victory_road | (no subject)

Who: Everyone and anyone!
What: The Eve's Garden Circus is open for spring! Come one, come all, and have the time of your life!
When: March 14 (and the rest of the week through the weekend, the circus doesn't close)
Where: Goldenrod

The Eve's Garden Circus has been a constant in Goldenrod for four years, now. It's brilliantly colored Big Top can be seen even from down the street, and it makes a fine marker for anyone flying in. Past its ticket booth guarded gates lie rows of game stalls, food alleys with heavenly smells, and various set ups from local shops or craftsman with everything from face painting to handmade goods available. While it's often been open, with the main shows playing on weekends, this month it's been especially ramping up to welcome spring.

So come in, enjoy some food, watch a show, and relax!

♤ Flight Service

Before the handy days of teleportation, the Circus offered its own Fly service to help people get to the Circus with a one-way ticket, or a return one to get right back to where they came from! Needless to say, these days, there's not much use for it.... However, some still prefer a more scenic view coming into Goldenrod, or they just want to get a nice view of the city before coming down for a little bit. Either way, various Flying types, courtesy of Falkner, are available for anyone, for a small fee.

♤ Gamer's Alley

It wouldn't be a circus if there weren't any games, would it...?

And boy, are there a bunch of them in this corner of the circus, all of them with their own various prizes to win from simple "magic" wanders to stuffed toys bigger then most people. There's something for everyone, from simple balloon popping to corkgun aiming to picking a floating toy Ducklett with a potential lucky number on the bottom. Heck, pick up a hammer and test your strength!

With everything being metaphorically and literally fun and games, feel free to try some a game or five! And only a couple of them are rigged. Just be careful not to cheat... Among Joker's personal 'troupe' of Pokemon are more than a few Psychic types, and they'll quietly alert stall owners if they think someone is cheating with either skill or Pokemon of their own.

Along with the usual games, however, there are also plenty of other things which are more of an experience than anything. A carousel with all sorts of Pokemon, known and Legendary alike, is available for a simple little ride for children, and people who like getting dizzy. There's also a funhouse of a maze available for people to wander and get lost through, with mirror mazes and moving floors galore.

♤ Circus Food

Now what could be called the best part of the circus.

For those who love the classics, don't worry. The scent of buttery popcorn fills the air, and one rarely needs to go far before stumbling onto someone selling cotton candy. Want a hot dog? There's plenty. Want to try something fried that should never be fried? Yeah, don't worry, there's those, too.

It's not all wildly unhealthy food, however. Welcoming in spring means that there's a lot of seasonal foods being sold as well, some more light than the heavier junk food that's about. Sakura mochi seems to be a pretty popular thing that's being sold at more than a few stalls... Sakura is in a lot of things, actually, from desserts to... lattes? There's also a lot of fresh strawberries from certain stalls, some dipped in delicious things like chocolate and others plain. There are also simple things such as chicken and corn on sticks, and other things.

There's something for everyone, so make sure to dig in and enjoy yourself!

♤ Shopping Stalls

For all that they're definitely the draw of the circus, delicious food and fun games aren't the only things it has to offer. Eve's Garden Circus likes to think of itself as a place where various small creators can promote themselves. Who knows- if you run a business, perhaps you've been invited to set up shop!

Either way, there are all sorts of things on sale to welcome in the new year. Some are artists, offering drawings of trainers and-or their Pokemon, or to paint their face with something. Others offer much more physical goods: blankets with various Pokemon patterns, homemade plushes of just about every Grass and Bug type you can imagine...

And did you know that flower crowns are in right now? Oh, sure, floral accessories seem to be a constant in general, whether those are simple earrings or pressed flowers made into light glass bowties. But it's really the flower crows that are a hit, and anyone venturing in will find plenty of people trying to sell them. Hey, it's spring. Why not give it a go?

♤ Showtime

What really makes a circus aren't the games, or the food, or anything else... but the show lying behind the flaps of the Big Top. There, people will get to see all sorts of dazzling things, from a certain daring young woman performing daredevil tricks on her steed, to a pair of 'siblings' doing an amazing trapeze act high up in the air. Should that small child be allowed around throwing knives? Don't worry about it.

It's not only humans who are taking part of the act, either! All of Joker's troupe have a part to play, whether that's the Charizard zooming high speed in the air, or a shiny Zoroark creating amazing illusions to take people's breath away.

Sit back, and enjoy the show. Plenty of applause is more than welcome when the finale hits, as various flowers float throughout the air.

...Just don't try to follow the performers, Pokemon or otherwise, through the backdoors to the staff area. They'll kick you out if they find you, which they will sooner than later. This is a place for rest, drinks and snacks and all, and it's employees only.

♤ Welcoming Spring!

To celebrate the warmer weather coming back... All trainers who enter with a grass type Pokemon in their team will get a discount! But that's not all... Those very same trainers will be given a shimmering rainbow ribbon, which their grass type Pokemon is encouraged to hold onto. (Only one per team, Ivy.) They, and any other trainers who come through, will be told of a game that's being played...

Capture the ribbons!

