The Deck, Thursday Afternoon

[vrajna_kralis]

It was far too nice a day to remain inside, so Hyacinthe snagged a book and headed out to the deck, where he could enjoy sunlight and his novel both. He knew he had things to do--there was a half-written letter to his mother he needed to complete, as well as letters to Delaunay and Phedre to post, but those could wait another few hours while he finished the book he'd borrowed from the library and the skin of wine he'd brought with him.

A lazy day, to be sure, but 'twas break week, was it not? What better time to be lazy then?

...Not that he ever truly needed the excuse.

[Up early because I rarely have time to post at work!]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

There had definitely been no pomp and circumstance on the Gromflomites's part in getting Summer back to Fandom Island, but, hey, at least they hadn't broken her second phone. She came walking by the deck on the way inside, to go up to her room and unpack her suitcase rolling behind her and get to deleting all most of the dick pics on her new borrowed phone (seriously, Ethan, wtf? Did he not know how to delete things ever?), but paused for a moment when she saw a familiar face.

"Oh, hey, Hyacinthe."

Maybe she could sit for a bit before heading up. It was a long walk here from the Portalocity office, after all...

[vrajna_kralis]

"Summer," Hyacinthe said, voice warm as the season that shared her name. He immediately set aside the book and smiled at her. "'Tis good to see you again now that classes have ended." Noting her suitcase, he gave her a questioning glance. "You're not leaving are you?"

Say it wasn't so, Summer! He was giving you sad eyes at the very thought!

[somethingwithturquoise]

Uh-oh, sad eyes! The force of which made Summer suddenly feel a little sad, that's how strong they were, and she even felt a little bad that she had potentially inspired them, even if just a moment. And a little thrill that the thought of her leaving would cause such sad eyes. But she waved her hands to, hopefully, clear them away.

"Oh, no," she said. "Just getting back, actually, I had to go home for a couple of day to..take care of some things. But I'm definitely back, for at least the rest of the summer."

[vrajna_kralis]

"I'm pleased to hear this," Hyacinthe said, and sad eyes were immediately replaced by a bright smile. "Then may I trespass upon your good nature and convince you to tarry with me awhile longer? 'Tis a lovely day, made better by sharing it with a beautiful girl and I'm taking selfish pleasure in both."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Between everyone flaunting over her being such a Federation rebel back home and this, Summer's ego was definitely having a really good day, indeed. Her shoulders straightened a little, pleased for the praise with that slowly creeping blush starting to settle on her cheeks.

"I would be happy to, uh, tarry</i with you a bit," she said with a little nod. "I've got nothing but time." She leaned back in the deck chair, putting her arms up to rest her behind her head. "It's weirdly nice to be back; I wasn't even gone very long, but, oof, what a trip."

[vrajna_kralis]

Terre D'Ange was a big proponent of the idea that pretty people made everything more enjoyable, much like the addition of art or flowers. He leaned back and listened to her, appreciating both what Summer was saying and the way she looked saying it.

"Oh?" he asked. "Well, what happened? You can't start a story that way and then not tell what happened next."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer scrunched up her nose slightly, because she wasn't sure how to really tell that story to the level of interest Hyancinthe seemed to think it would have. "Mmm," she bit her lip a little, "well, it's all sort of a mess back home. If it weren't for the fact that I got to see my friends, it would have been the stupidest, most pointless thing ever. They basically needed me to take this test to see if I was 'suitable for re-entry inot society.' Their society, which, um, no thanks. I'd rather stay here. So I would have thrown the test anyway." She shrugged. "So here I am, back where they seem to think I won't cause any trouble."

[vrajna_kralis]

"They've clearly not visited this island," Hyacinthe snorted. "So, you say their society. Who is they?" He knew a thing or two about trying to fit into a larger culture, especially one that wasn't particularly welcoming. "And what kind of test?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer smiled at Hyachinthe faintly. And here she thought she'd told just about anyone with two ears about this, but, well, clearly she had other things on her mind when talking to him.

"They," she said, "are the Galactic Federation, a totally bogus government that took over my planet and put my Grampa in jail. This place is supposed to placate me against trying to rescue him or start a rebellion, make me comfortable with good food, interesting people, and cute boys."

Why, yes, that was a pointed look and a quirked brow in his direction for that last one.

"The testimate was pretty much a fancy lie detector test to see if I was complacent yet, which I'm not, and if I still wanted to help my grampa, which I do. And I guess a bunch of other things to determine if I was a real threat, which I guess they dont, or else I'd probably be in jail, too."

An underestimation she hoped worked to her advane one day soon.

[thatsweirdright]

Similar to Hyacinthe, Jason had also felt today was far too nice to spend cooped up inside, so he'd spent the morning out swimming in the lake.

