ic Ren Faire: Animal Pens (IC)

[Thevshi]

Fair Grounds (near Ocean Heights Amusement Park)

Port Regal, Freedom City, New Jersey

Friday September 27, 2024. 3:00 PM

 
As had been the case for well over a decade, the last full week of September had the fairgrounds near Ocean Heights Amusement Park was host to the Freedom City Renaissance Faire. The faire was spread out across the grounds, with various areas each offering a different experience.

 

With a variety of events that required horses or other animals, one area of the faire was comprised of stables and animal pens to house the various animals when they were not needed. Also included in this area was a small petting zoo to allow for children to be among some of the animals.

 

With the faire soon to wrap up at the end of the weekend, Claremont Academy had arranged for students that wished to attend to be excused from their last class of the day and had provided buses to transport the students to the fairgrounds. After the buses arrived at the parking area, the students were free to go where they wished for the next several hours.

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

Kate as a (mostly) city girl has the usual fascination with animals, she'd like to imagine in another world she would have grown up on a Midwestern farm! The Sanctum had a menagerie, and looking after the alien animals was neat, but it wasn't quite the same as getting to interact with loads of animals that didn't want to destroy the sun down to just drink your bones!

 

On the coach she'd already put on her disguise, her hair made black by nanites and a pair of stylish but practical glasses. She hadn't even thought about dressing up instead going for a hoodie and jeans with sensible boots for wandering around the whole Fair.

 

As she looked at all the animals she wondered if she'd see any of her fellow students in this part of the Ren Fair. Was it cool or not to like animals this year?

[Poncho]

(NPC Post)

 

There were a couple of other high-schoolers who made their way to the animal pens, a little after Kate was.

 

The first was the Junior troublemaker, Sam. She'd been very impressed by Daphne's idea of going as science-fiction franchise explorers, so she'd bought her own costume to match Mz. Grue's (Since she had to do it for real)- hers in blue- and was munching on a funnel cake as she wandered over to Kate to watch the animals. Sam wasn't training to be a Hero, she was just being trained to keep her powers under control, and she repeatedly showed she had only a slight interest in using her powers. She leaned over the pen near Kate and offered her a piece of the funnel cake.

 

"Here, uh..." she thought for a moment. "Kate. Right? This stuff is garbage for you, but it tastes good." she grinned. She was accompanied by a dark-skinned teenager who was not part of the Claremont Roster. Was this just a random stray Sam had picked up? That did happen sometimes.

 

"Oh, this is Lacie." She gestured. "We were in the funnel cake line together and turns out she likes this old show too. Not brave enough to dress up for it though." She taunted. Lacie just smiled, when she spoke, her voice was quite controlled. She was wearing very normal jeans and a shirt, with a cross around her neck

 

"Hello...Kate?" she smiled. "A pleasure to meet you. Do you like those goats?" she pointed.

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

"Thanks! And yes it's Kate!" she happily accepted the funnel cake, her metabolism meant she didn't have to worry about it, but she knew that teenage girls didn't want to be told that

 

"Goat's are really cute, and smart, for a certain value of smart! Though their eyes used to freak me out when I was smaller..." they didn't need to know it was from a villain that her parents fought

 

"Got to admit I'd never even thought about dressing up, I'm crazy jealous of all the time and effort people have gone into their costumes. Yours is amazing by the way, though I must admit I've not watched any of the show! " she gave a little guilty shrug.

 

Her life was sometimes so like a fantasy it didn't occur to her about such things, her mom didn't make a big deal of it, but the Sanctum was full of costumes and relics from Pax Roma.

 

"If you don't mind me asking where are you from Lacie?"

 

 

[Jack]

Jack strode proudly through the Renaissance Faire, wearing the costume his mom had helped him sew together....though she hadn't been super thrilled with how little there was to it. 

 

Jack was wearing a white furred lined loincloth, held up by several leather belts of various sizes, furlined Leather bracers and greaves... and a giant double bladed battle axe. The axe was foam rubber of course and strapped to Jack's back by a Leather harness that criscrossed over his scarred pectorals. All in all he kind of looked like a Saturday morning cartoon character, but he felt remarkably comfortable in the outfit. 

