Oh Mr. Clown, Oh Mr. Clown

[maskormods]

WHO: YOU.
WHERE: Heropa Greenland Park.
WHEN: Sunday August 17th, from 11AM to 10PM.
WHAT: ImPorts participate in the local carnival, hosting their own attractions, helping with the booths and rides, and/or come looking to have a good time. Details here.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; please let us know if this should be edited.

Even in the daytime, Heropa Greenland Park appears almost dour in appearance and atmosphere. Employees of the park open the creaky gates at a few minutes before 11:00AM to allow imPorts and soldiers who have been ordered as security inside. Preparations have already started, with thick and colorful streamers lining hanging from one rusty looking lamppost another along the park's pathway. The booths look a little worse for wear and the while an effort had been made the night before, the park grounds are still coated in soda spills, popcorn, leftover hot dog bits, and other sticky and grimy messes. Sometimes the lights in the event booths flicker or burst entirely.

Needless to say, this place looks like it can use a makeover. While it fares well among its locals and those from Cape Canaveral, it has not been a place of interest among others in the state for quite some time. Right now? It looks more creepy than wholesome family entertainment.

But that's what imPorts are here for, aren't they? To liven up the place!

At the heart of the park is where employees have made enough room as possible for imPorts to set up their own attractions, booths, and whatnot. There will be small platforms for some imPorts and bigger ones may need to be shared among each other, scheduling their time slots for their own performances. There will be tables should anyone need it for performances that don't require a grand stage.

By noon there the line-up park employees had been expecting turns out even better than they had hoped. There are twice as many locals who've shown up, eager to see imPorts in action up close. By 12:30PM the park is bustling with people of all ages and all appear to be having quite the time, despite the occasional issue with the rides such as the merry-go-round (oops, it slows down more than it should), the carousel (it stops at least once every two hours), and the haunted house's lights go down at some point, though this seems to have worked in its favor.

Kids are screaming in delight everywhere, there are teens trying to do risky things on faster moving rides, and everyone is passing through the center at some point to come and check out what imPorts are going to do next.

Put on your best face and give them a show they'll remember, heroes!

Comments

[performance]

Do you need me to protect you from the fake monsters? You can hide behind me when they pop out.

[runningstart]

Yeah I hate to break it to you Grayson, but if I wanted to be hidden behind something, I wouldn't be going to you. [Wally waits until they're inside to elbow Dick.] You sure it's cool for me to pal around with you out there without a disguise?

[performance]

What, you wanna borrow my sunglasses? It's fine, [ he answers, quiet under the spooky piped-in music. ] We're roommates, aren't we?

[runningstart]

I meant a disguise for you, smart aleck, [Wally mutters back, and gives the styrofoam bone entrance an unimpressed look.] Though I guess the only one here who would even care is SB. [With Artemis gone.

He falls silent after that, and just shoves the rest of his pretzel in his mouth.]

[performance]

You really underestimate how popular I am.

[ Dude, he sees that sulk, and he's not gonna let it happen. Not here, anyway, and not if he's gonna avoid talking about it with Dick. He grabs Wally by the wrist, hauling him through the entrance. ]

Ooooh, spider webs. Ahh, a blacklight. The horror.

[runningstart]

I should've made you buy me another pretzel before we came in here, [Wally laments, flicking a plastic spider out of his face.] Dude, this entire carnival is depressingly sad.

[performance]

You just have to change your mindset. Embrace the cheese.

[ A cackling plastic witch pops out of a poorly-disguised hole in the wall, and that sends Dick into a laughing fit of his own. ]

[runningstart]

You are one of the weirdest kids I know. [But it's said fondly, and Wally punches the plastic witch out of the way before dragging Dick further into the haunted house.

The next hallway is done all in neon black light paints, with jars of obviously fake eyeballs and organs lining the shelves. Occasionally a burst of stale-smelling air hisses from the walls and ruffles their hair.] Man, can you imagine going through one of these things hopped up on something? Now that's nightmare material. Maybe they should try handing out LSD at the door to enhance the experience.

[performance]

Oh, dude! They'd find you rocking back and forth in the corner eating the fake eyeballs like they're grapes.

[runningstart]

Those are plastic. [Wally just reaches right in and fishes one out, squeezing it.] I think they're made out of the same stuff those dollar store bouncy balls are made out of.

[performance]

Hmmmm.

[ He takes one, too. Squish squish. ]

Yeah, I can still see you trying to eat this. With the right combination of chemicals in your system, of course.

