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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"You wear them well," she said, giving him a quick grin.

Unlike the wings she had back in Fandom, constructed from metal and fabric and Craft, these were real wings of bone and muscle and sinew. They belonged to the body Mat 'wore,' even though he saw it al his own. "You could almost pass for an Eyrien," Karla said. "Prothvar is an Eyrien warror who gave me this memory. He'd be pleased to know that they didn't go to waste."

"What's an Eyrien?" Mat asked. "Besides a handsome man with wings, of course?"

"No, that's basically what Eyriens are," Karla said, eyes dancing. "A handsome male--or female--with wings. They're fierce warriors from the Territory of Askavi. They're one of the three long-lived races. I do hope you're not too displeased with the comparison."

"Not at all," Mat assured her, preening. "How does this work, then?"

"Well, I was thinking...this," Karla said, grabbing Mat's hand and diving 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 White thread and took off down the Blood Run. Mat, his body caught by the memory, did the same, taking to the air as if he'd been born to it.

"Blood and ashes," he gasped, holding on tightly to her hand. "This is the bloody craziest thing I've ever done, and I've done some bloody stupid things."

"Relax," Karla chided. "I won't let you fall. You'll like it, I promise. Just let yourself get swept up in the sensation."

They danced on the Winds, twirling, 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. Mat 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.

Mat's eyes were as wide as they could go: he didn't want to miss a moment of this experience. "This is so much faster than horses."

"We should go riding some time," Karla said, beaming at Mat. "I haven't found anyone to go riding with here. But yes, much, much faster than horses. More dangerous, too." The 'also, more fun' was implied.

They swooped through another quarter mile of the Run; darting around large protrusions of ice, diving down almost to the bottom just to catch an air current and get flung upwards again. Mat seemed to becoming acclimated to the experience, which meant that it was time for Karla to change things up again.

"You're turn!" she shouted, letting go of Mat'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!"

Mat burst out laughing. "You might regret this," he warned, then spun them both through the Run, drifting onto the lower air currents when he could catch them.

"It's just a memory," Karla reminded him, flying at his side. "If we crash, we'll just wake back up. Besides, are you going to be beaten by a little bit of flying and some ice? That's not very Eyrien."

She veered to the left in order to avoid an ice spike, then did a few lazy backflips in the air. "You can do this, easy."

"I'm no gleeman, to be flipping around like that," he warned.

"You don't have to flip," Karla said. "You just have to fly and not hit anything. Though, if you really wanted to, you could flip. That body knows how, even if you don't. But it isn't necessary. You're having fun aren't you?"

"Very much," Mat assured her, then flashed her a smile. "We should go riding sometime so I'm not completely in your debt for fun."

"That would be wonderful," Karla said, cheerfully. "I do miss riding. And if you're ever interested, I can teach you to fly, for real, back at Fandom."

The far well kept zooming closer and as it did, the Winds got rougher and more turbulent. "You're doing very well," she called, "but don't let your guard down now!"

"Burn me, being smashed into a wall isn't on my list of priorities," Mat replied. "Do you have a horse with you?"

"Not here," Karla said with a pang of regret. There had been no time to get hers from the stable. "If I ride, I usually rent a horse from the Gig."

Even someone with the borrowed stamina and reserves of an Eyrien warrior got tired, though, and started to slow down. This was the trickest part of the Run; as the body's energies ebbed, the power of the Winds increased. A current grabbed them, and tried to spin them out. Karla grabbed onto Mat's hand and pulled him close, holding tightly as they glided through the middle of two closely-positioned jagged peaks.

"Here we goooo!" She yelled to be heard over the rushing wind. An updraft sent them spiraling up into the sky and then a vicious crosswind sent them hurtling towards the wall. "Reeeeady..." she said, "...and break!" She let go of Mat's hands, giving him a wuick push with Craft, so they could both get out of the current before smashing into the wall.

"Blood and bloody aaaaaaaaashes," Mat howled as skimmed past the wall.

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.

"You can do it!" she called over the wall at Mat. "Just a little bit more and you'll be up top. Promise!" She couldn't hear what he was yelling, but he sounded enthusiastic. Though she also couldn't tell if his expression was one of joy or terror.

To be safe, she readied a Sapphire net to catch him if he needed it. They weren't quite done yet.

His expression was a mixture of both, really. Mat Cauthon was a complicated man. He flapped his wings (burn him, he had wings) and caught up with her on the other side.

"That was bloody insane," he said, trying to catch his breath.

"You should try the Khaldheron," Karla smirked. "That Run makes this one look like a game for children. Especially in Hell."

"...And we're not done yet!" she said. "We're heading down 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?"

"Definitely," Mat said, grinning hard.

And ignoring the idea of Hell, at least for the moment.

"Exactly what I wanted to hear," Karla said approvingly.

When both she and Mat had caught their breath, Karla grabbed one of the ice sheets, strengthening it with Craft. The wall was very, very high and the grade was steep. At the end, it curved back up like a ski jump. Off in the distance, there was the glimmer of a small campfire. "That's what we're aiming for," she said, pointing.

"Hold onto me, but be prepared to let go and fly if we need to," 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!"

"Just how I like it," Mat shouted back over the screams of the wind.

"Good male!" Karla yelled, before flinging the improvised sled down the wall.

After that, Karla was busy screaming and laughing 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.

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