 

He hadn't really had much of a plan for what he was going to do today...but he had never really been adverse to just walking, so that seemed like the thing to do, and it had seemingly brought him to where the animals were. It felt right to be here and Jack could feel the subtle nature magic surrounding the different animals. It was rather calming to the bear spirit within, despite its desire to hunt and kill most of the creatures in the pens.

 

He leaned against the railing as a goat made its way over to see if Jack had anything it was interested in. Jack felt bad he didn't have any food for the goat, but leaned over the fence and petted the goat, feeling the tingle as his nature aura touched the goat and it let out a soft, happy little noise. Jack scratched behind the goats ears as it moved down the fence to find some grass.

 

He felt himself bump into someone and very suddenly became aware that he had absently wandered into a conversation between several girls. He scratched the back of his head absently as he often did when nervous and backed up a step. "Sorry! I did not mean to intrude, just lost in thought, mine apology." He said, accent getting a bit thick due to his nerves. As he stared down at the girl he had bumped into, he recognized her from school. He had seen her in passing, though he didn't know her name. 

[Poncho]

(NPC Post)

 

"I go to Saint Isidore's." Lacie said poiltely, obviously a well-mannered teenager. "Goats are cute! People sometimes think they're evil; the horns representing Satan or Baphomet, but you know those sorts of things are all hearsay, there's not really a clear idea of why Goats became associated with evil, and they're not really evil at all either. Some people think it's because of pastorial goat farmers being prone to burning down farmland." she said all this cheerfully, almost rambling before realizing she was dominating the conversation and stopping.

"...Sorry. I really like goats too, and I tried to look up some history on them once and then you know how it is you end up going down the rabbit hole and it's been 5 hours and you're reading a treatise from the 1300s or whatever about how Goats are evil. It's just silly how people judge things like that." she laughed to try and defuse the tension a little. Sam seemed a little surprised at the sudden outburst herself, not that she seemed to know Lacie very well. But she decided to answer Kate's other question.

 

"Yeah! I like it. I was gonna go as a pirate like those new kids are, but then Daphne came up with the sci-fi thing and that seemed way more my speed! Michael is all dressed up in that chainmail but there was no way I was ever going to be a knight or some stick in the mud." Sam grinned at Kate as she munched on funnel cake.

 

When Jack showed up, Lacie had to crane her neck to look up at him, shock pretty apparent on her face

"Woah. Are you a linebacker or something?" She asked. "And uh...aren't you...wow. There's a lot of you." she added. Sam frowned, trying to remember if she'd seen Jack around or knew him but not being able to place it.

 

"Oh, you go to school with us too. I don't remember your name though." 

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

Kate was listening with some fascination as this new acquaintance hit them with goat fact. As she listened she split her funnel cake fifty/fifty with the goats, it was only fair as they were providing most of the entertainment.

 

"My Mom always says you should be 110% passionate about everything you do, be it defending goat reputation or some really good cosplay!" it might be an inherited family trait but she was fully sincere as she spoke.

 

When she was bumped by Jack she remembered to act as though properly jostled, it was amazing the weird little skill you had to learn as a superhero!

 

"No harm, no foul!" she turned to look up at Jack, there wasn't much difference in height she was tall for her age (a lot of the class where it seemed), but he was probably just as wide as well

 

"Oh hey, I think you've seen you around the school! Names Kate, by the way, come feed the goats!"

[Jack]

"Da, yam called Jack. See yous around school as vell. Nice to meet yous Kate. And, da goats ist gud company. Had many where I grow up in Siberia...though much bigger then these goats." He let's out a soft chuckle of amusement. 

 

"No, never played the American futball...but ave been told would make gud player. Sports ist gud...but rather plant tree or be with animals." He says, answering Sam's quesrion and looks a little self conscious. "Ave been also told yam a weird one." He removes some bread from a pouch hanging from the belts around his waist and gives some to the goats. His give Kate and Sam a quick once over with a small smile. "Yous costume ist wary nice."

