Disney-Themed Surprise Party at Harry's 2 of 2

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Libations continue to flow freely at Harry's.

"Enjoying yourself?" Adrienne asked Jean with a smile, holding two glasses of wine as she made her way through the colourful crowd to the redhead.

Jean had been crowd watching, content to listen for the moment in between socializing. She enjoyed just sitting quietly and watching people sometimes, see how they interacted.

"Yep. Rogue had me at free hors d'oeuvres." She lifted her arm.

"The costumes are strangely comfortable."

"They really are," Adrienne agreed, handing one of the wine glasses to Jean. "My sister's tailor does good work. Cheers to that." She clinked glasses with the redhead and took a sip of wine. "Of course, some of us are more comfortable playing dress up than others, so that probably helps." She squinted over at Garrison, who was wearing the moose- or caribou or whatever it was- costume from Frozen to match her Anna costume. Emma had even braided her hair in double braids for her.

Adrienne was loving it- especially the part where she got to change costumes every half hour if she wanted- but Kane seemed a little uncomfortable. She'd have to make it up to him by putting on a special costume for him later. She had a matching set of undies that were white with black spots, right? Dalmatian print. Yes. She was going to put those on for him. And bring out the pole from his birthday last year. Pretend it was a fire pole. Heh heh heh. And whoops, had she been thinking that really loudly?

Perhaps it was the alcohol that did it....well, yes it was definitely the alcohol, but either way, Jean's mental walls were more relaxed, and she wasn't expecting the mental image of Adrienne in a dalmatian costume pole dancing to be SHOUTED at her. So when that happened, she wound up choking on her drink.

"Gahrk! Wha--what?" she said, glancing up. She knew she'd said something but had been distracted by spots. So many spots.

"Shit! Sorry! Didn't mean to think that so prominently at you. Too much alcohol," Adrienne apologized. "So, who is your costume?" she asked to change the subject, wanting desperately to put that thought behind her but not knowing what else to say to Jean, particularly after her encounter with Warren on Wednesday. "I'm not super knowledgeable about Disney, sorry."

Jean used a napkin to dab chardonnay off the front of her gown, then shrugged. "Eh, it happens," she said. It was partially her fault for letting her walls get lax. But it wasn't like she was thinking about murdering her boss or something so she wasn't too bothered. People had sex. Maybe not HER but they had sex.

"I'm Merida from the movie Brave. The one with the bears? Figured I'd pick something that didn't require a wig."

Adrienne made an 'ah I see' noise, even though she had no idea what that movie was. She lapsed into silence again. She'd wanted to apologize to Jean for being so depressed about Tandy around the redhead, but since thinking about sex with Garrison, now all she could think about was the fact that she'd seen Warren having sex with Jessica and wasn't sure if she should tell Jean or not.

But if she kept thinking about it, Jean would just be able to read it in her mind anyway. So maybe it was better just to tell her. Besides, the very same day she'd discovered Warren had been sleeping around on Jean was the day she'd gotten a lecture about honesty from the man himself.

"So... I should probably tell you something," she prefaced, sipping her wine tentatively. She'd poured it herself from one of the bottles on one of the tables, and hadn't paid attention to what it was. She looked over at the label now, squinting to read it despite it only being a few feet away.

Catching Adrienne squinting, Jean was about to say something when the woman spoke instead. The tone of Adrienne's voice was telling, like she was going to say that her dog died or something.

"...Okay," she said, equally tentative, because she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what she wanted to say. Especially with the look she was giving her as well.

"It's about Warren," Adrienne told her. She heard a glass break across the room and squinted to see who had done it. Shit. She was squinting a lot tonight. It was the alcohol, she assumed. Normally, she was better about not being so damned obvious about squinting."Warren and... someone else." Probably multiple someone else's, but she wouldn't speculate.

"Look, I don't want to be a rat or whatever, but... I think you should know. I respect you, you know? Even though... I don't know you that well," she fumbled. "And I'm sorry about... before. At the bar that night. When I was, y'know. Sad, or whatever. It was my ward's birthday around that time, and I was thinking a lot about her. I thought she was dead. But now she's not," she grinned. "So I just wanted to, y'know, make things right with you. Which is why I gotta tell you this."

Jean tilted her head. A lot of things had just happened that she was still trying to cycle through. Rats. Dead, not dead. Did that happen a lot? Apologies. A grin. She hadn't seen her do that before. It was nice. And Warren.

She shook her head. "It's okay." She knew she had been through a lot, which often made people lash out , and Jean, in her apparent role as crusader, needing to fix or help everyone, had came on too strong. She'd only realized it a little too late. She wondered how many other revelations were made throughout history via alcohol.

But the other thing Adrienne had said kept weighing on her mind.

"What...about Warren and someone else?"

It shouldn't matter. They had broken up the day before. No one knew that. But she still wanted to know. Like Pandora opening the damn box. He hadn't had time to have someone else.

