest match his imagination and means could provide. She had been born a monster, raised as a captive, and blossomed in to a free woman when she rage killed her creator. Everything since her escape had been luxurious, all of which had been on Legendary, Inc.’s dime.

The temperature of Lilith’s hand would be immediately obvious at touch; her blood ran fifteen to twenty degrees hotter than the average human. Aside from that she had more notable demon-like features: black leathery wings that extended two feet above her shoulders and a foot below her waist, presently folded neatly behind her back; a long, sleek black tail with a sharply spaded tip, elf-like pointed ears, and of course the horns. Aiding to the image of her as a succubus, she wore almost no clothing at all – the heat of her body was overwhelming and so she wore the base minimum to be ‘decent’ – Lilith’s impossibly large breasts threatened to spill out of the bikini that scarcely covered them to begin with, otherwise wearing only a pair of matching solid black cheeky booty shorts.

She’d hear Jonathon introduce himself, of course, before jumping back on her former train of thought. “Do you play?” she asked.

 

[Shadows]

With this line of work, one tended to see a lot of unique types along the way. This held true even for somebody that was still in the early stages of what would be a hopefully satisfying superhero career such as Jonathon. As such, he’d felt himself ready to fully roll with whatever types he may have come across st the academy and among his teammates.

But much of that went flying right out the window as he watched Lilith rise out of her chair to address Victor. Part of that was due to her unique appearance, but none of those demonic looking additions or her crimson complexion were a detracting factor for Jonathon. If anything, it helped to accentuate what else she had going for her, both in his jaw droppingly built she was, along with her rather... limited, choice in clothing.

When she approached, it took everything within his very being to maintain eye contact, which just caused him to nearly become lost in her dark red gaze. There was also her shoulder length wavy black hair, which seemed a fitting match for her horns, while at the same time adding further character to her features, as if she needed it.

“N-No worries, I didn’t take any of it personal...” He replied to her initial greeting after stumbling for a second to find his voice.

Similarly, it took a second for him to process she was offering her hand, but he accepted after a moments delay all the same. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lilith. And I’m fine with Dusk, though you can also call me Jonathon if you’d prefer.” The lightly tanned male replied with a smile, as he immediately took notice of how warm she was to the touch.

Managing to bite his tongue from making a ‘is it hot in here or is it just you’ crack, Dusk did end up holding her hand for a little longer then was perhaps needdd, as he heard out her next question.

“Do you play?”

“Anything you want...” He’d let slip at a little over a whisper, before quickly catching himself and finally letting go of her hand with some embarrassment while amending, “I mean, I dabble in a few different genres. Platformers, roleplaying, arcade style racers, the occasional fighter.”

Glancing over at the monitors to see a little more of what they were playing, Dusk gave an acknowledging nod in recognition of the familiar screens as he continued, “I’ve done my share of online dungeon raids and such over the years. But never really stuck with any guilds or even smaller groups long enough and had to frequently start new accounts. My dad was always paranoid about who I was talking with online. For reasons that didn’t become fully clear to me until, you know, finding out about his ‘line of work’ and all.”

His eyes drifted toward the other chair, which only then caused Jonathon to actually realize that he’d not been acknowledging the other person they had come to meet. However, even as he realized this oversight on his part, the new member found that he was somehow unable to actually focus in on the source of that other voice.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you.” Dusk attempted to apologize for his own rudeness, though showed some confusion in his voice and on his features as he seemed to struggle in fully processing her presence despite not currently trying to keep his tongue in his mouth while looking at Lilith.

 

[Miss Tris]

Lilith grinned mischievously at Dusk's response: she very much enjoyed men who played anything she wanted. As he added to his statement she listened (and attentively watched), a lustful expression upon her face as she openly considered his physical appearance. Her sight dipped from his face, trailing down his chest, settling on his clothed crotch. She wondered what was to be found there, though she assumed she could find out easily enough, the man's list of genres barely even registering (as much as she was into video games). She couldn't quite overcome the vibe: that she really truly could do whatever she wanted with this one.

