Pictures of last night ended up online, I'm screwed

[ofmyth]

WHO: Thor (ofmyth), Loki (selfimage), a bunch of booze, and everyone!
WHERE: Safehouse 2.0
WHEN: Late afternoon, evening, night on the 28th.
WHAT: Some people took down the monster, some people kept the group safe, some people snuck off to steal booze. They can all celebrate together.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: This is a post-event mingle! Loki stole a bunch of alcohol and Thor is going to make sure everyone gets some. Debrief, have fun, get wreckt, prepare for tfln the next morning.
Tag your own/check individual threads for specific warnings.

[When Loki hears the news of the Godzilla's demise, it takes a moment to sink in. There were doubts when a handful of the refugees wanted to run out and play hero, especially with their lack of abilities (for those who had them). He expected Thor to come back content on his involvement at best, broken and nursing his own failure, at worst. This? This is better than the best, and it's worthy of celebration. I's hard not to be pleased, hard not to congratulate; it's Thor's victory post the fall of Asgard, and Loki's sure that he's reveling in it.

Then, comes the booze: all different bottle shapes and sizes, some dark with lighter liquid, others opaque filled with something that has a more amber tint. It's unloaded carefully by all of them, messily lined up on the frames of one of the cots..

Thor looks to be almost a different creature than the moping, sullen thing he'd been since they arrived in the safehouse. Getting to his feet he stands taller, shoulders held back, a bright look in his eyes. Loki backs him up, tinking a metal spoon against one of the bottles to get everyone's attention. As Thor speaks he looks around the room, seeking out the eyes of everyone present.]

Seven days ago we were strangers. We were brought into an underground bunker, unsure of who we were and how we had come here. Some were angry, some afraid, others unsure. It's thanks to the aid and kindness of Gaby and El that we survived at all, here in this foreign city. Today, we have proven we will not merely surivive here.

[Thor hasn't met everyone here, but that's ultimately not the point. In his mind they are in this together, for better or worse. There is a 'we' who celebrate together now just as much as there is a 'they' who are responsible for their being here.]

Today we have repaid Gaby her kindness. Today we have protected not only her people here in the safehouse, but the people of the city. Today we have proved our strength to ourselves, to the city, to any who are watching us. Today, we set fear in the heart of our captor. [He seems to relish that last one most of all.]

Seven days ago we had little to celebrate. Today we raise a toast—[Up goes his bottle, held high and triumphant.] To us! To what we have done today! To victory!

[Loki chimes in, shaking the little bottle in his hand.] To New Amsterdam!

[Thor's arm is held high while others raise their drinks, then Thor upends his to drain it in a long pull.]

Comments

[selfimage]

[ when he's done, he passes the bottle back with some expectation of more drinking. ]

Teammates, hm? What kind of teammates?

[ he does sound maybe a little tad bit curious. the group had been somewhat cagey, not that Loki could blame them, but he did like hearing the stories.

there were a lot of worlds out there. ]

[secondnature]

[Keith takes the bottle, but doesn't drink. Sorry Loki. That's just how things are.]

Team Voltron. [He stares down at the liquid in the bottle. He shifts his hand ever-so-slightly to make it swish around, but still, not another sip. That hadn't been a terribly pleasant burn.]

Honestly, it's a little weird that no one's heard of us, but it's not the first time.

[selfimage]

[ what a sad state of things—his face says so much as his eyes go from the bottle and back to Keith.

oh, he's heard of Voltron, not by the type of familiarity that Keith might be referring, but in other ways. ]

This world seems like it's at a lack for certain things. [ he tips his head, offering him a whimsy little smile. ] Our eclectic group of multiversal refugees were the only ones that came to the rescue after that great beast threatened the city.

I can't say that I'm used to that.

[secondnature]

Uhhh—what? [That was a lot of words to say what Loki meant, so it's not that Keith isn't smart enough to get it, it's that he's not used to there being multiple bands of eclectic multiversal refugees coming to the rescue of someone. After all, Voltron is one of a kind where he comes from, with the rebels and the Blades being underground rebel groups trying to evade attention.]

