12050/Murder Theatre Dinner.

Murder Theatre Dinner.
Date of Scene:	17 July 2022
Location:	New York
Synopsis:	Bart gets yelled at, Jean gets butt blocked. - Rogue
Cast of Characters:	Matt Hagen, Rogue, Bart Allen, Jean Grey

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Matt Hagen has posed:
     Glittering crystal has overtaken New York's famous, and infamous, Roseland Ballroom; faceted bling hangs from the ceiling in a series of enormous chandeliers, it heaps upon the tables, it is the backdrop to the stage, and more. Electrical lights have been strategically placed hither and thither, bathing the enormous hall in twinkling, kaleidoscopic patterns of multi-colored splendor. A band, meanwhile, dressed to the nines in crisp tuxedos, play a jaunty jazz tune, as the room fills with a vast number of guests. Close inspection reveals that the tables, in addition to being heaped with every manner of food imaginable, stand as artfully decorated avatars for some of the city's most well-known and propsperous businesses. It seems this is a job fair for the upper crust.
     "Thanks, y'all, for coming and supporting our project," says a young man - Cheyenne Brawley - in a thick Texan accent, dressed in an all-black, three-piece suit. Behind him is an enormous hand-painted mural on canvas, with the words Mutant Works, surrounded by a diverse cast of mutants and metas alongside humans, all smiling arm in arm in an idyllic fantasy. "The auction will start after supper. In the meantime, enjoy, and get to know each other." He grins, "And keep in mind this is just a dress rehearsal for the grand opening next month." With a working class nod, he hops down from the stage and joins a group staff members in a quiet conversation.
     Towering among the guests, striding alone in a teal and green opalescent evening gown, which matches her full-length peacock feather cape, is the well-known olympic volleyball star Kerry Logan.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is in attendance this evening. In a black dress with white gloves that go up to her biceps, the young woman has her hair done up in a intricate style leaving loose strands to fall around her face, the ones framing her bangs being a stark contrast of white compared to the dark browns that make up the rest of her hair-doo. She's wearing a silver necklace around her throat, and silver earrings that dangle from her small lobes. Her green eyes are surrounded by deep smoky eye makeup, and the Belle's lips are painted a scarlet red.

She is standing off to the side of the main audience, watching the presentation on stage, and looking over the mural of unity. When a server passes her by and offers a drink, she accepts one in to her white gloved right hand, thanking them, and then taking a sip from the glass as her pale green eyes look around the party atmosphere.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen is here in a black tux, as the +1 for Emiko Queen. As he showed up he showed the invite and explained she was running late, but wanted him to go on in, and make sure there was a presence there. He is looking around and all the bling is nice, but the food is what draws the young man's attention.

Matt Hagen has posed:
     Kerry Logan presents herself before Rogue and scans the woman head to toe, brow quirked with approval. "I love your hair," she croons in a friendly tone, gathering the essence of the other woman's aesthetic with a gesture of splayed fingers. "Black, white and red is such a bold combination, and hard to pull off, but you do it perfectly." In turn, she preens the delicate hem of her feather cape. "Are you planning to bid on anything? I heard there's a century-old collection of wine." In that moment, Bart draws her eyes, which she rolls at Rogue as if to say 'men only care about food'.
     A well-dressed team of people armed with hefty binders and clipboards emerge from a side-chamber, where the goods to be auctioned later on in the evening are displayed for inspection prior to bidding, approach Buster as a group and insistently draw him away.

Jean Grey has posed:
Not precisely New York elite herself, Jean nonetheless sometimes finds herself on the social circuit; she runs a prestigeous school (one that often fundraises amidst said elite), attends academic conferences, and sometimes appears on behalf of her mentor, Charles Xavier, who -is- old New York money. So she more or less knows the drill.

Less so does she trust that Rogue does!

So when she appears at one of many such things with the latter as her apparent date (degree of platonicness up for consideration!), there is a mild degree of /fussing/ inherent to the process. Like her counterpart, she is dressed to the nines, taking advantage of some contact from her college modelling days to even arrange to sport a Name designer gown, backless halter number, crisscrossed in the front, in a very deep crimson red to set off from Rogue's darker dress. If this Kerry woman likes the lipstick, she'll really appreciate Jean! Who just happens to slink back up after getting briefly detoured, reaching out to snag one of her covered arms.

