Landing Day Eve has finally arrived, and Rephidim is ready to celebrate. Various fairs and carnivals have sprung up around the city, along with more than the usual number of game booths in the Bazaar, while the streets running from the Temple to Assembly Square are being cleared and cleaned up in preparation for the afternoon parade.

As a result of all this activity, things are actually a bit slow in the tavern this morning. Most people will be settling for carnival food from street vendors today, after all. This leaves a certain Lapi barmaid with a bit of free time on her hands, even though she's technically still on duty.

Best of all, though, is that most of the younger Lapi bucks will be out partying, and thus leaving Anisa in relative peace for a change. There is still a shortage of Cold Shower in effect on the sky island, and the law of supply and demand has driven prices as high as the island itself.

The Snowshoe daughter uses this situation to the best of her advantage, currently curled up on the fireplace sofa, thumbing though one of her novels. She's still adorned in her barmaid uniform – Abram insisted she keep it on "just in case" – but that's a small price to pay for an actual day of relaxation.

"Hey babe, it's your lucky day!" comes a Lapi voice from behind Anisa, along with an actual tug on one of her ears. "I can keep you warmer than that little fire!"

Anisa's attention is snapped away from her book, which she throws across the sofa while spinning around to face her harasser. "Keep your paws off of me," she shouts, reflexively slapping at the offending hand with one paw while balling her other in a fist.

The doe glares into the grinning, brown-furred face of Xander Lightfoot, who didn't yank his paw back quite fast enough to avoid a stinging rap to his fingers. "Whoa there!" he says, trying not to laugh. "I was only teasing, Anisa. You looked so cute all curled up with your book, is all!"

The glare dissolves with a confused blink, and Anisa raises her previously laid-back ears into a more friendly position. "Hotfoot? Hey!" The doe springs up on the sofa, and gives the buck a huge hug. "I didn't know you'd be in town," she says with a delighted smile. "What are you up to?"

Xander rearranges his robes after the hug, still grinning. "Are you kidding? I'm part of the fireworks display tonight!" the Fire Mage announces. "That, and I was getting bored with Half Valley and needed a little change of scene, you know? Plus, I've got these," he says, and brandishes several pasteboard tickets festooned with drawings of … wheels?

Nose wiggling in curiosity, the doe peers at the tickets. "What are those for? Oh! Are those the tickets to Olympia?" The rabbit's face lights up in an obvious look of hope.

"Olympia?" the buck asks, looking surprised. "Nope, these are for the wheelierama carnival! I was about to go pick up Springer from where she's touching up the flowers on some of the parade floats, but I've got an extra ticket left since Aaron's busy getting set stuff ready for a crash party after the lightshow tonight."

Anisa's expression fades a little, then lights back up at Hotfoot's words. "So… is that ticket for me, or did you just come to taunt me?" She grins.

"You're the first person I thought of, of course!" Xander says, handing one of the tickets over to the doe. "Ever used wheelie-shoes before?" he asks.

The snowy doe takes the ticket, and looks it over curiously. "Wheelie shoes? I don't think so." Getting up from the sofa, the doe walks around to Xander's side, and leans on the couch's back. "What are they, some kind of foot carts or something?"

"Basically, yeah," the other Lapi replies. "Like wooden sandals, see, but they've got wheels on them. And the carnival has all sorts of stuff you can do with wheels on your feet … all of them fast!"

Anisa looks up from the ticket, and grins mischievously. "Fast, eh? That's always a plus. Are they hard to use?"

"You get the hang of them pretty quick," Xander assures her. "At least, smaller folk like us do. I wouldn't want to see a Rhian or a Cervani try 'em out!" He laughs.

The doe winces. "That'd be a hard fall, yeah." Stuffing the ticket into her apron pocket, she then smoothes back her ears. "What time are you two going? Right away?"

"I've got to go pick up Springer first," the buck says, "so you've probably got plenty of time to change into an outfit you won't mind falling down in, just in case."

"Good, I was hoping I'd have time. I'm ready to get out of this Dagh-cursed thing and into something more comfortable," says Anisa. "I have to let Daddy know where I'm going first, but I should be changed by the time you two get back."

