12596/Westchester County Faire

Westchester County Faire
Date of Scene:	27 August 2022
Location:	Apple Park: Salem Center
Synopsis:	Jean and Rogue visit the county faire and enjoy a bit of down time together, and a fireworks show! Shockheed approves.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Jean Grey

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Rogue has posed:
Rogue had finished her first week as a teacher at Xaviers. There had been NO deaths, NO loss of body parts, NO trouble at all. Okay, well... she did have to give out one detention for a student who wouldn't put their phone away. Those damn things!

To celebrate the week gone by, Rogue had asked Jean to get out of the school and venture down to the faire grounds near Apple Park. The county faire was going on, with all the usual trappings of a carnival, with carnival folk! The sun was setting by the time the duo arrived in Rogue's green and black Dodge Charger, they found a spot to park and the Belle cut the music, slipped off her sunglasses and hung them from the string on her rear view mirror, then stepped out of her car. Her phone was given one glance before she tucked it in to the leather satchel on her hip that hangs crossed over her chest by a leather strap. Wearing an aesymetrical black skirt that is loose around her legs, and a pair of black fishnets beneath, a matching pair of black boots, with a green and white top that leaves her arms and shoulders bare, along with a black leather collar with a silver X on her throat, the Belle looks a bit Gothy, but is wearing it with a smile as she's looking toward the faire and then over toward Jean. "Ferris wheel." She says to the redhead. "Maybe this time there won't be people gettin' eaten while we're tryin' t'ride the damn thing?" She asks playfully as she offers Jean her right elbow to walk together.

Jean Grey has posed:
No fatalities! It is an encouraging start! One can only imagine how relieved Jean must have been at their first staff meeting!

However, having ventured off campus (even if they haven't gone terribly far...), it is no longer time for school business! It's time for fun! For relaxation! Hopefully of the cannibalism-free variety. Jean is very excited for all of this, and like Rogue, she is dressed up. Well, not LIKE Rogue. But sort of like Rogue, in the sense that her outfit either came from or was inspired by the same trip to the fashion district, with one of those cottage-core vintage dresses they looked at.It's an off-white color with a floral pattern. Puffy sleeves, a square, lace-trimmed, and somewhat low neckline supported by a semi-structured bodice. Basically, she looks like some kind of old-timey peasant wench. It kinda fits the faire vibe! And also presents quite a contrast to Rogue.

So the pair make for a proper odd couple as Jean reaches to link arms, leaning closer with a grin. "Yes! Absolutely! Although... isn't that kind of the grand finale? Do they have fireworks? We're supposed to ride up and watch! Right?" She looks all around. "Though this one is YOUR pick, so... well, you're in charge!" She adds a somewhat saucy wink. "For now."

Rogue has posed:
The pair certainly do cut a vibe as they walk arm in arm toward the festivities. With more locals doing the same, and some already on their way out, the place is pretty busy with the sounds of the excitement thick in the air ahead of them. "Fireworks..." Rogue muses as they approach the main gate and she reaches to snag a flier off a table. The flier has all kinds of scheduled events labled for earlier today, and later tonight.

"Sure enough." She notes then in her naturally husky voice. "Looks like it's not for a couple hours though."

A few more seconds are spent examining the flier before she lowers it down to her side and glances over to the redhead beside her. She grins toward her. "So how many'a these kinda things have ya been to? I mean, I know ya didn't grow up in space, or whatever, but I'm guessin' you didn't sneak off t'these things with friends, and throw beer bottles at the semi-trucks that haul all these rides in, like I did with my nare-do-well friends back in the day." She says this with a grin showing upon her dark smoky red hued lips.

Her eyes dart forward then as they enter the main fairway and already are clogged up with the other people milling about between the attractions.

Rogue is quick to pause them at the first stand to reach in to her pocket to get a thing of cotton candy to share between them. The plastic cover is pulled off after she exchanges the cash, then offers the puffy treat to Jean. "Gotta get our yum-on as quick as possible, so the sugah crash comes late." She murmers with a smirk chasing those words.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Well, then we've got time to kill!" Jean declares. "Lead on!"

