❖ TRICKS ABOUND ❖ (E/Wren)

Doppo didn't like festivals. Well, actually, he liked festivals just fine, but loathed preparing for them. The process of getting dressed and out of his shabby little apartment home in the center of Era expended an amount of energy that Doppo valued too much to lose. But when the obnoxious and oftentimes stubborn Private Tamlin accosted him into attending this festival together with word of an eating and cooking contest being held, the redheaded Major General could no longer consider rejecting him.  

The autumn festival was as busy as one might expect it to be. The townspeople of Era congregated like moths to an irresistible streetlight. Concession stands littered the festival and had no particular organization, all of them scattered senselessly across the property. In one corner, you could buy a caramel apple with or without nuts for twenty-five jewels a piece and was a popular stop for children. If you meandered the opposite direction, you'd be teased with the savory flavors of Fiore on a grill. Hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, burritos, and pizza. The people who wandered down this path were often too occupied with their meals to be interested in the autumn activities. And finally, if you wiggled through the crowds of people, you could find yourself swallowed in the swarm of people indulging in the sweeter side of the festival. Funnel cakes, milkshakes, and ice cream cones with toppings that even Doppo hasn't tried! The concession stands were easily the most suffocating places to be, and the redheaded Major General already predicted that he'd end up there sooner or later.

Together, they arrived at the autumn festival—all four of them. As soon as Sheldon and Ben met up with them, it instantly became clear that Doppo wasn't the only one pursued by Tamlin and burdened with his stubbornness. But the redhead dressed in a grey jacket a size too large for him, white shorts, and slip-on sandals was too captivated by the concession stands to notice this. His blue eyes, while still droopy and baggy, might've been twinkling if you didn't look twice, and his mouth hung slightly ajar in awe.

She was excited. She had been invited to an event. The little witch was dancing around her room and twirled a bit. One of her coworkers wanted to attend the festival with her! This would be the second time she’s gone! She was excited to meet more members of the Rune Knights and make more friends. Her little black cat meowed from her bed as she dressed herself up in an orange, pumpkin themed jumper with green gloves on her hands. She hoped no one would mistake her as a boy again, or even a child… but she didn’t give her hopes up. She was dressing up after all. One would have to assume she was a child with how she dressed up. ‘Be polite when telling others you’re an adult.’ Wren told herself as she adjusted her gloves on her hands then quickly tightened the bow under her collar. She had on orange and green striped stockings on her legs and matching orange mary jane shoes that had a cute little bow on the top of them.

She grabbed her broom and seated herself upon it sideways, patting the front so Nanny could sit there for a little bit. As soon as they were both ready, Wren flew out of her apartment and right towards where the festival was to be. She had gotten used to Era by now, and slightly familiarized herself with the layout of the city, same as Crocus. She could weave between the two cities like it was nothing while on her broom now. A giggle escaped the witch's lips as she zipped over people's heads to get to her destination. She gasped as she saw where the little group was to be meeting up, and flew down low, slowing down and being careful to not crash into anybody again. She didn’t want to do that again. The Summer Solstice was enough. Now the Autumn Equinox wasn’t going to be another repeat of that.

“Hey there!” She says with a giggle while Nanny rested at the front of her broom. She seemed to muse as she sat on her broom, looking around excitedly at the festival around them. She wanted to do all of the things. She doubted they could though actually. Only time would tell the longer they were here at this festival or not. She looked over to the others who were with them that evening, and lightly tilted her head as she grinned to them. A corner of her purple Ajna was showing as her hair moved to the side while she tilted her head. “I’m Wren, and this is Nanny.” She muses, quickly introducing herself and her currently lazy cat. This was time off for them in the cats eyes. She wasn’t needing to be on the alert. Well… with Wren, the cat usually kept an ear out, she was just acting lazy to try to relax for a little while, regardless if her witch knew about it or not though.

Doppo could smell the food from here. The heat of Hamilton Baking Ovens made the air ripple and participants and bystanders sweat when within their proximity. He could smell the milk chocolate chips folded into cookie dough and the butter, thyme, and garlic being basted onto a pan-seared ribeye steak. Oh, and the spices! Smoked paprika, cinnamon, parsley, garlic powder, celery seed, cumin, freshly minced ginger all being toasted and sauteed in a medium to large cooking pan! He could smell the saltiness of bacon grease or the desirable beef fat being set aside for later. But the smell alone could not satisfy the salivating redhead, leaving much to be desired.


Unfortunately, Tamlin and Sheldon never actually showed up, leaving only him and Ben left to indulge in the festival together. But by the time this fact was gradually coming to light, Doppo had been too captivated by the eating contest way off yonder to notice. In fact, he had been so distracted by this festivity that he hadn't even bothered to greet Ben when he showed up.

