May Swear In

[lastofthebog]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Nonah's Fairgrounds
WHEN: May 12th
WHAT: May Swear In
WARNINGS: None expected; please warn in threads if necessary

Spring is finally beginning to fade into summer with weather starting to warm, and the trees and flowers beginning to blossom into their peak, and what better way to celebrate the welcome change in weather than with a FAIR?



The fairgrounds have been transformed overnight with a swath of rides and attractions filling the field from one edge to the other. There is, of course, a booth for imPort registration that's positioned near the entrance of the fair. Even so, imPorts with an interest in registering may have to ask a fair worker for directions. The signage on the registration booth is, for some reason, faded and easy to miss among the bright and bold banners and lights drawing attendees to the different game booths that line the paths further into the grounds. Must have just been poor planning on someone's part!

Further into the park there are a wide array of the standard carnival games. Games include from balloon pops where you can win your very own "signed" copy of imPort photographs, but does anyone actually remember signing any photos…? There's also a ring toss that no one can seem to win, but the prizes include items like a water bottle discarded by Tony Stark, or dried flowers from one of Persephone's actual vines! Or maybe you'd like to prove your sharpshooter skills by knocking milk bottles down with a pellet gun? Prizes range from cheap, poorly painted figures of popular imPorts, to a handful of detailed and poseable figurines of both imPorts and famous media characters for the very best shooters.

Past the games are the many, many different food booths. You can chow down on Fried Stuff On Sticks, offering fare ranging from deep fried cheesecake on a stick to deep fried corndogs on a stick to a variety of tempura on sticks. (It counts!!) Or perhaps you prefer a healthier roasted meat? There's no shortage of options for that: roast turkey, roast beef, roast bison, roast alligator? Strangely few, if any, of these booths offer any vegetable options, but intrepid imPorts can find a booths offering superfood smoothies, quinoa bowls, or fruit parfaits tucked away at the very end of the food court.

And don't forget the main attraction (at least, the attraction Galla is most pleased with): CAPTURE THE FLAG. A parcel of land roughly the size of two side-by-side American football fields has been fenced off, and a brightly colored banner that looks like it manifested directly from the 90s is hung across the entrance, inviting all to enjoy! Inside, there is a scattering of trees to provide some natural cover in addition to man-made structures like sections of wall, pieces of large construction pipe to crawl through or hide in, and, of course, the different flag bases:



Yes, those are inflatable dinosaur heads inside an inflatable Jurassic Adventure. The flags are located inside of the temple the top of the "mountain" which, conveniently, has a rock climbing facade just in case climbing to the top of an inflatable hill is too difficult for some players.

Capture the Flag games are held hourly, and imPorts can choose to compete against each other, against natives, or even to team up with local native attendees! When competing against or with natives, imPorts are asked to refrain from flight, mind-reading, or teleportation, but it isn't a rule being strictly enforced. In fact, apart from those requests, imPorts are encouraged to use their powers as much as they like! There are natives lined up around the perimeter to watch the games play out, so why not give them a show to remember?

Comments

TK-622 | Star Wars | Registered | OTA

[loyal_soldier]

1. Games

This swear-in is big and bright and confusing, but he turned out because it's probably best to be visibly in compliance with the local government when it's not going against regulation.

With very little familiar to him here, the only thing that makes sense is gun-shaped. They don't look very powerful, which is a relief, given that the chains tying these things to the booths are pretty pathetic.

He hangs back for a bit, biting the inside of his cheek in frustration at how bad everyone's aim is. These rifles definitely aren't calibrated, but come on.

This is going to bother him all night if he doesn't do something about it.

2. Wait this is food?

"Fried". He already has a complicated relationship with that word. This place smells like some of the street markets he'd patrolled through before, and that was always torture when you hadn't had a solid meal in a while. He used to seal up his helmet so he wouldn't have to smell it.

Since he'd ended up on Earth he'd ended up tasting fried food, and it was far, far too satisfying for something that could utterly wreck his diet. Sweets too, those were here as well. And apparently some nutter had put the two in combination here.

He was a little afraid to try any of it, smells aside. Maybe he'd just have a ration bar instead?

3. Rides

Why would you want to get on one of these things? He'd thought something was wrong when he heard screaming, but when he got over to the sound, the people coming off the ride were all smiling, and more were lined up to get on.

If someone's standing close enough, they might hear him mutter "This planet makes no karking sense."

[flightforfreedom]

Poe spotted the familiar figure in the crowd, though it took him a couple passes, since he wasn't wearing the familiar stark-white armour. He wasn't sure if he felt relieved, or worried, but either way he had already made up his mind to go up to him. Rex was still on his mind, and he'd made a promise, so.

