Summer Shenanigans, May 20, 2026

[sith_happened]

Anakin was getting wily.

Realizing that people might've learned to avoid the park on Wednesdays, he'd set up his ambush silent cry for help team building exercise by Serenity Cove instead.

It was very normal to have built a scaffold to hold a 40 foot long, very gross-looking wooden pole dangling twenty feet up over Serenity Cove over the last several weeks, right?

Even if it was twenty feet up?

"I am Anakin Skywalker," Anakin called from the top of scaffolding through his unnecessary megaphone in a manner not dissimilar to a person yelling on a street corner. "Many thanks to our local bars and restaurants for once again 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 red flag at the end 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.

"And you also get a free t-shirt!" A surprisingly inoffensive shirt, since Anakin didn't see the point in wasting the good ones on an event where the shirts would be immediately destroyed.

He began pointed out people as they walked past: "McGarrett, Hannibal, new kid, Rogers, Kitty, Sairis, Remy, Lydia--" he paused. "--there are water wings as well."

Sorry about the dress, Lydia. "--Rey, Eramus, Henry, Flint, Mariner, Jonathan, annnd Vi."

"Get on up here."

Comments

Arrive & Mingle

[sith_happened]

If you just happened to be by the cove this auspicious day.

...there were food vendors?

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[drumsticksandd20s]

Look, Steph might have escaped being voluntold this time around, but did you think she wasn't going to show up and cheer Vi on?

Also give her a whole lot of shit the whole time? Come on.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[sairis]

What was this all about? Sairis was confused, and checking it out.

Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sith_happened]

Oh, boy!

Welcome to Fandom, Ilya. Sorry about all of this.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[throughaphase]

Kitty had really thought that maybe, just maybe, she'd go unnoticed. But only because she didn't want to wear grease.

"At least the shirt's not bad," she mused as she put it on.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi should've known better than to trust the smell of food vendors on a Wednesday.

She sighed and pulled her shirt on. At least this wasn't a new and exciting torment.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[drumsticksandd20s]

Hope you didn't mind Steph whistling at you from the stands while looking kind of smug, Vi, because that's what was happening.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi paused in the middle of tearing off her sleeves to flip Steph off. Lovingly.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph blew a kiss back at her. "If you win, I'll make sure you get a bonus prize," she yelled.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[giveittoyoursister]

Vi grinned back as she finished ripping off her sleeve. "It'll have to be pretty impressive to beat free burgers," she called back.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[drumsticksandd20s]

Steph put a hand to her forehead and flung herself backwards like she'd been shot, except she maybe overbalanced just a bit and nearly fell out of her seat in the process. "I should have known I couldn't compete with free food."

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[giveittoyoursister]

"Hey, I believe in your ability to think creatively," Vi said, watching Steph with fond amusement.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[drumsticksandd20s]

"Aw, thanks. I have a brand to maintain, you know," Steph replied with a chuckle. "You'll look so badass anyway --" what it said about her that she thought so despite knowing perfectly well what this challenge entailed was probably best left unexamined -- "that I can totally deal with taking a backseat to all those burgers for a week."

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[giveittoyoursister]

Just add it to the pile of things they weren't ready to talk about.

"Aw, you know you'll always come first with me," Vi said with a completely innocent grin.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[drumsticksandd20s]

The things they took big elaborate detours around to avoid talking about them?

Steph rolled her eyes in the most affectionate possible way. "Just promise to spare a burger or two for me? Because if you win this, you're basically taking care of dinner for a week, you realize that."

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[thatwaslucky]

Sure, it was gross, but it wasn't like Rey wasn't used to this.

She was pondering whether she should do this barefoot rather than getting her boots disgusting, though, since traction wouldn't really matter here anyway.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[regulationslacker]

It wasn't like Mariner hadn't encountered some truly horrific substances on the Cerritos, but really, Anakin? Really?

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[knightinshinarmor]

Weirdly, Remy had no issue being voluntold for these things. He was only likely to wear something stupid and end up smeared in suspicious substances, not have to fight for his or anyone else's lives?

Sure, he could handle that.

So he was giving no more than a faintly rueful chuckle and headshake in Anakin's direction as he pulled on his t-shirt.

