[ CLOSED ] a very avengers family dinner.

[falcony]

Who: avengers (and co.)
When: beginning of august
Where: sam's horizon
What: family dinner!
Warnings: will update if/when necessary

THE HOUSE

For those who have attended one of Sam's Get Togethers before, they'll notice a couple of things. First - there are no decorations, no extra work done for it to Be a Party. Instead, the house looks just as it usually would, welcoming and warm, sure, but no extra effort put in. It's late afternoon (no matter what time you've arrived) and it is hot and humid (late summers in the bayou, baby) with a gentle cool breeze to keep it from being insufferable. The only real indication anything is going on would be the fact the front door is wide open, a distant sound of music, and the incredible smell.

A phenomenal smell, thank you very much. Like someone has been cooking for hours. And truth is, it's taken some work to really get it going, but Sam has kind of (irrationally) held onto this belief that half the enjoyment of something is in the act of doing it. Never mind that he could have easily just created a fully finished and beautiful meal with his brain (since this is in the Horizon and all), he is here for the cooking. And the process. And the tiny reminder of home. And that feeling seeps out of the house as you enter it.

The house is clean, all the windows and doors are open (with screens, thank you). Music can be heard from a speaker in the kitchen, and it probably reaches a whole lot further than the tiny little speaker Sam's using should have any right to. But hey- he'll let some magic seep in. The entire domain is open to be explored, from the practice arena out front to the tv and various gaming consoles in the living room, to the porch and dock out back. If you head upstairs, you'll find two locked doors (one is Wanda's room, which will only open up for whoever she wants it to open up for and the other is Sam's). There's a third bedroom that is open and looks a bit empty, and there's a vague feeling that it used to also be someone's (or, really, a couple of someone's) and it is now just a guest room.

In the dining room is a large table that's not yet set (if someone wants to jump in). There's beer in the fridge if you're into that sort of thing, water out of the sink if you're not, and every now and then two birds may slip through either the front or back door as it opens - one a red-shouldered hawk, the other a small black raven. They seem to be playing, and may even interact with you a bit if you want them to. Otherwise, they'll either settle in their own perches in the corners of the living room, or head back outside.

Dinner will be in an hour or so - a wide variety of seafood and cajun dishes. And if you can't find Sam, he's probably in the kitchen. But also, this is a family dinner - go meet the family. Chat. Get to know each other.

OOC INFO

- this is a totally open post! I've got a TL below for various scenarios you can find Sam, but otherwise have fun, integrate with the cast because we all know they need it, etc.

- Sam's only Rule is there will be no fighting. You want to duke it out? Take it somewhere else. There will not be warnings or second chances. Don't be an ass. This is his home, respect it, or he'll have your ass thrown out. He's not afraid of squaring up, but you will not be invited back if you cause too many issues. :)

- how you get invited / how you end up here is up to you and whoever else you wanna talk it out with. it's possible you overheard and stumbled in, it's possible someone messaged you directly, whatever works best to Get You There.

- any questions? message me at disarmingly

Comments

sam.

[falcony]

BEFORE DINNER

[ the general time and start of dinner is kind of nebulous - it's just meant to be dinner, but sam has kind of set aside the whole day. he'll be in his domain for hours leading up to when is actually the appropriate time, so whenever anyone decides to show up, he'll already be in the midst of things.

and really, in the 'before dinner' time frame, you're going to find him in the kitchen. here is where the music is loudest, the smells the thickest, where food and spaces and equipment have kind of exploded all around the space. he's probably singing along, probably working on too many things at once, probably has some wooden spoon in one hand and a beer in the other, but it's very obvious he's comfortable and in his zone right now. if you've come to him here, he's not going to be able to stop what it is he's doing, but he will definitely look up with a big grin. ]

'ey! You're early! Grab a drink, sit; how're things?

