OOC: Continued from The Setting up thread

IC:

Raina spun around in her green dress. She was so excited to have so many people with her to celebrate her birthday. It had been years since she'd had this much fun. Some of the people who'd help her set up were here from earlier, and others were just arriving.

She didn't know everyone but she made a point of trying to. She wandered in an out of the groups of people waving, chatting, and introducing everyone.

There was food in just about every corner that you could look, just your usual munchies of fruit, veggies, chips. pop, and halloween styled chocolate. In one corner of the living room a Wii had been set up with a variety of game for anyone to play, in another corner there were real guitars, shakers, harmonicas, and tambourines.

Streamers billowed down like jellyfish from the ceiling and cheesy birthday decorations were stuck on every blank space.

Light background music filled the air and Raina's birthday gifts were all placed on a table waiting for her to open them.

She grinned at her guests as she made the rounds again seeing more enter.

Fungus had been wandering the huge mansion, just taking in the sights and meeting new people. This place seemed to be able to genuinely help him, and everyone in it was nice. After more than three hours just meandering wherever his feet happened to take him, Fungus realized something. Two somethings, actually. One: He had to go to the restroom, and Two: He had no clue where he was or how to get back to his room.

Well, he figured, I guess I can just wander a bit more until I get to someplace or someone I recognize. Until then I guess I'll just have to make due.

Thinking such thoughts and other similar ideas, Fungus walked around a corner and into a large room filled with people, and with decorations and food at every turn. There where some types of foods he had seen before, and some that were new. However, food barely appealed to him when he never got to actually taste it, and besides, he still had to find a restroom.

Seeing someone near the center of the room that seemed to be unoccupied by either friends or food, he made a beeline that direction. Finally coming up behind her, he tapped her on the shoulder with a gloved hand and said "Excuse me, Miss, but where might there be a restroom? And what is going on here?"

After setting up Luke had changed into his party clothes. Not much of a change really... his dark blue jeans had remained the same, he had changed into a black T-Shirt, and had pulled on a cream colored sport coat that blended with the brown in his belts and hiking boots. It wasn't exactly dressing but it was more than just casual wear.

Wandering around the party Luke grabbed a glass of soda and then slipped off into a corner. He didn't know that many people here and honestly, he was more interesting in just watching Raina than actually talking to anyone. He had tried to catch her and ask her a few questions earlier in the evening but as the guests came in and she moved around to chat with different ones he had finally given up. Maybe after the party he would have a chance to talk but until then her friends had to come first.

Sipping at his drink Luke slowly scanned the room with his sonar, trying to identify anyone he actually knew well enough to talk to. There weren't exactly a lot to choose from but maybe he could mingle at least a little... maybe.

(OOC: I cannot meet CS, Slate or Iron Mouth here due to other RPs)

Lei was actually a little exited as she made her way to the Living Room, a map in one hand and a small box in the other. She hoped Raina would like her present, it wasn't much, only a bottle of Prufume, but the two had only met a few hours ago. Anyway, now, as she contemplated the Map, she noticed that she was on the right floor at least. "Right, now what?" she muttered, trying to make out where on the floor she was. This was harder then she'd imagined, living in a house like this, full of people. Nothertheless, she had lived in giant houses her entire life, some even bigger then this one. Anyway, it was probably going to get easier in a few weeks or so. Maybe someday she won't even need this Map.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she found the place. The Living Room was pretty cute, with wonderful furniture. She gazed down at her watch, it was five past seven. Perfect timing too. A few people were already here, Leila didn't reconize any of them, apart from the Birthday Girl in her green dress. Lei was wearing a dress herself, though hers was a baby blue. Her blonde hair was down and curled. Her Blue extentions -- which by the way wen't well with her dress - hung in the same curly style as her hair, both strands on each other of her face.

Hopefully some men noticed her, it would be a little upsetting if she'd gone through all of this trouble for no reason. Well, not that Raina wasn'r a good enough reason; but this dress had cost her a lot of money, not that she cared either. She had plenty of dresses in her Suite Case, but none seemed Party appropritate. Oh well, Lei walked over to the gang of people and smiled at Raina. "Hey," she said, "Nice Decorations." she looked at everyone else now, "I'm Leila, new here since this morning." she said, flashing her brilliant smile at everyone else too.

ooc: hey Fungus! I wasn't clear if you were approaching me, send me a PM if you were and I'll send a post your way K?