Once more, Mage Fenter has been called upon to sway probability in a favorable direction. In this particular case, his employers hope to minimize the number of accidents that are bound to occur as dozens of people zoom around with wheels attached to their feet. The addition of a Titanian-run steam catapult to one end of the warehouse and the general recklessness of acrobatic Kavi only add to the problem.

Fenter has all the airs of a Chaos Mage as he wanders through the warehouse. He seems utterly oblivious to most of the goings on around him and has almost caused a few accidents on his own by wandering through the crowds and then stopping abruptly to scribble a symbol on the pavement or mutter to himself.

"Watch out, lady!" shouts a Kavi as it zooms past, having chosen to wear its shoes on its tail instead of its feet.

The raccoon momentarily takes his hat off to bow his apologies to … thin air. An odd little cloud tinged with rainbow hues floats above his head, although it's quickly hidden again as he slips his floppy hat back on. "Pardon me, ma'am."

The entry panel from the Speedy Spinning Bowl of Fun is opened by a pair of Kavi, and several people stagger out … quite a few of them headed towards the smelly trough that is conveniently set nearby.

"Gremlin Chaser!" barks a black-furred Titanian as it rolls past, reaching out a shaggy arm to grab the raccoon by one arm and drag him along on his own wheels. "Need you at Fun Fun Flinger!" the giant growls, steering towards the steam-powered catapult ride.

The Chaos mage pops out of his daze and grabs his hat. "I think that the Kavi are a bit more dangerous than gremlins at the moment, but it also probably wouldn't do to have people hurtled across the island accidentally." He glides along the Titanian, his own skate shoes hidden along with his feet under the hem of his robe. Through some miracle he doesn't get tangled up in it.

"Rockhead test now!" the Titanian shouts (or perhaps that's his normal speaking voice) to Fenter.

An even bigger-looking Titanian than the one dragging Fenter along is crouched over with her rear end snugged up against what looks like a bar-stool attached to a battering ram. There's the scream of a steam whistle, and the huge wolf is propelled at speed up a ramp, just before the cloud of escaping steam obscures everything from view. There's a loud THUNK from across the warehouse, and a Titanian-shaped dent in the wall just above the safety net that is presumably the intended landing target. After a few moments of hammering on the catapult, the operator shouts, "NEXT!"

"I think you may need to ease up on the steam just a tad," Fenter suggests. He whips out his chalk and touches up a few of his chaos symbols on the machine and then stands back to chant.

"Check for gremlins now?" asks Fenter's escort while the steam pressure rebuilds. Already the line for the ride is filling up, with the nearest Kavi asking, "How many can go at once?"

"Just a moment, madame. I'm scaring them off. One must be careful or the chaos will zing out and make someone explode … like me." The raccoon finishes his mumbling and then circles the contraption, holding his palm out a few inches above the metal.

"It's going to explode?" "Wow, really?" "Cool, lemme see!" The crowd around the contraption gets even thicker, with the younger Skeeks and Kavis crawling up onto people's shoulders to get a better look.

Fenter finishes his checks and then settles into a chalked circle. "I believe the gremlins have all been chased off now, madame. You may fire when ready."

A helmeted and pillow-clad Skreek backs up to the piston, and says, "Fire when ready! I'm gonna flyyyy!"

WHOOMP goes the catapult, and the Skreek does indeed fly for a bit. Despite flapping his arms, he makes it to the center of the capture net and rolls down to land next to a dazed Titanian. "That was great!" the Skreek exclaims, then rushes over to a nearby trough to empty his stomach.

At the entrance, a group of three Lapis – white, brown and gray – hand over their tickets and are led to the fitting benches. A group of Kavis immediately surround them and try to loan them helmets and strap-on pillows.

Anisa, visibly annoyed, waves the Kavi away with a dismissive paw, taking a seat on the benches besides her compatriots. "Do you want them tight, loose, or what?" She stares at her feet. "Do they even have any in our size?"

In answer, a Kavi pushes up a rolling rack covered with wheeled sandals of different shapes and sizes, and produces a foot-measuring tool. "We can fit anyone, lady!" he declares, and starts measuring the Lapis' feet.

The white doe splays her ears uneasily, but nevertheless sticks her foot out for the Kavi to measure. "I'm not even used to wearing shoes."

