somethingwithturquoise | That Space Spa That Summer Never Shuts Up About; Dimension FH-001, Thursday [02/10].

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That Space Spa That Summer Never Shuts Up About; Dimension FH-001, Thursday [02/10].

Breezing right past some sort of blow-up at reception with a small group of Gromflomites that seemed to have had an issue with their reservation that clearly had absolutely nothing to do with Summer at all, "~WinterBlade~" and her party of four were welcomed into the Luxureon spa that definitely knew your face, Summer, you weren't fooling anyone with that alias, but also, Summer did bring them pretty good business and they dealt with a lot weirder (even today, in fact, they were handling a situation with a mostly-liquid entity that kept merging into one of the soaking pools on accident by expertly modifying the viscosity so that it didn't keep just dissolve into it), so whatever.

And thus, the moddable and extensive facilities of said space spa were open to the group entirely, everything from your standard massages and pedicures, to special space crystal treatments and space seaweed wraps, tentacle treatment for those willing to take a very particular risk, and bioluminescent manicures.

Summer herself would be spending a ridiculous amount of time in the strawberry-scented mineral soak, because honestly? Still her absolute favorite, and she can relax while sipping space drinks and making any last minute changes to her plans for jello for the party tomorrow.

Sure, she was supposed to be relaxing, but you could relax and work at the same time. M U L T I T A S K I N G!

[[ for those dragged to the space spa for all that sweet space spa goodness! ]]

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Rey had gotten back from her trip home about an hour before it was time to leave for the space spa, and was feeling more rushed than anything. So she let herself get talked into the soak because the onsen had been nice last time, even if she was still never really sure what to do once you were in one of these.

Yeah, relax or whatever, but like, it was still weird to not do anything. On principle.

Not doing anything was important, though! It was good for the body! It was good for the soul!

Said she who was literally planning two different jello catering orders for two seperate events/orders in her head right now, but that didn't really couldn't, it's not like you could just stop your brain!

Well, you could, but it was typically frowned upon.

Either way, Summer knew at least one thing you could do during a soak was gab, and so she cracked an eye open and grinned over at Rey after she'd gotten settled a little.

"How're things back home?" she asked.

"Busy," Rey answered, giving up on trying to feel relaxed now that she had an excuse to talk. "Or at least, they're keeping me busy on purpose. I've been on a couple missions this week."

They were totally keeping her busy on purpose.

Summer snorted a little, amused by the idea that she was totally throwing a wrench in all their plans by keeping Rey the opposite of busy for at least a few hours of her day today.

"Busy's good, though," she allowed, considering, yeah, hi, she had two jello catering orders to do this weekend, one of which was needed tomorrow, so...not nearly as important kind of busy, but busy all the same. "To a point. You think you jump right into it when you're done here, too?"

It was Rey. Summer was pretty sure she already knew the answer to that.

"Not until Sunday. I have training tomorrow, and then I should actually work at my job-" Far cry from Jakku! "-and then I'm skipping the holiday."

She was not shy about that. She wasn't doing it.

"It's a bullshit corporate Hallmark holiday anyway," said Summer, as if she wasn't actually kind of stoked to see what might be in store for her this year, but...considering that part of her was convinced that what was in store for her this year might just be a big old boot out the door...yeaaaaah, nooooo problem leaning into that perspective on it just in case. "You think anyone back home would like a shit ton of chocolates and chalky candy? Because I'm pretty sure the store is going to have so much leftover."

"Oh, I'm sure they would love it," Rey said gratefully. "They all complain a lot about the rations, which I don't understand. But you can't go wrong with chocolate. And probably chalky candy, too, I haven't had that."

"I'm pretty sure half of what we have in stock has been in the store since before I was born," Summer warned her.

But also, in her experience with space people and weird food....

She snorted. "Maybe you guys could use it as ammo or to build defenses out of as well as food! And there's cute little quippy words and phrases on them. Like 'You're cute!' and 'Fax Me!'"

