Hellfire Club: The Mission [CLOSED]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Nightcrawler and those selected for the mission.
WHAT: The Hellfire Club infiltration mission
WHERE: Manhattan
WHEN: Late evening
WARNING(S): Could get violent.

Team One was already on the ground, infiltrating the party. The rest waited in silence aboard the Blackbird, hovering in complete stealth mode high above the island. Back at the Institute, Professor X closely monitored the communications of the team, ready to give the signal when ready...

It was go time.

[[ OKAY HERE'S HOW IT'S GOING TO GO.

Top levels will be going up for each mission phase. Each phase will, OOCly, go on simultaneously so no one has to wait for another team to complete their task. Players have freedom to play as they like, but the mod characters in each team (Feliks, Shindou, Reimu) will most likely lead the action in the direction it's intended to go. The mod account will pop in for NPCing every now and again.

Have fun! ]]

Comments

[niepokonany]

Feliks had had his fun dressing everyone on Team One up, or at least everyone who needed the help -- doing their hair and makeup, suggesting outfits, giving the younger ones teasing reminders not to drink too much. Now, it was time to put his game face on...

Which, in his case, meant taking his game face off. He'd long since determined that one of the best ways he personally could get information out of people involved acting like he was too ditzy to do a thing with it.

Every aspect of his appearance was calculated. Blue contacts and hair extensions long enough to manage a little updo, to keep himself from being too recognizable. Heavy makeup, gaudy and glittery, to draw attention to himself, and away from his natural appearance. A long black dress with a side slit nearly to the hip, classic, attention-grabbing without being too recognizable in a lineup or too nouveau-riche. Small falsies -- big ones wouldn't look natural on him, and would stand out in the high-fashion crowd. Sky-high heels, because fantastic legs couldn't hurt.

In short, he looked every inch the role of someone's gold-digging arm candy.

If you find out what we're looking for, he'd instructed the rest of the team on the Blackbird, come to me and I'll report back to Nightcrawler and coordinate everyone getting out. As for your cover stories for coming to get me... Girls, you need to head to the bathroom for a second, and obviously you can't go without bringing your best girlfriend. Guys, I'm your date, and you just noticed me flirting with whoever and think I'm too drunk and we really need to get home. When we're good to go, I'm gonna mass text all of you about losing my bracelet -- don't all leave at once, just start looking for a natural time to bail and get to the rendezvous point!

He took a moment to get himself a drink as he entered -- something pink, girly, and utterly weak for him -- before making his way in with runway-confidence, on the lookout for a target.

[eternalprincess]

Kaguya's theme in general as well as her cover story was that of a wealthy socialite that's a little lacking in common sense. And of course also playing the role of one of Feliks' gal pals. In any case, she was dressed the part too, her 'uniform' picked out for her, as well as the style of makeup she wore.

A bit too much makeup, in her opinion. Keeping the pre-mission instructions in mind, she mingled with the other party goers...

[the_black_king]

The party took place in a wide, lavish ballroom, all black-and-white marble and gold accents. Wait staff in impeccable suits wandered the floor with trays of drinks and tiny, prettily-designed snacks, while the guests, all dressed to the nines, milled about from the card tables to the dance floor to the flower-bedecked balcony overlooking the city.

As Kaguya made her way into the room, a young man with sandy blond hair walked past her to get to one of the waiters with champagne. Glass victoriously in hand, he turned around to go back where he'd come from -- and only narrowly averted bumping into her, a little bit of bubbly splashing out of his glass as he jerked back to avoid a collision.

"I'm so sorry, miss -- Are you alright?" He frowned, reaching for a pocket handkerchief. "It didn't get on you, did it?"

[eternalprincess]

Thanks to Feliks, it was clear she didn't look out of place at all, it really was good work on his part. It wasn't often that she's been in places like this, though. Certainly not in this particular building.

Suddenly, as she entered, she has a near miss, a collision that was barely avoided. "Oh, it's quite fine. I don't think you got any on me."

[the_black_king]

The young man gave a sigh of relief, handkerchief still in hand.

"Thank goodness. I'm so sorry, I should have looked where I was going more closely..."

A moment passed awkwardly, and he hurriedly tucked his handkerchief away again.

"Ah, I don't think I've met you anywhere, have I?"

[eternalprincess]

"Hmm, probably not." Kaguya replies, looking rather relaxed despite the actual reason she was here to begin with.

"Most of my concern lately was avoiding the bitter cold we're having this winter." Which is sort of true, she is unused to the cold, and hails from warmer climes.

[the_black_king]

"It's been pretty awful, hasn't it?"

Still smiling benignly, he continued: "Honestly, I don't spent too much time up here this time of year. It's easy enough to work remotely, so why not spend the winter in the tropics?"

[eternalprincess]

"Certainly something to consider for next year, especially if you're not used to the cold."

It wasn't too hard for her to slip into the mindset of a self-centred socialite, which was, perhaps, fortunate in this case.

[the_black_king]

"Are you?" he asked with polite interest, taking a sip of his champagne. Couldn't let it go to waste, right? "Used to the cold, I mean."

