New Genna City

The Fall Festival

"Okay, okay, I'm almost ready to go; I'll be down in five, alright? The shuttle doesn't leave for another ten minutes." You shake your head with a grin as you hear a rushed confirmation on the other end of the line before hanging up. You quickly check yourself over in the mirror and grab your jacket before slipping out the door and heading downstairs to join you friends.

It's early autumn, and the weather's finally begun to cool. The crispness in the air that only a change in seasons can bring had inspired you to look into fall festivals in the area. To your surprise and amazement, there was one just outside the city at a small locally owned farm, and you'd immediately made plans to go. When you'd told your friends about the idea, they'd wanted to tag along, and today was finally the day.

"I wonder what it'll be like?" Your friend Charlotte asks as the three of you hang by the festival's shuttle stop. "Is it going to be like in those romance movies we always see this time of year?"

"Or is it going to be like, a complete bummer and nothing like that," Francis adds, drawing a groan from Charlotte. He blinks. "What?"

"Oh come on, guys; I'm sure it's going to be fun, no matter what it looks like," you say, pulling up the list of activities available on your phone. You keep talking as you climb onto the old, beat-up shuttle and find seats. "There's so much to do there, I'll be super surprised if you get bored even slightly. I mean, look at this..."

You spend the next while talking about the various things at the festival, listing off games and booths as the bus rumbles along the road. Both Charlotte and Francis seem excited by the time the bus arrives outside the farm's gates.

"Oh wow," you whisper as you look out the windows. Off in the distance, visible over the tops of the cornfields, was a little Ferris wheel, along with some colorful balloons. As you watched, a hot air balloon lifted off the ground, coming up to hover a few hundred feet above the ground. You tear your gaze off the sight and look over at Charlotte and Francis, to see them both just as awestruck as you felt.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Charlotte squeals, and Francis laughs.

"I think you might actually be right for once," he says, and yelps as Charlotte smacks his arm.

After disembarking, the three of you head toward the festival proper, following the small crowd that had gotten off the shuttle with you. You notice a handful of non-humans mixed into the crowd, which was an uncommon occurrence for you. They weren't exactly plentiful where you lived, but you'd always thought them amazing. As you near the main grounds, your stomach starts doing flips as your attention turns back to the festival ahead; it looks so fantastic!

Colorful tents were set up in a sort of winding arrangement that lead you on a wandering path through the area. There was a large red barn in the distance, where the Ferris wheel and hot air balloon were set up off to either side. Strings of bright lights criss-crossed the space above your heads between booths, lending an almost magical feel to the atmosphere. The smell of funnel cakes and various deep-fried foods wafted on the breeze, along with other, sweeter smells of apples and spices. And surrounding the whole area was an immense cornfield that made it seem like this was a little world all its own.

"This... is amazing!" You snap a couple pictures of the place before putting your phone back away, determined not to see it all through a screen. "Look at it all!"

"There's so much more than I'd expected," Francis says, eyes wide. "I'd never have thought it would look like this."

"I really can't figure out where I want to go first," Charlotte says with a grin. "Do I eat something yummy and unhealthy, or play some of the games? Oh, oh, or go in the corn maze? It looks impressive as heck!" She points to a sign nearby that indicated the exit from the maze.