IC:
Raina chatted and mingled, she saw Luke out of the corner of her eyes slipping into a corner. She smiled. She'd give him 10 minutes and if he wasn't mingling then rumors be damned she was going to introduce him to some people!

Thanking her guests and putting presents aside she heard a bubbly voice from earlier "Leila!" she exclaimed rushing over to the young woman and giving her a hug. Leila was about raina's age and honestly, Raina was hoping they'd become good friends. They had so many simularities and there weren't many people that understood Raina's mutation on that level. it made her happy to have someone like her around. The fact Leila was so nice and cheerful was a total bonus.

"I'm so glad you came, did you have trouble finding the place? There's lots to eat and drink please help yourself." she grinned.

Leila smiled and patted Raina on the shoulder as the Birthday girl hugged her. "Happy Birthday!" she said, flattening her dress a little as Raina let go. "I hope you like it, it was a little last minute..." she said, smiling slightly as she handed her the gift, wrapped in rainbow packaging and with a pretty white bow tied around it.

Truthfully, Leila thought the packaging better then the gift. She was a natrual at decorating things, including presents. "I drew the card myself too, it was actually a project I had been doing for the last month, but I finished it today and...yeah." she added, pointing at the card, held in place under the bow.

On it, was a black and white drawn picture of a young Mermaid sitting on a rock by the Seashore with long dark hair and beautiful Sea shell jewels. Not to forget the newly added "Happy Birthday Raina" in a beautiful curvy writing Leila had tried so hard to make perfect.

Nodding, she slipped away from Raina and wen't to the food table. She hadn't eaten Dinner yet, so the 21 year-old was starving. Grabbing a drink, she sipped at it.

"Thanks so much Leila!" exclaimed Raina with one more hug as the young woman slipped off. She smiled happily and admirered the piece of artwork. She'd have to introduce Leilia to Wercat. She placed the present with the others on the table and she turned around and that was when a young man approached her

"Excuse me, Miss, but where might there be a restroom? And what is going on here?"

She turned around to see a young man standing before her. She didn't recognize him so he was probably one of the new mutants she hadn't met yet. "Hello!" she said. "The bathroom's right past the kitchen over there, second door on your right." she said pointing to the door she could see ajar from here. "Make sure you come back, my name is Raina and it's my birthday and I'll never forgive you if you don't have any cake." she said with a grin

Naveed strode up to the mansion looking pretty stylish tonight- it was his baby sisters birthday afterall. His hair was slicked back into a tight pony tail and was as dark as ever. The man actually had a shower for the event so his brownish skin was actually normal as opposed to covered in dirt and grime.
He was dressed in a nice blue dress shirt- not too fancy but still rather formal, and a pair of fading gray jeans with boots. He was clean shaven for once and smelled pretty nice.

He was rather proud of how he'd managed to clean himself up, and entering the mansion residience to see how many people had actually arrived... he was a bit relieved. Did Raina actually know all of these people? He glanced around searching for that obscenely bright red hair. In his oversized hands he held a dainty purple gift bag where inside under all that tissue paper was one of their family's heirlooms: a bracelet with the family crest of the ellements. He was happy he'd remembered it and chosed to have it cleaned up at a local jewlers.

Now Naveed, was a pretty tall guy. It wasn't part of his mutation but it was pushing it. He felt like he towered over all the people who were mostly half his age. He marvelled to himself that they were all mutants. Thinking of mutation he reminded himself over and over not to order anyone around. The last thing he wanted was to ruin his sister's birthday by having too much to drink or accidently telling one of her friends to take a hike. (which they surely would)

"Er-hem." he said clearing his voice. "Hey Sis. Happy Birthday. I'm all dressed up nice just as I promised." He towered over Raina and placed his burly arms carefully around her shoulder to give her a hug. "Flloyd'll be here soon, but for now you'll just have to deal with tweedle-dee without tweedly-dumb" he laughed. His laughter boomed. "What ya got for eats around here?"

ooc: Posting from Raina's. You know me, sorry guys for the infrequent posting. I suck.

