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

[evenslimmer]

[ He doesn't understand what Loki's getting at here. Scott can't tell if that's the alcohol slowing him down, or his own complete social failure.

Honestly, could go either way. ]

That's fair.

[ Scott's not insulted by any implication that he doesn't really stand out. He knows who he is. ]

Do you suppose there's more of us still out there?

[selfimage]

[ he's got being indirect down to an art. ]

Us as in us from a specific universe, or us as in us in this universe?

[ there's a distinction there that he needs to answer that question properly. ]

[evenslimmer]

[ He's indirect and Scott's actually— not sure he has much to say to Loki, beyond "I guess we have mutual friends"? He is pretty sure he's not the sort of person Loki would normally be talking to, along with a thousand other things.

In other words, this is testing Scott's limited social skills to the max, and he's never missed Bobby's inane babbling more than in this moment. ]

The former. I'm pretty sure we won't have been the last...shipment.

[selfimage]

[ for Loki, he doesn't need much to say beyond indulging his own curiosity. he'd heard things, but not actively sought much to do with any of the X-Teams since his rebirth (not counting the whole thing when he was a bird, because he was a bird).

he considers Scott for a moment, then fold his hands. ]

I'd bet coin that we won't be. The capabilities of whomever or whatever abducted us are ... concerning.

[ so that comes out kinda bitterly. ]

[evenslimmer]

I think them wanting us, makes a kind of sense. If it'd just been us, or people we knew...even alternate versions of those people, like Doctor Strange...we might have a good idea of what they wanted, or who's responsible.

[ Scott's not sure he's being logical. Why did he say all that? Get it on track, Summers. ]

I can see why they'd want us, but I can't see why anyone we know of who would want us would want...people who are unconnected to any of us, from universes that don't line up with ours. [ A beat. ] So just...a random perpetrator?

[ Are the other people cover? Is someone just capitalizing on random error? But it doesn't feel random. ]

I might be overthinking this.

[selfimage]

[ Scott talks, and then talks a lot. for the first time in a while, Loki doesn't talk, and tries to sort out the ideas that Scott tossed around in the last few sentences.

he drinks, because that's what makes things make more sense. ]

Perhaps.

[ a pause. ]

Do you think someone wanted that large, lumbering Godzilla that sauntered into this city? It seems ... sloppy.

[ he gestures. ]

[evenslimmer]

[ That's more words in two minutes than Scott's been known to say in two hours sometimes. Maybe that's one of the myriad reasons he doesn't drink.

(Maybe that's a reason he should drink more? Or maybe he should learn how to talk to people without needing liquid courage.) ]

We could debate that all night. We both know of plenty of madmen who could be that sloppy, or pretend to be that sloppy. But it's all theoretical without any evidence for the actual culprit.

[selfimage]

[ don't say Doom don't say Doom don't say Doom. ]

That doesn't make the exchange of ideas any less valuable, especially those of us from all different corners of the multiverse. I'd call it less debate and more information. You never know what's going to stick, hm?

[ he tilts his head at him, looking kind of satisfied. ]

We need to lead ourselves to evidence, somehow.

[evenslimmer]

[ WE DON'T HAVE TO SAY DOOM IF WE'RE ALL THINKING DOOM.

Scott looks at the surface of his drink for a long moment. Just...thinking. Not about whether or not to finish it. About too many things to put into words. ]

Something Sinister comes to mind.

[selfimage]

[ Scott Summers continues think, and Loki takes another drink. ]

Ugh—him. [ he says it like he ate something bad and is trying to get rid of the taste. Sinister had sought, and currently has, his DNA. ] He was never one for theoreticals. More of a scientist than a sorcerer.

[evenslimmer]

[ Why that distinction? Something Scott will remember to ask about later. ]

It's not without precedent for a Sinister to set up some experiment and then let the subjects loose to see how it proceeds. There's a part of all this that feels as though we've been used as lab rats.

[ Granted, he doesn't have the firsthand knowledge of that— that'll come later. But research and Old Scott's journals (what he's seen of them) made some things very clear. ]

Cosmic agents seem to be out. I suppose somebody here could just be capitalizing on a very big mistake committed somewhere or somewhen else in the multiverse.

It's...unfortunate that there's a long list of people capable of making that kind of error.

[ Like, say...Richards? Stark? McCoy?

Doom? ]

[selfimage]

No, he's far too much of a freak of control. [ control freak. ] And if this is of Doom's conception, it's already a failure and will most likely be blamed on a Doombot. [ there's a sigh that says ugh, Doom. but really, ugh all those villains.

he's worked with all of them, at some time or another. ]

This is something else entirely.

[ Stark wouldn't mess with the gods again, not after what happened in Broxton. Reeds was on thin ice. McCoy? eh. Sinister or Doom were debatable, but this wasn't their style.

he pauses, then announces, with an upright finger and a playful edge: ]

Alternate reality Doom!

[ #comics ]

[evenslimmer]

[ Alternate Reality Doom...possibly could be sloppier/more insane than regular Doom. ]

Alternate reality Reed Richards?

[ Also a distinct possibility. ]

I'm evenly divided on whether or not there's a deliberate kidnapping and experiment in place, or if someone's just taking advantage of an opportunity.

[selfimage]

[ there's a tip of his head to that one.

then he deadpans: ]

Sounds like Hank Pym.

[ it's half a suggestion, but he feels obligated because it's always a good idea to throw Hank Pym under the bus, given the situation. ]

Though I suppose we can't entirely be sure. Kidnapping or experiment—those are both opportunities, just different ones.

[evenslimmer]

[ Scott's less experienced with the foibles of Hank Pym, but Loki probably knows. Certainly better than Scott does right now. ]

Not mutually exclusive, either. I don't really think it's someone we know, but even if it's not— it's not like we don't have experience finding these kinds of people. Or fixing space-time disturbances.

[ Optimism, from Scott Summers? Sure. Only partially because of the alcohol. He needs to believe it, too. ]