[Mingle] The First Official Meeting of the Young Adult Club

[skyward_eyes]

WHO: Nida
WHERE: House 16
WHEN: Evening/Night Monday the 14th
OPEN TO: Mingle: Open too all young adults (22 and younger); Older may show up but expect a testy Nida.
WARNINGS: Young Adults Partying, Possible: Underaged drinking if people bring stuff. If your thread changes ratings, in subject line and DM me so I can update.

---

The message goes out over the Network Sunday evening.

'Young Adult Club, First Meet-Up/Party Monday night. First house after the Jail/Barn. Bring Snacks If You've Got Them To Spare.'

Invitation sent in general, The rest, now, came down to Nida. Good thing he had someone who knew how parties worked was right there too. Rinoa turned out to be a pretty good resource. He learned there were a few important things to do for a party. Three major things were needed: music, treats and games. Unfortunately they couldn't do much about the former, so instead Nida employed his housemates in trying to make sure the latter two were covered.



The Nibbles

The easiest person to go to about food turned out to be Seifer. Of the three of them the blonde had somehow ended up as the defacto chef of their house when it came to important things like this. What this meant was a variety of easily made food, things like a plate of half-dollar sized pancakes for easy munching or dipping into other things, fried potato edges, even a quiche that Seifer had managed to whip up, not that Nida even recognized what the whole thing was. While it wasn't as impressive a spread as the New Year Eve party had (or perhaps even the forge gathering) it was clear that the three had done the best they could with the skills two mercenaries and a formerly sheltered young woman had between them. Hopefully treats from other people would help with the spread. Personally, Nida was hoping to steal some of the fritatta Seifer had made in their cast iron skillet, but guests came first of course.



The Games

Games. What even were party games? For that one the center spotlight had gone to Rinoa's planning efforts. Nida had scrounged in the inn's shared supplies, borrowing a set of playing cards and a Jenga set. Not that he really knew what the latter was. The cards went to the dining room table with some extra chairs borrowed from an unoccupied house, the Jenga onto the coffee table, and Rinoa's peakitten Julia got shuffled into her room to prevent her from knocking over the wooden blocks yet again. Nida was tired of rebuilding.




Introductions

They're all new here, they don't all know each other, so Nida and Rinoa encourage people upon arrival to start out simple. And all you have to do is say your name and three facts about yourself. Or, if you're feeling mischievous, two truths and a lie. Can people guess the truth of the matter about you? Or do they already know you well?



Quite Spaces

Frankly Nida wasn't sure how he felt about opening their house to so many people, and with the living room, dining room and kitchen all prepped for use, he realized there was one other thing people could need. A place to talk quietly or just have group games. As he was the only one of the three of them that didn't have much in the way of property and could give up the whole concept of privacy for a bit, the back bedroom ended up having a note pinned on it with a kitchen knife.

'Quiet Space for Your Use - Do not have sex in my bed please'

With his staff stored in the basement and his tiny journal and pencils stored out of sight on top of the standing wardrobe, the room was perfect for anyone who just needed to cool down. Or have a private conversation. Good thing the house has electricity because that could be used long into the night.

Comments

Cissie | OTA

[cisskabob]

Introductions

It's a little awkward, this introduction thing, but honestly, Cissie's kind of enjoying it. It helps to break the ice, and it means she doesn't have to introduce herself individually to everyone. She just hopes that she can remember everyone's names. When it's her turn, she considers her truths carefully. She's not sure that secret identities are as important here as they are at home, but they aren't as meaningless as they were in Wonderland, so she decides to avoid that for now.

"Hi. My name is Cissie King-Jones. Uh, let's see... Three truths, I guess. I... was home schooled until I was fourteen, and then I was sent to an all girls' boarding school. I won a gold medal in the Olympics for archery when I was sixteen. And I have experience as a field medic."

General/Wildcard

Cissie is good at being friendly and outgoing when she wants to be, and she wants to be here and now. The whole point of coming to this party is to meet other people in the village, especially the ones around her age. She knows herself well enough to know that she does best when she has friends around, and this is a situation where having friends is going to be super important. They're all going to need each other to get through whatever this place has to throw at them, and she's done moping in her room at the Inn and hoping that she'll just wake up back in Wonderland or at home.

When she spots people she's already met, she'll go to greet them and ask how they're enjoying the party. Maybe comment on their introduction, if she caught it. If she sees someone hanging back, doing more observing than interacting, she might bring them a drink or snack, and a kind smile. "This is a bigger turnout than I think I expected. Who knew there were so many of us under 22?"

introductions

[tosavecocoon]

This girl seems to want to go for something less fun than Vanille's option, but at the same time, this will provide another opportunity to learn more about other places. She tilts her head a little bit and once she gets a chance, she approaches Cissie.

