When It's Time To Party We Will Party Hard (Open)

[Taylor McCarthy]

In all honesty, Taylor Brennan had no idea where he was.  To clarify, he knew what city he was in and that he was inside a house in that city.  The key piece of information that was missing was who, exactly, the house belonged to.  It wasn't uncommon for parties to be thrown here and there, even in a city as modest as Kalispell.  It also wasn't wholly uncommon for a tall, well-built young man with a goofy grin and a swath of dark hair atop his head would wander into these parties and partake in the revelry.  It didn't matter if he knew who was throwing the shindig or anyone that happened to be invited.  Usually by the time Taylor got there, most everyone was three sheets to the wind and didn't know better anyway.

With a plastic cup of beer in hand, Taylor navigated his way through the crowded living room, the similarly crowded kitchen, then out into the cool night air of the also crowded backyard area.  it was a fairly nice suburban home, complete with a large pool that was now home to various household objects and random people floating about.  Taylor took a drink and looked around a bit.  It was a good vibe for a Saturday night.  There were a lot of people who's faces he may or may not have recognized, but he was still fairly new to the country and there had been one face, in particular, he tended to be around far more than others.  "Hey!"  He said suddenly to someone he, sure enough, may or may not have known.  "Welcome to the party."  The Irish boy made his way over to the person in question.  Either way, Taylor figured the ice had been broken.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina had no idea why she’d come to this place, but technically it was the first ever party she’d been invited to since she got to Kalispell. Well, sort of. More like some random guys had shoved a piece of paper with the information on it into her hands before running off to invite even more people. Even so, she’d never done this sort of thing in the states before, so she’d thought, why the hell not? She was now regretting her decision with every fiber of her being as she was bound to end up drinking alone in a room full of people, or being hit on by a sleaze, or- goddamnit, couldn’t she just allow herself to relax and have fun for once?


    Selina took a breath and entered the door before staring, slightly overwhelmed by all of the noise, and the people and the even more people. She quickly made her way over to where plastic cups filled with something that smelled vaguely alcoholic and took a sip. It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t much good either. Selina shrugged and then drank the rest of it down before grabbing another cup. She would need so much more before this night was over. The people crowded together were starting to make her feel claustrophobic, so she headed outside and breathed in the fresh air gratefully. She glanced up when she heard someone call out and paused as she recognized a Bellefonte student.


    Selina took another sip of what she assumed had to be beer and nodded to him, “Thanks.” He’d been on that recent trip, hadn’t he? Selina gave him a quick once-over before turning back to watch the party, “You know these people?” She hadn’t near enough alcohol to be able to hold a casual conversation with a guy she didn’t know, but she would try.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Ah, yes. The girl Taylor approached was... someone. He probably knew her. Or maybe he only thought he did. No, he'd probably be certain one way or the other if he'd met someone that looked like her recently. She didn't, exactly, have the kind of face one would forget easily. Then again, it wasn't as if Taylor as known for his astute memory. Came with the territory of being able to pick out endless detail in his surroundings at random intervals when his power kicked in of its own volition. There just became too much for him to remember and, occasionally, the important things, like faces and names, escaped him.

The Irish boy paused at the question and looked over his right shoulder curiously before turning and doing the same on the left. When his bright, expressive eyes shifted back to Selina he shook his head. "Not a one." He admitted with a shrug. "I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by, see what all the fuss is about." He gave a bit of a smirk at the admission, his thick Irish accent weaving through the words. "But it's not so bad." He said, glancing out over the raucous party. "Whatever they're passing off as beer isn't bad, and I think that fella over there-" He gestured with his own plastic cup toward a tall, stocky guy in cargo shorts and no shirt who was chugging away at some clear liquid straight from the bottle. "is probably going to try jumping into the pool from the roof there." Taylor then waved a hand toward the roof in question. "At the very least I figure we'll be able to watch the suicide." He grinned, eyes sliding back toward the dark haired girl. "Name's Taylor, by the way."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina laughed and nodded, “I was invited by a few who were well on their way to being drunk,” she told him easily, “So I decided, why the hell not?” Free alcohol wasn’t something she ever turned down. It wasn’t often she could get drunk off of somebody else’s money and not have to worry about dealing with expectations of what would come afterwards. Anonymity could be such a gift.


