fandomhigh | Summer Shenanigans, Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Good morning, everyone! It's time for another summer of Anakin Skywalker Pretends This Teaches Team Building But Mostly Amuses Himself!

Or "Shenanigans."

The bleachers for viewing were set up in the park, close to the pond and near the Belthazor Commemorative Divot. Food vendors, remembering how this worked, had arrived with hot dogs, popcorn, and rum for the squirrels. And coffee. Just...so much coffee. Huge flatscreens were set up facing the bleachers, which the hint that today's event would not just stay inside the park, and the cameras were trained at...well, ankle height or the sky for now because squirrels and rum.

Anakin and his bullhorn were standing behind a folding table stacked high with brightly patterned shirts, and people who had been here before knew that just because the shirts were free, it never, ever meant you wanted to wear them.

"GOOD MORNING!" he boomed through the completely unnecessary bullhorn when enough people were gathered. "Welcome to another summer of team building activities!"

He might be waiting for a while if he was expecting cheers, just saying.

"Today, as has become tradition, we shall conduct a relay race around the island to acquaint you newcomers with where various stores and landmarks are!" he said. "Please listen as your name is called and then come up for your team-building clothing."

AKA: bizarre shirts.

"You will be in four teams of seven players each. You may not use your powers, should you have any, today."

TEAM DROPBEARS
Jane
Mariner
Beaker
Belle
Raiden
Senshi
Dean

TEAM BIGFOOT
Cal
Gale
Rey
Donald
Eddie
Lydia
Vi

TEAM JACKALOPES
Miguel
Steve M
Jonathan
Kamala
Stewart
Steph
Summer

TEAM TREE OCTOPUS
Lana
Steve R
Navaan
Eleanor
Stark
Mary
Arden

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Take a spot on the bleachers! Grab a snack! Tell the newbies tales of the singing fish that tried to take over the island! Feel that creeping sense of dread down your spine!

Nell had some free time this morning, so she thought she'd drop by and see what shenanigans were going on today.

Ben had decided to take the kids over to watch...whatever this was that Anakin did on Wednesdays...and so he had them settled with healthy-ish snacks, had successfully convinced the baby not to lick the bleacher (no, Kol, ew), and was trying to pick out familiar faces in the crowd.

Lucy had been told to keep an eye out for team-building in the park, and she was pretty sure this was what Tony had meant, right?

She was actually going to be a little disappointed when her name wasn't called, but spectating seemed like it'd be pretty fun, too.

And there was Danny in the audience, whistling at Steve to cheer him on. Or to mock the shirt. One of those two things.

"Don't think you can steal this amazing shirt when I'm not watching," Steve called back to him, waving.

"Keep tellin' yourself that!"

Such love.

And summer shenanigans were for gratuitous shirtlessness, so enjoy Steve stripping off the shirt he came in with and standing around for a bit before putting on his jackalope one, Danny.

"I will tell myself that!"

Mary almost walked past Danny, then stopped short and turned to look again with a surprised look on her face.

"Something on my face?" Danny asked. Look, that was more a reaction to Steve than him most of the time.

"What? Oh, no, nothing like that," said Mary, feeling awkward. "You kind of look like a younger version of my old boss. I, uh, don't suppose you've ever worked in casino security?"

"No," Danny replied slowly, frowning at the thought of it. For some reason he just didn't do stuff in casinos! Or go to Las Vegas. Weirdly. "Can't say that I have. You gotta a name for this guy?"

"Ed Deline. He used to be head of security at the Montecito Las Vegas before the new owner made him president of operations, and he hired me to be his hotel manager. He was a great guy," said Mary, a warm smile spreading across her face. "And now he… Actually, I'm not sure where he is now. He had to go on the run."

Well, that was definitely something people didn't usually say to Danny.

"You know, that sounds about right for a president of operations in Las Vegas."

He meant the mob. He for sure meant the mob.

Mary would say that she knew nothing about the mob, that the mob wasn't really a big thing in Vegas anymore, even if the mayor in Mary's Las Vegas was a mob lawyer.

She shrugged. "The casino was being robbed, and Ed got involved in a shoot-out with the thieves," she said casually, as if casino shoot-outs were something that happened every day. "And then he left town. Actually, I ended up leaving Vegas around the same time because I had some family issues. But I stayed in touch with his daughter. She's married to my ex-boyfriend." It was very complicated.

He was a cop from New Jersey! These assumptions happened. It was probably the mob. Or the Yakuza. Or the Triad. But those last two were more Hawaii things.

"And now you're here?" Well, it was as good a place as any.

"And now I'm here. No more desert heat and I don't have to listen to slot machines all night," said Mary. Plus she had a better shot at staying sober as long as she didn't keep restocking her minibar. "I own the Arms Hotel. It's a nice change of pace from what I was used to in Las Vegas."

"Definitely a plus. Danny Williams," he said, offering a hand to shake. "Somehow had that Mauvaise Chase place inflicted on me, but I'm a detective at the station in town."

For all that crime!

"Mary Connell," she said, returning the handshake. "So you work at the police station? Has anyone else in town had problems with gremlins raiding their closets, or do they just like my designer dresses?"

"Well, it's a step up from the raccoon crime spree we had a little while back," Danny granted her. "Or down. Might need to check on that for which way it's goin'."

"Raccoons? I must have missed that when I was traveling back and forth to Vegas to help a friend," said Mary. Or she missed it because she had been drinking. "What were the raccoons stealing?"

"Well, the whole town at one point." That had not been fun. "But recently just the normal petty thefts."

Of shiny things.

If Mary got her sequined dressed back, she was going to have to keep a closer eye on them.

"We haven't had any trouble with that at the hotel. Or my chef didn't tell me. Sometimes he ignores anything that isn't food-related," she said.

"You run into any, myself and my partner--" He nodded over at where Steve was preening in his ridiculous shirt. "--are at the station."

Re: Arrive and Mingle!

redhairgoldheart - 2024-05-16 01:34 (UTC) - Expand

Arden, bless her heart, had no idea what shenanigans was on the schedule, just that she was supposed to show up for it for a few hours.

Next week, she would almost certainly wear something less cute for it, but today was a Learning Experience^TM