It must not have been that long since he had escaped from that place. Even though he'd recovered a little he still wasn't sure where exactly he'd ben and where he escaped and taken. He had spent a lot more time in certain rooms, like his room, his office, the room hidden by his office, and even the place he was heading to now. The Danger Room.

Shawn hadn't been able to use his powers since the accident and that really bugged him. However, he was determined that he would get it back. The only question that remained would be when it would come back. His time back had been spent in by himself trying to figure out what was important and what he should do. Luckily, he’d gotten back to be informed of a dance that was being thrown at the mansion. Another lucky even took place a short time after that. Lily asked him to go. He didn’t even have to worry about anything really as it was already being planned and people were taking care of all the arrangements.

Streak finally finished getting ready for the dance. He'd lost track of time so he'd unfortunately be showing up a little late. But whatever, maybe he'd be considered fashionably late. After putting on the final touches of to his suit he made his way downstairs to the Danger Room. As he got closer he saw his date waiting for him. Jewel looked stunning in her dress and he was speechless. A stupid smile crossed his face as he walked up to her and hugged his girlfriend; the one person he'd longed to see the whole time he was captured. And now they were together and going to enjoy themselves.

Lily was worried for a moment that Shawn wouldn't show. He had been avoiding people lately, dealing with all that happened to him, and she was not sure even if he said he'd come if he would show up at all. She would have completely understood if he didn't. She remembered her weeks after Romania. Sometimes being alone and having time to think helped.
But he did show. He was all dressed up in a fine suit, and was smiling at her, and Lily hugged him back with an equal smile. Even though he said he had problems using his abilities, the silver was stil there. It was warm, and she could feel it. And he was still her boyfriend.
"I'm glad you came" she smiled, kissing him on the cheek. She slipped her hand into his and pulled him into the Danger Room. Looking around she could see it slowly filled up with people. "Do you like it?" she asked with a playful smile "I think we made it look quite nice. Sam really took this dance thing seriously..."
She looked around as the slow dance started and chuckled. "But I am not going to make you dance if you don't want to.Promise."
It sounded funny, given their record with dances so far, but she really meant it.

Streak was glad that Jewel wasn't upset he was late. Then again how could she. He had been avoiding pretty much everyone for a little while and she'd been lucky to get a hold of him. "Me too. This could be fun." Streak said to her. He wasn't as optimistic as he sounded about this dance but he showed up for her. The young man was happy that she was still there for him. One of the problems that he was thinking of was that she wouldn't be there for him. He knew it was a ridiculous thought but it was still there.

Streak followed her into the Danger Room and took a glance around and noticed the cool decorations. Shawn looked back at her and said, "Ya you look great." He didn't really care if she was talking about the decorations or not. He felt the need to give her a compliment because she was being so understanding. Streak wasn't particularly interested in dancing but he was definitely not going to let her get away without a slow dance. "No let's dance. At least this song." the silver eyed mutant said as he led her out onto the dance floor.

”Depends how close you want to be,” Sam said with a sly grin, ”Back is a bit further away or you can keep it where it is, I won’t hold it against you.” Sam said flirting was a little more obvious with him now, but it didn’t really matter nothing wrong ever came with a flirting… that he had any control over at least. ”Relax and keep up,” Sam said telling she wasn’t exactly sure what to do so he kept moving his feet back then to the side then forward to the side.

”Never one to reveal all my secrets Jenny,” Sam said with another smile as he continued to lead her on the gym floor his feet silent compared to the loud yet slower music. He stepped back and released her waist and then brought her arm up in a spin then pulled her in back in and slipped his hand around her waist where it was once more. ”Learned in the orphanage I grew up,” lied Sam figuring he might as well give her a bit of his many secrets even if it wasn’t one hundred percent true.

”They thought it was super important to learn how to dance, you know blend in with kids our own age…” Sam said his eye shifting it’s gaze from Jenny to Jewel and Streak who he just noticed. His eye fixed on Streak for a moment and he decided to question him later, official mansion business was put on hold to night, well for the most part his gaze shifted to Katrina and a few other students that caught his eye as he spun Jenny again and pulled her in a bit closer before without realizing it.

When his eye shifted back to the girl in front of him he realized how close she was now compared to where she was before Sam smiled slightly, ”Your not that bad of a dancer,” Sam said with a nod.