After a bit of testing, the three Lapis are outfitted with wheelie-shoes of their own. Each of the wooden sandals has an extra strap to tie around the middle of the foot, and is equipped with six miniature wagon-wheels and a big blob of hard rubber at the rear, which the Kavi explains is a "brake."

Anisa attempts to stand up on the contraptions, and promptly begins to wobble on her feet. "Wh-whoa … how do you – WHOA… How do you stand up in these things? ACK!" The Lapi teeters forward, grabbing Meadow and Hotfoot's robes as she goes down.

Xander laughs and helps Anisa up while Spring Meadow fixes her robes. "You've got to angle your feet out a bit. That way they won't roll as much."

Spring Meadow manages to find her balance – having a low center of gravity and big feet helps. Eventually she's even able to move forward more often than backward.

Using Xander's shoulder to steady herself, Anisa does as she's told, and angles her oversized feet outwards just slightly. "Like this?" The doe seems to be steadying herself better – if she wasn't still clutching Hotfoot with her nails dug in, that is.

"Ow!" Xander complains, then says, "Yeah, that's better. Now crouch down a little to keep your knees bent, and the shoes won't try to shoot out from underneath you as much."

Biting her bottom lip, the white doe nods, and pushes herself off of the buck an into the circle. Legs rigid, she just kind of coasts slowly into the lane, occasionally wobbling. "Okay… now what?" She perks an ear over to the commotion, curious at the goings-on, but too nervous to avert her eyes from her path.

"Sort of just push with your legs now," Xander says, rolling up alongside Anisa. "Push out at an angle with one foot, and you'll move forward in the direction your other foot is pointing."

Near the Lapis, a circular area is roped off where people are skating at a more leisurely pace, although a few of the more daring ones hold out streaming bits of ribbon and try to "dance" around each other.

Anisa nods, and meekly pushes outwards, then inwards, beginning to increase in speed. Her face slowly widens into an amused grin. "Hey, this isn't so bad. I could get to like it!" The doe clumsily attempts to make her way to the other two, finally chancing a glance at the strange machine. "What's that thing over there?" She squints at the robed figure. "… and that guy looks familiar."

The line for the Fun Fun Flinger moves slowly, since the boiler needs to build up enough steam between launches and the pressure adjusted for the mass of each person.

Fenter winces as a particularly scraggly Kavi is fired off. His chanting quickens for a moment and then trails off again. Some people carry gremlins with them, so it seems.

"That's the Flinger," Xander explains, and Meadow gives out a little squeak of alarm as the device launches three Kavis. The trio manage to do a few flips and other stunts while holding hands before they land into the net.

A number of screams and wails come from the Speedy Spinning Bowl of Fun near the center of the building, which indeed looks like a big bowl with a spinning maypole rising up from the center. Next to it are a series of steeply curved ramps that are mainly used by Kavis attempting to get airborne – and some of them succeeding.

Anisa skates up to Springer, and steadies herself on the other doe's shoulder. "I'll steer clear of that for a while, I think. I'd rather not have my spine cracked tonight." She squints at the mage raccoon, then chuckles. "Hey, that's the guy that helped me get my gym equipment. Let's go say 'hi' to him."

"Sure!" Spring Meadow says, and leans back on Anisa as the two make their way around the line for the Flinger, with Xander skating along behind them in case one should take a tumble.

A straight trackway is roped off along the long side of the warehouse, where a few other Lapis race each other, easily outdoing the slower Kavis, Skeeks and Skreeks. Both ends of the lane are padded with upright standing mattresses.

As they get closer, the white doe waves to the raccoon, oblivious to the fact that he's mid-ritual. "Hey- uh, you! Dagh … what was his name again? Fenton … Renter? No, that's not it… Oh yeah! Hey Fenter!"

WHOOMP Another patron is sent flying by the Flinger, resulting in a cloud of obscuring steam as the Lapis get close enough to hail the raccoon.

"Eh? Did someone blow up? If they did, it was completely coincidental and had nothing to do with me. People blow up all the time," the Chaos Mage remarks as he fans the steam away.

The steam clears up quickly enough for Anisa and Spring Meadow to stop themselves before rolling into the Rath'ani Mage, while Xander coasts around to stop alongside them.