The answer regarding her experience with this sort of thing comes with a mild (and possibly theatric) sense of indignance, a fussy huff of breath: "How often do I have to remind you? I pretty much grew up around here." She lifts her head, like taking pride in these very local roots. "Annandale is hardly the city. I only moved down there for college." And then immediately got corrupted by their big city ways, clearly. Education! Modeling! Sin and vice!

"Although.... I'm not sure what that has to do with throwing beer bottles at trucks." Rogue has her there. She's clearly not the wild redneck kind, not just by mannerism, but by, welll... Rogue knows her parents. Her dad's a professor. They may have had a nice quaint life up here, but it wasn't a POOR one, by any means. She also gives another bit of reasoning: "Besides, I don't think I coulda gotten away with it if I tried. The Professor would have known." The NOT her dad one. It's a reminder that Jean wasn't just in the school's first class, but that her powers came pretty early in her life, and that he helped her, trained her, even before the school was properly established.

Evidently, its hard to get out and cause youtfhful mayhem without the world's most powerful telepath taking notice.

"Mmm. So no, none of that," she admits, before leaning in to bite a mouthful of the sugarspun treat. "But I've done pretty much all the games, the rides, all of that stuff. My middle school even had 4H." She's a real pro, see?

Rogue has posed:
A little bit of it is just Rogue enjoying chiding the redhead, and getting a rise out of her. She showcases this by grinning at that initial teasing that comes from her previous question. She just watches the cotton candy puff get bitten like a Jurassic World victim, then glances over with her green eyes at the other green eyed gal beside her. "4H. Wow. You musta been on the Police 'watch list'." She teases more, following that with a little laugh as they continue to walk down the main stretch of booths and games. "I'm just sayin', ya aren't really lettin' loose unless you're doin' somethin' that gets adults to yell at ya, and make ya run off before they can catch ya." She adds with another sideways grin before enjoying some of the Pink Puffy Goodness herself.

"There it is... The classic." The southerner states as she vyes for a position at the ski-ball setup. She approaches the man and buys them both a couple tokens, then offers two to Jean as she steps up to a couple of open lanes. "This is like... steppin' back in time for me. The most excitin' thing that happened in Meridian was the end'a summah faire that happened around this time." She notes before putting a token in and getting her rack of balls to clatter out of the machine. She gathers one up and rolls it around in her right hand, a black leather fingerless glove worn over her palm, as she turns the ball around, and then smiles brightly at Jean. "I promise, I won't put it through the backa the booth." She states with that classic Rogue-mischief glinting in her black lined eyes.

And with a chuck, the ball is sent rolling down the lane where it leaps up and lands in the top circle with a series of dings and flashing lights! "Still got it!" She says with cheer then as she sways her bare shoulders back and forth, smiling back to Jean as she reaches for another ball.

"So ya never had ANY friends that wanted t'do anything even slightly 'bad'?" She inquires lastly.

Jean Grey has posed:
"This is where I interject to remind you that, as of this week, you are now officially one of those adults." It's said with a grim solemnity. "Soon, you're gonna be the one do the yelling, getting pranked and laughed at as you shake your fist impotently from the front porch." Jean is mixing metaphors here a little, maybe. "So let me just be the first to say: Welcome to the rest of your life, fellow grown-up." Big grin. One of us, one of us!

They approach the ski-ball machines, and Jean disengages her arm, steps away to let Rogue get her balls (hah) and get ready to play. "Oh, I'm not too worried about you using your powers for any shenanigans, this time. This is all about skill and finesse, not power. So I figure, we're just about even, even if you try. And if I do..." Of course, she leaves the idea of telekinetically-commanded balls unerringly finding their mark unsaid, only implied. The seeds of doubt are sown! Its psychological warfare first, carnival game aim second!

