lostcarnival | ⇨ ATLANTIS

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⇨ ATLANTIS

Who: Everyone!
When: The morning of D44 and onward.
Where: The ocean realm of Atlantis.
What: The carnival abruptly arrives at an underwater realm, and everyone is transfigured into merpeople just as suddenly.
Warnings: Body horror, I guess.

THE CITY OF ATLANTIS↴

The visit starts without much warning, but at least there is a full week of free time before performances start. In the meantime, your characters will be given ample opportunity to adjust their acts for an underwater audience, get used to their new fishy appendages, or just spend the whole time enjoying the sights and sounds of Atlantis city. King Triton will not be immediately seen, but it's possible to gain an audience with him if you get in contact with the ambassadors of the kingdom. Just, make sure that you're not wasting his time. He's a lot less patient with nonsense than the Ringmaster is.

► FISH FRIDAY: You fell asleep, whether or not that's something you usually do, and the next morning you wake up as one of the merfolk. A few last additions may grow in after you're awake, but for the most part everyone will have a method of swimming and a method of breathing underwater transfigured into them upon waking. Don't worry about your belongings - everything is waterproofed, and technology will work the same underwater as it does above it. That doesn't mean there won't be plenty to get used to, though.

► GREAT BLUE YONDER: The ocean realm where Atlantis resides is enormous, and the depths seem to be unending. Despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be any surface, sun glimmers all the way down to the ocean floor. Atlanteans use creatures like whales and dolphins as rides and beasts of burden, and they can be seen swimming in and out of the city as constantly as roadways filed with cars in earth civilization. Beyond that, there's everything you would expect to see on the ocean floor here - huge reefs of coral, both familiar and exotic, enormous ocean plants, deep ocean trenches, and all kinds of weird critters living in them. There are a mix of mythical and standard ocean creatures, and are likely a combined populations of many oceans worth of beings.

► THE ATLANTEAN MARKET: The Atlantean market (aka the "merket") is a long trench between rows of buildings in the middle of the city, lit with bio-luminescent plants and rocks, and filled with all kinds of weird mer stuff that you can buy. There are a great many individual booths, mostly with hand crafted wares and objects that have been salvaged from various sunken ships. The Ringmaster has already traded a large number of goods to the merfolk here, and has taken the profit to award each worker with 100 Atlantean Gold to spend as they please. One gold is worth roughly five USA dollars, for a comparison of how much that is. There is a top level set up below in which characters can make their purchases, and you can also handwave the purchase of random common, necessary items (food, drink, etc) at your convenience.

► TREASURE HUNTING: Right now, the only major salvage areas are a few left over sunken ships that have mostly been picked over by the merfolk. However, you are welcome to head over to them and explore, and see if fortune smiles on you when it comes to finding anything that hasn't been taken yet. The current options are three similar looking brigantine that all probably came from the same world. Merfolk do not seem to consider them to be anything extraordinary, though magical items and gold have allegedly been found within them. Whether or not anything is left, is the real question.

► LIMELIGHTING: Merfolk are curious and generally socially forward, as a species. This mean that they find the carnival's workers to be a fascinating novelty, and also are unafraid to make that fascination obvious. Given the opportunity, merfolk will demand your character's attention for bombardments of questions and for general socializing, especially if they are particularly unusual for some reason. Don't be surprised if you get invited to stay at total stranger's houses, or dragged off to a merfolk bar to surprise party with their friends. They'll let you say no, reluctantly, but they will also be pleased as punch to get up in your gill.

It's also possible to make some money, this way, if you're willing to do street performances, or are willing to sell your "skills" in a more private environment. Yes, there are opportunities to become a fish hooker if you are so inclined. Merfolk may also offer money to take you as arm candy to various public events, escort style. They don't consider this to be a particularly socially inappropriate thing to do, either.

You can ask general questions about this setting over on the event post. There are top levels below for buying Atlantean merch, and also for making dolla dolla, if your character is inclined to try.

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Lauren is sitting to the side of the center ring. His tail is large and a bit strangely shaped. Seaweed like fronds stick out of it and out of his back in various places. He hasn't quite figured out swimming yet so he's just staying still while watching Childermass try and rework their act.

"Do we even need the cloth at all?"

