smartass_captain | A Very Nexus Reception

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A Very Nexus Reception

To all the friends of the happy grooms, PINpoint messages have already been sent weeks ago inviting them to expect quite the street party arranged in the commons of the Nexus. Guests have been invited to bring an appetite--both for food and for a social adventure. Nirnish weddings are public affairs, after all. While the ceremony has had to be somewhat sequestered for the sake of keeping the existence of Other Worlds a secret, neither Felix nor Jim would want to leave out their interdimensional friends entirely. Having a reception party arranged in the Nexus became the natural plan of action.

Overnight large sections of the Commons are transformed via diligent craftsmanship and quite a lot of magic from those who’ve volunteered. Lanterns representing the Divines are hung along every lamp post, bringing at least the idea of warmth even if the flames are too small to heat their surroundings alone. Bardic tunes carry in the air as readily as the scent of food and drink. Past banners of red and black, blue and white the people gather.

For both grooms this is nearly a continuation of the day before. They’ve had the chance to sleep off the nerves of their ceremony. Today is entirely for celebration--uninhibited celebration at that. No more minding what is said and isn’t. No more pretending to be anything other than who they are. Jim’s traded out his Nirnish finery for a suit and tie, garments he’s much more familiar with. Felix is staying with his native clothing; though he may have dressed down a little from his wedding clothes, the conjurer’s dressed in fitted breeches and his best fur-trimmed coat and boots, the soft hide dyed blue to match his tunic. By their side sits the conjurer’s spectral wolf familiar, ears pricked at the gathering.

As the guests find their ways over it will be easy to spot their friends amidst all the decor along with many other avenues with which to enjoy themselves….

Greetings
Food and Drink
Music and Dancing
Bonfire Entertainment
Party Games

((Links to all relevent wedding Prose can be found Here!))

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There's no possible way he could understand what a compliment that comparison would be even if she had spoken it aloud. Bail saved her, adopted her and raised her with as much love and devotion as a true born daughter. He'd instilled in her the very strengths that he commented on. Her father might not have been her blood, but he was the man who loved he most dearly in the universe and she owed him so much.

Odd to hear him speak of another version of her, but that too she thought was to be expected if there was more than one of him. "Some might say too involved in my cause and too head strong." And they might not be wrong, but if she didn't who would? Why should any one follow her leadership if she wasn't just as willing to risk and sacrifice as they were? No, she suspected that being so deeply entrenched in the rebellion would be her life's passion and that might not always make her the easiest person to be around.

Leia look up to him, that was familiar, she always had to with Han. The face was the same, she could see very clearly now this is a Solo who had aged and matured. He didn't assert himself so much and he was begging for a fight. The weathering of his features was natural and suited the personality, it didn't make him less handsome just an aged version of the rugged smuggler she knew now. But he looks...content? Maybe that is the word. Secure. Something.

"Maybe it's something we should both remind ourselves to make time for in the future." Though where she would find time between raids and evacuations and planetary assaults she had no idea.

Felix gives her an innocent look. He's good at those. He could ask more questions of her and try to figure out another approach, but the opportunity she's presenting is too neat to pass up. He has no desire to bang his head against that wall, after all, even if Harley Quinn was any friend of his.

"By all means, if you wish." He leans back in his chair and casts an eye around the party. He speaks softly, knowing Runa's close enough to hear. "I believe she's involved with the Loki I've met here, though I don't know how to distinguish him from other versions... save that, alas, the Asgard of his world was destroyed not long ago."

"Her name's Quinn, as I recall," he adds. "Harley Quinn- ah." He looks back at the bottle, pouring out the last of the ale. "By the bar, still. Blonde, soft red coat, black breeches and boots. She's quite noticeable."

Oh but if that isn't a terrible combination of words whispered into her ears. Even if she had no gift for seeking out people's connections with one another, this would be impossible not to realise. The Loki she knows so well, and the Harley Quinn Isidor has mentioned to her. At first her brain tries and fails to merge the stories she's been told with this new tale, repeatedly failing to accept both as even potential truths. It shows in the way she becomes suddenly still as these two things ram against each other over and over until they settle down, uncomfortably close.

Finally she looks at Felix and rests a hand on his arm. "You're very mistaken. I know so. I'll sort all this out and come back with an explanation for all of it."

It turns out that part of becoming Viatorus' wife was ensuring he didn't spontaneously combust at the slightest innuendo. She can enjoy the prodding between the new husbands, but reacting in public isn't something she's free to do. Something to giggle at later, on the other hand...