If you needed any proof as to how old some of those conversation hearts really were.

"Oh, I've seen those things! I feel like those phrases might be a bad idea with certain people."

But they persisted in the culture because they were fun that way.

"That....is a good point," Summer admitted, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Although now I'm almost insanely curious to see what kind of reactions they would have with some of your friends back home."

There was a faint pause.

"Obviously all the 'You're cute' ones need to go to BB-8, though."

Who couldn't eat them.

NOT THE POINT.

Candy hearts in the Resistance was definitely a fanfic somewhere.

"Well, obviously," Rey smiled. "He hasn't actually left me alone while I've been home unless I tell him to."

It was the cutest.

"Awwwwww."

The staff here might have another pool problem, but this time with a melting human.

"That's adorable. He's not going to be mad at me, though, then, for having dragged you away for a little while, is he?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah, she said she had other plans for the next few days, too, but still!

"No. In fact, I'm sure Poe would be glad to have him around more," Rey said. "BB-8 knows most of my time gets spent here. Maybe not this month, but normally."

Summer nodded a little, grinning maybe a bit faintly at the idea of little custody squabbles between everyone and who gets to spend the most time with BB-8, sinking down into the water a little with her amused thoughts.

"So in other words," she said, "you can tell Poe I said you're welcome. For this month, at least."

"I will," Rey promised. "How have you been? Have I missed anything big?"

Summer shrugged a little. "Not really," she said. "Just the usual. Two big jello shot orders coming up, ne of which, by the way, has lead to me scoring a weekend in a castle in Austria, so stay tuned for the major party blow-out that's going to happen there once I get two seconds to actually start planning it, but...you know me...I like to keep busy."

With a lot of bullshit that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things to distract her from the fact that she wasn't doing more for things that actually did matter...

"I've been to a... bar type place in a castle," Rey said. "Something tells me your party would be much different."

Though like, picture Maz and Summer together. Picture it.

Oh-Em-GEE. Summer would learn...so much.

"Really?" asked Summer, who honestly had trouble placing Rey in a bar-type anywhere without Summer herself having mostly dragged her there semi-reluctantly, but then the other part distracted her enough with a grin.

"And probably. Hopefully! If there's one thing I want my parties to be, it's definitely different."

A pause.

"And fun," she added. "That's pretty important, too. I would say memorable, but I don't even remember half of my best parties, so that's not even remotely true. All I know is that for this one? It's actually Lucifer's castle, so we have seriously got to tear that place uuuup."

With love!

He would expect no less of her!

"Hmm, I'm not sure he would want me there," Rey pointed out, crinkling her nose.

Even if she hadn't been a fan herself, of course she was more worried about someone else.

"I'm pretty sure," Summer declared confidently, "he gave up any control over who he'd want there the moment he said, I'd be offended if you didn't,"--and Sumer's Lucifer voice, by the way, was not even remotely close to his actual voice, but she was not taking notes, thanks--"when I asked if I could throw a party there. I don't even know if he'd be there, anyway."

"Okay, that does make a big difference," Rey said. "He knows we're friends. And he knows your parties."

And maybe Rey would need the social aspect of a party then! Who knew!

"Exactly," Summer agreed. "And he knows me, and that if I wasn't doing at least five things he might mildly disapprove of, then I would consider the party a total bust."

Rey paused. She wasn't religious. She even had only vague ideas of religious holidays outside of "Santa is a creeper and something about bunnies."

"You can do things the devil would disapprove of?"

Really, those were some of the more important notes to have down.

But to a question like that, Summer could only beam proudly.

"As often as I possibly can!" she declared.

Which wasn't actually all that true, but it sounded awesome.

"Luce isn't even the first version of the Devil I've met, actually," she added, not sure if she ever mentioned that to Rey, but, really, Lucius was pretty ancient history by now. "I used to work for my dimensions version of him back when I was in high school."

A beat.

"The one before Fandom, I mean."

