revivalproject

Entry tags:

salon

WHO: Esteemed, invited guests (everyone).
WHERE: The greenhouse
WHAT: A party! And not the kind of crime that the Agrii commit. Come show them how it is done.
WHEN: During a very long and slow space trip.
WARNINGS: Mark your threads if you get into trouble.

pre-festivity...network?
[Over the shipwide broadcast system that everyone is lucky Tony has not made more liberal use of, accompanied by gently dimming lights as though signalling intermission was coming to an end, and Act II was about to begin.]

Your attention, please. Please give me attention. You're not doing anything important, I know you aren't, so if you would kindly make your way to the quote-unquote 'Green Room', the rest of us are waiting for you.

Wear something that makes you feel delectable.

[Did he have to say it like that? Of course, he's trying to set a mood.]

the event
The atmosphere of the Green Room, which had at other times been a battleground, and a quiet resting place, was what could be called a soiree. Some of it was magic, brought to brief reality by Billy to disappear as the get together came to an end like carriages into pumpkins as their clock ran out, and other things were altogether different kinds of illusions. Like the tree Cayde had worked to fell, hauled up off of the ground to brace in the branches overhead, its dying boughs slouching down toward the ground in winding tendrils that were strung with glittering lights, a fragrant curtain around the area conveniently cleared by the destruction of the tree to give plenty of room to pull a partner into a dance. The music, naggingly familiar to those who called Earth home but distinctly synthetic, was playing through the broadcast system, loudest near the clearing and progressively softer the further away from this hub, but continuous throughout the ship until it felt like a whisper from another room at the farthest points like the cargo bay.

The noise competed slightly with the raucous beckoning of the karaoke machine installed near one end of the Green Room. This corner felt like it hadn't quite received the dress code, dotted with balloons and nearest to what could be described as a sundae bar, with what looked like all of the right textures for a very indulgent ice cream experience. The Agrii were more than happy to help with the food, so be prepared for a less obvious flavour profile.

More (potentially?) savoury options were offered throughout the Green Room, in no centralized location but spread across tables that had obviously be borrowed and dragged from throughout the ship, flanked by equally mismatched seating, flat-enough surfaces, or piles of linens and pillows where the ground was less even. Some of these tables had a datapad left on them, locked to a curious list that could only be checked off and not otherwise tampered with, at least for those not particularly technically inclined. Each item seemed to describe a person, all following a similar format in various levels of complexity, starting simple with, 'Someone with hazel eyes...'

One of these datapads, on a table tucked under a heavy lattice of vines and under the drape of what looked like approximately 40 metres of a sheer silk, started the evening much more blank, only marked at the top with a bold WHAT WE KNOW. That was a broad statement. Surely, everyone had a little of something to contribute to an article like that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You dropped a tree on them and then you set yourself on fire," Wanda says flatly. "And somehow no one died. Are you sure you aren't an Avenger?" Because really, that is straight out of a Thor or a Tony story. Or the kind of bad-day antics she hears about from Clint.

She really, really wishes the others were here right now to help her make sense of this. Because she can only come to one likely conclusion, and is it really paranoia to be seeing them everywhere when someone is very clearly out to get you? "The Atroma," she says softly, shoulders curving inward in her discomfort. "This is...they never killed anyone themselves. But people died. Put us dangerous situations, watch the drama...bring them back like it didn't matter. Like it was just a game. The time that I remember being there was not that bad but I heard stories." A beat. "I don't know if they would have let the Graq and the Agrii die but...it would have been convenient for them, yes?"

"Maybe I have spent so long being afraid of them that I see them everywhere, but...I don't know who else could have done all of this."

"No, no- I set myself on fire and then they freaked out and started spitting and throwing their guns, and then I ducked behind a tree to shield from the spitting, then shoved it on them once the spit melted through enough so no one would have to shoot anyone."

Clearly Cayde looks like he's expecting a pat on the back for his tactics, or at least some shared consensus that he'd done what anyone would have done. All right, that's probably a stretch.

"Whoever set everyone up the way they did sure didn't seem too worried about how things would turn out. I mean, not like we'd know for sure if someone would intervene if we did things differently. We may have possibly forced them into revealing themselves because we opted to take the less casualties route."

