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

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Maybe it was just the wrong side of chilly to be lingering for very long in the evening air, but Tony wasn't the only one who decided he needed a break from inside. The Soldier had abandoned the party a while ago in favor of leaning against the outer wall of the apparent party central. He wasn't stargazing, he wasn't clearing his head, he wasn't any of the typical flimsy excuses people saw right through but used anyway. He simply felt more comfortable away from the crowd, a shadow holding up the side of the building.

Maybe Tony saw him when he chose his own spot. Maybe not. Close enough for conversation but far enough to not feel obligated; the Soldier could be content to just leave him in peace, or even to slip away silently himself. But he was supposed to be socializing — not an order but a strong suggestion that he might enjoy himself if he tried. In his mind, he'd tried. Mission accomplished.

But it still left him leaning against the wall with Tony a short distance away and now doing something with an unlit cigarette. Nothing for it, he supposed. "Those things will kill you, you know." He shrugged. "Or so they say."

Tony absolutely had not seen anyone as he came slinking out for his own space away from the other people, and startled at the revelation that he had simply gone slinking into more people. He was already complaining well before Bucky was done talking, hand to his delicate heart, "Would it kill you to move around a little or something, jesus, you're like a ghost, how am I supposed to deal with that?" As much as he grumbled, that seemed to get it out of his system, and his shoulders relaxed again with a final, dramatic sigh. He also must have been listening, despite insisting on hearing his own voice, because he abandoned his heart palpitations performance to cross his fingers, here's hoping, for his impending doom. Out loud, though, he insisted, "I'm invincible. I thought you knew that."

It was only then that he properly looked Bucky's way and squinted through the darkness, and his hand slowly lowered, fingers awkwardly stiff. The voice might have been the same, but that was not Bucky. Tony made a sound, a small hiccup as he started to take a breath, then abandoned it, not sure if he should correct what he thought the Winter Soldier should or should not have known.

"It's what I was made to be." Get with the program, Tony. The Soldier was anything but normal, and he'd largely given up on trying to pretend he could be. It never worked out in his favor, from his time with the Atroma to here under the Agrii. At least there was no active aggression on his part, just someone who preferred the chill of the night air to the warmth of the party inside.

And it wasn't the first time he'd been mistaken for the other Bucky Barnes. Likely it wouldn't be the last time either. They did look a fair bit alike after all, especially with the arm covered. Easiest to just let it go he believed, because things between him and Tony would probably always be awkward.

"Only twinkies and cockroaches are practically indestructible." He paused a moment, almost contemplative. "And HYDRA I guess. Or it tries to be."

The very straightforward reminder had Tony gritting his teeth and tucking his chin down with a tiny nod of acknowledgement that he was dealing with a man not so far along in his independent development as Bucky Barnes, and maybe a lot closer to the man that killed his parents. Had this version also done that? Tough call, and tougher to ask. Tony only had the useless cigarette to keep his anxious hands busy, and it could only be carried over his fingers so many times before it started to go limp and shred.

"I am also incredibly sweet and a shameful indulgence," he pointed out, tipping his head back against the wall with decisive commitment to shoot the Soldier an inviting smirk that hardly looked sweet. "Thanks, though, for having less faith in me than you do HYDRA, that means a lot, I'll keep that one close to the heart."

Maybe closer in some ways, maybe not in others. Maybe if he hadn't spent his years free from HYDRA first as being a pawn of the Atroma, then a plaything of the Agrii, he'd have devpted more time to personal development. Picked up a hobby, adopted a pet, something. But Beck had shown that the safest thing he could be, was as far away from everyone else as possible. Minimize collateral damage and all that.

At least he wasn't going to call Tony out fiddling with his cigarette, that had to count for something.

It took him a moment, but eventually he had to ask. "Wait, are you comparing yourself to a twinkie? Don't do that, they're gross." Besides, the good guys always died eventually. They only lived forever in fairy tales; the Soldier himself had more experience with nightmares.

