Interceptors: Planning for the Big Day (IC)

[Heritage]

The Brownstone, Saturday April 2nd, 6:08 pm

Grimalkin flicked her wrist and a long metal teacher's pointer appeared in her hand

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinkin'..."

The tiny shapeshifter had pulled most of the furniture away from the middle of the living room in order to allow sufficient space for her to conjure up several cutaway scale models depicting various structures in Freedom City, amongst them Silbermann's Books, the main floor of the Brownstone (including an incredibly detailed model of the backyard, decked out in full party regalia) and what appeared to the the Wreck Room in the Underground. Several small human figures where dotted about, some of them actually recognizable as her fellow teammates. Perched on one of the sofas now ringing her rather excessive display, she indicated a miniature chuppah in the mock-up of the bookstore, her face deadly serious as she looked at the rest of the team.

"This is going to be Ground Zero, the focus of any possible attacks during the ceremony itself; Colt, Rabbi Feingold and myself will be under the canopy, which ideally will be protected by some sort of force field. Dok, how small could you rig one of those up?"

The invite she'd rather casually sent to the Interceptors (and Archeville!) via Vince had done little to indicate the true state of the changeling's mind when it came to her wedding preparations, which were clearly a bit...much.

[Dariusprime]

Mona arrived sketchbook and soda in hand for what she thought was a grand planning event. She'd never helped plan a wedding! What fun! But apparently the planning, in Lynn's mind, was more martial in nature.

During the initial presentation, as she examined the scale models, Mona could barely hide the equal parts look of disappointment and amusement at Lynn's antics. This level of pre-wedding jitters could only come from a super hero! She kept giving her other present team mates little guarded glances, as if wondering if a pixie prank was about to be sprung.

No, apparently, she really was that worried. Yes, she could both figuratively and literally turn into a Bridezilla. The very thought of which caused Fulcrum to snicker a little, although with enough good manners to hide it behind her hand.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. How about a nice cup of herbal tea?" she asked the shapeshifter.

[Geez3r]

"Well if you're worried about an attack..." said Eli after a moment of studying the incredibly detailed mock up Grim had made "...I should probably be situated more towards the back, in the center aisle here. That way I have a larger field of view to spot oncoming attacks, and if there is one, I can get up to speed quicker and get people out of harms way." finished Eli, apparently having also given this some thought.

Eli sat back on the sofa once his piece was said. "But I really don't think you've got to worry about it. You don't exactly strike me as the type to get an arch nemesis, or guys swearing blood oaths of vengeance. Jack on the other hand..." said Eli jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

[quotemyname]

Despite Grim's stressed appearance, and despite Fulcrum's unsure glances, Colt sat with one leg laid across the other on the sofa, and a smile on his face. He knew how Grim could get in these situations. She meant well, and tended to blow things out of proportion. But that didn't mean he had to say any of those things out loud. Matial law was in effect after all.

"I reckon Eli's gon'n said't. This ain't gon' be like Jack'n Taylor's weddin'. Leastways'a hope not. On'y real enemy I got ain't even been seen round these parts fer months. An' even if'n anyone does crash'r lil party, I'd be surprised if'n our friends let'em ruin our special day." His smile was confident, and reassuring. "I think ya should be worried less 'bout'n attack'n more 'bout what y'all want th'DJ playin'th reception." Colt offered a change of subject.

[Dariusprime]

Fulcrum thumbed toward Colt, "What he said," came her own reply before her form blurred a moment. She refocused with a cup of Lynn's favorite and offered the beverage to her.

"You'll do fine. You'll have an entire superhero team backing you up, and like Colt said, you don't seem like the type to have a nemesis. Which means that the likelihood of a random villain showing up is about the same as Colt running off with Siren. Ie, not a chance in hell." She squeezed the pixie's shoulder for emphasis.

"Now, that being said, the mock ups look very nice. Where is Siblermann's Books? You made a very efficient use of space, considering the size of the building."

[Heritage]

Lynn looked a little embarrassed, but happily accepted the cup of Sleepytime tea Mona brought her. "I'm sorry, guys, it's just...pretty much my whole family is going to be there, and I want to be married like this-" She indicated her pointy ears. "This is who I am now, and I know that being another person is an important part of our job, but if I can't be the real me in front of the ones I love, then what's the point?" She waved a hand in Erik and Ellie's direction. "You guys, of course, can be whoever you want; you identies aren't mine to reveal."