"You losing your edge, here, mon ami? This looks like something my pere would have made us do when I was little. Ain't even any gators to watch out for!"

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sharp_man]

Hannibal enjoyed these things in his own sadistic way. He knew better than to wear good clothing.

He was still grimacing in disgust. This one smelled.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon should have known better. The Eye should have warned him.

(Spoiler alert: the Eye enjoyed his pain.)

He looked up at the pole and sighed.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[thatsmysword]

"I had been hoping for new shirts," Henry said, looking quite happy about that one.

... And then he saw the water.

"Aw, not again."

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

"What is this?" Sairis asked.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[thatsmysword]

"He's going to make us fall into the water again, is what this is," Henry said, shoulders sagging.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

"Why? Isn't that dangerous?" It looked dangerous.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[thatsmysword]

Henry looked at him, pained. "Can you swim?"

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

"The biggest water I'd seen before I came here was a bathtub!" Sairis said.

That would be a no.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?"

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[fears_no_one]

"First time?" Flint asked dryly.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

"I don't even know what's going on - I was just walking by," Sairis protested.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[fears_no_one]

"Wednesday summer ridiculousness," Flint said, nodding. "The insane one up there runs it. He chooses his victims weekly, but at least you get free clothing out of it."

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

"I knew he was odd." Sairis frowned at the dean. "Free clothing's not bad, though," he admitted.

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[fears_no_one]

"These aren't hideous," Flint said. "I don't trust them. Last summer's were much worse."

Re: Voluntolds, Come on Down!

[sairis]

Sairis frowned. "Most of the clothes here don't seem too bad. Odd, but not terrible."

How bad could they be?

Go Across the Pole!

[sith_happened]

Or jump straight into the water. No shame in that game.

RNG says the order for crossing is:
Eramus
Jonathan
Steve R.
Remy
Rey
Vi
Ilya
Henry
Hannibal
Flint
Kitty
Sairis
Mariner
Steve M.
Lydia

And Vi makes it across first, getting the Mooby Burger, then Flint and Kitty. Work with the characters around you and decide how it goes for you!

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[giveittoyoursister]

Look, if the prize still wasn't up for grabs, then Vi probably would've taken a dive, even if the pole was far from the most disgusting thing that she'd been in physical contact with in her life.

But it was, so she put in some effort. Which it turned out was more than enough.

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[regulationslacker]

Yeah, Mariner was 'accidentally' losing her footing on this thing as soon as it was safe for her to do so.

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[knightinshinarmor]

The trouble with "no supernatural powers" were that sometimes one's supernatural abilities weren't entirely optional.

Remy could control his charges and his charm, but his agility just happened. Which is to say that the dramatic, arm-flailing slip-and-drop he took about halfway across the pole when it was his turn was entirely deliberate.

As was tucking himself into a ball to get the largest splash out of the cove as he could when he hit the water.

Ahhh, summer!

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[sharp_man]

Hannibal chuckled at the display. "Bravo!"

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[knightinshinarmor]

Remy pushed the wet hair out of his face and smiled.

"Merci, homme!"

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[sharp_man]

Hannibal had his pride. And fussy as he might be when permitted, he was hardly afraid of getting his hands (or anything else) dirty.

But a good whiff of fish guts had him recoiling enough to fall off.

After which he was absolutely scrubbing himself in the water.

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon had, after time at the gym and several classes with Gladio, slightly better than noodle arms. He was still not up for this. Still, he fancied he might have at least made a less-than-pathetic showing, if it weren't for the fact that the grease felt entirely too much like lotion today.

He put a hand in it, recoiled, and immediately fell.

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[thatwaslucky]

Rey decided to do this barefoot. At least if she ended up in the water she could wash some of the gross off instead of just waterlogging her boots.

It was actually a little bit of a relief then when she fell off right before the end.

Re: Go Across the Pole!

[fears_no_one]

Flint hadn't managed this last year, and as a professional man of the sea, it had niggled at him. He hadn't practiced, but he'd stewed.

And so, ignoring the nastiness on the pole--there'd been worse on the Walrus--he made his way carefully to the end with a satisfied smirk on his face as he reached the flag.

Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Give him a big ol' greasy hug.

OOC

[sith_happened]

Yay!