player-suggested mini-event: A STRANGER'S BED

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Player-Suggested Mini-Event
when: August 26th - August 31st
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

a stranger's bed

As a lead in to September, Riverview's ♥ Month of Romance, this is a completely optional mingle that will cause affected characters to end up in each other's beds. There are various options for both established and new CR. While it's easiest for characters still living in Communal Housing, anyone who has moved to their own homes can be affected and end up finding their way to Communal Housing, or within their own housing.

Residents of the Quarantine may notice that various businesses selling food and drink - cafés, diners, bakeries, restaurants, and other such establishments - are heavily advertising a new flavor that's supposed to be the biggest thing since pumpkin spice. A flavor additive that's said to subtly change the flavor of whatever the diner is eating or drinking to optimize the dish, drink, dessert, or any other food item it is added to for each person's individual taste, it's been selling like wildfire and is the latest trend.

After the cause of the rash of amnesia was revealed to be plant-related, sellers are keeping the origin of the secret ingredient very close to their chests, since it is a derivative of a recently-discovered plant dubbed chameleonis. Depending on the method of ingestion, this additive can have a variety of unexpected side effects, but only once the person who has ingested it becomes sleepy. Methods of ingestion include:

● Ingestion: Beverage: When ingested as a flavor shot to drinks ranging from sodas to coffee to alcoholic beverages, it can cause a desire for closeness to a particular other person. Affected characters end up crawling into bed with that specific other character when they become sleepy.

● Ingestion: Food: When ingested as a flavoring added to a baked good or other meal, it can cause an intense desire for body heat when the character becomes drowsy. It won't matter to an affected character who is providing the body heat, so long as it's someone, and they will end up sleepily crawling into someone else's bed for warmth.

● Inhalation: When inhaled ether from a steaming hot beverage or soup, or as an essential oil or aroma from a bakery, it can cause disorientation when a character becomes sleepy. Affected characters either aren't sure which bed is theirs and simply crawl into the closest one, occupied or not, or become convinced that another character's bed is their own.

Feel free to post up a top-level for your own character either affected and invading a random bed or unaffected but open to having their bed invaded by affected characters, or tag around to other people's top-levels.

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Comments

[ikols]

[ Chuckling, he leans on the counter and takes pity on him. ]

It's a phenomenon that's been happening for a few days, don't worry. I've turned up in a few stray beds.

[rightly]

Yes, I've had a similar... situation, before. [ Not him on someone else's bed, thankfully, though no less awkward for it. ]

So you're... a god. [ He looks Loki up and down briefly. ] Any more of you around here?

[ikols]

Yeah, a few. My brother and sister.

[ Probably some others but mingling between deities isn't as frequent or quaint as it sounds. Plus, no one wants to associate with Loki for long. ]

What're you, Steve?

[rightly]

Which gods are they?

[ He's too curious not to ask, and intrigued about the whole notion. Diana only ever spoke of Ares, and even then Steve never did know much about him. He never even got a proper look at the fella while he threatened to burn down that whole factory. By comparison, Loki seems... mild. Friendly, at the very least. It's a start. ]

Oh, just... a man. Human, I mean. No extraordinary abilities or anything of the sort.

[ikols]

Thor and Angela, and no, that's not her real name but we don't delve into that. [ The most common questions he gets asked elicit a bored sigh.

Necking his drink, he waves a hand and it refills seemingly on its own. Loki chins a hand and continues to nurse it. ]

What are you a captain of?

[rightly]

[ He can imagine they're not very inventive questions, but— well, he's not exactly an expert when it comes to this. The mere fact he can even hold an amicable conversation with a god is something of a novelty to him. ]

Aviation Section, Signal Corps. I'm a military aviator, with the American Expeditionary Forces. [ He shrugs, taking a small sip from his coffee. ] Although I don't know if that means much to you.

[ikols]

A Steve from the military, just incredible. Soon I'll have met the whole team! How do you feel about breaking hearts?

[ The salt is real and the alcohol is strong. ]

[rightly]

[ The question seems to come a little out of nowhere, and Steve's obviously caught off-guard by it. ]

I... don't know. I can't say I have much experience with that, one way or the other. [ He tilts his head slightly. ] Why do you ask?

[ikols]

Never mind.

[ Waving away that tangent even though Steve's answer will make him far more curious later, he picks up another. ]

What were you doing before the portal snapped you up?

