[29: action/video]

[paper_knight]

Beyond a few little experiments (and the obligatory futile search for ways out of Wonderland) Mark hasn't felt the need to exercise the power granted by the event. Mark has remained himself, no imaginary friends or family members have come to visit, and his room has remained his room

Comments

[video forever]

[usskickass]

You're kiddin' me.

[BACK AT YOU]

[paper_knight]

He gives the camera an odd little half-smile.

"I'm afraid not."

[usskickass]

That is Yankee Stadium. You conjured up an entire stadium.

[She just shakes her head. Dangit, she can't even get one dude to show up and he gets all this?]

[paper_knight]

To be fair, people--real people--are harder than anything else. It's why there's no crowd in the stadium, why so many of the players are faceless blurs. And in his experiments Mark hadn't even once tried to conjure up his daughter. It wouldn't be the real thing, so why bother?

"You recognize it?"

Pleased surprise here--he knows from the last time he mentioned baseball on the network that there aren't too many fans in Wonderland.

"It was kind of a mistake."

[turn4bout]

Like a goddamn ninja, Terezi is there. Right behind Mark. Sniffing.

What's this?

[paper_knight]

Oh god the sniffing. So weird. But at least he's kind of familiar with it by now. He pivots a little in his seat to face her. Hi Terezi.

"It's a baseball game. Sort of."

Although when he's looking at her instead of the game, the action on the field slows down, becomes a bit muddier. The sounds remain unchanged, loud and clear, but they don't quite sync up--you might hear the crack of a bat an instant before it actually connects.

[turn4bout]

And she notices.

Turn back around!

Facepap.

[paper_knight]

"Hey!"

But he turns back around.

"What was that for?"

Meanwhile, the current batter's been tagged out at first--now at normal speed.

[wings_of_vanth]

[This man conjured up an ENTIRE baseball stadium. Akihiko is very impressed.]

Hey, a baseball stadium! Now all we need is a boxing ring.

[It might be unusual to see a troll, who is actually human, who knows about sports.]

[paper_knight]

"Boxing--aren't you a troll?"

[wings_of_vanth]

Ah? Oh, not normally.

Who's playing?

[paper_knight]

"New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers. Two to one Dodgers."

And it might have been a later inning, but the scoreboard totally just rolled back to the bottom of the third.

[playingbadcop]

Benny saw it on the communicator, and though his imagination isn't anything special, the device did briefly turn into an old-fashioned radio, battered and staticky, of the kind he used to sit close to to catch the game when he was in high school. But he doesn't really believe it until he comes by--saunters casually by, not here to investigate at all--and sees for himself.

"Holy crow."

[paper_knight]

Let's be honest here. Mark knows that Benny lives nearby, and that he misses this as much as Mark does. So he's kept the game going, and after Terezi's visit, the away team had switched immediately back to the Dodgers.

"Hey."

[playingbadcop]

There are a lot of empty seats here. He chooses one near Mark, in the same row but with one empty seat between them. Mark's talking to him. It's just polite.

"Hey. Wow. This is really somethin'."

[paper_knight]

Benny Stango? Polite? What is the world coming to.

"Thanks. This whole event is something."

And now he's wondering why he hadn't played with it sooner. It seems so harmless. Pleasant, even.