That was almost nice, so Tony only grinned in return, with only a thoughtful glance aside to help them both consider if Tony couldn't actually be called 'gross'. There was more than one magazine that would disagree. "I wouldn't mind a twinkie right now," he did point out. Anything actually from his home planet would be a comfort, he was pretty sure. And not whatever that thing was that Billy called 'pizza' in there. "What are my other options?," he prompted. Maybe talking about familiar desserts would be almost like having them. "You're definitely something chocolate. Annoyingly small serving, too. Exclusive tasting menu. Chef doesn't bring it out much."

Maybe Tony was gross. The Soldier didn't think so, but he also didn't have much room to talk considering what little he knew of his own past.

"Don't say that too loudly," he replied instead, pointing at the sky. The Agrii were up there somewhere, right? "They might hear you. And worse, they'll give you their interpretation of a twinkie." The Soldier was certain he didn't want to know.

"Maybe the chef knows no one really wants it." Failed experiment, much better offerings on the rest of the menu. He rolled his eyes at the comparison though. Tony would outclass him in this game with very little effort at all. "You're something else. I don't know what. Don't ask me."

With a sympathetic hiss through his teeth, Tony muttered, "Chef's kind of hard on himself," keeping his focus down on the mess he had started to make in his fingers so neither of them actually had to confront too deeply what that meant. The Soldier was already standing in the dark, Tony didn't have to push him. ""Something else', I've gotten that one before, dad used it a lot," he said more loudly, tipping his head back again for another impish smile that probably had earned him a few of those accusations.

For all of his grinning, he did seem to take the Soldier's warning pretty seriously, looking up toward the stars where he had pointed with a frown of concern that threatened to push down his smirk entirely. That wasn't an easy feat, of course, but it might happen. He did know from personal experience that joking about something in this place might manifest it. "Is that an Atroma thing?" he asked. "Listening to us, giving us a monkey's paw deal."

He could've replied to that muttered comment but instead the Soldier let it go. Nothing good lay down that path. He couldn't help the wince at the mention of Tony's father though. Complicated feelings there, for a number of reasons. Feelings he didn't exactly want to explore, especially not in present company. "Something else isn't always a bad thing. 's just something else."

There. Awkwardness avoided, right?

He sank down a little, giving himself the angle to comfortably tip his head up toward the sky, then roll it sideways to look at Tony. "They were always watching. Was a show, you know? You had to get good ratings. And if ratings fell too much, they could control you, make you do what they wanted you to do. Control chip planted right in the brain, no way to remove it without killing you. They always knew what you were up to, everything you said or did."

Just the right amount of awkwardness for Tony to look a little self-satisfied for making the Soldier slur through trying to backtrack, and while he didn't immediately keep testing that fracture then, the threat was definitely left on the table. Instead, his gaze darted like he might be able to see this chip if it was still there, or if it could still have that kind of control over the Soldier, and maybe Tony would be more attuned to spotting it in anyone else. Everyone else, really.

"So, if you were trying to get their attention," he proposed, very lightly and carefully, purely hypothetical, don't think too hard about it, "you'd have to be boring. Do nothing. That's what makes them intervene." That didn't seem quite right. The most obvious reactions that Tony had seen from their voyeurs was in very high pressure situations.

Purely hypothetical, huh? Didn't really sound that way but for now he would indulge the line of questioning. Not many people left who had any experience with the Atroma anyway. And not many at all who the Soldier would trust enough to show the evidence of his own chip. "Not necessarily."

He shrugged. "I mean it's one way sure, if they felt they weren't getting the ratings they thought they should. But they'd intervene for other reasons too, like trying to destroy the ships, or a big enough fight. If it amused them anyway, at least for the fighting. The ships you could modify a bit but you couldn't try to destroy them."

It was a big speech for someone who preferred not to talk, and he lapsed readily into silence afterward.

It was going to be difficult to convince Tony that he couldn't destroy the ships if he was sufficiently motivated, though that presented its own problems. He started shaking his head then, even as the Soldier continued to talk, and replied very seriously like he had been making an actionable suggestion, "Can't risk the ships. Destroying them, or getting them taken away. They're our best bet out of here if things go haywire."

