Room 308; Wednesday Evening [10/12].

[somethingwithturquoise]

Ah, yes, what better way to follow up a day heavy on war stuff than a jello shot party in what was essentially a hotel room! But, look, the Wednesday night jello room parties were just a tradition at this point, and Summer practically centered the first half of her trips around making them happen, so she was going to be very disappointed if no one even bothered to show up.

She was going to have a very rough Thursday if she had to do all these jello shots by herself (minus the one or two she could convince Barry to choke down).

So the mass texts to everyone had been sent out, as well as texts to Annie and Rey to show off the jello shot spread and show off what they were missing (with an added text to Annie that went something along the lines of seriously, though, u good? do you need anything? everything cool?), and she just had to finish with the set up. There was some beer and sodas and whatever leftover liquor didn't go into the shots and wine (because France) and some moddable snacks, but, of course, most of the attention was in the jello shots, which included some apple cider ones featuring cider from the countryside and chocolate covered strawberries with chocolate from the local chocolatier. Pears made an appearance in the line up, as did pumpkin. Of course there was champagne, a chocolate eclair, and.....mac and cheese....but, you know, with fancy local cheeses, because that made it better.

Look, just because they were in France, didn't mean you were free from at least That One Shot.

So it was time to party! Chaperones only! Summer will pay Rosa good money to make sure students stay out.

(She would have roped Goose and Sidon into it, but she knew them both well enough to know that while they did cut impressive figures as bouncers, she was pretty sure they would just encourage just letting every one in).

[[ open room party is open! posted here to get the most party bang out of my party buck and general readability. No OCD. Have at it! ]]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

"No," Summer said, shaking her head. "Just all morning to get everything set up, which meant I missed the trip out to Normandy," ohhhh noooooo, missing all the boring history stuff? What a traaagedy, "but once they were in the fridge to set, I could still enjoy exploring Rouen a little bit. What about you? Anything good today?"

[stykera]

"Last night we went to the ghost night, at the abbey," Stark said. "To see if there were any actual ghosts there."

"I didn't need a tour of war sites today. I did something as yet undetermined skipped those."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"....were there any actual ghosts there?" Summer had to ask.

No, Shunsui didn't count.

[stykera]

Sunshui definitely did not count.

"None that I spoke with," Stark said. "I did look. Sometimes they're lonely. Or need help."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer's smile softened a little bit at that.

"That was nice of you, then," she said. "That you looked."

[stykera]

"Someone ought to. And I can see them when most others can't. So I try to watch for them when I think they might be around. Like in places that are meant to be haunted."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I mean," said Summer, "isn't the whole point of a place being haunted usually because the ghost or whatever can't move on? And isn't what you do supposed to help with all of that? So that would make sense, right? That you would."

[stykera]

"It's what I'm for," Stark said with a small nod. "Helping people cross over. Making it easier. Making sure they go where they're meant to go. I just don't have to do it so often here as I used to before. Here I can do other things. Like the clinic. Or sometimes just having jello."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer gave Stark a soft smile at that, one that maybe turned up a little into more of an almost indulgent smirk. "I like it when you're just having jello," she said.

[stykera]

"So do I," Stark said, smiling back. "It's one of my favorite parts of my weeks."

[somethingwithturquoise]

And the warmth that Summer felt flooding to her face just then was a good reminder that the color red was often used as a warning, and her smile went a little awkward for a moment as she dropped her gaze.

"I'm sure it's got a lot of good competition, though," she noted, "on a week like this."

[stykera]

"This is a good week. So far. I'm glad I came. You're having a good time?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer smiled a little, bobbing her head in a nod. "I am," she confirmed. "It's been really nice and chill, actually. I mean, I've barely even panicked about the wedding at all, that's pretty impressive."

Honestly, the worst of it had been just a little bit earlier, when she sent the pictures of the jello shots to Annie and then had a mild flailing attack over whether or not she should be doing far less French jello creations and far more wedding panic.

[stykera]

"Why would you need to panic?" Stark, who had no experience with big weddings, asked. "Isn't everything done that needs to be done? Do you need help? I don't know what I could do, but..."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I meaaaaaaan," said Summer, who was now starting to feel just that little flutter of hand wringing spark up again, "everything pretty much is done, yes, but that doesn't mean that something couldn't go wrong. And that's why I would need to panic. I mean, I have the portal gun in case of an emergency, but me being all the way over here in France literally up to the day of the wedding is..."

She sucked in a breath.

"Pushing it."

Which she was actually kind of fine with. She always did seem to work best when pretty much flying right under the wire.

[stykera]

"Oh. It is that soon. Isn't it? Right after we go back home."

Stark hadn't really put that together, for some reason.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah," said Summer. "Like, literally, straight off the boat and into the nuptials. So if everything isn't already neatly in place when we get back, I am in for one hell of a Saturday morning."

[stykera]

"I...I didn't realize it was so soon. I knew it was but it didn't really occur to me."

For a few reasons, probably.

"You'll be fine. The wedding will be fine. I think."

[somethingwithturquoise]

That last part in particular brought a snort out of Summer.

"Gee," she said, "that definitely boosted my confidence about it. Thanks, Stark. I think."

But she was grinning. It did pretty much track for Mr. Got Shot A Little over here.

[stykera]

"I don't know enough about weddings to be certain," he protested weakly. Best not to mention the last wedding he'd attended. Just in case. "I've never been to any that were...with all of the...everything."

"But there's no reason things won't go well."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"....there are literally tons of reason things won't go well," Summer countered, realistically, because, yeah, she definitely had way more evidence again weddings going super badly (or at least super awkwardly) than the other way around. "Like, obviously, I hope that's not the case, but, really, it's my duty as Maid of Honor to be prepared for every single one of those things."

Which was literally impossible, so you can see why she might feel a little stress about it!

[stykera]

"And you are prepared, aren't you?" Stark asked. "You usually are. And a wedding is...most of it is just a big party, isn't it? You're very good at those. Annie's lucky to have you to help with all of it."

They were all lucky to have Summer, really.

"Is there anything I can do? To help you worry less?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Move time so that it's Saturday and we can just be done with it and get to all the good stuff, like the party and Annie and Diego being married?" Summer suggested, after a moment to think about it a little.

[stykera]

"I can't," Stark said, maybe a little too quickly. "And doing things with time, like that...rarely ends well." Sure, one time they'd kind of reversed time and saved some lives but another time a whole planet had briefly been destroyed because he accidentally went back in time.

"And we'd miss the rest of the trip then. I thought, maybe more of a distraction? If you need one. We could think of something. So you'll be busy and not worrying. I worry less when I'm busy."

[somethingwithturquoise]

That got another snort out of Summer.

"Yeah," she said. "That's a mood. Why else do you think I have fifty billion jobs..."

She sighed a little, though, realizing she'd slipped into a bit of a doomspiral there, and then offered Stark a small smile. "But thanks," she said. "For offering. If I think so something, you'll be the first to know, promise."

There was a soft, considering pause before she asked, head tilted, "Are you going to be coming?"