[ he may or may not be fully invoking his mother right now, but lord knows he'll need the help if he wants this horizon food to turn out the way it's supposed to. (and yes, he's being absolutely ridiculous and you absolutely have grounds to make fun of him.)

or: if he hasn't had the pleasure of actually sitting down and chatting, his smile will still be there, but his response will be a little different. ] Oh, hey- [ and then once he's wiped off his hands on the hand towel over his shoulder, he'll take a few steps over and reach out a hand. ] Name's Sam. Make yourself at home.

DINNER ITSELF

[ it will be absolutely chaotic, he knows this, and he kind of expects it too. still, by the time the food is done, the table will be set and everyone will be expected to sit at it and eat. there will be plenty of (horizon) alcohol and he'll definitely be keeping the conversation moving; but even if it devolves into arguments or jokes or whatever this night will bring, he'll be in a pretty decent mood the whole time.

chances are, though, he won't sit still - so at some point you can expect him to be leaning in to you with some plate, or platter, or bowl, asking if you want seconds. or thirds. or dessert. ]

AFTER DINNER

[ yes, there will be a couple of someone's who get conscripted to clean off the table and do the dishes - sam lives and breathes by the 'i cooked, someone else cleans' motto. he might try and help, though, at which point he will get shoo'd off and he will go willingly. this means, of course, that he is going to get himself another drink and will settle himself on the porch.

if you're looking for sam during some down time, or at least not buzzing all over the place, this is your chance. he's of course still in a good mood and will invite anyone who walks even somewhat close by to come sit with him, but really, why wouldn't you? night time on the gulf is one of his favorites, and the fireflies are out and moving. does it make sense that there are as many as there are? or that they're still bussing around much later than normal? no, but hey, sam allows himself some stretches of reality in his horizon. ]

I'd ask you what you thought of the food, but I know it turned out great, so there's no need. [ he'll say with a small grin - it's definitely a joke, but it also isn't. those are family recipes and he knows they're amazing. ]

After Dinner

[widows_kiss]

[ Natasha is already occupying one of the chairs when Sam gets inevitably shooed away from the cleanup. Leaning forward, her arms rest atop her knees and her gaze is distant as hands loosely clutch a bottle of beer. She’s quick to look up with a fond smile, however, when Sam sinks down beside her with a comment like that. Never one to pass up a good opportunity to poke at him a little. ]

I’d claimed to be stuffed, but I’m not sure that’s possible when the food is imaginary. Either way, my stomach is currently fooled. [ Shifting to lean back in the chair instead, she lets her head fall back to rest against the back of it, fond smile lingering.

I’m glad you set this up again.

[falcony]

[ honestly, the chances are high that as he steps out onto the porch he's already handing her a new beer - his decision to come sit with her a direct one, and intended. he misses her, a feeling he can't really shake even when he's sitting right next to her like this. she just feels so far. ]

Hey- this place is only limited by your imagination. You can be as stuffed as you wanna be. So obviously you just gotta want it more.

[ another friendly jab right back. c'mon, nat, you can't make it that easy.

it's her second comment that has the edge of his joke easing away into something more soft. more settled. he sees her fond smile and matches it back. ] I need to do it more. Feels like everyone's getting a bit distant again.

[widows_kiss]

[ Her head rolls back towards the landscape surrounding them with a laugh at his return teasing, her smile turning playfully wry. ]

My imagination is just fine, thanks. I prefer not to feel like I gotta be rolled home after this, thanks. Besides. [ She lifts her new beer bottle in his direction in a silent salute. ] I’d much rather imagine getting an actual buzz from one of these instead.

[ His soft observation has her gaze flitting up to his face before she takes a purposeful sip of her beer, buying herself a moment before replying. ] I guess it does, a little. There was a lot going on, and a lot people needed to recover from. I’m not sure that’s over either. I can’t quite shake the feeling that there’s something bigger brewing again.

Or maybe it’s just because some of us are pretty distant. [ She adds this with a quirk of her lips, attempting to lighten the topic again. ] Pity we can’t just hop the border anytime we get bored or lonely.

before dinner—wanda+rocket squad

[carmesi]

This isn't going to work.

