A Clearing in the Preserve: Summer's Last Party (As A Student); Sunday Night [05/06].

[somethingwithturquoise]

It was a damn good thing Summer had a big party to get ready for, because it was just the thing for her to channel all her anger into so she just didn't blow up and go ballistic or something, because her family was seriously the worst. There was plenty to do, too, moving everything from the dorms to the spot in the preserve she found that would be perfect, putting up lights, tables, getting a music system set up, marking a path through the woods so everyone could find it without a problem. She could throw herself into the work and into the glitterfication of everything to try to forget about how mad she was at her parents right now, but it wasn't helping as much as she thought it was. It might have to wait until the kegs and the jello shots started flowing.

And, of course, it didn't also didn't help that she'd barely just gotten into it when a yellow-shirted teenager with too big of a head showed up, standing nervously at the edge of the clearing without saying anything. Summer tried to work past it, but she could feel Morty's anxiousness radiating off of him, distracting her. "What do you want?" she demanded.

Morty's fingers tapped together. "I, uh, I wanted to say sorry," he said. "For Mom and Dad. That...that was, that was a really shitty thing they did.* And I know you hate us all and that you don't want to come home, but...I just...I-I just wanted to tell you that...that I'm really glad you're coming home, Summer. It-It's been really hard, dealing with all of this by myself. It's just..it's just not the same. So I'm glad. I'm glad you're coming home. Even if you're a bitch. I...I miss you."

And Summer stopped what she was doing, stringing up lights into the trees. Her shoulders sunk and she sighed. "God dammit, Morty."

She stopped and she went over to wrap her arms around him and give him a hug. "I miss you, too."

They took that moment and they held it for a little longer, because nothing was going to interrupt it or ruin it this time, and that in itself was a rare, special moment. But moments like that had a time limit, and before it started to get awkward, Summer pulled away. "But if you're going to crash my party," she said, "you could at least help out."

Morty smiled, trying not to make it too big. "Y-yeah, yeah, sure. Anything you want. Y-You...you got it, Sis."

"Ugh. Gross."

But with that, they got to work, and, in no time, the party was all set up. Lights strung up in the trees, a bonfire crackling in the middle of the clearing. Tables set up with the usual offerings of pizza and chips, hot dogs and s'more stuff to go with the fire, jellos of questionable content, a rainbow of jello shots, and a couple of kegs with plenty of red Solo cups. She had some party mixes playing through some rented speakers, and so now she just needed other people, because how lame would it be if the only person at her last party as a student here was her dorky little brother?

It could have been worse, though, she supposed.

___________________
*Which will remain vague until it's played out later, la.

[[ PARTY TIME! Everyone's welcome! And let's be crazy and fly OCD-free, too, why the heck not?]]

Comments

[morty_c137]

Morty was just honestly glad to be able to enjoy a party of his sister's without having to worry about Summer or Rick's friends completely trashing the joint before his parents came home. Hey! There seemed to be a pretty good chance that they wouldn't even have to rip reality and freeze time with this one, too!

It was the little things in life, really.

Even if he knew, at the end of it, he was probably going to be "volunteered" for clean-up.

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot was not terribly big on parties, no. She was, in fact, kind of terrible at them. But this was the last Summer party, and so she was dutifully making her way into the woods, wielding a platter of... marshmallows. Still in the bag.

"I heard it is customary to bring refreshments to these things," she said, by way of greeting. "And so I come with an offering of confectionary puff rocks."

Well. At least they would have plenty more of these things to roast on the fire.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Awww. Yeah, definitely going to miss Peridot.

"You can never have too many marshmallows around a bonfire," Summer nodded in approval. "Thanks, Peridot. Although....puff rocks? Really? I mean, they're all...soft, that's like literally the complete opposite of most rocks. Unless...

"Peridot, these aren't, like, old, stale marshmallows, are they?"

She gave the bag an experimental poke.

[era_two_triangle]

The contents of the bag squidged appropriately, and Peridot looked at them, and then back at Summer, confused.

"Stale?"

They were new marshmallows! But 'stale' wasn't a concept that Peridot had encountered, yet.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Sidon would never dream of turning down an invitation, even ones slipped unceremoniously underneath doors. He had to wonder if, perhaps, the coming of summer would mean more of the festivities by the beach or by the water, but he supposed this wasn't too bad, so long as he stayed away from the fire.

Of course, someone might want to recommend to him that the hot dogs should go in the fire before eating them, but he was rather enjoying these little meat tubes just as they came out of the package. He'll have to give his compliments to the chef.

[misshapen_spark]

"Hey, Sidon," Yang said as she set down her giant containers of BBQ pork. "You tried those with any of the toppings yet?"

What? YANG wasn't going to tell him he had to cook it. How a not-Faunus preferred their food was none of her business (as long as it wasn't people). But she was more than willing to make sure he knew there were delicious delicious options to go with them.

"Personally, I like them with spicy pickled stuff on them, though my dad and sister prefer chili and cheese."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Toppings?" Sidon asked, head tilting slightly. "I didn't even think of that; I've been rather enjoying them just as they come. It compliments this..." he lifted up the red Solo cup dwarfed by his hand, "beer beverage rather well."

