It was a Friday night and the club scene was alive. People wove in and out from the dance floor as music strummed through the speakers. Since coming to the city, Blue decided he should experience some of the more mundane experiences of life, and that included stopping in on this club.

Blue hadn't decided how he felt about it yet. He couldn't quite remember what the name was, something that sounded like a mixed drink. The Tipsy Cocktail? The Drunk Dancer? Whatever. He was just here for the alcohol, despite the fact the bartenders seemed absolutely terrified to serve him. 

Well, he was on fire, after all. And alcohol was flammable. Maybe they had reason for concern. It was a shame. He had been in a good mood. 

"Seriously, what does it take to get a drink around here?" He growled, leaning against the bar as the girl bent away. The flames on his hands licked menacingly, but he didn't let them go yet. There was enough heat naturally for her to get the picture, but he was wearing a new shirt and wasn't ready to walk home naked because of someone's bad customer service.

"I...I'm sorry, sir. What can I get you?"

"What's that one on the end there? The amber? That'll work." At this point, he just wanted anything. He flashed his ID, and the fact the plastic didn't melt seemed to put the girl at ease. He made note to singe her hair on the way out. Little snob. She wanted to be afraid? Well, he could make sure she really was!

As she set the drink down, he noticed someone had left a five at the table as a tip. With a dark look, he reached out a finger, and let the flames light it on fire. She gasped, swatting at the bill before it could ignite anything else. Blue picked up his drink, and gave her a nod. 

"Next time someone asks you for a drink, luv, I suggest you do it quickly. Le's take that as a warnin' shall we?" He moved to an open couch and sat down. Hopefully, that was the last annoyance for the night. 

One of April's favourite new discoveries was clubs. New York just had so much going on all the time, and her favourite places were the ones that kept a pretty high temperature, clubs tended to absolutely radiate heat. Firstly they were naturally just warm by virtue of being inside, and then there were the hundreds of writhing, intoxicated bodies you found inside, slaves to the rhythm inside. Now April wasn't really a music person, and even if she was club music wasn't necessarily what she'd be interested in.

What the music did to people however, she was a fan of. Everyone was suddenly injected into the vibe and head space that April lived her life in, everything was so bright and interesting, people's inhibitions were a little lower, okay a lot lower.

She generally found that the quieter areas of the club were where she liked to try and meet people. Firstly it was easier to get a feel for them when she could actually hear them, it was generally closer to where the drinks were too, which helped everything a little.

However this time April found something she wasn't expecting. Another fire mutant, and one just brasenly brandishing their mutation right in the middle of the club, using it to intimidate the bar tender no less. She stared for a few moments, lost for words.

It wasn't just that he was similar, even his flames looked similar to hers. New York was the best. As he walked away April got the bartender's attention and leaned in pointing to one of the bottles of ale and batting her eyelashes. She swiftly got serviced by an absent minded, slightly cute bartender. "Don't worry about the hothead sweetie, and thank you." She took her drink and slipped the woman a tip, turning on her heels and leaning against the bar for a moment eyeing the fire-y gentleman.

It took a few swings of alcohol for Blue to feel calm again. He could feel the liquid in his stomach, practically vaporizing in the heat of his body. He appreciated the warmth it brought, a literal energy even if he was nowhere close to getting drunk. It was the subtle influence of fire and ale. He knew he would have to return for a glass before too long, and felt unhappy with the prospect.

When he glanced at the bar, he noticed a girl watching him. Like the mature gentleman he was, he flipped her the bird and gave a snarky smile before downing the rest of his drink. He hated some of the women dragged in around the city. They saw a mutant as a challenge, or they saw them as fun. He screwed bad news and that always drew in the wrong crowd. He let a little flame ignite what was left of the drink in the glass, holding onto his golden blaze calmly. Released from his body, he had no control over it, but he still enjoyed the warmth.

Ahh, fire. If he could just sit in a fire and watch the world go to ashes, or wouldn’t be so bad.

Wow, he really seemed to be strung out from just speaking to a bartender. April was used to dealing with people that were coiled up, on edge. Ready to explode in some way or another, but this guy was taking things to another level. There was also the fact that he was a fire mutant, she'd once heard that fire mutants tended to follow personality archetypes. Maybe this guy drew the short straw and got the volatility? April had been told she'd gotten the hot-headness, or maybe just the hotness? It was a pick up line. It worked.

April took a swig of her own drink while she watched the man, before he flipped her off. She spat out some of her drink in laughter. That got her a look from the cute bartender. Oh well.

She took a few, amused steps towards the man, taking a long pull of her own beer. "Hey sweetie, you know that most people come to clubs to socialise, and so far you suck worse than the teenagers with fake id's, and that's saying something~" Ooooh his drink was on fire.

