vicious_cycle:

The couple dates so far with Aine have gone well. There was drinking - lots of drinking - and they're both flirty, outgoing drunks. There was karaoke, there was table dancing. All in all, this worked.
Relations with Irina are, in Nick's mind, perfect. No strings, no fuss. Lots of vodka. Now and then, she shows up naked. It works, and she's right there.

Dating Aine, on the other hand, is kind of a pain - she's on the other coast, and he's not a sappy e-mails kind of guy - and suspects its not her style either. He likes the drive, but it still takes time. And, then there's the fact he knows a teleporter.

He called to set up a meeting at one of Aine's favorite bars, and let her know Irina was coming along - drinks were on him. After all, if she's likely to have a huge problem with the fact that he's sleeping with Irina, at least while they're in casual stages, then dating a demonblood likely isn't the best idea anyway.

super_wren:

Nick was coming up for a second night and Aine decided to do something a little different. Aine had told all her teammates and other friends that she was going out to a club she really liked with Nick if they wanted to come. She has also told Nick he could invite some people up with him if he wanted and she was pretty sure they could stay the night at the WCA HQ.

nextgen_holiday:

"A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet where his money used to be." -- Unknown

blinkandmissme:

Eli thought he was going to miss Luna's birthday party, but it turned out that he finished his errands early, with a judicious application of his duplicates helping with general paperwork, cleaning and other matters. When he found out that he would have time to see her after all, Eli dialed Luna's number, hoping that she might have some free time after the festivities to go on the date he promised her.

wishful_thought:

Jeff had been planning things for his cousin's birthday for awhile now.  No, he wasn't preparing her a male stripper.  That would not bode well for Luna's...  Luna-isms.  Instead, Jeff got her a bunch of new books he was sure she hadn't read yet.  Well, he knew she hadn't read them.  Now that she had a boyfriend, she needed to learn Kamasutra.  Among other things.  He wrapped up her books nice and neat and set them on the table.

The decorations were set up, and Luna's name was hanging in glittered up letters in the entrance to the kitchen.  There was cake, ice cream, and pizza.  Yes, pizza.  And he just waited to hand Luna her gifts.  The rest of the team was welcome to join in on the celebration.

nextgen_holiday:

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. ~Marion C. Garretty, quoted in A Little Spoonful of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul

nextgen_misc:

There was a flash of light when each of the West Coast Avengers finished their "game" and they found themselves all together in a maze. Each member found him or herself dressed in medieval style clothing. Other things moved about in the maze, but for right now they were a way off.

butterflybullet:

She'd never really pictured this happening. Of course, she'd married off her dolls as a girl, but the idea of her wedding had always brought with it the idea of really settling down with one guy, which had never been much on her agenda. This, of course, was different. This was Svalin. And she loved Svalin, and honestly wanted to be there for her and be a family with her. And while there would be sacrifices involved, it wasn't the same as Really Settling Down. A platonic marriage that still came with a fancy party. Nothing wrong with that!

Her parents had been brought up to Asgard, along with the Avengers and the Defenders.

The first royal wedding in a generation was the Event of the Season, with quite a bit of bustle about it.

...And the dress was going to be perfect.

But first, Spa day with Mom and the Mothers-in-law --two of them. Oh gosh.

She hoped Svalin was okay.

super_wren:

After the bright flash of light Aine found herself standing on a marble bridge at night. The bridge was suspended over a sea of steel spikes and the ends of the bridges were sealed with massive iron gates. The moon was full and big and bright in the cloud less sight making things fairly visible.

Only after she caught her barrings did Aine notice that across from her facing her on the bridge was another person who looked like they were getting ready for a fight.