"No, but the more eyes on you, the more difficult the spell becomes," Childermass explains.

He watches the cloth drift a moment longer, then swims forward to snatch a corner and reel it back in. He wraps it around his arm the same as he'd done before when they had been doing this without the water.

"Even with actual magic, redirection is a useful tool."

He frowns. He understands what Childermass is saying, but that doesn't mean he has to like it.

"I could change into a smaller animal?" It's not a great suggestion but, if he's smaller it might be harder for people to spot him."

"Now the problem with that is no one wants to see something small menace someone," he'll, unfortunately, have to point out. It simply wouldn't be as entertaining.

"Although speaking of different forms, you'll need to pick a new animal altogether. A hippogriff isn't meant for life under the sea."

He figured it wouldn't be that easy, still, it was at least worth mentioning out loud.

"So a shark or something?"

"A shark fighting a shark?"

It's an idea, though one Childermass must find humorous since he actually smiles a crooked kind of smile, sharp teeth and all.

"It could work, but you'll have to be scarier than I am."

Lauren just rolls his eyes. It wasn't amusing and Childermass was dumb for thinking it was. Not really though. He was just, annoyed, and unfortunately he wasn't good at hiding it.

"You're not scary."

Edited 2017-01-19 01:59 (UTC)

"And you are in a poor mood," Childermass replies.

He'll unwrap the cloth from around his arm again and propel himself closer to Lauren's side of the center ring with a flick of his tail. It's only until he's in range to ball up the red cloth and toss it to the young man, the mass of it rolled all together like that making it travel through the water better.

"Is the water really that disagreeable?"

Lauren looks away. He hadn't been trying to hide his bad mood, but still, it was annoying to Childermass point it out like that. Sometimes a person could be in a bad mood for no reason! It didn't have to be because of the water. Of course, it was, but still. It was rude to just make assumption like that. After all, it was normal to be upset about suddenly walking up and finding your legs missing, wasn't it? He honestly didn't know how everyone else was handling it that well.

He reaches up, catching the cloth as it gently floats his way. Even when does want to share his feelings with other people he doesn't know how. That's the most annoying thing of all.

"Yes." Well, that was the honest answer after all. He was really starting to hate it here lately. "I don't really like people changing me around without my consent."

Polite wasn't a word many people would use to describe him, so he'd hardly be shocked to know Lauren thought him rude at the moment. It also wouldn't stop him, which would likely be no surprise to anyone else. In any case, that Lauren actually shares that much is the surprise of the day all on its own.

"No one does," Childermass replies, idly folding his arms across his chest while he drifted above the center ring. "Or at least, no one should. Although you are the one who can already shapeshift. There's nothing stopping you from picking a form you'd rather spend time as."

Lauren just frowns at the ground. That seemed the inevitable retort in any conversation like this.

"I can't change part way. I can't talk as another animal. I am not treated the same as another animal." He isn't good at explaining himself, he doesn't know if what he's saying makes sense, but those were just some of the reasons a simple shapechange wasn't an appropriate solution. And just because he could shapeshift didn't mean he should have to. What about the people without his abilities? He was sure he wasn't the only one who felt like this, even Chilldermass had agreed to that much.

The worst part of it all, of course, was that he didn't even really understand why it was all having such an effect on him. He didn't like things he didn't understand. He liked knowing what was expected. This place didn't care to be understood or to follow his expectations. He really was just being a stupid child.

"Just forget it."

If he were more given to saying everything that crossed his mind, he's sure he would have pointed out that Lauren doesn't seem to talk all that much anyway. That, however, would be unhelpful and so he does not. No, instead he'll go with,

"I'm afraid I cannot." If this is going to interfere with his job, it's suddenly his problem as well as Lauren's. "If you have anything else to say, you may as well get it out. Sitting on it and sulking isn't going to help you in the least."

Because Childermass is sure it isn't only the most recent sudden and unexpected change. He's long since outgrown the same kind of anger that goes hand in hand with having little control over life, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten it. Although he would be the first to admit his own problems, that long ago, involved a hell of lot less fairy magic.

He scowls, starting to feel frustrated. He didn't have anything else to say! That's why he'd stopped talking in the first place.

"What do you want to hear? That I hate it here? That I want to go home?"