April leaned on the edge of one of the tables next to his couch and took another amused swig.

The girl decided to walk over, which Blue had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, he was irritated at the bartender. On the other, there was something about the way she laughed and the amused tone she took toward him that made him resist outright lashing out at her. Hmm, the insult was tossed his way, but he had started it by flipping her off, after all. He rolled his eyes.

"Some people come to socialize, other's come for their libation of choice. Since it was so hard for me to obtain the later, le's just say I became less willing to tolerate the first." His voice had a low rumble to it with his attitude tonight. He held his hand against the flames, letting the flames tickle his fingers while they had something to feed off of. The empty glass would not supply them long. He looked toward her hand, with an almost greedy expression at the drink. Then his eyes went back up to her face, a slight furrow on his features.

"An' what about you, luv? You on a kick for danger like some of those teenagers? Or just happen to be drawn to the brightest flame?" He held up a hand and let the blue flames lazily shift in the light. If his hand got close enough, she might feel the pulse of warmth as he released heat from the closest hand. She seemed like she could be one of two people: those that enjoyed the fire, or those that ran.

Oh so he wasn't a total asshole then, just mostly? That she could probably work with. Probably. Normally she'd probably have gone for someone a little more obviously fluffy, but the fire just had her attention. Like a moth drawn to a flame, so to speak. Except this moth didn't burn.

"So is this your first time ever buying alcohol? You know that you can buy it outside of clubs right? I guess that'd explain your reaction, most people would be expecting a little discomfort at fire." A playful little smirk graced her lips. "Even if it is just a little cozy warmth." She was mostly teasing, he was still hotter than most bodies she came across.

She burst into another short laugh. "Sweetie, I'm more experienced with danger than most people you'll meet." Not that she'd deny danger had a sort of allure, April liked adrenaline. But he wasn't dangerous, at least not to her. Interesting though.

She took another long pull of beer before taking a slow sultry glance across his figure. "An' you're the second brightest flame honey, you just don't know it yet." She purred.

First time buying alcohol? Blue broke into a grin at that and actually laughed. Her comment was too on point and that was the reason she got away with it. ”In some ways, you aren’t entirely wrong. See, I don’t generally buy things. I make someone else do the hard work and pick things out, and mosey along behind them to reap the rewards. I thought I should at least try hitting the night life once and find out if it was worth it. Until now, can’t say I found much of interest.”

She definitely seemed to have attention for the fire. He wondered what the reasoning was. Pyromaniac? Mutant? She had that carefree edge that only came when someone knew he couldn’t really hurt them. He was trying to read her, looking almost like a snake seizing up a meal. Then she commented again, and he wondered if he was supposed to take that as an insult. He leaned closer to her, pushing more heat toward the skin in his shoulders and face. He was risking melting his shirt soon, but he had to know.

”If I’m second, who does that make the first? Surely not a tiny thing like yourself?” he supposed. His could almost reach her drink, and if given the opportunity, he would make hers a tiki torch too. What would she do if he shared some of the flames?

Well the implication there was pretty hard to ignore, but who was April to judge? She was currently jobless and she didn't know what his life circumstances were like. Her parents had conditioned her to not jump to conclusions, while the law was to be respected in her household it wasn't to be at the expense of people that had been mis-treated and labelled by it.

He was edging closer to her now, which implied either he wanted to mess with her, steal from her or was actually interested in finding out more about her. She was leaning towards the latter.

She snorted. 'Little thing' indeed. "Keep improving your social skills and you just might find out~"

There she went insulting him again. It was amusing, reminding him of a kitten clawing at your pant legs. Blue didn't know what her abilities were to make her so brave, but he had enough experience to guess that any kitten could become a tiger if provoked.

However, if they played the game right, maybe they would have a decent time together.

"So tell me then, who is going to teach me these so called social skills? Are you volunteering? He leaned back again and shut his eyes lazily, putting his glass down. He seemed to consider her like a lizard basking on a rock. "Aren't you the one who came over here to scold me? Don't people usually try to encourage the other party by offering them a drink? Or, am I supposed to offer you something?" He opened his eyes, and let a ball of fire build in his palm. The flames licked lazily around his fingers, and he held it out to her.

"More importantly, it's amusing to be around someone who isn't afraid of fire."

She snorted again, loudly. "Sweetie if you've not picked up on much of it now, I'm not sure there is much hope for you." She mused. "Though I suppose I could show you a thing or two." She trailed her eyes across him again. "You do seem a little inexperienced with people."

"You can buy me a drink if you like, I haven't seen much worth spending money on yet though~" She teased. He held out a ball of fire to her, she paused and considered it, placing her drink on the table gently and leaned forwards, scooping it out of his hands as she spoke.

