The sun was setting over the spring-laden cityscape; though this year spring was a rather loose term...go figure. Though as far as Skye was concerned, anti-mutant activists were liable to blame mutants for that one too. But the girl brushed that thought from her head; it was no time to be a downer after all. She'd made a phone call to her newest friend, Mari, and they were set to go on a date. Well...not a date, because they were just friends, and Skye truthfully respected that.  And besides, considering what Skye had planned....even if they were more than friends....this would definitely classify as an adventure, through and through. 

For the occasion, she'd picked out a deep purple top that showed off her shoulders and just enough cleavage, and of course her naval piercing--she'd gotten her parents to pay for it, so she was damn well going to flaunt it whenever she got the chance. She'd picked out a black skirt and black leggings to go with the top, as well as a pair of comfortable flats, because she wasn't about to be caught in heels. Over the top, she had on her purple hoodie, but it was only zipped about half-way up, just enough to show her top. 

She'd leaned against the wall outside of a rather nice set of apartments, and in her pocket she had two invitations as she waited for her friend to show up, her hair a playful, excited, and equally mischievous shade of yellow. Her face lit up when she finally saw the girl she was waiting for. 

"Hey~ Hope you're ready for some fun. Getting us into this party wasn't easy." Okay, so maybe it was, but there was no need in sharing that, was there?

Marisol had no clue what to expect. She was terrified, but she had to admit, she was also excited.

When Skye brought up the idea to her, Marisol thought she was joking. After their chance meeting on the subway, the two girls stayed in contact, continuing to get to know each other. Marisol liked Skye, likely for the reasons she was different; Mari was a very controlled, organized planner, while Skye had a bold, spontaneous streak that made her exciting to talk to. She was sassy and the way she spoke was so blatant, in a way, she was like the blunt actress, just with more flair.

They were enjoying an evening phone call when Skye mentioned a nearby house party, (in an apartment since this was New York.) She mentioned that they should go and Mari laughed the idea off until Skye made it clear she was not joking. Mari shot back with her usual excuses: rehearsal, homework, the legal drinking age, (which made Skye laugh.) Eventually, Mari had to admit it: she had never been to a house party, and her exposure to alcohol was limited to a drink of wine with her mother.

That convinced Skye that they had to go. Mari found it hard to say no at that point, so there she was, getting out of a rideshare car at the address Skye provided her. She had picked up a white top with a shimmery golden sweater and beige cotton shorts. She had picked out beige knee-high heeled boots to go along with them, forgoing her usual flats. It was a party, after all; she was trying new things, which warranted new shoes!

No way she would regret that. Nope.

Mari spotted Skye right away and her face lit up and she approached. They were friends, but they were still getting to know each other, so she was not at the stage of running over and greeting her with a hug. That was still a Celeste thing for the time being.

"Hi! I'm... not sure if I'm ready, but I'm doing it nonetheless!" She laughed off her nerves, which were clear in her voice. "What do you even do to get into a house party?" she asked, genuinely curious. "Is it the kind of a thing where you have to know someone who knows someone? Or is it something shady? Miss Sinclaire, are you a troublemaker?" She raised an eyebrow, grinning.

Sadly there was no hug, but the way the other girl's face lit up too, that was enough for Skye. Besides, like it was mentioned before, they were just friends, so there was no reason for any tender embrace or anything of that nature. But this was set to be a night of fun, after all. Adventure!

Both girls were dressed rather nicely as Skye led Mari to the right apartment. "It's okay, just stick with me, and you'll be fine," Skye comforted. "Well, let's say I know someone who knows someone," she said with a sly wink as they continued, finally reaching the right building, and Skye reached into her pocket and handed two invitations to the guy standing outside.

"Welcome, have fun! Maybe later I can join in?" the guy at the door said, flashing Skye a wink. "Sorry, sport~ I'm all hers tonight," Skye answered smoothly as she led Mari inside. The music was blaring, and people were already drinking. There was a bar of sorts set up in the kitchen, and there were apparently other apartments for other..activities, but Skye was set on staying in this area with Mari tonight. After all, she was teaching the other girl to come out of her shell, and she wasn't the type to leave her friends hanging.

It was convenient that Marisol was living at the school’s campus rather than with her uncle, because the last thing she intended to do was let her Tío Jorge know about her plans to attend a party and drink for the night. She never had reason to test whether he was a strict guardian or not, but with his background in law enforcement, she decided it was safe to assume he would have cautioned her against the plan. Logically, she understood why, but that would have meant saying no to Skye and, well, she just really did not want to do that.