"This isn't actually as surprising as I would have thought," Rey realized.

"....I'm taking that as a compliment," Summer decided, after a moment, with a firm nod that would brook no arguments. "It was a thrift store, called Needful Things, only all the things in it were, obviously, cursed. You didn't pay...with money," she dropped her voice dramatically on that part, "that sort of thing. So when I came to Fandom and saw there was a Needful Things store there, too, I was very confused, and honestly relieved that it wasn't Lucius's store because things did not end up well between us. He ended up Zuckerberging me when we tried to take the business online, so me and Grampa Rick beefed the fuck up so we could beat the living shit out of the guy."

She sighed happily, sinking down into the water with the fond memories. Having beaten up the devil would always be a highlight.

"This also sounds about right. And of course it's a compliment."

Not there she knew what Zuckerberging was.

"You should get a massage, if you haven't," Annie recommended, making her way over to sit with Rey. "My hip flexors have been screwy for weeks and I think I'm cured."

All hail space spa!

"I don't like people I don't know touching me," Rey admitted. "It sounds like a good idea but I can't guarantee they make it through unscathed."

"Very fair," Annie acquiesced. "Maybe they have, like, something with water." Like a better version of those water massage coffin things at the mall! "How are you doing? I haven't seen you in a minute."

It had been kind of a busy minute, from what she'd gathered.

"I've been okay," Rey said, and for the most part she was. "I spent the week at home. Pretty much came back because Summer threatened to drag me."

She also wasn't sure if Annie hadn't heard about the breakup, or if she had and just hadn't said anything for some reason, so she wasn't exactly sure how to proceed.

She'd heard, but it seemed like an awkward thing to just lead with when she hadn't seen Rey in, like, two weeks, and even then they'd been shooting lightning across the bar or breaking into laptops abruptly.

"Then I'm glad she dragged you," she replied, shrugging a shoulder. "Is it helping? The being home or the being here, either one. I heard about John."

"Home has," Rey shrugged. "I like the distraction. It's been nice having friends around me."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Annie offered gently. "I think we could also find, like, something more distracting than a seaweed wrap around here, if you want."

Maybe they had space...racquetball? Space bougie spa sports?

"No," Rey said simply. Maybe she was a little hurt she hadn't been reached out to? But mostly she was tired of talking about it. "Honestly it's just good being around people. How have you been?"

Edited 2022-02-10 18:54 (UTC)

Annie had gone ahead and treated herself to a much-deserved massage, a seaweed wrap (which she felt was overrated, but was glad she tried), and was now admiring her nails as she chilled in the onsen.

Yes, sure, they were her usual pale pink, still -- but they shone in an almost-glowy way that honestly was still pretty on-brand. (Her toes, on the other hand, were a bright, iridescent red, because Valentine's Day. And the list of people who'd see them was also pretty limited, so she could be bolder.)

"This was such a good idea," she sighed. Was she addressing anyone in particular? Probably not. Maybe just, like, the spa itself. Thank you, spa, for existing.

This spa was truly a gift.

And so was anything the bordered on praise directed her way because, after all, it was her idea, so she was going to take that, thank you, as a testiment to her accomplishments as a Very Good Friend.

"Space spa," she murmured happily, "is always a good idea."

Which, you know, easy for the two of them to say, as very much the undumped members of this party, but, hey, they were still in volitile territory, anything could happen, and with that in mind, that just meant Summer had to enjoy the hell out of it in case the other shoe dropped in the next coming days.

Pre-emptive therapy, dammit!

Hey, the way Annie and Diego rolled, literally anything could happen. He could get turned into his thirteen year-old self and they'd have to break up. He could get stranded in the past for three months. His sister could kill him while blowing up the moon, again. They could be shot on Valentine's Day, because tradition.

And that was just them. God only knew what kind of risks Barry was taking on a daily -- nay, hourly -- basis.