Standing back to let Rogue take her shots, earn her points and get her prize tickets, Jean considers the hanging question. "Mmm. I don't know. I guess I was always a bit of a teacher's pet," she admits, even if it is hardly any kind of secret, less than totally obvious in her rather perfectionist personality. "And I didn't exactly get to have a normal teenage-hood, or whatever you want to call it. Annie was my closest friend, as a kid, and after she died, well- it's pretty much been mind powers and space aliens ever since. I couldn't do anything normal after that, and you -know- all the new friends I made." The other O5s. Kitty, Betsy. And Rogue herself!

Rogue has posed:
Rogue just grins at the implication of Jean cheating to get a better score than her at this. "Ha ha..." She responds to that notion too as she takes the rest of her shots, one after another. She does 'okay' at it, but this game really is pretty damn hard, even with powers of Rogue's nature. "You'd think, with as much as the Professah coddled you, he'd realize that ya needed t'break out some too, to sew some wild oats. Because in my opinion... it's best t'be a kid, and do kid stuff... before ya move on t'do adult stuff." She pauses as she finishes her stack of balls, then steps back and adjusts her shirt around her waist, a bit of her stomach and back shown off by the short hem of it. "Like me... doin' the adult stuff now." She flirts, because she has to flirt, it's part of her contract.

Rogue now steps around Jean, and gathers up what remains of the cotton candy, along with her tickets earned. "Cause if ya don't get it outta your system, it's gonna like... stew in there, I think. Down deep, and come out at the worst times. Like when you're in your 40s, and got all kinds of pressure about grey hairs, wrinkles, and back problems..." The Belle rambles a bit as she looks down at the cotton candy, and takes off a bit, then counts her tickets. She swipes her white bangs back over her left ear as she counts.

"Besides.." She says then, looking up again. "We're on a team here. So if ya do cheat, it means we both get closer to whatever is the cutest stuffed animal this place has." She says with another grin for the redhead.

The bit about Jean's friend who passed away is certainly taken in, as Jean doesn't talk about her a whole lot. A soft smile is shown then on her dusky hued lips. "I just wanna see you breakin' some bottles for fun, is all. But I'm patient... ya see." She sasses as she steps around to watch over Jean's shoulder as she makes her ball tosses.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Mmm, maybe," Jean muses, pondering back on her apparently very not-wild youth. "But Charles always believed in, well... discipline, structure, focus. Kind of the opposite of letting loose. You can't really blame him for it, either, since most of us, well... the danger was precisely in us losing control, in not having a tight enough grip on our abilities to function in the world. I think he was erring on the side of caution, you know? And I can't really blame him." A faint smile hovers on her lips. "Even if I try to be a -little- less of a tyrant, as Headmistress, more of a friend," aka WINE MOM, "whatever you'd call it... it's only because he did the hard work first."

Then she's quick to add: "Plus, I had college for all of that stuff, all those -adult- vices." Which also includes a notable -look- over toward Rogue, as she adjusts her outfit. "After graduating, with things a bit more under control, I did finally want to get out and live a bit. I did have teaching in mind, but wanted, you know, not just a better educational background but just a wider breadth of experience. That's why I got the modeling job. The independence. I wanted to live on my own, you know? Before I came back to roost."

The phrase triggers another wild tangent of thought, and she laughs to herself. "You know they say most people live their whole lives without going a certain number of miles from where they were born? Meanwhile, we've been... to whole other side of space, about as far as any human's ever gone, and still." She gestures to indicate the familiar surroundings.

This brings her attention back to the ski-ball, with Rogue having finished her round and Jean moving to get her own set of balls. It's here that she's reminded that, for once, their little athletic tournament is NOT a competition. "Oh, right! I suppose if we add up our tickets, we can get a better prize. Well, in THAT case..." Her eyes shift left and right, over-exaggerated in their wariness. "I guess a little wouldn't hurt..."

She steps forward, rolls the ball down the length of track so it jumps at the end, up toward not the center, but that corner pocket. It flies, hits the edge... and then just barely rolls over to fall on the winning side. "You think if I make too many shots they'll suspect something?" This is some downright supervillain behavior!

