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

[flowrite]

a; moral support | closed to Orion

[Fai has spent the better part of this last week feeling like an utter disaster. The memories he's regained since joining the Retrospec app have him jumping at shadows, even in his own apartment, and now he's supposed to meet with someone he's pretty sure just wants to berate him. He can't think of a single other reason why Fawkes would want to meet, to 'prevent further misunderstandings.'

Thank goodness for Orion, agreeing to accompany him to the fair. Fai fixes himself up to look as nice as he can manage, blooshot eyes notwithstanding, and texts his neighbor that he's nearly ready to go. Ten minutes later he's knocking on Orion's door.]


b; bait & switch | closed to Kaiba (and Fawkes if he feels like showing up!!)

[The appointed time comes, and Fai breaks away from Orion to go look for Fawkes by the merry-go-round. Orion certainly doesn't need to stick around to watch Fai get yelled at--especially given why he's going to get yelled at--but his neighbor is supposed to be nearby somewhere so afterward, when Fai is a stupid, nervous mess, someone will still be able to drive them home.

It won't be the first time he's been screamed at to keep the hell away from someone, but he'd kind of thought he was past this.

Fawkes doesn't appear to be here yet, so Fai leans against the side of one of the nearby booths and takes deep breaths, trying to look more put-together than he feels. And probably failing.]


c; wildcard! | open

[I've got nothing specific planned for the rest of the fair, but feel free to hit me with any ideas if you'd like to run into Fai! Early Saturday he's going to be a nervous wreck--looks like he hasn't slept in a week, looks nervous as hell. He'll be keeping close to Orion for most of that time, but you can probably catch him somewhere if you want!

After meeting Kaiba he'll look like a completely different person. Still sleep-deprived, but he'll be his usual cheery, effusive self. And sticking close to Kaiba most likely. FOR REASONS.]

[bitemefightme]

[Orion was sleeping when his phone chirped off a tune to let him know of the incoming message. With a groan and a glance at the message. His yawn quickly turns into:]

Oh, shit...

[Fai may or may not hear a hurried scuffle and a tumble into a wall as Orion invariably trips over something in his apartment, letting out a tired, but no less frustrated, Ow!

He yanks on a pair of jeans and a fairly wrinkled t-shirt, being unable to find anything else in his mess of an apartment. Not that he particularly cares. He's halfway into pulling on his socks while brushing his teeth when he hears the knock on his door. Triple shit...

Orion scrambles briefly a bit more, rinsing his mouth in the kitchen sink with what may or may not be a week-old cup, before rushing to the door, barely surviving another trip-attempt over his shoes as he grabs the door handle.]

Hi.

[He wipes the remnants of toothpaste froth off of his cheek onto the back of his hand and his hair looks like it still has yet to have a comb run through it. But he motions for Fai to come in and have a seat before he bends down to grab the shoes he almost tripped on in his path to the door.]

Sorry, I slept late. I'll be ready to go. Give me another minute or two.

[flowrite]

[So despite the fact that Fai's been dreading today, he can't help but stifle a laugh at the sound of Orion thumping around his apartment. Clearly he woke his neighbor up. Thankfully Orion doesn't seem like the kind of person to need an hour to get himself ready to go anywhere (unlike Fai when he's being particular about things), and Fai made sure to get up and around with plenty of time for them to get to the fair before he's supposed to meet up with Fawkes. They can spare a few minutes for Orion to get himself together.

He's waiting with a bundle wrapped in a cloth napkin when Orion answers the door--Fai tends to bake when he's nervous, or upset, or miserable, so there's been a lot of baking this week. And he's guessing that Orion hasn't eaten breakfast yet. It's the least he can do to repay Orion for taking the time out of his day to babysit him.

He nods and steps inside, closing the door behind him and eyeing the state of the living room. Yikes.]

No problem! [He's trying to sound upbeat and cheerful this morning. Can't you tell.] We still have plenty of time, and I have breakfast for you when you're ready.

[bitemefightme]

[Orion shoots up an eyebrow at the mention of breakfast. You would think, after being Fai's neighbour this long, he'd be used to this treatment. But he still hasn't stopped thinking Fai is some sort of odd duck that found it's way into a goose family (or was that the other way around?).

Oh, well, he has no time, nor desire, to complain. So he just walks to the bathroom to put away his toothbrush and comb his bedhead. He sits on the toilet lid as he puts on his shoes, hardly glancing at the mirror to see if he's satisfied with his appearance.

When he comes back out, he heads straight back into the kitchen, digging around a stack of plates to retrieve his wallet, and then wondering where he left his keys.

He supposes, if worse comes to worse, Fai still has a spare key. So, if Orion can't find his own, he has a backup. He makes his way to the coffee table to dig through littered tissues and fast food wrappers to see if his keys are in there.]