[it's not the first time wanda mutters this to rocket, who—for all intents and purposes—has his hands perched on her shoulders and is acting like her 'backpack'. they are walking the path up to the front of the house, wanda looking down at her boots as she tries to not step on patches as grass as a form of distraction over the raccoon that just gets a little heavier with every passing second.

didn't she tell rocket they didn't have to sneak in?

up the steps she goes, turning her head over her shoulder once, by the frame of the open door. the music playing—marvin gaye's smooth melody and uplifting beats—probably the best backdrop to this sneaking-in mission they got going on.]

Ready?

[respiting]

It's gonna work, just trust me.

[ He is not getting kicked out of the very first Avenger's dinner he's even heard an inkling about. Not in any place, but certainly not in a made-up one.

Rocket had seen Sam all of one (1) time, and that had been at Tony Stark's funeral, and it hadn't exactly been much of a social affair anyway. Between losing Gamora and managing the heavy weight of grief emanating from Nebula and, especially, Quill, the Guardians had left almost as soon as the initial ceremonies were over.

He knows Steve and Natasha are gonna be at this thing, but they're in other cities all together so backpacking on them wouldn't have worked. So that leaves Wanda. Best gal Wanda is his ticket in from the Solvunn side.

He tries his best not to dig his claws into Wanda's shoulders and sides for her sake. Isn't he just so accommodating? ]

Oh, I'm ready.

[ Time to play ... backpack. ]

[carmesi]

[act cool, is what she keeps thinking to herself, taking a step into the familiar house, and wondering if this is really as smart of a plan as rocket had made it out to be.

at least her hair is long enough to hide the very obvious paws on her shoulders.]

Hey, Sam. [—into the kitchen, first.] You're doing the cooking again.

[no surprises there. are they the first here? it seems like they're a little early. scrunching her nose, she motions towards the speaker on the counter.]

Marvin Gaye?

[nothing's amiss, here.]

before dinner

[expositus]

[ jess had been forewarned about these gatherings by wanda, and her initial intent had been to avoid them at all costs. but curiosity and wanda’s request that she join has her entering the space with some trepidation, mostly due to how odd it is to be in a space with a group of people without actually going anywhere.

her standard uniform of leather and jeans is a little much for the climate of the space, but she keeps her jacket on as she moves through the house, trying to get a feel for the person whose space it is. eventually she finds herself in the doorway of the kitchen, where her host notices and greets her almost immediately. ]

Jessica. [ she shakes his offered hand in turn, giving him a nod before looking around the kitchen. ] And thanks. Where can I find the drinks?

[falcony]

[ wanda had asked him specifically about inviting a few friends, so sam had been well prepared for new faces to come through his doors. did he expect one of them to be a racoon? no. but if abraxas has taught him anything, it's that the this might as well happen mindset will help you more than anything else.

all this to say, jessica is a lot more expected. not normal, none of them are really all that normal, but. yeah. ] Beer's in the fridge, if you're looking for something harder, there's a cabinet out near the TV. Looks locked, promise it isn't. [ he chuckles a bit at that, at the strange things his horizon does just to remind him. ]

Where're you from? Back home.

dinner itself

[assembles]

[ Dinner's in full swing and Steve is used to the chaos of Avengers gatherings by now. There had been enough of them back home and then here that he's come to view it all fondly — people yelling over each other, plates being passed back and forth, the bickering over unimportant details.

This may not be the exact group he's used to, with new faces replacing older ones on a semi-regular basis in Abraxas, but the general mood is still the same. Sam will always be the backbone of this too, his hospitality the glue that holds them all together.

And it's nice to be gathered just for the sake of it rather than to discuss Avengers business. That might slide in here and there, but it's not the point of this get-together.

Steve's already polished off one plate of food, and almost like clockwork, Sam slides in to offer him seconds. Steve huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. ]

Is it your secret superpower to know when people might need more food? [ He's starting to think so. His gaze flicks down to the plate in Sam's hands. Jambalaya, some steamed shellfish in some kind of cajun sauce. Like it or not, his mouth is watering. ] These calories don't count, right?

