[MINGLE] Scout's Honor

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Hot Springs
WHEN: 21 Sept, after sunset
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Please warn in your subject line as needed
NOTES: Details found here

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It's been a strange, rough couple of months for our intrepid villagers — Bunkers, superpowers and clones, oh my! Perhaps the Observers are sympathetic to their plight, or maybe they just have a peculiar sense of humor. At any rate, they've set up a gathering space chalk full of summer camp goodness, no strings attached. Not that anyone knows that part.

Just before sunset, a cheery message pops up on wrist devices all across the settlement and beyond. The instructions seem simple enough, although one does have to wonder at what dubious gift awaits them all after everything is said and done.

Marshmallows are on the house, so grab yourself a stick, strap on a sash and get to roasting, villagers. Skinny dipping, sing-alongs and friendship bracelets optional.

Comments

[spoileralert]

"Technically what it does is lower your inhibitions, make your brain think it's getting something good and make sex worse all around. Which is a bummer, I guess, if you went out hoping to get laid." With a nurse for a mother Steph really knows a lot more about this sort of stuff than she needs to. And then there's her father's shining negative example.

"And it's definitely not good times for everyone. I doubt angry drunks are having a particularly good time."

[quinientos]

"I mostly drank to make friends and to see if I could win some gambling," Vasquez admits, because on the one point, he does agree. Sex with alcohol, it's not so good, but kissing? He thinks that kissing is extremely good, those sensations that make him flush and warm. Shame that the night in Rose Creek never led anywhere with anyone, but it is what it is.

"I'm a very happy drunk," he admits. "You get enough in me, it's all jokes, all laughs. I've seen angry drunks, though. Sad ones, too," he says, thinking of Billy the night that Goodnight had left.

[spoileralert]

"Well," she shrugs, more than happy to move the subject away from angry drunks.

"You can see why I'm not more gung-ho about lowering the drinking age. Not super excited about trying it myself, either. Seems like more trouble than it's worth."

[quinientos]

He shrugs, because to him, he thinks it's still a good idea to do it. Maybe people need to learn to be responsible soon, as far as he's concerned, but then, he also got pushed out the door to find work and make a living when he was below that age.

"So what does a young person do for fun where you come from?" he prods, if drinking isn't going to be the answer.

[spoileralert]

What does she do for fun? Not much, these days. Crime fighting used to be her idea of fun, but of course she can't say that.

"I dunno, normal teenager stuff. Music, hanging out, the occasional water gun fight. Just kind of whatever."

[quinientos]

He squints at her, because 'normal teenager stuff' for him doesn't mean any of those things. For him, it had meant working and drinking and smoking and learning his way about the world. Then again, he thinks maybe their times are very different. "Water guns?" he echoes.

"What's the point? Guns are a weapon, why would you need water with them?" He's a little lost, now.

[spoileralert]

"So you can play around without actually hurting anyone," she explains, rolling her eyes. Clearly the man has no sense of fun.

[quinientos]

"That's what drinking is for, where I come from," he leans in to tell her with a smirk, even though most drinking jags usually end with someone getting hurt, but she already knows that and he knows he's just being difficult.

Relaxing back, he feels better in this water, like something is improving everything. "Is this supposed to be some kind of holy water? Healing?"

[spoileralert]

"That's a sign of a poor imagination," she taunts almost dismissively, like it's just too bad that he can't have good, old-fashioned fun.

"Not that I've heard, but I don't hear everything."

[quinientos]

Whatever it is, it makes his arm not-ache like it usually does, so he's enjoying it much more than he thought he would. As to her comment about his imagination, he shrugs. "Where I come from, there's not much time for play. You work and you survive. No games," he says, and yes, it sounds a little sad, but only a little.

[spoileralert]

"That's no way to live," she asserts with feeling. People need fun, especially if it's a struggle just to survive.

"A hot spring, now that's a way to live."