A fight was interesting, though. Tony narrowed his eyes, trying to picture what exactly 'big enough' meant, and what an intervention entailed if they enjoyed the fighting. "What, like they might orchestrate a gang war? Not really interested in letting them take the initiative here, but I'll keep an eye out for that one. Unless that's what you're here for, to tell me that your squad is going to attack at dawn, and this is our last chance to do our doomed romance thing. Who's on your side? Is it Echo? I bet it's Echo. The two of you, play it very close to the chest, impossible to anticipate."

He shrugged. "Property damage in general might do it. Keep in mind we were space based, not planet bound. The most consistent property we had was the ships. That's not the case here." That Tony was in the process of formulating some kind of idea seemed obvious. Its exact shape though, that could be interesting.

"Again, they could take complete control of people. Someone with my skillset for example, would be very dangerous. And nothing increases ratings like danger and drama." He couldn't help rolling his eyes at Tony's antics though. Showmanship had its place he supposed, and ridiculous suppositions. "You'd probably have more luck romancing literally anyone else, than me."

It was difficult not to take that personally, and Tony tried not to look too put out with a casual assessment of the night sky to keep his focus elsewhere. Chocolate and gang wars covered a pretty broad spectrum of the human experience, he had to be getting closer to landing on something the Soldier liked enough to play his game. "Lucky for us, you're on our side. Most of the time. Are you on our side? If you're going to beat up Felwinter again, I've got to express my disapproval. He's very sensitive, you've got to let him get a win in first, at least," he pressed, still watching the stars like he wasn't deliberately looking for a pressure point.

Our side. Most of the time. The words sounded casual enough but they still cut deep, sliced in between metal plating to burn against nerves that shouldn't exist. As much as he hated it, the Soldier was still HYDRA's tool; that someone else held the leash couldn't change that fact.

He sighed and forced his shoulders to relax, already tiring of the conversation. Interacting with other people remained difficult. And he most definitely didn't want to talk about what had happened to him thanks to Beck. "What do you really want, Tony?"

"World peace." It came fast, no hesitation; a pageant answer that no one reasonable would take seriously, and Tony's wry grin as he tipped his head toward the Soldier again shaped it like a euphemism. He waited just long enough that an interviewer would have filled the space with a polite laugh, the tap of his fingers counting the familiar beats, then continued more seriously before the Soldier could disappear into the woods for another eight months without hearing him out. "A reaction. Even if it's just a small one. Something to get us more information, so we know what we're dealing with, and we're that much closer to ripping its heart out. I'm going to look--for something of theirs, for something that they care about, so I know it when I see it again." The Soldier already knew what that looked like, though. Tony watched him then, with a measure drag of his lip between his teeth, searching for any sign that this wasn't a game that would work, either. All at once, light and wicked again, "Why, what do you want?"

He waited out that non answer; it came too readily to be serious, at least applied to this place. World peace needed a little more world, and a little less being brought in against their wills.

"If you're looking for the Atroma to actively show their presence, you may be disappointed. If they're out there, they don't seem too inclined to make it known. Or perhaps the Agrii are too convenient a screen." How much influence one had on — or over — the other, he didn't know. Too many unknowns there, and hard to determine the extent of the truth. Even if he trusted asking the Agrii, the language barrier alone posed its own difficulty.

"Nothing I'm likely to get," he answered eventually. "So it's irrelevant."

It was with absolute confidence that Tony assured him, "They're out there." Even if it wasn't the Atroma specifically, it was someone, using their technology to observe and torture the people on Agra-10. They had spoken to them, so they existed, so they could be un-existed. Tony just needed their attention. Right now, he was struggling to maintain the Soldier's, making him deflate slightly as he was once again denied, and with less confidence admitted, "I haven't been able to do this, on my own. I've never been--I thought with Steve here, that was a sure thing, he'd know exactly what to do and I'm--better, with him. He's not here. You knew what that gun was, at the bottom of the lake."

