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Corian is, yes, for once rather impatient to go to work, though it doesn't really show except in, once or twice, a hint of an edging towards the door. "Cha'trez?" she inquires, voice decidedly patient, "Are you ready to go yet?" She's only asked that once before, despite her excessive patience.
And lo, for once, Tarrant is the one who's a little behind. He's rummaging in a cardboard box of sharp pointy objects, hauling out a number of thin plasticine ones, and replacing his metal ones with such. Muttering about metal detectors he finally clambers up to his feet, tucking the box back away in the closet. "Ready, yes, or close enough as to make no odds. I wish they'd given us the security scheme with a -little- more time, but I think I'm covered." He leans down to scoop up his bag, and makes to reach for yours. "I am assuiming," he drawls in an amused tone, "That you are ready as well?"
Corian, yes, lets you take her bag, which has been ready for quite some time.
"I -am- sorry, cha'trez," she says contritely. "But I really am looking
forward to this assignment. It will not be bitterly cold, and we will be able
to enjoy ourselves somewhat as well, even though we will have to work with
someone else as well. I still think we would work better with just us, but,
well, it was not worth getting angry over, not when the rest of the
assignment is so nice, relatively."
"And not when they were being so picky about it," Tarrant agrees, his tone amiable. After all, he's used to being randomly assigned contacts, since until working with you he has been sans partner. "It is never fun to be having to be learning a new person, but it'll be short, and we'll have plenty of time for coasters. And there won't be any competition likely this time either, so we've got breathin' room for making decisions and all." He moves to the door, nudging it open with one foot before turning back to the room. "Y'all behave." Apparently he's addressing those of the toys who will be left behind, in which number Scruffy is not being counted.
Of course Scruffy is not being counted, nor is Corian's bear. "They will be
fine," she murmurs, as she goes through the door with a smile, then through
to the Spaceport and on the shuttle and such. Really. That's exactly where
she's going. "And, yes, it really could be much worse. As you say, it will
not be for long."
Corian walks towards the Coaster World.
You walk towards the Coaster World.
Tarrant is looking perhaps a little shellshocked as he pads along the thoroughfare, "Okay, I knew there were supposed to be a lot of coasters, but was it absolutely required that the -peoplemover- be one too? I'm just glad there's nothing fragile in the luggage." The stunned look is not being helped by the sheer overdose of light, sound, and noise of the main way of the biggest amusement park in known space. "Oh -wow-..." He pauses, "What do you want to bet the hotel has a coaster instead of an elevator?"
Corian just slips an arm around you, though her own expression is four
different kinds of pleased. Yes, she's absolutely thrilled with this
particular location. "Maybe it will not be so bad," she reassures. "Maybe the
elevator will simply be... efficient." Fast, she means. "Should we go find
the hotel, then, so we can dispose of our luggage?"
Tarrant glances down at you with a fond grin, shifting an arm around you in return with a chuckle. "See, I -knew- I shoulda' made the hotel reservations, instead of letting you." He nods amiably, griinning honestly at last and beginning to get into the experience of it. "I think we should, so we can sneak in some fun before we're a'supposed to meet this fella'."
Corian nods a firm agreement to that. "Fun is most certainly a good idea, as was getting here rather early. The hotel is..." She pauses a moment, then nods. "This way. It is a moving sidewalk, I think, rather than yet another roller coaster." And, yes, Corian obviously had fun with the reservations, as the hotel is ultra-modern, shaped like a roller coaster. Fun.
Tarrant just rolls his eyes at the hotel's shape however, and stifles a quiet
laugh but not the impulse to poke you lightly, just because he can. "It's
festive," he murmurs in a bemused manner as he offers over the ID of choice
for the mission, exchanging the information for keys and a pamphlet of nearby
attractions, as per standard hotel tradtion. He perks up at something in it,
"Ooh, -look-, this one's got dragons."
