Fandom Island and Town

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!

Summer was frowning a little when she came into the store, although she wasn't terribly surprised. According to the internet, today wasn't very great for days to choose to celebrate, so she knew she was going to be dealing with something less than stellar when she came into the store that morning. She should have known that World IBD Day was absolutely what Apu would lean into.

And she supposed pamphlets and information about it was nice, even if she felt that was more trained toward the clinic, and, okay, food that were better for someone dealing with it being featured and marked down was nice, too, but once he started bringing in bathroom accessories.

"I just don't know, Apu," Summer said. "This all seems like kind of a shitty idea."

And now Apu was offended.

"Okay!" she allowed. "Maybe it was a bad choice of words! So sue me."

She might be worried he would actually consider it, but, as far as she knew, there was no National Lawsuit Day. And her opinions on this matter would be only justified once she saw one of the Squishy flavors for the day.

Today's Squishy Flavors
Devils Food Cake
Coconut
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

With apologies.

Summer had been sent something yesterday that made her absolutely squeal with delight once she realized what it was, and she was still riding that glee and anticipation by the time she came into the bar that evening. Which had the added bonus of having Tino being suspicious and skeptical about her good mood, for a change, which was really nice. It meant he was generally avoiding her, because he, like she so often did with him, figured if it was something making her so damn pleased, then it had to be something he was better off not even knowing about.

It didn't help that Summer noticed this behavior and started acting even more smug and mysteriously satisfied just to make him question and doubt and worry more. Because, really, at this point, he was just asking for it.


Featured Cocktail
Dark & Thunderstruck

Featured Jello
Pop Rocks
That's Me Espresso
If You Like...
Strawberry Fields Forever

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!

Summer had considered popping into the bar early that morning to take a peek at any new namedcocktails added to the secret menu to maybe base a few jello shots on, but that was way more extra work to bother with, especially when she could just actually be extra lazy and just lean into St. Patrick's Stuff.

Well, when it came to her jello, even her lazy was still pretty great, but still!

But once she was there, she was goingbto check the new one doubt and hope they weren't too obnoxious to make, but, hey! On the plus side, if they were annoying, she knew exactly who to blame for it!

Featured Cocktail
Shamrock Sour

Featured Jello
Lucky Irishman
Thin Mint
Pot O Gold
Corned Beef and Cabbage

Caritas is open!

[[ and OCD-free due to overwhelming sense of blllaaarrggghhh ]]

Look, pink was Summer's signature color, but, after dealing with an onslaught of Valentine's Day merchandise hitting the shelves at Turtle & Canary earlier this week (which had definitely happened, don't even), she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose a little bit at the decorations already bedecking Caritas, as well. Like, she wasn't surprised, she just felt a little overwhelmed.

That, plus her weekend discovering a new position of On-Call Ferret-Mech Kaiju-Fighter, had her actually wearing red today, instead, which was still definitely in the purview of Valentine's Day colors, but also it was sort of testing the waters to see if her GoTron color wasn't about to lead into a new hue era for her. After all, what was red but just a more experience and mature pink?

She was expecting at least a few comments from customers, but she really should have expected Tino making a big deal about how he 'might need to go see the eye doctor' because something was clearly wrong with his vision.

"Tino," Summer, finally irritated to the point of doing more than just rolling her eyes, "there is way more wrong with you than just your vision, dude."

She was instead just going to focus on harrassing encouraging people to sign up for 3MD next weekend.

Featured Cocktail
Cold Brew Stout Martini

Featured Jello
Get one ~*~FREE~*~ when you sign up for Three Minute Dates!
(Ask your bartender for more details!)
Kaluha Dalgona
Triple Wine
Cool as a Cucumber
Cup Noodle

Caritas is open!

For as much crap and vitriol that Summer gave to Tino, she did have to hand it to him: when it came to his job, he was actually pretty good at it, most of the time. She was half-worried about what kind of still lingering mess from last night's New Years Eve party might be in the bar, but the place was actually pretty clean and orderly when she got there. The only suggestion that there had even been a party last night was the ubiquitous glitter that would take at least a few days to fade away and disappear, but that was clearly nothing against Tino's efforts of cleaning but just the general nature of glitter.

