Hellfire Gala: Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!

[Mrs Maureen Brown]

"Oh, Mr. Dragotti, I meant no offense," Mrs. Brown said as she realized he likely took what she said the very wrong way. "You, like Master Jack, run businesses. I, on the other hand, cook pot roast and shoo fairies away. The man, at the very least, has been tippling a tad."

"She means he's drunk," Jack added as the trio watched Shaw moving through the crowd. "And yes, I heard someone say that we are supposed to have a sit down dinner and not just this finger food."

"For all this fuss, you'd think they would have at least goose or pheasant!" Mrs. Brown replied as she looked between her employer and Mr. Dragotti.

[Phil Coulson]

Phil blinked a couple of times as he looked at the woman that was blatantly flirting with him.  Women flirting with him was something that he'd probably never get used to, but it seemed to happen more often than not.  Most of the time he figured it was because they were after some kind of SHIELD information and thought they could weasel it out of him by batting an eyelash.  He was a trained agent though, he knew how to deal with that kind of situation.  He gave her a tight lipped smile and studied her face for a moment, trying to get a read on her.  Either she wanted something or she was legitimately flirting with him.  Phil ruled out that she was intoxicated.  

"Wow!"  Darcy spoke out before Phil even had a chance to speak.  "I can't believe you're standing right in front of me, flirting with my boyfriend."

Phil smirked to himself, glancing over at Darcy.  

"That's kinda hot," Darcy added with a smile.  "Hell, I'm all for some naked fun times in a broom closet."

Jesus Christ.  Leave it to Darcy to actually be into something like that.

Phil cleared his throat and stepped forward to the woman.  "Phil Coulson.  This is my girlfriend, Darcy."   He introduced themselves and stuck his hand out.  "And you are?"

[Abbey Pryde]

Abbey slipped away from her mom for a second and walked up next to Damon.  "Did that chick just ask Darcy and Phil to get freaky with her?" she whispered.

She knew Hellfire Parties were out of the norm, but she didn't know they got this kinky this fast.  If this was the adult party, she couldn't wait to see what the YA party was going to be like.  Something was definitely off with the flirty woman though, she had that crazy look to her.  "Do you know who she is, Damon?"

[Damon MacFeorais]

"That would be a big old no," Damon said as he looked over at Abbey. "Not somebody from Weapon X. Not anybody I remember from the X-Men database. And yeah, she did ask Darcy and her cuddle buddy to get all freaky in Sebastian Shaw's broom closet. She has style. I'll give her that. But that style is not exactly inside the realm of the socially acceptable. And I can get my freak on with the best of them."

Damon was glad it was Abbey here chatting him up. Some of the other legacy X-Men were a bit on the crazy side. The Stepford Cuckoos? Some of his own siblings? Please. He loved them, but some of them were a bit screwy. Abbey had her head on straight and was trying to make a life outside the super team realm. 

"And I think she just got shot down," Damon said as he listened to Phil talking to the lady with the martini. Then Darcy piped up, and all bets seemed to be off about that closet rendezvous. "Then again, maybe your friend likes to explore all sorts of stuff. As long as they are consenting adults, hey, it's a free country. But...since she is your friend, maybe you want to make sure Darcy isn't stepping into some crazy scene she's not up for."

[Abbey Pryde]

"I don't think secret agent man is gonna go for it," Abbey whispered back to Damon.  "He doesn't strike me the type that has a real wild sex life.  Of course, he is with Darcy ... ugh, okay I'm getting some mental images that I really don't want engrained into my brain."  Abbey shook her head quickly.

"Yeah, I'll keep my eye on her, but if they're gonna go off and get freaky then ...ugh I'm doing it again.  What hell?!"  Abbey laughed and took a sip of her drink.  She looked up at Damon and smiled.  She didn't know him too well yet but she did know he was a pretty cool guy.  A cool vampire guy.

"So are you here with anyone?"  she asked, taking another sip of her drink.  "My friend was kind of asking about your relationship status the other day."

[Craig Dragotti]

''If only I had telepathic abilities. I could read the minds of others. Well, assuming they aren't immune to telepathy. I would know for certain what this Shaw fellow is up to,'' Mr. Dragotti said. He glanced at Jack and nodded after the latter confirmed they were going to eat regular food. ''Is the dinner table big enough for all of us?''

Mr. Dragotti looked worried when he glanced at Sasha. ''Hopefully Sasha won't humiliate me at supper. He'll probably reveal my darkest secrets to everyone. Then again, maybe not,'' he said.