"Hey what's going on here," Aine called out to the figure. She didn't know what had happened to the others or where they were and that worried her not that she had any idea where she was or what had happened to her either.

i_feel_you:

Aine was Luna's best friend, so of course her birthday wasn't going to go unnoticed. Luna brought her a book on the history of opera in Italy, a couple of bottles of her favorite wine, and a butterfly charm bracelet. She was going to make eggplant parmesan for dinner and had ordered her favorite cake from the bakery down the street.

nextgen_misc:

Seattle saw the sunrise on a rare clear, crisp winter's day. With it came a cold wind and trouble for some of the city's newest residents. The West Coast Avengers were settling into their new headquarters and exploring the city they now called home. The day started out as any other, but it wouldn't be that way for long. Trouble was brewing just like the coffee in the numerous coffeehouses and shops.

i_feel_you:

After asking her if she would spend his birthday with him, Luna had started to make plans for what to do for Eli for his birthday.

After some thought, she came up with what she thought was a pretty good present. Luna had made some calls and invited over the Avengers that Eli had traveled with when they fought Kang. She also invited over Kalypso, as Eli had mentioned that they were cousins.

Luna had made chicken parmesan for dinner. She'd also gone out to the store bought salad, garlic bread, and red wine. When she had called Vernique, she had told that for dessert, they would go to Florence for hot chocolate.

She had also gotten Eli a couple of books she thought that he would enjoy.

After she finished making dinner, Luna changed into a light dress. She checked on the chicken quickly before going to set the table while she waited for people.

nextgen_parent:

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first annual Maria Stark Foundation Charity Auction. I'm Alison Blaire and your host for tonight's festivities. Prepare yourselves for a night of fun to help a worthy cause. In just a few minutes many very handsome men will be brought out one by one for your chance to win a date with one of them.

Before we begin I would like to bring out Her Imperial Highness Anya Stark. Miss Stark helped arranged tonight's event and will give you a little more information on the charity organization tonight's proceeds will help."

Anya walked out on stage and smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Blaire. All of the proceeds from tonight's event will go directly to Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières. This organization was created in 1971 in France to benefit the citizens of the world. The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people caught in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation all across the globe. MSF operates independently of any political, military, or religious agendas.

I'm happy to announce on behalf of the Maria Stark Foundation, that all money collected here tonight will be matched dollar for dollar by the Maria Stark Foundation."

"Thank you Miss Stark and that is a very generous offer by the Maria Stark Foundation. Now it's time to begin. So open those wallets and let's bring out our first man." Anya left the stage and went to take her seat.

"First we have the son of Captain America Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. James Romanov-Rogers is currently an Avenger and has recently moved to Seattle to lead the West Coast Avengers."

"Let's start the bidding at a hundred dollars."

super_wren:

After all the craziness that the past month has had with the dimensional or time displaced or whatever it was she didn’t really understand it avengers getting back. Then there was preparing for and doing the big move over to the west coast and getting set up there. Aine finally had some free time to have some fun and since Luna seemed like she really had to catch up on her reading she decided to be nice and not drag her out to do something.

When the guys did their rate the babe event that bad boy looking guy that she had rather liked and though looked like a lot of fun from rate the hunk had left her his number in to give him a call in case she might want to do something.

Which was exactly why she was giving him a call right now.

next_avenger:

Moving wasn't fun. James had discovered this the hard way. Thankfully Tony had helped make arrangements for the new Avengers team to move out to Seattle. Tony had also taken care of setting up their new headquarters prior to their arrival.

They packed up a moving truck and drove across the country. There was a lot of debating and conversations about where to stop, but James just wanted to get here. Though he did agree to a few stops to tourist traps along the way. He drove his car just head of the moving van and offered car space to anyone who wanted to ride with him and could stand listening to Elvis.

They finally arrived in Seattle at their new headquarters. Now all that was left was settling in and unpacking.

next_avenger:

Now that the other Avengers were back it was time to reorganize the team a bit. James didn't want to give up leadership of the team and he knew Charlie would want it. The answer to the problem was simple. A team meeting and a vote according to the charter. There was also the issue of dealing with a lot of Avengers to address.

James sent out notification of the time to all Avengers, reserve and active. When it was the right time he made his way to the conference room and took a seat.

borntolead:

Charlie was glad to be home. In the end of it, he enjoyed his time hoping around through the timestream, and had gotten to become really good friends with his teammates.

