I come to you today with more Blake and Ren. Huzzah!
before I let you guys loose onto this chapter, thank you for all the comments, views, and anything like that. makes me feel like a cool kid. *puts on sunglasses*
Blake's Day P. 4: Forrester Fish Fry and Festival P.2
Making it to the end of the service tunnel, they opened the door to find themselves blinded by the sudden change in lighting. Grimacing and putting their hands up over their eyes, they got a few sidelong glances from passersby as they stepped from the maintenance door, but nobody confronted the two about it. The cashier had followed through with their promise, as they were now at the boardwalk, tour groups bypassed at the main plaza and noise levels significantly lower. After shutting the door behind them, Ren and Blake stepped onto the wooden platform. It lined the beaches of the lake, light shimmering blue contrasting to picture perfect golden sand, making nearly any spot perfect for a photo.
All it needs is some palm trees and I would think I'm in an Atlesian simulation, Blake thought to herself. As they dawdled on the boardwalk, shopkeepers were advertising their products with a flourish of their hands or messages in the air spelt out in multi-colored dust. Several people were dressed in what looked to be fisherman's garb, offering families a discounted price if they took a picture together.
"Looks like the festival really brings business," Ren said. "Last time I was here, there weren't these stalls," he gestured, "or anything of the sort here."
Blake just 'mmm'-ed, and kept looking around. Unlike Ren, who was secretly window shopping at the stalls with longer glances than usual, Blake was just looking for the large, glowing fish that marked the festival's entrance. Her stomach rumbled again, ushering her to walk faster. As she was walking, multiple vendors showing off their various fish dishes such as fish sandwiches, melts, and kabobs were only making matters worse for Blake and her needs as her enhanced senses focused on the smell.
"Where's that stupid fish?" She muttered under her breath. Looking behind her to ask Ren if he's seen the fish yet, she found him nowhere to be seen. She looked on her other side to no avail.
"Ren?" She called lightly. Her eyes were now scanning for possible assailants, a habit forced into her by living on the run for so many years. She found nothing but tourists milling about. "Ren?" She called a bit louder as worry started growing on her until she heard his voice from directly behind her.
"Blake, I'm right here." He said, walking up with a transparent plastic box filled with fish sticks. Blake sniffed the air. She could smell them from where she was standing, the distinct smell of grease and oil emanated from the container, the very definition of unhealthy. But her stomach grumbled again, and she decided that if she was going to a festival of fish to eat, she could eat a few deep fried fish sticks.
"Ren? Where did you get these?"
"There was a stall over there," he pointed with his thumb to a stall that looked busy frying another batch of fish sticks, "and I heard your stomach growl more than a few times in the tunnel." She cursed herself in her head for embarrassing herself yet again. Sitting down on a bench, he opened the box and grabbed a fish stick, Blake nearly bucking at the knees as her enhanced senses were now focused on the smell of fried goodness in the box. "Besides, I was fairly hungry as well, so I decided I would get a box. Would you li-"
In one of those "blink-and-you-miss-it" moments, Blake dashed to the box's other side, sitting down to grab a fish stick from the box, and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes went wide with delight as she chewed, and that expression turned to one of ecstasy, eyes looking up as she moaned with pleasure.
"-ke one?" He finished his sentence, still holding the fish stick as he watched her lolling head. "Blake? Are you alright?" Ren asked, unconsciously scooting away from Blake and the box of fish sticks.
"Neh'er beh'er," she said as she took two more and inhaled them, chewing a few times before swallowing them yet again. "Sorry," she said while wiping her mouth with a napkin in the box, "You were right, I'm pretty hungry." She grabbed three more and inhaled them, making Ren blink a few times to make sure he saw what he thought he just saw.
She didn't even chew those last three, he thought to himself in amazement and horror. Is that even possible? Wouldn't she choke?
Before he knew it, Blake had already finished the whole box of fish sticks, putting a fist over her mouth to give a small, muffled burp. Looking down at the box with a disappointed look, she looked up at Ren to see him still holding a fish stick, uneaten.
