For once Juka wasn't the one paying for drinks and that was a strange feeling. He was often the one to pay simply because he was the one with money to spare. What did he care about a few hundred dollars when his visa card was always full and paid off? Still, it was nice for once to have someone else with cash in hand. He was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol in his system and decided to slow down a bit. Alcohol might make for a good time, but he wasn't about to get drunk; not only was it not fun for him but most girls didn't much like drunken idiots either.

Juka grinned, imminently satisfied, as the quartet of women first bought them drinks and then made their way over to the trio of guys. He bowed deeply as Sam made the introductions and gently took the hand of Jess and kissed it. "It is my pleasure to meet you loveliest of ladies. You are stunning as the most beautiful summer's day." Some might have found such words condescending and most would have used such words as a fake come-on but Juka had always spoken what was on his mind and it wasn't really his fault that he preferred the elegant and poetic to the blunt.

Next Juka turned his attention to Erica. "And you, my sweet damsel, are the very image of perfect beauty. It is my absolute pleasure to meet the both of you." He thought they might have been sisters, but wasn't certain.

Saph downed the drink the girls had purchased for him on the way there. He would need it. His eyes locked on Michelle; he knew that looking at any other girl would spark her jealousy, and cause her to blow the whistle. Sure, he was going to throw out the whole "You're great friend material, we should catch a game or something." bull crap line before the night was over, and he felt bad about it, but what could he do? He was getting free drinks for this.

He was starting to feel like a d-bag, he needed another drink. "Hey there, Michelle, was it? Mind if I sit next to you?" He took his seat, and waved the waiter down for another drink. "So, where you come from?" Yes, he'd had a few by now, and he was starting to feel a little buzzed, but at this point it was more a lip loosener than anything that would get him embarrassed... He told himself silently that if he kept drinking at this pace he wouldn't be coherent by the end of the night... Then again, since when was that ever a problem? If worst came to worst he would stumble had way to the mansion, fall asleep in a gutter, wake up, go home, rinse, repeat, and call it a good day.

All he had to do was keep her distracted until the girls went home with his wing men, and then find some other guy to pawn her off on. He didn't want her leavin alone, after all... He would feel guilty.

His eye shifted back to Juka then Saph as they introduced themselves to their intended targets, Saph really did deserve the ‘Taking one for the team award’ one that Sam fully intended on giving him after this night was over. After they introduced themselves Sam realized his and Saph’s introduction both paled in comparison to Juka’s it caused Sam to smirk till he felt a gaze at his face. Looking over to Haley and smiling he commented, ”It’s rude to stare” she blushed slightly then played with her bottle of beer passing it in between her hands. ”That may be, but I couldn’t resist,” she nodded her head forward, ”What exactly happened?” Sam blinked with his one eye for a second then gave her a smirk, ”Lost it!”

He played it off like it was an obvious answer to a obvious question one that caused her to laugh not really sure if she insulted him or not. ”No worries, if your lucky I might actually tell you the story, like a magician I try to never reveal my secrets!” the comment was a little lame but it was the truth he always liked to keep a trick or two down the hole and up his sleeve should he need it.

”So you’re a magician?” the girl asked as she looked to Sam then to Juka wondering slightly if Juka was some kind of magician’s assistant. One of the girls laughed, “Really” he looked over to the blonde furthest from him named Erica, ”Of sorts,” Sam said as he lifted his hands up and revealed nothing in his hands but placed them behind his back. The air crept over with a chill for a moment as Sam muttered something under his breath to make it look like he indeed was casting a spell.

”Now pick a hand any hand!” Sam wasn’t paying attention to the others but rather focused on Haley as she picked his right hand. He removed it from his back and revealed nothing in it. She frowned disappointed until she picked the other. Removing his left hand from his back Sam revealed a small ice cube it was simple and easy to create. As she opened up her hand Sam placed an ice cube in it and smiled, ”Awesome right?” he asked with a smile as one hand reached over for his beer he set on the table before he began his demonstration.

