[SEMI-OPEN MINGLE] Baby dive in, the water feels fine

[agoddessonce]

WHO: Storm agoddessonce and friends
WHEN: a weekend in July
WHERE: At the Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach - Poolside
WHAT: Ororo felt like arranging a small, private pool day (semi-open mingle log)
NOTES\WARNINGS: Alcohol will be served so some underage drinking might slip through the cracks (please know that Ororo Disapproves Though). If your character has ever interacted with Ororo, even once, then please feel free to assume she'd invited you over to come and spend the afternoon at her place. Swimsuits highly encouraged!

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the pool;

The pool at the Institute is sparkling and inviting under the sun, glittering under the shade of the old mansion. It's a shame to see it go to waste day in and day out, so Ororo has invited a few people she's already met through her months in Etraya to use it. The water itself is cool and refreshing, and though there's an impromptu sign at the edge that proclaims POWERS ALLOWED - BUT NO HORSEPLAY to discourage rough play, there's also a tall diving board set up at one end. Guests are free to use it as they will. If any injuries occur - there's a reasonably well-stocked nurse's station inside the mansion!

Ororo had also spent a couple of days visiting Kwik Trip to see what kind of floats they could get for the day. Various pool floats are available (donut rings, pool noodles, and a dubious looking tank floatie) for guests to use and share. Try not to bother anyone who's just trying to relax!

the food, the drinks;

Ororo has no plans for the day to turn into anything particularly fancy or rowdy; she'd just wanted something casual and simple, an excuse to take a swim with some friends new and old, and to get to know the people of Etraya a little better. What better way to help people feel more open and relaxed than with a couple of drinks? There are a couple of coolers sitting around, open and full of ice and snow, with soda, juice, beer and a selection of fruity, ready-to-drink cocktails for guests who might want a drink to help them relax or break the ice.

She trusts people to self-police, generally, but will still personally, stringently remind folks to keep the alcohol from anyone sixteen and under. Do not test her! :)

There's a grill going as well, with typical barbecue fare: burgers (both vegan and beef), hot dogs, chicken wings and roasted vegetable skewers. Ororo has probably asked a friend or two to take turns manning the grill, but anyone is welcome to cook their own food to their liking. Plates are available to one side, with a range of salads, snacks and sauces and dips. Guests can dine at various seating areas set up around the poolside and in the shade.

the poolside;

There are plenty of loungers sitting around, to share or to drag into a corner to use for yourself! It's a day to relax as much as it is a day to mingle. People are free to bring their food and drink over to them, or use the chairs to work on a sun tan.

There's a basketball court not too far off from the pool here people are encouraged to play a game or two. Perhaps something easy that doesn't need a team - Horse, or a game of one-on-one? Ororo doesn't know the exact rules, but as long as no one's bursting any basketballs, she won't be upset.

the mansion;

Tired of waiting under the sun? Need a bathroom break? A select few of the mansion's rooms are open to use - the kitchen, the nearest bathrooms, and the rec room for anyone who wants a nap. If you wander upstairs, there are numerous rooms that don't see much use - one wing houses old classrooms and study rooms, an empty library, some faculty offices. The other wing has some locked bedroom suites - only a few of which are currently, actually in use. Be warned that if Ororo or some other X-Men sense or catch you lingering up here, they'll gently (... or not so gently, depends on who catches you and how they catch you) redirect you right back downstairs.

The elevator and the sublevels are completely off-limits and impossible to break into, kept secure by a combination of private codes and mutant biometrics. Nothing to see here! Just carry on. ♥

The party will last til the evening, at which point Ororo will invite people to come into the large kitchen of the mansion to piece together some dinner, or dry off or take a quick shower. If anyone's too tired (or too drunk) to go home, she'll personally take charge of turning the rec room into an impromptu blanket fort for people to sleep on couches. It's fine, none of the furniture is actually vintage or antique around here. Probably.

wildcard;

Feel free to come up with your own starters for poolside shenanigans! If your character has threaded with Ororo even once, assume you've got a personal invite for them and a +1. Hoping to keep this mingle light and easy to foster a bit of CR before the mission log goes up next week!

Comments

Izuku Midoriya | OTA | brackets ok too, i just can't match oops

[wannasmash]

Swimming

It's lucky he went shopping. Izuku came prepared with a pair of swim trunks in blue, very boring. What's interesting about him is that, as he whips off his T-shirt (it says "SWEATER") he's more muscular than he'd let on, and covered in scars. His right hand has a lot of them, and there is a nasty reddish-brown one on his upper arm.

