The blind man nodded to Streak, his sunglasses remaining firmly in place as they continued to hide his eyes from view. "Luke is correct." Turning his attention back to Leila he shook her hand firmly but gently, offering her a slight smile. "Pleasure to meet you Leila and don't feel bad about being new... I'm pretty much new to the mansion too."

Picking a piece of the submarine sandwich he had put on his plate Luke took a bite and chewed thoughtfully as the flavors of mayonnaise, mustard, ham, swiss, tomato, lettuce, and bread flooded through his mouth. There was something about store made sandwiches that you just couldn't replicate at home. Sure the home made sandwiches could be wonderful but a sandwich made at a deli was something special. As he lifted his glass of soda back to his lips and took a sip Luke suddenly noticed something...

"Are Raina and her friends coming in this direction?!" Luke thought to himself as his body seemed to suddenly freeze up. It didn't look like they had begun to purposefully make their way toward the food but if their drifting through the crowd was any indication they might soon head this direction.

"I'm good... I can handle the family introduction. I'm fine." He tried to tell himself as a cold feeling began to form in the pit of his stomach. "Never mind... I'm a coward."

"Well I'll leave you two to chat." Luke said just a little bit hurriedly to Streak and Leila, "Have fun with the party!"

Turning away Luke smoothly slipped through the crowd, making his way toward the other end of the food table and hopefully an escape of some type. He liked Raina... he liked Raina a lot but being introduced to an over protective brother or to an over protective ex-fiancee just didn't sound like fun.

"Later... later would be much better."

Leila grinned as the two men spoke to one an other briefly, then the other man, Streak, as look mentioned earlier, introduced himself as Shawn. "Nice to meet you." she said once more. "Ah really?" she added to Luke about him also being new. "Well then, that's a little bit less horrifying." she grinned at him as their hands fell to trheir side again. "This food is great, isn't it?" she asked before eating an other Carrot Stick.

Leila glanced at her plate again as silence stretched. Finally Luke was the one to break it. "Oh, sure, see you around then." she said as Luke left the table. "What happened? Did I say something to make him go off like that?" she asked Shawn in a whisper, so that Luke wouldn't overhear, he seemed as if he had a good sense of hearing.

Then Leila saw Raina and two men coming this way. Two Men? How many men did they have around here anyway? She had met 3 guys and one girl, now she'd meet two others guys? Seriously. She didn't call them over however, slightly overwelmed by everyone. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't have Alchohol in her system at a party this big?

Shawn gave a short "See, ya." to Luke as he took his leave of the other two. "Ya it is really good." He answered Leila Luke sounded nervous about something. What is it? he wondered as he looked around discretely. Then he saw them. Two guys with Raina that weren't the nicest people in the world. Or at least they weren't when they were at the camps. Hearing Leila's voice brought him out of his thoughts and back to her.

She'd evidently thought she'd said something inappropriate. "No it wasn't you." He assured her. "It's them." He said nodding towards the two guys with Raina. "That's Naveed, Raina's older and overprotective brother, and Flloyd, Raina's..." Shawn paused thinkgin of how to describe Raina's and Flloyd's relationship. There didn't seem to be any real way of describing it besides what it was. "Raina's semi-kinda-sorta-not really fiancee. It's complicated and I can't even explain it very well. So don't askme for details ." He took a bite of some of the food on his plate.

Naveed turned as Flloyd approached. "Hey man, you caught up well done." he slapped the smaller man on the back and then got back to the more important business of looking at all the men in the room and trying to figure out which one was Raina's interest. Had she given him a name? Likely... Had he forgotten it? Yes.

"Oh look Streak is talking to Leila

She sounded strange when she said that. Was this 'Streak' the guy? He did look familiar. From the camps maybe? Well he couldn't disagree with her seeing a mutant for once after that awful cop who he still planned to shred limb from limb. Ok. Streak. He could handle that... except Streak looked interested in handling Leila. He cleared his throat and straightened his back.

"I think I will have some food rain-drop." he announced taking her lead and parting from her leaving her alone with Flloyd.