"Are you going to finish that?" She asked, pointing with her index finger.
He gulped. Now, Ren knew that he could say yes, and judging by how Blake reacted to them, he could safely assume that they were at least alright. But the way she looked at him made him change his answer; behind that curious look were two burning embers that implied that something bad awaited him if he denied her the fish stick.
So Ren made the smart decision, and said the right answer.
"No." She smiled at him, as if rewarding him for his correct answer. "You can have it."
Taking the opportunity, she plucked it from his fingers without encountering resistance and took her time with it as Ren spoke up, eager to fill the silence with something other than the sound of Blake munching on his lunch.
"I guess you were fairly starved," Ren said. She finished munching on the fish stick. "I'm hoping they were up to your… standards?" Blake cleaned her hands with another napkin before she spoke.
"Yeah, they were alright." She tossed said crumpled napkin into the box, not noticing Ren making a rare expression; an eye twitch.
If she can inhale food like Nora can with pancakes and says it's 'alright', I don't want to be around when she finds something that's classified as 'delicious.' He shuddered at the thought.
"But how did you pay for the food?" She was normal Blake now, eyes no longer feral and ravenous, attitude no more lethargic than a sloth's.
He sighed. "You're not the only one who has a few," he cleared his throat as he looked away, "tricks up their sleeve." Upon seeing Blake give him her trademark raised eyebrow from his peripherals, he quickly added onto his previous statement. "Just don't tell Nora."
"Mhm," she said, the same look being graced with a growing smile on her lips.
Turning his head to look at her, he asked quizzically. "What? I felt like I was being subtly outclassed. I had to prove my mettle."
"As a thief?"
"No. As a… borrower. I believe everything makes its way back to everyone eventually."
"I see, borrower. Well, it's about time that we got into this festival." She got up, dusted her pants for any lingering crumbs, and walked off as Ren took the empty box and followed, tossing the box into a trash can. "And thanks for the fish."
"Yeah. No problem." Well, there's a problem about you eating my lunch in the blink of an eye, but no big deal, Ren thought.
After a few more minutes of dawdling, delayed by Blake's occasional pause to look at fish tanks or Ren's stop to look at various fish paintings, they finally reached the main gate of the festival. True to the word, they had hung up a large, open-mouthed carp that was flopping mid-air, glowing and blinking with bright neon lights even in the sunlight. People were already coming and going from the gate, coming empty handed and leaving with full stomachs and various fish memorabilia.
"We're here," Ren announced. His eyes looking over several lines, he spied the price for admission on a large display screen. "And admission seems fairly cheap as well."
"Good. I've only got a few extra lien left on me."
"That you stole," Ren reminded her.
"No, I borrowed, thank you very much," she responded, voice monotone but smile growing on her lips.
Ren just rolled his eyes and got to the question at hand. "How much do you have on you?"
She counted. "Four ones, one five. And the one-hundred lien card, if they break change."
Ren looked back at the board for admission prices. "We've got a problem. One, they don't." Blake looked at him, and he continued by pointing at the board. "And two, if you can see that, general admission for each person is five each."
It only took Blake a split second to do the math. "Easy, so we borrow another one."
"No!" He nearly broke his image of being the stoic near-ninja as he was yet again surprised by Blake's mischievous behavior. "Look around. They have guards and cameras set up at every line of sight." She glanced around, and noticed that Ren was correct; androids were scanning through the crowd in key locations that allowed maximum visibility on the most people, and cameras were set up on the ceiling of the admission booths. It was obvious that security was a big deal at such an event like this; people from all over Remnant traveled here just to sample the cuisine.
"Okay, so what's your plan?"
"Don't know. Still thinking. Let's get in line, I'll have something by the time we get there." He motioned for Blake to go first and they got into one of the longer lines, Ren still looking for something that would let them enter his unassuming death trap for the next hours.
