2013-02-14 Valentine's Day Dance at Xavier's

[Westchester]- Xavier Institute - Cafeteria This is a large room, running most of the length of the center wing of the house. The floors are hardwood, much as in the rest of the mansion, while the walls here give way from full wood paneling to ornate oak wainscoting, above which they are plain white. The north wall is dominated by large bay windows that overlook the rear grounds, while the south wall bears several paintings of the surrounding countryside. The west wall has a long wooden counter with shutters that open into the kitchen beyond, and a free-standing salad bar stands close by. Shelves along the east wall offer a place to stow bulky personal belongings, such as backpacks, during mealtime. Six small chandeliers hang at intervals around the room, one centered over each of the long, rectangular dining tables. These are made of solid oak, large enough to take up most of the room, and matching chairs seat ten on either side of each table. <+view to show viewable notes here; '+help +view'>

The kids have really done a job on decorating for Valentine's Day. The corridors leading to the cafeteria are bedecked in red hearts, little nymphs with wings and bows and arrows pointing in all manner of directions (a couple of them coloured blue or 'ice' white- schoolgirl crushes unrevealed), and streamers everywhere. Within the cafeteria itself, it has been transformed from an eatery to a proper dance area. The heavy tables are set aside, leaving the center to the far side of the room opposite the kitchen open for DJ and dancing. The kitchen staff has a buffet table set up with all manners of finger food and cookies, complete with a giant, crystal punch bowl with sherbet floating in the middle. A red and white table cloth sits underneath it to catch spills and crumbs, emblazoned with hearts and flowers.

The DJ is in place, spinning the disks, or rather.. the CDs. Okay.. the mp3s. But that doesn't sound anywhere near cool.

The cafeteria is filling up, the girls in their frilly Valentine's Day dresses, the gents trying to be 'cool', wearing, at the very least, shirts and ties. Those that have something of a neck, that is. This is a school of mutants, after all. There are those with wings, those with paws.. and those are just the 'not so oddly shaped' students! Already, there are a couple brave couples on the dance floor- or rather, a few girls in their gaggle that have decided that dancing is far preferable to standing around the tables and stuffing their faces. The chaperones are milling about; they are certainly needed when dealing with hormones in sneakers. Okay, now hormones in heels.

Herr Wagner, erstwhile drama coach and mentor to the kids that organized the party, is dressed in his tux. Might as well get the use out of it. He's got his black jacket on, black tie with frilly shirt. Hair is combed back and out of his eyes, though for how long, that can only be a guess. Other than being blue, he'd look.. normal- okay, other than the tail that is free behind him.

"Herr Wagner!" A couple of girls run, one stationing herself on one side, and the other on the other. "Kyle is threatening to put alcohol in the punch!"

For the evening, Shift is dressed in, of all things, a tuxedo. That's right, a tuxedo. Complete with a bright red bow tie. When the festivities start, he takes his place behind a pair of StarkTables, and with a few scratches on the digital decks, the night begins! Seems Shift picked up some DJ skills along the way, and his headphones? Yep, they have big X logos on either can.

In a suit and tie, Bobby Drake is busy helping one last minute decoration be moved from a cart to an open space on a table. A big ice heart sculpture with 'Happy Valentine's Day' carved into it along with the Xavier School logo. There wasn't much carving done, a few students pleading with him until he made it for them. "Alright, here ya go. It's all set up. Go enjoy the dance now, kiddoes," he says, amused by kids as he looks out at the dance to make sure there's no outright rule breaking happening yet.

And somewhere... Of to the side... Alone... Is a girl. A girl who is not a student (despite the fact she looks young enough to be one) or a member of the faculty (and yes she definitely looks too your to be one of them).

This girl is in a dress. A black dress. Nothing fancy looking, or stylish, and certainly not expensive, but it at least shows some thought related to this dance, and even an attempt to fit in.

Then again, considering that it is Laura Kinney aka X-23 this whole thing could be considered alien to her, and her even trying to fit in is nothing short of amazing.

Victor 'Anole' Borkowski was not on the dance-floor. No, rather, the green-skinned young mutant sat at a table. He had punch, a little bit of food which he drank and munched respectively. The milling about of hormones in heels, wingtips (In Vic's Case) or sneakers hadn't really caught Vic's attention. Girl's in skirts (and what possibly mysteries remained under them.) just weren't this young man's interests.

The pigs in a blanket, however, had Vic playing a game of 'Entertain yourself at the social event'. Two of them- one held in each hand- stood opposite each other on his plate. "I see you've come back, Pork-Nose Kid." Said one voice. "That's right, Sausage-fingers. I'mma callin' you out."

YES! This is Victor Borkowski. Dork.

Ruth Aldine's appearance is rather lackluster compared to what many of the students seem to be wearing. But she probably can't see colors, so the soft-gray dress that goes from her neck to the floor might be forgiven. She slit only comes up to her knees, sorry boys, and only the upper portion of her back and her arms are exposed. Her blindfold is, well, it's still the same old blindfold, no accessorizing there. No, the accessory comes in the form of a corsage attached to her right wrist, the large white flower thing with gold ribbon. Her hair is done back in a single braid, though some bangs seem to have escaped to hang down and frame her face.

