Log; Ongoing

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

When; Saturday, May 30th
Rating; PG-13+, people might swear at Tony
Characters; Whoever from the 616 crew shows up
Summary; Tony invited the people from his world to Lux for dinner.
Log; Tony was nervous. Not that Tony Stark would ever have admitted that to anyone, but he was. It wasn't that he was worried that they still might hate him. That he could deal with. That he deserved, and even if he didn't deserve it he wouldn't have cared anyways. There were maybe 6 people in the world, in any world whose opinion Tony Stark cared about and two of them were dead, two were back home, and the two who wer in the City cared about him regardless of his mistakes.

They were probably going to crucify him, but Tony couldn't blame them. He wouldn't deny that he deserved it. What he was nervous about was the fact that this might just go a small way towards repairing the hurt he had caused and the damage he had done. If it didn't go like that then it didn't go like that. What Tony hated more than anything was not knowing.

When the dinner started, he didn't try to glad hand anybody or give them the charismatic smile that had been on so many billboards and TV ads. Instead he shook their hands, looked them in the eye, and gave them an honest thanks for coming. Later, he would apologize but for now he would just let them talk amongst themselves and try to enjoy the evening as much as they could. If none of them wanted to talk to him, that was fine. Romana was there for him to talk to if no one else would. He was glad that she had wanted to come to this with him. He could do it without her, but it was easier with her there.

[ooc: All Marvel 616 members and their dates are welcome to tag here. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. I'll make a separate tag on top of this one with his speech so you all know what he says and can respond if you want. Speech is up, please have your character read if they went to the dinner!]

Comments

Tony (before the speech)

[lady-wandering.livejournal.com]

Romana stayed off to the side as people arrived watching and recognizing the various individuals from their Network posts and Tony's descriptions. It was quite the varied group she had to admit, especially since the majority of them hailed from a single planet.

During a break in the arrivals she walked over to join Tony, giving his hand a slight squeeze. Not many may notice it, but she could read the tension in his face and shoulders.

"Going well so far?"

Re: Tony (before the speech)

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

"I think it's going as well as it could," Tony said, giving her a smile and squeezing her hand back. If there were any time he wished he could be linked to her telepathically, it was now. The comfort she was offering as it was though he was very grateful for.

"I'm just glad some people showed up."

Re: Tony (before the speech)

[lady-wandering.livejournal.com]

"Curiosity is a strong motivation."

She smiled, hoping to put him more at ease, "So is free food, I know that's why I came."

Re: Tony (before the speech)

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

She was probably right, most of those that came were probably curious as to why he was doing it. Or they had come to make sure he knew they wouldn't be swayed to kindness by free food and drink. Or maybe they really were willing to give him a chance, who knew.

"Yes, I thought that might be it," he said with a smile. "I always suspected you were a freeloader."

[lady-wandering.livejournal.com]

"It's merely the most efficient means of survival. I'm sure a man as smart as you can see the advantages."

The smile was a distinct improvement over the face Tony had wore earlier, and Romana hoped it could stay that way. There were so many ways this evening could go wrong, she just hoped, for Tony's sake, they went right.

[starfleet-pimp.livejournal.com]

Kirk had picked up Kate promptly on time, dressed in a suit and tie, circa early 21st century, that he had purchased earlier in the week. When he arrived to pick her up had a small flower for her, not a corsage exactly, just a small flower that perfectly matched her blue eyes that she could wear with her dress or not.

He had made sure that the City's only taxi was there to drop him off at her apartment and hung around to take them to Lux. The entire time he was the perfect gentleman, both because he had a feeling Kate didn't expect him to be and because of the deal he had made with the deities. Celibacy for a month. Of course, from what he had understood from talking with Kate she would probably also visit bodily harm on him if he wasn't a gentleman, but that rarely stopped Kirk.

By the time they arrived at Lux though he had no regrets about how the evening could turn out. Kate wasn't some boring bimbo and Lux had a nice atmosphere. He could definitely enjoy this evening.

[girlwithabow.livejournal.com]

She had to give it to Kirk. Kate expected the suit and tie routine, but she didn't expect the flower. It was a nice touch considering where they were going; as least when Tony opened his mouth, which would inevitably happen knowing him, she could pluck it from behind her ear and chuck it at him. Although, considering Kirk's sweet comment about being glad he got the right shade of blue to her eyes would probably make her rethink that response.