Skye led the way, and Mari stuck close, to the point where she may have been hanging onto her friend’s arm for stability and so she would not run away. ”Trust me, sticking with you is the plan. I really like your outfit tonight, by the way,” she added cheerfully, wanting to give her friend a well-deserved boost.

They passed a young man who seemed friendly, and evidently wanted to spend some time with the girls tonight. Maybe Skye knew him? Or he was the friend of a friend, at least. The way Skye confirmed she was Mari’s for the night gave her a warm feeling, though she did feel slightly guilty for possibly being a burden on Skye for the night.

They walked in and Mari was taken by the sights, sounds, and smells. There were people everywhere, laughing and talking and playing games, but mostly, they were drinking. She could pick up scents of alcohol in the room, some strong and some sweet, and all new to her. The music was blaring, and it was what she probably should have expected from a party with young adults. She would shove any musical elitism out of her mind for the night if she could help it.

Looking around, she felt her nerves flaring up again. ”W-wow. This is a lot to take in,” she admitted. ”Thanks for being here with me for this. Though I promise, I’ll try not to cling to you all night in case you want to hang out with that guy at the door at some point.” Once she was there for a little while, it would be easier to hold her own, right?

Oh hey, more nerves. She needed to do something to calm those down. It was a party, and she was sure she knew how people relaxed their nerves at parties. ”Hmm. Um, maybe we should grab a drink? And maybe you should lead the way. I sorta know… er, nothing about alcohol,” she confided, feeling slightly childish surrounded by people who clearly did this often.

Skye giggled a little, Mari had proven herself to be more...solid than Skye; a voice of reason, the anchor that kept Skye's ship of chaos from drifting off into the waters of the unknown. As cute as that was, she was pulling up her anchor and they were setting sail. She felt Mari doing something with her arm, so Skye casually hooked her elbow with the other girl's. "Alrighty then, that's settled. I like your outfit, too. It looks good on you," she answered with a smile. The thing about that compliment was that it was different than any other compliment Skye'd made. It wasn't flirty, and there was no ulterior motive. It was....sincere.

"Yeah, it may take some getting used to," she comforted. "Though...I'm pretty sure if I wasn't here, you wouldn't be," she teased lightly. "Uh...I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come right out with it. That guy? Didn't just want to hang out. He was kinda looking for..." Her brown eyes darted around to see all the people, so Skye leaned in and whispered the rest of that sentence in Mari's ear: "He was kinda looking for a threesome."

With another giggle, Skye led Mari over to the makeshift bar; there were a few different kinds of drinks, but very few were...sipping material. These people were looking to get wasted. So, Skye grabbed a bottle of beer and handed it to Mari before taking one herself. "I'd take it easy, most people think beer taste like **** at first," she said before taking a sip, and shuddering a bit. She still did.

Having someone around was nice because it felt like a new phenomenon in Marisol’s life. In many ways, she attributed the change in her personality to Celeste. Her blonde best friend got Marisol to start opening up, and maybe she was realizing that, with some effort on her part, people would deal with her rough edges. And those people would then compliment her outfit and take her arm and boost her confidence. Friends were important.

Marisol was at a real party and she was going to take things in stride. At least, she was going to try, but the mention of a threesome stunned her for a second. She blinked rapidly as she processed the whispered secret, and she looked from Skye to the guy at the door back to Skye. Her tan cheeks slowly filled with red color. ”Oh. Oh wow. Really? Um, wow.” Her vocabulary game was on point. She raised an eyebrow and managed a smirk, still beet red. ”Exactly what kind of party did you bring me to?”

The two young women found a bar of sorts and Mari was handed a bottle of bubbly golden beer. The brunette assessed her drink. Her mother often had a beer after finishing a long day of work at her shop, but Mari never thought to try it. After popping her top and taking a hoppy, carbonated sip, she winced. ”That’s… mm, kinda bitter? And yet, refreshing?” It was underwhelming, which made sense in a way; her mother always used to joke that, when she was in college, the beer was weak “pisswater.” There were more dynamic bottles and mixers available, but Skye was right; Mari should ease into things first.

”Okay.” The second sip went down easier. ”So you’re guide to the crazy party scene. What’s first, Skye?”

The usually-rainbow-haired-mutant giggled a little, then shook her head. "It's not that kind of party. But, no matter what kind of party you go to, when you're dealing with college kids...they're gonna run off and have sex," she said with a shrug, before she added. "Not me, though. Not tonight, anyway. Like I said, this is our time to hang out and have fun. Promise," she said as she crossed her heart and took a sip of her beer.

"Yeah, I don't see why beer is Uncle Blaine's drink of choice," she said as she took another sip. "It kinda tastes like ass," she gave a snort. "But, it's a party."