But never mind that. Annie was also feeling like a pretty good friend (or at least as good a friend as she could be in terms of providing an ear and something that felt good in the wake of a breakup), and she was also really starting to take stock of how ragged she'd been running herself the last couple of weeks. Maybe this spa trip would have been a good idea regardless of anyone's relationship status.

"Are you and Barry planning on doing anything fun for Valentine's?" she asked, piling her hair up a little higher on her head. Blowouts were a pain to maintain.

Even hourly felt...generous.

Summer, who had definitely not been avoiding broaching the subject of Valentine's Day with her boyfriend because why tempt fate like that, shrugged. "Nothing set in stone or anything yet," she said, oh-so-blithely. "It'll probably be something ~~EXTREMELY handwavey~~."

And she was tempted to blow it off at that, because she told herself she'd avoid most couple-y or relationship-y topics of conversation for the better part of the trip, buuuuuut....a little bit wouldn't hurt, right, especially since she was definitely feeling a lot of 'getting-all-up-in-everyone-else's-relationship' vibes lately.

"What about you and Diego?"

Look, Annie certainly wasn't going to broach the subject of any holidays (or upcoming parties, or three-minute dates, or even, like, the color red) with Rey or Stark, but it seemed safe enough territory with Summer! And then they could, like, get it out of their systems.

"I have to work during the day," Annie shared, making a face. "So he's coming to the tower to see me. I mean, it's a bullshit holiday anyway, but he's the first guy I've spent two Valentine's Days with, so that's cute."

And hopefully all the rest of her Valentine's Days, awww.

Like, so much awww, and Summer's face was just going to allow that awww for a moment before she shook her head. "Okay," she said, "now you have to tell me what kind of awful bullshit thing Vought has you doing on Valentine's Day, not that I need more evidence that they're the wooooorst, buuuuut...."

It was always good to have more evidence, and honestly, she just liked hearing Annie bitch about it, and she felt it did Annie some good to bitch about it, especially to someone totally on board with understanding just how fucked up it all was.

It absolutely did help to bitch about it, because everyone else Annie felt she could bitch to was either exhausted by it already or part of it or...well, Diego.

Annie immediately rolled her eyes. "I'm doing a perfume promotion and a kind of coy Q&A with Good Morning America," she sighed, because, like, of course she was. "So that every dude who forgot to get his wife something can be reminded that, oh, right, Starlight has a line of stuff. But in the afternoon I have a Make-a-Wish thing, actually, and that should be...pretty nice. I'm like, exchanging valentines with a bunch of little guys."

It was something she'd kind of pushed for, personally, much like her Halloween Army of Little Starlights. Any time she got to meet younger fans -- especially like the kids she'd hang out with on Monday -- it kind of made all the other bullshit worth it.

"Ohmygod," said Summer, because she could see it now perfectly, "so many women are getting Starlight-branded perfume for this year's V-Day now, aren't they? That's actually kind of clever, I'm going to give them rare props on that one. But not, like, a lot, and that Make-A-Wish thing is freaking adorable and all, but that's so lame that they pretty much have you jammed-packed the whole day like that."

"I mean, Wish at least smells nice?" Annie offered. She thought so, anyway, even if she didn't wear it herself. "But yeah, there's a zero percent chance I'm not working on, like, a non-government holiday that falls on a Monday, of all things. And Maeve's a little...rough for Valentine's, you know? I'm the soft one, so I get to do all girly shit."

It was kind of okay, though, considering Annie sort of thrived on girly shit. See also: space spa.

"At least," she added, giving Summer a knowing look, "it's not, like, a religious holiday." Because the whole Believe Expo attitude was not really going anywhere. (Even if Starlight was, weirdly, not invited back this year.)

(So weird!)

"Ugh!" That knowing look earned Annie a deeply sympathetic roll of Summer's eyes and a disgusted expression complete with an appearance of her tongue. "Right? Like, okay, with the corporate bullshit holidays, it's like, okay, yeah, sure, whatever, par for the course, what do you expect, that's the whole point, but when it's the religious holidays? That adds, like, a whole 'nother layer of grossness to it. Like, we literally have all the time in the world right now? But we still don't have enough time to dive into that."

