2013.05.31 - A Game of Thrones... er... Tennis

She's wearing red, with accents of white. Millie's top is sleeveless and dominated red with white border lines narrow at her shoulders before widening down her back and chest as it curves about to end at the hem of her top. Her top hangs over a red tennis skirt. On her feet are red sneakers with white running streaks on them as they say. Even her tennis racket is red with white wiring. If Shaw doesn't have a tennis racket, she would have brought one of hers with her, a blue one. Her legs are bare, and on her wrists are exercise bands, white ones. About her head to hold her hair back is a red band, even though it is pulled into a high pony tail.

With a bag of tennis balls, Millie is waiting on the tennis field for Shaw, having already approved him with the front desk. It isn't like they wouldn't recognize Sebastian Shaw of all people! The balls are currently being used as Millie warms up, pracing her serve and nailing it just on the inside of the white line almost each time perfectly. Her pony tail sways with each of her movements.

Sebastian Shaw hadn't played tennis in nearly ten years. Not since Donald Pierce had run off to Austriala to deal with... something. He admittly lost track of what he was doing now. Shaw however was dressed in a white polo-shirt and a pair of khaki slacks, his racket in a leather bag that he had Tessa dust before going out with. He didn't want to seem like he was that much of an amatuer.

After getting past the front desk, who was nice enough to tell him where his partner for today had gone. He arrived and saw Millie. With a warm smile he said, "Now remeber, go easy on me. I haven't played tennis in a while, and I was never at a pro-level."

Millie's head whips about and a warm, bright smile spreads across her mouth, a grin really. "I'm not pro-level anymore either. I think I can get back there, but it take some hardcore training to manage it." Her eyes are bright and then a bit of a blush touches her cheeks. She never mentioned the flowers or dress over the phone. "Umm...thanks for the flowers and dress Sebastian, but you didn't have to." While other women sound coy when they often say that, Millie sounds sincere. Sebastian nodded and unzipped his bag and pulled out his racket from 10 years, it wasn't well cared for but it would work. And ten years ago it would have been the most expensive racket around. He looked to Millie and said, "Honestly, I wanted to. The second you left my presence I felt like I needed you to have a gift from me."

He laughed and said, "Just be glad I didn't have someone fill your entire apartment with flowers... I considered it."

A roll of her eyes, "Lucky me I don't have allergies," and Millie smirks at that playfully, though there is still a faint blush to her cheeks. She doesn't ask how Sebastian knew her size. "And who would have carried them all out when they died?" Soft laughter then. But she then motions toward the other court, "Well, how about we loosen up a bit?" She seems to keep her distance physically, though her demeanor and attitude is warm and friendly.

"If You had allergies, I wouldn't have sent them," Sebsatian said with a smile, "And for the record you're measurements were printed in the last magazine shoot you did; it was rather hard to figure out your size from that, but then again..."

Shaw waved his racket for a moment, "Shall I serve, or shall you?"

Millie frowns, "I don't like it when they do that." Millie knows she's unusually thin and athletic, and doesn't want to put pressure on growing girls. "I'll make sure to add that as a contract condition for now on." Always, considerate of others feelings and the image she gives to the world, wanting it to be a good one because she cares. But she is then tossing you a couple tennis balls to tuck into your pockets, before she goes to grab some more to shoove into her own pockets within her skirt. She returns to the court, "Serve away," she finally says. Her feet are slightly braced apart, and she rolls her shoulders, getting ready to move. Shaw laughed, "Well if your love returning serves that much. He could understand why she wouldn't want her measurements made out to the word. "

He bounced the tennis ball a few times, "I hope you like returning serves."

Then he threw the ball up perfectly, as if he was a pro, and hit it, the ball moved towards Millie so hard that to hit it might break her racket!

Millie jerks to the side and holds her racket close to her to protect it, her eyes wide! She has never been fearful of a Tennis ball before now! So the glare that she sends Sebastian is one that steams. Uh-oh, don't forget...Millie does have a temper! And apparently, she doesn't find that funny. "I'll hit you with my racket if you hit me with a ball," she promises in a low tone. "Then we are in agreement." He grabs a new ball and this time he tells himself to not to hit as hard as he can. Its not an easy hit, but it's not a hard hit. Sebastian is not good a tennis, that first shot was luck.

