| Episode: | Season 1, Episode 1 – Chaos! At The Gala |
| Location: | Market District Square |
| Written By: | Jocelyn Knight Owen Grayson Olivia Grayson Melanie Washington |
| Date: | 08/18/2026 |
| Word Count: | 1,284 |
Perhaps it had been a mistake for Jocelyn to agree to bringing the Grayson twins and Melanie to the festival in the market district? This place had always been crowded, but at least so far the twins and her niece had remained glued to her side. Besides, the people who came to this thing were typically pretty respectful.
Melanie played with her hands as she looked at the different festival games that they could do, her attention had shifted toward Olivia. The younger girl wasn’t nearly as adventurous as she was, wasn’t nearly as hyper either. Melanie smiled warmly, “What about that one?”
Olivia, while older, was attentive to her much younger friend. “Oh,” She cooed when she saw the whack-a-mole style game. She looked up at Jocelyn, “Can we play that one?”
Owen was looking around, and mostly ignoring his twin sister and her antics. Though, the ten-year-old had to admit he was impressed with how calm she seemed to be acting. “If you wanna sit I can go with them?” He suggested.
Jocelyn smiled warmly at the boy’s offer before shaking her head. “No I’m okay,” She said and took Melanie by the hand. Then she took Olivia by the hand and felt the small fingers of Owen taking the back of her shirt. Sometimes Jocelyn felt like they should have been genetically engineered to have more arms.
The thought did make her grin a little bit as she walked with all three children toward the game that had been pointed out. Jocelyn wondered how her sister did it? Or, how the Grayson couple did it with twins, but somehow they managed.
Olivia’s eyes were growing wider by the second as they got closer, the sound of the man trying to get people to play his carnival game had also grown. This, of course, wasn’t the first time the ten-year-old had been at the festival event. But, the last time she was younger than even Melanie was now and she barely remembered it.
“Why does this only happen once every four years?” Olivia mumbled.
Owen had heard his sister and grinned, “That way you have something to be excited for. Duh!” He said and shook his head with a playful smile on his face.
Olivia pressed the palm of her hand into her forehead and closed her eyes. The sound of flesh slapping flesh was sudden and sort of loud. But, she didn’t seem to do more than wince at the sharpness on her forehead before shaking it slowly.
Melanie stifled a laugh as they stepped up to the stand and she released her grip on her aunt’s hand. It was a two stand whack-a-mole style game just like they’d thought it was. As soon as she stepped up the man behind the stand grinned warmly toward her. Melanie returned the smile as she took the hammer, “Baby seals.” She said with a laugh.
Jocelyn hadn’t noticed the name of the stand until she went to pay for the session in credits. It wasn’t just a whack-a-mole game, but it was called Seal Clubbin’ and she started to roll her eyes. Old Earth reference, that Jocelyn knew the three children wouldn’t understand.
“I don’t wanna play this one,” Owen admitted.
Olivia took the mallet in her hand and stood next to her best friend. The sound of the music had started and Olivia began hitting the hard plastic seals as soon as they started to appear, and they made such a weird noise too. If she missed the game played a short laugh track, but if she managed to land a hit… Oh boy.
Melanie was laughing almost hysterically each time she hit one and heard the short squeal. Her score rolled above her head, but the eight-year-old had hardly noticed that detail at all. She didn’t understand the reference to the carnival game either. This was her first carnival, last time she’d been so young that her parents didn’t bring her.
Owen stood there watching his sister and his friend as they hit the seals and laughed each time they did it. He was mesmerized just by watching the event unfold right in front of him. He continued to hold onto the back of Jocelyn’s shirt as he watched and listened.
Jocelyn watched as the play continued to unfold in front of her. She’d caught Owen’s expression a couple times and smiled warmly. He seemed to really care about his sister and the fun the girls were having right in front of both of them. Once the game had ended the scores on the screens were almost neck and neck.
The man behind the stand turned and grabbed two weird looking stuffed animals, of some sort of species that Jocelyn didn’t know of, and handed one to each girl. “Thanks,” Jocelyn said with a grin on her face.
“Thank you!” Melanie said as she took the stuffed animal.
Olivia looked at the stuffed animal then at the man who’d handed it to her, “Thanks.” The ten-year-old said happily. Then she turned and grabbed Jocelyn by the hand again. “That was fun,” She commented as they started to filter back into the small crowd.
“Yeah,” Melanie agreed.
Jocelyn took both girls by the hands again and led them away from the row of carnival games where they’d just been standing. The stuffed animals were different, the games were different every time they did the pre-gala festival events. And, from what Jocelyn knew about them, the districts had different events at them.
As they moved away from the games Jocelyn could hear the sound of singing getting louder. They’d soon found the events stage where different people would sing or tell jokes. “Do you guys wanna sit for a little bit?” She asked them.
“Yeah,” Melanie said. Her legs were getting kind of achy from walking around so much. “I want to sit and listen.”
Owen didn’t fight against it either, he could tell that his sister seemed to also want to sit down. “What about you sis?” He asked his twin.
Olivia didn’t really want to sit, but one look at her best friend told her what the answer should be. “Yeah, let’s sit.” She replied.
Jocelyn nodded and led the three children to a row of empty seats where she let them into the row first, then once they’d all sat down Jocelyn sat down as well. The sound of the singer was a bit weird, but Jocelyn wasn’t there for the music. She looked around at the small gathered crowd, it was obvious that most people sitting there were just taking a break.
“We can head to my apartment whenever you’re ready?” Jocelyn asked the three of them.
Olivia was growing kind of tired of the event, but she didn’t want to just answer the question outright. She looked at her brother first, then she looked toward Melanie, “What do you want to do Mel?” She asked softly.
Melanie was holding her stuffed animal rather closely, “Yeah I kinda want to go there.” The eight-year-old answered. Then she looked at Owen, “Owen?”
Owen nodded, “Yeah,” He answered. He could tell that his sister, and especially his friend, were both getting somewhat tired from wandering around. They’d been there since the festival had started hours earlier.
Jocelyn grinned, “All right,” She said. “Let’s sit here and relax for a few minutes or so, then we can walk that way.” She said, watched the three of them nod their heads, then she rested back. It would be time for the red carpet event soon enough anyway. The festival would go through the night, but the crowd was already starting to thin out.