But enough with the fantasies—Doppo wanted to eat. And eat, he would! But as he trudged down the hill and onto the dirt paths, he didn't realize that to get to the other side of the festival (where the eating contest resided), he would have to either weave his way through an endless swarm of people or meander through a maze to the best of his ability. When the two crossroads met, Doppo stopped and looked at both of his options. For a moment, he was stumped. But suddenly, a young couple approached the crossroad behind Doppo and spoke rather audibly. Neither of them could have been older than twenty-one, and both of them were holding a casserole dish in their hands.

"We're going to be late for the cooking competition, babe!" fretted the girl, both hands fitted snuggly into oven mitts. Watching them, Doppo thought that the dishes must've been hot. Not only that, the man's casserole, although wrapped in aluminum foil, looked far more underwhelming and less impressive than hers.

"Hmm. . . maybe we should cut through the crowd?" the man suggested, but that seemed to only increase the woman's anxiety.

"No, no, no!" she protested, "it's going to take too long and we definitely might drop our casseroles if we bump into someone—and we'll definitely bump into someone! The maze barely has anyone in it, so let us go that way!" With that exclamation, the girl bolted forward and rushed into the maze, the man sheepishly trailing behind her as close as he could.

It was a good idea, really, and Doppo was surprised that he had not come to the same conclusion. The maze didn't seem to have very many people in it at all, or at least not enough to crowd every alley and path within. But the couple was anxiously sprinting for the cooking contest, while Doppo was attempting to reach the eating contest. If he could make it, which he was determined to do, he would definitely stop by the cooking contest regardless. It didn't matter what the circumstances were—Doppo enjoyed food in all of its contexts.

So into the maze he went, and for the most part, he just wandered. He came to dead ends, stared at the walls, and then turned away to try another route. His thoughts clouded with images of food, there was time where he absent-mindedly found himself where he was before. He'd make circles, triangles, and even trapezoids if he were distracted enough. But little by little, he was progressing through the maze at a steady pace and without pointers or assistance from anyone else participating. However, along the way, he did overhear fellow participants' anguish and misery in partaking in the same activity.

"I can't do it, dude. I swear we've seen that bundle of corn for the third time now!" one young man began to panic.

"They're all bundles of corn. . . we're in a ma—" another commented, but was interrupted.

"Shut your mouths, idiots. I've been doing these mazes since I was a boy. You hear me? A boy! There's a trick to these kinds of things. It's all about strategy. You need to recognize landmarks and make strategic turns. Don't make lefts when we're trying to go. . . you know. . . are you guys understanding where I'm coming from?" the haughty one articulated.

"No. Not really. Do you even know what you're talking about?" he huffed underneath his breath.

"If you were really so good, why aren't we out by now?! Huh?!" the other one accused him in a panicked fit.

This was only one of the things Doppo overheard. Some others weren't as relevant. The casserole couple appeared again, but they weren't as chipper as before.

"I think I want to break up, Jack." the girl sighed, clenching her casserole dish.

Jack, apparently the young man in the relationship, abruptly began to glower and curse. "All over a casserole? I just think mine will be better to present for the judges, babe! No need to take it so personally, Linda!"

"But it's not just the casserole, Jack! It is a whole bunch of other shitty things you've done! Little things! Big things! Like how you don't think I'm attractive or how you ever feel like you need to apologize first even when you're in the wrong! I really thought this festival would make you open up more and be a better boyfriend, but. . . but. . .!" Linda began to sob quietly. Jack sighed wearily.

"Really? That's the reason?! I thought we were going to have a good time today, too! But you always get so. . . so emotional! I hate it! It makes dealing with you so much harder, Linda! You know that? You can be so difficult sometimes!"

It all seemed to go downhill from there, and Doppo wasn't looking at them out of curiosity or disbelief, but simply marking them as a landmark for himself should he find himself lost, which he did. The maze was warped and strange and clearly not your run of the mill maze, making it understandable in seeing all these people suddenly succumb to anguish and despair when they couldn't make it out. The only thing that made his gait more guided than theirs was his fantasies of food and cooking, along with the sweet and savory aromas that he was so drawn to. It was because of these things that inevitably made him progress through the maze without stopping and with some sense of navigation and aim.

When Doppo eventually made it out of the maze, he was showered with a few different trophies signifying his accomplishment. He accepted the prizes and carried them, but contemplated tossing them away or giving them to one of his colleagues to keep when he returned back to work. Regardless, he had completed that festivity with flying colors, and fully intended on eating his heart out!

