Day at the races!

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Moo Moo Farms
When: Saturday, March 20th
Summary:



The day is as lovely as you can expect any early spring day to be. You'll need a coat, yes, and there is a bit of a breeze, but the sun shines happily onto the wooden buildings that make up the Moo Moo Farms where we have all gathered today.

The various farm workers have worked hard to make their farm presentable to the public. Cheerful banners hang between the various sheds, stables and barns, which all have been given a bit of a cleaning (and perhaps a new coat of paint here and there). Of course, it is still a farm, so perhaps don't wear your very best shoes, but as far as farms go, it's been made as neat as can be.

And while the main draws of the day may be releasing the Miltank herd out onto the pasture again after a long winter inside -- whimsically called 'Cow Ballet' on the info sign -- and the Great Tauros Race, Moo Moo Farms has set up various little events and booths to entertain their guests, and perhaps teach them a thing or two about farm life.

A large information sign stands at the gate to the farm, letting visitors know what sort of events are taking place, as well as where and when these are happening. The two big ones -- the Miltank Ballet and the Tauros Race -- are spaced in such a way that people can easily attend both, and most of the other little events are available throughout the entire day.

The Miltank Ballet will be taking place at 1PM over by the big barn. There is little you can do to participate in this (unless you are a cow?), but if you want to watch some ecstatic Miltank dance through the mud and grass after a long winter inside, you should definitely come check this out.

The Tauros Race will start at 4PM (sign ups close at 3PM) and anyone who wants to help give the Tauros a good round of exercise is encouraged and welcome to sign up. There is, according to the sign, a small mystery prize to be won, but surely we are all here because we want to help some cooped up Tauros, right?

In addition to those two big events, two paddocks have been made ready where visitors can test themselves against a Bucking Bronco -- that's his name, Bronco the Bouffalant -- to see how long they can last in the saddle. Due to safety concerns, participants for this event will need to be 16+. For the children, there is a separate rodeo in which they can ride Vaquero the Dubwool, who, for all his seemingly wild behaviour, is actually a very well trained Dubwool who'll make sure no harm comes to the kids.

Of course, while people are free to bring their own food, the Moo Moo Farms have also set up a wide variety of booths where people can buy anything from fresh Moo Moo Milk and milkshakes to freshly made cheese and bread, and oh, is that apple pie? That most certainly is apple pie, as well as various other homey pastries. And as the day goes on, and people might start craving something a little less sweet and more filling, a booth opens up selling various curries. Don't worry, there won't be any Snorlax you need to share with this time!

And for anyone who has found themselves wanting and craving a bovine of their own after all these cute sights, you are in luck! Amidst the various booths, there is also one run by two cheery farm girls, advertising a sale on eggs! All the eggs that are normally available from the Moo Moo Farms can be bought at a whopping 50% discount. Mind that this is only on the purchase price of the egg itself. The price for any additional egg-moves remains the same.

There are also some other, smaller things set up, such a station where you can learn about milking a Miltank and a barrel where you can bob for apples, and even a horseshoe toss game. Most of these are definitely aimed towards teaching and entertaining little kids, but nobody will stop you if you decide to muscle past a row of Youngsters to claim the apple bobbing barrel.

Comments

[fingersandteeth]

"Choice paralysis," Steven says, with a little smile. "Sometimes having more options doesn't actually help--it just makes everything more complicated. But I'm glad I could help. It must be interesting going on a Pokemon journey with your kid," he adds. "Most of us are cut off from our family here."

[woofdad]

"Exactly. And I'm glad you could, too!"

Grant's expression sobers a bit, and he nods again, sympathetically. "Yeah. We got really, really lucky; honestly, I'm pretty sure I'd be more or less directionless here if Chip weren't around. ...I'd say I hope more people's family members show up, but it does feel odd to hope that more people get dragged into another world, even one like this."

[fingersandteeth]

"No," Steven says. "I kind of get it? My little sister has ended up here twice on the weird weekends and every time I wish she'd stay. Or that the space llama would bring her here properly. This is the kind of place she'd love and... well. I think she'd appreciate being human again. Better than I do, honestly. Back home she's... well, she's a ghost."

[woofdad]

Grant doesn't look too shocked, at least, by the mention that Steven's sister is a ghost. He nods sympathetically, his brow creasing slightly.

"Man, I'm sorry to hear that... it must be frustrating for both of you, having her never get to actually stay." He hesitates, unsure for a moment if his next question might be overstepping - but Steven did mention it. "Out of curiosity - do you mean you weren't human before, or am I mistaken there? Alternately, if it's just not my business either way, I get that."

