Life's a Circus, Friday, Second Period

[exboywonder.livejournal.com]

When the students made their way to the Danger Shop today, they would see a note on the door saying "Here Be Clowns." That was all the warning you were getting, coulrophobics.

When the students were all inside the shop (and inside the virtual circus tent), Dick started the lesson. "Let's talk about clowns. First off, if you ever see one who looks like this guy," Dick said, pushing a button on the shop remote to display a projection of a joyfully psychotic-looking man with a white face and green hair, "run. He's a lunatic and a murderer and he can do real damage. Any Gotham City kids in here hopefully know what I'm talking about."

"Sorry, it's just a civic duty to mention that if I'm talking about the clowns in a place where the Joker might theoretically appear someday," Dick said, turning the projection off. He hit another button and a much less murderous-looking clown appeared. "But that's not really what I want to talk about with clowns. What I really want to talk about is teamwork. I don't know if you've ever met a solitary clown, but it's a little sad. Kids are never really going to react the way the clown wants. At best, he does some magic, makes some balloon animals, and then repeats for the length of a birthday party." The clown put a balloon hat on Dick.

Dick just nodded a thank you to the clown and pressed the button a few more times.

"But if you bring more clowns into it, then they can play off of each other. If you hit a kid in the face with a pie, all of the other kids are going to laugh at him and he's going to cry. If you hit a clown in the face with a pie, not only can he take it without crying, but he can play with it," Dick said. One of the clowns handed another a pie, which was then thrown at a third clown. The first clown brought the third one a bottle of seltzer for revenge, but it was pointed toward him. When he tried spraying the seltzer, it sprayed right in his face.

Fortunately, it cleaned most of the pie off.

"Okay, maybe it's not hilarious, but it's better than the sad, solitary clown," Dick admitted before pressing a different button.. "When you're talking about a team of clowns in the circus, you inevitably come to the clown car. It's a ridiculously small car - usually a VW bug, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were minis or Smart Cars being used now - packed with way more clowns than is at all reasonable. And just when you start to wonder how so many clowns fit in there in the first place, they all start piling out."

Seven VW bugs packed with clowns drove down from the far end of the circus tent

"But what happens if the cars have a little bit of a breakdown?" Dick asked, pressing another button on the remote, blowing out a tire on each of the clown cars, sending them into a horrible skid right at each other... but with each one missing somehow.

The last car did crash into a table filled with whipped cream pies, though, so at least a mess was made over there. It was something, right?

"And now it comes down to teamwork for you guys. Whether you're trying to help the clowns get to the end of the show or just trying to get them out of here because they're creeping you out, it's up to you to fix their blown tires to get them on their way. Team up. That's going to be key, especially if you don't know much about fixing tires."

And since the clown cars were tiny and had clowns where a spare tire would be, another clown - stuck through seven tires - came rolling toward the cars. "Bonko there has all the tools you'll need. Just give him a minute to let the dizziness wear off."

"Oh, and before I forget, there is a barrel full of clown costumes over there if you want to dress the part. Now get to work. You have clowns to help!"

Comments

Teamwork!

[exboywonder.livejournal.com]

Find a partner and fix a tire with handwavey tools supplied by a dizzy clown who just climbed out of the tires. Hopefully someone knows how to fix a tire....

Also, clown costumes (if you want to dress up) and clowns (if you want to play with some bumbling but well-meaning helpers) are fully moddable if you want to play with them.

Re: Teamwork!

[hurtingzeebo]

Sam was still eying the clowns. None of them looked as old as Cramps was, at least.

Man, she hated working on cars. She wondered if anyone would notice if she snuck a bite of one of those pies.

Re: Teamwork!

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"You look like you could use a partner," Jack said. He picked up a tire iron.

Re: Teamwork!

[hurtingzeebo]

Sam looked him over. He was cute. Very cute. She smiled.

"That'd be great!"

Re: Teamwork!

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

Jack replied with a grin and offered the tire iron. "I hope you won't mind that I'm not dressing up as a clown."

Re: Teamwork!

[hurtingzeebo]

"Mind that you don't have a death wish?" Sam hefted the iron and slapped it into her palm a few times. "Not at all."