Unless he did.

"Look... I'm a mutant," Adrienne confessed, picking at the tape from a poster on the bar and squinting at the advertisement distractedly. "I'm a psychometrist, so I psychically see the history of any object I touch. And my powers are slightly haywire at the moment. So I accidentally Read my desk at the XFI office. And I saw him having sex on it with another woman. I'm sorry." She tried to keep the details about when and who he'd been with vague.

Jean fell silent for a few moments, staring at Adrienne with no discernible expression.

"I see," she said finally. The look was gradually being replaced with something else, but it was still hard to figure out just yet. She put down her glass of wine.

"When?"

"I don't know," Adrienne lied, squirming uncomfortably. She knew exactly when, but she set her wine down and focused extra hard on keeping her mental walls strong. "I Read the desk and chewed him out about it on Wednesday, but I don't know when it happened."

Wednesday. They were still together on Wednesday. The word was a bullet, and for a brief second Jean reacted in kind, her face crumpling in pain. Her hand slipped to her stomach. And then...it was gone, back to impassivity. But for Adrienne, who had been there during the highs and lows in the previous incarnation of Jean's life, she would probably be able to tell the emotionless look was an illusion. Or something Jean was trying to tell herself to feel.

"Thank you for telling me, about both," she said, her attention flickering across the room toward Warren.

"If you'll excuse me there's someone I need to talk to."

"Ruh roh." Adrienne took a step towards Jean to block her path. "Hang on there, Gumdrop." She'd seen the look and, though she'd never get used to it, she recognized it. "You don't wanna do that right now. Plenty of time to do that later, when you're not drunk and emotional and in public." Although on the other hand, Jean was usually so collected. Well, the Jean she'd known. Maybe it would be good for her to fly off the handle on Warren. It's not like he didn't deserve it. Hmm. Well, okay. She wouldn't protest any more if Jean wanted to pursue her present course of action.

Jean narrowed her eyebrows, keeping her focus on Warren. "No. I really do," she said. Adrienne was probably right, but right now she felt like her chest had been cut open and her heart had been played with. Rationale and reason were pretty low on her priority list.

"Okay, let's go then. I'll be your wingman. Ha. Wingman to talk to the wing-man." Adrienne grinned at her own cleverness.

Jean just stared at her, but was too angry to do much else other than nod. Turning, she headed for Warren.

***

"So, did you and Megan have to battle it out to see who got to be Tinkerbell?" Amanda asked Clarice as she encountered her friend as she wandered around the party, mingling.

"She has the wings, but I'm still the glitter queen of Xavier's," Clarice laughed. If Megan had truly wanted it, she would have given it over, but she loved how she looked in her green sparkly minidress. "Your costume looks fantastic. That a headdress or your hair?"

"Headdress - there's not enough lacquer in the world that would get my hair to defy gravity for a whole night," Amanda replied with a grin. Her hair was notoriously thick and had a tendency to tangle. "But since Disney's bigoted against witches, I decided I'd have to come as the biggest and the baddest. Besides, the movie wasn't bad."

Clarice was pretty sure she could make Amanda's hair twist up and defy gravity for the horns, but Amanda might kill her afterwards trying to undo it. Probably better this way. "Disney doesn't know they're real and that 99% of witch history is completely false and one sided, with a extra helping of misconception and not allowing explanation," it was amazing how much they got wrong with it all.

"Yeah, I remember having to explain to Meg when she was little and we did the whole Disney princess thing that not all witches were bad." Amanda laughed. "It's a good thing I never took her to Disneyland, -world, whichever it is - she might have started lecturing the staff on why they were wrong."

"Both," Clarice replied absently, "And you could have taken her once she learned fact from fiction. That's an important piece for most kids," and for Meggan, what most people considered fiction, she knew was fact. "I had thought I'd go as someone purple because it's Disney. Non-traditional colouring happens. Turns out, nope. Other than Ursula, there weren't a lot of options and I really don't want to go as an old, evil octopus even if it is an excuse to wear a fantastic black dress."

"Bah. You could have gone as her younger glam self?" Amanda suggested. "'Tho' Tink suits you down to the ground too, being the Purple Pixie and all."

"Yeah, that's why I did it," she was the Purple Pixie well before the other one came along. She was keeping her title. "So anyways. Overturn any countries recently?"

"Not lately - 's been pretty quiet with the Trenchcoats later, besides picking up our newest recruit over there." Amanda nodded toward Felicia, who was sticking reasonably close to Wanda. "How about the leather brigade? Scott told me about Vegas, but has there been anything else you lot have been up to?"

"Not much," Clarice shrugged, "I can't believe you guys picked up Wade officially. I mean, he's awesome and qualified, but....he's Wade," she grinned and took a sip of her drink. She didn't want to mention the stuff that had gone on with her and Jean just yet.

