All Skate - The State Fair

[princeinexile]

Patrons may be bewildered when they arrive in the bar today, and immediately have to wade through a ballpit. Zuko was, that's for damn sure. He's never even experienced a ball pit. It's hip deep, full of hollow, plastic balls in a variety of bright colors made to entertain children (and adults.)  It's going to be one of THOSE days in the bar, he can feel it.


The wait rats are doing their best, scurrying along the top with drinks and dishes, but you know, if you really want to eat drink and be merry, outside is the place to be, and that's where Zuko was going anyway.

On the way to the forge, Zuko passes:

• Food stalls selling everything from turkey legs to fried Snickers bars.
• A barn with country music playing for an old fashioned barn dance. (Square Dancing is not required, thank you.)
• A petting zoo with goats and other farm animals who are remarkably chill about everything and want to be fed and given love. Does that goat have pool noodles on his horns? He does. He's very fiesty. There's also very chill ponies waiting to be brushed and maybe even give a ride to a small child.
• A pavilion kept cold with butter sculpture from a buttery Elvis to the near-ubiquitous presence of a State Fair Butter Cow. (The cow may moo at you. Elvis will not.)
• Carnival games with prizes like stuffed bears, funny hats, and other toys. Toss some rings! Shoot a target! Throw darts!
• A Ferris wheel and merry go round have been set up closer to the beach, where there's plenty of places to relax away from the noise and bustle with fruity drinks if that's one desire.

Zuko goes to one of the food stalls, finding red-hot fireflakes, and happily goes to sit on one of the benches and people watch, content with his insanely spicy treat and the autumn sunshine. Maybe he'll go pet a goat. He's never seen a goat that's... just a goat before. 





Welcome to your Anti-Doomscrolling Milliways All-Skate!

All welcome - yes, that means all. Whether they're retired, deleted, AU, original or already being played by someone else, bring 'em along.

Usual all-skate rules apply:
1. Everyone's stressed out of their mind right now, so have fun!
2. Communication is key.
3. Gratuitous behaviour (either of a violent or sexual nature) will not be tolerated in the bar proper. Take that to an OOM, and then Content Warning the hell out of it before you link it.
4. Much like Vegas, what happens in All Skates, stays in All Skates.
5. Please don't be a dick.

As always, no need to stick to the fair locations.

Comments

[princeinexile]

Zuko is just chillin' out, wandering with a bag full of fire flakes that are still glowing with heat. Perfect for the firebender who is currently entertained by the smells and sounds of patrons milling through the fair. He might find a patch of grass to lay down and chill, too, after he'd wandered about.

[manipulatestime]

Five has way too many prizes. Teddy bears galore. That shooter game is no match for his skills, but they're starting to get suspicious so he took his leave.

He flops down on the grass near Zuko and noisily opens a soda can. If he can find a spot for all these bears he's going to jump back in for the food.

"They do this often?"

[princeinexile]

With a half-empty bag of fire flakes and maybe a little spicy dust still on his fingertips, Zuko arches his brow (singular) at the question from the 'young' man settling next to him.

"You're new, huh?" It's always fun to watch the new guys orient themselves. But it's also nice to lend then a hand. "Yeah, things get weird. Holidays you've never heard of, events you have no explanation for. Sometimes ships appear in the water. You'll see all sorts of things."

Zuko sits up -- he's probably less than twenty-four -- probably twenty-two are best -- but he smiles like someone who has seem some shit and a lot of it happened here. "Some will be good and some will be bad. Most folks are decent, but be careful. That's not everybody."

Wildly AU Timeline Lan Zhan + Lan Yuan

[thesecondjade]

There is a white-robed Cultivator over by the petting zoo, keeping his distance from other people as best he's able. He doesn't like the crowds, the noise, or the smells. But he delights in his small son, now six, running with goats in is crisp white young disciple robes. The ends of his Lan forehead ribbon, with the silver charm that marks him as an inner Clan disciple and heir apparently to the Sect.

There'll be no (greasy, gross) fair food for them, but they'll be seen at games. Hanguang-Jun does not play, but his son is absolutely encouraged to do so. Its good training.