Haley looked disappointed, ”That’s it?” she asked looking to her blonde friends, ”What do you mean that’s it? Nature is the world’s magic, with that bit of frozen water you can cool your drink!” she narrowed her eyes and Sam looked to her with a sigh, ”I’m a zoologist nothing else” he said with a grin as he reached his hands over and under Haley’s surrounding it then activating his powers in the palm of her hand. When he removed his hand a ice sculpture of a butterfly slowly flapped it’s wings a few times before Sam severed the connection and making it just a normal ice sculpture. ”Better?” he asked.

”If you really want some magic ask Juka to sing you a little tune, or ask Saph to do his trick.” he didn’t know what said trick was but everyone had a trick right?

Both of Juka's targets blushed prettily at his compliments which was, of course, his intent all along. He knew how to befriend and seduce, knew how to get men and woman alike to fall for him. Well, maybe more accurate to say he knew how to get those who were potentially willing to fall for him. It wasn't so much that he could completely change a person's mind about him; if someone was inclined to dislike him that was that and it wasn't worth the time and effort anyway. But if someone had any potential inkling towards him, well, that's where he truly excelled. He knew his strengths the weaknesses of those in his affection and knew how to exploit them. Or at least, use them to their best advantage after all he didn't want to hurt anyone.

Juka was begininng to feel the alcohol in his system and decided to slow down on his consumption. There wouldn't be much fun at all if he was so drunk he couldn't walk properly, after all. He was there to please, always. "My lovely darlings, would you not allow me to lavish my attentions upon you for this night? I will treat you as the royal princesses you most certainly are. Surely you must be sisters, for I cannot imagine two glowing visions as yourselves being unrelated." The two blonds giggled at the elaborate words, not quite sure what to make of Juka but admitted that they were, indeed, sisters. All in time, Juka knew he would have them and they would love him for it.

”If you really want some magic ask Juka to sing you a little tune, or ask Saph to do his trick.”

Juka watched Sam and his supposed magic trick and blinked his confusion. Maybe it was the alcohol in his system but his first thought was that it must be actual magic so why wasn't his lady more impressed? Several moments later he realized that the man must be a mutant, just like he and Saph were and grinned at him, winking consiratorily. He wouldn't tell a soul that he now knew his little frigid secret. He would, however, show him exactly how to get a woman to like him, by example of course. At the invitation to sing he got down on one knee in front of the blond sisters and began singing in Japanese, a love song from his defunct band Ukime. It wasn't the same without the band behind him, but it definately proved the truth of his claim to be a singer.

Michelle was from Minnesota, she didn't mind if he sat next to her, and she seemed unused to being pursued. Sam did his trick; it was clearly a task that only a mutant could complete...

A mutant, huh? Eyepatch was just full of surprises... He seemed like one of the guy's, too. Saph took a mental note that he should tell this guy about the mansion, see if he was interested in helping out there. He seemed well traveled, if he wasn't fibbing about going to Romania... Hey, didn't they have some sorta issue over there recently? That's where all of the X-men had been, right? He hadn't even thought of it... He opened his mouth to ask about it, but then Juka started singing.


Saph blinked a few times as he heard the dress bearing gentleman sing out in Japanese. Saph watched for a moment as the blonde's fawned, causing him to laugh a little. He looked like he was gonna propose or something. He had to give it to him, though, the girls were digging it. Michelle was starting to catch on to their fondness, though, and she moved to reach for her keys. Just in the knick of time, Saph noticed. "So, what are ya drinkin? We could get you another one, and I could show you that trick he mentioned, eh?" Sam had taken a real leap of faith in claiming his new friends had talents and the like. If any one of them failed, they would all become a laughing stock, and the woman would be inclined to leave. If they all succeeded, they were pretty much guaranteed a victory. Saph started tapping his foot heavily.

