(mingle) It must be party time

[forethinking]

Who: Ren Amamiya, Wanda Maximoff, you!
When: 12th of September
Where: Good Harbor Beach
Summary: Here's the barbecue log! Eating, playing games, having a bonfire and sleep-over on the beach!
Warnings: Alcohol? Ghost stories?



ɪ. ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇ

Congratulations, you've made it to the Good Harbor Beach September barbecue! With the weather cooling, but still pleasant enough, it's a pleasure to have a hangout involving ADI's residents and those who live at Bonnie's. There are still so many people who don't know one another, and many to strengthen bonds with, so the hours your dearest Wanda and Ren spend cooking and flipping and seasoning are nothing but rewarding! Seeing people enjoying themselves is great and it's motivating for them to keep doing these encounters every now and then.

On the menu, we have:
- Burgers;
- Steaks with jacked potato sides;
- Ribs;
- Zucchini-and-Pecorino fritters;
- Several different salads, including ovcharska;
- Aubergine kebabs with charred onion salsa;
- Salmon yakitori;
- Takoyaki;
- Cupcakes
- Apples and honey;
- Cherry dumplings;
- Sarmale filled with rice;
- Bundevara (pumpkin pie);


For drinks, there's a selection of alcohol, as well as coffee, water, tea, and a variety of sodas. Take in the nice view, jump on the ocean, sink your toes in the sand and enjoy yourselves. There aren't any usable tables, but there are several blankets on the floor for your perusal.

ɪɪ. ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ

With bellies full, now it's when the real fun begins. There are a few decks of cards being passed around, as well as one of their single tables now organized to a beer-pong competition. Individually, games such as Never Have I Ever, as well as Truth or Dare can be seen, and those who wish to use their skills for entertaining are more than welcome to do so.

A little bonding here, a little drunken chatting there, this is your time to shine!

ɪɪɪ. ᴀ ʙᴏɴꜰɪʀᴇ

With those who have a curfew to worry about in mind, a bonfire is lit, and a few tents are set around the beach (may have to be shared). If anyone's got a nice story, now it's the time to share it, or perhaps if anyone can play an instrument, it's about time to break it out of its case. The night will be lively until the early hours of the morning, and of course, mindful of those who couldn't stay up this late.

The next morning, everyone will be properly thanked for their attendance and tupperwares will be distributed with leftovers for those who'd like to take some food home, the beach will be cleaned impeccably and everyone will go their own way, hopefully with smiles and a new sense of unity and connection from the amazing night they've just experienced.

ɪᴠ. ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴏᴏᴄ ɴᴏᴛᴇ

(Please put in your top-level subject line or prompt line whether it's okay to threadjack! Just to keep things more dynamic, we encourage it!)

Comments

[aelwyn_aberration]

Uh... they're these psychic human people who are like, marked by limbo. Very rare.

[That was a very weird reaction.]

I... didn't know that was inappropriate? [Is it. Actually, she figures it probably would be... there's plenty of Aasimar and Tieflings who look passably human but then have six fingers on their feet and a forked tongue.] Maybe you just have a supernatural immunity system.

[marmoron]

[ keith just continues to stare for a moment before sighing. ]

What does that even mean? To be marked by limbo?

[ because he's not some between life and death eldritch creature, thanks??? but now that she's started hypothesizing, keith just puts the vodka bottle down and pushes it back to the other side of the bar. ]

I don't have a supernatural immune system. Or a supernatural anything. [ another sigh as he stares into his red cup. ]

I'm just.... I don't know.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She raises an eyebrow.] Would you like me to give you a full explanation on the Great Wheel of extradimensional planes and what it means to be planar touched, or do you actually not care? [She figures it's the latter but she's willing to oblige.]

You don't have to share if you don't want to. I genuinely didn't know it was a complicated question to answer. [She does really want to know, though.]

[marmoron]

[ she's not wrong about her assessment there, but frankly a distraction doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world either. ]

I'm curious, I guess.

[ after a beat of frowning at the vodka, he looks up. ]

It's not that it's complicated. It's just...I really don't know. For a long time I thought I was human? But I'm not so sure about that anymore.

[ ... ]

And I don't mean that in the metaphorical Avatar or Entity Aligned sense of it. I mean, geneticaly.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She takes a deep breath before launching into an explanation. Okay, time to explain the Great Wheel to a newbie. This is like tutoring all over again.] The Great Wheel is our way of conceptualizing the worlds beyond ours. Some of them exist in mythology here, but we know they exist back home. Heaven, Hell, the Abyss, whatever.

