lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Susan went outside only a little after waking up, too, and almost immediately (after taking some time to cast a spell to transform Fluff, of course) went to practice swimming. Unfortunately for him, unlike Steven, it turns out that sea dragon tails aren't really meant for swimming, and so he's having a bit more trouble. The almost transparent fins it came with definitely help, but even once he's gotten the hang of it he's much slower than he really wants to be.

...But that's okay, because at least he can watch Steven and cheer for him as he races back and forth.

"You're so fast, I bet you could win any race!"

When Susan cheers, Steven is quick to notice, rerouting himself into a quick loop to get himself facing the right direction - only to spin through the water a few times with left over momentum. He brightens upon seeing the other kid, and zooms back towards where Susan is hanging out.

"Thanks! I mean - I don't know how fast everybody else is, but..." He pauses to check out Susan's bod. "Wow... so people are getting all kinds of fish butts, huh?"

Susan can't help but laugh at fish butts. He'd just been thinking of them as tails but it's funnier if it's butts.

"I guess so! Me and Lauren got the same kind though... Except his has all these leaves and stuff? But yours is totally different... It looks really neat."

Butts definitely make everything funnier. Steven puts his hands to his cheeks - both because that's cute and because he's flattered.

"Aw, you guys match?! That's adorable! My dad ended up being part walrus - he got the tusks and everything!" He laughs. "It's a crazy thing to wake up to, right? I'd be really confused if I wasn't already kind of used to this sort of thing."

He's never seen a walrus before, but that sounds pretty funny. But then Steven says that and he smiles, interested in that.

"Used to it? What do you mean, have you changed a lot before?" If course he can already see that Steven's changed here, but he figures he must mean something else if he's used to it.

"Yeah! I'm part gem, so that means I can shapeshift a little... even though when I do, it almost always goes bad for me..." He pauses to contemplate that for a moment, and then shrugs. "Most of the time it's been turning into an old man or a baby, but one time I accidentally turned into a bunch of cats."

"A bunch of cats? I don't think Lauren can do that... Only one cat." He stops for a minute, thinking about that.

"Well, I can do that too, actually, but I have to use a spell. Lauren can just do it without that, just with his magic without a spell."

Oh, but wait, there's something else there that isn't just rambling.

"What's a gem? Like a rock?"

"I don't recommend doing more than one cat, anyways," he says with a helpless shrug. "But.. a gem is a kind of person! Like... a different species? I'm half of one, which is why I have this thing."

He grabs the skin of his belly around his gem and jiggles it a little. The gem glows faintly.

"Oh, that makes sense! Well, I'm half elf so, all I have is my ears. It's not as cool as that." Not that he minds his ears, but still, if he could have a jewel instead it would be pretty neat.

Steven is surprise for a moment, but then he is just wildly enthusiastic about the idea. He looks thrilled.

"You're a half something too?!" he exclaims. "Oh my gosh, that's great!"

Steven's enthusiasm only serves to ramp up Susan's own, and if he had legs right now he would totally be bouncing in place excitedly. As it is he just nods with a wide grin.

"I am! My mom was an elf so I'm half-elf, and so is Lauren!"

⇨ ATLANTIS

fish friday

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