[EVENT] What a Catch (Poptart)

Zell · Jul 10, 2015

@"Poptart"

Amphy's hands were buried deeply in the pockets of his long-legged khaki pants. It was a warmish day, but it wasn't too bad--the clouds in the sky managed to keep the heat to a minimum. Which was good, since the street that the faun was looking down seemed to be teeming with people. Well whatever--it was fine with him.

Actually when he first heard that there would be a music festival, he'd considered not going at all. It seemed like a weird thing for him, considering how much he did like music and the strange interest in other in people he had since he was young.

But...

Just the way he had to disguise himself made it a bad idea to be someplace with the potential of getting too warm.

Yet here he was. Standing. Waiting.

He couldn't bring himself to wear a long sleeve shirt today, so he'd worn a tank top and the lightest shawl he owned. It was lightly and breezy, despite the fact that he was still wearing his stupid hat. Why was blending in so hard? Despite how much it appealed to the faun to just not wear this particularly bothersome article of clothing, well.... horns.

Poppy · Jul 10, 2015

Ardos was attending to his sword, mostly.

For twenty years, the hunk of steel had been nearly indestructible. It had survived the brunt of the Underdark and the attacks of drow women, but for some reason, it was starting to crack under the sun. It eventually reached its breaking point when, while on the job, the thing shattered into four pieces. He went to the blacksmith so he could stick it back together and reinforce the strength of the metal, but Ardos wasn't certain how long his sword could keep up.

He was a bit late for his... meeting, with Amphy.

He parked his motorcycle at a nearby lot — he paused, and opted to wear his leather jacket — and made his way to their meeting place. True as his text said, Amphy was there, looking particularly nervous and wearing something a bit different from his usual.

His heart started racing.

He was nervous too.

He sent Amphy an anonymous package a week ago, and for some reason Amphy figured out his identity. He didn't want him to. It wasn't an invitation to ask him out. It was a quiet confession, spawned from impulse and heartache, and one he didn't even dream of ever being reciprocated. But he messed it up and it... interfered with the dynamic of their relationship.

His heart was on the table and he hoped against hope it wouldn't get shot.

He walked to Amphy and gave him a small smile. "Hey. The shawl is a good look for you. Do you wanna check out the bands?"

He offered his arm in case Amphy wanted to take it.

Zell · Jul 10, 2015

It hadn't been hard to discern the identity of the person who'd sent the package. Only one person knew that he liked chocolate like that, and that he needed milk. Additionally, most people who sent him things tended to have it sent to the school's film department. Him living deep in the forbidden forest was supposed to be a secret.

And yet imagine his surprise when he opened the door and saw two little chipmunks nibbling away at the corners of the simple box.

Amphios let out and exhale and tugged his hat down a little, resisting the urge to check his watch. He knew Ardos was late, but he didn't want to know how late. If he knew how late his date was then he would only feel bad about it, assume that he had misinterpreted Ardos' intentions and move towards mending the relationship his brashness had broken.

When he heard the familiar voice he exhaled and calm down and turned towards Ardos.

He.... wow. He looked.... really good in leather.

Oh god he hoped he wasn't staring.

Seeing the offered arm, Amphy smiled before threading his arm into the drow's, feeling the leather and the warmth just beneath. This was already a pretty nice day.... and really, they hadn't even gotten started.

"Yeah, I would love to see the bands."

The first steps into the throngs weren't too bad. There were games and booths set up which assaulted his nose with sweet and savory scents. And of course there was music that shook his entire body. He already liked it, pressing against Ardos to make sure they didn't get separated as his eyes were peeled for something they could do together.

"Hey," he asked softly. "Are you hungry?"

Poppy · Jul 10, 2015

There were so many people in good moods crowding the street. The bands attracted the most attention with crowds surrounding the makeshift stages. To fill the gaps in, there were food and activity stalls. It was so lively and festive and unlike the things commonly associated with him at all, which was a good thing, even if he felt terribly out of place.

Looped around his arm was Amphy, who looked absolutely radiant. The lyrics of a distant love song distracted him for a few moments before he heard Amphy's question. Some of these food did look appetizing even if he didn't know what they were. They could be poisonous to drow for all he knew.