She thought a moment, looking at her innocent young friend. "Well, there's dancing, obviously drinking. You mingle with other people, but I think tonight we take it easy. Find somewhere less busy and just sort of hang out," she explained as she was already leading Mari to the back door where there was a sitting area on the porch. It wasn't much since this was New York, but it was a place to chill. As they sat, another guy walked over to hit on Skye, then another walked over to Mari, and a girl tried to hit on them both, but Skye waved them all away effortlessly like Mari's bob-haired flyswatter.

"Sorry about that, but you may want to get used to it. It's a party, and college kids...well they like their sex," she said as she took another sip of beer. Okay, it was growing on her.

It still took some mental energy for Mari to believe that people would go to a party, meet people they might not go that well, and run off to have sex with them. The whole thing sounded bananas to Mari, who had never had the urge to have sex with anyone before. Well, maybe that was not true anymore; the jury was still very much out on what kind of impulses she got around Celeste. The point was, she could not just look around the packed apartment, see someone, and think, "man, I have to get me a bite of that," (or whatever people said before going off to have sex.)

Still, the world was not just the way Mari saw it. It was like there were colors she did not see but others did plain as day. Those colors were something Skye clearly saw, and Marisol felt bad that she might be keeping the mutant in her spectrum for the night. "Well, it doesn't have to be all night. When it gets closer to the end, if you wanna, you know, find someone to sneak off with, I'll be fine. Heck, I'll probably leave a little earlier than you anyway, so don't let me spoil your fun!" She took a much larger sip of her beer.

The plan for the night sounded relaxing; take things easy and hang out somewhere less crowded. All of that sounded great to Mari. She did like the idea of dancing, but she knew party dancing was totally different from actual dancing. She would pick it up quick, but from what she had seen, it would probably be an awkward learning process.

They moved out to the porch, embracing the cool air as a reprieve from an apartment warmed by bodies. They started chatting, but they kept getting interrupted. A guy started talking to Skye, and he convinced him to leave quickly. Marisol drew in the next guy, and she accidentally offended him when she very genuinely and very bluntly asked him, "Do I actually know you or are you just some guy at the party." Finally, a girl who looked like she was having a grand old time in a crop top and a skirt came by and made it sound like she wanted to take the girls somewhere more private, which hit Mari after a few seconds. Thankfully, while the actress was blushing, her friend was sweet talking the girl into leaving them be for the moment.

And in all that time, Marisol eventually realized she had finished her first bottle of beer. Evidently, drinking more was an impulse to nervousness. It was like she had an evolutionary drive to get drunk in the face of social interactions. She ducked back in to grab new beers while Skye finished up with their female admirer.

Mari returned and handed Skye a new bottle as she advised Mari she might have to adjust to this as the norm at parties. Mari nervously chuckled in the face of that idea. "And here I thought this was just a popular porch. Okay, people are going to try to flirt with me here. I can handle that. It's just something new that I can deal with."

She took another sip, letting the bubbles fizz on her tongue. "Knowing everyone who comes up to me is probably flirting with me helps. It has been pointed out to me that I don't exactly pick up on flirting well. When I finally do, I just kinda... feel weird. I dunno. I'm just so not a 'flirt.'" Mari was slightly anxious to point that out to Skye since it was one of those things that made her different, but if she was honest, Skye had probably picked up on it by now.

Skye looked at Marisol and shook her head, a smile on her face as she took a sip of her drink. "No. It's like I told you, this is our time tonight. I came in with you, and we're leaving together, though not with the same intentions as the other people. This is our time to hang out, okay? You're not hindering me from anything, you're not in the way. You aren't spoiling anything. If you want to leave early, we can go hang out or play videogames or something."

Skye smiled at Mari's shutdown of a guy that hit on them, it was unintentionally savage, but it did what it was intended, and Skye kind of found herself amused by this. Skye was then busy fielding another attempt--this one by a woman attempting to get with both of them, but Mari walked off for a second, and Skye's hair turned a bright red, mostly of frustration, as her hands flickered. "Sorry, but we're not looking for any extra company tonight. Now...if you wouldn't mind..." Skye finally said, as the girl was pretty forward and didn't know how to take no for an answer, apparently. Then, she saw Mari coming back as the woman was leaving, and the mutant's hair flickered very quickly to pink, and then a happy shade of orange, but after that, Mari was close enough where the lights completely faded, and her hair turned back to its normal brown.

