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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

booth:

[He's not exactly much of one for teaching, but even in the month and a half he's been in town (a number he's careful not to mention out loud, but one that he keeps very firmly in his mind) 10K's noticed some embarrassing incidents coming into the hospital. There's clearly a need for this sort of thing, not to mention the fact that if you have the right knowledge, you could probably survive for a while in the woods outside of the sheriff's surveillance. At least for a day or three.

So here he is, set up at a booth with some photographs and some plant samples clearly labeled in messy block capitals, leaning his elbows on the table and watching the crowd while he waits for anyone interested in what he's got to teach. There's a sign on the table, too, in that same messy lettering: "IS THIS POISON IVY? HOW TO RECOGNIZE DANGEROUS PLANTS". He'll stick around for probably an hour or so before he wanders off, leaving his booth in search of other things.]

range:

[10K was born with a gun in his hand. Okay, not really; he didn't learn how to shoot until he was like ten, and even then he really didn't like to do it. It's been a necessary skill, though, and one it's turned out he's pretty good at, and now...well. Shooting gives him a zen feeling a lot of other things don't. When he's got his rifle in hand, or his slingshot, it's just him and the target. Everything else doesn't matter as much. Which is why when he hears about a range, and something about marksmanship lessons or a sharpshooting competition, he can't resist. You can find him on the line with his slingshot in hand, hitting a string of easy bullseyes or close enough to count. Showing off? No. Not him, never.]

food tent:

[Every growing boy needs food, and he still eats like he doesn't know where his next meal is going to come from. Judging by his lack of regular employment, he might not be wrong. But hey, it's mostly pretty good, if you ignore the congealed macaroni and cheese over in the corner. He's in good enough spirits to even offer some advice:]

You should definitely try the barbecue.

[This seems like a nice, civic-minded thing to do...also practical, because once you've seen someone trying to administer CPR for a bullet wound to the head, you get a little worried about what might happen come the day you're the one bleeding.

At her booth, Emily has one of those big safety orange EMT bags and a stack of photocopied packets of instruction sheets. The page for the Heimlich maneuver has one of the procedures crossed out, WILL CAUSE INTERNAL INJURIES!!! scrawled across the top in large letters with, yes, three exclamation points. On every copy. Apparently she did her edits on the master sheet. Whether anyone at the hospital knows she did it is a different story.

While she waits for students, Emily has her feet propped up on the table and is reading a book, laughing occasionally. That's not the weird part. The weird part is that it's an astrophysics textbook.]

[Rachel's remembered enough now to know that she kicks butt. She's annoyed that she can't show off her splatgun skills--especially since she's got the empty splat balls sitting on her counter just mocking her--but since she's trying to stay in the broom closet until she's got a better read on people, it's probably a good thing she can't dose anyone with sleepytime potion.

Besides, she worked hard for that black belt, might as well put it to use.

She can be found demonstrating the best way to kick or punch someone without breaking yourself in the process, how to headbutt a guy to break his nose or at least get him to let go so you can get free, that sort of thing. She even has a few papers with instructional images printed out for people to take back with them. Ivy would be proud.

She's still wearing the leather pants that had been in her things after she got out of the hospital, although she's changed out the tank top for a long sleeved t-shirt so she can more easily hide her hair-taming charm, which along with the fact her hair is now in a ponytail makes her look much less like something the eighties forgot to take when it left. Overall she looks relaxed and totally in her element, and despite the sheen of sweat and the fact she's showing off how to beat someone up, she makes sure to give a welcoming smile to anyone who happens to pass by, and a bit of a wave if they stop to really watch. She might give particularly encouraging smiles to any men who happen by, hoping to have someone willing to volunteer to better demonstrate some of the techniques]

Edited 2017-03-11 23:49 (UTC)

[Izumi wanders the booths with a juice box, slurping his way through the park. He slows down to glance at the handouts whenever there are any, and this table is no exception – the all caps message with a copious number of exclamation points is hard to ignore. Even harder to brush off, however, is the laughter as he snaps his head up and squints.]

Is that actually a book on astrophysics?

[Maybe it's a cover to hide something else, because that's weird.]

Sure is!

[She turns the book around to display a page of math.]

They're wrong about planetary accretion disks.

[Emily is in fact wearing a lab coat with a hospital ID identifying her as a medical doctor clipped to the lapel. Maybe the astrophysics is a hobby.]

[Numbers. Those are numbers, and letters, and equations.]

Sounds like they'd better update their text. But is it really that funny?

[Maybe it's funny to doctors, if that's what the woman is, and to those who actually know what planetary accretion disks are. What does astrophysics have to do with first aid, anyway?]

[The answer is very simple:

Nothing, and Emily is weird.]

They're just so confident about it.

[She squints at the page, and whatever error it is she sees.]

...I probably shouldn't write in a library book even if it's wrong.

[This has absolutely nothing to do with the first aid training you're offering, Emily.]

