Amusement park fun or...something else?

[Merc]

Aether's compliment was lost on Riley as she gushed over the baby owls, and she only looked to him when he suddenly opened their cage, releasing the owls into the room. She had been about to ask him if it was okay when the bird suddenly swarmed her, landing on her shoulders and nipping playfully at her - spawning a bit of a giggle from her as one nipped her ear, making her hunch her shoulder towards it slightly. "That tickles." She laughed, bringing her hands up to stroke gently at the fluffy owls, enjoying the familiar feel of their feathers.

"Ahh, as tempting as it is, I'm not a thief... Makes miss having a lot of owls around, though." She admitted, petting at owls. Chuckling fondly as one nipped her finger, she wasn't sure how much time she spent doting on them before Aether finally decided to drag her away from it - which was probably a good idea since she could probably spend all night playing with them.

Gently putting each of the owls back in the exhibit, she secured the door and rose a hand, wiggling her fingers at them in a gentle wave goodbye. After using some nearby hand sanitizer, she looked to Aether. "Lets get something to eat." Bringing her hand to her stomach, which growled in agreement, she started to make her way towards the exit, musing over what she wanted. "I kinda want cotton candy... But I also want a candy apple... Maybe a slushie... Ah, but there's also funnel cake... And those soft pretzels..." Frowning as she made her way outside, the smell of buttery popcorn drew her towards the food cart once more. "What do you feel like having?"

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

I follow the pursuit of Riley and washed my hands. Riley looks like she's enjoying herself, so in result, I'm enjoying myself like wise. She holds her stomach as it growling, and she suggests that we get something to eat. Well, I'm growing hungry as well, so I give her thumbs up approval. “That sounds like a great idea! “ As we head out of the building and towards the food court, Riley brings up a whole bunch of different food she wants to eat.

Riley asks me what do I want to eat. Until recently, I didn't like sweets. They didn't taste right for me once I had gotten out of the hospital, so I'd avoided them like the plague. Now, I can fully enjoy them and get cravings for sweets. I raise my hand up and tap on my forehead in thinking in what I want to eat. Thinking about it, everything Riley had mentioned sounds well with me. “Hm, it's been a long time since I've eaten some of those.”

I turn to Riley while smirking, “So, l like to try them all.” I look over to the food court and see all the stands, the area rich in the smell of food of almost everything that you can think of. You can practically taste the food and sugar already. I see an area with chairs and tables that are not being used. “Let's gather some grub and sit down for a bit,” I suggested. “I'll make sure to reserve us a seat.” I walk over to the seating area and put out my jacket over the chair. If Riley comes over with food, I'll pull out a chair for her and push her in from there, I would take my seat. In the distance, I can see some games and even a test of strength. OK, I might be out of shape, but I'm sure I can at least show off later with the test of strength, right?

[Merc]

Smiling some as Aether agreed that they should try some of everything, Riley made her way to the table as he picked one out before wandering over towards the food vendors - and ending up ordering so much food that she had to use her magic to make it gravitate around her because she couldn't carry it all in her arms.

Upon returning to the table, and getting her chair pushed in for her, she lowered the spread, which looked like a cavity inducing feast of sugar. "I hope it's okay that I only got one of each besides the drinks, I figured we could share since I doubt one of us could eat all this." She commented, carefully setting everything on the table one by one - two slushies, a tray of funnel cake, some cinnamon sugar covered pretzel bites with caramel dipping sauce, a candy apple cut into quarters, a cotton candy, and finally a paper plate with some fries and crispy chicken tenders, just in case they wanted something a little more substantial.

"Would you rather the yellow or purple slushie? I think they're pineapple and grape. I'm okay with either." She assured, picking up a pretzel bite and dipping it in the sauce, she proceeded to stuff her face as she waited for his reply. "Ah, my appetite is kinda outta control since I got back... Been so long since I had tasty food..." She murmured, realizing she was probably lacking slightly in the manners department.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

Riley comes over with all the food and drinks using her magic to help carry it all. I help put all the food on the table carefully. I take her jacket and put it on the back of the chair, and scoot her in the table. Now that I have a look at everything, she brought nothing but diabetes to the table. Yes, oh sweet diabetes for me tonight!

“Yeah that is fine,” I replied to Riley. Without even putting a single thing in my mouth, by smell and sight, I can taste the sugar. I don't know where begin eating! Riley ask which drink that I want, and obviously I pick the grape. “I'm not a fan of pineapple, so I'll take grape.” I reach over grab the grape and begin devouring, meanwhile I watch Riley eat her food. Unlike Riley, I'm eating a bit slower than her and tasting the food, mix between the sugar and real solid food. I got to say, I made everything taste fantastic. Everything down to the smallest detail, I didn't skip out and the taste texture is perfect. Riley realizes about her table manners, and she let me know that her appetite is out of control.

I'm not wanting Riley to feel embarrass or feel like she can't be herself around me, I'll just casually shift the embarrassment towards me. Heck, with everything tasting so good, I don't blame her anyway. If not table manners were literally beaten into me as a child, I be doing the exact same thing as her. I pretend not to notice as I eat my fries and get ketchup all over my face. “Hm, oh, if you look at that. I'm making a mess of myself,” I say to Riley while looking for a napkin.

