earth_367 | Silent Auction Brunch

Silent Auction Brunch

An exclusive brunch is held in Phoenix for those donating to the charity event next week. The food is gourmet, and the mimosas are bottomless. The attendees are those who purchased the (expensive) tickets in advance and have been invited to meet some of the X-Men.

It's not terribly formal, but it reeks of money. Fresh flowers adorn the walls, and the general public can only wait outside and wonder. Kitty Pryde arrives a bit late and security nearly turns them away, not believing that they're an X-Man at first.

Meanwhile, a silver-tongued stranger convinced security that they're the plus one of Remy LeBeau. Do they humor the plucky civilian, or send them on their way?

The date auction is silent, with portraits of the participants on display. It's partially held online as well, so that the general public can (theoretically) participate. The overall mood is light and humorous, not taking the "date" thing too seriously, but there's a trio of mimosa-drunk old ladies who are being a little too... enthusiastic. They're a big fan of [VOLUNTEER C].

(This takes place on 5/24, Saturday)

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How's everyone feeling? :)

Do you have any preferences for who your character ends up with? Any plans? Want to plot with people? Here's the space.

If you don't have any ideas for who ends up with your character, don't worry, it'll be randomly assigned!

Guess who is here and looking very normal and beautiful and maybe just a little tiny bit tired but like, who doesn't sometimes??

She schmoozes like a pro, hoping to drive up auction prices, and when she's not doing that she's sticking close to Manny. Everything is fine :)

(Also forgot: dress)

Edited Date: 2025-05-25 02:00 pm (UTC)

Manuel is matching Emma's energy. Around their guests, he's putting on a charming and personable front, reading their emotions and tailoring his behavior appropriately. He's a perfect host. Otherwise, though, he's sticking close to Emma and giving their friends and teammates the cold shoulder. Especially ~~Scott and~~ Kurt. Sorry, Kurt. If anyone catches him completely alone, though, he just seems tired.

Edited (Scott's not here. Extra sorry, Kurt.) Date: 2025-05-24 10:39 pm (UTC)

Ok kitty for A please bc of her showing up in crocs

A real X-Man would NEVER wear crocs.

I'll be a little all over the place today but I'd love to do some scenes! Warren (who is fine) and Kurt (who is not fine) are both here.

Will also be slow since I'm on an adventure in Tennessee BUT I'd love scenes! Paige is not here so all you get is Emma who is Fine

Hiiii thank you I’d love scenes too!! Im gonna be home this weekend clean packing the whole time so would love to take breaks to write starters etc. Kitty is here to pick up on weird vibes instantly and Rogue is here and not really worse for the wear after her jail adventure.

Kitty is here, showing up a few minutes late for dramatic effect and then almost getting turned away from the door. This is fair because she's wearing a very simple skirt and camo crocs ensemble that impresses no one. She changes into some flats that were in her bag the whole time soon enough. Once in, she does notice the completely rancid vibes in the room, and a lot of her time is spent trying to investigate. Doesn't so much charm the billionaires as she does create arguments about their own areas of business and study, and she's right, sometimes.

Edited Date: 2025-05-24 06:20 pm (UTC)

Warren can tell something is off, but you know what? It's not his business unless someone directly tells him otherwise. He's busy glad-handing and making sure this event goes off as smoothly as possible. As long as nothing gets in the way of this, he doesn't care. (Well, he does care, but Warren knows better than to stick his nose in Emma's business.)

Edited Date: 2025-05-24 06:03 pm (UTC)

Flirtatious and charming, Kurt is doing his very best to impress these billionaires and make it seem like he's very interested in them and their jobs. He has no qualms about leading a few people on. If anyone asks about Scott, Kurt explains that he's unfortunately busy this morning and couldn't make it.