She enters the cafeteria with very little fanfare, considering she's got a seven-foot-tall teenager behind her. So sure, they get some looks, after all, kind of hard to miss Serene, amirite!? But she was the one person on campus who didn't think she was 'creepy', or at least it seemed that way to Ruth sometimes.

The blind girl moves along the peripheries, squeezing between groups of people and turning this way and that, as if looking, or perhaps listening for someone. The DJ gets a 'look' from the sightless girl, as well as a quizzical frown, before she proceeds past a few more couples, a gaggle of boys, and the food tables.

"There are many people. Yes. It is hard to find one."

That ever-present feeling of being out of place grows exponentially the instant that Domino sets foot into the transformed cafeteria. She's had some time to sort her thoughts, temper her emotional barriers, and have a few more pain meds downed with a few more drinks. As far as coping mechanisms go, it leaves a lot to be desired. Still, she manages to get herself here without a scrap of black trenchcoat or armored second skin in sight. Not that she's gone all girly on anyone, the full black pantsuit and crimson shirt beneath might only further make her look like a mobster. The silver choker that she's added in looks like it might have cost more than the cars some people drive, that personal touch to an otherwise simple presentation.

Doesn't it just figure that she finds herself standing beside good ol' Laura?

"I can hear your thoughts from twenty feet away," she says with a thin, but genuine, smile. Dom feels out of place, too.

Serene has not had much time to get settled in, acquire a dress suitable for a dance, and honestly just found they had a dance planned earlier today. So she's dressed in a pleated white skirt with a thin blue stripe along the hem that ends just above her knees, with a white sleeveless blouse that is, while designed to be modest, perhaps somewhat less so on Serene than it would be on others, on account of being a giantess of sorts. The dark-skinned girl has her hair in a low ponytail, held together with a white scrunchy. White slip-on shoes, and her ever-present thin-framed eye-glasses complete her attire.

She's always smiling. Always keeping a bright face for people to look at. She is friendly, upbeat, easy to get along with... And very adept at hiding how self-conscious she is, how nervous she is, and how much she's depending on Ruth to act as an island of stability in a school full of people whom she -- until very recently -- regarded as 'freaks', and yet whom she is apparently amongst as one herself. She's tall. Really tall. Easy to notice, even all other things aside. Serene trails after the much shorter young woman with the blindfold like a lost puppy, and hopes no one asks her to dance. She hasn't gotten used to her height and doesn't want to accidentally step on someone's foot.

That would make a poor first impression. "One for what? Dancing?" The brunette asks.

Kurt accompanies the girls to the buffet table, navigating his way easily. No teleporting this evening- not unless he absolutely has to, anyway. The music is loud, as it should be, and the girls are trying to talk to their teacher even as they're walking. What Kyle was doing; how dare he; it was a full bottle of Jack- and how in the world did he get it anyway?..

Passing Bobby, Kurt reaches a hand out just to gain his attention for, "It looks good, mein freund. New technique?"

As he makes his way to the table, the girls making it hard to hold a conversation with anyone for any length of time, he does notice those coming in. Those that, while he may not have spent a great deal of time teaching or mentoring, he has heard names bandied about. There are a couple, however, that do gain his attention.. Laura.. and he blinks once.. twice.. Domino?

Kurt can't linger there, however, before he catches sight of Blindfold and groans quietly and turns back around to deal with the problem at the punch bowl. Kyle isn't anywhere to be seen! Or his bottle of Jack.

With the first song nearing it's end, Shift suddenly transforms into smoke form, the black gas just thick enough to hold his tuxedo and headphones in place! When he speaks over the mic, his voice has adopted a strange tone, as if echoing from somewhere else. "Now is de time for everyone to enjoy demselves!" announces the Ghanaian mutant. "Oh, and requests will be taken, so long as all of you are dancing!"

Wikki wikki wikki- BOOM!

The next song begins, and Kwabena is back again, complete with an altogether ornery grin on his face as he plays, of all things, the latest dance remix of a Ke$ha song.

Its a good thing he's bullet proof. But hey, the kids will like it. At least some of them...

Bobby Drake glances as Kurt gets his attention smiling. "Lookin' good, man," he says, reaching over to pat Kurt's shoulder. "Naw, sticking with what works," he says. As Kurt moves on, Bobby does as well. He smiles when he spots Domino, offering a wave in her direction. He's about to go over when Kwabena's choice of song makes him pause and shoot the Ghanaian mutant a 'are you nuts?' look. Shaking it off, he ends up stopping by Victor's table and arching a brow at the hot dog wars. "What're you up to?"

No, Laura doesn't jump. Nor does she turn to look at the person speaking to her. Not at first anyways. Instead, as the song changes, and she watches what the DJ does, she frowns, before finally glancing over at Domino.

"I did not know you had that power." is said in a no nonsense, but still non-threatening tone to the mercenary. "But if you can, then tell me... What am I thinking?"