Re: Wildly AU Timeline Lan Zhan + Lan Yuan

[sunbaked_baker]

Somewhere nearby at the petting zoo is a scrawny, red-headed ten-year-old girl in faded and ill-fitting clothes with a high-spirited fifteen-month-old boy on her hip.

"Can you point to the sheep?" she asks him, leading the smaller child around to look until he finds a sheep and points at it with a tiny, triumphant hand. "Baa-baa!" "Very good! How about...."

Donkeys, piglets, ponies, and rabbits are inquired about and identified in turn. Each of them gets careful pets from small hands.

[thesecondjade]

"You can ride the ponies," Lan Yuan helpfully tells them as he notices them. His father's noticed too, but Lan Yuan is the social one, not his father. He speaks with ease to others, smiling sweetly with cheeks that are still big and round. "Well, he can. You're too big."

Re: Wildly AU Timeline Lan Zhan + Lan Yuan

[ostro_goth]

There's another little boy, this one red-headed and in the company of a forge cat, perhaps a little older than Lan Yuan despite what his icons look like, sitting on the fence and watching the goats.

"Hey, A-Yuan!" he calls. "You know those goats came from the Vikings? They did, too!"

[thesecondjade]

A-yuan shakes his head, though he breaks out into a smile and waves because friends are nice and you should be nice to them.

Even under the watchful eye of his father, Lan Yuan is allowed to emote freely, smile brightly, and speak warmly. So when he comes over to lean on the fence he says, "How did they come from Vikings? We have goats, but no Vikings."

Lan Zhan just watches over them both, content.

Re: Wildly AU Timeline Lan Zhan + Lan Yuan

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Ah, Lan Zhan, isn't it cute?" Don't ask Wei Ying which of the poor huskers he took for a ride - there isn't a throwing game here that he's likely to lose. The man should just be thankful that all Wei Ying wanted was the pair of bunny ears that he now has perched on his head.

[thesecondjade]

"Father!" Lan Yuan calls, pointing from inside the pen, "they have bunnies too!"

Lan Zhan is less vocal as his husband approaches, and instead brings himself side by side, looking up at the silly ears on his head. THey earn the slightest smile, lips tugging lightly at the corners, before he slides his hand briefly into his husband's to squeeze it.

[zenigatcha]

There is so much greasy, terrible food.

So much.

Zenigata is doing his best to try it all. He's a big boy and burns calories like mad, so it isn't going to impact his health too bad, so he feels pretty free in going from things like spiral poatoes with all the fixings to funnel cake.

He'll try his hand at some of the games, and just hand out prizes to random patrons and any children he may encounter. That strong man bell? He's going to make that sucker ring.

[alongfallfromgrace]

"Zenigata!" Wei Ying has a trio of darts in hand, and is eyeing the board of inflated balloons with a predatory air. He's already a good ten feet back from the throwing line, clearly finding the game as it was set out far too easy. "Dare me to throw them blindfolded!"

[zenigatcha]

"Oh, we both know we can rob these boys blind," Zenigata says, with pockets full of prizes, and an immense bunny under one arm. He's been very busy, after all.

"Go ahead, then," he gestures. "Let's see how you do."

[have_no_mercy]

Tess is wandering around the fair grounds, a baby björn strapped to her chest carrying eight month old Lettie. They're avoiding the ball pit inside in case Tess falls. She's never been in a ball pit before and doesn't trust its safety with a baby around.

They're content with what's outside, Tess stopping to play a few games and perhaps a few culinary delights as well. Right now they're enjoying the petting zoo. It all reminds her of the Smallville Harvest Festival, without a Corn Queen.

[cottoncandypink]

Nearby, a familiar voice is warning someone to be careful. Repeatedly.

Apparently the person being warned isn't listening.

Then the feisty goat knocks Michael on his ass, and he starts crying. Because of course he does.

"What the hell did you think was going to happen?" Wilford asks the child on the ground.

"He hit me!" Michael wails loudly.

"Of course he did. You hit him first."