[Damon MacFeorais]

"With anyone?" Damon asked Abbey as he quirked one eyebrow. "And a friend asked? Really?"

Damon had heard Abbey was into girls, but a bit of light-hearted flirting couldn't hurt. This party so far, except for the Hot Chick, Darcy & Cuddle Buddy Show, was a bore. 

"I'm kidding. I know you like the ladies, and hey, I can't blame you one bit. And as for my status, totally unattached and stag tonight. I'm going to sound like the lamest guy in the place, but I came because my Mom asked me to. Not sure how much you know about my crazy life, but the man who thought he was my dad and tried to use me to open a hellmouth when I was a little boy is here tonight. So yeah, great party."

Damon looked around to see if any other lovely ladies were waiting on Abbey. "Was Darcy your plus one tonight, or do you have someone special coming later? And where's Lockheed? I know your Dad is off on a mission. I hope he gets back soon."



 

[Abbey Pryde]

Abbey laughed.  "I'm not flirting with you.  Not that you're not cute or anything, but no it's not me that's inquiring about your status," she smiled at Damon and then took a sip of her drink.  "Actually, the girl who was asking about you was Nastia.  Do you know her?  She's new ...  I think Godric picked her up from some vampire sex club or something.  She's been at the mansion for awhile, but has been keeping kind of low key.  She's still struggling with the whole vampire thing, I think.  I met her one night in the library and we got to talking.  We just kind of blossomed into friends.  A few days ago she asked about you."  Abbey's eyes flicked over to Darcy, Phil, and Hot Chick to make sure everything was still kosher.  

Abbey signed.  "Yeah, I wish my dad would come back.  I feel like I haven't seen him in forever.  I'm enjoying spending time with my mom though," Abbey giggled and shook her head.  "And, I think I might try guys for a bit.  Because honestly, the girl thing hasn't been working out so well for me as of late."

[Tytanic]

"Oh, hey," John said to the purple haired woman as she joined his group. Though his face didn't show it, John was momentarily confused as he immediately assumed that the woman was Psylocke based off of the purple hair. A few moments after that, he quickly came to the conclusion that this woman was much too short to be Betsy; not to mention the complexions didn't line up--he ignored the excessively convoluted reasoning behind Betsy's complexion as it made his brain die--but she ended up revealing her name anyway, throwing all of his initial confusion out of the window.

"Name's John. No idea where any of the food is, I don't even know what watercress is. But I am hungry, that's for sure." He diverted his attention for a moment to scan the crowd, hoping someone would slide on by with something heavy and filling. Instead, he ended up seeing someone he recognized and who also recognized him.

"Oh, hey. Sydney, right?" Out of the corner of his eye, John spotted a waitress making an attempt to part a crowd in order to better serve guests with her tray of...well, he didn't know exactly what it was, but it looked like food and smelled delicious. A blink and a small burst of super speed later, John managed to snatch the woman's tray away and began to seize the contents to shovel into his mouth. "Nope, no Dante tonight. He said he had business to take care of in...the Microverse and Skartaris I think he said? No idea what either of those are, and I'm probably saying the second name wrong, but whatever."

[Sydney MacLeod]

Sydney just stood with her mouth open as she watched John zip off, grab the tray of food and start to eat. Her cousin Duncan was like that but without the super speedy thing going on. "Oh OK. I'll get word to him when he's back. Thanks, John."

As she turned for a minute, Sydney saw her sister Rose and Snape chattering away about something, and that could not be good at all. "Our school is supposed to get some sort of grant from the Hellfire Club. Makes me kind of nervous."

"Then why accept it?" Maureen asked as she looked at what John was eating. Sydney could see Maureen was actually hungry and not just being an obnoxious flirty flirt as she finally snagged food from another passing waitress and started to gulp it down. "Sorry. I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"OK, as much as I am not a fan of Hellfire in general, their education fund is not a bad thing. If it can help our students, then I'm all for it," Sydney replied as she continued to look around the room. "But then again, if it comes with huge, evily strings attached, then maybe it's not the best idea to accept it."

 

[wandererxm]

Sean wanted to roll his eyes at Sebastian's speech. It wasn't the first time the vampire had to listen to the Black King but it had not gotten any less irritating. "Love sometimes I wonder if that man just likes to hear himself talk?" He said as he stayed with his fiancee.

"Well I guess it's time to tell the family the news." He said with a smile before kissing Miri on the cheek. He opened his mental links with his family and shared the news of his engagement to Miri.