Blake was looking around as well as a minute passed, and something caught her eye. "Ren, look." Tapping his shoulder, she pointed to something that was written on an old chalkboard.
"COUPLES GET IN FOR FIVE LIEN!" It said in large, multicolored letters.
Ren just looked at her, mystified. "Yes?"
"We can just pretend we're a couple."
Pale pink went wide with shock. "Are you crazy?"
She shrugged. "Possibly. But I'm getting into this festival, and I don't think I can dash past a plethora of androids and cameras without being detected."
Ren remained silent for a moment. He locked pale pink with amber before he spoke. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Then we never speak of this again. You don't tell Nora,"
"And you won't tell Yang? Agreed."
"Lastly, this is merely pretend. Alright?"
Blake scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself, Ren." The line was moving rather quickly, as they were halfway through by this point. The sun was making things rather uncomfortable, but neither said anything about it. Blake's mind was only focused on getting into that festival and trying out as much she could before they ran out or kicked out. So close to the fish, she thought. I'm coming...
Before Blake could continue her evil inner monologue, Ren interrupted. "Do you think we should do something that couples do?"
She met his gaze slowly. "What do you mean by that," she said, threatening tone lacing her voice.
He didn't back off as he responded. "Nothing serious. I'm just seeing that quite a number of people seem to be engaging in arm linking or hand holding." He gestured to a couple who were getting their tickets, arm in arm. "Like those people."
"I don't think we have to," she said with a shrug. "We're two teenagers with cool outfits. I think they'll believe us."
"And what does clothing do to affect your decision?"
"Nothing, really. Just makes us look better."
Ren said nothing to that as they stepped up to the booth. The man behind the stand seemed awfully excited, and the grin plastered onto his face was almost uncanny in its similarity to Ruby's when she sees a plate of cookies.
"Hello hello he-llo! Welcome to the Forrester Fish Fry and Festival!" He got a bit closer, making Blake and Ren back up a slight step. "Are you two a couple?"
They looked at each other for reassurance, looked back at the man, and said it simultaneously. "Yes."
"Ah, good good good. Five lien please!" Blake took out the five lien card and slid it over. Inspecting it for counterfeit under a machine, a positive beeping sound came out. "Thank you!" He slid two tickets under the glass, a female face and a male face printed on each with the words, "Couples pass" printed at the top of each. Nodding as thanks, they began to walk off before the man called back at them.
"Wait! I need your names!"
Ren turned back, making Blake turn as well. "I'm sorry?"
The man gestured back, and they reluctantly stepped back to the stand. "Couples are eligible for a contest at six tonight for a once in a lifetime prize!" He threw his hands up behind the glass, eyes going wide as he really tried to sell the concept.
Blake just raised an eyebrow. "Is it mandatory?"
Lowering his hands, he suddenly got closer to the glass, yet again making them flinch back for a split second. "It's not. But the prize is something that will last you a lifetime. You'll regret not giving it a try, at least. So, names?"
"Um. Can you give us a second?"
"Sure!"
They backed up a little bit, ignoring the people behind them muttering something about the line taking so long.
"Are we going to enter?" Ren asked.
"It's worth a try. Besides, it can't hurt." The decision settled, Ren began to turn back to the booth before Blake pulled him back. "But I can't use my real name. And neither should you. Hunters in training, remember?" And I was also a known terrorist of the White Fang, she said to herself.
He nodded. "Of course." He paused for a second, eyes narrowing as he thought. "I've got it figured out." He turned back to the booth, Blake diagonally behind him.
"So, are you two going to enter?" He still sounded as enthusiastic as ever, and his smile showed no signs of being strained.
"Yes. She's…" Blake looked at him. "She's Flake Shelladonna and I'm Bie Len." He could see an eye twitch from his peripheral vision, but she remained silent, forcing a smile onto her lips.
"Got it… Flake Shelladonna and Bie Len." Showing no sign of laughing at the absurd names, the man flicked a switch, and a translucent screen flashed to life, blinking their names in large letters. "Is this correct?" Behind them, people were chuckling at the slapstick names that were blinking in large letters.
