CARNIVAL MEGATHREAD

[crown_of_poppy]

[ WHO ] : Heather Morris and OPEN
[ WHERE ]: The Carnival --
[ WHEN ]: All weekend Friday, June-12th- Sunday, June 14
[ RATING ]: (use G, PG, etc.) TBD
[ WARNINGS ]: TBD
[ NOTES ]: Want to Join in on the carnival action? Post your character's experiences here!

Comments

GAMES OF SKILL

[jigoku_mods]

Several streetways showed an array of booths decorated in red, white, black, or grey banners. Some held brightly colored toys, others held cigarettes, condoms, and coveted items of food, strangely remaining fresh, wrapped up and waiting to be won. Barkers stood at several of them, dressed in red and white, calling out their games and wares, entreating others to come and visit them, and play their games.

Shooting games, goldfish scoops, ring tossing, bottles needing to be knocked over. The Carnival had them all, free of charge and waiting.

Whak-A-Tenant - Instead of the standard moles, the stuffed heads of tenants pop out of the holes. Whack them and their respective person will feel it.

Skeeball - Get the ball in the hole and a hole will form beneath you, dropping you into another location. It might be the convenience mart or hospital, allowing you to bypass the dangers of travel. Or it could be back at your own room.

Ring Toss - The targets are a number of wanted and useful things, from cans of food to cartons of cigarettes. Get a ring around an object and it's yours. Miss and have a ring suddenly around your neck, one that's quickly constricting and trying to choke you. This will also happen if you try to reach for any item with your hands.

WHAK-A-TENANT: SAKURA, MIKA, OPEN

[ghostsofspring]

Sakura strode with a cautious confidence -- such a thing surely existed -- into the bright lights and colorful tents of the Carnival. The spirits around faded in and out of vision, their masks a curious collection of the macabre and the quaint.

Behind her own mask, Sakura quelled a shiver. "So far, so good" she addressed to Mika, scanning over the various gaming attractions. One in particular caught her eye.

"What do you say to trying one of these out? They look innocent enough." Words meant more in comfort than in anything close to the truth; appearances were deceiving.

Still, what harm in a game where you smashed down a padded hammer over faces popping up out of holes? She'd try it first, make sure nothing exploded, and then maybe the both of them could work off some tension.

Project this can only end badly is a go

[notlikethemovie]

"Sure, looks okay to me." Her ears flicked forward, then angled back again as she read the name one more time, just to be sure.

"The title looks kinda skeezy to me, though. Sounds kinda familiar..." Maybe she was just imagining it, though. Hopefully.

\o/ Onward to headache extravaganzas!

[ghostsofspring]

Sakura read the title over again herself, and shrugged. "I admit, there are better names out there." She gave the game a closer look, pushing back her mask decisively.

"Do those faces look familiar to you, or am I just imagining things?"

Not quite waiting for a response, Sakura gripped the padded mallet. She recognized at least one face -- that was most certainly like a chibi version of Sasuke.

She waited until she saw that particular head come jutting up once more, slamming the mallet down with a satisfying thump. If only it were that easy in life; getting Sasuke back would just be a matter of hitting him over the head until he either passed out, or agreed. Sure, not logical or realistic, but sometimes she liked being anything but.

Rock~! \o/

[notlikethemovie]

"Oh! Good shot!" Mika's tail wagged in excitement. She actually really liked these sorts of games, but never got to play. So this was incredibly fun, even if she was just watching.

[ghostsofspring]

Sakura grinned, handing the mallet over. That first hit had been pleasing, and after all, it was better manners to give someone else a turn than to accidentally get too enthusiastic and break the whole thing.

Not that she would. Caution over intention, merely.

"Thanks! Want to give it a try?"

[notlikethemovie]

"Really? You mean it?" It was a bit of a surprise, but she perked up. "I'd like you."

Maybe she'd do a good job, too. That'd be kinda cool.

[ghostsofspring]

"Of course!" She offered up the mallet again, glad Mika seemed so enthused. Sakura stepped back and to the side, to give her room.

[notlikethemovie]

Mika took the mallet, her tail wagging furiously was the only outward sign of excitement. She could actually do this game! And it didn't seem to have any really bad repercussions or anything. This wasn't so bad at all...

A head popped up, an eyepatch over one eye. It looked kinda like the boy she'd saved, with a quick snap of the wrist that belied Mika's claims of poor reflexes, she smashed it over the head. Grinning, she handed the mallet back to Sakura.

"Your turn!"

[ghostsofspring]

Sakura was impressed. She'd winced at the unexpected force behind Mika's attack on the unsuspecting plush head, while finding herself impressed. "Nice shot."

Accepting the mallet back, she bypassed the tempting image of Sasuke in order for something a bit more random. A plush head looking awfully like Heine, someone she'd never actually met face to face, found itself squarely pegged. "Ha!"

God, she'd calculated her timing just right. "Back to you." This was simple, if effective, fun.

[notlikethemovie]

Mika took it back, looking a little like an overgrown puppy waiting to pounce as she waited for her target. A blonde plush with dark glasses that looked strangely like the crazy priest, and suffered the same fate as the last. Hey, she felt like she was getting pretty good at this!

"It's yours!" She handed it back to Sakura again, feeling much better.

[ghostsofspring]

If this wasn't just turning out to be therapeutic.

This time, Sakura didn't even bother picking a target, timing herself, or doing much more than reacting to what heads she saw flit up, then down again. She missed the first one, though a quick turn-about brought the mallet down on a dark-haired plush head with somewhat lessened vengeance. If that had happened to be Megu, Sakura didn't actually see well enought o have placed her.

[notlikethemovie]

With the mallet back in her hand, Mika was starting to get a bit faster. a head popped up, and she whacked it over the plush skull before it could fully pop up. Whoever it was, he had long black hair pulled up into a high pony tail and a really sour look on his face. Or was it a she? Mika wasn't sure, she was already passing the mallet.

[ghostsofspring]

No need to say anything at this point - Sakura swung the weight of the mallet again, stopping before hitting another head with a speculative humm, eyes lighting up as she wondered about putting a method to this madness for entertainment purposes.

She shrugged the idea off, and instead brought the mallet down again on another unsuspecting plushie head. This one happened to look uncannily like Mika, even if that seemed to be the entire point.

[notlikethemovie]

"Hey!" Mika yelped like a kicked puppy, clutching her head as it felt like someone had just tried to clobber her. Rubbing her tenderized scalp with a whine, she looked up, only to find nothing, then glanced suspiciously at the ground. No, nothing.

Wait...it had felt like... "A mallet?"

No time to worry about that now, though. "Owww~..."

[ghostsofspring]

Sakura had looked over at Mika when she'd heard that yelp of pain, holding the mallet to her chest. "What happened?" She looked around as well, but didn't spot and obvious culprit --

And then Mika said those magic, oddly logical words: A mallet.

Sakura looked at what she had in hand, then examined the game surface with a critical eye. She watched the various heads, some familiar, others not, pop up and disappear down into their holders again, looking for a familiar shade of pink. She'd noticed it earlier, but hadn't thought too much of it at the time. Now, she was having second thoughts.

When she did find her own distorted face looking up at her, she watched it hop about like an antsy cricket, and brought her hand down to lightly smack it upside the head.

A similar, not so light touch across the back of her head drove home a painful realization. "I think we found the catch, Mika." Sakura was feeling a mixture between annoyed and horrified - if this wasn't limited to just the two of them, being in close proximity to the game, then she'd just slammed a mallet down on more than just poor Mika's head.