[ Annoyingly, he could probably eat just as much in the Horizon without it being a problem. Just super-soldier things. ]

[falcony]

[ the question pulls a bark of a laugh from sam as he sets the second full plate down in front of steve and actually settles into the seat next to him, taking a bite or so from his own meal. is it his first plate? second? he moves around so much during these things he never keeps track, but there is always food there, always something for him to take a bite from. ]

Ya know, if I was ever gonna get a magic power from the horizon, that would make the most sense. But no, with you I’m pretty sure it’s just experience.

[ it’s not so much a jab as a joke, sam giving steve a knowing look before he reaches right through the middle of the chaos to where he - somehow - left his beer.

the chaos is honestly nice, and part of what makes this whole experience actually feel like home. the new faces at the table somehow make the whole thing even more real, kind of like how only some people could make the dinner, others occupied somewhere else, rather than it making him think of anyone being gone.

sam takes a drink from his half-empty bottle, giving steve another look at his question. ]

Do calories count for you in the real world? [ said fondly, and like this isn’t the first time he’s made this joke. ] Just go ahead, man. I refuse to bag not-real-leftovers.

wanda ·

[carmesi]

—BEFORE DINNER

( A ) [having being found out by sam that she was carrying contraband—er, a raccoon on her back, there is no real fun (for rocket) to continue trying to try and 'sneak in' (there was never a need to, rocket). for the initial part of the dinner, as people continue to arrive—and wanda waits for a few familiar more so than others—she hangs around rocket quite a bit.

it's as she's having a conversation with someone else that rockets comes up to her, tugs at her hand, and starts coughing and hacking—and after a few unceremonious seconds of wondering how to give cpr to a raccoon, in wanda's hand now lies a slimy set of keys.]

Uh.

[rocket scuttles off to investigate something shiny by the shelves. wanda looks up from his disappearing form to her conversation partner

this is her life now.]

( B ) [she had made the keys disappear from her hand with just imagining them not existing, slime and all. she didn't even need keys; rocket just wanted to do his 'backpack duty'. keys had been the first thing that came to mind—she just hadn't expected him to swallow them.

and yet, she's in the bathroom upstairs, washing at her hands, because there's something about the action of cleaning that makes her think her hand is actually, really, clean. she is also upstairs because she doesn't want to insult rocket.

—still, she strays from heading back downstairs as she remembers that sam gave her a room here. wanda hasn't ever given it much thought, so she isn't sure what to expect inside it. nothing for it but to open it, and the door unlocks as she turns the knob, and wanda finds herself in a room that seems to belong to a young girl: pastel colors, stickers on the walls, a dollhouse, toys, a 'w' for wanda up on the wall, and a whole set of princess accessories over the brass-frame bed.

maybe, as a child at some point, she may have fantasized about having a room of her own. with the music playing, a little drowned out, from all the way downstairs through the open door, wanda will be lying down on her side on the bed—shoes toed off; between the music, the smell of the food just about ready to be served, and the quiet roll of nature outside? wanda will slowly start getting drowsy enough to struggle to keep her eyes open.

if anyone comes looking? five more minutes, please.]

—AFTER DINNER

( C ) [wanda makes a choice to not be on dish cleaning duty—and she will argue that they could just snap their fingers and be done with it, sorry sam. instead, she'll be leaning against the counter, tapping at sam's phone, going through his playlist of songs. she likes sam's music taste—there was definitely a lot of it in the quinjet—but the playlist has found itself stuck on a loop of male singers, and a familiar name calls to her.

ann peebles will be playing for the next half hour, and any complaints will be met with a little, playful dance off to i'm going to tear your playhouse down. any attempts to reach for the phone, whether purposeful or just trying to tease her, will have wanda meeting said movement to block the attempt. she grins, a little embarrassed.]

What? I like her songs.

[defensive.]

