A 2 part carnival catastrophe. Was originally going to be 3 parts until artfight prep crept up on me orz
For Coelune June prompt; Carwheel carnival
Characters: Hazel, Mariska
Warnings: None
Wordcount: 1,531
Vibe: causing problems at an arcade then getting thrown out by security
AN:
this was like vaguely revised kindof not really. you know how it is with me <:3
“Well I suppose our plans are fucked, then.”
Hazel simply sighed in response.
“I told you, Ramiel had therapy today. Did you listen? Of course not.”
“Look, ok, if you’re gonna act like you’re the genius here, Haz, what grand plans do you have? Bar’s closed, Ramiel’s busy… shit, it could just be a lazy day, but I’m itching to do something.”
“There is something… but I doubt you’d be interested.”
Mariska perked up a bit, as she fixed her posture on the couch.
“Yea? Like what?”
Hazel shuffled through the fliers and mail that had been stacked on the couch’s side table, until she came across what she was looking for – throwing it in Mariska’s direction.
“Cartwheel Carnival…?” Mariska mumbled as she thought out loud, opening up the flashy pamphlet.
Programming and attractions were described, along with colorful images of coelunes partaking in the carnivals of years past.
“Never heard of it.” Mariska finished, tossing the pamphlet to the side.
“I guess it’s a bit of a… cultural thing.” Hazel sighed.
“I used to go when I was younger.”
“Oho, really? Do they have cool shit there or is the pamphlet just a huge bluff?”
Hazel bapped Mariska on the head with the TV remote.
“It’s been a while since I’d last been, but I’d say they have the means to back it up.” Hazel replied.
“Though I was a stupid kid, I never actually watched any of the events – just spent all my spare change at the arcade.”
“No way, they got an arcade?!” Mariska said, her tone changing with sudden interest.
“Always wanted to go to one of those, hah! You know how low-tech it is around here, we were lucky when we even got a TV when I was a kid.”
“I mean, I could take you…” Hazel said, stretching.
“Unless you’d rather sit on your ass and complain about being bored all day.”
“Alright, alright! I’ll come with you!” Mariska replied, grabbing her hat off the side of the couch.
“And mark my fucking words, I’m gonna kick ass at that arcade.”
–
The carnival was crowded, to say the least. But the space inside the ship was generous – it appeared to be almost like a mega-mall repurposed to be a carnival.
Unfortunately, Hazel was having trouble seeing over the crowd, and Mariska was completely lost – as she had opted to not take a map pamphlet, quoting she didn’t need it.
The two were at a standstill, but were still wandering around as to not stop the flow of foot traffic.
“So, are we just gonna walk until we find something cool?” Mariska asked.
“Well, we could’ve known where we were going, but…”
“God, will you shut up for once?! Look, OK, I know I made a mistake, but…” Mariska said, though she paused and stood upright, as something caught her eye.
“No fucking way.”
“What is it? Whatever it is, I can’t see over everyone.”
“C’mon, follow me!” Mariska said enthusiastically, quickly grabbing Hazel’s arm and cutting through the rabbit-y crowd.
After pushing a few dozen disgruntled carnival-goers to the side, Mariska and Hazel arrived at what appeared to be the reception of an arcade – though, that wasn’t what caught Mariska’s eye.
Behind the reception was a rather impressive collection of various novelty prizes – and while one would expect a carnival’s prize selection to be cheap, it seemed that the prizes caught Hazel’s eye for quality as well.
“Shit… these guys really upped their budget since I was last here, huh? Or maybe this is just a different arcade setup…” Hazel mumbled.
She turned to Mariska, who seemed to be scanning the prizes.
Suddenly, Mariska burst out in a stifled laugh.
“What is it?” Hazel asked, confused, before she quickly realized what had triggered Mariska’s reaction.
“Gahaha, look, it’s just like you – bet up close it’s as tall as you too, hah!”
Mariska was pointing to a vastly oversized pink rabbit plush, embellished with flower patches.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Hazel said with a groan.
However, Mariska’s laughter was quickly shot down and turned into a shocked groan.
