revivalproject | [Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

[Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

At last it is here, the day An Nu and Ga Re told you about has arrived. While the last few days may have been a bit of a trial with the whole replicator going a bit wonky thing, but that’s no reason not to celebrate, right? Right! Good thing too, because the Whale Comb Sent Her is absolutely awash with what must be seasonal good cheer. The whole outside of the building is wrapped in vines, though thankfully this time they seem to be made primarily of a thick sort of cloth, and the fall colors to them are also painted on. There’s no doubt that the decorations come from your friendly Agrii either, because apparently they feel that pink and purple are also very valid color choices for fall foliage, so enjoy those splashes of color too.

Inside the decorations continue, the fabric vines ringing the room at a height that would clearly be natural for the Agrii. Amid them are painted cloth banners announcing things like WHALE COMB and EAT MUCH and GREAT FULL and of course the ever present THANK YOU. Around all of these are cloth and paper pictures that wouldn’t look out of place in an elementary school classroom around Thanksgiving. You’ve got your handprint animals, foam shape plants, and vividly painted pictures of tables full of food with Agrii around it as a group. And sometimes in those last ones there are little drawings that… wait, He Row, is that you? Well, they did say you were celebrating together, so maybe that’s what they meant.

But of course people didn’t just come here for the wonderful decorations. You’re here for the food, for the feast, for the togetherness. Good news is that the Agrii have you covered on that as well. A series of tables have been set up in the Sent Her, much like when He Rows first arrived on Agra-10. Along one wall is a long series of tables covered with pink and purple cloths, and over the majority of these are the foods the Agrii have sent down. There are platters of hamburgers (which taste like peanut butter), and plates of peanut butter sandwiches (which also taste like peanut butter). There are pies that look like they’re apple and taste like iced tea. There are more ‘traditional’ things too, which are things like green bean casseroles, vegetable lasagnas, and even some seventeen layer dip to go with all of the chips. There’s apparently no meat though. Not from the Agrii at least.

The even better news is that this isn’t all there is. A whole two tables of space have been left open for the He Rows to bring their own food offerings, or the results of their replicator experiences. The Agrii have been kind enough to leave out plenty of extra plates and serving utensils as well, so no one should worry about there not being enough. And hopefully what your fellows have brought is very tasty. Or came out in a reasonable size or volume from the replicator.

Then there are the tables laid out in the middle of the room. They are round things with only a few seats at each, and there are name tags? Apparently the Agrii thought they might help you get to know each other this Great Full with random seating. Hope your table mate is fun. At each space there is also a little cloth baggie of… oh wow, is that candy? Yes it is! Those sweets are going to be a great reward for after dinner. Or during it. And surely there’s nothing strange that comes from eating them at all.

Finally, there’s even something for those whose entertainment isn’t to be found in eating. The Agrii have been studying their He Rows for a while now, and they know what you need. One side of the room is dedicated to other forms of entertainment. There’s a big poster drawn of what looks to be a glownie, but lacking a tail. Ah but don’t worry, there are tails made of cloth in a bowl nearby for He Rows to restore to the paper glownie. Don’t worry about injury to the paper glownie, it’s all done with magnets! For those who aren’t about tail pinning there are other fun things to be done. There’s a karaoke machine in the corner, clearly the Agrii remember how much fun that was. Wait… Is that the exact one that He Row Billy loaned to the Deep End? Apparently so. And last but far from least is the most important of celebration games: a booth with a stack of personal peanut butter pies and a sign saying ‘Eat Fast Count Is!’ Which probably means eating contests for those brave enough to face that much peanut butter.

FAQ
Do we need to make our own logs for this?
No. You’re welcome to use this post to make Top Levels for this mingle. Get out there and enjoy your celebration together.

We’re not obligated to that randomized seating are we?
Nope! We just felt it could be a handy way to explain mingling with other He Rows you might not normally talk to.

What if our character would bring food?
Our best suggestion is to note that in your TLs. Who knows, maybe your creativity with cooking or the silliness of your offering (or the results of a poor replicator situation) could be fun for others to enjoy.

Can we still use the replicator here and now?
Absolutely. If that sort of chaos is what you want to have fun with, then have at it. Besides people here can probably help you eat your way through any food you get.

That candy seems sorta suspicious. What’s up with that?
Great question. Each baggie will have a random assortment of little gummy candies that are shaped like Agrii heads, complete with three eyes, smile, and little teeth. Each one even has their own unique flavor. And their own unique side effects.

