[OPEN] apple pie is officially banned from this party, aka Steve Rogers' birthday

[anotheroldsoldier]

who: ANYONE
what: 616 Bucky, Peggy, and 616 Tony throw a birthday party for Steve.
when: July 4th, afternoon into the evening
where: A nice park
warnings: Birthday fun. :v


Steve Rogers, former (and still) Captain America, was born on the Fourth. It was pretty much fated. That said, he deserves a party that has nothing to do with Independence Day, and that's what Bucky, Tony, and Peggy set out to do. They rented a nice little park with some good open, grassy space perfect for a pick-up game of football (American, of course). On one end of the park, in the relative shade of a couple of large trees, they've set up two long tables - one for food, and one to deposit presents for the birthday boy on. The picnic tables already in the park have nice blue tablecloths to eat on. A banner hung between the trees proclaims, "Happy Birthday, Steve!", in blue letters on white.

The decor tries to stay away from Fourth of July colors - there isn't a speck of red, just shades of blue and white, and it's all very put-together and classy looking (thank you, Peggy and Tony). It's the sort of party they thought Steve would want, outdoorsy and casual, just a gathering of friends and whoever else wants to come by to wish the birthday boy a happy one.

Invites
Invitations have mostly been word of mouth and texts sent to people Steve is friends with, nothing too fancy. They just say to drop by and wish Steve a happy birthday, have some food, and spend some time hanging out; Rogers wouldn't want anything fancy anyway. That said, they won't turn anybody away from the barbecue if someone decides to just crash the party, as long the behavior stays respectful.

Food
The food is mostly standard American barbecue fare. Two large grills have been set up near the tables and someone (often Bucky) is usually cooking on them - an array of burgers, hot dogs, steaks, even some ribs and chicken. Side dishes are laid out on the food table, the usual simple things. Here and around the picnic tables are a good place to mingle; there's plenty of food for everyone, and metal tubs full of ice and bottled soft drinks. There isn't much alcohol present at this party, though, just one of the tubs set aside with beers in it.

There's also a massive cake for Steve, with close to a hundred candles dotting its layers - Bucky's idea, payback for the time he couldn't see his own cake for all the candles.

Tossin' the Old Pigskin
They're all (mostly) adults here, so there aren't 'party games' necessarily, but there are a couple of footballs and some frisbees in the grass for anyone who wants to play a game in the lush field. Just be careful if the heavy hitters decide to arrange a game, it could get pretty out of hand.

Comments

[wingedman]

[Sam ambles by with a piece of cake and ice cream, lifting a fork in greeting. The cake's halfway gone.]

How long till I keel over?

[ikols]

[ Ah, Sam. His immediate smile is thoughtfully dampened in the next moment, squinting at the missing cake as if to assess the damage. ]

Ooo, maybe minutes? Luckily for you, you'll be staring at something pretty when you pop off.

[ Taking that exact moment to toss his hair, ahem. ]

[wingedman]

And eating delicious cake. There are worse ways to die.

Quick, help me come up with something witty to put on my tombstone. And no memes.

[He knows you, Loki.]

[ikols]

[ That limits his options so severely, how rude. ]

'I lived dangerously, I died near enough immediately'?

[wingedman]

-Although maybe 'the cake wasn't a lie'. That would be pretty accurate.

[oops there goes the no meme rule]

I don't know how dangerous eating cake is.

[ikols]

I think Anthony's been killing that particular meme enough lately for all of us. [ Also!!! ] You said none of those, stick to your own rotten rules.

[wingedman]

I meant none for you, they're still okay for me. I'm not the god of memes.

[ikols]

No, you're the god of a really impressive potato salad, which I will argue is better.

[wingedman]

You just like me 'cause I brought something to the party that isn't meat.

[Yes, he remembers Loki's feelings about roast beast.]

[ikols]

I like you because you're the only person so far who took my cake as a joke.

[ There is some warmth in Loki's tone and the way he looks over at Sam, grateful in the way a small smile sinks into place. He was hoping more people would find it funnier than threatening now, but ... ]

[wingedman]

As far as I'm concerned, their loss is my gain.

