♦ WF Entry: I’ve Been Bamboozled!

♦ I’ve Been Bamboozled!

Isa, Aerwyna, and Aouli were wandering the world fair after their guard shift when they found themselves entering the gaming section of the Warrenfall world fair. Children and pups of various species sprinted around, darting between games as the trio slowly and carefully maneuvered their way through. The various games they passed ranged from extremely simple games such as pick a duck from the water bucket to more complex games such as climbing the wobbly vertical ladder. The vertical ladder was especially challenging for vayrons but the humanoid species enjoying the fair seemed to have a natural advantage. The group paused to watch a small fae child attempt to climb the vertical ladder. The ladder was manipulated via magic by the stall owner, a rather gross looking overweight male human in a flamboyantly colored suit that was too small for his massive frame. The man's bulbous hairy stomach bulged out precariously from under the shirt that was stretched tightly across his flab, the buttons straining desperately against the sheer girth they were tasked with containing. Isa and Aerwyna inwardly cringed at the site but turned their attention back to the small child putting on an excellent showing as he easily climbed the ladder. As they watched, the owner twisted and jerked the ladder with a wave of their large hand making it  harder and harder for the child to climb.

The small child had a small group of friends gathered around the entrance to the game and they were all screaming and cheering their friend on. Aouli joined the crowd of children encouraging the brave fae in his ascent and the two female runners decided to watch on as well. Slowly but surely the little one climbed the ladder. The little gremlin surely was athletic even the miserly stall owner had to give them some credit. The stall owner glanced at the small pile of enticing prizes that had lured in the children to attempt his game to begin with. The prizes had been more expensive than he would have liked and he certainly was not feeling like giving a prize to one of these little snots. Once the child had made it about three quarters of the way to the top the stall owner suddenly twisted the ladder sharply. The child swung wildly through the air, barely hanging on by one hand, he let out a startled frightened scream as he went. The crowd of onlookers gasped in horror and screamed at the boy to hang on. If he lost his grip now he’d surely go flying past the safety net.

The three watching vayrons immediately launched into action, Aouli leaped past the entrance gate and stood beneath the ladder ready to catch the child if he fell. Aerwyna and Isa ran up to the stall owner and snarled at him, “What do you think you’re doing?!” Isa growled at the man. The stall owner looked startled and started sweating while trying his best to pretend that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. “What do you mean? Shouldn’t I be the one asking that? What do you three think you are doing? Get back behind the entrance gate before I call security and have you removed!” The stall owner's flamboyant suit popped another button at the overweight man's animated gesturing. Everytime he jerked his hands around the ladder jerked and bounced in a new way, thrashing the small child around. Honestly it was a miracle that the little ones grip was still solid, Aouli watched the child whip around above him and was extremely worried that they would get flung out of his reach. He stayed tense and ready to launch himself if need be. 

Some of the child's friends had scattered to find their parents, while the rest were screaming at the stall owner to stop. Isa and Aerwyna started to stalk towards the stall owner, their hackles raised. “Lower the ladder, immediately.” Aerwyna growled threateningly. The stall owner staggered back a few steps, glancing nervously between the two enraged vayrons. “Y-you! How dare you threaten me! Who do you think you are?! I’ll have all of you arrested! I- I swear I will don’t test me!” He blubbered barely coherently. While speaking he had started pointing his hand between the two runners. After the initial jerk of the first gesture the swinging of his arm hand was small in comparison, making the ladder sway back and forth slowly. The child, seeing his chance, quickly righted himself on the ladder and scrambled to the top. Upon grabbing the top rung the brave fae child let out a victorious cry, “I did it! Look! I made it to the top!” The poor child's face was a mess of snot and tears but he also had a broad toothy smile that barely hid his lingering fear. 

The crowd that had been watching the child had been steadily increasing once the other fair goers had noticed the commotion. No one really cheered for the boys accomplishment, everyone was far too worried about his safety. Aouli called up to the boy, “That’s great big man! You did awesomely but now it’s time to come down alright? I need you to slowly start climbing down the ladder.” his voice was soothing and slow, trying to coax the boy to start descending. The rest of the crowd joined in after the puller finished speaking, congratulating the boy but also gently encouraging him to come down. The boy nodded and began to climb down, the stall owner was still failing to fend off the two angry runners that had him cornered and hadn’t noticed the boy reach the top let alone that he was coming down. Just as the boy managed to reach the halfway point on the ladder the stall owner caught a glimpse of a couple of security guards quickly approaching his stall. A few of the children that had initially run off had managed to convey the situation to some of the guards who immediately came running. 

The stall owner raised both his hands over his head and desperately waved to the guards while yelling, “Here! Here! Over here! Arrest these three, they’re threatening me!” this act cause the ladder to jerk and wave wildly. The fae boy had been in the middle of lowering himself to the next rung so he wasn’t prepared for the sudden movement. He let out a frightened scream as he was suddenly flung from the ladder. The crowd screamed in horror as the fae boy was thrown into the air. Aouli immediately flew into action, the powerful puller launched himself like a rocket and flung himself up to the boy grabbing him by the collar and safely cleared the crowd of onlookers. The two landed with a loud thud as Aouli came crashing down, thankfully the puller had managed to land while yanking the boy up so the only damage the young one suffered was a red mark to his neck where his shirt had been yanked against it. Aouli gently sat the boy down and started calming him down while the boy's worried parents came sprinting through the crowd. The three cried loudly while hugging each other, collapsing to their knees as relief swept over them.

Now that the boy was safe and was being looked after by his parents Aouli could turn his attention to the cause of all this. Isa and Aerwyna were explaining their side of the situation to the newly arrived guards, they didn’t need much convincing after what they had just witnessed. Aouli strode over to the growing circle of angry vayrons surrounding the stall owner. His hackles were raised and his rippling muscles were tense with fury as he approached. The onlookers who happened to be in his way noticed the pissed vayron and stumbled quickly out of the way. The stall owner was still screaming incoherently at the runners and hadn’t noticed the angry puller approaching him until Aouli was right upon him. “Hey.” His deep voice cut through the mans screaming with a single word. The stall owner snapped his mouth shut and rapidly turned to face the puller. Visibly recoiling at the sight of the massive male puller who towered domineeringly over the overweight man. “Shut up. Go quietly or I will make you.” Every word dripped with malice and the hidden plea for the man to try to resist. Even Isa and Aerwyna were intimidated by the usually mello pullers threat. 

The fat man opened his mouth to say something but smartly closed it before turning to the guards and gesturing for them to lead the way. The guards quickly escorted the man away from the angry booing crowd. Now that, that was handled the trio quickly returned to the fae families side to make sure they were alright. They were being attended to by other guards who had just arrived as well as a healer who had volunteered to help from the crowd. As the trio watched the fae family give their statements to the guards Isa and Aerwyna noticed that the fae boy seemed extremely sad. The two runners exchanged a glance wondering what they could do before Isa got an idea. Together the two went to the prize display of the stall and grabbed the largest, coolest prize from the display and quickly brought it to the boy. Upon seeing the two vayrons and their gift, the boy smiled, still shaken but extremely grateful that they had brought him the very item that had tempted him to take on the ladder challenge in the first place. 

With happy tears streaming down his face the fae boy gave a wide grin and profusely thanked the three vayrons.