Izuku is a very polite young man who would never just go around randomly splashing people. He swims unobtrusively with a doughnut floatie or does laps for exercise.

"If you don't know how to swim, I can teach you the basics," he says kindly to anyone who looks like they're struggling.

...But challenge him to a race, and he will awaken with the unexpected spirit of rivalry.

Superpowered Sportsball

Do the thing, win the points. Izuku is only casually familiar with the rules of some games. He was never on sports teams. In high school, his "sports" are Hero training: rescue, combat, Quirk endurance, and internships where he assists with evacuation and patrols.

He's still a nerd. He shyly picks up a basketball like he's back in middle school, the last to be picked for a team. He was a shrimp then, not yet full up on muscles and scars like he is now.

He turns the ball over in his hands and gives it an experimental novice bounce. Then he jumps with super strength into the air, twisting neatly to dunk the ball through the hoop. Cheater!

Cake

Izuku had some cheeseburgers and veggie skewers foisted on him earlier before he could blink. You don't do self-care one time, and your rival becomes hell-bent on making sure you eat...

Now it's dessert time. Izuku pauses and goes uncharacteristically still in front of some cake as he suddenly remembers something.

"Oh... oh that's right! I forgot what day it was..."

Underage Drinking

Izuku (who drank the punch) overhears a joke that it might be spiked, but he gathers that's just a common thing to say at parties. What would he know, he hardly went to parties. It's a mansion run by a trusted hero, and Izuku brought along a good friend. And that sweet punch didn't taste like alcohol at all. He should be fine. He's feeling a little fuzzy and floaty, but—oh. Oh boy. It wasn't a joke.

He stands up. This is manageable, he knows what to do in theory, but oh boy, he's feeling it now.

"Oh no..." he giggles nervously, hand out as if to regain balance forever lost. It's like being underwater, but with none of the cushioning benefits of low gravity. "Oops... Hey, are you doing okay? You're moving around weird... Sorry, hang on, I just gotta send an important text..."

Safety first!! It takes him a while to peck out the letters seemingly in thin air to his earpiece:

hey kacchan i vhtink thre was somehting in teh ohnch dont drink it ok

Nap

Full of punch and food, he finds a place to chill out in the rec room. He'll just lie down for a bit... rest his eyes... Now he's sleeping on a couch like an innocent angel, and there is a tiny trickle of drool forming at the corner of his mouth.

It would be a shame if someone pranked him.

—underage drinking

[daughterofliberty]

"Whoa—"

Sharon catches him by the arm as he totters. That glazed look and faint flush to his cheeks is all too familiar, and so is the slightly sour scent of alcohol-laced punch. "I'm not the one moving around weird, kid. On a scale of 'the ground feels like rubber' to 'I think I'm crossing dimensions,' much of that did you have to drink?"

[wannasmash]

"One cup," he replies dutifully. "You feel like rubber, and the ground keeps moving..."

He is, understandably, a lightweight. His eyes begin searching the nearby table for the reason he got up in the first place. Now where was that water cooler...

"I didn't think it was actually... Wait—hang on—Am I in trouble?!"

It's impressive how his voice can rise multiple octaves in one sentence. In his mind he's frantically going over what he learned about identifying inebriated drivers and taking them in before he remembers that he's not on patrol nor is anyone around here operating a motor vehicle or heavy machinery. Also, he's the one in trouble. Probably. Unless he finds out who spiked the punch.

[daughterofliberty]

His voice goes up and his eyes go wide with tipsy panic, and Sharon does her best not to laugh. Her own teenage misadventures with alcohol — not that there were many of those — feel very far away just now. "Not with me."

With Ororo, maybe, although in her opinion the only finger-pointing should be towards that guy who spiked the punch to begin with. "But you might want to avoid the punch for the rest of the day."

She takes a better grip on his arm and directs him firmly back to his seat with all the maternal instinct of military police guiding a cuffed suspect. "Sit down, I'll get you some water. How's your head?"

[wannasmash]

The thought about his enemies and poisoning comes to mind, as it must. He was on a hit list a year ago, possibly longer. But there are many people here dedicated to the safety of the guests, himself included. Though the rum is running roughshod through his veins, Izuku can feel the controlled gallop's plateau. He doesn't feel truly sick, at least not yet. He's a healthy young man who just ate a full meal. As long as he hydrates, his odds are good.

He allows himself to be frog-marched to sitting, feeling very much like one of his teachers just caught him outside the grounds without a permission slip.

"You don't need to go to the trouble, I can get my own..." he mumbles politely. Can he, in this state? "Uh, it doesn't feel too weird as long as I'm not moving. Though I'd hate to see how slow my reflexes are now..."

