metalogs | [closed] Mog's Day Celebration

Who: Sephiroth

skagzz, and friends!
What: They made up a holiday instead of celebrating any of the actual things they have to celebrate.
When: November 14
Where: their new home in Sunset Falls
Content Warnings: N/A for now

Happy Mog's Day!

What's Mog's Day? Well, it's not surprising you haven't heard of it, since it isn't an Earth holiday. It's a fall celebration marking the end of the season, before moogles enter their annual hibernation. A simple drawing of a moogle (a white, vaguely koala-like animal with small bat wings) was included in the invitation. On arrival, guests will be asked to don a large red nose, out of respect for Mog. The hosts are exempt from this, given they're the ones throwing the party and all.

Want a tour of the house? The hosts are not familiar with the concept of a housewarming party, but that's essentially what this is, and any of them would probably show you around if you like. They've just moved, but there's no sign of boxes. Rather, the bookshelves and decor seem a little sparse, their belongings having migrated from a smaller space. You may catch glimpses of a large orange cat slinking around behind the furniture. He has not yet adjusted to his new surroundings, and all the strangers aren't helping.

A catered dinner is laid out on the dining room table. (They can cook, they just... didn't.) There's also a chocolate cake waiting in the kitchen for later. It's for Loki; Sephiroth doesn't really care about cake.

The nearby back door leads out into the yard, and the fire pit. Arranged on a table are some materials one might use to create a simple effigy of someone you particularly hate. There's also a bag of marshmallows, seemingly as an afterthought.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You know what? Dylan's cool with the red nose. He can make this work, especially with everyone else wearing one. He's surprisingly relaxed at Sephiroth's party — There's none of that weird family tension like what had been going on at Bruce's party.

At dinner, Dylan's trying to be on his best behavior, at least. He'd grown up under a pretty strict roof and can call upon some basic knowledge of table manners when he feels like it. And he likes Sephiroth a lot, so he feels like being well-behaved now.

At one point, when dinner conversation turns to home worlds, Dylan shares some details of his own — He knows there's a Loki there, though he doesn't think the party's host is the same one. He has actually met his world's Thor and fought side by side with him in battle! Maybe he's a little too chuffed to be able to brag about that, but he's trying to impress the adults.

At the firepit, Dylan's effigy is a spindly-looking fellow with some prominent chest armor and a face that's 90% teeth. He seems to take great pleasure in dropping it into the fire.

"Rot in hell, Knull."

Dylan's dark schadenfreude at his effigy's execution is immediately brightened when he spots the marshmallows. It's not the marshmallows themselves that delight him — Okay, they're a little delightful. But what really gets him is Sephiroth remembering Dylan talking about bonfires and marshmallows being a good match.

(Or maybe it was Loki's idea. Dylan's pleased either way.)

Balthier raises a brow. He hasn't seen Dylan in awhile, but he's always found of the boy. He's pleased he and Sephiroth know each other.

"My congratulations on your slaughter. Maybe I should commission you to make one of my father."

Dylan laughs. "No need to commission me. I'll burn Trash Dads for free." He turns and grins at Balthier. "How have you been? Especially after... you know, all that stuff that happened the past several months. And then didn't happen, I guess?"

"Nonsense. Your time and skill are always worth something," he says, grinning back but not entirely joking.

"Ah, well, you know. Few more headaches, figurative and literal, odd senses of deja vu, not sure what's in your head and what's in everyone else's. But the people I care about are safe, and I still have a house, so all in all, I'd say doing well. You?"

Dylan shrugs. "The time travel stuff didn't really affect me, but the Confluence got me instead. Lived out several months of life back home in the span of... maybe two seconds." He laughs, but it comes out a little bitter and humorless. "Same thing happened to Tim and Nico at the same time."

Balthier winces. "Time distortions and alternate paths are particularly rough in my experience. My condolences. I spent some time as my younger self in this timeline. Fortunate enough someone looked after me both times, but extremely disorienting."

[ loki twitches slightly. ]

Must we talk about Thor?

Oh! No, we don't have to. I was just. Um. Making conversation.

[ He tries to play it cool, but for a moment his cheeks are as red as the Mog Nose he & the other guests are wearing. Cool, great job Dylan, annoying the host! ]

So how is wedding planning going?

[ That is what adults talk about, right? ]

[ loki squints at him for a moment. generally, teens don't care about weddings. ]

It is going well. We've yet to pick a date but we're collecting our ideas together.

Sephiroth is pleased that his guests are taking advantage of the opportunity to burn effigies. It's an activity that helped him to feel an affinity with others for the first time, so it means something to him.

Dylan seems to be taking a particular pleasure in it. It's a sign of good friendship potential.

"...I thought it might be appropriate, to roast them over their metaphorical dead bodies."

"It was the perfect touch," he says, kissing his fingertips like a chef. "An extra helping of disrespect on top of everything else. What's not to love?"

Sephiroth chuckles.

"I'm glad you agree." He nods at what remains of the effigy in the flames. "Is this the one who's properly dead?"

"Yeah." His expression sobers a little as he watches the effigy crumble into the embers. He's quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful. "I could hear him in my head sometimes, before he invaded the planet. Like he wanted me to get it ready for him."

There were moments when the voice had convinced him to do some awful shit, too. Dylan wonders if that's what it's like when Galactus chooses a herald. Except he's pretty sure Galactus doesn't choose relatives. Does he even have relatives?

Dylan pulls himself out of his thoughts, though, remembering that this is Sephiroth's party. Don't get all weird and introspective. "Of course, he didn't realize the connection goes both ways. So I got to be a pretty big player in taking him down."

Edited 2023-12-11 01:30 (UTC)

Dylan's first remark sobers Sephiroth, too. He's only caught snatches of it, in other lifetimes, other Sephiroths, but there's something like that for him, if he were to return to his Planet. Jenova's voice, tugging at his thoughts. He knows at least one other him didn't resist it.

"...that's clever of you, turning it on him. I'm glad it ended this way."

"Thanks. Me too."

He fiddles with another little stick man in his hand, this one far simpler. "My other grandpa wasn't great, either. I think the fire's too good for this one. Too fast."

Dylan flings it off to the side, into the grass somewhere.

"He's rotting all alone in his own misery. He can fucking rot here, too."

"...I suppose family can be quite a disappointment."

He eyes the spot where the effigy fell for a moment. "Loki will probably have his way with that one, eventually." He means the cat. But, that might be hard to discern.

[closed] Mog's Day Celebration

Dylan Brock | Marvel Comics (Earth-616) | OTA

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( dinner )

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firepit

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