saveourearth | A summer fête ! [Mingle]

Date: 11-08-2018
Characters: Everyone!

It's a ~~way too hot day what did we do to deserve this~~ beautiful hot summer's day. The ~~very crispy brown~~ Greens bustle with activity. Volunteers, artisans and some professionals are setting up the town's largest summer fête, nicknamed Triple-F ("Faith Full Fête") due to the organisers being all the local religious communities working together for this special occasion. More or less. Until we discuss which church, mosque, or other congregation is selling the best food. At that point things might become a bit more tense because obviously ours is better, laddie, but don't say that too loud because those poor sods two stalls down from us really think their samosas are better than our scones and we don't want to crush their dreams...

Even before things are fully set up, visitors are starting to trickle in, and there will be more and more over the day until it gets very busy around mid-afternoon, only starting to thin out again once the little ones have to go to bed.

And there's a lot to do besides buying and eating food (though that isn't to be scoffed at)! The official main attraction is obviously the cake judging and award ceremony for the best cake. Small visitors can enjoy a bouncy castle, a craft tent, a Punch and Judy show, face painting, and a storyteller.

Athletics start around mid-afternoon, are mostly split between age group and gender and come with a small reward. The only exception is the tug-o-war where in addition to the usual men-against-women tug there's also a congregation-against-congregation single-elimination tournament. There also used to be a tournament between the various towns/villages in the Mossgate Council, but that was banned a while ago because of the various incidents during the Folkton vs. Moss Manor matches. Other athletics include a three-legged-race, egg-and-spoon-race, sack race, various runs ("mums run", "dads run", "kids run", "grandpas run", "queens run", etc.) and a relay race.

After the athletics there is a pet show with the categories being "large dogs", "small dogs" and "various other pets". Awards go to the fluffiest pet, the one with the waggiest tail, and so on, but there also is an obstacle course and a prize for the best in show.

All throughout the afternoon and early evening, people can enjoy tombolas, raffles, coconut shies, a bat a rat stall and white elephant stalls along with the stalls of the local artisans and some local shops. In addition, there is a live band that seems to play more and more ABBA the later it gets. There is also a BBQ running the entire day, the proceeds of which all go to charity.

And of course there is cotton candy and donuts. And instead of just one ice cream van, this year the council has managed to engage a fleet of them. Make sure you eat your ice cream before it melts and the wasps eat YOU.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"He won't be able to smell the peahen at this point." Sadie assures him, "Tigger just likes jumping onto high up places, hence the name."

She gives Tigger a scratch under his chin as he balances on Walter's shoulder.

"How have you been?"

Tigger is a very loved-on kitty right now, as Walter's giving him a scratch in-between the ears as well.

"Oh, fairly well."

And then he gives Sadie a lighthearted look.

"You? You didn't drag Ben along to this, did you? I know his aunts are somewhere around..."

Sadie frowns at Walter, "Why would I drag Ben here, He went home yesterday?" She's not sure what Walter is trying to imply but she certainly wouldn't drag her friend somewhere he didn't want to go.

His asking after her wellbeing does remind her that she hadn't told anyone about what had happened yesterday and she grins at him. "I'm great!" She leans in to whisper. "I can breath underwater!"

A reminder that gives Walter a measure of relief. Oh, that's right. Good, good.

"Well, that's fair." He is still a little distracted by Tigger purring at the moment, though.

And then Sadie drops her news bomb, and he's back to staring at her (and glad he got out of peoples' way).

"... As in, inhale water without hurting yourself? Do I want to know how you found out?"

The second's a rhetorical question; of course he does. And whispered, since shouting doesn't seem like a good idea right now.

Sadie has the good grace to look a little bit remorseful but it seems less sincere when tempered by her obvious glee at her newfound power.

"I can breathe the water in and as I swallow it's like it turns to air!" She continues in an excited whisper. "I also saw another one of those weird memories, except this time I was in this giant bubble underwater with a load of giant turtles. They did this magic ritual and voila! Water breathing!"

"...I may or may not have drowned. Just a little bit..."

... Whatever Sadie's getting these memories from, science clearly works differently. Or magic, or biology, or whichever.

Walter mostly just looks baffled, though some of Sadie's excitement catches on.

"And here we were worried about lion tails!"

