[Gift] A Day at Syrup Park

The sky was curtained with a beautiful blue, with not a single cloud to be found smearing it. The sun’s rays were already washing down, warming the ground below. A very small, timid breeze made it neither too hot nor too cold. It made perfect sense why there were so many out and about, especially at a place like this. The waves of chatter and music made it somewhat hard to hold a conversation without raising one’s voice, but one cat was making his thoughts loud and clear.

“Hurry uuuup!” Pixie groaned, “Look how many cats there are here! We gotta get inside before all the lines get long!”

“Calm down, we're gonna get in eventually. I need to get the tickets.” retorted Blaze, who was in the process of digging through a bag she had on her.

“Well, maybe you should find them faster!” 

Blaze just scoffed in reply, pulling two slips of paper from the bag. “That didn’t even take a minute.”

“Well, then can we get in line already?” Pixie was bouncing on the spot, full of energy she didn’t know what to do with.

“Hold on.” Blaze replied, taking a water bottle from the bag and handing it to the kit “Drink. It’s going to be really sunny today. You also put on sunscreen, right?”

“Yes,” he grumbled, “You sound so much like my mom right now.”

“Well, it is thanks to her that we’re even here in the first place. She didn’t have to bring us, let alone just you.”

Ever since the discovery of the Soda Planet, it  had been really common for residents of each planet to visit the other. It basically introduced a whole new world to everyone, as soon after, cats found out that one planet could have things that the other didn’t. For example, it turned out the Space Planet had a much bigger video game market than the Soda Planet, with said place only having a few selections before the contact between planets. Needless to say, it spread fast once they got word of it. This connection between planets also linked their online databases and websites, which lead to many things, including the spreading of jobs between planets, access to shows, movies and music made by the other planet, and the rise of tourism campaigns to each planet.

Pixie’s mother had been contacted to help assist with work on the Soda Planet, meaning that Pixie would have needed to be watched for a full week. Upon hearing this, Pixie began to tell his mom about all the wonderful things he had heard about the planet, all things he heard from Blaze, his trusted babysitter. Her mom then made the decision to bring Pixie along on her business trip, also bringing along Blaze, even paying for all her expenses, so she could take Pixie around to all of the places he had mentioned. Blaze took her position of guardian very seriously, which Pixie claimed was making her “less fun”, so she was hoping that today would help both of them loosen up.

The two cats were still standing outside of the gates of Syrup Park. It was an amusement park, a concept that was brand new to the spacecats. From the front gates, they could see a number of twisting roller coaster tracks of metal and wood, including ones that pierced high up into the sky, big towers to pair with them, and a massive fountain that acted as the centerpiece of the park. One of the big coasters actually trailed near the entrance of the park, escaping the boundaries of the front gate, so anyone entering could get a taste of what’s to come as the occasional roar of a passing car mixed with the screams of those seated on in whooshed by. Everytime that happened, Pixie stared at it in awe, each one getting him more and more antsy.

“OK, I drank a bit,” he said, shaking the wattle bottle near Blaze, the contents sloshing vigorously, “Can we go now?”

“Yeah, yeah, c’mon.” Blaze spoke and quickly ruffled his hair, then led Pixie to the shortest entry line. At this point he was basically bouncing off the walls despite being outside. A quick bag check and a ticket punch later, the two of them were in the parameters of the park, standing right before the Great Fountain. The whole path was extremely wide, and lined with gift shops, food stands, plenty of vendor stands, and more. There was also a height check station nearby, which the two of them made their way over. Only Pixie got measured, as the worker there insured Blaze was clearly tall enough for all the rides anyway. The worker secured a green paper wristband around Pixie’s left front leg, meaning the two of them were now free to go. Blaze sprawled open one of the paper maps she had grabbed by the entrance and lowered it down so Pixie could see it.

“Alright Pix, where do you want to go first?”

Without even looking at the map, she extended a claw and chose to point at the sky instead with the biggest smile Blaze has seen a cat make on her face.

“That one.”

Looking up, Blaze spotted the exact coaster she had picked. It was a bright red with white accents. It wasn’t the tallest one the park had to offer, but there was another thing about it that made Blaze feel butterflies in her stomach.

It was the fact the drop was, with no exaggeration, a full, 90-degree, straight down drop.