The name of the game is getting other ribbons from other people in the carnival, whether through cunning, battle, or just asking nicely, if that's your thing. Trade in your ribbons for fantastic prizes!

Not only that.... but Joker's own Pokemon are taking part in the festivities! For anyone who manages to nab one of the special ribbons for the ringleader's own, they'll find a special prize for those...

Here's the list of things that can be exchanged for the ribbons!

1 ribbon: A candy Pokeball
5 ribbons: A marble Bulbasaur succulent holder! Succulent included.
10 ribbons: A backpack shaped like a Bulbasaur's bulb! Very sturdy.
20 ribbons: A life-sized Serperior plush. Yes, the full ten feet. It is fortunately not 139 pounds, although the amount of sturdy stuffing in it sure must be impressive.

For those who capture one of Joker's pokemon and their ribbons, they get the honor of being allowed to choose two different TMs from the Department Store, and the Circus will happily foot the bill! But only two.

So go out, celebrate spring, and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Heather, that was amazing!"

Harry is there of course and he's probably one of the few people who realize how much riding around covered in flames, even if they didn't burn, is progress for her. He's really proud okay.

AHA... the man of the hour.

Because yeah, this performance was extra special.

She's performed for friends and family before, sure. Henry attends the shows when he can get time off work sometimes, or even hangs out in the bleachers during rehearsals on free afternoons, snapping shots of artfully-placed hay bales and catching embarrassing candids of the weird faces his little sister and best friends sometimes made in the middle of stunts.

But she legitimately never thought her father would be able to watch her do this, except maybe in some abstract, vaguely-spiritual sense from beyond.

"Dad!" She turns, beaming, and opens her (not even singed!) arms for a hug. "See, no mortal wounds."

He grins and returns the hug with a laugh.

"Of which I'm highly relieved to see. But you've convinced me."

He'll still worry in that abstract dad way whenever she did something really tricky but it was actually a relief to see her perform because she was good and he trusted her not to push herself too hard. Especially given the fire involved.

There is nobody more obsessed with fire safety than Heather Mason. Nobody. Smokey the Bear is like little baby compared to Heather Mason.

"Good! Now I get to do the really crazy stuff, like skydiving into a kiddie pool of jello, but still while riding Carousel."

The Rapidash in question whickers, because no, that really doesn't sound like something she'd like to do, thanks.

Harry keeps back a laugh and just looks at her.

"I think Carousel will agree with me that the answer to that is, No way."

Heather feigns offense, wrinkling her nose and elbowing Carousel's sturdy chest.

"God, you're both such spoilsports. Roll me up in bubble-wrap, why don't you."

The Rapidash responds by snorting directly into Heather's face, making her recoil for real with a retching noise.

He chuckles at that.

"You're just giving us ideas, you know."

"Dangerous ideas. Anyway."

She waves a hand.

"Let me get Carousel untacked and then we can go grab some grub. I'm starving."

He laughs.

"No wonder. I'll wait here. Is there anything you want to get or just food in general?"

"Honestly, I could murder a giant bag of that crappy yellow popcorn right about now."

Eating healthy can wait, it's Time For Carbs.

"Classic circus food. I'm surprised you're not sick of it, if you work here."

"Wow, Dad. Like I could ever get sick of crappy yellow popcorn."

She says this over her shoulder to him as she heads off.

But a few minutes later, she re-emerges in more normal clothing-- with Carousel all untacked and munching on hay, she has NO MORE RESPONSIBILITIES outside of popcorn.

"I keep saying it will happen one day."

He'll wait till she gets back.

"But apparently not today. Let's go get some popcorn then."

"You had me at the words 'Let's go'."

She starts to walk-- but then behind her wobbles out an unholy conglomeration of animal parts that don't look like they go together.

"Oh-- Snits, it's gonna be loud and crowded."

Harry has likely already met the strange, chimerical creature known as Snitter-- and heard the story behind it, which is 'So this techno company engineered this weird robot bug-dog and was giving them away for free, he's useless and I love him'-- but honestly even prolonged exposure to the beast's odd gait doesn't really make it any less unnerving.

But Snitter continues forward until its helmeted head knocks against Heather's waist, and then just looks up at her adoringly.

"Well, okay, if you're sure..."

Yup. Still slightly freaked out by it. It reminds him a bit too much of the creatures from Silent Hill but he's getting better at getting used to the odd pokemon. Especially since it seems to like Heather.

"Will he be okay in the crowd?"

Snitter definitely wobbles along the edge of (and sometimes slips and falls right into) the Uncanny Valley-- Heather knows that when she'd first arrived in Johto, she wouldn't have touched a creature like this with a fifty foot pole.

But exposure therapy works wonders.

"I think so. I'll keep an eye on him. He's much better with crowds now than he was when I got him."

Yeah it's helping. He's sure he'll get more used to it in time. At least it's not foggy, that might make things a bit harder.

"That's good."

He smiles a bit.

"You're really good at this, you know."

She pauses... then smiles, too.

"... Heh. Well, god knows I've had plenty of time to get to this point."

He nods.

"You did. But I know it wasn't all easy. ....I'm proud of you."

He's said it before and he knows, she knows that, but he's here again which means he can say it again. And he is. So proud.