[Poncho]

(NPC Post)

 

"Thank you, Jack~" Sam said, giving a little salute based off the old TV show. Seemed like she liked it more than she put on; she did have some enthusiasm after all. "You might look like a brute but you certainly know the right things to say don't you? That's a good thing."

 

"No football? That's crazy. I can't imagine your Coach not hounding you through the halls begging you to play." Lacie said with a smile. "It's nice that you care about animals though! They're very important to humans and our ecosystem!" she said strongly. "If you're interested in activism, I might even be able to get you into some protests and the like...you know, protesting on behalf of experimented on animals and the like; the stuff that superheroes don't usually do anything about. We could always use more Eco-Warriors!"

 

Sam looked dreadfully bored at this.

 

"What about you, Kate? What are you 110% about?" she asked the other girl to get away from that conversation

[Jack]

Jack laughed softly. "Home school mostly vith grandparent in Siberia." Jack enlightened. "More nature magic den sports..."

 

He looked slightly concerned at the thought of being an eco warrior. "Might be more then dey can handle if gets out of hand...." Jack said softly, thinking about the last time he protested an animal.

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

"My Mom always says it's good to protest, even give them a bloody nose if needed, but you need to know all the facts first before you act. It's like a few months back when that UK team had to fight a Mink Gestalt that someone freed thinking they were doing some good!"  

 

Finally picking up the vibes to move on she quickly pivoted to her own interests.

 

"I'm a bit of an urban explorer, I like to get to those places where very few people ever go. Some view from the rooftops you can't get without being able to fly!" she looked a little wistful for a moment, one day she should be able to fly, but it was taking its sweet time.

 

 

 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence Harrow had split off from Mizuki and Baz when they had talked about wanting to go out to the training grounds. The blond teen did not have quite the same interest in the more physical events there that his girlfriend and roommate did. He figured he could catch up with them after seeing more of the faire or met up with them somewhere else when they were ready to move on. So, he had decided to start with the animal pens to see some of the horses and other animals.

 

The handsome blond teen was dressed in a rather fancy costume of a noble. He found the choice of costume to be a bit amusing, given that back in England he was considered a viscount due to his father's title, something he never brought up here in Freedom City.

 

Turing a corner, Lawrence spotted a small group of teenagers up ahead. He quickly picked out Jack, one of the new students on the same floor in the dorms as Lawrence. He also recognized Sam, though he had not interacted with her much last year. There was a girl with Sam he did not recognize from Claremont, but the last teenage girl he did know from when he had been at Nicholson.

 

"Oh, I expect a number of heroes that cannot fly have ways to get to some of the more remote rooftops in the city." He said aloud as he approached the group with his upper-class English accent. "Good to see you, Kate." Lawrence added with a warm smile.

"Jack, Sam." The blond teen added looking to each in turn before focusing on the stranger. "I do not believe we have met. Lawrence Harrow." He said with a smile.

[Poncho]

(NPC Post)

 

The other two teens also got the idea to move on and not make Jack too uncomfortable,- Lacie faster than Sam, who seemed like she wanted to ask more about the Mink Gestalt-, and the arrival of Lawerence made a swing in the emotions. Sam's opinion of Lawrence was...complicated at best. She still blamed him for putting Michael in danger last year, after all. But she offered a very small smile.

 

"Lawrence." 

 

Lacie meanwhile seemed much more polite, grinning back at Lawrence.

"Oh my, a noble has come ot the animal pens to spend time with us commoners? Why thank you, Lord Lawrence." she indicated at his outfit. "And the accent, delightful! We were just discussing what sort of hobbies we're 110% about. What about you, Lord Lawrence?" she asked. "Kate was just telling us about her urban exploration, which is something fun to me too, I love parkouring around and being active, rock climbing and the like."

Edited October 4 by Poncho

[Jack]

Jack looks up from the goat at the sound of his name. "Oh, hullo Lawrence." He looks around for a second, wondering if perhaps his sister was with him, but it seemed Lawrence was alone.

 

He was getting the vibe that he had somehow made the girls uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how exactly...but he was not the best at social cues, so he remained quiet as their attention shifted to Lawrence. He seemed much better at social situations.

