The Springtime Fair Event!

[megabond]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Recolle Square
WHEN: May 20-21
WHAT: The Springtime Fair!
WARNINGS: None, but PM if this needs to change

Springtime Fair Begins! The Booths and Rides! (May 20-21)

As Spring continues blossoming around the city, Recolle Square becomes very crowded for some reason; that reason being the annual Springtime Fair!

As most of the residents enter Recolle Square, they notice many kinds of booths and rides scattered around the park as volunteers and booth owners set up to start the fair. And since the theme for this year is the American Style Cultural Festival, they see many classic rides such as the Tilt-A-Whirl, Merry-Go-Around (with Chocobos instead of horses, obviously), the Ferris Wheel, and much more. Not to mention the carnival games and delicious food lined up in most of the booths as well with booths like "Yamazaki's Paris" and "Satellite's Pizza"!

With all of the booths and rides that the fair has to offer, you have a feeling you will have a great time that Spring has to offer in it's remaining time this year!

The Silent Auction (May 20/Morning)

Due to the Recolle Zoo and Aquarium's Endangered Animal Preservation sponsoring this year's fair, they have a plethora of auctions to you to bid on.

One of the auctions is a silent auction being held on one of the stages in the venue where you can bid on blind gift baskets. The contents of the gift baskets is a mystery, but the announcer did explain what you can get such as a month supply of donuts, some cute plush toys, anything you can think of from the sponsors! However, there is a chance you may get something you actually don't need, so if this happens, feel free to give it to someone who does need it, e.g. when you get a week supply of cat food when you're actually a dog person.

You may be tempted to peek in some of the gift baskets backstage, but where's the fun in that? Don't try to peek if you're not one of the volunteers and organizers or security will kick you out.

The Service Auction (May 20/Afternoon)

At 3:00 PM after the silent auction, most of the residents as well business owners and employees gather in front of the stage as the Service Auction is about to start. Once it does, you see that the tables used for the gift baskets are cleared as the announcer declared the Service Auction as well explaining the rules regarding the bids and the fees are given for their services. If you notice the whiteboard before you take your seat, you can see the list of participants available to bid as well the services they will offer as well the order of their appearance to bid on.

>> Dr. Arataka Reigen (Service: A free homeopathic consultation!)
>> Chloe Bouchard (Service: Yard Work/Gardening, professional level)
>> Rin Matsuoka (Service: One-man Personal Training Bootcamp!!! Get Fit Get Swole 100% On the Grind Etc. Also swimming lessons.)
>> Donald Maxwell (Service: Handyman and delivery services)
>> Terra Mason (Service: Hard, manual labor such as moving your furniture, paint your second-floor bathroom, basically anything! He can also teach you about the civil war, or make you somewhat fancy alcoholic beverages.)
>> Nui (Nadine) Harime (Service: Wardrobe consultation, custom tailoring to make your clothes actually look good on you, and/or sewing for one one-of-a-kind spring fashion item.)
>> Eleanor Lamb (Service: Handyman! Fix your gate, your lawnmower, appliances, electrical junk. Eleanor's good at putting stuff back together. Or...taking it apart, if that's your flavor.)
>> Penelope Raban (Service: Photoshop, Computer Repair, Debugging, or writing a simple program/phone app/etc.)

Judging by the services they offer, you can tell how either useful they be and/or how much fun you will have with them. Just make sure you watch your budget during the auction. Otherwise, you might not able to afford their fees!

Regardless, some of the proceedings (with special conditions from some of the participants) will go to Recolle Zoo and Aquarium's Endangered Animal Preservation, so at least you’d give some help to the cause.

[NOTES: To all of the participants listed above, you are free to decide on the fees as well as who won the bid on your character on your service auction prompts!

To everyone else, don't be afraid to make your top levels about how your character is watching the auction. But if you want your character to bid on your intended participant, make sure you go to their top levels as soon they are posted to bid one of them!]

The Pet Show Preparations (May 21/Noon)

The next day, the stage has been redecorated with bone banners around at the top of it along with some bones and ball props placed around the stage for this year's Pet Show. Not only that, a huge mat has been spread in front of the stage along with a obstacle course for all of the participating small and big pets alike while the audience can watch the events in front of them behind the rope line with several seats lined up for some guests who don't like to stand up all day while watching the show.