Rogue has posed:
The ball drops in, and Rogue just starts to laugh, her hands in front of her waist with the cotton candy paper cone, and the tickets she'd won all fair and square. She looks around at the others running about, the others playing the same game down the line of lanes, then she looks back to Jean. "I mean. It depends on how crooked these people are. Like, there could be high powered fans down those holes that make the balls fly out. Or... magnets. Everyone loves to blame magnets..."

Rogue steps up beside Jean then, bumping her knees against the edge of the lane, as she looks toward the back end of it, before she looks over her should at the other woman, and shoots her a sweet smile. "There's no place like home." She cutely states then before glancing up toward the darkening skies. "I don't like it up there, but the memories... are interestin', to say the very least."

From behind the two women, a couple youthful voices can be heard saying 'Miss Grey, and Miss Marie'. Two of the Xaviers School students waving at them as they walk with a big group. Rogue waves back at the kids, before smiling again at Jean.

"Piotr brought a buncha them up here earlier, I think. Must still be around..." She notes, with a quick cast of her eyes around again, before she turns back and folds her arms over her stomach, tightening the fabric of that white and green tanktop she's wearing some.

"But yes, I know the Professah is smarter than me at this stuff. But I just like the thought of ya gettin' some trouble outta your system, more than just the modelin' and all the creeps that were likely all over ya durin that phase. Gotta sew them oats, or you'll end up like whats his face. Michael Jackson, or whatever..."

Jean Grey has posed:
"You mean they CHEAT? At the county fair?!" Jean looks aghast, her innocence shattered. Well, she pretends, at least, before bolding proclaiming her defiance: "No magnet is stronger than me!" A moment later, and she breaks down laughing at the pure absurdity of it.

However, she aims her next few throws 'merely' down the middle for the top-center hole or the one just beneath it. She makes these shots pretty handily, so it's unclear if she's actually practiced at the game or the mental manipulation is just less obvious without a higher difficulty shot. "Let them think their magnets can stop me. Let them grow complacent..." And then, boom. The last one goes in for 100 again, on the oppoosite side. She looks back over her shoulder, winks, and then goes to lean forward and collect her tickets from the machine.

The Xaviers crowd catches them as she's turning back, and she straightens back up with a bit of a start, almost like she's actually been 'caught' at something she shouldn't be doing. Maybe it's all perfectly legitimate, but then again, students DO love them some rumors, and a pair of teachers...

"Hello everyone! Having fun?" She's rather energetic as she waves back at them, before heaving a bit of a held breath once they're gone. "Right. Yeah, I should have remembered. But I tried to put all the school stuff out of mind for this, not check up on things like I usually do." It's hard for her to really ever totally relax.

And yet, once the students are out of sight, she saunters over much closer, slipping her arm around the other woman's exposed middle. "So I should have done 'more,' hmm? That's assuming a lot, you know. And maybe I liked the attention. Liked getting to try things out in the fast lane. I mean, being frank... I pretty much always know what creeps are thinking, and you'd be surprised how little a difference it makes if you're rolling around in some lingerie or, well, just hanging out playing carnival games." She up-nods toward one of the carnies presumably in charge of this area, then leans closer to whisper. "You're more his type, but he's never had a redhead, so I get some novelty points."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue watches that last shot with a big grin before she looks arounjd while Jean collects her tickets. She's right there when the redhead returns, and puts an arm around her waist, which gets her to just grin more widely at the words to follow.

The Carni in Question eyes the two women, and nods to them. "Good throws. Well done. She's a keeper." He says, to Rogue it would seem... apparently making assumptions! Maybe he's wise!

"I can tell." Rogue fires back with another smile before she brushes shoulders with Jean and guides them to walk again. "Oh look, adult beverages." The Belle notes as they come up on a food and drink stand. "How about a beer?" She asks before digging around to get the money out either way!

It only takes a few minutes of waiting before they both have a beer in hand now, and are walking away again to mix in with the crowds.