Of course as soon as that is asked, her gaze does drift away to once again take in just who else is here. Kurt gets a slight nod in his direction, but Blindfold and that.... Tall girl do get an odd, almost questioning head tilt from the female clone.

Quickly growing bored with just food and drink, Anole stands and takes a look around. A moment's hesitation, eyes going to where some of the guys have taken themselves. Ah. The Guys. Then, the dance floor. Then the Guys again.

Some here might *see* the little battle going on in Anole's heart at the moment. "Screw you two." he says to the pigs in a blanket. "I'm going dancin`!"

It takes but a moment, Anole finding Laura- the only girl he knew well at the dance. "Hey, want to dance? I mean, we could get a bunch of us out there." He said, with a grin.

"No, for talking to. She is here or she will be here. The dancing for me will be later. I will not be good at it." A precognitive vision perhaps? Or just an estimate of her abilities.

And then she finds the person. The dark-haired teenager makes a beeline right for Domino's direction, passing across the dance-floor, awkardly coming between a boy and 'his' girl, and a group of girls who were just entertaining themselves. But when she's done with that, she's standing only a couple of feet from the albino-skinned gunner.

"No, you cannot. I can, but you can't. Sorry. An expression. Yes. I understand." Ruth grabs the skirt of her dress with one hand so she can step closer, pointing a finger at Domino's chest. "Luisa, I told you to be careful when you died. Please. Listen next time." There's a slight hesitation as she starts to turn away, apparently thinks better of it, and turns back. "Ask the DJ to dance. Pardon? Yes. Sorry. He will say yes. He will say yes to you and he will say yes to Elizabeth Braddock. Because his insides are softer than his outside are. ...Sometimes. Pardon? Yes. I'm sorry, I am failing to take into account Mister Wagner's feelings. You may choose him as well. He will also be pleased with this." Beat. "...At first."

Ruth tilts her head mildly, quirking her mouth. "You are popular, Luisa. I am... jealous." Then she looks at Laura with a polite smile. "Enjoy the dance. No. Sorry. You probably won't. Farewell."

And then she's off again, moving back towards the food/punch tables at a much more sedate pace than she was before, given she was no longer looking for someone her head was unwillingly filling up with information on. "I am bad at pouring. Serene, will you?" She points at the punch bowl.

And as Blindfold comes over, says all of that, then rushes off, Laura just blinks and glances at Domino, "Who is Luisa?"

Dom in turn greets Bobby from the distance with a lopsided smile and a bow of her head, then an instant later she's looking at Kurt beside him. Not yet... Space is healthy. Space is a good thing. Besides, she's got the Creepy Girl to talk to.

"That this all seems unfamiliar. How can all of these people be having such a good time. That they're all oblivious to the dangers that surround them. Lacking security detail, exit strategies, any sort of plan at all." She pauses only to renew her smirk, still not making eye contact with Laura. "And you wishing that I would shut up and walk away already. Listen, I'm sorry about the whole 'nearly shooting you in the face' thing." Awkward comes with the territory.

Such as Anole suddenly appearing and asking Laura to dance. Dom's all set to motion them both onward when that weird chick with the blindfold comes back. "You--" she starts in, then just stops outright. And stares. Her mouth opens slightly then closes itself in perfect silence. In the end she manages an "I'll..keep that in mind..."

As Ruth departs, there stands the albino, still staring at her as she leaves. Still without looking to Laura, she quietly tells the younger mutant "One of my aliases."

Serene is left stranded in a sea of unfamiliar faces, with her most likely standing head and shoulders (harhar) above all such faces. She makes her cautiously towards a table, not knowing what to do with herself or her hands, and deciding maybe holding food will resolve this issue. Thus she happens to be in just the right place when Ruth returns to the towering teen's side to ask about help with punch. "--Oh, yes. Would you like sherbert in there with it?" she asks as she gets a cup and starts ladelling fruit punch into it for her new friend and room mate. "What was that all about? It looks like you had something to say to that woman." Serene glances over her shoulder at Domino, but doesn't stare.

Because getting stared at SUCKS. This is why she makes sure to use her extended reach to obtain whatever she needs from the table. She doesn't need to lean over and accidentally head-butt someone on the opposite side of it -- or any number of other embarassing things. "So everyone here is a... Mutant?" Serene asks Ruth.

Warren skids into the Cafeteria, his wings fluffed behind him to stop his momentum once he arrives. He's dressed nicely, but not too dressily since, after all, this is a High School Dance. It's not even Prom! He clears his throat lightly before making his way towards Kurt and Bobby, "Sorry if I'm a little late. You...had the dance in the cafeteria? You should have said something...I know I could have gotten you a function room in a hotel, at least."

Kurt is actually dressed in a tux and is flanked by two girls, and they point at the bowl. When Ruth and Serene start with the ladeling it, one screeches, "Stop! We think Kyle spiked it.." then an almost whiiiiiiined, "Mr. Wagner!"

Kurt exhales and nods towards Blindfold and Serene, yellow eyes turning towards the teep. "Did he?" The girls that alerted stare at the blindfolded girl with a 'how would she know?' look.

