Bishop and Maizie - October 3, 8:30PM
"Come on, you jerk," Maizie mutters to the dart, tapping the pointy end against her fingertip to feel how sharp it is. The dude running the game raises an eyebrow at her, and Maizie offers him a sheepish smile. "Not you." She takes a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. The trick is to toss in an arc, letting the dart hit the balloon on the downward drop so gravity does the job for you. Not that she's pulled it off quite yet. But she totally will.
Alright, here goes nothing.
After her toss, the path of the dart traces a curve through the air. Maizie’s holding her breath as it flies, eyes not even blinking, and -- yes! The balloon pops and she whoops with victory, clapping her hands and bouncing on her toes. "That's gotta be worth something," she says, fixing the man inside the booth with a pleading look. He rolls his eyes, but hands over her prize: a glow-in-the-dark yo-yo. It's not quite dark enough for the toy to be luminescent yet, but it doesn’t matter.
Taking a few steps away from the balloon dart booth, Maizie starts fiddling with the yo-yo string, fitting it to her finger so she can try out walk the dog for the first time since she was ten. It's a little bit bittersweet, actually, since Dad's the one who taught her how in the first place, and he can't even be here to see it. But it's a fantastic night, loud and busy and not too hot, and Maizie isn't thinking about that.
Biting her lip, she throws the yo-yo, rolling it down the string into a sleeper and letting it bounce forward as it skims the ground. A moment later she's pulling it back up into her hand, where she starts the whole thing over again. All told, she does the trick three times in rapid succession, until her grin is so wide it's making her cheeks start to hurt. The yo-yo pops up into her hand for the final time and Maizie looks up, automatically glancing around to see if anyone's watching. Her eyes land on a familiar figure nearby. Even though she's only met Bishop in person once before, Maizie would've recognized him anywhere. Ain't that many people around who look like her Freenet buddy.
"Didja see?" she calls over, then start walking his way to say hello.