[center][h3][color=a187be]Selene Cross (Shades)[/color] / [color=ed1c24]Amelia Rashfree (Fire)[/color] / [color=0054a6]Ezera Porter (EJ)[/color] [/h3]

[b]Location:[/b] The bleachers -> The fairgrounds/Jacob's ladder game
[b]Interactions:[/b] Collaboration with [@carla6677] - Amelia and [@King Tai] - Ezera[/center]
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Selene's expression temporarily blanked as Amelia spoke - it was a lot of information to process, after all, and certainly some of it inspired questions. What had happened at 7? Then again, as she had pretty much said earlier to EJ, she wanted today to be a fun day, a day to get to meet her fellow classmates and begin to get to know them. It would be beyond rude to ask those questions, especially now, and especially to someone she had just met. 

Instead, Selene let a smile cross her face and nodded. "That makes perfect sense to me. I hope you don't mind if I grab your boyfriend for a bit later today? Just to try to win some of the games. I'm not wrong in assuming they should be giving away stuffed animals too, right?" That seemed like a much better conversation to her.

Amelia smiled brightly to her. "Can I join in, I have never really done carnival games and I didn't have stuffed toys after a long time because what happened but lets forget that, I am not sure how to play and I would love to try but I don't want to seem stupid as I can't do it that well" She asked quietly and looked down. She hadn't had a proper childhood so that is why she missed out on a lot of this but her eyes showed that she didn't want to talk about that as she bit her lip quietly as her eyes focused on the ground as she crossed her arms. "It doesn't matter if you don't want me to join" she mumbled.

EJ just listened to his two favorite gals talking and thought for a moment "Well, Fire, nothing wrong with me expressin' how I feel about that moment we had during the summer but...eh.. and I don't mind you joining us if it's not a problem with Shades?" EJ shrugged. "Who knows....I might win something for both you." he responded "But...after we finish playing these games, what y'all wanna do afterwards? get snacks or somethin'? And I guess Thomas and Kas had to go do somethin'..." he responded.

"I won't object, no. I can't aim very well either, so I doubt we'll win anything on the first try." Selene mentally filed the information away. "I suppose it depends when we do the games - if we all went for the games first, we'll want to go on the rides before we buy snacks." She glanced between Amelia and Ezera. "Though if we buy snacks first, we may as well play for a while and then try the rides." She thought. "Just a couple of ideas. We have about four hours here, at least."

Amelia nodded quiety. "I don't know how to do the games, what about we do games, then rides then snacks, I think that is the best way to do it, It feels like everyone has played these games but me but I can try, I percived a carnival as very childish, I still kind of agree but I will try because I never got a chance when I was younger and even though it seems to be childish to me I am willing to give it a go and try to see the fun side of it if I can" She admitted quietly and she was more independent and mature than a lot of people because of her history.

EJ gently squeezed Amelia's hand to show her everything will be fine. He nodded about the ideas "Alright...games, the rides, the snacks. Y'all made it sound like you two would get sick if you ate first. But it's all fine to me though. I'll probably handle the games for both of you...i'm pretty good at them." He retorts. "Babes...there's nothing wrong with having a little fun at the carnivals. My grandparents love the carnival." 

"I'll let you two choose where we start off. and thanks again, Shades for allowing more in our party." he finished.

"Oh, not a problem! A friend of yours is a friend of mine!" Selene couldn't help but giggle as she waved her hand dismissively. "Now, then-" Her expression grew serious. "Amelia, carnivals do look childish. They are aimed at kids. But let me tell you, they were invented by the most ingenious of scammers looking to get as much money as possible with as little effort as possible." Then back to smiling. "But if you know the tricks, it's easy to know what to avoid and even win a few games.

"Like..." She thought. "EJ, you remember the milk bottle trick, right? They stack the glass milk bottles and tell you to knock them over, but the bottles tend to be weighted. Aiming at the center might knock off the top bottle but won't knock down the bottom bottles - so you have to aim at their bases instead." The explanation sounded mildly practiced; apparently Amelia wasn't the first person she'd shared this with.

Amelia nodded quietly at them but looked concerned. "I hate scammers, I like to earn money in fair and honest ways, I know what it is like to need money a lot but you need to earn it fairly not scam it out of people like people in carnivals, I now hate them more because of the scammers. They are the worst people to me because scammers are almost like theives that use their brains but I will not say anything unless they get the better of us at all" She mumbled quietly and bit her lip and you could see anger in her eyes fueled by her past and the stories of the scammers at this place. "Sorry, I don't usually hate people but people who steal or scam to get money anger me more than anything else" You could she this struck a nerve deep inside her and she knew Ezera would know but Selene wouldn't as she doesn't know of her past but Ezera does as she told her and they are close and she tells him pretty much everything that goes on with her.

EJ's eyes widen once Selene explained the tricks of the trade with the background of the carnival. He knew the response Amelia would have and as soon as he turned, the look on her face told it all. He was right that she'd get mad. If he was to make a bet on the subject that he'd feel Amelia would get upset about, he'd be a millionaire by now. He knows most of her likes and dislikes and habits but he was still a little spotty on everything in Amelia's past, mostly because he forgot some of it. 

He listened to the explanation to Amelia but nodded to the explanation of how to solve the bottle trick "I remember....the last time, you told me what to do and the carnie that was operating that game, got mad and banned us from his game because he figured it out. He claimed WE were cheating...." he smirked and turned to Amelia "But bae...don't worry about it, as long as me and Shades are teaming up on these games, we can probably win prizes at each of them. She has the intellect, observational, and strategic skills while I use my athleticism and accuracy to beat them at their own game. Don't let their scamming piss you off though." he responded.

Selene nodded - she'd missed a lot of the mumbled explanation, but not the anger. Probably tied to the other bits Amelia had already mentioned, to be perhaps discovered on a later day. Perhaps not. Instead, it was better to focus on EJ's words. She chuckled at the memory. Some people.

"You really shouldn't. Most just... aren't as easy as they make it look. Once you know the tricks, though, it's very simple to win. I suppose it's not any different than gambling, except you actually might get your prize at the end of the game." She chuckled. "But we'll win, at least three-quarters of the time." She paused. "Jacob's ladder is still a bit tough..." Ah, yes, the pivoting ladder. Less a matter of speed and strength, more a matter of balance and remembering not to climb it like a ladder.

She looked over Amelia. "You know what? If they have that one here, how'd you like to give it a try? That one's trick is climbing the ropes, not the rungs. We'll show you, don't worry." She gestured to Ezera.

Today was going to be a good, fun day. She was going to make sure of it.

Amelia smirked. "That I have heard of and it is the one I have tried, I know how you do it and it is the one that I am good at, lets try that one first and I will go first, lets see how that one goes" She smiled gently. She saw it and ran over to it, pulling them along and smirked as she waited for them to say for her to go or if they want to go first as she smiled brightly at them and then at the person running it but this was a fake smile. "I would like to have a go at this please it is the only carnival game I have done before and I want to try it again" She asked politely, getting out her money as she smirked at Selene and Ezera like she was going to handle this one as her eyes shone brightly.