itinere | Mingle Event

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Mingle Event

The County Fair has come to Itinere! It just magically appeared overnight. Such fun, right? Absolutely. Here, you'll find every rickety ride you can think of from ferris wheels, water rides, pendulum rides and roller coasters to the horrifying Drop Tower ride, a reverse bungee experience and tilt-a-whirl. Pretty much if you can dream an amusement ride, it's here. Don't even think about going hungry. They fry everything at this event. And of course there are the old staples of any Fair, funnel cakes, corn dogs and shaved ice in every flavor. Careful, you just might get pulled into a massive tent to judge anything from pies to barbecue to pickles to jams. Oh, but it isn't all food. You might get pulled into a tent to judge livestock. Sheep, cattle, pigs and llamas are the name of the game. Who has the best of the best? Did anyone say horse races? Feel free to bet at the makeshift track where horses will be racing all day! The promenade has several live bands cycling through on and off all day. Grab someone and dance before you, yourself get pulled into a two-step.

Everything isn't entirely on the up and up though. Did that sheep just whisper to you? What is it telling you to do? Is that paint on that clowns face or is that just his face? No smile should be naturally that large. In the hall of mirrors, you might not see yourself looking back at you. One of the mirrors might even be empty. Anyone who goes through the tunnel of love will feel compelled to kiss no matter who they're with. The acrobats do death defying acts that seem far too unreal. And the animals in their cages, the lions and the panthers... they look at you with a sentient, knowing eye that would give anyone the heebie-jeebies. The music in the promenade might force you to dance, with or without a partner. The fortune tellers know far too much about you and your life past, present and future.

But hey! It's a Fair! Everyone loves a Fair, don't they? Have fun while the fun lasts!

ooc: This is a very stereotypical fair. Feel free to create your own adventures, good or bad. Want to play with some of the not quite right stuff in the Fair? Have at it! Basically, create your own muses storyline here, let your imagination run wild, mingle, and have fun! Want to plot with others? Comment to THIS post!

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Prim has never seen a fair. She might have been in Itinere for a week or so, but this fair thing is new. A lot of things are new here to her. Cotton candy is another. Yes, she's got a large blue and pink stick that is most definitely cotton candy. What interests her is the large baked item he has. Looks like it has sugar on it.

Prim wanders up after a minute or two. "Excuse me. What's that? I've never seen it before." She points towards the funnel cake.

When the young girl approaches him, Derek offers her a healthy grin. It's welcoming enough so that she knows he isn't a danger to her. He's been here long enough that he knows most people will be wary, some less so. What she might be is completely up in the air right now. But she's young. And she's alone. That much makes Derek worry over her instantly. This place sometimes has the habit of bringing in people separated from their families. But someone so young, that just pisses him off.

"This is a funnel cake. Best fried sweetness you'll ever have." He plucks a piece off of the plate, pops it into his mouth. It's a gesture of good faith. Then he offers the plate up to her. "Wanna try a piece?"

Most people would still say thirteen is young and Prim won't really dispute that despite what she's seen and done in her life. She just acts older sometimes, for better or for worse.

The gesture of good faith is not lost on her and it goes a long way to making her feel better about asking. So she nods. "Yes, please. We could trade for it. I've only eaten this side."

She motions towards the one side she's touched. The other is clean. Scout's honor.

"We didn't have anything like this in Panem. None of this." It's a whole new and weird world to her, but she wants to experience it all while she can.

"Ahhh don't know how long it's been since I had cotton candy. Sounds like a plan." He reaches out to tear a small punch off of the cotton candy ball.

"I'm Derek." He introduces himself because that's what people do, especially when sharing fair delicacies. "Can't say I've heard of Panem."

"My name is Prim," she answers with a smile, waiting until he's gotten his chunk of cotton candy before she reaches to pull off a small piece of his, what was it? Funnel cake.

"I think I'm the only one from Panem who's here." Which is both a good and bad thing. It means she's a thirteen-year-old living on her own and she's separated from her family and everything she knew. She's adaptable, but it's still hard on her.

A young girl here on her own? Derek had a problem with that, not that he could do anything about it. But he had a problem with it in the same way that he had always taken cases more personally back home when they involved kids. It just seemed... wrong. And though he tried to let it go, since there was nothing he could do about it here, he couldn't help that pang of instant protectiveness.

"Good to meet you, Prim." He offered her another smile. After popping the cotton candy in his mouth, he gestured to the but of funnel cake she had tried. "What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

Prim had grown up so much in the last year. She'd become more or less a thirteen-year-old adult, having seen and done so much. But none of that meant she was ready to be on her own. She could survive, yes, but she wasn't happy.

Clearly this means she needs a cat and a couple of goats to help.