"Now, that being said, the mock ups look very nice. Where is Siblermann's Books? You made a very efficient use of space, considering the size of the building."

The shapeshifter jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "Oh, it's real close by; oh man, did I not show it to you guys?" She covered her eyes in shame. "I am a bad teammate; the official opening had to be pushed back a few times, so at this point I figured we should just wait until after the wedding." She shrugged. "I always wanted a small ceremony, and we don't have to pay to use it, plus it's important to my family and me, so I figured..." And then she started to tear up a bit. "It'll be like Grampa Lou is right there with us."

[Dr Archeville]

"I could," Archeville nodded at Grim's suggestion for the force field, "but I do not think I shall."

I wonder if Mona would get this worked up if we ever planned a wedding?

"For two reasons," he quickly added. "One, I do share the opinion of Eli and Billy that there is little danger of the event being crashed. While you all have done an exquisite job protecting the city from threats both natural and manmade, none of you really have any archenemies, either individually or for the group as a whole. And, given who might be appearing on the guest list, the Interceptors would not be the only superheroes on site. Now," he held up his hands defensively, "I am not saying we should drop all our guard, but I do believe having us at key points -- say, Ellie here," he pointed to a seat near the front, "where she could quickly throw up a protective field around the couple and the attendants, and Erik here, where his senses would have the widest sweep," he indicated the center of the audience, "and Vince keeping tabs throughout, that should give us sufficient ability to sense any incoming threats, as well as putting them in key locations to move to defensive positions."

"The other reason," he said, pausing to take a sip from his large glass of tea, "is that I am in no way officially part of this team, so my involvement should not appear to be any more or less than it would for any other superhero wedding. And, given what you have told me of your family, I am not sure all of them would be comfortable with me being there."

Although... I could go as Mona's "+1"!

[Gizmo]

Sitting on the armrest of the chair her brother was reclining in, Ellie gave Erik an arch look. "Well?"

Pulling back slightly, the elder sibling raised an eyebrow. "Well what?"

"Do we have to worry about the House of Staves or the Broan space fleet or whatever showing up because you ticked them off?" she asked folding her arms. A sardonic smirk suggested she was at least partly joking, but her brother's history for making certain lasting impressions made it a reasonable concern.

The fencer shrugged, bemused. "Hey, like half of my arch-nemeses are also on my 'potential wedding dates' list," he grinned. "It'll be fine. Dok's got a good point, those energy shields and a little advance warning'll go a long way if it comes to it."

The smirk fell from Ellie's face as she turned to Lynn, focusing on one part of Erik's offhand comment. "Dates! Right. Um...?" The younger woman wasn't entirely sure what the proper etiquette was.

[Heritage]

"The other reason," he said, pausing to take a sip from his large glass of tea, "is that I am in no way officially part of this team, so my involvement should not appear to be any more or less than it would for any other superhero wedding. And, given what you have told me of your family, I am not sure all of them would be comfortable with me being there."

Lynn had nodded in agreement with much of what Dok said, but when he came to this last point, her heart sagged and her head drooped a bit. "Yeah, your probably right; I do want you to meet my mom someday, and maybe my dad, but I think you may be right..."

But then another thought hit her which made her brighten up considerably, and she waved her hands in excitement. "Omigod, Vince! You could run the security cameras and be our videographer! Oh, and narrate the wedding video! I smell Oscar, baby!"

The smirk fell from Ellie's face as she turned to Lynn, focusing on one part of Erik's offhand comment. "Dates! Right. Um...?" The younger woman wasn't entirely sure what the proper etiquette was.

The worried look on Ellie's little face made Lynn feel all warm inside. "You want to bring along your awesomely adorable girlfriend with her knowledge of super-science? Hell yeah!" She laughed. "See, I kinda see our wedding party as being, like, the Seven Samurai, so having her around just makes good tactical sense, too." And then she smiled like a big sister. "And I wanna see you happy, hermanita. And dancing."

