The Beginning of the End (Party RP Thread)

[daughter_of_m]

Steve wanders the party in a daze. Everyone looks so happy here. People who have been dead for years, in his universe, are alive again. Hank and Jan are happily together (he never hit her in this universe, he remembers). Valeria Richards has grown up to be a lovely, polite, extraordinarily intelligent young woman, despite all of the danger

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[shaman_x]

Mike's actually looking for Captain America, one of the few people at the party he genuinely likes, when he encounters Jean. He doesn't even see her at first, distracted by the girl Franklin's making moves on, the girl he can't quite focus on, which tends to suggest the ninth Scotch was a mistake after all, so Jean escapes the usual loud exclamation of her name in greeting -- which, if there is a later, he'll regret, because, major missed press opportunity, it's good to be seen and Jean Grey-Maximoff(-Stark-Rogers) is good to be seen with.

He frowns at her, doing that annoying head-tilt thing. "What's up?"

[shadeof_grey]

Jean hates everybody at the party. She has already made her mind about that. Even people she's been friends with for years in reality -- people like Hank, and Lorna -- she doesn't particularly feel like talking to.

As for Mike. . .to be really honest, Jean hasn't figured out what his deal is in her world, even. He might be her son -- sort of? or he has some kind of consciousness shared with someone who might have been her son in a reality she never experienced. There's enough of that going around. Anyway, she hasn't quite figured out who the real Mike is, and this joker, she really has no clue.

"What?" she snaps. "Don't tilt your head like that. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?"

*OOC -- Sorry, but Mike caught Jean in a MOOD.

[shaman_x]

"Scotch?" He asks, offering her the bottle.

Which he wasn't drinking straight out of, 'cause he has he a glass, he was just carrying it around with him for, uh, sentimental reasons. Yes.

"You're looking good," he says, cheerfully. "The dress brings out the color in your eyes."

That or the aura of overwhelming hate. Whichever.

It's quite possible this Mike has a deathwish.

[shadeof_grey]

Jean glances at the bottle for a moment, then takes it from him and chugs.

Wiping her mouth with the back of one hand, she gives it back. "Dutch courage," she says, "Or Scotch, whatever."

More or less simultaneously with the drink, Jean has a thought that all of this is going to disappear in a few minutes, so she really can say whatever she wants. So, conversationally, she adds, "I hate everybody here. Except maybe Captain America. But actually I hate him most. Because it's his fault we're still here. No, actually, I hate Wanda most. Even though we just had sex."

[tm_cable]

Cable really really doesn't want to be at this party. He doesn't give two shits about the Avengers -- did Tony Stark ever ask him to be an Avenger? Of course not. Did Captain America ever ask him for advice on how to make the world better? Nada. Meanwhile, Irene is making an ass out of herself over some teenager named Eli something -- or possibly his date, that Lady Hawkeye Girl? or possibly both?

Cable, seriously, hates everybody.

Then he looks across the room and sees Jean Grey-Maximoff. She's standing next to Wanda, but just a little bit apart. It seems like she's looking at something off in the distance, Portrait of a Lonely Redhead.

Cable has always liked redheads.

He approaches Jean.

[shadeof_grey]

Jean looks up to see Nathan approaching her, and for about a second and a half, she's actually happy. Somebody she genuinely likes -- no, loves -- in the real world is here, and he's actually coming up to her like he's interested in her. (Yes, maybe, she's still a little bitter about the not-being-stalked-by-Logan thing; being-stalked-by-Logan is sort of a baseline condition of her life. She'd never realized how much she would miss it).

"Nate," she says warmly, and puts her arms around him. For a moment, she considers restoring his memories right there. If there's anyone she can count on to support her 100 percent, it's --

Oh, wait, Nathan is furious at her. Back in the real world. Something to do with Rachel? Tony? It all seems so far away. Still, she shies away from the hug a little at the last minute, leaving Cable with a puzzled look on his face.

[tm_cable]

Nate is a bit surprised by the greeting from Jean Grey-Maximoff. It's not as though he minds -- redhead! -- but it's not as though they're especially close.
He's not going to complain about the hug, and he's a little disappointed when she seems to change her mind halfway through.