Maybe he can turn this around into an opportunity for research. Should he run into someone with a Quirk that disrupts his inner ear, he can take this mishap as a learning experience.

[daughterofliberty]

Sharon gives him a deeply skeptical look at the declaration that he can get his own water, said less than confidently from a position of 'slumped on the couch.' "Maybe, but I wouldn't give it Vegas odds. Better let me handle it."

And handle it she does, striding briskly off and returning a moment later with a cold water bottle, straight from the cooler. She hands it to him, letting him crack the seal, and wipes her damp palms off on the material of her cover-up. "Never had a drink before, huh?"

Or not many, judging by the way just one cup has rocked him to his core. "Next time, stick to bottles and cans you open yourself."

[wannasmash]

He watches her attentively and is glad of the sealed bottle. No question there. He opens it and starts drinking with the gusto of someone who does a lot of sports... of a sort.

"Thank you so much... And no, I've never had any. This could have been worse... Lucky I ate, and I wasn't in the pool."

He never had reason to try a drink, whether for recreation or curiosity. It's super illegal, not that he hasn't broken the law before... Long story... He hasn't even had coffee much, beyond coffee-flavored pastries or the very milky and sweet cans from the konbini.

"I'm Midoriya. It's nice to meet you." Everything for him is a little belated at the moment, but he remembers his manners. When he bobs his head and shoulders as he must, the world rocks with him. Perhaps he should have just stuck to shaking hands like the Americans...

nap.

[hasitsthorns]

It sure would be a shame to be pranked, wouldn't it? Especially because he looks so adorably innocent... is absolutely why she has to. It wasn't difficult to find a sharpie and begin scribbling a silly little mustache, a 'monocle,' and some faux stubble on his chin.

Despite some minor wiggling, he doesn't seem to be waking up through it all. While it might be more satisfying to wait for him to wake up and discover his new look, Rosie decides she just isn't that patient. So, she also finds some ice and a cup and presses a piece of it against his neck lightly to see if she gets any reaction.

[wannasmash]

Izuku hardly stirs except to mouth wordlessly in his sleep. Then, cold ice shocks him into jumping up in his seat.

"WAUGGHH!" he yelps. He thought he was dreaming of freezing to death?! No... but his neck is wet and cold? This isn't the pool...

"Hello? What? Did you need something?"

He looks like a very confused monocled gentleman, complete with curled mustache. He tries to rub the sleep from his face.

"Wait... there's something on my hand... where did this come from...?" Uh oh.

[hasitsthorns]

"Oh, nothing! I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but you wouldn't wake up." Her answer is seemingly sincere. She's obviously had practice with this very thing.

When he brings his hand to his face though to rub the sleep from his eyes, her friendly facade cracks a little. "Snk," she inhale-snorts, seeing the marker smear and make it all somehow funnier.

"Oh, you mean the marker? It was like that when I got here, which was why I wanted to see if you were okay! You seemed pretty out of it." Yes, that's... exactly what happened. Obviously.

[wannasmash]

Look at those big green innocent eyes. Surely no one would think to lie to them.

"Oh... Weird, I wasn't writing with a marker..."

Wait... why is she laughing... Oh no—

"Did I get any on my face?!"

[hasitsthorns]

Or someone would have the cute aggression activated. That's what's happening with Rosie, honestly, because she just wants to tease him more. He's so cute when flustered! How can she not?

"Uhm," she starts, putting a hand up to her mouth to keep the next bubble of laughter contained. "Just, like. A little bit. It's not too bad!"

It's... pretty bad.

[wannasmash]

She's laughing. That probably isn't a good sign.

"Oh no!"

He swivels his head around in search of a mirror. Seeing none, he pulls up the holographic display of his earpiece.

"Hey! You have to help me get this off!"

It's worse than he could have imagined. He looks like that guy on the American bags of peanuts! This is the look of betrayal on a puppy's face when a toy is taken away.

[hasitsthorns]

It's not not a good sign. To Rosie, he's very cute like this even if he doesn't think so. ... And even if she's the reason he looks like this to begin with.

"Okay, okay!" she says, giggling all the while. "Look, it's not like. Impossible to get off! It might stain a little? But I'm sure we can figure it out." She better, honestly, considering she did this but look- It's fine. She'll fix things.

Somehow. Maybe. Hopefully?

[wannasmash]

He knows how to remove whiteboard marker, but Izuku has no idea what to do about permanent marker. He's more practiced with removing stains from clothes than the face.

"Do you have anything?" he asks desperately. The enemy becomes the ally...

