strangetrip | [GP] Réveillon & New Year's Eve & Check-In

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[GP] Réveillon & New Year's Eve & Check-In

Emma had said, during Winter's Crest, that she missed a tradition from home called réveillon. She seemed also to miss her cousin, as Lillith missed hers. Since she wished both to learn to cook and to be of comfort to her friend, it had been decided they would make a réveillon dinner for New Year's Eve.

Yet when Emma began to lay out the courses -- oyster soup and potato & leek soup, salad, a gumbo, venison roast, cheeses, and creme brulee, plus several hors d'ouevres not yet decided -- Lillith quailed at the size of the undertaking. Surely she would wish someone to assist who could contribute more than roasted rabbit, wheat or potato flour dumplings, and koláč.

Since Sunny likewise missed her family and would certainly wish a distraction, when she entered the cafe where they were planning, the other two seized upon her almost at once. Sunny could hardly resist their dual entreaty, even had she wished to, and Lillith thought she seemed even more ready for company than previously. Of course Sunny had offerings of her own: jolloff rice, peppered chicken, and fried plantain.

Between they three, the planning and the cooking were very nearly merry, and Lillith kept them liberally supplied with champagne (her personal favorite), too. By late afternoon of the eve of the new year, they had begun lining tables with dishes, and enlisted the help of other friends to make the evening event widely known.

Of course, in addition to the réveillon feast that took over the steakhouse, alcohol flowed freely, lights sparkled brightly, the nightclub had music for dancing. And at some point the Inn or Caroline or Regina hung mistletoe from several of the primary entrances and exits so that unless one wished to or was unaware of the tradition, no one (not even any new arrivals) need greet the new year unkissed.

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Peter Parker is racing through the lobby when he spots her: a dark-skinned girl about his age standing in the middle of the lobby. He skids to a stop and turns to look at her, going through his mental shortlist of 'People His Age That Live at the Hotel', and after realizing that she is not one of the three? Or is it four? other people he knows that fall between the ages of 13 and 17 and have established residency at tte Madonna Inn, decides that his previous task (scouting the Boutique, as he did daily, for anything that might be useful) can wait.

"Hey," he calls out at her, with an awkward little wave that he hopes is not threatening (it is not). "You, uh... Are you new here?"

Moana had gone to the room they had told her was hers, placed Hei Hei inside and told him sternly to behave. Then she had returned to the main building, which she assumed was some kind of center hall where the village could gather for announcements. She didn't recognize anything here, but she did know a party when she saw it. Even if it didn't look anything like the parties they held on Motunui.

Moana turned and looked at the young man, also pale like Emma but without her shocking red hair, who called out to her. "I am new here," she confirmed. "Emma told me that we cannot leave. Is this true?"

Ouch. This was going to be an awkward conversation. He remembered how it felt when he first arrived and realized that this place was going to be home, at least for awhile.

"I don't think there's going back home," he admits. "I mean, maybe there is, but we just haven't found it yet." That's a much better way of looking at it than never.

"There's portals to other places that open up sometimes," Peter says, his voice rising with hopefulness. "None of those places have really been like home, but it's definitely a change of scenery."

A much-needed change of scenery that had a lot more than what they had here. Sure, he couldn't really take any of it home, but at least he wouldn't have any problems finding stuff like some nice clothing for a party.

That was very much like what Emma had said, and more besides. She knew about doors to other worlds, though these seemed like they were less difficult to reach than Lalotai.

The urge to go back to that room and scream was strong. But Moana refused to let her rising panic take hold. If they were not lying to her, there was nothing she could do. If they were lying, she would find out. Right now...

"Who are you?"

"Uh, me?" Unconsciously, Peter gestures to himself, as if there was a possibility that Moana could be talking to anyone else in the room.

"I'm Peter Parker. Peter Parker from Queens."

Peter mentally facepalms at that answer. Half the people here didn't know what Queens was. All that might do is just add to the confusion.

"I've been here for about five months now," he adds, trying to be more helpful.

Moana smiled, determined to be friendly if she was going to be stuck here for a while. At least until she found a boat. "It's nice to meet you, Peter Parker. I'm Moana of Motunui."

She didn't know where Queens was, and he wouldn't know where Motunui was. But it seemed polite to respond in the same way. "I was sailing with my people. Then I woke up here."

Peter's never hear of Motunui, but he hasn't heard of a lot of the places people told him they were from. He's okay with that. It's kind of interesting to learn about the different places people are from. It made for lots of interesting stories.

And Moana's seems like it's pretty interesting.

"Sailing?" Peter asks. "You sail?"

Ugh, of course she sails!

"Where were you sailing to?"

Edited 2018-01-04 17:54 (UTC)

Moana beamed. "I don't know!" she responded excitedly. "We're voyagers! We use the stars to guide us from where we are and we find new places, new islands. If you know where you are, you're never lost." Her hands sketched out the pattern of wayfinding among the stars, then dipped low to brush into a current that wasn't there. "You can feel it in the waves, which way the next island might be. The ocean guides us."

"That's... actually really cool!" Peter says, with considerable enthusiasm. "I was always really big into astronomy, so the whole idea of being able to navigate by just the stars is amazing to me."

Peter shifts his weight from one leg to another. "I mean, I don't know if it really helps, but... this place is a whole different place to explore. And when the portals open, there's even more to explore than just this Inn and the desert around it." He inhales. "I know it's probably better to be doing it with people you know--" No, he definitely knows. "--but this is kind of just one new, big adventure."

Moana nodded. "That's...all I've wanted, all my life was to explore. To see what's beyond the horizon. But I'm meant to lead my people. I couldn't leave them. So when we finally were able to sail again, to find our way..."

She looked down and scuffed her bare foot against the floor. "I only hope Maui will watch over them until I can get back."