So, are you going to tell me what's going on? You don't look so good.

[He had barely glanced at Fai, but even he could tell the blond looked tired.]

[flowrite]

[He waits patiently, not exactly in a rush to get where they're going even though he agreed to it. Although the longer Fai waits, the more the state of the living room starts to rub him the wrong way. If he just... sets the cloth-wrapped bundle of breakfast down in this one free space on the table, and grabs a clean tissue to use for picking up the dirty ones....

Sorry, Orion. He can't help it. But hey, maybe his cleaning will help you find your keys?

His jaw tightens at the question, and it takes him a moment to answer.]

I told you I'm meeting up with someone at the fair, remember?

[He's not trying to be snotty about it, keeping his voice light in the hopes that Orion won't ask for details.]

[bitemefightme]

[So that's distinctly a no as far as if Fai will give him more details. After looking at Fai solidly for a minute, he decides against pushing it. Whatever. Fai's life isn't his. Orion can't take care of himself much less anyone else, anyway. He's got no reason to try and force Fai to open up.]

Yea, I remember.

[While Fai continues to clean the table, Orion starts digging around in the scattered piles of trash and clothes on the floor. You'd seriously think Orion would become frustrated at not finding his things when he needs them, but he looks like he's hardly bothered by it at all.

After overturning last night's hoodie, he feels the weight in the pocket and digs into it, finding the culprit. His keys jingle slightly as he stands up and pockets them in his jeans. He turns to Fai.]

Ready to go?

[flowrite]

[Mental note: use key, stealth clean Orion's apartment this weekend. Fai likes to bake when he's miserable, but his kitchen can't hold much more anyway. Maybe cleaning and straightening up Orion's disaster area will be an equally helpful outlet for whatever's going to happen at the fair here shortly.

He does the best he can while Orion retrieves his keys, infinitely grateful that Orion isn't pushing for answers, then nods and grabs the cloth bundle back up.]

Yep, I'm ready.

[He picks the bundle open, revealing a handful of still-warm, fresh croissants. Fai claims the smallest one for himself, then offers the rest out toward Orion.]

Croissant?

[bitemefightme]

[Orion picks up a croissant as he passes Fai, leading the way around the litter of his apartment to the front door. He opens it, waits for Fai to leave first and then follows afterward, locking the door behind him as he wolfs down the croissant in two bites. He gives a wince as he accidentally bites his finger in absent-minded chomping before tucking that same hand in his pocket.

He follows Fai to his car and slides into the passenger seat, fastening his seat belt.]

Are you okay to drive?

[Only thinking to ask after he's gotten himself settled. But, if Fai is going to push himself past the point of exhaustion, he might as well ask before they go.]

[flowrite]

[Fai may not drive very often, but it's not for lack of having a nice car. He drives a jewel-blue Prius, which is pretty far into the 'cute' end of the car spectrum. The rest of the croissants get bundled back up into the cloth napkin and tucked into the center console, in case Orion wants any more.

The car is already started and Fai's backing out of the parking spot before he answers.]

I'll be fine to get us there. It's only getting back that I'm worried about.

[He's tired, but he's not dead on his feet. The worry definitely comes from the expectation of being an emotional mess rather than simple exhaustion.]

[bitemefightme]

[Orion doesn't argue. He's still feeling the lingering effects of sleep anyway, before he had to scramble to get ready.

He lets out a yawn, reclining the passenger seat as far back as it'll go, folds his hands behind his head, and closes his eyes, drifting between sleep and consciousness as they ride to the Fair. Unless Fai wants to talk, he'll stay quiet for the most part.

Don't blame Orion if he snores, Fai.]

[flowrite]

[Sleeping in the car is fine, Orion. Fai won't judge you for it. He's just happy to not be alone right now. The drive is uneventful but somewhat short, and Orion probably doesn't have a whole lot of time for a nap before they're pulling into parking for the event. They've still got some time to kill before Fai's supposed to meet with Fawkes, but he isn't exactly sure whether sitting in the car or walking around the fair would be better. At least if they walk around he can spend some of this nervous energy instead of sitting and stewing.]

You awake?

[bitemefightme]

Mmhm. [Orion grunts in response, keeping his eyes closed.

Since he'd been mostly drifting in an out, he was able to hear it when Fai finally spoke. He doesn't make any movements or additional sounds otherwise, though. He's listening to see what Fai wants.]

[flowrite]

[Oh god you're going to make him keep asking aren't you Orion. Why must you be so difficult!!]

Do you... want to walk around the fair at all? Or did you just want to wait here? It... might be a while yet.

[bitemefightme]

[Orion opens an eye, looking at Fai. Then, with another grunt, he returns the seat back to its upright position.]

Yea, alright. Let's see if we can go find some coffee.

