Re: Rifts Dead Man's Hand - Festival Day - Dane

[Chaser1]

With his new knowledge in hand, Dane will try again once his muscles have a chance to rest and he has a chance to clean some of the grease off. Same strategy as before. "I think this can work." he says to Meg when he rejoins her. "I'm going to try one more time."

Three dozen more people fail at reaching the twenty credits. Only a handful make it past the fifteen credit spot. One poor young native boy nearly makes it to the twenty credits, only to lose his grip and land backfirst on the grass. Some of the spectators promptly place the kid on a jury rigged gurney and haul him towards the clinic.

"Gosh, I hope he's okay!" Lord Stein comments. He looks around and asks, "Has anyone NOT tried that would like to?" No one shouts or raises their hand, "Okay then, round two of competitors who've paid for more tries." He looks through his list on some sort of mobile digital notebook. "Frank! You're up next!"

OOC: Moving this along. This post is copied to both Dane and Frank's threads.

Frank gets ready, making sure his hands and clothes are as clean as possible of grease.

"Come on, Frank!" Johnny cheers, "You've got this!"

Frank gets up next to the pole, hops up and begins climbing. He steadily climbs and makes it near where the fifteen credit coupon was, but slides down. Like Dane, he catches himself sliding back down. Then inches his way back up, coming inches from the twenty credit slip, only to slide to the bottom. He knows he has one more attempt.

A few others unsuccessfully attempt, but also fail.

Dane makes his second attempt. Trying the same tactic that he did last time, he makes it to the twenty credit slip, feels himself slipping out of control and lunges for the slip. He gets it! Unfortunately, he plummets back first to the ground. He knows that it's going to hurt as he slaps into the ground. Even bystanders groan, "Oh! That's gotta hurt!" as he feels a few of his vertebrae pop, but nothing serious. He tries to regain his breath, but the wind is knocked out of him. He feels Meg touch his face as his vision slowly returns. "Oh no! Dane, are you okay?"

OOC: Dane was pretty high up. -8 SDC Like Frank, failed climb, but went for a last ditch strike to grab the ticket. Got a 19, which is enough to get his fingers on that small piece of paper. Should still have time to get to the horse races... if he can walk.

Lord Stein even winces, waiting for Dane to either get up and move or for someone to carry him away. He looks to Frank again, "One more try, my boy?"

[jawildey]

"Ow," Dane wheezes, struggling to pull air back into his lungs. "That hurt... but I think I’m okay."

He stares up into Meg’s face as his vision sharpens, her expression swimming into focus. Carefully, he tests his arms and legs, making sure everything still moves the way it should. With Meg’s help—not that he really needs it, though he doesn’t mind the excuse to hold her hand—he gets back on his feet.

"I think the greased pig’s out," he says with a wince. "Come on, I think we’ve still got time to make the horse races."

[Chaser1]

"Ow," Dane wheezes, struggling to pull air back into his lungs. "That hurt... but I think I’m okay."

He stares up into Meg’s face as his vision sharpens, her expression swimming into focus. Carefully, he tests his arms and legs, making sure everything still moves the way it should. With Meg’s help—not that he really needs it, though he doesn’t mind the excuse to hold her hand—he gets back on his feet.

"I think the greased pig’s out," he says with a wince. "Come on, I think we’ve still got time to make the horse races."

Meg wipes her hand in the grass, making sure to smear the grease all over instead of collecting more. She doesn't really help Dane stand up, yet she does show concern as the only thing that hurts besides a slight backache, is his pride. "Yeah, we've got just enough time to get to the betting booth, but we may miss the beginning of the race." With that, the two rush off towards the northeast to get to the betting booths.

Upon glancing back, Dane sees Frank get pretty high up, almost make it to the 25 credit coupon. Then fall, from around 22 feet off of the ground, which is five feet higher than Dane made it. That had to have hurt. All the while, Meg keeps asking if Dane is okay each time he tries to stretch the achiness from his back.

They eventually reach the betting booth. Meg places a 100 credit bet on Megana and Midnight. The old lady, with thinning gray hair and horrible fashion for wool in the heat, pushes her thick glasses back up her nose and wryly looks at Dane, "How much and on who?" Dane notices that it's two to one odds against Megana, which is unusual. She rarely loses.

[jawildey]

OOC: Oops, forgot about the greasy hands.
Dane looks a little surprised at how much Meg’s spent today. “I’ll… uh… put ten on Megana...um, Midnight, as well.” He glances at the board, scanning for who’s favored to win before they go find a place to watch. His eyes wander over the crowd, looking to see if any of the other kids showed up for the race. “Soon as it’s over, I’ll go get cleaned up,” he says, falling into step beside her as they search for a good spot.

[Chaser1]

Dane looks a little surprised at how much Meg’s spent today. “I’ll… uh… put ten on Megana... um, Midnight, as well.” He glances at the board, scanning for who’s favored to win before they go find a place to watch. His eyes wander over the crowd, looking to see if any of the other kids showed up for the race. “Soon as it’s over, I’ll go get cleaned up,” he says, falling into step beside her as they search for a good spot.

It looks like Sam, Steve and Maya have shown up. Mindy, Megana's mother is already cheering loudly. He glances at the horse with the best chances, named Thunder. It's only ever lost once, in a place called Wichita. The woman hands both Meg and Dane their bet slips as the horses are lined up. Megana looks confident.

"Let's go Meg!" Shouts Meg. Which seems amusing.

[jawildey]

Dane can’t help but grin at Meg’s cheer. “Guess you’ve got to root for yourself somehow,” he teases lightly, watching the horses anticipation. He glances toward where Sam, Steve, and Maya are gathered and gives them a small wave, then settles his attention back on the track.

“C’mon, Megana,” he mutters, half to himself.

He shifts his weight, trying not to wince when his back protests, and keeps his eyes on the starting line, the sound of the crowd growing around them as the tension builds.

[Chaser1]

Dane can’t help but grin at Meg’s cheer. “Guess you’ve got to root for yourself somehow,” he teases lightly, watching the horses anticipation. He glances toward where Sam, Steve, and Maya are gathered and gives them a small wave, then settles his attention back on the track. Steve and Maya wave back.

“C’mon, Megana,” he mutters, half to himself.

He shifts his weight, trying not to wince when his back protests, and keeps his eyes on the starting line, the sound of the crowd growing around them as the tension builds. He notices his back pain is slowly fading to a dull uncomfortable feeling. He feels like there is a delay to the start of the race, but part of the fun is the build up. He hears someone mention, "The announcer is late," which makes sense.

The sounds of the greased pig run begin drowning out the sound of the surrounding crowd. Cheering and the loud squealing pig, which is piercing.

[jawildey]

While they wait, Dane tries to clean some of the grease off his hands using whatever clean spots on the jeans he can find.

[Chaser1]

While they wait, Dane cleans some of the grease off his hands using whatever clean spots on the jeans he can find. He begins to use some of the thicker grass when he runs out of real estate on his pants. Upon closer inspection, just in the groves of his finger prints, folds in his skin and under his finger nails have grease left. It's then that he notices others using a bucket of gasoline to get more of it off. Although, gas can cause nasty rashing if proper soap and water isn't used immediately after.

The announcer finally calls out, "Racers to your lines."

OOC: Just waiting on Meg's final reply before the start of the race.

[jawildey]

Dane will pass on the gasoline bath for now. He doesn't want to go around smelling like fueling station all day.