(Back to [[the_tale_of_the_accordion_and_the_badge_making_machine|Chapter Index]])\\ (Back to [[badgemaker1|Previous Chapter]]) **Escape!** **//In Reception//** calliaphone races back through reception, headed Fairwards. she has a plushie G tucked under her arm and a look of extreme guilt upon her face. From somewhere in the distance can be heard muffled ROARS. Lady Akitsu whistles a merry tune as she ambles in, the heels of her boots clicking along the floor as she walks. Hearing the echoes, she pricks up an ear and follows. **//In The Courtyard//** calliaphone patter-skids barefooted out from reception towards the grounds, carrying G under her arm, and looking over her shoulder . . . fearfully? **//In The Grounds//** calliaphone zooms through from the courtyard to the Fair, carrying g_rock. With a distinct air of juvenile delinquency about her. Plush Jokerbot g_rock is carried through, giving off a general air of malfeasance. **//At The Fair//** calliaphone stumbles into the fairground with g_rock in her arms, and skids to a halt on the downtrodden turf. Looking round a bit guiltily, she attempts to melt into the crowd. calliaphone sets G up on her shoulder, so's he can keep a sharp lookout for Mountjoy. No reason. No reason at all. Plush Jokerbot g_rock tries his best to look like a prize. The only givaways are the fact that his stitching is of too good a quality, and the fact that he keeps reaching out whenever they pass cotton candy calliaphone is sooo much more of a pro when it comes to nicking cotton candy. she's been doing that all her life. she snags a bag in passing, and splits it open to share with G. "here y'go, fella." Plush Jokerbot g_rock grins and stuffs his mouth full of the stuff. "phhhamks! Shoo, 'ere 'e gmowink?" calliaphone leans round the side of the ferris wheel ticket office. "shhh." she says, peering round for signs of incipient trouble, but seeing none. Plush Jokerbot g_rock shushes himself with another impossibly large mouthful and nodnods. This is her turf, he's not about to throw off her groove. calliaphone shovels some pink fluff into her mouth, and whispers urgently. "we gotta disappear for a bit. MJ can't stay laundry-bound forever. we need an alibi or something." calliaphone scans the fairground for good places to be inconspicuous. truth is, here, she already fits right in. she lights a cigarette and offers it to G. calliaphone says, "hall of mirrors? nahh, too obvious, it's the first place he'll look. we could hide you in the shooting gallery again, but it'll take us a bit close to that woman that boxed my ears." Plush Jokerbot g_rock declines the cigarette, instead rolling up a bit of pink fuzz and gnawing on the end of it. "Bumper cars? Ferris wheel?" calliaphone 's attention was wavering to the wall of death (it's the smell of two-stroke fuel that gets her, every time). But at the mention of bumper cars, she pauses. calliaphone grins lospidedly at G. "how's your driving, plushie?" Plush Jokerbot g_rock stretches his arms to there fullest, about 8 inches "I can't run the wheel and the pedals at the same tiem, but I'd like to see anyone outsteer me!" grin calliaphone chuckles. "you sit on my lap, i can do the pedalwork, you're in charge of the rest, okay gettaway driver?" she swipes a sytrofoam coffee from a table as they pass by, and slrrps happily. Plush Jokerbot g_rock grinnodgrins and stuffs the rest of his candyfloss down his gullet. He hurriedly pulls on his 1930's era driving goggles and leather driving gloves. He wraps a scarf around his neck "Let's do this! calliaphone nods tersely, and looks all around. no-one's watching, so quick as a flash she vaults the fence and jumps the queue, and hops into a waiting bumper car. she slides into the driving seat. Plush Jokerbot g_rock flexes and grips the wheel calliaphone settles G on her lap at the controls, gives a cheery wave to the irate-but-sullenly-pretty boy at the ticket booth, and floors the accellerator pedal. "GO GO GO!" Plush Jokerbot g_rock jerks the wheel back and forth, t-boning a screaming 9 year old hard enough to spin him completely around. He shouts back to Callia "Now we're in business!" calliaphone has found another pedal. what does this one do? oooh, reverse! she pumps it randomly. Lady Akitsu wanders