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♤ Network || Log - Raise a Glass

WHO: Cayde-6 and erryone
WHERE: The Deep End (Orange-13 on map)
WHAT: Cayde doesn't like dwelling on negative things so HEY Bar Grand Opening ~~come drink away your sorrows and stress and enjoy company in general~~
WHEN: 'bout a couple of days after the storm's passed, time flexible thereafter
WARNINGS: N/A will change as necessary
NOTES: Use whatever format you want

[Network - Video]

[The image starts out crooked but the Exo's actively adjusting it before he steps back and gives someone a thumb's up off-screen.]

All right, so good news? Nothing sprung a leak despite prior circumstances, surrounding area's a little damp though, but all in all? Everything's pretty much how I left it. Even got some supposed cyanana booze that's been uh...going through this still since before we left for space. -okay I'm not exactly sure how that might taste? So in the meantime, I've got a backup plan.

[He seems to remember something then, coming up close to the communicator.]

But Cayde, you say, what's all this about anyway? Excellent question! I was so excited I forgot to say. Ahem. So, some of you- a good number, actually, might be aware that I have been in the process of putting together a bar-slash-common gathering area type of hangout...thing. It's pretty much been done, just not stocked- but now that we're finally back from...all that and then some, I've got a selection of fine drinks for your...uh... drinking pleasure. Also some non-alcoholic stuff for the non-drinkers and the under-aged. Oh, and there's tea and coffee too.

[Fishing around in his pocket, he holds up a map he's drawn up, the location circled.]

We're right down here, southeast sector, past the lake- I'm working on getting some kind of a landmark but this place is fresh out of neon signs. Anyway! I'll be around. Come as you please, even if I'm not- don't trip up the stairs, help yourself and uh, don't mind if the fish stare at you.

Making the network announcement had helped to fully kick his mood back into a semblance of normal. Truth be told, he just wanted to gather up people together, real people, and settle in with an ambiance of more pleasant times and warmer company.

The backdrop of the water-filled courtyard that made up the center of the nest of buildings had been something Cayde had at the time thought whimsical. During the daylight hours the light that filtered through the large window was a wavering green-blue, offset by the small sconces along the wall and a few individual lanterns at tables and flanking the bar area adjacent to the makeshift aquarium.

Cayde had set up the various bottles of drinks he'd acquired from their planetary pit-stop and scavenged from the cafe on a somewhat crooked shelf behind the bar itself. He'd been trying to go for rustic like those Old West saloons but in the middle gave up and just let things shape itself as he found them. The glassware is just as mismatched as the furniture, but everything's clean and ready to be made use of. If there's anything he really wishes he had, it would be an old-fashioned phonograph player or some kind of music source just to drive off the quiet that filled the space when no people did.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wanda can't help but feel initial surprise that Tony's reached out to her. At home they were eventually able to work together but they definitely did not 'hang out.'

She knows their worlds are so very different - even now, she still feels inadequate compared to the other Wanda. It's not fair to paint this other Tony in another man's mistakes but it's still jarring to respond like she's actually considering the implied invitation.

Sundance might need a hand. Are we volunteering?

Honestly, getting a response that didn't sound like a very delicate rejection was outside of Tony's expectations, too. As much time as he had spent together with the Wanda he knew, she probably wouldn't think much about 'hanging out' with him, either, without a healthy buffer of Carol between them. Too fast, thrilled to have not been immediately rebuffed, he replied, 'She doesn't have any hands at all, severe disadvantage', considered apologizing, then tried salvaging it with another invitation, 'I'm outside his place now, if you're not doing anything.'

That did kind of sound like a date, and Tony didn't quite scrap the second apology, but was sending yet another message is rapid succession while he lingered at the side of the desolate road, 'That's only a come on if you want it to be. Is that weird? It's a little weird.' There was probably a good reason she always made sure she had a girlfriend around him.