[rightly]

[ Steve tenses just barely, shoulders squaring at the question. He shrugs, lifting the cup to take a sip, longer than strictly necessary, if only to put off answering. ]

Nothing special. Just flying an airplane. [ And then shooting some bombs and blowing himself up. Not something he's keen on sharing with anyone here. ]

[ikols]

Can't have been the best airplane if the portal sensed you wanted to leave it.

[ Peering at Steve unblinkingly. ]

[rightly]

Well, I can't say I was having much fun, being in the middle of a war and all.

[ He's a little sudden and nonchalant in his answer, shaking his head afterwards. ]

Sorry. Guess the portal could've made a mistake. I couldn't tell you.

[ikols]

Could have.

[ He doesn't believe that for a second. After a beat, he drains his glass and in the same casual tone as Steve admits, ]

I was burning alive. Pretty glad the portal found me, considering.

[rightly]

[ It unsettles Steve, surprises him too. He stares at Loki like he can't quite figure him out, a faint hint of pity even if he's not familiar with the whole story. ]

Why are you telling me that? I'm just some stranger to you.

[ikols]

Dunno. It doesn't matter.

[ Nothing seems to touch his heart lately and the dulling quality of his alcoholic drinks are a numbing balm that he appreciates. Who is Steve Trevor to him? No one. Who cares what no one knows.

Head lolling, he waves his hand over his glass and it refills again. ]

Front door will find you if you want to leave.

[rightly]

Would you like me to leave?

[ Loki strikes him as oddly miserable. Trying so very hard to not care and yet it's so painfully obvious that he does, that something is bothering him. Not that it should matter one way or the other to Steve, but it feels wrong to just walk away now. A strange thing, this feeling of empathy. Must've borrowed it from her. ]

For what it's worth... I was dead. Back home. That's why the portal brought me here.

[ikols]

Did you want to die?

[ That's the more pressing question that rises to the surface as Loki's green eyes flicker from the kitchen countertop to Steve. ]

[rightly]

What? No.

[ He almost thinks it a ridiculous question, but then, aren't there so many people who want to? For whom life is just too much? He's seen a lot of terrible things in his life, so he can't really fault them for it. ]

It just had to be done.

[ikols]

Maybe you appeared in my bed because we're not so different after all, Steve Trevor.

[ Mildly more invested in him now, after hearing that answer.

'It just had to be done'. ]

[rightly]

Is that so?

[ He smiles, even if it's small and a little distant. Being a god is enough for Steve to be curious about Loki, but that answer catches his interest too. ]

Will you tell me why you think that?

[ikols]

[ He's being handled and knows it, unable to summon the energy to care. Maybe glad for the ride it provides. Loki lifts his glass then pauses and lowers it, staring at the acidic green liquid when he finally speaks up. ]

There weren't any other options. None good. My friend ... [ Verity. He winces as if the pain in his heart can manifest on his face without his consent. ] I had to burn or I would have hurt her.

Just had to be done.

[rightly]

[ In part he feels like he's not the right person to be here, listening to this. Maybe it's easier for Loki, with him barely being an acquaintance, but Steve thinks that maybe there are people in this place who would be able to offer more in return. More comfort, more sympathy. He, on the other hand, feels like anything he chooses to say might come off as a pointless platitude. ]

Alike to a god, then... Figure that. [ He chuckles weakly, stepping a little closer to Loki. There's some amount of hesitance before he finally lifts his hand up and rests it near his shoulder, squeezing lightly. ] At least we've got this place, you and I.

[ikols]

A dumping ground for dead men?

[ That's the rock-bottom of his depression, the existential anxiety that he shouldn't even be here and maybe that would be better; no pain, no nothing. Loki's head swims with alcohol and the onset of a migraine as he looks from Steve's hand on his shoulder to Steve himself.

He wouldn't put things so cruelly, considering Steve has his own issues, but currently all Loki has to cling to are his own. ]

[rightly]

Well— that's one depressing way to look at things, but I was thinking more of it in terms of a second opportunity. Do gods believe in those?

[ Steve never did, before. But then... well, life changes, in the strangest and most unexpected of ways. He'd have never believed in any sort of life after death either, and yet here he is. So really, what does he know. ]

[ikols]

We did, when Ragnarok came around and everyone was reborn anew, over and over ...

[ Is this like that, a rebirth? ]

I don't often get second chances. [ Personally speaking, that is. Which he looks resignedly glum about. ] I thought it was my way of cheating death.