( D ) [and, eventually, the day starts winding down, and wanda is appreciative that the eternal afternoon has dwindled into a proper, cooler shade of evening hues. she sits outside on the porch, feet tucked underneath her, and nursing a mostly-finished beer. she likes seeing the bayou—one of her most favorite things about sam's horizon—and it always feels right to end her visits to sam's horizon by looking out to it.

up the bottle goes for another swig of beer, but she finds herself having finished it.

damn.]

after dinner | d

[expositus]

[ people have been flitting about throughout the evening, and much to her surprise, jess has been no different. she couldn’t be considered a social butterfly, but she’s managed to hold conversations and keep them relatively civil (not that she was looking for a fight, but given the effects the avengers first public battle had had on manhattan, she’d expected to be more annoyed upon talking to people who had been there).

as it happens, she hasn’t talked to wanda for all that long at any point, but she finds her outside towards the end of the evening, silently lamenting her empty bottle of beer.

jess appears behind her, passing one of the two she’s holding over her shoulder and into wanda’s free hand, if she’ll take it. ]

[carmesi]

[the new beer bottle appearing over her shoulder is a welcome thing. and just in time, too, for wanda was considering just willing a new bottle to appear into her hands, but this is better—companionship is better. she looks up to see who it is, and offers jessica a bit of a smile.]

Thanks.

[the expectation is for the dark-haired woman to sit beside her, and wanda is scooting on the bench to allow jessica room to do so.]

Looks like you survived dinner with the Avengers.

[she holds out her bottle to knock rims with hers; a little toast of success.]

( c )

[catholica]

It's not bad.

( is what matt says when he sidles up near her. he'd been considering trying to pick a song but a blind man and selecting songs from a playlist that isn't is isn't going to really work well.

he's smart enough to not even try and change the music even if it's not quite his style. but he might not even have a musical style. if it's noise and has a beat, he'll listen to it. )

Why're you defensive about it?

[carmesi]

I'm not.

[she is, but she doesn't have to feel like she needs to defend her being defensive with matt. scrunching her nose, she smiles at him, leaning back against the kitchen counter, straightening a leg out so that she can lightly knock her high-top shoe against his ankle.

wanda is going to try and act casual.]

Do you want me to find something for you?

[so much for wanting to keep it to musical her preferences]

{b}

[widows_kiss]

[ It was almost time to eat and Sam had sent her upstairs to find Wanda. Which had gotten him a curious look, because she’s got no idea why Wanda would be upstairs in the first place, but it doesn’t stop her from climbing the stairs and hunting for wherever the other woman was currently hiding.

Finding her in a room decorated with so many feminine touches is enough to bring a smile to Natasha’s face, however. It’s not at all like the room Wanda had had back at the Avengers Compound, but she can see the hints of the woman she knows in the decor all the same. She pauses there in the doorway to drink it all in before her gaze drops to the woman dozing atop the bed.

And then, with a glint of mischief in her gaze, she takes a running leap to bounce onto her stomach on the mattress right beside Wanda, making the other bounce even as she lands alongside her. ]

Did I miss naptime?

[carmesi]

[it’s easy to act like a kid in sam’s horizon, isn’t it? probably because sam sounds a lot like a disappointed adult when they’re all misbehaving or acting foolish. wanda is not too asleep to not be aware of someone being inside the room, though it takes natasha bounce down onto the mattress to startle wanda awake.]

Nat!

[it sounds genuine, her surprise, being tugged out of sleep so suddenly. wanda’s turning on her side to grapple with natasha for a bit before settling back, pushing her face to the pillow with a bit of a grumble.

when she looks back at natasha, there’s a pout on her lips.]

Beats waiting around for Sam to finish “cooking”.

[he can just create everything with his thoughts…geez.]

a!

[assembles]

[ The entire interaction between Wanda and Rocket happens in a matter of seconds, to the point that Steve is still processing by the time that Rocket scurries off. He can't say he's entirely surprised because there had been moments like this back at Avengers Compound too. It seems like certain animal instincts can't be suppressed, no matter how much of a genius Rocket might be.

