thisavrou_log | OTA ツJune Event☽ CARNIVAL

Entry tags:

OTA ツJune Event☽ CARNIVAL

Who: Everyone!
When: Month of June (whenever)
Where: Kauto: Region II: Ellguana Fields.
What: Carnival!
Warnings: Please warn appropriately on subjects, thanks.

Illguana Fields Carnival

The Ellguana Farms is hosting a carnival this month. There are rides, food, shows, and experiences surely to be had by all! Most importantly this is a great occasion to come together and meet new people, to learn of each other, to branch out and broaden your horizons! Perhaps most importantly this is a great opportunity to reminiscence on worlds of your past and to learn through the cumulative efforts of those come before you. The carnival will have various components of technology and diverse themes to facilitate an excellent experience enhanced by the sheer will of hard working inhabitants coming together to celebrate diversity!

☾ Rides ☽

The rides were something Ardyn can imagine as fun and attractive for those who were easily captivated by bright lights and adventure! Although he would have find more fun flying around with his own power, he could appreciate the allure of being strapped into a mechanical machine and carried through a series of spins and gravity defying lifts. The lines were evidence enough of many people who have come to the rides for one reason or another;
the bright lights or that daring feeling of being at the mercy of machinery. He stood in line, his partner for the ride was tight against his chest. A prized teddy bear that he won at the coin toss booth. He was quite fond of the stuffed bear, the brown animal had an uncharacteristically large square head and a much smaller body. It reminded him of a moogle.

☾ Food ☽

Ardyn has been assured that one of the main events at any carnival should be the food. The rides, the games, the fun lights and vibrant characters were great, but give the crowd something wonderful to eat and they'll be sure to come back for it again and again. In fact, he was guaranteed that the food would stick to memory more than a show or ride! Naturally, with the hype he'd been described, he would have to try the carnival food.
With so many booths, however, he was finding it difficult where to sample first. To receive further direction he decided to ask the next person he would come next to. "If you would be so kind as to direct me to a food booth, perhaps your finest recommendation?"

☾ Games ☽

There were various booths set up with all kinds of entertainment. Some games required skill in fine motor skills, others strength, and most of them required simple luck. Ardyn had played most of the games, some he had lost (which he was delightfully frustrated about)
and some of the games he had won a prize, though he was finding the fun in the game to be even more rewarding then the obligatory prize at the end of a win.

☾ Shows ☽

Freak Shows seemed a bit derogatory in his opinion, however, having been at this function for quite a few days already he found himself educated in the culture of the carnival life. There was a sense of unity amongst the workers and so called Freaks, it left an impression of genuine homeostasis amongst the workers. Everyone had their part in bringing this carnival together and there did not seem to be any bad blood causing tension between one man to another. Be it the bearded woman, the ticket accountant, the pinheads, or lizard man, they all seemed to get along and look after one another while gaining a profit for all. He found that quite interesting, especially here in the worlds where humans were not the only species of people here. Ardyn was in line for a show of sword-swallowing and fire blowing. It sounded dangerous and exciting.

[ ooc; hello! Ardyn's taken up the position as an event organizer, which just basically means I'll be posting a log each month of some local even in which everyone is absolutely invited to!! This month's event is the Ellguana Carnival. Please enjoy! You can reply to any of these prompts or create your own, and/or make a top thread OTA/CLOSED to CR etc! You don't have to respond to Ardyn at all in any of the prompts! Additionally, you may see an instafeed on his mobile page re: events!]

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And that's when he makes his move.

He knew if he goaded her, she'd pull her giantess card. And a change like that would make the stall owner move in a hurry. Which means he won't be nearly as careful about his movements.

And, as planned, the stall owner panics. He sees Allura growing larger, winding up, and bringing that hammer down. He only had moments before...

Before Darin casually seizes the stall owner's wrist and jerks it painfully behind his back. Not a lot of time for a witty line, though he had a few prepared. He takes the cuff link and cranks it as far as he can in the opposite direction. Just as he suspected: it really was a dial. The stall owner yelps in pain as Darin twists his arm behind his back, but even that cry is drowned out by the crash and the explosion as Allura's hammer strikes. The weight, whose density had been lessened to that of a helium molecule, not only rockets high enough to hit the bell...it splits the bell in half and keeps going. In fact, it might even break the atmosphere at this rate.

The children all stare, mouth agape. The stall owner matches their slackjawed gaze, but his is decidedly filled more with pain than wonder. And Darin?

Darin just laughs.

"HAHAHAHAHA! WOW! NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!"

Should she be proud that she split the bell, or embarrassed that Darin played her like a fiddle? It's a little unclear which way she ought to lean on this.

Well, then again... all those children are watching. So, while her expression is firm, she still stands proud and points the hammer out like a more threatening weapon. It's a little unclear whether it's meant to be pointing at the stall owner, or at Darin.