[Apparently, it takes rocket mathematics to do CPR.]

Wouldn't it be better to talk to the publisher?

[If it's from the library, there's a possibility that she's reading an outdated edition, or the lady doctor is just that knowledgeable. He has no reason to believe that she's wrong.

Reaching for the instruction packet on the top of the stack, Izumi leafs through the pages. Here's the page with the exclamation points he'd glimpsed from one packet with a part of the sheet poking out.]

But I don't need to know that for this, right? I don't think I'd be able to do the Heimlich if I did.

No calculus required!

[Emily swings her feet off the table and stands, setting down the book.]

I'm Doctor Grey.

[She offers a hand to shake.]

That's a relief!

[Nobody needs to hear about a botched Heimlich maneuver, because the kid couldn't do math. Holding the packet with his left hand, Izumi leans forward to shake the proffered hand with his right.]

I'm Izumi. I just go to school. Do you work at the hospital, Dr. Grey?

Yep! Pretty slow most of the time, really. People don't get into nearly enough trouble around here!

[She's quite cheerful and does not seem to realize that's a very weird thing to say.]

Isn't that a good thing? That means everyone's healthy or safe, and you get paid to do less work.

[The latter is clearly what matters the most.]

[Does not compute.]

What am I supposed to do with all the free time?

[Read about astrophysics, apparently.]

Read about astrophysics? [His gaze drops to the title of the textbook.] If it were me, I might bring a Rubik's Cube . . . I guess your options are limited in a setting like that.

I'm not allowed to do experiments on patients. Even if they consent!

[It's so deeply unfair.]

[Um.]

"Experiments"? . . . What kind?

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.]

Well, my robot arm research has entirely stalled since--

[since she got kidnapped to another planet in the past, but we're not talking about that]

--my accident. I've lost weeks! The hospital administration has no respect for scientific progress.

[Okay, Dr. Frankenstein.]

[Has everyone in the Pines been a victim of an accident? That's sad.

Maybe Izumi has watched too much sci-fi horror in the past, because "robot arm" sounds incredibly underwhelming in comparison to the stuff in fiction – albeit still very exciting – to his teenage ears.]

Oh! Robot arm? Sounds cool! Is it meant for use as a prosthetic?

[ 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.

( come one, come all! step right up! see howard stark fold and throw the perfect paper airplane! witness howard makes infinitesimal calculus his bitch! stare in amazement as he solves a rubik's cube in under 5 seconds while hanging upside down and drinking vodka through a straw! scratch your head until it is raw and bloody as howard does the impossible and plays three octaves across four strings in a hand span!

and you — yes you! — can learn these skills by stopping at howard's booth. ~~once the waiver of liability is signed.~~ hurry! and he will also teach you how to cheat at poker for no additional cost! and, as an added bonus, you could also learn how to talk your way out of having your thumbs broken after being caught cheating at poker! WOW! all this for the low, low payment of absolutely nothing! you can't get a better deal than that!

act now! supplies are limited! )

( a glimpse of the rubik's cube on his way around the park stops izumi in his tracks. what is this booth even teaching? the show howard puts on is impressive – stunningly pointless and unnecessary, yet impressive still. it's enough to drop izumi's jaw open, if by a little. )

Whoa! How long did that take?

( he'd been passing by, but it must've been a few seconds at best. that's cool.

who cares about poker. )

[ 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)

( "stunningly pointless and unnecessary, yet impressive still": name of his sex tape.

at izumi's question, howard barks to victor goodsprings (standing off to the side with a stopwatch in his hand) to tell him the time. in a quiet voice, his employee rattles off the time. howard then repeats it with a smug smirk. ) 5.15 seconds.

( granted, it'd probably be quicker if he hadn't performed the trick five or nine times by now ~~and if he hadn't been sneaking sips of the whiskey from the poker lesson~~. it's understandable though. the hanging rubik's cube is a really cool trick. plus the possibility of howard getting drunk enough that he turns blue in the face and falls off the monkey bars must be a very appealing idea to the townfolk. he can't blame 'em. he'd do the same thing if it was someone else hanging upside.

so far, though, the booth has been fairly busy, which makes this all worth it. even if he was to damage his beautiful face in the process. but no one said business was for the scared or lazy. )

( sold out in every local store, no doubt.

he wasn't expecting an answer; however, when he hears it, izumi leans closer to the booth. a second glance at the rubik's cube shows that it has, indeed, been solved completely. the guy must be drunk, to boot. )

5.15!? That's crazy! Is that what this booth is about? To teach us how to do the same thing?

( minus the pointless and unnecessary parts? )

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

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( march event ) mad skillz

10K | Teaching: plant identification | open

Emily Grey | First Aid | Open

Rachel Morgan | Teaching: Self defense | Open

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ignis scientia | teaching: cookery | open

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booth

howard stark | teaching: a variety of things | open

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( BOOTH )

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