THE SUMMER EXPLOSIVES FESTIVAL

[de_lux]

Warning: Too many explosive devices.
Locations: Various locations in Freesia, the Park.
Characters: Anyone and everyone.
When: The last Sunday in July.
Summary: The citizens of Freesia are celebrating THE SUMMER EXPLOSIVES FESTIVAL. Expect fireworks and barbecue.

With the chaos of last month's Nox Carnival and the ongoing fallout from that, most of Freesia's guests are probably finding the city a less than cheerful place to stay.

However, this past week they may have noticed a strangely festive air to the place. There's an excited buzz about the commercial district, and the city has been fancied up with fresh flowers wherever you go.

And then, come today, you'll finally learn what all the excitement's been building towards.
 

A: The first thing you're liable to notice is the box of fireworks that have been neatly placed by the entrance of wherever it is you live. Most of them aren't very big, consisting of things like firecrackers and sparklers, but you're free to play with them however you wish. Evidently, someone out there wanted to give you a present.

B: Head on over to the park, and you'll notice there's a large festival going on, and banners hung over the various park entrances proclaim it to be THE SUMMER EXPLOSIVES FESTIVAL. Oddly, no matter where you look, THE SUMMER EXPLOSIVES FESTIVAL always seems to be written in all-caps. The park grounds are mostly full of citizens gathered together, barbecuing food together and playing games. They're still not the friendliest, but they don't seem to outright mind the presence of the magic users at the moment. Various stalls have been set up, selling food, fireworks, souvenirs, t-shirts, and flowers. The stall owners are happy enough to sell their wares to anyone who doesn't mind the fact that they're overpriced.

C: If the merchandise doesn't interest you, there are also various competitions going on that are free for anyone to join. These range from three-legged races, to hot dog eating competitions, to karaoke contests, and similar activities. Prizes are mostly cheap flower crowns or flower chains, but do well enough in any of them and you might win something of actual value in the line of mundane material goods.

D: But it's after the sun sets that the real moment the citizens have been waiting for occurs. From over the farmlands, a plethora of fireworks are being launched off Bright, colorful, and loud, it makes quite a spectacle for anyone watching from the park. Or, if you don't mind the long climb, we recommend making your way to the top of the Lux Spire for the best view.

And the Nox, strangely, seem to be staying well away from THE SUMMER EXPLOSIVES FESTIVAL, even after the sun sets.

Comments

A: Not Inside Toys

[exuviiated]

After his meeting with the other guy, Aaron was left feeling vaguely uncomfortable and strangely angry. Normally, he didn't feel this way; but now he felt like he wanted to break something. He satisfied himself with kicking the potted fern and feeling bad immediately after. It didn't stop the fern from skidding across the pitted concrete and bumping into a cardboard box of... fireworks. He set the fern back properly and picked up the box. Luckily, it wasn't too heavy.

...He could probably haul it up to the roof without much issue, and if a passing person saw him playing with them? Too bad. He was going to salvage whatever of a good mood he could.

The walk up wasn't too hard with the aid of a few blocks of concrete piled up in some sort of clunky staircase to the roof. He dropped down into an easy cross-legged position and pulled out the first, a colored sparkler, and until somebody noticed him he'd continue wearing through the box of pyrotechnics.

what a loser dickbag edward are u like 12

[unriddling]

Riddler stole along the alleyway across from the apartment, spotting a flash of movement high above from the corner of his eye.

He was in a rather unpleasant mood himself, and he wasn't entirely sure why, other than the obnoxious coating of shadow that seemed to leak from beneath his fingers no matter how hard he tried to make it stop. There had to be other factors.

It didn't matter. Most of the city was preoccupied elsewhere, he didn't care. The shadows pouring from his hands bent into an angled shape, a deadly-looking blivet of a paper airplane.

He realized who he was looking at a split second before he sent it flying, but he found he didn't really care. Why was Aaron even here? He shouldn't have been in the city at all, Riddler didn't want to see him, even accidentally.

The shadow-airplane flew off. It had its own tiny motor of Riddler's design, so it flew upwards instead of succumbing to gravity--right towards whatever his former henchman was holding.

yes

[exuviiated]

His box of toys was wearing low by the time Riddler passed him. He wasn’t paying attention; the colors bursting and blinking in the air were far more attention-grabbing, although some stuck to his hands as if they were covered in glue. They were released with a few flaps or shakes, though, to go explode a safe distance from his face.