She feels like she should at least try to make an effort to fight the instinctive urge to shut him down completely - he is one of Vision's 'fathers,' after all, even though he's not either Stark Wanda claims as family.

You know, you shouldn't flirt with married women

It's good that this is over text so he can't see the face she just made. Wanda takes a steadying breath. She needs to make an effort, even if just this once, and if it goes horribly she doesn't think anyone would blame her for keeping a professional distance in the future. And at least Cayde should be around if this really goes badly?

She can handle it, she thinks. He doesn't have the same history with his Wanda, and as long as he doesn't start asking awkward questions...

I'll be there soon. Try not to blow anything up?

That wasn't exactly a rejection, either, if Tony knew anything about how married women flirted, making him finally crack a smile as he snorted to himself and looked up again at the weathered building. Maybe he would leave that one alone, for now, but he was definitely going to have to push her a little bit, because it warmed a long abandoned part of him to see Wanda talk about her husband again.

Better be quick.

The likelihood of Tony blowing something up increased exponentially the closer he was to Cayde, so Wanda was on a tight deadline. He could probably find a way, even as he lounged as casually as he could manage with his restless tapping against the wall by the door, frowning and wondering if Jon had any cigarettes left and how fast he could run to the library to find out.

If this Tony is anything like the one she knows, then she knows she shouldn't leave him idle for long. Both for Cayde's sake, who seems like he needs saving from himself sometimes, and for Sundance's, who is about to be outnumbered.

But that's not to say that she's exactly in a rush for this meeting, either. What is she even going to say?

At least let him go a week with no fights or fires?

...sure, that works. (???)

She shows up in a reasonable amount of time in a style of clothing best described as space-boho. Not exactly something you'd catch her counterpart in, even given the limited variety of clothes she's had to choose from. "I see nothing exploded. You two are staying out of trouble?"

Conversely, Tony might have looked exactly as expected, not about to show up for a grand opening in anything less than a suit even if it was one a magic boy had made for him, assuming Wanda could look passed the height and the blue eyes. He was undeniably Tony in demeanour, at least, sauntering out of his slouch against the wall as he spotted her approach with his hands open in welcome, a distinctly practiced casual warmth that read better on camera than it did in person. To him, Wanda was still a puzzle yet, the clothes not helping him anticipate what about her might be familiar or entirely new. "Trouble's just arrived," he pointed out, and offered an arm to walk her up. "Here's my plan, let me know how this feels: I'll order the most complicated drink possible, you clog the toilets, by the time he realizes a brawl is brewing he'll have to pull out the emergency measures."

Wanda just stops short and gives him a Look. "Don't even think about it. Cayde's been working hard on this and I am not going to help you wreck it. We are supposed to be helping, yes?"

She can't help but wonder what kind of relationship he must have had with her other self to be so...so casual with her. She's seen this side of him, of course; superficially he seems very similar to the Tony she knows. But it's never been directed at her.

She's not quite sure what to do with it, but hopefully her flat rejection of making immediate trouble for Cayde will mask the way she starts for the stairs on her own without taking his arm.

Wanda's confusion about their relationship was going to be one sided, because that chilly response was about what Tony expected from her. As she stopped, he only raised his eyebrows expectantly, as though he couldn't imagine what the problem with his plot to terrorize Cayde was, then he slowly turned to watch her go with his arm still offered hopefully until he was dropping it to trail after her up the stairs, smiling to himself.

"That's helping, what do you mean? Gotta be prepared for every eventuality, it's bug testing," he argued. "Eventually, Tommy's going to show up here and take the whole roof off of the place, and Cayde'll be thanking us for our service." It was not a particularly easy climb up the strangely tall Agrii stairs, but landing at the bar did feel a little worth it as Tony stopped at the door to take in their alien underwater view.

Wanda turns to give him another withering look, rising into the air and hovering backwards up the stairs. She was never planning to actually walk all the way up to the bar, and after a full month of not being able to use her powers, she needs an outlet.

