A SAVAGE LAND FOR A SAVAGE NIGHT

[professorlionface]

WHO: EVERYONE OF ALL AGES
WHERE: The Xavier Institute
WHEN: June 15th, early evening to all night long!
WARNINGS: Who knows! Language is likely, violence is possible, dancing is mandatory.
SUMMARY: prom night prom night gotta get down on prom night
FORMAT: MINGLE

As you enter through the doors of the Danger Room, the sound of cicadas chirping clues you into your arrival to a tropical paradise. Red and orange lights show a room transformed, vines all along the walls and trees that seem to reach the beyond the ceiling. There's no doubt now, you're deep in the heart of the jungle. You can almost feel the heat of a distant volcano, the humidity wafting in from a river just outside, but that's only your imagination. Luckily, someone had the foresight to bring an exterminator into this jungle beforehand, as there isn't a bug in sight.

Fierce papier mache dinosaurs look down on your throughout the room, some perhaps planning their next meal, others regarding the intruders to their home with something not unlike fear. From the stage, the gleaming jaws of a downed Tyrannosaurus look on at the partiers, hungry even in its taxidermied stated.

But there's one ornament that stands above them all: the mirrored surface of what appears to be a pterodactyl man, reflecting the lights all across the room in ways most disco balls only wish they could.

Welcome to the Savage Land. Hope you survive the experience!

quick links!
DANCE FLOOR
REFRESHMENTS
SIDELINES
OUTSIDE

Comments

[nitidus]

The things that needed forgiving, I forgave months ago. I may have - kept things from her, since then. Perhaps allowed her to enable certain habits that she should not have been ignorant about.

[She's been the worst, is what she's saying. ]

Julian, I am not, as it happens, a very good person.

[hellionated]

[ He's about to tell her that that's bullshit, because in his book Rose is one of the good guys.

But he pauses, one eyebrow raised, and he leans forward. ]
Okay. I'll bite. What habits?

You're being seriously hard on yourself, Rose. You didn't start that fight, remember.

[nitidus]

Thank you saying so, Julian.

[A pause. ]

I'm not really sure I want to talk about it, here. I mean - I think a lot of people heard Davesprite say them, but it's still hard to admit out loud, myself.

[hellionated]

[ He holds his hands up. ]

Hey, whatever you want. I figured you needed to talk. If you don't then we don't have to.

[nitidus]

No, it's -! I appreciate it, Julian. I do, it's just - embarrassing. To talk about. Or rather, to admit.

[She looks pointedly at the floor. ]

[hellionated]

Screw what’s embarrassing, Rose. They already both embarrassed you. I don’t think you need to worry about that, especially not with me.

[nitidus]

[She fumbles with her hands; thumbs wringing together in an anxious sort of way that she knows is incredibly unlike her. ]

Davesprite thinks I drink too much, and that Kanaya is making the problem worse.

[There's an embarrassed uncertainty in her voice, and the volume is lowered under the music. ]

[hellionated]

[ Julian studies her. He’d thought it was strange that she wanted to go drinking with him, after being vocal about not liking her mom’s habits. He doesn’t make a judgement either way, though he does reach over to still her hands. He takes one, since it seems like she’s on edge. ]

What do you think? Do you figure you drink a lot?

[nitidus]

[Does she figure she drinks a lot. She wants to say no. She really, really would love to say no and mean it. But she knows it would be a lie and she knows that Davesprite has every reason to be worried and angry and whatever else he's been feeling about the whole thing.

She gives Julian's hand a squeeze and shrugs. ]

I -

[Her lips purse together into a tight, frustrated line. After a long moment, she nods, looking anywhere except his face. ]

[hellionated]

[ He doesn’t judge her, or even give her a hard time about it. She’s Rose. She’s one of the few people here who’s genuinely his friend. Who he cares about like a friend. In his mind, she can’t do anything wrong.

He slides closer to her and squeezes her hand back. She isn’t looking at him, but his eyes don’t move from her face. ]

‘kay. So, stop. You can if you want it enough. It just depends whether you do.

[nitidus]

[You can if you want it enough. Rose wishes it were that easy. Rose wishes she didn't feel so weak willed suddenly. It's a ridiculous feeling, she's sure. If she were speaking to Roxy, she would discourage her feeling exactly like this.

It's different, when it's yourself. She glances at him and she's grateful that he's here with her. She's grateful that he's listening, that he isn't condemning her. She sighs. ]

I'm trying.

[hellionated]

[ He looks at her seriously. He's not judging or mocking or whatever the hell else. She's Rose. She's his friend, and he'll do right by her now. ]

Look, Rose. If you want me to physically freaking destroy every bottle of vodka you ever lift, I'll do it.

You get rid of it, and then you don't buy more and you don't go anywhere that sells it. That's what you do.

[nitidus]

Davesprite poured everything down the sink, I think. Is this alright? Just talking to you?

[An embarrassed paused. ]

I haven't spoken to anyone about it, really.

[hellionated]

You can talk to me.

[ Though he doesn’t know how much he can help, not practically. Julian’s far from a role model on abstinence. But maybe she just needs a friend. ]

Rose, what started this for you? The drinking. You hated that your mom did it, you told me that.