Of course, his good mood couldn’t last. A small black – thing knocked into his hands and smacked the sparkler into his arm, leaving a burn and a small, burning ember of anger in the back of his mind.

“Hey! What was that for?” He could—and would!—have said more, but... Riddler. And all of a sudden, he was weighting his words again, just like he was still working for him. But he didn’t, not anymore, and he could say whatever he wanted. “Did you even know someone was already up here?”

[unriddling]

"Obviously," Riddler snarled back up. Why was Aaron asking something so obvious? Did he really think Riddler would have been idiotic enough to send that flying without having a goal or checking what was in the way?

It didn't take him much time to cross the road, and then head up. Shadows from the windowsills and shutters at just the right angles solidified under his feet.

And then he was perched on the edge of the building, giving his former henchman a dirty glare. "What are you doing?" he asked sharply. It sounded like he was asking for a report after a particularly unpleasant day.

yuck

[exuviiated]

That... that tone was nearly enough to get him to flinch and spill all, but he didn't see the point in telling him if he was going to be spiteful and unfailingly pissy about it.

"I don't see why I should tell you. It's none of your business."

After that, he nudged the box of goodies out of his way and stood, closing the height gap-- not entirely, but by a good amount. "Besides, it's not like you ever told us anything about what you were doing." No doubt a sore subject, but one he wasn't afraid to push until he got an answer.

[unriddling]

"Tell me anyway. I have nothing better to listen to here," he spat. Somewhat literally, but he was already used to swiping the sticky darkness away before it shone too obviously against his lipstick.

Riddler grasped his meaning instantly, stepping from the ledge to land quite a bit closer. "It wasn't your business what I was working on that time. And it still isn't, so watch your words," he said dangerously.

me: *has zero good angry icons*

[exuviiated]

"Or what?" He leveled a challenging stare to him, folding his arms across his chest. "You'll glare at me? You never took good enough care of yourself to be a genuine physical threat." He'd never gone after Riddler for that enough when he was still working for him, and at any other time he probably still would; but he was irrationally angry (and he knew it, and was doing nothing to curb or soften it) and Riddler really wasn't that intimidating. Really.

His own shadow magic was-- quivering wasn't the word. Shaking. Coalescing. Condensing into a sickly, sticky black mass under his feet.

"And besides. After the panic you sent us all in disappearing? I think we deserve an answer." Never mind that he was all that was left of the we.

i am sure many emotions will happen thru this

[unriddling]

Riddler noticed, eyes flicking down to watch the darkness move. So Griffin had made a deal as well? That wasn't like him. Not that it mattered.

The shadow cane was abruptly in his hand, hooked end pointing towards Aaron's face, nearly touching his chin. "If I managed to take the Batman down in a fight--" which he genuinely had done, at least briefly "--taking you down will be effortless."

He shook his head sharply. "I left you as much of a message as you needed, move on," he growled. Never mind that it would be hard to do so with his ex-boss towering in front of him and making no motions to leave.

D - shadows do not like Lux's fireworks, it seems

[unriddling]

Riddler struggled with himself the entire day. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to be out during the day, but the wasn't much of a change from his life before the Deal. No, there was something else in the air, a prickling that kept stopping him from bursting in on the park's events.

He found himself wiping his hands off more and more, and his face. Little trails of darkness welled up from under his nails and over his lips, though at least his tattoos and lipstick hid the latter well enough.

...Why did he even want to again? They weren't worth targeting. No, they were. They weren't. They were, they were Lux's people, and he hates them. Yes, that was why.

Either way, he ended up skulking along the alleys as usual, from the park to along the edges of the hospital to the gym. He was preparing to take care of a few body builders who'd been staring at the sky rather than around them--

and then the fireworks went off.

Riddler leaped backwards and nearly collapsed, barely catching himself by sliding into a roll, and then he was running. The noise and light normally wouldn't bother him, but there was something wrong with those ones, horribly. Every BOOM rattled in his bones, every flash seemed to sear the skin exposed by his costume.

He didn't look where he was going at all. He just needed to hide.

