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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She's taking this way more personally than Darin had anticipated and that just makes this all the sweeter. He crosses his arms defiantly over his chest as he pretends to listen to her lecture.

"Princess, have you ever been in a busy forge with half of the kingdom's elite guard trying to heat properly measured to have all of their gear serviced or replaced? If I can't direct people to do what I need them to do, I'd be better off hanging up my hammer. And it wouldn't be so hard if you were the least bit personable."

He scoffs.

"And as for animals, I shoe horses too. Ever get kicked by one of those? It's like taking a cannon shot to the ribs. I can do what you do with my eyes closed and without the fancy titles and frilly dresses."

Payback is certainly sweet.

"Really."

"Then I shouldn't feel the least bit bad about doing this!"

She slugs him. On the arm, not in the face. That's a sign of respect, right?

Edited 2017-07-29 21:13 (UTC)

Darin slumps face first into the ground.

He raises his hand slowly and shakily in an interjecting gesture and wheezes.

"See what I mean about being personable...?"

There's no way it hurt him that badly. He's making fun of me, isn't he?

"You're quite one to talk. This isn't what I'd consider encouraging. Unless you count encouraging me to get angry at you." She turns her back to him. "Weren't you the one saying that you respected me? And now you're saying I can't do anything impressive!"

He still feels pain like a normal person, he just recovers from it much quicker. This does not change the fact that he's still face down in the dirt, rear end up in the air.

"I didn't say you couldn't do anything impressive...I was challenging you to think outside of your relative comfort zone..."

He coughs again and flops onto his back to stare up at her from behind his blue bangs.

"And yeah, I do respect you. I just wish you'd get off your high horse with me. I don't know if you put on airs around me because you feel you have to but..."

He huffs.

"I like you a lot more when you're Allura and not Princess Allura."

She's caught by the unusually soft response. It's a strange shift from how much trouble he's given her today. Even when he was doing a gallant thing, he still did it in his own infuriating way.

So for a moment, her expression falters, though he likely won't see it from his place on the ground.

Still, her composure comes back quickly enough. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'put on airs'. That expression, it's for someone who is acting superior to others, isn't it? I don't know where you keep getting the idea that I'm not actually like this."

And yet, she decides to take a seat on the ground beside him. Looking straight ahead instead of at him. "If I seem colder to you, it's because you bring it out."

And at that he actually laughs.

"Gods, you don't even realize it, do you."

He pushes himself up to prop himself up on his elbows and looks at her.

"When I say 'put on airs' I don't mean you're acting superior to me. I say it because you're trying to impress me. By acting every bit the princess that you are. And before you say anything, you're the one who brought up impressing me in the first place. Your exact words were that you don't change your size and color to impress me. Who said I needed to be impressed? After that, I was just playing along, but what I just said before was the truth: I like you more when you're Allura. Not Princess Allura. You've already impressed me, like when we were tracking the tanglesnakes together, which is why I told you that nothing you could do as a princess could ever get a rise out of me. And also, I think you're colder to me because I don't revere you as a princess and you don't know how to deal with it."

With a smirk, he drops back into his back, clasping his hands behind his head.

She looks like she's having trouble handling this conversation. Like she's somewhere between genuinely touched and ready to slug him again.

In the end, she rests her chin down by her knees.

"Revere? Of course you don't revere me as a princess -- you use it as an excuse not to respect me! Which is what I'm talking about! You go out of your way to be more of a pain simply because I'm trying to act responsible, and that bothers you."

Is she pouting? She's pouting. "It's not like I can be 'just' Allura, most of the time."

He ignores almost everything up to the last bit, which he counters very sincerely.

"Then...why not just with me?"

"It's not so simple as taking my crown on and off. I would have thought that you'd be able to understand that."

She doesn't elaborate why, since he didn't want her bringing such things up.

"Being a princess is part of who I am."

"Yeah, and being a God of Destruction is part of who I am too. The point I'm trying to make is that it's not exactly what defines me. I don't act like it in front of everyone. I'm not saying to renounce the throne. I'm saying to cut loose a bit. Lighten up. Have fun in ways you never had the opportunity to. Indulge yourself in a way you thought you'd never get the chance to. I mean, you don't live forever, right? And here we are in a world where we have opportunities to just...live and learn. That's what I want to see you do. That's what I want to be a part of."

"... no, of course I won't live forever."

The nagging chorus of but that's still wrong is chanting in her head. Princesses don't cut loose and have fun, because if they relax the kingdom could burn. Or in this case, the universe.

But that's beyond my control right now, isn't it?

"And... this is an opportunity I wouldn't get, normally. Even now, it feels as though if I have too much fun, I'm turning my back on something important. Something... I should be doing, as if saying 'I cannot' is no excuse."

He sits up.

"Okay but...what if relaxing, having fun, and finding a balance between who you are and where your responsibilities lie is the important thing you shouldn't be turning your back on?"

"And how would that work, exactly?"

She sighs, before continuing, "While I appreciate the concern, the responsibilities of a leader mean sacrifice. Having fun doesn't fit in there -- although you could make an argument for entertaining others."

Which isn't the same thing.

"But why?!"

He pushes himself to his feet and stands before her.

