>>“Sorry if my manners were not up to par previously, good sir as I didn’t realize initially that I was in the presence of a knight. I hope you don’t think ill of me, Sir Knight, as I meant no ill will.”

Yup, the guy was stoned. Gawain blinked and shook his head in disbelief; a few students around started to snicker, but they quickly stopped when he shot a look at them. He couldn't have cared less about this Van fellow, but he wanted to make damn sure he wouldn't embarrass Henri.

>>"Emmy is in our room and shes probably going to go to the dinner and drink milkshakes all night. She's really upset about something, I bet it has something to do with that note she threw away last night when she came in late, I hope she didn't get hurt or something."

Well, damn. That was one more dumb@ss he had to smack around later this night. His fight schedule was filling out more quickly than his dance schedule. Never a good sign.

"Pull yourself together, man." he growled, putting an arm around Van's shoulders in an overly friendly manner "We have lovely ladies to entertain, and as a knight I can't let you be anything less then a perfect gentleman tonight. It's kind of my duty, seeing that I am part of the security here. Do you catch my meaning?"

He was not a Mansion student. That made everything easier. Gawain patted the guy on the shoulder before he let him go with a charming smile, and turned back to Ruby.

"I'll go check on Ems later, don't worry." he nodded "You just have fun tonight, okay? Y'know I kinda owe this dance to Twy, but you'll have to allow me to take you for a dance too, later on. How does that sound?"

He smiled at the fox girl. At least someone was more or less cheerful in this company...

Elizabeth bit her lip as she stood outside the Danger Room. Butterflies and wasps fluttered and buzzed around in her stomach. This was it. The dance was finally here. The blonde’s foot began nervously tapping. It had taken her about forty minutes after the dance was supposed to start before Liz had been able to fully get ready. The dress was simple, being a basic dark blue. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but it was still very nice. She had brought it with her from home, so she had been fortunate in not needing to go out and buy a dress for the dance.

Everything else had taken up her time, despite the hours beforehand she’d started getting ready. With Haylee’s help, she had curled her hair and now had it free, falling down her back like golden waves. Small and simple midnight blue earrings adorned her ears. Elizabeth had brought those from home too, but she had misplaced them somewhere. It had taken her thirty minutes to find them, but she wouldn’t settle for anything else. A single gold chain looped around her neck. It had taken her forever to finally find a necklace to go with her outfit. For some reason, she’d been very indecisive when it’d come to it, finding it difficult to choose amongst the few she’d brought and some of Haylee’s. A pair of golden flats covered her feet.

And Liz had been waiting outside the danger room for twenty minutes at least. She wasn’t completely certain about the time, since she hadn’t brought a watch and she still hadn’t bought a new cell phone yet. C’mon, Carrick! Where are you? She thought excitedly. She had assumed that the guy who had asked her to the dance (albeit, under the influence of her awesome roommate) would be on time, or at least only as late as she was. In fact, she had been all set to walk up to Carrick at their arranged meeting place by the doors with a fierce burning in her cheeks and a mumbled apology as to why she’d been late. It wasn’t truly her fault that she was out of practice of applying make-up! But she had turned out to be the early bird. And she was now waiting on the worm.

As the empath looked down the halls for the thousandth time, the sliding doors to the dance floor began looking very welcoming. He’s ditched me. Great. I fell for it. He just said all of it to appease Haylee. Suddenly feeling dejected, Liz slumped a bit. She should just go back to her room. Yes, that’s it. Just go back. Nobody else knew that she was there; she hadn’t been in the Danger Room yet, after all. The dance didn’t look quite so attractive without a person to go with. She’d gotten her hopes up for nothing.

Elizabeth took a step in the direction that would eventually lead back to her room.

Sam followed her, a bit more like an actual human crowd diving instead of smoke simply slipping around and passing through mutants, still, she tried to keep the pace low enough for him. When they had made it out alive, he kept his hand in her's, which she sort of forgot about. The feeling of someone's hand in her's calmed her down enough to forget what kind of signals it sent out. So kids talked, that was normal, but what was a little gossip amongst the students? It certainly couldn't do that much harm. If anything, it would have to be someone older who knew the in's and out's of Sam and enough about Fade. Someone like...Shin.