Kirk was definitely keeping his hands to himself. Kate'll have to tell Billy they were wrong about him, unless this was all an act and he feared his life.

"Let me tell you," Kate starts after sitting down for the appetizer course, leaning over to whisper in Kirk's ear, "Feel free to throw your food at Tony."

[starfleet-pimp.livejournal.com]

Kirk thought that whispering in his ear wasn't fair at all, even if it was the most logical thing to do if you were going to whisper.

"I wouldn't want to get the food dirty," Kirk said, leaning over to whisper back in her ear. Even as he did so though he reached out and palmed a grape from the table. "Maybe if I see an empty bottle of wine though."

[girlwithabow.livejournal.com]

"Knowing Tony, he'll probably try suck the last few drops from it."

It was a low-blow comment coming from Kate and she knew it. But her caring about about Tony and his tendency to take too easily to alcohol was non-existent.

Kate eyed Kirk over the rim of her wine glass (her dad wasn't around and nobody was checking for identification, so she was going to take advantage when she could) as he held the grape in his hand. She felt like she knew what was coming but she decided to stay silent and sit back to watch the show unfold.

[starfleet-pimp.livejournal.com]

Kirk didn't know anything about this guy's past, so the comment really didn't mean much to him. Not that he could really say anything about anyone drinking too much. Although, since becoming captain he really hadn't done that much drinking, not even here.

"I'll be right back," he told her, pushing back his chair and going up to talk to their host. A quick shake of the hands and one grape to the forehead and Kirk was back next to Kate.

[lt-alenko.livejournal.com]

Kaidan and Kitty met in the square about thirty minutes before the dinner was set to begin, affording them plenty of time for a leisurely stroll to Lux. When they arrived, more than a few already had, and they took a table not too far from the center of everything, both to be in ear-shot of most conversations and to not appear uneasy about the whole evening.

For Kaidan, he was a little nervous. He'd never been a fan of crowds and, honestly, he knew the Captain and Mr. Stark, but few others. He mentally cursed his shyness. Kitty had filled him in a bit as to who Tony was and his relations with others from her universe, and his curiosity was eating at him as to the true purpose of this evening.

[phasedcat.livejournal.com]

Kitty was nervous for him but not for herself. They should be mature about all this, she hoped. She did want to introduce him to Logan though and maybe they'd get to that tonight and maybe not. Eventually it'd happen.

She didn't have a huge opinion about Tony Stark but she knew a lot of them did. Having been so close to Rachel she'd known how bad registration could make things but as an X-Men they'd taken a neutral public stance as they attempted to take care of their own huge problems.

She listened to Tony's speech without much interest thinking it was somewhat admirable of him to admit he was wrong. However when things got to the collars her attitude changed to annoyance mixed with a bit of anger. It didn't matter how many safeguards he had, she couldn't believe that'd be a good idea.

"Collars. He can't be serious, he couldn't have come up with bracelets? Anklets? Anything else?" She said quietly to Kaidan with an annoyed tone.

[lt-alenko.livejournal.com]

Kaidan sat back and sipped his wine. It wasn't too bad, even though it was completely alien to the wine he was used to from home. At her comment, Kaidan looked to Kitty.

"Collars stand to reason, Kitty." He said. "Most powers, as with all bodily functions, are controlled by the brain. Crowns would've made even more sense."

[phasedcat.livejournal.com]

Kitty didn't want to be angry with him because she knew that he didn't know why it would bother her but it probably came off as anger at him, "You wouldn't get it. Not at all, he wouldn't either. Best intentions and so on blah blah blah. I knew I should have gotten a drink or something."

(before speech)

[i-know-stuff.livejournal.com]

Layla wasn’t sure if she actually wanted to be there and yet at the same time she did want to see what would happen. She had an idea but watching was always more exciting, plus as frustrating as it was for her to admit to herself she didn’t have a very good idea. She had wondered if she should dress up or just go casual. She’d chosen casual after very little thought, turquoise and black tank top with a black pleated skirt that came to her knees and neon rainbow stripped tights.

