Log:Clues and Booze

Clues and Booze
Participants Haruki, Joel, and Kseniya.	20 May, 2017 Haruki and Kseniya venture forth to complete their hunt, saving the worst - for Haruki - for last. Afterwards, they celebrate and encounter Joel at Club Carnivale. For the Scavenger Hunt
Location
For some reason the painball place has Haruki anxious and nervous. He's on edge, and keeps looking around. BUT his desire to win this scavenger hunt seems to have beaten any strange fears he has. Maybe he's expecting someone to shoot him with a rainbow. Who knows. Having picked Haruki up, Kseniya now follows him in, looking around curiously, then back up at Haruki. Being one of the few folks who does have to look -up- at the magician. "Hey. You okay?" She peers around, then back. "This isn't the spot I thought you'd be nervous in." Haruki smiles and nods. "Yeah. I'm ok. All good." He takes a breath, and tries to relax. "So, do we need to find pictures here? Or do we take our own?" He starts looking around. "Yeah, next place is going to be the worst. But with you beside me I can do anything!" he grins suddenly. "Right?" Kseniya peeks around. Up at the flags, over at the registration office. "I think.. uh. You know. I think we're supposed to do that, yup. Hey! We should get someone to take two pics, so we can be in each other's together." She pulls out her cellphone. Which is old, not smart, but does have a rudimentary camera. Haruki beams at Kseniya. "Yeah! Or we can do a selfie! We should totally be in eachothers pictures though. Or I guess we can just ask the registration office to take it." Haruki's own phone is fairly new, and fancy and smart with a super camera and all that. Kseniya doesn't look envious when she peeks at Haruki's phone, but she does look a bit wistful. "Hmm. Lets do selfies. They're more fun." She looks around, and points at a rainbow-paint-spackled bit of wall, where the business sign would be in view. "...there?" she suggests. "They are!" Haruki grins. He stands next to Kseniya, smiling happily he fiddles with the phone, then holds it out, snapping a picture of the two of them and the rainbow wall. He takes another couple of pictures of the scenery. He tries to take one where he does bunny-ears behind Kseniya's head, because... it's fun. Kseniya holds up her own, and fumbles a little more. She takes a normal one, and one where she scrunches her face up. This may actually happen -while- Haruki is making bunny ears behind her head, though she winds up bursting out laughing too much. Then, she scoots back and takes one of just Haruki, too. Just because. "I've never actually played paintball," she notes. "I'd think it would hurt when the little paint pellet hit you." "I haven't either," Haruki admits. "It looks like a lot of fun though. And maybe it doesn't hurt too bad? I dunno. But the owner kinda scares me." He says that in a tiny whisper, while looking around to be sure she's not there. "We done with pictures? If so we should maybe get out of here." Just in case the owner suddenly shows up, it would seem. Kseniya blinks slowly. "The owner? Oh." She looks around nervously now, herself, despite not having a clue as to just -why- the owner of the paintball place would scare him. After all, she's never met November. "Come on." She takes Haruki's arm and leads him back to the van, noting, "We don't have to stay long at the bar, okay? Just in and out. And if someone is mean to you, I'll punch them." Haruki nods at Kseniya as he hurries out. He pauses just a moment to place a packet of rainbow candies down at the rental desk. No explanation or anything. And then he's off with Kseniya, and laughing at her threats. "Thanks! That's what good friends are for? Hopefully it'll be okay. Just in and out." Kseniya nods. "Hey. You're my friend. I'd totes walk through fire for you. Though. You should bear in mind that I walk through fire a -lot-." She looks over and winks, tryint to make him laugh, before the plant-filled van is once more boarded. And off they go. Haruki's definitely anxious as they go to the bar. "I promised my friend never to speak to him again." He admits. "I mean... um never to speak to Dave again, not to never speak to my friend. So um, if you see a handsome guy with green..." wait no it's not green, "Or blond hair? Can you go check inside first. He's like super handsome. Smells of flowers. Looks like a model." He's babbling a bit, and fiddling with a coin which dances over his knuckles. Kseniya actually winds up parking down the street, in the employee lot of Club Carnivale. Why? Because that is home, for her, might as well. She takes hold of Haruki's hand this time and gives it a squeeze, then heads off towards their doom. Or DesRochers. Clearly, -not- the hand doing the coin trick. Her gaze does sharpen a little bit at that slip. It's going to get a -lot- odder if she ever does meet Oberon. And sees green hair. "Man. That must have been one hell of a bad breakup. I'm sorry. Here. I'll go in first." She lets go, pushes the door open, and pops her head in. Peeks around, then pulls it out. "I see no one with green hair. Couple of blonds, but they're not very attractive. One's kind of balding, t he other one has this horrible, horrible scraggly beard." She grins, and steps in. Haruki squeezes Kseniya's hand. "We can go into the club after?" He asks hopefully. He nods. "Yeah, it was. He's been fucking with my head. Blames me for him losing his job and his life going to shit. Only I'd nothing to do with it. It was his own fuck ups. But he's angry at me instead of taking responsibility." He laughs suddenly at Kseniya's description of the guys. It's a bit of a nervous laugh, but nevermind. In they go, quickly. And he's still tense. He does a quick