She watched the well dressed triangle mutant approach with someone she had never met, not even really heard anything about. He smiled and said hello. The girl with him just smiled. "Hey there, Shin," she nodded. Sam beat her to the initial name introduction by addressing the other woman as 'Kealey'. Cute name. A quick little reminder that she was holding hands with Sam came in the form of a small hand squeeze. Sam released and yelled at some kids who were borderlining innappropriate.

Fade brought her now free hand to grab a plastic glass. While her claws were visible, they did not hinder her from pouring the glass of punch, they simply phased through everything they would usually block her from grabbing. They were like ghost claws. Smiling, she set the glass down momentarily and grabbed the next one to fill it up. When she had filled up four glasses, she took one in her left hand and offered it to Sam. With her right hand, she grabbed both glasses, holding them steadily out to Shin and Kealey.

"It's funny to realize we're not that much older than them, but quite different," she smiled, looking at the kids who just got in trouble. Maybe two years ago, she would have been trying to cause some sort of trouble on the dance floor, maybe invisibly stealing dates when they let go of their girlfriends for a spin. Time with the X-Men had definitely taught her to be more mature, even if she was not at the level where she could be called 'completely mature' just yet.

It was weird to have the feeling of butterflies so high up, wings outstretched and the feeling of the wind lifting him higher and higher away from his worldly concerns the only concern he couldn’t get rid of was the fact that there was a dance within an hour, at least that was the last time he checked which by the way the sky was starting to look… Carrick’s eyes opened wide and his wings folded close to his body, it was time for a dive!

Two minutes and he was running down his hallway with his wings tight to his body tail flicking madly behind him he needed to change and fast. Then it hit him, he was running to a dance… not just any dance… he was running to Elizabeth… his body froze up and he stood still his body tense and his fingers twitching. His heartbeat started to beat faster and faster then something came over him, it was fear that gripped him only higher sense things sound in particular his ears started to ring and then he breathed again. Everything started to slow down and then he realized what was happening. Okay, maybe he was a bit scared.

Slowly he walked to his and Kai’s room to change, it was then he spotted his roommate running out of his room heading to the dance. He said something about hair and then ran off he wasn’t to concerned, most likely about the hair gel he bought then decided he no longer wanted. His long hair didn’t look any good slicked back, or rather he just wasn’t used to it.

Looking at the clock he silently cursed, he was running late it was clear to him that if he didn’t get there as soon as possible, he had to deal with Haylee, his dates older and far more aggressive roommate. A string of Irish curses exited his mouth as he ran to his closet and pulled his suit, tossing the bag with the suit inside on his bead he quickly disrobed and ran into the bathroom to shower.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, or thirty went by he didn’t know he didn’t check the clock he didn’t have time, after applying deodorant and tussling up his hair into his natural wind blown hair he began putting his suit on and was out the door running. He didn’t have time to admire how awesome the fit was with the suit of even tie his tie, and so it hung around his neck as wings shook behind him expelling the small leftovers of the water drops from the shower.

Another three minutes and he was running down the stairs and entered the elevator. Eyes closed he breathed trying to calm himself, he was looking forward to the dance even if he had a date the initial fear he had before faded when the elevator opened at the basement floor to the hallway where the danger room and the dance and his date was.

One more breath and he opened his eyes again placing his hands on his tie which he needed to tie before he met up with his date who was supposed to be waiting at the front, though with how late he was he doubted she’d still… his legs locked up and he froze when he saw her, throat momentarily dry and his jaw hung slightly ajar.

She looked good, really good his eyes fixed on her face and then traveled over the dress… it was then he remembered that he was late and made her wait…”Ummm… Your not leaving are you?” Carrick asked as his hands fell from his untied tie and he walked closer to her with a sheepish smile on his face.