Yellow - Maple Flavored - Makes eater more energetic and friendly
Green - Sour Apple Flavored - Makes eater feels mischievous and is more likely to play pranks and tell jokes
Blue - Dark Lager Flavored - Makes eater tell the truth for half an hour (is not actually alcoholic
Purple - Chocolate Flavored - Makes eater very affectionate or romantically inclined
Red - Cinnamon Flavored - Makes eater easily angered or quick to challenge other people

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tony knew exactly what Reeve's type would be, and no one in that room matched it any better than Gladio, so his frustration was clear in the thin stream of smoke that he lingered over while he eyed Reeve expectantly, waiting for him to reconsider this hard line position like he hadn't already rebuttoned his collar.

"No one's begrudging anybody. One dance isn't going to burn down the honeymoon suite, old man," Tony pointed out. With a thoughtful tilt of his head, he gave a vague twist of his hand, forming the foundation as he proposed, "If we had worked out, and you had my toothbrush on your bathroom sink right now, would you be that worried if I went in there and batted my eyelashes?"

"I wouldn't begrudge you it, no. I understand who you are now," Reeve points out. "But the quality about the two of them is... I don't know. Tense in another way. Like I used to feel around Cloud and Tifa back home. It feels fragile still. So I don't intend to rock the boat, so to speak."

Not again, his voice seems to say.

That was more difficult to argue against when Tony didn't feel he knew either of the men that well, though he grimaced with a glance toward the door like he could get a good sense from where he stood, looking doubtful. "Gladio told me they were soulmates and dating, and then told me they were going to go on their first date. I don't think the tension you're feeling there is very delicate. I think it's a weight," he countered. He did have to lift a hand in surrender, though, and confess, "I don't know what that's like. The only person who's been able to tolerate me that long is..." He rolled his eyes, admitting that the real answer was 'nobody', then elaborating, "He didn't have to be there for most of it. He was kind of dead when we got to know each other." Not that he expected Reeve to know any better. He cut his first life off like slag.

"I hardly think death counts. And there's Jon," Reeve points out. The man clearly, and dearly, loves Tony. How could that not be worth noting? Reeve just doesn't understand the man.

"So, I imagine I'm holding you back from snuggling up warm against him, aren't I?"

Reeve had missed the important context, or was so committed to his detachment from his childhood that he didn't even want to consider the formula, and Tony opened his mouth to start to argue that even Jon would hate him by now if he'd had the misfortune of meeting Tony as kids. Hell, every new day was a surprise to Tony with that timebomb ticking down. It was with that in mind that he swallowed his words with a sigh and a wry smile, allowing, "And there's Jon," with a nod. Maybe he shouldn't have been wasting his precious minutes. "You really don't want me to hear your shanties, hm?" he accused, but he got the message, pushing away from the wall to get out of Reeve's space before he had to start pushing himself.

Perhaps Reeve is ignoring the issue because he wants Tony to be happy and tearing himself apart hardly helped.

"I don't sing shanties. Mini might have picked them up from my mind though. I was never the sort. And could you imagine me, singing?"

He sounds like he doesn't think it's a good choice. Still, Reeve reaches out to touch Tony's arm.

"Are you okay?"

"All of the time," Tony was ready to tease, hand to his chest for a wistful smile of a fantasy where Reeve saw a nightmare. The touch to slow him down was unexpected, and Tony almost deflected it, catching Reeve's fingers over his knuckles like he might kiss them goodbye, only to pause with a frown like he might have been offended by Reeve's question. "Of course, always," he was ready automatically. He thought they had breezed past any need for him to come up with some excuse for being outside, for the tension that the cigarette wasn't really helping with, so he was unprepared when he tried, "I--" and had to wave his free hand with a dance of the burning ember in the dark. "I'm glad you're here," he landed on. "You should enjoy it."

"Forgive me, I can't help but be concerned about you, Tony. You're my best friend here," he notes, his voice its own sort of wistful. He hasn't had a best friend in quite a long time and he welcomes it. "I'd enjoy it more if you were happier."

