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

[duskmeadow]

[ Vax holds up a hand, unsure of how to defuse the defensive response.

In a way, it's reassuring. Vax had been worried when he'd clocked how young some of the people here were. (As if Vax is so very old.) Keith talks like he knows and understands the risks involved in what they're doing here. That's reassuring, even if there's a sharpness to his tone that Vax feels is undeserved in the moment. ]

What we're really supposed to do is enjoy ourselves.

[ And Vax isn't really sure if he's doing that or not either, to be fair to Keith. ]

But it seems like a few of us are used to fighting big ugly fuckers like that, ey? That's probably a good thing.

[ If it happened again, they wouldn't be completely useless in the face of it. He lifts Keith's cup to take a sip, screws up his face as he swishes it in his mouth. ]

Strong. But terrible. You aren't missing anything.

[secondnature]

[Keith is about to say something, and then Vax drinks the thing he handed over and he seems to relax a little. It's easier to be defensive. Those kneejerk reactions come without Keith hesitating. It's all he knows to start off most of his interactions, driving up a wall between himself and another person.

The fact that Vax has pointed ears catches Keith's attention now. He'll have to ask about that. The man lacks the Altean marks that Keith knows well, and yet—]

Well, see. That's how I'm enjoying myself. I'm not drinking that stuff. It's gonna make this a lot more fun for me.

[A beat. Another beat.]

Fighting that thing was more fun, anyway.

[duskmeadow]

[ That statement gets a grin. When Vax can set aside the gnawing, painful longing for his friends, there's enough room for the exhilaration of a well fought battle to settle in. It had been a good fight. And they'd won it, which was even better. There had been a few moments when Vax hadn't been sure. (They'd coincided with moments where he was about to be stepped on.) He nods, tapping his fingers against the side of the cup. ]

It was pretty good, wasn't it? [ There's a pause, then Vax shrugs. ] I think it might have been easier to handle than a dragon.

[ At least it hadn't been spitting acid. Or prone to flying away in the middle of a fight. ]

My sister would say I'm an idiot, but it's the best time I've had since I woke up here.

[secondnature]

Well ... if you're used to fighting dragons, it beats sitting around hoping that we haven't been cloned or turned into monsters or something. [The way those words are spoken, it's clear that Keith has thought those options through and dismissed them. Nothing about this has been easy. But he's tried to maintain a routine. Feeling so disconnected from everything he knows has been hard. If he had his wolf, or his mom, it might be easier. He just doesn't.

The only thing that might be keeping him sane is knowing that there is something he can fight for—whatever that turns out to be.]

It's familiar, right? Even if we've lost everything ... we can still fight.

[duskmeadow]

That's uplifting.

[ But it's not exactly so far beyond Vax to take that approach. As long as they can fight, they aren't trapped into this situation without recourse. They can have some say in what happens here. If they can knock a massive monster down, then there's a fighting chance they'll be able to find the people who stole them and claw their way back home. ]

What do you think of them? [ A beat, before Vax specifies: ] Our hosts.

[ It's been a while since Vax has been tipped into a situation where he doesn't know any of the players and lacks the resources to find out anything on them. Canvassing for the perceptions of his fellow victims is the best he can do, for the moment. ]

[secondnature]

["That's uplifting." That hadn't even been his angle, at least not consciously. Now that it's been stated as such, Keith realizes that maybe he was hoping to make things better, even a little bit. They all need to remember that they can fight on, even when the cards are down. It's something he'll have to remember when he goes home, too.]

I know some people don't trust them. I wouldn't have a while ago. [Three years ago, to be exact. Keith realizes now that his trust issues lie less with distrust and more with the fact that his life hasn't lent him a lot of opportunities to trust. Now that he's older, he feels more grounded in that.]

But I do. They have to be careful. I'm used to seeing rebels at work, and being one myself. That's just what the job involves.