improv

The popcorn was perfectly salty, the sort of thing that would likely make Hiro feel bloated and puffy, yet he couldn't get enough from. It was both a blessing and a curse, eating such an abundance of food that was— from what Hiro could remember from the books he read in the library— not good for him. In the slightest. Yet, there was not much else he could do, other than pop one in his mouth. His body could do the rest.

Perhaps, whatever kind of er was up there in the sky, was looking out for him. Since a pair of unruly teenagers had passed by him and knocked the bag to the ground. They looked back to Hiro, blinking wildly, before disappearing with a horrified look in their eyes.

Hiro quickly turned his head, peering into the flowing water that had an unsurmountable number of rubber ducks flowing past, and did not see a reflection, despite the shine of lights behind him. He sighed, leaving his abandoned popcorn on the ground. You will be missed.

The deliberation between stealing another bag of popcorn and just leaving things as they were had hopped across his mind, like a dog avoiding the flowing creek to prevent getting its paws wet, until he heard a nearby commotion.

Was there /that/ much of a desire for a stuffed animal? Those things went for like 15$ in the nearby Wal-Mart. Surely not worth the time it took to ruin a kid's life over it, but, what did he know? Maybe he had yet to find the true worth those things had. Especially since it seemed like something to break up over.

Or— At least— Hiro wished. He hoped those two broke up over something like that. The girl was way too childish, and the guy, way too flippant...

Hiro, avoiding the teenager behind the booth, moved to the back of the booth and looked at one of the plush toys. It was nearly as tall as Hiro, the shape of a bear— a panda? Either way, Hiro looked behind him, and saw the teenager scrolling through some videos on his phone, not paying attention to the kids who walked past and pointed in Hiro, or rather, the panda's direction. When the coast was clear, he touched the panda.

The panda disappeared, yet, Hiro could see it clearly. The fabric was soft, softer than anything he had ever felt before. Some of his students had come in with plush toys, and it wasn't like Hiro was a stranger to such a thing. But, as the years had gone on, he feared his ability to touch. He quickly pulled his hand back, as the fabric had started to get warm.

"H—Hey! When did you—?!" Hiro had heard the teenager's voice behind him yelp out, knocking into the booth before him. Uh oh.

"Uh—" Hiro said, rather dumbly, looking around to the crowd of people who had finally acknowledged his existence. "I gotta go!" And with that, he vaulted over the booth (nearly falling onto his face in the process), and made a run for it. The teenager yelped out again, the adrenaline probably the only reason why he even cared if Hiro stole in the first place. A few people tried to stop him, but Hiro just focused on smacking his forearm. "Work again, stupid things, work!"

As far as Puppeteer goes in this carnival, Dalbit would rather the title bestowed to someone else, in lowercase, because they are actually putting on a fun puppet show for the kids somewhere in the premises instead of messing around and stealing other people’s shadows. Perhaps he’d even catch a performance if he happens to stumble around one.

Instead, he sees a pair of familiar faces by the shooting game booth—one having fired the BB gun away like there’s no tomorrow and the other, as he spots from the corner of his eye, slipping a bill towards the unimpressed teenager manning the game. To be fair, Riot did win the game fair and square, but did she really have to rub it into the kid’s face like that? God, he hopes she doesn’t see him watching amongst the other parents and strike up a conversation with him. It would’ve been nice to have some company when everyone else seems to be having fun with their friends and family in the carnival, but associating with that sort of pettiness right now is… embarrassing, to say the least.

And don’t get him started on Geminus. No wonder this damn city remains as corrupt as it had been five, ten, even *twenty* years ago. Just look at what these people are doing when they aren’t donning their hero personas.

“That’s cheating!” he hears a childlike voice whine to their parents. It’s that kid Riot was up against. “I could’ve won if there wasn’t any hotdogs blocking my view! I want a rematch!”

“We only have one game token left, sweetie, and look: the big kids are taking over.” A man—presumably the child’s father—shakes his head in disapproval. Dalbit already has his heels semi-rotated as he turns to leave, but—wait, don’t tell him the kid’s about to cry?

He heaves a sigh before walking towards the family, making sure that he has his default friendly smile on his face as he enters their line of sight. “Hiya,” he greets, kneeling down to meet the child’s eye-level. “I just saw how good you were back there. I think if you could definitely win that plush if you were to give it another go.”

