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

[st_rangepalette]

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.

Comments

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

"I thought it was supposed to be secret?" Moana laughed. "That's what my name means. Moana is Ocean."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

"Uh, then what about... Sea Lass? Wait, no." That's just as bad as Ocean Lady. Sea and Ocean were basically the same thing. "Water Woman? H20Gal? Tidalwave?"

Peter presses his lips together, his brows furrowed in thought, as he pulls together as many water-themed names as he can think of.

"Riptide... no, I don't know if that fits." He shakes his head. "Neither does Undertow."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

She could see his brain working, wrinkles appearing on his pale face and his eyes going distant. She folded her hands together, entertained and pleased by the effort. "What other names do people use?" she prompted. She didn't have any suggestions of her own. She didn't know the rules.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

That's considerably easier than coming up with names.

"Iron Man. Captain America. The Incredible Hulk. Thor, though that's actually just his name." Peter pauses there. "Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Black Widow, Falcon, Ant-Man..." A beat. "We have a lot of Mans."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana listened to the list of names and couldn't disagree. She frowned. "Why doesn't Thor have a secret name?" Iron Man...earlier he'd said that was Mr. Stark. They had such strange names.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

Peter honestly has no idea.

"Thor's from outer space. So maybe that has something to do with it? I mean... if you don't have any family on earth, it might not matter if everyone knows who you are."

...that kinda sounds right, but Peter doesn't know enough about Thor to be sure.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana was certain that Peter Parker knew what he was talking about. She was also certain that she didn't know. "Outer space?"

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, um."

Peter gestures skyward, even though there's a ceiling still above their heads.

"Like up there. On the outside. With all the stars and stuff. I mean, there's other planets up there, too, but you can't really see those, the way you can see the stars."

Peter shakes his head. "When you factor in the whole being from outer space thing with the whole being a god thing, secrecy probably isn't really that important to him."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana looked up at the sky, back at Peter Parker and frowned as she listened. Then he finally said something that made sense. "Oh, he's a god!" She nodded. "Of course, he has to use his name."

Gods could easily live among the stars and come down from them if they wanted to. But identity was core to their power. Just witness Te Ka and Te Fiti.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, I mean. I guess," Peter says, scratching the back of his neck. "The whole god thing's pretty weird because no one actually worships him anymore."

Also it's weird to think of gods as people you could just... hang out with. Peter hasn't met Thor. But he wants to.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana shrugged. "Gods are not less so because they are not worshipped. Maui was left without followers for 1000 years and he still had power." Not that Moana thought of herself as Maui's follower. More like his friend. "So he does not use a secret identity, but you do."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

"Maui?" Peter echoes, his brows furrowed. "Is that like... your world's Thor?"

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana was surprised that he didn't already know Maui, but then again, she didn't know much that he did. "Maui is a demi-god. He gave us coconuts and fire, he pulled islands from the sea and harnessed the wind." She smiled slyly. "At least, if you hear him tell it. What's true is that he works to help humans as best he can." Which was not the same as helping, as the theft of Te Fiti's heart had shown.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

Trying to help humans as best as he can seems pretty Thor-like to Peter, so maybe they're not all that different. Minus the coconuts and islands and wind stuff, anyway. He's pretty sure Thor didn't do that. But he could do some stuff with lightning.

Tentatively, Peter asks: "What kind of stuff does he do to try and help?"

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

"He stole the heart of Te Fiti to give more power to the humans. But he lost the heart and it left my people lost for a thousand years." Moana didn't yet feel like she could tell the whole story, but she could tell this part. "He did help get it back, even though he was afraid and felt powerless. That was admirable."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

Peter had been trying to draw similarities between Maui and Thor, but now... hearing that... it sounded a lot like him after Mr. Stark took away his spidey suit. Even though he was afraid and felt really powerless, he still did what he had to to confront the Vulture.

"Did you... did you actually meet him? Or was this like, one of the stories about him?" Peter had never actually met Thor before, but he'd heard lots of stories.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana laughed. "I met him. Recently, not a thousand years ago. I'm not that old. Someone had to make him do the right thing after all."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

"I'd be worried if you were a thousand years old," Peter laughs, and then the thought occurs to him. Open-mouthed and wide-eyed, he asks:

"Wait, you're not a god too, are you?"

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

That makes her laugh again, even harder. "Oh no. No no no. I'm human, that's all."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

Peter still doesn't seem entirely convinced, even when she laughs. There's plenty of stories about gods or superheroes or aliens who didn't actually remember their heritage at all.

"Are you sure? You have your ocean powers, you've hung out with a god -- both of those things probably makes you god material."

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

"You have spider powers, Peter Parker. And you are as pale as the inside of a coconut." She puts on hand to her mouth, amused, but trying now to be serious. "Are you a god?"

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

Peter is stammering.

"I mean, no, I just got bit by a radioactive spider. That's not like being a god, unless like, I'm a god of spiders who attracted a spider who bit me and unlocked my latent spider-god powers!"

It all comes out in one breath, and Peter is suddenly struck by the ridiculousness of this conversation.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana burst into laughter, unable to help herself. "It is certainly possible! Maui was human once."

And finding where he belonged, being accepted as he was had been a journey of thousands of years.

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_arkintern]

Peter squints a little at that. "Wait, how did he become a god, though? Did like, the other gods make him a god?"

Re: For meeter and greeter

[st_ellarnavigation]

"The gods adopted him and gave him a magical fishhook." She didn't know much about the story and what she did know was more than anyone else in the world.

She stepped back to give herself more room and sketched the shape of the hook in the air, as big as life. "It gave him a purpose and the ability to do all kind of magic. I don't...know what made him a demi-god though."