festival day!

[thespaceopera]

Who: EVERYONE
Broadcast: Up to you
Action: Everywhere in the Yadrolla system!
When: 5/30

[At last, the day has come: Festival Day! Once again, the Starstrikers have taken the trophy this year. But that doesn't mean members of other teams, or those who didn't play, can't celebrate with the rest of them!

There are parties everywhere. Ribbons, streamers, and confetti litter every major street in the system. (Remember what they say about glitter...) There is food on every block, and people cramming into shops to get in on the merch.

Don't forget about the reason for the festival-- the pet adoption drive! A large playground-type area has been set up on the Starstrikers' desert moon where people can play and interact with the lovable creatures needing new homes. Whether you're looking for companionship or just something to do, there's plenty to coo over! Every pet comes with an info card listing a fanciful name and a general description of their age and temperament. Maybe Sir Pringle the puppy or Marquess Mariana the fish can become your new best friend.

Sadly, the Fleet will be drifting in about a week... but feel free to party until then!]

Comments

Hooray!

[ecclesiophobic]

The key to pulling it off is body confidence, something Kurt has in spades. Plus it's legitimately comfortable; though his fur is short enough that it generally makes little difference temperature-wise, in a large group of people like this it's easy for him to stifle in heavy clothing.

He lifts his drink in silent thanks when Pavel welcomes him, pivoting to put his back to the wall once he's next to the other man. The observation gets a chuckle and a shrug. "Kitty's fault," he explains, following with, "But I do love dancing, and I don't mind.. All this. Just haven't been in a mood to lately."

[candothat]

"Ah, of course. Many things are." Kitty's fault, that is. It's offered as joke even though it's not untrue. "I think that being with the fleet doesn't often lend itself to moods like this. Celebratory, I mean."

That planet where everyone was dead was a real mood-killer.

[ecclesiophobic]

"It used to," is his answer, a vaguely melancholic look crossing his face. He'd met Wrath at one of those celebrations, in all her pink glory. "First.. week or so I was here, there was a costume ball. I went dressed as a.. gladiator, war-lord type thing. Still have most of it, not certain where the shirt went." Probably the same place tonight's shirt went.

He waves a hand, dismissing the mental tangent before it can fully distract him. "I'm not sure I miss those days. People seemed happier, though it's easier to believe now that the situation is real. Or I could be remembering wrongly."

[candothat]

"I don't think that you remember wrongly. Kitty told me once that the Fleet was better before I came here." Which stung a little then, and it still does. He knows that it being better had nothing to do with him, but it hurts that his presence hasn't improved things. Further evidence that Kitty—and, truthfully, no one else—needs him around. "Kinder, I mean. Fewer dangers and disasters to avert."

[ecclesiophobic]

Given the unique properties of his eyes, namely that every part of it is a uniform color, it can be difficult to impossible to tell when Kurt is looking at someone from the corner of his eye. With this in mind, Kurt turns his head to look at the other man before narrowing his eyes, just to be certain Pavel gets the full effect.

"I think it had more to do with our previous hosts' brutal murder by their successors," he points out, one of his eyebrows arching. "You may be a brilliant man, but you strike me as being too empathic to enjoy that sort of wet-work. Or the charade of pretending to be a fellow captive, after."

[candothat]

He gets it and he does not like it.

"No, I don't enjoy those things." Pavel's interest in his drink increases considerably. It's much easier to look at than Kurt. "Things like that happened in the first place I was in. In the City. It was almost unsurprising when it happened here."

[ecclesiophobic]

How rude, Kurt is much easier on the eyes. Except, yes, when he's staring a person down like that, which he shows no signs of stopping.

The severity of it does lessen when Pavel mentions another place where such things were more common. "I'd wondered." What, exactly, he'd wondered is apparently not something he intends to volunteer, as he moves right along. "The prison one that you and Kitty both came from, or another place?"

[candothat]

You're beautiful, Kurt. Beautiful and slightly intimidating.

Pavel doesn't ask for elaboration—not yet. "No, another place. The Wardens where Kitty and I were enjoyed playing mind games sometimes, but I don't think that they were cruel, not intentionally. I was in the City before that, and the Deities murdered one of their own very publicly."

[ecclesiophobic]

If he's intimidating now, the undiluted hatred that twists his face when Pavel mentions deities may well be terrifying. "I'd expect no less from one of those things," he sneers in a tone practically dripping with venom. His tail lashes behind him, the spade snapping through the air and accidentally slapping the wall. The sting of it seems to distract him from his rage, and he squeezes his eyes shut.

"Apologies," he mutters after a few moments of silence and very slow breaths. "I didn't mean--it was nothing you did. I'm sorry you saw that."

[candothat]

Pavel tenses up considerably in the face of that unexpected display of anger. Even though he knows that Kurt's fury isn't directed at him and trusts the mutant to not hit him with his tail, its suddenness and ferocity are startling.

"It's fine," he replies quietly. Carefully. "...Would you like to talk, or is it best to pretend that the last thirty seconds didn't happen?"

[ecclesiophobic]

"Nein," is his reluctant answer, drawn out into a groan. He reaches up with a free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, as his tail droops against the floor. "You deserve an explanation, and I deserve having to tell it for loosing my control like that." 'I just wasn't expecting it,' which he will not try to use as an excuse. Its true, but also weak.

The promised explanation takes another moment to begin, as Kurt draws in another slow breath. "I.. was raised like goddamn Rapunzel. The first time I met anyone without powers, they took me from my home, tied me to an alter in the nearby town's church, and tried to rip my heart out. They believed their god would rid the world of mutants if they sacrificed the devil-child. After that, I became a soldier fighting against a genocidal mutant who had been risen to pseudo-deity levels. So I--goddamit." He presses his lips together in a thin line, his face settling into a stone expression that would be entirely believable if not for the drink in his hand sloshing against the glass.

[candothat]

Kurt can have all of the time he needs. Pavel is nothing if not patient... and also reluctant to push someone who just snapped. That too.

That explanation is even more unpleasant than he'd expected (and he has heard enough from Kitty to expect plenty of unpleasantness). Since he doesn't think that he and Kurt are quite on hugging terms, he reaches over to steady Kurt's drink-wielding hand. "You don't need to explain further." Unless you would like to. Hopefully that goes without saying.