Twisting to look over his shoulder, Kurt catches Warren's entrance, with Laura and Domino out of the corner of his eye. He wants to approach, so his words sound a little on the distracted side. "It wouldn't have been half as fun for the kids if it was at a hotel or some such. Here, they can be themselves."

"Kurt's right," Bobby speaks up suddenly, stepping up alongside Warren and tossing an arm around his shoulders. He's in a suit and tie today, decked out for the party. "We don't have to worry about any power mishaps either," a beat "more than usual anyway. The kids can relax and have fun. And we can too...when we're not preventing things like punch being spiked."

All right, so the whole Ruth thing just steals what ever else Laura was going to say or do right from her. Or at least zaps her mind so to speak as she just kind of stands there for a few brief moments, even after asking Domino that question.

"I actually was not thinking any of that." the young clone admits as she finally finds her voice. That is before she shifts her attention to Anole.

"Thank you. but I do not know how."

As for that late comer, he's noted, but X-23 doesn't comment on him.

Ruth really was an odd one, Anole having stood quiet for that entire exchange. "*You* don't know how to dance?" Anole asked, a mischievous grin growing on the green Mutant's face. "Come on, we'll go get some of the other people on the floor, too. Like that girl in the Blindfold, or her buddy there. The tall girl." Anole offered a hand towards Laura then, friendly eyes shining. "Come on, We'll all look like idiots together."

When Blindfold turns to 'face' the room, some might question why she would bother! She doesn't have to face people to 'see' them, after all. Perhaps, like the much-taller girl next to her, she just wanted to 'fit in'. "Not everyone." She points right across the dance floor and the cafeteria, even though pointing is rude. Right at a blonde-haired young girl chatting animatedly on a green-skinned student's arm. "She is not. She is not a student. She is his date." She frowns. "He wants to sleep with her, but she is not ready. He has already slept with her cousin. Yes. ...That is unlikely to endear her to our kind."

Then Ruth just... nods absently at Serene. "Some things I had to say. Some things I wanted to say. Some things I didn't say. No. No sherbert." When the punch is offered, she takes it without even having to do that feeling-around thing blind people so often do. Would she really be that bad at pouring? "I don't like sherbert. I almost had it once. It wants to be like icrecream but it isn't. It isn't anything."

Then Kurt's there, interrupting the punch-getting and asking about the punch and Kyle and spiking it. Someone actually wants her to use her abilities and is proactively seeking answers. That's... new territory. It causes Ruth's lips to twitch upwards into an enigmatic smile. "Perhaps." She says, which wasn't really even giving an answer at all, raising the cup to her lips while still smiling.

"Then I guess the only weird one here is me," Domino says to Laura without a hint of resignation in her tone. The time to stop trying to connect with that particular lost soul? Passed it up a few weeks ago. "Well, me and that girl," she concludes with a motion toward Ruth out there.

Anole earns the white-skinned woman's next smirk. "Yeah, go invite Blindfold for a run. She knows all the moves. You kids have fun." Hopefully Ruth didn't just freak everyone around her away with all of that crazy psi..precog..-stuff.- Let her dissect some of these other young minds for a while! And -stay the heck out of Dom's.-

Before anything else she separates herself from the younger crew, standing alone while glancing back over to Kurt with a distant sigh. "Well, night's already fubared twelve ways to Sunday. Let's see if we can't keep it going." If you're going to burn, make sure it's spectacular. There's people in other zipcodes that want to enjoy the show, too.

Serene furrows her brow, trying to piece together a better mental image of the school. "Well, I'm glad I have you here to warn me away from people with ulterior motives," she remarks without a hint of sarcasm, though more than a little good-natured joking. "But honestly that's--" she stops when a blue guy in a tuxedo she noticed previously comes over, with an entourage of teenage girls, and asks Ruth if the punch was spiked. Ruth gives no definite reply and just drinks it. Serene assumes that is answer enough and just kind of shrugs her shoulders helplessly at Kurt. "I didn't see anyone do anything," she offers. Perhaps her opinion was unsolicited, but she's standing right next to Ruth. Maybe she's considered involved by association.

Once she's sure she's not going to be hauled off or arrested for being near a spiked punch bowl, Serene backs up a bit to give space for whatever administrative action against beverages is necessary here and tries to start up some kind of casual conversation with her roomie, "So you can see the future, I take it? Or something like that? But it seems like you can see the past too, since when we first met..." she trails off and realizes maybe discussing this here isn't the best idea. "...Nevermind. Hey, I'm no dance expert myself, but maybe you can stand on my feet or something while I try. It'll be like dancing, without the chance of stepping on you!" she jokes.

"The kids could relax if they were at a hotel too..." but Warren can't change his 'feathers'. He just shrugs as Kurt and Bobby speak up about their preferences for having the school dance still at the school. He glances at Kurt, "I didn't realize this waas Black Tie," and then at Bobby, "I thought we were chaperoning?" To him, that meant...less dressy. He's still in slacks, a sweater, and a jacket that are all perfectly tailored to him, but he's not as dressed up as the other two. His eyes glance over at those in attendance before he grins, "Kwabena's the DJ? That's kind of awesome."