"So, um... this is going to sound strange, but... what's the Olympics?" she asks curiously. "Where I'm from, we don't have anything that sounds like that. I guess a gold medal is a good thing?"

Gold anything is usually a good thing, so Vanille has to assume that a gold medal is also a good thing.

[cisskabob]

Cissie laughs, but it's a kind laugh; she realizes that she should have realized some people might not have the Olympics where they come from, especially based on some of the introductions she's heard. But still, she lights up a bit at Vanille's questions, because this is something she likes talking about.

"It's not that strange, really; I should have realized not everyone has them," she says cheerfully. "Gold is good. It's the best, actually. So, back in Ancient times, the Greeks--people in a country called Greece--held athletic competitions every four years and called them the Olympics, and it was a way for different city-states to compete and show off their best athletes and celebrate their god Zeus. But that was in Ancient times, right? So obviously the Games stopped for a really super long time, and then about a hundred years ago or so, they started holding them again, but now the Olympics are a time for the whole world to come together and compete in all kinds of sports peacefully. There are Summer Games and Winter Games, and they're held every four years, and the best athletes from all over the world come together to compete in their sports. First place gets a gold medal, second gets silver, and third is bronze."

[tosavecocoon]

Vanille listens with rapt attention, her eyes widening with surprise and interest. She wonders if anything like that exists on Cocoon. It might, though the Cie'th stone missions on Gran Pulse would be closer. They aren't world-wide and they're certainly not for fun.

"Wow!" she breathes. "That sounds like fun! So what sport did you compete in? What was it like?"

[cisskabob]

Cissie can't help but grin brightly; she doesn't honestly get too many opportunities to talk about her time at the Olympics. Her friends have heard it all, and it sometimes can come across as too braggy, but it's honestly one of the few things she's really proud of.

"It's fun if you like competition," she admits. There was a lot of not fun involved too, but she tries not to dwell on that, and instead remember how it felt when she won and all of the pageantry and ceremony she got to be a part of. "I'm an archer. I've been shooting since before I could walk, practically. But I love it, and it was a lot of fun getting to shoot against other people as good or better than me, from all over the world. Well, all over Earth," she amends, remembering that she said they don't have the Olympics where she's from. "Where are you from?"

[tosavecocoon]

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Vanille says wistfully. She doesn't think Cocoon had anything like that. All the cities she saw were separate, but there were plenty of ways to get from one city to another easily. Each one had its own attractions, too. Bodhum had the fireworks and Nautilus was its own theme park. But nothing that would connect them like the Olympics.

"Gran Pulse," she answers, after only a few seconds to think. She's trying this honesty thing and it isn't like anyone here really knows or cares what a l'Cie is. "It's a lot like this world is. All wild and very naturey. We hunted for food in my village, a lot like here. Lots of pretty plants and animals, but you had to be careful or things might hurt you. Some monster species looked like plants and would mimic them to trick people for a meal. Some of it is scary, I guess, but it's home. As long as you were smart about life, it wasn't so bad."

[cisskabob]

Cissie nods as Vanille talks; it sounds like kind of a scary place, but it isn't her home, so she doesn't want to judge. "Does this place make you home sick at all? Because it's similar? It's so different for me that... Okay, I guess being that different makes me home sick too," she says with a laugh.

[tosavecocoon]

Most people from Cocoon would say the same thing. Vanille wouldn't be offended. By now she's used to being the odd one out as far as her comfort and ease of survival here.

"A little," she admits. She's been homesick for a long time. The trouble is that her home... doesn't really exist anymore. The people are all gone, turned Cie'th or dead, and the whole area is covered in the crystal ash falling from Cocoon. Rather than bring them both down on what is supposed to be a happy, fun night, she smiles.

"But that's okay. It means I can help all the people here who aren't used to surviving in the wild. I wouldn't give that up."

General

[spoileralert]

Steph waves at her newest friend from one of the living room's arm chairs. She's too weighed down with weapons to flit about like she would have before her untimely demise, and is instead nursing a glass of water and a plate of pancakes with more syrup than was good was their structural integrity.

Her introductory facts were "I'm dead, but it's cool so don't freak out or anything," "I could cartwheel literally the entire outside of this house without stopping," and "mashed potatoes are my number one all time comfort food."

"Hey Cissie," Steph calls when her friend is close enough. "Having fun?"

[cisskabob]

"Hey Steph!" Cissie grins, and heads in Steph's direction, dropping into a nearby chair. "Yeah, this is great! I had no idea there were so many of us here under 22."