Actually there's a lot about that vision Walter wants to unpack - because turtles, really? - but then she whispers that last part. His smile fades.

"Sadie, how long were you down there?"

There is very clearly Concern in his voice, and while he's not tempted whatsoever to ask 'Did you die?', he's still getting a post-fact scare.

"Did you bring yourself back up, or did someone come get you in time?"

He takes small solace in the fact that water-breathing decreases the chance of this happening again, but the fact it happened in the first place is distressing enough!

Walter, she is turning into a cat. Clearly what is going on is magical in some way, shape, or form, as loathe as Sadie would be to admit that.

"I know!" And there's a small twinge of guilt there as she can't help but think of the change Ben is currently going through. "I can talk unhindered too. It's so bloody cool Walter!"

Excuse Sadie for a moment as she becomes very interested in scritching Tigger's chin. "Umm...I don't know exactly?" It sounds even worse saying it out loud like that. "I, er, I cracked my head against the side of the boat when I slipped overboard and gave myself a concussion. Ben and James got me out though!"

How much is magic going to be a part of their lives now? Consider them unwilling non-skeptics.

"It is, but it's still worrying what you had to do to get it!"

Tigger is a very calming presence during this discussion.

"Not without giving them conniptions, I'm sure. Did they take you to a hospital afterwards?"

... At least Sadie and Ben were even now? Oh gods, what would have to happen to him next to make it even? Should he even keep track?

"I did give them a bit of a scare," Sadie admits quietly, that was certainly the part of this incident that she felt the most guilty about. Especially remembering James' face, Sadie can't recall ever seeing her twin look so scared before, she definitely owed him an massive apology.

She shakes her head, "We went home, it was closer and Mum works at the hospital so she gave me a once-over and the all clear. Obviously, we didn't tell her about the drowning." That would just have been a terrible idea.

"I feel a bit bad, it was supposed to be a fun thing for Ben considering the whole teeth nonsense. I kind of put a bit of a downer on the whole event."

Which made the most sense, frankly.

"What, going into the water as a whole, or... the Number-related part?"

Because it would have been a shock for Sadie to have been allowed out of the house, if the whole story had come out.

"Falling off the boat wasn't your fault," he adds, expression softening.

"And it's not like everything's over just because one terrible thing has happened."

Or two. Or three... The petting zoo scene probably didn't count.

Walter's question causes her to blanch, telling her family about the Numbers and the changes AND then telling them about basically drowning...

"Good god neither! Mum would kill me for not wearing a life jacket and the Numbers...I don't want to know what their reaction to that would be." She was lucky, her family had been wonderfully accepting of her being Bi, but there was a big difference between that and being turned into some sort of anime, fantasy cat girl because of an Aurora.

"I-I know, it's just..." She starts biting at her lip. "He's been really worried and he hasn't really been smiling much. I wanted him to be able to relax and get away from what was happening for a bit you know?"

Walter sighs, though whether it's relief or exasperation even he's losing track.

"Yeah, the life jacket is worth taking exception to... not that I ever expect a repeat of that."

This is the guy who always wears a helmet when riding.

"I- don't think most of us can easily tell our families about this stuff, either."

Given that his are in London right now and if he went to visit them he'd forget entirely... it'd be bad trying to explain it either way, he's mostly sure. Not that he hasn't considered warning them about the broad strokes, though.

"And that I do know. So," he says, switching gears and almost unbalancing Tigger for a moment.

"What say you and I go dig up something here Ben might like?"

Sadie looks away from Walter, "Yeah...it's always been fine before...at least I won't have to worry in the future?" Sadie winces, fully aware of how weak that defence sounded but it had honestly seemed like an alright decision at the time.

"It's frustrating, especially living at home. But at least we all know each other, imagine if it was just one of us or we didn't know each other!" Sadie frowns in displeasure at that thought.

Sadie beams at Walter and nods, "Yeah, I'd like that a lot. Thanks again, Walter."

Walter opens his mouth to say something, and then Tigger meows particularly obnoxiously and leans onto him for pettings.

"... We have to do the best with what we have," he says, voice rising slightly.

"Fortunately, what we have includes each other."

A summer fête ! [Mingle]

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Someone should have worn a life jacket

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Aaand lead to fade-out?