[Orion's convinced he's going to be the muscle if Fai gets into any trouble (why else would Fai ask him to come, after all), and therefore should be as alert as possible.

He pushes himself out of the car and stretches, trying to shake off the remnants of sleep and letting out a groggy yawn.]

he fell for it

[crushcard]

[ As it is, he's under the impression he's meeting Fawkes to get coffee before going to the video game meetup that he's heard being talked about.

He's also not thinking that anything is out of the ordinary - Fawkes is a nature person, Seto is decidedly not, so when Fawkes asks to meet him at the merry-go-round at the spring fair, it's a perfectly legitimate request, right?

For once, he's dressed down, and he's fully expecting Fawkes to be on the merry-go-round or something, but evidently, he's been set up, because Fawkes is nowhere to be found.

Who Seto finds instead by the spot where he was supposed to meet Fawkes is a very familiar blond haired, blue eyed male.

... In all honesty, he really should have seen this coming when Fawkes mentioned "third party assistance". Seto thinks that he's a cruel, cruel person, but then again, at least Fawkes is. Keeping up his end of the bargain to help somehow? Damn it, now he owes Fawkes a favour.

He's hoping that he doesn't screw this up fantastically. Insert bitter, self-depreciating laughter here. ]

Fai. [ awkward awkward awkward this is SO AWKWARD. ] Are you... waiting for someone?

[ oh my god Seto why are you like this. ]

[flowrite]

[He doesn't spot Kaiba right away, which is kind of amazing considering he's watching for Fawkes and should actually be paying attention to the crowd around him. Except most of Fai is lost inside his own head (which is a really terrible place to be, let's be honest) and he's running on not much sleep. For the week. Plus, Fai can't remember the last time he saw Kaiba wearing anything approximating "casual" clothing.

And there's that whole "Kaiba and Fawkes are dating"... thing. The reason Fai's here in the first place.

So if he goes a little wide-eyed, and doesn't say anything for a moment or two after Kaiba walks up, please forgive him. Several parts of his brain are trying to hard-restart all at the same time.]

I--

[His first thought is that Fawkes somehow tricked him into coming here so Kaiba could yell at him. Which would be so, so much worse. But Kaiba doesn't seem to be gearing up for a screaming match. He just seems kind of adorably hesitant, much like every other time Fai's seen him lately, and why does he look so cute today. This is not helping.]

Um. Fawkes sent me a message, a few days ago. He said he was going to meet me here.

[crushcard]

[ Sorry for your life, Fai. If it helps, he actually has no idea about how you're calling him cute in your head, so there is that. Let him live.

But no, he's not here to yell at Fai. Why would he even want to yell at you??? If anything, Fawkes has given him an Opportunity to capitalise on, and Seto isn't usually one to let opportunities go if they're staring at them right in the face. ]

Ah. [ ... well, once he gets over this whole awkward-monosyllabic-answer thing that he has going on. COME ON, YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT.

There's that nervous gesture again, the whole hand through his hair thing, and listen, the only reason why he's frowning is because he's so unused to the fact that he's not entirely sure of what he's doing. Most of the time, Seto is ridiculously put together, with contingency plans for contingency plans and a fantastically scripted conversation to boot, and the fact that he's going into this blind?? He's not. Dealing very well. Fai probably has never seen him this nervous, probably. Hell, he's never even seen himself this nervous.

He promptly decides that he doesn't like this feeling - it helps, at least, in getting himself to think rationally again.

He inhales sharply and steels himself. ] Listen, I think we need to talk.

[ ... ]

... FawkesandIarenotactuallydating.

[ ... you might want to try that again, Seto. ]

[flowrite]

[Don't worry, he'll be calling you cute out loud soon enough

Fai doesn't know what to think about Kaiba being so quiet like this. Is it because of the drunk texting thing? Or some combination of the drunk texting and Fai hitting on him at the bar a while ago? Because... yeah, when you take those two incidents and look at them together, it kind of looks like Fai's been throwing himself at Kaiba, doesn't it? Never mind that life has gotten infinitely more complicated lately and Fai's just trying to cope, and his coping skills are singularly terrible. And never mind that copious amounts of alcohol were involved.

Okay, so maybe it looks like Fai's been on the road to destroying their nice, casual friendship of several years because he's an idiot who doesn't know when to take a hint. Maybe that's why Kaiba looks so uncomfortable right now.

Fai bites his lip, coming very close to opening his mouth and apologizing for everything that's happened between them for the last three weeks or so, when Kaiba starts talking first.

Fai opens his mouth, and closes it again. And shuts his eyes while he tries to process this. He's still pretty well convinced Kaiba wouldn't know he was dating someone unless smacked over the head with a hammer.]

Does Fawkes know that?

[Cause yeah, it sure sounded like Fawkes was trying to tell Fai to keep the hell away.]