Anisa skids hard on her back brake, still clutching the gray doe as she comes to a halt. "Whoa! Okay, there, nice and stopped." She looks to the raccoon, and smiles. "Fancy seeing you again! Are you enjoying yourself, or are you working?" She looks to the circle. "It looks like work. Ick."

Fenter blinks for a moment before recognition sets in. "Oh! Miss Snowshoe! Very nice seeing you again." He pulls off his hat and scratches his head, causing the little cloud floating over his ears to stir up and flash odd sparkles of color. "I'm still trying to grasp how people can do this sort of thing for fun."

"Hey, I think I've heard of you," Xander says, squinting at Fenter's color-shifting eyes. "Aren't you the one that caused all the milk in the cafeteria to turn into cheese during your practical exam?"

Fenter sputters at Xander, "It was not cheese; it was a fine Wensleydale that any Chaos Mage would have envied. It also went quite well with table wine."

"Pleased to meet you, sir," they gray doe says, holding out her hand. "I'm Spring Meadow of Earth, and my friend here is Hotfoot of Fire," Meadow says, just to irk Xander a bit.

Stifling a laugh with her paw, the white rabbit gives an amused smirk as she removes it. "Yeah, I'm just getting the hang of this myself, and I'm sorry I missed the cheese episode." Again, she stifles a giggle. "These are my friends."

"Xander Lightfoot, that is," the brown Lapi corrects, standing up straight and proud. The effect is momentarily spoiled as a steam line beneath him springs a leak that causes his robes to flap about like a parachute.

"I'd be happy to repeat it for you sometime, Miss Snowshoe – but I'm not quite sure how I did it the first time." The raccoon jumps at the steam jet. "Ooop! That wasn't my fault!" The words spill out almost instinctively.

WHOOMP goes the catapult. "Yeeeaahhhh!" goes a happy and/or terrified Jupani cub. With the release of pressure, Xander's robes settle back down, and the Fire Mage puts on an I meant for that to happen expression.

Anisa gives a slight start at the jet of steam, followed by a loud laugh as she grabs Meadow to keep from falling over due to clumsiness. "I think Meadow would be happy if you did that on purpose!" She grins at the other doe. "But we'd better let you get back to work, it seems we're distracting you."

"Will you be at the fireworks display tonight?" Meadow asks Fenter. "Maybe we can catch up to you again there?"

"I'm being distracted? I can never be too sure." The raccoon tosses his hat back on with a flourish. "I should be there, madame. In fact I think I'll be helping – unless I can find a place to hide. Uh … I mean … unless they keep me too busy here."

"I hope we see you there then!" Meadow says, and adds, "There's going to be a party afterwards!"

"Yeah, at Aaron Lightfoot's place," Anisa calls out as she starts to coast off again. "Make sure you show up! Oh, and I like your cloud – it's cute!" The doe coasts off around the circle, seeming to finally get her balance.

Fenter blinks, sniffs at the inside of his robes, shrugs, and resumes chanting.

Xander starts to lead the does away from the embarrassing steam vents, asking, "What do you want to try now? I'm tempted by that Spinning thing myself."

"Everyone looks dizzy coming out of it, though," Meadow says, in a less than enthusiastic tone.

"I think I could manage that now," responds Anisa. "It looks kind of wild! C'mon Springer, where's your sense of adventure?" She grins to the gray rabbit.

"On my bookshelf," the other doe claims, but gives in to peer pressure. "Okay, I'll try it out with the two of you."

While the Lapis make their way to the Speedy Spinning Bowl of Fun, another Kavi – this one with wheelie-shoes attached to his head and elbows as well as his feet – takes up his position on the end of the piston. WHOOMP He lands in the net… and hangs there, since the wheels on his head get stuck in the net.

There isn't much of a line at the Speedy Spinning Bowl of Fun, so the Lapis all get to ride in the same group. A piece of the bowl is removed, and people let in. Inside is a large pole with spokes coming out the top, each one ending in a long rope attached to a harness.

"Good," replies the white doe, skating over to the ride. "Okay, how does this work? Just get in the harness, and let it pull you?"

Kavi attendants swarm about the riders, adjusting harnesses and getting people strapped in securely. "Make sure to keep your feet on the ground!" one of them warns, then exits the bowl as the moveable section is bolted back into place.

