10th Contraption: Mawwiage

[pineapplesalmon]

Who: John Watson, Johnny Summer, and César Salazar with Rich Goranski, Fio, and Honoria Crabb AND YOU Oh god why are weddings like this
What: The throuple getting married by... the Captain?!
When: December 11th at 7pm
Where: John's
Warnings: I believe in us! But for now, nothing.


SEATING

John's has been transformed, the seating up front rearranged in rows towards the center dias with an aisle down the middle, the piano moved off to one side. The buffet for later can be seen off to the other. Decorations taken from Spirit Halloween appear here and there–flowers taken from cavalera flower crowns, sun and moon candlestick holders from the tarot collection, festively colored tablecloths draped down the walls like curtains or banners. A sign near the entrance says "seat yourself", although the front row on one side is reserved with a ribbon across the backs.

What can't be seen is who is officiating. Or the husbands, but at least that part makes sense. The dais is empty.


THE CEREMONY

As one of the few traditions in this wedding, music announces the start of the ceremony. Rich strolls in first, trying to look professional even if he’s clearly shaking a bit as he holds the small pillow with the rings laid on it. At least he’s dressed quite smartly, Johnny ensuring his red suit is wrinkle free and his cuff links are set in place. Fio, in a winged black dress and flowery headdress, follows after the ring bearer, adorning the path with paper petals as she moves along.

The first husband to be down the aisle is none other than Johnny, in a smart charcoal grey suit with a goldenrod pocketsquare, gold jewelry, and a wreath of orange blossoms on his head; and accompanied by Honoria Crabb in her perfectly tailored black tuxedo, worn with black gloves and a white bow tie. Watson and César take up the rear, arms linked together. César is wearing an equally fancy suitcoat with his tie held in place with a ruby and silver tie pin, and Watson is wearing an officer’s dress uniform, with the sword and without the helmet, and also his good cane. All three husbands-to-be are wearing green carnation boutonnières.


AFTER PARTY

It's time to eat, dance, and party!

The seating has been rearranged for sitting at tables around the "dance" floor. Food from Windjammer has been placed on some tables for a buffet. There’s a selection of fancy cheeses and crackers, sushi, premade sandwiches, and salad with dressings on the side. For dessert, to one side there’s a table with cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates arranged in a heart. On the bar are a couple bowls of punch (including one explicitly labeled as non-alcoholic) made by Johnny ahead of time, because he's been forbidden to bartend his own wedding, much to his deep chagrin.

There’s a space set just off the dancefloor for musicians who wish to perform, the usual John’s piano (bribed into behaving with a whole pan of beef brisket from the buffet) off to one side.

Comments

[busball]

"Thank you for validating me." He grins widely. "Ohh! Cupcakes! I love them. Yes. I need one!"

[astrogator]

[So of course Ari goes off to get him not one but two cupcakes, both of which she tries to balance very delicately on top of his pile of food.]

I'll validate you with miniature cakes any time I can. My only question is whether you think you can eat it all?

[busball]

Klaus is gonna have to figure out a way to carefully not drop anything. Okaaaaay. They find the nearest table and sit down, carefully putting things down before setting the cupcakes down.

"Is that even a question? Duh. And I have no siblings to steal my food from me." A beat. "Diego."

[astrogator]

[He did it! No dropped food at all. Ari's very impressed - but then her expression turns to concern. She'd never had any siblings.]

Did they really steal food from you? That's cruel! Were there shortages? [She has heard all about the problems Nobunaga's people had with food supplies, after all. Klaus is from the same planet.]

[busball]

The concerned expression makes them laugh slightly. "It's not like..." A beat. "No. It's nothing like that. Diego just likes to annoy me by stealing my food sometimes. I almost chopsticked his hand." That sounds a lot more violent than him just snapping his chopsticks at him. "Siblings are weird like that sometimes, right?

[astrogator]

Oh. I see. I think I see. [Chopsticking someone's hand does sound violent, but maybe food-stealing annoyances deserve it.]

I didn't have siblings. Just tutors and nannies who were very keen on table manners. [She grins.] I won't tell you what they'd have said about your plate.

[busball]

"Yeah. It's not a big deal."

There's a laugh here. "I'm sure they would have had plenty to say, but also I would have still done it. Unfortunately for them. Mom tried to instill table manners in us, but we're still a fucking mess." They shrug. "I don't know what it's like not having siblings, though. There's so many of them."

[astrogator]

[Ari laughs, too, at the thought of it.] I should have been more rebellious as a little girl. Instead of starting late and being dramatic about it, I should have been one of those children who throws food at dinner parties and makes everyone stare.

I guess whatever you're brought up with is normal. I always thought it'd be fun to have a little sister, though. I can't imagine having as many siblings as you - and all the same age! It'd be like if I lived with the others who came out of the genelab at the same time as me.

[busball]

Klaus snickers. "Well, there's no time like the present to start your life as a food throwing child." A beat. "Probably not here, though, but later. We'll start a food fight. And it'll be the fucking best. Everyone will be mad jealous of both how much food we can waste and how much of a mess we're making." They don't actually think she'll agree to it, but anything is possible in this day and age. So who knows?