It took him a second for him to regain his wits, immediately his hand reached the back of his head, ”Sorry I’m late, don’t really have a good excuse, just kind of lost track of time…” Carrick said as he got closer to her then stopped just before her, ”You look pretty…” he paused and tried to think of the possible implications his comment could mean and he shook his head, ”I mean you always look pretty but…” his face started to tint red and he awkwardly face palmed himself and then laughed the took a breath trying to move on from his lack of his usual self, ”Were you waiting long?”

And then Carrick appeared from around the corner, decked out in a fancy black suit and tie. Elizabeth immediately halted, her eyes taking him in. His tie was just hanging around his neck, not even tied. He looked like he’d been running and had just gotten dressed. But he still looked like a messenger from above, despite the circumstances. He had even managed to alter the suit to let his wings out. Liz gave the lad a warm smile in greeting, even though she had been about to leave.

“Uh, no, I I’m not leaving,” Elizabeth said quickly, frantically trying to weave together a white lie. “ I was just, um, exploring a bit. I’ve never been down here before.” Desperately, she tried keeping the blood in her cheeks down. She didn’t like lying, especially when it wasn’t convincing. Being caught in a lie was even worse and she hoped Carrick didn’t catch her. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything by admitting that she had been about to leave.

Then the angel moved in and complimented her. Nothing she could do could keep the blood down this time. Her cheeks showed a bit of red as Carrick stumbled around with his comment. She could see the heat rise in the boy’s face as well and so they looked like matching tomatoes. She averted her eyes and looked around her, staring at the identical, unadorned walls. The only things on them were signs directing students to the Danger Room, and so Liz settled for watching them in order to not have to watch Carrick.

Carrick seemed to recover and then posed the question Liz would’ve preferred to avoid. “Ah, no I just got here myself,” the blonde exaggerated, not wanting Carrick to feel bad about being late. It was just another white lie. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to make any more this evening. “Fashionably late, and all that stuff,” she nervously tittered, feeling how awkward the whole thing was.

Forcing on a warm smile and trying to assume an air of nonchalance, Liz slipped and hand around and lightly rested in on the inside of Carrick’s arm, creating the classic escort posture. “Shall we go?” she said invitingly.

Carrick’s smile grew when she said she had just got their it was a sweet relief that she didn’t wait long, the last thing he wanted to do was upset his date… he shook his head quickly his shaggy hair flying around over his face as he tried to preemptively block an oncoming blush, ‘alright note to self stop thinking of her as a date otherwise your face lights up like a Christmas tree.’ Thought Carrick silently as he felt her hand latch around his arm. Well at least she wasn’t holding his hand, that would have looked a lot worse to those who see them walking in together, now it just looks like a… he sighed mentally refusing to use the word date even if that was what she was. ”Do let’s,” Carrick said inhaling and exhaling stepping forward leading her through the large metallic doors where he once watched Tetsuya destroy his socks with his glass shards.

The large metallic doors opened and Carrick was relieved the room wasn’t covered in rain, or mud like it was on that fateful day his socks were destroyed. It was like a normal gym, something he was grateful for seeing as he never went to a dance back at his old school. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go it’s just odds were he was going to spend the night either being made fun of or ignored, and while the object of a dance was to socialize and have fun he knew he wouldn’t have a lot of fun their but here, Carrick let out a whistle ”Holy mother…” he didn’t finish the statement as they walked into the gym. Not because he was on his best behavior but because he got distracted with everything.

The lights, the people, the decorations and last but certainly not least the music, ”They really went all out on this…” Carrick said looking around his tail swaying behind him through the customized hole in the backside of his pants, ”Think everyone from the mansion might be here…” Carrick said before he turned to Elizabeth with multicolored eyes and a wide grin.

However when he looked at her he spotted one or two kids pointing at them, he rolled his eyes and unintentionally shifted his hand into hers which was once grabbing his arm, with out much more thought he pulled her to the dance floor which was one of the main reasons he wanted to come to the dance, ”You any good?” he asked as he spotted a few people he knew by the punch bowl and a few by the speakers.

Turning and pivoting on his feet he threw up his hands and started to dance on the dance floor, the upbeat music making it far easier to dance and forget about the fact he was on a date.