Re: Teamwork!

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

He got the jack and started to prop the car up. "I try to avoid death wishes. Around here especially, it's asking for trouble."

Re: Teamwork!

[hurtingzeebo]

"Yeah?" Sam asked. "You been around for awhile?"

Re: Teamwork!

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"About a year. It's been a pretty busy one. Did you get the usual first day spiel?"

Re: Teamwork!

[hurtingzeebo]

"A guy named Spock said the dorms are usually safe, and the radio's done by squirrels."

Re: Teamwork!

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"He really skimmed over the details, didn't he?"

Re: Teamwork!

[sedlexduralex.livejournal.com]

No way was Jocelyn dressing up as a clown. If she did, Lucian or someone would find out and she'd never ever hear the end of it.

But she could try to fix a tire. If she had any idea how to fix a tire. Okay, she could try to help fix a tire.

Re: Teamwork!

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy remembered Jocelyn from the trip in. "I'm pretty good at fixing tires if you want to help," she suggested.

Re: Teamwork!

[sedlexduralex.livejournal.com]

She gave Mercy a quick smile. "Sounds good. I...actually have no idea where to start. Other than 'take the bad wheel off' which is more of a concept than a plan."

Re: Teamwork!

[walkswithcoyote]

Mercy grinned. "Don't worry, I can show you what to do."

Re: Teamwork!

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

Butters had started with just putting on a big round red nose. And then he thought, well, why not? He'd go with the oversized shoes, as well. And the big baggy pants soon followed, and a funny little hat, and the next thing he knew, Butters could fit in with any of the other clowns.

He'd always enjoyed dress up and was now just having fun with it.

Re: Teamwork!

[bat-spawn.livejournal.com]

Damian picked up the tire iron and waved it at the dizzy clown until the clown backed away. "Get me a jack," he told the clown. "And don't try anything funny."

Re: Teamwork!

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Hey, in this timeline Stephanie hadn't yet had the long-term head-hurty 'pleasure' of working with Damian (or, you know, knowing him at all), so the urge to grit her teeth and tell him to lighten up at the same time was inexplicable. Yet somehow instinctive. Go figure.

"Really?" she asked the kid brandishing the tire iron as she lugged one of the new tires over. "Sheesh, someone's already cranky today."

Re: Teamwork!

[bat-spawn.livejournal.com]

Damian might be the son of the World's Greatest Detective, but he did manage to overlook things at times. His fellow students, for example, who he hadn't paid much attention to, thinking them below his notice. "What are you doing here, Brown? Did Grayson send you to check up on me?"

Re: Teamwork!

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"Are you allergic to people's first names or something?" Stephanie asked, assuming he thought the teacher had assigned her to work with him. "He said to work in teams. Unless you're allergic to that too."

Re: Teamwork!

[bat-spawn.livejournal.com]

"Not that Grayson," Damian said, jabbing a finger in the direction of the teacher. "The other one." He peered at Stephanie. "Wait, are you a student here?"

Re: Teamwork!

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"Nope, not a student. I just like to hang around in circus tents recreated by a simulator in a castle on a traveling island for the fun of it," she answered. Hang on a second. "What do you mean, the other --"

She followed Damian's gesture toward Dick, then back again, and Stephanie was going to end up with a nice smudge of grease across her forehead from where she smacked it with the palm of her hand.

"Oh, goodie. This again."

Re: Teamwork!

[bat-spawn.livejournal.com]

"You're from a different world than mine, aren't you?" Damian demanded. He eyed her chest. "I had wondered how your development managed to recede."

Re: Teamwork!

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"You know me." She wasn't asking how. She'd been so weirded out by getting signed up for a class taught by Dick freaking Grayson that she hadn't managed to start guessing at who Damian was. Way to practice those detective skills, Steph.

Mostly, she was glowering at him, having noticed what he was looking at. "Quit staring at my chest, you little creep!"

Re: Teamwork!

[bat-spawn.livejournal.com]

"What 'chest'?" He wasn't staring. He'd just taken notice. "Of course I know you. You're one of my father's hangers-on."