event: step right up

[mayfield_mods]

[Sometime during the night, it seems something new has arrived. Nothing threatening this time, though. It seems the carnival has come to town!

Where normally there's only a plain grassy area in the town park, now there are rows and rows of brightly colored and lit stalls, bursting with food and games. All the stalls are manned by drones, though none you've seen around before. Besides that, it looks like there are a few fun looking rides, an exciting show, and a swell funhouse that's sadly boarded up for the time being.

So everything is pretty old and rusty, that just lends it charm. And please don't mind the grime, the strange smells, or the slightly haunting music. Have a sense of adventure, there's nothing off about any of this at all.

Get ready for some good ol' fashioned fun!]

OPEN!

Comments

[truffulacide]

- But no yellow eyes? Not even a tentacle or two? [wow, this is actually pretty disappointing.] Can you try breaking the window open?

[mal_addict]

No tentacles. [A pause] Sure, I'll do that with the extra arm I've been hiding in my jacket this whole time.

[truffulacide]

Just try to keep pushing yourself up. I said I had y-

[aaaaand it looks like he spoke too soon. he stops abruptly when he feels his arms begin to cramp. suddenly, his grip on her becomes more wobbly.

uh oh.]

[mal_addict]

[Oh. That wobble doesn't feel good at all. She yelps and makes a desperate grab for the boards on the windows, clinging onto it tightly]

What was that you were saying?

[truffulacide]

N-Nothing! Nothingatall! [oh no. oh no. oh gosh. oh man oh jeeze -]

Um, quick question! Can you land on your feet?

[it's kind of funny how casually he says it, like the prospect of a broken neck isn't that bad at all. you can tell he's a inch away from dropping her, but gosh darnit, he's going to be polite about it.]

[mal_addict]

I'm so glad you thought to ask me this after I got up here.

[That wood she's clinging onto is starting to break, too. This was a horrible idea]

I should be able to do it? [It's not something she's tried a whole lot of without vampiric reflexes to fall back on]

[truffulacide]

Come on! How was I supposed to know the dilapidated death trap made out of rotting wood would turn out to be - [a beat.] ...Okay, you're right. Bad idea. Reeeeally bad idea.

[he can't do this any longer, so he manages to sputter out through gritted teeth:]

I'll catch you on the count of three. Ready?

[mal_addict]

Maybe living in Mayfield after a certain length of time does start to make us reckless. There's a cheery thought.

[Creeeaaaaak]

How about two? Let's do it on two.

[truffulacide]

Here's a better thought: less talking, more hanging on. I can't - do -

[there's that creak again. his eyes widen.]

...Two's good! Two's a great number.

[so he takes a deep breath and starts tensing up, preparing for the inevitable. he figured he'd end up getting hurt today, but he never would've expected it would come down to catching a vampire who, in his opinion, really ought to know how to climb better than this. getting hit in the nose at that milk bottle game wasn't very fun either.]

One... [a beat] Um. One and a half...

[mal_addict]

[Life, it seems, will never be on the Once-ler's side. There's another horrible CREAK and some snapping sounds]

TWO TWO TWO!!!

[And with a CRACK the board breaks and, well, I sure hope you're ready for an armful of vampire, because that's what you;re getting]

[truffulacide]

[good news! his arms, being the absurdly long toothpicks they are, get the job done. she falls onto him and he catches her; clumsily, mind you, but he makes it work regardless.

the bad news? he ends up falling, too. he's a good enough cushion that she shouldn't be gravely injured much less hurt too much by the impact, but if that doesn't suffice, the mounds of garbage around them should.]

Owww... [he takes a deep breath and sputters on the disgusting air.] We're still alive, right? Is that the smell of success?

[mal_addict]

No, that's the smell of rotting food, but hey at least they ended up serving a purpose.

[She picks herself up, then offers him a hand, as it's only fair seen as she landed on him and all]

Another bonus, the window now has a hole in it, so we can add vandalism to our list of skills.

[truffulacide]

Ugh. I think I sat on a hotdog... [that would explain why he smells like mustard now.]