look around and sure enough Dave's not hiding anywhere. "Where's the cards?" he looks around, checks the wall, the bar... "At the bar." She takes Haruki's hand again, and leads him through the crowd. "I was going to insist on going to the club after. I will buy you a drink. And that guy sounds like a real jerk, but I've known a few like that, there's a certain subset of guys who will not own their own shit. Come on. In and out. Come to think of it, that reminds me of a few guys I've known, too." She heads over, finds the bartender, and smiles really brightly. "Hi! My friend and I are here for the playing cards. For the scavenger hunt." Haruki goes to the bar, where Kseniya guides him. He lets her do the talking, he's nervous, worried about being recognised. He breathes out a sigh of relief when he realises it's not the bad bartender. Or his ex. "Something on fire," he says to her with a smile. Kseniya starts to laugh, for no readily apparent reason, then tries to stop. This makes her snort, instead, and she blushes a little bit in the wake of it. "I like things that are on fire. But not in a bad way." She turns back to the bartender, and smiles again. He doesn't seem too impressed by the smile, but does come up with the playing cards and hands them over, rather bored. Haruki takes his card. "Thankyou!" And then he's signing Kseniya's form and making a quick exit to the door. Kseniya dashes out a quick signature, thanks the bartender, and grins, trotting off after Haruki. "We did it! That's all of them. Come on. Time for drinking!" And off she trots, heading for the carnival club. "We did it!" Haruki says, absolutely delighted. "We won! We got them all!" He almost feels like dancing as they enter Club Carnivale and all the anxieties have faded away, his footsteps are light and he's delighted. "We did it all! Let's drink some fire!" Kseniya performs a little dance as she comes in through the main doors, earning her an amused look from a passing staff member. She lifts a hand to waggle fingers at him, then leads the way through the midway games to the bar, and the girl working behind it. "Hey! This is Haruki, do you know Haruki? We want drinks that are on fire." "...what a surprise," is the good-natured sounding reply. Turning back to her friend, she grins. "Think anyone else got them all?" "Hi!" Haruki grins at the bartender. "I'm a magician! But not a bar Magician. They're amazing, with the spinning of cocktail shakers and all the tricks and the setting of drinks on fire." He smiles at Kseniya. "Maybe, but if they have it doesn't matter. Since we did. And we won friendship too. Do you dance? I feel like dancing." Kseniya laughs and nods. "Of -course- I dance. I dance on stage. With fire. But I can dance without the fire, too." The bartender grins, adding, "You should see it sometime." She plies her art back there, and two flaming drinks get produced. "I think Joel probably prefers I keep the fire dancing to the stage, in fact. Oh! Hey. Thanks, Julie," she says, to the bubbly blonde. Haruki smiles. "I dance with magic, but I can dance without too." He looks at his flaming drink, pretty, just watching the fire, making no attempt to drink it or put it out. He's smiling ear to ear. Kseniya reaches for her own glass. It's a thing on fire, and she can't seem to resist it. The drink is lifted, and considered, her head canting a bit to one side, watching the flames, letting them reflect back in her eyes. It's.. odd how right that looks. Her free hand comes up, and she wiggles her fingers into and out of the flames, too quick to burn evidently, given that she doesn't wince or anything. Then, she slaps her hand flat over the top, and the flames die. "Cheers!" she says, lofting her glass, then tossing it back. "So. We need to find you a new, not insane fella." Haruki's not going to be beat by Kseniya! Never mind she's the firedancer and he's not. He moves his own hand through the flames, too quick to be burned as well. And then he copies her in putting the fire out. Slam! Cut off the oxygen. But his glass has had the chance to heat up and he's quickly moving his hand away with an 'ouch'. Nevermind even that won't stop him from chugging down the drink. "Cheers!" he smiles. "Hmm. That'd be nice. But what about you? Do you want a fella? A lass? Both?" Haruki and Kseniya are at the bar, doing flaming shots. Kseniya is, indeed, at the bar with Haruki, Julie having served them drinks that are on fire. To possibly no one's surprise who has seen her acts. She does seem to like fire. Surely, her own glass was hot, but she didn't wince before downing her shot. The shotglass is put back down, and she laughs. "The fellas for me, not the gals. Girls are pretty and all, but not my thing. But. I. Well. Sort of met someone, just not sure yet where it's going. I guess we'll see. If it works, it works and if it doesn't, it doesn't. It's a tiiiny bit awkward." Joel comes strolling in from the main event, coming from the backstage area where the office is, no doubt. He wanders up to the bar and gives a nod to the 'tender on duty. It doesn't seem that he's aiming to take over. Instead, he settles himself down at the bar and orders himself a drink. It's then that he notices Haruki and Kseniya and their flaming shots. He lifts his own glass in their direction and takes a sip from it, though he doesn't interrupt them or their conversation. "You did?" Haruki laughs. "WHat's his name? Let's celebrate with another flaming drink, and you can tell me all about him. How hot is he? Does he like fire?" He spots Joel's entrance and raises his glass in a salute. "Hey there!" Kseniya turns, following Haruki's gaze to Joel, and she beams at the man, waving enthusiastically. "Hey, bossman! Hey. Do