He grinned a little as she pulled her hand away from her pocket, and shrugged. granting him permission to show his stuff. He responded by downing the rest of his beer, and presenting his glass as if it were something that needed to be examined. "Some people believe in fate. Some believe in chance. Either way, when something extraordinary happens, it always happens for a reason." He grabbed two napkins from the table, placing them next to each other, about an inch apart. "Sometimes they happen because the circumstances call for it, and sometimes they happen for a deeper, more meaningful reason; to bring people together." He looked into Michelle's eyes, pausing for just a beat. She was confused, but that didn't matter. "For example, take a look at this glass. It's sturdy, right?" He tapped it repeatedly with his finger, moving down it's length from top to bottom both on the right and left side as if to show how strong it was, all the while sending his amplified foot tapping force into it. "Like a brick, right? But if fate decided that it should break in order to bring two people together-" He stopped in mid thought, quickly placing the glass face down on the two napkins, and tapping it, sending the rest of his gathered force into it. It cracked cleanly in half. "Well, we can't exactly defy our fates, can we?"

It was clear Haley wasn’t aware of what magic was that was until he removed his hands from hers, color filled her cheeks as she eyed the sculpture of butterfly as it flapped it’s wings a few times and remained motionless. She looked up to Sam in awestruck it was defiantly wasn’t what she was expecting. ”How… how did you do that!?!” Sam was about to answer when Juka and Saph went about showing their talents.

Japanese was the language one he had heard a lot in his life but was never able to pick up on mainly because he had never set out some time to learn it, now it didn’t mean he didn’t understand any of it. His best friend Ghost spoke it and he was sure he had Shin speak it once or twice. A word or two he picked up but by themselves they had no meaning so Sam started to focus more on the singing opposed to the words. Once he was done he admired the affect it had on the two women before the obscurely dressed wingman.

Saph’s trick was a little more interesting he didn’t hear much about the ‘fate’ talk mainly because he wasn’t all too keen on the idea of no one having any chance at changing the thing called fate (something he has felt he has done several times) if fate and destiny couldn’t be changed he would have still been in a world of darkness. A world he had no intention every living in again. After he spoke Sam watched intently as his good eye focused on the bottle splitting down the middle. Mutant… Sam immediately thought in his drunken state but didn’t show any signs of noticing it. It wasn’t uncommon to run into mutants in New York City any more but he thought it was a bit funny he picked a wingman that was like him.

If Saph really wanted to talk about being a mutant he figured he would at a later time if he wanted to talk at all, after all if one was familiar with mutants they’d know instantly that he wasn’t really a magican just a mutant.

”Hey! How’d he do that!?!?” Haley asked before looking back up at Sam and holding up frozen figure of a butterfly, which was already melting in her hand. ”Magic, I told you.” Sam said tempted to start singing ‘Do you believe in magic’ but deciding against it figuring it would hinder his chances with Haley. He was a mediocre singer but in his well beyond buzzed state he doubted that following up Juka’s song with his own singing would be productive to his cause.

”Sides even if there was a trick behind it, a magican is never supposed to reveal his secrets!” Sam said as he leaned forward slightly to become eyelevel with Haley. She frowned slightly and then looked to the figure in her hand then back up at Sam. Her green eyes now fully hitting him Sam’s serious face up righted into a smile, ”Though if I was to give you a hint you might be able to get how I do it at a later date…” he leaned up and took a sip of his drink as Haley did the same her hand still holding the butterfly which she sent down on the table seconds later gently and from what he could tell reluctantly.

After a moment Sam looked to the guys to see how they were doing but his attention was brought back to Haley when she moved her head to the dance floor. Taking another sip of his drink and setting down the bottle Sam leaned in towards Haley, ”You look like you want to dance.” she turned her head and nodded at his observation and then smiled, ”Is that your way of asking me to dance?” a smirk appeared on his face as Sam nodded, ”Could have been…” without another word her hand reached out for his and pulled him towards the dance floor, ”Be back in a bit!” he called out to his wingmen and her friends blinking with his right eye intending it to come off as a wink.

