recolle | The Springtime Fair Event!

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ghost in the shell: togusa

The Springtime Fair Event!

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Minako glances out of the corner of her eye at Lucy, and a smile lifts at the corner of her lips. It's her customer service smile, the one that's easy for her to freeze onto her face when everything has become chaos around her.

There's no need to lie when it's so obvious to anyone who knows her halfway well, though.]

Nope.

[And she punctuates this with a vicious smash over a fifty-pointer mole.]

[Oh. Well. That was...not what she expected. It actually made Lucy pause for a moment before rocking back on her heels, a small, awkward gesture. That was the thinnest cheer she'd seen on her roommate's face, and it was almost unnerving.

Lucy was garbage at being reassuring. She could barely do that for herself. But...she could at least try, for Minako.]

Bad time?

[To talk, or to interact with others, or to do much else besides bludgeon moles until the machine springs complained. Lucy wasn't good at complete sentences sometimes.

She glanced up at the scoreboard, blinking again. Minako must have been here for awhile.]

[Hearing Lucy's question is enough to make most of the anger deflate from her, leaving only a bone weary tiredness in its wake. Minako could continue to be angry with herself for hours on end given the chance, but she shouldn't let that bleed into conversation...she's trained herself better than that. And god, it's Lucy. Lucy is actually here, at the spring fair, probably enjoying herself before coming across the miserable mess she is right now. Minako needs to be more considerate than this.

She doesn't stop whacking moles, but it's more to keep her game going than actual fury now.]

...no, it's okay. I'm sorry, Lucy. You shouldn't have to put up with my bad mood.

[She wasn't sure when she'd get used to apologies. But that did confirm that something was wrong, and Lucy felt a little guilty for asking—it was obvious, why did she need that confirmed? She stopped shuffling on her feet, looking back down at what Minako was doing.]

I didn't know you could get those.

[Look! Humor! Attempted! Kind of.]

[Minako laughs weakly.]

You'd be surprised. I get them more often than you'd think. I'm just really good at hiding them.

[Whack whack whack.]

Most of the time.

[That was...hm. It made Lucy think back, and back and back—was Minako always unhappy, when she'd talked to her? Just...tolerating her, until she looked away?

Lucy shuffled sideways, cautiously aware of the hammer, and reached out to set her hand on the other girl's shoulder. Her touch was light, tentative, and uncertain. An attempt at reassurance, mimicked from others she had seen.]

...you don't have to.

[Minako is so startled, so unsuspecting, that she jumps from the touch, the hammer slack in her fingers and the moles forgotten. And then the surprise melts away to something more hesitant. Guarded and wary, but hopeful, even as her lips form the words to give her roommate an out.]

I don't want to burden you with my problems, Lucy.

[For a moment, Lucy's hand was still suspended in the air where Minako's shoulder used to be. She closed her hand into a fist after a belated moment, pulling that hand halfway back to her chest before stopping herself. That...meant nothing, she was still fine. Everything was...just fine. Except Minako, who wasn't.

Lucy wasn't going to leave that alone. She felt...responsible? Like she could help. Do something meaningful, for once in her life?]

...you don't have to be like me, either.

[It's not hard to see that that Lucy is trying, and that she's trying for Minako's sake is quietly touching. It's ultimately what helps Minako decide to confide a bit in her roommate. She wants to meet her halfway, and show her that she's grateful for her concern.]

...okay.

[Oh wait.]

Let me finish this game first? I just realized I'm really close to getting one of the giant stuffed animals.

[And starts whacking in earnest again, to make up for lost time.]

[Lucy let her hand drop down to her side—slowly, like she was worried about agitating some delicate process. There wasn't really anywhere else convenient to stand, let alone sit—her ankle was rather displeased. But she could wait.]

Mhmn.

[It wasn't really a word, but a mumble of assent that never left her throat completely. Lucy would stay here; she was too stubborn to leave. Even if that meant standing a bit awkwardly between Minako and the crowd watching her.]

[Now that she's not hyper-focused with anger, Minako is having a rougher time hitting all the moles. But she's still valiantly fighting, and still a few hundred points short of the score she needs, the attendant is counting her down to her last ten seconds.

Oh no, she's not leaving here without her prize. She squares her hips, adjusts her grip on the mallet, and then slams it down with rapid succession, one two three four, on the bonus moles.

The bell rings, the crowd behind her erupts into applause, and Minako punches a hand in the air.]

Yes!

[She found herself watching the game rather intently; usually Lucy had only a passing interest in them, but with Minako here and so invested in it, it was hard not to. The cheerful chime of the bell and excited noise and applause from the crowd behind her was startling, but Minako's glee was just as obvious.

...and, well, it was more than a little infectious. Lucy's mouth curved in a small smile, and her shoulders relaxed.]

Better?

A little, yeah.

[The smile she sends Lucy is much more genuine this time. A little small, but at least not plastic. A minute later, she's got her giant sheep plush prize in her arms-- though honestly it's just a bit too big for her to get her arms completely around it. Her voice is a little muffled from behind its fuzzy round body.]

I'm gonna name him Twinkle Toes.

[...help, cute. Lucy perked up when Minako smiled at her again; she'd been doing that a lot lately.