Corian twitches away from the poke with a laugh, and, after a moment to get her bearings, leads her way to the room. It, mercifully, has a more normal shape, even though the bed's headboard is also shaped like the curve of a coaster. The room itself is rather spartan, except for the massive whirlpool bathtub in the bathroom, perfect for soaking after a long day of coaster-riding. "Dragons, really? We will most certainly have to try that one."
Tarrant settles bags down on the luggage fold-out, and leans down to rummage in one for a small gadget. Absently he wanders around, waving the small doodad around, as serious as Egon looking for ectoplasm. Making his way to the comm he pops open the service panel and does a bit of quick rummaging, "Okay, we're clean, and I nixed the standard security line cutoff." The work complete he tucks the device back away and grins brightly, "Shall we dive out into the wild blue yonder, try and snag some food, maybe have a little fun?"
Corian was, yes, forty at four, but the anticipation of playing on roller coasters must regress her to age two or something, as she seems to have chipped off a layer of reserve. "Can we? Though maybe we should be careful about mixing eating and some of these rides. There's an entire section of rides," she adds, all but bouncing, "Where they -recommend- that you do not eat prior to riding them." And this pleases her. Yes, she's nuts.
Well at least -this- is not a problem Tarrant has, and he looks sheepish as he
ducks his head. "I'm sorry, I'd forgotten about that effect. I'm afraid
that's not something I'm gengineered to experience." Oh, and this is a -bad-
thing? Although maybe it is, that stomach sinking sensation is half the fun
if it's not overdone. "I'll let you give eating times then, so as to be
safe?" He heads to the door, opening it and half-bowing for you to procede
him.
"Do you mind waiting just a little before we eat?" Corian inquires hopefully as she heads out of the room, then reaches to claim your hand. "I have been studying the pamphlets and brochures--research, of course--and I found a few rides that I really would like to be sure to ride. But, well, waiting to eat until after we have ridden them would probably be a good thing."
Tarrant interlaces his fingers through yours, offering you a bright smile. He
may not be wired to enjoyed coasters as much as you do, but he positively
adores your reaction to them. Hence why he'll be having just as much fun on
this trip as you. "I don't mind waiting at all, love. After all, we get to
eat every day. It's not every day we get to ride coasters. Simply lead away,
and try not to laugh at me overmuch."
Corian shakes her head as, looking -far- too excited, she leads her way through
to the first of the coasters on her list. And she was not kidding when she
said that she studied pamphlets and brochures; she clearly knows -exactly-
where she's going. "The other is very near here," she adds, "And there are
some tamer rides and restaurants nearby as well." Squeezing your hand
lightly, she adds, "And of -course- I will not laugh at you, cha'trez. You
are being very kind, to put up with me as I am at places like this." She
thinks she's being too bouncy? Hah.
And Tarrant -likes- the bouncy, he's clearly having fun as well as he trails through the crowd after you with a broad grin. So good is his mood, that even the evil of the looming coaster does not so much as dim it a whit. "Oh -wow-," is instead his response. "That's not against the laws of physics? And it isn't kindness love, I like it when you're having fun."
"Well it -is- against the laws of physics," Corian admits as she gets in the
line, which can't be reassuring. "But they have antigravity fields set up in
a few places, to keep the coaster on the track, and a few other things that I
really could not begin to understand. It really is state-of-the-art
technology. And they have enough cars running that the line is moving rather
nicely." Yes, people are screaming a -lot- on this ride, sometimes in a neat
Doppler effect. It's a fast ride, too.
Tarrant is careful to keep from looking up too much, lest his brain begin to
calculate the sheer ridiculousness of this. He's designed to stay alive, see,
not to be hurled through the air at an obscene rate. He leans absently
against one of the rails designed to keep the line in order. "I wonder who's
idea the first one of these was. Was this just a casual idea? I mean
-really-..."
Corian inquires, with far too much cheer for one intending to hurtle through the cosmos, "What, you mean you do not find this concept to be utterly rational?" Yes, she's kidding. "Ooh, here we go." Again, really thrilled, she moves into her seat. And, yes, it's one of those that should involve not only the buying of dinner but also a ring and a ceremony involving bondage.