"They're out there somewhere. I'm not convinced they're behind the Agrii, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were." A sigh, brief and frustrated. "If it is them, why haven't they put chips in all of you?"

Not that he'd ever get a satisfactory answer to that question, or ever be free of his own.

"And there it is," he murmured, focusing his attention on Tony again. "You could've led with that and avoided all this mess. Yes, that was a fairly standard issue weapon. Yes, I know how to use and maintain it, though that particular specimen is too much a victim of its time in the lake. So yes, evidence that at one point the Atroma were likely here. And let me guess," he continued, connecting the dots to Tony's earlier questioning, "you want to get the attention of someone other than the Agrii?"

It wasn't supposed to be a mess, the Soldier wasn't even supposed to be out here, but then Tony should have better anticipated someone seeking similar solitude, and definitely should have taken the hint the first time he was dismissed. There was a tick of irritation in his jaw, and he finally threw aside the garbage that he had been meticulously shredding. If the Soldier had at least gotten angry with Tony's needling, he would have known what to do with that.

He didn't directly answer, instead replying, "You'd recognize it again. Something that was theirs. Something they might care about." When he did answer, it was with a cautious, sidelong look and a short nod, guarded against being refused again, either because the Soldier just didn't want to be involved, or was going to tell him no one should bother. Before the Soldier could deliver the bad news, he continued, "What makes you so sure? That we don't have the chips." Not confrontational, for once; a genuine question.

Well if there eased one thing at which the Soldier excelled, it was ruining other people's plans. From that point of view, things were going swimmingly. But considering his typical reaction was to just walk away when he didn't want to continue a conversation, it could have been worse. And now that Tony had dropped some of the dancing around things, he had a little more interest in the other man's words.

"Most likely." Another shrug, but this time the movement was more contemplative than dismissive. "There's always the possibility that they had stuff we'd never seen, but yes, I'd consider myself a good authority on recognizing their tech. Might even be able to do something with it, if it's in my skillset and the stuff isn't too broken." The odds of that here though? Judging by the gun they'd found, slim to none.

He almost laughed at the follow up question. "Haven't seen it on any of you. Sticks out a little, sometimes just a bump, sometimes more. So unless they changed their design, none of you who weren't in the Fleet have it."

After the briefest, watchful hesitation, and quite unable to stop himself for any longer, Tony swept a hand over his head to hook behind his neck in a move that could maybe have looked a little bit like combing his hair back, if one were being generous. It didn't feel like there were any strange bumps invading his consciousness. "Good, great," he said, like he wasn't absolutely fixated on the chip thing now. "Come with me then. I'll make it worth your while. Even if we don't find anything, name your price. I'll even be quiet, I can do that, I mean, listen, on a mission, very focused, you'll hardly know I'm there, no mess, all business, you can ask anyone, success rate's pretty good, too--on the quiet thing, but on the--depends on your metric, I guess, but there was that gun, and we found some written language one time, and that radio tower--" It seemed to finally occur to him that he was not reliably demonstrating his quiet ability, and finally dropped his hand from his neck to touch a knuckle to his lips then give a flick of his fingers, like he had more garbage to throw away.

Gosh Tony, chill. The Agrii seemed to use their data points anyway, and not an implanted chip. The Soldier personally vehemently refused to touch one.

"Tony." Pause. Wait. There were a lot of words spilling out of the other man's mouth, that he had to try to wade through. "You don't have to try to bribe me, you know. You could just ask."

He absolutely could not just do anything, clearly, as Tony seemed to struggle with this suggestion and still landed on, "It's not a bribe, it's reasonable compensation." It was kind of a bribe, but that would make all of Tony's relationships built on bribes, and he already knew that was unsustainable, thank you. "So, just, I'll call you," also wasn't asking, yet he continued, "We can work out the number then, if you need some time. It's not twinkies, and its not a date. Anything else we can rule out?"

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[Event Mingle] Great Full Day!

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