fandomhigh | Multicultural Fair! [The Gym

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!event: multi-cultural fair

Multicultural Fair! [The Gym - After Classes]

The benefit of doing something like this for the second time meant that Joan and Turtle had a much easier time of setting things up since they knew what worked and what didn't.

Turtle had, once again, provided decorations from Turtle & Canary. There was the requisite refreshment table, though it was primarily there to provide beverages, since most of the booths featured culturally appropriate food.

After set up was complete, Joan and Turtle sat down to catch up while they waited for the fair to begin.

[~~wait for the ocd or Turtle will kick you in the shin~~ OCD up! No shins were harmed in the making of this post!]

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Dinah caught that, remembering Tahiri, and reminded herself to mention that to Karla when they had a second alone soon.

"Hunh. Okay. So you've got like alternate worlds, that are really really similar, and all connected," Dinah said slowly. "Got it."

"The Runs are the only naturally occuring element that exists in all three Realms," Karla continued. "The only other thing that does is SaDiablo Hall. That's because the Territories of Dhemlan and Askavi exist in both Kaeleer and Terreille, and he has a Hall built in both Dhemlans. And one in Hell, because he rules there. The Keep also exists in both of the living Realms. But you'll have to wait to see that when you actually come to visit."

Karla took a deep breath. It was a lot to cram into just a few sentences. "Okay, lesson time done. Why don't you take a moment to...oh, I don't know. Try out your wings, maybe?"

Hopefully that surprise would make up for the geography lecture.

Oh heck yes.

Dinah dove forward, feeling wind on her face, with a screech of joy.

Karla wasn't sure why she hadn't expected that. This was Dinah after all. "Whoa! whoa! Careful!" she said, launching herself into the air. "This is a memory, but it'll still hurt like a bitch if you hit something."

Unlike the wings that Karla had brought home, these were real; a part of Dinah's 'body.' They were black and membranous, and very, very strong. "Your coloring is wrong, but you could still pass for an Eyrien," Karla said proudly. "You share their love for the sky."

Dinah grinned at her, floating for a moment, enjoying the feeling that these wings were really hers, the strength inherent in it, and said, "Okay, I'll be careful. Promise." The memory was carrying her along anyway, as it had when she'd ridden the unicorn all those months ago. The canyons of ice opening up before her, strange lights in the shadows, gleaming away; warm currents across her skin....

Dinah really was Eyrien in her soul; Karla was certain of it. Rather than say anything else, she followed Dinah's lead and let the memory overtake them. *Thank you, Prothvar,* she sent, though he wouldn't be able to hear.

She grabbed Dinah's hand and dove into the canyon.

Free fall. Hawk fall. They seemed almost to drift for a moment on the wind, before gravity sent then plummeting downward. She reveled in the speed, the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Ice walls sped up to meet them until Karla opened her wings, caught the Rose thread and took off down the Blood Run.

For almost anyone else, she'd stick to the White. But Dinah--Dinah deserved the Rose.

"Ohhhh..."

Dinah felt the rush as everything fell away for a second, fearful for just a moment, then the air caught them and she was being pulled along in Karla's wake, blood pumping in her ears and pulse racing as they flashed past columns of reflected icy light.

This is awesome!

They danced on the Winds, twirlung, spinning, dropping from one Wind and catching another. Karla lead the dance, probing ahead to untangle the Winds and choose the threads that would keep them relatively safe in the center of the canyon. Dinah could probably feel when they switch Winds--the very air itself would change, sudden currents would buffet them, causing then to gain or lose altitude, or skim across the surface of the ice walls, so close their breaths turned to mist. And the darker the Wind, the more wild the power, the harder to tame the air and stay aloft.

The greater the exhilaration, too.

Dinah was always going to love this as much as the first time she stepped into the air with Peter; no, more, because she was doing it under her own power, seemingly.

The gasps at every plummet were matched by every squeeee! as the current caught her, and the twirl as another breeze would flow by and send her careening to follow Karla. Not exhausted yet, no, not yet please, a while longer, just a while longer....

Of course they weren't done yet! Karla wouldn't do that to Dinah. But she was about to change things up a bit.

"You're turn!" she shouted, letting go of Dinah's hand. "This Wind goes steady for a bit. You lead!" She pointed in the distance, where a large ice wall thrust up out of the ground to meet them. "Till there. Go!"

"Yes! Yaaaay--" Dinah's cheer echoed off the ice walls, and she plunged downward, then let an air current carry her up in a gliding spiral to the top of the canyon.

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

"This way!" She spread her wings as far as she could, watching the sides, and swooped from side to side, unable to believe how awesome it was.

Another dip, and then she remembered folding her borrowed wings back, took a breath, and dove.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee....!"

