Chương 298: Book 5 - Chapter 23 - Memories

I lost track of the number of times that Issi forced me to ride the 'teacups' while we were waiting for the others. Despite there being dozens of rides around the park, Issi hyperfixated upon this one ride and refused to go anywhere else until we met up with the others. It wasn't that bad. Most of the time it was a fairly relaxing ride, and it meant that we didn't get spoiled on any of the rides we'd go on later. Unfortunately, there was a wheel in the middle of the car that you could use to manually turn it.

Early on Issi and I took turns moving the car around in slow, lazy circles. Then Issi had the bright idea of letting Bob try, and our little kiddy ride quickly turned into a stomach-churning extreme ride. Issi laughed as she was pushed up against the side of the car, crushed by the centrifugal force. I, on the other hand, nearly got sick after being thrown around so quickly. Thankfully we only had enough time to experience this harrowing experience twice before everyone got off the roller coaster, and we had to go.

I don't think I would have been able to keep my lunch down if I had to go through that again. Once we met up with the others, we spent the rest of the afternoon trying many other, less harrowing, rides. The bumper cars were a huge hit with Jane and the kids, as was the pirate ship pendulum ride. Alan and I preferred the far calmer rides, like the Ferris wheel, and carousel.

It turned out that after spending a year throwing myself into life-threatening situations, I didn't get much of a thrill off the adrenaline junky rides. I just felt nauseous. We decided to call it a day just when the sun started to go down. The kids were starting to slump as the exhaustion slowly overtook the excitement, and if we stayed much longer, we'd probably have to carry them home. On our way out I made sure to stop by the guest services building, like Haruto suggested.

I didn't particularly like dealing with corporations, but if they were going to treat me respectfully and provide some small gifts to the family, I wasn't going to complain. Or I wasn't, before I saw the array of merchandise that had been left out for me.

"You're going to give all of this to me and my family," I asked the guest services agent, blankly.

"That's what I was told, to give you whatever you wanted from both our gift shop items and special limited-release merchandise," one of the slim men standing behind the mountain of items replied.

"These are for us?" Issi asked in awe. I'd been carrying her to the exit, and now she was wiggling in my arms, signalling she wanted down.

"Technically yes, but there's no way we can accept it all," I replied.

"When you said Nimbletainment sent someone to apologize and left gifts for us, I expected a goody bag," Jane muttered.

"What are we going to do with all this?" I surveyed the room, filled with Nimbletainment merch. Piles of keychains, clothes, plushies, and other assorted items, and sighed.

"Everyone can choose one item to take home with them," I declared.

"You only get one, so choose carefully."

"Are you sure about this? You've always been hesitant to even talk to a corporate representative, and now you're accepting gifts from one. Aren't you afraid they'll use this as an excuse to ask for favors later?" Jane asked quietly as the kids ran over to browse the piles of toys.

"Honestly? Not really. Nimbletainment went out of their way to send a representative to apologize to me personally. I don't think they'd be stupid enough to try and leverage that later. After meeting with Hurato, I got the feeling that the company goes out of their way to either stay on the good side or stay out of the way of most samurai," I said.

"Besides, there are plenty of other samurai that are willing to play ball with them. Based upon what Jennifer and Alan told me about my reputation and the way that Hurato acted, I suspect this is probably more of a 'Thank you for not trashing our stuff' present." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Most people would call that a bribe," Alan snorted.

"Bribe, present—it doesn't matter what you call it. They're offering some cheap merchandise to try and appease me and prevent me from causing damage to the park. Cost-benefit analysis at work," I declared.

"Where did you learn that term?" Alan asked suspiciously.

"I'm not sure. I must have picked it up either when I was hanging out with Charlotte or when I was helping restructure the city council," I replied.

"Why?"

"Well, first of all, it's something I never expected to come out of your mouth. Despite spending the last year fixing up the neighbourhood, you still speak like a street hoodlum most of the time," Alan said.

"And second, I'm not sure cost-benefit analysis is quite the right term for this. It's more threat analysis and mitigation."