"Tommy wouldn't do that. He knows the difference between a prank and causing actual trouble."

The withering looks must have been having the opposite of the intended effect, this one earning Wanda a wry grin and, if anything, a more prideful raise of Tony's chin for getting her irritated so easily before he was off across the room to lean close to the glass and try to see how deep they actually were. "Are we talking about the same kid? Every time I see him, it's because he's in trouble," he asked toward the long, spindly legged (gross) fish that kicked its way by. That assessment of Tommy might not have been strictly true anymore; since Tony arrived here, he seemed to be around more often when Tony was in need than the other way around. That wasn't something Tony was about to admit to, though.

That sea creature that had Tony wrinkling his nose made him turn away from the window to take in the rest of the space before something more awful floated by, but he already knew Cayde wasn't here to welcome them. They were going to have to give themselves the grand tour.

Wanda, meanwhile, is absolutely fascinated by the fish, as weird and freaky-looking as some of them are. Vision would have loved this place. She should make sure to take some videos to show him later, whenever she gets to return to him.

(She has to keep believing that she'll get to go home to Naviadna someday.)

"It is not his fault that trouble finds us here," she says, thinking of the anger wasps. "We are all doing our best." Herself included right now, though Wanda would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed that Cayde isn't around. She's never actually been alone with any Tony Stark before and, well, it does make her a little more nervous. No buffers. No graceful exit if this goes horribly wrong and she needs one. Hopefully he won't ask too many questions about home...

"You don't like the fish?"

As he was taking it all in, Tony hadn't really noticed that the massive aquarium had caught Wanda's attention until he turned at the question, lip raised and tongue between his teeth as an answer that quickly faded to smile in surprise at her instead. The play of the light on her face was suddenly powerfully reminiscent enough for Tony to press a hand to his chest, tipping his head back as he asked, "You remember that office Rhodey had, after he left the team, the underwater one for the salvage company?" That did feel like a lifetime ago, and Tony wasn't entirely sure if that was just because of this planet or because so much had happened since then. Either way, it was a surprisingly warm sear of nostalgia to see that light on Wanda's face, and he was still holding his heart as he continued toward the bar, where the sign he found finally managed to distract him. He plucked it up to flip toward Wanda so she could read, 'Gone out. Help yourselves, play nice, and don't wreck my bar.' "Very trusting," he observed.

She turns to him, shaking her head. "Rhodey just joined the Avengers, with Vision and Sam and me." And it's hard to imagine him abandoning his military career even if he did leave the team. He has a good heart; they may not be close but she can't see him anywhere he couldn't actively do good.

(Notably, she didn't namedrop Pietro. She hopes Tony won't ask.)

"And we are going to play nice and not wreck his bar because we are good Avengers, yes?" Sorry Tony, Wanda's not actually a stick in the mud but she is protective of her friends.

That was a strange enough revelation that Tony had plenty of questions to get through before he was concerned about no explicit mention of Wanda's brother, assuming instead that of course they were together, that was a given. "What, just now...?" he lead with, putting the sign back down slowly as he stared at her and only being further convinced that she definitely wasn't a teenager, and trying to reevaluate how long Steve had suggested their team had been together. He was pretty sure Steve had made it sound like it had been a while. "Shit, sweetheart, you really left them hanging, the whole world would have ended a few times over without you back home," he continued and, so baffled by this, added again, "Like, just?"

How good of an Avenger he was going to be was apparently going to be left up to interpretation, as Tony wasn't about to make any sweeping claims in that regard, and slid around the counter instead to investigate what there was on offer. Cayde appeared to be set up prepared to serve well enough, but what he had to serve was a total mystery to Tony as he scanned the bottles of what he hoped was all ingestable liquids. Maybe he wasn't going to be doing any drinking at all, to be safe. Pointing to the array, he offered, "Pick your...colour."

