HOLD IT!

[wright_attorney]

There was no reason to visit Vera Misham once her verdict had been declared. No, he didn’t know what she must be feeling, but he could guess. Any half-decent ex-attorney would save a little girl the embarrassment of admitting she’d had an unwitting hand in ruining his life. She was a good kid, after all. And all’s well that ends well, right?

Comments

[flyboy_shepp]

"Heads up?" John called out lazily from his seat in the bottom car.

He was actually just relaxing for once and not working on the Ferris wheel, a magazine in his hands and Cash sleeping on the warm seat next to him. It wasn't until he heard someone walk into the Ferris wheel that he realized they were there, which disturbed John.

Mostly because he didn't see how anyone could miss the thing.

[wright_attorney]

What disturbed him was another matter entirely.

See, what disturbed Phoenix was that there appeared to be a Ferris wheel in the middle of the sidewalk passing in front of his office. (I wonder if there's a cure for magnetism toward the bizarre. Might be worth looking into.)

Still rubbing at his head, he squinted in the general direction of the voice. "Sorry," he said. "Didn't...see you there."

Because that totally made sense.

[flyboy_shepp]

"Right," John said slowly. Even if people weren't paying attention to where they were going, they tended to notice the Ferris wheel in their path before they actually met it face first. "Because a twenty-five foot metal Ferris wheel is hard to miss?"

[wright_attorney]

He didn't say anything to that. Just stared up at the rather obtrusive structure for a minute. Then another minute.

Then he turned to the man and said, "I take it this has been here more than five seconds."

[jdick]

Well, that had been a pretty fucking stupid display, considering how goddamn huge the ferris wheel was, but that didn't stop Joe from watching, an eyebrow arched in faint amusement. The guy looked pretty new and Ozzy wandered toward him, her tail wagging as she greeted the newcomer. At least his fucking dog knew how to be polite when Joe himself was seriously lacking.

"Might wanna watch the huge ferris wheel in your way," he pointed out after a moment.

[wright_attorney]

Someone was speaking to him from somewhere, but until Phoenix could see straight, he'd settle for talking at the object of his present torment: the Ferris wheel itself.

"Thanks for the, erm...advice," said Phoenix, the last syllable calling distinctly for a set of air quotes. Fortunately, he'd suffered enough embarrassment in his short life to keep his cool under fire, and he managed to sound bored enough to call question to his sanity.

[jdick]

"No problem," Joe answered, coming closer as Ozzy nosed the stranger's hand, then began to lick his fingers. Dale might've trained her out of a lot of shit, but licking people sure as hell didn't seem to be one of the things he'd managed to correct. "You walk into ferris wheels often or are you new?" he asked, pushing his hands into his pockets as he finally reached the ferris wheel, resting his elbow on the edge of one of the cars.

[wright_attorney]

Phoenix didn't usually have the best of luck with animals. But this one seemed friendly enough, and he conceded to patting it on the head while he turned his focus to the dog's master. "Are those my only options?" he wondered, cocking an eyebrow and sliding off his hat with his free hand. "Because if that's the case...I guess I'm new. But that begs another question: What is it I'm new to?"

He hadn't really had a good look around yet, what with his still-spinning head, but he took the opportunity to do so.

[dodgy_decarabas]

The Marquis de Carabas, who had been hanging around the ferris wheel in the hopes of some light entertainment, found it in the form of a man walking straight into one of the metal support struts.

Really, he couldn't help himself. He laughed, and ventured closer; the man reminded him somewhat of Richard Mayhew. He even had the homeless look down pat.

'You should be careful, good sir. Wayward ferris wheels are known for their wanton cruelty to passing foreheads,' he said, in a lilting, amused tone. It was quite clear he was making fun of him.

[wright_attorney]

At that particular moment, Phoenix could have been what one might deem 'dazed' or 'disoriented'. Therefore, he didn't quite realize he was no longer standing in the middle of Los Angeles.

"And this one certainly is wayward," he commented with another wince as he fondled his poor skull. Perhaps the humor was lost on him.

[dodgy_decarabas]

The Marquis found himself wondering if this otherwise nice-seeming young man was on drugs. Then again, he had just caught himself a sizable whack on the noggin, so he supposed it was necessary to allow for the eventuality that he had a concussion or perhaps even brain damage.

'Lost, are you?' he asked pleasantly, lounging against a nearby tree.

[wright_attorney]

That tree didn't look like it belonged in the middle of the street any more than did the Ferris wheel. Neither did the man with the English accent, come to think of it. And with an eventual glance around, Phoenix could see why.

"I guess I am. What happened?" he asked, casual as could be. "Where am I?"

[the_support]

Ellie was just a few seconds too late to warn the man who was walking straight into the ferris wheel. She winced when it happened, hurrying over to make sure he was alright.

"Are you okay?" she asked, trying to get a look at his head instinctively to check for a bump.

[wright_attorney]

Usually when women rushed to his side in a time of crisis, Phoenix ended up suffering a slap to the face, or a whipcrack to the back of the head, or...God forbid, a tiger attack.

So honestly, who could blame him for being more alarmed by the sudden attention than he'd been by the misplaced Ferris wheel?

"I'm...okay," he said, stumbling a little and sweeping off his hat as he turned to face the stranger. "I think I'll survive."

[the_support]

She frowned thoughtfully as she looked him over, and was happy she didn't spot any kind of bump.

"That's good," she said, her frown finally settling into a small smile. With him seeming to be unhurt, she allowed herself to notice how funny it had been. "You must have been in pretty deep thought to miss something that big in front of you."

[wright_attorney]

"That's the problem," he said, scratching absently at his scalp. "I think the only excuse I might have for walking right into something like this would be blindness. I'm not," Phoenix added, unnecessarily.

He stared back at the Ferris wheel another second, then he blinked past the woman, at their surroundings. "Where am I?"

[chris_cutter]

Stepping out of the rink, Chris squinted into the sunlight and gave his eyes a second to adjust, the heat of the sun immediately sucking up all the nice coolness on his skin.

A flicker of movement up ahead caught his attention and he looked over, his brow furrowing as he watched an unfamiliar person stumble away from the ferris wheel.

"Hey, you alright?" he called out, heading over.

[wright_attorney]

"I don't think there's any permanent damage," muttered Phoenix as he regained his footing and straightened. For a minute, he seemed so focused on scrutinizing the Ferris wheel that he could have been referring to the possible destruction wrought by his head.

[chris_cutter]

"Well, that's a good start," Chris replied with a quirk of a smile, still squinting as he walked closer. "How the hell'd you run into it, anyway? It's sort of... hard to miss."

Judging by the situation, Chris could think of two reasons, but he was already willing to hedge his bets on only one of them.

[wright_attorney]

"I've been trying to figure that one out myself," he admitted, tipping his aching skull to look at the stranger. "I don't think it was there two seconds ago. That's the best explanation I've got."