If you signed up for the Pet Show, you will spend time in the backstage area before the show, as you not only try to groom your pet for the cameras and the judges outside but try to calm them down before the big event begins. Thankfully, you are allowed to bring anyone with you to help you prepare your little (or big) star, from acquaintances to friends to siblings to other family members.

Let the Pet Show Begin!(May 21/Afternoon)

Once it hits 3:00 PM, the announcer then declares in a showman-like manner, "Welcome one and all to our annual Springtime Pet Show!"

As the show begins, the audience cheers in excitement over seeing some cute and cool pets walking down the obstacle course while the three judges wait to watch and decide on which cat, dog, or another animal will win this year.

Of course, as you are called into the field with your furry friend, you will try to help them out in two rounds. For the first round, you will not only have the chance to show off your pet but to also have them show off their talents or any tricks they learned. For the second round, it's just a standard agility round with the only rule is to pass through the obstacle course as fast they can. However, some parts of the course, such as the tunnel and the teeter board, turn out to be defective for some reason, but that's nothing that your pet can handle, right?

The Mishaps (May 21/During the Pet Show)

Of course, just when you think this pet show will go smoothly, you turn out to be wrong. That because just as the talent portion of the pet show starts, you witness some of the Chocobos run the obstacle course and start wreaking havoc such as pecking on some of the participants and guests' heads, running around the field aimlessly, and of course, causing some of their pets to panic and run away.

As the organizers and volunteers are left shocked and confused by this turn of events, one of the volunteers steps up and explained everything, revealing that the Chocobos were supposed to be for the petting zoo for today's event, but one kid got a little too curious with them and accidentally released them from captivity.

Whatever the case, your only two options are to either run away from the Chocobos or help out the volunteers and organizers round them up before most of the stage and booths are destroyed.

Pet Show Winners (After the Mishaps)

After the chaos has been dealt with, the MC returns to the stage unscathed from any animal hijinks. He is still shaken up by those Chocobos, but the show must go on.

With that, he then opens the envelopes that one of the volunteers gave him and reads it before turning his attention to the audience in order to declare which pet managed to impress the judges and the audience enough to win.

"Now then, third place goes to Zaveid Taleb's tuxedo cat, Fred, second place goes to Hitori Togusa and his white miniature schnauzer, Daisuke!

And now for the first place and winner of this year's Pet Show is..."

With a long drumroll that one of the volunteers is doing (How did he get those drums into the stage in 5 minutes anyway?!), the MC then opens the last envelope and reads the contents.

"Mohammed Hefaz with his budgie, Whitney!"

Once the winners are declared, the audience cheered in excitement for the winners while some of them are a little disappointed that their favorites lost.

As for the participants, they were either are happy or disappointed with the results or cheered their pets up. Still, there's always next year!

[NOTES: Just a reminder of the pet show prizes in case you didn't read the replies:

1st Place: $200 gift card to The Towers, $100 gift card to a known pet food brand, and two tickets to Recolle Zoo and Aquarium
2nd Place: $50 gift card to a known pet food brand, 3 new cat or dog toys
3rd Place: 10% discount to selected pizzas from Satellite's Pizza or Yamazaki's Paris.]

Aftermath (May 21/Evening)

Well, other than a little Chocobo mess back there, this year's Springtime Fair ended off with a bang. With most of the guests start to reflect yesterday and today's events, most of them help out the organizers, volunteers, and booth owners on cleaning and packing up everything.

But despite the chaos that has happened earlier, the organizers and volunteers are happy to hear that raised quite a lot of money for the Animal Preservation Program from the auctions and some of the booths, which can be a happy ending to this crazy weekend.

But no matter how you experienced the fair, at least you have fun, right?

With that, thank you for coming and we'll hope to see you in the next Springtime Fair!