"He wears a suit to work, even," Amanda replied with a giggle. "But yeah, we've borrowed him often enough that with... people gone, it made sense to take him on official-like. Between him, the two Gar's dad sent over, and Felicia, we're back up to full strength. Which will probably be needed, since you know how it works here - just when it's quiet and people are happy, the shit happens."

"Right?" It would be nice for the newbies to get with the program. Things can and did go to shit, quickly. It was better to just be prepared to deal with it. "Well, you know, if you guys need the doc in a box, we're around," that was probably one of the best things for everyone to be together now. Well, that and seeing people more often. Theoretically. Clarice still didn't get out of the medlab often enough.


***

There were too many people for him to truly feel comfortable. Although he'd been at the mansion for a few months now, there were still plenty of people he hadn't had a chance to speak to yet. This was made more apparent by the fact that they were all costumed, and he could only fathom less than half of the costumes, or the people behind them.

Warren disliked feeling uncomfortable.

Leaning against one of the walls, a glass in hand, he sipped and watched those on the dance floor. At some point, his eyes were trailing Jean, but when she went to talk to Adrienne, he lost interest and started people watching again. Somehow, he didn't catch Jean coming over to his side. "Hello again," he said, smiling. This being friends business wasn't as hard as he thought it would be.
‎
Jean stared at Warren for a moment or two. She almost looked calm, the way she studied him like he were in a petri dish, like she were trying to figure out how he worked.

"I was wrong," she said, her voice quiet, yet decisive.

This couldn't be good. Setting his glass down, he casually responded with "Oh?"

"I thought you were a good person. I was wrong. You're a prick," Jean said, her calmness disrupted by an oncoming hurricane. She looked downright frightening with the anger that washed across her face like a tsunami. She shook her head, laughing.

"Damn, you got me good," she said, covering her face with her hands incredulously. Ripping her hands down, she narrowed her eyes.

"How many? How many did you fuck? Did it give you a thrill to sneak around behind my back? Did I ruin your fun when I broke up with you? Or were you relieved?"

Her voice cracked, and a tear slipped down her cheek. "Did you even care about me at all? Or was it just a game? How could you do that? Why would you do that?" She shook her head again, holding up her hand to silence any comments.

"No...no. You know what?" She stabbed at the air with her index finger.

"Go fuck yourself. Or...someone else. I don't care. We're done existing in the same space."

She spun around, storming off.

Warren watched her storm off before shrugging and reaching for his drink.‎ Finishing it off, he gave a little bow for those that were watching and pretending not to. "I absolutely deserved that," he said to no one in particular. "I'm surprised I didn't get slapped."

"I could slap you for her, but lucky for you I don't hit people," Adrienne shrugged, beaming sweetly at him.

"We out." She did an invisible mic drop and followed Jean.

***

Rogue looked around the room. Jean's encounter with a certain blond playboy was burning a hole in her brain. Looking desperately for Jessica, she caught her friend near the bathroom. Dragging her back in, they went into a bathroom stall. Locking the door, Rogue gave her a look

"Jean knows Smarmy was cheatin' on her. Ah don't know if she knows it was you, but Ah'd be scared right now."

"Oh geez. Leave it to Warren to drag me into some sort of drama." Jessica stated, adjusting her chiton briefly before turning to the large ponytail she was sporting. "Look, I'll just be very mature and tell her not to blame the other woman, and instead put all the blame where it belongs. On the one who cheated on her. I mean, I didn't even know in the first place." Jessica answered with a shrug.

Rogue reached up to play with Jessica's hair, fixing the ponytail. "Ah don't think he said anything other than he deserved it. Ah only caught anythin' because Ah promised Logan Ah'd stop drinkin', so Ah sobered up." She gave her friend a look and opened the door, quickly looking to see that no one was in the bathroom before adding "Although we did kick Dark Phoenix's ass once, Ah bet we could do it again," she giggled.




"Thanks." Jessica stated as her friend fixed her hair. "For fixing my hair and for the warning. I'll deal with it as it comes." She added. "And thanks for having my back. We're the baddest chicks here, so everybody better watch out, psychic reality destroyer or not." She finished with a wink.

"Damn straight," Rogue responded cheerfully. "Ah do kinda feel bad for Jeannie though. Ain't fun to be cheated on by your...whatever....although, Ah didn't even know she was datin' anyone. Some gossip Ah am, missin' out on this!"

"Yeah, no one told me either, obviously. Warren's an ass, I already knew that, but that was kinda a dick move. I feel for her too." Jessica replied with a shrug and a shake of her head.

Rogue cocked an eyebrow. "But we both know the next time he calls....."

"I'll definitely know he was rude, that's for sure." She answered.

Rogue gave a laugh as she threw her arms round Jess for a hug. "Sure, while he's giving you mind-blowing orgasms, you'll make sure he knows to be more polite next time."

Jessica grinned as she hugged Rogue back.

"Come on girl, can you blame me? He's a free man now, right?" She joked.

Rogue sighed. "At least one of us is getting laid."


