Foundation Day Festival: Games Area

[paixaomayor.livejournal.com]

Character(s): anybody playing games
Content: people play carnival games
Setting: Joco da Crianca Fairgrounds, games area
Time: all day~
Warnings: Multithreaded posting format (please include time of day and sub-location in your comment's subject line)

Scattered through the western half of the fairgrounds are the game tents. They've got everything, from knocking over bottles to darts to a dunk tank; if you can think of it, chances are they have it. There's even a "Guess Your Age Or Weight" booth. Typically there is more than one game to a tent. This is a very loud area, with all of the games staff calling at once to get people to come over.

Naturally, there are prizes for those who win, ranging from little knickknacks and candies to giant stuffed animals - nothing particularly useful, but a lot of cute things.

The piece de resistance is a 25-foot Ferris wheel. It seats two to a car (three if you squeeze), and children under four and a half feet tall aren't allowed to ride without an adult.

Comments

Noon, Strongman booth and wandering

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

Soma stood before the pillar, looking at the marked levels and wondering just how he was going to manage not to break it. The simple answer, of course, was to rein in his supernatural strength, and do this the normal way. With the strength of Soma Cruz, not the strength of the Minotaur.

The other problem was deciding on a prize. Mina loved stuffed animals, he knew, and there was no short supply of them here. Everything from cuddly little kitten plushies to gigantic panda bears was in evidence. With a mildly wry smile, he turned to Mina. "Which one do you want?" he asked, indicating the wall of prizes.

Re: Noon, Strongman booth and wandering

[owns-soma.livejournal.com]

Mina was overjoyed. SO MANY PLUSH ANIMALS. She ran this way and that way, looking at each and every kind of plush there was, only momentarily startled when one white puppy suddenly yipped and ran away, causing the booth manager to laugh uproariously.

The giant panda would be nice and comfy to sit on if she needed to, and she didn't doubt she'd look cute wrestling it around-- but it was too big and awkward to carry easily, and she wasn't going to ruin Soma's day by making him carry it for her. After a few moments of looking around, she pointed out a rather squashed-looking black kitten. "That one."

"You sure you don't want bigger?" the manager asked. "You're not the one doing the hitting! Or at least better, that one's all messed up..."

"I like him," Mina answered. "He has character." And the tough little black kitten, bad luck in so many cultures, squashed and beaten and still cute, kinda reminded her of Soma. Unlucky, forced through Hell and back on more than one occassion, but still sweet-tempered, patient, and quite cute himself, in her humble opinion.

Re: Noon, Strongman booth and wandering

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

Soma smiled a wry little smile at Mina's selection, not missing the symbolism. Though, if she truly wanted a kitten, he could have summoned one for her... Ah well. Plushies and demonic attack kittens are a world apart.

Taking up the mallet - it was lighter than it looked - he surveyed the pillar again. "I'll try not to break anything - especially my own neck," he said, grinning for the sake of the man working the booth. Taking a step back, he set himself, took a lunging step forward, and whipped the hammer through a short flourish before slamming its head onto the little platform. The little weight rose up, up, and up still farther, finally reaching the 3/4 mark, well beyond what would have been required for the black cat plushie Mina had picked out. With a smile and a second flourish, he returned the hammer to its stand and offered his arm once again to Mina.

Re: Noon, Strongman booth and wandering

[owns-soma.livejournal.com]

Mina giggled, accepted the squashed plushie she'd chosen from the booth manager, and accepted Soma's offered arm, oblivious to his thoughts of summons, symbolisms, and demonic attack kitties as they wandered through the crowds arm-in-arm, like old friends or maybe lovers. Brightly-colored people moved like clockwork around them, children screaming and playing, teenagers trying to be aloof and cool, some adults putting up with everything good-naturedly while others grumbled and muttered and made themselves universally disliked.

"Where to next?" she asked. Maybe a game of wits or luck where she could win something for Soma? It didn't seem fair that he'd gotten her a toy and she didn't have anything to offer him... yet. Mina hadn't forgotten the need to get another talisman, but it didn't seem to be an immediate issue.