He shakes his head, glancing at Sundance before looking to Wanda again. "It's unfortunate but the Atroma have fingerprints everywhere in this. But at the same time, I don't know if we should jump to the conclusion that they're the ones behind it all or not. Still, it's enough of a reminder that we need to keep on our toes."

...yep, he's definitely Avenger material. And because Wanda is an Avenger herself, she can appreciate the style, even if there were so many ways for that to go horribly, horribly wrong. But no one died or suffered any permanent injuries, so she'll call that a win.

"That was quick thinking. We were all very lucky that we were with the right teams." There were so many ways the entire situation could have gone wrong, and they'd managed both to get everyone to safety and do a little investigating. Not that it's helped much, aside from confirming that there really had been a Drift Fleet show.

"I'm sorry. I don't want to spoil our fun." It's supposed to be a party, after all. "Stark worked hard but, uh...I am a little afraid to see what flavors the Agrii think ice cream should be."

Edited 2020-10-10 23:45 (UTC)

In Cayde's book, things only get classified as horribly wrong if you get shot- no wait, he did get shot. Just by friendly fire because Jon kind of went insane for a bit. Thankfully whatever guns the Graq had been given weren't that strong, or at least not on full power.

"Lucky, yes. I don't know that it was completely just having the right people aboard so much as us figuring out what needed to be done- but then again, we did have people with the skills needed where we needed them to be. ...at least until Jon's attempt to communicate with them went sideways." He waves a hand dismissively. That's a story for when there's drinks being passed around.

"Right, party!" His eyes brighten at that. "Eh, don't worry about it, Wanda. It's bound to come up again anyway. But you're right. Stark's put in the effort, so let's go enjoy ourselves." He pauses at the mention of the Agrii-involvement for ice cream. "...oh. Um. Well, we can always just kinda...linger and watch whoever goes to try 'em first."

Wanda grins and tilts her head in the direction of the sundae bar. Cayde's mentioned drinking things before, so although he looks more mechanical than Vision, she wouldn't be surprised if he can eat too. "It might surprise us. You know, one of the planets we visited had something that tasted like chocolate, but it was bright blue. Not a pretty bright blue, something that looked poisonous. But it was so good." She makes a face. "I would do almost anything for good chocolate right now. Even if the color or texture was terrible."

But then again, this is Agrii they're talking about, and Wanda definitely had a soda earlier that tasted exactly like peanut butter and jelly. Somehow. It would have been more impressive if it wasn't so wrong.

"Any guesses what we'll find?"

Bright blue chocolate. Now that's something. Cayde doesn't look very convinced that chocolate should ever look bright blue. "Well, who knows. I mean, they got food flavors- or at least a food flavor," he corrects, thinking about the PBJ plethora.

Wanda's question gets her a crooked grin. "Peanut butter and jelly?" He only wishes he were completely joking. "-that has to be at least one and hopefully only one flavor out of many." Hopefully.

"It might not be bad as ice cream? Peanut butter ice cream with a fruit swirl sounds...not bad. But not as good as peanut butter and chocolate." She'd like to think Stark has curated the food, but also she wouldn't put it past the Agrii to 'help.' They're all so enthusiastic. It's better than the treatment Wanda was used to at home but she's so unused to this level of praise that it makes her self-conscious.

"This is good," she says, indicating her drink. It's some sort of bubbly fuchsia concoction ~~that totally isn't space Fanta~~. "But I don't know what to call this flavor. I don't think it is something from Earth."

"Fair. And I mean, it is sweet." He's just glad he can't get cavities. Metal brow lifting at the drink, Cayde snaps. "Drinks, good call. If they don't have anything hard, I can always go raid the stash I've been slowly building up for the bar back on Temba."

He gestures towards the sundae bar then, offering an arm to Wanda, glancing between her and Sundance. "I'll circle back to drinks later. Shall we play some Sundae Roulette?"

Wanda grins and lightly takes Cayde's arm. "Or you could do both, if we find flavors that taste good together. Have you ever heard of an ice cream float?" It's an honest question - she hadn't had one until she'd been taken to a diner in New York and who knows what survived whatever had happened to his world. Somehow, she's got a hunch that this "last city" isn't New York.