But we still couldn't get in. [he takes her hand and pulls himself up, trying to get his bearings. he looks absolutely disgusted as he starts dusting himself off.] I hate this! Why don't they just get it over with and send out whatever the heck they have chained up in there? If being gobbled up is an absolute certainty by this point, they should at least have the common courtesy not to keep us waiting. 'S not polite.

[mal_addict]

I appreciate the great sacrifice you made for me.

[She glances towards the house, a frown forming on her face]

Psychological warfare. They're trying to break our spirits, you know, to make sure there's absolutely no chance of us deciding to fight back whatever they've decided to try and murder us with this time around.

[truffulacide]

Well, it's not working. You wanna know what I think it is? Laziness. I mean, take a look around - they're not even bothering to hide how nasty this setup is. It's like, "oh hey, we ran out of time trying to come up with a creative way to murder you, so here - !"

[he's gesturing wildly as he rants, and when he turns around you can clearly see the aforementioned hot dog still stuck to his butt.]

"Here's a rundown carnival, have fun killing yourself on our stupid rides until we feel like sending out our maneating Vug to do the job for us! And hey, maybe if you're lucky, you'll eat our disgusting food and save everyone the trouble by CHOKING ON IT!"

[he stops, out of breath, sullen and frustrated.]

That's how it is. I think.

[mal_addict]

[She stares at him for a full minute. That was an impressive rant]

You know, I think you've just summed up the entirety of this stupid, crappy town.

[truffulacide]

[beaming smugly] I'm just that articulate.

[mal_addict]

[She picks up the broken piece of wood, testing the weight of it in her arms]

Well, I for one am getting fed up of people telling us we're just going to inevitably die horribly and there's nothing we can do about it. A lot can be solved with a plank of wood with a nail in it.

So this town can kindly sod off with it's stupid creepy house and probably poisoned carnival food.

[truffulacide]

Ever hear that old saying: speak softly and carry a giant, splintery 2x4? Words to live by if I ever heard 'em.

[but she has a point and he can appreciate that. he brightens and this time it's with sincere - if not fledgling - optimism.]

What it comes down to is seeing who can hit the hardest. These guys, they're good but not good. If they were, they wouldn't even have to fall back on setting up traps.

[he kicks some of the trash aside, reaching behind to peel the hotdog off his butt. ...wow, there's some words he never thought he'd use.]

I think they're afraid of us. Of what we are and what we do, and what we can become.

[mal_addict]

Of course they're afraid of us. If they weren't, they wouldn't strip us down to nothing, take away all our abilities, all our items, everything that makes us us. If we were all at our full strength, they'd be running scared even more than they are.

[She looks at her piece of wood] Luckily, we can adapt where they can't.

[truffulacide]

Maybe they should have thought of that before they went and hurt us. Turnabout's fair play, y'know. If what that Rick guy said is true, they must be really scared now to go through all this trouble.

[wishful thinking. even in the worst of his cynical moods, he's always found it hard to shake off his optimism. it's less of a worm and more of a caterpillar, inching along cautiously. he can handle it better if it's a slow crawl, he thinks; it makes it less difficult to get his hopes up.]

Uh-huh. You should try to hit the hardest; when you get back to your normal self, I mean. That way it'll make up for the rest of us who don't have nifty powers.

[mal_addict]

It's almost like the death throes, you know? The last ditch attempt to get an upper hand in a fight they know they've lost.

[She chuckles a little at that, optimism at least, was still a good enough friend to her that she didn't need to keep a close eye on it getting out of control. After all, too much of it was never wise]

Trust me, I plan on hitting as hard as I can, I don't enjoy being toyed with.

[truffulacide]

Sorta like a really bad-tempered snake does. We just gotta dodge the fangs as best as we can. [he hunches his shoulders.] I know, I know. Easier said than done.

They better watch out. They've already ticked off a werewolf, a bunch of superheroes, and some crazy mad scientists, but those'll be the least of their worries when they get the resident vampires involved.

[mal_addict]

It is easier said than done, but the more it attacks us, the better practised we'll get at dodging it.

[Maladict chuckles] And I'm one of the least psychopathic ones.