Re: Noon, Strongman booth and wandering

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

Soma smiled - a rare enough thing, unless he was with Mina as he was now - and looked around. "I dunno. What do you think we should do?" There were games, and games, and games to spare, scattered here, there, and everywhere. Quite a selection, and knowing Mina as he did, he suspected she would be wanting to win him something in return.

The swish and swirl of the festival-goers was just a tad too automatic, and cliche; Mina's comparison of the crowd to a clockwork construct was apt. But they weren't here to solve anything; they were here to have fun, and there was far too much to be done to people watch. There were prizes to be won, after all!

A barker caught his attention, and as Soma watched, the game he seemed to be advocating seemed nice and easy enough. Nudging Mina lightly, he pointed and grinned. Maybe this was the right one?

Nine AM-ish, wandering

[dreamsoffalling.livejournal.com]

Rakka was following Stitch and Rikku, mindful not to lose them--her companions were small and quick, so it was a definite possibility in such a crowded place. Everything was bright and colorful, and Rakka wanted to try everything. Haibane couldn't use money, though... But this was Paixao, not Glie, so it was okay. Right? Anyway, it wasn't exactly money, right?

Every stuffed animal caught her eye, although the big ones were especially delightful. But she doubted that they were used... There was even a tent where you could win a goldfish!

"What are we going to play?" Rakka called to Rikku and Stitch.

Re: Nine AM-ish, wandering

[stitch-ex-626.livejournal.com]

"Whatever you want!" Stitch said, wandering around and around the games area trying to find something that caught his eye to play. He'd been to different types of fairs and festivals in Hawaii, and always had a hard time trying to find a game to play first...they were all so fun.

Getting an idea, he scrambled to the top of a light pole and looked around.

"Any game you guys want to play? I can find it from here!"

Re: Nine AM-ish, wandering

[green-spirals.livejournal.com]

Rikku flittled a little ways off, reining in the impulse to just dart from one stall to another as they caught her attention, so as not to lose her companions. "Oooh, there's so many!" she exclaimed with an excited grin.

It was only now that she was starting to realize how different this was from carnivals back Home, not least that everything was bigger. There were games about throwing things and games about shooting things and games about whacking things and a funny strength test with a great big bell on the top. Belatedly, she wished there were more options for people her size.

"Hmm... I dunno!" she said after a second of thought. "Rakka, Stitch, why don't you guys pick? I'll cheer you on!" She pumped a tiny fist in the air for emphasis.

Re: Nine AM-ish, wandering

[dreamsoffalling.livejournal.com]

Rakka's eyes bounced from booth to booth, now, looking for suitable amusement. She didn't have anything she could use as money, but there were glittering trees nearby... But haibane weren't allowed to have money. Leaves weren't money, though. The winged girl seemed to go through an extended internal debate. This wasn't Glie, and that wasn't money. But she was still a haibane, and the leaves could be used as money. No, no, she couldn't.

But the stuffed animals beckoned--no, they weren't used! Well...

This wasn't Glie. The rules were different, right? Snatching leaves as best she could--most of the lowest branches were stripped--she bounded over to a particularly large booth with particularly large stuffed animals.

There were baseball-sized balls in buckets, and various sized hula hoops of different colors moving back and forth. Get a ball through the hoop, and you won a prize; the smaller the hoop, the larger it could be. Rakka had her eye on the giant orange dog, completely unconcerned with how impractical it would be to drag it around, and the chances of her actually winning it.

"How about this one?" she called, waving to her companions giddily.

11:02 EXACTLY, Ring Toss and Wandering

[humaniste.livejournal.com]

After wandering the festival a few minutes, Death had gravitated towards the center of most of the noise and found a multitude of tents, each with several small booths. It seemed these were the games his companion had been talking about at the entrance. Death gestured towards one of the games - a square of small milk bottles, and a small stack of red rings handed to him by the game's proprietor.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE, Death admitted, handing a few of the rings to Kit. HOW DO YOU PLAY?

