skin of the night

Empathy. Empathy. Nikolai's lip twitched, but his expression gave away none of the disgust roiling through him. Not that it would matter, if she could feel his emotional state. Nikolai hated mind readers in every shape and form. Anyone who could access his thoughts without his permission, change his perception of the world, was an enemy. It was violation on the basest level, the lack of certainty that anything he thought or felt was his own that put a knot in Nikolai's gut and made him want to react with violence. 

There had only been three people Drake had seen naked; his husband, his ex partner and himself, and that was the way that he wanted to keep it, at least for the moment. Many months had passed since the death of his husband, and still, Drake wasn’t comfortable around people, around anyone. His face still flinched around his close circle of friends whenever one of them touched him, his heartbeat still raced when a stranger brushed up against him, and now, standing just a few feet away from him, was a fellow mutant, removing their items of clothing.

To call Nikolai's body his own would be a fallacy of the highest degree. If someone he wasn't comfortable touching him put their hands on him, there would be an issue, unless of course he was expected to stand still and take it. But time after time, he'd been required to break down his barriers until they were little more than dust. Aside from the smattering of questionable scars that he concentrated enough to remove from the surface of his skin while someone else was looking at him naked, Nikolai had nothing to be ashamed of. As Americans liked to say, when in Rome (which they were not), do as the Romans do. Similarly, when in a changing room, take your clothes off. 

"H-hey. Watch out." Oscar almost touches crashes into someone but does a small jump back, "Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going. I should be more careful."

"Are you deaf!? I will be fine. I do not want you here.” Iris started. She briefly wondered if he was even worth the argument. She could, after all, just ignore him. No. She decided. That would give him too much satisfaction. “You are such an ass and I don’t even know who you are!” She exclaimed as she felt the pressure of a headache return behind eyes. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been earlier, but she knew it wasn’t healthy. 

Iris practically hissed at the man. “Aren’t you just the cream of the crop? The sweetest chocolate at the candy factory?” She was so angry at his callousness that she wanted to snap. “Be on your way. Get out. I’m sure someone will come along shortly. I’m fine.”

"Well, thank you for dealing with me. I’m sorry to have been such an inconvenience to you. With that being said, you can gladly excuse yourself. I wouldn’t want to continue being a bother.” Iris wouldn’t dare admit it, but on top of the inevitable embarrassment that clouded her mind, this stranger sitting on the edge of her bed had hurt her feelings. “You could have just dropped me off and left, you know? Saved a little bit of your precious time.” 

Iris resisted the urge to let out another groan. “So, how did you end up here? On my bed?” She asked the guy. She wasn’t completely sure, but she didn’t think they had met. 

( off to the races ) katherine & nikolai

This whole thing was a farce. By the second run of the day - after lunch, of all times, as though whoever had planned out this inane schedule wanted them all to throw up all over the place - most of the other mutants were stumbling through their strides, barely picking their feet up from the ground. For the first time, Nikolai considered that this training might have nothing to do with physical fitness. Certainly, none of them were getting any benefit from it. If this was a form of endurance training, the structure could be better, but at least it gave him some hope for the intelligence of the mutant program directors. If they threw up, they'd have to keep running, learn to ignore the screaming of their body. Harsh, but effective. Nikolai was sure most of them would break under the strain.

Iris groaned. She couldn’t help to think that this would ultimately maker her look weak in the eyes of her fellow mutants. After all, clairvoyance wasn’t the most impressive ability and Iris often questioned just how much of use she could be to the program. “How bad was it? Don’t lie.” She told him looking him directly in the eyes. 

Black spots danced in Iris’s vision encroaching slowly.She tried to blink them away, but her world steadily grew dimmer until it threatened to cease altogether. Behind her eyelids, an explosion was taking place - an explosion she had absolutely no control over. The last thing Iris pictured before passing out was Grant’s face.

There was a time in Oliver’s life when he wouldn’t have been caught dead in such a vulnerable position. Swimming was all fine and well, but without a knife strapped to his thigh or an assurance that no one could walk in on him, he was left as a sitting duck for anyone to attack. He could have started quacking. That would probably just lend to the idea that he was a target.

Swimming had never been a particular interest of Nikolai's. Something about having his head held underwater at several points in his short but convoluted life had diminished his desire to do it to himself. Yet in some perversity of nature, Nikolai still liked water. When he could, he liked to float on his back, eyes closed and face tipped up towards the ceiling, just basking in the sensation of weightlessness. It took him out of his body and into a place where he didn't have to think so much.

A detour? Coming from that direction it seemed unlikely but seeing as Leon had only run once then declared it too much effort, he wouldn’t really know where they went. He moved his hand up that contained the book by his head a shoot it lightly. “Just reading up, never can know too much after all.” Leon considered this training of his own, to see how much information he could memorize at a time. His mutation age him an unnaturally good memory and pared with his love of knowledge, Leon tended to read far more then he should. Books ranged from simple fiction book to complex scientific theories such as string theory. He sent out new requests for book from the library almost every week, he was half convinced the librarian wanted to kill him for putting so much work on her. She was obviously too nervous to ever voice her thoughts though, so he didn’t really worry.

"Oh?" Interest piqued, at least for the moment, Nikolai ambled towards him, slowly enough that it could not be misconstrued as a threat. "What are you reading?" He stopped at a respectable distance from the other mutant, hand out in a request to examine his book. If it looked interesting, he might ask to borrow it. Nikolai needed something to do during the class time, given how little he cared for it, and he hadn't brought any reading material of his own.

"No, I got the impression that you were being a dumb ass." She replied rather bluntly. Barging in here, attempting to tackle her and then proceeding to get smart? That didn’t sit well wit Alessandra and she wasn’t in the mood for bullshit today. She stepped back as he got up, cooling down from before. A part of her was smug that she’d gotten the upper hand. The obsessive part of her. There was always a need to win. In everything. And today was just another one she’d taken as her victory.

Nikolai was officially done. Done with this whole project, and especially with this encounter. Had he been here of his own volition, he would have long since walked away, in search of an activity that could actually hold his attention. He didn't even want to dump Alessandra on her ass. She'd burn him, and in her surprise when he ignored it, he'd knock her out, and the whole thing would remain entirely boring and unsatisfying. Nikolai just wanted to leave her alone, to play in her entitlement and bad attitude, probably even worse than his. That was an accomplishment.

Addison recoiled from his touch as if his fingertips had burned her. She wasn’t exactly used to skin contact, his kneading hands feeling very foreign to her. Spinning around to face him, Addison gave him the harshest glare she could muster.