The Lost Scrolls of Nestor & Tinka 2022

Getting warmed up

The first Sunday morning, one of our favorite age-old traditions is 'the song' with our friends The Dregs at 9:30 AM. Right before the song begins, we are playfully warming up our voices. Nestor sings, "mi mi mi," and it slowly becomes an ego-maniacal, "Me. Me. Me...Me!"

I clearly see and hear what he's doing, "Nestor, take a deep breath, all the way in," he does. "There. now your ego is fully inflated."

He exhales laughing.

...

While this is my 'blog,' Nestor also has a way with words. He posted this to a group talking about 'war stories.' This is one of his lost scrolls:

Tinka Boudit finds enormous amounts of 4 Leaf Clovers every year, enough to make "business cards" to hand out. Black Dog Pottery made a mug that had 4 Leaf Clovers on them. So, I bought one for her. Her look of joy was pure magic.

...

Uncle Energy

Early in the morning before we start riddling, I stop by a neighboring booth and say hello and offer some pleasantries. The booth manager Kat was able to help me prior to the beginning of the season with some duct tape when I didn't have any and that was how we met. Kat's little girl Holly was there with her this morning; a ball of sweet energy all of five or six years old.

Holly was fascinated by my costume, especially my 'pet,' my giant elephant mouse Richard A. Richard A is fully accessorized with a mask, belt, pouch, and most recently a tiny coffee mug. Holly thought Richard looked thirsty and wanted to give him a drink of water. Cue Holly bringing her mug of water ready to pour over the front of my skirt to give Richard a drink. She doesn't though. She perfectly pours a few drops of water into his cup, which is about all his cup can hold. I make Richard 'drink' out of the cup and thank her with a bow.

Nestor starts to approach from down the lane. Holly shows us some of the treasures she has collected from the princesses and other cast members from the festival. Nestor pulls out a piece of his alchemist's gold, does a little slight of hand magic for her. I didn't know he could do that. Holly is too clever and points out how he did it. He gives her the piece of gold and I give her a four-leafed clover. She shows us the place she hides her treasures. Kat it grateful for us taking on a little 'uncle energy' as we call it this morning before they get breakfast.

...

Nice Pranks

I am not a fan of pranks and practical jokes. I think they tend to be too mean-spirited and when they tend to mess with someone's body or people's personal property, that's not okay. I am okay with nice jokes and pranks. Ones that the recipient laughs at, or appreciates, doesn't leave a mess - pleasant surprises, that kind of thing. (Last year someone left stuffed animals on a bunch of stages, the Riddlers got a teddy bear. We never found out who did it.) This is about a pair of nice pranks that included Nestor, Medestar, and myself.

Medestar is not a fan of Smurfs. Technically, he's never met a Smurf he didn't like. Maybe he's a brother or cousin to Gargamel, we will never know. But for whatever reason, in his words, "The little blue bastards have to di3." Before the season started, I was out running errands and I found gummi Smurfs. I knew who I had to tell first (Nestor) and where these were going. I had to wait until third weekend to execute my devious plan.*

*This is something I know would be okay. He would find funny. He would not be bothered by. We are friends. He is my 'Uncle'. Don't do this stuff to people you aren't bonded with.

Saturday night, after closing cannon and dinner, I place the sealed bag of Smurfs in Medestar's bed, he tends to go to sleep first. Nestor and I are outside the tent chatting. When Medestar goes in, we go quiet. My heart is racing; the anticipation is delicious! A few minutes go by and I hear the crinkling of the bag and a, "What the--...Alright, who put the blue bastards in my bed?"

Nestor laughs. I laugh uncontrollably hard, "I was told not to say anything without my lawyer present...I don't know what you're talking about!"

Medestar is not bothered by this simple, innocent prank. He was a little irritated the next day when Nestor said a riddle with every third word substituted with the word 'Smurf' though.

I thought the whole thing was over...until two weeks later.

Saturday morning, weekend five, before opening cannon, we head over to the booth to set up for the day...

Now to preface this a little, my character is a deer. I often make jokes about, "the nice people who leave buckets of apples, corn, and salt licks in the forest for me. Then they come around in the autumn with the shooty things, and then I don't know how to feel."

Back to Saturday morning, I get to the booth and there is a white pillar next to the booth. I cannot be contained, "Is that a salt lick? Is that a goddamned salt lick?!" I am grinning ear to ear. Nestor is there and enjoying the reaction, but it was Medestar who had the face of 'It was me.'

That was his return of the nice prank.

...

Sometimes people forget that here at the festival, we are NOT Disney and NOT TV. We have certain freedoms when it comes to reacting. There are things we won't do and there are things we will. This is a story of reacting in character.

Nestor and I are in booth and we hear a young man walk by and we hear him say to his friends, "Oh man, riddlers, I hate those guys."

*renaissance equivalent of a record scratch *

"You think we didn't hear that?" Nestor says.

"This is theater, not TV," I say.

"You, over here, bring your friends. We're fixing this," Nestor says and beacons him over. His friends do more of the pushing to bring him forward.

"Why do you hate us?" I ask.

"I hate that I can't solve riddles."

"We're gonna fix that."

We give him some riddles he and his friends solve. We build up their egos, we make them laugh and make sure they are enjoying themselves. They are ready to move on when I ask him to do one more riddle. It's a fill-in-the-blank riddle meant for children where the last line is the word 'friend.' He solves it.

"Are we friends now?" I ask.

"Yeah. We're friends," he says.

"Be careful what you say around here. That rope is there for your protection, not ours," Nestor says.

The group leaves with smiles and laughs. This is why we do what we do.

Thanks for being the best big brother, Nestor. For back scratches, laughs, good ideas, and bad times too: we are there. While these are 'the lost scrolls' I am endlessly grateful we found each other.