    “You go to Bellefonte, right?” she asked. She could always be wrong, but she didn’t think so. And if she was outing herself to a non-mutant, chances were he’d get drunk off his ass and totally forget about her anyways. If he was a mutant… he would probably still get drunk and forget about her. It was a perfectly neutral situation in some ways, she supposed. There was something almost sort of comforting in that.


    Selina let out a sardonic laugh at the idea of watching the boy fall, but honestly she wasn’t that interested. He would probably merely end up with a few broken bones, but if he did die, the party would end early and she would have to go back to the Academy less drunk than she’d wanted to be. Of course, perhaps the people here would be as callous as she was towards the thing and not notify anyone until the next morning. She took another drink to rid herself of her morbid thoughts and came back to the present in time to hear his name. “I’m Selina,” she offered.

[Taylor McCarthy]

"Why the hell not!" Taylor exclaimed with a bright gleam in his soft, brown eyes. The four words could very well have been used to described the bulk of the Irish boy's life. It was the exact reason he'd relocated from Europe as well as the driving force behind his crashing of a house party in the suburbs of Kalispell. He did, after all, like to try and use his powers of 'whatever' for large and small situations.

"You what?" His brow furrowed at the question but Taylor soon nodded. "Oh. Right." There had been something familiar about the dark haired girl that had drawn him to her and he couldn't pace it at first. It did, though, hit him quickly. His eyes lit up with recognition. "Yeah, I do. I remember you." He said pointing in her direction. Taylor may or may not have already partaken in a few drinks prior to approaching Selina. If the girl was the betting type, it'd probably be safe to put all she owned on 'may have'. "That dumb, fucking camping trip." He waved a hand dismissively at the idea. The entire thing had been a roller coaster ride where the cars weren't secured to the tracks and allowed to fly off the rails at any given moment. "Like that wasn't a disaster." Of course, Selina probably didn't end up beating her long lost brother to a pulp in the middle of the night. Her experience on the trip may have varied.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina let out a harsh laugh and nodded before taking another drink, “Besides, turning down free alcohol is a mortal sin… or something like that,” she added with a smirk. Her mom’s parents had been hardcore Catholic so Selina knew a little of the jargon, but not much since she’d never actually gone to a church service... or met her grandparents face-to-face.


    Selina smiled at his somewhat melodramatic realization and nodded, “In so many ways,” she agreed. Not all of it had been bad for her, but being around Charity for a week was a disaster in and of itself. “So, you were one of the poor troubled children the school deigned to take its pity out on?” she asked with a mocking grin. If he’d hated the trip that much, she assumed he hadn’t been a volunteer, though she had no idea. Perhaps it merely hadn’t turned out to be what he’d thought it would.


    Honestly, whoever had come up with that idea… oh wait, never mind. Selina drank down the rest of her alcohol in one go and turned to search for another drink hoping she wouldn’t have to walk back into the crowded house. She needed to forget about that woman before the night was over.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor lifted his own plastic cup at Selina's words. While he didn't typically give in to the allure of alcohol simply for the sake of drinking there was little that kept him from going overboard during a party. If the situation called for heavy drinking, Taylor was always up for the challenge. "I think that's one of the Ten Commandments." He said, his face stoic and serious. "Right after 'thou shalt not wear leather pants'."

"I was." He confirmed with a nod. It was almost amusing how the camping trip that was supposed to foster a sense of unity and 'companionship' had resulted in most of the kids that had been pulled along still not having the slightest clue who the rest of them were. Taylor didn't really interact with anyone save for a certain brown haired, blue eyed girl and the only other Irish guy he knew of. And he'd knocked the piss out of one of them. All in all, he wasn't sure what the hell to make of the whole thing. "I supposed they didn't care much for the underground guinea pig fighting ring I was running back home." He said, his Irish accent coming out in full force.