"Perhaps?" Kurt puts a hand to his forehead before he smiles, and it turns into a grin. "Guess what I am going to do.." Visions of Kurt throwing the punch away should come in loud and clear, and he nods to his groupies. "I see..." and taking hold of the punchbowl, exhales in a sigh. "I will be right back."


 * BAMF*

With Kurt disappearing into the kitchen, as the dancfloor gets more crowded, and the music keeps playing.. loudly.. there is always -something-. And it begins.

"You little slut!"

"Take it back!" (Very witty retort, yes.)

"Who do you think you are?!"

The dancing doesn't stop, mind.. but there is some room given to the girls in the altercation. Who wants to stop something like this? No one! (Well, not students, anyway..)

Kurt returns a couple of moments later, wiping something off the sleeve of his tux with a grimace once he sets down a NEW punchbowl. Looking up, he doesn't catch the yelling students as of yet. Domino, however, is never far from his sight, but when Warren talks to him again, he exhales and gestures. "Ruth decided to be vague.. which I know is usual, but it was deliberate. So.." Beat. "I decided to dress for the occasion."

"Just because we're chaperones doesn't mean we can't look good," Bobby declares, adjusting his suit a little. "Someone's gotta show the kids how it's done. We're training them for more than just mutant life after all," he says with a smirk. "And yeah, our man Kwanbena's a pretty cool DJ," he agrees. Scanning the party, he frowns as he spots something happening on the dance floor. "Now what's going on over there..." he mutters, craning his neck to get a better look to see if he has to step in.

Out of anyone here, Domino actually is the person Laura trusts the most, and is most likely to 'bond' with.

Either way though, as Anole makes his offer, and the mercenary heads off, all Laura can do is shrug at the green skinned mutant before following along afterward? All though as she does she does give Ruth and Serene a bit of an odd glance.

On the other hand, as she does catch that altercation between those two female students, the female clone does make a bit of a fist and glances over in their direction...

"See, that's not so bad." Anole offers, with a wide grin as he heads out to the dance floor- only to find some trouble brewing that way. "Man, always some chick at a party who needs to be in the spotlight." Eyes rolling still, Anole took Laura across the room towards Blindfold and Serene. "You two want to dance?" he asks, grinning between the two. "I figure, we don't need to be left out, just because we don't have a valentine to dance with."

People, the other students in particular, tend to know that Ruth Aldine routinely 'gets in your head'. As such, most of them give her a wide berth lest she out some horrible or embarassing secret, such as she was prone to do. Like with Domino. Like with Green-Boy and his date, Normal Girl. Like any of a hundred other incidents. Even among the strange and fantastic of mutant kind, Blindfold stood out as the outcast oddball.

She 'looks' innocently enough in Kurt's direction when he returns, right where he'd disappeared from, as if she expected him to return there the entire time. At least he hadn't taken HER cup, which may or may not be spiked, considering she wasn't telling. And then there's a fight, but, well, what was she going to do, telekineticly separate them when students were forbidden to use abilities on each other?

Before turning towards the Serene amazon, she puts a hand on the blue elf-demon's arm to be sure she had his attention. Her face dead set into seriousness. "Just ask her. Yes. Don't make her ask." And then she's turning away with the much-taller girl. "The time for my dancing is now. It will be bad." But just as she's brushing by Bobby Drake, she freezes, nearly stumbling with how she stops so suddenly.

She grips the front of Iceman's shirt, not bothering to face him. "He will come from Africa. Yes. With coffee. No. Sorry. You are food, he is from Africa, served with coffee and a roar." And then she's letting go, exhaling a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding.

Ruth finishes her drink, downing it in one go, setting the cup aside as she grabs the taller mutant girl's arm. "Be careful when you lead. I do not want to be in the fight. Extensions will be lost. She will fight only herself." Then she answers Anole and his apparent dance partner. "Yes, we will be joining you. Please do not punch the girl, it will hurt you. I am Ruth and this is Serene."

If it isn't one thing it's something else. Two kids getting all up each other's grill. Kurt taking the -punch bowl- in a poof of smoke. Darnit, if someone spiked it Domino wanted to help herself to a glass or two before it disappeared! Ugh... This is so not her kind of social event. Where's the dart boards, the pool tables, the scruffy bikers that you can smell from across the room? At least she knows where the booze went. Away. To the kitchen. Never to be heard from again.

What a drag.

At least the Fuzzy one returns. Maybe now isn't a good time, what with the issues involving present children and all, but she really doesn't feel like waiting for this evening to blow up in her face. If there's a demolition charge out there with her name on it then let's just set that frigger off and call it a night, she could be busy getting drunk with this time.

Kurt, Bobby, Warren... Dom gives a low whistle of approval to the trio. "Trying to out-shine everyone here, huh? You might have trouble with that guy," she suggests while motioning to one student who has skin like a disco ball. "Though it's working from where I'm standing."

