fandomhigh | Summer Games, Wednesday Morning

Today the park was set up with the normal bleachers for observers, and also thoughtfully provided cheap plastic rain ponchos for people who wished to observe without being in the blast zone. There didn't seem to be a single adult manning any of the food stations, which could explain the choices: heavy on super spicy junk food and no salad to be seen anywhere.

The most noticeable difference from last week, though, was probably the weedy teenager with the, frankly, hilarious haircut wielding the megaphone today. He had a little ponytail and a braid looping down over his right ear. It was a lot of look. "Right!" he yelled. "So I woke up today with this set of instructions next to my bed: apparently I'm in charge of doing paintball today, which sounds surprisgly not-stupid for a school event! We're going to be in two teams, so listen for your name since I don't recognize...most of them."

He shrugged that off. Must be another weird Fandom amnesia day or something. And paintball was way more important than giant gaps in his memory, right? "Okay, this is Team Red: you wear the ugly red jumpsuits over there--" he pointed helpfully, "--and your paintball guns and don't forget your eye protection and blah blah don't poke your eyes out, etc. Team members are: Ahsoka, Verity, Kaidan, Miguel, Paris, Aloy, Vanessa, Peter, Jaylah, Peridot, Tip. Alec, Amaya, Steve, Cara, Seivarden, Tony, Sabine, Jason, Summer, and Theron."

He waited for those team members to get moving. "Okay. Team Blue is: Aphra, Astrid, Rosa, Jaina, Kanan, Eliot, Beaker, Liam, Hannibal, Manfred, Hera, Kathy, Sidon, Magnus, Uma, Cristina, Breq, Bobby, Wade, Reno, and me." He consulted his paper again, then made a face. "Okay, we were supposed to just stay in the park, but that sounds incredibly boring, so I'm going to give us five minutes to make a quick plan with our team and then say that the entire island is fair game for as long as it takes one team to take out the other team."

Complete anniliation. Surely that boded well for his future life choices! "Last man, woman, or--" his eyes drifted to Beaker, confused, "--other...standing wins for their team and gets to take home the--" he squinted at the paper again. "Terrifying fish thing?"

On cue, the fish flew into his hand. Over the past week, it had been modified again: now to smell like pumpkin spice, put off small fireworks and holographic projections of flowers with smiley faces as it flew, and telepathically project "The Song That Never Ends" into the minds of anyone too close to it.

Anakin hated this thing on sight.

"For the first time in my life, I'm considering losing," he said, staring at the fish. "Anyway! Teams, get together and plan! You have five minutes and...go!"

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"Can we pass that superpower around? It'd be helpful," Kitty said.

Hera laughed a little at that. "It really would. But he's just so..." trusting? optimistic? "...tiny!"

He was closer to your age now than he usually was, Hera.

"And adorable," Kitty confirmed. "This is teasing fodder for weeks."

"I suppose." Hera wouldn't have the heart to tease him about most of this. "The haircut, anyway."

To be fair, she teased him about his hair all the time.

"You're nicer than me," Kitty decided. "I mean, i reserve teasing rights for everyone, with special consideration for my poor husband, but Kanan's fun there."

Though mostly when Kitty teased him it was because he got blushy about Hera.

"He seemed a little...upset, this morning," Hera confided. "I think something must have happened recently. Well, recently whenever he's from. It doesn't mean I won't tease him a little about how adorable he is," because seriously, "but I'd be a bit worried about the rest."

""Hmm. I think there's some good mileage in the adorableness," Kitty said thoughtfully. "And then when the blushing stops, that's the sign to cut it out."

Hera nodded. She wanted to push for more, but she wasn't sure how much was hers to say.

"At this age, he was in the middle of the war," she decided on. Hopefully that wasn't too much.

"The thing you guys are in right now?" Kitty asked slowly.

Her knowledge of that universe over the course of six years was basically "Empire bad, Jedi have glowing swords, Anakin has four hundred relatives who all went to school here."

Hera shook her head. "Right now we're just doing what we can against the Empire. The war is what ended with the Empire taking over." She waved a hand. "It's...complicated, but he doesn't know that yet."

"Okay. Well, at least I can't step in it too bad, I think?" She hoped?

"Kanan's perfectly capable of telling you when to lay off," Hera reassured her. "This...Caleb, though. Don't mention anything about the future or the war, and you should be okay. I hope."

She still wasn't really sure what was up with his reaction to Stance.

"Shouldn't be a problem. I've already traumatized one person today, I'm not allowed to upset the tiny teenager who normally keeps me in pancakes," Kitty said.

"Oh, no," Hera said. "Is everything okay?"

"It'll be fine," Kitty assured her. "I wasn't expecting to wake up with a teenage husband and Clint wasn't expecting to wake up with a pregnant wife. I feel creepy even saying that out loud."

"Oh, no," Hera repeated, with a little more feeling this time. "It shouldn't last long, anyway?"

She hoped.

"I'm betting just long enough to make me freak out. That's how these things usually go when I'm normal," she said, shrugging. "And then it'll be fine. With teasing."

"At least you didn't change." Hera hated to think of what that might mean for someone pregnant. "If you need anyone to talk to about the weird, I'll be around."

"Thanks. You may regret that," she said, casually.

She'd been in Fandom too long.

"Oh, I know." Hera smiled. "The offer still stands."

Because she was already a bit of a motherer, even to folks older than her.

Summer Games, Wednesday Morning

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