But as she spoke, another thought, maybe a weird one, but whatever, like she cared, popped into her head.

"Hey," she said, "did any of you guys have to do anything for, like, Groundhog's Day, or whatever, too?"

If so, she would not be surprised, and if not? Then she kind of would be, because missed opportunity in there somewhere. Did she know where? No. But she knew it was...

....or maybe Apu was rubbing off on her a little.

"The Seven didn't," Annie replied, shaking her head, "but I'm pretty sure the Philly and Pittsburgh heroes had to go to Punxstawney."

A great use of everyone's time!

"But now," she admitted, a little worried, "I'm wondering if they're gonna stick me on a float with leprechauns to freeze my ass off next month in a parade or something." Just because no one had said so didn't mean she wouldn't be surprised into doing it.

Summer considered that for a moment, tilted her head a little, and shook her head.

"If they have any sense," she noted, in a tone to suggest that they usually didn't, and, seriously, they really should just hire her, she was a goldmine for this shit, "they'll focus on Maeve for that, anyway, not you. I mean, one, redhead. Two, rainbows. Aren't they in on that whole corporate woke-ism with her right now? I mean, the tie-in practically writes itself."

"Three," Annie added, because these were already great points, "I think she's supposed to be Irish?"

Annie knew that Maggie, of course, was American (though maybe Irish, like, in heritage), but still. That was a point, too.

"But yeah. I have a Brave Maeve bar in my purse if I need a snack later, actually," she added, jerking her thumb in the vague direction of said purse. "So that would be super-smart, though I also wonder if they'll hold off and go big with her in June?"

Or, most likely, they'd just do the Vought thing of going big all the time.

Summer had kind of wondered about the Irish thing, but she didn't want to assume. It was one thing for her to run around on St. Patrick's Day claiming that, hello, she was a redhead named Smith, there was definitely some Irish in there, but to assume the same about another redhead just because she was called Maeve, well...

Either way, she had to snort at Annie's speculation.

"Yeah," she said, "because if there's one thing Vought is definitely concerned about, it's running you guys ragged and beating too many cringe horses."

"I'm still not entirely convinced," Stark said. "But it's something different."

"What would convince you?" Annie wondered, because this all had seemed pretty compelling to her, personally.

Well, Annie probably had experience with spas and that probably helped.

"I'm still not sure what to do. Or what half the things you can do are." There were some odd things listed!

"Most of them, if you can't tell what they are from the name," Annie shared wisely, "are for skin." Like the mysterious seaweed and mud treatments. "And you just...relax. You let someone else do the work for awhile. And then you feel great when the trained expert is done...experting on you."

"Relaxing is difficult. But I feel like I should try something."

"You could get your nails done," Annie offered, flashing her own hand at him. "That's less weird than a massage? It's more like a conversation while someone does, like, an art project on your hands."

Annie, at least, was very much the sort of person who made conversation with her manicurists. And her hairdresser. And any sort of service person who was in her company for very long.

Basically, Annie would be the worst person in the world to sit next to on a plane.

Stark wouldn't mind sitting next to her on a plane, but he was unlikely to ever be on a plane and he already knew her so it really wouldn't be the same thing anyway.

"I could," Stark said hesitantly, looking down at his hands. "I've never done that."

"It's nice," Annie assured him. "Your hands will be very soft. And you can get polish, like I did, or you can just leave 'em plain. If you get it done on your feet it's a pedicure, and those are so nice when you've been standing a lot."

Annie kind of lived for her biweekly pedicures, these days.

"Are they...glowing? A little? Your nails?" Because that was different enough to be interesting.

"I don't know about feet. Maybe my hands." He could handle someone touching his hands. Probably.

Stark was feeling very out of place at this fancy space spa, but at least that was a change from the usual overwhelming hurt/depressed feelings of recent weeks.

