leetle | IC INBOX

"I just assume that you are always looking for something fun to do. But maybe you needed something especially good today."

It's easy to smile down at her. Honestly, this--spending time together, enjoying the sunshine and good weather, showing her something he knows she'll like--is easier than he thought it would be. He doesn't feel nearly so awkward or on edge with directionless anticipation as he worried he might. Mostly, he's just happy to be around her again.

There is no line for the teacups, Caleb notes as they approach. Determination keeps him pushing forward. Actually, the lines for most rides are very short or non-existent, from what he can see. There aren't so many residents of the island to begin with, and while it seems like others have shared his idea to go out while it's sunny, the park is hardly crowded. They're ushered straight onto the ride, and Caleb trails a step behind Jester to let her choose which color cup she prefers.

"Maybe it's just 'cause it's finally sunny outside," Jester agrees, though she knows that isn't quite it. But for right now, she just wants to have a good day with Caleb and enjoy this crazy-looking park.

It's nice that it isn't too busy, she notes as they approach those teacups and step aboard. Jester pretends to think about her choice for a fraction of a second before her eyes alight on the pink one, and tugs Caleb toward it.

"This one is perfect. Oh my gosh, it's so huge. I'm totally drawing this later! That's what she said!"

Her delight is uncontainable, words coming out in her usual gleeful jumble.

The pink one is an obvious choice. Caleb piles into it behind a squealing Jester and settles himself on the opposite side from the door, which swings across and secures with a latch. Inside the teacup the whole thing is one continuous pastel pink circular bench, and the hard, smooth material pretty much guarantees sliding around once the ride gets moving.

His fingers wrap securely around the bar positioned in the middle, his only hope of remaining remotely in one place. "It is going to spin very fast," he warns, turning to Jester with a grimace. "I would advise holding onto something."

Jester sits right across from Caleb, mirroring his actions and reaching out to grip the handlebar in front of her, hands sandwiched between Caleb's. "Okay okay okay," she mutters, resolved to hold on as tightly as she can as the ride slowly begins to start up and the teacup starts to spin.

"Ohhhhh god," she laughs as gravity begins to pull at her, and for a second she's worried she might go flying. But her grip is strong, and she manages to keep everything but her lower body firmly in place as the world begins to spin faster around them, peals of laughter flying from her.

Jester is, as expected, much better at this than Caleb. He manages to hold on as the ride gets going. But by the time they really start spinning, rotating so fast that his hair whips around his face (maybe Jester had the right idea, cutting hers), the force pulls him back against the side of the cup, and his hands slip from the bar.

Without an anchor point, he slides where the rotation takes him--all the way around the curve to Jester on one turn pressing uncomfortably close, then all the way back to the other side. It's uniquely disorienting, and he scrambles to get a grip again, although at least Jester seems to have a solid hold and is having a good time, judging by her laughter. Caleb is mostly just cursing under his breath in Zemnian over and over.

[Jester squawks in surprise as Caleb is suddenly sent flying into her side, and she's almost positive she'll have whiplash from that later on. But the good news is that by the time Caleb slides all the way around to her other side, she's ready for it, and her arm snakes around his waist to hold him next to her with a firm grip. She turns and grins at him, still giggling.]

I got you, Caleb, don't worry!

[She kind of...yells it in his face, but everything seems louder right now so you can't really blame her for that!]

[ Caleb is about to slide back around the other way again when Jester's arm wraps secure as an iron bar around him, anchoring him to her side. His sort of pathetic grip on the bar hardly matters, at this point; Jester is doing better than he had with just one hand.

It's one thing to know Jester is strong, but another entirely to feel it. ]

Okay, just--

[ Her face is right there, and whatever he'd been about to say gets caught in his throat. It's impossible to look at anything else, especially when looking at anything else makes him vaguely queasy. ]

Don't let go, I'll fly away.

[Just to be extra sure Caleb isn't going anywhere, her tail curls itself around his upper arm. She grins back at him, the world whipping past all around them.]

Not on my watch!

[The ride surges just a little faster, one last crescendo, and Jester yelps and swears loudly in Infernal, still holding Caleb firmly in place as they spin. No flying wizards today!]

[ The rest of the ride isn't so bad. Caleb is kept secure, and the spinning isn't so bad when he's firmly glued to one spot with something other than the bright colors and lights swirling together around them.

That doesn't mean he isn't still glad when they slow to a stop, though, and the gate keeping them inside the teacup folds back and they can stumble out, still dizzy. He feels the absence of her arm immediately, the security of it, but it's best not to dwell on that. ]

You mentioned eating next. [ he says, a little faintly. ] I think I may need a few minutes before that.

[Jester, for her part, enjoys this ride immensely. It's not like anything she's really experienced before, except for maybe being at sea during a storm. As the teacup slows to a stop, she loosens her hold on Caleb and lets him slide gently away from her, cheeks flushed as she realizes just how tightly she'd been holding onto him.

She clambers off the ride, and then immediately collapses in a patch of grass, limbs sprawled out to her sides as she waits for her head to stop spinning.]

That, [she exclaims] was so fun.

[ The grass and the ground in general are a welcome change of pace, and Caleb sits down hard next to her before letting himself fall backward, staring up at the mostly cloudless sky. ]

I'm glad you liked it. [ He tilts his head toward her with a small, careful smile. ] It wasn't so bad this time, thanks to you.

[ His hair is definitely a mess, though. He pushes a few flyaways out of his eyes as he considers whether he should ask Jester about how her week has been, about why it seemed like she needed to get out today so badly. But this should be an escape from those things, shouldn't it? Fun without the complications--as much as possible, anyway. If she needs a sounding board, she'll say something. ]

All you needed was a good safety harness!