"There are plenty people that ain't afraid of fire, most of em are just dumb. Or crazy." She raised an eyebrow and gently rolled the little ball between her hands as it slowly started to fizzle from a lack of fuel.

Blue was getting all kinds of mixed signals from this woman. On the one hand, she approached him. On the other, she insulted him. He was feeling a little baited by the way she tried to get him to buy her something. Was he that type of guy? Not really. He couldn’t remember ever pursuing a woman to that extent. ”I may be inexperienced with people, but I make up for it with my experience in other things.” he felt the flames on his hands get warmer. The couch was in danger of a burn mark or two if this continued.

Then she took the fire, and he grew interested once more. That was...one thing he had not tried yet. Another fire mutant. One who was immune to fire? He was feeling torn. By now he would have left the situation and found an easier lay. But would it be as fun?

”I’ve seen a handful of both. Some people want to treat me like a pretty nightlight and then get pissed off when things get too hot for them,” he mused. Finally, he relented. ”For the sake of showing my appreciation to your lessons in social skills, I’ll buy the next round for you. But I expect this involved more than talking here. It is a club. Do you come here to flirt or also to dance?” he pondered.

April chuckled. “Guess at least you’re experienced in something, I hope at least some of it is fun?” She tilted her head at him, observing and feeling the extra heat slowly radiating out from him. “Watch it tinderbox, you don’t want to get tossed out of here for singing the couch.” She warned.

April rolled the fire between her hands, it was really weird. Because she didn’t burn it was like she was playing with something physical, but not quite there. It wasn’t exactly like her own power either. For one thing it was much less hot. It was like holding a super hand warmer. She held it up to her face and cupped it against her cheek, closing her eyes for a few moments and just enjoying it.

“I take it you can’t turn it off then, Mr Tinderbox?” She queried, her voice almost a purr. April glanced up as he offered to buy a drink and shook her head in amusement. “Lemme. Way of saying thank you for the little treat~ And you’re close, but the two exactly exclusive, I can do both~” April stood up as the fire fizzled out for lack of anything to feed on.

Blue laughed unwillingly at the nickname she gave him. There was a flash of smile before he caught himself and it melted to an amused chuckle in his chest. Tinderbox? Surely you can think of something nicer than that. I’ll even give you a hint: my parents were completely unoriginal naming me.”

She played with the fire like it was a ball of yarn and him smile returned. ”If you enjoy that then the rest of my talents most certainly will be fun. Some people are hot in bed, while others...I’m sure you could imagine.”

He looked at one hand where the flames lazily flickered. ”The flames have been around as long as I have. Like a pilot light. Never goes out. I don’t burn things unless I want to but, what can I say? I have a bit of a temper.” he offered no apology for that. It was a simple fact. He already demonstrated his short fuse, after all.

Ah, so she danced and flirted. He found himself standing as a good song came on, leaning over so he was closer to her ear. ”Why don’t you join me for a dance then. The blue flames don’t burn but I’m told they’re still plenty warm.” he tempted.

April giggled a little this time, more girlishly. "Sweetie, I don't think nicer suits you, I think a little box of firestarting is exactly what you are." She purred, obviously teasing.

Snickering a little this time. "Well hotness in bed is pretty subjective, if you mean physically I'm sure you're at least one step up on luke warm for me." He was worlds hotter than other people, but April could absolutely handle the heat and she wasn't about to let up with the teasing, after his earlier snapping at the nice lady at the bar she figured he needed a little ego let down, before maybe a boost.

Snorting. "Oh yeah? Hardly noticed. That's interestin' though." She'd give him that at least. Other fire powers were very interesting, she didn't actually recall any she'd encountered.

Grinning back at the flicking blue firestarter April nodded. "Why not? Very' least I can show you some moves, maybe some more manors along the way~" She offered him her hand, she was a little unsure how the man registered temperature but if it was like her, she thought it'd be pretty obvious her body heat was higher than most peoples.

Blue allowed her to continue the nickname. Heck, he had been called worse after all. Her questioning his abilities in bed, well, that was something he would have to call her on. A guys ego could only take so many hits, especially when it came to their prowess. "I never claimed to be a gentleman, but I stand by the rest of me." The fire was back in his eyes, but this time it was more of a challenge than anger. He was more than happy to prove it himself, given time.

April offered a hand and he took it, letting one finger slide across the skin on the back of it. He considered it as she led, smiling slightly to himself. "You're a bit hot yourself. That's a decent change of pace." He admitted. While he didn't really feel cold or heat like other people, certain fluctuations were noticeable. Maybe it was that she was also a fire mutant? He leached energy out of flames, drawn to them. She was attractive as well as alluring. For once he was trying not to jump the gun and scare her away. He wanted to see where this went. He drew closer as the music rolled around them.