She probably realizes that they don't really know each other. Or maybe she remembers something Domino has said about him. Not that he knows for certain that Domino would have said anything -- though the idea that she hasn't said anything somehow pisses him off more.

"So, ahh," he finally says. "Nice party, that is --" He gestures across the room, "It looks like Irene's having fun."

[shadeof_grey]

Jean looks where Cable is gesturing. "It looks like Irene is ready to give Elijah Bradley a lap dance. Dear God, he looks terrified."

Looking back at Nate, she can see that he is clearly flustered. Well, every part of this universe isn't terrible. Some of it's just absurd, and she can't help smiling at seeing what is, apparently, the fulfillment of Irene's fantasy. Jean doesn't know the woman all that well, but -- as much as she really loves her son -- she can imagine that working for him isn't a bed of roses. Here, Irene's on top of the world, id all unleashed, and Cable's pining for her.

If Jean understands the situation correctly, then everyone else will go back to their regular lives without realizing that things have changed. It's kind of a shame. She'd like both Nate and Irene to remember this. She can't help wondering, though, what could be in this life for Cable. "Why do you do it?" she asks. "Work for her?"

[sal_starkrogers]

Sally sees her Dad come in, and gives Val a quick hug of good-luck. She dodges that Mike guy's photographers again, and dashes up to Steve.

"Happy Anniversary, Dad!" she says, jumping up on him in an over-enthusiastic hug. She hops back and grins from ear to ear. "Tommy and Billy have been monopolizing the music all night to impress the girls, but they have strict orders to play old stuff once you got here. So don't worry, I'm sure they'll be switching anytime now."

[starspangledcap]

Steve is so distracted by his reverie that he doesn't even notice Sally coming toward him until she's wrapped herself around him. His arms reach around her small body by instinct, and, as his mind processes exactly what's happening, he holds her even more tightly.

He's been avoiding Sally all day, but he knows now that it's been a mistake. This isn't about him. This is about his daughter, who he loves. He's been selfishly keeping his distance, too paralyzed by the idea of what he has to do to her. But if he's resigned himself to that terrible fact, the least he can do is make Sally's last hour on earth a happy one.

"Don't worry, Sally," he says, finally letting her go. "I think I can put up with the ruckus the boys call music for a little while longer. Are you enjoying the pary?"

[sal_starkrogers]

"Oh, yes," Sally says. "There are a lot of interesting people here, you know?" Sally steps closer and links her arm through his, walking him across the room. "I was thinking," she says thoughtfully, "about these people. The other teens and younger adults. About, how

[starspangledcap]

Steve has never been ashamed to cry. It is, he believes, a perfectly natural human reaction to emotional situations. But at the same time, he can't remember all that many times when he's actually shed tears. He's cried at a few funerals and other similarly high-stress situations. And then there was the time that Baron Zemo destroyed his army footlocker, the box that contained, among other things, the only remaining photograph of his mother. But, for the most part, Steve Rogers is not the crying type. So when the tears well up in his eyes at Sally's words, he realizes just how hard this is all hitting him

[sal_starkrogers]

[OOC: Takes place after dancing with Steve, and I don't know how that ends yet, so presume, shall we? That if this seems odd or doesn't follow, that Wanda's reality power is altering perceptions slightly.]

Sally finished her glass of punch and looked around. There he was, leaning in and saying something to Harry that made Harry laugh. Sally smiled and walked over quickly.

"Tony?" she asked. "If I might, ah, . . . Have a moment?"

[iron_tony]

"For my best girl?" Tony smiled, bowing gallantly. "You may have more than a moment. You may have this dance."

He exaggerated the gesture, because he knew it would make her laugh, but he was serious about the dance. Both of her fathers had been in accord when they had "suggested" ballroom dancing lessons to supplement Sally's own interest in ballet and modern dance -- Steve because it was traditional, Tony for more practical, social reasons.

And also because he liked dancing. "You can lead if you want," he said, without cracking a smile.

[sal_starkrogers]

"Of course I'm going to lead," Sally replied. "I have to defend my feet somehow." A complete slander. Daddy Tony is a great dancer. But it used to make him laugh to pretend to step on her toes. As they take the floor Sally kisses his cheek.

"Happy Anniversary, Tony," she says. "You two deserve all the happiness you have."