And Tarrant, being male, is not -immediately- thrilled with this idea. He
mumbles something about a lack of ability to have children after this ride,
and with a snicker he drops into it. Clicking the various bits and pieces
into place he grins at you briefly before the ride escapes the station. "Hang
onto your hats."
Corian murmurs something about the number of children in this relationship
being quite enough as it is. And lo, the ride starts with the obligatory
ominous climb. Corian shakes her head, then. "This is always the point when I
question my saniteeeeeee!" Yes, that would be the drop, and it's a doozy, as
is the rest of the ride. Loops, corkscrews, insane plunges that call up short
just in time, and the dang thing is long enough to last quite some time.
Vroom!
"I think..." Tarrant manages in between loops and turns, "That perhaps it is not...." Whoosh... "Your sanity that needs questioning..." Swish! "But that of however designed this thiii-aaah-ng." Now that's creative speech. As it ends he has to lean against the restraints, snickering so hard he's fumbling as he begins removing them. "We're insane, my star, you do realize..."
Corian climbs out of the seat, weaving a bit as she does so and all but breathless with laughter. "That was -wonderful-, but, yes, we are quite mad." Of course, to demonstrate her insanity, she inquires, "Shall we do it again?"
"Maybe we should try the next one on your list," Tarrant suggests laughingly as
he put a hand to your shoulder, although whether to steady you or him is
debatable. "Seeing as we would seem to have more coasters before us than
time."
Corian considers your words for a moment, then nods, apparently agreeing with
the wisdom therein. "Thatwould probably be best, yes. But did you have
anything you wanted to ride, cha'trez? After all, I do not have all that many
on my list, and we can certainly take time to ride something that you would
like."
"I like them all," Tarrant points out with a bright grin as he jumps up onto the railing along the ramp down, absently sliding to the bottom. "Although did it mention one that goes into the dark? That sounds like fun, not being able to see and all, and all the twisting and stuff."
Corian nods to that, rattling off, in fact, a listing of quite a few such
coasters. "I have one of those on my list, in fact. We could try that one
next, then maybe get something to eat?"
Tarrant nods cheerfully to the question, grinning brightly. "Sounds like fun to
me. Which way oh lovely lady of the mental map?" He's all but skipping as he
regards the landscape, yes, he's officially having fun now. "And finding food
should be amusing indeed."
"Maybe we can find a place where they serve us bad food for exorbitant prices in little cardboard shuttles," Corian suggests cheerfully. "And we go... this way." She starts off along the way, reaching for your hand and swinging it back and forth, obviously having quite a lot of fun as well.
Tarrant takes a quick step to catch up, and then matches the pace with a grin as he glances from view to view, assessing possible escape routes, possible sniper locations, and other rides to try. "Ooh, little cardboard shuttles would be good." He spots the edge of a midway line, "Ooh, and evil games..."
Corian detours amiably towards the midway line. Nobody's talking about killing
a president, at least. That would be too weird. "Would you like to try some?
We certainly have time enough. And then we could maybe eat, and then put off
the coasters for a little. It might not be a bad idea to pause between
coasters and eating, after all."
Oh see, there's a -shooting- gallery, and there are -prizes-...And Tarrant all but freezes, rapt at the sight of such a thing. "Oooh, we should do -that-." Hello, cover? To heck with cover, there are -prizes-.
Ah, but Corian is very aware of cover, at least as far as shooting goes, and
she shakes her head abit. "If you would like to try, cha'trez, please do so,
but I think that I will not."
Tarrant catches that head shake and decides instead to be virtuous, shaking his
head in a negative as well. "Maybe that coaster would be a better idea, I'm
a'thinking, yeah."
"We could try another game, if you like, cha'trez? Perhaps one of the games
that is not rigged, though--or we could try the coaster, if you like. It is
very near, that building to the south."
