Performance and Dreamcatchers

[pipers_son]

Who: Joker, those working entertainment, and whoever wants to do fun arts and crafts
When: The day after the orientation, and then after the ringmaster's announcement
Where: The Big Tent and one of the side stages, respectively
What: Joker gets his performing ducks all in a row, and then does an arts and crafts corner. As you do. Mingle log!

At around ten in the morning, as he told a few other workers and anyone who'd been listening in on the walkie talkies, Joker starts to radio in those who are working under him to meet up in the big top. Hope you had breakfast and not a hangover! Of course, for anyone who tries not to attend, Joker will cheerfully hunt them down and bother them into going.

Sorry, mandatory, you know how it is.

It's later in the day, after the ringleaders' own announcement, that eventually Joker makes another of himself, this time to the general channel. It's an invitation to one of the side stages to make dreamcatchers together, for anyone who still craves company or simply doesn't know what the hell a dreamcatcher even is. Along with that, Joker has taken it upon himself to make sure signs advertising this are plastered all over the carnival.

He drew them himself. Please appreciate the scribbled stars.

Comments

[fragileandsoft]

[ Greg himself sent out a brief radio message--if anyone's interested, Greg's likely to be around and available to teach people whenever he's not taking care of his specific job duties. He is, after all, a pretty artsy guy, and a crafty project like this is well within his wheelhouse. Even with supplies this expensive and this rare, the act itself is distinctly normal, and Greg's happy to spend as much time as needed on it instead of the carnival stuff.

Do not mistake that, however, as a sign he'll be working on making dreamcatchers the entire time he's there. Greg just likes the environment of making things, and wants to spend his extra time in that atmosphere of creativity. Upon first approach, he's as likely to be making his own dreamcatcher as he is picking at a guitar, or maybe drooling asleep on the desk.

Maybe... maybe not the best first impression. ]

[starseedling]

This stuff is so nice!

[Steven is pontificating about how pretty the supplies are as he tries to wrap the frame of his potential dreamcatcher in leather. He's got a full rainbow of gemstones laid out in front of him to use, and has been fawning over them for probably the last half hour or so.]

She must have all kinds of stuff stored up, if the carnival has been going as long as people say it has. If these are just the supplies, I wonder what the reward is?

[He isn't really motivated by the reward, exactly, so much as he's motivated by curiousity. Besides, this is pretty much as much his thing as Greg's.]

[fragileandsoft]

Maybe a really nice holiday bonus? Or vacation time to a tropical dimension.

[ He's carefully examining feathers for which ones are, in scientific terms, pretty cool. It's a technical and very involved process, but he is an expert. ]

Or maybe it's a really nice tea blend or something. A lady who's got everything, maybe she likes the little stuff most.

[starseedling]

I like tea! ...If I can put sugar in it, anyway.

[Otherwise he thinks it's a little bit bland, which is probably why its one of the only things Pearl would ever consider digesting.]

I wonder what these scales are, they're really cool...

[He holds one up between his fingers, the iridescent rainbow sheen glimmering in the light.]

[fragileandsoft]

All the stuff here is pretty high-scale. [ was that pun even on purpose or ] Wonder if the fancier stuff catches better dreams or not... I thought twigs and string did the job pretty well.

[starseedling]

Do you think the dreamcatchers back home actually caught things? I mean, I guess it's kind of hard to tell if you never had something.

[He's finished with the frame, and is currently poking his tongue out as he tries to start weaving the thread around it.]

Maybe she just wants them to look extra pretty. Or maybe this stuff just doesn't seem fancy when you're from a magic carnival. Maybe they have just jewels and stuff just lying around!

[puddingemote]

[Tamaki is not particularly interested in making the dreamcatchers, though since everyone else is he's been trying to put one together. It doesn't look very nice, though, with random feathers and scales haphazardly mixed together.

He doesn't really pay Greg any attention until he starts playing his guitar, which is when he stops what he's doing and looks up to listen. When Greg slows down or ends a song, he speaks up.]

Are you a singer?

[fragileandsoft]

[ Greg looks up from tightening his strings to Tamaki. ]

Me? Yeah, I'd say so. Not officially around here, I mean, but the rock never leaves the star. Why, you got any requests?

[ It's mostly a joke. He has serious doubts people from all across different realities have the same music library to pull from. ]

[puddingemote]

[Tamaki looks surprised at the offer anyway, his eyes getting wide.]

Really? Do you know anything by Douglas Rootbank?

[Probably not, since he only exists in Tamaki's universe.]

[fragileandsoft]

Uhh... 'fraid not.

[ Still, he twangs at a few strings, trying to sound out what sort of music a "Douglas Rootbank" might make. Folksy, maybe? Something country... ]

You a music fan yourself?

[puddingemote]

[Whatever kind of music Douglas Rootbank plays, Tamaki doesn't seem interested in explaining (he never is).]

I'm an idol. I sing too!

[He shrugs.] But I'm supposed to be an acrobat here.

[dragonsattendant]

[ Once she's had enough practice for the day, she heads over to a familiar face. There was something else on her mind, and he looks like he knows what he's doing. ]

Hi, Mr. Greg! Um, is what you're working on there, one of the "dreamcatchers" that the Ringmaster mentioned? I don't know what they even look like, so...