He crossed over and casually tried to pick up the tiny cut carrots. This was no easy task as his hands were large and clumbsy. He popped one into his mouth crunching it as hard as he could. If this Streak was interested in his sister he was more than happy to intimidate the guy.

As he approached the couple he looked down at Streak. "Streak." he said popping another carrot in his mouth and crunching as loud as he could. "...and you are?" he said gruffly at first but as he turned his eyes to Leila he was caught off guard for a moment. Wow. She was beautiful.

Raina felt a pang of worry when she watched Luke approach Shawn and Leila but he walked away before Naveed spyed him. She was surprised when Naveed headed over in their direction. Maybe he recognized Streak from the camps? She and him had been glued at the hip during the escape. She wondered if it bothered him that she and Streak were a lot like sibblings.

That made her realize she was alone with Flloyd. Alone at her own party. With Flloyd. "ahh." she said outloud. "Thanks Flloyd." She tried to control herself. "It's nice to see you. Thanks for coming." she was trying to be genuine and sincere as she leaned forward and hugged him. He looked sort of hopeful, like a dog waiting for a bone.

He felt warm. It instantly made her remember the last night they were togeather. She pulled away quickly "Sorry." she said. "I haven't seen you in a while and your powers catch me off guard. "

She looked around at all the guests. This was akward. But she smiled anyway. She was so happy to see so many people. She wondered if Doc. prof would make an appearance, or if Emerald would. Heck, maybe Slate even would.

Being new to the academy, Priscilla was still fairly unfamiliar with the mansion grounds and the people there. So it wasn't a shock that she slept in and woke with a start, hearing a racket coming from the distance. She usually was a deep sleeper, but being paranoid and a bit nervous about her new residence, she had a habit of waking up to the slightest noise, afraid of an attack.

She quickly found a jacket and slipped it on, leaving her leaves to cover the rest of her and cautiously advanced down the stairs. It wasn't like she actually EXPECTED an attack, she just didn't want to take any chances... yeah... that was it. After spending some time getting nearer to the sounds of talking and eating, she paused near a wall and leaned her head back into it. They were just partying. That was it. She had gotten all worked up for nothing. She rolled her eyes and started up the stairs again before she stopped, "I've been complaining that I haven't met anyone new for a while... but I guess that's kind of my fault cause I don't talk to people... Maybe I should just show up. Will they let me just come in? I don't even know what they're partying about..."

She mentally debated with herself for a little bit and finally turned around and entered the room.

For a time, she hung around the edge of the room, trying to blend in with the wallpaper and smiling at the occasional person who passed by, not noticing her. One would think a girl with leaves and thorns coming out of her would be noticeable. Nevertheless, she had never felt more like a wallflower. She began to seriously debate whether or not she should just leave.

As Luke finally got through the crowd and away from the food table he breathed an inward sigh of relief. The inevitable meeting with the brother and ex-fiancee had been delayed for at least a short time. Somehow he just knew they'd meet before the party was over, but for now at least he was going to enjoy the fact that the time had not yet come.

Slowly wandering around the outside edge of the room the blind man continued to sip at his soda while watching everyone else mingle. It seemed that everybody knew just about everybody... except for one young woman that was hanging by the outside wall just like himself. Slowly wandering her direction Luke stood next to the woman, sipping his drink and pretending to scan the party with his eyes even as he looked the woman over with his sonar.

Thorns and spines... this was deffinately not the sort of woman a person would cuddle up to, and quite thankfully he wasn't looking. The woman he was interested in was currently occupied by her brother and ex so he might as well converse with someone else that was an apparent stranger.

"I'm going to guess you're knew here." Luke spoke up as he swiveled his head to face Thorn, "I'm Luke, a friend of Raina. She's the birthday girl."

He was going to do his best to put the girl at ease, even though both of them were apparently newbies in this type of environment. "What's you're name?"

Leila nodded, "Good, Luke seems like a pretty good guy, I wouldn't want to end up on his bad side" Leila said, glancing at Luke once more. "Oh, I see." Leila said, examining the three of them. Did Luke really dislike Raina? Why would he be at her party? Or maybe, he didn't like her brother or semi-kinda-sorta-not really fiancee. Leila didn't really want to judhe these two guys, not when she hasn't even spoken to them yet. Hey, they might even be good guys! Maybe Luke had been overreacting or something.

