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 Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:04 pm
 Luxor sometimes wondered if he was being foolish, keeping his carnival closed for so long. He knew that he was ready to open it again, with all the improvements and new areas, the land he had added on to it. He was ready to make this into some sort of theme park now. It was big enough, it was good enough. It would be a fun place, he was sure it was: it was something he had always dreamed about, and it was as close to perfect as his imagination could allow.
But he was not ready, not yet, to let people come back to this place. After what happened the first time, he was not sure he would ever be ready. He told himself he was waiting until he was a Knight, and then he could be the personal Powered bodyguard to the park... but maybe that was just an excuse. He was just scared.
He hated that feeling.
Luxor was walking around the grounds now, looking at the tarps and pondering when he would be ready to remove them and let people come and enjoy the place, like it was meant to be. He had a lot of things to think about, outside of this, as well. That whole trip to space thing, for one, but somehow that all just seemed too distant and far less important.
He sighed, standing in front of the Big Top, the main arena and performance area of the park. It was closed up and covered, a tent within a tent.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 5:06 pm
The sound of pounding feet started soft and grew, resolving after a few moments into the tall, whip-cord thin form of Elijah as he came jogging around the perimeter of the tent. His braided hair was up in a ponytail at the back of his head, the blue strands swinging back and forth with each long-limbed step. His clothing was simple, a tank top and a pair of sweat pants, which was typical when the young performer was out jogging. If Chester knew anything of employee's habits, he might know how much time Elijah spent exercising and practicing. Which... actually, was way more than he normally did so, and the man in front of the tent was a big reason why.
Elijah was bored out of his mind. He was doing all this training and practicing to perform for an audience... and there was none. For months. There was only so much time you could spend perfecting a performance before it was routine and boring... The Brit was pretty sure he could perform his routine in his sleep at this point, and he'd already changed it four or five times.
Trotting to a stop by the door of the tent, Eli grabbed up the towel and water bottle he'd put there, rubbing down his face and taking a swig as he caught his breath.
"Chester!" He greeted his friend and boss, a wide smile stretching his face. "Come to oversee your busy, busy employees?" He joked, sweeping a long arm outwards to the empty carnival and the singular employee visible. Honestly... Eli wasn't even sure how many people Chester was employing right now, as there was really no work for them todo.
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 1:15 pm
Luxor paused when he heard someone calling for him, recognizing the voice and not immediately turning to face him. He did power down, though, not feeling anything to keep himself powered up for and not wanting someone to come up on them while they were chatting.
He knew, regardless of if he took the time to respond to Eli or not, the man would strike up a conversation regardless. That was one of the many things that annoyed Chester about his employee, but also one of the things that he found endearing. Not that he would ever say so.
Frowning, he finally looked at Elijah, noting the joke for what it was but not smiling at it. He knew that the place was empty, and every employee was running out of things to do. He sighed and shook his head, running a hand through his jet black hair to distract himself from replying for a few more seconds.
"I was just making sure there were no monsters," he said flatly, but honestly. He always did, after what had happened: the last thing he wanted was a repeat of opening night. "What are you doing?"
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 3:07 pm
Ever dramatic, Elijah swept his friend a bow and gestured to his damp workout clothing.
"Just on my way for a spot of tea with the Queen." He said, his voice taking on a pompous note. "I dressed up special for the occasion." Okay so, that was laying it on a little thick, but sometimes he honestly wondered how much of a clue Chester got when he went sarcastic. Taking another swig from his bottle, he lifted it up to let it pour over his head, feeling the water run down between his braids.
"I was working out. It takes a lot of time and attention to have such a finely tuned machine for a body. I wouldn't be half as wonderful as I am without it. Not that I have anything else to do... Not like I'm performing all the things I'm practicing." He said, his voice edging on childishly petulant. As always, Chester was the center of Elijah's life, the post on which everything hinged. Normally, he really didn't mind that, it even made things easier, but it was times like this when he wished he could get the man to swing the proper direction... like towards opening this place up.
"I'm honestly surprised you find any monsters in here any more... there is nothing remotely interesting for them here. Well, besides us."
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 3:40 pm
Chester was fairly certain that Elijah was not, in fact, going anywhere with the Queen, so he could only assume that he was utilizing his ever favorite 'sarcasm' tactics. Chester was used to this choice, and though he was not very good at implementing sarcasm himself, he was at least learning to see the irony of it when used against him.
For the most part, anyway.
He arched an eyebrow and looked Elijah up and down thoughtfully at the mention of a 'finely tuned machine' body. Was that sarcasm too? He didn't say it out loud, but his look of thought and his creased eyebrows probably made it all too clear.
He sighed, looking around.
"I guess you're right. It is fairly empty here... there aren't even workers any more. There's nothing left to build, as far as I can think." And he had been building everything. The place was a theme park now, built from the ground up, expanded and reinforced, as state of the art as he could manage. He rarely showed the fortune he had, but when it came to this place he spared no expense. Now, however, he was just stalling for time.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 4:37 pm
Elijah caught the look, how could he not?, but he wasn't entirely comfortable with the doubt that sat in Chester's green eyes. Suddenly self conscious, the performer ran his hand down his stomach to feel the usual ripple of muscle, the same thing he saw in the mirror every morning. He prided himself on his fitness, on his flexibility... there was no way the other man was looking at him and seeing anything other than perfection. There just wasn't.
