abraxaslogs | [ OPEN ] turkey-time and all that follows.

Entry tags:

[ OPEN ] turkey-time and all that follows.

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

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[she turns back to the shelf, reading over the half-titles of these books, finding interest in them but thinking of another library within the horizon that puts every other to shame.]

The Horizon works well enough for us.

[wanda is not going to go into detail. it's similar to when she'd try to find pockets of time to spend with vision, of how they'd make it work.]

We talk through the mind connection, too. [a shrug] He sent me my first letter a few months back.

[it's easy to tell, how fond she sounds. pausing, she pulls a book out, turns back to lean against the bookshelf, and pretends to skim through the half-empty pages.]

—I guess we're lucky Nocwich is opening every now and then. It's a good place to touch base with others. [not everyone though, because there's not that much time in a day.] We try to make the time.

[ She listens with a small smile, leaning back on one hand as she watches Wanda absently peruse Sam's book collection. ]

That's all that matters, I suppose. I'm glad the Horizon, at least, allows us contact here, even if we're separated by Faction. It makes things like this more special, I think. [ She gestures around them to the festivities Sam has gone to all this trouble for.

She's also rather grateful for a place to talk away from potentially prying eyes. But that's an entirely different matter. ]

Although as much as things feel real enough here... I imagine being able to come face to face in Nocwich is its own kind of special.

[wanda shrugs, trying not to give much away about whether anything is or isn't special. it certainly is, but she's always been one to keep her thoughts close to her chest, especially if it means admitting she's otherwise excited about the prospect of something.

like it would hurt her street cred; she has to be obstinate in her own wanda way.]

It's probably a good thing that new and old Avengers aren't in the same space at all times.

[things would be chaotic, to say the least. she flips through some more pages, pauses at the pictures in the center of this—autobiography?—and lingers on the snapshots that aren't quite put together entirely, like a dream trying to connect the dots, her fingers smoothing over them momentarily.

speaking of avengers,]

Have you seen them already? The others?

[ Please. They're both long past street cred these days.

But she hums, curling a leg up in front of her and wrapping an arm around it as she props her chin atop her knee and watches Wanda. ]

Some of them. I ran into Steve and Sam in Nocwich. Not long after I found you. I sought out Strange when I returned to Thorne. Figured he'd know the best insight to give me on what I needed to know while staying there.

[ She's not sure she agrees on the distance being a good thing, but considering the friction Wanda seems to have with the others, she's also not surprised to hear she thinks that way.

[so, that's most of everyone. she's missing tony and then peter (unawares as she is of his leaving), and then natasha will have ran into everyone from home from their small rag tag group of heroes.

wanda, however, can't help but feel a pang of worry knowing that natasha is with stephen in thorne. not that stephen is a horrible person, but the history between the the sorcerer and the witch? complicated, to say the least. her own feelings towards him are still somewhat unresolved, somewhere between 'okay' and 'i'd rather not'. she also doubts stephen would say anything to natasha about her that would otherwise be considered out of line. he's shown more compassion than that.

she closes the book, but keeps it between her hands.]

Do you find it easy to talk with Doctor Strange?

[stephen, but she doesn't want to give away her familiarity to him.]

[ Natasha hums for a moment in answer, her head tipping back as she stares upwards at nothing. Thinking about how to answer. ]

Well. Considering I didn't know what to anticipate when meeting him, it could have gone much worse. Although I seem to have the unfortunate effect of making everyone around me tongue-tied and awkward right now. So I may have to give him a few more tries before I have a more accurate answer. [ Her lips quirk faintly, because boy is that an understatement. ]

He was very interesting to talk to. And knowledgeable - both about Thorne and all this magic stuff I'm going to have to start mastering, I guess. [ She makes a face at that. Mostly because this place is overwhelming enough without tacking on a whole new skillset she knows nothing about. ]

[there is no doubt that everyone from their world here (excluding matt, coming from a much earlier point in time) is fully aware that natasha was the sacrifice that made defeating thanos and reversing what he did possible.

wanda personally knows that she's given stephen a hard time about his giving thanos the time stone.

well, at least there's someone who can guide natasha through the magic and the politics of thorne. it's a little annoying to admit—but wanda trusts that he, and he alone, will do the best job of it, considering the circumstances.]

I hope you don't forget about me when he offers to help you with magic.

[said lightly, though there's a bit of her usual brand of seriousness in her eyes.]

[ That has Natasha's gaze coming back to her friend and something occurs to her as she gives a short little laugh. ]

Oh, god. This is going to be revenge for all those stealth lessons, isn't it?

[ She'd been very thorough in teaching Wanda as much as she could when she'd first joined the Avengers. She had no way to help her master her magic and all the abilities that came with it, but she'd tried to impart other lessons, other skills, that would hopefully give the girl the discipline and tools to apply to her own experimentation as she learned what she could do.

Some had gone better than others. ]

Edited 2022-12-12 21:13 (UTC)

Why? Do you remember them as being something I'd want revenge for?

[her tone and expression remain monotone, but someone like natasha would be able to catch the barest of lilts of amusement in wanda. out of all the avengers she took 'lessons' from, natasha was surprisingly the toughest; she cut wanda no slack at times, but outside training — wanda felt like she was the warmest, too.

maybe that's just because she was another woman amidst a compound full of men.]