Even though Peter doesn't know Maui, he still feels compelled to say something to comfort her.

"I'm sure he's doing that," he says, trying to sound convincing. "I mean, I'm sure my friend Ned is checking in with my Aunt May. The people back home are probably taking care of the things we used to take care of."

Same with Mr. Stark and the rest of the Avengers. Hopefully Queens was doing okay now that the Vulture wasn't around. But still, Peter has questions.

"Are you like," Peter hesitates, "Some kind of princess?"

Moana rolled her eyes, remembering Maui's insistence that she was a princess because her father was the ruler. "No," she said firmly, determined to nip this in the bud. "I'm the daughter of the chief. When he chooses to step aside, I will lead the village. For now, I lead the voyagers."

"Oh," Peter says. That never even factored into the equation for him. Young people in positions of leadership were typically princes or princesses. Or if they were in that scifi movie he and Ned watched about a million times, senators. Maybe he should have asked if she was a senator first. "Not there'd be anything wrong if you were. I mean--"

Peter stops, not sure, precisely where he's going with that train of thought.

"So, do you have, uh, a title?" He's not sure if he should be calling her Chief Moana. Is it Chief?

Moana shook her head. "I'm Moana. Chief Moana isn't wrong, but my father is still the official leader of the tribe."

She thought about the room she'd been given and smiled. "You could call me captain too, I guess."

"Captain," Peter says, as if enjoying the sound of the word in his throat.

"Did you want to be Chief growing up?" A beat. "Did you even have a choice?"

Moana gave Peter Parker a startled look. How could he know that? "I... Everyone on the island had a role. Some were fishers, some were weavers. Some harvested the food, some cared for the children. My role was to lead, to protect us and to keep us strong."

She looked away, toward where she knew the ocean was, if only she was fast enough. "As long as I could remember, all I wanted was the water. The ocean chose me, and I didn't know why or how I could reconcile it with leading my people."

She turned back and gave him a wry smile. "I guess you could say I was conflicted."

Peter had his own situation in mind when he asked Moana that question. And that's why he kinda understands her answer.

"Yeah, I get it," he says. "I mean, with me, it wasn't so much as the ocean choosing me so much as me being bitten by a radioactive spider."

He's still not sure what the ocean choosing her means, but he figures it's gotta be kind of like getting powers. Or maybe the ocean gave her powers. Maybe she has water powers.

"But, you know," Peter says, gesturing vaguely. "I guess with great power comes great responsibility."

Moana nodded at the last sentiment. The ocean had chosen her to restore the heart of Te Fiti. It was a great power, and a great responsibility. Maui had run from his responsibility for 1000 years, but ultimately accepted it.

"I know what a spider is but what is radioactive?"

"Uh," Peter says, letting the single syllable hang in the air longer than he usually does. This one's a hard thing to explain, especially since people's worlds tended to vary wildly in tech levels. There were some people who wouldn't know about radioactive because that tech didn't exist yet and some people wouldn't know about it, because radioactive stuff wasn't really a thing anymore. They'd moved on to better and greater technology.

"It's basically a spider that was exposed to radiation," he says, and he realizes that that might be confusing, too. "The spider had been probably been exposed to nuclear radiation, but I can't really be sure." The spider was dead.

"Basically, nuclear radiation is the product of nuclear fission. SO basically, there's one big, kinda-unstable isotope--" Peter brings his fingers together in a circle shape. "And it gets bombarded by high-speed particles, mostly neutrinos." Peter draws his hands into fists and quickly pommels the empty space where the hand-circle existed a minute before. "It strikes through the nucleus of that unstable isotope and it breaks apart into two smaller nuclei." This time, Peter fans his hands out from where the hand-circle once existed. "There's a lot of energy that's released from this reaction, like."

Peter presses his lips together, trying to think of a good example.

"Like when you strike flint against steel and it creates a fire. It's kind of like a really big fire that provides a lot of energy. But that energy's really dangerous and creates this dangerous radiation, which can kill you or make you really sick or alter your DNA."

Peter takes a breath, and suddenly realizes two things:

1. he's been talking for a really, really long time
2. he probably should have just stuck with the first explanation.

Moana got the impression that Peter Parker knew precisely what he was talking about. He spoke with the sort of unconscious confidence that experts did, like when Manaia spoke of cultivating the soil to make the crops grow more lushly. But until he mentioned fire, Moana didn't have the slightest idea what he was saying.

"So..." she said slowly, trying to puzzle sense from his words, "it was a cursed spider? It was sick and it made you sick too?" But he'd said that it was like her being chosen by the ocean. "Or it changed your dee-nay?"

"Yeah," Peter says nodding, because when it boils down to it, that really kinda is the right answer. "Well, minus getting sick part. The spider was probably sick, but when it bit me, it didn't make me sick. It just... made me kinda like a spider."

A beat.

"Minus the extra legs. And no, I do not lay eggs." He wanted to set the record straight immediately.

The cursed spider had bitten Peter Parker and given him its power, probably just before it had died itself. Spiders had great powers of creation and cleverness. The universe had been woven into being by a spider.

"Do you weave?"

"No, I mean." Peter stops to think about that. "I've got spiderweb that I made myself, but I've never actually tried to weave with it."

There's tons of other stuff he's done with it, though.

"It's super sticky and dissolves after a few hours, so if I made anything, it's not really permanent. I did made a sort-of hammock and hang it from my chandelier to the wall, though."

"That sounds very useful." Moana laughed. It would be helpful to make a bed for sleeping whenever you needed one. Or maybe she'd just been sleeping on wet wood for too long.

"I don't have any special powers from the ocean. Sometimes it helps me out, that's all."

"Having an ocean willing to help you out seems pretty useful too," Peter insists. "What kind of stuff does it do for you?"

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