It's a wheel of sixteen other worlds which mortals often think of as afterlives which is... sort of true but a bit self-centred. It exists on an axis of Good, Evil, Law and Chaos. Or more accurately Creation, Destruction, Order and... well, chaos. Limbo is basically this world that completely makes the fucking rules up as it goes because it's the world that is absolute chaos and nothing else. There's one of those for all four points on the axis, and the surrounding planes are more of a gradient. Planar-Touched is just someone whose parents made a deal with something from that world and boom their baby comes out a half demon with twelve fingers and wings, or half angel which is just human but they'll grow up to be a lot hotter. So like that but with the things that grow in Limbo, so like... monsters of raw psionic energy or whatever.

[Then when he shares that he's not sure he's human, she furrows her brow at him.] What else would you be, though? They don't have elves and the like over there, right?

[marmoron]

[ that explanation is getting a long stare and a raised eyebrow. none of that is exactly anything familiar to keith, but it's a lot to unpack. in the end, he simply reaches across the bar to grab a second red solo cup to pour aelwyn some vodka because he's decided she sounds like she needs a drink. ]

Here. [ he'll hand that over to her song with a coke can if she wants a mixer. ] So according to your whole.... whatever that system of organization is, what does this place count as?

[ and with that asked, he sighs and takes a long sip out of his own cup and pulls a face. ]

We have elves -- they're just not called that. [ .... ] And they're not from the same planet as me. You uh... familiar at all with aliens?

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She laughs lightly at the look. It's not filled with her usual condescension and it's not even particularly refined. She takes the cup and steadies herself.] Yeah, that's a fair reaction.

[She takes a sip and settles into an amused smile.] The answer to both questions ties together. This is an alien world, and thus, I know what aliens are.

What, you think you're half-elf or something? [It's possible maybe. She squints at his ears and takes another long sip.]

[marmoron]

[ pushing aside the reflex to shield his ears, keith shakes his head. ]

No, that's not what I mean. [ never mind the fact that the alien space elves mostly got wiped out ten thousand years ago, that's not something he's getting into right now. he sighs, taking another sip out of his cup. ]

well. Kinda. Different species of alien. They're called the Galra.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Oh? What's their story? [She'll stop peering at his ears once she's concluded they're free of pointiness and take a sip as she waits for Keith to continue.]

[marmoron]

[ on keith's end, he goes quiet and brooding for a moment. ]

It's a long, messed up story. They're a highly technologically advanced alien race that've been conquering or wiping out entire galaxies. They came to Earth looking for the Blue Lion, but that was just a couple of months ago.

[ he frowns, taking another long sip. ]

There weren't any Galra on Earth before that.

[ or so he thought. ]

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She raises an eyebrow.] Unless you were supposedly sired in space, I assume that's not entirely true?

[marmoron]

[ actually shuddering for a second here. ]

Don't talking about siring.

[ making a face, he takes another long sip of his drink. ]

But honestly? I don't know. I was never told anything about my mom. Always assumed she just up and leftt.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Afraid of vampires?

[She just chuckles. Oh, Keith, you contrary little man.]

What makes you think she wasn't human, then? I assume it's the mother you're unsure about?

wow i truly cannoot english

[marmoron]

No. [ flat toned, more unamused than defensive. ] Sired just makes it sound like some messed up breeding program.

[ which could theoretically apply to his situation for all keith knows, but he is in no fucking way about to entertain that hypothetical, tyvm. ]

Do you really care to hear about all this because it's a long story and I don't want to talk about it if you're just gonna laugh at the end.

[aelwyn_aberration]

I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to hear the answer.

[The smile drops and even though she knows it's a fair response, she does look a bit hurt.]

I won't laugh.

[marmoron]

[ if nothing else, her reassurance makes turn down the hostility a few notches. despite his misgivings about aelwyn, he's genuinely not interested in antagonism for antagonism's sake. he takes another sip of his drink, pinches the bridge of his nose and starts over. ]

Okay. I haven't really talked about this with anyone.

[ so why start with aelwyn? maybe the drink is having some kind of effect after all. ]

But while I was on a mission to help liberate a Galra occupied Balmera, I uh... somehow managed to interface with their security sysem. [ rubbing the back of his head, he continues. ] I shouldn't have been able to because Galra tech is species locked.

[ a beat. ]

I know that sounds crazy because I don't look alien. [ ... ] Or well. I look completely human anyway.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Huh.... There's a lot to consider there. She's also really surprised he'd even talk to her about it if he's really not talked to anyone, but. She did talk about her abusive parents with him back at the carnival just because she just needed to tell someone.

So why not dump it all on the kid who hates her already.]

No... It's certainly not crazy.

I've heard of this kind of thing before with some species like... back home, a half elf and a human can produce a baby that looks fully human but they age very slowly and live up to two hundred years. So just because you look entirely human doesn't necessarily mean you are.

[Hmm. There's alternative explanations. Perhaps the Galra tech had been modified, perhaps it was broken, perhaps it simply mistook Keith for Galra due to any number of biological factors. But factoring those into the theory doesn't change anything, it only undermines any potential satisfying explanations.]

Have you tried doing a DNA test? I suppose not if you've never talked to anyone about it.