And Millie moves...one moment she was still and glaring, and then she's moving, her eyes intense as she moves to hit the ball, sending speeding fast toward Shaw. She doesn't hold back as much as she normally would since Shaw seems more than able to send them her way.

And Sebastian was revealed to be shite at tennis. That first hit was nothing. Millie even hit him in the face with a tennis ball. Shaw laughed at that and said, "Do you always hit your friends with a tennis ball? Honestly, that woudl be very impressive?"

Millie's temper had begun to fade definitely by then, but she then gasps, fingers over her mouth. "What are..you can't be /that/ bad Sebastian, you ran right into the ball!" And she actually looks horribly embarassed, and finally sighs, "Let's get some water, and...I think we will start with Tennis lessons if you aren't just playing at being that...no, surely you wouldn't take a ball to the face just to appear bad." Sebastian said, "Honestly, I am that bad," Shaw didn't look even slightly hurt but he came forward to the net, "You are much better than me."

"Yet your are more beautiful, than my everything."

He threw you the ball, "Your turn to serve?

A wince at that, "I'm afraid you will run into the ball again. I don't want to hurt you." Millie has no idea on Shaw's power. So she instead goes to get a water bottle for you both, giving you one, and taking some swings of hers. She then says, "First, holding your racket," and Millie starts with explaining the basics, and how to swing your arm, and how much of your body to put into it, and she even talks about the dynamics of the ball and the angle to hit it and where to hit it on the racket, which comes out as almost theory to those not familiar with it, but considering Shaw's intelligence? He would likely catch onto it quickly. Still, the way Millie talks, it's energetically and she pauses on drinking water to show you want she means and stays at your side showing you different serves and moves, and having to try them, just spending time with you. Shaw knew how to use a racket but he was enjoying the way she was explaining it to him, "Lets do it again then."

He throws a ball towards you, "This time, you serve." He rubs his nose politely, "Honestly, it would probably be better for the both us."

Millie nods and smiles, "Alright." She then jogs over to the other side of the court, picking up balls as she goes and tucking them inside her skirt pockets. When she gets over there, she tosses the ball up and smacks it one, being more gentle than she was before.

As Millie served this time, being nicer about the serve, Sebastian prepared himself. This time he managed to return the ball rather than just get hit in the nose.

The return was very weak though, despite Shaw's own athleticism he wasn't good at tennis... when he was trying to be humble. In truth he could just expend the kinetic energy necessary to hit the ball hard and move fast enough to react to nearly any strike back. But this wasn't about mutant powers, or proving his superiority. This was about a woman that he had grown fond of.

The returned ball nearly hit the top of the net as it came over and went right down the middle for a fairly easy hit.

Millie moves quickly, easily tapping it back. She keeps it gentle, but her aim is true, right to you. She's playing it to teach you, rather than to win right now. Her movements are swift and confident, though not the top form they were when she was playing professionally. Still, the edge is there, as if when done a movement, she can't hold still. Sebastian moved towards the ball and this time managed to return it without taking it to his face. The hit was... very unprofessional and it was obvious that Shaw had to rush into position and wasn't really all that ready to hit it. The ball is heading towards out-of-bounds area very quickly.

Avoiding a second hit not to the face, always good. Millie though, pulls another tennis ball from her tennis skirt pocket. "So," tossing the ball up into the air and serves it well toward you. "No need to hit the ball hard, but you do want to aim and guide." She's smiling.

In some weird way it was fun for Sebastian right now to be... out of control. To not be the best at what he was doing at the moment. To not have every move planned out in advance. It had been a long time since he felt like that.

Nodding to Millie, he was a bit more prepared now and was remembering how to play this game. Though he was now remembering her preferred playing racket ball, walls made this game easier. He hit the ball back, using a bit of his own stored kinetic energy to increase his reflexes and control, "It's all coming back to me now. But still, I don't expect to do -too- well against you."

The ball came back better than the last exchange but still didn't have much skill behind it.