"So more games, or some rides?" Rogue asks after a sip of her drink, and a grin over to Jean. "More games, means more tickets, means bigger teddy.... But rides? Well. Maybe some kids will puke on us." She adds with a little laugh. "That tilta-world thing looks kinda fun... I dig that other thing there too..." She says, pointing with her beer holding hand toward that big arm swing thing that swings a car of people back and forth.

Rogue is about to say something else when a middle aged man bumps in to her forearm and spills a bit of her beer down her arm.

The man turns around, to face Jean and Rogue, he speaks up with surprise. "Hell. I'm sorry about that." He says to them both, as he starts to pat at his denim jacket. "I think I have some napkins here..." He starts to say as he dips his fingers in to one of his breast pockets and pulls out a wad of rolled up napkins.

"It's okay!" Rogue says back to the man. "It didn't spill much." She says with a light laugh, and a glance toward the man, then over to Jean, as the man reaches out then to dab at Rogue's forearm with the napkins. "God. I'm a clumsy fool. Total beer foul, to two fine ladies." He gruffs out as he seems nervous, and embarrassed now.

Jean Grey has posed:
The very wise man is given a beaming smile from Jean as well, dangling her tickets triumphantly, a trophy of conquest, before they turn to make their way off and to the next area. Food and drink! "Oh, definitely beer me." This is their free time, she's not gonna shy away from adultin' it up! When the plastic cup is supplied, she graciously accepts it and immediately takes a long sip with a proper 'ahhhhh' at the end. But now she's faced with a difficult choice.

One that she promptly deflects!

"What part of 'you're in charge' is confusing, hmmm?" she demands of the other women, while peering around a bit to scope out what other games might be attractive (or easy to cheat at with her awesome powers!), and what rides are on offer. "Gotta drink these first anyway," she points out, although it's not as if they can't be put away quickly if one doesn't mind a bit of chugging. However, presented with the choice of both fairly puke-inducing rides, her brow furrows a little. "Uh.... let's do the swing. Should be a piece of cake, right? When you've put in as many hours in the Danger Room doing high G-force simulations for flight qualification as we have." So very confident! And maybe justifiably, if the comparison of the relevant physics holds up. Does it? Who knows. That kind of thing is Hank's department!

Regardless, they don't make it to the ride unchallenged. Jean escapes getting beer'd, but only just! Although as Rogue looks over to her, she offers a rather mysterious, non-committal sort of smile in return, a 'no-comment' sort of look! Instead of sharing, she comforts the man as he apologizes. "Oh, it's alright. It's quite the crowd out here tonight, bound to be a traffick jam here or there." She smirks. "And my friend's used to being beer-soaked. She'll live."

Rogue has posed:
The man laughs at what Jean says of Rogue, while Rogue just gives a smirk and a soft "Ha ha..." Again at the redhead tonight. The middle aged man looks between them as he pulls back the dampened napkins then. "Well. I guess that makes me feel a little less of a fool." He tells them with a small smile of his own. "Oh, here let me get you some money so you can get a refill, on me..." He says as he starts to put the napkins away, while fishing out a leather wallet.

"Oh, no, no, that's fine." Rogue tells him then, sharing another glance with Jean before looking back to the guy. "Really. It's cool. Still Plenty left, see?" She holds her cup up, then takes another swig of the amber drink with the sparkling bubbles.

The man affords the display another smile before he offers over a fifty dollar bill. "It's the least I can do..." He says warmly before he motions toward someone off in the distance. "I better catch up with my..." He clears his throat then, as he puts the fifty spot in Rogue's hand, then offers them both a light wave. "Enjoy your evening, kiddos. Don't get too sloshed, okay?" He waves again and starts to walk off, his hands going in to his jeans pockets then.

Rogue looks down at the bill, and sees its denomination, which makes her eyebrows raise up. "Jeeze." She says, before showing the bill off to Jean. "What a weirdo..."