[Her tail bops him across the shin, and Jes turns her head to look over at Caleb, grinning and happy.]

Don't worry, I won't make you go again.

[She waits until her breath is regular again and her heart has stopped pounding, and then pulls herself up to her feet. She bends down and offers Caleb a hand getting up.]

C'mon, let's at least look at the food.

[ He's about to say that he would go again if she asked, but by the gods, he's being given and out, and he'll take it. He clasps Jester's hand with his and lets her tug him back to his feet. ]

Ja, okay. I can probably stomach looking at it.

[ A little grin and a gentle, playful jab of his elbow into her arm, and then they're walking side by side to the row of food stands, each with a colorful striped awning and glossy signage depicting the specific kind of friend and/or candy coated treat they sell. ]

Pick out whatever you like. I have plenty of credits that I never use.

Great! I keep seeing the words corn and dog in the same sentence and I'm very intrigued.

[What ensues is a montage of Jester dragging Caleb around to every food stall she can see; she emerges from this with a funnel cake, a corndog, a basket of fries covered in cheese, two deep-fried Oreos on a stick, a large cup of lemonade and of course a bag of cotton candy. They find a picnic table in the shade and Jester spreads out her haul, surveying it all greedily as she decides what to try first.]

The way they make this cotton candy is so weird. Are you sure it isn't magic?

[ Over the course of the montage Caleb's queasiness gradually subsides to the point where he actually considers sampling a few of the foods Jester collects. The cotton candy he's had, but the rest is bound to be a new and...interesting experience. ]

You know, actually, I can't be sure.

[ He's just going to take a long sip through the straw of that cup of lemonade, and only make a little bit of a face. He expected sour, but it's very sweet. But he's mostly joking when he asks, ]

Does it taste magical?

[Eagerly, Jester rips open the bag and rips off a hunk of cotton candy roughly twice the size of her mouth, and then pops the pink-and-blue fluff into her tongue. Immediately, her eyes go wide at the rush of pure sugar; she sighs happily as the candy melts on her tongue and crunches a little between her molars. Once she swallows, Jester sighs happily.]

It does, it's heavenly.

[And washed down with a sip of lemonade out of a plastic, dick-shaped cup? Unbeatable!

As much as she could eat that whole bag of sugar fluff right now, there are other, more tantalizing smells wafting under her nose, so she moves on.]

Thank you again, Caleb, [she says almost shyly as she plucks a fry that's dripping with cheese sauce out of the basket.] I'm having such a good day!

[ Now that his stomach has settled, Caleb is discovering as he samples it that most of this food is actually delicious. Anything would taste good fried and covered in melted cheese, probably. ]

So am I. [ The curly fries are pretty great too, he discovers as he shoves several into his mouth. ] I think we both needed a day out.

[ A distraction. ]

But you are welcome, Jester. Always. And we haven't even seen the rest of the rides yet.

[Jester takes a bite of the corndog, smacking her lips at how tangy the mustard dip is. Oh, that's pretty good. She's a fan.]

What ride should we go on next? Something a little gentler, maybe?

[ He's going to steal a little of that mustard dip for his fries. Thanks, Jester! ]

My stomach would appreciate that. Maybe the boat one, or the ferris wheel?

I figured!

[She hums thoughtfully, glancing around them as she nibbles on the edge of a deep-fried cookie. Oh no, that's fucking genius. She wants to eat five.]

Is the ferris wheel that big round one?

Ja, that's the one. It can't beat the view from the back of an eagle, but it should be nice anyway.

[ He leans back to look up at it, towering nearly as tall as the highest point on the roller coaster. Still, they'd flown much higher earlier. But the gondolas are painted warm pastel colors, and it seems just tame enough to give them time to relax before the move on to whatever's next. ]

[Jester surveys the rest of the food they haven't finished off, and then makes the executive decision to shove the remaining cotton candy, Oreo and half a corndog into her backpack, wrapped up in napkins.

Approaching the Ferris wheel, she stares up at the sheer height of it, a little awed by such a tall structure standing alone all by itself.]

If I had a wizard's tower, I'd want it to look like this. [She seems to consider the fact that the gondola near the top has been hanging there for a hot second.]

What if we get stranded at the top?

If you really wanted, I could put this in the tower.

[ He raises and eyebrow as he looks down at her, along with a half smile. It would take some maneuvering, but but it's his own personal pocket dimension. He can make it do anything he (or his friends) want. ]

If we get stuck, I have a few more polymorphs left. Or Feather Fall. We'll get down one way or another.

Really?

[Her voice gets high and squeaky, excited, and then immediately drops down a few octaves.]

I'd rather have the teacups, actually.

[They're approaching the platform now, a robot ushering people into gondolas.]

I could just climb down, too. Hey, you. [She points at her eyes, and then the robot's glossy, blank ones.] Don't let us get stuck up there, okay?

That's pushing your luck, Lavorre.

[ As the threatened robot beeps and bloops in a way that honestly seems sort of ominous, Caleb snorts under his breath. ]

Maybe you could climb down. Me, not so much.

[ Nevertheless, they're ushered into the next gondola that swings down level with the loading station, and they hop on quickly before it starts lifting off again, the door closing and lock sliding into place behind them. It's roomier inside than Caleb had expected, with two benches along either side and enough room for legs in between. They could even stand up if they really wanted to. ]

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i rolled a nat 20 on strength for this

i rolled...a 2

rest in fucking pieces

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