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Harley turns five. That means that it is time for the much-anticipated trip to the world's largest amusement park. They can stay an extra day if he doesn't see everything he wants to see the first day, but as he doesn't really go in for naps Elspeth thinks he'll probably get to try all the rides on his birthday proper. (Well, not the date of his birthday - Aurum was not synced to his universe of origin even before Jane went down again; he is really five years old now but it is, in Aurum, late April).
Right near the entrance to the amusement park is a very, very big roller coaster, with a loop that swings all its dangling passengers around at sixty miles an hour right over the entering guests. They scream. (The riders, not the entering guests. Yet.)
Elspeth is carrying Harley on her shoulders, and buys them tickets.
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"I wanna go on the big one with all the screaming people," says Harley, bouncing up and down.
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"We can do that first, sure," says Elspeth. Old roller coasters don't meet safety standards for short riders; new ones don't have that problem. They get in line for the big one with all the screaming people.
The big one with all the screaming people is called "Scylla".
The big one with all the screaming people is called "Scylla".
Harley attempts to sound out this name, with mixed success.
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Elspeth pronounces it for him. "It's the name of a monster from an old Greek myth," she then adds in sign language, as there are a lot of people talking around here and it's kind of loud.
"Cool," says Harley.
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The line isn't that long. They get seats, Harley gets a booster thing and the restraints adjusted for five-year-old size, and they're off like a rocket and around the first loop.
Harley giggles the whole way.
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"I thought you'd like that," says Elspeth, when they get out of the coaster.
He beams and flings his arms around her.
"It was fun, it was fun, I wanna do another one!"
"It was fun, it was fun, I wanna do another one!"
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"Okay!"
There are six more decent-sized coasters in this park. They can ride them all.
There are six more decent-sized coasters in this park. They can ride them all.
In between numbers three and four, Harley spots a little cart selling cotton candy and demands some.
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Elspeth laughs and buys him a puff of cotton candy. She has a few bites herself, enough to get it down to remotely reasonable size for one little boy.
"Fluffy," he observes, and subsequently, "Sticky!"
Then he gives her a hug. A slightly sticky hug.
Then he gives her a hug. A slightly sticky hug.
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"You're getting stickiness on me," Elspeth points out.
"Yep!"
"You can fix it," he says.
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"We're out in public," she points out. "I can only fix it if no one's looking."
"Oh," he says. "Then I guess you'll just be sticky."
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"Nope," says Elspeth. "Now we're going to wait here by this tree until no one's looking, and after that, we can go back into the denser part of the crowd to the next roller coaster."
"Okay," shrugs Harley. "Will you fix my sticky too so I can hug you some more?"
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"Yes, once no one's paying attention."
This takes a minute, but Elspeth's got sharp eyes; she can tell when everyone has looked away, and she wishes all the relevant sticky away and then picks Harley up.
This takes a minute, but Elspeth's got sharp eyes; she can tell when everyone has looked away, and she wishes all the relevant sticky away and then picks Harley up.
He hugs her some more, un-stickily.
Wheeeeeee!