A Grand Soiree [Open to anyone with potential business at the NYC branch of the Hellfire Club]

[ngm_hellfire]

"There hasn't been a party like this in years at this location, has there?" Sebastian turned towards Tessa, or rather, the clone of her that Essex had made for him. It was true, though, there was an energy in the old place that hadn't been seen ever since before he died for the first time. They didn't know yet, that he would take this moment to make his reemegence into the public eye, but there were rumours that there would be a grand surprise.

"No, sir. Attendance at the New York branch's soirees has been declining for some years." Tessa replied crisply. He wondered, vaguely, what the original Tessa would think of this pitch-perfect copy of her. As for Tessa's part, she was aware of Sage's existence and regarded it as nothing more than a vague curiosity.

Sebastian continued to watch guests filing in through the cameras at the command centre he'd installed some years ago beneath the halls of the Hellfire Club.

"What about my would-be heirs?" Sebastian spoke with a faint sneer. Disappointing as they were in many ways, they were his family. His legacy. They would have to do. He couldn't have another Shinobi on his hands.

"I expect they will both attend. I've spotted Stephanie, but but Alistaire as of yet." Tessa replied again.

"Good. And others have been invited too. The Braddock and the Worthington girls." Sebastian turned again towards the monitors. "Keep a close eye on the witch, would you? I won't have her ruining my night."

"Yes, sir."

Sebastian lifted a glass of fine whisky to his lips and took a slow sip, watching the event unfolding before him. A grand collection of the finest of New York society. A fine audience for him to emerge before, like the phoenix.

Comments

[vesper_verde]

"Thank you for the offer, but no. We're not familiar enough for that, Mr. Shaw." Which came from a normally warm and friendly Brazilian. Who thankfully had enough balance in his legs to not stumble at the force on his back. Marcelo wanted nothing to do with this entitled jackass. And New York upper society, it didn't bat a lash at a white man calling him 'boy.' Homesick pangs hit him underneath everything else.

"I'm driven by what you would call sentimentality. I think the novelty of it drew your daughter's attention." Marcelo was almost sure the man wouldn't understand how parental death would be a driving force.

[ngm_hellfire]

"Very well." Sebastian shrugged and sipped his drink. "I suppose that will be changing soon enough, won't it?"

New York upper society would've frowned upon Sebastian for being Irish, let alone Marcelo for being black, if they'd had the chance. The key was to have so much power and clout that nobody could say anything about it.

"Sentimentality." Sebastian repeated his word for a moment. "But what, specifically? Surely you must have a goal or a cause."

"Stephanie, of course, wants to make the world a better and safer place for mutants. And for mutant and human coexistence." Sebastian chuckled. "You certainly can't call her a hypocrite on that regard, can you?"

[vesper_verde]

"No, I don't suspect it will. I'm marrying your daughter, not you," he answered honestly. He was getting tired. Tired of his own constant fear and regret every night since Veridian had been attacked. Tonight just pushed things to almost unbearable. Marcelo could only cling to that he was in the right.

"My goal? To make sure no child no matter their station in life does not go through what I did. That is why Veridian works with law enforcement, agriculture, and energy production rather than putting all our eggs into the military industrial complex."

He snagged a drink off a passing waiter's tray and took a swig. It didn't matter what the hell it was as long as there was the soft burn of alcohol. "No, I can't. She is refreshingly honest."

[hellfire_empath]

Brooke was, of course, all for this. She had always believed that mutants were better than humans, after all. A mutant aristocracy - one in which she could possibly be queen - sounded absolutely like want she wanted. She didn't need much nudging, this one. She was ready to sign up right then and there.

[hellfire_child]

Alistaire joined in the applause. He'd been in the midst of making his rounds, after seeing to Alisa, and he'd spotted his former Lady. A leonine grin crept over his face as he approached her and an almost equally fetching young redheaded woman at her side. Much like Selene, she set off alarm bells in his head that shrieked 'you know better'.

Much like Selene, that was precisely why he couldn't keep away.

He had been about to speak up when the room was captured by his grandfather. It was a rousing speech. Elegant in its simplicity. It was so simple, after all. Obvious, even.