She was so impressed that she was all ready to actually be pretty nice to him.

But then he started talking to her about his New Years Resolutions, which did (of course) involve CrossFit, and any good will she had resolved to have toward him this year quickly dissipated.

Featured Cocktail
Good Luck, Babe!

Featured Jello
One More Toast
Cranberry Old Fashioned
gaGELTafish
Lemon Meringue

Caritas is open!

When Summer came into the bar that evening, Tino asked her if she wanted to know his family's special recipe for stuffing, and she said no, but he told her anyway, and then she told him that now she was going to take that recipe and put it in jello, and so if anyone wondered why Tino was sulking at one end o the bar, it was because he had learned a very important lesson (which, let's be real, he should know by now with how long they'd been working together) in never telling Summer anything she doesn't want to know, because she will absolutely take that information and try to use it against you in any way she can.

And Summer was sulking because she really did mean it, she really didn't want to know, because you knew whatever was a traditional recipe in Tino's family had to be knowledge that no normal human should ever have to carry, which was why, on occasion, she just would occasionally find herself shouting out, "Really, Tino? Fucking raisins??" and looking at him like he was the ultimate scum of the Earth, because she was now convinced he very well may be.

Featured Cocktail
Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini

Featured Jello
Deamsicle
Apple Crisp
Cherry Fire Pepper

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!

When Summer came in that evening, Tino was apparently really excited to update her on the status of the mechanical bull. Summer honestly didn't care, as long as it wasn't making that annoying and kind of creepy creaking noise at random intervals anymore, but Tino seemed to think she cared about all the particular details, which he had somehow retained.

She, however, was not retaining any of this information, because, again, she did not care....except for the fact that one of her new least favorite things in the entire multiverse was the way Tino said the word wet.

Which factored way too heavily into this story.

She almost preferred the weird creepy creaking noise, tbh.

Featured Cocktail
Poison Apple Martini*

Featured Jello
ClemenThyme
Spicy Butternut Squash
Cinnamon Roll
Pear Sour

* No Actual Poison (allergies notwithstanding)

Caritas is open!

Summer wasn't really sure when exactly this had happened, but, apparently, according to him, Tino had always been an aggressive Connect Four player, and he was leaning into it that evening hard by posting up a couple of the games and promising that, if anyone managed to beat him, they could have their drinks for free tonight.

She agreed to play one game with him, and she was pretty sure it was the most aggressive round of a game pretty much meant for children she had ever played without anything actually exploding. Tino did, in fact, win, and more easily than she would have liked to have admitted, and she might have gone for a rematch if he wasn't being so obnoxiously braggadocios about how swiftly and smartly he'd beaten her.

She almost warned him to chill, that it was just a game, but she could already tell that that could just end up in a lot of Connect Four boards being upended from the bar, and she did not want to deal with that.

Featured Cocktail
Earl Grey Blackberry Bourbon

Featured Jello
Long Island Iced Tea
Earl Grey Creme Brulee
Arnold Palmer

Caritas is open!

Okay. So. She'd apparently somehow ended up taking over some other Summer's place in the multiverse for the weekend, and, god, she hoped it really was just a weekend because she missed her regular life where none of this weird other-dimension stuff happened except for tge rare occasional Loser Summer trying to take over her awesome existence.

Fine. It was fine. She just hopefully had to ride it put. In the meantime, she had to admit, this Summee didn't seem to have it all that bad. Cool apartment. Adorable cat. Some spending money...

And the coffee shop was pretty good, too, even if it wasn't a Starbucks. Because it wasn't a Starbucks? Whatever. Either way, she got something that was extremely froofy with just a hint of actual coffee flavor to UT and set up shop in a comfy chair, where she was also just texting Christina back home about this hopefully being over soon.

How she could still text her girlfriend from another dimension was not anything she cared to ever think about or figure out, thank you. This was more than enough sci-fi bullshit for this Summer Smith, and then some.

[[ I might disappear randomly due to *gestures*, but this post is most certainly open for all your coffee shop needs! ]]