If there was one domestic thing Ada was very good at (that wasn't sewing costumes) it was feeding large groups of people quickly and efficiently. She'd done more than her fair share of work in the carnival's kitchen trailer, and this seemed like a good day to brush up on those skills ( Read more... )

There was really only so much Ada could practice hitting the little target in her room over and over. Hell, by now she could do it with her eyes closed. Which was going to make a great bit when she was back with the carnival, but wasn't so good in a practical fight ( Read more... )

It started around midnight. Big, purple globs of grape jello, raining down from the sky. Jello drenched the bricks, the emo garden up on the roof, and every window that happened to be on the wrong end of the wind ( Read more... )

It was raining. Glitter. It was raining glitter, and really, anyone who knew Ada at all should not be shocked that she'd dug through the dorm janitorial closets to come up with buckets and place them all out on the deck, letting them fill to the point of bursting with the stuff ( Read more... )

First had been the conversation with Hyacinthe, then with Isabela and Dante, and now Ada was hard at work in the little kitchen of the second floor common room, with baking sheets strewn around and the oven going at a steady 350 degrees. Sugar, food coloring, honey powder, luster dust... a veritable mad scientist lab set-up with everything she ( Read more... )

Ada had seen some of the small children running around yesterday, so today she pulled herself out of bed to dust off a long-neglected skill: cooking for hordes of people. It was a skill she couldn't afford to let get rusty, since everyone in the carnival had to take their turns in the kitchen. And Ada, given her dietary restrictions, was almost ( Read more... )

It was really windy outside. Windy enough that it had tempted Ringo into an extra long morning AirTrek session. There was nothing quite like launching yourself ten meters above the rooftops and just letting the wind snatch you up and drag you along. She'd only come back to the dorms because she was hungry ( Read more... )

"So, the thing about cheating at cards, is it's mostly misdirection," Ada was saying, as she laid out her deck. "You can mark them, sure, little cuts you can feel but not see, rough corners that could be explained away as heavy use, but you really don't want the other person looking at your cards, or theirs. Wearing short-sleeves helps because ( Read more... )

Last year Gwen hadn't signed up for this, hated everything, and didn't know how this was her life. This year most of that was still true, but she did sign up for this on purpose, which was what led to those other two things. She was spending her day sitting under a super glittery banner reading "HOMECOMING TICKETS" and waiting for people to show up ( Read more... )

While Alluka didn't know lots and lots of things, she knew what a tea party meant and, after talks with Ringo and her own experiences at the welcome picnics, she knew that it was important for real parties to have lots of tasty food and fun things to drink. So that was easy enough to figure out! Then she let Ringo handle that ( Read more... )