Ren just nodded, and the screen flicked off. "Thank you! You have now entered the contest! Hav-" He was interrupted by Blake grabbing Ren's arm, pulling him through the gate with ease. Looking on at the strange duo, the old man commented to himself. "What an odd couple…"
After Blake had pulled him for few seconds, she let go. Her face was strangely calm, but her fists were clenched and her eye twitched a few times. "Flake Shelladonna?" She questioned.
"I thought it was a pretty good name."
"It rhymes with my real name. And yours does too, Bie Len."
"Come on. It got us into the festival grounds." He made a sweeping motion with his hand to the open fairgrounds. "Why not enjoy the time here?"
"Because Flake doesn't like her name."
Ren put his hands behind his back, back straightened. "It's done and over with. And it's not like we're going to have our names projected onto a big screen or something of the sort."
Sighing, she conceded. "Fine, Len." She emphasized the strange name just to rub it in one more time. "So, where to first."
"It is your decision on where to go first. I'm simply accompanying you."
She looked around to see what piqued her interest, and a sign that said, "Free Samples," caught her eye right away.
"Well then, you're coming with me." She walked off, not even bothering to check if Ren was following.
And I thought Weiss was the uptight one, Ren thought to himself as he shook his head. Looking up a bit, he saw that Blake was already at her destination, jumping around from stall to stall with uncanny enthusiasm. Atop of the stands stood a tall sign that entailed free samples, along with some diagrams of fish that he's never seen before in his life.
While Ren was still catching up, Blake was still bouncing around the stalls, taking a piece of whatever fish she could find. The people at the stalls looked eager to treat someone as passionate for fish as her, and they gladly gave her second helpings by the time she was done.
"Wow, this is great!" Blake said to a woman behind a stall, beaming smile meeting another.
"I'm glad you like it, sweet'art. What'cha just tried there'll be Atlesian cod, and that other one in your hand, that'll be some Vacuan swordfish."
She tried it. "It tastes like... chicken."
"Well, it is a meaty fish. But you can have it all year 'round, so that's a perk."
"I see. And this?"
"That'll be Mystralian Mahi Ma-"
"Blake?" Ren's voice rang in her head, and she turned around with an armful of free samples.
"Hey."
"What... are you doing with all of those?"
"I'm eating them." As if to prove her point, she took one and popped it into her mouth, the same swoon on her face for a split second before she composed herself.
"I see. If you're still hungry, I can just bu-"
"That won't be necessary, hun," said the woman from the stall. "She can eat all she wants here." Looking at Ren, she asked. "You two a couple? I can tell that you're awfully easy on the eyes..." She winked at Ren, eliciting a very awkward 'um' until Blake saved him.
"Yes, he's with me," she said, answering the question to a degree. "Re-," she coughed, "Len, would you like some?"
Blinking himself out of his stupor quickly, he adapted to the situation. "I'd love some. Thank you." He grabbed some fish from the table, and popped it into his mouth. After chewing a few times, his eyes went wide. He did a full body twitch.
And spit it into the trash can instantly. In front of him, the woman was laughing hard, hand slamming on the counter as Blake stood there horrified as Ren took a sudden interest in the bottom of a trash can.
"Re-" She paused again. "Len! What did you do that for?" That was perfectly good fish wasted! She said to herself. You served us well in your time of being dead, little fish. I'm sorry this happened to you.
As he attempted to spit out the rest, the woman explained the mishap. "He just tried some pickled herring. For some, it's delicious. Another few say it's an acquired taste. For others, it's..." Ren's retching sounds interrupted her. "... intolerable, to say the best."
"You think?!" Ren shouted, voice muffled yet amplified by the trash bin. After raising his head and taking a deep breath of air, his face turned less pale as he regained his composure. "That was horrendous!"
The woman and Blake looked shocked, the woman faking it while Blake looked genuinely hurt. "You take that back!" They said at the same time, before the woman kept laughing her ass off as Blake stood there, still feeling bad about the wasted fish.