"You could if you wanted to. My "Mr. Logan" sense is tingling." Jessica replied with a wink.

Rogue gave her a look. "Okay, bathroom time over. Let's get you some drinks. You have to drink for the both of us now."

Jessica wrapped her arm around Rogue's shoulders.

"Alright, I'll drop it for now." She stated. "But we WILL discuss this eventually! You can't avoid me!" Jessica stated boldly before she let out an evil laugh of epic proportions.


***

"Okay, so, umm. That was good," Adrienne told Jean with repeated nods, struggling to catch up to the taller woman. "Nice work. Good presentation, stuck the landing. Didn't even need your wingman at all. Are you okay?"

Jean had made it all the way across the bar, making good time, and had found an empty booth to sink down into.

"Oh, just thinking about how much of a freaking idiot I am. I should've listened to my instincts," she murmured, absently rubbing her temple as she glowered at a nearby bar stool like it had it coming. She glanced up after a moment, then smiled softly, shaking her head.

"Thanks, I'll be fine. Hey....go, enjoy your party. I'm going to head out in a few minutes anyway." Suddenly she didn't feel very festive.

Adrienne looked back over at Warren and her eyes skimmed the other partygoers. "Well, okay. If you're sure you'll be okay."

The smile lingered on Jean's face, and she nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. I dodged a bullet. I'm glad you told me. At least I know everything now so I don't make that train wreck of a mistake again."

Her attention flickered back to the rest of the party, and she fell silent for a few moments. She could go drink alone and wallow or she could go drink with Cruella De Vil and some Disney princesses. The latter sounded a hell of a lot better.

"Actually....I changed my mind. Parties are for fun, and I need some fun. Shall we go find some?"

Surprised, Adrienne looked back at Jean suddenly. "Uhh, sure! Yeah! I feel like we should get a Disney Costume Bingo game going or something."

"How does that work?" Jean said curiously.

Adrienne pulled her notepad out of her bag, tore off two sheets of paper and drew five by five grids on each sheet. She then started scribbling on them. "It's just bingo but instead of matching numbers some old lady calls, we match, I dunno, stuff. Like, codpiece. Sword. Lederhosen. Tiara. Stuff like that. Whoever makes a line first wins. Got it?"

Jean gave a simple nod. "Got it. What's the prize?"

"Umm..." Adrienne didn't have an immediate answer to that. She and Garrison always played for some sort of sex act, and when she'd played with Jean or Vanessa or Jean-Paul it had always been for gloating rights and the spirit of competition, or food or alcohol. "Candy?" she suggested with a shrug. "Seems like something along the Disney theme lines. A bucket from Dylan's?"

"Oh, I don't think I could eat an entire bucket of candy, since I'm going to win anyway. How bout loser buys dinner?" Jean said.

"Dinner where?" Adrienne asked skeptically. "I don't wanna get stiffed and taken to McDonalds or something when I win."

Jean snorted. "You're adorable," she said with a smirk.

"Hmmm... Balthazar?"

"Deal. And you won't think I'm adorable when I crush your sorry redheaded ass," Adrienne shot back, flipping Jean off with a grin.

Jean shrugged. "To try that you're going to have to bring a ladder, fun size," she said, lifting her arm up high to wave her goodbye.

***

"Can Ah just say that Doug can find mah Atlantis anytime he wants?". Rogue gave a low whistle. When Adrienne had gone through Rogue's past dating history, that one in particular had surprised her. Way too cute for her. "Ah will always think that man is fine. Laurie is one lucky girl."

"La la la la, I can't hear you over the fact that he was a wet behind the ears teenager when I first met him." Wanda sat with her fingers in her ears as she tried to balance her beer on her knee. When it was obvious it was going to tip, she dropped the pretense with a laugh and saved her drink, and her dress, from ruin. Leaning back, she let her gaze wander over the packed room. "I have no idea what's going on with that Warren fellow but, good gracious, he knows how to work it, doesn't it?"

Drinking with Rogue and openly commenting on the male presence? Now that seemed like a good party.

Rogue snorted. She didn't particularly care for him so she said so. "Too pretty. Who waxes their chest anymore anyways? That's so 2000's." Crossing her legs, she peered around fingernails tapping on the table. "Ooh! What about Matt? Peter Pan done grown up good," she said approvingly. "Those tights hide nothing."

"No, no they do not." They two lapsed in happy silence for a moment as they tilted their heads to better appreciate the tights and what they accentuated. Wanda nudged Rogue gently with her elbow, nearly overshooting thanks to the number of drinks, and nodded towards where Scott was standing. "Now, there's a man who wears his costume with ease. And here I thought the leathers were as good as they got with him. How the hell anyone gets anything done on that team is beyond me."

