"We just gotta get outta here without dyin', and we'll be set. Plus, we'll leave with our greatest desires, which is an added bonus." The woman grinned. "If we make it out." Azami chuckled, starting down the path again. "Oh, name's Azami," she added.
The physical touch helped calm the boy down a lot, and Joshua nodded hesitantly when Mia said that they were going to help him. "Thank you," he said. "My name's Joshua." For a minute, he thought about asking them if they knew why the soldiers had put him in a truck, but he decided that since they weren't there, they probably wouldn't know.
Arabelle managed to calm herself as Azami and Mia spoke to the boy.
It’s fine, don’t freak out. It’s just a kid.
A kid. Do you remember-
No. I don’t.
Well, do you wonder-
I shouldn’t.
She rubbed her temple and closed her eyes. Silently, she opened them and they flicked to the fairground. She didn’t trust herself to say anything.
Cassius looked down at the kid, trying to look as kind as possible. But being a six foot three tall vampire…it didnt quite work for him as he absolutley towered the child.
Not saying a word, he turned back around to see Vienna not paying the kid any mind at all.
Vienna had no liking towards any child, or anyone other than cute chicks and men in their 20s.
Yes she was lovely to old people, as shes understanding and sympathetic to all theyve went through. But kids…she never liked them.
So she stood there waiting for the others, squinting her eyes in the direction of thenferris wheel to see how big it actually was. And she was impressed.
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"It's nice to meet you, Joshua," Mia said easily. She couldn't help notice the less-than friendly reactions of some of the others, and hoped the kid didn't notice too. "Now don't be scared, okay? I tell you what–let's go take a look around this place and see if they have any decent food. I dunno about you, but I'm starving." She was always hungry. It was the negative side effect of being one of her kind, always needing extra food to keep up her strength. And as she was technically homeless and jobless on top of that, she'd learned to take advantage of any chance to eat she got.
"I'm not totally sure we should trust this place yet," she added, standing up. "But there's no harm in scouting around a little. Coming?"
A tall figure approached them from the direction of the fair as the stood on the path, greeting the boy. The figure was a male, with a big nose, kind of like a tomato. He had a kind face and brown hair that stuck straight up. He looked about middle aged, and all limbs. "Newcomers!" He crowed, in a faintly snotty voice, like his nose was plugged. "So pleased to see you! Welcome to Ravenmire Gardens! This is all your first times, I assume?" He looked at them curiously.
Then he shrugged. "Well, it's none of my business. As I said before, welcome to Ravenmire! Would you all like to come to our amusement park? We have so few visitors nowadays! Quite sad, really."
Arabelle was already annoyed by the man. He reminded her of a desperate salesman. Perhaps he was a desperate salesman.
“I would like… a cup of coffee.” She said, not caring one bit about the fairground. And go home, she thought.
She wanted to let Mia and Azami be in charge of the kid. Heaven knows she couldn’t do it.
Vienna stepped to the man with absolutely no hesitation. "Look…whiever the hell you are. Whyre we here? We just wanna go home" she says irritably and quite annoyed with the whole situation. She didnt have time for this.
Cassius on the other hand, had plenty of time and thought of it as quite the nice adventure. All he did was work at a morgue and mooch off the blood of the corpses. Which…wasnt preferable. He spent his long and safe days in a run down mansion that was once inhabited by his family before they all died.
He gave a friendly smile, apologetic to say the least, but saying nothing
Mia grinned at the stranger for the kid's sake, wanting to be a good example. "Ya got any good food, mister? Or maybe a map of this place? Or heck, maybe you can tell us what Ravenmire Gardens even is?"
It was a long shot, but she figured she might as well ask. The man was hard to read and she couldn't tell if he had any magic around him. Then again, she could only sense really strong magic unless she knew what to look for. At the very least, she might be able to watch his aura and tell if he lied to them when—or if—he replied.
The man chuckled. He seemed not to care about the tones of voice or the rudeness of Vienna and Arabelle. "I can get coffee for you." He snapped his fingers and a glass would appear in Arabelle's hand.
He glanced at Vienna, and smiled sympathetically. "You came in the gate to get your heart's desire, correct? If you had wanted to go home, then you should not have come into Ravenmire."
He bowed to all of them. It was a polite bow, not a bit of mocking in it. "Ah. My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Forti. I am the tour guide of Ravenmire Amusement park, and I provide information about this area of Ravenmire." He smiled and straightened. "I have maps over here, at the information booth, and pamphlets as well, to show you all the sights." He motioned to a booth nearby, that said information at the top. "Although, unfortunately, the map only shows the area of Ravenmire that we are in right now, the Vacation Grounds.
"To answer your last question, miss, yes, we have any food you could possibly want." Forti smiled welcomingly. "Come!" He motioned to the amusement park.
Arabelle flinched as the cup appeared in her hand, and she nearly dropped it. This is some really weird magic, she thought as she stilled, the cup thankfully hadn’t spilled all over her. She glanced up at the man, suddenly intrigued. He can’t be a witch, at least, not in the conventional sense. His abilities don’t match up with my studies at all!
She took a thoughtful sip, and it was… amazing. Just to her taste, and she could feel the lethargy sliding off of her like an old skin. Yep. Definitely the weirdest set of abilities I’ve seen in my life.
