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Daycycle 116 [ November 13 - November 26 ]

daycycle 116

[Nov 13 - Nov 26]

[OOC Plotting for this Daycycle can be found here.]
[The Charity Ball Entertainment post is here.]
[This DC has been extended through 11/26.]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty

No Special Troubleshooters have been selected for a mission this morning.

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

Matt Murdock's office will be assigned to defend the most recent Specials accused of treason. He will not be allowed to contact the traitors directly, but he will be given the task of preparing his cases. He has 48 hours to prepare.

Jack Harkness has been selected to plan the entertainment for tonight's Charity Ball, thanks to the popularity of his performances during the Alpha Talent Show a few days ago. When he asks The Computer for help, several specials are assigned to him. Izzy Lightwood will be his event planning assistant and "Stiles" Stilinski will assist in MCing the night's event. Due to their popularity, all Specials will be approached about being auctioned off for dances in order to help raise money by Jack, Izzy and Stiles. They will also be asked if they're willing to take part in specially planned choreographed dances. Dance lessons will be provided for those that require them during the afternoon hours.

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will begin at 1800 at the Alpha Museum of Fine Art and will be hosted by The ~~Humanists~~ Alpha Society for the Arts. Tickets to the event are 1000cr and can be bought up until an hour before the event begins. Attendees have been given special permission to wear Old Reckoning clothing for this event only, as long as it is the same color as their clearance level. Specials may notice that many of the Alpha Citizen's outfits have gotten key parts of Old Reckoning clothing wrong, with buttons instead of sequins, for example, or men wearing ties that are much too long and go to their knees. Alpha's Very Special Forces will be present to ensure the safety of those attending.

An entire wing of the museum has been cleared as a makeshift dance floor. In an attached room there are several tables covered in white tablecloths and set with the crystal and china that usually only graces Violet citizen tables. Along the wall is a massive buffet made with real food and including an elaborate ice sculpture. There is a bar in the corner where Alpha's finest spirits are being disbursed freely. For the first hour, the focus is on the food and mingling. The music playing is calming and instrumental. There are some that steal the dancefloor for a slow spin, but the majority of the attendees seem reluctant to move away from the buffet.

And then at approximately 1900, Jack Harkness will take the stage and begin the evening's real entertainment.

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

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The vainer part of Lydia is feeling very pandered to with Tony's response and Lydia gives him a coy little smile, turning slightly in place. "Yeah, it's not too shabby, huh?" she asks as she comes to face him again. "I honestly think my favorite part is that it's not that bright, lemon yellow like the jumpsuit. That washes out my skin so bad, ugh," she complains. The gold is much, much better. Plus, it helps her to push the boundaries a little and test the waters of that. Gold is not yellow, but it's close enough for her to feign ignorance if it becomes an issue.

"Or the fact that there are Specials here, since apparently even though we have a hate group, we also have a fan club," Lydia points out. "Or a combination of these." Which, in her mind, is probably the most accurate assumption. The lower clearance level are interested in the food. The whole group is probably interested in real clothes. And now, well. There's apparently a group of Alphas out there who really, really like the Specials and know that some of them will be in attendance. Suddenly, they've gone from most hated to being celebrities of sorts. Lydia can't say she's mad about the change.

She gives Tony a little smile and her eyes shift to make sure no one is watching or close enough to listen. "Now this is the kind of Secret Society demonstration I prefer, personally, I don't know about you. Should I let you get settled in, fed and watered so to speak, before I make you give me a dance?" she asks, abruptly changing subjects after casually dropping mention of the fact that this whole thing is, in fact, a Secret Society run event, regardless what it says on the box.

"No, not too shabby at all," he answers, all too happy to talk about fashion even if it's just a small comment, because it's one of those things that he actually misses from home, too. Fashion Week in New York used to be one of his favorite days of the year (and not just because of the models), and it's really until now that he's realizing how glad he actually is that they got to dress up tonight. It might be just for the night, but it's actually lifting his spirits to be wearing something other than that godawful jumpsuit they have to wear, no matter the color. At Lydia's comment about the color, he chuckles softly under his breath. "You picked the right tone, I don't think bright yellow would have worked on that dress." He makes it clear that he means on the dress, not on Lydia, because he thinks the kiddo has too beautiful of a personality - and in general - for the jumpsuit to wash that out.