Steve can't help but smile, though he makes a token effort to hide it behind his fist before he gives up and lets his arm fall back to his side. ]

... Better you than me.

[ Because that was probably something of a toss-up, Steve and Natasha being the ones here who Rocket has interacted with the most. ]

[carmesi]

Thanks for that.

[wanda says dryly, before ultimately shaking her hand—keys disappearing into thin air, along with the mucus and saliva they had been spit with. it’s impressive how quickly rocket’s taken to the horizon, to the point where he choked out imaginary keys, just because it seemed to be the thing that would happen in the real world.

she huffs, still feeling an icky feeling about her hand.]

He doesn’t know what a raccoon is, does he?

a little bit of a and b

[sorser]

[So. The bit with the keys was duly unexpected, not to mention the fact that they came from Rocket — a certain member of their group that he still needs to say a proper “hello” to — but it’s not as if Stephen had much of a chance to say anything on the matter before Wanda excused herself to get her hands washed off. Fair enough, he supposed, he wouldn’t want to be covered in slime either.

And so Stephen nods, and waits, because she does indeed tell him, “be right back”, and as he will point out to her in the future: this rather implies that someone plans on returning, Wanda.

But Stephen Strange is left waiting there for nearly ten whole minutes before he decides that, yes, he has been left on his own, and seeks her out just in case shenanigans are happening.

Eventually, his voice from the doorway of where he’s found her:]

This is your version of “right back”, huh?

[His look has swept across the room, of course, but this pointed question is priority. He’s tired. Wake up. Dinner's almost ready anyway.]

[carmesi]

[although wanda had told stephen that she’d ‘be right back’, wanda will argue that it was said in a bit of a rush, hushed, and just a way to be polite rather than her, actually, returning at any point in time.

it’s been a long enough time for wanda to close her eyes, drift off into sleep, and be awakened by stephen’s rumbling voice.

she blinks her eyes open, curling onto her side, hugging one of the plushed animals on the bed.]

I didn’t mean it literally, Stephen.

[there’s no contention or fight in her voice and words, though.]

matt murdock

[catholica]

01 INSIDE

( for the first part of the evening, matt spends it mostly inside. even though a few people here know what he can do, he's still in possession of his cane but, once he gets there, he folds it up and puts it in his pocket.

he knows sam's place pretty well and there'll be enough people to stop him from walking into walls. it smells amazing and matt finds his way to a chair, sitting down and stretching his legs out.

they've lost some people but gained some people and matt spends some time mostly listening to the various conversations. he wouldn't call it eavesdroppping but maybe he's eavesdropping.

you wouldn't accuse a blind man of doing that, would you? of course not.

every so often, matt gets up and wanders into the kitchen to offer to help or walks around, talking to people here and there. )

02 OUTSIDE

( after dinner, he finds his way outside, onto the dock. the last time he'd been here, he and wanda had sat here, talking and he inhales deeply. sometimes, it's really hard to remember that they're not actually at sam's house. the horizon is pretty damn real.

after a moment or two of just standing there, matt sits down on the edge of the dock and kicks his legs back and forth. he can still hear the conversations from inside but they're dull, dimmed and his mind wanders to nothing in particular.

he feels relaxed. it's a nice feeling. )

01. 😇

[respiting]

[ It's after stuffing his little face full of delicious foods he's never tried before (he's gonna have to figure out if he can get this stuff out of the Horizons) and the group are conversing amongst themselves that Rocket turns to the guy with the dark glasses sitting on his own.

He seems ... quiet. Like, almost too freakin' quiet for his liking. No one's ever that quiet — or maybe it's just that he happens to know some of the rowdiest people in the universe. ]

Hey. [ He resists the urge to add his usual expletive, 'humie' here, considering this whole gathering is full of 'em. ] So what's your deal?

[catholica]

My deal?

( this is a new voice. he inclines his head somewhat, towards the sound of the voice and shrugs one shoulder. )

What do you mean? I don't have a deal.

( that he knows of. )