shardbond | olive garden

🎈GET YOUR ASSES TO OLIVE GARDEN🎈

Sometime in the morning on Sunday, there are little notes that have been slipped under everyone's doors. Written in markers reads the following:

Let's celebrate getting Knuckles back at Olive Garden tonight at 6pm!!!!
Also I'm bored
-Percy

…Yeah………but hey, at least these notes will be customized! Each note has two characters, but, uh, these might not be accurate to who's actually in the room. He doesn't know who everyone's roommates are, so he's just hoping for the best I guess. (Someone's note includes the new guy, More. Shizuka is also on one of these as a pink dolphin with glasses.)

Anyway, the Olive Garden seems to have some balloons floating around. With the current state of the residents, nobody seems to care! There are also chefs in the kitchen who will make whatever you ask, but pushing them around enough will get them to leave the kitchen to anyone who wants to make something. (Thank you Redd.) Drinks are available for everyone, alcohol and regular soft drinks alike, and really? The world is your oyster. … Olive?  You get the drill.

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good, 'cause that's the last thing I wanna be.

[Claude doesn't understand this and keeps dragging him to fancy parties...!!]

...You don't gotta answer, but were you that kinda kid?

[Oscar just raises his eyebrows curiously, not quite sure what Lark means by this.]

[ A long pause, like he's debating if he should even answer and pursue this matter. ]

Slum kid?

[... ah. Well, he can't really say he's surprised; he knows his speech patterns tend to give it away. You can take the slum kid out of the slum, but you can't take the slum out of the slum kid.]

... yeah. My mom was a prostitute, and I never met my dad. I have no idea what kind of person he was, or even who he was.

[ The good news is that Lark knows to hold his tongue so he doesn't blurt out the first thought that comes to mind: Good, and I hope you'll never have to find out. He shouldn't assume. ]

...I'm sorta the same, so I kinda get it.

[ Even if he doesn't really sound like it. ]

[Honestly, Oscar doesn't sound upset at all either. It is what it is; maybe in another life he might have had more opportunities, the chance to be something else, but his current path is something he chose for himself. He has no regrets.]

It ain't all bad. Can't complain about where I am now.

I guess the military isn't too bad.

Paperwork aside, the job's pretty cushy.

[There's just the "putting your life at risk on a regular basis" part, but he honestly kind of enjoys that.]

Not exactly for the faint of heart, though. A lot of recruits don't even make it through training.

[ The "putting your life at risk on a regular basis" part is unspoken, but Lark can guess. ]

No way I'd make through it, that's for sure.

To be honest, that's probably for the best.

[Because in the end, the fewer people who have to end up like him, the better.]

[ Lark can understand the sentiment at least. ]

I guess, but...

But?

[Now he's curious.]

At least you turned out strong...?

[... ah. Even through the haze of the alcohol, that line cuts slightly, the same way as it always does when Eric says it. But he can't blame either of them, not when they don't know the reasons behind it...]

Only after a lot of hard work and practice. It's not like I just became this way...

I know. It's just...

[ Lark gestures at himself, like look at this skinny nerd. ]

[Oscar looks. Considers for a moment. And then:]

All right, tomorrow I'll get you some weights to start lifting! We'll start with the lightest and work up from there!

[... it is probably a very good thing that he is too drunk to actually remember this tomorrow.]