~~...Wanda, don't create a monster.~~

"Ooh, living on the edge! I like it!" Cayde laughs, his metal brows waggling. "I've heard of them. I don't remember when." Or where, really, but the when is most defining.

Regardless, he's certainly ready to meet whatever weird flavors the Agrii or whoever have concocted for their sundae bar. But it's nice to do so with a friend.

The sundae bar is an interesting set-up. There's a wide array of ice cream colors, from things that look like normal ice cream flavors (at least to Wanda's eyes) to colors that she can't even guess what they might taste like. The blue could be anything from blue raspberry to that odd kind of chocolate she'd told him about to...well, with the Agrii, it really could be anything. She's got a sneaking suspicion that the purple ice cream is definitely not grape.

At least the toppings and sauces look recognizable?

Fortunately, someone has provided tiny little tasting spoons. Wanda plucks two out and hands one to Cayde, then sweeps her gaze over the options again. If there is in fact chocolate here, which one is it most likely to be? "How brave are you feeling?"

Well, at least the selection's attractive to the eye. Not so much when one considers it's supposed to be ingested. Cayde isn't too bothered given that the drinks he favors back home are all sorts of interesting shades and probably not for human consumption.

Taking up the spoon from Wanda, he grins. "Be just like a game of cards, only without the cards. High stakes. Well, probably not. Hopefully not." He hasn't heard anyone getting sick from eating Agrii food, at least. "How 'bout each of us pick a thing, pop 'em back and see who picked worse. Rinse and repeat?"

Sundance lingers behind the two, probably thinking this is a terrible idea, albeit not nearly as bad as some of the ideas her Guardian's had.

Wanda casts another dubious glance at the purple one and twirls her finger. A wisp of scarlet energy spins the container in a full circle in answer, but the sides are sadly blank. She sighs. "I guess it was too much to hope that they would be labelled."

So they're going to have to do this the hard way.

Wanda chooses one of the pink ice creams first. "It's...fruity." She needs a minute to place the flavor; it's not something she's used to in ice cream format and it's only something she really got to have after moving in with the Avengers. "Is this pitaya? It's good."

Cayde decides upon something almost eye-searing green. He's operating on the basis that things might be the opposite of what you expect. He's not sure what green would normally be though.

"...I'm getting...meat? Is that some kinda meat? What is that? It's savory." How he can taste anything is beyond...well, anyone, really. One of many mysteries to Exos, apparently.

Wanda winces in sympathy. "That is not an okay ice cream flavor. And I don't think I want to know what kind of meat the Agrii think should be green."

Of course the red one draws her attention next (probably in some attempt to stave off the inevitable disappointment of the brown one not being chocolate) and Wanda grins as she tastes it. "...cake? I think this is cake. You should try it."

"I am inclined to agree with you," the Exo says with a nod, taking a generous step away from the meat flavored ice cream. "Looks like I'm losing already." Still, he laughs.

He does brighten as Wanda introduces something more dessert-aligned, plucking up another sampler spoon to give it a try. "Ooh! At least there's one thing right so far. Sundance, you keeping track? I dunno how many we're going to get through, but it'll be good to not do any repeats of the offenders," he says as he gets another spoon and dives it into an orange container.

"...found the peanut butter and jelly!"

"Maybe we should put the ones we don't like on that side and the ones we do like on this side?" Because even knowing one pink flavor was good isn't good enough to save someone if the violently magenta flavor turns out to be something terrible. There's more than one shade of blue in there, too. She doesn't wait for an answer, just uses her powers to levitate the green one from its position and then shove the other containers around until she can slot the green flavor into the far back corner. That one's getting banished on principle alone.

Wanda does have to sample the orange flavor just to sate her own curiosity before moving on. "It is better than I thought it would be. Strange but...not a bad strange."

She tries one of the blue flavors next and makes an immediate face. No, it wasn't her beloved space-chocolate (though she's still holding out hope for the neon blue one). "It's...salty? Why is it salty?" She shakes her head. "I don't understand some of these flavors."

As Wanda works her magic, Cayde beams, thumbing at her as he looks at Sundance. What a neat trick! It's kind of like Petra's spooky knife trick.