"I guess so," Xander says, shrugging in his harness. There's a grinding of gears, and the central pole begins to turn, dragging people along on the tethers.

Anisa grabs hold of her rope, and braces herself as the ride begins to tug her forward. "Okay, here we go!"

"This isn't so bad," Meadow says from in front of Anisa. Then the pole begins speeding up noticeably, and the doe finds herself slowly creeping higher up the curve of the bowl.

Heeding the Kavi's advice, the white doe makes sure to press her oversized feet hard on the floor, tensing up as the speed increases. "Yeah, it's kind of hypnotic, really. Just hang on!"

Before long, everyone is moving along midway up the side of the bowl, fast enough that the wall still feels "down" to them. With a slight twist of the feet, it's possible to zip up towards the rim or back towards the center as the wind makes the Lapis' ears stream back.

"Yeeeee!" squeals Spring Meadow, as too hard of an angle sends her up towards the rim to the limit of her tether, at which point her feet leave the "ground" entirely until her trajectory brings her back into contact with it. A few of the younger riders have pulled up their legs altogether, "flying" around in a circle.

Anisa watches some of the other riders maneuver their harnesses up and down the bowl, and tries her own paw at it. She angles her feet upwards, and only as she starts her ascent does she notice Meadow's distress.

It feels strange moving up the bowl, as up and down seem to shift along the route. Meadow finally pulls her legs up and drops back down to the middle "orbit" before trying to touch her wheels to the wall of the bowl once more.

From behind Anisa, Xander calls out, "Whatever you do, don't look up past the rim of the bowl!"

The white doe breathes a sigh of relief as Springer rights herself. Swiveling her ears back to Hotfoot, she calls out, "Why? What's up there?" Inadvertently ignoring the buck's advice, the Lapi looks upwards in curiosity.

Beyond the rim is a good view of the ceiling of the warehouse. There is a skeleton of support beams and lots of skylights to let in the sun. Unfortunately the entire thing seems to be spinning around, with the skylights forming a strobing ring of light.

True to Xander's warning, Anisa's noggin starts to feel as though it were turning to jelly – as does her stomach. Woozily, she looks downwards to try and regain her composure, but in the process loses her footing. "Wha- whoa!! Oh Dagh!" Spinning and careening, the doe begins to zigzag up and down the wall.

Looking down doesn't help much, as it simply reminds Anisa that she is halfway up a steep wall with nothing but speed keeping her from falling – well, speed and a tether. With all the twisting and zigzagging, she's now facing backwards, where Xander is clearly doing his best not to start laughing.

In the distance, there is a WHOOMP-clang! noise, eerily dopplered by the radial motion of the ride.

Eyes bulging in alarm, the doe fights to right herself, but to no use. Finally, she decides she can't take any more, and tucks her feet into the harness, squeezing her eyes shut. Under her breath she mutters a small prayer to the First Ones.

Fenter's eyes snap open as the piston jams on the launcher. He grabs his hat and makes a motion like someone hurling a bucket of water with it. The little cloud pops out of it, shoots out into the middle of the rink and promptly explodes in a small burst of color.

The Kavi that was launched by the misfiring piston doesn't have anywhere near the momentum needed to reach the net, but as the sparkling cloud surrounds him his trajectory appears to curve a bit to one side…

With her eyes closed, Anisa feels something grab onto her harness and send her spinning off center!

Heart feeling as though it were in her throat, and fur frazzled on end, the doe gives a squeak of alarm. Opening one eye, she peeks upwards at whatever it is throwing her off balance.

"AAAAAAA!" screams the Kavi, desperately clinging to Anisa's harness. As he pulls himself in to clutch the doe with all four limbs – plus his tail – the off-center spinning dies down. Even the wind lessens, and the central pole begins to slow down and settle people towards the bottom of the bowl. "AAAAAA!" the Kavi continues to scream.

"Ow! OW!! Quit SCREAMING! You're hurting my ears – HEY! WATCH YOUR PAWS!" Anisa sets her ears back in both annoyance and pain, and struggles with the insane Kavi currently clutching her. "Get OFF of me!"