Lux help whoever may get in his way.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Today had actually been pretty great. He wasn't in trouble, for once, and the noise and the lights and the festivities had put him in the mindset of New York. He wouldn't be sleeping tonight at least.

"I'll be right back," Casey said, "I'll go pick us up some hotdogs or something."

Even on skates it was a slightly longer run than he'd thought, but the fireworks didn't look like they were going to stop anytime soon. Casey lept over benches and bushes, ground down rails and jumped down stairs.

Unfortunately, his path didn't afford him too many opportunities to look to his side, and he happened to skate straight in the path of the Riddler's mad dash...

[unriddling]

That good day was going to turn spectacularly bad.

With an inarticulate bellow, Riddler reacted instinctively, physically swinging an arm at the blur of a person who dared, was idiotic enough to get in his way. Shadows congealed around his scrawny arm, enveloping his fist and giving it enough power to seem like the strike of a hammer if Casey wasn't quick enough to move.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Fortunately, Casey was quick enough to move. Years of dodging body checks in hockey gave him the reflexes to duck backwards under the swing, but this was concrete, not ice, and he was on roller blades and not skates. He skid to a halt on his kneepads, not very far from where Riddler was.

"Dude," he said getting to his feet, "what's your problem?!"

eddie u ridiculous jerk

[unriddling]

Unfortunately for Casey, he'd managed to land in just the wrong spot to still be in the way.

The sky roared with fireworks shining purple, green, and white. Riddler flinched, the shadowy almost-boxing-glove crumbling before he could shift it into something useful.

"MOVE!" Well, he still had his feet, and he used them to try and literally kick Casey out of the way.

[jonesiseverywhere]

The good news was that Casey didn't take the kick to the ribs. The bad news was that he took it to the stomach. Hard.

He wheezed and fell backwards from his kneeling position into a crab walk, crawling backwards away from the crazy man and wishing he was upright and able to whack this guy.

[unriddling]

Well, he had a bit of a better chance that way. Riddler was furious but fear was just barely winning out over the destructive rage in the back of his mind, so instead of trying to hurt him worse, he tried to launch himself over Casey's low form to find a shadowy crevice to throw himself into, away from the lights.

B - Attending the festival even though he has a limp.

[mechanacet]

[Trudging through the streets towards the park, Daniel picks up on the levity of Freesia's inhabitants, especially around the park. Limping that way with the assistance of a crutch to keep the weight off of his broken foot, Daniel sees a few fireworks light up the sky with colourful patterns.

Cam, like usual, is riding Daniel's shoulder, and draws Daniel's attention away from the fireworks and towards the various stores that have been set up in the park, which the strange pair are now entering.

Unless someone were to attract their attention in some way, Daniel and Cam are more than content to just browse the various stalls in the park, and maybe buy some overpriced cotten-candy or something.

A: Casey get your butt in here

[unrecovered]

Oddly enough, this was not the first time Wash had opened his door to find explosives on his doorstep. (Freelancer had an odd, macabre sense of humor that way.)

His first thought was to hide them; Casey was in the apartment now, after all, and the last thing any of them needed was him blowing them halfway to hell with an explosive mixture gone wrong.

His second thought had a bit more weight to it. Fireworks were supposed to be fun, after all, and he did have plenty of experience with explosives. If he could frame this the right way...well, maybe he could get the kid not to hate him, or at least hate him a little less. Small victories.

He packed two boxes of fireworks and a few supplies - tape, needlenose pliers, scissors, a few other odds and ends - in a bag and shoved the third box under the couch (Greg could do what he wanted with his stash) before calling down the hall. "Casey! I have something for you, if you're interested." He paused. "It's not an obstacle course this time, I promise."

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Yeah, sure it's not!" Casey called back from his room, sarcasm so thick it would stain the carpet. He was getting pretty sick of Wash's stupid obstacle courses. What was the point? Master Splinter never made him take ninja training when he joined up with them and Casey's not about to join the army anytime soon. Marines. Whatever.

The problem was he was getting ready to split by the time Wash called him. Casey didn't like spending a huge amount of time inside anyway and spending much time in the apartment made it that much more likely that he would be subjected to more freakin' obstacle courses.

He sulked down the hall in a teenager-y sort of way, eying the box in his hands. "Can we make it quick this time? I'm sick of getting knocked off the ramps by flying stuff."