Now it was Rogue's turn to wrinkle her nose. "He's like my dad," she complained for a moment before she realized he wasn't really her parent. "But he does have amazing legs. That being said," she gestured with her eyes to a certain Beast, "Logan looks pretty damn good in his leathers too. Ah think that the only reason they argue is because they can't agree who's manlier.....and that Scott is jealous that no matter how many squats he does, he'll never achieve the perfection that is Logan's ass."

Just the image of Logan and Scott bickering over who was manlier and who had the better ass sent Wanda into a fit of giggles. She tried to catch her breath but then spotted them both and lost it again, forced to cling to her chair to stop from toppling out of it. "I - I am never," she said after a moment, then lost it again. "Never going to be able to workout with them in the same room again. I'll just look at them, look at their manly, sculpted asses and lose it."

"Oh mah gawd," Rogue responded, dissolving into giggles herself. "And then throw in Mr Perfect Abs Kane and Mr Amazing Smile Wilson and we got us a pin up calendar. I bet Angel would help," she added, a twinkle in her eye.

Wanda's eyes grew wide. "Is she here? She's not here, right?" She looked around and then realized she had no idea how old Angel was but ... "You need to text her right now. Tell her we can sell them." She gave Logan a once over and grinned back at Rogue. "Tell her we'll probably end up rich."

"On it lady!"‎. Angel would soon be receiving several.texts messages outlining this money making scheme. It was flawless.

***
"So... I can't figure out what you did to the Mustang," Adrienne admitted to Wade as she brought two beers over to him during the party. "I even opened the hood and looked at the engine, but it looked like... a big silvery box to me."

Wade grinned as he took the beer, then waggled his eyebrows. "Did you look inside? At the gearstick? It's a pretty minor interior change, I mean aside from the new leather."

"I did notice the leather, yes. It's sweeeeet. I did not notice the gearstick. Can you tell me what you did, or is it a surprise?"

"There's a button on the gearstick," Wade said, grinning. "If you push that button, your new nitrous oxide engine will fire up and you will rocket to wherever you were going. Just make sure you're on a straight street. Unless you're into that drifting thing, in which case I fully expect you to show off."

Adrienne's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "You made me a rocket car?"

"I installed a nitrous oxide engine and a button that lets you feel like you're in a rocket."

"Rocket carrrr!" Adrienne threw her hands up in a rock-star gesture. "Ohmigawd, that's awesome! I'm so excited to try it out!" She stumbled forward to hug Wade, squinting to focus on him. "Just maybe not right now, because, drinking. So who are you supposed to be?" she asked, stepping back to squint at Wade's costume.

Wade brandished his frying pan and his stuffed chameleon at her. "I'm Rapunzel. Marie-Ange is Flynn Ryder. Wherever she's gone off to. Who're you?"

"Rapunzel?" Adrienne squinted some more at the frying pan. "Man, I really need to see some more Disney movies. Maybe now that Tandy's back," she grinned. "Except she's all... not a teenager anymore, so I don't know if she'll be into Disney or that stuff. Have you talked to her since she's been back?"

Picking up his beard, Wade waved the end at Adri. It was ridiculously long. "We gender swapped the story, but I didn't feel like getting the world's longest weaves put in. Or extensions. Or whatever they're called. And no, I haven't talked to Tandy yet." He'd... barely talked to Molly, which had been difficult in an odd way, the juxtaposition between happiness and ambivalence at her return had been unsettling.

"You should! She's here!" Thanks to the alcohol, Adrienne didn't pick up on the observation of Wade's discomfort. She couldn't see much beyond how happy she was that Tandy had come back. "I'm sure she'd love to see her dagger-throwing teacher again, even though she was, y'know, trained by a god in swordsmanship over the past four years."

"Right, the Asgardians," Wade said, voice a monotone before he took a long sip of beer. "Anyway, I'm sure she's busy catching up with people her own age. Whatever that is now."

Okay, well, now she picked up on his bad mood. "Whaaat?! She's twenty-two. C'mon." Adrienne elbowed him in the ribs. "What's wrong? Why so glum, chum?"

"Doesn't it bother you," Wade asked, frowning more at himself than anything else. He contemplated his beer. "You missed a whole chunk of her life. Whatever happened there, you'll never be a part of it. You couldn't help her through whatever problems she had, you weren't able to train her or... anything. And if not for some... fluke or something, I don't know, she might not even have come back."

Adrienne shrugged. "Well, for one, I can't think about flukes. I'll go crazy if I do. For two, I'm not her mom, so the whole 'being a part of her life' thing? Not really a big thing for me. I'm not, y'know, the Karate Kid dude. She was gonna go to university anyway, and I had to get used to the idea a long time ago that other people were gonna train her and help her through problems because despite my raging ego, I couldn't keep her in a box all to myself and turn her into a mini version of myself sans all the shit other people put on me. And for three, I kinda got to be a part of it." She waggled her fingers at Wade with a smirk. "Powers, remember? She had some jewelry on the whole time she was there. I Read it. I got to see all of it, experience pretty much every minute she was there."

