1.3 Some Free Juice

Rock Woods, new to Aurora Skies as of this week, is already more involved in local politics than most residents will ever be in their lives. Currently unemployed, he donates large swaths of his time to putting the word out there for a fringe candidate that embodies most of his opinions.

Gundrun Beaker, corporate drone, takes the protest rally flyer Rock offers her and points dramatically to the gnome on it. "Wow, yeah, this cartoon character has convinced me! I'm totally going to publicly support this guy who frequently harasses my employers! That will surely put me on the fast-track to advancement!"

Rock frowns at the sarcastic venom in her tone. If he had to guess, she works for Cuisine and Contracts, which has been trying to change the law to do away with many safety regulations for imported products.

 The protest rally starts off slow, with just a few people.

Fairuza puts in an appearance to cheer for a speech Rock has prepared.

Rock is ecstatic to have his girlfriend's support, but he'd rather have it at a lower volume...

As the evening goes on, more and more people join the chanting crowd.

Rock's candidate apparently has an appeal among the elderly.

Magnus Mango, commander of the military in Aurora Skies, is so eager to impress his date Andrea Hallur that he forgets he is not supposed to publicly endorse candidates.

The party lasts well into the night.

Gundrun and her son, Loki, hang around in the park without joining in.

"Finish your homework and I'll buy you a snowcone."

"I can't concentrate with all this noise, Mom..."

"If we go home, there will be no snowcone."

"Okay! Point taken!"

Andrea Hallur declares the protest rally a huge success, but Rock will reserve his judgment for election night.

The next day Fairuza is out for a jog when she runs into a familiar face... sort of. Fjord Warbler is a young singer, the town's only celebrity, and she's stand-offish until she learns Fairuza was a native of Starlight Shores.

"Oh, I was so tempted to stay there!" Fjord squeals. "But I just couldn't, it was too noisy, I couldn't hear myself think."

"You blazed into the spotlight and then suddenly, boom, no more public appearances," Fairuza remembers."That was because you went back home?"

"Yup. This is where all my friends are."

"I know the feeling." Fairuza is suddenly homesick again. She wonders if her high school friends have forgotten all about her by now.

Fjord shows Fairuza to her favorite place to hang out in town—a bowling alley, skate rink, comic shop cafe combo with a play area for little kids—and they find themselves in a game of ping pong.

"I never would have set foot in here," Fairuza admits. "It looks too kiddie."

"A lot of establishments in this town pride themselves on being kid friendly." Fjord pouts a bit. "This place has been my favorite since I was a toddler, really."

"Sorry! I just wouldn't have guessed..."

Fairuza kicks ass at ping pong.

She celebrates with some free juice... which she did not expect to find at a kid-friendly establishment.

Then it's downstairs for bowling.

"Is this the only bowling alley in town?" Fairuza inquires.

"Yeah. There's another skate rink, but it's... grungy."

Fjord and Fairuza become friends.

This place is so kid-friendly, Iris Ingberg goes into labor. Ha ha ha.

Fairuza and Rock locate that "grungy" skate rink later.

There's an arcade sort of area in a side room.

Tired of losing at ping pong, Rock finds a local scientist to harass.

"Excuse me, but I'm on the job," Ari Wong huffs. He doesn't say what he is researching, but makes it clear it is very important work, too important to be interrupted!

The election results are in soon enough. The person Rock helped campaign for lost, but Rock's efforts have not gone unnoticed. A more moderate member of the party offers him an actual job, a paid job, helping out with future campaigns.

Rock had better work on his speech-giving skills.






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Etc.: In reality I took away Fjord Warbler's celebrity status, but she will always be a national treasure in our hearts.

Skate rink #1 is the Fun-O-Rama by Wibs. Skate rink #2 is an ugly trash lot I made.

I modeled parts of it after the skating rink I frequented as a child... which was darker, trashier, and occasionally still features in my nightmares.