(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

[sorser]

[Little does Harry know that he has signed himself up for periodic hounding, for the express purpose of making sure he does what was promised.

But for now, Stephen slowly allows Doctor Mode to recede, acquiescing just enough to give cool wizard story options.]

I can tell you about the time I was stranded on Mt. Everest, or when I was caught in a time loop with a dark entity, or how I dissolved into a complete non-existence for five years.

[Neatly sorted from bad to worse, even.]

Take your pick.

[horrifictie]

[ CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - The mountain story sounds low-concept, but the time loop and non-existence dissolving are exciting!
INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] - Dark entity! The dark entity one!
LOGIC [Challenging: Success] - You are also deeply curious about how he didn't exist for five years, for... well you know why. ]

I'm going to go with dark entity time loop. Deeply para-natural sounding.

[sorser]

[Ah, that one. Stephen figures some context is in order, and he takes another drink before launching into it, looking at Harry as he explains.]

I should start with saying that I used to be able to manipulate time. I was the guardian of a very powerful— [He gestures at his chest where the Eye of Agamotto would hang; a gesture that probably only makes sense to him.] —stone that allowed me to cast spells influencing the flow of time accordingly. Dangerous stuff, only to be used if extremely necessary.

[One can assume that this tale probably falls into the Extremely Necessary category.]

I’m not the only sorcerer where I’m from. I come from an entire group of them, all devoted to the mystic arts, and all willing to do what’s necessary to protect the Earth from magical threats. But there was a group that splintered off from us sometime before I joined, seeing things differently. They wanted to summon a primordial entity called Dormammu from the Dark Dimension, a place where time doesn’t exist, to our reality. The idea was that Dormammu would usher his dimension into ours, subsuming it completely.

They believed that living in a dimension without time would ease human suffering. That time in itself was a curse, because it leads to loss. To everything and everyone being temporary. Transient.

[To Stephen, it’s laughable to think the human experience is human at all without knowing that all things will, eventually, end. And yet he simultaneously understands that fear — it drove him, too. It sometimes still does, knowing how easy it is to unravel reality.]

We tried to stop them, but they managed to weaken the magical shield protecting the planet. Dormammu arrived, and he was… terrible. Powerful. None of us could hope to defeat him.

And so I chose a second option. I used the Time Stone and trapped both of us in a loop. I would ask to bargain, and he would deny me. And kill me. Again, and again. And again. But it was futile, because the time loop would reset with me arriving again, and asking to bargain.

To an entity who had never experienced time before, you can imagine how infuriating it was to be trapped for an eternity. Eventually, he couldn’t take it any more; he agreed to leave Earth and return to the Dark Dimension if I severed the spell. So I did, and he kept his word.

[Stephen spreads his free hand, as if to say, “ta-da”.]

Earth was safe. From him, at least.

[horrifictie]

[ INLAND EMPIRE - As he starts, a sudden craving for popcorn to munch on during this arises within you. Unfortunately, none is available. Instead you listen, contemplating as he orates with the flair of a less-than-seasoned storyteller.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - Loss cannot be tied to time, in the same way correlation is not causation. Time, like any other measurement, was created to make sense of a chaotic world.
CONCEPTUALIZATION [Easy: Success] - A man who controls time versus a being for which time does not exist. He introduced the concept to this monster knowing it would be rejected. Remarkably clever, on a mechanical *and* thematic level.
HALF-LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - Repeatedly being asked the same thing, again, and again, and again, when the asshole asking knows well what the answer is? Oh yes, dark entities loathe that sort of shit. She hates it too and she's *much worse* than a creature from a dark dimension.

INLAND EMPIRE - And so the tale draws to its end. What do you have to say? ]

Wow.

...Man I wish I had popcorn for that! You seriously saved the world? That's insane, but in a good way. You sound like you come out of the pages of a fantastique science-fiction novel. Fitting for Doctor Strange!

[ LOGIC [Challenging: Success] - Hm, this reminds you of *another* magical user who you know. One who spoke of people with powers saving worlds before. Could there be a connection between him and Wanda, beyond both being magical practitioners?
RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] - Before you ask that, you should ask a more pressing question on your mind. And, to save you the trouble: no, he will not trap you in a time loop, please do not ask him that. ]

Damn. [ a quick mutter to himself, before he bounces back: ] What would you have done if he didn't crack? Would you have just... kept looping for all eternity?

[sorser]

[So much of his life revolves around instances and experiences that sound “insane” these days. It’s almost surreal, that some years ago, he would not have thought himself possible of any of it. Would not have believed in any of it.

That question earns another drink before he answers.]

Yes… we would still be stuck in that same loop, while time moved on for the rest of the world. I’d have to have a little faith that everyone still left on Earth would find a solution, eventually, to the problem.

[It was a risk he was willing to take, but also the worst case scenario he’s glad never came to pass. Dying for an eternity sounds terrible, thanks. Not to mention the Time Stone would be needed elsewhere, for another problem altogether universe-shaking.]

I’m just glad it never came to that.

[horrifictie]

[ VOLITION [Easy: Success] - His willpower must be tremendous, to be ready to endure an eternal damnation on that level in the worst case scenario.
ENDURANCE [Easy: Success] - Not just in mind, but in body too.
INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - And in spirit. ]

Damn Doc. You're insane. [ he raises his glass to him. ] I dig that. Very disco of you to save the world and all of time. It's a good thing you're here with us, even if I'm sure you'd rather be back home.

I don't think I have a story to beat yours, so you win tonight.

[sorser]

[Insane. Maybe he’ll take that as a compliment. Or just a prerequisite of his job.]

It was never a competition. And I still want to hear about that murder case of yours someday.

