Somewhere That's Green (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

Carson nodded, seeming to follow along with Mark's fast-paced talking just fine.

"UNISON does excellent work. You should be proud of going into that field. You seem pretty enthusiastic, which is good. Especially for places like Africa; I think they need fresh shots of enthusiasm and idealism over there."

A wan smile crosses his face at the thought.

"And it's good that you're thinking about helping the most people possible with your abilities. Good on you, Mark."

He turned to regard Trevor with a speculative eye.

"Family business, eh? Good luck with that. Maybe I'll buy a pack of Bazooka next week, to help your bottom line."

He turns back to Mark, chuckling as he shakes his head.

"Appreciate the offer, but music's more of a side thing for me. I enjoy listening to it more than I enjoy making it. I can do covers of stuff fine, but I don't have a talent for writing it, see. Like I said, drama's where I'm really gifted. Just not what was needed today, is all."

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville was seated with the other groomsmen, and had been going over and over the toast he was to give.

Okay, almost time! Man, such a honor this is! I just hope nothing happens to screw it up, like a supervillain attack! On the bright side, i know one thing that will not interrupt it -- my now-exorcised Other side!

Ooh, a nice crystal rose from Professor Quill! Wonder where he got it?

Oh, Mona and Lynn are seated together! Good, good, they cold both use each other's company, and... hrm, now I want to know what they are talking about. Could it be... me? I could try and read their lips, but... no, no, that would be rude.

Who is that with Mark Lucas? One looks vaguely familiar... no clue on the other... ah, I can figure that out later. Now, it is toast time!

The Doktor turned and waved at the happy couple, then patted the left side of his chest with his right hand. In response the the prearranged signal, the couple nodded, indicating they were ready to begin.

He stood and tapped the side of his champagne glass with his knife, gently drawing everyone's attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, I-" He paused, reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out what looked to be a standard bluetooth headset. But standard bluetooth headsets wouldn't patch into the sound system that was set up, allowing his words to be clearly heard by the reception's many, many guests. "Ladies and gentlemen -- ah, that is better -- I must beg your indulgence for but a moment, as I fulfill the very honored tradition of giving a toast to the happy couple," he said with a beaming smile. He walked towards the couple, and stood behind them both, leaning over slightly to clap hands to their shoulders.

Remember, civilian ID stuff only!

"Derrick's work at the Star Island Space Control Center has allowed him to see much of space, the stars, the wonders... out there! Stesha's work at Flowers by Design, her work with blooms and blossoms and the green things of the Earth, give her a more... grounded view. Separately, they have each seen part of Creation -- together, they shall see all of it."

"And now," Archeville straightened up, "something a bit more traditional, from my homeland. Centuries ago, in old Nuernberg, the nobel mistress Kunigunde fell in love with a young and ambitious goldsmith. Although Kunigunde's wealthy father, a powerful nobleman, did not approve of this pair, it was clear that she only wanted the goldsmith to be her husband, as she refused many titled and rich suitors who asked for her hand in marriage. Her father became so enraged that he had the young goldsmith thrown into the darkest dungeon, and not even his daughter's tears would change her father's mind. To her father's dismay, imprisoning the young man did not end his daughter's love for the goldsmith -- instead, he could only watch as his daughter grew paler and paler as a result of the separation from her true love."

"So, the wealthy nobleman reluctantly made the following proposal: He told his daughter, 'If your goldsmith can make a chalice from which two people can drink at the same time without spilling one single drop, I will free him and you shall become his bride.' Of course he was certain nobody could perform such a task..."

Archeville reached into the left interior pocket of his tuxedo's jacket, and pulled out a white box that was far too large to have been able to fit in there. "Inspired by love and with skillful hands, the young goldsmith created a masterpiece. He sculpted a girl with a smile as beautiful as his own true love's. Her skirt was hollowed to serve as a cup. Her raised arms held a bucket that swivels so that it could be filled and then swung towards a second drinker. The challenge was met. The goldsmith and the nobleman's daughter joined hands in marriage and with the bridal cup set forth a romantic and memorable tradition as charming today as it was originally hundreds of years ago."

Archeville opened the box, revealing the eight inch tall bridal cup, made not of pewter as most replicas were, but of silver. Derrick and Stesha could see it was engraved with their names and the day's date. He held the bridal cup upside down so that the large skirt became a cup. He poured champagne into the hollow skirt end, then filled the smaller cup (which, due to the swivel, was also upright). As he filled, Derrick and Stesha stood, closely together and facing each other, with just enough space for the cup between them. The bride took the smaller cup in hand while the groom, trembling ever-so-slightly, held onto the larger cup.

