Fandom Island and Town

Koala sitting hadn't necessarily put a damper on Summer's work in trying to figure out what to do about her jello enterprise in Ravnica, but it did sort of make it slightly slower going than she would have liked. Since she was so distracted with all of that, though, she didn't have time to put a lot of thought into what to do for her shift at the bar tonight. Thankfully, a quick look through her pantry to do some inventory on what she had and what might need used up before she completely switched gears to another plane for a while, helped her get some inspiration.

Or, at the very least, find something that she had way too much of that she should probably use up soon.

Three guesses as to what type of booze in particular seemed to have been collecting a lot of dust among all the vodka, rum, and gin...

Featured Cocktail
Brandy Alexander

Featured Jello
Brandy Pudding
Blackberry Brandy
Brandy Old Fashioned

Caritas is open!

After a day of hard work (not by Summer herself, of course, she had other people to do that for her while she mostly just lounged and got a good suntan and pregamed while directing the preparations), the beach was set up for her big birthday beach party, and she couldn't be happier. It had, of course, all the trappings one might expect from such a thing: tiki torches, bonfire, volleyball court, and so, so much more, but she'll get into that in the OCD threads!

Summer herself was, of course, feeling those beach vibes and at that point was pretty much just eager to have people show up, barely even worried anymore that people wouldn't, which, you know, was a nice thing to reflect on, because that showed character growth and maturity as she moved on into this, her twenty-fifth year of life.

Also, well, as you'll see, she pretty much hired about half the town to help her out, so she was already guaranteed a small crowd from that alone.

[[ and open beach party is totally open! ]]

Tomorrow was Summer's birthday, but did you see Caritas all obnoxiously decked out with birthday paraphernalia and decorations? No. No you didn't. Because she was almost twenty-five, and clearly much more mature than that to make everything about her own birthday, Tino.

But she did make her Featured Cocktail about her birthday, thank you very much. Because that was a true marker of her growth and development as a well-rounded individual and adult: embracing the art of subtlety.

(Sometimes).

Featured Cocktail
Birthday Cake Martini

Featured Jello
Strawberry Champagne
Irish Breakfast
Pink Lemonade
Fried Pickle

Caritas is open!

When Summer came in, there was a happy birthday banner hanging over the stage and Tino greeted her with a blast of a noisemaker and put a pink sparkly birthday hat on her head. She promptoly removed it and gave him a withering look.

"Please don't tell me that it's allegedly your birthday again," she said. "You have, like, five of those a year at this point."

Luckily for her, Tino didn't tell her it was his birthday. It was his brother's birthday. Tomorrow.

Honestly, Summer would have preferred he claimed it was his birthday again instead.

"I don't believe you even have a brother," Summer declared.

But apparently he did! He just worked at a different bar in Canada, so Summer clearly wouldn't know him.

Featured Cocktail
Smash of the Titans

Featured Jello
Kumquat 75
Orange Creamsicle
Orange Maple Pecan
Cheese Fries

Caritas is open!

"Here, Tino!" Summer sang out brightly as she swept into the bar that evening for her shift. "Hold these limes!"

Before he knew it, Tino was struggling to keep within his arms all the loose limes that Summer had shoved into them, and he was about to ask how he was supposed to hold all of them before she cheerfully added, "But whatever you do, don't put them in the coconuts!"

Tino, confused, waited for further information, but come on, what did Summer look like? Someone who would actually explain things to him? She went about getting her shots set up and getting the bar ready, leaving him standing there with his limes.

Eventually, he'd end up setting them down on the counter, where some of them would roll away to random places here and there, to, you know, do his job, but he stood there just holding the limes for an unprecidented amount of time, really.


Featured Cocktail
Citriburst Lime Mojito

Featured Jello

Key Lime Pie
Black Hot Lime
Cherry Limeade
Watermelon Lime

Caritas is open!

So Summer had turned back to herself from being a squirrel that morning, and thankfully, it had very conveniently happened while Stark was off doing radio, which meant that she was spared at least a little bit of awkwardness, of the kind that had nothing to do with the usual things that made this animal transformation bullshit so obnoxious. Honestly, in a way, she was kind of grateful for the timing, even if it had taken its sweet time making it happen the night of, but it gave Summer some time to think about things, actually.

Unfortunately, now that she was human again, she had to actually do something about those thoughts. It was enough to make her want to take a quick jump home and start poking through Rick's stuff to see if he had anything to make being a squirrel a little more perminant, tbh.

Anything to avoid having to confront what she'd been staring down the barrel of before she turned.

(Which was the root of the problem, though, wasn't it, Summer??)

Whatever. She was going to put it off as long as she could, all the same, and Stark doing radio while she change was perfect for that because she could just send him a quick text letting him know she was back, but, hey, it was Wednesday, she really needed to get her jello started! And that meant she could spend the rest of the day groaning and swearing and commisserating and probably drinking, let's be real, without the pressure of keeping anyone else's dumb, stupid feelings in mind.