Comments

Chloe - OTA

[true_noir]

Rides/Events
Chloe made it a point to go from ride to ride, wanting to try them all. Added to that was the urge to visit at least a few of the skill booths. It was probably cheating not to tell the barkers at some of these that her dart throwing skills might have improved considerably. However, she was not above keeping that bit of information to herself if it let her net a stuffed animal to give to someone else... so long as she didn't have to be the one to carry it home.

If she saw any of her friends, she would run over to grab at their arm, looking almost childlike in glee. No, today, she was not going to worry about Retrospec, nor about anything else. Today, she simply wanted to have fun.

Catch That Chocobo!
Chloe had already played Chocobo wrangler once in her life, so why not attempt it again? In truth, she wasn't planning on catching the poor thing but more helping to serve as a distraction to help herd it away from the booths, where other people could bring it under control. Racing into public spaces, she waved her hands and made a frightful noise while still managing to laugh.

"This is far too much fun. I really should not be enjoying this, should I?" she said, glancing at her helper. Sorry, folks, but frightened chocobos were hilarious... when they weren't barreling into you or trying to peck your face off.

Aftermath
Someone had to clean this mess up. And, since she'd already volunteered to help out as part of the service auction, Chloe figured she might as well help with the taking down of booths and the like. She was easy to find throughout the event's aftermath, quietly picking up trash with a pointed stick and shoving it into garbage bags.

Looking up from one of her latest jabs, she smiled at whoever might be approaching and motioned with her head towards another bag nearby. "They say many hands make light work, yes?"

Service Auction (OOC: First come first served)
Chloe looked over at the person who had paid for her services as a gardener and smiled. "Well well, I do hope I'll be able to help you with your garden. Do, please tell me what you have planned." In reality, she was mostly looking to do this as a way to keep Enchanted Blossom's name out there in the off season, but regardless, it would be nice to take some time, do a little charity service and keep padding her resume.

(OOC: If you wish, it is possible to fast-forward to the next couple days and do a scene with her doing gardening/floral work at someone's house. That, or just chat here. I'm easy going on this.)

Aftermath

[bold_in_deed]

"...there's a joke about hands in there somewhere, but I'm too pecked to death to think of any."

Bloody chocobos.

Picking up garbage is not Ilia's idea of a fun time. She'd rather go home. But then to do what? Just sit on her couch and binge on whatever show she can find on Netflix? ...okay that actually sounds nice. But, Ilia's not that much of a jerk to refuse to help, especially without a legitimate excuse.

"There should have been combat pay for the volunteers after that fiasco with the chocobos," she mutters as she grabs the bag, scooping up some nearby garbage and shoveling it into her bag.

Re: Aftermath

[true_noir]

"Idle hands are the devil's playthings, I believe," she said with a faint smirk to her as she shrugged and smirked towards Ilia. "Either way, it will go much faster if you're helping. And if it is incentive, I will buy us something to drink after."

As they started up with that, the time was definitely going to go a little faster. There was a lot of trash, but there were plenty of volunteers helping out. The comment about the chocobo made her laugh and shake her head. "Oh he was a big baby compared to the ones in January. But I suppose they were rather shocked, yes? Those things can be rather fiesty."

[bold_in_deed]

"Oh well then, look at that. I get to have two warm and fuzzy feelings: being charitable and alcohol in my system."

As Ilia helps with the trash, slowly filling her bag, she shoots a dramatic glare at Chloe. "Damn things almost pecked people to death. I had to slap one to get it away from me."

[true_noir]

Alcohol? She hadn't said alco.... well, she had her id on her. She could totally fake it. No worries. She grinned at Ilia and nodded. "Two excellent feelings, yes," she said. "It's always nice to have more than one good feeling at a time, yes?"

The comment about slapping a chocobo made her laugh. She winked at her. "If you could slap him away, then you are learning how to handle those things. Pretty soon, you will be astride one, with a spear, like that old arcade game. What was its name?"

[bold_in_deed]

She hears "drink", she thinks booze.

Ilia nodded, stuffing more trash into her bag. Christ, people are such slobs. Trash cans are a thing! "The more the merrier, I suppose. Then again, feeling too many usually results in an emotional overload, and no one likes those."

She snorted at the mental image. "No idea, I was never really into those. Whatever it is, noooo thank you. I'd rather not get on one of those obnoxious birds if it can be helped. They're temperamental and they smell."