Then one of the two men - he was large and scary - came up to them. Oh no. He seemed slightly intimidating too, not someone you'd want to cross when angry. That was why Luke was afraid then? It made sense, Leila wanted to take off too now. "Um, I'm Leila." she said simply meeting his eyes (she had to look up a bit). "Leila Harte, I'm new at the Mansion, It's...nice to meet you?" she said, the last four words said a little more like a question. Grabbing a Sandwich from her plate, she nibbled at it for something to do, glancing at Shawn as she did so.

"Well," she finally said awkwardly. "I'll leave you two. It was nice to meet you Shawn." she said, smiling at him as she walked away. Leila hadn't met any women yet and this felt a little strange, as their were plenty in this room. Why was she always attracted to the Men, and why were they all Attracted to her? First CS, then Streak, Luke and Naweed. You get what I mean? An other thing she didn't like at all, was being alone at a Party. Searching for someone that seemed a little cheerful and friendly, she sipped at her drink again.

It wasn't too long before Priscilla realized that she was thirsty. After fighting with herself and what she perceived to be inevitable humiliation, she straightened up and proceeded to will herself forward- until she was stopped by a, rather attractive, though she'd never admit it, man who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Perhaps she just wasn't paying attention.

Startled a bit, Priscilla barely caught what he said and stared at him, a tad bit confused, "I'm... uh, Priscilla. Priscilla Magdalena. Nice to meet you... Raina?" It was an odd name for a man, although she guessed if the people around here were anything like herself, no one was what society would call 'normal'. Trying not to screw up the conversation she proceeded to focus on the food and drink table through her peripheral vision. It'd be better than staring directly at him.

Priscilla tried her best to not seem awkward and tried to make sure that her thorns weren't noticeable. She was sure she had shaved them all just the other day, but didn't want it to be too obvious that she was checking. Priscilla reached out her hand after a minute of her awkward silence in order to get a handshake. On the way, her arm brushed against her leaf sack and she heard the familiar rattle. It was a bit ridiculous how full the thorn 'box' got without use.

"Happy Birthday!"

Fungus was leaning against the wall dejectedly, pushing a piece of cake that looked to be delicious around his plate half-heartedly with a fork, before tearing it into little bits to make it look like he had been eating it. It was a feeble attempt, but Fungus was too miserable to care. Something about the party set him on edge, something about it grated against an unseen sore-spot inside Fungus, and it was making him thoroughly alert.

He was tense, unable to relax even the tiniest mote, and his nerves were stretched as tight as piano wire. He sighed sadly, and just shook his head. He knew what it was that was bothering him, but he was loathe to admit it. This cheery birthday party reminded him all too well of a similar party that took place a little more than a year ago, one after which a seventeen year old girl was found dead. His own party, all those months ago.

Fungus sighed again, and unconsciously stabbed a piece of cake with the fork, and brought it to his mouth. It was delicious, chocolate cake with white-chocolate sprinkles and chocolate frosting. It was a tremendous explosion of bliss on his taste buds... that lasted all of two seconds before a foul, disgusting taste replaced it. An acrid, horrid, slimy taste. The taste of rot. Fungus spat out the cake onto his plate violently and swore loudly. "Fuck!"

He then sat down on the ground, hard, and stared blankly. He sat there for many moments, and didn't even notice that there were tears running down his cheeks.

Luna walked into the living room this time prepared and equally dressed for the occasion. As she walked in with her nice slim dress on and her hair in curly pigtails (as she just changed her whole outfit instead) Luna walked through the mass of taller and older mutants. Wearing a Mint green slim silk dress, ribbons tied on the fringes and a simple white one tied around her waist. Her hair was up in curly green pigtails- held by white ribbons. While her feet were covered in simple black dress shoes. This is one of the noticeable things that went with her obsession with dolls. Dressing up as one didn't help the image either... Pulling at the blue ribbon around her neck covering up her "stitches" The explosive teddy bear user, walked towards the wii, picking up a controller she decided to play "Rockband 2" She took the drums and started to play with the game, ignoring the others around her... She failed on the first twenty seconds of the song.... She growled as she clutched a ribbon intent on blowing up the wii to kingdom come! "STUPID GAME!" She roared as she formed a medium sized teddy bear, about the explosive strength of a C4... Oh boy... the place was going to be rocked alright if someone didn't stop the little mutant girl with the fluffy bomb....