Juka's lovely sisters certainly seemed to be appreciating everything that he was throwing their way, not that there had been any doubt of course. Still, all in all he had to admit that he was being every bit the perfect wing man just as he had promised to do. Well, maybe perfect was over stating it just a tad as he did have to be careful not to overshadow his two companions and thus pull their lady's attention away from them; but if women happened to be attracted to him was it really his fault? Really, who could blame them for being attracted to someone simultaneously so fabulous and talented.

Juka's worry about the others' keeping the attention of the other two women, however, seemed to be largely without merit. He spared the other two men a glance just to make sure they were holding there own and grinned his encouragement at Saph and his fate speech and glass trick. He felt just a pang of guilt at the fact that he was basically encouraging his friend two manipulate the girl into believe that she was getting something out of this that wasn't going to pan out in the end but managed to suppress it, possible a sign of the amount alcohol currently in his system. Completely sober and he was pretty sure that he would never let such unethical actions happen. Pretty sure. Maybe. Or maybe not. That, of course, was the alcohol talking again.

Ice cube man (which would forever more be his name in Juka's mind) was likewise wooing his lady first with a display of frozen butterfly and then by asking her to dance. Not being one to be showed up, Juka decided that he, too, should go and dance but first a much more important event need occur. Mainly, the emptying of all the liquid he had put into his system since getting to the club. "My lovely ladies," Juka state, wrapping his arms around both girls' shoulders, "I promise I am not abandoning you but must take my leave for the barest of moments. If you would excuse me." He began to walk towards the bathroom, stopping to turn around a blow a kiss first to Jess and then to Erika.

In normal circumstances using the bathroom should have been a rather simple and predictable occurrence. Even in drunken circumstances it should have been a rather simple and predicable occurrence since Juka obviously wasn't drunk enough for it not to be. In the life of a mutant, however, the normal was not always either simple or predicable which was sometimes a good thing and sometimes not so much though it was almost always an interesting thing.

Juka did manage to safely make his way into the bathroom without incident but then...suddenly he found himself inside his bubble. He blinked, quite unsure why his bubble might have appeared quite against his own will. A second blink as he commanded it to once again disappear and it quite intentionally refused him. A sliver of fear went through his mind as he remembered the last time his bubble had refused to depart and how long it had taken for it to finally disappear that last time. For an entire month, give or take a few days, he had been stuck in it. Now, in a club full of what he assumed were regular humans, his bubble was once again refusing to leave. Quite unsure what to do about this problem he could think of only one thing: Call Saph and hope he could come to the rescue and actually do something to help. And that was exactly what he did, dialing Saph's number and hoping against hope that he had his phone on him.

Everything was moving along swimmingly; Sam had invited his prospect to dance, Juka was making a deposit, and he and Michelle were talking about how the both didn't like to dance. Saph ordered another drink, handing off the broken glass to the waiter with a shrug. He clinked glasses with the woman, talking about this and that to get her mind off her friends.

Honestly, he had already achieved the most important part of his mission; get her to let her friends more than five feet away from her. Now it was just a matter of distance. Almost nothing could go wrong now.

Almost. His new phone started buzzing in his pocket, and he blinked a few times, looking over to Michelle. "Eh, one second." He reached down to his pocket, and turned away just a little, flipping it open and speaking over the music blaring in the back ground. "Hello?" He hadn't bothered to look and see who was calling him, but he really hoped it wasn't important; honestly he was starting to get just a bit too drunk to deal with a crisis.

The music was blaring in the center of the dance floor where he had found himself, he was fine with the edge of the dance floor but Haley decided otherwise, it was clear that she wanted to immerse herself in the mass of the crowd. It was a girl thing he had decided, most girls he had been meeting lately always dragged him to the center of the floor. It was their way of getting even more attention than they were used to. Looking around Sam noticed a few girls looking at him but they were nothing compared to the girl he was with right now.

