Where Were We, Now? (attn: the usual suspects)

And now she was caught in her own trap. Pak honestly wasn't sure if it was better or worse that she didn't have terribly strong feelings towards any of the characters she just tended to prefer the Guardians to the Avengers.

Swearing she sighed.

"Marry Gammora, fuck Starlord and kill Quicksilver. I'd say fuck Quicksilver but he'd probably be... well... quick.”

Pak said that while rather studiously avoiding making eye contact with anyone.

Honestly Pak wasn't sure if she wanted another coffee or anything else bit she and Alfarinn would be last, assuming poor Kem could find three characters.

"I can give you a hand of it is too much for one person to carry.”

She offered rather than answering.

Kem nodded at Alfarinn when he asked about a refill. So did Aishe, and Rowan. And then Alex mumbled something about tiramisu. Alfarinn was going to need a cart to get all of that back. Pak offered to go with him, though, so Kem couldn't bolt.

"Ok. While you're gone, ponder Thor, Drax, and Black Panther."

Kem smiled when Aishe groaned next to him, assuming he'd taken one she had hoped to use. He turned to Alfarinn.

"And thank you."

As Alfarinn offered to get them refills, Kem casually rattled off two of her picks. She had started it all though, technically, so maybe this could be the last round?

"We can just finish after this one," she offered. "I was first anyhow. And we're running out of characters."

"So. Anyway. Ugh. I love Drax, but honestly I think I'd have to kill him within a month. If I could find him, seeing as how he's frequently invisible."

She shook her head. "So I guess I would kill Drax, fuck Thor, and marry Black Panther."

Rowan laughed at Aishe. "I don't know, part of me thinks since you started this fiasco you should have to sweat trying to figure out a good last round too."

The turn came to him though. He hitched sideways in his seat and leaned back slightly, resting against Cris. There had been a time when he'd worried about respecting Cris's position and not letting their relationship become a thing of public speculation, but that ship had long since sailed and Cris had put his fears to rest. Now he just enjoyed being with his husband.

"I think I'd fuck Drax and release him back into the wild. Thor is far too goody two-shoes. I'd kill him. And I'd also marry Black Panther. In his panther jammies."

Cris handed his mug to Alfarinn with a quiet 'thank you' and then turned his attention back to their new choices. He was about to give them some thought so that he would be ready to answer and move this conversation along but Rowan distracted him.

Wrapping his arms around his husband, Cris sighed a contented sigh. He rubbed his check against Rowan's neck and thought nothing more than how his best choice had already been made.

And then Rowan surprised him.

"The mead drinking God of Thunder, notorious for feasting and brawls is too goody two shoes for you?" Cris laughed and looked over at Eiryk. "Maybe I am recalling him incorrectly?"

"I think I would have to kill Drax. Invisibility is just too dangerous a skill." He proclaimed that statement with a straight face and then went on with the rest of his choices. "I would then fuck Thor because, while he can party, he isn't exactly marriage material. That leaves marrying Black Panther...in his panther jammies."

Alex opened his mouth to take his turn, and then turned to Cris. "Hey wait. But you... and you taught me to... I'm too young to die."

He raised his eyebrows at his 'Blending Instructor' and made a sad puppy-dog-eyes face. He wasn't sure it would get him off the hook if they ever really looked into how dangerous abilities were, but since they were just having fun he gave his answer without further fuss.

"I'd fuck Black Panther, jammies or no, kill Drax, and marry Thor. I mean, upgrade, am I right?"

He turned to Eiryk and grinned a little wickedly. But he knew his husband could take it.

Eiryk had no issues requesting a refill. Coffee was one of the three things there was simply never enough of, mead and Alex being the other two.

And just when he was starting to think they might slide through this without dealing with Thor.

He was all set to agree with Rowan that Aishe should have to come up with one last round, just to have to go from the cream to the dregs when all of a sudden Thor was not only dead but a 'goody two-shoes'. He regard his longtime friend rather incredulously before nodding at Cris.

"No... that's how I remember it too and I'm pretty sure I was there. I'll grant you I wasn't keen on Hemsworth cutting his hair but that hardly qualifies as goody two shoes.”

Eiryk had grown his own hair out to his pre-turned length on a lark and as Alex seemed to like it he'd left it.

