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Loud sounds filled the trio’s ears as they neared the carnival. Apollo had kindly (and somehow managed to) drive and park his car in a conveniently close by car park.
Pixel practically bounced as she walked, excitement evident in her gait. They didn’t blame her, carnivals were a rare occurrence in the famine-struck Anotza. Of course, she always seemed happy, in any appropriate situation. The noise of the bustling carnival didn’t seem to bother her or Core as much as it did Apollo, considering he depended on noise due to his lack of eyesight.
Finally, they reached the ticket booth situated outside the carnival, and before Pixel could pull out her wallet, Apollo had already slammed a few bills in front of the startled attendant.
“Three tickets, please.”
The attendant handed the tickets to them, shoving the money in the cash register as the three walked into the carnival.
The noises and sounds of games and children wasn’t much of a hassle for Pixel or Core, considering the former’s fans at concerts and the latter’s welding occupation both being rather loud, but Apollo attempted to drown the noise out to focus on Pixel’s and Core’s voices. It would be a shame if he couldn’t follow their voices and ended up lost.
As their voices grew fainter (and he’d assumed they were walking much too fast and far away), he panicked a little. He wouldn’t run, imagine the probable amount of litter on the ground he couldn’t see and potentially trip on.
“Hey, Core, where’s Apollo?” Pixel suddenly piped up, turning around to see a very confused-looking Apollo attempting to catch up.
“Could you guys… slow down?” Apollo panted, catching up to the two. “It’s too loud here, I can’t hear your voices and I might get lost.”
“We might end up lagging too far behind… And the money spent on tickets might be wasted if we’re too slow.” Core pondered.
The three spent one or two minutes thinking about solutions, when a lightbulb lit up above Pixel’s head.
“You know, Plume could guide you with his ribbons!” Pixel suggested, sending out her Anotzian Sylveon, aptly named Plume for its feathers and fluffy ribbon feelers as opposed to a short coat of fuzzy fur on a normal Sylveon’s.
It made an odd sound, as if alerting Apollo of its presence as it drew close. Core and Pixel watched on as Plume extended its feelers to curl around Apollo’s arm. He noted the fluffy feeling of the feathers around his skin.
Pixel and Core began walking again after checking with Apollo, a little slower now, though. Plume gently tugged, leading Apollo along as the two others walked and talked.
Before long, the two spotted a relatively clear games booth. It was the stereotypical ‘use a set number of balls to knock down cups to win a prize’ game, except this one was a two-player-version where the players competed to knock down the most cups.
Core and Pixel’s eyes met in a silent, mutual challenge as the two approached the vendor, Apollo paying the fee.
The two collected the ping-pong balls that would be used, standing in position.
Obviously I’ll win, Pixel thought silently, remembering the amount of times she’s done a twirl and thrown her ball with sniper-like precision onto the battlefield.
Obviously I’ll win, Core thought silently, remembering the amount of precision needed for welding and the sort.
The game began, and immediately the two were at it, throwing balls like the cups owed them money and killed their families.
Despite Apollo’s inability to actually see what was going on, from the sounds of the hollow balls hitting the flimsy plastic cups and noise of cups toppling to the floor, he could probably accurately guess who was winning.
…Or not.
As the timer went out, the vendor stood shocked at both the sheer number of cups hit and… their equal scores.
Core took a moment to calm down, before looking down at the number of cups on the ground. The two player’s cups were different colours, and after some silent mental counting…
Both of their scores were the same. The same.
“Core, there is no way we both got the same score…” Pixel grumbled, counting the cups for herself. “...Right?”
“The two of you should just replay-”
“Absolutely not, I WON.” Core insisted, glaring at Pixel.
As if she had been personally insulted, Pixel gasped and raised a hand to her chest in mock disbelief.
“As if! Over my dead body.”
The vendor, watching them argue, just shrugged and handed the prize, a plush toy, to Apollo, telling him to let them argue it out themselves.
Plume dragged the quarreling duo away from the stand so as not to disrupt other people, while the two bickered about who won.
Apollo used his hand to feel the plush toy, before an idea popped into his head. Surely an agreeable solution?
“You know, since neither of you can decide, I’ll just take the prize. Seems to me the two of you only care about who won.”
The two of them turned to glare at him, though he couldn’t see it, but he could clearly tell from the seconds of tense silence that that was not a good idea.
“You didn’t even play!” Core argued back.
“I paid for your tickets.” he deadpanned.
“Besides, what do you need a plush toy for? Much less one of a Kiritliga?”
He thought for a moment, raising the plushie to feel it again.
“Eden’s Angel is a Kiritliga.”
They continued squabbling, until Plume, finally tired of all the noise, snagged the toy out of Apollo’s hand and mauled it, tearing it apart.
Core and Pixel watched on in horror as it destroyed the (to be fair, cheaply constructed) plushie and reduced it to bits and pieces of stuffing.
“…Huh. I guess there’s not much to argue about now.”
Shrugging, Core and Pixel dropped the subject to play other games, while Apollo stood stunned a little.
“Damn.”