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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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.

Mat was cursing a blue streak under his breath, wondering about the general sanity of everyone involved in this and Karla in particular, but he jumped.

Karla wings flared and there was one beautiful moment when they just defied gravity as they reached the apex of their leap. Here, for this one brief moment, they were free from everything.

And then gravity reasserted itself and they were flying again. Though more wearily than even before. The camp!" Karla pointed, 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 Mat looked back hard enough, he 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."

"I don't even care what kind it is," Mat said, taking great gulping breaths of air. "Burn me, that was exhausting."

"But fun, right?" Karla asked anxiously. "I do hope you had fun." Karla used Craft to dig out a few sandwiches and some honeycakes out of the basket, floating one of each to Mat and the rest to herself. She was too exhausted to physically get up and get them. "There's more," she promised. "Eat up. Wine?"

The sandwiches were roast beef on a thick, savory bread with cheese and a tangy mustard. Even in a memory, Mrs. Beale's food was amazing. "I have no idea how they're supposed to have the energy for the traditional conclusion to a successful Run," she said, pouring herself a bit of wine.

"Wine would be wonderful," Mat said. "I've had enough spiced wine punch at home to last me a bloody lifetime." He glanced up at the ice. "I can't remember the last time I was supposed to be cold."

"Supposed to be cold?" Karla asked, floating over the bottle and a cup. "What do you mean by that?"

Mat swallowed hard at the floating things--magic was never going to be a casual thing for him to accept--but took the cup and bottle. "The weather has been turned upside down in the last year. For a while, it seemed that winter would never end, but when it did it got completely bloody hot--like someone is trying to dry out the entire world."

"Is this related to the world breaking you mentioned earlier?" Karla asked before taking a big bite of her sandwich. "Oh wait," she said after she swallowed, "that happened a while ago, right?"

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass," Mat recited from memory. "The Breaking was the end of the last Age. The heat...is one of the many portents of the end of this one."

He swallowed his wine with some haste.

Karla handed over another sandwich is silence, not sure what to say or do. "Gee, I'm sorry your world might shatter again," just didn't seem appropriate. And she didn't think it was something he wanted to talk about more.

"I'm organizing a trip to Kaeleer later this year," she said awkwardly. "A real trip, I mean. You should come. We probably wouldn't do this for real, but...we have horses?"

Mat, who was a great complainer about small hurts, laughed this rather larger one off. "That would be lovely," he said. "Pips could use the workout."

"Speaking of, would you like to head back now?" Karla asked with a smile. "You won't be so sore, tired, or hungry back in your own body proper. Though you won't have wings any more. Though I could teach you to fly back at Fandom, too."

Mat laughed again. "I think I'll stick to horses," he decided. "But thank you."

"Awww, you didn't have fun?" Karla asked, looking disappointed. "I may owe you a drink when we get back, then."

"Oh, I had a grand time," Mat assured her. "But I prefer things I can control myself."

"Don't date much then?" Karla asked with a laugh.

Mat laughed too. "Never if I can avoid it," he replied. "A smile, a dance, a laugh...I don't need to be tied down."

"Careful," Karla chided with a grin. "You'll get yourself a reputation for being fast. Of course, now I have to wonder. Where does flying and horseback riding fit on that scale of yours?"

Mat was fast, not that he was familiar with the term. He grinned. "Do I not want that reputation?"

Multicultural Fair! [The Gym - After Classes]

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