And that Ruth gal? Total buzzkill. More Doom and Gloom on the horizon, already. "Hate to say it, but try to remember what she's saying. It's relevant, promise."

"Es You Cee Cee E Es Es!" Anole shouts as he manages to convince people to dance, and out her goes with whomever wishes to follow.

The brown-skinned brunette feels a bit lost. More like, 'a lot bit'. Everything is so... Weird, and chaotic. It's like someone has taken the normalcy of a highschool and layered some kind of bizzaro nightmare tinted light on it, putting things that would be just fine otherwise into the perspective of, 'Am I really seeing this or have I just gone insane?' Serene is trying to adjust though. And even if Ruth SHOULD be making Serene completely uncomfortable and weirded out, since she was SO weirded out by 'supers' of all kinds but a few weeks ago... She isn't. Instead, out of everyone here, she identifies most with the blindfolded girl in the grey dress.

Perhaps because her first impression of Ruth was some kids calling her weird. Mutant kids. Loud enough that Serene could hear from the other side of the dorm room. What must that feel like? Seeing things other people don't. Telling them what's going to happen, and them just treating her like she's crazy... Until it comes true. And then they probably resent Ruth, just because she was the one who delivered the message. Like somehow she made it happen. None of those kids were any more normal, but the one person even less normal than they were had to be picked apart.

How long had that been going on? Serene didn't know. But while she felt sorry for Ruth a little bit, it was the fact that she realized the blind girl must feel very isolated and that Serene felt the same that caused her to become so attached right away.

That doesn't make the prophecies delivered while they're heading out onto the dance floor any less confusing though. "Yeah, and I'd rather dance with a friend than a stranger. Making new friends is nice, but some people seem a bit... Volatile right now. Besides, I'm no better at dancing than Ruth." she answers Anole. She turns her head towards the fight briefly, but decides staring is a bad idea. Instead she takes Ruth's hand in hers and tries to help the shorter girl to get set-up to do some mutually awful dancing. "If it's bad, at least we'll be dancing bad together."

Warren's eyes narrow some at Bobby, "Yes, I know that lesson quite well. It's one of the seminars I teach, after all." He arches an eyebrow at Kurt before his attention is caught by the fighting girls. He looks to Ruth and offers a polite, "Good to see you again...on less competitive grounds." Domino is given a smirk and, "Thanks, good to see you too." And as no one is moving regarding the girls, he gives a sigh and wades right in. "All right! That's enough!" He'll even try to physically separate the girls if he must. "Either you two calm down and be civil to each other or you are both leaving and getting detention. Got it?"

"After all, mein freund. One day, I may wish to send someone else in my stead when you call for backup," Kurt teases Warren easily, that smile attempted. "Teaching the next generation on how to make it looks good." He looks to Bobby for agreement there, but he knows the Iceman has his back!

It's Domino's approach that suddenly makes Kurt feel like he, too, is a young man. Always grouping around friends in defense, the unconcious hope that the gauntlet will be too difficult to pass. But, it's not that at all, not with the elf. It's .. consolation. Still, he can't help but think how .. naturally pretty she is, without the weapons hanging off of her. Looking down at the floor a moment, he lifts yellow eyes again and offers a hint of a smile at Domino's advice.

"She told me to ask you to dance." At least Kurt assumes she meant 'dance'! He holds out a hand, but before he can be either taken up on his offer, or rejected, one of the girls takes a swing.. and while it lands, and hair is starting to be pulled, the attacker, too, screams in pain.. and anger. Warren's wading in means that hunks of hair are pulled out.. and who knows whose is whose?

Bobby is planning on wading in to get to the fight when Ruth stops him. The way she stops suddenly has him wondering if he didn't accidentally chill the air too much. What she tells him just makes him blink. "Wait...what?" he stares as Ruth goes. When Domino appears, Bobby gives her a confused look. "She says some guy from Africa is going to bring coffee and treat me as food..." he trails off. "That doesn't make even a little sense," he says, glancing towards DJ Shift.

When introductions are made, the young clone girl says, "Laura." before she motions to the green skinned mutant boy.

"Anole."

All though, at what she hears Serene say, Laura can't help but tilt her head. That is before asking a somewhat obvious question. Or at least one that's obvious to her, even as she /tries/ to dance.

"You're new too?"

No, she's not trying to ignore Anole either, but the fact there's another new girl here does pique her interest a bit. In fact it's just barely enough (when mixed with Ruths cryptic warning) for her to not try to 'deal' with that fight.

Ruth Aldine, aka Blindfold the Precognitive Party-Pooper, finally gets around to answering Serene's earlier questions. "I see what has happened, is happening, will happen. I see thoughts in minds that aren't spoken and events I can't name. Always right, never wrong. What will happen will happen. Yes. Sorry. Pardon? I can be more clear: Yes, I can see the future." She says very matter-of-factly. It seemed that the closer she came to talking about her powers, the more convoluted and confused her speech sounded. Regular topics seemed to come out more or less normally, but visions... trying to communicate them very quickly lead to breakdowns!