(She did apologize to Pancakes, though, but also, like, how was Summer supposed to know that she was going to be in the path of whatever she was throwing at the time? Come on.)

Either way, she was herself, venting while making jello had....sort of helped, and she was now sulking behind the bar a little as she got ready for her shift, and trying to figure out just what she was going to do about things now that she no longer had the comfort of just being a squirrel as an excuse.

Featured Cocktail
Pink Squirrel

Featured Jello
Fuzzy Navel
Korean Acorn Jelly
Nutty Irishwoman

Caritas is open!

Tino had brought in a pizza that evening and he asked if Summer wanted some, and Summer wasn't really sure if it was a good sign or something that she should be worried about that when she asked if he'd rinsed it, he said 'no.'

Because remember that? That he rinsed his pizza sometimes? Pepperidge Farm Summer remembered! Randomly! And she was really unsure which was the bigger cry for help: that he'd rinsed it in the first place or that he'd apparently suddenly stopped.

And then she blinked.

Wait. Was that how people felt about her various approaches to jello?

Then she frowned, and firmly decided not to think about any of that too much more any longer, had herself a slice of unrinsed pizza, and a shot of very strong booze.

Featured Cocktail
Blood Orange Mimosa

Feature Jello
French 75
Orange Cinnamon Roll
Caramel Apple

Caritas is open!

Summer was squinting a little at the stage today when she came in to set up for her shift, as the zombies seemed to be milling around and testing out some more uncommon instruments. Their usual instruments were still on hand so no one had to be subjected to doing their favorite karaoke song to the bagpipes or an otamatone, but....

That would be pretty funny.

Until then, though, the patrons of the bar might be treated to some familiar background music, but as done by theramin or ocarina, and maybe a groaning debate or two amongst the band (no doubt sparked by zombie Yoko) about whether or not certain instruments really classified as 'uncommon.'

Summer was, of course, staying out of it, no matter how many times Tino tried to get her in on some kind of betting pool.

Featured Cocktail
The Last Word

Featured Jello
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Little Tiny Spaceships
Cucumber Mint Lemonade
Key Lime Pie

Caritas is open!

"Look, Tino! Aren't they amazing?"

Summer was generally very proud of her jello shots overall, but tonight was a rare occasion indeed and she needed to really show off her brilliance at work here! After all, her 'gross' shot for the evening was usually something cribbed from some awful recipe she'd found on the internet, but this one was truly an inspired homebrew that, in a way, brought together various aspects of the community.

"I had someone," Ignis, much like Dean, had made it clear that he did not want his name attached to being involved in this project at all, despite the fact that radio had called them both out, but she was going to respect what she could and leave the rest to be blamed on the squirrels and the squirrels alone, "make me a frog gelatin base! And look, he made little crispy fried frog pieces to garnish it with! You should try one! It tastes like chicken! But boozy!"

Because that was exactly what you wanted in a jello shot, right?

Whatever. She was proud of herself, and was really looking forward to seeing what everyone else thought, too.

Featured Cocktail
Frog's Breath

Featured Jello Shots

Witch's Brew
Black Magic
Unicorn
Frog's Legs

Caritas is open!

After being a squirrel for more than a week, Summer had really been looking forward to just spending a day working on some jello shots and getting to come into work with said jello shots and preparing herself for Tino just being Tino, which wasn't too bad that day? He just kept looking at her with this smug, I-know-something-you-don't look that had her both curious and suspicious, but ultimately, she decided that anything that had Tino looking like that was something she was probably better off just not knowing, thank you.

And then his looks started to get increasingly exasperated that she clearly wasn't biting, and that meant that now Summer got to be the smug one, and she was mentally taking bets with herself on when he cracked and just told her eventually anyway.

Featured Cocktail
May Day

Featured Jello
Deamsicle
Daiquiri
Dragonfruit
Dotorimuk

Caritas is open!

Summer had been bitching in her head and in countless chitterings about how Stark was really pushing it by toting her around everywhere so much, emergency supplies on hand or not. But there was one place she was thinking she needed to go this week that would be perfect for changing back anywhere that wasn't the comfort and safety of her own damn apartment, and that was the gym.

Like, can you imagine it? She's just getting her little squirrel pump on when suddenly, she's back to normal, but without any clothes, and she's all, 'oh no, who could have expected this? what will I do?' and then Gladio sweeps in with his shirt already off and being handed over to her as he grins down at her and where did that breeze to push his hair and send sparkles all around that terribly unfair crooked grin of his? And then she's all thanks, I'll try to return it to you soon and he's all don't worry about it, you can keep it, I have a ton more, and, shut up, it was totally the perfect plan!

Well, except for the fact that Gladio, apparently, wasn't in today, because he'd rudely turned into a plant last night, ruining everything!