"I'm not apologizing! That..." He heaved another few breaths, "That was a feeble excuse for fish! That tasted terrible!"
After the woman got control of herself again, she grabbed something from under her desk gave Ren a different sample, one that looked coated in an oil of some sorts, but smelled much better than the previous one. "Here hun, try this." Ren hesitated for a moment, and the woman gestured forward with it, encouraging him. "This one's smoked, don't worry. And it ain't no herring this time around."
Blake added on. "If you won't eat it, I will." Ren looked at her with neural eyes as she added on quickly. "Gladly."
Ren took the opportunity to eat something that wouldn't make him throw his insides out, so he took the sample and sniffed it. "Smells like... some sort of salt was used in this."
"It's smoked salmon! Just try some."
He took a bite, and he 'hmmed' in approval. "This is quite nice." He finished the small piece of fish.
The old woman smiled, a genuine one instead of a mirth-filled grin. "I'm glad you like it. It's fresh-caught from our own Lake Forrester," she said.
"Thank you." Tossing the tooth pick and cup into the trash bin, he looked around as Blake asked for the same sample. The whole area was under a large tent, granting relieving respite from the sun, and there were ten stalls set up inside. Each had their own specialty, and this stall that Blake found seemed to be focused on saltwater or anadromous fish. Each also had a fridge behind them, along with a live fish tank sitting at the front. Numerous hand prints from children and adults alike were on them, amazed at the foreign specimens that were brought to them today. Stepping closer, he recognized several species off the top of the head, but many others were kinds that he weren't familiar with at all, even with his vast knowledge of marine life.
Blake tapped his shoulder, and he looked back. In her hands were two small pieces of fish, one half eaten and one uneaten. She gestured the uneaten filet. "You want it?"
Ren was genuinely surprised. In fact, he didn't believe it. "Are you sure?" He asked incredulously.
Her voice remained level as she spoke. "I'm sure. And I might have felt some pity for you when I ate your lunch in front of your eyes so... here." She gave Ren the cup, which he took hesitantly. But she was giving a genuine smile, eyes welcoming and teeth no longer bared in a show of force.
"Thanks." He took it, and bit into the sample.
"It's just some tuna. Won't kill you." She said, proving her point by putting the whole thing in her mouth and chewing happily before tossing it into the trash can.
Ren noticed that the same, warm smile was on her face, and his instincts told him to trust them. Eating the cod and finding it delectable, his smile only grew a bit larger as he swallowed, following Blake and tossing the cup into the trash can. As they started walking off, the woman at the stall called back at them, waving. "Come back again!" They both turned and waved back, a small smile imprinted onto their faces.
After they walked for thirty seconds, both pairs of eyes gazing about the fairgrounds looking for something fun to do, Blake was the one to speak first.
"So, Ren."
"Yes?"
"What's it like, being with Nora all the time?"
Ren shook his head with a chuckle. "I'd bet it's something similar to how you and Yang interact with each other. I stay quiet, she does all the talking, teasing, story-telling, et cetera." He finished with a small upwards wave of his hand.
"I guess that's pretty similar to me and Yang. But you've dealt with her all of your life, correct?" She stopped, and took an interest in some fish-shaped beads as Ren replied.
"Yes, but it's just something that you get used to. Admittedly, it took me a while..." He trailed off when Blake looked at him. "... Okay, so it took a year to even tolerate her. But in that span of time, you find all the quirks of that person. Good and bad." He walked over to Blake, and took a look at what she was interested in at the moment. "How about you? You and Yang."
"She makes too many puns for her own good," she said with a more dull voice than usual. "As I said this morning, I think I've just developed an immunity to them."
Ren nodded. "I feel pity for you. Nora wasn't ever the wise-cracking type of person that Ms. Xiao-Long is."
"Lucky you," she deadpanned. Taking the beads off of the rack, she held them up to her neck. "How do you think these look?"
