fandomhigh | Summer Shenanigans [Wednesday mid-morning]

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summer games

Summer Shenanigans [Wednesday mid-morning]

Today's games were not being held in the park, which should have been a red flag. Fortunately, Anakin has provided a red flag!

Twenty feet up.

At the end of a very gross-looking wooden pole dangling over Serenity Cove.

"Today you're all out of for yourselves," Anakin yelled from the top of recycled scaffolding, which had a 40-foot long greased up telephone pole balanced between it about 20 feet up. "Many thanks to our local bars and restaurants for providing the lard, grease, fish guts, Crisco and bacon fat to really lube this thing up. The rules are simple," Anakin said. "Whoever gets across the pole and reaches the flag wins all you can eat at Mooby Burger for a week!" Whether Mooby Burger was a good prize or not was entirely up to the winners. "You may walk, run, or slide your way across, but you may not use supernatural powers."

"And thank you in advance for volunteering!"

Which was news to those volunteers.

"Come and grab your t-shirts Flint, Luma, Jaina, Belle, Lydia, Eleanor, Stewart, Vi, Don, Steve R., Raiden, Sabine, and Steph."

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Be slightly appalled at the amount of grease generated by the island.

Steve was going to sit on this bench and sulk his way though this challenge, which he would've been amazing at. Stupid getting shot.

Oh boy, greasy pole time!

Once Eleanor realized which one this was, she was actually looking a little hopeful. Not because she was looking forward to doing it by any means, but maybe this one was something Luma would enjoy? Or at least be good at? She had claws that could--

--then Anakin mentioned no supernatural powers and she winced, already starting to feel Luma's withering look of irritation on her back.

One of these had to be something she would enjoy eventually! Right??

Eleanor was right; Luma was going to give her so many withering looks, especially since she didn't know which was worse: the t-shirt being gross, the pole being gross, or the gross fact that the smell of all that meaty grease was making her practically ravenous.

As she pulled on her t-shirt, she vowed, right then and there, that Eleanor owed her lunch after this, and it was going to be a lot of burgers and steaks. Or maybe a nice game reserve somewhere....

Lydia had been up most of the night for witch purposes, and so didn't remember what time it was or what was happening in the park until she was walking past it.

"Oh, no!"

"Never wanna hear the words 'lube this thing up' again," Jaina muttered, grabbing her shirt.

Why would Anakin do this to them? Was he not hugged enough as a child?

"If he's trying to say people need better hygiene habits, this is a very in-character twisted way to go about it," Steph decided. "After this? Shower. Immediately. Again."

Which was a given, but, y'know.

"Yeah," Vi agreed and it was only mildly flirtatious. "I don't want that on me any longer than it has to be."

Because getting all of that gunk washed off was going to be serious business.

"You're gonna kick ass though, I know you will."

"I'll totally share my burgers with you if I win."

You know if Steve left any for anyone else.

"I had a feeling you would," Steph told her.

Again, assuming Steve left any for anyone else.

"I know how to show my girl a good time," Vi teased.

It was a real concern.

"And have always been extremely invested in making sure I'm fed," Steph added.

It was more than a concern, it was a probability.

Stewart was, quite honestly, certain that there would never be a shirt for one of these things that exemplified his lifestyle so completely and perfectly, and so he was looking pretty pleased with all of this.

Well, not all of it. There was still the sun aspect of all of this that he didn't like, but other than that...

"There are so many things wrong with this but it would still be funny if I wasn't doing it," Steph remarked, snickering at the shirt before pulling it over her head. Maybe she should send it to Ryan and see if it confused him.

Flint was glancing appraisingly at the pole. This wouldn't be so terribly different than being on a ship in a hurricane, really, would it?

Belle really needed to stop being outdoors on Wednesday mornings.

She heaved a sigh and pulled her newest absurd shirt over her head.

Or crawl or scooch or whatever. The RNG says that only four of you--Jaina, Eleanor, Steve R. and Vi--make it across, but feel free to mod how far you got (or didn't).

And apologies in advance for Steve Rogers eating Mooby Burgers out of food next week.

Edited 2025-06-11 14:08 (UTC)

Lydia took one look at the pole and reminded Anakin, "I can't swim."

Also, the sea was telling her to, Come away, love, love, come away, but she decided not to mention that part.

"I have water wings," Anakin offered helpfully.

"What good will wings do me in the water?" the Regency girl asked in confusion.

"That's an excellent question," Anakin admitted. "They aren't actually wings. They're inflatable flotation devices that go on your arms to keep you afloat in the water."

"I will take the wing things, then," Lydia decided.

"They'll compliment your outfit," Anakin said, holding them out.

Was Anakin perhaps color blind? It wouldn't explain everything, but it would explain some things. "I thank you, sir," Lydia said as she took them and very tentatively slid them around her arms.