you know Haruki? This is Haruki, and he is a stage magician." Subtle. That's Kseniya. So, so subtle. "We just completed that scavenger hunt that Cyclone was doing, so we're celebrating. I think we're also celebrating the fact that no one tried to beat up Haruki at the last place." Turning back to Haruki, she actually blushes and scuffs one foot against the floor. "His name's Ridley. I.. think.. he might prefer electricity to fire, but. That's.. okay. I think he's hot. A little.. odd.. but hot. It's a charming sort of odd. Met him up by the waterfall." Joel lifts his glass to Haruki in greeting and then to Kseniya as well, nodding when she makes the introductions. "We've met," he tells her, indicating that he's been introduced to Haruki in the past. "Sounds like you two are having a good time." He then offers "Congratulatins on finishing the scavenger hunt." He lifts his glass then once more before taking another sip from it. "Oh, sparks flying then," Haruki smiles. "Be they fire or electric ones. It's all energy. Oh wow? Was that when you were doing the scavenger hunt? Or were you there for other reasons? I never did get up that far. I might go have a look if there's cute guys hanging about there though." He asks the bartender for some more drinks, his current one having been drunken. "Come drink with us?" he asks. "Or are you not allowed to have fun?" Kseniya shakes her head. "Oh, no. This was before the hunt started. I was just kind of exploring the area. We had a kind of dramatic meeting, but maybe that's half the fun. But you should go up there. Cute boys or no cute boys." She looks back to Joel, and bobs her head, while nodding to Julie to bring her another one. "Yeah. Please? If drinking with staff is an okay thing." She's grinning, though, she seems to think it is. "Also. Can I experiment with combining fire dancing and aerial acrobatics? It would look -so- cool, don't you think?" When he's invited over to join them, Joel gathers up his glass and moves a few seats closer to end up sitting next to Haruki. "Sure. I own the place. I can drink with whoever I want," he says as he looks between the two of them. Then he says, "Sure, if you want to. Just need to make sure that you have the right safety equipment just in case. So long as the fire marshal okays it, you're good to go. I'd be interested to see what you come up with," he tells Kseniya. Haruki smiles at this. "It sounds romantic. You should go back there, with a picnic." He smiles more. "Like the phoenix, flying high, with flames for wings. It would be beautiful, aerial fire dancing." "It will be safe," Kseniya says, sounding oddly certain of herself. She just can't easily explain -why- she's so sure. But Joel is beamed at, rather fondly. "I'll work up a plan so we can submit it." Then, she looks back at Haruki, blinks, then makes a delighted sound. "I could make a phoenix costume. All feathers... that's not hard. I can get the right materials to make sure that it's flame retardant, especially the feathers, and it would look great." She peers from one to the other. "I'm thinking something with a harness and wires. I'll need my hands free for this, so the silks are out. Oh. And we've gone back to the waterfall a few times, actually, it's sort of like our spot, now. Can't bring him home yet, and I'm not even sure he has a home." So. She's dating a homeless dude? "You can bring him here," Joel says, fully recognizing that he'd countered one of his own edicts as far as bringing people into this place while she was here during her probationary period. Apparently, he'll make an exception. Then he says, "Sounds good. I'd like to see when you have something together for a rehearsal, and I'm sure we can get the approval for it. Just need to make sure. Nobody wants to pay to watch someone immolate themselves while they're eating dinner." He smirks just slightly. Haruki doesn't judge Kseniya on who she's dating. He smiles. "I'll try and not bump into you there then and ruin your dates. That sounds so romantic." He looks at Joel. "I'm sure some people would want to pay for that. Probably not good nice people though." Kseniya gives Joel a quick, surprised look. There is a hesitant pause, a bite of her lip, then she asks, "Are you sure, Joel?" she asks. Clearly, having an exception made for her wasn't something she was actually fishing for. But she can't help but look a little bit hopeful. However, that all disintegrates into a laugh. "Oh -fine-. No Kseniya pyres. Only something that looks like one." She wiggles around in her seat. "This is going to be so, so cool. Or, well. Hot, I suppose. Haruki, you'll have to come see, when it's ready." "Sure," Joel says to her. "Just don't light him on fire either, or blow out the fuses." It seems his concern leans toward property damage. Hten he glances over toward Haruki and says, "Nobody that I would want to be a repeat customer, at any rate." He lifts his glass and takes another sip from it, setting it to the side when more shots arrive. Haruki nods at Joel. "Yeah, not the sort of people you want to attract." He's looking at Kseniya, likely imagining her fire act. "It'll be amazing, and beautiful and I'll be first to want to see it." Kseniya hops down, circles around Haruki, and goes up onto her tiptoe to place a chaste little kiss upon Joel's cheek. "Thank you." Then, for good measure, she turns to Haruki, and gives him one, too. "I should actually get my little carnie butt off to bed, though, was up early practicing. But you. You will keep in touch now that the hunt is over. Because you're my prize, remember." She does pause to slap out her drink's fire and down it, then slips some money over to Julie.. she did say she'd buy Haruki drinks.. and scuttles off.