A demon was destroyed, the world was saved, and the X-Men's Mansion was a crater. Somewhere in all of that, they all successfully introduced magic to the rest of the world. There was a LOT to process and everyone was emotionally and physically drained.

What better time to celebrate with some shots?

The Mansion was in no condition to host, but Hexes & Hos was already closed for the night, so it made a perfect place for a post-almost-apocalypse party. The club's supply of alcohol was even bolstered by the generous donations of Melissa Xilx and her handy mutation. (Leah was already looking into adding her as a preferred distributor, but tonight was not the night for business.)

Madison's role at the club was very rarely "bartender," but tonight was informal and she had enough of a handle on the trade to pour a row of shots. "Order up! With a little pick-me-up enchantment from one of the girls." It was nothing like the alcoholic energy drinks that people used to cause trouble with, but everyone was tired after the fight. A little boost wouldn't hurt.

Raising a shot glass of her own, she added, "To the responsible use of magic!" She was glad they won the day, of course, but selfishly, she was quite happy they did not have to get rid of magic to do so.

”Ha Ha! Yes!” the prince of power was still shirtless showing off a few new battle scars. Soot still caked parts of his body as he raised the colored shot above his head. ”Wonderfully said Madison! And thank you for offering up your place of business for us to celebrate! If there is anything you need me to do help just say it! I’m so proud of all of you!”

The son of Zues set the glass down gently and put on the shirt that was offered to him. It read, ‘Where the magic happens’

While it was a sad occasion it was also important to celebrate the victory and while Hercules was bearing the weight of failing the mansionites he tried to plaster a smile on his face. Injuries would heal, and buildings could be rebuilt. Thankfully no one on their side was gravely injured.

William refused to come along saying he was tired and wanted to focus on anyone who needed his healing abilities. Meaning the prince of power was free to enjoy the festivities.

”Another!” Hercules roared for another drink and patted the nearest person on the back someone he didn’t know. ”I’m Hercules!” and offered them a handshake, ”And you are?”

She wasn't sure how she ended up here, but Agnes found herself in a strip club of all places, with many of the survivors of the mansion attack. At some point when she had been trying to text Nessa and let her know that everything was alright, she had gotten swept up in the party bus and wound up in this place called "Hexes and Hos". She had never heard of it before this night but now that she was attuned to the magical energies set free in the world, she could see the heavy fog of magic that was accumulated here. Interesting.

Too shy to ask for a ride home, or wherever Nessa wanted to meet, Agnes found herself sitting at the bar, sharing a shy smile with Madison as drinks were laid out in front of them. With a shrug of her shoulders, she picked up the glass and threw back the shot, and sighing as the alcohol filtered through her system. Normally she wasn't the biggest fan of it. Her insects would buzz in agitation in her chest but, more often than not, she found herself ignoring it. Now, however, there were no insects to bother anymore. The sobering thought tried to break through in her mind but it had a difficult time trying to steer through the alcohol that was already spreading within. She really should have eaten something first.

She lifted her head to Madison, wanting to inquire if there were an french fries, wings, or something she could eat while drinking (strip clubs had buffets, didn't they?), when she felt a firm pat on her back with almost caused her to drop her phone.

"Ooof!" she gasped and turned around to find the massive, muscular man suddenly reach out to shake her hand jovially. She shot him a timid smile, crystalline eyes almost scared for a moment as his exuberance, but quickly calmed herself. "H-Hello! Agnes! Agnes Belladonna Honey. Nice to meet you Hercules."

“Carrick!” a doppelgänger shook another Carrick’s hand as they were now mostly clothed. It took some time to sort out who left there clothes where but the fight was over and mom said she was buying drinks to celebrate. It was enough for any Carrick to put their differences aside.

All except for two.

“She’s my girlfriend I want ta call her! the other Carrick rolled his eyes and pulled the phone out of reach. “Shut yer face the phones ringing!” Carrick with the phone kicked his mirror image and spoke, “Hey love, sooo were fine.... but.... the mansion is gone. Saved the day naturally... get off me!” “Hey darling, were ya worried bout me?” the other Carrick said loudly climbing on Carrick’s back. “fancy a drink? Say I earned it!” “We! Now give me the phone I want ta talk to her!”

---

It took some time but when he got into the place of business mismatched colored eyes lit up at the neon signs and all the stages. Clearly it was the first time Carrick ever remembered being in a strip club but the stages were enough to decide that this was a magical place.

>>> "To the responsible use of magic!"

The shifter raised the shot glass and cheered throwing a scraped up arm around the princess before knocking one back. There were a few cuts and bruises visible. He'd heal though, he was immortal after all. It was worse before the shift back into his human skin. “And free drinks! Thanks mom!”

