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WHO: The residents of Maurtia Falls #004 and many friends
WHERE: MF4
WHEN: Late September
WHAT: Family Dinner: The Return. After a long hiatus, it has returned. If you are a friend of any of the residents, assume you're invited to eat!
WARNINGS: None now, will add if needed.

[ The last time there was a dinner in this house, there were different stresses, slightly different residents, and no one had died yet. Perhaps you can't blame anyone for not planning another group meal soon after that.

Since then, though, things have been...mostly quiet. Comparatively. Yes, the world is still a shitshow (in Cassandra's own opinion), but the residents of the house are back into a fairly domestic routine, and any threats to reality are ambiguous enough that one can occasionally pretend they're on the periphery rather than clearly encroaching. So friends are finally being invited to Maurtia Falls #004 again, in the hopes that performing normalcy will allow it to be retained.

Or...something like that. There's also something nice about ordering a bunch of takeout and letting other people bring over food.

For any new guests, the building is the epitome of cleanliness- Rex lives here, after all- and nondescript to the point of it being a little surreal. Plenty of alcohol in the fridge, though, and a mysterious cupboard marked "Martin's Things." Maybe don't open it. Besides that, the only other thing to call out is a goldfish in a tank in the living room.

In any case, even if the building is a little boring, the people don't seem to be that way. Then again, maybe boring's what you're here for? Better than chaotic around here. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ They haven't talked about their pasts much. Surprisingly, Guzma actually knows a little more than most people do about Andy's history — the work she used to do, all that covert shit — and with the chip he carries on his shoulder, she knows he's been through something. She just hasn't asked what. And some part of her doesn't really want to, lest it should make things complicated between them for her to know. Hell, maybe he doesn't want to tell her anyway.

Still. There's a little glimmer of — something. Something exposed in the way that his expression changes, how his eyes drift away, tension drawing his jaw tight. ]

...I wouldn't know. I don't remember mine anymore. And Rex never had one. He was made in a lab somewhere. [ Smoke curls around her words. Maybe it's a small effort to reconnect when she leans to offer him the joint again. ] Maybe it's better that way.

[Guzma hasn't really talked to much of anyone about his past. Archie knows some general stuff, at least in as much what drives him and his group back home. With that fight with Darin, he let slip some details, but still nothing concrete. A hint towards the animosity he has for his father, but nothing entirely damning. Maybe the way he looks, the discomfort he's accidentally exuding, the anger that seems to be settling in his features, is more telling than he'd like.

When Andy speaks, he doesn't look at her right away. Doesn't remember her's, Rex was made in a lab?? Ok, maybe he shouldn't even touch that one. Not that he's not aware of the technological advancements of his own world, what with the Aether Foundation and everything, but he's not sure if...making humans is a thing, so for it to be one in another world...damn.

With her offering the joint, it catches his attention, but he doesn't look at her still as he takes it. Even when she says that last bit. He huffs, and while it almost seems like it's meant to be a noise of amusement, it comes up shy of it.]

Yeah, no joke. Didn't get on with my ol' man much. [He tokes on the joint as if to punctuate his thoughts with it. Huffing out the smoke a little forcefully, as if that helps break some of his internal tension. It doesn't.] Your kid's lucky to have him, then. Even if he's kinda got the vibrant personality of stale bread.

[ She notices the way he avoids her gaze. It's fine. She doesn't need him to look at her. He can take his time with this — he isn't obligated to share it with her, and she knows that it's a gesture of trust to even offer her that little glimpse of his past. The fact that he plays it off — phrasing it in that deceptively casual way — it makes her wonder what it really means that he didn't "get on" with his old man, but she still won't ask. He'll either tell her in time or he won't.

Either way, it doesn't take some great insight to see that there's an old wound there, of one kind or another. ]

I think we're both lucky to have him. [ She folds her arms over her knees for a moment, then props one of them up so she can rest her face in her palm as she considers Guzma. ] I'm old. I don't need him to be exciting. I just need him to be there.

[ And it's a moment of surprising honesty from her too. Giving him a little back, maybe — her way of acknowledging that he gave a little to her first. ]

[The pieces are certainly there if she wants to put them together. Maybe there's a few missing, but it doesn't take a genius to get it. Guzma's a rowdy, loud, and violent man, and for him to not get on with his dad...for him to get this uncomfortable with the topic...yeah.]

Stability, huh?

[Plumeria was kinda that for him, in a lot of ways. Man, he missed her.]

Or do you just not wanna be lonely?

[He gets that one too. His tone is uncharacteristically calm and even, no measure of judgment in it at all. Again he takes a pull off of the joint, before offering to Andy once again, finally looking at her.]

I feel that, in either case.

[ It's enough for her to get the gist, anyway. She's seen plenty of angry, aggressive young men in her lifetime — products of their homes, or sometimes a lack thereof. It's not an uncommon story, but it's still tragic, every time. She has no doubt that he's endured plenty, and that however he presents himself now, at least part of that is a defense against the things that hurt him in the past.

Hell, she's the same way, isn't she? Pretending like she doesn't give a fuck. Always saying how she's too tired to care anymore. But here she is anyway, with a husband and a son. ]

It wasn't on purpose. [ She responds at length. ] I wasn't looking for anything. Honestly, if you'd asked me a year ago, I would've said this was the last fucking thing I wanted.

[ Funny how shit works out. ]

...But yeah. I guess it's nice, always having someone to come home to.

[As much as Guzma would like to think he's something different than the usual aggressive young man with daddy issues, it's true that he tells the same tale that many others before him have. He'd like to think a lot of things about himself, some are true, others not quite...

His lack of self-awareness sometimes is staggering sometimes. Speaking of...]

How do ya get married on accident?

[He asks, completely unironically. Maybe the weed's getting to his head, or maybe he's just that fucking stupid. Maybe both!! He shakes his head in either case, giving her a shrug.]

Guess if it's workin', it ain't a bad one.

[And maybe, in a weird way, he's a little envious. More of the idea of having someone like that, and not...Rex specifically. Even if Rex's strict orderliness isn't too far off from Lusamine's own. There's just...look it's different.]

The marriage wasn't an accident. [ She exhales lightly, putting her hand out for the joint. ] That was for Martin. So we could both adopt him, legally.

[ Unspoken: It's the rest that was unintended. How much she loves her adopted son. How much she's come to depend on Rex. It doesn't matter to her that it isn't exciting or romantic. She's old and tired. Her heart is old and tired. It needs a safe, quiet place to rest. ]

You should understand. [ A bit dryly, then: ] You like taking in strays too.

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