Glancing around, as if he's just assessing the party, Tony takes in Lydia's comment about the fan club that they have. Which...he hadn't really been thinking about it much to put it together, honestly, that that's what this is. He had seen the comments on the leaked conversation that had been sent to their PDCs, but Tony's mind has been everywhere but in this train of thought to even consider that the ball is a Secret Society demonstration, and he gives a small but impressed nod as he turns back to Lydia. Now he's curious, about who could be throwing this as a sort of demonstration, but he doesn't ask just yet. "Huh. Yeah...this isn't too bad."

Not bad at all, actually. Considering the last demonstration had gotten him a chest full of shrapnel, this is paradise compared to that. That alone already makes Tony like whatever group has organized this event.

The offer to let him get a drink first is tempting, more than he cares to admit, but he doesn't show it as he offers his hand to her so that he can lead her out to the dance floor. "Oh please, you wouldn't have to make me. I'd be honored."

Besides, if Lydia wants to talk more about what she knows, they could do so while dancing.

Lydia smirks, amused. She knows the bright yellow of the jumpsuit looks terrible on her, but she appreciates the specification all the same. Tony makes her miss her father and resent him all in the same breath, because the way that she and Tony interact reminds her of the way she and her dad used to. ...before he decided that divorcing her mother meant he also had to walk out of Lydia's life completely. "It's a nice tone, I could get used to it," she says with a smirk.

It isn't lost on Lydia that she's piqued Tony's interest with that statement. Good. That'll make the recruitment conversation maybe a little easier. Worst case scenario, she pulls out the pouty bottom lip and the Disney princess eyes on him. She's reasonably certain that they'll work as well on Tony as they did on Steve.

Blowing off the buffet and bar for the moment surprises Lydia just a little, but she's happy to go with it since that's what she came over for, anyway. It isn't often that she gets to actually talk to Cisco and Tony about their progress and while now isn't really the time or place, the temptation is there.

As they make their way to the floor and find themselves a space, Lydia moves her free hand to Tony's back and lets him lead her. She's never actually learned to ballroom dance, but maybe he knows how. He probably knows how.

"Everything going all right with the manufacturing bots?" she asks, slipping into a sort of unofficial code the three of them have worked out. "You think you've got an ETA on when I can start mass production with the unused machines?" Translation: When do I get a cool weapon, are you guys almost done yet? She's a little impatient, she can't help it.

If he wants her to keep talking about the secret society, he's going to have to bring it up because Lydia is currently very intentionally biding her time.

"Maybe the Computer can be convinced to switch the other yellow for this one." Tony's a bigger fan of gold in general, after all. It's not lost on him that, between the red of his suit and the gold of his dress, they are the colors of his armor. It's a silly observation, one that he doesn't mention because he knows it's a little stupid to focus on that, but it doesn't stop his brain from making the connection.

Once they're on the dance floor, Tony begins leading as they sway to the music. Attending charity balls and galas has been a social obligation since he was old enough to remember, and one proof of it is in the easy way that he dances. There's no nervousness or hesitation in his moves; if anything, they're all so well practiced, that the movements are smooth as they seem to glide along the dance floor.

"There's a bot that's almost ready, it just needs some final touches." By 'final touches,' Tony means he needs to charge it with the magnet that's energy source that's now built into his chest. He could tap into an energy source within the complex, but at the same time he doesn't want to do it in case it will alert someone of the stuff he and Cisco are working on. Using the arc reactor will only be a brief thing if it all works well and, even if he already knows it might cause some complications, he's not particularly focused on that. The design he almost has ready are guns that have the same repulsor technology that his gauntlets used to have, and they will do more damage than the play guns they loaded them with after waking up in this place. At least these won't just work when the Computer needs them to. "Just give me a couple of days and it should be good to go."

He won't mention the specifics of it - mainly that the power source to bring it to life will be his chest piece - but he could at least give her the timeline now.

"So," he adds casually after a moment, "this is another demonstration, huh?"

"One can only hope," Lydia laughs, rolling her eyes playfully. They both know that's totally never happening. She appreciates that Tony does, in fact, take the lead on the dance since he seems to already know what he's doing. He seems like a natural which suggests to Lydia that this sort of event isn't exactly new to Tony. Considering he's something like a tech mogul in his own world, that makes sense. It also happens to make having a private discussion in the middle of a huge event like this a lot easier because they're not calling any attention to themselves.