The child narrows their eyes at him. Dalbit chuckles. “Tell you what, give me a high-five and then we’ll go get ‘em.” He puts his right palm up in front of them as his offer. “You’ll get it this time, no matter who’s playing against you. Promise.”

A firm high-five and hesitant parents surrendering their final token later, he stands behind the child as they raise their gun on standby. This is going to be hard to do without him having to move his hands much, but no one’s going to notice a mere bystander flailing about when their eyes are all in the game. Heck, no one’s going to notice that the “bullets” look a little off, either.

As soon as the round starts, Puppeteer directs his aim at the worker’s spiked-up locks and peels off a piece of their hair’s silhouette against the tent, cuts it per small triangular shape—enough that it blends it decently with the rest of the bullets, and sends them flying towards the ducks, one target down after another with each pull of the trigger. Eventually the kid realizes that they don’t have to aim anymore with their newfound ability, and starts spamming shots without thinking twice, which Puppeteer gladly adheres to.

Two minutes later, the child skips joyfully towards him with their new toy, and even goes as far as to initiate another high-five. Their parents offer him a polite smile and bow before walking away, leaving with their child talking their ears off about how they did even better than “that lady who stole their prize from them”. Puppeteer waves them goodbye.

He then walks towards the booth—or more specifically, where the bribe money had been. Of course the worker has taken it. Their mistake, however, was casting it carelessly to the side where Dalbit could easily slip a shadow hand through the crevices and take out of the area.

He can’t let a teenager get used to accepting bribes from a hero who’s meant to stop such acts, now can he?

"Mommy, can I please get the pink unicorn plush? Please?" A five year old girl that was unfortunately within earshot was whining to her mother. Geminus was not there at the carnival as a hero, in fact he was just there to do some repairs on some very rusty rides and what better handyman to handle it than one that won't get killed if a gigantic metal structure hurls at him if he loosens a screw too quickly?

"No, sweetie. We have no time, look, that little kid and young woman might as well take all the toys!" The mother tried to calm her kid down and all Kijoon wanted to do is get her quiet for his own peace. That and so she wouldn't end up crying, he was physically a stone wall but he wasn't heartless.

Without saying a word, he signalled to the girls' mother that he was getting her daughter a toy, mouthing a 'Stay here, I'll get it for her' before sprinting to the booth where you shoot ducks with BB guns. Kijoon took a glance at the older woman who had recently taken pride in winning over a grade schooler and thought nothing of her. He did feel some second hand embarrassment that she was so happy for overtaking a kid probably half her age. But he did not care about her opponent either, so it didn't matter. Immediately pushing the little boy away by his face with a hand, he spoke. The young boy stumbled back, easily overpowered by Kijoon's hand over his face.

"Alright kid, beat it. My great grandfather invented the BB gun, show me some respect and let me talk to the booth clerk." His grandfather did not invent the BB gun, he was lying. Digging out a large bill from his pocket he whispered towards the person manning the game and discreetly passed it to him. "That big unicorn doll, please. I'll pay you double if I have to."

"You at this! Just shoot the damn ducks already!" yells a frustrated Riot at her handler who was getting their handed to them by a grade-schooler. Said grade-schooler had the most -eating grin on their face too because they just KNEW they were going to win the prize Riot so coveted—a large, lilac chibi skeleton plush. She couldn't believe just how pathetic her handler was at this game. All you had to do was shoot ducks, for 's sake! So, as she stomps from behind her handler and snatches the BB gun from her handler, she takes aim at each little duck and blasts a BB at it with ease. It was enough to catch up to the kid's score, but they were neck and neck. And if not for the kid's parents coming over with food and distracting the kid, they might have actually beat her.

"Too bad, you sorry kid! It's mine!" she exclaims, taking her turn to bear a -eating grin and snatching the plush from the stall owner as they hand it to her. Her handler pinches the bridge of their nose and shakes their head with a heavy sigh, which earns a stank face from Riot, but she smiles at her new toy and nuzzles it against her face. Satisfied that it was officially hers and glad she wouldn't have to get in trouble for stealing it from the kid later. Yes, unfortunately, Riot really was that childish. Hopefully, though, no other heroes were around to witness this.

[ ] PLEASE bring in a hero to witness this.

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ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ: ㅤ 2024 ╱ 04 ╱ 20.
ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ sᴄᴇɴᴇ: ㅤ City Carnival.
ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ! ㅤ This is neutral ground!

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