Jokes about Alex being too young to die still brought serious mixed emotions for Eiryk who quietly kissed Alex' temple.

"You will always be too young to die.”

And then Alex was throwing him over for another blond. Eiryk snorted.

"As long as it take a god to replace me I might be okay with it. We'll talk.”

He said rather dubiously pretending to regard Alex with suspicion for a second or two before dissolving into a bright good natured grin.

"I agree kill Drax, but not over the invisibility thing some of my favorite people are frequently invisible, fuck Black Panther and marry Thor.”

Alfarinn put in everyone's orders and leaned against the counter to wait. The barista began lining the coffee cups up one by one on the counter.

"So, what is the chat about? I think I heard someone shouting about Groot?"

He smiled and explained. "It is a would you rather game? Have you played it."

"No...I don't think so." Said the young looking man with a messy man bun, a faded concert tee and two day stubble. He could be in his twenties or his twelve twenties. There was no way of knowing around this place. "So would you rather what?"

"Okay, you have three choices and you have to decide among the three who you would have sex with, who you would marry and who you would kill."

The barista looked fascinated and horrified at the same time. He looked from Alfarinn to Pak and back again. "So...someone had to either marry, kill or have sex with Groot? What did most people choose?"

Alfarinn raised his eyebrows and looked at Pak. He then turned back to the barista. "Yep, I personally went with marrying Groot. The other two people were Hulk and Thanos."

The man shivered and then nodded. "I am not even going to ask which you chose to have sex with. There is just no good answer."

There were about half the mugs lined up. "I think I hear Eiryk's dulcet tones so I am going ahead and taking these back." Turning to Pak, he said. "I'll stall them as long as I can."

To give her time to think of her answers or make a get away, he really wasn't sure.

Coming back to the table, Alfarinn passed out the coffee orders he had and then sat down. Adding, more alcohol to his mug from a flask, he made his choice.

"I can't kill Thor and still be allowed to go home but fidelity wasn't his strong suit so I think I will just fuck him and marry Black Panther. That leaves killing Drax the Destroyer."

((OOC: Feel free to continue a conversation with Mr.ManBun. I chose the preset brown for him. Hopefully it shows up on the darker forums. ))

Pak was rather astounded that the kid had never played this game before, it was such an easy silly game. But she didn't say anything, although, she did nod where appropriate.

When she finally did say something it was while doing her best to look harmless and innocent, it actually was a look people who didn't know her tended to believe.

"Sometimes it is easier to decide who to kill first.”

She quite enjoyed the little double take she got from him. Sometimes it was fun to keep people guessing.

"Good luck.”

Pak said to Alfarinn as he left with half the orders. She did actually debate escaping for half a second, but that would leave the other half of the coffees here to get cold and probably earn her no end of grief the next time she saw people.

”Who did you ..??”

"Who did I what?”

"Have sex with.”

He said with a slightly flirty smile. Since he'd also set down the last of the coffees and she could beat a relatively hasty retreat, Pak answered with a perfectly straight face rather than flirting back.

"Hulk.”

Not looking to see what his reaction to that was (and even less willing to hear any crude innuendo he -might- make) Pak gathered up the remaining orders with the help of well disguised telekinesis and returned to the table letting people claim their drinks.

Settled back into her seat with a hot coffee type drink Pak actually didn't feel to bad about answering.

"If I marry Black Panther that makes me a queen right? That might suit me. So... Marry him, roll in the hay with Thor and kill Drax.”

Of course now she had a scene from Young Frankenstein in her head, but there were worse things.

"Wow, poor Drax," Kem said, taking his coffee from Alfarinn with a nod of thanks. "I'm almost tempted to pity fuck him, but I don't really want to kill either of the others. So I guess I'm basically in the same boat."

He did sort of feel bad for Drax. I wasn't easy being blue, apparently. But facts were facts. Drax was simply the less appealing prospect. Unless you were Rowan.

"So kill Drax, marry Black Panther, and fuck Thor."

Aishe argued against having to go one more round, but Kem gave her the hairy eyeball.

"I'm with Rue here, though I can't believe I'm advocating for continuing. You got to pick from all the good ones. Give us one last round, so you too have to scrape the bottom of the barrel."

