Chapter Text
After finally getting the milkshakes, he sits down alongside Cavendish and gives him a wave, then, he pulls out his phone and talks to it softly.
“Hey Cav, how you doin’? Feelin’ better?” He asks with a smile.
Cavendish nods. He likes the silence quite a bit, so instead of speaking he texts on his phone. I’m okay. Thanks, I needed to sit down for a moment. He lets Dakota read the text, but then frowns and continues writing. I think we should head to one of the big attractions now. I suppose they have quite a long line, and we can drink on the way there. Cavendish offers the phone again so Dakota can read. He knows nothing about this park, but his partner might have a favorite ride.
“Y’know… Maybe we could get on the steam train that they got goin’ around here, or maybe the Ferris Wheel! It would be such a great sight, with the stars and the night. It would be pretty quiet too. What do you say Cav?” Dakota beams with excitement. He did want to ride the roller coaster, but he never really got to ride the train or Ferris Wheel that often, either by forgetting about it, or not having enough time, or having to save Cavendish while the Brit himself was doing something else that day.
That sounds delightful , Cavendish writes as he stands. He feels so much better now, looking at his partner in anticipation, waiting for him to guide the way. The Ferris Wheel is visible from their position, but the path to the entrance is not.
“All right, then let’s go.” He finishes his milkshake in one go and begins to walk alongside Cavendish towards the Ferris Wheel. Dakota figures that if it’s that close, the entrance shouldn’t be that far off. Fortunately enough, he found the line relatively close to the attraction. The problem is that the line is quite long. It seems to be quite the popular ride.
“Aaaww man… That line is sooo long. We probably won’t have enough time to ride anything else!” He looks to Cavendish with a disappointed frown.
Cavendish sips from his milkshake and hums. The line doesn’t bother him a lot; well, he really doesn’t like being around so many people for an extended period of time, but in an amusement park that’s hard to avoid anywhere. At least in line they’ll have time to stop a bit and talk.
“It’s alright,” he says softly, barely above the voices around them. He’s calm enough to speak. “Unless you’d like another?” The Ferris Wheel is his favorite, but logically it makes no sense to visit it if that stops them from going elsewhere, and Dakota should be able to ride some of his after the Merry-go-round.
“Yeah… Maybe we can cha-,” as he turns his head around to look for something else to ride, Dakota sees another line that had a sign on top of it that read: Sonic Pass line. The sign itself has a caricature of a blue hedgehog, signaling to the slogan with a smile.
The brunette got curious enough to go ahead and check it, bringing Cavendish alongside him by holding his hand softly.
“Dakota?” Cavendish blinks, confused by the sudden change of direction. He raises his head to see the same sign, frowning for a moment. “This is for the people with a pass, Dakota, those are very expensive. It’s not worth it.” Maybe at the start of the day and with a good plan, but for a single attraction? It could easily cost the same as an entire other ticket.
That is the situation that would normally happen, but Dakota perks up as he just remembered another detail of his platinum tickets.
“I remember now! When I purchased the tickets, the attendant told me that I would be able to skip the lines, since the Sonic Pass was included in my package!” He grins with excitement. “We don’t have to do the line at all!”
“And you just remembered that now?” Cavendish scolds, though his tone is light. “You can be such an airhead, you’re lucky I enjoy you exactly as that.“ he’s happy they’ll be able to ride the Ferris Wheel, so his nagging is playful.
“Hey, sometimes bein’ an airhead can let your imagination fly. Get it?” He raises his eyebrows with a cheeky smirk, then he steps into the passage, letting go of Cavendish’s hand as he knew his partner could walk perfectly fine on his own. He lets Balthazar get right beside him and resumes his stroll once more.
The ferris wheel is located in an area with nearby trees, a lake and close by other smaller attractions. The sight and decoration was pretty calming and subdued, nothing extraordinary or that screamed at them to ride any of the attractions.
As the two keep walking along, they finally make it to the attendant, who is a slim and cheerful man, seemingly happy to be working there.
“Hello! You two are coming from the Sonic Pass line, correct?”
“Yeah. I got platinum tickets and we were able to skip the line. I honestly got pretty lucky with getting to skip the line today. Otherwise my friend and I wouldn’t be able to ride anything else.”
“That’s good to hear. Now, come this way, we’re gonna get ya and your companion ready to go.”
“Thanks!” He eyes Cavendish with a smile. “Let’s go Cav.”
“Right.” The tall man follows and they’re soon enough inside one of the small cabinets of the attraction. Usually Cavendish is not a fan of such limited space, but he makes an exception for the Ferris Wheel.
Always since he was a child, it has fascinated him. Being able to see the world upon so high without fearing a drop like in faster rides made him feel like he was flying. When everything was too much and the pressure of studies, his parents or his peers made Cavendish feel small; the Ferris Wheel allowed him to be in the sky for a while, above his problems, far away from everything. Up so high, little Balthazar thought he could face anything.
Now he knows better. It’s just a ride that can’t take him away from his anxieties and fears, nothing more than a bunch of metal that rises a bit from the ground. But the feeling is still there. As the cabinet goes up, his chest starts to bubble with anticipation, and no matter he knows it’s silly, he just can’t help himself: it still feels like flying.
“We’re quite high already,” Cavendish giggles midway, looking at the lights of the park. He takes off his earphones, here the sounds of the park already seem muffled. “Oh, such pretty colors.”
“Yeah… It looks so amazing.” Dakota looks closer onto the window, mesmerized by the view. It really is as astounding as movies make it out to be. “Y’know, I used to climb on trees when I was a kid to get that same feel… Tryin’ to jump and fly away from my problems. Maybe get a better place to live or somethin’ like that. Eventually that thought went away, but even when I was a teen, I always climbed the trees whenever I felt I was under a lot of stress. Guess that’s one of the reasons I’m so fond of nature and animals. If I didn’t end up becoming a time traveler, I probably would’ve become a zoo keeper, or maybe an explorer.”
Vinnie smiles while giving a sigh full of relief, then he looks at Cavendish. “But if that happened… I wouldn’t have met you Cav. We aren’t really family or any sort and our lives are way more different than what I would like to admit, but you feel like family to me. You ain’t someone I would leave behind. Not even my future self could do that. I know you’re havin’ a tough time, but believe me: I’ll always be with ya. No matter how many times we fight or feel terrible for somethin’ that you did. I’ll help you get through whatever’s going on inside your head. We’ll figure out a way to solve it. That’s a promise.”
“Likewise, my good friend,” Cavendish smiles softly, looking at Dakota. “We’ll figure out a way to keep going, together; I’m sure,” he looks at the sky. “You know? It was similar for me, when I was young I liked to be high above because it looked like I could just leave my problems in the ground. Of course such a thing it’s not possible, but I’m glad I got to face it… with you.”