[Merc]

As Aether smeared ketchup over his face in a manner that Riley could have sworn was deliberate, she chuckled a little at his nonchalant words while he looked around, probably for something to clean himself up with. After sitting back in her chair and surveying the area, she stretched her hand towards a nearby vendor, giving a twitch of her finger that summoned the first napkins on his pile to come floating in their direction. A jerk of her hand and the napkins practically shot towards them, swerving around people and obstacles as though they had a mind of their own.

Catching the napkins, she handed most of them to Aether, though kept one for herself since she was sure that she would need it sooner or later. "Be careful not to get any on your suit." She teased, picking up a chicken finger and beginning to nibble on it, she allowed her eyes to drift again and soon spotted the games that he had earlier taken notice of. Regarding them curiously, she took a sip of her slushie and brought her eyes back to Aether as she wondered if he had managed to clean himself up at all.

"Any idea what you want to do next?" She asked, tugging some of the fluffy cotton candy away from the cone, she popped it into her mouth and let it dissolve on her tongue. "Mmm..."

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

Riley uses her magic and picks up a napkin from a nearby vender. The napkin jerks towards us while zigzagging through people and obstacles. Once in range, I reach out with my hand and grab the napkin floating through the air. “I'll try not too; I'm a bit clumsy.” I take the napkin and wipe my face off with it. I get all the ketchup off of my face. Once finish, I ball up the napkin and toss to a can nearby. I begin drinking my slushy and help finish with the food.

Riley asks me what should we do next. So, it's my turn to decide, and I already have something in mind. “Let play some games,” I stated. Once we finish up our food, I make my way to the game area. I first head towards the test of strength as I am feeling a bit confident in myself, though I am out of shape. “I have you know Riley, once upon a time, I was considered one of the most powerful mages around the world,” I boasted.

OK, that was an extensive time ago, and I have not worked out or anything in a long time. This is why I can't run for very long or anything. I have learned recently that I should really get back in shape, but I've been busy. “Hopefully, I still have in me to do this.” The test strength game is when you take a heavy hammer and slam into to pad. Depending how hard you swing, a ball shoots up and stops somewhere. At max, you can hit the bell up on top and ring it. I'm handed the sludge hammer, and I find it heavier than I thought. Well shit, I think I've chosen the wrong game to look good in front of Riley. I'm struggling to lift up the hammer over my head. OK, I admit it's REALLY HEAVY! I swing down the hammer with all of my strength to the pad and hope I can ring the bell! Oh please hit the bell and let me look good just this once!

[Merc]

"Oh, one of the most powerful mages?" Riley echoed his words into a question, leaving off her final thought, which was that she had never heard of him, despite the fact that he was supposedly from a noble family, as well.

Well, either way, she didn't bring it up or bother to rain on his parade. The poor guy never didn't seem to have much courage or faith in himself and she definitely didn't want to crush it all the more. Despite his showboating, Riley could see that Aether was having a hell of a lot of trouble trying to lift the hammer, so it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was going to do poorly with the test of strength.

At least, he was if no one interfered with the game.

Riley wasn't the cheating sort, but she also didn't want Aether to feel bad about himself, particularly after carrying him like a princess through a haunted house, so she subtly used a bit of her magic to boost the ball to ring the bell. When the sound rang out, she clapped Aether lightly on the back. "Nicely done." She smiled, already beginning to look around for the next thing to do, spying a large sign some ways away.

"Oh, looks like there's some kind of aquatic animal show... We should go check that out." She suggested, and was so confident that he would age to this that she had already started to head towards the sign before he even had a chance to reply.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

Riley sounds a bit doubtful, not that I don't blame her, especially how weak I am now, physically and mentally. Back then, I had people cowering in fear of my presence. I had people running away the moment they had looked at me. Of course, none of it was a good thing. I had a few people who bother to stick around me, and they're all gone currently. In Shark fang, or Phantom cloak now, if you go missing for a long period of time is usually a sign of death.

The ball reaches all the way to the top and hits the bell! “Well, I think I still have it after all!” Well, regardless I need to train and work out to get back in shape, or it'll become a problem later. I feel a little of pride in hitting the bell on top. I mean, I honestly didn't think I had it in me!

Riley mentions the aquatic animal show and hurries off to towards it. I follow pursuit and watch the show with her. We have a lot of fun spending time there, and then we go to play some other games, including one of those fortune games. The machine told her love was in the air and to her right, but I was on her left. Of course, I went somewhere in private and banged my head on the wall. From there, we just have a lot of fun, and nothing much else happened.

After a long day at the amusement park, we head out and make a lot of distances from the park. Only thing I kept with us is balloons. Once we're far away from the amusement park, I cancel the spell before I am completely drain and Riley figures it out. I try to hand the balloons to her as a gift. “That was a lot of fun, Riley. You're really fun, you know?” I scratch the top of my nose. I'm not sure how to end this night; I want to lean in and try to kiss her, but I doubt it will work out. I blush a little in trying to think in what to say. “Um, I have to return home for a few days. When I return, how about I build the guild for you with my magic?” After hearing everything she has to say, I make my home.