It wasn't that there weren't any MCU heroes left; it was a matter of remembering them without referring to Google. He didn't know if Aishe remembered three more, although he knew there was at least a handful they hadn't used yet.

Crap. She'd been afraid that would be the case, when Rowan told her it was only fair that she had to do the last round. She wasn't sure how good it would be, because she couldn't really think of anyone they hadn't used yet. She knew there had to be some, especially because Kiamhaat was looking smug.

[Give me a hint!]

He sipped his coffee, pretending not to have heard a thing. [Nope. You started this fiasco.]

[I thought you loved me!]

[I do. That's why I'm letting you learn from your mistakes.]

[I am Aishe.]

She sighed and wracked her brain. It took her a minute, but she came up with three who might be interesting. "Okay! Okay. Captain Marvel, Nebula, and Valkyrie."

Not the most popular ones, but she didn't think they'd had a round with three women yet.

And here they were again, with Rowan defending his statement - all in good humor of course.

"Thor in the movies is a way watered-down goody two-shoes version compared to Thor in the comic books and Thor in myth. I want to be clear that I'm killing off goody-goody boring movie Thor."

He directed his comments toward Eiryk since he was still relaxing against Cris and couldn't see his husband well from this angle. No way he was relocating for the sake of a friendly argument; he was far too comfortable.

Their second round of coffee arrived in time and was handed out, and they all had a little time to break into fresh beverages while Aishe struggled to come up with one last round, which she managed in just a minute.

"Oooh. Not bad," he said. Adding Nebula into the mix was interesting, to him anyway. Rowan found her quite sympathetic.

"All right then. I think I'd probably end up killing Captain Marvel because she's terrifyingly powerful. Then I'd marry Valkyrie because we have plenty in common, which leaves Nebula to fuck and release back into the wild to pick up the pieces of her mangled life. Such as it is."

Cris accepted his drink, removing one hand from Rowan only long enough to take a sip of the delicious coffee before setting in nearby. His arm then went back around his husband and his chin went back onto Rowan's shoulder.

His partner's choices were interesting but he would make different ones. He wondered briefly if, given long term knowledge of real people, they would all choose more similarly. It was probably a good thing they were not playing this game with actual people. For instance, he wouldn't want to know where he would end up given the choices of those currently at the table.

At least he knew Rowan would keep him.

He did not want to consider who to prioritize amongst his clan mates, especially with his husband,daughter and two elders in the mix. The game was definitely only entertaining with people you didn't know and weren't likely to ever meet.

"I would marry Captain Marvel. I appreciate her patriotism. I would fuck Valkyrie because she would likely be a wild night and I would kill Nebula. I need only one former pirate in my life."

Cris smiled into Rowan's neck and then gave the same spot a quick kiss. He definitely only needed one pirate.

It was impossible to sit next to Cris and Rowan and not be effected by their closeness. It made Alex want to lean in against Eiryk, too, so he did that while sipping on his drink and pondering his options for their last round.

He got Rowan's point, but he was more along Cris's line of thought when it came to his own choices.

"I think I'd do the same as Cris. Marry Marvel, fuck Valkyrie, and kill Nebula. I feel kind of bad about that, but Marvel and Valkyrie seem so much less killable."

He shrugged his shoulders. It was just like Rue to have a soft heart for the criminal of the three. Not that any of their hands were entirely clean.

Easily Eiryk wrapped an arm around Alex. They'd been together... actually Eiryk wasn't sure how long. He wasn't stellar with dates; he knew three dates in their relationship, Alex' birthday, the day Alex had been turned and their wedding. But they'd been together a while now and he was still more than happy to touch and hold his husband.

Almost absently he lightly rubbed Alex' arm as he thought.

"Is it just me or is there a lot of cultural appropriation going on in these movies?”

He wondered aloud. Honestly Eiryk wasn't sure if it was flattering or if he should be irritated. Other than that he just wasn't sure where to go with this one. He had no real opinions he'd have been just as happy to pick them out of a hat, but he made an effort finally agreeing with Rue and more or less for the same reasons.

"I think I might just side with Rue on this one... mind nothing good comes from agreeing with pirates.”

He cheerfully and playfully rolled his eyes at his oldest friend.

"But fuck Nebula and give her a second chance, kill Marvel and marry Valkyrie...”