[eternalprincess]

"Ah, not by a long shot." That was true of anyone she knew that happened to come from warmer places, like Greece or the tropics in general.

[the_black_king]

The young man nodded, with an air of understanding and a look of vague sympathy. He brightened pretty shortly thereafter, though.

"I don't suppose this is any kind of a place to dwell on things like that, though! You certainly wouldn't be able to tell about the weather out there, if you didn't know." In spite of all the cold-looking marble, the room was quite thoroughly and comfortably heated.

[eternalprincess]

She nods, she finds little reason to argue with that, it was dulling the mood.

"Of course, you're right. No point dwelling on the frankly terrible weather." They seemed to have gotten the heat just right in here, not too cold, but not too hot either.

"I imagine you're a frequent visitor to events like these?"

[the_black_king]

"Well," he said, with a slightly embarrassed laugh. The embarrassment seemed forced somehow, more than the laugh itself did -- a little show of the modesty one was supposed to have.

"I've been to one or two before, we'll say that. It's not a bad kind of place to make business contacts, depending on what market you're looking at!"

[the_black_king]

At a table near one towering window, a small handful of people were gathered around a craps table. One handsome man in his mid-30s, with messy hair and a well-tailored tuxedo, was grimacing as he handed a stack of cash over to the attendant. He took a shot of tequila, and sighed.

"One more. If I lose this one, I'm done for tonight!"

[niepokonany]

Feliks wandered over to the table, leaning his hands curiously against the edge of it, his expression carefully, pleasantly vacant.

"So, how does this game work? Daddy never lets me come to the casino with him..."

[the_black_king]

The man nearly choked on his drink at that last part ("Daddy"?), but made a recovery with some semblance of grace, coughing into his fist for a moment before he spoke.

"It's, ah, it's really not that complicated, I guess... did you want me to show you?"

PS -- feel free to threadjack if your character needs to talk to Feliks!

[niepokonany]

"Oh, would you mind?"

Feliks stepped a little closer, the movement exposing a flash of leg, and flashed a guileless smile up at the man.

"It looks really interesting, I just can't get my head around it at all for some reason!"

Probably because he was pretending to have the approximate IQ of a lightly concussed gerbil.

[the_black_king]

"Ah."

He swallowed a little, and tried hard to keep his eyes on Feliks's face.

"Sure, that's no trouble! So... So first, you want to place your bet." He placed some money on the table. "The first roll is the 'come-out', and you want to bet on 'Pass' or 'Don't Pass'. If you're betting pass and the first roll is a 2, 3, or 12, you lose. If you bet on pass and roll a 7 or 11, you win.

"If it's one of the other numbers, basically, if you're betting on pass, you have to roll that number again before 7 comes up.

"It's the other way around for 'don't pass' -- 2 or 3 on the come-out roll wins, 7 or 11 loses, and if it's one of the others, you're trying to roll a 7 or 11 before you hit that one again."

Taking two dice from the bowl of 5 the dealer offered him, he gave Feliks a little smile. "So, what do you say? Pass, or Don't Pass?"

[niepokonany]

Feliks blinked up at him attentively throughout the explanation, nodding now and then and trying not to nod off from boredom. It seemed like an unfortunate arrangement, really -- not as straightforward as slots, and without the intrigue of poker.

But easier for his power to affect the outcome of without arousing suspicion than either.

"Oh -- oh, wow, you want me to pick? Gosh... All right, let's try 'Pass'!"

[the_black_king]

"You heard the lady," the gambler said with a grin. He shook the dice around a bit, cupped both in one hand, and closed his eyes to gather focus for a moment, then tossed them to the table, making sure to bounce them off the back wall.

[niepokonany]

He watched the dice roll with rapt attention -- a three and a five. Eight, then.

Casting the man a look of breathless anticipation, he let his hand brush against the side of his a bit.

"So, like, that means you have to roll again, right?"

[the_black_king]

He glanced down at Feliks's hand, cheeks coloring slightly.

"That's right. We want to get another eight before we get a seven..." Well, it wasn't the hardest target. There were a lot of ways to roll an eight. He took the dice again, shook them up, and rolled them towards the opposite side of the table again.

[niepokonany]

A two, and a one. Feliks made a show of pouting a little.

"So if it's not a seven or an eight... what, you just like, keep rolling until it is?"

That, he imagined, would make getting a three or something pretty anticlimactic. He decided to do something about it, next round.

[the_black_king]

"That's about the size of it," he confirmed, with an apologetic little grin. He'd already lost pretty badly tonight, and to lose again, in front of a pretty girl? Well, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Taking the dice as the dealer handed them to him, he cupped them in his palm and pressed a kiss to the surface of them.

"For luck," he explained, his grin growing even more sheepish.

[niepokonany]

Well, there was a golden opportunity.

Feliks reached out gently and took hold of his wrist, drawing the hand over to himself. He bowed his head to the other man's palm and kissed the dice, leaving a faint hint of lipstick on the surface.

"Since you're showing me the ropes, I should help, too, right?" he asked, flashing a little smile up at the man as he pulled back.