Right. Here went nothing. Lydia attempted to hold her skirts out of risk of brushing the pole and its...substances with one hand as she took a few wobbling steps upon it...and then toppled off into the sea with a rather shrill shriek. Anakin's eardrums deserved it.

Jaina spent a good long minute considering how to do this. Running gave her less time to slip, but she'd slip harder.

So she was walking across slowly. Not at a crawl, but she was being very intentional with her steps so if there was any point where she would wobble, she could get her balance again.

It actually probably looked more badass to not seem like she was having trouble, so that was a plus.

For all of Stewart's gleefulness at all this grease, once faced with actually having to go across the log, he turned into a somewhat whimpering husk of his former cocky self.

He wasn't expecting it to be so high!

With a grunting sound of disdain for this situation, he carefully put one of his feet on the log, and it immediately slipped. He started to chew his lip to see if speed was going to be the key here, took in a deep breath, and started to run forward...

Only to immediately slip and start to fall. Through some miracle of oddly catlike reflexes (surely, it was all the dancing), he managed to catch the pole on his way down, looping his arms around it and wincing as gravity tried to pull him down. But he did work out more than you'd expect and he was able to hold himself dangling there for a moment. Straining with a whining sound, he managed to pull himself up, and his leg went out to loop around the log...

And that's when his grip slipped and he went falling down into the water with a high-pitched yelp, and would promptly start acting like this was all a pretty stupid idea anyway, and only jocks and overachievers could ever pull it off, and who wanted to be like them? Definitely not Stewart!

Eleanor really wasn't sure how she managed to do this. In a way, she half-wondered if her silent plea to the log to not let her slip actually worked, even though she knew her compulsion powers didn't work that way (wouldn't it be cheating, anyway, if they did?). But she went up there, she closed her eyes, she took a deep breath, and then opened her eyes with a dedicated focus. She took off her shoes; maybe it was her webbed toes that helped her in some way? But she was slowly, carefully, making her way across the pole, her confidence lifting as she realized she was making it across, but she was careful not to get too excited and start going too fast. Just take it one step at a time, Eleanor, one step at a time.

And the next thing she knew, she was on the other side, blinking in surprise before letting out a triumphant and somewhat disbelieving laugh. She'd actually done it! Incredible!

And a little ironic, since a part of her really did just want to fall off and find an excuse to stay in the water while she was there...

Luma was growing increasingly irritated with how many times she'd been hearing 'no powers' lately, especially since she came here so that she didn't have to be restricted on that sort of thing! And she also felt like calling what she was powers was a little unfair, Miss Vess' words echoing in her that she was both, sometimes a girl, sometimes a wolf, and it was up to her to decide when one was more appropriate than the other.

So, in a burst of obstinate rebellion, she decided she was going to run this log as a wolf, dammit.

It didn't help, of course. She'd underestimated just how greasy that log was and made it a good sprint about halfway before one of her paws slipped and she started to fall. And now not only had she failed, but now she was currently soaking wet in her wolf form, which, you know, would be pleasant for just about everyone right now.

When she crawled out of the water, she made sure to shake as hard as she could where there most people were, too, just out of spite for everything, before stalking off to go get the scraps of her clothes from when she changed.

Of all the weeks to get called for this. Sabine didn't love the water and she really didn't want to be covered in grease, but she was pretty confident she could make it across.

Nope! She got about three steps from the end before her foot slipped and she fell right off. She was going to be mad about this all day.

Flint, with decades of being aboard ships in all kinds of weather, was unbothered by heights and very light on his feet, especially when he took his boots off before he attempted his run across the greasy pole.

He made it three quarters of the way before he lost his balance and dove neatly into the water.

He'd be stewing about this the rest of the week. Beware, Anakin.

Was it weird how much Steve enjoyed this activity? It was probably weird.

But he made it across, which definitely helped in the enjoyment.

Belle was nimble enough under normal circumstances but nothing about this could be described as normal.

At least she was only on the log for a few steps before losing her footing and then flinging herself into the water below rather than attempting to remain on the pole.

Vi made it most of the way across the pole before she started slipping. She did not try to catch herself on the pole, but instead sped up until she all but launched herself at the flag.

Edited 2025-06-12 05:21 (UTC)

Steph was resigned to not making it across this thing, but much to her own surprise she actually got about two thirds of the way before the comical flailing started. Through sheer stubbornness she held out until three quarters of the way across, and then at that point plummeted gracelessly into the water.

Or give him a big greasy hug!

Were Stark there he would absolutely be giving Anakin a big greasy hug.

But Stark, unlike Belle, had learned better. Belle would not be giving hugs to the still moderately frightening dean. She would just be offering a withering look while she tried to towel off.

Happy Wednesday!

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Summer Shenanigans [Wednesday mid-morning]

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