+ FOURTH WALL EVENT: BEACH PARTY +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: E V E R Y O N E
Where: The Beach!
When: Sept 5th to Sept 10th
Rating: G to PG-13 (please label higher ratings, thank you!)
Summary: Are the other parties a little too crowded and chaotic for you? Come and chill by the water! And don't forget to have a look at the Fourth Wall Master Post for event rules, puzzle clues, and more places to mingle!
The Story:

Beginning on September 5th, much of the shoreline will be taken over by a massive beach party! As with all good Wonderland parties, it will be run day and night, always mysteriously tidy and always with food that replenishes itself.

At various points along the beach, there will be wheel barrels full of candy and treats, and torches for people to claim as their own. There are also volleyball nets, and when darkness falls they will light up like Christmas trees for those who want to play well into the night.

There are many places set up to sit - some with tables, some with pillows and blankets, many with shade, and some even dug out in the sand. There is music playing, but the source is unclear.

However, there's one thing that the curious may find - a message in a bottle. It will regenerate within five minutes if taken, allowing as many curious truth-seekers to investigate as possible.

Comments

[monopolies]

[ There's a spark in his eyes hearing Tony is in Wonderland too--why the hell did he have to get stuck here when it was full of Brits and not American superheroes?!--but most of all there is another, all-encompassing question. ]

Is T'challa here too?

[ And from the way his eyes sparkle, and the breathy eagerness of his voice, it is clear there's at least one other superhero America is swooning for. You should've heard the gasp in the theater when Chadwick Boseman walked out in that parking garage with that tight v-neck and badass woman at his side. And that tight fitting suit? Goddamn.

Ah, but daydreams of stalking meeting more of his favs, questions of whether Hawkeye has shown up and if it's the Matt Fraction version with Pizza Dog, and some vague thoughts about crossovers with Deadpool--those are dashed by the conversation shifting toward him. Oh how the turns have tabled.

The past lives in his memories as national mythology and fond personal moments, but that's only the surface. The warm, dense surface that he tries to balance on, shifting his weight like he's standing on desert sand, so that he can stay happy and comfortable and not get sucked down into darker realities. The surface and all below exist equally, but only by moving continuously, staying afloat and avoiding sinking, can any of his kind keep semi-sane. If you get swallowed up by the darknesss, you just have to suffocate there until you pull yourself out.

And just like he's standing on that sort of sand in this moment, America shifts back and forth on his feet with nervous energy. ]

Hah! Well, history is living. I'm kinda proof of that, right? So everyone's perspectives are always gonna reveal somethin' new that past people hadn't thought about, or that they had thought about but got lost in the tides of time. But I mean, ya can't change facts, right?

But uh. No? Yes. I guess it depends what you're askin' about. Like if you're askin' if Roots and 12 Years A Slave are accurate, then uh, yeah. If you're askin' if I owned slaves--well that's a complicated question, ain't it? I had that system--I was built on it--so it was a part of me. But it's not like I spent my childhood runnin' a plantation. And I'm sayin' this all 'cause it's still raw but I got enough distance and time to talk about it, and it's important...

[ He takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes. ]

You got paparazzi following you, right? I mean it wasn't really in the movies but I can't imagine you don't get the tabloids harassing you. Historians can be like that to me. Showin' up at my door like, "Hey, America, the age of consent in the 1600s was 10 years old, what's up with that?" and it's like damn dude, I was a kid back then too! I don't know, I was too busy playin' in the woods with animals and tryin' not to get hanged as a witch! And then the questions get even more weirdly personal about problems of empire and...

Wait, was I gettin' at? Oh yeah. History books. Yeah, I dunno. I ain't some omnipotent God that was at every major event ever, so I can't say for sure. Like the Pullman Strike? Shit, I was stranded in Ohio after my horse ran off. Didn't even find out about it 'til a week later! Oh, one thing I can say for sure that the books sometimes get wrong is that Jesse James was a total asshole.

[assembles]

[ Steve shakes his head at that question, crushing all of Alfred's dreams in one swift motion. No, T'Challa is not here. While Steve and the King of Wakanda had definitely gotten off on the wrong foot, they'd managed to sort that out before Steve got yanked back into the suffocating arms of Wonderland. T'Challa is someone who can admit when he's wrong, and there's no denying the regal and elegant way he carries himself.

Not that Steve cares that much about his status as a royal. No, he respects the fact that T'Challa had been willing to take in him and Bucky even after everything that had happened.

