Xaviers!

For those that attend the heroes' feast, it's a grand affair. Most of the castle turns out for it and all the X-Men are given a position of honor at the head table, with a special place for Sam on Nimue's right. Excalibur hangs on the wall behind Nimue, surrounded by glowing rough crystals in all the colors of the rainbow.

Before the feasting can get started properly, Nimue stands and the room quickly quiets. "We take each opportunity to celebrate because there is no guarantee of tomorrow. But tonight, we have something special to celebrate. Thanks to the help of these heroes, we have won a victory over the oppressive Grey Lords and dealt them a serious blow."

She waits for the cheering to die down and then continues, "Make no mistake, this is not over. Some of the Grey Lords escaped, some were not here. We still have a long road ahead of us. We will be reconstituting the Council of Seasons. Leandra, the Lady of Lost Stars, has agreed to become the Lady of Spring for the first Council. We will be looking for other like-minded individuals to fill those positions. Also, with the Green Knight's blessing, this place will remain a sanctuary to any of good will who come here until such time as we can return home."

More cheering and another pause. "So tonight, we celebrate. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves. We worked hard, fought hard, and we have a lot to celebrate. Drink to the memories of those we lost, but do so with gladness because they died *free*!"

Cups lift high into the air around the main hall and the celebration begins.

Diego, in the nobleman's attire magically bestowed after his bath, had been eagerly eyeing the feast since he sat down. After the cheer he dug in, gnawing his first leg of lamb to the bone before moving on to a more balanced plate of food. His table manners left something to be desired.

Gemma is seated between her mother and Trev and seems to have a healthy enough appetite. She occasionally glances in Vivienne's direction, but seems to be trying to focus more on the food and celebration.

Sean cannot help but examine everything around them occasionally perhaps staring more than is entirely polite, but being physically in the Fey realms is something of a rare opportunity. He eats politely and drinks perhaps heavily, using it to cover some of his longer stares. A part of him was sad that he'd not considered bringing paper and pencils with him to write observations, sketch figures, and architecture.

At some point, Sean catches Gemma staring at him in return. It's not for very long and her attention is quickly torn back by something her mother says to her, but the stare was there, he was almost positive.

Sean's eyes linger on Gemma again after scanning the room. He keeps feeling like she's looking at him and he cannot tell why. It's not long before he stands to walk around the room ale in hand, make small-talk with some of the Fey. Perhaps see some new ones, he'd already seen and interacted more with the Fey in person than all but two or three of the author's whose books he'd read.

After eating way too fast for his own good, Diego left his seat and trotted up to the team wizard.

"Dude. This place is awesomesauce, right?"

"Isn't it?" Sean smiled. "Few mortals get to cross over here. Very few get to feast with the Fey as heroes."

"So... I know what happened with me on the vamp hunt now. I apparently get really angry and get a fiery magic-ish blade-claw gauntlet thingy when I sense literal evil."

"That's... very odd," Sean said buying time to think by drinking some more beer. "We could try to learn more about it back on campus? I'm not sure how to simulate literal evil to make it... happen. Summoning ritual perhaps. Could summon some minor entity, but that'd require some more... exotic ingredients."

Sean paused for a moment.

"Did this ever happen before the vampire hive?"

"You seem a bit on-edge," Sam says as she makes her way over to Gemma.

"Hey, at least let me try to call it forth on my own before you go summoning a demon. Evil could just be the... spark that started the fire, yeah. And no... well... okay, watch my eyes and tell me if you see anything."

He concentrated on trying to study the room as a detective would, and a ring of ghostly blue flames began to dance in his retinas.

Sean feels out the weave of magic around Diego as he tries to use his ability to see if what Diego is doing is magic in nature or... something else entirely.

"I see... something in your eyes," Sean said, "Try not to turn it completely on though. The Fey might not appreciate us interrupting the feast by doing whatever it is that you do."

"Good idea."

It isn't entirely magic, but there is a strong reactive element to it. There is also a primal air about it, like a jungle beast stalking the night. Strangely it seems to have picked up a trace of the magic of the armor he had worn in battle which seems to be having a stabilizing effect.

"It seems like a reaction to magic rather than being purely magical in nature," Sean said staring at how Diego's ability altered the weave. "Maybe your ability is adaptive. Making you able to hunt whatever your 'prey' is and recently your 'prey' have all been magical in nature? We could look through my books to see if anybody has seen anything like it before."

Samantha McManus wrote:"You seem a bit on-edge," Sam says as she makes her way over to Gemma.

"Just a little worn out and uncertain, that's all," Gemma says, trying to wave the concern away.

"Has your mother talked to you about the offer I'm making?"

"We talked about it a little bit. Are you sure? Vivienne could tell you that I'm... what's the term? Pain in the ass?"

"Darling, I'm a pain in the arse. After what you've done for us, this is the least I could do to honor a warrior that fights like that."

"What sort of service would you require? These sort of things require some sort of payment. I'm a passable lady-in-waiting."

"You know, after having seen you in action, that seems like it was an odd fit for you."

Gemma shrugs, "It was easier to sell the Grey Lords on a lady-in-waiting than it would have been a bodyguard."

"So what role would you feel most yourself in?"

Ainsley sat with a plate full of food objects in front of him. Rolls, fruits, and steamed vegetables. He doubted the rolls were vegan but vegetarian was better than nothing.

His legs were folded under him and he was drawing feverishly. Occasionally he would look up from his pad to scarf something down in a rush, but otherwise he only stopped to change pages.

Samantha McManus wrote:"So what role would you feel most yourself in?"

"I'm a warrior, but you already knew that. It's not like you have a shortage of those available though."

"But I've a feeling you'd rather do that than my laundry."

"I can do what needs doing. If there's no call for extra warriors, then I can do laundry."

"What if I asked you to spar with me regularly?"

"I would say your girlfriends would get jealous."

"That good, are you?" She smirks.

"When I'm really fighting and not just trying not to hurt someone who's wielding Excalibur," she says.

"Can you blame me for wanting to see that?"

"I can't. I also have no desire to be mauled by a werewolf for usurping her position, even if that was not my intention."

"That's... fair."

"I suppose you'll just have to spar with Trev."

Trev was legitimately distracted by the spectacle of the feast and the sheer amount of food being passed around, so he didn't notice Sam's approach, but he started paying attention once she started to speak.

Why would she get jealo--what the hell kind sparri...oh. Yeah that could be hot. Don't think about that don't think about that she's right here. He stuffed a hunk of something that resembled soda bread into his mouth.

He started as Sam mentioned his name. "Mmmpph?" he responded as he chewed. "I'm not much of a match for her," he smiled sheepishly after swallowing.

"I'm sure she'd take it easy on you at the start."

"Unless you wanted it the other way..."

“Sparring is how we met! I got a mild concussion!” he chuckled.

"He has some potential," she says, raising an eyebrow. "So, if the Morrigan isn't looking for a maid and sparring has other complications... is there some other role that would suit? Advisor or tutor maybe?"

"I'd gladly take your counsel, and I wouldn't mind learning my way around a sword."

"Advisor to the Morrigan. Seems like an honorable title."