Why would there be anyone else?

[selfimage]

[ hey, if you're not gonna drink that, Keith!!! Loki leans in to take the bottle back, looking a little lazily tipsy as he throws back for another long sip. ]

This isn't my first roadtrip across the multiverse. While there are variations on different worlds, there are also a lot of similarities. [ that's how it works, but he doesn't get into that part. ] There's almost always a group of heroes willing to hone in and face off against a threat where I've been.

...

Thor usually being one of them.

[secondnature]

Well, yeah ... [Keith doesn't seem to mind that it's taken away. He doesn't even hold on to the bottle to cause any friction, so Loki better be holding on to it as he pulls it away.]

That's us now. Those groups have to start somewhere. Isn't it usually a random coincidence because you want to do good?

[He hasn't figured out the superhero parallel part of this yet.]

[selfimage]

[ this guy isn't letting good booze go to waste. ]

Hm? Random coincidences are few and far between.

[ there's a drink, and he pauses, then lowers the bottle. ]

But this isn't so much about doing good, or the opportunity to good, but rather who's there and who's not. We're not from this world, yet it was us who rose to the occasion.

[ a shrug. ]

No big, but it's surprising that this place doesn't have its own group of heroic souls, separate from us.

[secondnature]

I don't get what you mean. [Keith wants that to be clear. He isn't saying it with any edge to his tone. Instead, it's more the fact that he doesn't totally understand Loki's angle. Having been to another universe, he doesn't see "heroic" groups as more than "rebels." And he's seen that in all three that he's visited, and he's obviously been a member of one of them.

(Soon to be two.)]

Morningstar is here. Aren't they heroes? Isn't that what they're doing? They saved us, after all.

[selfimage]

[ perhaps it's just where experience meets expectation for him. ]

In some ways, I suppose, but they have more of an air of a defiant rebel group than the brand of heroism that I'm accustomed. [ he turns a head to Keith. ] I mean people with super powers, beyond the scope of what we're seeing here, dedicating themselves more toward helping people and fighting larger threats than a political cause.

[ not that both aren't needed, of course. ]

Like what you did.

[secondnature]

So, let me get this straight. [Everything Loki is describing sounds like it would still be a rebel group's tasks if they came to someone who needed it. Keith does know that Morningstar wasn't out there helping, but it's blatantly obvious that they lack the weaponry to pull it off.]

You're bothered because this world didn't have a group of people helping out like this before. You pointed out that Thor's normally a part of it, so couldn't he just be a catalyst? Or—I don't know. Maybe whatever inspires other universes hasn't inspired this one yet. Not until today.

[A beat.]

They did say an attack like that never happened before.

[selfimage]

That may be it.

[ there's a little shrug of his shoulders, but he looks curious as he regards Keith. ]

So, perhaps you're right: it is possible that this world is just lagging behind in its super-powered heroes. I've done quite a bit of inter-dimensional travel, and there's a resonance to this multiverse. There are universes like other universes, because it likes its patterns.

[ on one hand, it is odd to see a world without one familiar face, even if they haven't done much digging yet. ]

This one might have not fallen into it, yet.

[secondnature]

I know what you mean about the multiverse, but I wouldn't be so quick to define it that way. Just because mine has Voltron doesn't mean my Earth does. It doesn't, not yet. [They left and fought across the universe. Going home would be a trial, assuming they made it there at all. That's him being stubborn about a particular detail, but it matters.]

If we go with that, it could mean we messed up the resonance of this universe. By being here in the first place.

[selfimage]

[ there's a moment where Loki sighs and leans up against the wall closest. ]

You're human, aren't you? [ it explains a lot. ] Resonance doesn't get messed up—it can get pushed and pulled, but reflects as it does. There aren't barriers more than what what perception may designate.