But goddamn, it felt good to be back.

After stopping off at his parent's apartment for a quick change of clothes and a shower (his Mom wasn't home yet, but his Dad said that he'd tell her that they had come back later), Charlie made his way over to Avengers Mansion.

"Anybody home?"

nextgen_holiday:

There's a piece of paper and a pen attached to a bulletin board. Across the top is written:

New Year's Resolutions
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Anonymous entries accepted.

nextgen_holiday:

Christmas. Yule. Saturnalia. Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. Many cultures have celebrated and still celebrate a winter festival. There have been many names for it over the millennia. No matter the name it is a time to come together and celebrate with feasts and gifts with friends and loved ones.

Each culture has a legendary figure who would deliver gifts to children during this time. In Russia and some Slavic cultures he is known as Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost, and comes not on Christmas but on New Year’s along with his granddaughter Snegurochka, or ‘”Snow Maiden”. In the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe he is known as Father Christmas. In the Netherlands and Belgium he is known as Saint Nicholas or “Sinterklaas” and in France he is known as Père Noël. In the United States we know him as Santa Claus.

No matter the name or who is delivering gifts, it is the season of peace, joy and togetherness. It is the season for thinking about loved ones, friends and those less fortunate. It is a time to witness the goodness and generosity the human race is capable of. It is a time for peace on Earth and goodwill toward man.

nextgen_holiday:

“We’re here outside the Four Seasons Hotel in New York where the who’s who is gathered tonight. Celebrities, royals and superheroes have all turned out for the annual Maria Stark Foundation Winter Charity event benefiting Toys for Tots.

It’s truly an all-star gala here tonight.

New York’s own princess, Anya Stark, was seen being escorted by what appears to be her new flame, actor Austin Cain. Her brother and currently second in line to the Russian throne, Mikhail Romanov, was seen entering the party with Lyta Worthington, heiress to Worthington Industries. Tony and Natasha Stark, parents of a new baby, are making their first public appearance since the birth of their son.

Mackenzie Rider, a prince of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, is escorting Ms. Andrea Denker of the Fantastic Four tonight. Kristoff Vernard, leader of the Fantastic Four, was seen in attendance with his wife Cassandra and their son Scotty. Vincent Amorason, heir to Latveria, arrived alongside his brother and was seen escorting a member of the Defenders, Asleif Thorsdottir. The rest of the Fantastic Four are here too with their dates, though Miss Valeria Richards is not in attendance. Franklin Richards is in attendance and is escorting one Miss Gill.

Los Angeles’ own superhero team, the Defenders are in attendance as well. Arriving with her team is Grace Danvers, daughter of Hollywood hunk Simon Williams and she is being escorted by teammate, Eiltin. The two Asgardian princesses and daughters of Thor, Asleif and Aridis, are also attending the festivities with their team.
Akilah Munore, the crown princess of Wakanda, is here tonight with her steady flame, Daniel Sherwood a member of the Young Avengers. The other Young Avengers are in attendance tonight with their dates, alongside the adult Avengers.

Donald Trump arrived with his wife and is one of many other famous faces to arrive. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Hugh Jackman, Jack Nicholson, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift are just a few celebrities who have made an appearance here tonight.

It’s truly a party of the who’s who and it’s all for a great cause.”

anyastark:

Anya didn't have many traditions in her family, unless you counted being a bastard as one of them. The Avengers however did have a few time honored traditions that must be kept going. Sure saving the world from alien invasions, beating up the world level threats and other heroic things were some of those traditions, but not everything could be about beating up the bad guys. One such non-heroic thing was Rate the Hunk.

Each year the female Avengers got together and rated their fellow male Avengers. The new generation had eagerly picked up and kept this tradition going. However, they had expanded it a bit.

The day after Thanksgiving was a perfect day to avoid shopping crowds, take over the rec room, banish the males and look at pictures of them. Anya had run it last year and she took it upon herself to do it again this year. Invitations went out to fellow female heroes. Avengers, X-Women, Defenders, Champions and Thunderbolts all got invitations to come to New York to Rate the Hunk.