“Shoulda seen it! There were dozens of me. It was... majestic.” he said recounting to the princess.

And suddenly, Amelia was in a strip club. In a battered, war-torn trench coat. Sitting at the bar, holding her shot by the rim between fingertips. A pretty girl had poured them out for everyone, and said something about magic.

Amelia sighed. She felt tired, bruised, and burned. But the place seemed nice enough, and the girl who had poured them shots had a smile that certainly screamed “Magic.”

How had this even happened? She’d brought in the leader of the mystic cult, handing them off to Sabine. Then, she had wandered off, pulled in by a siren’s song. Someone was making lots of suggestions, like “everyone, over here!” “Come on!” And on the bus, “shots shots shots.” She did not think it had been mind control. The suggestions were certainly ones she would have taken, on her own. And she was off work, it wasn’t her shift. So— she had followed. And now, here she waaaas~

She knocked back the shot. Then, she smiled at the girl who had poured shots.

“Hey, can I please have another?” She said. “Psychically kicking the Cataclysm in the nuts takes a lot out of a woman.” She held up her empty glass.

That’s what they were calling the guy, now, the one who had destroyed the mansion. A cataclysm. A walking disaster, he was. She wore a smile, but really, she was masking a lot of pain. ‘But that’s what the shots are for,’ she told herself. Also, she was definitely going to try and get the bartender’s name.

After a messy phone call getting her up to speed with Agnes' situation and what to expect, Nessa accepted a Haven driver's offer to shuttle her to the club where the magical conquerers would apparently be gathering. Evidently, preventing the apocalypse warranted an after-party, which... well, yeah. Fair.

The moment she explained herself at the door and entered the mostly-empty strip club, her eyes scanned the floor. She finally noticed the familiar frame of her girlfriend, sans her telltale wings.

Rushing over, Vanessa placed two hands on Agnes' barstool and spun her around in her seat so she could wrap her arms around her girlfriend and kiss her. That was what she needed for this to be real; so she knew Agnes survived her altercation with her aunt, an army, and a demon king.

"Give me a heads up next time you almost get yourself killed, you goof." She pulled back to make eye-contact, if Agnes was willing to give her a peek into her mental state. "And... I'm sorry. For what happened." She would love Agnes, mutation or not, magic or not, but it was still a lot to wrap her head around.

Typical of Nessa, she finally realized she was interrupting something. In her defense, making sure Agnes was safe was more important than something like "social cues." Still, she looked at the man Agnes was in conversation with. "Oh, hello. Sorry there, big guy." Very big guy. "Panicked girlfriend things. I'm sure you understand."

There was not a lot of Praxi available for the after-party festivities, but she manifested enough of herself to form a human-like shape. A four-foot humanlike shape, but sitting on a chair helped balance out the missing height.

Praxi rarely went out into the heart of New York without cause, but Carrick was not going to let her dodge the night's plans. With no one questioning the age of a slime woman, Praxi accepted her good fortune and "grabbed" one of the offered shot, placing her hand over the glass and absorbing it into her. She pulled away from an empty glass. "Oh gosh, sweet." The dancer bartender magician gave her a wink and some fingerguns, which was enough to make Praxi swirly.

Best to focus on the conquering hero and his ego. "Yeah, Princess. So majestic. Because the world definitely needed a fleet of Carricks," she joked. Sure, she was part of the fight, too, but she was an X-Man. It was probably bad form to brag.

“Shots shots shots shots!”

August had cheered on everyone in the bus. He’d been some of the driving energy that had led several of the people onto the bus with his enthusiasm and his siren’s song. Not the only person, but definitely a force for good. That short-haired girl, the girl who had cuffed the head mystic. Others. His friend, Peter Gryphon. He supposed the kids name was actually Carrick, but— Peter suited him better. Especially when he laughed.

How had they even arranged for a bus? Wellllllllll… he may have called in a favor with some of his familial connections. And money had changed hands. It certainly had not been thrust all upon the fine mystics at Hexes and Hos (gorgeous name, by the way. Absolutely fabulous). He had done his part to make this happen.

Now, he sat by the bar, on a stool several seats away from the muscle-bound shirtless guy and a girl with short hair. He frowned when Hunkules found a shirt, cute shirt though. The two introduced themselves to each other and he lurked, and committed the names to memory.

He had heard some talk on the bus. She had lost her mutation, and also joined their magical ranks. All on the same day. It had been a big, tiring day for all of them, but especially for her. So she needed some support. Thankfully, her girlfriend appeared shortly afterwards. The woman apologized to Hercules.