Tarrant glances towards said building and then begins moving in that direction with a bright grin, "The coaster seems safest. Better than doing anything to call attention, n'all that." He attempts to re-capture your hand with another of those boyish smiles. "And the coasters are the good things, right?"
Corian confirms cheerfully, "Coasters are good things, most certainly. I really am glad we were able to come here. Maybe we could visit here again when we have more time." Well, and no job to do. She heads neatly into the building, and the line therein. The blacklight starts immediately, though there's enough light to see. It probably does really bizarre things to Corian's hair.
And Tarrant's white shirt as well, is probably very cheerful. He certainly is as he leans against the railing again. "And no job to do," he points out amiably. "Business is business, but playing for fun is much better."
Corian nods a firm agreement to that. "Most certainly better. Maybe we will be able to manage a bit more vacation in a little while. That would be very nice... ooh." Around the corner and up the stairs, quite a lot of blacklight-paint makes a really bizarre spacescape on the wall. Very pretty. Corian pauses to see it, then traipses up the stairs.
Tarrant traipses up after you, although his eyes are wide and delighted at the
space-scape. "This is -neat-." He hmms thoughtfully, "It's not like I've not
got enough hours saved up to share, certainly. If we can convince them we can
take a chunk of it."
"Well, I'll have a bit more time soon enough," Corian says as she reaches the front of the line. "We could just wait until then? I would rather not steal your vacation time if I need not." The cars have similar space-things painted on them, and, of course, similarly intimate restraints.
"It wouldn't be stealing, love, I've got more than I could ever use in my
lifetime, like as not." Tarrant replies in an amused tone, "Though if you'd
rather wait, that's fine with me." He slides into his seat, snapping the
restraints in place, muttering something about it at least buying him dinner
first.
Corian fastens her own restraints as well, clearly excited about the prospect of yet another coaster. "As much fun as it would be to come -right- back here again once we get home, I think that the anticipation might make it all the more fun to--ooh, here we go." There's a bit like a shuttle airlock, and then utter darkness, with hints of blacklight here and there, or hints of neon, or mist, or other really neat special effects. It is not quite so physics-law-defying as the other, but the effects are neat.
Oh dear, Tarrant is officially having fun, as can be told from that cheerful
rebel yell. Why do these rednecks always have three names? He likes the black
light apparently, and once again is laughing so hard that escaping the
vehicle is tricky when the ride is over.
Corian is clearly just as pleased with this ride, and is beaming quite a lot as
she gets out of the car. "Oh, that was -fun-! We will most certainly have to
return to this planet sometime when we have more leisure time to spend
playing."
Tarrant makes his way out of the ride, stifling a quiet laugh as he shakes his head. "That was -vastly- amusing. I think the darkness...well it's at least close to the disoriented feeling you get, that was a -lot- of fun."
Corian slips an arm around you, nodding gleefully as she makes her way along the exit ramp. "-Far- too much fun," she agrees, very cheerful. "Quite a lot of fun. Should we try to find something to eat, now, cha'trez? They have literally any kind of restaurant that we might want, though the prices are rather outrageous." But, hey, on an expense account...
Tarrant tucks his arm around you in return, grinning like a two year old with a
puppy. Life is, apparently, good. "Hey, we're on company time, they're
feeding us. We'll survive. The trick will be finding someplace that caters to
vegetablearians, I'm thinking. Unless you've already scoped out such a
location?"
"Or I could cope with eating meat, if you have a particular type of food that
you would like." No, Corian is not being helpful. "It is just not something
that I do -often-, that is all. There is, though, a place nearby that has
some vegetarian dishes, and some dishes that I think that you would prefer.
It is an odd little place."
"Lead on then, oh guiding star," Tarrant replies with a quick smile. "It's odd,
we're odd, I think the oddness only fits."