Sam walked into the party with his usual baggy jeans and tight black t-shirt. Sam looked about the crowd and found some familiar faces and then some not so familiar, his eyes scaned the crowd as he picked out two girls right of the bat, ‘you and you, I’m getting your digits tonight’ thought Sam as he looked at a pretty blode that seemed to be the center of attention and cute brunette that was talking to some guy near the wall. But a certain voice did stand out as he spotted a pair of green pigtails.

"STUPID GAME!"

Sam spotted the midsize teddy bear as he rushed over to her and grabbed the wrist holding the bear, “I don’t think that’s the best idea Luna, don’t want to ruin the party or that cute dress,” Sam said with a little hint of worry in his voice he knew what she could do but he didn’t want that to happen during a party, bad way to start one and even worse to finish it.

Leila stood there for a few short minutes, watching the interactions between everyone. They didn't seem all to Monsterous; just like normal Humans. Maybe being a Mutant wasn't so bad afterall. You know, it could always come in handy when Experimenting in the water and getting some Essays done for School. All those new thoughts were getting through her head, when she saw a green haired, green dressed girl come in.

She looked... slightly unhuman-ish. Leila hadn't stopped looking at her as the young girl started playing with that Video Game. Leila wasn't really one who played Video Games, but she knew very well that it was those new Wii things. Eating a bite of her sandwhich again, Leila started walking towards the young Teenager when it happened.

>> "STUPID GAME!"

Leila frowned, she was only two or three feet away now, hidden by a crowd of people and the sofa. The girl couldn't see her, but Leila could see the girl. There was a Teddy Bear in her hand, a Teddy Bear Leila hadn't noticed before. Had she just made it out of thin air? Wait, was she going to break the Wii? Leila watched curiously, half amazed at what she was seeing and half frightened. Just like when she had seen Sam fight off those Bad guys at the Café.

Speaking of Sam... She watched as he went to the rescue, again. Was it necessary that everytime the blonde saw him, he saved someone's life... Or maybe a WII's? "Hey Sam!" she decided to act now and help him, she didn't know what this young girl could do... But Sam sure did, by the looks of it. So Leila took a step forward as she heard the young Teddy Bear Maker girl ask why Sam was here. It was a party, wasn't it? Everyone was welcomed...

Luna blinked as her raised arm was caught by the wrist! The skin was smooth and had a firm yet gentle grip on her. Turning her head slightly to the side she noticed just who grabbed her and she had to use all of her might to fight down a blush! She blamed this puppy crush on her hormones but... Sighing the teddy bear was deactivated into a harmless plush doll as it thumped simply onto the ground. Pulling away from Sam, Luna had the decency to rub the back of her head a sheepish grin on her face as she realized what she got caught doing. "O-Oh! Hi Sam!" She stuttered currently aware of her state of dress. She looked away a scowl on her features as she tried to look tough. "Don't you DARE laugh at me wearing a dress!" She spoke in her tomboyish tone as she eyes Sam, doing her best to hold her blush down. She shifted her feet kicking the lifeless teddy bear ever so slightly as she looked at the floor. "So... what are you doing here Sam?" She questioned as looked up at the older mutant.

Shawn watched Naveed walk over to them. He knew that he was still probably not happy with him because of the camps, and he was not looking forward to this confrontation. He remembered Streak's name, that could be good or bad. Leila introduced herself to Naveed before she decided to leave. He gave her a 'don't leave me with him' look, although she didn't seem to pay any attention to him once she'd decided to leave.

After Streak had swallowed his food he turned his attention to the very tall and slightly intimidating Naveed. "Naveed." He said a little coldly. He didn't even bother to look at him. He was not a fan of Naveed, to say the least and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. Shawn wasn't to keen to hear what Naveed wanted with him, though he didn't think it would be possible for him to just disappear from being ignored. Although he was interested as to what Raina's brother wanted with him.