"Uh-huh," she agreed absently to his MMO commentary. Reluctantly her eyes rose to meet his gaze, not wanting to be too rude. She had already failed to meet him upon his arrival, after all.

The Demoness' eyebrows arched lightly at the man's acknowledgement of her roommate. Not that she expected to always be the center of attention - even as she often was - but...

The roommate tilted her head. Suddenly Dusk would find himself able to focus fully upon her. "Are you aware you possess above average resistances to psionics?" the woman asked with a genuine curiosity. Admittedly, she was as irritated as she was fascinated that the man even knew she was in the room. She hadn't focused on blocking her presence from his awareness - no doubt she would have been successful if she had - but even a passive suggestion that she wasn't there was enough to fool most people. Everyone in the house, at least, excepting Brianne, who was completely immune to the woman's abilities (as were all mind-wired cyborgs). Suddenly, her constant mind-fuck fog dispersed. She'd hear his response to her question, taking several long moments to consider his answer.

If the supposed villain were to focus upon her, he'd find a woman in her early twenties with a halo of natural bright red hair. Emerald eyes had shifted their attention from the computer screen to fully take in this newcomer as he had called her out. The woman was pale skinned, with a light dusting of freckles upon her cheeks, and she had the look about her that most would assume to be an innocent fawn type. She was far from, of course, but she had an easy enough time convincing people she was whatever she wanted to be to them. "I'm Catalyst," she announced after several long moments. "You can call me Cat."

Her interest seemed to wane suddenly. "C'mon, Lill," she spoke as she turned back towards her computer. "Back to it."

"It's been less than two minutes," the lady with the red skin complained.

"Tsk, tsk," the roommate answered. "I'm not waiting around for you to consume your flasks and reconfigure your skill selections to account for the fact that our healers don't know how to fucking dispell."

Lillith groaned as if in pain. She gave Dusk an apologetic look. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. We should be done in about thirty minutes, if you'd want to chat more later..."

"It's going to be at least 45," corrected Cat. "If not 60. Our group is struggling tonight."

Cat's roommate pursed her lips. "Yeah, okay, probably," she admitted at length. "In any case, you're welcome to hang out and watch or come back later--"

"Get. On. Your. Fucking. Computer."

Lillith laughed nervously. "I gotta go. I'll see you, though~"

Within moments the two girls were back on their headsets and talking to their guildies, completely oblivious to the people in their physical room.

"Pathetic," remarked Victor with disdain.

"Hey now, it's not your place to judge," Sparks started. Before she could continue, though, Victor made eye contact and derailed her rebuttal with a disarming smile.

"To each their own," he agreed, even if he didn't mean it. He knew the secret code phrases to soothe Sparks.

It worked and she smiled at him.

"Still. It's rude."

The blonde had to concede the point. She gave a weak shrug. "Yeah, well..."

"We don't need to make excuses for them," Victor decided smoothly. "Come. Let's show Dusk the rest of the house." His gaze begrudgingly left Sparks to look upon Dusk. "That is...if you wouldn't prefer to stay here?" He motioned a hand towards the monitors. "They'll ignore you while they raid, sure, but I'm pretty suck Lillith wants to fuck you."

"Victor!" Sparks chastised. She blushed lightly at the suggestion, for some reason flustered at the prospect.

 

[Shadows]

“Woah, hey there...” The dark haired male let out with some surprise as the roommate made herself better known to their newest teammate, who attempted to further focus their attention on the previously hidden young woman. “I believe I read something on that when looking over my testing results after enrolling, but I hadn’t really put much thought on it until now.” Dusk admitted to her question, as Catalyst allowed herself to come into view for the supposed villain and introduced herself, “Jonathon. Or Dusk if you’d like. Nice to meet you, Cat.”