First, he scanned the crowd quickly to see if he could make out either Kylo or Hux, and when he was sure he couldn't, he made a beeline for the stormtrooper standing in front of the shooting booth.

"You look frustrated," He says, and his voice is low, but amiable, and he says it from far enough away to announce his presence as he gets closer.

[loyal_soldier]

By the first syllable he's already turning his head to look. Then just as quickly looking away to check the crowd. Safe.

"They're not even in a proper stance," he sighs, glancing back at the booth. "Those things aren't built for sharpshooting, but there's no excuse to be missing that many shots."

[flightforfreedom]

He shifts up until he's almost close enough that they're touching shoulder-to-shoulder, but not quite. "Pretty sure almost none of these people have been taught to use a fire arm," He points out, a note of both amusement and relief in his voice. He'd been half worried 622 would just turn and walk in the opposite direction upon spotting him.

This was better.

He looked over at the booth.

"Besides, I think they rig those things to put the aim off." He glanced back at 622, a small smile speading at the corner of his lips. "Wanna give it a shot?"

[loyal_soldier]

That elicits an actual frown. "That's not right." How were people ever going to learn how to shoot if they weren't given the proper tools?

He squares up, resolved. "I'm going to do it." If his power kicks in, he'll know if they really are off. If it doesn't, hitting targets this close should be easy.

[flightforfreedom]

He can't help the slightly fond look at 622's assertion. "No, it isn't, but that's the game."

He tilts his head, looking back at the guns. "Alright. I'll play too. See who's the better shot, huh?"

[loyal_soldier]

"It's unfair. People won't get a real sense of how to improve with something like that." He took half a step towards the booth and then stopped.

"And it's going to be unfair between us too. I told you before," back when he thought they were both Imperials, "I can't miss."

1

[sleight_of_hand]

A guy approaches as 622 stands back and muddles about the situation, an all too casual grin on his face and a bit of a swagger to his step, like he knows what he's doing. 622 could probably easily tell that the man favors his side, where a holster is clearly seen under his suit jacket once he turns, though it's empty at the moment.

"Ladies, stand aside; watch and see how a professional does it."

Adachi takes up one of the toy guns, holding it with all the grace of someone that was more than comfortable with using one. It's a moment before he starts firing, and he very clearly could hit all the targets if he really wanted to, but he deliberately missed a few. It didn't stop the crowd from applauding the effort, especially as Adachi turned and gave a little bow.

"Anyone wanna top that?" he asked, gaze flicking briefly over 622 before turning to the others.

[loyal_soldier]

That attitude brings on a slight frown, not to mention the holster. If he's not carrying a gun, why wear it at all?

All that dramatics and it's not for anything important or especially impressive. He shouldn't respond to that.

This wasn't serious, standing in a labrynth of bright colors and greasy food and nothing dangerous about. But by the Emperor he was not going to let down the Corps when it came to sharpshooting.

"I'll do it." No frills, no showboating. Just walk up, recieve a flimsy and poorly-calibrated gun, and start firing. Each little slug pings off a target in quick succession. 100%.

He checks to make sure the gun is unloaded before handing it back to the booth clerk. "If anyone wants the prize, feel free to take it." He wasn't sure what he'd do with a little statue thing anyway.

[sleight_of_hand]

Adachi looked like his jaw hit his shoes as 622 hit every target with ease, and he wasn’t the only one. The booth keeper for one looked like he just had kittens, and more than a few whispers were flying between the natives. Adachi caught more than a few accusations of cheating with powers, before he darted over to the guy, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him a bit to the side.

“Hey, big guy,” he whispered, his voice just barely above a hiss. “If you got sharpshooting powers, it’s polite to hold back a bit.”

[loyal_soldier]

"I can't turn it off," he protested, "even if I could, I made certification back home." He might have been a little slower without the powers, but he'd worked hard on that cert, dammit. And he'd worked just as hard to get used to Earth guns in the past couple months.

"I'd rather not lie to people about what I can do."

[sleight_of_hand]

“You think I didn’t?” Adachi protested right back, a bit of a pout coming to his face. “I was the best marksman in the Japanese police force before I got powers, you know.”

He... may be over selling himself a little bit. Then again, there wasn’t that much interest in guns in Japan.

“You gotta aim at something else. That way you still hit a target, even if it’s not the one you should be hitting.”

[loyal_soldier]

Japan. That was an Earth thing. He'd read a few facts about it, but all he'd remembered was that they didn't technically have a military, which seemed insane to him.

"It's still lying. I'm not going to do that." There were already enough liars out there, he wasn't going to become one of them, especially not about what he was.