Spas were something of a mystery and he'd promised he'd try today, so he'd been looking over things he could be doing and trying to decide what he could handle. So far, the soak seemed fine even if he was self-conscious.

Even if both Rey and Annie hadn't already been here with her before, Summer's attention would be mostly on Stark and how he was doing, but, like, you know, in a very stealthy, hopefully non-obstrusive way, and honestly? So far? She was actually really impressed by how he seemed to be handling it, and that made her feel a small surge of confidence that it wouldn't wind up being a completely terrible idea that he'd kind of resent her for, and, eventually, she'd work around to poking at him a little.

"Sooooooo," she ventured leadingly, with a faint smirk, "not too terrible and awful or anything, right?"

He was trying, just like he'd promised!

"I didn't think this was going to be terrible," Stark said. "Just strange. And it is." And nearly everything involved strangers touching you and he was very much not up for most of that. He hadn't even had a hug in weeks. People he'd never met touching him probably wouldn't end well.

He was trying, and he was doing so well!

"I always like strange," Summer noted, confidently, almost proudly, as she sighed a little happily at this particular brand of strange. "Well, not always, I guess, there's definitely been strange that I did not care for, but this is the good kind of strange, I think. No weird goos or liquids or things all up in your business unless you want them there."

"I'm used to strange," Stark said. "This is a new strange. I'm still not sure what to do."

"Sure you do," said Summer, her grin a little soft and maybe a touch apologetic, as if to promise she wasn't going to hammer this in, really, but if the opportunity to mention it showed up, she was totally gonna seize it. She shrugged a shoulder. "You just...let go."

"You want me to just...sit here all day?"

He was going to smell of strawberries forever. Not that there was anyone to notice that fact anymore.

"I feel like I should do something."

"And that," Summer said, sagely, and ignoring the ghost of one of her bosses doting on her proudly over what was about to leave her mouth, "is exactly the problem. We're always feeling like we have to do something to the point where we can't enjoy just doing...nothing. And sometimes? You just gotta enjoy nothing."

"I," Stark said, "do better when I have things to do than when I have nothing. And I'm here, with all of... whatever it is they do."

And he didn't expect to ever be invited back so he figured he ought to try at least one thing.

"I have a million jobs and twice as many hobbies," Summer noted. "I definitely do better with something than nothing, but...that's why these kinds of nothing are so nice, it's just a time to recharge and relax before you get back to the something."

"I think I need more somethings. And it seems like I ought to at least try one of the somethings here. As long as I'm here."

"There is a lot of somethings, too," Summer noted, and then tilted her head in a musing, thoughtful way, trying to think of what kind of something might be best suited for Stark....and his current mood.

"Bet you've never had a mani-pedi before," she ventured. "The hot rocks massage is pretty nice, too. The stones they use....I don't know exactly what's up with them, but they feel uh-maze-zing."

"I've never had any of it," Stark reminded her. He'd never been near a spa before today. "Why are there rocks involved?"

"For the weight and the pressure," Summer explained, "and they retain the heat so it's nice and warm without getting too hot. Sounds crazy, maybe, but I mean, so does a lot of things until you try it, and then you're just all...yes, okay, I get it now."

That was absolutely something that Stark would benefit from if only he were more comfortable with the idea of other people touching him right now. Maybe someone ought to introduce him to the idea of weighted blankets later. He'd benefit from that, too.

"Maybe. Or maybe just the hands. The...manicure."

"No pedicure?" Summer asked, almost with a gasp.

But the manicure definitely had to happen, yes.

There was a hint of 'don't push it' in Stark's expression. Just a hint.

"I don't think so. The hands are enough for now. Maybe another time."

He did not think there would be another time.

That hint of a 'don't push it' expression seemed to just be defiantly met with a 'don't tempt me' expression right back.

You knew what you were getting yourself into by agreeing to do anything Summer right now, Stark. Being mopey and sad and cliny would not save you, especially since they were on her turf now.