Corian in fact does lead on to the restaurant, relatively small as these things
go, but with a decidedly eclectic menu. While it doesn't look like it
involves cardboard shuttlecrafts, the colors are bright and cheerful, and
there seems to be rather a lot of neon overhead.
Tarrant is partial to neon, it's a tackyness issue, he likes tacky. He finds and commandeers a booth near the back, as booths are the preferable seating option by a long shot, and picks up a menu. "This is festive, and well lit."
"The literature did not mention all the neon," Corian notes, casting a pleased
glance upwards. "This is very colorful." She takes a seat opposite you,and
takes a menu as well. "Ooh, the salads will be wonderful, ifthey taste as
good as the descriptions sound."
Tarrant leafs through the menu, and brightens upon finding the section with the
burgers. "Which is why literature is sometimes problematic. Not that this is
a bad thing at all in this case, mind." He settles his menu down, glancing
for a waiter. "
A waiter in fact arrives almost immediately. He's cute, and very friendly,
though not overly so. Corian in fact orders a salad, one with a festive
variety of greenery and vegetables, and some herbal tea. See, warmth is
always a good thing.
Tarrant orders a burger, fries, and hot tea as well, despite his normal
penchant for the cold and sweetened variety. Maybe he realizes there's no
hope of getting the proper kind in this far off land. Or maybe he too just
wants a warm thing.
The friendly waiter type heads off to get the orders placed. Corian just seems
thrilled with the world, though she does think to ask, "When does he arrive?
It was tonight, yes?" Presumably, she means the other guy, and she's not
personifying the food or inviting the waiter home.
Tarrant would probably not be thrilled with the other guy getting invited home,
that's for sure. "Tonight, yes," he replies, glancing briefly at his archaic
watch. "Five or six hours from now, perhaps. I'd have to do the conversion,
and it depends on the shuttle schedule."
Corian nods amiably as the waiter who isn't going home with us brings the teas. "Approximate is most certainly close enough. As long as he knows where to meet us, and as long as we manage to get off the coasters in time."
Tarrant interlaces his fingers around the tea-cup, looking somewhat amused. "At the Grand Pavilion, near the fountains." He taps lightly at his watch, "We can check the schedules later, to make sure of an exact time."
"Ooh, are there ducks in the fountains?" And we could feed them and elicit
Pavlovian responses! Corian is, yes, thrilled with life, and pleasantly
ignoring the fact that work will have to occur soon. The food, as it's the
future, takes no time to cook, and thus the friendly waiter brings it out,
and gets a thankyou in response.
"I honestly haven't the foggiest," Tarrant replies rather sheepishly. "I barely had time to memorize the Production Hall's layout and stats and all, in the time they gave us." He all but dives into his burger, clearly pleased with it.
Corian looks a bit sheepish herself, as, well, she's very obviously spent time memorizing the locations of, at ast, key coasters. "Well, we will see, of course." She, too, does quite a lot of munching, as the salad apparently meets with her approval. (And not 'meats', that would be very Freudian.)
Tarrant was apparently hungry, or at least he understands the concept of snagging food when it is available, as he moves through his food with some alacrity. "We can go check that next, perhaps? Or you can, and I can check the times of the shows tomorrow in the Production Hall?"
Corian nods as she gets to her feet. "Taking a look around the Production Hall
sounds like a good idea," she agrees, "As does learning the specifics of the
fountain. I can meet you back at the hotel in perhaps an hour, if that would
suit?"
Tarrant runs a card through the table's reader and climbs to his feet as well,
"This sounds like a good idea to me." He grins brightly, "Just don't have too
much fun without me, okay?"
"I -could- not have too much fun without you," Corian replies, as she steals a
quick kiss. Awww. "I will see you soon, cha'trez, and do try not to get into
any trouble." With that, she pauses a moment, then, with a final smile,
starts for the exit appropriate to wherever it is that she's going. How
specific.
Tarrant slips out an opposite entrance, the spurs on his boots relatively muffled as he too disappears into the park at large.
Cue the theme music, and cut to commercial.