"If it means not getting a prize for it, that's fine."

3

[onlydoubts]

Okay but. Why wouldn't you want to go on one? Is Bodhi's line of thinking, watching the ride whizzing by, full of riders, screaming in fear and enjoyment as they spin and swerve about. He's debating getting in line for one (alone too) when he hears 622's comment.

"What's so wrong about it?" Aside from the limited technology, lack of access to space travel...

[loyal_soldier]

There's always that little hitch in his chest when he starts talking to someone that he shouldn't, before his conscious brain can whip the rest of him back into shape. Truce is still in effect. Got it? Good. Carry on.

"Half these things look like they haven't had proper upkeep in years." He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw something fall off of one of the rides. Maybe it was a bit of food from one of the patrons, maybe it was a bolt, who knows? "And the other half look like G-force training sims." They'd had to do a lot of those. Boarding and landing didn't always have the benefits of inertial dampeners, and the first week or so of training for that was always a nightmare of sick cadets, including himself. He'd gotten used to it, but it was something you had to deal with, not something you deliberately sought otu.

[onlydoubts]

Bodhi is all that aware of the truce, but nobody has told him that they're not supposed to talk. If Hux had any problems with this, he'd send the man some more ice cream. Or post the videos he'd taken online.

So, here he is.

"I'll give you the first one." He pauses, watching the lights on the ride for a moment before adding: "Actually, I'll give you both points. I'm guessing you're not a fan of said sims, yeah?" Being a pilot, and having had to undergo said sims, it's not an off-putting detail to him. It's just he's never undergone that kind of thing for fun, before.

[loyal_soldier]

"I got through them," not as hard as some of the others had it with those, but it still wasn't his favorite. "Otherwise I would've gotten stuck in standard infantry." And there wasn't a clone alive who wanted to end up in that meat bucket. Army troopers were near-100% natural-born and nowhere near as trained as Stormtroopers. No one wanted to end up there.

"I'm guessing pilots got more of those."

[onlydoubts]

"Yeah. I was on route to become a fighter pilot - even though I was told I didn't have the capabilities for that, I still got all the training for it." Bodhi leaves out the part where he'd his testing flunked due to nerves and he wasn't able to shoot, even at a simulated enemy.

Cough.

"So if I asked you to join me on this spinning death trap, you'd say no, is what I'm guessing?"

[loyal_soldier]

"Everyone has a place they're best suited for," he replied reflexively. Unfortunately, that line he'd been taught didn't account for people who decided to betray the Empire.

"I don't think so." He looked back up at the ride, a muscle clenching in his jaw for a moment. "The spinning is fine." Probably. "The screaming would make it hard." G-forces could mean all sorts of things, not all of them bad. Screaming civilians, not really.

1

[knaval]

Riptide does not take part in the game, but he does swooce on over to where he sees 622 standing, slouching with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," he says, carefully. He wonders if the guy remembers him. "I'm surprised you're here. What do you make of it?"

Re: 1

[loyal_soldier]

It's hard to forget a blue-haired person who's secretly ten meters tall and screamed when you sneezed, honestly.

"It's a mess is what it is," he sighs. "I figured I should turn out to an official event like this, but," he gestures at the booth. "It looks pretty shambolic, I have to say." He kept having to tamp down on the urge to walk up to people and fix their shooting stance. "And I think the guns are rigged. Even the people with good form are missing pretty often."

"The rest of the event's pretty bizarre too," he added, just in case the question hadn't actually been about his current point of irritation.

[knaval]

"They're definitely rigged," Riptide agrees. "I tried one and the barrel was bent and had a few seconds delay from when you pulled the trigger."

... "Or I guess they're just in abysmal condition? Is this your first carnival?"

[loyal_soldier]

"It's no way to treat a rifle, even if it it's just meant for this." It's disgraceful. "I don't want to think about civvies getting ideas about real guns from touching these things."

"And yes. Stood watch on a few festival days before, but I've never been to one of these."

[knaval]

"They're fake rifles, buddy. I don't think you have to worry about people thinking they're real for a moment," he says, shaking his head. "I actually checked out the human rifles here, they're nothing like those. They're like... practice guns, I guess."

He shrugs helplessly.

"I get you though, this is dumb. This, specifically, the gun thing. Did you take part in literally anything fun, or are you really allergic to it?"

[loyal_soldier]

"I know, I've been going to the range to get used to them." It helped him keep a sense of routine, too. "The recoil's awful, but it's all slugthrowers, they're bound to have more kickback than you want them to."

"I just don't understand most of this stuff," he gestures vaguely at the brightly-colored hellscape around them. "People seem to be having fun, though, when they're not throwing up after getting off the rides."