Prim nods at the questions, taking her time to chew through the rich funnel cake. "It's really good," she answers after she swallows. "Sugary. Really full and rich. If Peeta ever comes here, I'll have to show him. He might even want to try making it."

"Peeta a friend of yours from your home?" Derek asks, pretty sure that he knew the answer already. But still, he wants to know more about Prim, especially since she's here alone.

But since he thinks he knows that answer, he asks another question before tearing off another bite of the funnel cake to pop into his mouth. "Where you from?"

"I think so," she answers with a slight tilt of her head. "He's more my sister's friend, but I guess he's mine, too." She at least knew him pretty well.

Prim goes for the cotton candy since she's holding it. The question of where she's from brings an interesting dilemma, but she decides to go with the more broad answer. "I'm from Panem. It's... nothing like this."

"Never heard of Panem." And Derek thought he had heard of everywhere. But on the other hand, he had been here long enough to know that the doors didn't just go back to his own world. They went to places that were beyond him. He was one needle in a big ol' stack of needles as far as Itinere went.

Since she said it was nothing like here, he has to ask. "What's it like?"

Prim goes quiet for a minute. Panem is not a nice place and she's struggling to put words to how horrific it was without truly bringing to light those horrors. She wants to give him an idea of what it was like, not terrorize him like they were.

"It was awful," she responds finally. "You know how we have the choice of what to eat and where to live while we're here? We don't have that in Panem. We had to fight for our food, find it somehow, and we were lucky to have anything at all. The Districts were so separated and so tightly held back. Most people never left the place where they were born."

Unless they were reaped for the Games and at least not until recently. But even now, there's no guarantee of the outcome. Prim might have been on her way to the Capitol with the rest of the medics of 13, but that was no guarantee that any of them would survive, that things would change. She could hope, but for all she knew things would never change.

As Derek listened, his brow furrowed, eyes narrowing. He had met people here before from places that reminded him how much he took for granted in his home world and here. But it had been awhile. People deserved better. This girl, Prim, she deserved better. While Derek had wished to go back home more often than not, he had to assume that it was a good thing that she was here in Itinere.

"That doesn't sound like a place to live at all." He says thoughtfully.

He turns that darkness that had overtaken him around and wears a forced grin. "You must be really glad to be here then."

"Yeah, I am," she agrees quietly. "But there are other people who should get this chance, too. I miss my sister and my mother. Gale, our friend. Peeta. There are so many good people who should be here but aren't. They shouldn't be forced to live in Panem while I'm here."

If she could get back through her door and to Panem, she'd bring them all here. She's sorry for bringing such a sad note to the festival, but it's hard to talk about Panem and make it happy.

"Does your door open back up? Mine doesn't but I've seen some people come in here and have the ability to go back and forth through their door... just to check up on their people." Derek had been here awhile. Itinere wasn't new to him. But he couldn't imagine having people he loved in a place like what Prim is describing.

"Not that you can bring them in here without this place choosing them. But peace of mind about their well being could go a long way." He explains.

Prim just shakes her head. It's a tricky subject, these doors. On the one hand, she doesn't want to go back, not really. On the other, she doesn't know if anyone else can follow or how they're doing and she hates not knowing what's happened to Katniss and Peeta and whether or not the rebellion is succeeding. What she wants most of all is to have Katniss, Peeta, Gale, and her mother here with her.

"I've never been able to open mine again and I don't know why." It might have something to do with the chaos on the other side, but it might not. "I just wish I could bring everyone back here with me. It's awful that I can be here but no one else can."

"Hey kid." Derek calls her 'kid' but it's more a term of endearment that he uses often even for some of his younger colleagues back home rather than talking down to her. Derek would never do that. He's just used to giving people nicknames. "I know it's hard. People you care about not being here and you not being there. But trust me what I say you're not alone and almost everyone here gets how you feel."

Somehow Prim can sense that and the nickname doesn’t bother her. It’s kinda like Katniss calling her Little Duck. She nods somberly for a minute before trying to smile. “I’m sorry they do, but it’s nice to know I’m not alone here. I’ll be all right. I’ll just hope they’ll come here someday, too.”

It’s about all she can do, though.

Her smile warms a little. He’s been nice to her and that means a lot. “Thank you for talking to me.”

"Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. It's always nice to hope though. As long as you don't let it stop you from living." Because Derek had not only seen the positive side of hope, hope that forced change. But he had also seen the paralyzing effects of hope. Prim was too young to be paralyzed in place, waiting.

"You enjoy this fair, alright?" He tells her.

Prim nods seriously. If anyone knows the good and bad sides of hope, it's someone from Panem. She won't let it get to her.

"You, too. I hope I'll see you around."

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