God, what a mess. The girl had come to the mansion looking for someone to greet her and help her get settled, deal with her parents, show them around, and all of that. And there she'd been, Amelia, all alone, at the entrance, helpful and polite and alone, with no one to take over. Nobody had been in the office to help her. Nobody'd been there to take over. Or if they had been there, they sure hadn't been around when she'd looked or where she'd looked. So she'd taken it upon herself to handle it. And she'd handled it. Now, she was just mad.

'This wasn't her job. That hadn't been her job,' she fumed as she stalked through the halls. She was not a mansion greeter. There was absolutely no reason she needed to pick up slack for whoever it was whose job that was. Especially not if they were getting paid. The guy in charge would get an earful.

Knock knock. She reached his office in a huff, stopped dead, put her hands on her hips, then lifted one up and rapped sharply, twice. The hand dropped back down. Her eyes trailed down the hall impatiently as she waited to talk to someone. Maybe he'd actually be there now? As opposed to absent like earlier, when she'd needed help? Meh!

Amelia didn't like to wait.

He was nursing a hangover again and the knocking on his office door didn’t help. He looked up from his paperwork something else that didn’t help then he sighed. A half finished beer was sitting on his desk and his stomach churned when he thought about finishing it. The best way to get over a hangover was in his opinion greasy foods sleeping through it or hair of the dog. Today he chose hair of the dog seeing as all his classes were canceled due to lack of attendance and mostly no one was going to bother him. Day drinking didn’t kill no body.

”Yeah, yeah I heard you the first time!” Sam said already walking to the door. He looked tired mainly because he didn’t get any sleep recently, the night before wasn’t a one-time thing. Turns out his classes and his pets were the only things keeping him at the mansion. Sam was aware of Cammie in the corner of his office playing with one of the tall plants when he passed by her to get to the door.

His tabby cat was busy batting at one of the leaves on the plant. Sam looked to the door from his cat and muttered about how he should have just stayed in bed however he felt bad he was neglecting the paperwork on his desk. ”Yeah?” Sam asked revealing his attitude about the day as he opened the door. To see a young woman with her hand on her hips in a very irritated pose.

Sam had been seeing someone recently another reason he was hung over and tired. This woman before him had the same irritated pose Athena got when Sam had done something wrong. He blinked to her with his one eye and waited. He knew he couldn’t have done something to irritate her mainly because he had never met the girl before.

"I do not work here." Amelia seethed, and venom was in her voice. "So why, I ask you, am I doing the work of a Mansion greeter? Where the hell is Gawain when he's supposed to be helping mutant kids get settled into the mansion? Why do I have to do his job?! Maybe I should be getting paid! And wait. Are you drinking?!"

All the other things had rolled off her tongue perfectly, in the most irate and dangerous tones imaginable, but the second she'd caught a whiff of beer, that had thrown her off and made her tone change. Different. Surprised. Flatfooted. She had not been expecting that. Even if this was CS. She'd heard enough rumors from everywhere. They hadn't told her this.

The cat didn't pause in its playing to watch her, though it did deign to spare a glance her way. Then, it was back to bat bat batting at leaves.

Cold Steel looked like crap. Good-looking crap, but crap all the same. Crap with an eye patch. Pirate crap. She was not impressed.

>>>"I do not work here." "So why, I ask you, am I doing the work of a Mansion greeter? Where the hell is Gawain when he's supposed to be helping mutant kids get settled into the mansion? Why do I have to do his job?! Maybe I should be getting paid! And wait. Are you drinking?!"

Sam rolled his eye and sighed and walked back towards his desk where his beer was and the paperwork that he had been neglecting. He left the door open and meant it as a way to invite the angry girl in. Judging by the way she said Gawain’s name, there must have been some history between the two. Something else Sam didn’t feel like dealing with today.

Still, she apparently did him a solid by doing some of his and Gawain’s work so he tried to add a small smile to his tired features. Sam shrugged his shoulders slightly as he slumped back into his chair and gestured for the woman to come in. ”Well you knew where to find me so I’m guessing you know who I am.” Sam said trying not to let his lack of sleep change his tone.

He yawned and sipped his beer, ”And you would be?” he asked giving a few second pause as he set his beer down on the desk next to his paperwork before answering a few of the girls questions. ”As to why you are doing his job” Sam tried to put the same venom in as she did when she said ‘his’ to prove that she didn’t need to take the tone she was taking with him he also might have focused on the area where the woman was and put a chill in the air momentarily.

”I don’t know why you did it but I can only imagine because you are a helpful young woman.” Sam managed a smile and paused to pick up his pen then twirled it in between his four fingers in quick succession then back revealing he had a lot of practice doing it.

Sam continued, ”As to where Gawain is I don’t know, if he isn’t here I’d imagine he had a good reason for not being here. If you didn’t help the new resident odds are they would have been sent to me, so you happened to do me a favor. So thank you.” Sam looked to the beer and nodded his head towards it, ”and Yes I happen to be having a beer.”

Had he been drinking? The guy walked away from her as way of answer. Rude. Super rude. And there was the damning evidence on the desktop, a can of beer. What. The. Heck. Again, she wasn't impressed.