Re: 11:02 EXACTLY, Ring Toss and Wandering

[elecspeech.livejournal.com]

Kit chuckled. It was funny, almost, with Death not really knowing such things. He guessed it was part of being pulled into a strange place, though. "All right, here's how it works. You throw the rings, and they're supposed to land around the neck of the milk bottle. Kind of like... this." He tossed one, and it landed in between two of the bottles. "Except hopefully around the neck. I've never been good at this. But if you do it right, you win a prize."

Re: 11:02 EXACTLY, Ring Toss and Wandering

[humaniste.livejournal.com]

OH, Death replied, watching the red ring fly and miss its target. I SEE. He studied the arrangement of bottles intently for a few seconds, then tossed all four of his rings in rapid succession, landing each around the neck of a bottle with four satisfactory clinks.

Oblivious to the stunned look of the game owner, Death looked over to Kit once again. WAS THAT CORRECT?

Re: 11:02 EXACTLY, Ring Toss and Wandering

[elecspeech.livejournal.com]

Kit blinked, and nodded. "Yeah... that's right." He looked at the toys that were the prizes, and caught sight of the chart.

2 RINGS ON = 1 SMALL PRIZE
3 RINGS ON = 1 MEDIUM PRIZE
4 RINGS ON = 1 LARGE PRIZE

"I guess you get a large prize. What do you want?" Kit asked, wondering exactly what Death would look like with any of these things. They mostly seemed to be stuffed animals in neon colors.

A little after noon, at the Ferris wheel

[sparkplasma.livejournal.com]

The big wheel was an easy landmark to find, being the tallest thing on the grounds and moving. Ivan had had to watch it in fascination for a good ten minutes when he first reached it. How did they keep it from rolling away?

Eventually, though, he'd checked his journal, and gotten in touch with Karst, and now she was supposed to be meeting him here. It suddenly occurred to him that, although they'd been corresponding for days, he hadn't actually seen her since she'd died. Or... since they'd beaten her and Agatio, anyway.

She hadn't seemed angry when he'd read her mind a minute ago, though. More... frightened. He was fairly used to angry from her, but frightened was something new. Then again, he couldn't really blame her; this city would scare just about anybody - which included himself.

Re: A little after noon, at the Ferris wheel

[isaacmustdie.livejournal.com]

Fear, panic, and the hustle and bustle of the festival had ruined most of Karst's attempts to gussy up for the day. Her shoes had gotten messy from walking (and running, a bit) through litter and debris. A child had climbed up a very unsafe structure and thrown confetti into her hair (and gotten some in her ears, which was most uncomfortable). Nervously worrying at stray threads in her long double-cape had all but ruined it.

Nonetheless, it was clear at a glance that she'd calmed herself down from her scare at Felix's departure-- Karst prided herself on the ability to keep at least a semblance of self-control in stressful situations, and while her mind was still flooded with fear, she was able to think over it.

It was true that Ivan blended right in with the crowds of Paixao with his light blond hair and penchant for brightly-colored clothes. But Karst was easy to spot with her dark clothes and dark red hair, so Ivan would have no trouble finding her.

Re: A little after noon, at the Ferris wheel

[sparkplasma.livejournal.com]

He noticed Karst through a break in the crowd, and his heart jumped involuntarily before he managed to shut it up with logic. She'd said she wouldn't hurt him if he didn't make her mad - or at least, he thought that was what she'd said. He couldn't remember now. But either way, they had to talk, so he just took a deep breath and walked quickly toward her.

"Karst?" he called once he was within earshot.

Re: A little after noon, at the Ferris wheel

[isaacmustdie.livejournal.com]

Karst did jump, and she nearly dropped her journal (she'd met someone with a taste for explosives) before flipping it shut. For a second, her face reflected her surprise, and then she regained control and did her best not to look so worried-- and not to think so worried, either. She could at least conceal specific thoughts from the mind-reader, which was more than non-Adepts could do, but emotions were much harder to handle, especially since those of the Fire Clan were, as Alex had mentioned once, emotional.

"Ivan. I heard that Laharl returned okay, is that true?"