But in the meantime— [Here’s a question that’s been clinging to him!] —why’s everything “disco” to you?

[horrifictie]

[ he blinks, taking in the question, and makes an 'ah' ]

I see you've never heard of the word. 'Disco' means cool. But like a next level cool. So cool it could obliterate the world with how cool it is. It's also a type of dance music that everyone gets drugged up to.

[ a nod - he's glad he could teach stephen a new word today. ]

[sorser]

[Wh— okay.]

No, I know what disco is. New Wave’s eccentric cousin.

[Ha.]

So if disco is equated to “cool”, does that make you a fan?

[horrifictie]

[ ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Failure] - Whoosh, right over your head. ]

I am! I even started a nightclub before I got here. A little side project while I was solving a murder. Had a lot more fun with it than the murder solving really.

[sorser]

[Harry makes it increasingly difficult to stay on a singular conversational subject, he’s realized.]

How did you have time to start a nightclub in the middle of an investigation?

[horrifictie]

Multi-tasking! I called it my subcase.

[ and there were even subcases in the subcases! ]

[sorser]

[You know what? Maybe they’ll just come back around to it.]

Sounds like you’re a professional multi-tasker. You’ll have to tell me how you do it sometime.

Disco music, though — is it popular in Revachol?

[horrifictie]

Oh, no. Disco has been dead for a long time. But it's going to return, Strange. All things, eventually, return.

[ INLAND EMPIRE [Easy: Success] - Not *all* things. Some things never return. Or, some things never leave at all. ]

Anyway multi-tasking is actually super easy and not hard in the slightest. All you need... is a task list. Invest in one, it'll change your life.

[sorser]

A to-do list. Right. Don’t worry, I keep most of it in here. [He taps at a temple.

(He’s being yo-yo’d around again. He wanted to talk about disco.

He’s going to do it anyway.)

Without any transition whatsoever—]

Disco died in the eighties where I’m from. But like most music, it influenced what came after. We should find a record store sometime and see if this world’s any different.

[horrifictie]

[ LOGIC [Medium: Success] - He means eighties in relative terms. At the rate you're going, you won't make it to the eighties.
ENDURANCE [Medium: Success] - It would miraculous if you made it to next year. ]

Records? That's the fancy stuff. Everyone uses reels in my time - relatively speaking. [ he grins, the idea already giving him so many more ideas. a tree branching outward. ] You know, I can do you one better: we should go clubbing! Or, if nothing else, *karaoke*.

[sorser]

[A tree branching outward, deviating from disco — but still in the larger family of music. Stephen can work with that.]

Clubbing? [He parrots it back like it’s a joke. Can anyone imagine the Sorcerer Supreme going clubbing? Oh, sure, Strange is strange in a lot of ways — but he would still be That Guy who obviously doesn’t belong in a club, yelling over the music, vaguely annoyed when someone spills a drink on him.

Karaoke, though, is a more palpable idea.]

My vote is karaoke if I have to pick one. If you don’t know The Bee Gees, I’m going to introduce you to them.

[horrifictie]

Oh, please do! I read that this reality already had its disco period come and go, which is a shame. It seems no matter where one goes, time has already forgotten what makes life worth living.

I mean, what would our life be without the songs of a downward spiral into the abyss? That's also disco!

cw: drug mention

[sorser]

[Is it? That’s an interesting take on disco, not quite matching up to the description in his own internal memory banks.]

I thought disco was about synthesizers, dancing, and too many drugs in the seventies.

[Not that he’s a Disco Expert or anything. But he has a lot of useless music information rattling around up there.]

[horrifictie]

That's definitely part of disco, no doubt! But what is *behind* the sparkling sequins, the spinning orb, the need for release? What is the root?

The answer, when you give it thought, is obvious: oblivion, inferno, the bridge between life and death. To embrace the knowledge that we are all temporary and finite.

[ INLAND EMPIRE [Trivial: Success] - It's so obvious! How can he not see it?
LOGIC [Godly: Success] - It is, actually, not obvious in the slightest.
RHETORIC [Legendary: Success] - What exactly *are* you talking about again? ]

[sorser]

[No… nope. Still none of that sounds like disco as he knows it.]

Pretty nihilistic for bell bottoms and platform shoes. Is “oblivion” the sort of thing you want out of your music? Other genres come to mind.

[horrifictie]

[ CONCEPTUALIZATION [Challenging: Success] - For *sorcerer* with the last name *Strange*, his conceptualization is in a very sorry state. ]

I'm going to need you to get on my level, man. You're a sorcerer named Doctor Strange. You need to look past the platform shoes, really internalize what goes on behind the groove.

[ somewhere, back in his reality, he hopes egghead lets out a YEAAAGGHH for the effort he's putting in. ]

[sorser]

[Well, is that a challenge? He’d like to think he’s not lacking in the conceptualization department.]

Ever consider that your perspective might be wrong? Conceptualize this: the sound of disco isn’t oblivion, but color, as bright as a lit dance floor. Color reflected in the universe itself, the opposite of temporary and finite, but endless. Continuous and alive.

[horrifictie]

[ CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Now that's more like it. This is the talk of a man who has breached through reality and seen beyond.
INLAND EMPIRE [Challenging: Success] - But need the two be mutually exclusive? ]

But are our perspectives really mutually exclusive? I don't think so. Maybe disco is color, the infinite, but death is a far more infinite concept than life. So, it could be that disco is the colored light that illuminates the blackness of oblivion.

[sorser]

[He has to hand it to him, that’s a difficult point to refute.]

Duality, balance? Death giving life meaning, disco only magnificent because, eventually, the song ends?

[Stephen twists his mouth, jokingly feigning skepticism, considering it reflects his own beliefs.]

I don’t know. It’s a little trite.