"Great! And then maybe after we're done we can scramble them again. Can't make it too easy for everyone else." It's hard to tell if he's joking or not, what with that carefree smile of his.

He's scanning the rest of the ice cream as Wanda sample the next. "Could be worse?" he suggests. At least everything tasted like something edible anyway. His next choice is a yellow color, his eyes brightening a bit. "Strawberry. We're gettin' warmer."

"That depends on who you want to prank. I am not letting Sansa or my family suffer through meat ice cream." To be fair, she doesn't think Sansa would touch anything that violently green but it's kind of Lorna's color and she can't say that Billy or Tommy wouldn't try it either.

"There has to be chocolate here somewhere." She's expecting the white one to be vanilla, which would actually be a great if they want to try to make a float later, but that would be too easy. At least this is better than the last one; her tastebuds are still reeling from how ridiculously salty it was. "...s'mores? I think. I've never actually had one, just s'mores-flavored things."

"You never know, someone might actually dig it!" Cayde shrugs, but he still stands by it. Weeks of peanut butter and jelly and anything different might be welcome, even if it is in a questionable format. He grins at Sundance, looking for her support on this one, naturally getting nothing but a stare.

"Anyway! I mean. We're on a roll. We got a few normalish flavors. S'mores? Can't say I've had that either. It sounds like it should be a familiar thing but it's not clicking." Which is all the more reason to try it. "Ooh! I think I like that one. Okay, let's see..."

He can't decide on a color, so he eenie-meenie-miney-mo's it and scrapes up a bit of purple. "At least the colors are interesting," he muses before he gives it a try.

"...this might be our elusive chocolate."

"It is an American food. Toasted marshmallows and chocolate between graham crackers. They eat it camping, usually...but I've never been camping." She shrugs. Temba definitely doesn't count - survival is too real of a concern.

Wanda's expression brightens immediately when Cayde mentions chocolate and she immediately grabs another sampling spoon and scoops up a taste. "Mmmm, yes. This is perfect." And that's it, she doesn't even care what the rest of the flavors are. One chocolate and s'mores sundae coming up.

(Okay, it's mostly chocolate.)

"I haven't had chocolate in...months? A year? Not since I came here."

"Heh, camping. That's like, almost every day for a Hunter," Cayde chuckles. Or at least the ones out in the field. "S'mores woulda made it a lot more interesting though."

He grins, watching as Wanda attacks the chocolate. "Well, all the more reason to dive right in. But hey, leave some for us?" he suggests, although he winks, clearly joking. Mostly. Feeling a little more adventurous himself, he decides to try a few more flavors, although he'll circle back to the s'mores flavored one. And cake. Mmm, cake.

Wanda laughs and very gently elbows him, mindful not to hurt herself. "I couldn't keep this all to myself. Tommy might never forgive me." And do they even have chocolate in Westeros? She's going to have to make a point to be sure that Sansa gets to try some.

After verifying that the chocolate sauce is in fact chocolate sauce, Wanda drizzles some over the top and then adds a generous scoop of rainbow sprinkles. "The sprinkles are very important. You can add whipped cream and whatever these berries are if you want, too?" Not cherries, that's for sure. "But these might be the red berries that make you drunk, from the drink at the welcome parties." She's not sure if it could affect Cayde, but it's only fair to warn him. Wanda's leaving them out - that's not a good mix with her powers, generally.

Cayde packs a bowl with a scoop of cake and s'mores flavored ice cream, following Wanda's lead with chocolate sauce and sprinkles. He plays around with the whipped cream, practically burying the ice cream with a fluffy white peaked crown.

"Oh, those things," he says in regards to the berries. "Heh! Figures they'd pop up. I saved some of those from the last welcome party. -I'm making a bar, you know?" It had been close to finish, right before they'd had to make their space trip, but at least heading off-planet gave him a chance to stock up on actual drinks.

Somehow, Wanda's not surprised that Cayde is a whipped cream person. She is only mildly surprised that they're not both wearing it, less because Cayde is, well, Cayde and more because the Agrii definitely seem like the kind of people to think an exploding can of whipped cream is 'exciting' and 'fun.'

"I'm sure that is going to be very popular. Sometimes this place makes you need a drink. Does it have a name?"

salon

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