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That day at the amusement park, Jack had a plan. Not a plan like riding an intense roller coaster or anything, no, he wanted a lot of prizes from the games, and everyone was helping. Rian tried to goad the hosts into directly selling to him, but it didn’t work out, perhaps the insults he tossed them at the end didn’t help. Zack was fine with everything, it was nothing to him. As for Alex, it was his job to actually win the prizes. He wasn’t particularly good at them, but his determination and aggression helped.
What prizes did Jack even want? Plushies, of course. Was it his birthday or anywhere near it? No. Was it someone else’s birthday? Also no. Any holidays or events nearby? Not even. Jack just seemed particularly enthusiastic about winning a bunch of plushies, all of which were conveniently the hardest ones to win. But the others didn’t mind helping him, they enjoyed it actually.
The place overall wasn’t as exciting as it made itself out to be. The rides were mostly for kids, the more exciting rides were out of order, the food was bland, and the gift shop had worse stuff than the games. It wasn’t as if playing a bunch of rigged games to win stuffed animals for a bunch of adults was serious and deep, it was just more exciting than standing around waiting for things to work.
“Oh come on! I was so close!” Alex shouts at a wall of balloons he threw darts at, he somehow managed to miss all of them as the darts neatly nestled in between the balloons. How they managed to be rigged in that specific way, he’ll never know, but he could do without Rian laughing at him for missing.
Determined, and falling into the trap, Alex pulls out his wallet and pays for yet another round. This time, he manages to actually hit a balloon, and it’s blue, which according to the chart, means he wins a high tier prize. What high tier prize does Jack want? A plush rabbit, specifically a red one. There’s 3 colors, and the blue and green ones don’t speak to him as much. Alex hands the prize over to Zack.
At the end of the day, or what was considered the end of the day as Alex’s arms were getting tired, they gather at a table with food, and Jack asks Zack to spread out all the things he’d been carrying on the table. A mismatched pile of just over dozen plushies.
“So what was your plan with all of these anyway?” Alex asks in between bites of food.
“Replace his mattress with plushies, obviously.” Rian remarks.
“Neither, they’re not for me.” Jack’s words are met with raised eyebrows and confused glances.
“Then why did I spend all that time spending money on all those rigged games?” Alex questions.
“You guys don’t get it, huh?” Jack piles the plushies up. “They’re for all of us, it’s a prize pool! We all share them and take the ones we want for ourselves.”
Rian raises an eyebrow at Jack, intending to say something, but his mood changes once he sees how happy Zack is as he grabs a plush lion, and decides to take a raccoon for himself.
It’s not the reason Alex expected, but he can't help but smile when Jack hands the rabbit to him.