The scent of beer got stronger as she followed him into the office. He wasn't going to get away that easily. Now it made sense where Mirror had gotten his urge to underage drink from. She thanked whatever deity was currently in effect that he'd never offered her some. So gross.

And now he was smiling. It looked sickly to her. She was shouting at him! He wasn't allowed to deflect it with smiles. He sat back and smiled at her, giving her the cockiest line she'd heard all day. 'Knew where to find me, guess you know who I am'. Who was he, Catman? The super-hero millionaire playboy line only worked for some.

She rolled her eyes as he asked her who she was, crossing her arms over her chest. "Amelia," she snapped back at him, but didn't add any more. The wall was suddenly far more interesting than CS, so that's where she looked. Even if he was trying to smooth things over about her doing Gawain's job, it didn't help. Well, maybe a little. Somehow, she found her shoulders slightly less tense. She let him finish his dialogue, just for that.

Maybe for some people, compliments and flattery won girls over. But not today. As he finished, she gave him an exasperated sigh, pushing her hand through the hair over her forehead. "Don't drink when you're at work," she said, at the end of her rope. "It makes you look unprofessional. And don't think just because you're thanking me, you get out of jail free. Just what kind of impression do you think those kids parents would have gotten if they'd come to take their kid to his brand new home away from home, and found you drinking in the middle of the day. Shouldn't you have more respect for the mansion than that?" And for himself? She glared at him, rekindling her fire. "Well? Got any snappy one-liner for that?"

>>>>"Amelia,"

Sam let out a sly smirk that was quickly retracted when she said her name then crossed her arms. Gawain had dated an Amelia, it would also explain why she would say his name with such venom. It would also explain why she was so upset about doing his/her job as well. Sam was well versed in the bitter ex’s and knew they’d sooner see him hang than to help him.

>>>> "Don't drink when you're at work," "It makes you look unprofessional. And don't think just because you're thanking me, you get out of jail free. Just what kind of impression do you think those kids parents would have gotten if they'd come to take their kid to his brand new home away from home, and found you drinking in the middle of the day. Shouldn't you have more respect for the mansion than that?" "Well? Got any snappy one-liner for that?"

Sam blinked and looked to his beer and took a quick swig of it before she finished then took another one when she asked if he had a quick one-liner for an answer. ”At the moment no. I don’t have a snappy one-liner.” Sam took another swig then set the bottle down having a feeling Amelia would give him a look for drinking any more. ”Dealing with a pretty nasty hang-over, all the kids dropped my classes so my main job is pretty much non-existent all I do is paper-work and occasionally greet people when they show for the first time to the mansion. Gawain was supposed to be handling that so… yeah.” Sam shrugged and took another sip of his beer before shrugging.

”But it looks like you saved me from that embarrassment, so again. Thank you.” Sam said looking from the angry woman back down to his paperwork before asking the woman, ”So you have any trouble helping out whoever you helped out?” Sam picked up a pen and signed some paperwork before looking back up to Ameila.

Well. Drinking more beer, then more beer was not really a one-liner. It was more of a two-to-three-swigger. And if she hadn't been in full control of her emotions (she wasn't), a vein might have bulged unattractively on her forehead (but it didn't, thank God). Though her brow did furrow as her eyes narrowed on him as the repeat offender offended.

Apparently, everyone had quit his classes. 'Woe is me', she monotoned melodramatically inside her head at his comment. Sounded like he had more to have a headache over than just a hangover, but she still had a nice head of steam worked up, and she wasn't letting it die down (much). Though, she did sympathize. A little. Must have been tough for him. Enough to make him drink. Could an X-man team leader get fired? She put that thought aside as he thanked her again. Her nostrils flared as she breathed it in.

Had she had any trouble? "None, whatsoever." She replied tersely, in a tone befitting a turkey executioner ready to swing the ax.

”Excellent!” Sam said setting his beer down and clapping his hands. Reaching into one of his drawers and pulling some paperwork out Sam set it on the desk cluttered in paper and set a pen on it and pushed it towards her. ”Well sign here and we can get you started.” Sam said smiling and leaning back in his chair.

”I mean as long as you don’t mind working with Gawain or Maya depending on the day.” Sam started to laugh ”I’ll do my best to staff you guys on different days.” Sam said reaching for his beer and grabbing another swig before he continued, ”I pay pretty well and the benefits are pretty good. Vacation and all that jazz.” Sam said almost proud of the benefits.

Snapping his finger and reaching into another drawer Sam handed her the paperwork for the new resident information on top of the job info he put before her. ”Fill those in whenever you get a chance, then put it in the incoming pile.” Sam pointed to the large stack on his desk. It was clear Drew needed to do a bit more paperwork there was no reason why he had to do all this. He was the boss after all. ”Standard stuff; name, gender, mutation, any special requirements we need to look out for stuff like that.

”You think they want a self defense class?” Sam asked sipping his beer again trying to give her a little smirk.

