It was the night of the Genovian Mutant Society Christmas party and the turn out was huge. Current members, full and guest alike were there, and everyone was allowed to invite a partner with them.
Henry invited Elata, who was, well, elated to be there. Roberto had dire predictions about mutant fangirl overload. Henry and Elata were on the dance floor at that moment.
"I have to admit it," Madame Bella said thoughtfully. "I never imagined my brother and Elata would ever get together. They're both so different..."
She shook her head, wondering if she would ever understand what attracted them to each other. Roberto shrugged. Since Henry had come into their lives, Elata had stopped fawning over him. A little. He was astonished to find that he actually missed it, but knew he'd get over it.
"Merry Christmas, Madame Bella," Mia said cheerfully, approaching them.
"Merry Christmas, Princess Mia," Madame Bella replied. "Duchess Tina."
Roberto swallowed hard. He had never been in the presence of royalty before. The fact that they had spoken online before briefly was not the same thing. She probably didn't remember him.
"And Merry Christmas..." Mia said, holding her hand out to Roberto.
"Roberto, Your Highness," Roberto said nervously. "Roberto Harrison."
"Nice to meet you. Canadian?"
"Uhh, yes. I'm schooling here. My parents are cool, but our neighbours not so much."
Mia nodded, frowning a little.
"That sounds familiar... oh! We haven't met online have we?"
"Umm, yeah we did. I'm a friend of Elata's," Roberto replied.
Everyone remembered Elata.
Mia snapped her fingers.
"That's right. She kept calling you Spud or something."
"Sprout, actually. She loves to give people mutant nicknames. She even gave herself one. But of course, she's human. That's her over there," Roberto pointed. "And Madame Bella's brother Henry."
"She's certainly a lot smaller than I imagined," Mia mused.