He glanced at the necklace. "I'm indifferent."
She rolled her eyes. "What great help you are."
As Ren replied, she wasn't sure if the sarcasm registered in his head or not. "Thank you."
Blake put the beads back, and kept their previous conversation alive. "Right there, Yang would've said something like, 'that looks fishy.'" Ren chuckled at that lightly, and Blake looked at him like a strange man. "That's funny to you?"
"Sorry. But I understand the joke. You're wearing a fish-shaped bead necklace... fish... fishy..." His voice fell away under the withering glare that Blake was giving him. She didn't say anything, and shook her head with a roll of her eyes before walking away with a chuckle.
After looking at more fish-related items and artwork, their walking landed them to their next destination.
"Take a look at this," she motioned with her thumb. It was a shooting game, where the contestant had to try and shoot down moving fish with a water gun. There were already kids at the ready, firing off stray shots of water at who-knows-what while their parents were behind them looking on. Ren just raised an eyebrow.
"You want to play that?"
"It looks pretty fun. And besides, the prize is a very large fish plush that I think Ruby'll like." She motioned towards the grand prize, a plush, rainbow-colored fish.
"You're getting something for Ruby?"
"If she finds out I went to a festival and I didn't get her anything, she's going to pull out that wide-eye look of hers."
"Yeah, I understand. I should probably get Nora a prize too... She tore the last one in half."
Blake 'mmm'-ed in agreement as she walked over to the gamekeeper. "Hi. How much does it cost to play this game?"
"Just show me your pass and you're good to go!" He said. Blake produced her pass, and Ren walked up to show his. "Ah, so a couple then!" He smirked. "Aren't you two a bit too old to be playing a game such as this one?"
"There's never an age limit on enjoying oneself," Ren said with a slight smile.
"Well spoken, young man!" The gamekeeper walked them over to two open guns, and walked back to his small podium, pressing the button for the game to commence. As the fish were whirring up under the fake waves, Ren spoke up.
"You do realize that there's only one grand prize, right?"
"Mhm."
"And we both need to get our friends a prize."
"Mhm."
Ren looked at her. "Then how are we-"
His answer came in the sound of water hitting plastic, along with a very childish, 'glub glub glub,' noise as the fish 'drowned'. "You better hope you win then," she said.
He suppressed another eye-twitch, and pulled the trigger without looking, hitting the other remaining fish. "Touché," he said.
"ROUND TWO," the intercom boomed.
It was an intense battle. A nail biter that was true to its name. Ren and Blake were matched up evenly, each gaining the lead on each other by one fish at the finishing point of each round. A crowd of children was beginning to assemble around them, cheering them on until their parents called or forcefully pulled them away.
"Go ninja-boy! Go go go!"
"No, I want the bow-girl to win!"
"But green-guy is sooooo much cooler!"
"Nuh-uh, the ninja-girl looks way cooler!"
They didn't let the children distract them as they fought for bragging rights and the item that would keep their respective boisterous friend at bay if they won. Each round was fast-paced, and the fish went down as fast as they went up, high powered water hitting its mark. As the last round started, the gamekeeper was already smiling as wide as he possibly could, entertained by the show of marksmanship being displayed in front of him with water guns. The crowd had only grown larger behind them, parents and normal bystanders looking at what the commotion was.
"Ready?" Ren asked. His eyes were still trained on the fake tidal waves, ready to aim and pull the trigger at a moments notice.
Blake didn't say anything as she smiled and looked on. Ren was up by a fish, and she needed to play her best game. Luckily for me, Yang's taught me a few things about playing dirty, she thought to herself. Her plan already set into motion in her head, her grin only grew as she heard the telltale whirring of more fish pop up. Before the fish came up, however, the gamekeeper spoke, pressing a button to put the machines on standby.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I inform you that nobody has ever made it to the final round!" He had put on an announcer's voice right now, holding up a loud speaker as if narrating a tourney. "Place your bets now! They fight for this magnificent, massive, awesome stuffed fish!" The crowd cheered as if on cue, creating a true competitive vibe in the atmosphere.
