M:   Everyone was either glancing nervously at each other or looked shocked at the suggestion, Mandara was biting his finger at the thought of them going off alone.

"Yeah, we can do that," Poldara answered before the adults could respond, "Adem and his friends aren't here anymore so it should be safe."

"Poldara, I don't think it's a good idea, what if you get lost or something, we've already proven that Iremacht isn't very good at keeping an eye on you." Russia said, "it will be safer if you stick with one of us."

"You guys aren't always going to be around to protect me," Poldara retorted, "I need to learn to protect myself eventually, and Iremacht won't know how to be responsible if you won't trust him to."

Poldara then got an idea and ran backstage to where the props for the play were, everyone stared in that area with confusion, then the kid came out with a long rope, one end was tied around his waist.

"Here, Iremacht can tie it around his waist and we won't get separated," the kid explained, handing the other end of the rope to the German.

Mandara's eye flickered between the two, he was extremely apprehensive about this, Poldara noticed this and switched on his puppy dog eyes, which broke the country's resolve.

"Fine," he sighed, which surprised everyone, "but I don't want that rope coming off, and you two have to be back in an hour, understood."

L:   Iremacht took the rope in amusement and tied the other end around his waist so he was pretty much harnessed to Poldara. It would get some odd looks for sure, but if it would allow him to make amends, then Iremacht didn't care.

"Aye, aye," he said to Mandara with a mock salute.

"Seriously, Machty," Germany warned. "You do realize that you're being offered a rare second chance."

"One that I won't butcher," Iremacht said, already walking away with Poldara.

Wehrmacht flicked his wings worriedly; his son noticed and said as he passed his father, "I won't let you down." Wehrmacht offered a small smile.

Then Iremacht took out his phone and started the recording. "Alright, Polds. Where did we leave off?"

M:   "At the spinning swing," Poldara answered, "but after what happened and the fact you don't want to get on rides, we should try something else."

He tried to think of that something as they walked around, they got a few confused stares from people who spotted the rope, the two paid them little mind. There weren't a lot of games or rides Poldara hadn't been at since being here, so it was hard to choose one.

At one point, the two passed near a tree and a loud squawk came from it, Poldara stopped in his tracks and looked up into the tree, he recognized that squawk.

"Mandoria, what are you doing here bud?" he called up to the bird, he raised his arm up and Mandoria landed on it, which earned a few surprised yelps from the nearby humans.

L:   Iremacht was quite surprised that Mandoria was here too. Flying from the estate to the festival on his own and being able to find his owner was pretty impressive. He reached out his hand carefully, remembering to avoid Mandoria's wings.

"He probably missed you," Iremacht said to Poldara. "All the winged countries were away so he didn't have people to hang out with. Wings stick together, after all."

Iremacht paused. He hadn't meant for that last line to come out of his mouth. It was an old idea from when LoN was still alive and his Vater was still at war. Although relevant today, the phrase just wasn't something he would be relating to.

M:   "That's true," Poldara said, "that's why Uncle Kazakhstan helped Dad when they first met, he believed that too and felt he needed to take care of Dad whenever Ussr would hurt him."

The kid turned to Mandoria and said, "so do you want to hang out with us for a bit, Mandoria?"Mandora squawked and rubbed his head on Poldara's cheek, causing him to giggle, "ok, ok, just don't steal anyone's food."

With that, the two kept walking to find something to do, with Mandoria perched on Poldara's arm. At one point, Poldara spotted a face paint booth and got an idea, "hey Iremacht, I will give you five bucks to get something painted on your face, and I get to pick the design."

L:   Iremacht raised his eyebrows. Five bucks, for a militant who dealt in international money and wealth, was a very cheap offering, but he supposed it was a lot for a kid Poldara's age. He eyed the face paint booth suspiciously.

"I don't know, kid," he said. "I kinda already have a design." He indicated his own flag pattern on his face, plus the black cross on his forehead. "I'd like to keep my country, please." Then he smirked and bargained, "How about I give you five bucks to get something painted on your face, and I get to pick the design? You could do with some gold stars on this side of your face to make you look like Mandara and MA."

M:   Poldara blinked at that offer, it was tempting, he did always love his Dad's and Uncle's stars and was jealous that he didn't have any. He was too young to know about the ability to change his flag so didn't know that he could have stars if he wanted, so having them painted didn't sound like a bad idea.

"Ok," Poldara agreed, "but only if you get a shield over your eye so we can be twins, and you'll have to hold Mandoria."

Mandoria raised his head sharply when he heard that, seemingly alarmed at the idea of a wingless country holding him.

L:   "Aw, don't look at me like that," Iremacht said to Mandoria with a smirk. "If you're still angry at me for my behavior in the backyard the other day, know that I am a changed man. I'll feed you more meat next time."