Lily could tell that Shawn was the main reason why Shawn showed up tonight was probably her, but she didn't mind. She remembered how she felt after Romania, and she remembered how good it was to be outside her room and among people, and having someone who cared. So now she was doing the same for Shawn. It was only fair.
He told her that she looked great, and Lily blushed, smiling happily. That was always a good thing to hear. She let him lead her to the dance floor, who was she to say no if he told her he wanted to dance. Even if that was not entirely true, he was willing to dance, and that made her happy. Once on the dance floor she turned to smile up at him and put her hands on his shoulders, pulling him closer.
"It will get better" she promised him, meaning both the dance night and everything else, he had lots of things to deal with, but Lily was optimistic as ever, and she knew it would get better. "No worries for tonight, okay?"

He told her to relax and keep up, it was sort of a contradiction. If she relaxed, she would end up going even slower which would make it the opposit of keeping up. Still, she relaxed a little, which made her arm droop a slight bit. While it was still draped around his shoulder, she figured it best if she were to relax even more and move her arm down to his back. It was a little far of a reach and she took a step closer to close up the space. It was closer than she usually was to anyone, she enjoyed her own personal bubble, however, this did not bother her too terribly much.

He talked a little about himself, saying he grew up at an orphanage. Well well well, for some odd reason, Fade thought Sam came from a wealthy, proper familly, but she should not be so quick to judge others. Where ever Sam came from, he turned out to be quite the gentleman now. Not to mention how good of a dancer he was. She saw his eye shift to two other dancers, she looked over in curiousity and saw two other X-Men, Jewel and Silver Streak. They made such a cute couple and she just smiled and turned back to Sam, whose eye met back at her again.

As she was getting used to the steps, he let go with one hand and twirled her around. Thank goodness she was wearing flats, if she were wearing heels, she would have definitely fallen. It took her a second to regain the steps and she focused a bit on her feet. When she finally caught up, she looked back at Sam, who was significantly closer now. Every part of her blushed cheeks urged her to phase through so he was not so close, she could hear his breathing and feel the heat of his breath through her hair. Still, she did not phase through, she remained in a solid state. "Only because you are such a great teacher," she smiled, gently rubbing her fingers together instead of biting her lip, just something to make her blush go away, it was not working too well. She placed her entire trust in the hands of the Danger Room and the dimmed lights.

It was nice that he could still make her blush. It was good to know that he didn’t need his powers to make her blush. This seemed to be a real test for them both. She wasn’t just with him because of his powers she was there because she really liked him. It was obvious now, if it wasn’t before. Shawn was glad that she was there for him and he seemed to feel more like himself in her presence. Even without his powers he didn’t feel that bad when she was around. He should have known this right from the time he got out of there, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Shawn still felt like a piece was missing from him anyways.

Shawn placed his hands around her waist and let her pull him closer. “Right.” Streak said agreeing with her. He doubted it a little but he still knew that she was right and not just trying to make him feel better. “Okay. No worries, just fun. Got it.” Streak said to her smiling. It was easier said than done in this case. So he said it. No matter what great things happened tonight he’d still have the same worries that he had before, he’d still have the as he did the night before, and he’d still be basically helpless if anything happened. Sure he could still fight but he wouldn’t have his powers to help him out like he used to. Shawn was still going to try to have a good night but there was still doubt and melancholy in his eyes.

Katrina tilted her head at Locke's first question, about Lovecraft.

“I don't think so. It was mostly the mansion students who were there and we don't have permission to program things into the danger room.” Not having access to that was something that would have bugged her, if her own ability didn't allow her to do the same thing without all the busywork of actual programming involved.

“This clay wasn't at all tired,” Katrina assured him. “I suppose, though, that it did have a lot of help, what with having such a thing possess it.” It had been no easy task to put that clay back to sleep. Mostly it had taken a lot of water.

His statement about doing stuff with dirt did clarify why he knew about the personality of clay. That must be his mutation. Not very descriptive, but an adequate explanation nonetheless.

“Cool,” was her reply. “I do stuff with invisibility and stuff.” The second 'stuff', of course, referred to the rest of her illusions.

