Closed RP Gourd Vibes Only

[Crow]

Sam’s smile grew as she watched Todd take Adelyn’s hand. Something easy was settling into her skin, despite the overwhelming vibrations. She had long gotten used to sensing people and animals and machines moving. And there was something so cheerful about this place. She had only gone to a few with her family as a child. It came to her so vividly. She almost stopped walking, slowing down, as she realized that it was the first time in years she had thought of… good memories?

She shook herself out of it and took a few long strides to regain her pace and footing with Todd and Adelyn, both of whom had such long legs. For a moment, she searched around them, her eyes telescoping– then tugged them both over in the direction of a map and directory. There were pamphlets piled up on the table in front of it, but she took a moment to study it. This pumpkin patch was far more than just a pumpkin patch. There was a petting zoo, horse rides, a zip line, a carousel, two corn mazes, contests, apple picking, and pig races. Pig races?

She took a moment to look up at her companions and gauge their expressions when she had finished looking at the map. Neither of them, she realized suddenly, had the worry that her parents used to have taking her to events like these. Neither of them were looking at her like they were worried she’d get in trouble. Had… had her parents always looked like that when they went places? Sam remembered the days of her parents wearing and carrying oven mitts around with them for in case she had a meltdown. She remembered, though, that they always had a good time. Even so, how had she never noticed?

She turned her attention back to the board as she thought about it. That would be on her mind for a while. But maybe, for now, she could put it out of her mind. She breathed in deep, and let out a small rush of hot air as she breathed out. It spiraled up and away from them, dispersing into the air. She turned a smile back onto them.

“It looks like it depends on if we want to go right or left. That way–” She pointed to the left, “Looks like it’s the petting zoo and the carousel. And the other direction is the mazes and apples and pumpkins.”​

 

[Wendigo]

Todd smiled back when Adelyn met his eyes, without any teeth. He held her hand firmly – reassuringly, tightening back when she tightened her grip. I’m here. Nobody will hurt us.

Then he broke her gaze, looking up at the same board as Sam, then looking to each side.

“Maybe the petting zoo and carousel to work up an appetite?” He made the suggestion, but he kept it a question for Adelyn. “Then if we do apples, we can go into the maze when it’s less crowded, and pick a pumpkin right before we go home.”

He glanced at Sam for a moment, for reassurance of his own. She’d gotten lost in her own thoughts for a second. He was learning what that looked like, the slight haze in her eyes. There was a warmth in her exhale that was almost something tangible, carrying the spice of her core cinnamon-scent. He swallowed, and looked back at Addy.

“Unless you wanna do something else first, kiddo. Today’s totally up to you.”

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn lets Sam drag her over to a little wooden stand without complaint, leading Todd along in turn and peering curiously at the paper plastered to the wood once they drift to a stop. Oh, it’s a map! It’s different from the maps she’s used to looking at, but it’s a map nonetheless! She studies it, occasionally glancing up and around as she tries to match the little graphics and labels to their real-world equivalents.

“I wanna do the zipline,” she announces, after diligently listening to her friends’ suggestions. It strikes her as strange that neither of them brought it up, but she shrugs the strangeness off, not allowing her smile to dim. “If y’all wanna do the carousel you can, but I think I’d get dizzy. Oh, the horse rides sound fun, though! I’ve always wanted to ride a horse!”

She’s pretty sure Uncle Barclay had a horse, at one point, but she never got the chance to ride it because she was too young. It’s past time to correct that injustice, in her opinion. Determined, she takes up Todd’s hand again (she’d dropped it to look at the map), seizing Sam’s as well before forging her way into the fairground. It's so much easier to ignore the people around her when she can’t hear their every breath and shuffling step. She's glad for her new Shift, even if she is still in the process of figuring it out, and gladder still to have her friends on either side of her, a buffer between herself and the crowd.

Not that she needs her powers, to follow a simple map! No, she can do that just fine on her own. She locates the horse rides quickly - they're right next to the carousel, as it turns out, and the carousel is a big structure with a distinctive pointy roof - and slots the three of them in at the end of the line before dropping their hands again.

Trying not to think too hard about the people standing and chatting just ahead of them, she adjusts her sunglasses and turns to smile at Sam, then Todd. There's still nervousness lingering in the edges of her expression, but for the most part she's eager, gloved hands fidgeting together like she can’t figure out how to shake out the energy that has overcome her. “You said they do this every year? How do they find the time? Is it always like this? This… elaborate, I mean.”

 

[Crow]

Before they left the map, Sam grabbed one of the smaller portable maps. She caught Todd looking at her, a question in his eyes. She smiled warmly at him as Adelyn took their hands and raced off, declaring what she wanted to do first. Sam even laughed a little as she was pulled along to the horse rides, which looked like a fairly standard, if large, round for them to prance through. As they stopped in line, Adelyn started to ask questions.

“Yeah, every year! They tend to shake it up and do different things every year. But a lot of places are so popular that all they do all year long is prepare for this! The farm we went to back home, with my parents, it wasn’t quite this big, but it was full to the brim with things to do. So, I guess, yeah. It’s usually this elaborate.” Sam rested a hand on Adelyn’s elbow, trying her best to calm the girl’s nervous energy. She wasn’t good at calming people, not like Todd was. She was better at getting people excited and revved up.

