fandomtownies | Caritas; Wednesday [11/29].

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Caritas; Wednesday [11/29].

Summer, Tino, and the zombie band had all worked out a deal that day: the band could start playing Christmas music, but not only Christmas music. Ease into it a little. Maybe play a few holiday classics, but then play some regular songs before going back to more of the seasonal stuff. That way, by the end of the shift, Summer would not want to stab her ears with a swizzle stick after hearing the same rendition of maybe five songs over and over and over again.

So far, it seemed like a good solution, and Summer was feeling pretty good about it, which she knew she should hold onto for dear, precious life, because as soon as December hit, she knew all bets were probably off, although, now that she was the boss there, she was implementing this as standard practice at T&C now, up until maybe, like, the week before the big day.

(Although, to be fair, December in Fandom usually gave you plenty else to worry about beyond incessant Christmas music).

Featured Cocktail
Habanero Blood Orange Margarita

Featured Jello
Jack Frost
Gingerbread
Mulled Wine Fireball
Hamburger

Caritas is open!

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If no one else starts getting up here, Summer's just going to claim it solely for Atton, at this point.

"Fine, fine," Atton sighed, after getting accosted by zombies halfway to the stage. "I'll do one Christmas song, just to help you get out from under Summer's thumb. On one condition..."

They looked at him expectantly. One zombie lost an eye.

"...It's got to be 'I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus'."

After some loud, grumbling back and forth, they nodded their assent. And so they did, and Atton did, and even followed it up with Midnight Sky afterwards. Just to keep Summer happy.

Where so many people have increased their tolerance to alcohol one tiny wiggly bite at a time!

"I deserve a medal," Atton announced, sitting down, "But I'll settle for a virgin margarita."

"Deal," Summer agreed, with a bit of a smirk. "You wanna try the blood orange one or something a little more traditional? And, of course, I have to ask: is this for your performances up there, or are we doing this for some other off-screen heroics?"

"Just for the performance, and I'll try the blood orange," Atton said. "If we start getting into free drinks for my long history of handsome heroics, we'll be here all month."

"So humble," Summer noted, almost fondly with her snort, as she started mixing up for Atton his drink. "Although, really, I'm honestly a little curious. I mean, with so many, you could probably spare at least one heroic exploit per visit to help me fill my swooning quota for the week."

"I would, but I'm on sabbatical from the Jedi Order," Atton said, sinking back in his seat. "And probably not getting back to it for a while."

"Mmmm," said Summer, her hum slightly skeptical as she set down Atton's drink, "sounds a lot like the kind of excuse for someone who doesn't have any stories to back up previous claims, to me."

Atton snorted. "I mean, do you want a story about me selflessly saving a planet from dark side poisoning and getting my brain scrambled in the process, or a story about me holding off an immortal Sith Lord long enough for the cavalary to come in, and nearly losing my arm? Or the time I heroically managed to defeat an entire pirate ring? I've got lots, and some of them don't even end with me in a kolto tank."

He took the drink.

"I mean," said Summer, with a shrug of her shoulder, grin still in place, "your choice. But the pirate one does sound like it could have some potential without feeling too self-fellating."

Atton took another sip of his drink. "It's just not very exciting," he said. (The bragging was an automatism; he didn't really believe it, and these days, he had a hard time feeling genuinely good about any of it.) "I mean, there was a pirate ring, the military couldn't get through the fortifications on their hideout, so I talked my way in. Most of these pirates aren't too smart."

Listen, if you come in swinging with an alleged long history of handsome heroics, you can't blame a gal for being either curious or doubtful.

"Mmm," Summer hummed a little thoughtfully, nodding, "Maybe I should've just taken you at the speculation of it all; I guess some heroes don't necessarily make great storytellers. What was your angle, though, when you talked your way in? Sweet talking? Business? Spunky ingenue wanting to join their ranks?"

He didn't blame her. The whole conversation had just swiftly turned into another reminder of how much his heart hadn't been in being Atton Rand for a long while now.

"I'm good at playing the grimy criminal type," he said. "Spun a good yarn about lifting some spice off of some poor sap on Nar Shaddaa, and when they let me in, I hit on the boss just hard enough to send her stalking off to let the goons handle it. By the time they realized what I was doing there, I was five feet from their hostages with my lightsabers out."

"Yeah," Summer nodded a little again, "that sounds about right. Fought your way out of there with the hostages from there, too, I take it? Did it involve any big dramatic monologues?"

