pineslog | ( march event ) mad skillz

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( march event ) mad skillz

EVENT: MAD SKILLZ

The flyers were everywhere. Slipped into mailboxes and taped to windows, these yellow sheets of paper are more than ready to catch a few eyes. That parking ticket you thought you got, tucked under your wiper blade? Nope, that's another flyer. (It goes without saying that each public trash can holds at least a few.)

Honestly, it's nearly impossible to live in the town of Wayward Pines and not know of the Skills Fair being hosted in a park north of where most of you live on this upcoming Saturday. Whether or not you choose to attend is entirely up to you.

Venture toward the park on 3rd and Alder anytime between 11 AM and 5 PM, and a colorful assortment of tents will greet you, from which drifts the buzz of conversation and a small assortment of downright delicious smells. The first few tents - the largest by a decent margin - are the food court and the sign-in desk for anyone looking to teach. It's far from mandatory, but a volunteer from the tent makes a lap every so often to make note of those who didn't sign up, for a full list of skills that newcomers can show up and learn. The food court hosts your typical limited variety of BBQ and pseudo-cultural foods, good for a quick bite and respite from a long day of sharing skills.

The rest of the park hosts a scattered grid of smaller tents and booths in varying colors. At first glance, they seem to be free for use - even since you've arrived, one or two people have strolled in off the street to set up one booth or another with relevant teaching supplies. Feel free to claim one for yourself, or maybe just stroll through the park and see what there is to be learned.

Taped to a tree or tent every so often is a request for those offering to teach any excessively loud or alarming skills (like firearm proficiency) to take their pupils to the makeshift shooting range set up two blocks north for the occasion. It's nothing special, a series of near-pristine targets in an unnecessarily large area taped off with bright yellow safety ribbon, but it's more of a shooting range than the town had before. Any other skill in need of some sort of target is also welcome to use the range, if they need it. In fact, it may be a wise alternative to trying to teach knife-throwing or archery in the park; below the request is a warning, stating that in the case of any injuries sustained at the Skills Fair, deliberate or accidental, the individual who caused the wound will be held responsible as if they committed assault. If that's not incentive to be a little more careful, what is?

Additionally, on the side of the sign-in tent and pinned to a tree facing each of the surrounding streets is a copy of the Official Notice, framed and enlarged at 1.5x, in case anyone might forget.

Might want to keep it in mind. You never know who might be listening.

MOD NOTES

This is a catch-all for any and all threads pertaining to the Skills Fair!

PLEASE INCLUDE IN SUBJECT LINE: Character Name, Skill Being Taught if applicable, and Open or Closed, to help keep things a bit more organized. (For example: "Joe Biden | Teaching: How to become a meme | Open!")

If you have any questions regarding this event, feel free to ask them here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

booth

[ Originally Ignis wasn't even going to attend the event, opting to stay behind at the restaurant and get some extra prep time in. It's halfway through a second batch of onions that he realizes that everyone will be at said fair and more than likely not coming in for food and so he soon finds himself the owner of a stall offering to teach others how to cook. There's only a limited amount of space and utensils available (not to mention a small camping style stove with two burners), so the recipe selection itself is dialed back to basics. There are no super five star dishes here, more like omelettes, pancakes and other basics that always seem to stick to the bottom of someone else's pans. He's more than fine with upping the ante should someone ask how specific things are made, though.]

food court

[ At some point Ignis has moved away from his own stall in favour of getting a bite to eat, or so he tells himself. Really he's just checking out what's on offer and soon enough he's sitting at one of the tables, pushing some spaghetti around his plate with a fork. Apparently the signage had said bolognese, but the mess that had been put before him is dubious on that claim to say the least and Ignis can't help the reluctant expression on his face. It would be rude not to eat it, he just doesn't know if anyone will survive doing just that and he's so distracted by it all that he won't even notice if anyone sits opposite him or comes over to say hello to begin with.]

[ Natasha's at the fair to take in the sights, making mental notes of of the people in town and what it is they can do. Just in case. That healthy sense of paranoia that she's had ever since she woke up here a month ago hasn't left, only steadily growing the more she notices about the town.

She stops at the cooking booth much like she does all the others, ostensibly to observe for a brief moment, but this one she lingers at, watching Ignis ply his trade with actual interest. She smiles at him when he glances her way, nodding towards his pancakes. ] You make it look easy.

[ Ignis knows he's being watched. Whereas most would probably preen under the attention or at least show off, Ignis does neither, making sure to approach his work like he does any other time. Methodically. He's known for a completely business approach when it comes to food, avoiding the pitfalls of getting too passionate about something and now is not time to change that. (If only he knew that in another life he didn't actually like the cooking that much).

Natasha gets a small nod in greeting. Ignis recognises her as one of Aranea's friends and that's more than enough reason not to be completely cold. That and compliment is a compliment.]

Practise, a lot of practise. Once you know the trick you can make pancakes and not scrambled pancake mix. Would you like to take part?

[ She honest to God, for a moment, looks like she's considering the consequences of accepting his offer. But she talks herself out of it — it's not like it's going to hurt to learn, even if every time she's tried to make pancakes it's ended up with something more akin to pancharcoal. ]

I'll bite, [ she says amicably, and moves in closer to watch. ]

Not me, I hope.

[ A lame attempt at small talk and Ignis knows it. There's no arguments when Natasha moves in for a closer look either. Ignis can understand how it can baffle some people despite being the easiest thing to do; he knows some who can start out with the same amount of ingredients and end p with scrambled eggs.]

Have you ever tried making pancakes before?