They approached the face paint booth and Iremacht agreed to have a shield painted over his black militant eye. It looked odd to have two symbols on his face; they didn't look like they should belong so close to each other, considering the history. Iremacht was relieved he at least wasn't born with a black eagle symbol on his forehead instead of the black cross. That would have caused plenty of problems, more so than his personality.

M:   Poldara was happy that Iremacht agreed, he couldn't wait for everyone to see their paint tattoos. The kid carefully gave Mandoria to Iremacht to hold, which the eagle reluctantly stepped onto his arm but made sure to let Iremacht know that he didn't want to be touched while he was there.

Since Poldara and Iremacht were still connected by the rope, the militant had to stand next to Poldara while the artist painted on his face. The stars were almost ruined when the kid sneezed, but the artist move in time so he didn't paint anything he shouldn't. Once it was done, the artist gave Poldara a mirror to see how it looked, and he loved it. 

"What do you two think, is it good," he asked Iremacht and Mandoria, the bird screeched approvingly.

L:   Iremacht took out his phone and discreetly recorded the process of painting the stars on Poldara. He even caught the sneeze on video.

"Pretty dope, you look just like your father," Iremacht said once it was done. He gladly gave Mandoria back to Poldara; the eagle's claws had been digging into his arm and he clearly got the message to keep his hands off Mandoria. "Alright, my turn."

He switched spots with Poldara and told the artist to paint him Mandara's shield on his eye. "Make it centered on the green-white line," he ordered. "And no mistakes, this has to be perfect."

He also gave Poldara his phone to record. Just then, a message popped up on the screen. It was from Wehrmacht: 'Is Poldara okay?' it said.

M:   Poldara flicked his eyes from Iremacht to the phone as he saw the text, wondering what to do since it wasn't his. Eventually, the kid decided to answer it for Iremacht, with one hand, he snapped a picture of Iremacht getting the face-pant and captioned it:

"This is Poldara typing, we are having fun. I convinced Iremacht to get a shield painted around his eye so we could be twins, next I'm thinking of taking him to the ring toss game to see if he can aim rings like he can aim guns. We'll see you guys when we get back, and in one piece this time."

Poldara then flicked back to the video to record the rest of the facepaint, he knew he was going to get in trouble for texting on Iremacht's phone, but he'll worry about that later.

L:   When the last line of paint was finished, the artist gave Iremacht the mirror and he nodded in satisfaction at the shield painted over his black militant eye. It actually looked less odd than he had previously thought. Iremacht thanked the artist and paid for both his and Poldara's face paintings; he had declared he would pay to help the economy after all.

When he took back the phone, he saw another message from Wehrmacht pop up. When he opened it, he saw the reply that Poldara had given. If anyone else had used his phone to text without his permission - a personal contact too - Iremacht would've been very pissed off. But he was glad for the reply that Poldara made, to which Wehrmacht texted back: 'Glad to hear it. Tell Machty the shield looks good on him.'

"Thanks Polds," Iremacht said to Poldara. "Now about that ring toss. Let's see how well you throw."

M:   Poldara smiled, he was relieved that Iremacht wasn't mad that he used his phone, then his face turned to a challenging one, "I am only the best ring tosser in the world, you won't stand a chance," he said.

With that, the two left the paint booth to go find the ring toss, it took a while but they eventually tracked it down. Poldara showed the person his VIP wristband again and they gave him five rings. The aim of the game was to toss the rings over some stick targets that were placed in a circle, the middle stick being the most points.

"Watch and learn, Matchy," Poldara said in a good-natured/competitive way.

He threw his five rings with one hand since he was holding Mandoria, two hit the center and three hit the ones surrounding it. Poldara let a proud smile spread across his face and stepped back to let Iremacht have a go.

L:   Iremacht hummed in acknowledgment at the impressive score that Poldara had thrown with one hand. The young militant flexed his fingers when it was his turn.

"Alright, kiddo," he said confidently. "You better get ready to treat me to a snack when I win this."He took his five rings, aimed for the center stick, and threw his first try.

It missed completely.

Iremacht blinked a couple times in disbelief. Then he grabbed his second ring, determined to redeem himself. His second one smacked against the stick but didn't loop around it. Iremacht dished out the next three with mediocre results: all three hit the outer sticks, none in the center.

Iremacht pursed his lips and slapped some money at the person running the ring game. "Give us each five more. And quit rigging this game." He was joking but part of him naturally didn't like losing to a twelve-year-old.

M:   Poldara giggled at Iremach's frustration, he had been recording with his own phone because he wanted to show Wehrmacht and Germany later. When the militant asked for more rings, Poldara was getting even more competitive.

"Someone's getting jealous," he mocked, "It isn't rigged, you just need to learn to throw better."