Every once in a while he yawns (he and Scott were up late watching a documentary about architecture, which is probably another sign that Something has happened). Normally he's all over Emma and Manny, but today he's mysteriously giving them some space. :)

Edited Date: 2025-05-24 08:26 pm (UTC)

Charming and playing up a mysterious, untouchable persona in her long sleeves and gloves, Rogue tries to get high bidders for both herself and then for Remy. It's another step back into their heisting days, but it comes more natural than the Saks Heist yesterday. She does notice tension, but is pleased that it takes the heat off the newest strike on her criminal record, so that's handy.

i must bother emma

hello hi illyana and remy are both here and i am. mostly here

Yes pleaaaase if you could start a thing that would be great or I can try to sometime tonight!!

i will!!

b for remy thank you (he will entertain the mimosa grandmas another day)

Congratulations on your extra date, Remy! (you can make up whatever you like about this person)

Illyana is here and as promised very committed to the bit of being nice to rich people. She's wearing a fluffy brunch dress and a headband that makes her look like a Stepford wife. She's on her best behavior, which is medium-good, and she thinks the rest of you are being weird.

he's like 85% sure this isn't mystique so he'll let her in

I was going to say how v funny this would be if this was a Mystique Test.
Probably Not but.

any time a random woman speaks to him in public he's like [metal gear solid alert noise]

The event is beginning to wind down by the time Illyana makes her way over to Emma and flops down in a chair next to her. She has her second mimosa in hand. It's mostly undrunk, but she takes a sip of it as she settles into her seat. She's done the requisite amount of elbow-rubbing with the ultrawealthy, and thinks she did a normal enough job of it, but she's mostly lost interest in the endeavor.

"Do you know these people?" she asks Emma, clearly unimpressed with the crowd.

Emma's energy has been waxing and waning throughout the brunch, and right now it's decently low. She's sipping at a glass of water as Illyana sits down, and she spares her a glance before her eyes shift out to look across the attendees.

"You look nice, darling. And sick of them." This is simply an observation. "I know a decent amount of them. I organize all the parties for Frost International. Have you made any friends?"

"I don't know about friends," Illyana says out of the corner of her mouth, craning her neck so she can also appraise the crowd. Generously she thinks she'd only enjoy a second conversation with half of them. A few of them she suspects would not survive the evening with her if they won her at auction.

With a little less effort than it's taken her in the past, she lets Emma into her mind to spare a few disparaging thoughts for each of the men (whose crimes range in severity from having business ties to a Russian oligarch to holding onto her wrist for too long after shaking hands).

"Hey, what does your company, like, do?" she asks aloud after a second. She's been confused about this since she first met Emma.

Typically, Manuel is in his element during functions like this. All he has to do is put on a charming smile and follow the lead of whoever he's talking to, using their emotions as a guide to tell them whatever they want to hear. There's an artistry to it that he enjoys. But today it all just feels...exhausting. Because Emma is hurting and he would rather be with her. Because all of these people know what he can do and that changes everything. Either they distrust him and have their guard up or they're curious about him and keen to see what he can do. If they can catch him in the act or prompt him into action. He's not certain which is worse.

Finally able to break away from an exceptionally boring and exceptionally malleable woman (he'd subtly turned her attention toward one of his teammates, an act that he'll never admit to or apologize for), he takes a glass of champagne from a passing tray and heads out onto a mercifully empty balcony to regain his balance. He needs to get back to it soon, after all. This is work. Part of the rehabilitation of the team's image as much as a fundraiser.

The formal debut of the most disreputable X-Men.

He closes his eyes briefly and takes a sip of his drink.

...Better late than never? :')

Anyway, Manuel is here and sent the most boring person in attendance after somebody. Sorry not sorry. Anyway, he's obviously having a time and not being super social today, but he's around if he's needed!

Jono, predictably, skipped this. 😌

Edited (Feel free to claim this honor(?) if you want it, IDK~) Date: 2025-05-25 05:33 am (UTC)

This little peek into Illyana's mind (and the judgmental thoughts there), manage to make Emma smile, the expression momentary but satisfied.

"If you need me to make sure someone doesn't win you, you only have to ask."