"Are you behaving? Ooh, good, drinks." She reaches out to snag one, lacking opera gloves, herself. "Ah, hello there! Unfortunately, well, probably not," she declares as to the upcoming auction. "But who knows! We really should have asked Warren along, hmm?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's green eyes fall upon the woman who speaks to her, which draws a smile on to her red lips. She gets a lot of compliments about her hair when out in public like this, especially when its down, and the white bangs are even more drawing to one's eyes. "Thank you." She says moments before Jean arrives, and takes one of her arms.

Rogue's green eyes look to Jean then, and she just grins. "I'm doin' my best." She says in her rich Mississippi accented voice.

"And Charles said there were some paintins' up for sale tonight that he authorized /me/ t'bid on for the house." She fires back to Jean with a grin yet lingering before she sips her drink again, and then roams her eyes over to the people with the binders.

"Gonna be hard though, if we got some kinda auction nerds counter biddin' on us though..." The Belle notes with a intense glare sent their way.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will get a plate of food, and he does pile it high. It shows that the young man is not quite used to black tie affairs. He will ask one of the waiters if they have jolt soda, and if not settles for a ginger ale or something so it looks like it belongs at least. He moves to look at the items for sale, and cocks his head a bit as he looks at some of it, and munches. He does make sure not to get any food on anything, a bit out of place but at least he is neat.

Matt Hagen has posed:
     The tall woman rasps a short ahhh as Jean arrives, scanning her as well with the precision of a T-900. "Oh... Jealoooous! Is that a Rabanne? Or," she pauses to consider, "a Louboutin perhaps?" Noticing their interlocked arms, she adds to Rogue with a grin: "If you adore her, Dior her." Mentally perceptive types might observe that there is something off about the athlete, like an appliance running on DC when it should be AC. Overhearing Bart's drink order, she stifles a laugh behind a hand, indicating him with a jerk of her opposite thumb as she says with a pernicious sneer: "How about a bologna sandwich and some chocolate milk, while you're at it?" Her mood, and tone, abruptly return to the height of formality. "Would you lovely ladies care to peruse the auction? I would be interested in seeing the paintings that," she pauses, "our friend is here to buy." Offering a hand for the mutant to shake, she adds, "Kerry, Kerry Logan."

Jean Grey has posed:
"He said /WE/ could bid," Jean answers back, in an even and slightly deadpan tone, like she's very used to precisely this sort of argument, adding, "and I'm the second authorized signer on his account." POWER MOVE. Well, they certainly bicker like a couple...

But the topic does have her looking around, as if gauging their competition. "And it is a pretty fancy crowd. Is this the painting he's interested in?" she wonders, looking up toward the pro-unity work up on display. "I see how he'd appreciate the message, but... is it maybe a little, I don't know, on the nose?" She sips her new drink, and scrunches her nose. "Not that I really know art. -That's- why we should have brought Warren. For his well-developed rich people tastes!"

Speaking of, she answers Kerry: "Oh, no, a Van Dyne." Who else?!

However, while she might not pick it up otherwise, Kerry's highlighting Bart's 'faux pas' actually causes her a bit of a frown. Mutant unity and casual classism and bullying do not obvious partners make! So, instead of waiting around to shake that hand, she turns to intercept the departing waiter. "I'm sure you must have something for the non-drinkers, hmm?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes go over to Bart to watch the man pile up a plate of food like a tower. This has her grinning to see some normal folks around the place tonight. But with Kerry introducing herself, Rogue looks back to her, and reaches out to shake the hand with her gloved own. "Anna-Marie." She introduces herself in return, before she SHOOTS Jean a hard look. Her chin comes up, her bottom lip goes in between her teeth and she just wiggles her chin back and forth at the redhead.

"Hah." She says then, eyes dancing to the Unity mural before looking between the two women. "See? I know what Charles wants..." She fires back to Jean then. "He wants the three paintings done by the artist from Westchester... I think they're just landscapes..."

Clearly she's forgotten some of what the Professor told her about them too.

At Kerry, Rogue smiles warmly. "You're famous, right? Like, a movie star, or somethin'?" She inquires nextly.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and nods to the other redhead in greeting, while folks were not looking his food tower, has gotten quite a bit less. He hmms and pulls out his phone to take a picture of a few of the items, and taps in a text. If he hears the woman's snarky comment he seems to ignore it." But if someone were to read his last text, it says "Can I outbid a snob on everything she bids on? I know I know Don't do it is petty."