He was about to offer a hand when her interest toward him seemed to pass within an instant as she directed Lilith’s own attention back to their game. That was a little awkward, as was Lilith’s apparent disinterest while he’d been talking earlier. Although, with that instance, Jonathon did notice that at least her attention had remained on him. Just not so much upon the prior topic of what exactly were his gaming interest may lie, as the young man silently admitted to feeling just a touch flustered over where the unique looking woman’s eyes had been wandering earlier.

With Cat pressuring Lilith to hurry back onto her computer, Dusk wasn’t really able to say much in response at her parting words, save for a quick “Sure, we can talk more later!” which she may or may not have even heard before the headphones were back on.

Watching them monitors for a few moments as Victor and Sparks talked, Jonathon tended to side with the formers point, but didn’t seem too bothered by it as he returned his attention to the pair. Then again, neither of the girls seemed to have any problems with him and, considering the likely worst case scenarios that could happen, just about any reaction to his presence which didn’t involve metaphorical pitchforks or torches was a welcomed one in his eyes. Kind of a low bar to set, but it was working nicely with most cases thus far, as Victor then suggested they either continue showing him around or allow him to hang around until the girls finished their game.

Then came Victor’s rather blunt remark about Lilith’s apparent interest towards him, as the new arrival found himself to be grateful he wasn’t drinking anything at that moment to avoid choking on his drink or doing a spit take over the pair as he looked to the other male with a sense of surprise and amusement. “You’re not exactly one to self censor yourself very often, are you, Victor?” Jonathon suggested, a raised hand partially covering his smiling lips as he tried not to laugh over the combination of the other males remarks and Sparks reaction towards them. Odd of a trio as they made, Jonathon was finding himself to be rather enjoying their time spent together thus far. As such, it was with some reluctance that the new arrival decided after a few moments of thought on sticking around Lilith and Cat’s room for the time being; albeit not for anything related to what Victor had said, surprisingly enough.

“Actually, I don’t want to keep you both tied up with showing me around the place for too long on the first day, so I think I’ll stay here for a while to see more of what they’re playing. Maybe even try to talk with either of them some more and see if we can break the ice a little further if their current game doesn’t run too long.” Dusk explained. Admittedly, the young male wasn’t blind to how what he said may seem like a bad excuse to be left alone with Lilith, despite having a genuine interest toward trying to make the best first impressions possible. Which, in itself, was a standpoint on his part which further made any personal desires he may feel toward any teammates a seemingly moot point, since acting on any of those feelings could put his standing with their leader and the school itself on the line.

“And even if she did look at me in that way, it’s not like anything could happen due to the rules of the house.” The new arrival acknowledged, before sharing with a small smirk and a shrug of his shoulders, “Besides, my luck has never exactly been that great when it comes to anything related to finding intimacy with others. I’m sure if she even so much as put a hand on my shoulder in a more then friendly way that we’d suddenly have a planet threatening super villain attack break out some grand scheme down the block to ruin the moment. And I’m also fairly sure that somehow Alyse would find a way to try blaming it on me.”

Granted, with the later it had a lot to do with his family frequently moving and rarely allowing him many chances for romance, despite being a rather confident person when it came to talking with women that interested him in that regard. This often led to Jonathon having to leave behind a potential romance or even casual fling with little chance to give either of them the closure desired. Not only that, but there were the occasional emergency phone calls which pulled him out of dates or the rare party, with his father or mother being on the other end of the line to tell him they needed to leave the area that day due to the ‘good guys’ finding out their general location. These were the type of experiences which, while now supposedly behind him, had left Jonathon with a tendency for having somewhat lower expectations then most for anything in that regard.

The young man didn’t seem too bothered by this stuff either way, however, as he smiled courteously towards the two that had helped him get settled in the most so far, “But thanks for all of the help showing me around and introducing me to the rest of the team. I do really appreciate that. Hopefully we can talk some more later?”