"I know." She offers a bland smile when the X-clone introduces herself and her companion. And as Serene takes her hand all getting set up for them to dance, Ruth just... kind of stands there. Yes, most of the dancing has probably halted in lieu of seeing who's fighting and taking bets on who'll win and wolf-whistling. But for the girl in the blindfold... she just wasn't sure where to begin! Should she seriously try to take up the taller girl's advice on dancing on top of her feet like a child being led by a grownup?

She offers another half-hearted smile at Laura and her attempts at dancing, which so far surpassed her own by at least being an actual attempt! "I am sorry if I unsettled you earlier. Your life has been hard enough. Sorry."

The question from Bobby results in a blank shrug from Domino. "Wish I could translate for ya. All I can say is that it'll make perfect sense at the exact point of it being too late to do a thing about it. Best of luck, Frosty." And doubly so for handling the kids.

Things might have ended on a questionable note between Dom and Kurt not that long ago, though it seems that they need not stay like that forever. Or even for the rest of the night. "She would be right," the pasty-skinned woman confirms, lifting a hand up toward Kurt in an open gesture--

Only for it to continue right on up to her forehead with a dull *smack.* The look that passes through her eyes is fairly obvious. Someone's officially interrupting her evening, ergo they should be injured. There's..just one problem with that.

"Kids," she grumbles, half in observation and half in self-reminder. Domino cannot punch the students. They may not have hammered out a lot of ground rules when she came here but she's certain that one would be placed high upon the unwritten list.

"Better her than me," she says under her next breath.

Serene listens and nods her head. She's not exactly moving to the beat herself. She's also not sure what exactly to say. 'That's rough, buddy.' doesn't quite seem adequate. So she just says what seems right. It usually is. "Well, I don't know if you foresaw we'd be friends or not, but I'm sure I'd be just as glad to be your friend whether I'd been told in advance or not." She smiles brightly. When Laura addresses her, the tall teen turns her head and says, "Yes, just got signed up yesterday and started moving in today. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person still getting her feet wet." She grins, and then just decides it's time to do SOMETHING.

Once Ruth finishes speaking to Laura, Serene takes a deep breath, turns to face her new friend and puts one hand on the blind teen's shoulder, while still holding the other with her other hand. She extend the held hands out to the side and says, "Just let me lead, I guess. I'll move slowly." Then she starts to move, just swaying back and forth with Ruth, helping the other girl get used to it. Maybe gradually turning so that they're moving in a slow, tight circle. And she tries to make sure she doesn't suffocate the other Mutant in the process by standing too close or anything.

"I don't quite know what I can do yet. I'd explain, but you probably already know. Heck, I'll explain anyway. All I know is I can be really light or really heavy. I flew across a street by stepping backwards too fast, and then proceeded to leave a hole in the sidewalk. What am I even supposed to call that?" she asks, shaking her head.

Warren does his best to try and separate the girls. As one still seems to want to continue the fight, he starts to drag them both out of the Cafeteria, "All right. Out. Both of you. I'm sure Professor Xavier would love to have a little chat with you two." He gives a little glare at the two -actual- teachers as he goes to drag the two girls out of the immediate area.

There are times when Kurt really wishes that he wasn't in any way, shape or form responsible. It's been quite some time since he's been able to do just.. whatever. Here, finally, a dance.. but instead of going onto the dance floor with a DATE, he has to break up a fight. Well, with Warren's aid at the very least. At least he has the courtesy to offer an apology, albeit quickly, to Domino. "This should not take long," he murmurs. "If I have to take one to the roof. Und leave her there."

Turn around, and lo and behold? No more fighting! Warren's got it. Kurt offers his friend an appreciative smile; if he friend only realized! Wingman and he didn't even know it! Turning about once again, he searches for where he'd left Domino.

Bobby sighs. "Great. So I have to watch out for some guy trying to eat me," he mutters, shaking his head. "So not a fun time," he grumbles, running a hand through his hair. Shaking it off, he turns to get back to worrying about the fight only to see Warren handling it. Jumping slightly, he moves quickly to follow Warren. "Hey, wait up, War. You can enjoy the party, I can take care of that."

There is an obvious way that Serene's powers could be described. But it's not a way that Laura would describe them ICly, thus it won't get said. Instead, the cloned girl pauses mid dance step and tilts her head at the /much/ taller girl. It looks /almost/ like she's about to ask a question, but doesn't.

On the other hand, Ruth gets a shrug.

"I am use to it. It is my life. And it is better... For now."

Of course as Warren deals with the girls, X-23 smiles very, very faintly, for a fraction of a second.

Ruth awkwardly accepts the leading of her new friend. Sure, they'd only met earlier that same day, but when you routinely pried into people's thoughts, you tended to know who was the sort you could trust and who you couldn't. But then, it was easier with some than with others. "I don't know." She answers the question of them being friends or not honestly. "I don't see everything. Not always. Just what is shown." Shown by whom? By what? Maybe even she doesn't know. "I've had no training, it just... happens."