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The line for said ride, which was named Twisted Flame, was already filled with cats when the two got there, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly long. As a precaution, the worker at the beginning of the line wanted Pixie to try the tester seat to make sure it would secure properly. As it turned out, she was just the right height to get on. The line of cats that had built up also had no effect on Pixie’s enthusiasm, which was all secretly to Blaze’s dismay. On the way to the ride, all she could do was stare at it, becoming intimidated by the sheer intensity of the vertical drop, or the way the car held itself at the top of the drop for ten whole seconds before it actually dropped. She had quietly prayed that something would come up and either deter Pixie from wanting to get on, or maybe even the scenario that Pixie was too short to get on, but nothing like that happened.

The two had been in line for about 20 minutes now. It had actually made some decent progress, it seemed at this rate they would be in line for less than an hour. Blaze didn’t want her nervousness to be obvious, so she began to strike conversation with Pixie and whatever he wanted to talk about. Topics brought up included whatever game Pixie had picked up recently, talk about The Smoking Claws, which was Blaze’s band, and various small talk that came from talking about what things they had seen on vacation together already. Thinking of her band made her grateful she was here with Pixie first other than with them. All of them would be one percent down to get on this coaster, no questions asked, but not her. They wouldn’t make fun of her for it, but they would be able to tell she didn’t want to be here, and she didn’t want to be a buzzkill. Pixie, on the other hand, was so caught up in his own excitement he didn’t even realize she was currently having a mental battle with herself.

Her own thoughts were interrupted when she heard an uproar coming from behind her, and it kept getting closer and closer to the pair. As it neared, the voices became clearer.

“‘scuse me! Coming through! Just sneaking by!” is what became clear, as well as the murmurs of angry cats that got left behind. Pixie had heard it too, and they both turned to look behind them just in time to see a small pink spacecat squeeze past the cat that had already been behind them, with said cat shouting in annoyance at her.

“Hey!” Pixie shouted. “There’s no line cutting allowed! Get to the back!”

“I’m not cutting,” she replied, “I’m looking for someone, he should be around here somewhere…”

“That’s not an excuse! There’s no saving spots in line either! It says right here.” Blaze shot back, pulling out the paper map. She was scanning it to find the part about the line jumping policy she knew was there, but the cutter took that opportunity of distraction to try to squeeze past her and Pixie as well.

“Stop! That’s not fair!” Pixie cried, attempting to physically block her, but she was too short for the pink cat to have a presence, and she slipped right past him. 

However, she did not get very far, as she bumped into the next cat right in front of them. The green spacecat made direct eye contact with the line cutter, and immediately was shooting daggers at her with their mouth tugged into a slight frown. Getting a glimpse of their face, Blaze recognized the cat as Proxy, who she would spot around sometimes, and even at a show of hers one time. They seemed intimidating to her at first, but since she had an idea of what they were like, she knew they just looked like that, and weren't very scary at all. Unfortunately for the line cutter, who did not have the luxury of knowing them, it looked as if Proxy was staring directly into her soul, and she froze.

“Ah, um. I forgot! He’s not in this line. Sorry! Gotta go!” With very little haste, the pink spacecat turned on her heels and back the way she came, removing herself from the line. It was met with a few cheers, which Proxy just ignored, turning back around. Pixie started at the way the line cutter had just run, and stared for a second before speaking up.

“I know her. Man, I thought she was cool. That wasn’t very cool.”

“You know her?” Blaze questioned.

“Yeah, she goes to my school. I’ve seen her in the halls before. Her name is Rebel.”

Blaze pondered about that. I guess her actions were all in the name, I guess. She also thought about the chances of not only running into two familiar cats in the same place, but also at the same time and location. It may not seem that interesting, but it sure helped to take her mind off the fear that danced around in the back of her head.

---------

“How many in your group?” the worker near the end of the line asked the pair.

“There’s two of us.” Blaze gestured to her and Pixie.

“Hmmm.” The worker gave a quick glance to where the line had split into three rows, to match the three lines of seats on each car. “Ok, you two, head to row one after you put your bag in the cubby.”

“Yay! We’re next!” chirped Pixie, and he bolted to row one, leaving Blaze behind. As she removed her bag to put on the storage box, her thoughts started screaming.

Row one!? The front!?

She watched as the train before her got loaded. There were so many eager faces, prepared for the ride. There was Proxy, who did not look much different than they usually do, and there were also a few faces who looked scared out of their minds. It’s probably what she looked like right now, to be honest. The train in front of her was given the go ahead, and off it was sent. A small rise of cheers burst out, as the car moved down the track and out of the loading station.

