fandomhighdorms | The dorm roof, Saturday night

Tonight was Longest Night, the most major holiday of the year where Mae was from. And Mae was still in Fandom instead of home in Possum Springs with her family. There were any number of reasons for this: her last class was just yesterday and she didn't have time to rush home. Her family couldn't really afford bus tickets back and forth that often, so it was cheaper for Mae to stay in town.

And it wouldn't be the same at home anyway. It wasn't last year. No one there had forgotten about the Incident, so Mae would just end up lying around feeling guilty and depressed while her parents offered meaningless platitudes about things "getting better" in the new year.

Instead she was here, where everyone celebrated Longest Night four days late and under the wrong name. She could lie around feeling lonely and depressed, and had in fact planned to do just that, until the island gave them all candles for the day. Fandom knew, even if no one else did: Longest Night was still the longest night, and that was worth celebrating. So she went on a scavenger hunt through the dorms for supplies, scribbled some signs on notebook paper and pasted them in the common rooms, and headed to the roof to throw her own little Longest Night party.

LONGEST NIGHT
It's the darkest it'll get all year tonight
and that's spooky and cool
Come to the roof for hot drinks
and ~~a fire~~ like snacks and stuff

Or don't. Whatever.
More snacks for me.

[open to all who might still be around the dorms!]

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Tisarwat possessed the memories of a centuries old galactic space tyrant. She'd been called much, much worse than 'like someone's mom.'

"It it," she confirmed with a nod. "Would you like some?"

"Sure, I'll try pretty much anything. What kind is it?"

"It's a blend from one of the better known tea producing planets in my universe," Tisarwat offered, since she figured specifics would mean pretty much nothing to Mae, as she found another cup and poured her some from her tea flask. Not one of her good blends, of course; those had be cherished and saved since her supply was slowly dwindling enough as it was. But it was still decent, because even though she knew hardly anyone here cared, she'd feel bad serving subpar tea anyway. "There's a faint hint of spice to it, which I felt suited the season. I've noticed that's kind of a theme with the beverages. For the holiday, I assume."

"It's supposed to be warming or something. Is the tea from your universe really different from the stuff in this one?"

"It's more...a quality thing, than anything," Tisarwat said, after a long moment to figure out exactly how to put it, but long moments were perfect for handing over cups and then drinking from your own. "Tea is an incredibly important part of Radchaai culture, you see, and we've pretty much scoured our entire universe for the best there is. Some of the tea here is very good, but it's just one planet. It's hard to compete with what a whole universe can offer."

"So you all just . . . truck around the universe asking people for their best teas?" Mae took a sip.

It tasted like tea.

She decided not to say.

Even if she did say...well, it was tea, it should taste like tea.

"And bring civilization and order to the places that need it most," Tisarwat added with a nod.

Invasion, Tisarwat. It was called invasion.

"But finding the best teas is sometimes a part of it."

They weren't all that great about the asking part, though, more often than not.

But exactly like the tea Mae's mom drank?

"Ew," Mae said. "Order."

They were clearly destined to be fast friends.

Hey, certain parts of her universe were in utter disarray because of Tisarwat right now. Because of something that certain parts of Tisarwat had created.

It was...complicated.

So she was actually a little amused by that reaction. "Not a fan?" she asked, with another sip of what was apparently exactly what Mae's mom drank, so clearly, Mae's mom had excellent taste.

She did! Also Mae had no real practice or interest in developing her palate.

"I prefer chaos. It's way more interesting."

Or it was just how her brain defaulted and she made no effort to correct it.

The dorm roof, Saturday night

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