Lydia nods at his answer and her lips press together in thought. "Good, that's good to hear," she replies. Lydia bites back the urge to ask him how Cisco's project is going because she can't think of a way to frame it that won't sound repetitive, in case someone is listening in that she hasn't visibly observed nearby. "Take all the time you need, I'm not in a huge rush. The sooner the better, obviously, but you know. It's only fair for me to check in with the milestones now and again, right?" she asks with a little smirk.

Okay, what? It's kind of cool being the boss when the underling is Tony Stark. She can't help it.

The casual addendum makes Lydia's lips curl upward into a little smirk. She was going to wait but if he's going to ask now, she might as well stop being so damn coy. "It is," she agrees. "Of course they had to use a cover, since secret societies are treasonous, but yeah. This is a demonstration of sorts. They're not all about having their heads so far up their asses that destruction seems like a good idea instead of the completely counterintuitive idiocy it actually is."

She's trying to tread lightly in case she's being overheard, so while she's not saying "we," the way she's looking pointedly at him should imply it loud and clear for him.

While back home Tony only enjoyed dancing on certain occasions, right now he doesn't really mind it as he dances with Lydia. It's probably because she's his dancing partner, since he likes the kiddo, but like her, he also appreciates the fact that this is a good way for them to talk without having to worry about keeping up appearances while they stand off to the side.

With a chuckle under his breath, he nods. "Trust me, Cisco and I are fans of doing things sooner rather than later. We'll get it done." The explosion had managed to ignite something in both of them that is impossible to tame down, after all. For Tony, it had woken up an overly destructive force that he hasn't felt in years and, while he hasn't shared that he's working on an explosive that can level at least a good section of the complex, that's one thing that he's primarily focusing on. He's not planning on going on a rampage and hurt innocent people, that's not the purpose of any of this. But he wants to be ready to actually hurt the Computer in some way, just in case. It's his back up plan for the rest of the back up plans.

Lydia's explanation of who really organized the ball has him nodding very slightly as his eyes trail away, casually glancing around as if taking in his surroundings and finding a new sort of appreciation for this whole thing. Huh. Considering the last demonstration he had witnessed had almost cost him his life, this isn't bad at all.

"I approve of this one, then," he says with a smile, catching that look on her face and, even if he doesn't say anything, the understanding that seems to cross his features is answer enough. "They know how to throw one hell of a party."

With a little smirk, Lydia nods. She knows that Tony is, anyway; that's why she's hired him. All she can do is take his word on Cisco, but she trusts Tony and his judgement in this arena. "I believe you," she replies. "I'm glad progress is being made. Fast or slow is less important than progress itself." And while she's vaguely impatient, that much really is true. She'd rather they take longer and perfect the projects than rush and end up having to take longer tweaking fixes into the end result anyway.

Tony, like Lydia, isn't just book smart. He's not just technologically inclined. He has emotional intelligence and she can see by the look on his face that he's put the pieces together. He knows that she's part of the group that created this night. She might not have had a hand in the planning because as someone who isn't fully initiated, she wasn't really invited to give input, which was fine because she knows her place and she knows that it's delicate. But either way, she's a part of something that's actually good in this place and even if she has to keep it quiet, she's still proud of that.

"I could probably float you an invite," she says loftily, intentionally keeping significance out of her tone because they're still in public, "if you wanted to join me for a meeting sometime. Something to think about." She'll leave it at that unless Tony presses it forward, because the last thing Lydia wants to be is pushy about it. That's a quick way to suck the wind out of the sails of interest for someone and she knows it.

"Thank you." Although Tony is still not used to having a boss, mainly because he has been his own boss ever since he started working, working for Lydia hasn't been bad at all. It helps that he actually likes her rather than just tolerate her, like he generally would anyone that he used to work with back home (outside of Pepper), and...well. They all benefit out of him and Cisco doing well with their weapon production, so really. Everyone wins.

At her offer to float him an invite, his lips curve upwards a little more even if his eyes narrow just slightly. It would be a lie if he claimed that Lydia hasn't piqued his interest, and if there's one thing that Tony is prone to is letting his curiosity get the better of him. It's why, when he stays quiet as they dance, it doesn't last very long.

"A meeting wouldn't hurt, yeah?" It's said with the smallest of shrugs, just under his breath. "Although, is it a 'if I go I'm in' kind of thing?"