It was now Pixie and Blaze’s turn on the ride. 

The car rolled into the station, and the previous riders were released from their seats. The gates to each row of seats opened, and every cat began making their ways to a seat. Pixie rushed and plopped down as quickly as possible, and Blaze tailed behind her. By the time she had made it to a seat, Pixie had already pulled down and secured the restraints. She also sat down next to him, and with a quick breath, she grabbed her own restraints and pulled them down, claiming her place on the ride.

“YES YES YES!” Pixie bounced in his seat “I’m so ready for this!! Isn’t this so cool?” He looked with glee to Blaze.

“Yeah...” She tried to seem chill, but her voice cracked slightly, betraying her facade. Pixie noticed, and her ears perked.

“Are you OK?”

The train was given the go ahead, and it began to leave the station. Like the last car, some cats cheered, but Pixie did not join in, as he just chose to stare at Blaze.

“I’m ok, dude.” Blaze spoke as the train continued and began its ascent. 

“Are you scared?”

At this point, there was no point in lying about it. She couldn’t back out at this point, and Pixie was already suspicious of her.

“Maybe just a little bit..” She murmured.

“There’s plenty of scaredy cats here! Seems pretty normal to be like that.” 

‘What about you?”

“Um. I think I’m too excited right now to be scared.” Pixie was so nonchalant about it that Blaze felt a twang in her chest due to currently being one-upped by a child, even those she knew that he held no malice towards her. There was a pause in conversation, and the train had finally made it up the hill. There was a part of the track that was flat, as it curved around to prepare for the drop.

Here it comes…

A roar of yells and screams erupted from everywhere in the car. It included ones that seemed playful, ones that seemed genuine, and idle conversation between seats. Ones Blaze heard included “Oh my God.” “Are you ready?”, “I love you guys!”, “Woohoo!”, “Holy shit!”, and ones that blended all together. She actually tuned in to a full conversation she could hear taking place right behind her:

“Baasi, are you ok?” The voice was pretty soothing

“I’m actually gay! I’m gay! I’m gay! I’m sorry I lied to you, Julian! I’m actually gay!” the other voice choked out in a panic so quickly I barely registered. It was quickly cut off by another scream, so Blaze couldn’t tell if that was part of her imagination.

The train crept slowly to the drop. Pixie started giggling and kicking her feet. Blaze started pushing backwards into her seat, but kept her eyes open, trying not to seem like a wuss as the train paused right at the peak of the drop. More screams erupted from the car. She glanced at Pixie again, who’s expression was filled with so much wonder. It was clearly the greatest moment in this cat’s life. It was that look that honestly helped ease her a bit. If Pixie was having a great time, maybe it was okay if she was afraid, as long as he was happy.

Blaze didn’t have too much time to think however, as the car finally shot down the drop, diving straight down, and the riders all burst out into yells, including her.

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The two cats made their way down the exit queue, and on their way to the small building next to the ride. Pixie was jumping with every step.

“That was AWESOME!” she beamed. “I can’t believe that was real!” 

“Yeah.” replied Blaze. “Honestly, it ended up being pretty fun after that drop.”

“The WHOLE THING was so GOOD! I want to go on all the other big ones!” 

If she had been asked to go on any of the other big coasters before this, she probably would still be shaking in her paws at the thought of them, but if she could both handle Twisted Flame, she would definitely be able to go on all the other ones, since they all appeared to be less intimidating than the one she had just been on. There was one that was significantly taller than Twisted Flame, but the drop wasn’t as severe, so she could take it.

“Alright then, those are next, but first, the photos.”

Inside that building next to the ride hosted the screens with on-ride photos, as well as some miscellaneous pieces of merchandise. Pixie quickly spotted the screen that held the photo for her and Blaze’s row. In the picture, both of their mouths wide open in a yell. While Blaze still had some apparent fear on her face, Pixie was clearly very unbothered, with her mouth stretched more in a smile. Blaze talked with the worker behind the counter, buying both a big physical copy of the photo for Pixie to keep, as well as a digital one for her. The pair walked out of the building, taking some extra time to look at the photo and giggle at it together.

“So then,” Blaze began, pulling out the paper map once again. “Where to next?”

Just like before, Pixie ignored the map and pointed at another of the coasters that towered above. “Let’s do that one!”

Blaze smiled, and reached out to ruffle Pixie’s hair.

“Alright, let’s do it, Pix!”