Tick-Tock [Open]

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

It was exceedingly rare to see Fiamma spending any more time than strictly necessary in the midst of a city (especially not Felici of all places), but something had captured her curiosity during this visit. The boardwalk.

It was one of quite a few things Fiamma had not been privileged to experience in her life— since living cooped up in a camp and then fleeing to the forest sort of limited your options —so it wasn't too hard for the fire magi to fall prey to curiosity when something new and exciting presented itself. And what could be more exciting than the colorful, flashy spectacle of an amusement park? ...alright maybe there weren't that many rides, but each and every one was something Fiamma had never even gotten within a 100 feet of before. The quiet of nature was also much more her scene than this spectacle, and yet she found it hard not to be charmed by the bright lights and cheery music pouring out of meticulously hidden speakers all about the boardwalk. It was a good thing she'd come a bit early to avoid the rush of humans who would surely spoil the experience.

She'd wandered idly about the wooden walkway to peek into a few stands (not intending to part with any money, thank you very much) and join up on the lines for rides that seemed entertaining, saving the looming circle of the Ferris Wheel for last. There were a few small coasters, some obviously kiddie rides with carriages fashioned into cartoon animals, a merry-go-round (which she'd ridden); all leading up to the one attraction that had caught Fiamma's eye before she'd even fully entered the boardwalk. Sure it was leisurely and slow— less of a 'ride' than the others that could really get her adrenaline pumping —but she had a carriage to herself where she could pull her hood back without worry, there was a gentle breeze ruffling her hair, and the view from the top was nothing short of spectacular. For all its irritating clamor and prejudice the city really was pretty.

It was a truly relaxing ride, so much so that she asked the person manning the Ferris Wheel to let her go around a second time since there was hardly anyone waiting, but when it came to an end the fire magi was thrust back into the fray. It was getting later so, naturally, the boardwalk was beginning to fill up with activity and the din of voices that overshadowed the jaunty music in a way that quickly began to turn Fiamma's mood sour. She pulled her hood back up to cover her horns when people began to stare, baring her fangs at an older woman and her disapproving, pursed frown.

That was just about her cue to leave. Or she would have, anyway, if it wasn't for the sight of some stranger (male, blonde, outwardly human looking) glowering up at the wheel she'd just stepped out of like it had committed some inexcusable atrocity against him. His rather angry demeanor was enough to prompt her to make some off-handed comment, despite how much she made it a habit to not interact with random passerby. ❝If looks could kill I think you'd have that thing in a pile of scrap metal by now.❞ Very neutral, just pausing in her way to glance at him from beneath her hood with a look of mild curiosity.

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

The sensation of being so pointedly picked apart by a stranger's eyes had always been unnerving to Fiamma, but having a hood pulled up to cast her face in shadow soothed her nerves some. Likewise, her own hands were tucked into the pockets of her jacket (hiding scales and claws from the world) and the fire magi was comforted by the knowledge that it would be difficult to pick her out as anything but human. It would be a hassle to deal with unhappy observers in such a crowded space. She also honestly just hated being stared at like some circus act on display.

The sarcastic retort was met with a snort on her part. Not exactly a peach, this guy— as if she had any right to think such a thing —but Fiamma was more amused than put off. Her vivid blue eyes only rolled in quiet exasperation as she followed his line of sight over the heads of all the people now migrating across the boardwalk. The man's disdain for the attraction was something she could sympathize with as someone who never much liked excessive noise or company, even if she was fond of the Ferris Wheel itself. Seriously though, he looked ready wring the thing's neck if that was even a thing you could do to a gigantic steel wheel. Kind of funny.

❝What? Is destroying innocent wheels your life's work or something?❞ She piped in response and then huffed a sound that could have been described as a laugh. Clever, Fiamma, you're just killing time now. ❝I think the vendor stands deserve it a little more.❞

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

Now that was a good question. In the vast majority of cases Fiamma would much rather keep to herself, get done what needed to be done, and get out of the city ASAP— but it was possible to motivate her to dilly dally. With the novelty of the boardwalk, for example. Or, in this case, with the curiosity she felt piqued by seeing someone trying to set the Ferris Wheel aflame with the force of his ire alone. There was a bit of a mischievous streak lurking in the depths of her personality if you knew how to best prod it into life.