“The cat thing was actually really cool. Being a cat makes you feel confident, like you don't have a care in the world. Your regrets just don't matter as much. When you're a cat you understand that regrets are pointless. You can't do anything to change something that already happened, so it's no use worrying about it. And anyway, I wasn't stuck too terribly long. Time seems a bit different when you're a cat too. Even staring at a speck of dust floating on the air can keep a cat occupied for a long time.”

A slow dance started and Katrina made a face. If she was going to dance it wasn't going to be to that. She looked back to Locke and realized he hadn't taken a single bite of his food since she had gotten there.

“Oh, don't let me keep you from eating. You can go ahead, I don't mind. I might even get some food, too. It looks really good.” She was a growing teen, too, and that meant that she was always hungry. Secretly she was hoping that it meant she'd be hitting another growth spurt soon. It would be nice to be an inch or two taller.

Kealey thanked him, and Shin bowed his head. He couldn't keep the dopey smile off his face. Triangle eyes rose again to meet hers. "I should be thanking you. Thanks, Kealey. I'm having fun."

He was. And it seemed like she was.

Watching everyone else dressed up nice was a sight to see.

For a moment, Kealey's eyes weren't fixed on him.

As they danced, he couldn't help but notice the way everyone was clothed. Kealey was probably taking it in too. Many were dressed simply, but many more were dressed better.

Kealey was into fashion. Shin took the moment her eyes were off him to take his eyes off her, and absorb everyone's attire. If nothing else, he'd get ideas for next time. Maybe, she'd want to talk about what everyone else was wearing? Heh. Some people, this might as well have been a costume party.

Was one kid actually wearing an eye patch? Oh.

Wait. That was Sam... dancing with... Fade? Was he... dating her now? Or just dancing? He shirked that thought as Kealey focused on him again, redoubling her efforts. He smiled earnestly at her, taking a step with the music.

She was beautiful. This was definitely nice.

“Okay. No worries, just fun. Got it.”
He didn't sound sure about that at all, but Lily smiled at him still, and rested her head on his shoulder as they swayed to the music. "Good."
She knew it wasn't going to be easy. Losing powers never was. She had experienced it, or at least, a form of it, and she still felt sick when she remembered it. But she also knew that his silver was there, and he was still the same person, and just like she had only lost her powers because of the collars in the camps, she knew he would regain his too. When it came to hope, Lily was a person who was willing to believe in good forever.
She remained silent till the end of the song, content with just dancing with him; she glanced around, once in a while, and saw Sam dancing with Fade. She didn't see Alex and she was pretty sure she was not in the Mansion, after all that happened. She spotted Shin dancing with a blonde girl, probably his girlfriend... How things change.
Once the song was over, she stepped back, smiling again. "Thank you for dancing with me" she kissed him on the cheek "Let's go find something to drink." she tugged on his hand. With some luck she would be able to convince him to stay at the party for a little while longer...

Streak swayed with Jewel for the remained of the song in silence. He was glad that she'd given up on the subject for the rest of this song. It wasn't something he was fond of talking about. She didn't know what all he'd gone through at the American camps, mainly because he'd never told her; but that didn't make talking about this any easier.

Shawn was actually a little disappointed that he song was over. He missed being a so close to her. However, he followed her when she led the way off the dance floor. "You're welcome." He said returning the kiss to her cheek. "I doubt they'd have any alcohol tonight huh?" Streak said jokingly to Lily. The last thing he needed was alcohol.

"Nope, no alcohol" Lily smirked as they walked over to the tables "Last thing we need is a bunch of mutant kids getting drunk. But, we have punch." she chuckled, winking at him "And somebody should be keeping an eye out for the drinks so nobody comes up with the genious idea of spicing them." she added with another smirk as she looked around "Good thing we trust out students. Every single one of them."
She poured drinks for both of them, and looked around again. Another song started; people were dancing, talking, laughing, enjoying themselves. It was good to see students having a good time. And their teammates too.
"Come on, Shawn" she took his hand again "Let's take a walk."

People were settling in to the dance now, and their emotions were starting to level off. Now instead of the varying degrees of nerves and anticipation, Kealey was inundated with feelings that could only be called mushy at best. It made it easy to sway to the music and smile at her dance partner. He turned her thank you around and thanked her right back and Kealey just kept right on smiling. Then they were quiet for a few moments.