Feeling a hand in his he turned his head to see Haley lacing her fingers around his as she placed her other hand on his shoulder then sliding her arm behind his neck. The first thing he noticed was that his fingers wrapped around hers like a glove. It wasn’t that her hands were small it was just a feeling of comfort he had with her for some reason she seemed so familiar for some reason. Like he had met her before in a past life perhaps not that he believed in past lives but couldn’t describe it any other way, there was no reason he should feel so at peace with this girl after just meeting her. Her arm pulled slightly as she started swaying with the music pulling Sam in closer to her.

Her forehead brushed his for the slightest of moments as his eye locked with hers her green eyes enchanting him the way one does to a snake, his feelings of loneliness fled from that moment, he was content with the moment hoping it would never end. His heartbeat started to match the beat of the music as he joined her in the swaying motions as his free hand reached down to her waist.

Nothing could interrupt him he was fixated on her eyes, her face her body her movements. Yes, he was drunk but he still felt that she held the key to happiness he no longer needed to try and be happy with himself for he had her now, and for some reason he couldn’t think otherwise.

For the briefest of moments Sam wondered silently if Juka and Saph were having as much luck as he was. Because with things as they were now nothing could turn this night into a bad night. This night was becoming legen… wait for it… dary!

Juka was starting to panick, really panick. Maybe it had been the drinks he had consumed, but things were seeming very very bad right about now. What if he got stuck in his bubble longer than a month this time? What if he was not stuck in his bubble forever? Oh, he talked a good game about not caring what people thought and being proud of being a mutant, but it was different when confronted with the prospect of never being able to live a normal life again, even a normal life as abnormal as Juka's had a tendency to be. He couldn't get trapped in his bubble, he just couldn't! For one thing, he couldn't ever be able to touch a living human being agian and that just wasn't a prospect he desired.

"Saph I think I need you're help. Something's happened and I'm trapped in my bubble." He was too panicked, to worried about what was happening to realize how ridiculous that statement would sound to anyone other than him. Hadn't he dealt with his whole bubble problem all ready? This wasn't supposed to happen, not now that he was finally starting to understand what it was, exactly, that he could do with his new powers. Bubbles were supposed to stay unbubbled unless he wanted them and that was that. Or at least it should have been.

"And maybe you had better bring Ice Pirate as well, just in case." Or not. He didn't know. What was he going to do? Of course, panicked as he was, he didn't realize that his mind was starting to clear, just a little bit.

Saph did his best not to react outwardly as Juka informed him of his situation... He calmly answered: "I'll be right there." and stood slowly, looking back to Michelle. "Hey, I'll be right back, alright? I got somethin I gotta take care of... Hey, Don't go nowhere, alright?" He flashed a smile, and got an uncertain look back. He could tell as he turned away that Michelle figured he was going to ditch her... He wasn't, not just yet, but it made him feel guilty for planning to in the first place... Now, to find eyepatch... if the man knew a thing about the bro code, he was gonna help here, too...

He slowly made his way through the crowd, fighting both against masses of people, and masses of drink... Jeese, the timing here was perfect; he had to go like a Russian race horse. He admittedly stumbled a bit as he pushed through onto the dance floor, and caught sight of eyepatch... At least he was having fun... Too bad it was gonna get ruined here in a second. He made it behind him, and tapped him lightly on his shoulder, mumbling just loud enough for him to hear. "We got an issue..." He stood there awkwardly as he waited for the man to respond, looking about with his hands in his pockets.

It was just them no one else existed, he knew her. He didn’t know her but he had a feeling that he had met her before spent time and even possibly loved her. It was like they were lovers in a past life or something. He didn’t know how to explain it but he felt safe with her, like how he felt safe with Alex… his heart ached for a moment till he was brought back to the present.