Food, drink and snacks were laid in. Signs were put up on the doors and electronic surveillance was set up to see if males dared to interrupt.

Anya settled in on one of the couches and queued up the stash of photos she had collected in the past year.

i_feel_you:

Luna was curled up in an armchair in the Avenger's library, her nose buried in the first Sookie Stackhouse book. She had a steaming mug of hot tea resting on the table next to her, and a bowl of pretzels. She was wearing a red sweater and a pair of black sweatpants, and felt very comfortable.

Of course, she always felt comfortable when she was in a library or a bookstore. If there were books, Luna could get lost for hours.

anyastark:

The Masters of Evil had attacked the Thunderbolts headquarters and had made off with Victor's body and with it a way to eventually access Ultron's files on the Avengers. It was a situation where a collaboration of the Thunderbolts with another team was needed. They needed to get Victor's body back as soon as possible.

The Thunderbolts made the trip to New York and were gathered in the conference room at Avengers Mansion along with the Avengers. They needed to discuss strategy and form a plan to retrieve Victor's body.

Anya sat back in her chair and let her brother take the lead. James was more experienced with leading a team and if anyone could get them to all work together as one big team, he could.

particlegirl:

"Ok.  So if my math is right---and it always is---Stevie's stuck in dimension heeeeeyah."

Marie Claire pointed to the blue splotch of color on the wall-size display.  It was full of colorful splotches, each one representing universes as layered on and around each other.  Dimensions, really, but they didn't look very "dimensional" all colorful like that. Instead they looked a bit like a crazy Rorschach test.  She waited for the rest of the Avengers to take in the destination before changing images, a zoom in of a lighter blue thread that seemed attached to the splotch.

"We're the green dimension.  See the blue line?  That, my friends, is a type of wormhole. It operates on a specific vibrational frequency.  Using the last of the data from Stevie's suit and some of the data we have from the unfortunate Zero Point Gravity Incident."  She paused for a moment, a grim face of sadness washing over her as she thought of the loss of a friend and two entire neighborhoods in the city that LITERALLY disappeared into a mess of non-matter that one might call a singularity (suck it, CERN.)  "Using that data I've created a device that will let me hop over there, get Stevie and hop back."

As predicted Mike didn't like this.  He started to object but there was no objecting to Marie Claire Pym whens he was either shoe shopping or had an Idea.   After a sharp look from her, he shushed.  Everyone shushed.

"Alrighty.  Then tomorrow I go get Stevie.  Someone hide the car.  I want to mess with her good."

***

There was a little burst of light and energy and Marie Claire Pym popped into existence right outside the Avenger's mansion.

And promptly smashed into a tree that wasn't there in her own world.

"Oh goddamnit I broke a nail. "

next_avenger:

James had been planning this training session for some time. The idea wasn't his; he had gotten it from Sky High when Valeria made him watch it with her the other day. No matter where it came from, it would help the team. Sure he had the idea, but making the program to actually do it was beyond him, so he called in some help from his sister Anya.

James told her what he wanted and a few days later she had the program all ready for him. James had played around with the variables until he found something he liked. Once the program was set, he let the other Young Avengers know when the training session would be.

Saturday morning at 8am he was waiting in the training room for his teammates.

nextgen_holiday:

The air was warm and the sun was bright making it a perfect day for a cookout to celebrate Labor Day. Classes would start on the 8th (for those going to college they started a week ago) and it was the last chance to kick back and cut loose before hitting the books.

At the Avengers' Mansion in NYC Jarvis and some helpers he managed to rope into helping with the preparations were busy getting the food ready. Tables had been placed out around the pool and the large grill fired up to get nice and hot. Burgers, hot dogs, sausage, ribs, corn on the cob, pasta salad, salad and fruit salad were just some of the food available to eat. Soda, water, fruit juice and other beverages were on ice.

To help get to know each other the Thunderbolts received an invitation to attend.