Just after 12:30, nowhere in particular

[stretchmeout.livejournal.com]

He had his fill of food; now it was time to satisfy his competitive hunger. No better way to do that than test himself through the rigors of the modern carnival game! Looking particularly pleased with himself, his contagiously bubbly smile naturally spread from ear to ear, Luffy's starlit eyes amazedly wandered across the long walk of carnival booths. His head was practically on a swivel, darting back and forth, drawn in by the sights and sounds pouring out from the people and the workers.

"Naa, what should I try first? There's so much to pick from..." he mused aloud in a strong, confident pitch. "How about that?"

The Strongman booth. A classic. The burly man working the game, deftly holding the hefty mallet in one hand, beckoned all challengers to approach, to prove their strength to their lovely lady friends and bring them home a prize.

"What's the matter, not man enough to ring the bell? Just grab the hammer and give it a good hard swing, gents!" he exclaimed. Several people stepped up to take him up on his offer; a few walked away as a winner, but only one in a dozen ever seemed to even come close to the lofty bell up at the top.

Luffy strode up, boasting his long and lanky build, and immediately was greeted by a scoff and a laugh. "C'mon, beat it, kid," the worker chided, shooing Luffy away with a brush of his hand. "You couldn't even make it halfway up."

Luffy seemed to take particular offense at the statement, and snatched away the mallet right out of the worker's firm grip. He narrowed his eyes sharply, with an amazing intensity framed in those suddenly frigid gaze. "You don't think so? Don't judge people so quickly."

He stepped up in front of the springing board, but took a sudden pause before even attempting to lift the hammer up. With the weapon in question in one hand, he raised it up to eye level, glancing it over with a very questionable look stamped on his face. He turned it around, looked and studied it over from all angles as he turned it effortlessly about despite its weight, and then carelessly chucked it backwards over his head, nearly clubbing the booth worker out cold before the game even started.

"Hmm, don't need it," was all Luffy had to say. Tightly, the young man in the straw had clentched his fist up tight and swung it viciously over his head. With such speed and force, his entire limb stretched out far over his head, rising as high as the bell he intended to ring, then came springing back down again at breakneck speeds. His bare fist slammed into the spring board with such monstrous force that it sent the weight rocketing upward, crashed through the bell, and kept right on sailing into the sky.

Re: Just after 12:30, nowhere in particular

[sceadu-gemynd.livejournal.com]

Although Zexion had simply been passing by, possibly on his way elsewhere, he couldn't help but notice Luffy's display of strength as well as the consequential and unannounced flight of the weight. And although he had no interest in tangling with someone with that amount of strength he couldn't very well leave things as they stood.

"I believe the point is to leave the game in such a state that others could play it should they so desire," he commented, as he drew near, trusting that the jeans and t-shirt he had chosen to wear would be enough to keep people from guessing at his origins.

Re: Just after 12:30, nowhere in particular

[stretchmeout.livejournal.com]

Luffy was nearly too busy, lost in laughter over his amusement, to notice his observer's wry remark. The young man in the straw hat, standing with his fists leaning on his hips, boiled over with a giggling outburst as he watched the purely bewildered look on the carnival worker's face as the blood seemed to drain out of his features.

"Hmm?" he finally replied, turning on the heels of his sandals towards Zexion. "No-no, that's not true at all."

Jutting out his arm, Luffy gestured towards the other Strongman platforms, with other happy festival-goers hoisting their heavy mallets and swinging them hurriedly down onto the lever with all their might. Their faces contorted and their muscles tensed as they gave it their all, with so much effort going into performing such a simple action.

"The point of the game is to hit it as hard as you can. Then, you win a prize!" he said, grinning brightly. "See?"

Right on cue, Luffy was handed an odd little stuffed panda. "Do you want this?" he asked, holding the plush out to the stranger.

Re: Just after 12:30, nowhere in particular

[sceadu-gemynd.livejournal.com]

Zexion resisted the urge to sigh at the 'definition' of the game offered by the strange young man. While it was true that was technically the point of the game, it lacked something yet. Perhaps another try was necessary to explain here.

"True, perhaps," he answered, letting the semblance of a polite smile settle itself on his face. "Nonetheless I would imagine that most here -" a slight gesture to encompass the other festival-goers in the vicinity "- do not share your strength, something that one could hardly call fair."