"WOOOOO I LOVE YOU BOW GIRL!" A boy yelled, much to their parent's embarrassment.
"YEAH NINJA BOY!"
The gamekeeper looked at Blake and Ren. "Contestants! ARE. YOU. READY?"
Looking at each other, they nodded with a confident smile.
The man pressed the button, and a countdown began to play in a booming voice over their heads from the speakers. "FIVE. FOUR. THREE. TWO. ONE!"
As the round started, ten fish came up at once, each being downed within the blink of an eye. The challenge of hitting a moving target proved no problem, and each shot slammed into their target with lethal accuracy, every shot either landing right in the middle or right on the eye. Several '2x' fish popped up towards the back, a stark red compared to gentle blue, and they shifted their bodies, bending at the knees to adjust to gravity's effect on water. The cheering only grew louder as several crabs popped up, each having four hit boxes; they had to be shot precisely on the tip of the claw and edge of the cut-out knees. It proved no problem for Blake, downing her first crab while Ren missed his first shot.
"THE GREEN-CLAD ONE MISSES A SHOT!" Yelled the gamekeeper, throwing his loudspeaker to the winds (literally) and slamming his hand down on the railing in front of him in unbridled excitement. A vague 'ow!' could be heard in the background before it was drowned out by the crowd.
Ren quickly recovered, but lost his former lead due to the loss of momentum. Blake noticed the slip, and almost spared a glance until she heard a dinging noise ring above her head, the tell-tale reminder of the last thirty fish remaining. Ten more fish popped up, two of which were the crabs, and she fired away, each shot hitting their mark. Ren made sure to adjust his aim, and downed his crab with ease. As the last few fish were emerging, the rate slowed, to which the crowd questioned and the man grinned at. He hit the standby button, and both Blake stood straight back up, looking at the man as if he were crazy.
"EVERYBODY, THE FINAL TEN FISH! THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT YOU HAVE ALL. BEEN. WAITING FOR!" The crowd cheered again, causing Blake and Ren to wince at the sudden loud noise. They turned around, and found themselves in the center of a large semi-circle. People were holding up scrolls and babies just to get a good look at the competition, and more than a few children were being held back by their parents to prevent them from latching onto Ren or Blake. "CONTESTANTS, THIS IS WHERE YOUR JOURNEY ENDS. ARE. YOU. READY!?" He was nearly screaming, creating quite the image of himself as he was bellowing, face reddening and eyes wide as he threw his hands into the air as if they were pool noodles. Blake resisted the urge to laugh as he looked for confirmation in their faces.
"It's now or never, Blake. I hope you're ready to lose." She looked over at Ren, a smile on his lips.
"You wish," she shot right back. Blake nodded towards the gamekeeper, and he did a tiny hop.
"THE BLACK-CLAD WOMAN IS READY! ARE YOU?" He pointed a finger at Ren, who nodded as well.
"THEN LET THE BATTLE... COMMENCE!" He slammed his hand onto the button, and the whirring sound started back up. "THREE! TWO! ONE!"
Blake and Ren took count of the opponents that popped up, and found that there really were only ten. They went down in ten seconds, flat. The crowd cheering them on, there was a pause after the last crab was downed. They both spared a glance up, and saw that they were matched evenly, the number blinking in their face. They looked around as another ten seconds passed, the crowd calming down, the gamekeeper still grinning.
Suddenly, a large gurgling noise was heard in front of them, and they nearly backed away from the guns. In front of them was a large octopus with indicated hit boxes all over its body and tentacles. Another one popped up, and the apparent 'boss fish' repositioned themselves to align themselves in front of the duo. A voice, obviously the game-keeper's, boomed over the intercom. "FINAL BOSS! FIGHT!"
They fired off precise streams of water, each hitting their mark. When water met plastic cut-out, a deep rumbling noise could be heard as they saw the octopus slowly descend below the waves, as if perishing. Blake noticed that Ren was leading her by one shot, systematically firing off shots to make sure his momentum didn't stop.