"I think all both accustomed to places outside our norm," she says, hooking her arm through Viatorus'.

"I'd like to see the ship, too," the scholar adds hastily.

With a giggle, Runa leans forward and corrects, "He'd like to see everywhere. But we can't take our eyes off him for a second."

"Jim's the explorer," Viatorus pouts. "You should be making jokes like that about him, not me."

After her conversation with Felix, Runa is a woman on a mission. Not that it's a particularly difficult mission. She knows where to go, and she's sure it's going to be sorted out in about two seconds flat, maybe even leading into a fun round of drinks. With the adrenaline from so much dancing, she's quick to end up at the bar.

"Harley! Hey!" As soon as she gets the woman's attention, she beams. "Long time no see! I was talking to my friend..." She turns around but can't quite see Felix from here. Oh, nevermind! She turns her smile back to her new acquaintance. "And he mentioned you! He said you were a Valkyrie?"

Edited 2019-12-27 17:19 (UTC)

She really is a priestess, he thinks. The servants of Mara would be impressed with her composure right now, even when he can see recognition and conflict struggling beneath the surface. Mara herself knows what connection Quinn has to Runa Durant, but he'll have fun speculating about that later. Later, when he doesn't feel quite so troubled by the dismay he seems to have brought on the lady.

Felix places a hand over hers and reminds himself that if anyone can handle herself it's a priestess and a noblewoman. "Thank you for your guidance, my lady. If I can be of any help, I won't be far away."

Certainly not so far he can't watch the show.

It honestly hadn't occurred to Jim that their house in Iowa might be someplace Viatorus or his wife would be terribly interested in until the conversation moves that direction. Felix's suggestion makes his eyes light up but then V has to go and encourage it.

This man's grin is positively electric with excitement. Where Isidor could barely handle looking outside the window at Yorktown Viatorus followed Jim around all over the base when the scholar came to visit. Now they want to see Nirn and the ship???

"The ship will be trickier than the other two, but given enough time I think I can manage all three. The house in Tamriel, our place in Iowa. And the ship. Sneaking someone out to the observation deck over gamma shift isn't too hard but that's not exactly a tour, is it?"

The knight turns from speaking with his squire, a gangly young lad with sharp features and a smart tunic. Sir Celann's expression is pleasant but puzzled as he takes in the young lady. His squire seems a little more wary, behind him.

"Well, one surely needn't be a contestant to enjoy the affair. But, begging your pardon, my lady, may I ask who you are?" Most of the guests seem very respectable, after all (most of them, but Felix is one of the hosts), but those well-bred and well-trained coursers aren't cheap or readily replaceable.

“Like I said, I admire you for it.”

At this point, he knows himself well enough know that by default, he’s one of the people who would rather not be involved. Not that he can’t be pushed into it, but he recognizes that it’s something special about her and deserving of praise. “I know that I’ve needed to be spurred on a few times. Even when I know it’s the right thing to do.”

But that was part of the beauty of being with Leia and he recognizes that too. He is made better when she’s in his life and he can’t help hope that someday she’ll be that way too.

When she mentioned dancing more? He cocks a very amused grin because he knows exactly how little the man she calls Han Solo has had a chance to practice. He hadn’t become good at dancing well into being the husband of a prominent politician.

“Make sure you go easy on him, if you ask. I didn’t really learn until my wife had taught me.”

Caspar blatantly preens at the compliment while Adia giggles. "He used about a million hairpins, I was finding them in my hair days later." Amelia will recognize in the photos the shared yard space of Adia and Caspar's property, where the reception was held. Someone had the bright idea to take a few photos of them in the apple orchard, the trees blooming with tiny pinkish-white flowers.

"I know that Jim has had to process a bunch of paperwork so that Felix can join him on the Enterprise," Adia notes thoughtfully. "I'll bet that took quite a bit of time." She'd agree on the quiet moments happening away from the Nexus. The same holds true for her and Caspar, whose life on Atlantis is perfectly mundane.

"You? Overbearing?" Caspar says. It's his turn to wink at Amelia, before his expression sobers. "Do you think you'd ever want to move there? I still don't understand why anyone would want to live in the Nexus if there's a better option elsewhere. This place is nuts."

"I'm sure Thor appreciates everything you're doing," Adia adds. "And he's very much 'the more, the merrier' type. He's lost a lot of loved ones. Having a friend live with his people would likely mean a lot to him."