She's been meaning to find Steph and talk to her, and she's not sure that now is quite the right time or place for the conversation they're likely to have, but that doesn't mean she's going to be rude. She likes Steph. Especially knowing now that she is the Stephanie Brown Tim used to talk Cissie's ear off about in Wonderland; Cissie and Tim had talked here not long after the New Year's Eve party, which is how the pieces of the puzzle fell together. There's a fine line to walk here now, where Cissie wants to let Steph know that she knows, but not in a way that says "hey I know everything about you especially the super secret stuff you don't want people to know," especially since she doesn't know everything. There's plenty that she doesn't know, and she would much rather Steph confide in her because she wants to, eventually.

...None of this is terribly relevant at the moment, except that it's there, lurking in the back of Cissie's mind. She's too good of an actress (thanks Mom) to show any of this internal conflict as she sits and points to Steph's plate of syrup-covered pancakes. "Okay, I'm calling mashed potatoes as the lie. Pancakes are your comfort food, aren't they? Or syrup."

[spoileralert]

Steph snorts a laugh at the guess.

"Mashed potatoes are clearly the superior food. 'Sides, there wasn't a lie. I don't know people here well enough to make them guess something like that." Not when one of the truths is that she's dead. That would be too mean.

[cisskabob]

"Well, I promise not to tell the mashed potatoes that you're cheating on them with waffles and syrup," Cissie assures her with a smile. "I didn't tell a lie either. With people from so many places and having such different lives at home, it's hard to guess what might or might not be real."

She hesitates a moment, unsure whether she should address the elephant in the room, but she'd rather say something and have some awkwardness than to ignore it and be somehow cruel. "...I'm sorry, by the way. I'm not sure it's actually that cool, being dead, but one of my best friends used to be a ghost, so what do I know?"

...Okay, she hadn't necessarily meant to blurt out that last bit about Greta, but hey. It's not a lie?

[spoileralert]

Steph just shrugs. She doesn’t want people freaking out over her just because she died, and she doesn’t want people getting all excited about going home and having to have it explained anyway. She has mixed feelings about the fact itself, and she doesn’t need everyone and their mother weighing in. Those mixed feelings have shifted from mostly ‘relieved’ to just ‘sort of accepting’.

"Not like we can do anything about it anyway."

Then she frowns, thinking how one might used to be a ghost. Or maybe just used to be a best friend, but it’s the ghost part that catches on a memory.

"You know... given Gotham and all, but I could swear a ghost tried to kill me once." Gotham and ghosts don’t usually mix.

[cisskabob]

Cissie can read between the lines. It's not hard to imagine how weird and awkward it must be to be in Steph's shoes, even if she knows she can't actually know how it must feel. She just knows that she wouldn't want everyone talking about and focusing on it, either, especially if she feels like it's a foregone conclusion. It's sad, but Cissie would hate any kind of sympathy or pity in her place, so she does her best to instead focus on the fact that Steph is here now and she can get to know her.

At least, she does until Steph mentions a ghost trying to kill her. Her eyebrows raise in surprise. "Seriously? Does that happen... a lot, in Gotham? I don't think I've heard too many ghost stories from there."

[spoileralert]

"No, as far as I know we don’t really get ghosts. Maybe she was playing a trick, or a metahuman or something. I dunno, I never saw her before or after that." She shrugs. It was a weird incident, vigilante or not. She doesn’t think it’s too revealing to share.

Introductions

[demiurgency]

Billy Kaplan had been a few faces before; 'two little brothers and a twin,' 'the Sound of Music,' and 'ticklish elbows,' which, okay, weird, but he seems to be generally over it and far more interested in the other introductions happening, which seem to be even more varieties of weird. He visibly perks up at Cissie's last truth, though, and when she's done, he speaks up, clearly interested.

"A field medic? Can I ask what kind of training you've had? I mean, I'm not doubting you, I'm just wondering."

[cisskabob]

Cissie smiles easily, if a bit wryly, shaking her head. "No, don't worry about it. It's okay. I did like, the usual Red Cross classes? For CPR and first aid, anyway. But most of my training was done by my mother. I'm not sure her methods are exactly standard, but. I can do some damn good sutures. Are you a medic?"

[demiurgency]

"No, but I'd kind of like to be," he says. "I mean, maybe not professionally, but I think it's a really useful skill to have here and I'd like to learn more of it. We did CPR certification in school, and I've been reading over some of the general first aid books the schoolhouse has, but it'd be nice to learn from someone who has a little more training. Was your mother a doctor? Or a nurse?" Or, you know, any of the other variety of medical professionals there are out there, he's not biased. He'd just be interested in learning a little more about how to help keep people in one piece, especially since he doesn't have his magic to help him keep them safe anymore.