Sir Gawain thought he was crazy and that suited Van just fine. Some of the other students that heard his random and alright, slightly strange, outburst and they snickered at him, to which he chuckled--people were so lame sometimes. They all probably thought he was nuts or high or something but in reality he was just riding a few buzzes and going with whatever popped into his head like he always did. He was just being Van. Honestly and truly Van. Totally organic and totally real.

And totally making anti-friends with a few of Henri’s friends. A dude getting that close to him with that kind of tone and those attempts at intimidating words meant that he was crossing some invisible lines in the non existent sand. It reminded the kid of his ousin Lou, a bouncer at a club in the Village--he’d seen him use similar moves on rowdy guests. Security...riiiiight. Where did this guy get his lines--an old mobster flick? Tisk, tisk, and I was so hoping you had more promise--c’mon buddy, prove me wrong here. Without meaning to, the boy rolled his eyes. “Oh, I caught it--I mess up and you try to mess me up. You know you could have just said that, man, ‘you catch my meaning’ is such an intimidation killer.” Van flashed a cutesy smile back at the other mutant boy after he was released. Honesty was the best policy, after all...riiiiiight.

The smaller girl had a tail--something Van hadn’t noticed until she started addressing him--finally someone that was at least really good at faking that they were excited to meet him. This was a much nicer feeling, Van could get used to this. The tail was very interesting. “I like your tail.” He did like the tail. “Obvious mutations are so much fun.” He held out his hand for a shake. “Charmed, I’m sure, Mademoiselle Lupin--Van Sanders-Adamson, at your service.” His tone had suddenly taken on an odd accent, like that of one of those old care salesmen and he winked when he was finished--not a creepy one, mind you, just a mischievous one.

Finally he was starting to have fun.

After a brief feeling that she was in a Star Trek rerun when the doors to the room slid open, Elizabeth prepared herself for the awe and wonder of…a school gym? So that’s where they had put it. It was a school, but Liz had never seen anything like a gymnasium anywhere on the grounds. But why the fancy sliding doors and so far underground? Were mutants really that dangerous in sports and athletics? But now wasn’t the time nor place to think about all of that. Instead, Liz admired the decorations adorning the walls and ceilings.

The blonde had never been to a formal school dance like this. Sure, she’d been to a couple casual ones where half the students attending had just stood around and talked, but none of it had been so nice-looking. She even missed Carrick’s almost-comment, but she caught the second one. “Totally,” Liz agreed with her…date? Yes, Carrick was her date. Before butterflies could hatch from their cocoons and start flying around in her gut, Liz forced her concentration to the whole room, which wasn’t hard to do.

As she listened to the lyrics of the catchy song, trying to place it, she suddenly realized that Carrick had her hand and was gently but surely pulling her through the crowd and onto the floor. She accidentally bumped into the occasional student, but their quick looks of irritation were in the back of her mind. She was holding Carrick’s hand. And he had started it. Haylee, you’re awesome! A stupid grin spread across the empath’s face, refusing to go down.

And when the angel asked if she was any good, Liz answered with the truth. “Not really,” she said, raising her voice just enough to reach him over the combination of the music and the general hubbub in the gym. It was then she realized what going to a dance actually meant. Oh right, dancing. If she’d been alone, Liz would’ve slapped herself. As it was, she was still quite tempted. So she tried faking it. She quickly glanced around at other couples and people around the two, speed-researching how to dance at an event like this. She knew how to dance a couple more elegant types, like ballroom dancing, but she was still new to this type.

She watched various girls around her, imitating their moves, although remaining a bit more conservative. She ignored the motions and movements that border grotesque and vulgar, choosing to remain simple, just letting her body flow with the music. After a few minutes, when she started getting the hang of it, Liz started looking around the room, curious to see how many people she knew. So far, she’d seen absolutely nobody she recognized. Except Carrick, of course. As she thought about him, she smiled at her…date.

Twyla hugged Henrietta and explained to her that she just didn’t want to see her get hurt again. The brunette smiled at her best friend. “I know you don’t and I really appreciate that, but let’s wait to see if he screws up again before we tear him a new one.” A smirk was on the girl’s face. Henri took one last look at herself in the mirror. Everything seemed to be staying where it should. The other girl was doing the same thing, which made Henrietta grin.

