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

Cal had come to watch, and then he heard his name get called. He probably should have gotten a warning about this.

Or at least a patented Bad Feeling^TM.

"You know," Arden said, strolling over to Cal with her team shirt slung over a shoulder, "I'd make a bet with you about whose team was gonna win, but it seems kinda unfair to make you just keep pushing you further into dinner-debt."

At this point, the outfits were definitely sending a weird message to Cal, and he had to fight to not look at how short her shorts were and keep his eyes in respectful places. "It would be different if it was just you vs. me again, but the additional team members are factors I can't control. It would be unfair to you."

How was he still this cocky after getting shot? It was the Jedi way.

Was the message really weird, Cal? Really?

"Big talk for a guy that owes me dinner," she pointed out with an unseemly amount of smugness for someone's whose win was purely luck. "When were you thinking of making good on that anyway?"

The message was confusing for his poor brain!

"I'm good whenever you are. Is there any place in particular you want to go?" he asked.

But how? They seemed all very straightforward to sylphs!

"Well, I'd been thinking Cafe Fina," Arden admitted. "But I guess it's pretty expensive, so maybe we could hit up something else? Like on the boardwalk?"

Thanks, Kamala, for giving her this anxiety! To go along with all her other kinds of anxiety.

"Hey, I promised to take you to dinner if you won, and you beat me fair and square. If you want to go to Cafe Fina, that's where we'll go," he said. "And then I'll pick a different place when I win next week."

So, so cocky.

"See and now I'm not sure whether this means I should pick a new place," Arden said thoughtfully. "Because you're clearly talking in opposites with all this 'when I win' nonsense."

"You had an advantage because I've never used a gun before. Blaster-type weapons are unrefined and are a better technological match to Earth to what I'm used to," Cal argued. "I needed extra time to learn, but now I know what I'm doing."

He was just begging the RNG gods to ruin his week at this point.

"How many times do you think I've shot a gun?" Arden asked with a laugh. Which was a convenient reason to transition to leaning against him. "Ignoring all your excuses for how I absolutely handed your ass to you last week, it sounds like we're doing this again next week? Same terms?" She glanced up at him, crooking a smile in his direction. "In that case, we definitely need to get this week's dinner in soon. I'd hate for your debts to start piling up. Tomorrow evening work for you?"

"I have no idea how many times you've fired a gun, but if it's even once, it was more than me before Monday," he said, doing his best to be a steady rock for her to lean against. "Same terms for next week sounds good. And tomorrow would work, but there's some kind of party happening and I figured I'd check it out and maybe make sure Dean makes it back to the manor in one piece if he goes." It was, quite literally, the least he could do. "You're welcome to come too, I think it's open to everyone. And maybe we could do dinner on Friday?"

"It was a grand total of zero, so keep trying to find other reasons I wrecked you besides 'skill issue'," Arden said, casually slinging an arm around his waist.

Cal had very clearly not considered out his party invitation. If he had trouble handling her in casual clothes, was he really ready for her in party attire?

"But yeah, a party sounds fun," she said, grinning up at him. "Since you're the one with all the details, wanna head over together?" The way friends did!

No, he was not ready for her in party attire, but he would deny it until his dying breath.

He leaned against her a little in return and gave her a nudge, like friends! "Sure, that sounds great. I'm mostly going because the guy who owns the house has really friendly dogs, and I want to see them again."

Big words for the guy who couldn't even look at her normal attire.

"Oh! You didn't say there were gonna be dogs at the party!" Arden said, brightening.

Dogs would make it way easier to not feel self-conscious! If only Clint wasn't gonna be the worst and keep them upstairs.

Clint was totally the worst!

"I hope so. You and I should also spend more time with the wildlife in the preserve, if you'd like." You know, if she could stand spending time with him. "You can hang out with the birds and I can check on the porgs."

"Hopefully these porgs won't be inclined to cry on me like the intern porg does," Arden said. "But yeah, I'd love to see you do your Disney princess thing."

One to talk, Arden Finch.

Summer Shenanigans, Wednesday, May 15, 2024

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