"I...don't believe I see toppings like that here, though, which is a shame. I do like to try new things..."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey was still not great at parties, and she hadn't been the best at actually getting to them. (See point the first.) But it was Summer's last one, so she came, and was maybe wondering how long it took to drag everything out here.

[somethingwithturquoise]

A long time. It had taken a very long time. Even fueled by rage and with a suspiciously complacent minion to help out. By the time everything was set just the way Summer had envisioned it, she was ready for a nap.

But it was okay! That's what Red Bull was for!

"Rey!" she greeted the other girl, lifting a red cup. "We did it!"

[thatwaslucky]

"We did!" she said. "I'm still not entirely sure what it was!"

[sharp_man]

It was amazing how word got around of these things. At some point during the evening, Hannibal showed up. He wasn't planning on staying, no, but he had presents for his TA and wanted to make certain that she got them.

[somethingwithturquoise]

There was very much still a part of Summer's brain that saw an authority figure wandering in on a party and instantly wanted to scream out that it was the fuzz and make everyone scatter. And then another part of her brain reminded her that, hey, she wasn't a student anymore. She was a graduate. That, arguably, totally made them peers right now.

So when she spotted Dr. Lecter, she let out a whoop and lifted her drink.

"Yo, Dr. L! You come to paaartay?"

Yes...she was...very much into those cups at this point.

It hadn't taken long.

[sharp_man]

Hannibal wouldn't have said they were peers, but he also had no interest in stopping students from partying if they were so inclined.

The drunk welcome was amusing, though.

"I am not," he assured her. "Somehow I doubt this will be my sort of party. However, I would like to congratulate you once more on your graduation. How does it feel?"

[thatsweirdright]

Jason had always had a really good time at Summer's parties, and this was the last one, so... of course he'd made it.

"This looks really cool," he said approvingly.

[ooc: leaving for work shortly, but wanted to ping in so he wouldn't miss this due to me being lazy post-work.]

[somethingwithturquoise]

After all the emotional trauma that seemed to have gone into it, it was hard for Summer not to breathe out a pleased sigh and beam a little. "Thanks, Jason. Had to really go all out with this one, you know?"

[thatsweirdright]

"For sure," Jason nodded. "I saw you fight off that scorpion thing yesterday too. That was pretty bad-ass." Okay, it was 'fight off' for a value of 'throw a drink at it', but she'd done so without any sort of superpowers or anything, so yeah. Pretty bad-ass.

[intotheout]

Tip whistled when she saw the set up. "You're raising the bar for future parties, Summer. I hope you know that."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Legacy!" Summer laughed as she lifted her cup into the air. "I mean, hopefully not my only legacy: she threw some parties! But, you know, gotta go out on a high note, right?"

[intotheout]

[I totally didn't realize I hadn't replied to this comment.]

"Absolutely," Tip agreed. "So where are you off to next? Anything fun?"

[refused2berescued]

Uma showed up in the Gerudo finery she'd purchased on the trip, her heavy braids pulled up into a ponytail high on her head. She barely knew Summer--or most of the people at the party, really--but a party was a party. Even if she unknowingly shared Sidon's hope that more parties would start taking place at the beach now that it was warmer out.

"Congrats," she said, idly tossing a plastic bag full of Twinkies and Devil Dogs onto one of the tables. There. She'd brought something. Probably best not to ask the provenance of said treats, but they were there.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Er, thanks."

Hey, it was something, although lack of food was definitely not an issue as Summer had managed to actually use all ten pounds of jello she'd ordered.

"That's a really cool outfit," she had to add, because the more she look at it, the more Summer liked it, and she didn't think she'd really seen anything like that in popular Fandom fashion before.

[misshapen_spark]

"Yo, let's turn it uuuuuuuuuuuuup!" Yang enthused as she appeared, with... a disturbing amount of BBQ pork and a large bag of buns.

Look, she was a growing girl, and was by far NOT the only person with powers or a high metabolism around, and she knew how to cook. Getting all the crock pots in the dorms going yesterday had been easy. Finding something big enough to bring it all out to the party was what had been hard. There was easily enough so that everyone could have 4 or 5 servings. Oh, and a lot of stuff for s'mores. A LOT.

"Really hope someone else brought drinks, 'cause I got the food."

[somethingwithturquoise]

That was the sort of enthusiasm Summer expected at a party like this. Make the whole town think they were be invaded by something from the preserve because they were so obnoxiously loud.

"YEAAAAAAH!" She called out, lifting her cup in salute. "YAAAAANG! WHOOO!"

"Plenty of food, plenty of drinks," she assured her. "Whaaaat did you bring there?"

Because there was...a lot of it.

[notamascot]

Kaylin wasn't the best with the whole party thing, but she was feeling a bit at loose ends at the moment.

So, she was here, eating and watching the other people.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer, like, barely knew Kaylin, like, at all, but she did know they at least graduated together today, and that was more than enough of a good jumping off point.

"Kaylin!" She said, lifting a cup in salute. "We did it!"