MINGLE | The "Everyone's Tired and Hungry" Post-Mission Pizza Party

[groupiedrifter]

CHARACTERS: Everyone! A free-for-all general chill-out time, thrown haphazardly together by a mad scientist.
LOCATION: The Mess Hall
DATE: Sometime after the mission. Y'all know.
CONTENT: The Orb Crew tries to relax for a hot goddamn minute.
WARNINGS: Likely drinking or drunkenness, the usual party antics. Very mildly image heavy, NSFW for naughty threads, properly marked.

It seems the party has been properly set up for you all! But of course, there's an exuberant amount of 'Newton*' flair added to it, and people can find all sorts of random things — markers for drawing on the pizza boxes (which he distinctly requested, super important) cover the tables, and it's clear by the one designed like a Pikachu and a dinosaur that he's already began scribbling on them. He's also made... board games literally comprised of pizza boxes as well, including Chess and Connect Four, which is lovingly set up side-by-side on a table and done with intent to annoy.

They've got one deck of cards for games, no chips; you'll have to just make some of your own out of pizza box cardboard. The most grand of all creation appears to be a normal-sized Skeeball table, made of flimsy material, with oranges for balls. It may or may not last the night, but it sure works for now!

There's a very strong bottle of liquor from their last mission open for everyone, and, well, it will get you drunk quite fast if you're not careful. But it's also a Bring Your Own Beer situation; hope you guys asked Viv for some to plan for the party!

Lastly, there's classic bar rock playing from an iPhone rigged to a speaker that looks very very cobbled together, from loose bits and bobs from the lab's many boxes. If you go fiddle with that phone's playlist, you may be able to find a small collection of songs that aren't rock, but are likely from the 90's or early 2000's.

And yes, there is a couch with a sign on it, designated specifically for people who wish to nap. If they'd like. Don't be rude, let people lay down when they're sleepy. (Maybe Newton just put that there for him, honestly.) There are 50 pizzas total, which is practically a whole-ass pizza per person, so enjoy! (And thanks, Viv!)

Feel free to bring your own flair to the party, if you'd like.

These are just a few things for a m b i e n c e.

(*If you mention him, he will appear like a terrible omen.)

Comments

[callada]

I was pretty young. Found a devil fruit when I was out playing in the woods, they're the things that give you powers. Pretty rare, so I just got lucky, not that I knew what I'd found at the time. Made me real good at hide and seek once I'd figured it out.

[This is probably his favorite variation on this story, when he's had to tell it. It's a lot more pleasant than what actually happened. A lot easier to tell at a party, that's for sure.]

[morethan084]

So you ate a fruit that gave you powers?

[He's told her a lot of things tonight that have sound so foreign to her, but she's open minded and well aware that different planets had many unique things about them.]

Did you tell others? Once you realized what happened.

[callada]

[All he can do is smile and shrug at that first rhetorical question of hers. Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what happened, even if the circumstances of finding it were a little different in reality. He ate a fruit, it gave him powers.]

Eventually, once I realized what happened. I actually thought it was poison at first. Tasted like shit, made me feel like my insides were burning. But yeah, told my dad and he helped explain it to me. Devil fruit powers are pretty rare in my world, but he has them too so he helped me learn. His is different though, his is a type of mythological power that lets him become a Buddha.

[morethan084]

That's awful.

[Daisy went through something similar when she got her powers, but she doesn't share that with him. She still has nightmares of what happened with Trip.]

So he ate one of the fruits too?

[callada]

Yeah, at some point. His is a lot more powerful than mine. Plus, it seems like it makes animals drawn to him, so I grew up with wildlife always turning up out of the blue. There was a goat, too, actually. She stuck around.

[Good thing too, she's great at disposing of confidential documents.]

Did you always know you had powers?

[morethan084]

[Daisy smiles as she imagines how cool that must've been.]

What was the goat's name?

[Because it's hard to imagine he wouldn't have named it.]

No, actually. I kind of always felt like something was missing, but I figured it was just--

[Being an orphan? She could talk about that, but she doesn't want to.]

My childhood wasn't the greatest.

[That's putting it mildly.]

I had no idea until a few years ago when they got activated.

[callada]

Mochi.

[Deceptive little name. She ate more mochi than she ever resembled, just like everything else she could get her teeth on. Still, he says it affectionately. He misses that animal, and she only ate his hat twice so that's not so bad.