He thought all of that was pretty obvious without him commenting on it. He feels like he's being berated and that makes him even more irritated than before. Why did everyone always tell him to talk? If he knew what to say he would have said it in the first place. Was he just supposed to say aloud everything he thought of as he thought of it? This place was just the worst. That was really all there was to it.

"I don't know what you're expecting." He fiddles with the stupid wet cloth turning it over in his hands. It'd be so much easier to do what people wanted if they just told him what they were asking for the first time.

"That you hate it here and you want to go home is a start," Childermass tells him. Yes, it had been obvious, but obvious isn't the point. It isn't to criticize, either, though with how indifferent the magician tends to act, he wouldn't be surprised if it comes out that way regardless.

"You can do something about one of those."

Clearly not the 'want to go home' part, not yet.

"Now, is there anything about the place you like instead? Even just a small thing."

He's still not meeting Childermass' gaze, feeling both embarrassed and frustrated. He's still fidgeting with the thing in his hands, a nervous gesture, as he tries to think.

"...Susan seems happy here. I guess." That was one good thing. Susan could be happy at home though. It wasn't like he was unhappy before, but it was clear he liked being here. He did like being away from Phlan and the disaster that had occurred, but just because he was away from it all didn't mean it hadn't happened. It just made it easier not to think about. His shoulders slump.

"The beds soft. The foods fine."

Edited 2017-01-19 16:56 (UTC)

Childermass will remain patient, floating idly around the center ring of the tent. He can't exactly tread water to stay in one spot, nor does he truly need to with water all around them like this.

"I would imagine so. There's more to explore here than any other boy could possibly hope for," he will idly comment on that part, at least. Children and adventure tend to go hand in hand, even in complete disregard of safety. "Anything else? How about the other workers?"

There's enough that they can't all have been deemed dreadful. At least, that's the hope, but considering how odd some of them are...

He shoulders sag even further. People; his weak spot. He was sure some of them had to be interesting, but with his habit of making poor first impressions and overall shyness there wasn't really anyone he could connect with. Childermass was okay, in a stern old man kind of way. Carly was alright, if also slightly annoying. Greg was fine, but he was older too, the kind of person you went to for advice, not the kind of person you had fun hanging out with. Eventually he just shrugs, unable to really think of anyone that would make this place bearable.

"I guess I'm not much good at talking to strangers."

Well, it wasn't as though he couldn't understand some of that. Strangers may not bother Childermass, but he couldn't honestly say he was attached to anyone here with the one grand exception of Strange and that... That was complicated. A mess, for the most part.

"We haven't been here too long, so perhaps you only need to give it time," will be the best advice he can offer on that after a moment of thought. It's not the best, but there's only so much you can do. "I imagine this is a far cry from what you're used to."

He nods, it was definitely a very different place than where he'd lived before. It wasn't just the technology either, or the different worlds. It was the people, they way they talked and thought. He didn't understand it.

"It isn't... I never know what to expect."

"Consider it good practice, then," which is probably yet another thing Lauren doesn't want to hear, but Childermass still thinks there's some truth in it. "You won't always know what to expect, even in your own world."

'Expect the unexpected' is something he recalls Strange going on about before, though in that particular case, he hadn't been too happy about that himself. Funny how he's using it later.

"But you can learn what to anticipate if you're experienced enough. Here," he adds at the end, moving to hold his hands up. "Throw that back this way. We still have some work to do."

He doesn't like hearing it, not at all. He looks more confused and upset than when they'd started their conversation, but he swims a bit higher, to a 'standing position' before throwing the cloth back Childermass' way. He didn't want to work on this act any longer, and frankly, he couldn't see the point in it now that he'd decided to stop acquiescing to the Ringmaster's demands. Still he didn't want to leave Childermass in a lurch.

"Maybe we should stop for today."

Childermass catches the balled up cloth and, looking over it at Lauren, arches an eyebrow questioningly. The look itself questions the decision, but what he'll answer with doesn't carry through on it. He's not going to expend much more effort on the young man today if he's still floundering on through this mess.

"If you're sure," he replies with a shrug and tucks the cloth under one arm. "But we will have to do something about it sometime, sooner than later."

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⇨ ATLANTIS

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