"So! There you have it, then. Or would you like me to test this mallet on you before you have a little more faith in me?"

Honestly, it doesn't really matter which one it's directed at.

If that was meant to be a threat to Darin, he sure as hell didn't hear it. Why? He's already picking the stall clean of prizes and handing them out to the excited children, more of which have come and joined to watch the Princess 'perform.'

He's handing them out by the handful, and when he's done, he hands off all of the prizes he had won previously to the children who didn't get anything. By the time he's done, each child has at least an armful or two of various prizes to take home with them.

The now bankrupt stall owner is glaring both Allura and Darin down, rubbing at the wrist and shoulder that Darin had seized, but makes no move to intervene. After all, he can't raise the density of his weight any longer, he doesn't know where it could feasibly come down.

Once he's finished his work, Darin claps his hands together in a job well done type gesture, shoves one of them in his pocket and proceeds to go on his merry way without saying a single word to Allura.

Rude.

Rude is the word, indeed.

She masks her frustration while they tend to the children, but as soon as they have their prizes, she catches up with him in a huff.

"You could have told me," she began to say, before starting again. "No, you should have told me what you were planning from the beginning. I was just about ready to knock you into the stratosphere, next."

And given the way she's balling her fists, it looks like she wants to do it anyway.

Without missing a beat and without even turning her way he responds.

"I couldn't tell you what I was planning because I didn't exactly have a plan. I had to improvise on the spot. If I had been allowed to play, I could have just literally strong armed my way through his gimmick. But because he roped you in, I had to wing it. I had no intention of getting you pulled into that position, and for that, I'm sorry."

He stops then and turns around, figuring they were far enough out of sight that he could drop his act momentarily.

"I had to play you, the stall owner, and the crowd, otherwise he would have seen that I was watching him and he would have had his guard up. Fact is, I knew you'd be able to do it and that's why I acted the way I did in the first place."

With that, he holds up a rather large stuffed mouse in offering.

"So, I guess what I'm trying to say is...thanks for not caving my head in and saving the day. Here's your prize."

He follows that with a knowing wink and a grin.

"... I..."

She looks caught off-guard. Her anger has melted away quickly, but not into a soft expression. Instead she looks puzzled, and numbly takes the toy as if she's not sure how to handle such a thing.

"... you're welcome?"

That's not right. Wasn't she angry? Shouldn't she be angrier that he's robbing her the satisfaction of being rightfully upset with him? In a way, she's almost used to that by now, the way he continues to be rude as if her grumpiness only serves to empower him further.

So she shifts from being surprised into mild suspicion.

"You really believed I would beat the game no matter what, then?"

"Well...yeah. Why the hell wouldn't I?"

Darin gives a non-committal shrug and digs at his ear with a finger.

"Even if you hadn't beaten the game, I don't have any doubt you would have managed to come up with a solution. You wouldn't have let those kids down or let their hopes be dashed like that. In fact, if I couldn't figure out the trick, I had full confidence it'd be you bailing me out."

He sighs and turns his back to her, clasping his hands behind his head.

"I mean...that's why Shiro and the others follow you, right? Shiro might be their leader but you're their commander. They look to you for guidance and all that, right? I find it hard to believe you wouldn't have come up with something if I couldn't come through."

She muses over that for a moment. It's a complement. There's no reason not to take it, right?

"While I appreciate the vote of confidence.... I have no idea what I would have done," she confesses instead. "Nothing besides get us both thrown out of this carnival, at least. And what sort of message would that have sent to the children?"

"So... thank you for coming through on that one, Darin."

But she does add in her own defense: "Now, if the roles had been reversed, there would have been no problem. It's much easier to take control of the situation from outside of it."

He huffs.

"You're right but...you and I both know that you miss getting into the thick of things yourself. 'Armchair general' just doesn't seem like a title that suits you."

That said, he shoves both of his hands in his pockets and starts to wander off.

Of course, by having said that? Darin should be well aware that she's not just going to let that comment slide.

"Now, hold on a moment. How do you know what I miss?" She hustles to catch up with him. "Being a civilian has me restless, certainly. But you make it sound like I'm some sort of battle hungry barbarian!"

"Because no one who fights like you enjoys being sidelined all her life."

It's a simple, curt statement.

"No one who fights with the same fire your eyes have would be content sitting on her pretty ass all the time while people go out and fight and die for her. Presumptuous? I might be. But I've outfitted some of the best warriors my kingdom, my world has to offer. I can tell the difference between someone who belongs in a war or a war room."

"It is presumptuous." All other points aside, that needs to be on the record. That accurate or not, it's rude.

And if it weren't for that matter, she would have no trouble agreeing with it. It certainly bothered her less than some of the worrying that's happened for her sake.