[The Whisperer]

Ewan felt like taking Maddie and Emma and locking them in a room by themselves so they could sort out their differences, but they could end up starting a war if left to their own devices. {{There may be nothing you can do at the moment, darling}} he replied to Jessie as he kept one eye on Shaw and Emma. Having them butt heads was not a good idea either. {{It may just take time for them to work out this new way of dealing with each other. But if they continue to fuss at each other, I'm sure Scott will step in and pull Emma away for a dance or something}}

At least that's what Ewan hoped Scott would do.

{{Speaking of dancing, would you like to? There has to be a dance band or orchestra somewhere in this place. They can't simply keep us just milling about}}

[Jessie Grey]

{"Indeed I would love that very much beloved.....It would be nice to get some music going after that ear wrenching speech from Shaw. I guess his heart if he has one is in the right place but still anything that sounds like he wants to help others always has strings attached."} She said as Ewan led her gently along. She looked over at Kari in the distance with her new daughter and smiled. {"Seems like you have a new Niece Ewan....A daughter of Asgard no less.....It really makes me smile to see that even with how sudden things are she can take her own and be a mother even if she barely knows them."}

[Miranda Rydenborne]

"Shaw has always loved to entertain the masses with his speeches. At least they are not as long as they used to be," Miri said with a giggle to Sean as he started to fill in the rest of his family on their news. It was then that she decided to do the same with her brother William and her cousin Sandrine.  She had been dodging Will so far, but she couldn't do that any longer. At least Sandrine would be happy for her.

"And now my brother knows, too. I'm sure your family will be more enthusiastic about the news than he will be. My cousin is here somewhere, and I'm sure she'll be thrilled. Sandrine is from my mother's side of the family. She's not so...so...gloomy? Odd word choice, I know."

 

[The Whisperer]

Ewan smiled at Jessie and started to prepare the speech he called "The Stem Winder About Kari," but then he decided right now might not be the best time to delineate his sister's crazy history in minute detail. {{I could do the big, boring speech I usually do about Kari and her life,  but I really don't have to with you, darling, because you have come here in your own unique way with your own special history. You two have a lot of things in common, even if they aren't apparent yet. When Merlin split Kari and sent her across the time stream, the one here always seemed to have the ability to click into what happened to the other parts of her. I guess you'd call her the prime, for lack of a better word. She may never have held...Alexia...but she knows her nonetheless. That's how she does it. And yes, it amazes me, too. Now, where is that band?}}

Ewan reached over to kiss Jessie as he got the mental tap from Sean about his engagement to Miri. {{I hope you heard that, Jessie. More good news for our extended family. Congratulations, Sean and Miri!}}

 

[Jack Sparrow]

"I'm sure that Sasha is too preoccupied with Alison to care about spilling any secrets," Jack said to Craig as he saw Shaw wandering around in the crowd. "And that is an excellent idea, Craig! Perhaps one of our telepaths can keep tabs on our host to make sure he isn't just setting us all up for a fall."

{{Psionic dampeners}} 

"What?" Jack asked as he turned back and saw Kari tapping her temple. "Oh!" Jack exclaimed as he moved closer to Craig.  "Kari heard me. She says our host is fully equipped with some sort of psi-bafflers. I forgot how often the X-Men have dealt with the man in the past. Of course he'd be prepared for anything."

[Craig Dragotti]

''You're probably right about Sasha,'' Craig said to Jack. His eyes settled on Shaw as he frowned at the other man. ''Psi-bafflers?'' he asked while he turned to Jack. ''Does this Shaw fellow have any special abilities? I'm certain he must have weaknesses as well. Everyone has some sort of weakness.''

[Damon MacFeorais]

"I've heard about Nastia, but I haven't met her yet," Damon said to Abbey as he kept an eye on the trippy trio still chatting away in front of them. "I would have gone to say Hi, but I wasn't sure if the powers that be would think I was a great influence," he added as he tilted his head toward Scott and Emma. "You know how it is. First I'm fangy. Then I'm related to a certain redhead they wish would just up and leave one night and take the rest of the family with her. And I'm former Weapon X. So, I hit the trifecta of things certain members of the command staff probably hate. Your parents excluded, of course."  

Damon thought for a minute about Abbey's bad luck in the area of love. He had heard all about Rei and the mess with his cousin Kelsey, and something about that all stunk to him. He didn't buy it, but he had no evidence he could use to make his case.

"And hey, whatever you do, don't give up on the love thing. I know. What does good old Damon know about all that?" he said with a chuckle. "I know that living without it is a pretty sad thing. And guy or girl, just find the right one. And hold on to them no matter what..."

Damon realized he probably sounded really weird, so he took a sip of his drink and smiled a big goofy grin at Abbey. "I'm a romantic. Sue me."

