[ OPEN ] turkey-time and all that follows.

[falcony]

Who: open to all. (see note(s) below!)
What: it's the time of year and with all these new faces as well as with everything going on, sam thinks it's time for another all summoned not!thanksgiving
Where: sam's horizon
When: end of November/beginning of December
Warnings: will update as necessary.

THE SETUP

As per Sam's invitation, come dinner time, his horizon is going to be full fall aesthetic. The trees will have changed, there will be a slight chill in the air (no matter how it's usually hotter than this in Louisiana in November), and everything will be decorated in prime Fall Decorations - so many pumpkins, so many candles, so much Hallmark Card Thanksgiving, minus any weird pilgrim/puritan bs. Inside the house will be a kind of organized chaos - tables and ingredients and food everywhere. Because while Sam could magic the whole meal together, he's much more about putting in the work, so this not!thanksgiving is old school. If you show up early, you will be assigned a job, and Sam can tell if you cheat and just Horizon something together.

Outside in the front lawn area is a large, long dining room table. Come dinner, it will be a picture-perfect image of a Thanksgiving Meal. Everything you could want and then more will be set out, and there will be a setting for everyone, no matter how many people show up. There's no seating arrangement, so find a place and take a seat, chat it up with whoever is to your right, left, or sitting across from you. The only magic that Sam is going to allow at this point is the fact that the table will always be the perfect size - whether that is smaller or larger. There is plenty of booze, plenty of food, and more than enough desserts, and Sam is really just looking for a casual, nice time of it.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of opportunities for more people to help - just imagine the dishes, y'all. But even then Sam will be playing host, making sure everyone has what they need, even if what they need is an Adirondack chair by a fire pit and a blanket to pass the hell out. Either way, his entire Horizon is open, save for the one room upstairs that is always locked.

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, meet some people, put up a TL of your own!

- 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 chaos too many issues. :)

- this is open to any and all Summoned, no matter loyalties or factions. Sam is going to be going overboard to be welcoming, especially to new faces. Even if your character didn't see the big invitation, feel free to have them invited by word of mouth.

- any questions? message me at disarmingly

Comments

[assembles]

[ So Wanda had made trips out in the country to see her grandmother. It sounds like an experience that could apply to any American kid too, even if that hadn't been the case for Steve. He hadn't often left New York City until the war came given that his mother had been working herself to the bone to keep them afloat.

Not that this is about comparing their childhoods. He knows which one of them would win the award for having the worst one, anyway. At least his apartment never got bombed.

She speaks of Vision then, and it's not like it's completely without pain. He still hears that little hitch in her voice, still sees the flash of grief in her eyes, but it doesn't completely consume her. That has to mean something. He nods, understanding that the two of them had to take their moments together when they could get them — as much as it had been a cause for concern and frustration in the moment.

The number of times he, Natasha, and Sam had to wonder where she'd run off to...

Unlike Wanda, Steve steps onto the creaking dock without any hesitation. He turns back toward her when he realizes she's stopped, his mouth twitching in amusement. ]

That's because America is way too big. The only reason I've seen as much of it as I have is because of the USO tours.

[ And that had all been circa 1940, so he's sure that most of the places he visited are entirely different now. ]

Do you like it, then? [ He gestures out to the lake. ] This place. Your domain isn't so different.

[carmesi]

Oh, [more like ooh, as she skips the few steps it takes to join him at the pier.] the tours that we don't talk about.

[natasha used to tease steve about those a lot while on the quinjet, when the mood grew somber and they needed to lighten the mood. steve, being steve, preferred his privacy and would joke about it a bit—and then wanda would ask about the USO tours, and there'd be a quick 'if you don't know then it's for the better' comment. it wouldn't be hard to pick out steve's very vague sense of embarrassment at the memories he surely was replaying in his mind.

she grins at him, though, because it takes her back to when things were a lot less complicated. when being with them, when being homeless on the quinjet in whatever corner of the world they could find, felt a lot more like home than the compound ever did.

(wanda realizes how much she's missed them all—steve, natasha, sam. she wishes they could have stayed like that, even if just for a little longer.)]

I think city structures remind me of a lot of bad things. I like the quiet. And— well, Sam's place feels like a postcard. I wish I could have come visit.

[if she sounds a little livelier, a little more talkative, it might have something to do with the feeling she gets of being around steve long enough. they walk down the dock, the creak of the wooden planks under their weight, a sort of coziness at seeing the dragonflies move about the surface of the lake, of the tall grass swaying with the autumnal breeze.]

—you should come see my new place sometime. The one you saw, it really... wasn't at its best. Since Nat's been there, I find vodka and pálinka pretty much everywhere. It's subconscious, I think, and the new house I have there — I think that's what I would have liked. [she stops and her smile softens, before she adds.] If I was normal.

[assembles]

Right, the tours we don't talk about.

[ Steve echoes her with the hint of a laugh in his voice. It had definitely been the cause for plenty of teasing back then, and he isn't sure how much Wanda had actually gathered about what the tours entailed. Maybe she'd looked up photographs online if she was curious enough, or maybe she'd enjoyed them joking around and hadn't felt the need to explore any further than that. He can hope for the latter.

It's all there, though. There's even film reel of him doing various propaganda messages or PSAs for the people back home and the troops. What a time that had been.

This place is like a postcard, though, he can agree with her on that. It seems like the place you'd see on television or read about in a book, but it was Sam's life. His childhood. And while Steve doubts it had been all sunshine and roses like this domain sometimes makes it seem, he can't help but enjoy the version of it that exists here.

Wanda explains that her own domain has changed, that it's even been affected by Natasha's presence, and it sounds a whole lot better than the half-destroyed house he'd seen the last time. He's glad to know she's changed it up; maybe it means she's healing after all. ]

I'd love to see what you've done with the place. [ He continues down the dock, surrounded by the chittering of bugs; he even spots the bobbing lights of fireflies in the distance. ] I guess it's late already, but I'll find a time to come by. [ He reaches out then, giving her the lightest of cuffs on the shoulder. It's rare that he gets to be this casual with a friend, but he isn't going to lose the chance, when the moment feels right. ]

we could wrap here! :>

[carmesi]

[there's something about the quietude here that somehow makes being in steve's presence exponentially more like how it used to be before. she isn't sure if he's ever figured out whatever happened to him after tony's funeral—something she wasn't exactly privy to like many others—but a moment like this doesn't take her back to those more abrupt moments covered in grief.

it takes her back to when she had first come to america, when steve was as much a mentor as he was a big brother to her; when they'd go out into the city to try out foods, to see how much had changed (for him) and how fast she could recognize places from the sitcoms she loved to watch.

at his mentioning that he would love to see what she's done with the place, wanda smiles lightly, looking over to him. usually, most people wouldn't try to touch her, even amicably.

as much as she'd like to put distance between them, they're still family. that kind of feeling doesn't just warp and go away.]

It's a promise, then.

[it's getting colder and darker, especially with the sun hiding behind the trees and the roof of the house, but they can probably stay here a while longer, in easy silence, point out the fireflies and entertain themselves with that for a moment before deciding to head back inside the house. wanda will remain at the porch, wanting her last interaction for the day to be this one; it's nice, it's warm.

she'll see him some other time.]