"... at the very least, I can't deny that I don't like seeing others endangered for my sake. But you're making it sound like I'd take any excuse to throw myself in danger, instead. I'm not that reckless."

That's probably a lie.

Edited 2017-07-16 01:03 (UTC)

He turns then and grins wide.

"You should try it sometime then! Maybe you'd have a little fun!"

She gives him A Look.

"Why am I not surprised that that's your idea of fun?"

He laughs then and gives a half-hearted shrug, tossing another wink her way.

"Would you honestly want me any other way, though? Admit it, I make your life more interesting than being cooped up in a castle ever could."

"A castle that was also a ship," she's quick to correct him, as if the Castle of Lions needs someone to stick up for it.

"And how could anyone get bored with that? To have the power to cross the universe in mere moments, and be carried to worlds beyond imagination. Even if you call it 'work', you can hardly call a life that's full of adventure and peril boring, can you?

But isn't it funny? She never at once says it outright, that she didn't feel cooped up in that castle.

"What good is the power to traverse the cosmos if you're not actually out there experiencing it? Learning from it? Taming it and making the lessons that you learn your own? What good is a ship if the only things you see are from the window?"

He cocks his head a bit her way, as if conceding her point despite his comment.

"Me thinks the lovely Princess doth protest too much. Buuuuuut..."

He heel turns and starts walking again.

"What do I know, right? I'm just some blacksmith from some podunk port town on the ass end of the technological spectrum. I don't really know the first thing about anything~"

The tone in his voice indicates that he's teasing her. He'd also be shocked if she didn't follow him like she was so prone to doing, so he's making his way over to the photo spots.

"You and I both know that's wrong. If anything, you're an expert when it comes to a 'perilous' life!"

She catches herself, then sighs. Because that in turn means that...

"... very well, yes. You do make my life a lot more 'interesting' than even a war that spans the entire cosmos."

"What, me?"

He soubds legitimately put off and perplexed by her accusation.

"I'm not trying to make your life more fun. I'm just living my life the way I've always lived it. What...do you think I consciously try and rope you into things along with me?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" She also looks put off. "Not that you're doing on purpose, but..."

She slows down in front of another game stand, but the stall owner seems to be in a hurry to close up shop. Clearly, that has nothing to do with the spectacle that took place elsewhere in this part of the fairgrounds.

"You have a certain knack for getting in these messes. Even you can recognize that things never stay quiet around you, and... you do contribute, whether you plan these things or not. But when I asked you to be a little more careful, you didn't want to. Like you said -- you wanted to live your life the way you've always lived it."

She gives him a strange look. "If you'd rather just leave things this way... you must enjoy it a bit yourself, don't you?"

"Heh..."

He can't exactly deny it. As much as he used to complain before the Moira picked him up about how he wished he could go back to his peaceful, boring life, he couldn't argue with an assessment like that. Despite all of the craziness, a life full of adventure, where every new horizon brought new meetings and experiences was vastly preferable to his old life.

"I guess you got me. Chaos may follow me wherever I go, but part of the fun is figuring out a way through it. Trailblazing, forging my own path..."

He huffs a bit and smiles despite himself.

"Life's short. It was even shorter for my brother. If I just sat around on my ass and let the world pass me by, what would he think? I'd rather have a short life of crazy experiences than a long one where I never mattered. So...yeah, I do enjoy it. Come what may, I don't plan on letting this chaos that surrounds me get me too down. I just gotta steel myself and keep marching forward to the next battleground."

She's also smiling. She may not even realize it.

"What do you mean, one where you wouldn't matter? Are you suggesting that if you weren't notorious, you wouldn't be known at all?"

Now he's given her the chance to tease. "Because last I checked, you were a master blacksmith that even the finest Altean engineers would be pressed to compete with! That's not someone who wouldn't matter." She adds with an affected tone, "I think you just like all the attention."

"Aw come on, can't you choose a better word than 'notorious?' Is that all that comes to mind when you think of me?"

"Well... no. I suppose when you look at how you respond, it's downright heroic."

She casually continues, "But as far as someone who gets wrapped up in those messes in the first place? You're definitely notorious for that."

"I don't suppose you have a human word for that? One who causes problems, but also solves them?"

Darin's already sputtering and taking a marked step away from the Princess before she's even done talking.

"H-Heroic?? Me?" And then, just as incredulously, he continues.

"You think I'm heroic?"

He's stunned, frankly, and a considerable amount of color finds his cheeks. Quickly he searches for a way to disarm her, to steer the conversation into a comfort zone he was more amicable towards.

Namely shrieking curses at one another.

"M..Maybe your eyes are as weird as your ears, Princess. The only heroic thing about me is how I stalwartly try and explode everything around me just to see how angry it'll make you."

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