[ in the end, it's the smell of cooking food that gets him.

the skills fair itself turns out to be more overwhelming than noctis had expected -- full of unfamiliar noises and smells, and complete with enough of a crowd to make him feel a little dizzy. his head is still more than a little fuzzy from the accident, so it's hard to remember if places like this used to be his scene, but... he isn't exactly feeling it now, that's for sure.

but he's looking for people, and this has to be a pretty good place to start, right?

... too bad all he's really managed to accomplish is a bunch of dazed (and useless) wandering around. but there's something remotely familiar about the smell of cooking in the air -- does it remind him of someone? of home, maybe? -- so he lets himself be drawn towards it like a moth to the flame. the guy running the booth has his back towards him when noctis finally approaches, probably focused on whatever he's doing at the stove, so. a little awkwardly, noctis clears his throat. ]

Hey. Smells good. [ a pause, already vaguely embarrassed. even to him, that sounded lame. ] Uh, the food, I mean.

Edited 2017-03-13 14:43 (UTC)

[ no-one can truly resist the smell of good cooking and pancakes is especially the kind to draw in people from afar. just like ncotis, ignis has had a few moments recently wondering just what they're doing in pines, trying to figure out just what is going on, but the whole thing is akin to catching water with his fingertips. whatever it is, it's proving to be elusive at the very least.

the voice snaps ignis out of his thoughts, and he looks up from the pan to stare at the newcomer. there's a flicker of something, some kind of recognition, but it's gone as quickly as it comes. ah, it's this guy. ignis knows of noctis but has barely said two words to him ever. there has been little reason to and the comments from noctis have the chef raising his eyebrows. what else was he meant to think the comment was about?]

I hope so, though perhaps I should wonder considering not many people seem to want to find out how to make them.

[ being a creature of magic, eliza doesn't normally have any use for things like eating. however, here in this town she is without a master, and since humans have this thing against killing others (she should know, she remembers her own death and the many others she's caused), she has to look for other means of keeping her energy up. ]

Hey, hey, you're pretty good with that!

[ that doesn't mean she's going to learn how to cook, god no. instead she's leaning over the booth inspecting the food, having watched ignis go about cooking and showing others what to do. ]

I've got an idea: how about you come to my house and cook for me!

[ eliza no ]

[ if ignis had any idea how masters and servants worked, or that he was currently about to be conversing with someone who could be considered not quite human, there would be more questions asked from his side of things.

as it is, it's only eliza's hair color that gets a second look and even then it's quickly accepted. like he can talk when the front of it is styled just about vertical.]

That is an idea, but not one I can take up. I do have a job, so a counter offer would be to invite you to eat at the restaurant I run. That way, for a price, you can eat what I cook.

[ meanwhile, eliza's grateful for the sudden lack of questions. finally!!! someone who doesn't pry. ]

...Huh? I don't have any money! It's my producer's job to handle the mundane things in day-to-day life, and she isn't here.

[ producer? mundane? that gets an eyebrow rise. ignis can't say he recognises this one even though it sounds like he should. maybe he ought to be impressed but it really doesn't change the fact that someone is saying they don't have money. promises from management can only go so far and ignis idly tosses a pancake as he mulls it over.]

You don't need to pay for this, this is a booth and it doesn't really count here. I just mean to say that I shall not be going to your house and cooking for you. Not unless it's a job that warrants taking me away from the restaurant?

[ ... this is unfair! this is so mean!

for a moment, eliza looks panicked ]

But...! I'm a star!? Wouldn't cooking for a big star be better than sitting in the back of a crappy restaurant?

[ eliza NO ]

[ there is a good stretch of silence at eliza's question, most likely filled with the sounds of crickets chirping for good measure as he wonders how to answer that question without causing a scene.]

I'll have you know that my restaurant is not "crappy". [ at least his tone is calm; ignis did not spend a lifetime wrangling noctis to be able to lose his shit so easily.] The food you would get at the restaurant is what I would cook elsewhere. Your status has nothing to do with anything, so no, it wouldn't be better.

[He hadn't really been planning on learning anything today. On top of his fuzzy memories he'd still only recently gotten out of the hospital. Most of what people were teaching seemed to require two hands.

But an interesting smell hits his nose, making his stomach growl with startling force. He pauses to look for the source and spies Ignis just a few booths down. Nyx wanders over, curious. Did he know how to cook? He couldn't remember. He'd been living on hospital food and snacks since he woke up from the accident. You'd think he'd know something though, right? He couldn't have raised Jack on instant noodles.

He hopes.

Nyx forgets to say hi when he approaches. Just lurks quietly and watches Ignis work. His eyebrows knit together in a slight frown as he struggles to remember...well, anything, really.]

[ If Ignis didn't remember how to cook he would probably still be completely lost, stuck in some fiendish place where instant food just wouldn't cut it. Luckily for him, Pines was benevolent in that regard and Ignis will only ever be able to sympathise with people who didn't know how to cook.

He's somewhat certain that the new guy is one of those who doesn't know how to cook pancakes from the small frown on the other's face. Ignis isn't too concerned someone is watching without saying anything (there's been a few of those already), yet there's something about Nyx that has him taking a bit more pity on the other, speaking up when he would have simply ignored them.]

They aren't as difficult as they look.

[Nyx starts a little at being addressed, his frown turning into a sheepish grin.]

Pretty sure whatever comes out of my pan is an insult to your craft.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( march event ) mad skillz

ignis scientia | teaching: cookery | open

booth

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( BOOTH )

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booth!

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Booth; after ten thousand years

+ 100 years from me, we got this ♥

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