[quotemyname]

"This here's'a weddin', Ellie." Colt smiled at the teen, "Ever'one gets'a 'plus one' if'n they want. Well, so long's th'RSVP's'n time that is. If'n togetherness ain't th'point'a all'a this'n I reckon I don't know what is."

"So that much's settled then. Good. Small ceremony, Vince on cameras, Interceptors'll spread out'n cover th'bases. All 'Cept'fer Jack't is." Colt turned to look at his teammate. It would be the first time he'd make this announcement to the team. "Jack here's gon' be 'ma best man. So I'll need him up front'a'course." The cowboy shot a smile the swashbuckler's direction.

"Anywhoo, what'y'all think 'bout movin' on't th'reception. Reckon th'party's my favorite part'a weddin's." The comment was off the cuff, but from the look he gave Grim, and the wink to go along with it, she knew he wasn't talking about this particular wedding.

[Gizmo]

"Up front and to the side, obviously," Erik drawled with a grin in return. "Can't have me making the groom look bad in comparison. But where am I going to find an ugly enough tux to make enough of a difference...?" he mused with exaggerated concern, his jovial manner suggesting he was well pleased to be a part of the ceremony.

Ellie flushed a little at Lynn's enthusiastic response, her usually flawlessly composed manner failing her. "Well, I mean, she's always pretty busy with like, a million things, but um." She let her feet swing back and forth a bit off of the armrest as she looked away with a small smile in spite of herself. "Y'know. I'll ask."

Vince appeared, life-sized on the television screen, wearing a tuxedo that was just over-the-top enough to suggest a classy lounge singer, a movie clapperboard in one hand. "Until they make a category combining Best Supporting Role and Best Special Effects, I may be snubbed, Lynnie," the gregarious AI admitted with a tooth filled smile. "I'll make sure to get some good shots, but you'll probably want somebody who can actually walk around the place capturing those happy memories, too!"

[Geez3r]

"... What." said Eli flatly as he looked between Ellie and Lynn. From the expression on Eli's face it was clear he didn't have any prior reason to associate "Ellie" and "girlfriend". "I didn't even know you were dating anyone!" said Eli flabbergasted, and a little accusatory. "Let alone that you were... yeah." said Eli, wisely not finishing the sentence. "...So why does no one tell me these things?" he asked to the room at large rhetorically.

"And she's good with the Science!" after a moment refocusing his attention on Ellie. "Apparently." he added with a glance to Grim. "You know how I am about the Science! and the messing around there of." he finished looking back at Ellie.

"Right, so in conclusion: you've got a girlfriend, you suck for not introducing me, and good on you for finding someone like that you care about." said Eli, full of sincerity and a bit of the "d'awww" tone creeping into his voice. Eli made a move towards Ellie, but stopped almost immediately. "Can I give you a hug or am I still stuck in the hi five zone?" asked Eli, any annoyance he had with Ellie had already evaporated.

[quotemyname]

Colt sat and watched the antics of his teamnates. When Jack mention the bit about the tuxedo, he wagged his finger at the swordsman, but jokingly - He knew it was all in fun. As soon as Eli began flustering over Ellie, Colt was in stitches. Especially when he mentioned the high five zone. If'n I had'ny doubts. This trumps'em. These're ma friends. Thes're ma fam'ly. I got sommthin' special here, an if'n it don't replace ma one attachment't ma former life, I'll be'a monkey's uncle. Colt thought as he watched the show they were putting on. He silently counted down until how long he expected Eli to get batted upside head in place of a high five.

[Gizmo]

Ellie blanched at Eli's initial outburst, wincing as the speedster managed to awkwardly articulate what he was upset about. "Um. Whoops?" she offered.

"Smooth," her brother drawled with a hint of amusement, resting his head in one hand and letting his younger sibling handle the situation for herself.

"Shut up," Ellie retorted, absently punching Erik in the shoulder without looking over at him. "Sorry, Zip. I mean, I wasn't exactly advertising, but I kinda though everybody already knew at this point." More specifically, she was a little surprised it had taken so long for Lynn to let something slip. Admittedly, the medic hadn't been going out of her way to let Eli in on the news; he'd never really made a serious pass at her, but he was the Interceptor the closest to her own age and she hadn't been sure how he'd take it. "But, uh, yeah. That's a thing, anyway..."