She accepted the beer with a smile and took a swig. "Yeah, it's a different feel, and it's not for everyone. But hey, if you feel too uncomfortable, just tell me and we can leave, okay? I mostly just wanted to have a couple drinks with you anyway, and a house party is the best way we can do that, all things considered," she spoke quietly as she took another sip of beer, her eyes twinkling with mischief as she looked over at her friend.

While she did not want to be a burden to her friend, it made Marisol feel warm inside when Skye confirmed that she was going to stick with her all night. It made her feel important and valued and it alleviated her fears that she would end up abandoned. The alcohol in her system was starting to loosen her up so she could feel her emotions more freely and blatantly. ”Okay, that sounds kinda nice, actually. I don’t really play video games, but I’m willing to try. You can even tease me and stuff when I suck,” she joked.

On her way back with drinks, Mari noticed Skye’s hair colors. It was such an interesting aspect of her mutation, and it was a shame her hair could not do that around Mari; it would certainly make reading the conversation easier, which was not always easy for the dancer. She noticed the red hair when dealing with the girl. What was red? That was a passionate color, right? Maybe Mari was going to keep her from something fun. Skye looked at her and flashed pink just long enough to be noticed. That was such a lovely shade, too; she wondered what it could mean? The hair settled on orange before Mari stepped to close and it returned to its base brown color. She was going to need a Skye cheat sheet.

Mari made a mental note as they settled in and started talking about the relentless suitors at the party. Then again, suitors felt like too old-fashioned a term for what modern dating meant. Was there a good word for people that hit on other people? Skye was understanding of Mari’s apprehensions, and even left the option to leave on the table, but Marisol aggressively shook her head at the idea. ”No! This is really exciting, honestly. I’m not the type of girl to do this, and I guess it’s kind of exhilarating. And I have beer, so that’ll help, right?” To illustrate her point, she took a swig of her bottle. It was getting easier to handle, like she was adjusting to the bitterness.

”So… that girl was pretty, right?” Marisol was not attracted to her, of course, but she could tell the girl was objectively conventionally attractive. ”That’s why your hair was red, right?” She smirked, leaning in and whispering, ”What does red mean? Something lewd?”

Smiling over at Mari, Skye gave the girl's arm a reassuring squeeze. "Oh I won't tease you. Not too badly anyway; besides, I'm a little rusty, and not at all competitive. It's just something to do to relax and just hang out," she said with a shrug. It'd been quite some time since she'd had someone over just to hang out and play videogames; it'd be a nice change of pace, she thought.

Taking a sip of her drink after the verbal exchange with the dumb drunk girl and her friend coming back, Skye smiled, glad to be in good company. "Beer does tend to help with things you aren't comfortable with," she replied with a small giggle. "Though I am glad to have you with me. I like hanging out with you. You're fun, even if you're a little too innocent," she gave a teasing smile as she looked back to her drink; she didn't mean it to be flirty, it was just a light joke.

"She was pretty yeah, but she was also drunk off of her ass and probably dumber than a sack of grass clippings," she said dryly as she took another sip of her drink. Okay, she needed to slow down on the drinking or this night could turn from hanging out into two girls needing a babysitter. Which never went well.

"Oh, no. Red is more...negative. It's not a specific color code, more of a broad range. But red is generally when I'm mad, annoyed, frustrated...stuff like that. Lewd is generally pink, but pink is also just warm fuzzy feelings, slight feelings of attraction or even accepting a compliment. Not always sexual. So you'd see a color, but that color could mean one of several things. Which means I'm not as easy to figure out as some might think upon learning what my powers are." She took another sip of her drink and just enjoyed the cool night air. She had to admit, this was a nice new perspective of a party.

Marisol had accepted for so long that she was not going to have many close friends. She was not a huge fan of people, so it was not a hard thing to accept. She was initially certain she could be just fine on her own, focusing on her craft. Having people in her life like Skye, who she could easily picture playing video games with and loving the new experience, she knew she was lucky to be wrong.

They were very different people, but maybe that was good for Marisol. She might have pouted at Skye’s accusation, but maybe for her age, she was a little too innocent. She was not a child; she had access to the internet and she knew what sex was and how some people had a very casual view of sex and intimacy. She had even seen the videos one would stumble upon with an internet search like that, and while she was by no means repulsed, the video also did nothing for her. Well, nothing besides leave her feeling more awkward than before she hit play.