[runningstart]

That's really gross. I think this is half-cooked jello they put this in, yeugh. [Wally wipes his hand off on his jeans, fishes out a few more eyeballs and

stuffs them down the back of Dick's shirt before running off cackling down the hallways.]

[performance]

[ Dick yelps, hopping in a circle and untucking his shirt from his pants to let the eyeballs drop out the back. ]

Wallyyy! I'm gonna tie you up and leave you in the petting zoo!

[ He gives chase, but the next room seems to be occupied by a fog machine going haywire and some kind of strobe, and Dick has to force himself not to cough as he runs in. He needs silence. He needs stealth. He needs... the element of surprise. ]

[runningstart]

[Yeah he's also chasing a speedster inside a tiny little crappy haunted house. It won't be difficult for him to sneak up on Wally like...at all. Especially since right down the hall is a familiar sound like a kid running into something and complaining.]

Ow! Right, the only wall in this place not made of plywood is the one I run into with my face. Naturally.

[performance]

[ It isn't hard, but he's Robin. He likes to feel important and mysterious. The eerie music rises, and the on-tape sound effects escalate: something heavy dragging, skittering footsteps, a dry cackle echoing through the room...

And Dick howls like a werewolf puppy on its first full moon and leaps out of the fog. ]

[runningstart]

[Mostly it's because it was right after Wally ran into something. It's also because he didn't hear him even get close after that scream, and he'd been expecting it but he didn't know when, and he'd wound himself up expecting it (without knowing when) and then when Dick finally jumps out at him it was right when he wasn't expecting it because he has some kind of sixth sense about that thing but-

Wally screams and flails his arms in Dick's direction before stumbling back into a different (plywood) wall so hard the entire building shakes.]

DICK! I hate you!

[performance]

Hahahaha! Dude, you shrieked! Am I the scariest thing in this place or what?

[ Giggling like crazy, shirt untucked and hair coming out of place, he offers Wally a hand up. ]

[runningstart]

I don't even know why I'm friends with you, [Wally grumbles, and accepts Dick's help standing up so that he can grab some of the sticky cobwebs behind him and begin shoving them into his hair.] Ha! Take that, Grayson! My girlish scream was only a trap! [no it was not it was 100% genuine]

[performance]

Admit it, you looove meeeeaugh!

[ Speaking of girlish screams, that totally was one. HIS PERFECTLY COMBED HAIR. YOU JERK. ]

[runningstart]

[Well it was perfectly combed. However, the fact that they're coming out of this haunted house looking like hell after having screamed inside of it for fifteen minutes straight means there's a line outside to go in of people who are assuming the attraction is badass.

It's not. There are just idiots inside.

Wally scrambles down the steps with Dick hot on his heels, and now that there's room to move there's no way Dick'll catch him. He snickers, jogging backwards just to be a little show off, and he should probably be careful before he runs into that guy pushing the hot dog cart.]

[performance]

Get back here, you—!

[ Wally may be faster, but Dick's way better at dodging crowds of carnivalgoers, so it's not as uneven a race as Wally might like. He ducks behind a balloon stand and disappears into the crowd until Wally loses sight of him, then circles around to his left — this way cuts right through the booths. And when Wally makes it to the funnel cake stand, Dick's right there to pop out and hop onto his back like a little parasitic monkey. ]

Ahahaha!

[runningstart]

[Robin may be just shy of a hundred pounds when wet, but that's still a lot of weight to take on unexpectedly and when Robin jumps on his back Wally topples over, and they both go down and make spectacles of themselves. In fact, they're making so much noise and causing so much trouble that park security has taken notice.

Park security looks awful big.]

[performance]

Uh-oh. Dude, c'mon—!

[ He scrambles to his feet, giving Wally a hand up and keeping hold of his hand as he drags him through the crowd, weaving between the stands and cutting through the line for the carousel as he tries to get them out of sight. He spots a booth whose attendants seem to have cut out early (who can blame them?), and he hauls him and Wally both into the back, ducking down behind the counter and catching his breath, not ready to look up and see whether they actually lost security. ]

[runningstart]

[That's okay, Wally will look. He pokes his head over the edge of the counter and watches security kind of half-heartedly storm by. They've definitely been in more dire chase scenes, but probably not in their civvies and not without powers or gadgets.

...kinda fun. Actually.]

We're good. [....uh are they holding hands] Pretty sure the danger has passed, Grayson.

[performance]

[ Step one: acknowledge the handholding. Step two: count to three so he can pretend it isn't weird (it was TACTICAL handholding). Step three: let go and don't say anything about it. ]

Dude. We're fugitives.

[ And then he laughs, giddy and relieved, adrenaline still running high. ]