“8,008,135 tickets?! Who has that kinda time?!” she said, almost with a growl.
It was at this point that the college-aged coelune attending the desk got tired of the antics in front of them.
“Sir…” they started, in a tired customer service voice.
“Please, watch your language and tone. This is a family-friendly event, and-”
“And? What are you gonna fuckin’ do? Stop me?”
By this point, Hazel was more annoyed by Mariska’s bravado-filled display than anyone else.
With a firm grip and one of her signature fake smiles, Hazel tugged Mariska away from the reception and into the arcade.
“Deeply sorry for my partner’s disrespect, I’m sure it’s just that she’s raring to get playing and got a bit too over-enthusiastic, haha! Have a nice day!”
Despite their difference in size, there was truly nothing Mariska could do to stop Hazel. Once the two were out of the desk attendant’s sight, Hazel jumped up to grab Mariska’s collar and pulled her down to her level.
“Listen, just because you don’t know how to act in public means you don’t have to make both of us look like dipshits, alright?” Hazel said, in a soft yet harsh voice.
“Alright, alright! Sorry! Though, it was partially your fault as well. Betcha when the dude said sir they meant you, too, prince-”
“Shut up.” Hazel said, mildly flustered by Mariska’s sudden teasing.
She released Mariska from her grip, at which point she stood back up to look around at the various arcade cabinets and games.
While turning around, Mariska bumped her long tail on something, and after some metallic clinking, a robotic voice sounded out.
“Winner, winner!” it repeated, along with a jackpot noise.
Hazel and Mariska both turned to face the voice, to find that it was a coin pusher game – and Mariska’s tail had caused enough force to cause some of the coins to fall.
Tickets rattled out from the machine, and suddenly, both Hazel and Mariska got the same fiendish idea.
“Holy shit.” Hazel said as she gathered the tickets and did a rough count of them, her eyes lighting up.
“How many did that get?” Mariska asked, her voice filled with excited intrigue.
“About… two hundred fifty, give or take.” Hazel said, chuckling a bit.
“But, if that was just a light rattle…”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Oh yeah.”
Hazel was egging Mariska on as she gripped the sides of the machine with both hands, and gave it a shake worthy of a pirate who’d never lost a bar fight.
Surely enough, with an excessive amount of shaking, every single one of the coins fell from the shelf.
“Winner, winner!” the machine cried out, the automated voice clipping over itself as it became overloaded with the excessive amount of coins dropping.
Hazel struggled to gather all the tickets in her arms, and turned to Mariska with a genuine smile, snickering.
“That was sick! We’re the kings of the arcade now, baby!” she said, tugging Mariska by the arm down to eye level.
“You bet we are! And with all these tickets, we could buy out the whole prize invento-” Mariska, said, though, was abruptly cut off.
“Security! Those are the troublemakers right there!” a far voice called out.
“Shit.” Hazel and Mariska both said, almost in unison.
As the security guard came to remove the partners in crime, Hazel made a dash in the opposite direction.
“They can’t get both of us!” she said, quickly vanishing amongst the sea of arcade cabinets.
“Haz-!” Mariska cried out, and while she tried to take after her partner, a firm hand gripped her arm from behind.
“I think it’s time you should leave.” said the gruff voice of the coelune security guard, who was rather tall and bulky, unlike Hazel.
Without Hazel, Mariska didn’t feel confident in getting herself out of the situation, so she simply let out a defeated sigh.
“Yea, whatever, I’ll see myself out.”
It was a lonely walk out of the carnival’s ship, even if Mariska was being escorted by security – arguably, the stares from onlookers made it worse.
Security shooed her away at the docking area, where Mariska gave the guard a rude hand gesture and walked off to head to where she could start heading home.
Though, as Mariska made her way through the crowd, she could make out a familiar blue glow – and as the crowd dispersed, she could clearly see Hazel standing next to the oversized bunny plushie she had seen earlier – which was, indeed, the same height as her.
“I’m not the prince who stole the moon for nothing!” She said with a smile and a laugh.
“C’mon, let’s get our asses outta here.”
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