fandomhigh | SHENANINGANS, Wednesday, May 13th, 2020

Good morning, Fandom! It was time for the start of the third annual Summer Shenanigans, and Anakin had been secretly prepping for this since last year! (If you think that means he had a stockpile of intensely ugly t-shirts, YOU WOULD BE RIGHT. Give yourself a prize.)

There were bleachers set up for watching the events, food vendors hoping to get you to eat a variety of things that may or may not have any business being deep-fried and put on sticks, and big screens showing various parts of the island, which was definitely a hint that the games today weren't just centered in the park today.

"WELCOME!" Anakin yelled through his bullhorn at the appointed time.

Yes, he knew how to use a bullhorn. He just preferred to make it boom and squeak like that because he was kind of mean.

"Today you will be put into four teams of seven," he said, "and you will be conducting an obstacle course around the island! When your name is called, please collect your t-shirt and briefly say hello to your team."

And complain about your t-shirt color names. Pretty in Spring Turquoise wasn't close to being turquoise and the rest of them were pretty much the same color with different names, so excellent quality control there, Anakin.

"Then you will spread out to the appointed areas. I will shoot off a flare that Beaker--" Beaker meeped and waved, "--had absolutely no part in testing, and that will be your signal for the first group to begin their task. Fastest team back to the park here wins."

There was a pause.

"You win nothing but bragging rights because we've all learned from the fish incident two years ago. If you're new, well, just trust us. No one needs to win a fish." He coughed. "Anyway! Names! Listen up!"

Team Sweet De Crocus
1. Cait
2. Grog
3. Shuri
4. Beaker
5. Alluka
6. Astrid
7. Kitty

Team Fresh Eggplance
1. Nina
2. Stark
3. Wayne
4. Juillene (and Camden)
5. Sabine
6. Alara
7. Ulysses

Team Lake of Aluminum Crab
1. Duke
2. Elli
3. Liam
4. Alexis
5. Summer
6. Freya
7. Tahani

Team Pretty in Spring Turquoise
1. Mae
2. Julius
3. Iris
4. Amaya
5. Shunsui
6. Rosa
7. Rey

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I think that's pretty much the only way this will work," Julius admitted. "But, um. Why are you going to bellow?"

"Motivation? It worked last time."

Probably in spite of Mae bellowing, let's be real.

"Do--do you stop bellowing if we're running fast enough?"

Because he was very fast, Mae! Very, very fast!

". . . Sure. That could work."

She was small and angry and liked to make noise. Just be glad she couldn't do this while very poorly playing bass guitar, Julius.

It's just that Julius didn't really perform well while being yelled at, Mae. He tended to freeze up. Just sayin'.

"Do we wanna tie your leg up high on mine, then?" Since their legs had to remain tied, but there were no rules about all four feet staying on the ground.

"Up to you, dude. It's your leg I'll be clinging to."

They were going to do terribly.

Julius was going to drop Mae the first time she bellowed. And probably the next several times after that.

Look, he startled easily, okay?

"Uhh, okay," he said, grabbing the rope. "I guess we should...do this?" There was no way he was going to tie it tight enough.

Not a chance.

Mae lifted her (very skinny and very short) leg. "Go for it."

And tried not to snicker.

This was going to be a disaster.

"Umm..." He repositioned the rope several times, trying to figure out how to make this work. "Uh. Maybe if we sit first? We can line it up like that?"

They'd be lucky if they ever started.

Mae tilted her head. "Or I could just grab on and you can tie it wherever I end up?"

"Okay," Julius said, easy-going like that. "I guess so long as some part of your leg is attached to some part of mine, it'll be okay?"

"Yeah, probably." Mae was not so concerned with making sure they matched the letter of the law. Or any other part of any law.

She looked Julius over, then around the park. She plotted her path, and with a mini-version of the promised bellowing, took a flying leap at Julius's back.

"Ahh!" Julius said, not expecting either the bellow or for Mae to go for his back.

Which meant he was diving to the side to avoid whatever it was about to hit him.

Sorry Mae.

Pffft. Mae had fallen from way further than this.

"You're not supposed to run yet!"

"You weren't supposed to start screaming yet!" Julius protested.

Yup. Never going to start.

"Why not?! It might be an integral part of my jumping process!"

It wasn't. (Little grunts of effort and a little sound effect when she got her super-high third jump were, though!)

Julius peered at her for a second. "Might be," he said. "But probably isn't."

"Whatever," Mae said. "You don't know me."

"No, but I know a lot of people like you," Julius said with a sigh.

The closest species to dragons as far as attitude went were cats, so he probably shouldn't even be surprised.

Mae would argue strenuously that she was not a cat. But then, he'd say the same about not being a dragon, so.

"So you know a lot of awesome people?"

"I know a lot of people who certainly think they are," Julius said, frowning.

"That's cool," Mae said, that frown going right over her head. "Self-esteem is important."

There was a short joke there that Julius would be too nice to make. But the narrative sure is THINKING it.

He just sighed. "Do you wanna try getting on my back again?" he suggested.

But maybe without the screaming?

"I guess." Mae eyed him up. "Even if you won't let me do it the fun way."

Honestly, the real miracle is that they only came in fourth.

"I have been told very many times that I am the worst," he said with another sigh. "I'll add your complaint to the pile."

SHENANINGANS, Wednesday, May 13th, 2020

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