Lydia hasn't seen it, but Tony isn't the best at being a part of groups. The idea of ties to something the the may not end up agreeing to is already nagging at him, and he just wants to make sure that he's not committing to something just because he's attending one of their meetings.

Lydia thinks for a few moments that he's going to let it go and allow the idea of that invite to percolate; something to think about some other time but not necessarily right now. She's wrong and it makes her grin a little when he brings it up again after a few moments of quiet.

"...ehhh, yes and no?" she asks more than says. "Yes, you'd be in, but not fully. Like I'm not fully initiated, either," she says very softly. "So I'm there and they give me access to some of their stuff, but I'm not a full member. I'm still working on that. It's been months," she explains. "I...would say think it over before you make a decision, but tomorrow, I'll come back to talk to you when we're at work so we're away from prying eyes and ears and I can be more candid," she offers.

It'll be easier that way, she thinks. He can't really make an informed decision right now, not with what little she's given him. Allison will get a full rundown, too, but she'll wait until they can be alone. Already, Lydia's thinking she'll have to meet Allison at HQ and hope there's no one in there. There are precious few people, even among the Specials, that Lydia trusts enough to share that she's in a secret society, especially one as treasonous as the Humanists who believe that the humans should run the show, not the Computer. She would trust Steve with her life, for example, but not with that particular tidbit of information. She's got to be careful. The fact that she's telling Tony anything in this vein should speak volumes, but she doesn't convey that, lest she make this a more uncomfortable conversation that's more difficult to pass off as of little consequence to a passerby.

Tony listens attentively, even if he doesn't make it obvious. Despite the fact that dancing can definitely give them more privacy, he knows that can only get them so far. Anyone could lean in too close, or try to read their lips, and so he doesn't argue or push back when she says that they can continue talking tomorrow.

Instead, he gives a small nod, as if to say a silent 'fair enough.' He doesn't say it, but he appreciates the fact that she trusts him enough to tell him about all this. It's still something that he needs to wrap his head around, especially if he actually intends to take her up on her invitation, so he's thankful for the time to just think.

Without another word, he secures his hold on her and dips her. Not a lot, it's just a quick motion that he pulls off with enough skill to show that this isn't the first time he has done it, and he smiles at her. As if this has really been nothing more than a dance, and they had just been engaged in some sort of simple conversation while they moved along the dance floor.

The dip takes Lydia a little off guard and a surprised laugh bubbles up and out of her as she looks back up at him. "Show off," she says with amusement as they straighten again. "If I was older and single, that would've been a very dangerous thing to do with me, you know," she adds playfully, rolling her eyes a little as they continue to dance until the song starts to close.

Lydia's willing to let the conversation drop for now because it sort of needs to. Where they are right now, it's not a good place to continue and Lydia can tell that Tony appreciates that fact as much as she does. "Well," she says as the song finishes and some of the Alphas on the floor start to clap. Lydia tugs gently to straighten his tie. "I suppose I should let you enjoy the party. Nobody wants their boss in their hair when they're trying to have a good time. You good with talking tomorrow for a bit if we can shake Cisco?"

It isn't that she doesn't trust Cisco but...she doesn't trust Cisco. Yet.

Her playful comment makes Tony laugh, and he grins as innocently as he can although it's quite obvious that there's not an innocent bone in his body. "What can I say, I like showing off."

Essentially, he's sorry but he's not sorry. Tony doesn't have the money or the power that he does back home, but tonight is as close as he can get to it. Only because this is almost like being back home in some ways, so he's enjoying it.

At her saying that nobody wants their boss in their hair, now it's Tony's turn to roll his eyes playfully although he can't stop the way he's smiling at how she straightens his tie. "Yes, you're right, this was terrible and not fun at all." He's being a smartass, and the way he smirks says it clearly, although his expression turns a little more serious at her question. Not for any other reason, but just because his mind shifts to business mode. "Yeah, that works. We'll talk tomorrow. Have fun, kiddo."

With a wink, he brings her hand up to his lips for a short chaste kiss against her knuckles - yes, he's being a show off again - before letting her go so that she could head back to mingling. And so that he could hit up the bar, and maybe get some food.

But, first, the bar. Priorities, after all.

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Daycycle 116 [ November 13 - November 26 ]

daycycle 116

[Nov 13 - Nov 26]

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