Marisol liked that her friend was bolder and worldlier than her, like it made that world seem a little less distant by proxy. It was also fun figuring her out, particularly when it came to partners and powers. The drunk girl: too drunk and too dumb for Skye. Even if she might hook up with people, there were rules there beyond physical attractiveness. Red hair: frustration and negative “hot” feelings, backing up the claims about the drunk girl. Pink was…

The dancer could feel her tan cheeks heating with a new influx of embarrassed blood rushing. Pink, the color she earned, if briefly, encompassed attraction, fuzzy feelings, and occasionally lewd feelings. Could that be true? She tried to piece together some of their interactions, or at least the ones she could pull from a mind that was starting to fog up with beer. ”Interesting… so is there a certain type of girl you are attracted to?” As someone whose type so far was just Celeste, Marisol found the concept fascinating. Plus, she had a piece of knowledge Skye didn’t know she had: she was pink-hair certified. Maybe with a little probing, she could find out why.

Skye didn't think too much on the conversation. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was just who she was, or it could have been some combination of both that led her to think nothing of Mari's question. Though she had to stop and think.She knew when it came to girls, guys, or whatever, she had some semblance of a type...she just wasn't a hundred percent certain what that was. So she had to think on it, and on top of that, she hadn't caught her own hair turning pink at the sight of her new friend.

"Hmm....well, my type of guy is easy. Look good, don't be overly macho, and don't be stupid. Being funny certainly helps. But girls..." she took a sip of her drink, letting the cup linger on her lips a little longer than the sip actually took. "Well, pretty, but not like...supermodel or plastic pretty. Approachable personality; someone I'd be comfortable spending time with, because contrary to popular belief, I rarely just jump into bed with someone; there's usually some semblance of a date beforehand. So sharing common interests, or at least being willing to participate in something I like..."

She paused a moment as she took another sip, her cheeks growing a little warm from the alcohol. "I hope this makes sense. I've never actually tried to explain--or even think about, really--my type before." She giggled nervously, giving a slight shrug.

Marisol sat, sipping from her bottle and hanging on Skye’s every word. She explained her type with guys, which struck Marisol as unexpected; for some reason, when she asked Skye about her type, in her head, she was not thinking about guys. Reflecting on it, it was weird she did not jump to that, right? She knew Skye liked men, so of course she would have a male type. Evidently, that was just less of a concern to Mairsol for some reason.

And then came the girls. Pretty, approachable, and someone she enjoyed spending time with. Skye eschewed the idea that she was all about casual sex and Marisol blushed because part of her did make that assumption along the way. Evidently, there were different levels of attachment for sleeping with people; it was not just monogamous relationship or anonymous hookup.

Skye asked if it made sense and, while it was hard for Marisol to identify with the explanation, she did seem to understand. ”I think so. It’s just weird because I don’t have a type. Like… I’ve liked one person. In almost eighteen years. She’s special, but I’m sure she’s not the only one of her ‘type’ I’ve met, but the rest never did anything for me. I think it was because I ended up knowing her so well.” She plugged her mouth with the mouth of her bottleneck. She was talking a lot, and this was the kind of thing she had not told anyone yet. Even Celeste did not know that she was the first and only girl—or person—Mari was attracted to.

In fact, maybe the focus was too much on Mari for her liking, suddenly. She wanted to turn her attention back to Skye, because the elements that made up her “type” of girl felt oddly familiar, and her hair did turn pink a moment ago…

The small moment of silence ended when Mari finished the last sip of her beer and spoke up, her voice innocent but curious. ”Skye? If you could… would you sleep with me?”

Truth be told, when Skye invited Mari to a party, she wasn't anticipating any heart to hearts or anything serious; just a couple of friends letting loose and having a good time, on less-than-legal terms, given the underage drinking. But then Mari spoke, and judging from the content, Skye was willing to bet that this wasn't something the other girl shared with just anyone. For whatever reason, she trusted Skye.

Or maybe it was just the alcohol.

But either way, it was rather interesting. She was seeing things from a different perspective, and learning how her friend saw things, which was rather interesting indeed. She let her drink linger on her lips for a moment before taking a swig.

"Skye? If you could… would you sleep with me?” And then the mutant promptly had to turn her head as she choked on her drink, most of it spewing off of the porch area. Her face flushed bright red and the other girl set her drink down and regained her composure. Once she could finally breathe, she gave a sheepish smile.

"Well, I mean you do sort of fit the type, eh?" she said with a smile, skirting the question just a little. "But we're friends, and very few people I've slept with can say that. So I'd argue that you're better off than any of them, right?" she asked, thankful for Mari's ability dampening her powers. Otherwise, she probably would have flash-banged the whole area by now; she already felt like her face was going to explode with embarrassment. She took a deep breath.
,
"Honestly? I uh...well....remember when we first met? I uh....kind of....tried to..." she mumbled, pulling her hoodie over her head as she finished the rest of her beer, not really making eye contact. How would Mari even react to that? The mutant pulled her arms close to her body, her heart pounding in her chest.