Her ankle had stiffened up while she was standing there, and she winced as she started to shift and step forwards again. Hopefully Minako was too distracted by the sheep to notice.]

He doesn't seem to have very many toes, does he.

[It did look unfairly soft, though.]

He has little nubby legs, that's good enough.

[Minako is indeed too distracted by the newly dubbed Twinkle Toes to notice, but that's only by virtue of it pretty much obscuring 95 percent of her entire line of sight. Luckily, though, she's also tired from standing and playing the whack-a-mole game for what seemed like hours on end, so!]

Think we can find a place to sit in this crowded place?

[First attempt successful! ...the later ones, maybe or maybe not.]

Sure.

[If in doubt Lucy could always just shove someone off of a bench. If she was fast enough Minako wouldn't even notice!

Though, sort of in that vein—Lucy reached out to gently tug on one of its stuffed horns, to help Minako along.]

This way.

[And off she went, trying to hide her hobbling steps. It was late enough in the day but too early for fireworks that finding a vacant bench wasn't too much of a problem, though. Lucy tugged once more, and plopped down with a relieved sigh.]

[Minako follows after her, starting to realize just how sore her arms are from playing that game. Geez, how long had she been at it...?

When they reach the bench, she flops down with her, cuddling Twinkle Toes on her lap, but she hears that sigh, and turns her head to her roommate.]

You okay?

[It's not an attempt to avoid the conversation, because it's said out of genuine concern, but it might end up that way anyways.]

[>Lucy used denial!

Her voice was calm, the edge of pain there decently hidden.]]

I'm fine.

[Well, now. Sort of, mostly, especially now that she wasn't putting weight on that sprain. Her leg was stretched out further than it usually was while she crossed her feet at the ankles, propping her injured one up a bit. That counted, right?]

[Minako shoots her roommate a brief look, but lets the matter drop. She's more willing to talk now that she's exhausted, tiredness making it hard to keep her armor up, and if she's going to talk then she wants to do so before she loses her nerve.]

So. About what you saw just now... [A sigh.] I guess I should start by saying that it has to do with Retrospec. And Ryoji. [She glances at Lucy again, trying to gauge her reaction on that.]

[Lucy blinked, but her face didn't twitch into a frown or scowl. Well, maybe a little one, a slight furrowing of her brows—mostly confused. She...still didn't like Ryoji too much. But she saw how important he was to Minako, on the beach; it made her horribly jealous. But she wanted Minako to be happy. Lucy didn't matter as much, in the face of that.

...maybe Minako would look at her like that someday, too.

But what could have happened to Ryoji? He seemed rather bulletproof.]

What happened?

[Satisfied with that answer, Minako leans back against the bench and closes her eyes. She suddenly feels so much older than she is.]

I don't want to say too much, since it involves him, but. He recovered a terrible ability that belonged to the other Ryoji-- his past self, I guess-- and he got upset, and scared. He was so scared he'd put all his friends in danger, so he left to try and get it under control. It's been a few days now, and I got past the crying fits so...now onto the anger fits, I guess.

[Lucy went still as she listened. There was...a lot to listen to. A lot to think about. Too much to remember. It didn't quite seem real—happening to Ryoji, of all people.

Minako's words echoed too loudly against Lucy's thoughts, her worries, her memories. Glimpses of strange corpses, piled in a strange corner in a strange house and—Lucy not caring.

She cared now.

Was that a...past life? Stepping around bodies on the way to the damn fridge?

By the end, Lucy's hands were balled into fists at her knees, clutching the fabric of her skirt. A...distraction. Something to distract from this, yes. That was all.]

...when the anger fades, what will you do?

[Asking for a friend.]

Edited 2017-06-05 03:03 (UTC)

[Now this Minako notices, because Lucy's anger is always so thickly wrapped around her like white hot metal armor that it's impossible to miss (and makes her softer emotions all the more difficult to see). She pauses and promptly plops Twinkle Toes into Lucy's lap.]

Be a little sad again. Be a little mad again. But be a little less sad and mad each time until the only thing left is a desire to understand and to make things better from here on out for him. [Because Minako is still talking about Ryoji, after all, even if she suspects she might have just answered for something else, too.]

[She startles at first, hands uncurling and head and shoulders twitching back. Then the plush starts to teeter off of her knees, and Lucy lunges forwards to catch it before it does so. She sits back, glances at Minako with a wide-eyed blink—and looks away again.]

...I couldn't do that.

[Lucy rubbed her thumb over the felt between the plush's horns, an idle fidget. There were a lot of things she didn't understand about her roommate, about...people in general. How Minako could just...do that, without being afraid of the quiet nothing that was waiting for the anger to quench.

...but this wasn't about her. Or shouldn't be.

There were too many suspicious pauses in her voice.]

Was his...past self, that terrible?

[She gives Lucy a tiny, sad smile. Now that she thinks about it, she realizes that back then, during their first heart-to-heart talk, and also right now-- Lucy feels a need to compare herself to Minako, what she can and can't do. She guesses it's only natural when confronted by someone so completely different, but it worries her, too.]

You don't have to. You're allowed to do things at your own pace in your own way. [A deep breath, as the question comes.] Whoever that other Ryoji was, he...was definitely capable of terrible things, yes.

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