A chuckle at that, "The point is to have fun and get some exercise in," and Millie is moving again to return the ball back to Shaw. She sends it a little to his left, making him have to move a bit faster for it, but still reasonable. "Ah, that reminds me, I spoke with Mr. Worthington about what it was like to be a young gifted, and I have finally finalized the mission statement for the foundation with the Maria Stark Foundation."

Ah, young Worthington, he remembered the day the boy grew his wings. It was quite a... interesting reaction from his father. One that made him glad that older Worthington never knew his own secret. He doesn't say that though. He rushes over and hits the ball with ease this time, the exhilaration of the game making him lower the mask a bit.

What he does say aloud is, "Ah Maria, she was such a lovely woman. It was such a tragic passing. But then again, I did give you a blank check for this. I'm still surprised you are seeking other financial recourse."

The ball went far towards the back corner, it could go out of bounds or just bounce in bounds.

The distinctive, but only mildly echoing thawk each time the Tennis racket hits the Tennis ball, fills the air. By choosing early in the morning, but not too early, the two apparently have dodged the busy court at this gym, as the other two Tennis courts are empty to give it a more private feel. Millie reacts instictively though, moving toward the ball, and seems to dive at it, but somehow she has one foot beneath her, knee bent dramatically as she just catches the ball and sends it your way. It is returned fast and hard, again, an instinctive reaction due to the challenging nature of the return. "Oh! Sorry!" Millie sounds sheepish.

"I heard good things of her. And it's mostly for support, though Mr. Stark did promise grant money for founding, so planning to use your check to basically handle some of the first programs. Honestly, I need a treasuer, I'm completely lost in this aspect. Math was never my strong suit, nor was budgeting," she confesses. "A treasurer, yes that is a hard task for sure," he said completely oblivious to the idea that she had was trying to get him to take the position. In fact, since he had already stated he wanted to be a silent contributor he assumed this was all just idle chit-chat.

He ran towards the ball with speed of a man much, much, younger than he was and hit the ball just as well as if he were a pro himself. The advantages of the gifted, "No trouble at all, my darling," he was subconsciously using his powers to improve his strength and reflexes. He was unaware he was even doing it, it was just instinct.

A slight step to the side, and Millie lets the ball go past her as it ends up bouncing out of bounds. She could have caught it, but she purposely let it go. She then moves to pull the last ball from her tennis skirt pockets. She tossing it up into the air and catches it. "I still can't believe your age, even will all the proof Sebastian. It isn't just a matter that you still look quite handsome, but it's how you move, how you react. It's actually quite beautiful to watch." And she smiles, almost playfully before she tosses the ball up and serves with ease.

"Yes, it is a difficult task, and not a very publicized one either actually." Sebastian smiled, and for a moment considered letting her in on his secret. One that would destroy her view of him, and in some ways may make her not trust him again. So that idea was benched for now.

This serve was now easy for him to hit, the sixty-three old man, who looked like a forty year old, who now moved like a twenty year old. He hit hard and gracefully, not as good as a pro, but a definite experienced amateur.

To the comment on the treasurer Shaw suddenly grew wise, "My darling, Millicent. Are you asking me to be treasurer?"

And then another firm thawk is heard as the return is made, Millie almost tripping as she makes it, and thus it is a off-center and barely inbounds when it goes to bounce down, unless Sebastian catches it earlier. "Oh...oops, was I that obvious?" A slight blush there, but then a very, very cheeky grin. "It's been since my pro-tennis days, being called Millicent, so I know I must be in trouble." Shaw didn't even go for the ball he just walks towards the net, "Your not in any sort of trouble... well not because of what you are trying to."

Shaw leaned on the net a bit and said, "You realize your asking the number one anti-mutant and metahuman political pundit to become the treasurer of a charity group that is specifically chartered to help said mutants and metahumans."

He considered for a moment and said, "That's like asking Joseph Stalin to be a part of a 'Capitalism Wow!' campaign."