At the offer of the stuffed panda, he merely shrugged. "If you are sure you have no need of it."

after 11, one of the ends of the game area with a beanbag toss and some fishpond games

[whtwizardbakura.livejournal.com]

Bakura had taken a few seconds wondering around the tents, finally settling on the end of one of the rows with a beanbag toss(one of the ones where you knocked down cans with for a prize) and the collection of fish pond grab-bag games that most fairs have for the children(the fishing pond where you had to net an underwater critter for a prize marked on the bottom and the board where kids "fished" for a goody bag). Beanbag toss was a challenge, but one that was easy to learn how to play.

He grinned at Blue and pointed toward the beanbag toss, "I think I'm going to try the beanbag toss. Do you want to play?"

Re: after 11, one of the ends of the game area with a beanbag toss and some fishpond games

[halvedhowl.livejournal.com]

(( *scrambles over* x.x Uhh... I figure a post more for each of us, and then crazy-lumenness? :D ))


Blue looked around the tents curiously, more amused by the people playing than the strange games themselves. Where she was from... there was nothing like this. She'd be lucky to see children kicking a ball around the dusty streets if anything. She idly sniffed near the fishing pond, lazily watching the creatures within dash skillfully away from the children, and hearing a "awwww man" reaction from a trio of small blond children.

She looked over at Bakura and walked over to what he had found, tilted her head and chuckled quietly. "Why not?" she said. It almost looked a bit silly, but she was willing to try anything once.

Re: after 11, one of the ends of the game area with a beanbag toss and some fishpond games

[whtwizardbakura.livejournal.com]

Bakura watched Blue watching the children at the fishpond game--of course he knew those weren't even real fish in the pond, but the movement of the water did make it look realistic enough.

When she walked over to the game he had found, he grinned, nodding to the barker, "I'd like to try." Three beanbags were placed in front of him and he smiled.

"The aim of this game is to knock down as many of the cans as you can with the beanbags--you get a prize for the number of cans you knock down."

The first beanbag Bakura threw went a bit too wide, missing the pyramid of cans completely. The second managed to knock down the top can, and the third knocked down the two that remained on top--leaving a row of three and four still on the ledge.

The barker grinned, "That's a small prize." She pointed at the lower end of the wall where a collection of small plush animals hung--several bears and dogs in a variety of colors, both realistic and not--as she began to put the cans back into the pyramid shape and retrieve the beanbags she had given to Bakura earlier.

Bakura smiled, looking over the plushies, "I'll take that little brown dog with the floppy ears." As the barker handed him the plushie as she returned to the edge of the booth, she glanced at the girl behind Bakura, "Would you like to try as well?"

Re: after 11, one of the ends of the game area with a beanbag toss and some fishpond games

[halvedhowl.livejournal.com]

Blue stood next to him with her arms wrapped behind her back, eying the setup of cans, watching as he threw each beanbag and found herself thinking that won't get enough or so each time - and she was right, mostly.

It seemed odd, and a bit silly. But if Bakura enjoyed it, than that was enough for her, and just for him, she would give a shot at it. So Blue nodded and took Bakura's place, holding out a hand to take the three beanbags within it. She surveyed the can structure carefully. It didn't seem too difficult.

She glanced at the dog that Bakura had taken and frowned, thinking of Hige and Toboe. But they weren't here. And she doubted that they would ever be here.... because surely Kiba had opened Paradise, and the wolves were allowed in, and she had come to Paixao.

But at least she was somewhere, and not just lost to the bleeding darkness that Darcia had created for her.

Her first two beanbags got her nothing; she was far too distracted suddenly. The weight of being separated from her pack, even though she was trying to make new connections for herself here... The woman behind the booth shook her head and looked to give up on Blue, but then the last beanbag went, striking the pyramid dead center, hard, and knocked most of them down.

Still, Blue was frowning.

"Ah," the woman blinked at her and then the cans. "Well then..."

Blue blinked. She wasn't actually expecting to get anything, really, so she looked to Bakura, trying to hide her frown, and asked him instead, "You pick something."