She walked over to Tony to say her hello’s, at least he’d have two people here that didn’t truly hate him. She actually even sort of liked him, even if he had forced her to really think about how little she knew here. Layla knew about having to do things that people didn’t think were “right” and she knew about people not liking the choices she had to make. Did she agree with the Registration act? No. Did she think he was an arrogant jerk sometimes? Sure. But did she think he did it out of vindictiveness or superiority or just to be a jerk? No. But she did think that he did believe that at the time it’d been the best choice. Not to mention that the City wasn’t home. There wasn’t a need for them to have a huge divide with each other. Not when there was enough of that at home. She understood that for some forgetting was impossible and forgiving would be really hard but with all the crap curses threw at them, she couldn’t help but wonder why they couldn’t all just put it aside and at least be civil and converse together.

She came up to him and waved, “Hello Mr. Stark. Where’s my amazing ice cream bar,” she said grinning.

Re: (before speech)

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

Tony was rather surprised to see Layla, although it was definitely a pleasant surprise. If there was one person from his world that he was sure didn't hate him, it was Layla.

"You have to wait until after the food is served," he said, waving back. "But I was promised that there would indeed be a very amazing ice cream bar that has enough toppings to make you just as sick as if you consumed massive amount of alcohol."

(before speech)

[i-know-stuff.livejournal.com]

"Damn, here I thought I'd just get some ice cream and run," she said with a slight smile. "I'm looking forward to that. Not the sick part, not gonna go that far, my whole plan of watching and laughing at anyone that got drunk would be ruined if I was sick."

Re: (before speech)

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

"Sorry, but I want to be able to look out and the table and see at least one face that doesn't consist of utter loathing for me," Tony said, giving her a smile back. "And if it looks like you're having too much ice cream, I'll make sure they cut you off."

LONG ASS SPEECH 1/2

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

It was now or never. Tony knew how to read a crowd and he knew that now was the best time to make his apology. Everyone who was going to come was there, dinner had been eaten, most everyone had all the drinks they were going to have (except maybe Logan), and they had socialized for a good while. If his comments were possibly going to end the good mood of the evening, now would be the time to let everyone walk out.

“If I could have your attention for a moment,” he said, standing from his spot at the table. He could feel all eyes turn to him. He could practically hear some of their thoughts of, “Here comes the hidden agenda.” Well, Tony did have another reason he wanted them to be here, so he supposed that was deserved.

“I hope you’ve all enjoyed the evening as much as possible,” he said. God, he wanted a drink so badly. He was surrounded by the alcohol and he felt like just one tiny sip would calm him considerably. He didn’t though, if for no other reason than he wouldn’t let everyone here judge him for it.

“And I’m grateful for all of you coming, whatever the reason. I know that this couldn’t have been pleasant for most of you, to endure my presence for this long. Before you all go though I have something I want to say. I was wrong. The Superhero Registration Act was wrong and it was wrong of me to support it. For that, I apologize. I knew that Registration was going to happen one way or another and I felt that if I helped it happen, if I shaped how it came about, I could limit how wrong it was. But in the end, I supported a cause that was wrong. I turned against my friends and I turned my friends against each other. Not only that, but I treated the people who didn’t comply as less than human, as if they had no rights at all, and that was wrong. And I apologize for that.”

Tony paused for a moment and made eye contact with everyone in the room. He was not going to shy away from this, he wasn’t going to hide from the hate they had for them, if it was there. He deserved all of it.

“I don’t expect forgiveness or even think that I deserve it,” he continued. “Some of the things I did were beyond inexcusable and quite frankly, you’re all better people than I am for not making sure I face justice here. When we get back home I fully expect to pay for what I’ve done and I’ll do so without hesitation. Until then, I’m going do everything I can to atone for what all the pain I’ve caused. I don’t think I ever really can, but that’s something I have to live with. If anyone in the City needs help, including anyone from our world, I’m going to offer my assistance. If you want to tell me to go to hell, that’s your right and I don’t blame you. But I will offer to help. Which brings me to this...”

Tony reached behind him and lifted up a briefcase that had been sitting by his chair. He opened it up and pulled out a collar.