"Why the hell is being a leader synonymous with sacrifice?! That doesn't make any damn sense! You and Shiro belong together if that's what you think but what you two don't see is that being a leader doesn't mean you're the first to make the biggest sacrifice! If anything, you should be showing everyone else what it means to live! To live and to laugh and to love and to go every day living your life to the very utmost! What you're describing isn't a leader at all! It's a martyr!"

He huffs and kicks at the ground.

"You want to lead but you don't know the first thing about being true to yourself. What kind of a leader is that, ah? Would you follow someone knowing that they were just one big walking sacrifice? Or would you want to follow someone who can take on the world while still being true to their heart??"

He runs his hand through his hair, a gesture signifying thought.

"You're allowed, you know. You're allowed to live and enjoy your days. You've lost more than most people could even fathom. The least you can do is find your smile for the sake of those who can't anymore. That's what it means to lead. To have the courage to face the world in the place of others, whether because they refuse to or because they no longer can..."

"This has nothing to do with Shiro!" The objection comes faster and sharper than it should -- but it's not out of denial. It really doesn't have anything to do with Shiro.

"And before you go turning your nose at all that, you should know that it was my father who taught me this, that a leader must be ready to give everything for their people. For the people they love and are sworn to protect."

For his daughter. Her hands ball into fists in her lap.

"Everything we built came from that. The least I can do for Altea's legacy -- for my father's legacy -- is to carry on his work."

"'Must be ready.'" Darin echoed her own words.

"'Being ready to' and 'looking for a reason to' are two entirely different things. There's a difference between being willing and prepared to and actively searching to do so. I can't presume to speak for your people or your father, but I'm willing to bet that--"

He stops himself then, eyeing the fists balled in her lap.

It takes every ounce of strength to bite his tongue, but in the end, it's not his place to force anyone into his line of thinking. He's the outsider on this team and he'd do well to remember that.

In the end, he merely sighs, defeated.

"Nevermind. It's not my place."

Her grip relaxes. It's nothing against him. Really, it isn't. And that's enough to lower her guard.

"I'm not looking for it," she insists in a quiet voice. Whether or not that's true is debatable, to say the least, but... anyway. "There's nothing I would want more than to go back to a time before I had to worry about any of this. But..."

Her gaze grows distant.

"The more peaceful it feels here, the more this feels like..." She struggles for a word. "Cheating? As if I'm giving too convenient an excuse. The war hasn't ended, even though it doesn't even exist, here. If I let myself forget that..."

She looks at him now, and the next question is entirely sincere. "What would happen when I go back? Or if I'm given a choice?"

Darin folds his arms. He's thought of this too, of course. He had a place here. A team. And maybe in time, plenty more. But he also couldn't ignore the fact that, as much as he hated to admit it, he was a key player in something much larger than himself.

He had a destiny, a world to save, and someone he could no longer turn his back on.

When the time came, no matter what he had found here, he'd have to give it up. He'd have to make the right choice over the one that made the most sense.

He'd lose everything and it terrified him. And what does Darin do when he's scared?

He puts on the smarmiest grin he can and faces that fear down for the benefit of everyone around him.

"If you're given a choice, it's pretty obvious what decision you'd make. I mean, you'd never find someone as dashing and amazing as me back where you come from."

"I suppose you're right, in a sense. We already have Lance, but he's here now."

Allura, weren't you going to stop trying to tell jokes?

Still, it has to be pointed out. This aggravation is simply too nostalgic of early on, when Shiro and Pidge had referred to him as a second Lance. The comparison had fallen short for her, though. While both were experts of wearing out her patience, Lance held a very specific sort of admiration for her. And Darin...

Darin had treated her like dirt.

Actually, was this the same as the old days? The way he bragged made it sound like he wanted to impress her. Since when did he care about that?

Regardless. "That's aside from the point, isn't it? By now, I'd expect you would come with our team. For Shiro's sake, if nothing else."

That draws an earnest smile from his lips.

"Don't try and pawn this off on Shiro. We both know you'd miss me every moment of every day. And as incredibly flattered as I am, my dear Princess, I'm afraid I can't. Even if I could follow you back...I'm afraid I have something equally as important to take care of where I come from."

He gives her a low sweeping bow, just the same.

She rolls her eyes at the first part. Really, how could she, when she has Lance to fill the same void?

Luckily, the second part makes for a convenient subject change.

"As important as stopping an empire that's out to subjugate the entire universe, and succeeding? You know how many worlds that is, don't you?"

"Oh I know, but what good could I do for your cause? I can't become a part of Voltron. What would you have me do, be your personal bodyguard?"

"What, you think I actually need a--"

However, she doesn't look offended for long. A moment later, she's smiling. Not a sweet, heartwarming smile -- more like the smile of someone trying to butter someone else up -- but it's still a smile.

"You know, that's not a bad idea. You and I might find it pointless, but -- if I had my own personal guard, then the rest of the team might not worry about me quite so much."

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea now that you mention it. It's really take a load off of Shiro's--"

... ... ...

"Whoa. Whoa whoa whoa...hold those horses there Your Highness...I wasn't being serious, just now! You're not seriously thinking of making me...?"

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