Riven Keedy (blue_eyed_beast) wrote in cotic, @ 2017-06-05 17:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | kyle, riven |
hold on tight
Who: Riven and Kyle (and Riley)
Where: The Amusement Park Carousel
Riley was super excited. Beyond super excited - the kid had been practically vibrating with excitement ever since they'd got on the monorail with Riven to head for the surface, clinging onto Kyle's hand and talking ten to the dozen about what he wanted to do and see and all the fun they were going to have.
Kyle was thankful for a break when they finally got Riley onto the kid's carousel, standing back as the music started and the whole thing began to rotate. Looking over at Riven, he said, "I hope he's not too much..."
"No, he's great," Riven grinned, picking at a puff of pineapple cotton candy. She was having a wonderful time, laughing when Riley pulled them from one part of the park to the next. It made her feel like a kid herself, all giddy and excited with no worries on the horizon. "He's pretty much like every kid on a sugar high at an amusement park, right? There's so much to see, so much to do-- it makes all of them have a little ADHD, I think. But he's adorable, and happy, so it's worth it." She leaned against the rail, taking her eyes off the the carousel for a moment. "So I take it things are good with Adam?"
Kyle relaxed and smiled a little more, once he knew that Riven wasn't about to abandon him because she couldn't cope with Riley's antics. He coloured though, when she brought up Adam. "Yeah. Things are good. Our dinner was good," he said, biting his lip a little. He knew his tendencies to gush - and he had for years found ways of suppressing them. It wasn't polite, or so he'd always been told. His leanings toward being effusive and over-emotional had never been proper in his social circles, leaving him with learned habits of suppression.
"That's it? Things are good?" Riven said with a little laugh. For some reason she'd been expecting him to elaborate, but she also understood if he wanted his privacy. Riven just knew that, if it was her, she'd be gabbing at anyone who would listen.
Kyle nodded, glancing across at her. "Things are good," he agreed. He paused, then took a deep breath. "We went out for dinner. I think... I think he felt a little self-conscious, but I wanted to spoil him. Do things properly, you know? So, we went to the nice place in town. The best table. Music. It was... it was nice." Kyle's expression said more than his words. He practically glowed as he spoke, buzzing with excitement in the way that Riley had before.
"Good. You deserve it. You both do," Riven grinned, then wrapped her arms around his arm, giving him a little hug as she clung to him. "I'm glad the love birds finally got back together. Now I can live vicariously through you." She felt like she already was sometimes, leeching off his happiness like a parasite. His happiness was infectious, though, and she knew she was lucky to have him in her life.
Kyle arched his brow, but still, he hugged her back. "I don't think the reality will match up to your imagination," he warned her. "We're kinda talking it slow. There's part of me that feels like I'm sixteen again. All holding hands and significant glances," he said with a quiet giggle.
"That's better than I have. And sometimes that's hotter, you know? When there's all that emotion and anticipation." Riven didn't care if it wasn't completely accurate. Romance, real romance with love, had never been a part of her life. It was exciting to see it working out for someone she liked.
"Sure, let's call it that," Kyle agreed. He loved the positive spin she'd put on it. It sounded lovely and far better than the reality - the times that Kyle flinched when touched, or panicking at being kissed, lost in the moment until he realised and remembered that it was Adam and there was nothing to be afraid of. He looked back toward the carousel, watching Riley laugh as he went round and round. He waved and the child waved back. "Wow, I wish that carousel's went on this long when I was a kid."
Riven smiled at Kyle, then looked back at the carousel as Riley passed again. "It does seem to be running longer than usual," she said with a little frown. Her eyes scanned the crowd then, picking up on an emotion that seemed to resonate quietly, but growing louder by the second. People were unhappy. Grumbling. Frustrated. There was a growing sense of fear coming from some of the larger rides that made the hair on Riven's arms stand up. "Something's wrong," she said, looking back at the carousel.
Kyle was still watching Riley, entranced by his smiling, laughing face. As Riven's words filtered through, he turned to her, eyes widening and heart starting to race. "Wrong - what's wrong?" he asked, swallowing down the immediate feeling of panic. He didn't know how to cope with wrong. Things couldn't be wrong, especially not with Riley here.