Another sip of her drink is taken then as she eyes the swing ride once more. "Okay. I'm in charge. So lets do the swing, then that Fun House over there..." She points again before she takes hold of Jean by the arm and starts to lead the way. "We'll chug these, and get more after. Not gonna get real fun until you're swayin' around in that pretty dress." The Belle says with a big smile and another leaning shoulder brush to the lovely Headmistress.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean's reaction to the strangeness of the whole exchange, once the man is out of sight and off chasing his own business, is to hold her arms out wide for a rather exaggerated 'who knows' kind of shrug, followed by a prompt swig of her own beer. "No idea. Most people are loud, but at least for once, his brain -wasn't- shouting about our boobs... or anything much, really. Just generally a little confused and flustered, surprised. Guess it makes sense." If there's anything odd about it, Jean doesn't dwell. In an evening of planned fun, it's a blip!

And besides...

"So, what are we gonna splurge on?" There's a pause, a 'don't give me that look'-look in return, and then a grin. "Not like we're gonna track him down to give him change. So c'mon. Let's act like kids who never have any money who are suddenly fifty bucks rich, instead of the teacher with her fancy new adult paycheck trying to impress her date with the administrator's salary and black edition expense account card." Big wink! So fancy!

"Alright! Swing and funhouse and then SPENDING SPREE and more beer. With those two things only possibly being related." The beer is already being hoisted then, for some suitably impressive glug-glug-glugging. Rogue can say what she wants, but Jean's college experience clearly did teach her some things, even if her pristine school image doesn't offer many opportunities for showing them off! "C'mon," she teases, after gasping for air at the last, "I thought you southern girls can drink!"

Rogue has posed:
That opening response has Rogue glancing down at herself. "Am I losin' my appeal already?" She asks in a mocking tone of concern, before she shotos her gaze back up to Jean and just smile brightly at her. "That's the spirit." She says flirtatiously again as she leans in closer then. "College party girl Jean Elaine Grey." The Belle says in a amped-up level of haughtiness to her voice, being silly again. She tosses the bit of cotton candy away before taking Jean's hand and waiting for her to chug the beer. A quick look around at people watching Jean do this, has Rogue grinning brighter. "She has a lot of student loan debt, you can understand." Rogue tells a pair of onlookers as they pass by, one of them laughing.

Once the beer is chugged, Rogue then hands hers off to Jean next. "Here, chaser." She says before tugging on the other's hand. "Lets go get in some trouble, shall we?" She asks as she leans in closer again to be playfully mischievous, before smacking Jean on the backside, and tugging on her hand to drag her off toward the wild carnival rides!

Jean Grey has posed:
"Now you're just trying to get me drunk!" Jean accuses, as she gets handed the remainder to drink. "And you're the one with the super-stamina, hardly seems fair." And yet, she drinks! Drinks like a freshman with something to prove! Down it goes...

And again, at the end, a final gasp for air that serves double duty as a declaration of victory over the task. "Hah! There." She tosses aside the cup... though it makes it, miraculously, to a garbage bin across the way. An impressive shot, or a slightly more casual exercise of her nigh-unstoppable powers. Regardless, it leaves the hand open for Rogue to take, and soon she's being swept and even swatted along toward their destinationm the first of many apparent rides.

And as they turn over their tickets and wait for their chance to board, she looks over toward the woman beside, her, stares into her eyes, and declares: "I do throw up, after all that, I'm gonna do it right on you."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue noted the use of power to get that cup in the waste bin, which garners another laugh from the Gothic Belle. "Yeah....!" She says happily encouraging the 'badness' from Jean. She takes her hand, gives it a good squeeze with her leather gloved palm and bare fingers, then starts to head off for the rides!

The pair make use of every carnival ride that they can get their jollies out within. They only skip the ones that are clearly designed for children, though Rogue does make Jean ride on the 'Little Dragon' roller coaster, just for 'lols' as she'd described it.

But the most fun came from the ones that did push the gravity boundaries, some of it even making Rogue close her eyes and scream, and this is a girl who flies in air shows with hot air balloons, and para-sailers, let alone everything else they do in that crazy Jet of theirs.