It's impossible to miss the way that Steve's question has left Alfred unsettled, though. For a moment he considers telling Alfred that he doesn't have to respond to it if he doesn't want to, but apparently they're just going to keep confronting each other with too-personal inquiries. Besides, once Alfred starts talking he doesn't really stop and it's all pretty fascinating stuff. Steve had been forced to accept that Alfred was in fact a personification of America, but he's never quite understood how that worked until now. ]

So... [ Steve looks over to the water and trails off for a moment as he tries to gather his thoughts on this. ] You were born when America became America, and you kind of grew up with it, but you don't actually know all the details of what's happened over the course of its history. Your history. [ Whatever.

Alfred's comment about Jesse James of all people is enough to snag Steve's interest, as he raises an eyebrow and offers an incredulous smile. It sounds like there's definitely a story there, so...

He nods to one of the seating options offered for the party. ] How so? [ He's pretty sure that's all he needs to say to get Alfred going again. ]

[monopolies]

[ All of America's crushes, all for naught.

Steve's summation works itself over in America's head. His eyes roll up toward the sky, like he's trying to look into the top of his skull through the stars, to find the right thought. He nods slowly. ]

Pretty much. It'd be like you knowin' all your cells individually, knowing when they die and what work they do. I just got the benefit of bein' made up of whole living beings! Oh, but don't know when I was born... or how I was born... memories only go back to like, the early seventeenth century, but I was like a toddler back then so who knows?

[ Probably best not to mention Roanoke or the whole concept of how nations come to be. Too complicated, too metaphysical, too much headcanon, MAYBE HE JUST POPPED OUT OF THE GROUND LIKE PIKMIN. Who knows indeed.

Besides, there's something way more interesting to talk about, and that's his era of outlaws. Just the name "Jesse James" on Steve's beautiful, perfectly patriotic lips is enough to sour America's whole expression. ]

Oh man, that guy. He-- hold on.

[ He has to rush to a nearby table to get Jungle Juice because he literally can't talk about cowboys without something alcoholic in his hands. Also the sugar helps stifle the rage. ]

THAT ASSHOLE. Okay. Y'know, I've seen both sides of the law, bootleggin' and smuggling' and all sorts of stuff--for the moral good, y'know? Because it's not wrong to do stuff like smuggle medicine to ailing people--and that's what I thought I was signin' up for! The James-Younger Gang, the Robin Hoods of the South. Thought I was gonna be doin' some good to my war-ravaged population. Historians can debate about reconstruction all they want, but that don't fix the poverty I saw back then. Thought I'd be doing some harmless train robbin' to help some ex-slaves get on their feet or feed some poor whites whose homes got torched by Sherman.

NOPE. Jesse was a Grade-A selfish, racist, really fuckin' racist piece of shit! All that heroic stuff was just myth. Oh, and he was annoying as all get out. [ He adopts a mocking tone and dead-on Deep Southern accent for his impression. ] "Look at me, I'm Jesse James, I like massacring unarmed Unionists! I don't even got no loyalty to my state! Bluh bluh, I'm so paranoid I plot to have my cohorts killed! I bitch about the genteel but act like I'm a fuckin' God 'cause I'm a narcissist that doesn't even clean up after himself when he's done with supper!" I swear, if he'd been born a century later, you'd see his name in the papers right alongside Bundy and Dahmer. You looked into his eyes and saw a whole lot of 'nothin.

[ FURIOUSLY DOWNS THE REST OF HIS DRINK AND STARES AT IT ANGRILY WISHING FOR IT TO REFILL ITSELF. But that only lasts a second before he sighs and settles down. ]

Amazing I had the stomach to do the same thing again. At least Billy the Kid was the real deal. He was a really good person. He didn't deserve how he went.

[ There is heartache in that memory and a much longer, much more yearning story. He quirks his lips and adds: ]

The Regulators almost called themselves The Avengers, y'know. Only powers they had were loyalty and charm though.

[ And the realization strikes and he just looks at Steve as though this is the first time he's realizing (it isn't, but the alcohol helps him remember): ]

Holy shit, I have terrible luck with men. And women! At least Billy made out with me, I couldn't get no farther than celebrity crush with Annie Oakley! And Luke-- oh man. I'm a mess. I dunno if you're dating Sam or Sharon or Bucky or Tony or whoever I usually pair you in fanfictions with, but you-- you gotta make it! If I can work it out with Luke after he tried to kill me with the moon, you can make it.

[ He is so invested in Steve's success it's a little sad. ]

[assembles]

[ The more that Alfred explains about how his general existence as a country works, the more that it makes a strange sort of sense to Steve. It's true that there are countless processes going on inside each person's body that they remain blissfully ignorant to, and most people can't form memories until they're about three or four years old. Alfred's experience is the same, just on a much larger scale.

