Chilly Boulder; Sunday Afternoon [07/24].

[somethingwithturquoise]

Okay, so Summer was pretty sure Leroy was doing her a solid by not mentioning exactly how koala!Stark had wound up at the fire station on Friday night, but while the rest of the island would be unaware that she'd totally just orphan-dropped her friend (with firmly established abandonment issues) at the nearest, most obvious cliche, her conscience still knew. And no matter how much she used logic and reasoning to remind herself that this was best for everyone involved and she was practically doing Stark a favor, she still felt kinda shitty about it.

So she did what any self-respecting person wracked with guilt about being a bad friend, but not really bad enough to do something about it would do, and that was go and treat herself to some ice cream to sigh into until she started to feel better.

It...wasn't really working very well, though.

[[ open for all your ice cream shop needs, although Summer may be subject to work-related bullshit slow-play ]]

Comments

[sith_happened]

Anakin was stopping in to get a milkshake: just because he's spent his early years in the desert didn't mean he enjoyed Maryland in the summer. "Summer," he said, nodding. "Where's Stark? Did he turn back?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Oh. Look. Someone without the morals to feel bad about foisting koalas on innocent bystanders after unleashing children on them.

"Oh, what?" asked Summer, giving Anakin such a look over her strawberry-and-chocolate cone. "Now all of a sudden, you care about his fate?"

[sith_happened]

"I mostly don't want to be pounced on."

Anakin: the worst friend.

[somethingwithturquoise]

You know what, though? Summer couldn't even be mad about that response, because that was totally valid.

"It was incredibly difficult to get him to let go," she admitted. "I had to wait until he just fell asleep eventually."

A sleep that may or may not have been assisted through various questionable means that could only be proven with a toxicology report.

[sith_happened]

"And then you ran," Anakin said, laughing.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh, like you're one to talk!" Summer remarked, feeling just at extra little twist of the guilt knife in her stomach. Partly because she'd clearly stooped to the likes of Anakin Skywalker, but mostly just because, yeah, getting unceremoniously and hastily ditched by two people within the span of twenty-four hours could not have been good for an alien-turned-koala's sense of self-confidencr and worth.

"Trust me," she said, probably trying to convince herself much more than Anakin, "he's in a much better place now."

[sith_happened]

Well, that sounded ominous.

"You didn't take him to a farm, right?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer probably could have phrased it differently, yes.

"What?" she asked. "No. I took him to the fire station."

Like...obviously, Anakin. God.

[sith_happened]

"So he's still alive," Anakin checked.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I mean," said Summer, "it's not like I chipped him. I can't guarantee that, but I can promise you he was alive and well when Travis picked him up. I made sure so that the raccoons didn't get him instead."

See? No raccoons! Cute firefighter! Good friend!

[sith_happened]

"I'm sure he appreciates not being kidnapped again by a deranged raccoon cult," and there was a sentence to just say like it's normal, Anakin.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Maybe even as much as he hopefully appreciates it when he turns back in neither of our company!" Summer added, because that part was, like, crucial.

[sith_happened]

Anakin shuddered slightly at that thought. "That would be unfortunate," he agreed. "...is the fireman better for that?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"If Stark's not a total idiot about it," said Summer, "then yes, the fireman is, like, so much better for it."

So, in other words....no, actually, probably not.

[sith_happened]

"I didn't know Stark was interested in firemen."

Anakin was a bad friend.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I think it's just the one fireman, actually," said Summer. "And this is, I'll admit, entirely conjecture on my part, but there's definitely a vibe, and I have other evidence to back this up. I'm just trying to grease the wheels a little."

And if she managed to accomplish that, then, clearly, whatever weird thing it was the had sprung up between herself and Stark since the Wedding Incident would just magically disappear, right?

[sith_happened]

That was absolutely how feelings and vibes worked!

"How long ago did you put Stark at the firehouse?" Anakin wondered, sipping from his milkshake. "Should we be listening for yelling?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Perfect plan, flawless logic, 10/10, what could possibly go wrong?

"Oh, no," Summer assured Anakin, with a dismissive wave of her hand and a bite of her ice cream, "I did that on Friday. I'm sure if there was going to be yelling, we'd have heard it by now. Unless you mean when he changes back, in which case, I mean, I left a note, so..."

[sith_happened]

Anakin snickered. "You left a note? What did it say?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Well," Summer said, "I didn't want him to just think someone orphaned some rando koala at the fire station! Knowing it was Stark was the whole point. So it just said something like, 'hi, I'm not a normal koala, I'm actually Stark, look how cute I am, please take care of me.' IDK, I don't really remember exactly, but that's the general idea of it."

[sith_happened]

"I don't see how that won't work," Anakin said, grinning.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I mean," said Summer, "I guess I could have just showed up and shoved him at Travis, but I wouldn't want to cramp your style."

[sith_happened]

Anakin burst out laughing. "It would be very derivative."