not_a_goddamn_princess | MASQUERADE PARTY, 33 Apocalypse Ave, Friday Evening

Party night. The best of nights. An ornate sign on 33 Apocalypse’s door invited all to knock and make themselves known.

The space inside was bigger than it looked from the outside, stretched and displaced by magic. The wallpaper was green and textured, hinting at the English countryside. On one side of the room sat a significant bar offering food and drinks, while the other gave ample space to sit. A large Jenga tower held prominence in a corner.

It was easy to miss it, though, in favor of the little streams of water that ran across furniture and floor. Tiny glass gondolas, animated by magic, made their way back and forth across each stream. The gondolas were real, though the water itself was an illusion. It called attention to the ceiling, doubly enchanted: both to draw all cigarette smoke to itself so it wouldn’t blow in anyone’s face, but also to mimic the starry sky above Venice.

You could watch the stars twinkle, or see the occasional cloud go by. Magical fireflies added to the illusion, dancing through the air like tiny lights. If you listened closely, you could hear the sea rolling in across an invisible beach. Even the air smelled faintly of it: the sea, warm food and good wine.

Welcome to Eliot and Margo’s pad, people. They’d make damn sure you had a good time.

[ocd up, come party!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, Summer was definitely thinking that saying you've never been an animal was pretty much asking for it, but she wasn't about to tell Stark that.

She also would probably not be telling Stark about the whole shot-in-the-stomach thing, either. In fact, she was determined to keep things as light as possible on that front with him if she could.

"Yeah," she assured him, with a smile and a faint shake of her head. "I'm great. I mean, I haven't really had the chance to do much out there, yet, but that's kind of a good thing. If it were different, I would't have been able to swing by for this tonight! And working with my mom has been great, she really knows her stuff, and I think we're really on the path to some pretty sick maneuvers. Honestly, though, right now, it's all pretty boring."

Stark would be quite upset to find out about the whole shot in the stomach thing. He might be upset about it being hidden, too. But at least she wasn't in any danger of dying at the moment. He almost certainly would have picked up on that.

"What have you been doing then? It's really boring?" Summer, that seemed so unlikely. He'd met her. Boring didn't even seem like a possibility for Summer and her space mom while fighting some sort of intergalactic war.

Sometimes, you just had to keep things to yourself, because if you didn't, people got weird about it and she didn't want anyone to needlessly worry or anything, either!

"Right now," she said, "we're kind of just rallying the troops, gathering allies, figuring out where to put strategic bases and kind of running recon and interferance on info and supplies. Kind of a lot like what I did back in Rey's galaxy when I was out there, but just a lot more hands-on. On the front lines instead of just behind it."

Oh, Stark would definitely get weird about her being shot. He tended to object to that sort of thing when it came to his friends.

"All useful things," he said. "I miss having you here but I'm glad you can help there."

See? So she was totally right about that!

"I miss being here," Summer admitted, with a faint smile. "I miss you guys, you know? Mom's team is great, and all, but it's so not the same...But, you know, this is pretty important, andI'm glad I'm doing it. It's been actually really great to reconnect with my mom. Or, well, this version of her. It's a little complicated."

"It is always complicated having more than one version of the same person," Stark said. They'd had 2 Crichtons and he'd known at least 3 Aeryns. 4 if you counted the older version that no one else could remember because of time and glowy plot device related shenanigans.

"And family seems complicated to begin with. Your family has always sounded very much so."

"Yeaaaaaaaah," Summer drawled because that was an understatement, for sure. "Honestly? I think that's why this version of my mom is actually so cool, because she kind of...you know....got away from all that bullshit for a while. I mean, now she kind of has to deal with me, but I think she's cool with it?"

God, she hoped she was actually cool with it and not just, like, putting up with it because she felt like she had to.

"It's definitely different, out there in space."

"She asked you to come, didn't she? She probably enjoys your company." Stark would certainly list Summer as a top choice for a shipmate given the opportunity. "And you're helping. I'm sure she appreciates that."

"Mmm, welllll," said Summer, flinching slightly. "I, uh, I'm actually the one who asked her, if I could come and join her. Not the other way around."

And she was honestly still a little shocked that Beth had even said yes. What with the whole going out to space to speficially avoid her family.

"I don't think she regrets it yet, though?"

That yet felt very tumultuous, though.

"She said yes then," Stark said. "Almost as good as asking."

It wasn't, really, and he knew that. It still seemed like a good thing to say.

"I don't think she'd regret it."

MASQUERADE PARTY, 33 Apocalypse Ave, Friday Evening

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