"Looking for another drink, luv?" He asked, catching the way Selina was searching about. Taylor offered a bit of a smirk and started toward the house. "C'mon, I could use a refill too."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina laughed and nodded, “The most important Commandment, to be sure,” she agreed. Selina got drunk whenever she could, as being underage here in the U.S. didn’t allow such a thing to happen as often as she’d like. She didn’t think of herself as an alcoholic though. Of course, alcoholics never did, but she wouldn’t think about that either right now. Selina glanced down at the empty glass and wondered if she should do this less. She never craved it… or at least not really, and she could go weeks/months/however long without just fine… whatever, she wasn’t here to analyze her actions. She was here to have a good time.


    Selina laughed at the idea of guinea pigs fighting each other, “Wow. I sincerely want to see what that looks like sometime,” she replied. “How much profit is in it?” she asked with a facetious grin. She sort of recognized his accent, but she couldn’t tell where he was from. The Irish who’d made it to Santiago often seemed like they spoke an entirely different language, so she hadn’t bothered to associate with them much. She’d had enough troubles of her own without trying to learn how to understand every different English dialect that found its way to Chile as well.


    Selina nodded to him and followed him to the house, “I think another glass will deaden my senses to the point where it’ll actually start to taste good,” she offered wryly.

[Taylor McCarthy]

"Well, there's really not much left over after expenses, you know?" Taylor nodded thoughtfully. Or, more specifically, as thoughtful as the young, Irish college student who was more than a few drinks into the night could be. "You have to feed them, take care of them. Buy little, mini-punching bags and weight sets for training." His eyes rolled and he gave a resigned sigh. "And that's not even counting that many of them get hooked on painkillers or develop coke habits." Or he may have been talking about live, actual human boxing or something. At this point, even Taylor didn't have a damn clue what he was saying. Although, to be fair, he rarely actually knew.

"Well then, you're in luck." Taylor said as he breezed into the house like he owned the place. Stepping into the kitchen he move across the tile floor to where an assortment of various bottles, cases and cans were spread out for the guests. "Someone was very well prepared." He mused, his eyes sliding over the myriad of drinking options at their disposal. "They always have tequila." He grumbled with a shake of his head as he lifted one of the bottle up just enough to read the label in the dim light. "Never any good whiskey."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded, “I see. So overall not something I should invest in,” she replied with a grin. He had run much farther with it than she’d ever thought, but then he seemed to be a bit of a lightweight… either that or he’d been here a lot longer than she’d originally thought.


    Selina followed him with an amused smirk and hoped that his antics would be sufficient to keep people from noticing that she was sort of with him, or at least following him. Selina grinned when he pointed out the tequila and poured herself a shot before downing it quickly and taking another. At least there was something positive about this. Tequila was one of her favorites and she didn’t even care to notice the boy complaining about the lack of whiskey as she poured herself a third shot.


    “So good,” she admitted after taking it down as well. She glanced up at him as she poured a fourth, “Do you even need whiskey at this point? I mean, you seem well on your way to being shitfaced to me,” she added with a teasing grin. Yup, she was starting to feel something… maybe slightly happy. That was nice. Definitely more relaxed. Tequila was a true miracle worker, and she so appreciated that they were kind enough to have it out. "And at least the rum isn't gone," she said as she saw a bottle. Definitely something to keep in mind for later.

[Taylor McCarthy]

"The real money's made in betting." Taylor said with a curt nod. He did know a little of what he was talking about. He had an uncle who was a bookie back in Ireland and he did more than alright for himself. He grinned as he looked to the dark haired girl. In truth, Taylor was still stone cold sober. Ish. He'd had a few drinks already but was nowhere near hammered. If she thought his little humorous rant was alcohol fueled, well, it was clear she simply didn't know Taylor Brennan.

With a resigned sigh, Taylor went for the rum. He didn't like tequila all that much and the beer here in the States was, for the most part, disappointing. No wonder Americans drank so much. They had to in order to stand the piss water they called booze. "Me?" He glanced to Selina as he went about replacing the crappy beer he had in his cup with a generous helping of rum. "Oh, I'm good. You forget. We Irish taught the world how to drink." He gave wink as he dropped a couple ice cubes in the cup for good measure. "I'm just getting started."

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded, “Isn’t it always?” she asked with a wry grimace. She didn’t watch much boxing, or even MMA, but she had a few friends back in Santiago who were really deep into debt from losing so much in betting, and debt was usually the reason a lot of the students ended up in serious trouble in the first place. Selina drank more and decided not to focus on it. If there was ever a time she decided to go back over everything she’d pushed aside in favor of alcohol… she didn’t want to think about that either.