[fragileandsoft]

[ He's been messing around with this for a while, tuning in and out. Her company is welcome as a chance to refocus. ]

Oh, Medli! You came at a good time, I was just about to start a new one. Pull up a chair, I'll show you the ropes! Or the strings, I guess.

[dragonsattendant]

[ She nods, pulling out a chair and plopping down on it. ]

It'd be much appreciated. I just need to know what I'm supposed to do. I'm not very good at winging it.

[ bird jokes ]

[fragileandsoft]

[ He chuckles appreciatively. ]

Don't worry. They take a little time to make, but once you know the steps it's pretty relaxing. [ Too relaxing, if the napping is anything to go by. ]

Think of it like making a net, to catch bad dreams in.

[waitingforplayer2]

[ The good thing about somebody sleeping is that it probably means he'll be asleep for a little while. It can't hurt to take her gaming console out for a bit. Psii isn't watching.

She sits sort of near him, in the shadows where hopefully nobody'll notice her playing, and turns her game on, eyes flicking expertly across the screen as the game continues. The volume's a little louder than normal, not that she notices - with these ears, everything sounds louder.

Her eyelids start to droop the more she plays; it's been a tough week, after all. Before she knows it she's dozing, too, the game hanging loosely from her hands as she snoozes, slumped towards Greg and bumping his elbow. ]

[fragileandsoft]

[ The sensation is hardly an unfamiliar one, dozing off with someone. He's woken up plenty of times with his son nodded off against him, and as he blinks awake he expects to see Steven by his side. It takes a few bleary seconds for him to register her as a complete stranger.

Greg stares at her for a few moments. Then, gives her a tired smile. Even with the ears, she looks pretty new. It's been hard enough for him to get used to things, he can imagine how exhausted she is. There's so many young people here...

Carefully, he takes her game from her hand; if she dropped it, it'd be hard to find somewhere to fix it. Though, he hasn't used one of these kinds of systems ever. How do you pause--is there a way to power down without losing her save? Well, he can at least figure out the volume--oh god no wait that was the wrong direction ]

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Chiaki startles awake at the loud noise, fingers unconsciously gripping for the trigger to fend off invading aliens -- only to find that the handheld has disappeared. She blinks sleepily as she looks around for the source. ] Hmm?...

[ Oh, she probably woke him up. ] Oh, sorry...

[fragileandsoft]

[Whoop. Guess he botched that.]

Oh, no no. I didn't mean to wake you. [Even if it's too little too late, he goes ahead and turns down the volume proper this time.]

You can keep napping, if you want. You look pretty tuckered out.

[waitingforplayer2]

Mm... no, I should stay awake... [ She rubs her eyes and looks back at the console, which displays a bright red GAME OVER. ]

There's a lot to do.

[spaghettimonster]

[Arts and crafts? Ones that they need to be making, per orders of the boss, for mysterious reasons? Sign him up!

So after Greg's message, Papyrus shows up to the meeting place. A couple of times, having no idea when Greg's duties are, and finding it easier to just show up and wait around than ask about it. By the third time, somebody's at the desk, surrounded in dreamcatcher supplies... and sleeping.]

Hey! I don't want to make a used dreamcatcher!

[Hope you like being woken up by loud skeletons, Greg.]

[fragileandsoft]

Guh-- bwaah--!!

[ The loudness got his eyes open, and the skeleton part took care of everything else. At least he was sunk low enough in his chair not to fall out of it. ]

Oh, uh. Ha. Geez, sorry, I--h-ha, at, at least you know they'll work right, huh? Uhh. [ Greg clears his throat, straightening out his pile of supplies as he tries to get his heart rate down. He's caught sight of more than one skeleton worker over the last week, it's just a startling thing to see fresh out of dreams. ]

Can I--did you need help with something?

[spaghettimonster]

[As much as Papyrus is ever serene, he serenely ignores Greg's alarm by going right into answering. After all, if he was genuinely scared and wanted Papyrus to know it, he wouldn't just go to trying to help! Right? Right!]

Yes! You're the one on the radio, right? [He doesn't pause for a response] I need help with dreamcatchers! Making them! I've never made one before. I don't even know what they are.

[Sure, there's all these construction materials and half-made ones lying around on the desk, but who even knows what they're supposed to look like as finished products. Papyrus sure doesn't.]

[fragileandsoft]

Oh! Yeah, then you came to the right guy!

[ See, this is fine. This is normal. A normal guy with a normal request, and it just so happens there's no skin involved. He doesn't have to make this weird. ]

Pull up a chair, I'll show you the ropes... or the strings, really. [ He's been getting mileage out of that pun ]

[spaghettimonster]

[Just a couple of totally normal guys, making dreamcatchers so they don't die the next time they fall asleep. There's plenty of weird here without anybody adding to it.

Papyrus surveys the area as he pulls a chair over and settles on it. There's a lot of strings scattered through these supplies... His pun senses tingle.]

Oho, I get it! The strings 'catch' the dreams!