I'm not really great at teaching magic. I never learnt it the... traditional way. [darkhold aside] It turns out my magic had always been a part of me, even as a child. I used it to keep the second bomb from exploding in our apartment. It kept Pietro safe when he touched the Mind Stone; gave him his speed.

[a pause—all this is history natasha knows, but the context is different now, knowing that she's a witch.]

Stephen [ah, a slip—whatever] learned it from scratch, so he'll be able to explain it better.

[ She hadn't realized it had been Wanda's power insuring those outcomes - suspected it, a time or two, but it was hard to say how much of Wanda's abilities had come from the Mind Stone and how much had been her own.

But she waves a hand, as if dismissing Wanda's concerns about her teaching capabilities. ] I'm sure I'll be hitting him and some of the others up for lessons in Thorne, but I think we both know I don't always do things the traditional way either, so your perspective on it will always be welcome.

[ Speaking of other mages in Thorne... ] I think I met a mage friend of yours, though. Istredd?

[wanda's expression and general demeanor shifts noticeably when natasha mentions a familiar name. istredd, yes, a mage friend of hers. is that how he introduced himself?

a light smile plays on her features, and wanda sets the book back on the bookshelf to take a (proper) seat near the other woman.]

He's another empath, like me. We can communicate with our minds differently from — whatever magic is used to connect all of us. It isn't words on our vision, but a conversation in our minds.

[needless to say, it's clear to see that wanda is happy to have found who is very much like herself: weird, in their own right, but who can communicate with her own means, too.]

[ Watching Wanda, Natasha can't help but smile as she crosses one leg over the other and leans back on one hand. ]

You know, he had almost that same reaction when he found out I knew you.

[ Which is, frankly, adorable in her opinion. ]

He seemed very knowledgeable. Offered to help teach me if I needed it. I might take him up on that.

Sounds like you won't be without teachers.

[alright, enough of feeling some kind of way about having friends here. it's a little embarrassing for her, considering how generally kept ot herself she is. surely, however, natasha will be able to read through her—that's something she'll allow the older woman.]

What do you think you'll do in Thorne, other than learning magic?

[ Natasha just smiles and lets Wanda change the subject, although the question isn't so easy to answer. Mostly because she doesn't know yet. ]

I'm still figuring that part out. I'm not sure what all there is to do in Thorne outside of the magic, they seem pretty focused on that. [ But she gives a soft hum, tapping fingers against her knee. ] Although everything over there is pretty tense and maybe a little volatile at the moment. It wouldn't hurt to have someone there keeping an eye on things. Especially for the rest of you. Stephen seems pretty well-known there, he'll be able to hear thing spoken about in the open, but I'm not sure how good he'd be when it comes to the more subtle aspects of things.

[ The man didn't really strike her as the subtle sort in the first place. ]

[wanda scrunches her nose, sniffling for a moment in thought, looking down at the fingers natasha taps.]

I suppose that's the difficult part. Finding out what it is you can do.

[back in their world, it may have taken some time, but natasha found her place—her home, her family, and her role amidst all that. here, they start from scratch, and she also understands the things that they aren't quite so willing to be forthcoming about.

it being known that natasha is an excellent spy? would probably not fly in the eyes of thorne's court.]

He seems the type to always want to have the last word. [actually—] But you've also taught me that the more they know you, the harder it is to blend in.

[stephen doing anything "subtle" would just be noticed immediately.]

And you're right on that sweet spot. [but,] Just be careful. Magic could undo all you are trying to be subtle about with the flick of a wrist.

[ Yeah, Natasha hopes to keep that information to herself for as long as she can manage. With the exception of a few of the Summoned she can determined might be trustworthy enough.

She smiles at Wanda recalling that lesson, because that had been exactly her point. Stephen being well-known meant people would remember seeing where he'd been, who he'd been speaking to. All things that could easily come back to bite you in the ass, if you got noticed at the wrong time or in the wrong place.

Her expression softening at the caution she's offered, Natasha casts her an amused glance. ] I'm always careful. [ Or at least she tries to be, but those words are definitely barely straddling the line between truth and lie. ] But I'm aware. There's a lot here about the magic I don't understand yet. But hopefully I can learn enough to turn that to my advantage eventually, too.

You always made adapting to new things seem easy.

[so wanda has no doubt in her mind that natasha will succeed in finding how magic could work to her advantage, sooner or later. her lack of magic, though, might make it easy for her to get by the magical security systems or whatever thorne has in place.

truth be told, she's glad that she's not in thorne—even if it meant getting to be around natasha more. wanda doesn't think her kind of magic would be particularly... welcomed there.

besides, billy is in solvunn. maybe there's a reason why users of chaos magic were summoned into the commune.]

Oh. I don't think he's here yet, but we could look around to see if we find Billy.

[perhaps they could find him before the whole dinner starts.]

[ Her suggestion has Natasha glancing around before she gets up and holds out a hand to Wanda to haul her up as well. ]

We should. You can introduce me. Come help me find him?

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[ OPEN ] turkey-time and all that follows.

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wrap here-ish?