[Gambit]

"I told you they'd be standing here waiting!" Remy said to Anna as they made their way through the crowd. "Logan! Kari!"

"Cajun, where the hell did you two wander off to?" Wolverine asked as Gambit made his way to the bar.

"Bourbon and branch, neat," the reformed thief asked the bartender as he turned to see Rogue standing near Karenza, "and a white wine for de lady. No, Logan, what did we miss?"

"Shaw making a speech. Scott and Emma talking to Maddie about Jessie. Loki glaring at us from the balcony. The usual," Logan replied as Remy shook his head and started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Just all of us dressed to de nines, standing here, waiting to see if they actually let us sit down and eat sometime before midnight. They don't, and we're outta here."

 

[William Rydenborne]

"So, going to give our father a heart attack, are we?" William asked as he walked up behind Miri and Sean. "It was bad enough Bella and that slime Edward were together, but marriage? Father will disown you for sure."

"William, father has disowned every single one of us from one time to another. I don't care. I'm happy. Sean makes me happy. If you can't get through your thick skull, then just go have a drink," Miri said as she turned to her brother, holding Sean's hand as she glared at William. 

"I have a drink, sister dear. When do you plan to tell father?" he replied as he lifted his champagne glass and smirked. "Sean, how does your extended family feel about the big news? I mean, half of them are here, aren't they?"

[Jack Sparrow]

"I remember Kari saying once that he absorbs kinetic energy," Jack said to Craig as he cast an eye toward Sean Mcgowan and Miri Rydenborne. Her brother William was with them, and that could not be good at all. "Sorry. Let my mind wander a moment. Shaw can absorb the energy and redirect it. He can use ti to increase his strength or something. And as for weaknesses, I have not a clue on that. I'm sure Emma Frost could fill you in on that. She used to be the White Queen of this branch of the Hellfire Club. I'm sure he had his psionic defenses built up to keep her out of his head."

[Craig Dragotti]

''Hitting Shaw is out of the question!'' Craig muttered. He bit his lip for a moment and hoped Shaw never heard him. Would he be thrown out of the party or worse? ''Maybe Shaw is vulnerable to his environment? Extreme cold or heat?'' Craig chewed his bottom lip again. ''Will Emma be able to address me after I technically left the X-Men?''

[Isadora Rydenborne]

"Father, please, don't be a drama king," a tall young woman said as she walked up behind William Rydenborne. "Aunt Miri has every right in the universe to be happy. And I for one intended to celebrate your good news, auntie."

Isadora Herondale Rydenborne. That name was a mouthful and a half, so she usually just went by Izzy. And Izzy was more than a handful on most days. Born of immortal and Shadowhunter parents, Izzy was as arrogant at times as she was powerful. But tonight Izzy was just another girl at the ball in some poofy party dress she would have happily left at home in favor of the leather pants and jacket of her demon hunting uniform.

"Isadora," William intoned as he turned to his daughter and gave her a kiss on each cheek. "You know your grandfather won't be pleased with this."

"He hates my friends, too, and I don't let it stop me," Izzy replied as she stared at her father. "I want to be happy. And I want that for you, Aunt Miri. Sean, is it?" Izzy asked as she extended her hand to her aunt's fiance. "You do know what you're getting into, right? Our family is a bit insane."




 

[Jack Sparrow]

"Oh Craig, you are still an X-Man as far as they are concerned," Jack said with a grin as he kept watching the Rydenborne broohaha. "Emma would not let you get too far outside the team, trust me. You are a mutant, and every mutant is a valuable treasure since M-Day. Someone like me is considered far less precious, I fear. I simply magicked my way to immortality. I was not born with a gift."

Jack thought for a moment about Craig's comments on Shaw. "You may be on to something there, Craig. I pray no one has to find out first hand."

The pirate was going to continue speaking but stopped when he heard a bell ringing. He turned to see some household servant ringing a bell as he moved around the hallway. "Dinner is served in the main hall!" the man shouted as he kept making his way around the room.

"Finally!" Jack spouted as he smiled at Craig and Mrs. Brown. "Mrs. Brown, let us both escort you to the dining area. Craig, does that work for you?"

[Craig Dragotti]

''I'm still an X-Man?'' Mr. Dragotti muttered in disbelief. His expression became one of sympathy after Jack said he was less than valuable. ''You are precious, Jack. You're at least precious to both Mrs. Brown and me. I'm certain you saved the lives of others before.'' Craig grinned at the mention of dinner. ''I'll be happy to escort Mrs. Brown.''