"Him? Han?" Oh there was that laugh again, the honestly delighted one from earlier. "I think he'd be happier to stay as far away from me as possible, we get too close and it's like a proximity alarm in an asteroid field." Meaning something was going to happen quickly and to one degree of bad or another.

"I'm sure whomever he marries will have a lot to deal with more pressing than dance lessons." Like how to be a civil human being, how to apologize, how to listen when someone is trying to tell you something... oh the list could go on and on.

Leia followed his steps and glided along, she had been trained to dance as well, and it hadn't been as simple as just lessons. The princess had fought some of the more frivolous aspects of courtly training until she was old enough to understand why it was necessary. Dancing for pleasure as they were now, was rare. More often than not if Leia had been to a lavish ball or gala it had been to get close enough to people to gather or pass information.

Her life had not been the picture of luxury or ease that people so often believed, but now that she thought about it she wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything. Her regret being that it was a fair chance that she would never get to be the sort of parent that she'd had. Leia's life was destined to be alone.

"Runa!" Harley turns to face the other woman, with a bright smile. "I am so glad to see you. I have more donations for Eirleos!"

"A friend?" Harley arches an eyebrow, wondering who Runa could be speaking about. There are not a lot of people who she has spoken about the Valkyrie title with. There is Loki, who she doesn't believe is at the wedding today. And Thor... but he has enough on his mind these days that Harley doesn't think that Thor would be talking about her to anyone.

So that leaves Felix. The other honored groom.

"Was it Felix? He and I spoke about at length about it a couple months ago." Harley remembers exactly how Felix spoke when he told her that she was not an 'actual Valkyrie'. And bites her lip slightly at the memory.

"He was awfully worried about my understanding of being a Valkyrie. Is he still worried? Gosh... I have been researching and everything."

“Well, I like you. It could be that he likes you more than he lets on.”

And she can take that for what it’s worth. He remembered a time where it felt like she was a lot more difficult to get along with. It’s, also, not like he and Leia didn’t argue now — war still got waged between them. It just usually ends up being over a lot quicker then it used to be and their picked their battles more carefully. It’s resulted in a fewer number of explosive arguments, but probably instances of nagging and more subtle passive aggressive behaviors. ~~And faces being made behind the other’s back.~~

What makes Han a good partner for Leia is that he knows all of her tendencies. It was real easy to trip on each other when they started trying to dance together with the differences in height being a lot of the problem. Now he knows what size stride is comfortable without thinking at all about it. She was as disciplined as he would have expected with her movements and he, if nothing else, was relatively athletic.

“What do you do these days that’s just for you? Even if it’s just a small part of the day?”

She was dubious of that but didn’t correct him, he seemed to have a far kinder nature than the Han she knew. Han had a way of making situations with him difficult, whatever else was going on he seemed to push it that much further until she couldn’t ignore him and had to deal with him. His intentions might not always be bad but he more often than not found the worst ways to act on them.

The rebellion had been able to pay him well for his services and looked the other way when his methods were less than scrupulous, war had a way of making ethics flexible. So Han could come and go as he please but with the additional attention he was getting for association with the rebellion it might have put a damper on his side jobs. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that but Han did come through for them more than once when it really mattered, so she endured as best she could.

Her movements were smooth up until he asked her that question, one which made her falter slightly in step. She blinked up at him and found herself uncharacteristically without a response, it took her several moments. “I have meetings and I arrange communications for diplomatic connections. I have to issue orders and raise funds.”

Runa blinks, confused by the sudden mention of Felix. How strange for her to assume it was him if Loki really did make her a Valkyrie. He'd surely have told all sorts of people. But then she realises that this is a misunderstanding anyway, so perhaps Felix was the only one to stumble across it. She shakes her head and her smile returns, albeit more uncertain this time.

"So... It's true? How did that happen?"

"How?" Harley repeats the question. She has a faint smile on her face, when she thinks back to the memory between her and Loki.

"It was a very private moment between Loki and myself."

"He told me... that Valykrie are 'The Choosers of the Slain. An elite force of warriors loyal to the throne of Asgard, appointed by Odin.' Of course for Loki and Thor... their Odin has died. Asgard was destroyed. And not many Asgardians survived... if it wasn't for Thor's connection to the Nexus..."

Harley can't imagine what would have happened to the children that she now helps protect. She bites her lip again.

"They have lost so much. It breaks my heart to see them struggle so."