Hands now again free, Archeville threw them up in the air in joy. "Love, faithfulness and good luck await the couple who drink from this cup!"

[Electra]

With eyes full of laughter, Stesha carefully leaned in towards Derrick, swiveling the smaller cup and raising it to her lips, even as Derrick drank from the fixed larger cup. She was very grateful that the Doktor had run the toast by them before the ceremony, so they'd had time to practice this little maneuver ahead of time. She wouldn't have wanted to spill champagne on her dress in front of all her friends and relations. Working together, they both managed to drain their halves of the cup, even as someone, probably one of Stesha's relatives, began clinking knife against water glass. Soon guests all over the room had picked up on the gesture, till the room sounded like a glass xylophone. Laughing out loud now, Stesha set aside the silver cup and stood on her tiptoes to kiss her new husband. Who wouldn't raise a glass to that?

[KnightDisciple]

Carson listened to the toast, nodding along and smiling.

'He's pretty good at public speaking, but I suppose he'd have to be, with all his companies and whatnot.'

He joined in on the impromptu "glass band", though he was one of the first to stop; wouldn't do to break the tableware! When Stesha and Derrick kissed again, he gave a cheer of joy for them!

"Huzzah! Bravo!"

He settled down a bit after a moment, but he couldn't help but smile, seeing such happiness, such love!

[Avenger Assembled]

Mark raised his glass too, cheering along and happily clinking it afterwards to get another round of smooches from the bride and groom. When they seemed suitably entertained by the smooching going on, he let them get to their feet, casually getting up himself as the dancing started so he could study Chloe more closely. She really was very cute, he decided, though she'd tarried to snap pictures with an instant camera as her sister and new brother-in-law took to the floor. When she was done, Mark sidled up close to her and murmured, "Hi, I'm Mark. You're very pretty." He gave her an ingenous smile, not wanting to come across as too forward. "Do you have anyone to escort you for the wedding party dance?"

[Heritage]

"Look at this way. Even if you two only have a few years or months together, they'll be some, or not the, best times of your life. And when its over, for better or worse, the memories will remain. If for worse, well, Colt can take care more than take care of himself."

Lynn pondered Mona's words; her brow furrowed, and a bemused smile touched her lips.

"There's kind of a morbid undertone to that line of thought, but I'm gonna choose to focus on the positive part. What would you call that, 'bitterseet pragmatism'? I guess I can handle that...philosophy. See, I'm learning all kinds of stuff in college!"

Her eyes wandered over to the bridal party, lingering on both the 'heroic' and 'non-heroic' among them. When she spoke again, her words were slightly muted and her voice nearly cracked.

"It's nice to know I'll still have friends a hundred years from now."

"Love, faithfulness and good luck await the couple who drink from this cup!"

The shapeshifter laughed and applauded at Dok's speech, eagerly clinking her glass with the others.

"My God, your future husband is so German!" She was glad she was able to say it as a compliment.

[Dariusprime]

To Lynn's melancholy, Mona squeezed her shoulder gently and said nothing.

Then her attention was drawn to Viktor and his lovely presentation. A smirk inched up her jaw as he once again managed to sneak a little German tradition into the mix. Oh, she didn't mind of course. She found that side of him very enduring. What a sweet Ham!

Still the cup was fascinating, regardless of the actual truth of its' origin. She studied it as carefully as possible from her table while waiting with bated breath as Stesha and Derrick drank. Idly she wondered if successfully drinking from the cup, in the present time, was considered a good omen. Probably. Which pleased her greatly at their success. Soon her glass joined the raised cacophony.

Once the moment had past, she chuckled and whispered to Lynn, "You betta, Lynn. You betta."

[Dr Archeville]

As the dancing got underway, Mona suddenly felt a familiar presence behind her, and a familiar hand on her shoulder. "Pardon me, Miss Epstein," Archeville said with a broad smile, "but I must steal mein liebchen away for a few minutes."

Man, think how much more difficult it would be to have a relationship if either one of us had a secret identity to maintain!

"Shall we dance?," he asked, extending a hand to the Persian Amazon. "We cannot let young Mr. Lucas have all the fun!"

[Avenger Assembled]

The young Mr. Lucas certainly did seem to be enjoying himself, having swept Chloe out onto the dance floor as soon as dancing opportunities presented itself. He felt a little bad for Trevor having no date, but he supposed Trevor wouldn't have come alone if he minded that. Besides, he remembered prom; Trevor didn't need a girl on his arm all the time to look cool! For his part, Mark liked having a girl on his arm, especially a pretty one. "My name is Mark, I'm a friend of Stesha's from, ah, school." he told Chloe. "I'm graduating this year, so I wanted to make sure I saw this before I went away. I'm going to go work in Africa for UNISON."