IC:
Flloyd wished Naveed would have calmed down and waited for him. It was irritating enough to have to show up to a party he likely wasn't invited to but to have his so called friend bail on him was a little much. Thankfully he wasn't that far behind thanks in part to his bike that made an awful crunching sound as he pulled into the driveway of the mansion.

"great." he muttered hopping off the bike and running his fingers through his helmet hair. He put his sunglasses inside the helmet and kicked the tire that was now gushing air. "Ran over glass. Perfect. Flat Tire." he groaned. He'd have to hitch a ride home with Naveed now. "Argh."

He turned and headed oafishly into the mansion trying to stop frowning and at least mantain some sort of neutral expression but it would be easy to notice the dark smaller man and his apparent bad attitude as he entered the main room. Flloyd couldn't turn his mutation off completley so people around him would likely feel a soft chill and maybe an unsettling feeling in their stomachs. He did his best to ignore their individual fears that were darting toward him begging him for attention.

His eyes focused on the giant of a friend he had who was hugging a familiar red angel. "Raina." he hissed through his teeth in an almost pleasant way. He approached the pair silently slipping through the crowds of dancing teens an adults making note of people here and there.

"Hey." he breathed almost silently. "Happy Birthday."

As he took her in, wearing that green dress, that long read hair so carefully piled, those eye lashes, and the memory of her skin the annoyed look was completley washed from his face and replaced with a genuine smile. "You look beautiful birthday girl."

Like many of the other earlier helpers Shawn had gone up to his room and changed for the actual party. He'd prepared well, picking out what he intended to wear the day before. It was just a matter putting it on. Shawn had decided to throw together some clothes that he'd had lying around since he didn't feel like buying a suite just for the party. He put on his black trousers, and black button down shirt with a silver tie. He also found, in the back of his closet, a black pin stripe jacket. The cuffs of his shirt had silver cufflinks, with a big Ss he'd embossed on them.

All in all he thought he looked rather nice considering it was all clothes he'd pulled together from here and there in his room. After making sure everything was in place and looked right he headed back down to the party. There seemed to be plenty of people there already, which only made him feel late, but he went in and looked for familiar faces. Or perhaps even new faces he didn't really care. He noticed two people in particular that he'd only seen once before in the camps. Raina's brother and sort-of-fiancee, as she put it, looked a little out of place to him, however he was going to avoid them as much as he could.

Seeing as how Raina was busy and already knew that he was going to be their for the party he felt it appropriate that he just mingle with people. But where to start? that was always the biggest question. the food was always a popular spot to start. Shawn looked around. There was food everywhere. Once woman between Raina's age and his own was there. She was very attractive and well dressed. He hadn't seen her around so she must be a new resident at the mansion. His silver eyes reflected in the lighting of the room as he walked up to the woman and the entrees. "Having a good time?" He asked the strange woman as he picked up a plate and some food.

Sitting on the sidelines of a party is always an interesting experience. There are two ways someone can handle that situation... they can either embrace their separation in order to watch the rest of the party goers and gain new insights or they can feel down and depressed. Not being one to normally give into depression, Luke sipped at his drink and constantly monitored the party without the slightest ill feeling.

There were lots of people here and for the most part he didn't know them. Raina seemed to be everywhere at once, chatting and greeting different people that had come in. None of them seemed particularly interesting until two made their way over... one extremely large man that called Raina sis and a more average sized man that seemed to be a little more in awe of her as he spoke.

"Uh oh... brother and fiancee maybe?" Luke thought as alarm bells began to go off in his head. He wasn't sure that he was ready to meet those kind of friends and family so desperately he scanned the room with his sonar to find someone else to talk to. Finally noticing Streak talking to a young woman he didn't recognize Luke felt that he had his out.

Walking smoothly through the crowd... away form Raina and the two men and toward Streak he soon found himself standing directly in front of a table filled with different foods.

"Quite a spread... Streak isn't it?" Luke asked as he began to put some of the vegetables he had helped prepare on a plate, "And I know that I don't know your name." He continued as his head swiveled to face the young woman, "I'm Luke."