in, glancing about her for Calli and G. . . Hmm. . . Now where did those two troublemakers go? Plush Jokerbot g_rock grins and swings the wheel, accidentally parallel parking between two stuck chavs. He shouts"WHEEEE!" as the cart shoves both into corners and takes off again calliaphone ducks down as sparks fly overhead, and the little bumper car does another wild 360, ricocheting off the barrier and just missing the sullen pretty boy's denim-clad knees. calliaphone yells, "careful G, don't maim him, i might want him later." Lady Akitsu pricks up an ear at the shouts coming from the bumper cars and hoofs it over there! My, that's quite a crowd growing around it. . . She muscles her way through. Plush Jokerbot g_rock grins "Sorry! We'll try to leave him conscious!" the cart rattles down the entry ramp, blowing by Kit fast enough to blow her pitticoats up in the air. G wolfwhistles back over his shoulder Lady Akitsu leans against the railing, looking around until. . . Oh dear. She sighs, grinning wide as she shakes her head, then gives a shrill whistle. "Oi, you two!" Lady Akitsu blinks and lets out a startled shriek, her newest pose eerily reminiscent of a certain blonde bombshell of yore. . . calliaphone hears a shrill whistle, panics, floors both pedals and puts the car back into a spin again. "waaaaaaghhhhh!!!" Plush Jokerbot g_rock grins like a madman and cranks the wheel musing to himself "Now, lessee. . .It's into the spin, I think. . ." he cranks it opposite, of course, careening them through the back of the shooting gallery Lady Akitsu gasps, glancing up to see them hurtling straight towards her! "No. . . no no no no NONONONO!" WHAM! They slam into the railing, which respectively sends her flying. . .. And she is OUT. Oops. calliaphone covers her head with her arms as rifles go off all around. A tattooed woman with peroxide hair jumps sideways out of the way, swearing violently and waving a gun. Plush Jokerbot g_rock shouts a "SORRRRRREEEEE!" at Kit, and 'accidentally' runs right over the foot of the armed carnie. The cart then charges straight through the craft tent, appropriating various items on the way calliaphone 's arms fill up with prizes as they fly past, like an episode of crackerjack. two cabbages, a painted egg collection, a chainsaw sculpture of a rabbit, and a badge-making machine. calliaphone yells, "G! how'd I stop this thing? there's no FUCKING BRAKE PEDAL IS THERE!" Plush Jokerbot g_rock shrugs "That's more your department." he runs it past a clown and snags an ice cream off him calliaphone thinkthinks, how to stop this runaway car? "quick, steer towards the bouncy castle!" Plush Jokerbot g_rock nodnods and cranks the wheel in the general direction, scattering a group of performing midgets mid-tumble calliaphone says, not at all calmly"BRACE BRACE BRACE" closes her eyes tight, and keeps the accelerator flat to the floor. Plush Jokerbot g_rock grits his teeth and bears down on the wheel calliaphone 's accordion lets out a moan of terror, as they draw closer, closer, aaaand //FLUMMMPBANG//!!!. calliaphone and G are catapaulted out of the driving seat and into the air, along with a shower of collected prizes. Plush Jokerbot g_rock is sent flying, landing on the prizeboard of a squallid game tent toward the back of the midway. The game appears to involve live ducks, balloons, and acorn squash. Plush Jokerbot g_rock tries to free himself from the hook, but finally gives up and falls asleep. S'not like anyone's gonna win at this game anyway. . . calliaphone flails midair, and comes down to land in the centre of the bouncy castle. "yeah! talk about luck and planning!"she says. then she looks up. calliaphone says, "G, where'd you g-OH FUCK!" this last, as her prizes rain down upon her all at once. "aaaaaaghhhh." calliaphone is saved from the worst of it, by the long-suffering presence of her accordion. when the rain stops, she looks down. a badge-making machine is buried in Cordy's side. he whimpers. calliaphone looks pained. "oh boy, Cordy, we gotta get you fixed, quick." scrambling out of the castle, she breaks into a run, dodging round the back of the attractions, away from al the ruckus, to the exit. (Back to [[badgemaker1|Previous Chapter]])\\ (Forward to [[badgemaker3|Next Chapter]])