"I ain't lettin' go if you were a bug-eyed Zelak lady," the Kavi says, then pleads, "Please don't drop me! I'm gonna have kids someday!" At least the ride is coming to a stop now.

Still clutching her rope, the doe sets her feet back down to the ground as the ride slows. "You're not gonna have any kids if you make me mad; now settle down!" She shoves the weasel to one side, keeping hold of him to keep him from dropping.

The pole stops spinning, and there's a bit of recoil in the tethers, but eventually things stand still. A section of wall opens up, and attendants swarm in to undo peoples' harnesses. Anisa's Kavi falls to the floor and kisses it, then jumps up and peppers kisses on the still-harnessed Lapi. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou for catching me!" he says, then runs off on all fours out of the bowl.

Anisa struggles as the Kavi kisses her, then wipes her face off when the creature leaves. "IiiaaACK! Remind me again why this is fun?" The Lapi keeps her ears set backwards, a scowl on her face and arms crossed in annoyance.

"Too bad you had your eyes closed, Anisa," Xander says as he's being unharnessed. "I'd have given anything to see the look on your face as that Kavi came flying towards you, trailing a rainbow of sparkles!"

"Then next time, you can be the one that gets pelted by an airborne fur ball!" The doe starts to undo her own harness, not waiting for the attendant to get her out. "Let's try something else."

After the Lapis have been untethered, and Spring Meadow takes some time to sit down until the room stops spinning, Xander asks, "So, what do you feel like now? I think the Flinger is out of commission, and I don't think any of us are good enough yet to try the big ramps. Feel up to a race?"

Obviously still embarrassed from her episode with the Kavi, Anisa has pulled out her brush, and started in on her ears. "I guess we can try that, but if I get any more Kavi-missiles lobbed at me, I'm blaming you."

Meadow giggles at the threat. "Yeah, Xander, better be careful!"

"I'm just trying to add a little fun to your lives," Xander says defensively, then leads the does over towards the end of the racing lanes, coasting most of the way on his wheels. From the far end, near the Flinger, the sound of hammers carries easily across the building.

"Sounds like Fenter might be getting a small break from that man-cannon over there," the white doe comments. "I hope the thing broke for good. That's like a torture device the Temple would use. Any road, who's first? You'd better not beat us too bad, Hotfoot."

"Hey, Meadow and I aren't exactly aerodynamic in these robes," the Fire Mage points out, which earns a sour look from the gray doe. "There are enough lanes that we can all go at the same time, it looks like."

Anisa nods. "Okay then, a three person race." The rabbit pushes off, and takes up position in one of the lanes, seeming to have a better grasp of balance than she did before. "You guys should have worn street clothes!"

Indeed, there isn't anyone else using the lanes at the moment, although a growing cluster of people around the Flinger at the far end seem about to spill over into them, if not for the dividing ropes.

The two Lapi mages take up the lanes next to Anisa, and Xander starts a countdown. "Ready? On your mark … get set … GO!"

Setting herself low, the snowy doe pushes off hard on her skates, pumping her Rabbit legs for all their worth as the competitive spirit takes over.

Xander does take an early lead, mainly because of his longer legs, but the two does quickly close the gap. Far up ahead, the steam whistle on the Flinger begins to wail.

The sound of the whistle causes Anisa to falter briefly, but she swallows her nervousness and keeps trying to increase her speed.

With halfway left to go, Xander is picking up speed again while Meadow begins falling behind. The crowd around the Flinger starts to break up, with people skating away in all directions from the annoying wail of the whistle.

Gritting her teeth, the Lapi barmaid leans far forward, ignoring her clumsy teeters that threaten to send her tumbling. Frustrated, the doe begins to sweat.

Xander falls behind at Anisa's renewed effort. He doesn't have quite the strength to put out an extra burst of speed like the doe can manage.

Realizing that she's now in the lead, Anisa strained face spreads into a cocky grin, and she looks back to the buck. "Whassamatta, Slowfoot? Dress holding you back? HA!"

The crowd ahead is thinning out rapidly, with some people even tossing aside their wheelie shoes so that they can run. A few of the wooden shoes now litter the track ahead, and the sound of hammers banging away can even be heard over the screaming whistle.