Blink, comma, blink. What. The. Hell? Now, he was offering her a job. She didn't know quite how to respond to that. He was swigging a beer and offering her a job... in practically the same breath. This guy with an eye patch who thought he was so cool... part of her wanted to flip the papers over and toss them in his face. The other side of her liked money and work and hadn't so much minded the actual act of helping the kid and their parents get settled into the mansion. These two sides waged a war in her mind. There were lots of fiery explosions and Michael Bay-Grade special effects (which meant more explosions). One used a buster sword. The other kept pulling blades from the ground that was littered with them. Metal clashed against metal, and sparks flew. The two combatants were sent flying miles, only to blink back to each other face-to-face a moment later.

She blinked again, and shook her head to clear it. He'd vomited information at her, and she needed a moment to process it. She started with the easiest thing to respond to. "Gawain and I are on good terms," she said uncertainly. "At least, as far as I know. I'm not some psycho ex that wants to see him die in a fire or be unhappy." He really wasn't her type, anyways. She didn't even really know what her type was. "And wait. What? You're offering me a job?!" What the hell kind of person did that from out of nowhere!? "Not that I'm complaining, but. It's sudden."

Paperwork was involved.

Good terms didn’t roll off her tongue as easy as he thought it should of she was uncertain. Which was understandable he had been through bad break ups before and he knew that less than rational thinking can go into the minds of one party or the other. That being said she didn’t seem the type to be the crazy one out of the two. ”Excellent, hate to break up a fight between my employees. Lot of paper work and all that jazz.” Sam said as he sipped his beer this time out of amusement it seemed him drinking and offering a job got her a little off her game.

”So you’ll take it then?” Sam smirked towards the shocked Ami and continued, ”Like I said the pay is good and there are flexible hours. I just need you to fill out the paper work. Ideally yours before the kids.” Sam said smirking some more.

She actually took a moment to glance at the application form paperwork, picking it up skeptically in her hands. Briefly, she skimmed it, eyes hopping down the page like the feed on a typewriter, to the right, jump, to the right, down and jump. It all seemed in order, but... it was a little too good to be true. And she was still a little more than sore at him for his behavior. Then again, when hadn't she had a boss she thought needed help?

"I'm taking college classes," she trailed. "So if I take this, I'll want to clear the hours with you." God, was she actually considering this? He'd said hours were flexible, and the pay was good. And kids would need help. If Mirror was off getting busy with whatever he was, and Cold Steel was drunk or hung over... cautiously, she wrote her name on the first page, then carefully started filling the rest of it out.

"This still doesn't change my tune about drinking at work," she muttered, shooting him a quick set of dagger-eyes before dropping her focus back to the page. She finished it, and flipped to the next.

Sam started to laugh when she looked it over, it was clear she thought he was joking about the job but when it comes to offering a job Sam rarely jokes. ”I can set your schedule around your classes or if you have another job.” Sam agreed with her and nodded his head some more. When she started to fill it out Sam smiled some more.

>>>"This still doesn't change my tune about drinking at work,"

”It shouldn’t” Sam said agreeing with her and finishing off his beer and setting the empty bottle down. ”It isn’t an everyday thing here. In fact this is a “Sorta my day off so I can do what I want.” Sam said looking to his large pile of paperwork. Which would soon grow with more paperwork from Ami. Really where was Drew and why did he have to do this? Why he was the boss. He was supposed to be able to delegate.

Sam waited quietly till she was done with the paperwork.

Paperwork. And more paperwork. And more paperwork. If she'd been one to drink (and old enough), maybe she would have needed a beer, too. Right now, a glass of water or a soda would have been fantastic. Probably better. It was a lot of paperwork, but she breezed through it. Somehow, the job had fallen into her lap. She wasn't going to argue with it.

As she finished up the last bit of paperwork, Amelia made the idle comment "Somehow, I got the impression in order to be a greeter, you had to be an X-man."

Luckily, that was not the case. Looking Cold Steel's way, she passed him the finished stack of papers. "Here."

Shaking his head Sam laughed, ”Nope the mansion and the X-Men are two separate entities.” Sam said holding up a two sign to explain, ”How the school stays out of the media and police reports and such. Got to protect our ass. A majority of X’s just happen to work here and live here.” Sam said trying to explain it the best he could. Wasn’t like the X-Jet had the return address to the mansion or anything. He thought for a second to double check and decided he’d just take the paperwork she finished.

”Thank you!” Sam said taking her paperwork and finishing his beer before setting it down. Looking over the first part he smirked, ”Shiloh huh?” standing up and reaching out his hand for hers he spoke, ”Well Amelia, welcome to the team. I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”

That made a lot of sense. The X-men were something entirely different than teachers. At least, most of them. Parents might not want a cop or vigilante teaching their child, and the local media might portray that detail in a negative light. There was a lot of heat out there for some vigilante types, and people putting their necks out when they weren't police usually got knocked down like whack-a-mole moles.

Cold Steel welcomed her to the team... after commenting on her middle name... and she couldn't help but smirk slightly. This guy was kind of funny, when she wasn't in the mood to rip the grin off his face. "Thank you," she replied.

(( OOC: And I think that wraps this up. Thanks for the thread! ))