[fingersandteeth]

"No, no, it's fine," Steven says, shaking his head. "I've... well, I've been meaning to talk more about this kind of thing with other people anyway. I was... well, originally human. For roughly the first thirty years I was alive. Then I was... I suppose the best explanation is 'kidnapped by fairies,' so I wasn't anymore. And then I came here." He shrugs. "I got used to not being human. Enough so that when they gave me back an older version of the body I used to have, it was... weird. Disconcerting. Actually..." He hesitates for a moment, then says, "I'm slightly jealous of your teeth? No offense? But having blunt teeth feels wrong now."

[woofdad]

"Oh, no... yeah, that sounds like a lot to adapt to, adjusting to being impacted by fae like that, and then just... getting dropped back into a human body." Grant may not be an expert on the effect that living in The Wilds has on people, but he's certainly heard some things - and having your body be changed back and forth like that sounds like kind of a nightmare, either way.

He gives a slightly embarrassed laugh and a brief shake of his head. "No... I think I get it? I mean, however I might feel about my teeth, it'd be pretty bizarre for them to just... be blunted one day. You get used to something being a part of how you look, and... it can get to be hard to imagine losing it."

[fingersandteeth]

"Yeah," Steven says. "I've actually been here twice, in a way? I did that thing where you fall asleep for a week, but then you go home while you're asleep? The first time was two months after I got back to the mortal world, but when I did the whole sleep-of-going-home thing, I was home for years. So the first time, getting my human body back, I got used to it fairly easily. But even since I went home and came back..." Steven shakes his head. "Every now and then I just-- feel wrong. With these blunt teeth and short fingers and this crappy night vision."

[woofdad]

Grant's brow creases as he listens. "Damn... that sounds like a lot to adjust back to, yeah-- just, on every level. It's sort of bizarre, the way this place changes people... I mean, some parts of it seems consistent with other worlds' magic just not being compatible with this place, but stripping away all the physical effects like that? It just sounds... strange."

It's been weird enough, adjusting to the changes to his own senses, the lack of monthly transformations, but Grant can hardly imagine just being... reshaped that way.

"Sorry to hear you got pulled back for so long, too. That'd be disorienting even without the changes, huh?"

[fingersandteeth]

"It was," Steven says bluntly. "I was... fairly annoyed it happened, actually, since my life had drastically turned itself around from how it had been the first time I came here... except that there were people here that I was glad to see again, which kept me from descending into downright fury.

"And... my theory with why it stripped me more drastically of my features more than others is that Changelings--ah, that's what we call those of us who were stolen back home--have a sort of naturally occurring illusion built into us to make us look more like the humans we were to non-supernaturals. From what I've been able to tell with myself and others like me, when we end up in this world, it just gives us the body to match the illusion."

He shakes his head. "Anyway. I dropped so many things my first week because I'd forgotten how short my fingers were. The first few days after I got back here too."

[woofdad]

"Ugh, no kidding... glad for the, uh, old friends and lack of downright fury, at least."

He nods thoughtfully at that description. "Oh, we've got that same term... anyway, uh, that'd make sense, as much as it'd suck to adjust to. And dropping stuff... yeah, that seems pretty frustrating. Man, even without any practical stuff like that, I'm sorry you've gotta feel so... weird. ...Though, while we're on this, that is an interesting idea on how that physical change works - like, until this point, I've kinda known that this place sometimes changes people's bodies, it... deactivates magic and so on, but hadn't really gotten the chance to talk in depth with anyone on what it specifically does to a given individual, you know? If, uh, if that makes sense."

[fingersandteeth]

"It does," Steven says. "Well, I mean, you travel with Felix and Dimitri and the others from Fodlan, right? And they're more or less standard human. So it does make sense that you haven't really talked out these things, since they wouldn't have had those sweeping changes.

"Honestly, and this might sound ridiculous, I think we get changed to fit the setting. There's only so many oddities about its people that this world will allow. Eight foot people, with naturally colored hair in all shades of the rainbow are fine. Actual non-humans... not so fine. If you say this world is like a video game come to life--well, there's only so many options in their character creator."

[woofdad]

"Right... that does track. They may have lost stuff, but not... y'know, body parts."

And that description... Grant nods again, his brow creasing as he thinks it over. "Limits to what kinds of people can exist here... that does sound like the kind of thing that could be wired into an alternate world like this, so to speak. I just have to wonder how deep those changes go - for example, uh, with magic that's part of a person's body but isn't compatible with this world, whether it's just temporarily nullified, or excised entirely."

Just... as an example.

[fingersandteeth]

"Well, I've gotten my regular body back during the weird weekends," Steven says. "So I'm going to guess temporarily nullified."

Sorry for what this means about your werewolfism, Grant. (Also, Steven is pretty sure you're a supernatural back home, now, but he's being polite and not asking.)