"I'm going to remember you said that," she warned him.

He was mopey and sad but Stark was definitely not clingy at the moment. There was no one to cling to. Hence the mopey and sad.

"I'm sure you will. I'll remember I said maybe. We can both remember."

He hadn't been bedazzled yet. Being subjected to spa treatments seemed unlikely as well.

There was such a thing as emotional clinging, Stark! That was what she'd been on about this whole time, with all the metaphors! And the squeezing! And the squished imaginary jello!

"We can," Summer agreed, and then grinned. "I cannot wait to see those nails when they're done!"

All he was clinging to was his own hurts and there were enough that he barely needed to hold on anyway!

"Annie said they don't have to be colored," Stark said quickly.

Uh-huh. Yeah. That totally sounded very healthy, too! Really.

"They don't," Summer assured him. "But..."

Of course there was a but.

"It would be more fun."

Stark wasn't going to claim to be emotionally healthy. Far from it. Maybe someday there could be more sangria and Summer could get a drunken rundown of all the layers of hurt he'd built up. Or maybe not.

"Maybe another time," he said again. When fun was back in his vocabulary.

"It's a little strange at first," Rey said. She was right there with him here.

"It's odd," Stark agreed. "I feel very...odd is a good word, I think. For both. How are you?"

On one hand, Rey really was truly, genuinely tired of talking about her breakup. On the other hand, here was someone who was actually in the same boat.

"Up and down," she admitted. "You might have heard by now."

She hadn't been listening to radio but for others to find out it must have made it.

Very similar terrible boats, at least.

"I did," Stark said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks," Rey said. "I'm getting through it okay. I'm spending a lot of time at home right now."

"Is that helping? Going home? I... haven't found anything that helps much, yet."

"Yeah, actually," Rey said. "I have distractions, I have familiar people around. And it helps not being in a place that's just going to serve as a reminder right now."

"Distractions are good. I haven't found enough. And... you're right. About reminders."

It was a little easier being here right now, at least, because it was new.

"Still not feeling any better?" Rey asked.

"No. Not really." He was still just a walking emotional bruise.

"Eventually. I hope. Summer keeps saying to let go, but..."

"It's hard," Rey agreed. And she did feel kind of bad that she was doing better after so little time? "But she's right. I started to think of it as... the longer I hold onto it, the more I only hurt myself."

"I've never been good at letting go. It takes a long time and this was... this was bad." It brought up all sorts of old hurts that were now layered with new ones.

"But I can't keep...I can't keep being like this."

"Is there anything you could think of that would help?" Rey asked.

"Not yet."

Stark shrugged.

"If I do, I'll try it."

"I hope you find something soon," she said with a little smile.

"So do I."

He was so tired, Rey.

"There must be something."

"There is, I'm sure of it," she told him. "I know what's worked for me, but it's going to be a matter of finding what works for you."

"I wish it were easier." Nothing about this had been easy. Not for him, anyway.

"What were you doing, at home? To keep busy?" Almost certainly nothing he could replicate, but maybe something would give him an idea.

Again, this was easier when they weren't talking about her. But maybe it would help.

"A lot of training. If someone asks me to do something I just do it. I've had missions. But it's something where I can look at how much better I'm getting at them and feel good about myself." And that was how you knew she liked you, Stark, because that was really honest. "I've had a lot of people talk to me and I try to always find something to relate to. But mostly I remember I'm not the only person who's ever felt this way and everyone else made it through, so I will too."

Rey was sickeningly optimistic.

Sickeningly optimistic was a much healthier attitude than 'I have been abandoned again because I am not enough and I was never enough and I will never be enough and I will never be happy again', though!

"I'm glad you have that. That's good. And you will be. Fine."

"You will too," Rey said.

"I'll be better than this. Eventually."

Fine might be pushing it, Rey. He broke easily and was definitely broken now.

"But thank you. For the thought."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That Space Spa That Summer Never Shuts Up About; Dimension FH-001, Thursday [02/10].

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