Michael gets no sympathy, clearly.

tiny!Sunshine and Kenny

[sunbaked_baker]

There is a red-headed almost-eleven-year-old girl wandering the fair in a faded orange t-shirt and a pair of knee-scuffed pink jeans a size or two too big for her, carrying a wiggly fifteen month-old boy on her scrawny hip. They might be found very carefully observing - possibly petting - the less feisty animals at the petting zoo ("Soft!" observes the tinier child), bouncing along at the periphery of the dance floor in the barn, looking wide-eyed at the butter sculptures ("That's so much butter..."), trying their hands at carnival games (not terribly successfully), or parked on the beach sharing a tornado potato on a stick.

[zenigatcha]

When they fail to win anything after three games, Zenigata tries not to come up and loom, but approaches soft-stepping and stooping a big, to reduce his big size. He knows how to make himself less scary, and so he puts it into practice here.

"Excuse me," he says, "My name is Inspector Zenigata. Would you like me to try my hand for your prizes?"

He's already got a couple in his pocket, but it might be more fun if the kids pick what they want and ask him to win it.

[bprd_agent_red]

Red is at the shooting gallery intent on winning a big prize. He's a shit shot though, and so he's having a hard time at it.

When he finally gets tired of losing out to the line of tin ducks who are clearly mocking him, Red pulls out the great big revolver on his hip and uses that.

The ducks stand no chance against the Samaritan and when they're nothing more than smoking lumps of yellowed metal Hellboy holsters the weapon.

"Now give me my kitty," he demands of the wait rat who is attending the booth.

[feminine_menace]

"I strongly recommend that you give the man the stuffed animal of his choice," says a blonde girl who's just appeared at the booth. She's dressed in a sweater, scarf, jeans, and a pair of Uggs. At some point earlier in the day she acquired a large stuffed unicorn with a sparkly horn.

"Hi Red. YT." She points her thumb at herself. "Dunno if you remember me from a while back, but I made you a millionaire."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato (twenty-two years old, with JASDF dogtags hanging around his neck, and a black eye that's probably been healing for a day or two) and Gabumon (floofy) are examining the food stalls with great interest.

Sometimes, when Yamato's looking away, a piece of food may just vanish. Gabumon loves to steal.

[feminine_menace]

“Yamato! Gabumon! Just the guys I need for a very important mission.”

If Gabumon teams up with YT, he won’t need to steal food.

[questionslinger]

"Not fixed, not fixed, not fixed..."

In a dazzling shade of green, accented with purple and gold, one Detective Edward 'The Riddler Moniker Is Retired' Nygma walks through the fair with a little carton with poutine in one hand and a plastic fork in the other. Currently he's prowling the midway, taking a moment to pause and look at games as they're played, observing and cataloguing everything from the heft of darts to the way the BB guns fire.

"This is the most honest midway I've ever been in," he mumbles to himself, fascinated by the concept. He used to work carnivals, and he knows just how well the games get rigged, because he used to be the one rigging them.

[52_dropoff]

Charlie sees a face he has not seen in literal years. Ever since that night on the bus where the Riddler almost crossed several lines only to not only back down but also question the very nature of being the Riddler. Since Charlie has been able to read about the path of Nygma's career, he is not certain what to expect from him now since some of the news stories utterly contradicted others. But that is no reason not to be friendly.

"Interesting fair, isn't it?"

Pre-Korriban kid Ibani!

[last_kallig]

There is a small child, lurking at the edge of the fair.

Her mother's last word to her had been 'Run', and so she had, through the twisting mine passages of Ilum, until she found herself HERE.

She's somewhere around the age of eight, though she wouldn't be able to tell you how old she is if asked. Her frame is too thin, the angles of her face too sharp, and there's a slave shock collar around her neck.

She's pale, as if she hasn't seen sunlight in years, and if Milliways' translation effect is working people will be able to read a string of letters and numbers carved under her left eye like a cattle brand.

She's pretty sure her right arm is broken, up by the shoulder, but she's distracted from the pain by all the things she's never seen before!

Re: Pre-Korriban kid Ibani!

[angry_friendship_wolf]

There's another eight year old peering at her, with wide blue eyes, and -- well, he's not stupid, he can tell that what he's seeing isn't good.

(There's something else here, too, some tightly coiled force of energy contained inside the boy, its intensity waxing to the force of an exploding star and then waning to almost nothing in time with his heartbeats.)

"Here," he says eventually, holding out a kebab he bought but hasn't started eating yet. "You should eat."