Now, though, it was time for some hard-earned relaxation time. And if the deck just happened to be in range of a Pokémon Gym (he thoroughly blamed Billy for getting him sucked back in to this dumb game again, ugh), well. that was just convenient.

"Oh, hey," he said, with a smile as he flopped into a deck chair near Hyacinthe. They'd never really talked, but Jason was sure they'd shared at least one class.

[vrajna_kralis]

Probably! Though it was the one where they ran around a lot, which made it hard to get to know one another.

"Hello," Hya said, setting his book aside to give Jason a flirty smile. Look, Hya was breathing, of course it was going to be flirty. "I know you from Try Not To Die, yes?"

Hya had never won. But then, Hya had spent a lot more time seducing locals than trying to race.

[thatsweirdright]

Jason had never won either; he'd been firmly middle-of-the-pack the whole time. Which was safer, he supposed, than someone noticing something about him they shouldn't, but rankled his competitive nature somewhat.

"That'd be the one," Jason said. "Though as you can see, I am much less prone to getting covered in mud outside of class. Honestly, I'm surprised you recognized me."

[vrajna_kralis]

"I take note of everyone attractive," Hyacinthe said casually. "'Tis fortunate that I've a good memory, too, because this island is full of pretty people." He laughed and added, "Also, you're rarely muddy at the start of class."

[thatsweirdright]

"True enough," Jason admitted. "That part about the island in general, too. Which seems statistically unlikely, and yet... here we all are."

[vrajna_kralis]

Hycinthe shrugged. He was from a land where everyone was descended from literal angels, so his idea of the statistical likelihood of hotness was decidedly skewed.

"To be clear, this is no complaint," he said with a laugh. "'Tis nice to be able to admire the view regardless of whether one is indoors or out."

[thatsweirdright]

Meanwhile Angel Grove, despite the name, just got terrifying aliens who liked to show up and try to rip the magical crystal out from the ground beneath the Krispy Kreme. Unfair.

"I'll drink to that," Jason said, grinning back at Hyacinthe. "... Except now I'm disappointed that I don't actually have a drink."

[vrajna_kralis]

Hyacinthe held up his wineskin. "How fortuitous that I like to share," he said.

[thatsweirdright]

"Generous and you've figured out that the way to my heart is through my stomach," Jason said. "I like you."

[somethingwithturquoise]

From her own deck chair, lounged back with her feet on her suitcase, Summer lifted her chin at Jason, narrowing her eyes.

"You....look familiar," she said. "Do I know you?"

She thought she was funny.

[thatsweirdright]

Being still a relatively recent transplant to Fandom, Jason hadn't yet acclimated to the fact that there could be reasons (replaced by an AU counterpart, magical memory loss, gremlin bite...) beyond 'thought she was funny' for Summer to make a comment like that.

"Maybe. Autumn, right?" he teased back, because he, too, thought he was funny.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Hmmm, maybe not, then," said Summer, "I thought you were maybe this guy who came here with me on the bus at the start of the summer, but, no, he would have definitely remembered my name was Spring."

And that filled her dork quotient nicely for the day.

"Seriously, though, how are you? Feels like I haven't seen much of you around. Good to see you've survived the first half of it."

Which was weird to say. How the heck had half the summer here already gone by? And yet there they were.

[thatsweirdright]

"Ehhh, you know," Jason said, making a so-so motion with one hand. "I tried texting you the other day, actually, but my phone just kept giving me an error message."

[somethingwithturquoise]

There was a slight pause.

"The other day, as in maybe," give her a second, it's been a weird few days, "between Monday and now? Because if it was before Monday, weird. If it was after Monday, well, that's probably because our stupid robot butler smashed my phone that night."

When the revolution happened, Summer will take great pleasure out of disassembling you piece by piece, Conroy.

"I got a new one, though," she added, whipping out something that looked exactly like her old phone because she'd refurbed it already. "Let me get yours down, and I'll text you with the new number."

[thatsweirdright]

"Tuesday afternoon," Jason confirmed. "Robot butlers. More trouble than they're worth, obviously."

Jason was making a mental note to never let Alpha near his phone. Not that he was a robot butler, technically, but he was Zordon's assistant and that amounted to more or less the same thing, in his eyes. He extracted his own phone from his pocket, and then rattled off the number for Summer.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Blech," Summer made a face, as she typed in Jason's number at lightning speed and sent him a message comprised entirely of emojis with similar expression, as well as a string of them that could be interpreted as stabbing a robot if you were creative enough. "We don't even need him, he's just there as a government spy, I bet."

She finished and tilted her head up at Jason, though her eyes were slow to follow, lingering on the phone screen a little longer. "What was it about?"