Guilt struck Tony first, and any appreciation that Tony felt for this concern was weak and unschooled, so when he shifted his hold on Reeve's hand to try his best to express it, he squeezed Reeve's fingers a little harder than necessary then quickly dropped them. He shouldn't have been making Reeve concerned, and, worse, he had been trying for a long time already to figure out how to be happier. The math never worked out. "Are you?" was maybe a little unnecessarily confrontational, especially when Tony was already shaking his head for Reeve. "Everyone you meet here, you lose. And it's not even--it's not like they've died, even if in every meaningful way they're dead, here, to you. They're somewhere you can't reach them, a different reality, beyond the fucking veil. But it's not the same, because sometimes it's--it's fine, you know, Peter can go back to Earth, and I know that's better than him being trapped here, and Earth is better for it, and I know he's going to have a good life. But other times--it's--Catra goes, and I know that all she's going to get is that thing back in her head, and it's going to kill her, and I'm not there for her, I just have to know that and let it happen. It's hard, to be happy. It's hard to be fucking sad. I don't know what it is. It's failure, I know that much. She would have loved it in there."

Was he? Oh no, Reeve wasn't happy. But he'd learned to ask himself an important question.

Would Poe want me falling apart?

Something told Reeve it was a question that the other man needed to be asking himself here. Because he's lost people. So Reeve instead offered an opening of his arms for his friend, a quiet offer for a hug.

"I have lost so very many people in my life, Tony. Here, in the Iteration, and back home. So I understand what you mean. How hard it is to be happy. How it's hard to be sad for them too. But I know one thing. I know they wouldn't see us as failures. I think Poe would be disappointed in me for not having fun, and he might be amused to see how Mini is bothering me with these attempts at shanties. And I though I did not know them well, I would hope that Peter and Catra would want you to be smiling, even with them gone."

The silent hug offer felt patronizing while Tony was frustrated, and had been doing his best not to be frustrated, and Reeve wouldn't even know it was a problem if Tony had been able to keep it together. It wasn't like he could argue with Reeve, though--it wasn't Reeve that had failed anyone, and Tony wasn't about to suggest that anyone saw him that way. It was Tony that was supposed to fix this. With an irritable suck at his teeth, he relented enough to swing one arm around Reeve's neck, where he was in a fine position to mess Reeve's hair again and mutter into it, "Catra hated it when I smiled."

"But plenty of us love it," Reeve counters, wrapping an arm back around the other man. Holding Tony close right now is important. He doesn't want Tony to feel alone.

"And who said you had to solve this?"

The hug was much more difficult to extract himself from now that he was in it, and Tony tried to construct at least some semblance of not being pathetic with a reassuring pat to Reeve's shoulder, like he was the one that needed the support. He managed to sway back, with the loop of his arm still around Reeve's neck to try to present his very logical argument, brow furrowed in preemptive frustration for having to carefully choose his words. It wasn't because he was crazy, it just could sound a lot like that, most of the time. "Because if I don't then--I'm supposed to be the genius, the futurist, that's what I'm here for. Even when very well meaning Avengers are trying to jerk me off and are telling me the whole thing about the Iron Man not being the hero, it's the guy who made it, blah blah..." This was definitely not a relatable experience, Tony did already know that, but he tapped as his temple hoping Reeve could at least follow that his brain was supposed to be what made him worthy of being called a hero at all. Of being allowed to be around the people he admired. "So I don't have that, and then I also haven't been in control of any development of this. I wasn't in control when I cam here, and I'm not in control of getting out of here, so what I have been in control of this whole time is keeping us here. I've been actively making it worse, because I can't help myself, I've got some kind of compulsion, and the worst part is that if I stop, if I stop trying to control everything, that's not any better, it's like this is the best I can do to keep a lid on this destructive thing in me."

Well that's a whole lot to say. And Reeve? He has a simple answer to that.

"That's all bullshit, Tony. You're not the only genius here, much less not the only genius who hasn't found a solution. You have no control in this situation, and that sucks, but it sucks for us all."

And Tony was trying, which made him even better than some people.

Tony shouldn't have said anything and just given Reeve the perfect smile when he had asked. Instead, Tony felt even more stupid and brittle, retreating enough to drive the heel of his hand restlessly against his chest as he pulled his arms together to transfer the hug to himself. "I know," he tried, which didn't sound terribly convincing, and he had to repeat more emphatically to properly internalize it, "I know." He didn't deserve to feel more fucked up about this situation than everybody else, it did all suck across the board, and he was lucky, all things considered. Poor little rich boy, as usual. "Forget it, I'm just hungry, it makes me an asshole."

Not poor little rich boy. Just a hurting friend.

"I have friends who would respond to that observation by saying you must always be hungry then. And I think you are. For acceptance, for success, for feeling like you've saved people. I see it in myself, and in you."