[Dariusprime]

"Why of course, Dr. Archeville, I would love to dance," she cooed politely, standing and taking his hand as they stepped onto the dance floor.

"Now I must warn you," she replied as they took up their poses, "I have two left feet and I've been putting on weight. I hope your toes are up to the challenge."

Maybe she was being overly modest. She danced well enough. The hardest part, of course, was the size difference, but with the gravimetric belt, they managed all the same. Seemed as if she was enjoying it too!

[Electra]

Stesha and Derrick took the first dance, of course, and the regular routine of wedding party dances followed. The happy couple seemed lost in each other for the moment, leaving their guests to their own devices. Luckily, the guests were more than capable of entertaining themselves. Chloe certainly looked to be entertained by the handsome young man dancing with her, not to mention impressed with his conversation. "You're going to Africa to do humanitarian work?" she asked. "That's so amazing. I've always wanted to go and do something like that, but my parents insisted that I had to finish college first. Do you know where you're going and what you'll be doing yet?" She seemed fascinated, and not just by Mark's pretty face.

[Avenger Assembled]

"They haven't given me my assignment yet, but it'll be somewhere in central Africa. The people there really need help. They have so little, and up until the elections last year all their leaders wanted to do was take what little they did have. UNISON's got a lot of people there." He hadn't really discussed this with anyone, and here he was using it to pick up a girl. He liked to think James would be proud. "It's not as in the news as Dakana or as exciting as Liberia or Socotra, but it'll be helping the people who need it the most. What about you?" he asked her, "What do you do?"

[Dr Archeville]

"I am sure I will manage, liebchen," Archeville said with a silly grin.

Gravimetric Cummerbunds meant never having to worry about you toes getting stepped on by your 2.4892 m tall girlfriend!

He was indeed enjoying the dance, though the "Belt" made him extremely light on his feet and thus easily swayed by his partner. Not that he seemed to mind, not in the slightest. "So...," he finally said, nuzzling against her ear, "just what have you and Lynn been gabbing about, hrm? Something... salacious?"

But could she be... more than my girlfriend?

[Dariusprime]

Mona laughed lightly as they continued to circle, "Oh, no, no, nothing like that. She'd just feeling a bit down is all. I think she has the pre-wedding jitters of her own already."

Twirling him out with one arm, she swept in dramatically close. The move wasn't with the mood of the music, but hey, have a little fun now-and-again. She continued as they neared, "Plus she's convinced that you're my future husband."

One could never tell her thoughts on the matter, her voice being ever neutral and concentrating on the dance.

[KnightDisciple]

Mark had dashed off to dance with Stesha's sister. Lovely looking girl,really, but so it goes sometimes. Carson gave Trevor a respectful nod as he stood from the table, going out and mingling a bit, shaking hands and smiling, until he happened across another lovely young lady looking for a dance.

She said her name was Sarah. His smile almost faltered, but he recovered quickly.

"Ma'am, you'd honor me if you decided to dance with me."

That was pretty much that as the two of them gracefully slid out onto the dance floor. Carson wasn't a dance expert, but his footsteps were sure enough, and he knew well enough his own limits to keep things simple. It was nice, dancing like this on a happy occasion. It let one forget their troubles for just a bit.

[Heritage]

Lynn smiled as Dok swept Mona off onto the dance floor; they really did make a grear couple. And speaking of great couples, didn't Derrick and Stesha look deleriously happy? Of course, the sight of her friends out there twirling about did make her regret going stag, but surely there was a guy out there for her?

Scanning the various males in her vicinity not already dancing, she noted a bespecled older man, Mark's rather intimidating schoolmate who just radiated quiet menace (and could probably kill a man with a soggy gum wrapper) and the quiet good-looking guy who said he was what, a teacher? The shapeshifter wandered over to stand by him, her brown eyes following the swirling bodies like leaves in a pond.

"So here we stand, the lonely and dateless; abandoned by friends and lovers, cast upon the rocky shore like dead fish, glazed eyes staring blankly into space!" After a few moments of quietly dramatic contemplation, she put her hands on her slender hips and shook her head in mock-disgust. "Y'know what, screw that!" Turning to Tarrant with a mischevious grin, she indicated the dance floor with a jerk of her head. "You wanna dance?"

[Fox]

Tarrant laughed - an honest, happy sound. Only knowing the bride had left him a bit of a stranger; not that he regretted attending the wedding for a moment, of course, but for the last while he'd been content to sit back at his assigned table and watch the couples do their happy couple thing. But, well. As the lady said: screw that! He got to his feet, grinning, and grandly offered the young woman his hand. "Lynn, wasn't it? I'd love to. I can't promise to be the best dancer on the floor, but I think I can certainly keep my feet off your toes if you'll return the favor."