"I'm more of a wisecracker," Atton said, "And a fighter. So most of what I got out of those pirates on the way out was 'ow'. Frankly, I pride myself on Force-shoving like five of them into the wall at once. They didn't see that one coming."

"I mean," said Summer, "every time I've seen anyone use the Force, they make it look super easy, so I'll just take your word for it that that's very impressive..."

She trailed off a little, though, her head tilting, regarding Atton a bit more seriously and more thoughtfully.

"When did you start in on all that Force stuff, anyway?"

Well.

Loaded question.

"I mean, technically, I was born with it," Atton said slowly. "Someone found out I had it right before I ran away and came here. But I didn't really stop running away from it until about ten years after I left Fandom the first time. You know, the usual story. Met a girl, met the Sith who wanted her dead, blah blah..."

It seemed like it usually was, honestly.

"Blah," Summer finished, with yet another nod and faint, almost distant smile on her face, before her chin quirked up.

"Why'd you run from it?"

You know. In case that last question wasn't loaded enough.

Atton squinted at her. Blinked a few times, too.

"I didn't want it to change me," he said finally, "And I'd just gotten out of a war that'd turned into a Jedi Civil War that'd turned into 'well our side is just going to break all of our latent Force sensitives into Sith for the cause' and..."

He waved his drink around.

"It's just interesting," Summer said, with a note of apology, even though she wasn't really that sorry, he could have just told her to fuck off, but the topic had started to genuinely start pulling at something in her chest she was trying not to pay too much attention to, but still couldn't help asking, "knowing so many people from that galaxy, at so many different points of time, and how the Force has shaped their lives and who they are...I mean, hell, I'm not even from there, I probably wouldn't know it if it bit me in the ass, and it's still had a pretty big effect on me, too, so..."

She shrugged a little.

"It's interesting."

Atton didn't see why she should be apologetic, anyway. If there was anyone on this island with zero qualms about telling anyone to fuck off, it was him; if there was anyone on this island with thoughts about the topic, well, that was also him.

"I knew a mean old lady once who wanted to kill it," he offered. "She felt it had too much grip on our lives, propelling us into wars and destinies we wouldn't have chosen otherwise. I still sometimes wonder if she was right. I mean, the Jedi who eventually roped me into it actually yeeted herself out of the Force once she realized she'd found herself in the middle of committing a war crime because of one of those wars."

"I think I kind of agree with that mean old lady," Summer admitted, and that apologetic smile went almost a little grateful, that Atton at least seemed to get where it was coming from, while she'd feel at least awkward bringing up that view to most people with any sort of connection to it.

And that's why she was apologetic. Because she thought it was all bullshit, not the Force itself, but how everyone seemed to handle it and deal with it and make it into this big huge deal and fight constant wars about it and put restrictions on it, Sith and Jedi and blah blah blah blah blah...but it meant so much to people who meant so much to her, and having just seen the ways in which it had fucked them up...she'd always feel bad saying so.

"Y'all just need to fucking chill about it sometimes, if you ask me."

Which no one had, but that never stopped her before.

"More than sometimes."

Atton eyed his drink.

"I accepted it because I thought it could help me protect someone I loved, but it couldn't," he said. "Then I figured I should keep doing good with it, both for her sake, and to-- I don't know, make up for some of the worst I did during the war."

He shook his head. "It doesn't work that way," he said. "We're supposed to be peacekeepers, but the Force just keeps piling on more and more violence. It's why I don't actually have any good stories for you. None of it really feels heroic. And that's without factoring in that I came here and found out nothing we're doing will matter in the end, because there's a next war, and another one after that."

Whoops, that was a lot of venting, wasn't it.

"And another after that, too, eventually, down the line," said Summer, with a nod and a sigh and an forearm on the bar to lean on as she looked at Atton. "You know I've had to deal with two different big galactic empires in two completely different universes rise up with a resurgence twice each in almost about two years? I'm definitely overdue for another one one of these days, but it's all so fucking cyclical." Her finger traced a little circle in the air for emphasis. "And it's usually the same kind of mistakes each time...

"But," she offered, that hand dropping down to the bar as well, folding against her arm already there, "I do think it counts to at least try and do something, if that helps. It's a pretty low fucking bar for heroics, but it's still a lot more than just doing nothing. I think the problem is that we all think heroes need to be perfect, but they never are, and, honestly? The best ones always are flaws. The perfect ones just come off as insufferable assholes, anyway."