Having looked at all the students, Kealey cast her eyes around the dance floor for the other adult couples. They weren’t hard to find, their larger physiques standing out in most cases against the backdrop of teenagers. Sam was dancing with a pretty girl who Kealey had seen around the mansion but didn’t know personally. She mentally added a note to find out more about the woman and get to work on a costume for her. Next her eyes found Jewel and someone else she didn’t know, but who had to be Jewel’s boyfriend from the way they were dancing cheek to cheek. Both pairs were happy as clams in their little dance space and all the students seemed to be behaving.

Kealey returned her focus to Shin and something about the way he was looking at her made the blood rush to her cheeks. Then again, maybe it was the way he felt when he looked at her. The music was loud’ish and Kealey used that as an excuse to move marginally closer to Shin. They were still further apart than most of the adults dancing, and all the students, so they were still a good example.

”I can see why these types of things are so popular.” she commented, ”Everyone is having such a good time. I kind of feel like I’m floating on happy clouds.”

Kealey dropped her eyes for a minute, then looked back up with a bright grin, ”Then again, maybe it’s just my company.”

Sweet, sweet, sugary sweet. A degree of that was allowed at functions like this, but Kealey didn’t want to overdo it. ”Who is the girl with Sam, and the guy dancing with Jewel. I don’t think I know either of them.” she asked curiously as they moved in step with the dance.

Amber was concerned about the ill mutant girl, she really was. But at that moment she spotted the person she most wanted to see in the entire dance and that was her date Kai. Well, not date exactly because she had pretty much screwed up that possibility entirely, but at least her friend who was supposed to be going to the dance with her. She wavered back and forth in her mind, trying to figure out what the best thing to do was, given the circumstances. But Andrea did appear to have friends that she actually knew and they would take care of her, right?

"D-do you mind if I leave? I mean, d-do you need any more help?" At that moment Amber spotted a strange raccoon looking girl approaching Kai. Her Kai! Well, maybe not her Kai but maybe one day her Kai? Or maybe not. Or...or...oh, this whole date/not date thing was just way too confusing! Either way, she thought it best that she make an appearance and let raccoon girl know that she was there with him. Not that she would try to stop him from dancing with someone else if he wanted to, of course. But raccoon girl? She was just so schizophrenic!

With one last uncomfortable look at the blue skinned mutant, Amber made her decision to go see Kai. Maybe they could have a dance (one dance wasn't too much to ask was it?) and then go and check on the sick mutant. Yes, that sounded like a perfect idea. Then she could see Kai and not have to feel guilty any more. "I'll b-be back in a few minutes," she assured the woman. With that she walked up to her date, trying to remain casual even if she coudln't quite stop a grin from appearing on her face.

"So glad you m-made it." Amber sent a look at raccoon girl that fell just short of a glare. "I'm sorry I w-wasn't here to greet you. I met someone and sh-she seemed kind of sick so I w-wanted to help her." She pointed to Andrea, who didn't look any better than when she left.

”That may be, but anyone can dance.” Sam said with a wink that looked like a blink due to his one eye being out of commission. Sam continued to way with the music rocking at his hips while his feet moved left than right, each step was a small portion of the overall grand scheme of the dance. Second nature it was so he didn’t really ever think of it being that difficult, then again now that he was thinking about it he was noticing his feet were becoming dangerously close to a students tail that was swaying a few feet from him. He smiled and then pulled Jenny into another spin changing their direction so to avoid the student’s tail.

The song was reaching a climax and so his time dancing with Jenny was coming to an end, for now at least. Some of the other songs might not be the best to dance to he was there to set an example after all and he wasn’t sure how his current girlfriend would respond to hearing about it, it made things even worse when he didn’t invite him as a date. Shifting his eye and grinning he looked to Jenny when the song ended and stepped back from her and pulled her hand that was still in his and brought it to his lips and kissed the back of her hand and then released it.

Alright so it wasn’t the smartest thing to do but he rather enjoyed giving Jenny a hard time, and seeing her blush made it all the more enjoyable. ”Thank you for the dance.” Sam said brining his hands down to his side as the DJ started to play more up beat music again. ”You really were a good dance partner!” Looking over to the punch bowl he pointed to it, ”You want some punch?” Sam asked not really feeling like he needed to be the only one not to have any fun, besides he wanted to get to know Jenny a bit more anyways and punch was a good excuse to get to know his teammate a bit better.