That 'sweetheart' earns him another annoyed glance. "A few months before the Atroma kidnapped me the first time." So there's the confirmation if he needed it that this is the same Wanda seen in the later 'episodes' of the Drift Fleet. She shrugs. "They stopped the Chitauri without me. And it doesn't seem to matter that we are here. Everyone else on the Fleet was from the future and they remembered me being home with them, even though I didn't go back."

Wanda leaves the aquarium window to join Tony behind the counter, scanning the bottles on offer and wrinkling her nose. "I wish he'd labeled them. These could be anything." She taps a bottle of something fruit punch red. "This is probably what the Agrii serve us? But I don't recognzie anything else."

That red bottle must have been the highly flammable one that Cayde had a stock of, so they both at least had a little bit of context for it. "You like it?" Tony asked, but he was already picking up the bottle and turning to find a glass for Wanda before she had an answer for him. He was continuing instead, "The kids--Tommy and Billy--they insist they're from my future, too. I don't think I'm buying it, but if that's true...You know, what's the pattern? What's the point? Why not bring us from the same time as everyone else?" He shrugged, shaking his head, not really expecting any answer for his frustration that would be entirely satisfying, not until he could shake it out of the people who brought them here. Of course, he was still talking, "I don't know what a Chitauri is, but I wasn't on the team with you when you first started. You were my replacement, so--maybe that you got to have that fight."

"I won't--" But before she can even get a full sentence out, Tony's snatched the bottle off the shelf. "You can have it if you want, but I have seen what only a little of that does to people, even people like Steve." And there's no one currently here she trusts to be physically able to deal with her and get her home if she were to become that inebriated so...no thanks. She's trying not to make a mess of Cayde's new place, after all.

"If they brought me from a year earlier I would just be a normal human. No use to anyone." She turns away, still scanning the bottle rack. It's easier to talk about that if she's not looking at him. "In the place we were before, they sometimes brought people after they had died in their own worlds. And sometimes people would go home for a while and come back with new memories, like what happened to Tommy. No one knows why, or if there is a real reason."

Edited 2020-11-28 19:57 (UTC)

'Only a little' it was then, though the act of pouring a glass after he had discovered one under the bar felt itself like it was scratching a deep itch that set Tony's jaw on edge to cut short for only a generous mouthful to offer to Wanda. He didn't hear the 'no' in that answer, apparently, and hardly waited for her to take the offering before he was raising the bottle again, without his own drink to use, to encourage with a clink of glass, "Alla tua."

Pushing the bottle onto the bar, he gave Wanda another once over to ask, "That's a little late, isn't it?" Was that an invasive question? Tony wasn't a mutant biologist on any level, but that might have been basically asking why she only hit puberty in her 20s. "I mean--..." he tried to buffer, twirling a hand to pull more words out of the air, "...did Pietro...? Is that normal, for your Earth?" That would explain why she wasn't an Avenger sooner, Magneto wouldn't have even found her yet. It would have been nice to have an argument against how useless a baseline human was, but without the suit, Tony was proving how worthless he was here so far. It was not a promising case study.

Wanda winces slightly but doesn't touch the glass - well, he can't say she didn't warn him. Cayde had mentioned something about having soda and teas, if only she could find where he'd put them. That bottle of teal liquid swirling with glitter does look tempting, though...maybe a little wouldn't hurt? As long as she can keep enough of her filter in place not to go off on Tony.

She already flinches when he mentions Pietro, going stiff as a board as he continues. He doesn't know, she tells herself. Even Tony Stark wouldn't just go blundering into that minefield if he knew the full story...right?

She takes a slightly shuddering breath, tries to calm the urge to snap to just get him to stop. "I told you, I'm not like your Wanda." It still comes out a little sharper than she intended. Whoops. That teal concoction is looking better by the second. "There are no mutants in my world. I'm the only one...like this."