Wade didn't really have anything he could say in response to that. He just took another sip of beer, then shrugged a little. "That's good, though. Good you could see it all. It's just... not really the same for those of us without your particular powers set." He quirked a rueful smile. "Sorry, I'll stop getting my emo all over your party."

Adrienne waved off the emo comment. "Why don't you ask Emma nicely if she'll go all telepath on you and take the shoebox in my head where I put Tandy's four years in Asgard and put them into your head for you? She could do it with stuff from Molly and the other kid if you want, too. Probably. I mean, she likes you. And she goes into my head all the time. We have a mental link or whatever. So it's not like it's hard. Even if it was, she's Emma. She's the best fucking telepath in the world," she gushed. "She can do anything."

Smiling a little despite himself, Wade said, "I'll keep it in mind. For now, I think I'm gonna finish this beer and go find my lady." Reaching out, he pulled Adrienne into a half-hug and said, "Happy birthday, McFrosty. I'm glad it was a good one."

"Yes! Keep it in mind!" Adrienne returned the hug and poked him in the ribs. "You should keep it in mind and we should do this thing because you should be happy. Like me. Even though it isn't your birthday. And when I'm not drinking you better take me driving in my awesome rocket car!"

***

It was late enough in the evening that everyone's inhibitions had been lowered, but not late enough that anyone had started to be the worse for wear. It was also late enough that people had got somewhat bored of playing all the music to dance to and at least some of the tunes now coming up were ones that couples could use to slow dance.

It was in one of those songs that Emma had claimed Queen's prerogative and, rescuing Doug from a dark corner, had taken him onto the dance floor.

"We still fit nicely," she murmured softly into his ear. "Even though its been too long."

It wasn't so much that Doug had been lurking, but he was feeling the weight of a night spent socializing, and retreating a bit into quietly people-watching. Emma taking him to the dance floor had caught him a bit off guard, but not in an unpleasant way. "What is a Knight for, if not to fit his Queen's needs?" he asked with a chuckle as they moved gracefully across the floor.

"Storming castles," replied Emma. "Looking imposing on horseback. Clanking," she finished archly. "I believe those are some other uses for knights." She leaned back in close to him again and asked quietly, "And your needs, Doug? I haven't been around much since... the thing. And not nearly enough for you, I suspect."

"Well, there's always therapy. Which Frost Enterprises' health insurance pays for, so I suppose you're indirectly seeing to my needs?" It was good to loosen up a bit, make jokes, even if a bit darkly. There hadn't really been enough of that for Doug - he was clearly getting through, but also clearly struggling at times.

Emma chuckled. "Very indirectly," she agreed. "And Miss Collins? Is she seeing to your... needs?" Considering the skimpiness of Doug's costume, Emma's subtle wriggle could only be described as extremely suggestive.

Doug's eyes twinkled with mischief. "If you want to watch, you'll have to ask her, Auntie Em," he told her as he smirked a bit. These days he could usually manage to give about as good as he got with Emma. He was a long way from that young, hesitant boy he'd been.

"Watch?" pouted Emma. "How dull do you think I am these days, Doug? Who wants to watch when you can join in?" She laughed at Doug's expression and for a moment her arms tightened, and her mind touched his with a melange of emotions: pride and joy and love and sorrow and just a hint of lasciviousness. "Ah, my Knight, there are things we need to do. I think the White Queen needs to ensure her claim to her Hellfire Club is not under threat. Time to rebuild my Court, I think. What do you say, my Knight? It isn't quite our world, but we can make it ours, if we want. Shall we own this world, Doug Ramsey?"

"I am -always- at your service, my Queen." As if it needed to be asked. But sometimes formalities needed to be observed.

“Then the world doesn’t stand a chance,” murmured Emma and, leaning into Doug’s arms, let her cares be swayed away to the rhythm of the music.


***
The birthday girl was unsurprisingly in high demand but Wanda pounced the moment she saw her chance, slipping her arm over Adrienne's shoulders as she gently set down a drink in front of her. "Have you hit the point where it has become passé to buy you drinks?" she teased. Wanda was doing a rather distressingly good version of Mother Gothel thanks to her wild mane of hair being allowed to let loose for the evening.

Adrienne was well lubricated by this point of the evening, which meant she didn't flinch as this universe's version of Wanda touched her. Excellent. That would make things less awkward. She squinted her eyes at this Wanda and tried to forget that she didn't actually know her. It was easier to do with Wanda than with Jean, since this Wanda looked the same as the one Adrienne had fought ghosts with and played a regular game of tennis with. "Never!" she answered triumphantly, putting her arm up in a defiant gesture. "It is never passé to buy me drinks! I want all the drinks! They help me forget how old I really am!"

"Then you shall have all the drinks!" Wanda laughed. She wasn't exactly steady, either, thanks to what had appeared to be a never ending supply of drinks that found their way into her hand. "Until we get there, though, we'll start with this one! Or continue, anyway." She gave Adrienne's shoulder a quick squeeze before releasing her so she could hand over the drink, which was a brilliant color of green. "I was told it tastes like candy but packs a punch. I might need to apologize for it once you drink it."