"But that mitigation involves them bribing me to save money; doesn't that make them pretty much the same thing?" I countered. Alan stared at me, either stunned by my brilliant logic or dumbfounded by my stupidity. I wasn't sure which. Putting a hand on his lower back, I pushed him towards the piles of merch.

"Hurry up and pick something so we can take the kids home." Once he started browsing, I wandered up to the nearest table and glanced at the pile of miscellaneous items. There was a stack of mugs sitting next to a pile of blankets, shot glasses, and full-blown table lamps. There was quite a varied selection of mass-marketed garbage. None of the items really jumped out at me, so I just ended up wandering between the tables, just trying to get an idea of what was available.

Issi had migrated to a table of plush toys, where she was carefully inspecting each one, comparing them to a frog-themed one that was obviously her favorite. Next to her was Jennifer, who was inspecting a pile of mechanical model kits, replicas of the rides that actually moved. I winced slightly when I saw the price tags on them--they were obviously toys for the more well-off families.

Eddie had found some sort of journal with an embossed leather cover, and Jane had a massive, comprehensive Nimbletainment guidebook. I didn't have a clue what to take until I spotted a large rectangular crystal plate, embedded in a solid wood base with a small plaque that read: "Our Time at Nimbleland!"

"What's this?" I asked, picking up the object.

"That's a holo-picture frame. Usually they're only sold at a booth in the middle of the park, at what corporate has determined to be the most picturesque part of the park. Once the picture is taken, it's permanently burned onto the holochip so you can't override it. Those memories are yours forever… or at least until the batteries burn out," one of the customer service agents explained.

"We could ask someone to run and get the equipment, if you'd like to use it." I flipped the frame over in my hands, feeling the weight.

"Nyx, do we need their tech?" Normally you'd need a scanner or multiple cameras to take a full panoramic holographic photo, but you could use your bot's visual sensors instead. They're much higher resolution than anything available around here. You would need something to transfer the photo into the frame, though.

"I don't mind spending a few points for something like that," I muttered, gripping the frame tighter.

"Pardon?" the mousy attendant said.

"I didn't catch that. Did you want me to run and get the equipment?" I blinked and looked over at her.

"Sorry, I was talking to my AI. That won't be necessary." The woman looked a little uncertain but still nodded and backed away again.

"Did everyone find something?" I asked when I wandered up to the front, where the family had gathered.

"I found a froggy samurai!" Issi said proudly, presenting something that looked like some sort of plush version of powerarmor in the shape of a frog.

"His name is Bulwark!"

"I'm glad," I said, patting her head. Glancing over my shoulder, I waved to the attendants, who were scattered around the room.

"Thanks for all your help. Let your boss know I appreciated it."

"So, home time?" Eddie yawned once I'd shepherded everyone outside.

"One last thing to do," I replied.

"Let's take a picture outside the gates to remember our time here."

"Why?" Jennifer asked.

"We've never taken one before."

"We never had the money to take photos or places to store them before," I countered, holding up the frame.

"We do now, so we should record the good times! Come on!" I herded everyone out of the gate, glancing back at the oversized cartoony marquee a couple times until I was sure we were far enough away to get a good picture.

"Deadbeat, can you take a still for us?" I asked. The bear nodded and wandered out in front of the group.

"Now what?" Eddie asked. I hadn't had my picture taken before either, so I looked at the bear for help.

"Gather together, and pose!" Deadbeat declared.

"I'm going to count down from three, and when I say one, everyone say cheese!"

"Why cheese?" Jennifer asked.

"It's tradition!" Deadbeat snapped.

"Do you want a picture or not?" I shot the bear with a disappointed look, but she ignored me.

"Everyone get closer… okay! On three. One, two, three!" Her eyes flashed, causing spots to appear in my eyes.

"Is that it?" Alan asked, confused.

"For now. But once we get home I'll transfer the picture to this frame, so we'll have something to remember this day with!" I declared.

"The first of many, I hope," Jane said. I nodded happily.

"The first of many."