[hasitsthorns]

How the table turns, truly! Not that Rosie would have denied him help even if found out, of course, but still. It's fun that so far she seems to be getting away with her mischief.

"I wonder if hand sanitizer might work...? Some kind of rubbing alcohol, maybe! It might not smell great but, like, better funky sterilizing smell than silly markings on your face. Right?"

[wannasmash]

"That's not supposed to go near the eyes..." he mumbles. He fishes out a kerchief anyway. He remembered to bring it, despite forgetting half the time. (His mom always had to remind him. That seems forever ago now.) He holds it out to receive the dubious cure.

"Why a monocle??" he finally laments.

[hasitsthorns]

"Oh, yeah," she says, like she just realized. (She did.) "I'll be real careful!" she reassures, which is... perhaps a dubious, doubtful thing to try and promise when tipsy. She is nothing if not determined though.

The blond takes the kerchief and does spritz some hand sanitizer on it. Carefully, she bunches up one end to dab at the circle around his eye to begin with. Might as well get the worst of it out of the way, right? "Lemme know if it makes you dizzy or anything."

Then, to his quiet lament: "Monocles make men look distinguished!"

[wannasmash]

"I'm fine." Relatively. "I think the fumes will irritate my eyes eventually..." He squints his large eyes a little. It has the effect of making him look like he's affecting a cranky old man's guise despite being only a teenager.

"I don't want to look 'distinguished' like I'm from two centuries ago! I want to look like me! You know... I'm starting to think you were the one who drew on my face..."

It's not like him to outright accuse someone without evidence, but there's her motive at least. She does find this funny...

[hasitsthorns]

Hee, she quietly giggles, because he does look a bit like an onery grandpa with those furrowed brows and squinted eyes.

"Nooo," she protests, as weakly and unconvincingly as probably possible. "I mean, if it was me... Why would I be helping you out?" That's not the alibi she thinks it is, unfortunately.

[wannasmash]

Izuku is not photogenic, especially when he makes faces. And Rosie is not convincing at all.

"I dunno, a sense of guilt?" the usually mild-mannered boy grumbles.

He'd ask how she can prank people when she's the adult, but he knows for a fact that adults do stupid stuff too.

"You don't seem to mind being found out... I could see a few of my classmates pulling something like this."

[hasitsthorns]

"Okay, well- Fair enough!" And though it is fair, Rosie acknowledges herself that she doesn't feel much in the way of guilt. Honestly, it's more amusing still than anything. Just a harmless little prank! It's been... too long, maybe, since she'd gotten the chance to indulge in some old-fashioned mischief.

"Oh, yeah? I never went to school, but it always seemed like fun. Bet you guys got up to all kind of ridiculous things." If only she knew.

[wannasmash]

Totally without shame... he thinks. How many people has she pranked if she's this guilt-free?

"Wait, what, never...? There's a certain amount of compulsory education. Growing up, I didn't know any kids who had to stay at home."

He's sure there's a very good reason, maybe her health, but he doesn't want to outright pry.

underage drinking

[nitropowered]

Katsuki gets the text approximately 5 minutes after it registers for him that he's drunk, and he makes a little 'tch' noise along with a sigh at the fact that Izuku managed to warn him just a little bit too late. Isn't that typical of Izuku? It takes him a few moments to type out the reply, biting his lower lip to focus on it through the haze his brain seems to be functioning in.

too ltae nerd

He only notices the typo after he's sent it, and grunts in irritation under his breath. No point in following it up with a correction test, after Izuku hadn't bothered. Standing up from the lounge chair he's sitting in, Katsuki slowly makes his way around the edge of the pool, off-balance and trying not to fall in, until he finds himself standing in front of Izuku, looking down at him.

"So you drank it too, huh?" he says, his voice just slightly slurred, and then he sits down heavily next to the other boy, a hand slipping behind himself to brace him.

[wannasmash]

Izuku, usually so fastidious, didn't bother to check his typos. He didn't even notice until his communicator let him know he had a message and he read the preceding one. Goodness... it's a wonder Katsuki even understood what he was trying to write.

He sees him approaching and belatedly raises his palms in a vague gesture to tell him to be careful around the pool. Why is he walking and talking like—oh.

"...It was the punch, wasn't it..." he sighs, swaying a little where he sits. With no known prank culprit, Izuku can see why Katsuki is not currently in seek and destroy mode.

"I think it's safer if we stick together until this wears off. I'm glad you came to me. I would have had to search to make sure you were safe... It's not so bad actually..."

He sways like a listing ship and rights himself a little too late to prevent testing Katsuki's dodging skills.