Matt Hagen has posed:
     As Rogue shakes the woman's hand, she may observe that it just doesn't quite feel right. Where there should be a rigidity of bones juxtaposed with tender flesh, the hand is instead almost like a latex glove stuffed with raw pork sausage. "Ah, landscapes," Kerry says, unamused. "Your," she pauses to think of the right word to use, but comes up short, "er, Charles might be better pleased with a few charcoal sketches - they're de Vincis, after all. No Salvator Mundi, but they'll do." The woman then returns Rogue's smile and forms her hands into a diamond shape, which she jerks overhead as if she is popping a ball into the air. "Sports," she says with a wink. As an afterthought, she adds to Jean, "Van Dyne, hmm. I'll make note of the name." She appraises the garment again, "I'll have to add him to my collection." She begins to saunter in her size twelve heels toward the store room. "I have my eye on some new couture jewelry - sapphires are my favorite." On the waypast Bart, she wads up a paper napkin she was using to catch the condensation from her glass and drops it unceremoniously into his plate.
     Waiting for a break in conversation to respond politely, the waiter adds to Jean: "Yes, madam. We have a selection of non-alcoholic apertivos, as well as hot or cold tea, Rose Bergamot, and, of course, many mineral waters to choose from."

Jean Grey has posed:
"Oh, like Hudson school stuff?" Jean wonders, referring to the fairly ubiquitous tradition of mid-19th century landscape paintings from the area, many influenced by, well, the Hudson River and its general pleasant-lookingness. Sleepy landscapes full of nice trees and water and hills and stuff! "I like them but they're... I don't know, all kind of same-y looking, you know? I swear we have like a dozen hanging around the mansion already, and I'd be hard pressed to tell them apart. Or is this a new artist?" Despite the fancy dress, she lets on a little to her more plebian origins!

"Anyway, fine, you go on and bid if you see them, but I'm putting a stop to things if you get -crazy- with it!" she finally declares, laying down the law in advance. "You're going to be a teacher, so you gotta learn to put the students first," she chides Rogue. "No frittering away their book money on extravagances!" This is all probably exceedingly tongue-in-cheek considering the money the school actually has!

Finally, after being sure Bart is getting his drink ('You don't have coke or ginger ale for a mixer?' - though she'll suggest a club soda with a fruit squeeze if not), she gets back around to Kerry with a nicely put-together (but now probably pretty obviously fake!) smile. "Doctor Jean Grey. We'll see what comes up, I guess. But it's a school we're decorating, not a gallery- so its more about finding things that speak to our... well, particular sensibility, and history. Not just showing off." A grin. "We'd /definitely/ brought Warren for that, he could probably just buy the whole slate."

Rogue has posed:
The hand of Kerry is shook, and Rogue does notice the odd feeling of it. It kinda squiks her out a bit, in fact. She draws her hand back and puts it upon her hip, as her drink is sipped once more. When she lowers the glass down, her emerald eyes shoot back to Jean, and she grins once more at her.

"Don't you worry one bit, I ain't gonna drop a cool mil on some more paintins of Barns'n old farm equipment." She responds. "And yeah, I think the artist is a former student. Ya know, one of the old ones, like your graduatin' class." She teases Jean as she starts to walk to some of the setup displays for the art being auctioned off here tonight.

It doesn't take but a second or two before Rogue is leaning forward to get a closer look, because she isn't quite so socially 'proper' as to just stare all straight like a stick up the butt type!

"Is that a cat, or a dog?" She can be heard saying about one of the pictures. "Oh. It's a duck. I get it now. But why is it smokin' a cigarette? Hmm. Might buy that for Jimmy..."

Another sip of her bubbly is had before she looks back toward Jean, and then sees Kerry dropping that napkin like that. "Bye, Sports Lady." She says softly to the woman.

Shuffle shuffle shuffle! Rogue's heeled shoes carry her right over to Jean, and she leans in good and close to the other woman's ear. "That lady had a weird hand. Like it felt like a water balloon..." She quietly tells the other.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will catch the napkin easily before it hits his plate, and with a bit of a quick walk, or or oh so slow walk for him, he will get in front of her, and look up to the woman "I believe you dropped this? I would hate to see someone messing up the lovely hall here. There is a trashcan over there." He points with his other hand while holding the napkin out to the woman. This is a event for mutants to find jobs, and what ya know Bart is looking at the lady with his distinctive yellow eyes.