When she looks back at Laura, it's with a wide, friendly smile that's almost eerie coming from the sightless girl. In fact, for anyone who knew Blindfold, it WAS downright eerie. The girl tended to keep to herself, not go around smiling at people. "It will get worse." She announces simply, trying to sway in time, with somewhat-moderate success, with Serene. After all, tipping one's body from side-to-side wasn't that hard!

Though what an odd dancing pair they made, one almost two clear feet taller than the other. If people didn't know better (from such things as the tall girl's dark skin), it'd almost look like a parent dancing with her daughter.

..Did that really just happen? The fight's already over, thanks to (let's face it) the intervention of an Angel. Which frees up the demon to dance. There's probably some irony to be found somewhere in there. Domino draws in a long breath and pulls that thin smile back to her sharply contrasted features as Kurt returns. She hasn't wandered far. Neither has her luck, apparently.

"C'mon, Blue. Let's be reckless for a while and let these kids watch over themselves."

Now or never, and all. While she still has the nerve to go through with this. She may well owe Warren a drink later for dealing with the little hair-pullers, if he goes for that sort of thing.

Serene nods. She probably has questions she COULD ask... But she doesn't ask them. She raises an eyebrow at Ruth telling Laura it will get worse. Then she shrugs too. "Life tends to. But maybe it also seems to get better too," she offers to both girls. "I was living a 'normal' life with my biggest concern being exams. Then I was... Like this. Then it got worse and I got threatened by mutant-hating kids I went to school with, with KNIVES. Then I was rescued. Then I came here. And then I met you Ruth, and you, and am probably going to meet lots of others here. Maybe bad things will happen. But I think we can make it through them with the right support."

The brown-skinned girl then grins and attempts to spin Ruth a bit -- just a little twirl -- and pull her back in close. "I just hope fights like that aren't common." Serene says ryely as she glances over at the departing misbehaving teens.

Once Kurt finds Domino, in pretty much the same place as he'd left her, and reaches out to take her hand to 'lead' her to the makeshift dancefloor. Finding a clear spot, now that students are filling in once again, he finds the beat. "Ja.. or, conversely, we can keep a closer eye out here.." Dancing is something the blue elf knows how to do, and moving to bring an arm low across the small of her back in order to effect a 'dip', his brow creases, and the faint smile turns to something.. a disappointed frown.

There are few words that can truly effect Laura as quickly and easily as the ones that Ruth lets out. After all, considering just what the blidfolded girl has said and done just since she got here...? Yeah, it shows that she has some ability.

Thus it's no surprise that the female clone stops dancing all together.

"You do not want to know what I was and what I did before ending up here. You do not want to know what I am." is then said towards Serene, before Laura just... Up and turns so she can walk off the dance floor and basically... Away. Especially before she can get even the slightest hint of /how/ it will get worse.

"More common than one would think." But then Ruth can probably see the fights that others don't, the ones that go on behind closed doors, in dorm rooms, bathrooms, etc. Though the smile does slip from her face as Serene brings up things getting better for Laura. She seems to think on that for a minute, and then nods her head. "That is true. It will. Yes. For you."

And then a frown. "I... do not have a happy ending." She announces as she's spun, which she manages to do without tripping over herself, the skirt of her dress flaring about her heels. And then Laura's in a foul mood and storming away. Ruth stops dancing as well, taking her hands back from the taller teenager, fidgeting her fingers and linking them together over and over again agitatedly.

"I suppose I have upset her. Yes. Sorry. It is difficult. Yes. To see what others would rather I not." Then she 'looks' at Serene. "I think I will go back to my room. I am not very good at... parties." Fisting her hand in a skirt in one hand, Ruth as well begins to head for the door right after Laura. But not too close, though. 'Cause the other girl just might punch her.

The fuzzy blue guy has the upper hand. Domino doesn't know a whole lot about dancing. She's good at following and anticipating moves at least, and years of combat training give her a decent enough edge, oddly enough.

It doesn't take Kurt long to figure her out, though. There's a momentary pause as realization dawns first upon one person, then the other. There she stands, passing a faint smile of faux innocence at Kurt. "What..?"

Serene is left feeling awkward again as Ruth excuses herself and departs. Yes, she felt kind of bad telling Laura that things would all work out eventually, and bad things happen but just deal with them, etc. She'd been hoping to temper the news of things getting worse with hope that that didn't have to be the whole truth -- that things could ALSO get BETTER after they get worse. But it had been the wrong thing to say. Intuiting people is a gift, but it's not perfect. It's not precognition or mind-reading. And it works best with people Serene has had a chance to interact with a bit longer than a casual chat.

But even now, Ruth leaving suddenly like that, the tall teenage girl realizes she's very new to all this. These people, this environment... And even new to who she is these days. She doesn't know everyone as well as she'd like yet. And that means mistakes. Mistakes are going to keep her from fitting in. So Serene just moves to leave the area too after a little while. She'll return to the dorm room too. She'll just keep quiet for now, until she knows more about how to fit in amongst mutants.

...Who she still doesn't feel entirely like she belongs with.