It took longer for Reeve to say it than any normal person, as usual, but Tony had already anticipated being assured that he was an asshole all the time, and was pursing his lips irritably before Reeve had finished his accusation. This was a much more tolerable insult, though, than pointing out how transparent Tony was, making him break any eye contact to glare his discomfort at the floor, still hugging himself protectively. The message hadn't exactly changed--they were having the same experience, Reeve was just handling it better--except also, by the way, on top of that, Tony's armor was failing. Or never worked in the first place.

"I'll work on it," he said, then had to correct, "I am working on it." Jon had also told him that he should have been happier, and Tony did think he was trying. The project was still in the brainstorming stage. "Tell your friends I probably won't stop being an asshole, though." He was pretty confident that being more self-assured would just make him more intolerable; more people than Reeve's 'friends' had made it clear that he had more than enough of that.

The thing was, Reeve didn't mind assholes. For him it had turned almost into an endearment, which made sense given the people around him. Cid might be disappointed if people didn't call him an asshole.

"Don't worry, you'd fit right in with them. In fact, if they ever showed up here, I think you and Cid would get along like a house on fire. Which might be a problem because you two I could absolutely see setting a house on fire with some experiment. And at least you've never told me to 'shut that fucking mouth, sit your lily white ass down, and stop spewing shit so you can drink your goddamn tea'. Hard getting him to take me seriously with my coffee addiction when he's a tea man."

One of them was supposed to speak unreasonably formally, much less vulgar than the other, and it was Tony that was recoiling slightly with a shocked hand to his delicate heart to hear that Reeve was even capable of this language. He could practically hear Logan's voice, though, saying something very similar to him, and it wouldn't have been a particularly good-natured dressing down; it definitely would have come with the threat of his claws if Tony kept talking. Tony looked mildly concerned then. No one was threatening Reeve with claws, right? "And did you do what you were told like a very good boy?" Tony asked, not sure how he would have expected Reeve to take such a tirade. Catch fire, perhaps.

"Of course," Reeve said with a smile. "He was my friend. And the best aeronautics engineer in my world. Perhaps he was crass, and a chain smoker, and ran weird, but he was my friend."

And in some ways, he swore less than Barret it. He was just more creative with when he chose to curse.

It took effort then not to laugh outright, and Tony did crack briefly, then schooled his expression to chastise very seriously, "You can't--that's mean, he's not even here to defend himself, I don't think you can help how you run. You run a little weird, too." Reeve did make it sound like Cid might be an effective ally in teasing Reeve, at least, unlike his friends who had shown up who generally seemed to take a very oppositional stance to Tony. "I wouldn't let you meet my friends, for the record," he announced abruptly, and had to wave away, just in case, "Not because you'd judge their gait. Because you'd fit in, too. They're determined, and very organized, and incredibly good hearted, and I'd be out of friends. It kind of sounds like we should trade, you take care of New York for me. When I get us out of here." No, he hadn't been entirely convinced yet.

Cid would absolutely be a great ally in such a thing, it was a shame Tony didn't get a chance to meet him.

"You think we'd stop being friends if I met your other friends? Somehow I doubt that."

New York? That's an Earth city he's heard of before, but Reeve didn't think he could do that.

"Maybe you could save my world, but I doubt I could do much for yours."

Reeve didn't have all of the information, which was that Pepper and Rhodey would absolutely like him a lot more than they liked Tony, so Tony tipped his head with one eye winked shut, trying his best to see from this limited perspective. It only got Reeve an unconvinced twist of Tony's mouth. They both had as much information as they needed to judge Reeve's efficacy, though, so Tony had no choice but to react as though Reeve was being wilfully contrary, with a roll of his eyes.

"What do you mean--you already saved your world, I could retire. What my world really needs is someone with the optimism and the commitment to build a better future. I can't think of anyone better suited," he argued.

"I did not save my world, Tony. I contributed to the destruction of it. I tried to help save it, but that was other people guiding a lot of it, or working with me. And I'm technologically behind you."

So he'd be ill suited to it.

Tony didn't look very convinced by this, either, squinting his eye again and abandoning the skepticism even faster this time to insist, "It was saved." His retirement was still intact. "And most people are technologically behind me. Not a standard you should judge yourself against. Have you been doing that this whole time? Very unhealthy, not everyone can be this beautiful, I shouldn't be included in the data pool or it will skew the average."

[Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

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