Karla slipped from the Yellow to the Opal, diving down towards Dinah. The darker Wind was faster and would let her get below the other girl if necessary, spin out a net of Sapphire power to catch her if she misjudged her dive or caught and aircurrent poorly. If that happened, the shock would almost certainly jar her out of the illusion.

She didn't think that would happen, but Dinah liked playing things close to the edge.

Faster and faster and faster and then fwoop Dinah spread her wings, and zoooooomed upward with a change of angle, chortling and doing a somersault.

"Karla! This is wonderful! Whoops.." Dinah had to correct there for another current, one that had her swerving downward, still laughing. "I love this!"

"I couldn't tell," Karla deadpanned. "You seem fairly stoic about the whole thing."

She dropped from the Opal down to the Yellow, so as to not end up spiralling beyond her on a collision course with the ground almost a mile below she couldn't stop. The far well kept zooming closer and as it did, the Winds got rougher and more turbulent. "You're doing wonderfully," she called, "but don't let your guard down now!"

Even someone as reckless as Dinah got tired, though, and started to slow down. "Whooooooa." A current grabbed her, and tried to spin her out; Dinah corrected and somersaulted, then settled ofr a glide.

Gliiiiiiiide. And the far wall came into view even closer.

SWOOSH and Dinah gasped, feeling how the winds wanted to smash her into the side of the canyon. Ziiiing and they tugged at her wings again. Still holding on by her fingernails, though, to the feeling of flight and joy.

Karla flew forward and offered her hand, intending to drop them down to the White Wind. Dinah was getting tired--and so was she, truly--and it would be best to finish out the Run this way. No reason to crash this close to the end.

The ice wall was so close now, looming until it was the only thing in her vision. Karla angled upward, getting closer and closer to slamming into the mountain, waiting until the last second before breaking free of the Winds and rising up and over the edge. She landed on the top, panting, but grinning at the same time.

"Not...over...yet!" she said. "Have to get...there!" She pointed at the other side of the ice wall. What appeared to be a giant slide had been cut into the side of it and there, in the distance, was a small campfire. To the side of them were long, flat sheets of ice. "Ready to ride one down?"

Dinah took her hand with some relief; she was slowing a little, but she followed Karla as closely as she could as they soared upward and then flopped over the edge. At Karla's question, she laughed, caught her breath, and said, "Ohhhhhh yes." She squeezed Karla's hand, and sent, As beautiful as New Gotham.

At that, Karla spun around to give Dinah a quick, fierce hug. *Thank you,* she sent back, psychic thread flavored with happiness. *I'm glad you like my home.*

When both she and Dinah had caught their breath, Karla grabbed one of the ice sheets, strengthening it with Craft. It a way, it was much like the roller coaster they'd ridden in New Gotham; the slide was easily that high, though the drop was steeper. At the end, it curved back up like a ski jump.

"Be prepared to fly," Karla warned as she got on the front of the ice sheet. She tossed a grin back over her shoulder. "This is gonna be intense!"

Dinah grabbed her hand, and took a breath, following her onto it. "Ready!" Closed her eyes a second. Then opened them as they started to slide. "Yes!"

Karla was busy screaming as gravity hurtled them down the ice wall. There were some bumps in the ice that flung them up in the air as they went over them, some keeping them airborn for whole yards. There were a few times when their ice sheet shifted to one side or the other, nearly tossing them out of their seats, but they always managed to cling to it until it landed back on the slide.

The end was speeding up to meet them. "Ready....get set...jump!" Karla ordered, releasing the Craft that held them on the sheet and flaring her wings.

Dinah snapped open her wings, and felt the air rush against her face, the total lack of gravity, almost, as they rose with the momentum of the jump and the sun shone across their skin.

And had the thought she always had: how could anyone ever do anything but this, if they could?

She glee'd and soared as they started to come down, calling to Karla, "The camp?" Because as awesome as this was, and even if it wasn't real, she was getting tired.

"The camp!" Karla yelled back, slowly circling down towards the fire. The setting sun caught the ice and thousands of rainbows sparkled in the dusk. The wall behind them seemed almost to catch fire, a shifting mass of gold and crimson light. If Dinah looked back hard enough, she could just catch sight of the Winds, dancing and curving like sinuous ribbons of power.

At the campfire was a generous picnic. Fluffy blankets were laid out, with basket nearby overlaid by a warming spell. Juice and wine were placed in a hole dug in the ice nearby. Karla landed next to a blanket and practically collapsed. "Oh good," she said. "Food."

"Soft," was about as coherent as Dinah was capable of being, and also, "Waaarm." She snuggled into the blanket and looked over at the basket, reaching out pathetically. "Tiiiiired."

Karla used Craft to dig out a few sandwiches and some honeycakes out of the basket, floating one of each to Dinah and the rest to herself. "There's more," she promised. "Eat up."

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Multicultural Fair! [The Gym - After Classes]

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