With an impatient noise, Erik interrupted, "Oh, give the poor guy a hug, already."

Responding with another swift punch, Ellie sighed. "Fine, but we're not making it a habit or anything."

[Heritage]

Lynn's ears went a bit pink when she realized she'd just outed Ellie to the clueless Eli, but things seemed to be okay. To smooth things over a bit more, she slapped her forehead dramatically.

"That's right, you weren't here for the all-girls strip poker sleepover party! I'm so sorry, dude, I thought you got the pictures I emailed you; check your spam filter settings."

All joking aside, she once again approached her models. "Okay, so it seems like my fortified bunker-inspired plans are being shot down, so where do we want to do the reception?" She indicated the Brownstone mock-up. "I thought we might be able to do it here, but that might be too darned public...unless we covered the building with like an invisibilty dome or something." She playfully looked at Dok out of the corner of her eye.

[quotemyname]

"Orrr..." Colt drawled, "We could just leave the country!" He smiled, standing from the arm of the chair where he'd parked himself. "Doc'n I'd been exchangin' some words th'last few weeks'n I was thinkin' that shippin'th guests'ta tables'n europ'er somethin'd be neat. Somethin' exotic, y'know." Although, not planning on it, his presentation had drawn enough attention away from the exchange between Eli and Ellie. "What'y'all think?"

[Dariusprime]

Mona joined Billy in a good, old-fashioned laugh. The kind of laugh registered as complete affection. Reserved as Mona tended, something special about the Interceptors always put her at ease. Still planning was planning.

"Not to be the spoil sport," she started, trying to bring the last of the giggles under control, "but we've already discussed this haven't we? I could swear a problem came up with that. Although the idea of using that lovely castle is a great one." One arm snaked around Viktor and squeezed him. Gently.

"I agree with Vince though. You need a good photographer that can move around. Help you get the good, goofy shots if nothing else."

[Geez3r]

"Yay!" exclaimed Eli as Ellie lowered that one particular barrier, and he gave her a quick hug. He also took the opportunity to make a doofy face at Erik over Elli's shoulder. That was pretty much the equivalent of throwing a baseball at a beehive, but it was also totally worth it.

At the mention of the poker game, Eli impishly looks over at Grim. "That reminds me, I've been meaning to go over Vince's video logs for some time now. And for totally unrelated reasons, what room was this in again?" he asked with a chuckle. "Seems like I've been missing out on a lot recently." he added, getting a little more serious. "Maybe I'm due for catching up." he mused absent mindedly.

After that though, he shut up about Ellie, and let Grim take her place at the forefront of the conversation. After all this was going to be her special day. But then a though struck him "Well how many are coming? I can guess by the number of chains on your diagram here, but not sure how detailed it is. We can probably get like 50 people in here, give or take, depending on how friendly we all get with one another."

[quotemyname]

At the mention of the poker game, Eli impishly looks over at Grim. "That reminds me, I've been meaning to go over Vince's video logs for some time now. And for totally unrelated reasons, what room was this in again?" he asked with a chuckle. "Seems like I've been missing out on a lot recently." he added, getting a little more serious. "Maybe I'm due for catching up." he mused absent mindedly.

As Eli finished going on about taking a peek at Vince's video logs, Colt was right there with a good natured open handed slap upside the head. "Whatch't there, Partner." Colt wagged his finger at the speedster. "Vince? I reckon I'd love't here't yer encryption software cain't b'cracked wit' just'a load'a free time'n massive amounts of attempts't crackin'a word're combo? If'n there's one thing Eli's got it's'a load'a free time'n fast typin' skills." Colt smiled jovially at the speedster.

[Gizmo]

Ellie took the opportunity to slug Eli in the shoulder before the speedster could pull all the way away. "Regular poker! It was regular poker," she insisted, raising the index fingers of each hand as she looked about the room as if to ward off any disagreement. "Regular. Poker."

Her brother laughed aloud, shaking his head at his blond teammate. "Man, you gotta stop thinking I'm the one to worry about when you try to mess with mi hermanita." Reaching over, Erik tousled his sibling's hair, recently cut back down to a pixie cut. "She'll mess you up!"

"Her? It's my files he talking about perusing!" Vince protested with exaggerated offense, his outfit shifting to nothing more than a long bath towel that he pulled tightly up around his chest in mock self-consciousness.