She might meddle a bit regardless, given that she shares Illyana's thoughts on how well that would go for some of them.

"My brother's company," she clarifies, because this is an important point at the moment. "Transportation, mostly. It's expanded into electronics more in the past fifteen years."

As Manuel's eyes close there is a gentle brush in his mind to announce Emma's presence, and quickly after her arm slips in to loop with his. It's not uncommon for her to be in his space like this at all, but she's quicker than usual to settle against him, her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry to make you do this after a long night, cariño."

Having Emma back with him, first mentally and then physically, is something of a comfort for Manuel and he offers her a small, fond smile as he opens his eyes and turns his gaze in her direction.

"You are not making me do anything," he returns easily, "Last night was important for you. This is important for the team. So I choose to make time for both." He won't deny that he's feeling last night, though. Not like she must be since he hadn't been drinking, but he's still exhausted. The clubs had been loud and crowded, emotions had been running high all night, and they hadn't made it back to the hotel until the early hours of the morning. He leans his cheek gently against the top of her head as she presses close. "How do you think it's going?"

Illyana doesn't care if any of these men win her at auction. She thinks they'll get what they deserve, and is confident in her own ability to break someone's finger and make it look like an accident.

"You make lamps," is what she says out loud, as if this is a fact and not an insane supposition based on the information she was given.

Emma's initial response is a quiet hum and all the thankfulness for him she can muster into his thoughts. She knows she is asking a lot of him right now, and even though he's willing, she hates to need it. It's better when she's the one who has to be strong, not him.

With a quiet sigh her eyes shut. "It's going well. People are having a good time, the auction is seeing good numbers. It's going to be very successful. I can't wait for it to be over."

"...what?" Emma is so thoroughly baffled by this that she sits up a little straighter in her chair.

"Lamps are the intersection of transportation and electronics?"

"I could not think of another kind of electronic," Illyana admits, and then laughs at herself. "Televisions. That's two."

Despite herself, Emma laughs a little too. It's small and ends abruptly, but it's something.

"Come now, you know more than that. Cell phones. Computers. Traffic lights. Honestly, everything's filled with them these days."

Manuel feels the soft press of Emma's gratitude in his mind and gives a small nod in response. It's unnecessary, though. He wants to be here for her when she needs him, now and always. He takes another sip from his drink before placing it on the railing that surrounds the balcony so he can wrap his hand around hers. He knows that being so intimate at a public event comes with the possibility of starting absurd rumors, but...well. That would hardly be the worst thing such people are saying about them right now.

"It won't be much longer," he reassures her, "Then we can get some sleep, no?"

Then he pauses, hesitating before he presses the matter a little farther. The words form in his mind instead of on his lips, though. Certain topics are too private to risk putting on display for strangers. «...How are you feeling?» He knows that she isn't doing well. That ending things with Scott and the entire mess surrounding the decision is raw. That it still hurts and that it still feels unfair and unexpected. But he needs to check in with her nevertheless.

Equally unconcerned with how this may look to others, Emma presses in a little closer for a moment.

"Mm, some sleep," she agrees, though she has no plans to spend the night in. A little early evening nap, and then she'll be dragging Manuel out with her again. It's just this long weekend that she's allowing herself to be like this, so she figures going a bit hard is fine. Exhausting herself is helpful.

Somehow, Emma manages to keep her expression relatively even as Manny's other question forms in his mind. She's helped along by the fact that, even when she opens her eyes, she doesn't have to look at her friend. « Miserable. » He is, possibly, the only person she's really willing to admit this to. « But I'll get over it. »

Just to break this in, here's what I have in mind for cameos for my characters that could be dates or will just add flavor!

- One of Azazel's thralls keeping an eye on Kurt (could be a date)
- Cameron Hodge (Emma and Manny will discover he loathes Warren)
- Brian Braddock and Meggan Puceanu here to cheer on Kitty and Kurt

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Silent Auction Brunch

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