And Summer was going to just grump back home, but apparently, she found a really cute sweatband in a squirrel size and discovered they actually had squirrel-sized treadmills? And so Sonja hooked her up and Summer figured she wouldn't let being a squirrel get in the way of her workout streak, and you know, if she did turn back, Sonja had a shirt too...

Atlas is open!

When Summer came into the bar that evening, Tino would not shut up about the kid he had with Tiny or the even more secret love child he'd had with Apu, and was threatening to show Summer pictures of them. She honestly wanted to call his bluff on the Apu kid, since Apu definitely didn't mention anything about a kid on Monday, but, then again, if it was a super secret love child...

...anyway, Summer decided that ignorance was definitely bliss, and decided to take a risk and inform Tino that she'd be happy to look at all his kid pictures from last week if she also got to show him hers.

She fluttered her eyelashes innocently at him as she held up her phone, almost like a brandished weapon ready to strike, and he looked back and seemed to be weighing a lot of things before muttering something and going back to cleaning glasses. And Summer, triumphant, went back to setting things up for herself as well.

Although so help her, she was actually kind of wondering now and kept wondering if she should, just to satiate that morbid curiosity after all....

Featured Cocktail
Froot Loops White Russian

Featured Jello
Gummy Bears
Double Stuffed Oreo
Cherry Coke
Uh-Oh Spaghetti-O's

Carits is open!

Cass and Bixby would be sticking with Summer today at the store while she took care of things; it seemed marginally safer to just have them poking at the shelves of T&C than it would be to have them poking around a bunch of medical equipment and people's personal medical histories. She was a little nervous that Apu might have gotten in octuplets back, but, since she hadn't received any panicked texts from him over the weekend, she figured they were in the clear. And, sure enough, coming in confirmed as much, as there were not eight little tiny Nahasapeemapedalons running around.

Just Apu being an absolute fucking weeb today, apparently.

She was, admittedly, a little disappointed to not see a little tiny panda cub running around the cheese section, because, um, adorable? But the kids seemed to find something to keep themselves occupied while she worked (Bixby mostly wanted to play with the turtle; Cass decided it was time to play A Million Questions about Cheese with the cheese panda), so Summer wasn't worried about not getting her crap done of the day, at least.

Today's Squishy Flavors
Glazed Spiral Ham
Rubber Eraser
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

Summer's Wednesdays before she went into the bar were pretty quiet. Stark had radio, so she didn't even need to kick him out so she could work on her jello, and it was her chill day to clean her place and hang out with her cat and waste a bunch of time on her phone, and when she commented on things, she was always pretty brutally honest, so nothing out of the ordinary there. So by the time she got to the bar, she definitely had no way of knowing that there was anything to be concerned with.

That was until, at some point, she handed Tino a glass to clean and he just looked at her and stated some sort of nonsense about how he really enjoyed working with her, actually.

And she stared at him for a moment and was about to ask him what he was trying to get out of her by pulling some kind of weird flattery game like that, only what came out of her mouth was, "I actually really like working with you, too? Like, I know I complain and give you shit all the time, but I like that you're this weird, stubborn, incomprehnsible entity that at least makes things more interesting in here."

It was when she realized that Tino looked as striken by all this as she felt that it clinked.

"Oh, fuck," she said, "it's making us be truthful, isn't it?"

Really, island? Really? On her barnight, too, huh? You absolute son of a bitch.

Now to decide if she just saved herself the trouble of having to warn everyone who came in by making a sign....

Featured Cocktail
Garden City

Featured Jello

Watermelon Mojito
Inside Out Reese's
Hibiscus Champagne
Meringue:
Lemon or Tuna

**DRINK AT YOUR OWN RISK**
The Island is Doing a TRUTH THING.
You've been warned!

What? She knew what kind of volatile shit she might be forced to say, she wasn't taking any chances she didn't have to!

Caritas is open!

So, this was Summer's first pollen week while single in three years, so she was thinking thigns could get a little interesting at her Caritas shift that evening.

Good interesting? Bad interesting?

(Even worse. not interesting at all??)

She had no idea, so she was trying not to think about it, or build up any expectations, to keep herself simultaneously prepared for everything and for nothing at all. Which left a pretty big, obnoxious knot in her stomach.

Although that could also just be from working in all-too-close proximity of Tino and the realization that, especially without the 'I have a boyfriend!' shield, that could theoretically happen tonight.

Yeah, okay, she was definitely going to just focus on making drinks and slinging jello and insisting this was an absolutely normal Wednesday night, until something started to look decidedly more advantageous for her.

Well, maybe with a little help from the specials tonight. What? She was nothing if not an opportunist.

Featured Cocktail
Kinky Blow Pop

Featured Jello
Red Headed Slut
Blowjob
Sex on the Beach
Slippery Nipple

Caritas is open!