Atton made a soft, amused noise. "That was actually our pitch to ourselves when we restarted the Jedi Order," he said. "We were the rejects left scattered across the galaxy after all the Jedi killed each other or went Sith. Maybe we'd learned something along the way that could make it better."

He picked up the drink. "I don't regret putting work into that," he said finally. "I don't regret setting the next generation up to win a little." He took a sip. "I do know I have a rare opportunity to sit back and figure out if maybe it's time for me to go, before it destroys whatever's left of me."

Edited 2023-11-30 13:05 (UTC)

The corner of Summer's mouth lifted in a smirk. "Early retirement?" she offered. "Become the recluse that gets reluctantly dragged out for some big finale, maybe? Heroically?"

"Go out in a blaze of glory? Space, I think this may be the first time in my life I'm thinking about dying old in my bed," Atton said. He took another sip. "I don't want to make a big deal about it, because I don't want trouble following me back," he said, "But I'm building something on Earth. A band. Friends. The whole Saturday morning cartoon nonsense... you know, the stuff the other island-adjacent Jedi laugh about because they can't picture themselves stepping away from the war of the day for even a second."

"Fireball isn't actually on fire, is it?" Stark asked as he slid onto his stool.

He was going to pretend he didn't see the hamburger.

"Hello, Summer."

"It isn't," Summer assured him, "but we could always try to set it on fire if we wanted."

What? The protection spell probably covered fire, too, right?

"And hello, Stark," she added, with a tilt of her head and that usual soft smile. "Are we trying the full set tonight?"

Good luck ignoring the hamburger one now, Stark, mwa ha ha.

"I don't think I need a burger as a shot," Stark said. "But if you want a real burger I'd be happy to get some?"

Good try, Stark.

"I'll try all the others."

"I mean," said Summer, looking like she was starting to think about it, as she dutifully set out for Stark the non-beefy jello shots and went to get started on a marg for him, too, "I probably would not say no to an actual burger right about now, if you're offering..."

Far be it from Summer to pass up on an opportunity to be fed.

"I'll order food," Stark said. He was feeling hopeful that real burgers would solve the issue of the jello burger being a possibility.

"Fries, too?"

What a silly question. "And how was class today? And... yesterday? Not class. The day."

"Fries, too," Summer confirmed, with a little bit of a nod. "And class was good, it was Apocalypse Day, so that's always a fun time for everyone. And yesterday was good, too! Got an invite to swing by Annie and Diego's so I finally got to see the baaaaabies, they're super cute but also not even a full month old yet, so kind of boring, if we're entirely honest, but it was really nice seeing Annie and Diego again. They look exhausted, but happy, so that was pretty great."

And, lo, Stark now had a margarita to go with his jello shots, still blissfully free of hamburger.

Stark picked up his drink and raised it briefly to Summer before taking a sip.

"Spicy," he said, nodding. "Very good. And that's good. I'm glad class went well even if you had an apocalypse and I'm glad you got to see the babies. Did... did you take any pictures? I'd like to see them. If I can."

"I definitely took some pictures," Summer confirmed, pulling out her phone and pulling some up before sliding it over the bar to Stark so he could flip through them if he wanted. "Maggie's in the dress and Ben's wearing the pants, which, I mean, could inspire a whole speech about forced gender roles out of me, but I guess, in this case, it's fair to help, like, keep them apart or whatever. Maybe I should have suggested to Annie they get face tattoos for that, but, you know, maybe not until their birthday."

"They're so small," Stark said softly, almost wonderingly, as he flipped through the photos. "They're beautiful. Thank you. And everyone is doing well? All four of them?"

He glanced at his own phone on the bartop. "Food should be here... soon."

"Everyone's doing well," Summer confirmed, "all four of them. Diego's hand even seems like it's recovered, which is good, because he's going to need both of them all he can, I'm sure. And thanks." That soft smile surfaced again. "For the burgers."

"You're very welcome," Stark said, smiling back at her. "I like doing things for you."

Just in case, somehow, she might not have picked up on that yet.

"And I'm glad they're all doing well. It's good to hear. Maybe I'll get to see them, sometime."

It was a small island. Odds were good he'd spot them somewhere at some point.

The tables are lonely. Give them some love.

Hey, there's darts back there, you know!

GOD, I really DO need to catch up with this canon after all.

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Caritas; Wednesday [11/29].

The Stage - 11/29.

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Th Lounge - 11/29.

The Back Room - 11/29.

OOC - 11/29.