The line moved ahead of them, and the three of them stepped up to almost the front of the line. In front of them was a younger couple, with a young toddler in the husband’s arms. She found herself staring for just a moment, a bit of sadness entering her heart. It was a quick, sharp pang. Sam would never have that. She would never have kids. The doctor had told her that when she was fourteen, when her parents had taken her in to see a specialist, when she hadn’t grown an inch in two years, when she was still less than eighty pounds. She would never have kids running around her feet, in her arms, to tuck into bed at night– something she hadn’t told Todd yet. She’d have to do that eventually.

But Adelyn, or maybe Todd, shifted next to her, and the vibrations brought her attention back to them. Her face softened into a smile again. This was good. To be surrounded by people she cared about, people she adored. This would be enough for her. She might never be a mom, but she could take care of Adelyn while her mom wasn’t there to do it. She knew the girl had her grandparents, but she could still help. She could be the older sister she needed. She could be a driving force, a helping hand, whatever Adelyn needed. And that would be enough. Her, Nat, and Todd. She could be happy with just them.​

 

[Katpride]

Adelyn still feels like she’s set to buzz right out of her skin, but she settles a little by the time they reach the front of the line. Horses are big, proud beasts, and her worry about spooking them supersedes her nervousness about having to talk to the man in charge of leading them around by the reins. It takes her a moment to stop fretting even after she climbs up into the saddle, but once she relaxes she finds that she quite enjoys both the view and the gentle rocking of the pony as it’s led around in a slow, plodding circle.

Maple is a very good horse, she’s happy to announce, after she waves goodbye to both horse and owner and leads their little group onwards to the petting zoo. It’s a shame that Adelyn missed the window to feed her sugarcubes, but she perks up when she hears that there will be animals in the petting zoo that she can give treats to.

She’s gonna give them all the treats! … Or all the treats that they’ll accept from her, at least. She doesn’t always get along the best with little furry things, being a big furry thing herself. Or… scaly, now, she guesses.

Regardless, she does just that, and although the animals don’t seem to know quite what to do with her, they at least aren’t scared off right away when she approaches them. She’s even able to pet a few of them, cautiously tugging off her glove so she can run her human hand over their soft fur.

It seems like rabbits like lizards more than they like big cats, which makes sense, actually. She’s seen what happens when a big cat catches one of them, after all. She doesn’t know enough about lizards to know what happens there, but it seems like these rabbits don’t know, either, so it works out. She keeps her movements slow and her hand full of food, and they reach a truce. It kind of makes her want to try hunting wild rabbits again, but she tries not to think about that while she’s feeding them. They might smell the traps she’s building in her mind.

Her glove goes back on when they leave the little fenced-in enclosure that is the petting zoo, and Adelyn makes sure it’s firmly in place over her fingers while she looks over Sam’s shoulder at the little brochure-map-thingy she’d grabbed. She points at a spot on the map as soon as she’s ready, tongue poking out from the corner of her lip as she tries to map the course they’ll have to take to reach the ziplines.

When she thinks she has it she sets off without hesitation, a hint of sharp victory in her grin as she takes the lead once again. She’s still leading them around any large clusters of people, sticking close to the side of the main path so she has less of a chance of bumping into anyone, but she relaxes a little more the longer the day drags on without anyone confronting her about her oddity. This is still more people than she’s been around… probably ever, honestly, but it isn’t so bad. Everyone seems to be minding their own business, for the most part.

The trek up to the zipline might be her favorite part of the evening. It takes them along a steep dirt path, surrounded by trees on all sides, and she takes advantage of the lack of people willing to make the hike to run full tilt up it, arriving at the wooden structure at the top of the hill slightly out of breath but smiling brightly. Then the attendant makes a joke about her eagerness, and she remembers abruptly that she’s surrounded by strangers, her smile dimming even as she tries to play it off, and she falls back to anxiously wait for Sam and Todd to catch up.

Luckily, they don’t take too long, and once they’re up on the platform with her she can stand mostly behind Todd, partially out of sight due to his tallness, where she can fade a little more easily into the background. She reads the rules on the sign while the attendant explains them, squinting through the blurriness of her contacts to make out the words. There’s something about accessories buried in there, but she can’t quite tell what it says. She doesn’t dare rub at her eyes lest she shift her contacts out of place, so she doesn’t quite get it until she’s all buckled into her harness and they’re gesturing for her to remove her sunglasses.

“So they don’t fly off,” the attendant explains, and they’re looking at Adelyn and waiting with the little line-clip in their other hand, and there’s really no reason for her to freeze under that customer-service-friendly stare, but she does anyway, one gloved hand wrapped tight around the chest-strap of her harness.

“O-oh, um,” she manages, casting a frantic glance in the direction of her friends. Her feet seem rooted to the spot, at least until the attendant shifts in her peripheral, maybe just to change the balance of their weight to their other foot, and she -

She jumped, suddenly un-stuck, and scurried over to hide (hide) hide behind (tall dark safe now) Todd, her heart suddenly beating fast enough to make her a little dizzy.

- and then she’s standing behind Todd, hands hooked in the material of his outermost jacket, blinking blearily to clear the smears from her vision.