[Dr Archeville]

"Oh, I am sure their wedding will go fine," Archeville began, "and I am sure they will have a won-"

... oh my...

He grinned and let out a soft chuckle, "I suppose that is something we should discuss some time. Though if we did go down that path, I would like for us to live together for a bit. Fourteen days from now will be our one-year anniversary, and you are still in your Waterfront loft apartment, and I in my humble Hanover home."

I know she prefers her space, free spirit and all, but my home is HUGE on the inside. Space, I can give her! Unless... it is not a space issue?!

[Dariusprime]

Mona shrugged, "I'll warn you that I'm taciturn when at home. Much more than you've seen. I'm very much the introvert, especially when working."

"Worth a try though," she continued, as they slowed down somewhat, "You're implying that I should move into your place, yes?"

Looking into the distance, "A year already. Time does fly."

[Heritage]

"Lynn, wasn't it? I'd love to. I can't promise to be the best dancer on the floor, but I think I can certainly keep my feet off your toes if you'll return the favor."

Lynn laughed. "My feet are pretty tiny, so I'm not too worried about them getting stepped on." The young woman moved quite well, with an odd mixture of grace and gusto. "So, I think I heard you teach college? I'm a freshman at Freedom College; don't worry, I waited a few years before I enrolled. Do you teach at FC or FCU?"

When was the last time she danced with a stranger, Jack and Taylor's wedding? That seemd like ages ago.

[Fox]

Tarrant chuckled, moving (if not quite with grace) with steadiness and reliability. "At FCU, I'm afraid," he replied, shrugging helplessly. "I teach earth science; mostly geology, really. The new guy has to deal with all the freshmen." He made a face at that, more out of amused and exaggerated suffering than anything else. "Not that freshmen are bad, of course, but the classes I teach are usually classes full of kids who want easy credit and aren't really there to learn anything. What are you planning on studying?"

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville chuckled, "you want to see introverted and taciturn, you should see me when I get really involved in a project."

I could set her up a studio... heck, I can build her an entire home inside my home!

"And 'implying' nothing," he said, leaning in a bit closer, "I am outright asking you if you would like to move in with me. Not tonight, of course -- I know things like this take time, there would be much to do in preparation. Though, if we put our mind to it, we probably could get it all done in one night..." He pulled back just enough to show her his Cheshire Cat grin.

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum nodded seriously and replied, "Alright. I accept your offer, Viktor Archeville, multiple degrees. I'll start prepping my end. I'll have to let my neighbor, Carla, cry on my shoulder for a while, pack up, talk to my landlord and find Archimedes' crate."

"I don't believe you've met Archimedes," she teased, tapping foreheads with him, "He never really liked you for some reason. Hopefully you're not allergic to cats. He will be all over you once he acclimates."

Thinking a moment, she adds, "That assuming you don't mind having a cat around. He is toilet trained and pretty mellow."

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville's smile grew so broad it threatened to crack his face, and he hugged Mona tight.

Yaaay!!!

He eventually relaxed, and cleared his throat. "I mean... that is excellent, yes," he said seriously, chuckling at the end. "I do hope Archimedes like me; I knew you had a cat, but never did see him. Animals never did seem to like me much. Never could figure out why," he shrugged. "Maybe some odd biochemical marker in my sweat. Perhaps I should experiment with different deodorants and colognes..."

There was of course a very good reason why animals didn't like Viktor Archeville, or any of his ancestors: they could sense the pseudonatural heritage of the Archeville family line. But since that corruption had been separated and pushed deeper down in him, some four and a half months ago, animals would start seeing him as no worse than any other human.

[Heritage]

"Not that freshmen are bad, of course, but the classes I teach are usually classes full of kids who want easy credit and aren't really there to learn anything. What are you planning on studying?"

Lynn scrunched up her face, slightly self-concious though not exactly sure why. "Uh, criminal justice? I'm not looking to be a cop or a prison guard or anything." She took a step back to look down at her petite frame. "Don't quite have the build for that. I just find it very intersting, and we'll see what kind of job I end up with later on." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, I would make a good whatever you call it, counselor or parole officer. Or talking to kids about drugs and stuff."

She was silent for a time, just enjoying the whole day, before turning the focus back on her partner. "So do you like teaching science? My mom teaches physics, and she says it drives her crazy how much her students don't seem to care, except like the one or two diehard nerdy kids who win the bridge break competition every year."