The intensity of the man's stare falling upon her failed to make Fiamma's own gaze falter and she regarded him with a look of cool, detached interest until he turned to walk away. ❝Tch. Alright then, asshole.❞ ...pleasant. Another blase roll of her eyes, the retort forming with a roughened edge of irritation before she ultimately just turned away to lift her eyes towards the tall wheel ahead. Fiamma watched it turn, gentle and slow, her eyes then wandering off to the edge of the boardwalk itself where nothing but dark water stretched out into the distance. She had no hope of hearing the waves as they rolled and crashed in towards shore (not with all the music and voices) so this too provided only a short distraction before leaving her to consider what to do with herself next. Perhaps against her better judgement, Fiamma glanced in the direction that the rather nasty stranger went off in.

In time to have her attention quickly snap towards the unfortunate worker who now found himself dealing with burning stuffed animals. Huh. Now, Fiamma hadn't been able to see the blonde guy performing any magic— what with him having his back turned and the timing of her looking over —but... wasn't it interesting that she'd just mentioned turning his attention to the stands. A funny coincidence. It wasn't as if she would run over to him and confront him on it, drawing attention was definitely not something that interested her, but Fiamma did trail after him. Boredom played a part, as well as curiosity, but honestly she just hadn't seen the rest of the boardwalk yet and didn't feel like leaving before giving it a tour. Simple as that.

It did give her the opportunity to pleasantly flip him off, clawed hand briefly on display, before she turned her head to investigate a nearby dart throwing stand.

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

She'd noticed— as made evident by the comment that she'd dropped only a minute ago. Fiamma was far from the type to whine when things didn't go her way (maybe angrily fume a bit, but never whine) so snarking back at him was all the catharsis she needed. Obviously both of them were plenty capable of dishing out the sass. Which was... better than it being one sided? Sort of?

Either way, directing a suitably rude gesture his way made Fiamma feel a bit better and her attention now seemed to be focused on the game stand in front of her. Something that apparently involved throwing darts at a whole wall of multicolored balloons— many already reduced to rubbery bits hanging limply in place —to rack up enough points for a prize. It was safe to call Fiamma pretty dexterous, but she'd never really tried her hand at throwing sharp objects, so the magi was content to simply watch the father and son already at the booth as they tossed their share of darts. They ended up walking away with a small stuffed frog clutched in the child's eager hands. Cute.

She'd already waved away the employee stationed at the stand when he offered her a try, but maybe it would be fun? Or a little nonsense distraction, at least. Fiamma was quite seriously mulling it over (doing the mental math on how indulging would affect her funds) when a sharp kick to her rear quite unceremoniously derailed that train of thought. More like ripped up the tracks themselves and sent the cars toppling off a cliff to their fiery demise. A stifled shriek broke free from her lips before she was whirling around to face the culprit.

❝Wh—? You,❞ Her first words came out in an undignified sputter. At least until Fiamma pressed her lips into a thin line, outrage flashing across her eyes before settling into a smolder of annoyance, and paused to huff. Similarly displeased. ❝Pot calling the kettle black, don't you think? A few scorched stuffed animals apparently didn't help your shitty attitude.❞

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

And to that, Fiamma bared her teeth in a soundless, bitter snarl. Equal parts angry at the gesture itself and embarrassed by her own reaction to it. It was a good thing her hood was in place to hide the indignant heat she could feel flooding her cheeks because— sworn to all the gods in the sky —she was not going to make it obvious to this guy that she was fazed by being caught off guard like that. ...at least not if the shriek wasn't already enough indication.

❝That doesn't surprise me.❞ She could frankly think of a few more, not so friendly terms to use in describing him. Fiamma didn't seem in the mood for slinging out more verbal abuse, though, and just narrowed her eyes at the other magi in a hostile squint. Oh so he was littering now? Wonderful.

The look of displeasure must have been clear on her expression because the crumpled cigarette box didn't join the trash on the ground, salvaging her opinion of him from dropping even further, and so she passed up mentioning it. Call her a tree hugger or whatever you fancied, but garbage cans existed for a reason. Fiamma didn't really care much about what others though of her social skills either (she could embrace her borderline hermit status, thank you very much) so only an unintelligible, grumpy grumble escaped the fire magi before her own attention turned back to the dart throwing stand.