Harley isn't the only one who feels for the Asgardians. Surrounded by the children of Asgard, by their night terrors and day frights. She sees herself in them as they whimper for lost parents, and fears that they have seen things as terrible as her husband. Not unlike those left in the Nexus after Winter. She has so many people to take care of now... It takes her a moment to swallow down those thoughts and ask what she really wants to ask.

"He made you a Valkyrie? Just like that? Because you were friends?"

Harley blinks. Something about the way the question is phrased reminds her of how Felix ask if it was just a 'pet name'. And she sets down her drink.

"It is not a box of chocolate. That one can give to their friends."

"He respects me. He values me. He is there for me. And I am there for him."

"He has been designing me my Valkyrie tattoo. I hope I can find a way to make it permanent on my skin. Regular ink won't work. So I considered henna."

Harley tilt her head. And looks at Runa, quite serious. Her tone changes, so there is no sign of the broken Brookyln accent. "He has been waiting for my permission to tie me to his fate. And I have been researching like crazy... so I know what I want, before I say yes."

“You’ll have to forgive me.”

He says, there’s a touch of something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Disappointment, a little bit of sadness, maybe both? He has a response ready to go, however, because he half expected that answer.

“I was hoping to get some intel from you. Something I could surprise Leia with the next time I saw her. It didn’t seem ... like a bad intention when I thought about it, but I see that I put you on the spot.”

There. A way out of the awkward conversation that she could easily take if she wanted. After all, it wasn’t his job to convince her that she out to take it easy once in a while.

Edited 2019-12-28 00:42 (UTC)

"I'm sorry that was, well that was completely unhelpful." Leia shook her head, long brown curls dancing over her shoulder with the movement. "It's been a long time since I've thought recreationally."

When had the time time she'd done something not related to her work? Even the ceremony after the destruction of the death star had been a chance to gain allies. She thought back and the last time she could recall feeling safe enough to let her guard down and relax without worrying about what she needed to do to ensure other's safety was before Alderaan was lost.

"I used to like riding, a feeling of freedom and control. Just head out and not really think about where I wanted to end up I could just go where ever I wanted for as long as I wanted. Maybe that was why Han was so attached to the Falcon, a similar sense of freedom. "I enjoyed sailing too. It's been years since I've done any of that without it being some sort of mission."

Harley says it isn't a box of chocolates but she makes it sound like a ring given between lovers. A promise ring or... A tattoo.

There is the slightest tremble to Runa's hands as she stands there and stares. She tries, hard, to hear this as anything respectful or honourable or humble. She tries, so hard, not to hear this as a slap across her face. Across her sisters' faces. Across her mother's.

"Get married if you want to tie your fate together." It slips out before she even thinks, and she finds she's breathless. "Being a Valkyrie isn't about you. It's not meant to be about you at all." Her pulse starts to race and she notices her hands. Clasping them together, she turns around and leaves with an, "I've got to go."

"Runa wait..." Harley stands when the other woman stands. "If you are upset about something. I would rather you tell me, instead of us misunderstanding each other."

"I never said it was about me. But I feel like you think I have..."

Loki arrives a little on the late side, and it's easy to see why. With him, in a line like ducklings behind a mother, are three of the four Asgardian children. He meant to bring the oldest three, but as it turned out Eindrid screamed at the thought of being left behind, and Agnarr had a far quieter meltdown due to overwhelming noise and pressure, and he had to comfort both, then get the little one into something semi-formal for the occasion. As such, he looks a bit less sleek and sophisticated than his usual, with a now-calm but red-faced toddler in his arms.

Una and Sigrid are in perfect, lacy little frocks, hair up in ribboned braids, and Eindrid wears a little blue suit. Loki is in black and green.

They all wait patiently until Felix and Jim are free, and when they do approach at last, Sigrid hops in front of her guardian to hold up a pair of little wrapped boxes to the men. "Hi! We brought presents!"

Something about Harley talking about the various aspects of her relationship with Loki rather than anything to do with Valkyries must have given that impression. Certainly a strong enough one to shock Runa, as she is deep into the crowd in a split second. Whatever Harley says is lost in the buzz of the guests and the beats being thrown out by the DJs.

Edited 2019-12-28 01:19 (UTC)

Harley is not going to chase after Runa. She has enough respect for the other woman to take the hint that Runa needs her own space. She has a feeling that there is definitely a difference between Runa's definition of a Valkyrie, and Loki's definition. And she will just have to speak to Loki about it, next time she sees him.

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A Very Nexus Reception

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