As Heather and Echo approached the midway, they were met with a rather odd site. The large variety of carnival games was still present, there was even a classic style arcade hidden near the back, however where there would normally by copious amounts of stuffed animals or theme park merchandise meant to tantalize park-goers there were large, black trash bags clearly filled with something.
Looking to get some answers, the two walked up to the nearest booth, where they spotted Sapphire from the front of the park. As they approached, she looked up, dropping her book and giving them a nervous look, saying, “Sorry, I’m know I’m not supposed to read when we have guests. I just didn’t think any of you would come over here…”
Heather gave her a pleasant smile, “No need to worry Sapphire. We were wondering though, what’s up with the trash bags?”
“W-well. The forecast said it’s supposed to rain later,” Sapphire looked pensively up at the overcast sky, “and since we don’t officially open until next weekend, he didn’t want to get any of the prizes wet. If you win anything, you’re free to open one up though,” she said, looking back to the two, “If either of you want to play any of these games, just wave me over,” she picked her book up of the ground, dusted it off, and went back to reading.
“So, what do you want to try first?” Heather asked Echo.
The two girls walked around a bit, examining the various games on offer, before Echo stopped them in front of the classic milk bottle game. “Ooh! Let’s play this one! I used to be pitcher for my softball team back in high school,” Echo said, waving Sapphire over.
As Sapphire walked over, she put on a red baseball cap with the park’s logo, and picked up some similarly red colored baseballs up from behind the counter “Okay girls, it’s two dollars a throw, or three for five dollars.”
Echo paid the five dollars and handed one of the balls to Heather, proclaiming confidently, “I’m probably going to only need one anyway,”
“All-right then, let me go set up the milk bottles,” Sapphire smiled, setting up the metal bottles in a matter of moments.
The two girls took their spots in front of their respective bottle pyramid before letting loose, Heather’s weakly bouncing off the bottom left bottle, barely causing the pyramid to jiggle, while Echo’s wizzed towards the bottles, hitting the three bottles in the dead center, but only causing two to fall down, the other teetering before staying up right.
“*Tch*” Echo said, looking slightly peeved before picking up her second ball. After Sapphire had reset her bottles, Echo’s face turned serious. She stepped back from front counter, taking a pitcher’s stance, before really stepping into her swing and threw the ball with all of the force she could muster. The ball once again hit its target square where she was aiming, but with an even greater impact, and once again, two bottles fell down and one remained standing upright.
“Uggh! What! This is rigged!” Echo said roughly, easily being the most pissed off that Heather had ever seen the short asian girl (which admittedly, she didn’t appear that upset, but still).
“Eek! I’m sorry you didn’t get it Miss, but there’s no need to get angry,” Sapphire squeaked, “Here! You can check the bottles yourself!” Sapphire scurried behind the counter, producing the three bottles Echo had been pitching against for inspection.
Echo, naturally the most experienced member of the group (She was going for a double major in bio-med and physics after all) gave a thorough examination of the bottles, turning them over, lifting one and then the other to compare the weights, trying to push them down a couple of times, before seemingly satisfied that the game was not rigged said, “Fine… but I’m going to need another throw then.” She fished out another two dollars, laying it down on the counter, “And don’t try pulling a fast one on me and pulling out the actually rigged bottles, I want to use these bottles specifically,”
“Of course, Miss!” Sapphire said, relieved that the conflict had ended quickly, and set up the bottles once more. Echo, not taking any chances, once again took her pitchers stance, and sticking out her tongue (a habit she had found in high school helped with her concentrate while pitching), threw the ball with an amount of force even she was surprised with.
The ball landed true, knocking all three pins down easily, “Hey! Winner winner, chicken dinner!” Heather jokingly proclaimed, patting her friend on the back.
Echo blushed, “Yeah, it was nothing,” she said, slightly embarrassed that her friend had seen her act so impulsively.
“Here’s your prize Miss,” Sapphire said, handing a small beanie-baby sized garbage bag. Echo opened it up, revealing an androgynous looking hand and wrist modeling a watch with Chronos the Clock’s (Eternipark’s lovable Time-themed mascot) smiling face, little cartoon hands representing the time. As Echo handled the strange looking mannequin (although, it was way too squishy to be a normal mannequin part), she could have sworn she felt something and saw the fingers wiggle a bit. ‘Oh well,’ She thought, placing the hand and watch into her bright orange backpack she had brought into the park.
“Well, looks like I owe you a game,” Heather said, grinning at her friend, “seeing as how if I hadn’t taken your extra ball you could have won that sick watch earlier.
“Okay, but just a warning, I can get a little competitive,” Echo smiled back, covering her face to hide her blushing once again.
What game should the girls play?
1) Ring Toss
2) Arcade Game Madness
3) Water Gun Balloon Race