[FIN] Bobbing for Apples

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, yeah," he said as he glanced up at the large ride, then followed after his friend towards the entrance. Once they'd both obtained their tickets into the fair - Abel had luckily set aside enough spare change to afford his after receiving the invitation the night before, even if it meant he wouldn't be able to afford much in the way of groceries for the next couple of days - the taller blond glanced around with a broad grin and a boyish enthusiasm he normally didn't have. "Man, I haven't been to a fair in ages. This was a great idea. I wonder what games they have?" Probably a water gun game, or a ring toss game, or maybe a shooting gallery, or a balloon popping game, or... Probably any number of them, but that wasn't the only thing they'd come to do.

With that thought in mind, he quickly reorganized his priorities and turned to Zevran curiously. "What d'you wanna do first?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hummm, good question." Zevran peered around the fairground, craning his neck in an attempt to see over the crowd. Sometimes behind on the shorter side was quite inconvenient. "Shall we find some games?" he suggested after a few moments of thought. "A coconut shy is always fun to try, or a shooting gallery- ah! And if there is a mechanical bull we must try that, and watch other people try it too." The inevitable failure of most made the success of the few who managed to hang on for more than a few moments all the more enjoyable.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I'm all for a shooting gallery," Abel said as he stood up on his toes to give himself an extra inch or two to see with. While he was a good few inches taller than Zevran, it didn't help that much. There were people taller than he, after all, plus those carrying balloons or children on their shoulders didn't help matters. "I dunno about a mechanical bull though, but that'd be fun to watch. It looks like there's some games over this way," he said as he lowered himself back down and jerked his thumb over to their left where an assortment of tents stood. Breaks in the crowds of people afforded them glimpses of colorful objects that could only be game prizes strung up along the ceilings.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Right," Zevran nodded and set off in the direction Abel had indicated. The press of the crowd around them caused him to bump against the taller man at one point; he looked up with a smirk to comment. "Ah, sorry, I just can't keep away from you it seems."

The game itself turned out to be a strength test complete with outsized hammer; Zevran paused in front of the tall structure with its flashing lights to watch a middle aged man give it a very fair whack, sending the lights shooting about two thirds of the way up and winning him a small plushie for the girl Zevran assumed was his daughter. "Shall we give this one a try?" he suggested with a nod to the game; he was no body builder but he was quite strong enough to flick his own weight around with ease so he expected he would do reasonably well if he tried.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Crowds were unavoidable in events like this, as was bumping into your company. Abel returned the smirk in full force. "No need to apologize for that, man. I know I can be irresistible sometimes," he said with a roguish grin.

And then there was the game - the strongman game, if he remembered right - and the blond hooked his thumbs into his pockets as he looked it over. He never was good at this sort of game, and he suspected that after his atrocious diet of practically nothing he'd be even worse at it. But what fun was there if you didn't embarrass yourself at least once at a fair game? "Sure," he replied with a light shrug, "though I don't expect I'll do well at all. I can go first if you want to look especially good in comparison," the blond added with a self-deprecating smile. That was, of course, assuming Zevran would do better than he. Given the fact he probably ate better and was in better health, he couldn't imagine Zev would do worse.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ah, it's true!" Zevran agreed, fluttering his eyelashes up at Abel with another smirk before bumping against him again and adding; "Really it's a wonder I have yet to persuade you to join me in a dark corner somewhere. And yes, please, go ahead," he gestured to the flashing lights of the game, "not that I need any help looking good of course, but we can tell everyone that's the only reason you failed to hit the top si?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel chuckled a bit as he smirked down at his friend. "And you seem like such a persuasive individual too! I'm surprised you haven't tried." Hmm... "Ah, alright," the blond said, interrupting his train of thought before it could even leave the station, and shot the shorter blond a grin. "The only reason I won't do well is because I'm too distracted by my handsome friend, is that it?"

Conveniently for the pair, the line for the game wasn't long at all, so Abel didn't have to wait more than a minute or two before he stepped up to the game, accepted the oversized hammer, and swung it down onto the target. The lights didn't seem to shoot so much as they seemed to float up to a point not even halfway up.

"Well how d'you like that," Abel said with a chuckle as he stepped aside and offered the hammer to Zev. "That wasn't.. quite as terrible as I expected, but definitely not even remotely flattering."  