He sat there with his shot glass, thinking. A couple stools away. Far less hyper than his bus persona had been. Thoughtful. A now non-magical cittern lay on the bar next to him. He would keep the instrument. Maybe mount it on his wall for the… for the memories? Yeah. But for now—

He stood up, and walked over to the bar. Spoke to one of the bartenders. “Hey. Can we get some food please? And something for muscles and the pixie over there? Maybe some wings or something? Bet she’s hungry. I’m starving. And another drink? Thank you so much!” He smiled.

A short while later, he walked over to Hercules and the two women. He smacked a shot glass down in front of Hercules.

“You asked for another. I’m August. Pleasure to meet you. Love the shirt.” He winked. Turned to the ladies. “Can I get you both anything? Shots. I ordered wings. If you want any. Should be ready any time now. This fight took a lot out of us. I can only imagine how exhausted you are, Honey. Glad you’ve got your girl there for support. She saved our asses at the end, you know?” He looked at the newcomer. The girlfriend. Nodded, like he couldn’t believe it either. “Totally true.”

Madison had thoughts about a governmental body like SUPER, but she did not want to hold that against people like Amelia. A system could be problematic without every person in it being part of the problem. Sabine, Hugh, Amelia; to their credit, they fought with and for the Mansion. If there was hope for change on the inside, that was the best hope.

The dancer flashed a bright smile, grabbing a couple of bottles. "How about a cocktail? We've got all night," she pointed out playfully, popping the first of what she imagined would be many sparkling rosé wine bottles. There was a reason she was good at her job. Well, several reasons, but somewhere between 'dancing prowess' and 'giant boobs,' her ability to be welcoming and disarming ranked high on her list of positives.

"I'm guessing this was a bit more than a typical day at the SUPER office, right?" Some pink gin, elderflower liqueur, orange bitters, and a splash of lemon later, Madison was pouring a bubbly pink concoction into flutes. "Here. It's a Blushing Nymph. It's my favorite on the menu." She also nudged one toward little miss slime girl, mostly out of curiosity regarding whether she could actually get drunk.

>> "How about a cocktail? We've got all night.” The woman said.

“Yeah, how about one?” Amelia chuckled. “That actually sounds really nice.”

She fell silent while the woman made her a drink, but opened her mouth when she asked her a question.

>> "I'm guessing this was a bit more than a typical day at the SUPER office, right?"

Hmm.

How to handle that one. She closed her mouth and nodded. Received her drink gracefully.

A blushing nymph? “Thank you,” she smiled. Then, conspiratorially she added “Actually, I wasn’t even supposed to be here today, at work, I mean. I sort of snuck back in and got on the comms. I don’t think my boss even expected me to join, but—“

She had been looking for someone. She had not seen them. That was kind of a downer.

“It was too important to ignore.”

They were either dead, or had left the mystic cult (and probably the country), hopefully the latter.

She took a sip of the drink, and grinned. “Really good.” She said. “Thanks again. My name is Amelia. What’s yours?”

It was kind of weird for her to have been searching for one specific mystic after all this time. Especially one who had ghosted her. So whatever. Moving on.

Agnes smiled as conversation with the musclebound Hercules continued. It was still a stressful time but she found herself beginning to unwind, finally, as the alcohol began to seep in throughout her system. It was finally getting a little relaxing. All she had to do now was wait for Nessa to show.

Her calm was suddenly interrupted when hands grabbed her stool seat and spun her around. The world whipped around her in a blur, briefly throwing her into confusion, until she noted the familiar face and even more familiar lips press against her own.

She fell into that brief kiss, so grateful, so thankful, it was waiting for her after all that had happened. For a brief moment she smiled stupidly, happy for the distraction.

Her thoughts were jumbled. Fearful of the future, lamenting the loss of her insects, curious as to what her new found gifts would bring, and justified in the pain she caused her aunt. The usual reactionary thoughts to trauma and an uncertain future.

"Not for you to apologize for," she replied. "Things...happened. At least I got to punch my aunt so hard she collapsed into a pool of her own vomit." Agnes then added with a laugh.

Again her conversation was interrupted when another of the mystics, the singing one from earlier, introduced himself and inquired after good for herself and those interested. She offered him a kindly smile and bowed her head in thanks.

"Thank you, Mr. August. Yes I'm actually starving."

The son of Olympus beamed as his hand was met with a slightly timid approach ”Anges. Anges Belladonna Honey.” he did his best to commit it to memory. No doubt he’d be meeting many new faces. All of them though the god had deemed worthy of his friendship. ”You did excellent today! Was it your first battle?”

Just then Anges was hugged and kissed it was Anges’s girlfriend. Hercules let out an audible ‘awww’ before waving his hand dismissively at the thought of having to anything to apologize for. ”Adorable! Panicked girlfriend, there is nothing to apologize about. It was a fierce and dangerous battle and I am proud to have fought alongside Agnes! You have every right have panicked!” she was on a different battlefield but it was the same war. ”Never apologize for how you feel!”

