Tony Stark (in_extremis) wrote in oh_marvelous, @ 2011-12-25 12:18:00 |
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Merry Christmas!
Characters: Open to everyone. You're creative, you'll think of something. Come in!
Setting: Avengers Tower, Christmas Day!
Content: I guess that depends on who drops by.
Summary: Family and friends and hardly remembered acquaintances are all invited to share the holiday and exchange some gifts at the home of the Avengers. Please report your allergies to Pepper.
The tree in the lobby of Stark Tower, a sculpture of polished steel, glass and heavy bolts that caught the light from every angle and glittered like it was strung with a thousand lights, looked barren from the bottom, where any admirers could reach, and top heavy with the decoration that remained, too high up to be snatched and snuck away like contraband. The 'ornaments' it had been hung with were not the traditional colourful Christmas balls or icicles, but digital cameras and cellphones with rotating images of what should have been in their place lit on their admirably clear screens. Tony had insisted that this idea had been sound and the uneven dispersal wouldn't become a problem, because of course people were more willing to ask than just take if it was free anyway. And so holiday started on something of a sour note. In the spirit of forgiveness, though, it wasn't like anyone was really stealing if the toys were free.
The tree upstairs, though, in the Avengers penthouse, ninety stories above the metalwork monolith, barely had a hint of green left to peak through and hung so heavy with lights and colours and garland that Tony was certain the gifts stacked under it were all that kept it upright anymore. He was only reminded that it had at one point been a tree by the rich smell of it that hung in the room, strong enough to cut through the scent of Steve's incessant baking, and even the burnt cookies that had been sacrificed when JARVIS informed them of a fire downtown that had spread out of the marshal's control. Or had that just been Jess sneaking into the kitchen the moment Steve abandoned his post? The tree wasn't the end of it, though; Tony had to keep Cassie occupied, after all, on her holiday break from cleaning up after him, so he kept her close and ordered garland strung around all of the stair railings and stockings hung and, of course, the odd sprig of mistletoe where it might take someone by surprise, all very precisely arranged and terribly easy to do wrong. She probably had a lot of pent up aggression to work out after that, but Tony handed her an early gift; campus guides and program details from a selection of the country's top school's, left innocently on her bed while she wrestled with a tangled string of beads. Maybe she wouldn't know it had been him.
Not that he had been expecting a party so much as an informal gathering, but Tony still wore a raven-black suit over a rich red shirt, with some unused mistletoe tucked in his breast pocket in case anyone needed extra incentive. Not that he expected anyone would; it was Christmas, the bar (for the first time in a long while) was fully stocked, and he must have been impossible to buy for. He wasn't asking for much. Friends of all kinds were welcomed to drop by if they had a spare second, or a completely free afternoon, to enjoy Cassie's and Steve's hard work and thank Tony for it all, and settle in for a very merry Christmas. There was, after all, a lot of cakes and cookies to eat once the feast had been cleaned away; this celebration might go on well into the new year. "The door, sir..." JARVIS interrupted just as Tony had found his mug again, left on the piano's lid and gone cold long ago. Maybe a few less invitations might have been prudent.