"Fine days are ahead, Lady Selene," Alistaire finally speaks up, dropping the former 'my' before the polite address, per his Grandfather's very specific instructions. "--would you not agree?" He kisses her hand, then nods his head to her companion. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure yet."

[kinetic_assault]

Brianna didn't need nudging on this. Everything Shaw said made perfect sense. She was ready to help usher in the new world order and she wanted to speak more with Mr. Shaw to find out how she, specifically, could help with this.

She looked to Kayla.

"This is how we help Xavier's and the X-Men. We do the things that they can't or won't do. I think we should look into this further." she told Kayla.

"He certainly has a way with words. I'll grant him that."

[ngm_hellfire]

Alisa had failed to get the point. And Alistaire was clearly intent on seeing what had happened, not that she had any desire to actually show herself.

The headache dropped.

Alisa could deal with the consequences herself.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

She gave off a sigh of relief, finally dropping her hand from her temple. She felt so much better, now. The headache was gone, the room was not spinning anymore, and her vision was back in focus. Alisa stood back up properly, her eyes looking at Alistaire to show she was better, now.

"I am sorry about dat, Alistaire. I t'ink I am a bit stressed is all. I didn' mean to make you worry any." She shook her head. "An' I shouldn' question your reasons for anyt'ing. You do what you want, an' I wouldn' 'ave it any other way."

She would not dare tell him it was Tessa who gave her such a headache. She was not the kind to tattle, really. She had not even told Alistaire about his Grandfather rescuing her, or why she moved to a new apartment. There were some things she would burden alone.

"I do t'ank you for your concern, t'ough."

[ngm_hellfire]

"Then allow me to be equally honest, Marcelo." Sebastian replied.

"I do not give you my blessing or permission to marry into my family and sully the future of the Hellfire Club, of Shaw Industries." Sebastian looked over to Stephanie.

Though the literal words, while hostile, would not likely be taken as an outright threat to any people in the public who might have heard it, the context was clear. He was not known for an ability to graciously hear dissenting views from his. Especially not from people he considered to be his enemies, as Marcelo more and more clearly was showing himself to be.

"You will not be marrying my daughter."

[ngm_hellfire]

"One day, we will have our reckoning with the House of Xavier." Selene replied, twirling a glass of wine about. "Who's to know what shape exactly that will take ... but in the meantime, it is good to know what they're up to there. Fools though they may be, they're powerful fools and they've matched the Club before."

"He is essentially a politician. Fit to be humored by the real rulers of the world, not to be one of them. He serves his purpose for now."

Selene could appreciate that, though she'd learned at an entirely different set of classical educators.

"Your father's a man of taste. It's good to see him step out of his laboratory. It makes the world more interesting."

She wasn't stupid. Sinister was a potential rival and a very dangerous one. But that simply made things more interesting.

[ngm_hellfire]

"A magnificent speech, wasn't it?" Fitzroy smiles at her as he comes closer. "Of course, it means something a little more to people like us than it does to the general crowd."

"I know you're thinking that you should join the Hellfire Club." Fitzroy's smile turned into a broad grin. "I could help you, you know. It would be my pleasure."

[seismic_shockwave]

"... yeah. I mean, looking into it. Can't hurt, right?" Kayla replied, looking slightly wobbly on her feet and yawned. "Can't believe how lame I am tonight. We haven't even done anything and I'm, like, dead on my feet. Maybe I should get a coffee or something."

Though it was hard to tell for most people, given how pale Kayla was normally, she was visibly paler than normal.

"If he weren't a gajillionaire already, I'd say Shaw would have a future on the public speaking circuit." She wobbled slightly more on her feet.

"Shit, I feel faint."

[wateronthebrain]

"He's such a good public speaker," Erin agrees with a smile. "I didn't expect that."

She is off her guard right now. She never would have thought of this on her own.

"Well I think I should strongly consider it," Erin agrees. "He wants to help us all to become our best. It's important."

Shaw is just what they need. Erin smiles dizzily at him. "You could always tell me all of the other merits I may have failed to notice."

