fandomhigh | Summer Shenanigans, Wednesday mid-morning

Worrisomely, the park was empty today aside from a sign that directed everyone to the beach. When they arrived, they would find a huge wooden scaffolding at least 30 feet high (somewhere, an Olypmic platform diving squad was wondering where their stuff had gone) next to the water. In the water was a blue and gold inflatable as long as the scaffolding was high. Further out were ropes marking distance from the inflatable blob.

Everyone have a horrifying mental image of what was going to happen here? Good!

"I have returned after foraging for parts last week," Anakin lied through the megaphone. He'd been a cat. "And we are trying out an all new event! You will climb to the top of the scaffolding and jump down onto the inflatable! This will launch the person at the other end of it into the air! Whoever launches someone the furthest wins! The launchee will also receive points for style before hitting the water."

The points get you nothing. You win nothing. "After you have launched your island mate, you crawl to the launch zone and you get launched by the person behind you. This will be fun."

Possibly only for spectators.

"Come get your rash guards and life jackets, if necessary. Listen for your names!"

Belle
Hannibal
Stark
Henry
Steve M
Thor
Jon
Jaina
Lydia
Flint
Eleanor
Luma
Steve R
Raiden
Harley
Rey

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"They don't take back the membership card," Anakin said. "I don't think they issue them to begin with. If you still resonate with the basic tenets of the Order, searching for knowledge and justice and avoiding revenge and murder--"

"Haven't killed anyone in over a year," Jack said. He held his hand up only half-sarcastically. "I swear."

Then he eyed his arm, sighed, and reached for the edge of his glove. "I did put one piece of clarity on my skin. Hoping I won't regret it," he said, pushing the glove up all the way to his wrist.

The tattoo read 'I will stand in the darkness and laugh with my heel on its throat'.

"Song lyrics?" Anakin guessed.

"Boyfriend," still weird to say on the island, "Thought I listened to too much angry music," Jack said, rolling his glove down. "So he gave me a less angry record, and the irritating thing is, it worked."

"Hate it when our partners understand us," Anakin teased quietly.

"It's incredibly annoying," Jack agreed, because he'd already been pretty earnest and he was probably going to have to be earnest again tomorrow and he had to make up for it somehow. "He's completely ruined my Spotify algorithm and my long nights of brooding in the darkness by myself alone."

"Have you been catching up here?" Anakin asked. "There's a good spot looking over the water. I spent a lot of time there as a teenager brooding about life's unfairness and practicing my robe billowing."

"...No," Jack admitted grudgingly. "I'm too busy. I show up here on Wednesdays, go to Caritas, wake up, go to class, do some work, call home, go to bed..."

"How adult of you," Anakin teased.

"I don't know what the hell happened," Jack groused. "... Besides the therapy. And the people. And the music. And the faking my own death to stop myself from constantly throwing myself at trouble..."

"I could throw a rock and hit probably three people here who've also faked their own deaths," Anakin said. "It's definitely a way to get out of situtations."

"And I am nothing if not good at getting out of Situations," Jack agreed.

Or liked to exaggerate that he was, anyway.

Anakin smiled. "That's always been true."

"And yet I'm still alive and still here," Jack said. "Well. Sort of." He eyed Anakin. "And I'm better at going native than you've ever been."

"You're still here or you're still alive?" Anakin asked.

"I didn't realize I had to pick one?"

"If you're secretly a zombie, I have another band for you to join," Anakin said.

"I like the band and the life I've got," Jack told him.

Sarcastically. But also kind of honestly.

"Though you know who's also still alive and wound up crashing in my guest room for a month? Cade."

"Did you have anything left that wasn't nailed down when he left?" Anakin asked warily.

"Besides the squatting he was remarkably civil about it all," Jack admitted. "I think he even kept the drugs out of the house like I asked."

"Maybe he's also growing as a person," Anakin said.

"Probably," Jack said. "He's just heavily in denial about it."

"Cade," Anakin said like that was an answer.

"Yeaaah," Jack said. "Look, it's been exactly twenty years for me since I first met him, there's just something kind of weird about staring in the face of that much 'No, I'm still a dumbass teenager and I'm fine, I swear' energy."

"He has to choose his own path," Anakin said. "Skywalkers tend to learn the hard way."

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