[Sam gets the feeling that Loki takes enough pride in his cooking that he's unlikely to poison anyone with it - and that if he were to do something like that, he wouldn't be dumb enough to announce it.]

[ikols]

[ Why isn't Sam the ruler of his Earth, really.

Under the flattery Loki's insides twist, craving more of the same. Sam has a wonderful habit of making him feel like he doesn't have to just be Loki, he can be ... himself. Whoever he would be if he weren't always a god stuck in a cycle of rebirth to one hated name. ]

I take request orders.

[ From as of now. ]

[wingedman]

[This is a question many people have asked before - well, okay, it isn't, but it should probably be considered.

And, really, that's how Sam sees Loki (after that initial rebuke from her). That it doesn't matter who he's been or what his name is, all that matters is who he is now. Of course, that's probably easier to do when you haven't been as involved in previous Lokis' shenanigans as the rest of the Avengers here have.]

No requests right now. But I'll just casually mention that my birthday's September 23.

[You know. In case Loki feels like baking something. Certainly Sam doesn't intend to have a party on this scale - and probably not a party at all. But he'll happily accept offerings of baked goods.

(So will the talking mice he lives with.)]

[ikols]

I won't forget.

[ To make sure he starts putting the date in his StarkPhone's calendar. He pauses to look over curiously. ]

You think you'll still be around here in September?

[wingedman]

[Sam just shrugs helplessly at the question.]

No real way of telling, is there? Either I'm stuck here for the next five years, or I just randomly disappear back to Wakanda.

[ikols]

You were hanging out with Black Panther?

[ AUDIBLE ENVY. ]

[wingedman]

Steve did most of the hanging out, I was just kinda there because we needed some place safe to stay after becoming wanted criminals in most of the world.

...also I might've pissed off T'Challa a bit when I asked him if he liked cats.

[SHRUG]

[ikols]

... Okay, that's cool, but no offence, I'm surprised and deeply impressed that your face isn't a mess of claw-marks.

[ Because even Loki doesn't tease that guy unnecessarily. T'Challa is a bit too cool-yet-terrifying for the sort of nonsense the Avengers put up with. Also hot, but that's neither here nor there when it comes to ruining any sort of far-fetched shot Loki could feasibly have. ]

[wingedman]

Look, I'd literally just met the guy, okay? All I knew was that there was some guy in a cat suit trying to kill Bucky, and then we all got arrested for breaking the Accords.

[He gets it, though. T'Challa is kinda intimidating. By which he means actually a little scary. And the Dora Milaje- don't even get him started on those ladies. Seriously hot but waaaay off limits.]

[ikols]

The Accords?

[ People probably try and kill Barnes all the time, best to focus on the important deets. ]

[wingedman]

The Sokovia Accords. You know, the whole "let's control the Avengers and place restrictions on superpowers" thing. Which, might I add, is pretty shitty for those of us who don't even have superpowers.

[Sure, he could've just hung up the wings and not had any trouble whatsoever, but giving up isn't in Sam's nature.]

[ikols]

That's the Superhero Registration Act on Earth-616, it went down badly from what I read of it. The Accords were quite a recent thing for your lot, then?

[ That explains a few tensions floating around. ]

[wingedman]

Most of us, anyway. Not Bucky. And Thor was...off doing Thor things. And I don't know about Stephen. But the rest of us are all from around then, more or less.

[Well. He's not sure about Loki, either, but they can probably hash that one out between themselves.]

[ikols]

You're all-in, then. Totally on the Captain's side? Ah, so, everyone's still hashing it out.

[wingedman]

Timeline differences here. Tony and I are the ones from after everything's all said and done, Steve's from close to the beginning, Wanda's somewhere in the middle.

[He knows exactly where in the middle, of course.]

I like to think I'm on the side of trying to keep Steve from being a complete goddamn idiot. Which I actually failed at, so maybe I shouldn't make that claim.