It was a day of rest and relaxations for those who put their lives on the line for others.

hot_rod:

A universe away

It was, all things considered, a good day to be one Stephanie "Stevie" Barton.  School was over and done with, she had a job she liked fixing cars (even discounting the money in her trust fund), Mom was off her back about doing more with her life for the moment (though the promise of a couple of business courses in the winter semester also seemed to at least temporarily placate Antonia Stark).  She'd managed to survive a shopping trip with MC (and reluctantly would admit she'd picked up a few good things on the trip too).  William Blake, the extremely hot son of Donald "I used to be Thor" Blake and Jane Foster was still her primary friend with benefits.  She had parts for the hot rod she was restoring coming in in the next couple of days.

( Read more... )

ng_independent:

The Empress was NOT happy. So far all of her plans have failed. The plan to grab female champions from Earth failed. The plan to grab guys and turn them into girls to use as her champions failed. The Empress had to come up with another plan. She had thought long and hard on it and eventually came up with something.

"Set A corSE to EARth!" she commanded. She would not be stopped this time. The plan was fail proof.

The Empress selected candidates as the ship made its way toward Earth. By the time they arrived, she had a list. One by one the names on the list were collected and put in the proper chambers.

When they wake up they will see a recording of the Empress addressing them.

"Greetings! Welcome to the service of...ME. Each of you will be expected to do your duty and proCREATE with the feMALE in the ROOM with you."

super_wren:

Aine had set up a workshop for herself in the garage at the Avenger’s manor. When she had asked about setting one up for herself she had been offered a lab but she had turn that down. Aine felt that labs were just to clean and she liked working in garages better and she was a bit more of a mechanic than a lab person which probably explained why she liked to work with classic rock music in the background.

She had to projects she was currently working on one was a fun project of coming up with an easily way to change the color of her solid sound constructs on her harness. The other project was a far way off making a sonic resonance bomb. She had only just finished planning the first prototype and was in the process of actually making the first one.

nextgen_holiday:

Mothers are the place that we call home.
On them we rest our heads and close our eyes.
There's no one else who grants the same soft peace,
Happiness, contentment, sweet release,
Erasing nighttime tears with lullabies,
Restoring the bright sun that makes us bloom. - Anonymous

anyastark:

Anya looked at the clock and blinked. It was nine am. More importantly, what day was it? Since getting her new toy she had been one busy Stark and had lost track of what day it was. She would probably get a lecture from someone, but hey shiny new toy.

While she wouldn't get her license back for another week, she could work on her new car. Sure it was nice and shiny and was a nice machine, but it could always be improved. She tore it apart the second after she had gotten it in the garage. Well, she tore the power system apart. The batteries were going to be replaced by the new nifty zero point energy module she and Justin had invented.

The problem she had run into and had been trying to solve for awhile now was keeping the car's power systems from overloading from the new power source. Power systems were not her strong point. Dad and Justin were better with them. She could always ask one of them, but she really wanted to figure this out on her own.

Anya rubbed her eyes. Maybe some fresh air would help. Sleep would probably be best, but since the nightmare the other night she didn't want to sleep. Not unless she really had to.

She had thought she was past Temujin and the nightmares. Apparently she wasn't quite yet. Lucas's help did a lot of good getting him out of her mind, but one couldn't control dreams. Though she did admit that this had been the first one in a few months.

She sent an email to Lyta. There was planning and plotting that needed to be done and they only had a week. Anya had an idea of what they should do, but she wanted to run it by Lyta and see if it would work with her. Then she sent another email. This one was a special request and Anya didn't think she'd be allowed access, but it never hurt to ask.

Back to work until she got a reply to her inquiry.

i_feel_you:

After they had dropped their stuff off at a local hotel room and caught a quick nap (the joys of continental flights), Aine and Luna had hopped in a cab and took off for Avengers Mansion.

"Here we are," Luna said when they arrived, paying the cabbie before climbing out of the cab. She looked over to Aine. "Relax. Don't be nervous. It'll be fine. You're with me, so there's nothing to worry about. Unless the team's changed drastically, they all know me, for the most part."

She made her way to the front door and knocked.