The little witch had smiled as she had gotten to where they were supposed to meet up together. General Suzuki was there and didn’t seem to hear her. Was she not to meet up with him? The little redhead seemed a little dejected as she hovered there. She would have to wait on Tamlin to show up. She didn’t really recall where she had met the guy. It was a bit since she had, she believed? General Suzuki seemed to run off somewhere as Wren hovered there on her broom. She didn’t even know where Tamlin was. Was she early? Late? She honestly couldn’t tell… If anything, she hoped she was early! The little witch takes a deep breath as she sat there alone, fluffing her cats eats out and pouting as she waited for Tamlin.

Nearly an hour seemed to have passed by the time she gave up waiting. She wasn’t early… She was ghosted. Just like back at home on Sailkia. She decided to make the best of this though! She took her broom with both her hands and started to fly around the fair with a grin on her face. What should she find? What goodies could she get?! Would she get more cat plushies?! She hoped so! She had found a small food stall with ‘spooky churros’ on a stick and got herself one while she started to fly around quietly. The churros were just churros wrapped around a stick much like a snake and the tip squished to look like a snake's head. It as a cute and delicious little treat to munch on as she roamed the isles of games and little festivities.

She stopped by one where a man seemed to be grinning from ear to ear and wearing a blacksmith's outfit. Was he an actual blacksmith? She wouldn’t know. On the table before him were various metal bands and rings and other oddities that he had out for others to try. There was someone before her already trying their hand on one of the puzzles there. She taps her chin and curiously watches as she kicked her feet lightly. Maybe this little game would actually be fun. When the guy failed, his girlfriend started picking up another puzzle and started to try solving it. She got the first down pat, then started on the second. She was starting to struggle it seemed. Wren tilts her head as she sat up straight and waited her turn. This seemed like it was fun. Nanny perked her head up a little, but still lounged rather happily next to her master. When the girlfriend seemed to fail too, the couple walked away disappointed.

The redhead witch slipped off of her broom, pulling her hovering broom in front of her for Nanny to stay relaxing there. “I’d like to try your game!” She smiles to him. The blacksmith smiled back at her and points to the largest puzzle. “This is the first puzzle. The goal is to solve all five of them completely.” He tells her as he rests his hands on the table now. He wanted to see how well she could solve the puzzle. While half draping herself over her broom, Wren picked up the first puzzle and solved it in about a minute, snickering at how cute the little butterfly that the rings made up. When she put it back down, the rings went back into a mess, and she picked up the second. She started to fiddle with that bunch of metal squares. She honestly didn’t know what she was to do with this one. Nanny seemed to bat a bit at one of the bands and exposed that one of the bands had a hole in it. She gasps as she instantly figured out how to do it. She tossed and turned the metal bands in her hands to try and dislocate them from one another. Eventually, she got one out of the hole and the rest seemed to just slide out evenly.

After she set down the second puzzle, the puzzle seemed to magically link itself back together and was a complete mess again. Wren chuckles at that and picks up the third one. It was a metal box with various flips and switches and dials on the outside of it. She started to play with the switches a bit, still leaning over her broom as she fiddled with it aimlessly. She had her churro on a stick hanging between her fingers as she tried to solve the puzzle. There had to be a trick to opening the darn box. She tried lifting multiple levers at the same time, a lever and a switch, lever and dial. Each one seemed to fail as she starts to pout. “No hints can be given, can they?” She asks curiously as she looked up to the blacksmith, he shook his head as Wren takes a deep breath. There were other games to play, but this would only end up making her frustrated after a while. She wanted to have fun and enjoy herself. Not be upset at a festival.

She sets the little box down and smiles to the man to go off elsewhere. She walked by a one eyed man slouched over a stump. He had a basket of trophies by his side, and he looks right at Wren as she passes. “What goes up every year, but never comes back down?” He questions her as she starts to pass on her broom. Wren looks to the man as he seemed to look right through her to her soul. A smile starts to form on her lips. “The year. It goes up every year, and never comes back down.” She replies after a moment of thinking. The man cocks his head at the girls answer and nods towards the bucket. His eyes seems to scan her knowingly, as if looking directly into her soul. Wren grins as she grabbed the trophy and nods* her head as she goes back to nibbling on her churro. “Thank you~” She giggles before she flies off.

Eventually the little witch had found herself at the end of the maze. And was admiring the bonfire that was lit already. She nibbles on the last of her churro and giggles while she was served a cider drink. It smelled like apples. She then looked over to where more smells were coming from, and flew her broom over to the eating contest and all that seemed to be going on there. She knew she could eat a lot, but she did have limits. Maybe this would be fun to watch. She glanced over and noticed General Suzuki not too far from her, and tilts her head. Was he here to watch the eating contest too? “General Suzuki~!” She calls out to him with a grin, hoping he would hear her.**