He took his rings and threw four of them, three hit the inner sticks and he trick shot the fourth into the middle. Poldara wasn't finished making Iremacht jealous though, he gave the fifth ring to Mandoria to give a try. The eagle held it in his beak and threw it like a frisbee, the ring landed in the middle too.

"Nice shot buddy," Poldara complemented, he and Mandoria then high-fived with their wings.

L:   "What??" Iremacht exclaimed when even Mandoria made a center shot. "How is that - but he's a bird - how'd he throw - "

Iremacht hunkered himself down and focused with all his might on the circles of sticks. His first ring hit an outer stick, the second missed the inner stick but the third made it. He clutched his last two rings with a deep breath to calm his nerves.

He threw both rings in quick succession and, somehow, both made the center. His dumb luck didn't stop him from letting out a whoop of joy.

"That's what I'm talking about!" he said, pumping a fist at the air. He turned to the person running the game. "How many points are we at? Am I winning yet?"

M:   "Not even close," the man said, "the outer sticks are 10 points, inner sticks are 50, and the middle one is 100, you scored 340 and he scored 600, the bird scored 100."

Poldara and Mandoia let out celebratory screeches and high-winged each other again. "How about five more rings so Iremacht can try one more time, let him have his glory moment," he said.

L:   "You better believe I'm buying another five rings," Iremacht said, practically throwing money at the man.

This time Iremacht went first. He got a center shot in the beginning and another one in the end. The middle shots all hit the inner sticks. Iremacht straightened up proudly but his smile was nervous as he said to Poldara, "Your turn." He was fairly certain Poldara could beat his lead. "And you can't use Mandoria this time. That bird has bird's eye view or something, it just isn't the same."

Iremacht wagged his finger in front of Mandoria's face in a no-no gesture.

M:   Mandoria snapped at his finger, he wasn't trying to bite him, just telling him to get out of his face.

Poldara laughed, "I'm afraid that won't help you because that is my secret, I have the eyesight of a falcon. For us winged countries, we have certain abilities as the birds that our wings resemble. Dads, Uncle Kaz, and I have the eyes of falcons and eagles, and Uncle MA can see in the dark like owls."

When he was done with his anatomy lesson, he took his rings, which he figured should be his last ones, and threw them fast. He wasn't going to hold back this time and threw them all at the center stick.

"I decided I wasn't going to go easy on you this time," he said.

L:  Iremacht forced his mouth, which had fallen open, closed as he stared at the five rings stacked neatly on the center stick.

He folded his arms and said, "So that's the trick up your sleeve. You've got special eyes, like me." He added with a pout, "Well, I didn't use my Enhanced Mode this time, so none of this counts. And don't you dare post that video anywhere, Polds, I know you were recording."

Iremacht also gave the man running the booth a glare as if to say, "This didn't happen. I was not beaten by a 12-year-old. Speak and I'll kill you."

"Anyway, come on, let's try something new," Iremacht said, taking Poldara's hand and leading him away from the ring game so he didn't have to buy another round.

M:   Poldara laughed again, "Don't worry, I won't post it, I'm going to show it to your dad instead." Mandoria made a few noises that sounded like laughing.

As they walked away, Poldara decided he would be nice and led Iremacht to a water gun booth so he could have some fun. "Since we did something I wanted to do, let's do something you're good at this time."

L:   "Alright, now we're talking!" Iremacht rushed over to the water gun booth like a little kid and was instantly immersed in the game of shooting the hole in the target. There was a balloon attached to the top of the target that expanded as Iremacht shot more water at the center. The balloon popped very quickly.

"Ahah, another Mandoria eagle plushie," Iremacht said, collecting his prize. He waved it at the real Mandoria. "Looks like the folks here love you." Then he added, "Say, Polds, I wonder if your people make plushie versions of you or your parents or MA. I know Germany has plushie versions of himself. I made Ireland ban any plushie versions of me in his country. Can't have people sell my pretty face for profit."

M:   "They do of Dad and Uncle MA," Poldara said as he grabbed a water gun, "they even have detachable eyepatches so they can show off their eyes, Dad doesn't like it though because he doesn't like people seeing his blind eye. I don't have plushes because I'm too young, as for Mandoria, Lesser Spotted Eagles are our national bird."

The kid then started shooting, it was hard to aim with one hand so when his time ran out the balloon was only half-inflated.

"I think I still deserve a prize since you dragged me away from the ring toss before I could get one," Poldara grumbled to Iremacht.

L:   Iremacht chuckled at Poldara's grumpiness. He gave his eagle plush to Poldara.

"Now we each have one," Iremacht said. "So even when you're off to Poland's—"

He stopped as soon as he said that and started coughing in exaggeration. Poldara wasn't supposed to know about being sent to Poland yet. Iremacht wanted Poldara's parents to be the ones to tell him. His heart was pumping; he was really hoping not to screw up a second time with Poldara.