[cisskabob]

Cissie nods as Billy speaks, at least up until he asks about her mother. She grimaces then, just a little, pulling a face and shrugging a shoulder awkwardly. "Uh. Well... No, she isn't. She's... She doesn't actually have a job, honestly? She home schooled me for a long time, and trained me in a... lot of things. In her defense, she did a really good job training me? And I passed all of the exams and stuff to get certified. But I'm not... actually sure how she got her hands on the textbooks and stuff that she had me use."

She gives him a sheepish smile and shrugs, spreading her hands. "Sorry. I do a mean suture, though. Hardly ever leave a scar. And I do have some practical experience, even if my training was... less than traditional."

[demiurgency]

"Oh--well, I mean, you don't have to have a degree to learn things, I just--usually assume people doing stuff like that, uh, have a medical degree," he answers, a little awkward. "Not that you're not totally competent, especially if you've gotten certified, and I mean, you've definitely got more practice than I do. I'd still like to learn what I can, if you wouldn't mind. A book only gets you so far, you know?"

The mention of practical experience is also enough to pique his interest. Yet another teen hero type? How many of them were there in this place??

[cisskabob]

"I mean, that's usually a safe assumption to make," Cissie agrees, grinning to show she doesn't mind. "If we're being honest, my mother taught me a lot of things she really shouldn't have been teaching me, but that's... not really here nor there. I'd be happy to help however I can. Honestly, I kind of always wanted to learn more about it all? It's pretty interesting. And it's nice, being able to help."

Being able to help without a mask, in a way that really does help people, and doesn't require her to pick up a weapon or fight those instincts that tell her the people who hurt her friends or innocent people should pay for what they do. Being the things she doesn't say out loud.

intros. i'm sorry about him.

[expeditiousness]

"I wouldn't mind getting shipped off to a boarding school if all the girls there were as cute as you." From where he's sitting, Tommy grins widely, chin in hands. Cissie is pretty, an archer, and could probably break Tommy in half if she wanted to, and that combination is like catnip to this idiot teen boy.

And hey, it's only polite to introduce himself in return, right? "I'm Tommy Shepherd. I like dance clubs, Red Bull and vodka, and doing hero stuff in my free time."

I'm only sorry I took so long to tag you back here

[cisskabob]

Cissie glances over at Tommy when he first drops that line with a Look that clearly says she's not impressed. She's heard both better and worse pick up lines, Tommy, and if you think she hasn't heard just about every line related to her boarding school, you are sadly mistaken. She is beginning to roll her eyes when he gives his introduction, and while she had been about to write him off as being just another boy, that last admission piques her interest.

She gives him another look, this time one that says he actually has her attention for a moment. "...Red Bull and vodka is terrible for you. What kind of hero stuff do you do?"

[expeditiousness]

Tommy’s well acquainted with that first Look Cissie flashes his way, but the frequency he ends up seeing it clearly does nothing to dissuade him from dropping cheesy comments. There’s always a chance some pretty girl will actually find him charming, but he won’t know if he doesn’t try, right?

And the admission of doing hero work seems to have piqued Cissie’s interest, so tally one point for Tommy in that column. His face lights up; this is one of his all-time favorite topics for discussion.

“Well, I’m a mutant, and back home, I’ve got super-speed. That’s actually the name I use - Speed. I was part of a team of teen superheroes called the Young Avengers. We were pretty awesome, saved the world a few times, no big deal.”

[cisskabob]

Cissie can't help herself; the minute Tommy mentions his speed, she brightens. Back home, she has a great poker face when it comes to heroes and superpowers, but at home, everyone knows about people with powers and every other girl in school had a Superman poster on her wall. (Not that she would ever have told Kon this.) No one thought twice if she perked up when certain names or powers were mentioned.

It was different in Wonderland. As careful as she started, once she came to realize that having secrets there was pointless, and that no one remembered anything when they left, she had given up the pretense of hiding her identity, or protecting her friends'. It was hard to try to keep Tim's Robin secret when he himself had given up keeping it.

It's been a year and a half since she's really had to worry about keeping her friends' safe and keeping her own identity secret. It's not much of an excuse, but it's the only one she has for the way she visibly reacts when Tommy mentions his own powers, his name, and their team name.

"You're a Speedster!" She's obviously pleased about it; she misses Bart so much sometimes, maybe especially because the Bart she met in Wonderland was so very much not the Bart she'd known. "You really called yourselves Young Avengers?" It's not a judgement, it's just weird that his team name is so similar to Young Justice.