Self-esteem thus restored, he watched Chester look around and knew there was a reason the place wasn't open and that it had very little to do with the place not being ready. The damage caused had been superficial, really, and nothing some contractors couldn't have taken care of in a couple of weeks, at most. No, the reason was standing in front of him, in all of its stubborn, stoic wonder.
"So what's stopping you?" He said finally as he grasped the towel around his neck in both hands, letting them hang against his chest. His voice was suddenly serious, a step completely away from its normal tone. "What are you waiting for?"
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 4:50 pm
"I don't know," Chester said thinly, taking a slow breath. He shook his head slowly and looked back at his coworker, his partner in this war. He knew that if there was anyone he could trust with his thoughts, it was Elijah, though Chester was always so slow to acknowledge these sorts of things. Most of the time he told himself that Elijah hung around because this was where he worked.
But of course, they were both knights and, looking past all the annoyance and attitudes between them, they were friends.
"I don't want anything bad to happen here ever again. I don't want to be responsible for more people dying. I want this place to be fun and open... a place where people can escape the war and enjoy themselves... not worry about monsters and Negas coming out to kill them. I don't know if we'll ever shake that reputation now."
Though he'd certainly stepped up security around here.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 5:17 pm
The tall young man rolled his orange eyes theatrically at Chester's 'i don't know'. He had a very good idea that they BOTH knew exactly why and it was only the older man's closed-mouthed nature that kept him from saying it out load.
Honestly, he didn't understand the hang up. Sure the big blow up the first day had been bad... there had been a lot of s**t flying around and yes, it had probably scared some people away... but they couldn't honestly blame that on the carnival itself. Those kinds of attacks were happening all over the place, like the convention he'd heard about on the news.
"Okay, first off." Elijah said as he held up one long finger. "You are not responsible for what happened. You did not bring people here knowing s**t was going to happen. Its not your fault that the same thing that's been happening all over the city happened here. Second of all..." Here another finger joined the first. "This place will NEVER be the fun escape you want it to be if you don't open the doors. People can't enjoy our wonderland of fun and excitement if they can't get inside of it."
Eli swept his arms out to encompass the whole carnival. This place was so ready... and it was just sitting here, decaying. All the new things, all the rides and attractions and merchandise falling dusty, going to waste for want of a purpose. It was almost sad, to see something so hopeful as this place sitting so very barren.
"Look, you are ready, believe it or not. You are stronger than before, and you aren't alone." He waved at his chest, his mouth spreading wide in an ingratiating smile. "You've got me, remember? That's twice, maybe three times as much man power as you had before. And if you're really worried about security... why don't you talk to Zia? She's got that index of hers... surely she knows some people she could pull favors from to come and keep an eye on the place. For all we know, she could have a veritable army here to back us up. We could ring the place in knights placed shoulder to shoulder with all the people she knows, I bet."
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 5:47 pm
Chester stared at him for a long moment, and it was not clear if anything was registering with him. He just watched the other with his bland, expressionless face, until his eyebrows twitched and his eyes glimmered with some sort of recognition. He turned his head away and cleared his throat.
Something in Elijah's speech had effected him in a way he was not anticipating. He waited for the emotion to pass, because he did not like having to deal with such things in public.
"Maybe I'll ask her," he said, though speaking to Zia generally made his brain turn mushy and all he could think about was kissing her. He did know she wanted the carnival to be a success too, though, and he knew that they both really just wanted to help Chester himself. They were his friends, for better or worse, whether he thought he deserved them or not.
"Alright. I'll draw up plans to get this place open... we'll announce it soon. I'll keep an eye on it as best I can, and I know you two will help me. So... thank you." He said it stiffly, but he at least meant it, and he was very glad to have people like this in his life now. He had been missing out on a lot, all his life, thinking he did not need friends.
He'd been very wrong.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2014 6:20 pm
Elijah's eyes widened when Chester said he was going to make plans. The bright orange eyes sparkled with excitement as he began to jiggle in place.
"Really? For sure?" The young man cheered as he threw his arms up. Enthused, he crouched and leaped backwards, throwing himself head over heels in a backflip that landed lightly, his braids flying. "Yes! I am SO READY. Whatever you need, you just ask, because I am THERE."
The excited performer was all but dancing in place as he began to babble about things he needed to do, people he needed to see and moves he needed to practice. His enthusiasm practically glowed from him as he gestured widely with his hands in typical Eli fashion. There was so much preparation he needed to do, plans swirling in his head now that the time had finally come.
Fidgeting as a thought occurred to him, he turned and hurried off, still talking as though Chester was still beside him, throwing his arms about. He seemed entirely oblivious to his friend's sudden bout of emotion, too focused on his own to truly notice. He would have shared the sentiment, though.
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