Millie walks toward the net almost shyly. She bites her lower lip briefly, before looking up into your eyes, "Sebastian...that's not how you feel in your heart though. I know you do not plan to change, I /know/ that. Yet...I can't help but wanting to show you that you can be yourself in public and still succeed, still make a difference in a brighter way that you won't feel like you...well, that you don't feel like I will walk away from...you." There isn't really an 'us' yet between her and Shaw, but it's complicated enough to make Millie pause over the potential word. "Sometimes, you just need someone to have a little faith in you, to make a world of difference. Least, that is how it felt to me, when people believed in me. I far exceeded my own expectations and my own limitations because of other's faith in me." Sebastian put a hand on Millie's face and caressed it, "I'm going to tell you something now, something that will explain so much... and suddenly ask so many other questions."

He voice dropped a bit as he thought of telling her this. That he was going to reveal something that virtually no one alive knew, "I'm going to tell you this because I know you. I care for you. And I trust you."

He leaned in close to her and inhaled deeply and then whispered in her ear, "I am a mutant. My ability is to absorb kinetic energy and use it to strength myself, to slow my aging, to increase my reflexes."

Millie shivers instinctively at the whisper into her ear. The revealment that you are a mutant doesn't surprise her, though your power does. "That...explains things a little more clearly," she says so very quietly, almost breathlessly. Still, no surprise, no shock, just simple acceptance. "You carry on much longer like this, and even idoits will figure it out Sebastian," he voice so gentle. Just ignore the slight sway toward you and the net, Millie totally did that sub-consciously when you whispered in her ear. This means she already suspected something like this! To think Shaw has lowered his defenses so much around Millie that she could grow suspicious. And yet she still never pushed, never directly asked, and patiently waited till Sebastian was ready to share. Sebastian wasn't surprised be her reaction. Because that was just Millie. She was so accepting of things... well besides the debauchery of the Hellfire Club, but that wasn't for everyone. He moved away from her ear and smiled at her, "There are eight people alive who know that. Welcome to a club more exclusive than Hellfire."

He kissed Millie on the cheek as he departed their closeness. "And you're right. I have very little time before even the idiots realize I'm more than what I say. That's why I gave you the check... well that's why I gave you the check except for the fact that you are exquisitely beautiful."

A warm blush and soft laughter later, Millie then says, "This can be a chance then for you Sebastian. And you can always buy time," she teases him, "by saying it's just an excuse to try and get into my pants. It is very much like the public image you put out right now about the club." Millie doesn't realize that part is very true to Sebastian's personality, or she merely believes it isn't anymore. Sebastian Shaw wishes he could play his normal games. The truth is that he has been falling for Millie for a while now. Not when he gave her the check, that was a move to get in her pants. This was real, "I could. I could tell you this was all a lie in a long seduction process."

He shakes his head a bit and says, "But I don't seduce longer than hour, and haven't needed to for decades. You... are special to me."

"I would do anything right now just to see you smile," Shaw said with sincerity, "This is as confusing to me as it is to you. I haven't felt like this... in a long time."

Alright, now that's a really warm blush from Millie! But there is that feminine smile too, that pleased type, like she just got the best cream, or just ate the fattest canary. "Sometimes I don't know if you should hit you for your arrogance, or feel utterly flattered." She's utterly flattered of course, it's obvious. Hitting you wouldn't do any good anyway, she will figure that out soon enough when it hits her what kinetic energy is.

Though the racket is held between both hands then, and Millie says more seriously, "I'll be honest as well with you Sebastian. I'm not sure where this is leading. Perhaps we...will remain friends, perhaps something deeper. But I enjoy your company, and I like seeing you smile as well. I know there is much more than meets the eyes with you, and I want to get to know you better over time, not merely because I ask blunt questions. And no matter what, I want you to feel better about yourself, and your life by having me in it. I want to contribute. I know that sounds a little egotistical...it's just...I feel like I'm missing some important things, things that you feel driven about, but don't necessarily make you happy. And I want to just give you some happiness in life. It's just, how I feel, I guess." Yep, Millie talking about her personal feelings in a semi-romanatic sense. Awkward! Well, for Millie at least. As if she isn't quite used to opening up in this manner. Shaw looks away from Millie for a moment. He understands everything, how he seems to her, how he comes off. But he is a rock because of one woman, long dead. A woman that would tell him to move on if she was here. But she isn't.