He shrugged a bit not entirely convinced of his choices it was more process of elimination than anything, but that's how this game worked wasn't it?

All the hugging and cuddling was making him miss his own partner. Alfarinn looked at Cris and Rowan and then at Eiryk and Alex and sighed audibly. With a theatrical pout, he slumped in his chair and then reached over and draped his arms around Pak.

"We Party of One people have to stick together to combat all the lovey dovey-ness going on around this place."

"I suppose I should answer the question." Alfarinn considered the trio on moment while resting his chin on Pak's shoulder in imitation of Cris. "I would marry Nebula. Her cranky cyborg self reminds me of my loving relationship with MARI...who adores me."

The speaker nearest them paused playing music for a moment and MARI's pleasant voice said. "I wouldn't go that far, Arin." He wasn't imagining it, there was definitely a -tone- there. Serious sass coming off that AI.

The music began playing again. It was just their local speaker, no one else even seemed to notice at the other nearby tables.

"See? I would fuck Valkyrie and kill Captain Marvel. Patriotism and all that." He couldn't kill off a Valkyrie. That'd be wrong.

Pak was a little surprised to be more or less snuggled by Alfarinn, but looking around the table she happen to think he was quite right. Nodding in agreement she leaned back into Alfarinn half mocking Rowan and Cris and Alex and Eiryk and half feeling a bit left out and rather wanting a little bit if a cuddle. Doing her best to act as if having the tall elder having his arms around her and his chin on her shoulder was an everyday occurrence she wound her arms around one of his. She thought it was pretty clear Alfarinn felt a bit left out and could probably use a bit of a cuddle too.

"Agreed.”

She said simply and let him answer, although very shortly after she was forced to stifle a giggle as MARI unexpectedly spoke up. That was highly unexpected and for some reason made Pak smile... a lot.

"I'm pretty sure she is very fond of you though.”

She made a weak attempt to ... well she sure what she was trying to do but she didn't want Alfarinn or MARI to feel bad. Pak had become convinced one could hurt MARI's feelings. She wasn't sure how it worked but she was oddly sure it could happen. Half mulling over how you would upset the AI she was a little slow about giving her own answer.

"Ummmmm...” She finally decided if she was on both team Scandinavia and the part of one team she couldn't kill off Valkyrie either, probably get her demoted or something. "I think marry Nebula, fuck Valkyrie and kill Marvel too.”

[See? There you go,] Kem sent smugly to Aishe when she managed to come up with three more options for their last round. Unfortunately he didn't really have any strong feelings about these three.

Cris and Rowan and Alex and Eiryk had gotten snuggly with each other, and Kem laughed softly when Alfarinn draped himself over Pak. Well, he wasn't about to be the only one not loving on his partner, so he wrapped his arm around Aishe and tugged her close, kissing the top of her head.

The turns came around to him, and he still hadn't really figured out what he would do with these three. He didn't really have anything against any of them. Nebula seemed like the easy 'kill' but like Rowan, he sort of felt like she was more a victim of abuse than anything else.

"I'm going to go with Rowan," he finally said after a short internal debate. "I'd marry Valkyrie, fuck Nebula, and kill Marvel."

Captain Marvel probably wouldn't actually die anyhow, or at least she'd return in some other form. Probably.

Aishe was happy to have at least gotten one last round out. When it all came back around she gave her answer. "Going with my dear old Dad on this. Kill Nebula, marry Captain Marvel, and fuck Valkyrie." She grinned at Cris.

"That was fun." Aishe sipped at her cocoa. "Next time, we can do Harry Potter."

She tried to keep a straight face while she said it, knowing the idea of playing 'fuck marry kill' with a bunch of school-age children would cause any number of reactions, none of them enthusiastic.

The fun thing, though, was just sitting here with her friends and family, enjoying time spent with them. Their schedules didn't always match up. She and Cris had their hands full with security. Rowan was constantly on call as the only doctor in the Towers. Alfarinn ran a whole world-wide clan; Kem helped out in Nachton but still headed up the Archives, and Pak had any number of technical projects to keep her busy.

She was glad they did make time for each other, though. Someday they might all find themselves at opposite ends of the world, but clearly that wasn't going to be today, or really anytime soon. She'd enjoy this while she could.

(ooc: figured we could out here, unless anyone wants to get a final word in!)