Steve can tell when he's in for a story, though, and so he waits for Alfred to obtain his drink, leaning against one of the tables that's been set into the sand. He nods along as Alfred explains that sometimes crimes are committed for the right reasons. Many people try to simplify Steve's morals and assume that he'd take an issue with breaking the law, no matter the reason, but he's of the belief that rules should be ignored if they don't make sense.

Still, it sounds like this Jesse James was a true criminal, only really in it for himself. As Alfred launches into his impression, Steve can't help but smile around the rim of the glass of water he'd picked up somewhere along the way. ]

Sorta like how some people still try to say Columbus was a good guy, right?

[ Maybe Steve shouldn't have even opened up that can of worms, but at least Alfred won't have any personal stories about him, since he clearly doesn't remember that far back.

When Alfred brings up the Regulators and their lack of powers, Steve is quick to straighten and shake his head. ] You don't need powers to be a hero. Sometimes loyalty and determination is all it takes. [ Like the Commandos, for instance. They'd been tough and stubborn and hadn't known how to give up, and Steve is still proud that he'd been the one to lead them through the war.

Except then, somehow, Alfred starts going on about his romantic prospects with historical figures, which for some reason feels almost scandalous. Is there a rule about a personified country having relations with one of his people? Steve lifts a hand to his temple and rubs at it, not sure he wants to think too hard about it. Too bad it's turned on him then, and his face flushes red as he struggles to find words. ]

It's... complicated. [ There's nothing with Tony or Sam, but the other two? Well, let's just say he's been doing his best not to dwell on it. He's pretty sure none of them are in any kind of shape to be making out right now. ]

[monopolies]

Complicated?

[ America clutches his cheeks and his face lights up in such glee it would make Mabel Pines proud. Steve didn't dismiss America's wildest fanboy fantasies. He didn't say, "Oh no, I'm not with anyone," which is only a little disappointing in that America doesn't want to make the moves on a taken man. But it does mean Steve is having a romance life. Maybe even with one of the people he mentioned.

It's like a shipper's dream come true. ]

Oh, I know all about complicated! You can tell me! Maybe I can help!

[ AND GET YOU YOUR FUCKING HAPPILY EVER AFTER. At the very least, Steve can trust him not to gossip to anyone about it, except maybe Luke. America does have a genuine desire to help Steve in any way he can, but mostly he needs to figure out which of his FUNKO figures need to be be displayed together. And maybe so he can creepily play with them, enacting his fanfic fantasies while no one is looking.... ]

[assembles]

[ Apparently that's the worst possible thing he could have said, as now he has Alfred's interest. This isn't a topic that Steve usually even approaches mentioning, but Alfred doesn't have any qualms about delving into someone else's personal life. Granted, it makes sense seeing how for a time he'd considered Steve nothing more than a fictional character.

Somehow, Steve doubts that Alfred can actually help, but he also doesn't think he's going to be able to get him to drop this subject now that it's been broached. ]

Well... there's probably a reason that you mentioned Sharon, right?

[ Mortifying as it is to realize, that kiss must have been part of whatever Alfred watched. Then again, Steve had already had an audience in Bucky and Sam. The kiss had been a spontaneous action, something he'd done because he knew he might be marching off to his death and it had just seemed like a good idea at the time, but...

He and Sharon have done a very good job of not talking about it here. ]

[monopolies]

Yeah? 'Cause she's like, your love interest in... ["recent movies" ] modern times. Right? Peggy's great grand-niece! Ya kissed her after like, a billion years of awkward spying and flirting!

[ Yes Steve. Your spontaneous actions were viewed by millions of fans. ]

She's pretty cool! You dating her now, then?

[assembles]

Well, uhh... not exactly.

[ Maybe in the movies it could be that simple. Maybe Steve will even get there eventually, who knows? He can't say that either he or Sharon have stable enough lives for a proper relationship between them to be feasible. Wonderland's a different story, but Wonderland also brought in other complications.

Steve watches Alfred for a few seconds, weighing whether or not he should give up more information. The chances that Alfred will actually stick around here are pretty slim, but if he does, he might start blabbing to someone he shouldn't. ]

I kind of got involved with someone else here in Wonderland, before I lived through everything that led up to that kiss. So... that's what I mean by complicated.

[ He sighs and shrugs, wishing that saying it out loud would somehow make him feel better about the situation. He knows Alfred's probably going to press him for more information -- at least he's braced for it. ]