A warm hand traced through his hair on the back of his head and brought him into closer to her. He smiled and for a moment their lips touched as they stopped dancing o the music for even a briefer amount of time. Slowly they started to dance again, their hips swaying to the beat of the music then their lips parted his eye opened to lock with hers. He smiled and she smiled, it was a connection of some kind, a strange feeling of Déjà vu. Again he didn’t know how to explain it but he was about to reach in for another kiss when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

It was a tap and not a bump he could tell the difference from someone bumping into him and someone trying to get his attention and this person who ever it was just found the best time to try and get his attention. He blinked with one eye and smiled weakly as she still made for his but opened her eyes and blushed when she realized he wasn’t there to receive her kiss.

”Sorry!” Sam apologized as he turned his head to see Saph looking at him awkwardly knowing full well that he was interrupting him. Sam’s smile faded as he looked to one of his wing men a touch of concern on his face… ”What happened?” Sam asked as he realized Juka wasn’t there. He suddenly got a feeling in the pit of his gut that something was wrong. ”Where’s Juka?”

Saph was coming to save him. Somehow his lovely massochistic friend was going to come into this bathroom and save the day. Somehow he was going to remove his bubble so that he could go back into the club, happy as can be, and continue to have a good time. That and he wouldn't have to worry about being trapped in a bubble for the rest of his life because you was far too young to be trapped in a bubble. Juka wasn't sure how Saph was going to make everything better, but somehow he would.

Juka heard someone enter the bathroom and he floated up a foot to get a peek over the wall of the stall he was currently hiding in, of who it might be, hoping desperately that it was Saph and Sam. But no, it was just some guy, a guy that probably didn't want anything to do with a mutant in a bubble. Hopefully he would just finish his business and leave, none the wiser. The thought occurred to him that maybe he could just open the window and float outside, then at least his short term problems would be solved, but unfortunately the window wasn't nearly large enough to fit a full grown person through it. Oh, where were Saph and Sam? Where were his desperately needed saviours?

"He, eh..." Saph eyed Sam's potential take-homer and leaned in, whispering. "He had a little problem... You see, he's like... well, he's like us, and he's having issues with his... gift. Get it?" He tried not to be too specific in case someone who didn't like mutants overheard. He motioned with his head over towards the bathroom. "He called and said he needed help... He's in the head. I'm gonna head over there."

The older mutant turned to leave, and gave Eyepatch time to talk to the woman, tell her he'd be right back or what-have you... Right now he had to take care of his buddy. Saph pushed through the crowd, which was disorienting and quite dizzying by now; He was glad that there were people to prop himself up on momentarily when he got bumped into. By the time he reached the bathroom he really had to make a deposit as well.

He shoved the door open and looked around. "Juka? You in here, buddy?" A man eyed him on the way out, and he stepped on in, closing the door behind him. The bathroom looked for the most part empty... "Juka, It's Saph. It should be safe to come out, noone's here. Eyepatch should be here in a second, too." He waited for the bubbler to make his appearance, glancing back at the door nervously.

”Like us?” Sam repeated out loud not really registering that this conversation was meant to be a secret. It took Sam a second but when Saph said gift he finally got what he was implying. ”Like us!” Sam repeated again acknowledging that he understood what he was talking about. Nodding his head he looked to Haley reluctantly and leaned in to her, ”I’ll be right back… I think something is up… don’t go to far alright?” he flashed her a wink with his good eye trying to make it an obvious wink instead of a blink. It seemed to get the point across because she nodded her head slightly and gave a weak smile.

After maneuvering through the crowd Sam managed to find the John and entered not really sure what to expect. Walking past a guy who gave him a funny look Sam shook his head not really sure what it was about. He blinked and entered the door looking back at the man who he passed and entered only to stop short when he almost walked into Saph.

”So… his gift? What should I be expecting?” Sam asked as he looked to Saph curiously then turning to look about to find Juka.