"It's okay," Riven said immediately, not wanting Kyle to panic. It was just a sense, like the coming of a storm, and Riven looked to the sky for a moment to see if that was the case. The day looked perfect, though, the sun just starting to set, so that wasn't it. Still, the feeling remained as she looked around them at the rest of the people. "Just... let's hop the fence and join Riley on the carousel, okay?" She was probably over-reacting, but if something really was wrong, then they needed to be with Riley. And they needed to keep smiling. The last thing they wanted was to upset Riley.
"Yeah," Kyle said,picking up on Riven's sense of forced calm. He waved to Riley, feeling like he came off as so false, though the kid didn't seem to realise. "Yeah - let's do that." Not that Kyle had ever jumped a fence, or done anything remotely illegal in his life. Still - something was wrong and there was Riley. Steeling himself, he stepped forward and pushing himself over the waist-high barrier, then before he could second guess himself, reached out and hurled himself onto the moving carousel.
Riven really, really hoped she was over-reacting. She'd rather be wrong and have Kyle pissed at her for making her panic than be right. She let him take the lead, following him over the fence with the ease of someone who'd done it on more than one occasion, then hopped up on the moving carousel. Riven swung around the poles, moving the opposite direction as Kyle, letting him go to Riley while she scoped out the situation. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, the carousel spinning like normal, except for the part where it just kept going. Eventually she met back up with Kyle and Riley, pasting a giant smile back on her face. "Heeeey, Riley! Having fun?" she asked, looking to Kyle next. "Where do you think they stop this thing?"
Kyle looked at her with wild eyes, over Riley's head. "In the middle?" he suggested, not sounding at all certain about that. "I think I saw it in a movie sometime. There was a hidden door to a central control room, but I don't know if this one's made the same."
Riven nodded to herself. That sounded about right. She tried to think back to the merry-go-round in the mall near her house. There'd been someone there to start and stop it. She moved to the inside and watched as they circled, looking for a door of some sort, or a control panel. When she spotted it, she jumped off to the center, checking her balance before hurrying forward and letting herself in. A robot stood there beside the controls. "Hey! You need to stop it!"
Kyle craned to watch Riven, even whilst not letting go of Riley - who had no idea yet that anything was wrong. That couldn't last, not with the way they were acting. Riven came and went out of view, but Kyle got enough that he could see her shouting at an entirely still and unmoving robot.
No matter what Riven said, the robot didn't move. She wasn't an expert, but she was willing to bet it wasn't even turned on. Frustrated, she wedged herself in closer to the controls, eyes scanning them before hitting the big red button. Hopefully it was an emergency shutoff button and not, like, a super speed button. That could be all kinds of bad.
The carousel came to a grinding halt, spinning Kyle round the pole he was hanging onto. He went with it and just managed to catch Riley as he slipped off his horse with a shriek. "I got you, I got you," Kyle said, his heart racing as Riley began to cry, big hiccuping sobs about his almost-fall.
Shit. That stopped a lot less smoothly than normal. Riven circled back to Kyle, relieved that Riley hadn't been hurt and feeling bad about the disruption. It was just... she wasn't sure if it was going to stop otherwise. "Heeeeey, it's okay," she said, trying to soothe while other parents and guardians rushed the carousel to get their own kids. Now that she had a chance to look around, she could see similar things happening on other rides, some significantly more dangerous than the carousel. "Why don't we go do something else? You want ice cream?" she asked, looking up to Kyle, her own heart pounding nervously. "Everyone okay?"
"We're okay, aren't we, big guy?" Kyle said, lifting Riley up and onto his hip. The boy was heavy, but not so much so that Kyle couldn't carry him, at least for a while. Riley buried his face in Kyle's shoulder, which helped a lot actually. He looked over at Riven. "Ice cream sounds great," he agreed as the communicator started to bleep with messages. "How abut we go find somewhere to sit and figure everything out, huh?"
"Yeah... Let's do that," Riven nodded, keeping a smile in place, even while it felt fake. Pretending that everything was normal would only work for so long, but she was hoping that it would last a little while longer. The robots would come back on and they could enjoy the rest of the day like nothing had ever happened, even if she was sure none of them would get on another ride, even one as simple as the carousel.