Near the Flinger, Fenter's ears lie flat against his skull as he tries to shield them from the noise. He's positioned himself directly in front of it, looking down the barrel of the mechanism like someone staring into the innards of a cannon. His movements are more precise now and his voice is faster and a few notes higher.

With a snort, Xander leans forward and pushes harder at the taunting, beginning to close the gap.

"Uh, guys?" calls Meadow from behind the two racing Lapi. She's come to a complete stop now, and is staring at Fenter in the distance.

Seeing Hotfoot gain on her, the white doe tries to pick up speed. Being shorter than the buck however, she's obviously at a disadvantage in the leg length department, and doesn't manage much. "What?" she calls back to Meadow, and looking forward she notices the steam. "Oh, Dagh!"

With a surprising burst of speed, Xander passes Anisa … and even crosses over into her lane – and then the one past it, finally ducking under the dividing rope and aiming at the Flinger. The Fire Mage starts chanting his own spell as he lets momentum carrying him forward.

Crossing into her lane, the buck causes Anisa to lose her balance, only magnified as the doe attempts to stop on her rubber break. The rabbit's left foot shoots out from under her, and momentarily she balances on her right foot as she continues forward.

The raccoon digs in his pocket and pulls out a handful of powder, he puffs it down the launching ramp and then claps his hands together, smearing the remnants of the stuff across his palms, which he raises as he continues chanting. Oddly, one hand is tinged with orange while the other appears to be deep blue. The fragments of powder on the flinger are green.

The brown Lapi comes up short next to Fenter, and works up his minor spell of fire suppression, to try and keep the pressure from growing any faster.

Fenter nods his head to the fire mage, giving him a silent word of thanks without disrupting his chants.

"I think we'd better go, Anisa!" calls Meadow, sounding a bit desperate. The exits from the warehouse are a bit clogged with people scrambling around, under and over each other now.

Anisa continues to careen forward, and just as she regains her footing, the doe skids into the discarded sandals. She tumbles feet over ears into the pile, finally coming to a stop sitting straight up. Momentarily dazed, she comes back to at Meadow's words, and painfully gets to her feet. Skating over to the other doe with a small limp, she nods. "Let's go!"

Nodding quickly, Spring Meadow races towards the exit with Anisa, while the remaining two Mages work to keep the Flinger from blowing up – or at least from blowing up right now.

The raccoon's head tilts to peer at the Spinning Bowl of Fun, a glimmer of an idea in his eye.

The two does are the last ones out, leaving the building empty save for the two Mages.

"Any ideas, Mage Fenter?" Xander asks between chants.

Whirling around abruptly, the Chaos Mage suddenly focuses his attentions on the Spinner. One palm is held out towards the Flinger while his other hand is angled towards the bowl. He seems almost like he's trying to touch the two at the same time, although his arms would have to be several yards longer than they are to complete the task. "Just one, Mage Xander … and it still ends in an explosion. Just be ready to drop if this goes bad."

Xander catches the gist of what the Chaos Mage is attempting to do, and his ears shoot up in alarm. Still, better than standing next to the explosion, hopefully, he reasons, and keeps up his chanting to buy the raccoon more time.

In the distance, the Speedy Spinning Bowl of Fun's central pole begins to spin up.

Fenter takes a few steps away from the catapult and a few towards the Spinner. He gets as close as he dares, flings a handful of colored powder at the bowl, and then begins retreating very quickly. He seems to be managing himself rather well on wheeled shoes, actually. "You … may … want … to … get … down," the raccoon gasps.

"Eeep!" yelps Xander, who ducks down and covers his head with his arms.

The shrill whistle of the Flinger begins to stutter, and the pressure vessel groans a little less as the central pole of the Bowl of Fun spins ever faster. The empty harnesses whip out horizontally, causing a whine as they slice the air.

As the steam whistle finally fizzles out, the screaming tether-pole of the Bowl launches itself straight up through the roof of the warehouse … and keeps going!

Xander peeks out from between his fingers. "It's over? That wasn't so – " The Lapi's comment is interrupted by a loud BOOM as the distant pole's spin breaks the speed of sound – and its own structural integrity. Luckily, a few more bits of wooden confetti are likely to be overlooked in the general debris left by the Landing Day parades…

Fenter follows the path of the flying pole. "I wonder if there's a market for a firework like that… "