 

Jack petted the goat softly as several more came over and nuzzled his hand, looking for affection. Jack eagerly obliged, grateful to be surrounded by animals. Animals were a lot easier to understand. 

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

"Well more I just like clambering up the side of buildings and getting a nice view of the city, I have not met many supers up there though. I caught a Raven a few rooftops over at best!" it was mostly true, apart from her Mom she'd only met other heroes on the ground at events.

 

The Goat it seemed were being well fed today, she'd wondered how things were going elsewhere in the fair. Picking up on his uncomfort Kate, gently nudged Jack in the ribs

 

"Not quite the same but I've gotten to spend some time up north in Canada. Been lucky enough to see a few Polar Bears, nowhere near as friendly as these goats!"

[Heritage]

GOSSAMER II

 

Many aspects of life in Freedom City were very confusing for Estelle; everything was louder, faster and brighter than she was used to, and everything around her was too hard and had no smell. It took a while for her to grasp the concept of what a 'Renaissance faire' was, but once it finally sank in, she was very eager to participate. Maybe, for a few hours at least, she might feel at home?

 

Drawn immediately the familiar smells the stable, Estelle soon approached the animal pens; she wore a deceptively simple outfit made entirely out of natural fabrics, care of her unusual but highly talented roommate Renee. The look suggested some sort of adventurous youth, complete with a light blade at her side, and her ubiquitous braid of gold bounced off her back as she strode towards the other teens.

 

"Good afternoon," she called out with a smile and a casual wave of a gloved hand. Her accent practically screamed 'money', but was very hard to place. "I've come to see the horses. Have any of you seen them already?"

Edited October 17 by Heritage

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence did not miss Sam's cold reception, while Jack seemed a bit uneasy with the change in her demeanor, the blond Junior did not let it bother him, simply giving her a polite nod in return. He gave Lacie another warm smile as she commented on his choice of outfit. "Hobbies? Oh, the normal life of leisure, dinner parties and the like." He replied with a grin, playing the part of a disinterested noble.

 

"But more seriously, I enjoy reading, but also try to stay physically active. Though I would not profess to be an expert climber or especially skilled at parkour." He then added, his expression becoming more relaxed.

 

It was then that Estelle arrived. "Good afternoon. Estelle isn’t it? Lawrence Harrow." The blond teen said in greeting with a warm smile, his upper-class British accent very distinct. "I have not, but was planning to go see them."

[Poncho]

(NPC Post)

 

"Oh, an adventurer!" Lacie said cheerfully. "I wish I'd been bold enough to dress up! You've all made such wonderful costumes, I feel so plain now in comparison!" She said, snapping her fingers. "But horses! That seems fun! Let's go see the horses!" she said, excitedly. Sam looked much less excited about this; she didn't like the preps and the princesses, and Lawrence was one of those and Estelle was the other.

Estelle might not have been on the same floor as Sam, but might have heard of the troublemaking Upperclassman.

"...Yeah, you guys do that. I'm going to go find somewhere else to spend some time, this place is getting a bit hoity-toity for meeeeee." she flashed a victory sign at them before wandering off, Lacie waving at her retreating back.

 

"...Well, I am still keen to see the horses if you don't mind me continuing to tag along!" Lacie said, smiling at the others. She might have been a student from another school, but she seemed more than willing to spend time with a bunch of strangers about her age; she was just an outgoing person like that, it seemed. "I don't know where the rest of my schoolmates went but I bet they're causing problems of their own somewhere..."

[Heritage]

GOSSAMER II

 

"Good afternoon, Lawrence," Estelle replied with an amused smile and a slight bow, clicking her boots together. "And good afternoon to you, milady,"  she stated as she offered Lacie a deep bow and a flourish. Reaching into a pouch on her belt, she pulled out a wrapped bundle. "I brought carrots and sugar cubes for us to offer the magnificent beasts, more than enough for us to share. Shall we seek them out?"

 

It was genuinely unclear how much of Estelle's speech was her playing a character, and how much was just her being her aristocratic self.