"Is this Skittles vodka?" Adrienne asked in an awed tone, squinting at the drink. "That vodka you put, y'know... Skittles in? I've heard of this. It's supposed to be soooo sugary. Old people don't like sugary stuff, right? So if I drink this I'm not old! Yaaay!" It seemed perfectly logical to her. She downed the bright green concoction and coughed, eyes crossing momentarily. "Wow. Being not old is kinda gross, huh?"

Wanda made a face in sympathy but she couldn't help but laugh. "Note to self - do not try that. Ever. No matter how not old I would like to feel." She drained the rest of her beer and clunked it down next to Adrienne's empty glass. "We need to find other things to make you feel not old that are not as green glow-y."

It was weird laughing along with a woman you felt like you knew but technically didn't, Adrienne mused. She and this Wanda seemed to be just as close as they'd been in the past universe. But their experiences wouldn't have been the same. They wouldn't have bonded over fighting GhostSteven- he'd been killed by the mafia in this universe, not Adrienne's hired gun. Had Wanda still slept with Garrison while Adrienne had dated Jacob Gavin? Was there a Jake Gavin in this universe?

It made her head hurt to keep thinking about it, so Adrienne called for two more beers and ordered herself to stop trying. "Okay, yes. Let's do that," she agreed, nodding vigorously. "But not tattoos. Done that. And not sex, because, public place. What other stuff makes people feel young? Skateboards?"

"Rollerblading? That is still a thing, yes?" When the drinks arrived, Wanda indicated they were to go on her open tab. She tried to think past the beer about things to feel young. "I think they say yoga makes you feel young but, honestly, we get far too much working out done in our day to day lives."

Her eyes gazed around the room and she couldn't help but feel a drunken rush of affection. She could not remember the last time they'd all been gathered like this - well, especially like this, in their Disney glory - and with everything that was going on now, the fact that they could make it even sweeter. And then her gaze narrowed and she gave Adrienne a sly grin. "How about sharking even drunker people than us at pool?"

"Yoga helps," Adrienne shrugged, "but it does make your skin look older, apparently, so that's kind of a kick in the teeth. I mean, how do you choose between amazing flexibility and supple skin? It's such a Sophie's Choice," she sighed. Wanda's comment about pool brightened her up, however. "Ooo, yeah! With our powers together? I bet we could really clean up! Wonder Twin powers activate?" she asked, holding her hand out for a fist bump.

It took Wanda a second to focus enough so that she didn't accidentally punch Adrienne in the chest. But she finally got it and bump knuckles against knuckles. "Form of beer and awesomeness," she said with a laugh as they headed towards their next target.

***

Wanda hadn't actually seen the altercation with Warren and Jean but she'd heard about it eventually - thankfully less gossiping and more someone knowing the two women were close - and had started wandering through the crowds, looking for Jean. She eventually found her at a table near the bar and she sidled up to the redhead.

"I come bearing cheese fries," she said, plunking down the plate on the table. "It is terrible for us but I figure you could do with something like this." She bumped Jean's shoulder with her own. "I heard about what happened. Are you alright?"

Bumping Wanda's shoulder back, Jean plucked a gooey, cheesy fry from the pile and took a bite. Her eyes fluttered closed and she smiled.

"We're just ensuring the surgeon general's job security," she said. She finished off the fry, then took a drink from her beer to wash it down.

"I'm bruised, but breathing. I should've known, and deep down, maybe I did. I guess I just hoped I was wrong."

She grabbed another fry. "But, you live and you learn. And the lesson for today is....don't trust blond millionaire playboys."

"I am sorry," Wanda sighed, eating a few fries while trying not to get any cheese on her dress. "You certainly deserve better and he deserves a well-placed kick. I could think of a few places." She glowered at the back of his head over the crowd; Warren was deliberately not looking towards Jean.

"Honestly, he has no idea what he just messed up," she continued. Jean was one of her dearest friends and her blood was boiling. "Well, I certainly hope you know and I mean really know that he is the idiot and it's nothing to say about you, yes?"

"It says I should've listened to myself. I knew his past behaviors, chronicled with such detail in the tabloids, yet I still dove in expecting something different," she said, wiping a bit of cheese off on a napkin.

"The irony is I broke up with him yesterday because our personalities clashed. So I consider this the laser pointer on the detailed powerpoint presentation of just how wrong we are for one another. He's an asshole. And you're right, I deserve better."

"Yes, you do," Wanda said firmly. "I mean, good job with the abs on that one but maybe a little something between the ears next time." That was rather mean but considering her irritation, she didn't care. "You know, if I was younger and less sober, I would probably hex Warren until he could not walk."