She smiled and grabbed the girl’s hand, pulling her out of the bathroom. As they neared the company they had left, she sensed some tension between Mirror and Van. The brunette sighed and looked from one boy to the other. Oh man, what did I miss? Now, fortunately, Van was talking to Ruby. He seemed to be authentically enjoying that. She heard him say something about liking her tail. Henri smiled and walked up next to Van. “Hey Ruby. This is my boyfriend, Van. You should see his mutation sometime. It’s pretty interesting, not to mention you may be able to come up with a scientific explanation for it.”

Turning back to Van, she gestured to Ruby. “Ruby’s the little sister of another friend of mine. She’s very good at science, aren’t you, Ruby?” After smiling a moment, she turned to Twyla and grabbed her arm. She lowered her voice. “I think Gawain and Van aren’t getting along. I just get that feeling and I sense tension.” The brunette bit her bottom lip for a moment. “Should we just let it be? I think it’d be nice if they could be friends…or at least be civil. You know?”

Sam and Fade were hand-in-hand. Was something definitely up? One could never tell with Sam. He kept things to himself most of the time. Shin still wasn't certain what had happened with Alexandra to him to split. Sam's decision to be with Fade at the party was an interesting one.

Shin stowed the curiosity, focusing on faces rather than held hands, and smiled back as Fade replied to his greeting.

Sam preempted any introductions Shin could give, and Shin arched an eyebrow at him. "What? This old thing?" He gestured to what he was wearing jokingly. "You two aren't dressed too poorly, yourselves."

Sam tore his attention away from them to yell at some students Shin hadn't noticed. Oh wow. Had those two been... kissing? Welp, that was another emotion in the melting pot of this crazy evening. Shin took the glass Fade held out for him, idly hoping that kissing vibe hadn't been too strong.

Kids... Wild hormones. He hadn't seen what that did to Kealey yet. Tonight was not a night to find out.

Shin shook his head. "I'd never have been kissing on the dance floor like that two years ago. Too mature."

Obviously. Couldn't one tell from his goofball antics?

"So, anyways. Fade, this is Kealey. Costume designer extraordinaire. And Kealey, Fade. She can vanish."

Katrina edged a little closer to the food table, so she could continue to talk to Locke and get a plateful of deliscious at the same time.

“I think it's only some breeds of dog that droll. I have two, and Kenzie doesn't drool at all. Bruce does, though. All the time.”

She was almost drooling herself over all the options. She was really tempted by the sloppy joes, but she had worn a white dress and they called them sloppy joes for a reason. Katrina was no better than the average person at eating them, so she didn't want to risk it. Instead she went for one of the little sandwiches on a bun. Ham and cheese for the win. And the chips looked good. And the veggies and dip. And the carefully guarded punch.

“I got turned into one of the short hair not fancy breeds I think.”

Katrina took her birthday feast back towards the table that was closest, hoping Locke would follow. It was just a few steps away.

She chuckled at the quip about slow dances. The only reason she could see for slow dancing was if you wanted an excuse to almost hug someone. She didn't mind just going up and actually hugging someone if she felt like it, so it was probably not for her. Though... maybe if Koga asked her for a slow dance she would try it. Just once, to see what all the fuss was about.

“That would be something to see,” she added, imagining someone actually falling asleep on the dance floor and falling right on their face into the punch bowl.

"I will try my best to not worry, but this is my Big sister we are talking about she probably is going to get into all sorts of trouble." Ruby sighed, but then put a smile on her face at the thought of a dance. "That sounds good Mr Gawain, I'm not as good of a dancer as Emerald is but I can learn!"

Ruby didn't want to worry about her big sister but she just had a habit of doing so. It sort of came in the territory of the Lupin family to worry about the other members, even if they told you that they would be fine. Besides, Emerald had always worried and protected Ruby, it would only be fair if she did the same for her.