Leila slightly jumped when she heard a voice behind her. Spinning around, she found herself facing a man not much older then Slate or Sam. Were every guy in this Mansion younger then she was? "Hi, yeah Party's pretty nice." she smiled at him, Sipping her drink again as the younger man filled up his plate with delicious looking food, Leila did the same.

"Food's great too." she said, "I'm Leila by the way." she added, not having formally introduced herself. "New Resident here, moved in this morning actually." she said, but before the man could reply, an other form appeared. An other man, maybe a year or two older then she was? Maybe even more? Either way, there was men older then she was around.

Finally, Leila's plate was full, or enough so she still wouldn't look like a pig eating everything. Feeling content with herself, Leila tasted a Carott Stick, Those were good! "Leila," she said, holding out her hand to the man. "I'm Leila, pretty much new around here..." she drifted off, feeling as if she'd say this a lot of times tonight.

Raina's ears perked up when she heard the familiar sound of Naveed's voice. "hey Bro" she called standing on her tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. She was enveloped in a hug for a moment "gah.. crushing me." she sputtered out then laughed when he released it. "Looking pretty good." she said pulling on his pony tail. "I'm glad you came out, there's so many people you should be meeting." she said taking his arm cheerfully hell bent on introducing him to people- especially Luke so she could at least get that out of the way. Her brother was dumb but he wasn't that dumb.

"Flloyds coming?" she asked feeling a mix of emotions and spying him heading her way from the entrance. A knot of anxiety formed in her stomach. "The foods over there... lots of the usual party stuff." she said not letting go of his arm for fear of being alone with Flloyd.

"You look beautiful birthday girl " She was hit with the memories of their last few encounters like a tonne of bricks.

"Er... thansk." she said leaning forward and giving Flloyd a polite hug. She could never tell if her confused feelings were a result of their past or just Flloyd's abilities. She wondered how the rest of the guests were feeling.

"Naveed's heading that way for food, right Navi?" she asked taking the present he'd handed her and adding it to the others. "You should join him." suggested Raina (almost pleading) It wasn't that she was afraid of Flloyd. Flloyd was a nice guy. He was like a brother too. Well... mostly. But having him and Luke in the same place... she wasn't expecting to have to deal with that.

"Oh look Streak is meeting Leila!" she said changing topics nervously.

Streak continued to fill up his plate. He didn't want to take to much, even though he was very hungry. Streak turned his head when someone walked up to them. His paranoia kicked in many times when in large crowds; however, he tried to ignore the feeling as much as he could. She introduced herself. He was about to introduce himself when a man that he saw earlier and at the xmen meeting. Streak looked at him. "Ya that's right." He said acknowledging him. SHawn turned back to Leila, "I'm Shawn."

Without missing a beat he said, "Luke. Right?" He didn't pay much attention to the mans name earlier, he was more interested in how Raina acted around him and how he treated her. Though they both seemed to get along well. Perhaps he was being to protective of her. It didn't matter, he wasn't going to let up, thought he wasn't going to interfere with them unless he deemed it necessary. For now he was going to focus on Leila and have a good time.

Fungus sighed after exiting the bathroom, and hung on the sharp edge of the knife of indicision. Should he just walk away from the party and.. Raina like he wanted to, or should he be polite and head back? He didn't know, and for a few minutes he stood there, weighing the options.

On one side, there seemed to be quite a lot of people at the party, and if he asked around maybe there could be someone who could help him lose his curse. Also, Raina seemed to have quite a lot of friends, and it probably wouldn't be good to his chances of being able to stay at the mansion if he insulted her by leaving. She might even be able to get him kicked out, who knew?

On the other hand, however, Fungus really didn't like being around a lot of other people, and as soon as he tried to eat anything his curse would become apparent. He had no clue how the people would react to that, and had no wish to find out. Also, he had seen that there was beer at the party, and if he drank a couple too many he might just let out why he left Boise, and then he would be on the run again.

After several more minutes of arguing with himself, Fungus sighed and resigned himself to a miserable afternoon. He fastened his gloves a little tighter, smoothed his hair back a bit, and headed back for the party. When he walked into the door, Fungus tried to avoid detection as much as he could without looking like he was skulking, but he really did look like he was trying to avoid someone. Making it to the desert table, Fungus took a slice of cake and pushed it around his plate with his fork, looking around and hoping Raina wouldn't see him.