[Jack]

Jack barely felt Kate's nudge due to his bulk, but he smiled at her comment. "Da, polar bears can be very Unfriendly sometimes. But are truly magnificent."

 

Jack's ears perked up at the mention of horses and the new students arrival. "I vould not mind visiting de horses if everyone is going..." He looked from Kate to Lawrence to Estelle, to whom he also gave a polite wave of greeting. It was nice to be around others who enjoyed animals as much as he.

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

Kate patted a goat on there head and fed the gathered goats the remains of the cake.

 

"Sorry little goats we've got to see the horses, I'm sure someone will come along soon to give you food and fuss!"

 

She turned to follow with the others, the consensus matching her own mood right now. Slinking off to wander on her own was always an option later.

 

"Let's go see the horses then!"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence seemed unbothered by Sam’s somewhat abrupt departure, but watched her for a brief moment before looking back to the others, a warm smile back in place as they started towards the stables to see the horses.

 

The group had only gotten about halfway towards the stables when Lawrence suddenly seemed to tense and stopped, looking back over his shoulder, a distant look on his face as if he seemed to be trying to look at something in the far distance. Then suddenly, there was a *WOOSH* of air nearby and a figure came to a halt out of a blur of movement.

 

It was a man whose age was not very easy to pinpoint. He was wearing a pair of bellbottom jeans and a open vest with no shirt underneath. He appeared Caucasian, with a full head of frizzy brown hair and a goatee. 

 

"The Man holding all these creatures of nature prisoner and shackling them to the greed of Capitalism! Time to set them free!" He yelled out before disappearing in another blur of movement.

 

*WOOSH*

 

The teens could feel the displacement of air as blur passed by them before they even had a chance to react. Suddenly, all of the gates to the animal enclosures were wide open, as the man seemed to appear and disappear in each, yelling and causing a commotion, causing the various animals to start heading toward the now open gates, in some cases in something of a panic!
 

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence's eyes narrowed at the man that had suddenly opened all the animal pens. Just as the fast-moving man seemed about to move again, Lawrence blurred slightly as time shifted around him, accelerating his actions. "Try to get any bystanders clear." He stated to the other Claremont students near him before he turned his gaze back toward the speedster in vintage clothes. 

 

Reaching out with one hand toward the man, Lawrence let loose a burst of temporal energy. The distorting wave of energy quickly spread out in all directions from him, quickly covering fifty feet in any direction. The wave of temporal energy seemed to wash around the other Claremont students and bystanders in the area. When it reached the speedster that had started the chaotic scene, the man reacted with amazing quickness to dodge just out of the range of the effect. A few of the nearby animals that were starting to panic were also struck by the temporal distortion, which stopped them completely in their tracks, unmoving, but seemingly unharmed.

 

The man in the somewhat outlandish outfit turned back toward Lawrence, a slight scowl coming to his face. "That was very uncool, you must work for the Man!" He yelled out and in a flash of movement crossed the distance with the blond teen in the blink of an eye. 

 

*CRACK* 

 

There was a small sonic boom as the man launched a punch that broke the sound barrier at Lawrence's face. The man's fist seemed just about to hit the teen, when suddenly Lawrence’s body blurred with temporal energy again and was suddenly standing just to the side of where he had been, causing the punch to miss.

 

"How did you?" The man asked in surprise, pausing for a brief moment, before he continued moving, speeding past Lawrence and the other teens and running over to a spot toward the other end of the pens, with plenty animals about to stamped out between them.
 

[Tiffany Korta]

Centuria

 

Kate had been someone lucky, having been the last to leave she was in a position to see how things unfolded. She slowed her breathing until the world seemed to almost stop around her, even then it didn't give her long as she picked out those in the most danger. In one of those strange moments, she thought about her trainer, it was a shame she liked these trainers.

 

Weaving through the statue-like objects and animals around her she snatched up the first couple, bleeding vital second so the velocity wouldn't harm them, then brought them a safe distance away, before rushing back for the next. Each time she checked to see things unfold, too quickly for her liking, with the villain. They were a problem for a few minutes times, for now onto the next.

 

She counted about a dozen whisked to safety before things changed and she had to reevaluate things again...