When it's said and done, Rogue finally has a hot dog AFTER the rides, enjoying the little snack, and some more beers, before they end up with a big purple dinosaur plushie with their tickets, calling it 'Shockheed' due to a blue lightning bolt being sewn in to the purple fabric of its chest for some reason...

Eventually, the two end up on the Ferris wheel right as the fireworks are indeed starting up, and Rogue raises her beer up to sip from it again. "Oh, look, they're over the lake. That's so pretty." She says with a big grin sent over to her left where Jean is seated aside her. "See? Carnivals are the shit, with or without breakin' bottles against trucks, I guess...."

The Belle leans over then to stare at Jean closely. "You still with me?" She asks. "That last beer didn't zonk ya out, did it?"

Jean Grey has posed:
Surprisingly, with all those warnings of 'friendly fire,' Jean handles most of the rides just fine, impressively well even. Maybe all that training really does have some impact, or maybe being inhabited by a space-being somewhat alters her relationship with those fundamental forces of the cosmos. Or, you know... she just likes those rides! People react pretty differently to them, such as Rogue, who can literally fly, being bothered by some of the drops... On the other hand, the woman probably gets quite a laugh out of the fact that it's the child-friendly roller coaster, out of all of them, that has Jean white-knuckling the chest bar that holds them in place as they roll down one of it's many canyons. Pressed for an explanation, she protests: "I don't know, the older rides like that... They're scary! The way you're just kinda crushed into the car, barely held in? And I swear that thing... I could hear it creaking! I think I'd feel safer in an actual space-ship, or, I don't know, riding a real dragon."

Saying stuff like that is how you end up down Fin Fang Foom's pants!

Post-ride, she is likewise happy to score some grub, still cruising on their strange benefactor's generous cash subsidy. She gets a thing of waffle cheese fries, as well as another beer to wash it all down, and suggests funnel cakes for dessert. All said and done, it's quite a meal, topped off by their magnificent prize haul. "You know, it really does sorta look like him."

All of this is topped off, as they've planned, with a final stop on the king of all the rides. There's no terror to this one, only a relaxing circuit through the air that brings them to a rather majestic culminating view. "I told you," Jean echoes, as the first of the sparkling explosions flowers over the lake. "You just gotta time it right. Mmm. Isn't it beautiful?" As she watches, her gaze turns upward, first following the rising path of the streaking fireworks, but then continuing higher, toward the dark sky above, where the real stars sparkle distantly, before disappearing among the occasional burst of light from the show, only to slowly fade back into view. At least, that's how it looks to most people.

"Mmm?" Indeed, she did zone out a bit, staring up into that dark infinity. But Jean plays it off, breaking into a smile, tossing her hair. "Maybe a little. But I'm alright." And, with the other woman hovering, she leans in with sudden and impish impulse to steal a quick kiss. "This was fun. Maybe not hurl beer bottles fun, or naive upstate girl alone in the big city for college fun... but I figure we've still got a little to improve it."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes had darted upward toward the sky too for a second, before she'd look back to Jean, only to receive that kiss, which is returned, and summarily chased with a grin. "Good." Rogue quietly says there-after as she holds like that for a second or two before leaning back on the chair's bench and putting an arm around Jean's shoulders, holding Shockheed up to sit between them, with his wobbly head bouncing around a little as he's moved.

"Hopefully, we're in for a good year this time around. Not that I am tryin' t'jinx it..." She says while watching the explosives popping off in the sky out over the water. Her eyes glance back over to Jean then. "Cause, I'm not, I assure ya..." She adds with a little smirk, her white bangs getting streaked across her face in the warm night wind.

She tosses her head a little, letting the hair get pulled back by the breeze, to sweep behind her shoulders. "I just like where things are right now, overall. They're not bad, ya know? I mean... there's all kinds of shitty stuff still goin' on out there, much'a which will probably draw us all outta our comfort zones t'deal with it. But, at least... ya know..."

She looks back to Jean then and leans over to just rest against her. "Least things are good here."

Another firework goes off, big and bright, reflecting in Shockheed's plastic eyes as he stares happily at the display.