"Yes. Let's go get some food." He nodded, letting them stop in front of some food stalls. "...I don't know how good any of these are. I'll let you decide."

Zell · Jul 11, 2015

On a moral level he didn't like leather, but holding Ardos' leather-covered arm was making him reconsider his stance on the issue.

Wait. No. Bad.

He peered around. Personally he wasn't a fan of meat or fried food, which was really all they had to offer at this festival. There were stalls for hot dogs and corn dogs and deep-fried little nibbles that people enjoyed, if the cluster around that booth was to be believed. He saw a little popcorn booth, which he could get behind, but...

That's when he saw it.

A medium booth with a rotating basin where he could see a rainbow of colors. The woman manning it was working on a batch of blue fluffy clouds, and he smiled. He liked the pink ones the best, but blue was a close second, and even then he wasn't particularly picky about any flavor of cotton candy.

The faun gave Ardos a little tug, leading him to the booth.

"Have you ever had cotton candy?" He asked, as he reached into his pockets, fishing around for his wallet. The woman was nice enough to make the cloud extra fluffy for them both to share.

Poppy · Jul 13, 2015

Amphy led him to one of the food booths decorated with bright neon stripes. While Ardos was largely unfamiliar with human cuisine, he learned to recognize a few patterns, like bright colors signifying candy or desserts. Its name — "Cotton Candy" — only confirmed it. It wasn't any candy he's ever heard before, looking more like dyed clouds than anything, and they came in a variety of colors that signified different flavors. He took the name Cotton with a grain of salt because gummy bears were not actually made from bears.

"No. But I'm excited to try." Ardos gave him a small smile and took the Cotton Candy, reflexively paying for it with some of the bills in his jacket. He broke a piece of cotton candy and popped it in his mouth.

It was delicious. It was sweet but it had a sharp taste before melting. Ardos was completely floored, eyes wide. "This is my new favorite thing. Can I buy them anywhere outside the festival?"

Splash.

The sound made Ardos turn around abruptly. In the other side of the street was a large, clear tank filled with water and someone seemed to have... fallen inside and flailing wildly while the crowd cheered at his pain. He looked at Amphy, greatly concerned. "Is this.... is this a torture practice!?"

Zell · Jul 18, 2015

As Amphy fished out the right amount of money, he realized that his date (oh god, his cheeks turned a little red just at the prospect) had already paid for it. The faun pouted slightly and put his wallet back into the pocket of his pants, easily plucking off a bit of the candy and easing it into his mouth. it seemed like every time they went out anywhere that Ardos was quick to pay.

On the one hand, Amphy was grateful. He lived almost entirely on a stipend from the school and had no job of his own due to the demands of tending to the forests and the animals that lived there, so having Ardos be kind enough to pick up the cost here and there was very nice. It made him feel okay about wanting to do things and have fun. Yet it filled Amphy with guilt and the uncomfortable thought that Ardos was starting to turn into some form of Sugar Daddy. And that was just plain awkward.

"Outside the festival?" Amphy murmured as the cotton candy melted into sweet sugar on his tongue. "I think they sell them all year round at the Amusement Park on the pier."

Seeing the machine that Ardos pointed out, Amphy got excited. "No, it's a dunk tank!" The faun pulled Ardos closer to it. "Basically, someone gets into the tank, and people pay money to try and make them fall into the water! It's great for relieving stress against someone you don't like."

Amphios loved dunk tanks. Though, that probably had a lot to do with the fact that there were a lot of people who he didn't get along with too well.

"You wanna try it out?"

Poppy · Jul 19, 2015

So it wasn't torture. It was public humiliation. Ardos felt like arguing about how unnecessary that was, but when the new tank person came around, he started picking out people one by one — their hair, their body shape, their styles of clothing. He honed in on him and Amphy and that's where he drew the line.

"With pleasure."

Ardos took off his jacket and handed it and the cotton candy to Amphy. "Please hold this."

He allowed a couple of people try first before him, stretching his swinging arm and loosening the knots around his shoulders. He observed the mechanics of the game meanwhile: So far, he needed to hit the metallic circle strong enough to trigger the mechanism? One of them tried to cheat by throwing a fireball at the guy, but he was protected by a force field. He was asked how many turns he needed.