[Geez3r]

Eli took his hits in stride, he asked for them after all. He never got to mess around with his siblings all that much. His sisters would pick on him all the time, but he couldn't hit back even though they were older because they were girls. And he'd get in trouble pretty frequently for rough-housing with his brothers because he was older and was therefore supposed to lead by example. Yeah that never really happened when he was back home, but he had matured a little bit since then. Not hard considering his starting point.

"Well if you would just add the tags to the files or offer them up in a convenient slide-show format I wouldn't have to go looking now would I?" asked Eli rhetorically to Vince. But the questioned carried a tone of letting the conversation end there, hoping to get back to the matter at hand presently.

[Heritage]

Grim nodded in Mona's direction. "Yeah, the issue with leaving the country is my Uncle Karl and his plus one, since this is just a good behaviour furlough for him; I'm sure we can come up with something here in town, though." Then she turned to Eli. "I've been trying to keep the guest list small, but I still keep coming up with thirty-six people from my family, which I know is small from a wedding point of view but still seems like quite a handful." She gestured to take in the rest of the room. "All of you are invited, obviously, and will make up the wedding party, along with my sister Eddi and whoever else Colt wants on his team."

She sighed as she picked up her own figurine from the Silbermann's mock-up and studied is carefully. "Assuming Dok's polite but totally understandable decline, that puts as at..." She counted off on her fingers. "Forty...three? Forty-four with the rabbi. And I'd kinda like to see our married heroic buddies there, if at all possible, so that Jack, Taylor, Derrick and Stesha, which pretty much maxes us out. Maybe like a guy on jazz flute for accompaniment?"

Placing the figure back in its spot, she shook her head. "I dunno, maybe I should just leave off some of my cousins, nieces and nephews; they might have trouble keeping 'Auntie Sheri's secret' anyway..." She stopped, looked around at the others and pointed at herself. "Uh, my family all calls me 'Sheri' or 'Sher'; I go by 'Lynn' here because I think it sounds better."

[quotemyname]

"Grim," Colt prompted as he stood from the arm of the chair and moved to her side. "I reckon leavin' people off'a th'guest list's th'last thing ya should do." He gave her a smile, "Ev'ryone knows how important yer fam'ly is to ya. As fer th'youngin's, well, they gotta find out sometime. An' when better't tell'em. I wouldn't worry too much'bout them talking neither. If it's one thing kids love, it's keep'n secrets. The one's't blab're prob'ly too young't know what't means anyhow." He took her hand in his, and used his free hand to shift some of the models around, like he was trying to make sure everything was perfect. "Fourty three sounds right't me. Anyone I'd invite, you'd already taken care of. An' I ain't got no fam'ly't speakof, so I reckon that ain't gon' matter no how. Though perhaps we should make room fer 75're so. In case there's any unexpected plus ones?" Colt looked at both Grim and his friends for their opinions.

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville had been quietly observing the scene for a while, breaking his silence only to chuckle softly at Eli's discovery of Ellie's activities.

Is Eli seeing anyone? There is Grim and Lynn, of course, and I think Erik is still with Natalya... kinda. So is Eli the only on with no relationship? He is moderately handsome, and there would certainly be women out there who would enjoy his... attitude. Perhaps his speed gives him some difficulty in simply relating to others, to forging those deep interpersonal connections?

"Well," he finally said, "even if the ceremony and reception are held here, you two can still have a very nice honeymoon in a fabulous European vacation spot."

What was it her Uncle Karl was in jail for? Something white collar, I am sure. I could probably use some of my influence to get his furlough extended to include a cross-country trip... but would it be ethical to do so?

[Dariusprime]

"Okay," started Fulcrum, who had otherwise silently kept mental notes, "We're looking at 50 or so total including family, heroic friends and people putting on the ceremony? How about plus five margin just for safety?" She scribbled a few notes.

"What exactly are our roles in the wedding then? We've discussed security, which is a given, but will we have any other duties? How will the ceremony proceed?" While not overly zealous, her tone an attempt to move toward specifics. Those darn brass tacks also were so difficult!

Truth be known, Grim's would be her first Jewish wedding, and she had really no clue on particular cultural customs.