She felt a semblance of respect for him now, but his general demeanor and wording kept her on guard. She tilted her head to Mia. “A map sounds nice, even if it’s just this area. What do you think? I mean, of him and everything in general.”
"Any food?" Azami's eyes were wide with excitement. "Do you have ramen? Not the instant kind, real ramen?" The woman rocked back and forth on her heels, her fingers drumming rapidly on her legs. "I like this place!"
(everybody's like 'this place is sus' then Azami's just like 'if y'all got ramen, then I'm set')
(lol ikr XD)
Mia grinned at Azami's reaction. She was starting to feel like they had two kids in their group, not one, but that was fine by her. "I think as long as we stick together and don't let him rope us into anything crazy, we should be safe just looking around. This place is weird, yeah, but I doubt anything too terrible will happen this early on. Besides, it'll be a good chance to look around for clues about the truth behind this place. Fair enough?"
(dsakvn sorry for the late response)
Joshua had stayed quiet and had grabbed the end of Mia's shirt. He…couldn't go home? And what was this about a 'heart's desire'? He'd just seen people going somewhere, leaving him alone, and ran after them. Desire meant something you really wanted, right…? "Mister Forti? Is… do you think I can see my mom?" he asked. There was a waver of hope in his voice. The man had made that drink appear in Arabelle's hand, and other weird things had happened, maybe he was magic?
Vienna stepped back at the sight of his magic and the others reaction. This man reminded her of the angels magic and their charisma. Just who was this man? The angels stayed up in heaven unless cast down to earth as a punishment. She didnt see any burnt wings on his back. But the again she didnt have any either. But if thay was the case he wouldnt have any magic.
Nevermind that. She wanted to get out of this place and fast. But it seemed the only way to do that was follow the rabbit into this spinoff wonderland if she had any chance.
There was no way he would actually be telling the truth. Nobody get return an angel to heaven. Right?
Cass's gentle eyes swung over the group. The skeptical ones and the ones that seemed like they actually enjoyed this place. Taking notes if who was who in his mind, he turned to the man with a kind smile. "Sir, would you mind showing us around the place a little? And…" he paused, debating whether to ask.
"And what are we supposed to do in order to get a hold of our "hearts desire"?" He asked kindly
“Fair enough,” Arabelle replied to Mia, taking another heavenly sip. It was almost like she’d done this before, and not just studied it or something.
“Where to first?”
She wasn’t sure who she was asking, either Mia, Forti, or both. She didn’t really make eye contact with either of them, so it was hard to tell.
Forti laughed, and it was a warm laugh. "Of course we have ramen. What flavor would you like?" He glanced at the others. "Would you all like a map, then?" He asked politely.
When Joshua spoke, he knelt down next to the boy - which made him seem like a flamingo, folding its legs up - and smiled slightly. "I think there might be a possibility," he said, his voice warm and full of sympathy. He stood, and met eyes with each of the people there. "After all, in Ravenmire, anything is possible."
With that, not answering any of the questions, he led the way over to the information booth, regardless of anyone following him. He picked up a few pamphlet-map things and held them up. "With these," he said, "you'll find out what you would like to know about Ravenmire… although it might take a bit longer than you like."
"Hmmm…" Azami pouted for a second, before her face lit up again. "Miso ramen! With pork, and an egg, too!" The woman looked around more, beaming at everything she saw. "This place is so cool! My brothers are going to love hearing about it!"
Mia sighed and gave Joshua a pat on the shoulder. "Ah, heck. Let's go get a map and some food. Clearly this Forti dude isn't gonna give us all the answers right away." Taking the kid with her so she could watch him, she accepted a pamphlet from Forti with a 'thanks, bro.' Then she confidently followed Azami into the fairground, waving for the others to follow and hoping she wouldn't have to turn a sketchy vendor into a tooth donor like the last time she'd visited a place like this.
Ariel had stepped through the gates with the others, but presently she was absolutely terrified. Was this some sort of trap? Or a trick of some kind? She didn’t know, and didn’t care to find out, but she was now stuck here, so she didn’t know what to do.
Joshua's eyes lit up at Forti's words and, though he wasn't giddy by any means, he was a fair bit more upbeat and moved with a little less hesitation. His eyes lingered for a moment on the brightly-colored carousel when they passed it, and the smell of fried food made his mouth water. Joshua wasn't normally allowed to have food like that, only as a special treat. Mama had said it was unhealthy and having it too often would make him sick. It smelled really good, though…
Arabelle gave a tiny smile, gradually becoming not as put off by Azami’s rowdiness. Before she followed the others, she turned to Ariel, looking down at her terrified expression.
“Hey, are you alright? I know this is crazy, but we don’t have a lot of options right now. Let’s stick together, okay?”
She gently touched Ariel’s shoulders, guiding her forward.
“Alright, we’ll stick together. I’m a paramedic, I’ll be able to help at least a little if someone gets hurt.” she said, hoping to be reassuring herself.
Mia glanced back and was happy to see Arabelle making sure Ariel was okay. With that off her mind, she nudged Joshua lightly and nodded at the stands of delicious food. "Smells pretty good, huh? You want some too? I got extra cash today, luckily, so we can split it and share."