(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

[bloodalwaystells]

"Later, it all made sense, yes. That the higher ups were manipulating young mages, those that they could recruit. Not everything they did was horrible. It's never quite that way, you know? They had a reputation as a philanthropic company, dedicated to everything from social reform to protecting and financing the arts. Sure, security and retrievals sometimes got a bit dirty, but that was the world we lived in. I had to know these things to defend against them, to understand what kind of things would be used against me as a security mage."

The words start, and then they just keep coming. The whole thing feels shocky, distant, a flat monotone of facts and horrors that he can't quite keep bottled. He'd been very, very good at his job, and it hadn't always been clean.

"Then they murdered my father, and I found out that they were doing things I couldn't. I just couldn't. Control, exploitation, sacrifice. Murder. Dealing with things that don't belong in this world, that demand blood." He shakes his head and now he really does feel cold, hearing in the back of his mind a slow, heavy drip on a concrete floor, the rasp of his own breath after he's screamed himself hoarse, the ringing of delighted laughter and the stark white of a camera flash in the dark.

She'd liked to keep souvenirs.

"I couldn't be part of that anymore. So I got out. I ran."

[henchgal]

Meredith reaches out to touch Jaeger's hand. To try and help keep him grounded in the here and the now, rather than slipping away into the dark parts of that memory. "A bold, brave choice. A good choice. Here, you don't need to run, but it's good that you decided to, back then."

Her ring splints are cold, even though her skin is warm.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm glad I understand, now."

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger lets her touch him, and that's sort of a small miracle in his current state of mind. But her hand is warm, and it's something that's here, not there. This is a hand without a knife in it. That means the world to him right now, as he continues to try and keep his breathing steady. To focus on those things, the sand beneath his feet and the happy din of people chatting back near the grills and tables.

"I think this is the first time I've talked about it in a very long time. Everything that's happened. So...thank you, I appreciate it."

There's so much more to the story, but this is enough- It's the raw and bloody bones of all that's happened to him in his years of service.

"Like you said. I think it's going to take some time. But I want to move past that. I've been on the run for six years, and every year it feels like I lose a little more of myself, forget what it's like to actually have a life. I really do want to change that, even if I'm still doing the work. Just, to not be alone with it."

[henchgal]

"I'm going to sound like a hypocrite bringing this up, but there is a counseling department at ADI. And I bet they've heard similar stories, in level of Bad Shit if not in exact content and scope. I bet they'd be able to help you process, if you were willing to talk to them."

...she hasn't, though. Not about back home, not about the selkie incident, not about the circus. Like she said, she sounds like a hypocrite.

Her hand remains against his, her thumb running in slow, gentle circles.

[bloodalwaystells]

He nods quiet agreement.

"Now that I'm starting to settle in...I think it's probably a good idea. To at least try and work through some of it, especially if I'm going to be doing more of the same kind of work. It takes its toll."

He chuckles, then, rough and subdued.

"You know what's funny? I actually have a degree in Psychology, though I never went for my Master's. I guess right from the start, I knew something wasn't right, and subconsciously wanted to understand it."

[henchgal]

"That is kind of funny. Do you find yourself analyzing everyone else here through that lens?"

Even as she asks that, her smile...it doesn't so much dim as become performative, something to cover up her own fear of Being Known. Because she can't help but wonder what someone might see in her, if they looked below the surface.

[bloodalwaystells]

he catches that flicker in her gaze, the way the smile shifts from her eyes to something more like a mask, and notes it. It's only fair, he supposes: very few people like being peeled apart mentally.

"Not so much, honestly. When I'm working with people, it's nice to have that background for reference, but it's never been my main focus. If I felt more resonance with it, I would have continued my education and gotten my Master's, but it was really just to supplement the work I was already doing. Security and magic are both very demanding fields and understanding people a little better...it definitely doesn't hurt."

It had seemed like a good fit, and had worked out well for him.

[henchgal]

"I can see how it'd be useful in security. I'm not sure I understand how psychology supports magic, yet. I don't have much experience with magic, firsthand. Unless you count the selkie thing? I don't."

[bloodalwaystells]

"It's a lot, I admit. I've been involved with it my entire life, and there are still plenty of things that I don't know." He's especially finding that true here, in this new world where things are familiar-but-yet-different.

"It depends on the kind of magic, there's a lot of different applications. But it's often tied heavily into symbolism and force of will. And when you exist in a society built around secrets and a certain sort of...hierarchy, well...Figuring out what's important to people and how they might react to something is useful."

He toys with his empty beer cup, pondering the wisdom of another.