Matt Hagen has posed:
     Kerry halts as Bart steps in front of her, upper lip curled with disgust. She clasps her weird hands behind her back. "Why are you talking to me?" she growls, peering at the man down the length of her aquiline nose.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Something by an old student?" That catches Jean's attention, but it causes an immediate pause as she clearly starts to work it out in her head. Because... well, there are only so many of them! "Hmm. Bobby's more into sculpture, I thought... Hank?"

Once Kerry is gone, however, Rogue's observation is met with a strange look and slow nod. "It did feel strange. Well. I suppose, with the mural, there could be all sorts of folks involved with, well, whoever is behind this, exactly? It's not like we have a monopoly. Maybe Emma would know." There's a brief moment where she starts to reach for her handbag, maybe to grab her phone and fire off a text, but she seems to think better of it after a moment - or at least dismiss it as anything so urgent she needs to pursue it in the moment.

Now Kerry has headed off, and is talking with Bart, where her continued snobbishness gets an eyeroll. "I really wonder why a person like that would come to something like this."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just raises her eyebrows up nice and high at Jean before she turns her head to the right suddenly. "There's one." She says, and then she's gone. Swoop. The southern belle is off toward a painting about twenty feet away. She looks back over her shoulder. "He showed me a picture'a this one." She tells Jean on her way, nearly bumping in to an old man, and his arm candy girlfriend who looks about 40 years younger than him.

"Oop. Sorry about that, Chief. Nearly missed ya." She says down to the short old balding man with a monocole in his left eye. She just smiles brightly at them both, as the old man grumbles something. Sweeping herself around the pair, Rogue steps up to the painting and reaches out to tap the little card beside it. "Yep! This is it!" She reaches for a pen and one of the bid cards, and starts to write down her bid...

Scribble scribble scribble. Uh oh...

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will stand his ground and looks to the woman "Because you dropped your trash, and this being a high society event, where people are supposed to be on their best behavior, and showing how well mannered and breed they are littering is oh so... whats the word .. Gosh... would not want people to think you were lower class or something would you?" He holds the napkin out in his hand, palm up for her to take.

Matt Hagen has posed:
     "Get the fuck out of my way," says Kerry Logan, weird hands dropping to her sides in clenched fists. As the words take flight from her lips, her voice gradually drops to an octave lower than God's.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean has followed Rogue across the floor, albeit at less of a breakneck pace, bumping into fewer old men and busty young girlfriends en route...

When she arrives, it's only just in the nick of time: "No more zeroes! Last one! You're cut off!" she declares, coming up to Rogue from behind and grabby-grabbying for the pen over her shoulder, with a bit of a laugh at the inevitable mock-struggle that ensues. Mock because she has no chance in the world of ACTUALLY physically stopping Rogue from writing...

The fact that there is DRAMA happening behind them may or may not be noted, but Jean isn't inclined to do anything at the present. She's clearly not much of a fan of the behavior, obviously, but they're hear as guests. In fancy dresses! So leaping to action is a low priority, especially when the place presumably has people for that.

Rogue has posed:
The Belle starts laughing when the hand comes over her shoulder to grab at the pen. She shoulders Jean's arm out of the way and keeps writing. "No. We need this. This is important!" She says, bent over the table, using her butt now to block Jean from stopping her from writing more numbers, though now its becoming jibberish from the interference!

When she finishes, she straightnes up then, and CLICKS the pen before dropping it back in the cup.

She holds up the card then, and shows it to Jean with a smile before reaching to drop it in the box beside the painting.

Her eyes go back to where Bart and Kerry had been, as she DID hear the cursing, but it was just typical social snobbery, in her book anyway.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen blinks at the tone of the voice changes, and maybe it is the fact he can dodge lasers, maybe it is he acts before he can be scared of things, or maybe it is just Bart is a bit looney. "Are you ok, thats an awful deep voice you have grandma." He is pretty sure the voice aint normal, and he is going to press this a bit perhaps. "And suck language, not lady like at all, do you need a snickers, your not yourself when your hangry." He is still smiling though not seeming phased.

Matt Hagen has posed:
     Eyes narrowed to slits, Kerry Logan stares down at Bart. "I will remember your face." Her voice returns to normal. A glance to each side, and she straightens her posture, abuptly swivels on her heel, and stalks out of the Roseland Ballroom.