[true_noir]

She chuckled, shaking her head. "It also leads to hangovers, and nobody likes those either," she said. Ash Wednesday hadn't been the most pleasant experience in her life. "All things in moderation, no?"

As she hefted the bag in front of her, it was starting to look full. There was still a mess, but it was beginning to thin somewhat. That was important, since there was quickly getting to be more workers than space that was needed. She took a few more stabs before sighing to herself. "Tempermental stand ins for horses aside, the more I think about it, the more I could use a drink, now. Perhaps we should go get one now?"

Honestly, being happy and chipper all day was a little exhausting. As much a distraction as this event had been, Chloe could feel reality peeking in a little while they talked about chocobos.

[bold_in_deed]

Ilia's starting to feel a little crowded herself. And given that she's picking up trash, she's all too eager to ditch the work and get a drink. "Won't hear a complaint from me. Any place in particular you like to go? Or is it a 'stay home with a glass or five of wine' night?"

[true_noir]

She considered for a moment. Well, actually, staying at her place would mean that they didn't have to worry about carding. The offer made her smile and she nodded, dropping off her trash and motioning for Ilia to follow. "I think you've decided for me. It feels very much like a 'relax at home' sort of evening. I have something nice there," she said. "We'll just have to make sure Nadia behaves herself, yes?"

And, as she said that, she was already heading to the bus stop.

chocobo wranglin'

[skald]

Tuuri wasn't going to lie, it was sort of fun making loud noises to scare the chocobo back into the center... except there's something about staring down a rampaging chicken beast that made her feel like she was always one wrong step away from getting pecked to death. That fear was sort of detracting from how effective she could really be at this job.

"Ahaha, well, it's definitely entertaining..." she said, spreading her arms wide and making a cawing noise-- but even as the chocobo in question veered off to the side to avoid her, its beady eye stared into hers, and that nervous doubt-- what if it doesn't stop-- entered her mind again. Her caw turned into more of a scream by the end, especially with the way she flinched and ducked behind her arm... having her 'help' may be worse than working alone.

[true_noir]

Yeah, definitely not the most helpful, but Chloe wasn't worried at all. "Do not be afraid. Their peck is more like a bludgeon unless they are truly mad, and this one is not that mad I think." She laughed as she waved her hands and made loud noises to attempt to keep the thing from turning on poor Tuuri too much. It was certainly proving difficult to corral away from all of the stands.

"I would not call them harmless, but they don't generally hurt too badly. try to have some fun with it!"

[skald]

"I mean, a bludgeon is still a little scary..." she said weakly, though once Chloe successfully distracted the chocobo she did risk lowering her hands. She watched it trample back and forth in the free space in the square for a second; there was a sort of humor to it, she supposed. "But I guess you're right. They're... funny, at least. If funny-looking."

[true_noir]

"Perhaps a little? But it isn't so bad. Just try not to actually make it mad." Which thankfully would take more effort than the two of them were bringing to bear right now. Hopefully. Chloe kept hollering to try and get the thing to stay inside of the square, away from the carts with mixed success as she watched the others approaching.

"They're actually rather friendly, believe it or not. Bring them greens and they are affectionate."

[skald]

"It's not mad now?" She honestly couldn't tell. She wasn't exactly a horse person, back when horses existed, and the chocobo were so foreign that even if she were it wouldn't mean anything. "I don't really... know anything about them, I guess. Do you work with them?"

[true_noir]

"It is not using its claws, is it? If we'd truly gotten it mad instead of a little skittish, it would absolutely bring those to bear." Not to mention the damned thing would almost certainly be trying to charge right through them. But that wasn't immediately obvious. "And no, I don't work with them, but I've had the misfortune of having to deal with a stampeding one a couple times. You learn fast." Or, you know, you end up getting trampled.

[skald]

If that was supposed to reassure her... well, it did in its own way, she supposed, but raised concerns of its own. "I didn't really think about the claws," she said, unable to avoid looking at them now. "So that's... good. I guess."

At least that sounded like a story. "How'd you end up with a stampeding chocobo?"