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo laughed at that like it was a quaint joke. He took another sip of his drink.

"I frankly don't care for your blessing nor do I need your permission to marry her. You are not my father, and you certainly have done little to nothing to earn that title for her. I don't care to join your sycophantic family. Any business between Veridian and Shaw Industries contracted during Stephanie's leadership will run its course and then I will have nothing to do with the company so long as you control it."

[kinetic_assault]

Brianna turned to look at Kayla and recognized that something was wrong immediately. She'd never seen Kayla so pale. She moved herself underneath one of Kayla's arms and guided her to a chair.

"Are you okay, love? What happened? Do you want to go home?" Brianna asked her.

[hellfire_child]

"It's what I do." He lays a hand on the back of her neck, and touches his forehead to hers, looking at her intently.

"I take care of my things."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

"Why do you always know the right t'ings to say to me?" She sighed, her eyes looking directly into his. She had a boyfriend, and yet Alistaire made her forget that sometimes.

"Do I dare ask 'ow well you take care o' your "T'ings"?" Her voice was still soft.

[hellfire_child]

"Because I see right down to the worst parts of you, Alisa; and I embrace them. One of the advantages of being the sort of people we are is that we never have to make explanations. No justifications. No Freudian excuses." He says firmly.

"I'll expect you at my penthouse after tonight's festivities. You'll find out there."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

Alistaire always accepted her, no matter what. He embraced her strengths and her faults, all of her. She never understood it, but she never questioned it either. They were always so honest with one and other, to the point it was just odd.

"I 'ope you mean jus' coffee. Because after de terrible head pain I jus' endured, I may jus' lay dere." What was she saying!? "An' my boyfriend might not approve... unless you want 'im to come over, too?"

Okay, she should just shut up, now.

[hellfire_child]

"Go ahead and ask him. If you're going to be with him, he should know you. Know all of you." Alistaire grabs a glass of wine from a passing tray, sipping it calmly.

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

Alisa paled a little at that statement. Her eyes watched as Alistaire casually grabbed a glass of wine from a passing tray, showing little emotion as usual. She suddenly wished she grabbed a glass of wine as well, but getting drunk in the enemy's den was not a very smart move.

"All o' me? I don' know..." Again, she spoke in a low tone. Her eyes looking about the crowded room. Perhaps changing the subject would be best right about now. "So, Boss, 'ow 'ave you been?"

[hellfire_child]

"Planning. Hunting. Building." He regards the guests he had brought along with a casual wave of his arm. "Gifts for the Lord Paramount. One of them, the young man with the blue eyes... amazing talent with numbers. One of two secrets he's desperate to keep. The rest have the usual assortment of dirty laundry, or naked ambition, to make them useful.

There's been other endeavors, but the room is too mixed for me to talk about them here."

[alisa_lebeau_v3]

There was a small nod of her head and a look of worry on her face. She moved closer to Alistaire to whisper into his ear.

"You may need more gifts to de Lord Paramount to make up for keepin' me around, tonight. He may see it as an act o' defiance on your part."

"An' do be careful wit' de fires you play wit' , Alistaire. I only 'ave so many limbs left to spare for you." She finally pulled away from his ear and smiled, taking his now empty wine glass and placing it on a passing tray, before grabbing him another.

[pyroprincess]

"Brooke?"

Stephanie Shaw should have been on top of the world, the daughter of the man onf the hour, making her way around the crowd like a noble to be. But she felt a weird, horrible tension in her mind that was undermining everything. She was aware she'd been unkind to Marcelo. And yet, he'd been unkind to Reginald. It was all a strange snarl in her mind.

"I have a small favor to ask."

[seismic_shockwave]

"I'm ... just tired, I think? Either that or that glass of bubbly's gone to my head like it shouldn't." The last part was a joke, honestly, and it was broken up by a yawn.

"I feel really, really lame for saying, but ... I think I'd better. Or I'm going to fall asleep and wreck Mr. Shaw's wonderful party." Kayla managed a small laugh.

"Hopefully I don't miss another one of those speeches."