"Just one."

He paid for the ball and turned it over in his hand, mentally considering force, weight and trajectory. Looked easy enough.

"Well, won't you look at this pretty boy, folks! It would be a shame if he throws and flops, eh? Eh? I'd tell him where to shove all that cockiness, but it looks like there's already a massive stick up there."

Ardos took a couple of steps back before throwing the ball with enough force it should throw the circle back. The way the man's eyes widened as he realized his fate was incredibly satisfying, and seeing him flop around the water was just icing on the cake. The crowd cheered, and a massive teddy bear was shoved in his arms. Ardos pushed it away to get a good look of its cute face. It had a red bowtie with white polka dots.

"For the big winner!"

...Ardos thought they were just doing this for public humiliation. He didn't know there would be prizes. He made his way through the crowd and back to his companion with a bright smile.

"I'd like you to have this."

Zell · Aug 3, 2015

Amphy had only wanted to watch. Admittedly, he wasn't the strongest guy around, especially not when it came to upper body strength. Actually, he was pretty weak in terms of upper body strength. But lower body strength? He had that under control. Call it part of having the lower legs of a deer — kicking and running were more or less his specialties.

He watched as the next guy to get into the dunk tank sauntered up and made a big show of picking on people. Some of the things he said were pretty mean, and he seemed to only be sparing the people he couldn't think of anything mean about. Soon his tirade found Amphy and Ardos. Given the weird markings on his face, he knew he would be targeted. After all, freckles and small black splotches, those were understandable--hell, cute even. Not weird lines and shapes and.... whatever else.

His body posture showed him backing down, looking down to hide his eyes and his weird freckles--

When Ardos' jacket and their cotton candy was pressed into his hands.

The faun looked up, watched Ardos walk up to the vendor, take a ball, and then--

The mechanism spun back as far as it could without breaking, and he couldn't suppress a giggle as the tank dumped the douchebag into the water.

He'd just stuffed another fluffy bit of cotton into his mouth when Ardos presented him with a teddy bear with a bow-tie. It was red and white all over, just like its cute little bow tie. He blushed and beamed as he passed Ardos his jacket and took the bear. It was so cute. "I'll name it Mr. Bearington."

This was already proving to be more fun than he'd thought it would be.

"Let's go look at some of the bands! I think there's a really nice one near the end...." He thought Ardos might light that one. It was one of the bands he'd worn on his shirts before, after all.

Poppy · Aug 4, 2015

Ardos mirrored Amphy's beaming, even if his face wasn't suited for smiling and the very concept of looking excited where people could see made him feel awkward. He couldn't help it. The bear was more or less his height, and their faces juxtaposed together made for a really cute image.

He couldn't believe he made Amphy this happy by just giving him a stuffed animal. Ardos always adored his smile. Nothing held back the honest ones. They could part incoming storm clouds with how bright they were. He pulled on his jacket, his expression relaxing to a small but content smile as he ripped off a piece of cotton candy and popped it into his mouth.

"That sounds about right." Ardos nodded, reaching out to adjust Mr. Bearington's bow tie. "It looks very dignified."

At the suggestion of looking at more bands, Ardos nodded and walked either next or behind Amphy. He noticed Mr. Bearington was so big that it seemed like it was blocking Amphy's vision, though.

"Amphy?"

He thought of a multitude of reasons and phrasing of reasons that hopefully wouldn't offend. Eventually, he settled with:

"...Can I hold your hand?" This was already difficult. He felt heat rise to his face, but they were already on this topic. There was no escape. He cleared his throat. "So I can help you navigate the crowd. Not that I'm... insinuating that you can't do that by yourself... It's all right if you don't want me to."

Fuck.

Even he was aware of how awkward that sounded. He looked away and tried to assume the most neutral looking face he could muster considering every part of him wanted to expire then and there.

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[EVENT] What a Catch (Poptart)

Zell

Well-Known Member

Poppy

Well-Known Member

Zell

Well-Known Member

Poppy

Well-Known Member

Zell

Well-Known Member

Poppy

Well-Known Member

Zell

Well-Known Member

Poppy

Well-Known Member

Zell

Well-Known Member

Poppy

Well-Known Member