Once the Van boy told her he liked her tail her cheeks became tinged with a light shade of pink. She oftentimes got embaressed by compliments, never really expecting them. He was a nice older boy, especially since he was so nice about a 15 year old girl with a fox tail addressing him. Most people didn't think the more obvious mutations were nice, some saw it as a liability which is why Ruby typically hid her tail and ears when she went into public. At the mansion however, no one had to hide their powers, no matter how strange they were.

"Thank you Mr Van, You are very kind." Ruby replied, giving the boy her hand to shake. She gave him a firm handshake, just like her older sister had taught her. Though she didn't attempt to squeeze his hand too hard like Emerald had taught her or dig her nails into the fingers like Sapphire had mentioned. As much as she loved her older sisters, testing a boys pain tolerance when she first meets them does not sound like a good idea.

Once Henri and Twyla returned the fox girl's gleeful grin widened, tail swishing back and forth. She was able to feel the tension between Gawain and Van, she had hoped that the two older girls could maybe get the boys to get along. It was then Henri told the youngest Lupin that Van was her date and the fox girl gave a knowing smile. So that's why he was standing next to Miss Henri when I walked in! Maybe he's the reason why Miss Twyla pulled Miss Henri to the bathroom, for a girl talk about it. Or Maybe I'm shooting in the dark here...hm, guess I will find out later Ruby thought, thinking of all the things she was most likely to hear after the dance.

"I probably could come up with some sort of explanation for peoples powers if I wanted to." Ruby pondered aloud. "Or I could just keep building robots...which honestly sounds like more fun then categorizing each mutant by their powers and genetic structure. That may be too complicated in the long run."

The raccoon girl bounced happily over to him, but Kai barely noticed. Was it hot in here, or was it just him? Someone wove their way through the crowd over towards him. Amber had found him at last! And here she was, resplendent in a beautiful dress that flowed around her when she walked! Oh, how Kai loved it when girl's dresses flowed when the walked... he barely even noticed that he started completely ignoring the other girl who had addressed him. Swish, swish went the dress.

He knocked himself out of his stupor to pay attention to what Amber was saying. He didn't want to get in trouble for concentrating more on the dress than what the girl was saying. He recalled vaguely that someone had advised him of that... somewhere. “You look beautiful,” he said. Then blushed and covered it by continuing. “It-it's good to see you. I'm sorry I was a little late... D'you wanna to dance?”

Kai realized that he was babbling again, but this time at least it wasn't because he was exhausted. He was just nervous. Though, really, he had no reason to be... right? And a dance was just a dance?

“Pretty much every large dog I’ve seen is either drooling or at the very least, foamy,” Then again Locke had confessed that he wasn’t much of a dog person. He did not give them much attention or thought, so much to the point that he didn’t really notice if someone had been walking a dog down the street with them. “Like I said, I’d rather have a cat. They can take care of themselves, so they aren’t as needy or demanding about your time. And a dog may wag his tail at anyone, but a cat will only purr for you if they truly like you.”

It was strange how his comment about falling asleep on the dance floor got a chuckle. Locke had not been trying to be funny. He rarely did try to be humorous, and usually when he did try to crack a joke people didn’t realize it. What Locke had been trying to say was that they needed to do was play something with more life to it. At least something that was less standard high school dance music and more iPod on shuffle. He followed her over to the table. Sitting down meant that people would be less likely to expect him to dance. “Well, keep watching and they might.”

Even if no one else noticed, Amber noticed Kai staring at her, mouth agape. Her pale cheeks reddened and she looked down towards her feet, nervous. Why did this always happen when she was around Kai? She liked Kai but that was all it was, he was just a friend, right? So if he was just a friend why did she feel all nervous with her stomach all filled with butterflies?

When Kai complimented Amber on her dress, if anything her blush got even worse. She giggled nervously, trying desperately to force down her nerves. Because there was absolutely nothing to be nervous about. Nothing at all. "You're j-just saying that to be nice," she answered. But even if he was just being nice, she felt complimented nevertheless. It was an unusual feeling but a good one.

"Of c-course I'll dance with you, Kai. B-but I'm not very good at dancing." Amber just hoped she wouldn't embarrass the both of them by falling flat on her face or something equally horrible. Because knowing her luck, that's exactly what would happen.