It's time, she thought. Activating her semblance, she turned the gun towards Ren's octopus, and fired. She left a clone behind to pull the trigger again, and she leapt to another water gun, adjusting her trajectory.
As the shot from Blake's clone was fired, it collided with his, dispersing it in the air. Adjusting to the trickery in a split second, he fired another shot through the water mist, hitting his mark before hearing those fated words.
"GAME OVER!"
He looked over, and saw that Blake had already finished with her octopus, a smug grin on her lips. He looked towards the gamekeeper, hands raised into the air. "That was clearly a violation of the rules!"
The gamekeeper just shrugged. "I never put down any rules."
He opened his mouth to speak, but the crowd started cheering, and his voice was drowned out in the ensuing chaos. After a minute of frantic jumping and ecstatic screaming, the crowd began to disperse, children were pulled away, and they went about their business.
Ren was still disputing the win from where he was standing while she collected her prize to the amusement of the gamekeeper.
"Very impressive, you two! If I had another grand prize left, you two would get one each!" The man said, laughing again as Blake smiled smugly at Ren about her win.
"Too bad there isn't one. But here," she plucked one from the rack, "you can have this one." She tossed it into the air, and Ren caught it with one hand, turned his hand over, and opened his hand.
In his palm was a miniature version of the grand prize, along with a small ribbon for a free soda. "The very definition of a consolation prize. Thanks," he deadpanned.
"No problem. Now," she waved back at the gamekeeper as she walked off, "what's next?"
"Maybe you should ask your fish."
"Wonderful idea. Hey fish, do you think Ren should be less of a sore loser?"
"Pardon me? I am not a sore loser." He crossed his arms and looked away.
"Of course you aren't. Just look at that prize you got there," she said while chuckling.
He sighed. "Let's just get going. We've still got," he checked his scroll, "five hours until the so-called contest that we're supposed to attend, and from the looks of it, this festival is huge."
"That just sounds like good news to me."
"Of course it is." He pointed. "That looks fairly interesting."
"Really? You want to look at artwork in a festival full of food?"
"Art is food for the mind," he said with a raised finger.
"And food-food is for the stomach," she shot back. "Your point?"
He didn't reply in the form of a sentence, but Blake could hear him grumble about nobody appreciating, "a bit of artistic phrasing."
As they went along, they increasingly noticed that they were attracting attention as a couple. Numerous bystanders whispered among themselves or their partners, and she picked up on each conversation. She was pretending to look at a snow globe that was meant to simulate the ocean when she heard two teenagers in particular bickering.
"Wow... she looks pretty hot." The woman in turn slapped him on the face, and Blake tried to resist the urge to go over there and slap him as well. However, she just stood there and pretended to find another snow globe very interesting.
"Hey!" She looked at him with quite the angry expression.
"What? I can say what I want."
"And I can leave you if I want, you idio- Wow..."
"What?"
"That guy looks pretty hot..." She unconsciously pointed, and Ren must've heard her, looking up and noticing the finger being pointed at him with a curious look before her male counterpart slapped her.
"Hey!"
"What? You did it..." She trailed off as she rubbed her cheek.
Blake walked towards Ren as their quarrel escalated, the same look on his face from when the young woman had pointed at him.
"Blake?"
"Yes?"
"What... was that?"
She smiled. "They're not going to last long as a couple." She said, indirectly answering the question as she strolled right past.
"Would you mind not walking past me each time I ask you a question?"
She turned around, and walked right past Ren again, walking a bit slower as she replied. "Yes."
He face-palmed to Blake's delight.
notes for you guys: thanks for reading until the end! ending's a bit sparse, but I thought it was good comic relief.
remember to do those things that people on youtube tell you to do at the end of EVERY SINGLE VIDEO.
see you on the flip side! have a good weekend. (or weekday, I dunno when you're reading this.)