Sebastian looks back at Millie and says, "No matter what happens between us. No. Matter. What. I will help you. Because you are a beautiful person, not externally but internally. I forgot that there were people like that."

He shakes his head a bit and says, "You lose that when you live in my world. It's all about the Lex Luthors and the Tony Starks and the Justin Hammers. You forget that there are real people out there, trying to make a difference," Sebastian looks sadly at everything around him for a moment. If he could ever look old, now is the time. His eyes have seen all of this unfold more than once.

Looking back to Millie he says, "I'll admit something... you were once a conquest. I would give you the check, bed you, and move on," shaking his head he said, "You've become so much more than that now. I'm... falling."

He doesn't elaborate on that last statement.

"Sebastian, that doesn't mean there aren't goodness beneath the masks." Though Millie blinks at the confession about the check. "Well...that does surprise me a...bit. The check no, but the blank check still being an effort, yes." A bit of a disappointment too. But people make mistakes, and it's who they are becoming that's important. "I'm afraid I don't know how to catch myself, let alone someone else Sebastian." Sure, she feels tugged by Tony, but she is certainly falling as well along with Sebastian. Poor Millie isn't sure what to do, the fact she looks so unsure likely unlike her as even in her awkward moments she seems so straight forward and such a straight shooter.

Her being akward is what he likes. It's the real her. Not the public persona that she show. So, Sebastian looks Millie in the eyes and says, "The check was a mistake... but only because I didn't know you. Only your reputation. And in the Hellfire Club you assume that people are fake. I assumed... unjustly, that you were just another super-model looking for a cause she could latch onto."

He then drops to a knee to put her above him, to show his sincerity, "I still have secrets, many that you would never want to see. I do horrible things in the name of government contracts and progress. So this I ask of my darling, Millicent Collins, allow me to take you on a date. One where we aren't talking business, or awkwardly flirting like two high school kids. Let's be ourselves for one night. No pretensions... just us."

With a smile he says, "Do that, and I will be that treasurer you need."

A blink at that. Millie's heart is racing, and she accidentally reaches up to touch her own chest, fingers over her heart as if she could stop it. "I..." But that's the point, she knows there are dark things that Sebastian hides. It's one of the reasons she wants to save him so very, very much. But she doesn't talk of that now, she merely nods at first, and then with a bit of a shaky smile, "I'd be honored Sebastian, treasurer or no, not that I'm complaining about the extra benefits in the least." Sebastian, still on one knee, smiled at Millie's response, "It's I who am honored. That a woman like you would even consider a man like me. It's a honor that can not be exceeded."

Standing to his feet he added, "Tomorrow night, I'll send a car for you. And don't worry, it won't be to deliver you to the Hellfire Club. I promise you, the -real-Sebastian Shaw will be attend to you. No lies, no hiding, the real me."

Granted sending a car for her was a bit of the 'new' Sebastian. But he now knew what he was doing, he was falling, but it was a fall he was glad to take.

Millie things she might be developing a heart condition at this rate, even though Sebastian thankfully got up from his knee. Thankfully, no swooning was involved. "Tomorrow...sure." She doesn't even know what is scheduled tomorrow! But she will figure it out.

Millie resists glomping poor Sebastian with a hug at least. Instead she steps toward him and kisses him on the cheek this time. It's a slow and dramatic move, rather than a quick peck. When she pulls back, she looks up at the man that has remembered what being a gentleman was all about and smiles beautifully. Alright, so she's a bit short on words, but she's happy. At least until her watch beeps at her, and she glances down at it. "Oh...shoot! I got to grab a shower here, and get to the library for storytime!" Yes, storytime...she reads to children.

Sebastian chuckles at that comment, "Well I did ignore three important meetings for this, but the children are our future and all that."

He himself has other things to do and would go do those things. In specific Project: Wide Awake had some inprovements they wanted for the Sentinels after they attack Magneto. As he heads out a woman dressed in black, with a pair of red sunglasses who seems to be Shaw's personal assistant glares at Millie for a moment.