She huffed. "But that would be childish and since I am actually not sober, I might miss." An impish look crossed over her face and she leaned closer to Jean. "However, I can read the strings. Do you want me to describe what I could do to him if I wanted to cause a scene? You can replay those possibilities in your mind whenever you run across him."

"I don't know...the idea of a throw away boytoy sounds fun. It has been a very long time since I've gotten any arrows in my quiver if you know what I mean. Warren and I never went through with it. I suppose my subconscious knew better," Jean said, then slowly grinned.

"And yes please. Do describe. I have a vivid imagination," she said. She knew they would never really do any of these things but it felt good to ponder.

With relish, Wanda started to describe all the things that she could make happen to Warren, elaborating in places where it needed a little embellishment. They spent a while with their heads close together, Wanda's hands gesturing and both of them giggling in evil glee at particularly amusing ones.

***
"Em," Adrienne muttered with a frown as she approached her sister, standing alongside her so they were both staring at Kane, who was singing loudly and quite off key to a Tragically Hip song across the room. "I appreciate you picking up the bar tab for those who need a truck of liquor to get drunk, but... really? Couldn't you have limited the tab for people whose drunken antics do not cause me personal embarrassment?"

Emma smiled as she watched Garrison. "I gave you the option of a Kristoff outfit for him when you last changed. You were the one that made him wear the reindeer antlers. I don't think you get to play the "he's embarrassing me" card at this point." She gave her sister a quick, reassuring glance. "Harry will cut off anyone who looks like they may be heading into personal danger territory. But not just if they're... entertaining. He's aware that people may need the chance to... let loose a little tonight."

"Yeah, he definitely needs that," Adrienne agreed with a nod. "I mean, our trip to Europe definitely helped him take his mind off his suspension, but now that we're back..." she trailed off, wincing as he struck a particularly disturbing note. "Hopefully it all gets resolved soon. No!" she shouted suddenly. "No, Kane! No Stan Rogers! Stop! Stoppit now! He's not stopping. Em, hold me back or I'm going to crush his windpipe."

Obligingly, Emma clutched at Adrienne's hands. "You're not allowed to kill him, Adrienne," she cautioned. "Imagine your mug shot. You'd look like Anne of Green Gables had grown up and developed homicidal tendencies."

Adrienne groaned at the thought. "True. And add to that the fact that I look horrid in orange. Plus, no matter what the industry says, jumpsuits are not coming back into fashion if I have anything to do with it. Home Shopping Network be damned, trying to get middle aged women to wear jumpsuits again. Middle aged women like me. I'm middle aged. I'm forty. How did you deal with it?" she asked her sister glumly.

"I considered the alternative," replied Emma, calmly. "Besides," she grinned at her sister and let a ripple of diamond wash over her body, "I'm made of diamond. I'm fairly certain that makes me immortal. That's what I've decided, anyway. And if I'm going to be immortal, what's forty years in the scheme of that?" She patted Adrienne's hand, still clasped in hers, lightly. "And I'm a robotics genius with vast wealth and resources - so why wouldn't I make my sister immortal as well?" She tilted her head and took on a considering tone. "Weeeellllll. You might have to be a brain in a jar in a robot suit, but you'll be an immortal brain in a jar in a robot suit!" She smiled brightly at Adrienne, nodding enthusiastically.

"I really appreciate the sentiment," Adrienne chuckled, "but robots are creepy as hell. Why does it have to be a robot suit?" She used her free hand to poke Emma in the arm. "You're also a telepath. Can't you figure out a way to... psychic my brain into someone else's body? Someone spry and really hot if I'm no longer spry and hot myself?"

"That's always kind of tricky," replied Emma. "There's patterns of synapses and if you superimpose - anyway, you end up in psyche-wars and the host brain normally wins and you'd have to live in a box in someone else's head forever and never be let out. I could make it a really nice robot suit? We don't have to put your brain in a jar right now - because, aside from anything else, that'd probably put a crimp in the party - and there's some interesting developments just starting to happen around liquid metal and molecular memory forms. Give it a bit of time and I might be able to make you a spry, hot, shapeshifting robot suit for your brain in a jar. Deal?"

"Deal," Adrienne responded after thinking it over for several alcohol-fueled moments. "I don't wanna have to live in a box in someone else's head and never be let out. A shapeshifting hot robot sounds much better than a box inside someone's head never being let out. Shapeshifting hot robot," she murmured, pointing at herself for a moment and then pointing at Emma, squinting at her slightly, "immortal diamond telepath. Please tell me we have a cop show in our future. Or a family sitcom."

"I solemnly promise that we will fight crime," replied Emma, then winced. "And I think we should start with fighting Mr Kane's crimes against music," she said, as Garrison hit a note that Emma was fairly certain had never appeared in any musical notation since the beginning of time. "Shall we?" she gestured Adrienne ahead of her. "Perhaps if we offer him another drink? Or you could just kiss him until he shuts up?"

"Well, that's never worked before," Adrienne mused with a smirk, "but that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop trying."