"That sounds about right. But you should definitely have siblings. I'm technically the second oldest...except that the reset put us back on even playing ground. Sort of??? Except Five is still a teenager."

[astrogator]

No, I don't think so. [She keeps her tone light, but she means it.] I can't be that wasteful. It's not right to.

[Ari shakes her head.] I'm probably too selfish for siblings to put up with me, you know. Or too competitive. It sounds complicated enough even without the time travel problems that you have!

[busball]

Klaus squints at her for a moment. “Oh, so if I just throw mashed potatoes at you, you’re just not gonna throw food back? Sounds fake.”

At that, they laugh for a long minute. “I haven’t met a single person in our family that isn’t selfish or competitive on some level so that’s also fake. Wow. You’re just fake.” It’s light teasing and he hopes she doesn’t knife him over it or look sad.

[astrogator]

If you throw food at me, maybe I'll follow spacer code and shoot you.

[Fake? Probably. But she sounds deadly serious about it.]

[The rest doesn't make her sad, just a bit confused, and she shakes her head.] I'm not, I'm honest, and I never had any siblings, so how should I know what yours are like? [Much more lightly:] My father is very competitive, but he's not in direct competition with me! Maybe everyone is selfish and competitive, it's just a matter of degree.

[busball]

“Liar. Cause then you’d have to deal with Nobunaga.” But that also seems a bit extreme. Over mashed potatoes. So yeah. They’re gonna do it now.

“I haven’t met siblings that aren’t somewhat competitive or extra weird with each other. So I don’t think it’s uncommon. I mean, probably not goaded into being intensely competitive like us and being pretty dysfunctional, but sure.” They shrug a little before. “That’s good, at least.”

[astrogator]

I promise you, if you initiate aggression by throwing things at me, I'll shoot you, and I'll justify my decision to Oda.

[And now she's serious, because she doesn't like being called a liar, but what she's not saying is that she'll be using the stun setting.]

[Still, there's no actual hostility, she's just trying to deter him from trying it.]

All families are different, though. Especially if you're looking at different planets - but of course there's no way to tell what would have happened if I did have siblings. We might have been just the same.

[busball]

"Mmmmmm...I dunno. Mashed potatoes aren't even aggression. Diego's thrown a knife at me before. This is like...basic." Sure, Klaus probably has a very skewed idea of how normal siblings act. Hasn't met a sibling that doesn't do weird shit and Ari is sort of like having a little sister. Ava is like another sibling that's basically the same age.

"Maybe? I dunno."

[astrogator]

You don't know? I'm telling you, as plainly as I can, what the consequences will be if you do that to me. It's aggression and it's disrespect and I don't want you to do it.

[Luckily for Klaus, he's saved from further lecturing because now that Ari has made her point, the implications of what she's just heard are sinking in.]

Diego? Your brother Diego, he threw a knife at you? That's fucked up. Unless you're going to tell me that you started the fight.

[busball]

Klaus lets out a long sigh. Fine. People clearly are weird about siblings. "Fine fine. But I'm still going with the food fight idea. Even if you are being totally weird right now. Someone will have fun with me for it."

They just stare in confusion. "What? It was just a thing. That's how siblings fight sometimes. It's fine."

[astrogator]

[Ari shrugs, indifferently.] If someone else wants to waste food with you, that's their lookout. I don't care so long as I'm not around.

I've never heard of siblings fighting like that. Have you heard of anyone other than Diego doing it?

[busball]

"No promises. It could happen by accident just as you walk in and you can't hold me accountable for an accident." Yeah. That totally works. Accidents happen all the time!

Klaus shrugs. "I mean, Allison did recently murder Viktor's sort of adopted kid because he accidentally killed our moms because Viktor accidentally gave him powers that he didn't mean to give him. So like...you know. Also once Viktor sort of accidentally almost killed Allison. It was a whole thing. So you know. And plus, Five and Diego being dicks is how they say I love you! It's their love language!"

[astrogator]

Those are all your relatives. It's not normal, and it's not loving.

[And Ari doesn't know how many ways she has to say she doesn't agree to this before he'll respect it, and now she's getting to thinking that it's because she allowed informalities and closeness that she probably shouldn't have, so now he thinks it'd be fine to mistreat her.

Yes, throwing food at someone, once you've reached the age of reason, isn't anything but wasteful and insulting where she's from. She can't see the funny side at all.]

You think Tradeliners can't see obvious loopholes? Any food gets anywhere on my person, after what you've just threatened, and I'm holding you accountable. Even if I dropped my soup spoon.

[Then she stands to leave, because she has too many conflicted feelings and it's not right to get into a proper argument at someone else's celebration.]

[busball]

Klaus frowns. “Not normal, I’ll accept, but you don’t even know them enough to understand. We love each other. It doesn’t have to sound right to you.”

He’s not even going to stop her from leaving. It had all been teasing. They’re just going to go off on their own because Johnny deserves a good vibe even if they’re currently a bad vibe.