Edited 2020-11-28 21:42 (UTC)

The tension was hard to miss, but harder to pinpoint the cause of, especially with Tony already assuming he might have stumbled into a very personal question about Wanda's hormones. It made him clear his throat awkwardly, looking longingly himself at the drink he abandoned on the counter and grasping for an easy segue with one drumming hand. No mutants wasn't any more comfortable, leaving Tony without enough context to understand whether she meant her whole planet was always missing an entire species, or she had more of a direct hand in that reality.

"Sure," he tried to accept lightly, but now they both weren't looking at each other so it wasn't particularly effective. "And I'm the only one like this, which, depending on your perspective, is a roaring shame, I mean, look at me. Does that mean your brother's just, like, a guy? He would hate that. I bet he's still a prick about it."

"He's dead," she snaps, snatching the bottle off the shelf and finally turning back to face him. She wouldn't like to hear anyone talk about Pietro like that, but especially not Tony Stark. "We were the only survivors of Strucker's experiments and Ultron killed him. So no, it isn't the same."

It would be simple enough to use her powers to call a glass to her hand, but right now Wanda needs the simple task of bending to retrieve one and setting it on the counter to ground herself. She knows, she knows, that this Tony doesn't deserve her ire. She shouldn't have snapped at him. But at the same time, he is still a Tony Stark blithely ripping into old wounds, and she can't quite bring herself to apologize yet, either.

It's a work in progress.

And maybe if she had enough of whatever-this-is, she'd stop caring, but then she'd probably have to text Lorna or the Soldier or Cayde to be prepared to come get her first and make sure she doesn't decide dangling Tony by his feet or chasing him around with an army of chairs is a great idea.

That would explain the tension, Tony could accept that. He sucked in a slow breath between grit teeth as she rounded on him, tilting his head as he searched once again for another out, as though he wasn't 0 for 2 so far, barely capable of being able to emotionally process what she actually said at a good time, never mind under that look. The programming would have to change, he could figure out that much, because assuming he knew anything about Wanda had yet to work for him at all.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he eventually breathed as Wanda fixed her focus on the glass, and he could watch her hands as well, "I didn't know. That must have been--I can't imagine what that's like." Either losing Pietro, or a brother.

"I hope you never know for yourself," Wanda says quietly, pouring out a small amount of the teal shimmery liquid to taste. She sighs. "Our worlds are very different. Some things are...complicated."

But if Wanda was going to elaborate, whatever she was about to say flies out the window as she takes a sip of the whatever-it-is and makes a face. "--that does not taste like it looks."

'Complicated' was one way of putting it, and Tony hesitated briefly with his tongue between his teeth, trying to produce something that felt sincere and warm or could at least make up for his blundering into this conversation, and he landed on, "Yeah." It would have been nice to know that there as a Wanda that wasn't suffering with a traumatic loss like this, but there remained a measurable consistency in the unforgiving lives the he rows assembled here had lived.

The face Wanda made was almost enough to make Tony laugh, getting as far as a smirk instead as he replied, "What a surprise." After their culinary experience on the Agrii ship, it was dangerous to have such expectations anymore. "Red's out," he finally seemed to accept of the abandoned glass on the bar, and continued with a point to Wanda's drink, "And that's no good. Should I line 'em up?," with a gesture to the yet to be discovered array. Wanda was doing such a god job so far, it would be a shame to abandon the project now.

The Maximoffs unfortunately always seem to pull the 'oops! all tragedies' card. But her prickliness aside, this Wanda appears to be mostly holding it together at least. For now.

(It helps that the people around her, both from later in her timeline and from other worlds, have gone to lengths to protect her from knowing about terrible things she either can't change or isn't responsible for.)

"It's fine if you like sour things. But it is not what I was expecting." She makes another face and gives the bottle a light shove towards the red one into the 'nope' category. "We need labels, or a menu. I am not sure how safe some of these are."

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