[ then, curious: ]

It's possible that there's Voltron in other ways, and not in name alone. Perhaps not people, but on ink, in story, or in history. Somewhere far away, perhaps. There could be super heroes in that respect as well.

I'm not bothered, just surprised.

[secondnature]

[What Loki offers as an explanation comes across as condescending to Keith. It begins with that whole "you're human" bit and just goes from there. Would he assume the same of Allura if he saw her? Probably, at least until he got a good look at her ears. This is probably the one conversation this evening where Keith would be helped along by a few shots of alcohol.

Too bad he didn't have them.]

I'm not human. Not fully. [Keith's tone is flat. Unimpressed.]

It sounds like you want things to work the way you want them to, because you can't handle it being any other way. It sounds like the problem is you.

[There was no problem introduced until Keith's words just then, but Loki hit a nerve.]

[selfimage]

[ that turns his head and raises a brow. the whiplash in mood strikes him, and he leans up against the wall. ]

No, not really. We were talking observation and perception, weren't we? As for me, I'm good at improvising. [ he tilts his head at him, and there's a little pause. ]

... Ah, Human isn't an insult to you, is it?

[ there are those who get sensitive about it, but it looks like Loki might be in the midst of looking for something. ]

[secondnature]

It's not, but it sounded like one coming from your mouth. [As much as Keith has grown, he's still far less controlled than he'd like to be. He has his mother's temper, and the Galra live long, long lives trying to keep that wilder side of themselves in check.]

Anyway, you didn't get my point, did you? [Keith can condescend, too! That seems to be what these words are saying, anyway.]

This universe's Earth doesn't need to reflect your own. Or my own. So we should stop trying to make it out to be like that.

[selfimage]

[ didn't he talk about that, somewhere? Loki lifts his drink and smiles into it like he's heard a joke. he's not human, but there's definitely something about him that bristles like one when being asked about it. it's like finding a button on someone he knows will elicit a reaction. while he pokes and prods per usual, he found something unintentionally.

either way, he's gotten the idea that Keith's decided he's not going to listen, no matter what he says.

so he just closes one eye and sighs. ]

As you will, I suppose—[ if Keith wants to feel right about something. ]—it's not as if my perceptions on the nuances of reality are truly up to par in this place.

[ though he sounds curious. ]

You said you weren't all human. Your own senses, are they dulled upon arrival here?

[secondnature]

[Keith thinks back to his conversation with Scott, about how he could very well have lost a part of himself and he hadn't realized it. What had once been a point of internal unease and contention has now become something he's terrified of leaving behind. The Blade had led him to his mother, to feeling like he finally knew himself, fully and completely. He doesn't like thinking his connection to that group—to his knife, to his mother—is gone.

He frowns, eyebrows furrowing.]

I don't understand what you're asking.

[His senses are fine. But he has no way of knowing if being Galra changed his senses. He's always been this way.

(And obviously, Keith is still part Galra, even if he doesn't realize it or have the means to check.)]

But I'm fine. I guess. I feel fine.

[selfimage]

[ human always seems to be the default—perceptions, senses, the way that they interact with reality, it's what defines normal. that sort of thing was different for Asgardians, and different for other intergalactic beings.

it left him wondering if that was the standard. ]

Humans have a certain set of senses, they perceive reality a certain way—I suppose I'm asking if that's how you do, too. I lost something ... a lot of somethings ... when I was brought here.

[ there's a sigh that immediately makes him feel tired. ]

I can't tell the extent of it in those who aren't what I am.

[secondnature]

I don't know. [It's not that he's being evasive, it's just that he's always felt this way. If being Galra gives him extra senses, or an extra ability to do whatever, he couldn't begin to nail down what that means for him.

He's never had a point of reference otherwise. He and his mom discussed some of it, but ...

All he knows is that he's unlikely to live as long as most Galra.]

I don't know if my senses are different. I didn't grow up with other people like me, so I can't compare. An enemy once said I fight like them, but that could just be—I dunno. Not giving up. I can't help you.