Rigged. Yeah— that didn't really come as a shock, and she outright told him so. ❝Would make more sense for that to be the case than it being an easy win. Making money off of people who are looking to have fun... sounds about right.❞ Disappointingly so. It's true that Fiamma wasn't at all surprised by the notion, but it was a bit disheartening to even her roughened, cynical soul. She had to assume that that was the whole point since this guy seemed intent on raining all over her parade now that she'd poked at him. Good choices.

❝You know, I thought it was just the Ferris Wheel— but are you on some sort of mission to suck the joy out of the whole Boardwalk because that's the feeling I'm getting here.❞

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

She just shook her head in a quiet display of exasperation. At least he had no trouble owning up to his own unpleasantness.

The question, though, prompted Fiamma to fall silent for a few long moments of consideration. Did she want to play? Honestly she could best describe her feelings as a sort of detached, bland curiosity that would fade into nonexistence if she just walked away, but as far as weighing pros and cons went she didn't see too many reasons not to. Worst case scenario: she dropped a bit of money and came away with nothing. Nothing worth agonizing over. They'd also been standing in front of the stand long enough that Fiamma was beginning to feel that she just might as well give it a go. ❝Maybe.❞ Was all she offered in cryptic response.

It was what the other magi said next that had her flick her gaze up again to make eye contact, looking at him in a way that communicated something along the lines of "you have got to be shitting me". ❝So not a gigantic pessimist, then. Just a pyromaniac.❞ Swell. Not that Fiamma could relate somewhat... but still. She snorted and began digging into her pocket for some change. ❝I don't think that's the best idea unless we want to be labeled terrorists and chased off the boardwalk. No matter how relaxing I find it to light shit on fire.❞

Fiamma found it easy to catch the eye of the person running the stand and, when he approached, she slid her money across the counter to him. This of course bared her scaled hand for all to see and the fire magi very carefully watched the human's (at least he looked completely human) expression once he caught a glimpse— thankfully a brief look of surprise was all that surfaced. He promptly went about getting the darts she'd have to use.

❝Flaming darts would be interesting, I guess, but I'd call that another risky move. Interested in playing without fire?❞

[attr="class","sun"]A Foreign Sun *

I never thought I'd see

Fiamma might have fallen in line with a lot of typical fire magi stereotypes— short tempered, passionate, ferocious when angry, fond of playing with flames —but her more unpredictable emotions were tempered when she had her own well being to worry about. She wasn't particularly afraid of Hunters or people who would attack her for using magic out in the open, yet Fiamma could put together a pretty decent picture of what would happen if they did start burning stuff left and right. With that in mind... what was the end verdict? Probably shouldn't do that. Not unless she found herself struck by the urge to get in a good run as they fled any law enforcement that was bound to show up.

Nope, not in the mood.

The male at her side (who'd become her company for the moment, despite their rather snippy first words) seemed to have quieted down at least, and Fiamma could appreciate the lapse in hostilities. He was interesting in an infuriating, jousting with words sort of way so the fire magi's grumpiness cooled to match. It became a sort of bland disdain as she made to respond. ❝Besides not attracting the attention of someone who would want to lay my severed head at Kalidas' feet? There're a few reasons to nix the fire part.❞

Once she'd spoken, Fiamma reached for one of the darts that lay neatly side by side on the counter and rolled it between clawed fingers, inspecting the sharp tip and feeling the weight of it in her hand. Her cobalt eyes then turned to focus on the wall of balloons about ten feet ahead and she began to chew at her bottom lip with one pointed incisor in a gesture of concentration. Aim set on a target, arm drawn back, and she let it fly— only to have the dart sink into cork a few inches off to the right.

Huh. Not terrible for a first try, but she could definitely do some adjusting. Maybe there was a better way to hold it... ❝Yes? Mm, alright, here take one then.❞ Fiamma didn't look up from scrutinizing her grip on the next dart, trying to figure out the most comfortable hold, as she picked up one of the others with her free hand and held it out to the other magi in a way that showed no interest in hearing any protests. She had enough spare change to not fuss over such a thing, and anyway he could give it a go while she was prepping for another try.