    Selina shrugged, “Ah, so you’re Irish?” she asked as she poured herself a full glass of tequila. She didn’t really give a damn what it looked like to other people, she needed something to help her relax, and her ability to tolerate alcohol was higher than that of most her size, which sucked because it was so much harder to get drunk, and so much more expensive. Besides, she would drink it slow. Ish. Alcohol poisoning wasn’t really on her to do list either. “You’re certainly a different brand of difficult to understand,” she offered with a laugh. Accents, while entertaining, also meant she had to focus a lot harder on the conversation since English wasn’t her first language, and focusing wasn’t really her thing right now.


    Usually she would have flirted with this type of guy, but her goal was to get drunk tonight, and that never coincided with fucking for her so she hadn’t bothered. Some asshole got way too close when reaching for a bottle of beer and she gave Taylor an exasperated glance, “Shall we head somewhere else? I’ve got what I need.” And if the bastard didn’t move in the next half second, he’d have a few injuries along with his drink.

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor laughed out loud. It was a light hearted display that book-ended a pause just long enough to get another drink from his cup down. He gave a shrug and shook his head. "Guilty as charged." As a recent import he still wasn't quite used to people calling him out for being foreign. Knowing only one other person in the Academy that hailed from Ireland remained a vague, almost abstract concept to him. "It's a lovely country if you love violent alcoholism and crippling depression." He grinned, his eyes flashing with an amused glint.

"And what about you?" He asked, head tilting slightly as he once again took a moment to dip into his freshly poured rum. He was feeling a good buzz, but nowhere near his worst. Taylor still had a ways to go before he got crazy. Or, at least, crazy by his standards. He eyed the guy who was getting a little too close and then nodded to Selina, moving to step out of the kitchen and head back out toward the backyard where the pool was. "You don't sound like you're from Jersey yourself." He said with a chuckle.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina chuckled, “Sounds alright to me,” she responded. “Add in a little touch of gang violence and I’ll feel right at home,” she added with a wry grin. Chile was actually quite a bit better than some of its Latin counterparts in regards to such violence, but the poor in the cities were still often territorially ruled by those who weren’t accountable to any laws. She hadn’t liked it, but she hadn’t seen any reason to try to do anything about it either as the police were merely a different type of gang to deal with. 

    Selina quickly followed Taylor, very happy to be leaving the man who didn’t understand the concept of personal space behind. She could have sworn she felt him touch her as she left, but she wasn’t about to make a scene unless he followed her… which he didn’t. Lucky for him. Selina had wanted to break his fingers, but if she took the time to teach every goddamn fool a lesson she’d have no time to live her life. She’d also probably be in jail. “I’m from Chile in South America,” she offered with a smile, deliberately putting the asshole out of her mind and taking a drink to help calm her tense nerves.

[Taylor McCarthy]

"Oh, we got that too, luv." Taylor assured Selina with a nod and that same loopy grin that seemed to be all but permanently slapped onto his face. He certainly wasn't about to get into a history lesson of his embattled people and the region in which he grew up. He'd thankfully missed the worst of the conflict that took place for decades in the very neighborhoods he'd ran around in as a kid though that didn't mean there wasn't still a great deal of tension and unrest. Culture was a difficult thing to change.

Taylor stepped out into the backyard and looked over the party. It wasn't a bad atmosphere as far as house parties went. The music, thankfully, wasn't terribly loud and invasive and it didn't look as though anyone was too embarrassingly hammered just yet. Of course, to someone like Taylor whether this happened to be a good thing was largely dependent on how much alcohol he'd had. So far, so good. "I know nothing about South America." He admitted with an almost apologetic shrug. He gave a light chuckle and glanced to Selina. "Save for what little I could get from American TV. And that paints about as good a picture for your country as it does mine." Which was, suffice to say, little more than terrible stereotypes and gross misconceptions. "This country's not so bad though." He said, wandering his way over toward the edge of the pool. "Though I'm going to strangle the next arse who asks me about 'Lucky Charms'." He grumbled. "Like I know what the hell that means."