[unrecovered]

Oh come on, the obstacle courses weren't that bad. Wash just shook his head. "Learn to dodge and maybe that won't happen." For some reason, Casey still thought of himself as a tank, and Wash was having a hell of a time trying to break him of the idea. "Anyway, it's not that." He opened the door and stepped out, waiting for Casey to follow him before he continued.

The route to the vacant lot was familiar by now, as that was where Wash usually set up obstacle courses. He didn't say much until they'd arrived there. "How much do you know about fireworks?"

[jonesiseverywhere]

Well, great. Not an obstacle course. Probably meant something even worse because this guy seemed to think he was Casey's parole officer or something. And Casey refused to let all the school counselors that told him he'd end up with one be right.

"It's what the padding's for, duh!" He groused as he followed. Well, the space was open. Maybe Casey could claim he was late for something important and leave before Wash could- Hello.

"Fireworks? Oh, lots. Used to use them to fight ninja robots and stuff," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Strapped a bunch to my bike hooked up to a switchboard."

[unrecovered]

"Your pads won't protect you from everything, you know." If the Nox could get through Wash's armor, then they could definitely get through Casey's pads. Hopefully Casey wouldn't have to learn that the hard way.

Wash stopped short in the process of laying out the boxes and his tools when Casey gave that answer. He leveled an incredulous stare at the kid. "You strapped explosives to your bike? How have you survived this long?"

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Bottle rockets. They fly off before they blow up." That was definitely the don't you know anything voice mastered by all teenagers and Casey was going to push it as far as possible. "Mostly just use 'em as flares though. The flamethrowers are way more useful. Once used 'em to save my city from an infestation of giant mutant rats!"

The thought still kind of made him shudder. A little. And he was going to leave out the part where they kidnapped him. "Anyway, I know what I'm doin'."

[unrecovered]

"Yeah, because those never explode early." Spoken as someone who's had more than one explosive device go off in his face.

At giant mutant rats, Wash just sighed and went back to unpacking what he'd brought. "Actually, you've just convinced me that you don't." But hell, they were already out here, and he counted as adult supervision. "Either way, someone left these outside our door this morning, so I figured we could have some fun." He popped the boxes open, showing off the fireworks inside.

B: b is for brooding apparently

[batdweeb]

[Bruce couldn't sleep in when there was the occasional explosion still audible from his apartment, so in light of that and the lack of any other activity in the city, he'd gone to keep an eye on things. He was now leaning against a tree, and quietly watching the citizens as they ran around, playing games and chattering with each other.]

[Events like these usually attract crime, so it makes sense to watch for suspicious activity. At least, that's what Bruce told himself.]

[Except the mingled scents of the park and the food reminds him of similar events he's organized in the past. Which gets him thinking of Gotham City again. Which gets him to thinking of Dick and Alfred and Barbara and everyone else he's left behind. It's been months and they're all smart, resourceful people, but that doesn't mean he isn't... concerned.]

[There's a cluster of little explosions and overexcited shrieking as some kids nearby set off some firecrackers. Bruce doesn't bother to look up, although a small frown settles on his face.]

[panspermia]

This is exactly the kind of thing that Greg usually loved to do. The lights, the smells, the food, the overpriced knickknacks, it made things almost feel like home. It was just the sort of thing he needed after all the stress to help feel like things were normal, and everything was going to be fine. If only he were with the person he most wanted to share it with.

Still, he can't let himself get even more down, so Greg's doing his best to engross himself in the festivities, and moreso trying to engage anyone else he can possibly buddy up with. That means you.

B. "Ahh, where'd that guy go--there was this great stand, it had a shirt with this great design on it, sort of this big rainbow looking version of the tower? I had to run back for cash--oh, hey, you tried the kettle corn from over here yet? They're amazing, c'mere!" He's going to spend all of the money he's saved if he's not careful.

C. "Hey--sorry, but--you busy? There's gonna be a three-legged race in a second, and I need an extra leg. Trying to work up an appetite for the hot dog eating contest later. I got a frisbee if you want something with a little more personal space, though! What d'you say, huh amigo?" Look at this face. So hopeful. So pleading. He's like a big, balding puppy.

D. This is likely the only time all week he won't be pestering people. Just sets up a blanket, sits alone, and watches the fireworks. He's very, very tired.