“I was asked by some from our world to help them if a curse should ever cause them to hurt people. I let them know that if they did this, I would take the request seriously. I’m a man of my word and as a last result, no other options plan I built these power nullification collars. These are the power nullification collars used in our world, with a few security modifications. First off, you have to key in an initial code to activate it. Then, two other people have to set an activation code for it. That means no one but you can decide if it’s going to be used on you and if it is going to be used, the two people you ask to set the code have to put in their access codes again before it can be of any use. Second, it has a 24 hour limit. After that it deactivates, releases, and gives a small power overload, destroying it and making it impossible to reverse engineer. I’ve created five collars, although I suspect not even one will be used. They’re on a timer, if they don’t get the necessary activation codes by midnight, they will self destruct.

Re: LONG ASS SPEECH 2/2

[morethanasuit.livejournal.com]

“If any of you are worried about it, I can’t reconstruct these. Before she left, I had Rachel Summers remove all knowledge of how to create these from my head. Also, if some of you were worried that the information on all superheroes, those registered and those not, were here in this world with me and might be used against you by myself on a curse day or someone else who might obtain them, you can rest assured. The only copy of all the files obtained because of the Registration Act were all in my head. I asked Rachel to remove all of those as well. When I get back to our world, I intend to do the very same thing. I’ll let you make your own decisions about the collars, although I can guess what your responses are going to be. I’ll stay here as long as necessary to answer any questions or to listen to anything you want me to tell you. If no one has any questions or anything to say, I’ll take my leave and let you all finish the evening in peace.”

pre-dinner, open

[twodogsfighting.livejournal.com]

Wearing a tuxedo (http://i39.tinypic.com/2jb6qvn.jpg) was rather nostalgic for Logan. Most people wouldn't expect for him to be so at home in such formal wear, and it's true that it wasn't always practical, but some things were just necessary. It meant freer days, roaming the streets of Madripoor under the nom de guerre of Patch, keeping Lowtown a little cleaner than it would be otherwise, escorting Tyger Tiger to balls, or lounging in the Princess Bar.

Nothing would ever match the Princess Bar in his mind, but the Lux wasn't a bad place either. And free food was free food - not to mention free drink. He helped himself to a passing waiter's flute of champagne and decided to find the seat closest to the bar. It would help him put up with Kitty bringing some stranger as a date.

Tony's presence was secondary - registration was old news. Logan could respect that the guy was trying to make good, but there was no changing the past. If anyone knew that, it was him.

[ooc: I'll be going to bed soon, but I'm okay with backtagging - though I also anticipate being kind of busy tomorrow]

[Hidden from everyone but Logan - post speech]

[starchilde_lost]

She knew this place... and she didn't. Like this entire city, no, City, it was familiar and alien all at the same time.

Kinda like the people in the room around her. She'd found minds, familiar minds and followed them here but she stopped short of letting any of them know she was there. She needed... to figure a few things out - this place, these people. Some who were friends back home, some who were only her friends here. She thought. And then there was back home, back where she should be back where she'd been running... She needed to hide for awhile, just for a little while, from everyone.

Except him. She altered the mental illusion she was projecting to let him see her, because honestly, if she tried to hide he would find her. Somehow, he just would. Best get it out of the way now.

[Hidden from everyone but Logan - post speech]

[twodogsfighting.livejournal.com]

A scent had been nagging him all night, drifting in corners and always where nothing should be. It smelt like Rachel, but he'd seen her portrait in the Hall himself not too long ago, when he'd gone to see Fai's. As it was, he pretended to not notice and went on drinking and eating, keeping an eye on everyone there.

The mystery was resolved when she seemed to appear out of thin air, looking uncertain and not quite so young as she had when she left. He left the table and walked up to her slowly, hands in pockets.

"Welcome back."

[Hidden from everyone but Logan - post speech]

[starchilde_lost]

"Yay, me."

She alters her illusion to include Logan, wouldn't do to have someone see him talking to thin air.

"Nice speech he gave. I... forgot what I'd done. With the memories and... the collars. I think... damn. It's gone."

[Hidden from everyone but Logan - post speech]

[twodogsfighting.livejournal.com]

Furrowing his eyebrows, he takes her elbow to gently guide her to a more quiet corner where they can sit down.

"You don't remember?"