The god roared with laughter and placed his hands on his hips flexing in the process, ”I heard about that! I wish I could have seen it!” I’m sure it was glorious! I too have a few relatives that could deserve a good punch! Truly inspiring!”

A shot glass was set down in front of Hercules and he beamed at the sight of the man who rode the Elizabeth’s ex into battle. ”I did! A pleasure August! Thank you!” Hercules snagged the shot and hoisted it in the air which looked comical because of how careful he was not to crush it.

Zek had been busy since the killer party earlier. The one where they raised the roof so hard that the whole big building fell down. The one with a big tentacle monster and a bunch of mystics doing weird stuff while mutants did other weird stuff. And then he'd gone over to the X-Mansion where they'd raised the roof so hard that...

"When did I get so repetitive?" he said to nobody in particular. Ah well. After those events, he'd taken some time to count up his earnings. Even with much of his confiscated gear having lost some or all of its power, and with most of the items being second-hand, Zek still figured he had enough inventory to corner the magical market for years to come. He was gonna make bank!

The only reason his eyes weren't glowing green was just because he couldn't make that color, so Zek resorted to alternating his irises from blue to gold and back again every second or so, like a strobe light. He was hoping if he did it fast enough it would look green.

Now for party number three!

Zek plopped down at the nearest table he could find and started doublefisting his supercharged cans of sugary and caffeinated pop. An empty one fell out of his trenchcoat sleeve and clattered to the table, which rolled over to the giant muscle-man with intriguing tattoos that kept moving. Again, Zek had to settle for flashing gold and blue instead of green eyes at the art.

"Food sounds amazing!" Zek said by way of forcibly intruding into he conversation. He saw one woman's honeycomb necklace and he was inspired. "Oh, I've got baklava!" he said, before reaching a hand under the table, opening a tiny portal to Zekworld, reaching into the other dimension and pulling out a half-empty tray of baklava he'd gotten from a bakery that morning. It was still warm and smelled fresh. He shut the portal and put the tray in front of the very august-looking man who'd ordered wings. "Are we talking about the fighting earlier? That was a thrill wasn't it? Man, I could go for a third one today!"

Agnes smiled a little at Hercules' zealous reaction. Admittedly he was scary at first but Agnes was beginning to understand that there was a bit more to than man than he was letting on. His kind attitude was infectious and the newly minted conjuring witch found herself beginning to like him. When asked if this was her first battle, she started to nod, but then stopped...thought about it...then glanced to Nessa and shrugged her shoulders a little.

"That's a very...very long story," she said. "Short answer...yes...question mark?"

Before she had been de-aged, Agnes had apparently spent a lot of time in the X-Mansion and had been into a couple of scrapes. Of course she didn't have much formerly training so any combat experienced she had gained was usually just encounters that she barely managed to scrape by in. Gosh Nessa definitely had a every right to be scared and worried about her. Agnes had never been much of a combat expert. When she fought, she did it because she had to, and that was usually it. Huh. Maybe that was something she should change...

Agnes then smiles as Hercules' comment about having his own relatives to visit such a fate upon. It seemed to be a common thread as she knew that Nessa had the a somewhat similar circumstance with her own parents -- thought maybe not as insane as her own. That was how she knew she could trust, Nessa. They knew similar pains.

At the sudden appearance of baklava, Agnes blinked and looked to the other, the one man who kept teleporting around and had handed out the magical items! She smiled warmly and took one of the offered baklava. The old Agnes may have questioned it or been too shy, but this Agnes was starving and very, very grateful.

"Oh! You're my personal lifesaver. That's three times now," Agnes said with a laugh as she bit into the pastry and offered a bite to Nessa, her lips dotted with crumbs and honey. "Want some?"

Amethyst was relieved to have Carrick in one piece. Well... first several pieces, but that went away by the time they met at the strip club. The princess had never been in here, but the concept didn't bother her. The mood was generally jubilant, although everyone did look a bit worn and exhausted, and for good reason. They had fought a mighty battle. That she could understand. For once, she was surprisingly gentle with her boyfriend, putting the sass aside.

"I saw it on the screens." She nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist as she also got a drink. "You fought very bravely."

Praxi chimed in from her other side. She had caught glimpses of her too on the screens; she had been fighting.

>>"Yeah, Princess. So majestic. Because the world definitely needed a fleet of Carricks,"

"Well... I could do with more of them. Sometimes." The princess grinned, raising her glass. "I didn't know you were also a warrior, Eupraxia. That was... admirable."