(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

[worthallthis]

Winter stares at his hands, and the cards in them, and hitches a shoulder. "I am a weapon. Weapons require. Maintenance. Upkeep." That's really only half an answer, at best. But this is the not the first time he's had to deal with this line of questioning, and frankly, he'd rather not. So, vague avoidance.

[sorser]

Stephen just gives Winter a look, lingering for a moment, before glancing back down at his cards and shaking his head. The follow-up question should fall along the lines of, And have you always thought of yourself in that way?, but he knows better. This is a man whose memory is very limited, and therefore his own life experiences might as well be shut off to him, like a steel wall dividing the past from the present.

"Do you know what it took me a long time to learn?" he decides to ask instead. "Something that I hadn't taken the time to realize, or even give any real consider towards, until I had begun training to become a sorcerer?"

[worthallthis]

He hesitates for a moment, brows coming together, trying to think of what that might be. After the pause, he says uncertainly, "No?" Please fill him in, Stephen.

[sorser]

He’s more than happy to, of course.

“I learned that we are more than just the material — more than just bones, muscle, organs, and the neurons firing through pathways in our brains to steer the machine that is the human body.”

More than just tools in what he once called an indifferent universe. When he had visited Kamar-Taj for the first time, he had scoffed at the Ancient One’s suggestions of something more. He could not accept it, so lost in his own need for understanding and control to accept that the universe functioned in more ways than he could understand.

A lot’s changed since then.

“I learned, eventually, that the spirit exists in tandem with the physical. And that it needs as much acknowledgement and sustenance as our bodies need oxygen. And within that exists a sense of humanity inherent in every person, including yourself. Whether or not you see it is irrelevant; it’s there.”

[worthallthis]

He listens patiently. He nods agreeably enough. And it all goes right over his head, because Stephen is a person, and Winter is not. So clearly none of that actually applies to Winter.

"And I am not a person," he reiterates calmly, and discards one card to draw another from the deck. He hasn't gotten back nearly enough memories to start doubting that fundamental belief about himself. As far as he has considered, HYDRA grew him in a lab or made him out of spare parts, rather than taking a real person and ruthlessly dismantling him. (Frankly, he hasn't considered. Considering it gives him panic attacks.)

[sorser]

How easily Barnes replies to his attempt at proving his humanity through metaphysical means is— well. Stephen holds his spread of cards with one hand, coming up to rub at his eyes with the heel of the other.

“You know, we didn’t really know each other that well in the future. I hadn’t realized you were so stubborn.”

It isn’t real exasperation, though, aware that the issue of memory is a hard one to overcome.

“We can both agree that you’re a complex organism, with needs that must fulfill the very broad requirements of living, right?”

[worthallthis]

He considers that for a moment, then nods. "Yes," he agrees. Then, eyes flicking very briefly up to Stephen's and then back down again, he adds, voice almost pointedly bland: "I don't think playing cards is a requirement for that upkeep, though."

That may have been a rudimentary attempt at a joke. His sense of humor is a little weird, these days, but it's still... there. Kind of.

[sorser]

It has the tinge of a joke to it, but Stephen can’t exactly tell. Still, promising enough.

“Basic human needs are more than just… food, water, clothing, shelter. There are layers to it. Psychological ones that can affect the physical, like I said.”

He needn’t provide an example, but he could, very easily. The time when he had spoken Winter’s name aloud when they met, and the psychological response was instantaneous.

“A sense of belonging. A sense of self-actualization and identity. Without those, you aren’t a tool; you’re just an unhappy human being. And I don’t think I need to explain how that would adversely affect anyone’s job performance.”

[worthallthis]

There's a flicker of a frown. Identity. Like having a name-- a real one, not a cover one like Winter. That's not allowed. He even suddenly remembers the word self-actualization being used over his head once, when he'd been too long out of the ice. When he'd said-- something. He doesn't remember what. He doesn't know if he wants to. But he does remember that then there'd been pain. So that definitely isn't allowed.

He shakes his head once, sharply, like he's shaking the memory and the argument away, and sets down his cards. With the jack and the six already on the table, there's now a set of four jacks. Probably going to beat whatever is in Stephen's hand, there. "I do fine at my job," he says definitively. "And I should get back to it."

[sorser]

He sees the shift — from entertaining the idea to dismissing it completely, utterly shut down. The reveal of Winter’s hand might as well punctuate it; it’s much better than his own, with Stephen only managing a pair of fives.

“If you want,” he concedes after a pause, pushing his popcorn pieces away. No doubt they’ll be ignored.

“Talk again.”

A temporary goodbye, but very pointedly uttered as a statement rather than a question. This isn’t something he will drop so easily, even if he’s allotted the space he needs. Hopefully his words will rattle around in Barnes’ head, somehow.

[worthallthis]

"Yes," he says, gathering up his cards and setting them back on the deck. As he stands, he says gravely, "Thank you for playing."

And then he heads back out for a patrol, pointedly shunting the conversation to the back of his mind. He has to be focused, not distracted. And those kinds of conversations are distracting.