[TawnyAngel]

Hummmm. Zevran smirked and arched a suggestive eyebrow at Abel. "That sounds like it could work as an excuse, yes, very well in fact."

Abel's attempt wasn't as bad as it might have been given how skinny he was an as he stepped over to pass the hammer Zevran grinned and gave him a companionable clap on the shoulder. "Not bad," he said as he walked over to the game himself and raised the hammer. After a moment of hesitation he brought it down; the lights barely blipped.

Grinning broadly Zevran handed the hammer back to the game manager and sauntered over to Abel. "Oh dear that was quite bad wasn't it? I must have been distracted."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

At first he wasn't sure what to make of Zevran's comment, but as he took his turn his meaning became quite clear. A smirk slowly spread across Abel's face as his friend returned; he looked quite pleased with himself. Well now. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you did that on purpose," he said as his eyebrows arched a bit and he hooked his thumbs into his pockets again, a smirk still on his face, "but there are a lot of good-looking people around today, with how busy it is, so I understand how you could be so distracted. Maybe we'll both do better at another game?" So saying, he gestured to one of the many other game booths just a scant few feet away from the strength game.  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran looked around conspicuously at the crowd and then nodded sagely. "It is true, there are many fine faces and forms around today. Some of them closer than others of course." He had never been one for subtlety at least not socially, quite a waste of time nine times out of ten.

"Ah, hoop targets?" Zevran observed as Abel pointed the game out. "I think we may have more luck here yes? Skill rather than brute strength has always suited me better." He hoped there was a shooting gallery around here somewhere, now that he would be good at!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well of course." As he spoke, Abel casually bumped into Zevran and aimed a smirk at him before he headed to the next game. Unlike the previous game, this one's booth was large enough to accommodate several players at once, so Abel sidled over a bit to make room for his companion. "Ah, ring toss," he noted aloud as he accepted a handful of circular plastic discs from the individual running the booth. "I dunno if I'll be much better at this one compared to the last one, but I guess we'll see."

Falling quiet, he began tossing the discs at the assortment of bottles ahead of them, a feat that proved rather tricky when the discs seemed much more inclined to bounce off the bottles and onto the ground than actually encircling them like he wanted. He did manage to get a few though.  

[TawnyAngel]

As it turned out he had been a little over optimistic about his skill at ring toss games; several of the little plastic circles bounced off rather than landing in place as intended and the poorer than expected performance drew a muttered phrase in Spanish from Zevran's lips. While he hadn't done as well as he might have liked he still did well enough to get a small prize and after a moment of deliberation he selected a small, bright blue clear plastic water pistol.

"Well that was actually rather harder than I expected," Zevran commented to Abel spinning his new acquisition around on his finger. "I suppose I should have handled it a little more carefully eh? It's all in the wrist, I am told."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel received his prize - a large, colorful bouncy ball - at the same time Zevran received his. As he stepped away from the game he opened his mouth to reply, thought better of it, shut it again and grinned devilishly. "Well I guess we could both use some practice then - maybe later on, after dark?" He added innocently as he scanned the area. There were plenty more games, but truthfully they hadn't gone very far before games had distracted them both. "D'you want to play another game, or find something nice to ride on?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Well this was promising. Zevran grinned wickedly. "I am never against practice, or finding something nice to ride on! For now however why don't we try that?" he indicated a small roller-coaster a short way off. Still grinning Zevran added; "Not the largest I have ever been on but it still looks like quite good fun to me."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"You know what they say: Practice makes perfect," he commented, still grinning. He followed Zevran's pointing finger to the roller coaster in question; it definitely didn't look that big - fair rides were temporary, after all, and needed to be small enough to be packed up and shipped off after the fair - but it still looked enjoyable just the same. "Aw, you know size doesn't matter. It'll still be just as fun," he said, his grin renewed. He tried to think of a good addition to it but couldn't think of anything that wasn't glaringly obvious, so he simply left it at that.

As they approached the ride, Abel turned the bouncy ball over in his hands and frowned a bit. It was a little too large to fit into any of his pockets... Hm, maybe he could find a bag somewhere to put it in so he wouldn't have to carry it around for the rest of the day. Oh well, he'd just have to deal with it for now. Unlike the games, the coaster had a bit of a line, so Abel stepped around to the end of it to wait. He turned another grin to Zevran. "It looks bigger up close - but then again, I think most things do."