The rest he listens to with sympathy, and offers a nod. Yeah, he knows a thing or two about rough childhoods.]

Sorry to hear about that. The stuff in the past, I mean. I know how that kind of thing can really stick with you for a lifetime. Glad to hear you got your powers, that must have felt like... I dunno, filling in a void, or something. Understanding a part of who you really are.

[morethan084]

[Daisy pouts when he says the goats name.]

That's adorable. Did you name them?

[Daisy crosses her arms protectively over herself when he sympathizes with her shitty past. It's not something she talks about a lot, of course her team had known about it because all of it unfolded around them. But she never really talked about it with people outside of that group.]

It did, once I accepted what happened to me. I really thought I could just reverse the process.

[She can laugh about it now, but she remembers how terrified she had been.]

You ever felt like that? In the beginning.

[callada]

He did.

[Sengoku and his snacks. It's surely a joke. Mochi is chewy stuff, but she's the one who does all the chewing. All of it. Which meant he got to be that kid whose pet literally ate his homework more than once.

Her question makes him pause. He's felt some of what she's talking about, sure, but not in relation to his powers. Even then, he came more quickly to acceptance than his brother ever did.]

Like what, wanting to reverse it? Or realizing it fit me? I think... At first I was just grateful I'd found a devil fruit at all. Went through a phase where I was mad about it, though. I used to love hearing stories about all the cool abilities that some of the Marines had, or that the heroes and villains of all the best books and plays had, and being jealous that I didn't get to shoot fire out of my hands, or transform into a dinosaur. But that sort of stuff... It's big, and flashy, and draws a lot of attention, and maybe that's just not who I really want to be.

[At which he frowns, because he didn't really mean to let that get personal the way it did, but oh well. Yeah, here he is, stands out among everyone here for being tall when really he'd rather just hang out and not be noticed all that much.]

[morethan084]

[Daisy's brows knit together as he opens up to her, not once judging him for all of the different feelings he went through once he got his powers. She could definitely relate to that.]

Well, I hate to break it to you, but you already stand out even without your powers.

[Of course she's going to tease him about it.]

And being able to control volume? Pretty damn cool.

[callada]

[He laughs a little, quietly, and shakes his head. Accepting compliments is hard, okay?]

Thanks. It has its uses.

[At least he can admit that much.]

And I know I stand out here. It's not like that back home, though, where plenty of people are taller than all of you. But here, I guess it doesn't matter so much. And, I'll remind you, a lot of us are even weirder than being just a tall human. We've got robots, and at least one person who's a plant, and then there are a few who are always loud enough to draw attention no matter their height, right?

[morethan084]

[Daisy laughs because it's true. There's so many people here from all different walks of life, and completely different planets.]

Yeah, you're right. I can't imagine who you mean when about always being loud...

[Daisy trails off as she looks pointedly at Newt, an amuse smile on her lips. She likes Newt. He's sweet and extremely helpful. Who cares if he acts like a toddler on a sugar high a lot of the time?]

[callada]

[Rosinante's gaze follows hers, and then he laughs but tries to keep from making that laughter obvious, which really just results in him almost swallowing his cigarette in the process and coughing a few times instead. Let's just. Get that in his hand for now.]

How did you know exactly who I meant?

[But he also likes Newt and it's certainly not a bad thing. Someone has to be the life of any given party.]

[morethan084]

Because you described him so perfectly.

[Daisy explains, laughing when Newt just proves this point by singing at the top of his lungs.]

He's a good guy.

[She won't go into details as to why she says that, but he didn't judge her for being vulnerable around him.]

[callada]

Seems that way. Most people here seem like good people, though. Haven't run into anyone yet who's a complete asshole.

[But it also takes time for people to show their true colors, doesn't it? As genuine and helpful as everyone seems, he can only assume that some of them aren't the people they look to be on the surface.]

[morethan084]

Me neither. I guess having a common goal helps with that...

[Just as easily, however, Daisy can imagine that ending badly. Desperation does that to people.]

Or doesn't.

[callada]

As long as it stays a common goal, we're probably in good shape.

[Will it? Who knows - he's unsure what to think about Viveca, the orbs, and all of it. But like everyone else he's spoken to, no matter how unsure they are they all keep going anyway, because a chance to fix those regrets is a chance worth taking.]