fandomhigh | Live Entertainment Appreciation, Thursday, Period 5

"Not all live entertainment is a spectator event," Jonothon said, giving his shoulders a shrug as he waited for the portal on the Causeway this week. "Though it's usually in a large part about spectacle, certainly. After all, it's hard to enjoy something that has difficulty catching your interest in the first place. That's why things like carnivals and fairs are so popular. There's so much going on, with lights and music and rides and contests and so on, that it's almost impossible not to feel engaged. There's generally a trade-off with that sort of thing, of course. You might have the time of your life, but queues are often long, and ride and game tickets are anything but cheap. If you're dealing with carnies and hoping you'll win a prize… best of luck. Their job is to make money out of you and lower the odds that you'll win that giant… half panda… half duck… plush… thing that you're aiming to get while throwing the ball at the milk bottles."

Jono was not exactly a carnival person.

"I'll be taking you to a carnival today, so that you can experience one for yourselves," he added as the portal appeared behind him. "The price of admission, plus all of your rides and games are covered for the afternoon, and we even get to fast-track you to the front of the lines since we've only really got the duration of class to enjoy ourselves. With that in mind, we'll all reconvene at the same place the portal dropped us off in an hour. Try to stay with a partner while you explore, and do stay out of trouble, hm?"

And with that, he waved everyone through the portal before he followed them through, himself.

And stopped. And blinked up at the large black mouse in the red shorts that was casually wandering by. And up again at the buck-toothed dog that wandered along shortly after.

"... Goofy?" Well, then. "Er. Emergency new class topic, then. We're not quite at a carnival, but an amusement park is nearly the same thing, only permanent. Enjoy Disneyland. Please don't steal bits of the park to bring back to the island with you. If anybody needs me, I'll be in Adventureland, appreciating the quality animatronics in the Tiki Room. If you get lost, ask a princess or a large anthropomorphic animal for directions back here to Sleeping Beauty's Castle."

Jonothon had a certain fondness for this place. He might even be persuaded to book an extra portal back to the island, for anybody who wanted to stay a little later.

[Open!]

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“Professor,” Karina said brightly, once she’d tracked him down. “Minako and I wanted to talk to you.”

About staying. Possibly forever. Well, okay, for the entire day at least…

"We'd like to stay, sensei!" Minako said, offering a deep bow. "Neither of us has any further academic commitments today, and we're willing to purchase our own portal back and call and check-in as often as you wish."

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease? Minako was going to break out the puppy eyes, Mr. Starsmore!

... You two girls were cheating, you know. Puppy eyes were a terrible, dangerous thing to inflict on your poor, unsuspecting professor.

"Stay? For how long?"

Note how that was not a no? Somebody was already planning on sticking around this evening.

That wasn't a no! That was a good sign, right?

Karina glanced at Minako, then back at Jono.

“I’m voting for until the park closes,” she said, eyes big and pleading because Minako might have started it, but she was just as capable of puppy eyes too. "At least."

Edited 2013-09-26 17:21 (UTC)

"At least?"

... Well, the park did close around eight. That wasn't really too bad. Jono glanced between the two girls again, thoughtfully.

"I've already booked a second portal, for another couple hours later," he noted. "I really can't make either of you come back to the island with me when I go, but I am responsible for the well-being of both of you while we're on these field trips. How badly do you want to stay more than the three hours?"

Because staying until closing would mean bloody near a full day, given timezones.

... Jono himself was tempted. He didn't have to be up in the morning.

Karina shot another glance at Minako, since they hadn’t really talked about it, but forged on.

“Really badly,” Karina said, which was the truth! At least on her part. “And I can afford my own portal! So it’s not coming out of the budget for your class or your personal money. And if we stayed past closing, it’d be to get, like, dinner and maybe see if there is a show on that we could get into.”

A beat.

“We can text you every hour? So you know we’re good?”

Pleeeeease? They were good, responsible girls!

That clearing-of-the-throat sound was actually the noise Jono's resolve made when it was cracking.

"Every hour, on the hour? You miss one check-in, and I would be right back to the park to hunt the both of you down."

Er. To make certain they hadn't been kidnapped by Donald Duck or something?

Karina refrained from squealing with glee but it was close. Wait until victory was assured, Karina! Wait!

“Absolutely,” she swore. “One of us will text on the hour, every hour, if that’s what it takes.”

She wondered if he’d notice he hadn’t set a time for them to get home by…

Karina wasn't going to point it out.

"And when were you planning on being back by?"

He hadn't agreed to let them stay, yet! He'd work on curfew as they went.

"I'd like to know how much sleep I'm not getting tonight."

... Ha. Like he slept anyhow.

Dammit!

Um. Karina tried to think of reasonable by an adult's standards...

"Eleven-thirty? Midnight? We'll text when we get back too!"

That'd help, right?

Kiss sleep goodbye, Jono!

"Midnight Fandom time should give you both until the park closes, at least," Jono noted, eyebrow raised. "Can you see any reason why you'd be staying more than an hour after the rides and such shut down?"

Seriously, he'd come back to Disneyland and drag you both to the island by your ears. And then you were welcome to book another portal back, or whatever you wanted.

"The hotel's got nightly live acoustic music!" Karina protested. "We'd want to stay and listen to that, and that's going to go past the park close. Not to mention grabbing a proper meal, since we're going to be super busy on rides and stuff until the park closes!"

See? REASONS.

"... Somebody tell me again why I live on Fandom Island and not at Disneyland."

She just had to bring up the music at the hotel, didn't she?

"Is the music for anybody coming out of the park, or just patrons of the hotel itself? Any idea who the entertainment tonight is?"

He hadn't been planning that far ahead!

Of course she did!

And you didn't live at Disneyland because you only wished you were that lucky, Jono.

"Pretty sure it's anyone who wants to be there," Karina said, hopeful. "But we can always confirm that before the park closes, so we're not stranded. Same with who is playing. I have no idea who is there tonight."

Jonothon sighed, and then waved a hand at the girls. Because he was a pushover.

"Fine," he replied. "You two girls stick around and have fun. Just let me know as soon as you can if the acoustic show is open for anyone, so I have some rough idea of when you'll be headed back. I think I'm contractually obligated to make certain you make it back to the school alive, and all, otherwise I'd just give you both the benefit of the doubt and let you do what you want."

... And also, he worried.

Live Entertainment Appreciation, Thursday, Period 5

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