[true_noir]

"Yes, very good," she said, her accent coming through while the two of them kept up their vigil on this end of the square. It was starting to get corralled thankfully so there might not be too much concern.

"Oh, it was Founder's Day first. They had them for the petting zoos for the children, but a few got loose, and they were very upset by the end." She shook her head. "Would have been so much easier with horses..." A pause, and she glanced at her nervously. "Sorry, you've seen a horse, yes?" A careful way of asking if she suddenly thought Chloe was crazy, or if she remembered that horses existed.

Rides/Events

[trivialization]

Between the frequently serious topics of their discussions and her own dour unlikelihood of inspiring any such reaction 'childlike glee' was not an expression Catherine was used to seeing on Chloe, and she looked taken aback when the girl grabbed her arm, face working its way through honest surprise to what looked like the beginning of a trite dismissal before she thought better of it and moved on to a slightly guarded curiosity.

"...I take it you're enjoying yourself?"

She was probably not the sort of person one would take to be interested in a stuffed animal, but one never knew.

[true_noir]

The truth was that it was a bit of a front, and one that was going to crack when all this was over, late in the evening. She was forcing herself to be happy in the middle of a festival, more like how she'd felt on Valentine's Day and Founder's Day. Those felt so very long ago now, so she was definitely making herself have a good day. She grinned at her captive audience and nodded.

"I am. We haven't had a good festival in a few months, and I'd like to have a little fun." And she gave an impish grin as they were headed in the direction of the booths. "And besides, I'll bet I've gotten very good at darts."

[trivialization]

"A festival day..." Well, that was how they had met, wasn't it? Community events... couldn't deny that was a charming point of the city's. She could have said, of course, that she found it strange to be so engaged, when the problems they faced, illusory and inaccessible to those around them as they were, were so alienating in nature, but...

Even sour cynics like her occasionally thought better of ruining a mood. Besides, she had to laugh at the addenda.

"So is it the festival that has you glowing or the thought of sweeping the booths? A prize to avenge each dollar wasted years past?"

[true_noir]

She cocked her head back and she giggled almost wickedly. "I see you've caught me. How many times have the carnies managed to cheat me with their rigged games? If I am going to have those Retrospec people changing my body, giving me skills, why shouldn't I use them?" And her grin widened, the impishness showing a little. She didn't get to show that off very often, not unless she was trying to hook people up or the like. "Besides, I really need a day of relaxation after this month. I think we all need it. Tell me, do you like lions or bears?"

[trivialization]

Why shouldn't she...? It was a distracting thought. If she wound up able to do those things... well, she had to wonder, whether that coldness of thought she'd experienced came from being... unbound in that fashion.

"I suppose the ring toss is nothing like the ring of Gyges." She raised an eyebrow. "You can't mean to win me one of those things. What would I do with it?"

[true_noir]

She chuckled softly and smiled over at Catherine and shrugged. "Well, if I win something big, then I'll be giving it to you or someone else. Nadia would almost certainly destroy it, after all. I simply haven't gotten her trained enough yet for stuffed animals to survive unscathed." Yes, well, Nadia had been a stray up until very recently. "And you're supposed to hug them, I'm told. And carry them around and show them off." Or something. She didn't really have a clue.

[trivialization]

"Mm, yes, or put it in my bedroom so when I have visitors they can catch sight of it and assume I must have a sensitive or childish side buried somewhere. You're a cunning one."

She cheerfully gave Chloe the credit for the thought.

"Well, win it first and we can see if it manages to catch my fancy, how about that?"

[true_noir]

"Perhaps I am attempting to break that cold ice that glistens on your shoulder and warm the heart inside with a little gesture here and there," she teased, winking at Catherine before they reached the booth. She put down the tickets, three darts being handed over by the barker with the usual confident air of someone who figured they'd found another easy mark.

She hefted one and smiled softly to herself. Oh yes, it was weighted wrong. But she was pretty sure she could compensate. "You might want to get ready to decide, Ms Durand," she said, flicking the one in her hand to the fin being in one pair of fingers before whipping it forward with alarming speed.

'Pop.' The barker looked a little less amused than before.