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

Well, at least Amethyst manages to get Lapis to give a snort of laughter at the fart noise and cloud of ink. She's not doing so hot under the ocean, but at least she's, er, not Malachite, so that's a bonus.

"Nice. Check this out." Lapis rolls her hand, and that cloud of ink that had been dispersing in the water all gathers up into a solid mass of black cloud. And then Lapis moves the water to make a black, inky copy of Amethyst.

Amethyst sputters a delighted guffaw. "Can you make it high five me?" She raises a hand. "What's uppp, fart clone!" Honestly she will find it just as funny if her hand passes straight through it as if Lapis concedes to make a high five happen, though.

The water clone matches the high five, because Lapis can cheat and make solid water without making the water ice? It's very confusing. After the high five said clone gives Amethyst finger guns.

She gives it finger guns back.

"Y'know, I like these things way better when they're not tryna murder me."

"Er. Sorry. About the whole trying to kill you thing." Lapis never actually apologized for that now did she? She sure meant it at the time, but now it's different? She should probably apologize for that.

"Ehh," Amethyst undulates a tentacle dismissively. "It's whatever. I've done dumber stuff than that."

A brief pause.

"Okay, maybe not dumber than stealing the ocean. But, y'know, pretty dumb."

Wow Amethyst, that's absolutely and totally helping. "Sorry. About that too. I just wanted to go home."

"Nah, I get it." She sticks her hand into the ink clone and waggles her fingers, possibly as an excuse not to make eye contact. "If I'd thought I could do something big and stupid to leave Earth and check out Homeworld instead I probably woulda done it." You know, before she found out she was a worthless defect. It's whatever! "So, y'know, don't sweat it."

The poor ink clone sits and takes having a hand wriggled through it.

"You wouldn't like it there. It's nothing like it used to be." Lapis does sound nostalgic, but it's definitely not the kind that can be fixed. 5,000 years is a long time. Even for a species that is in effect immortal. "Then again, there probably wouldn't even be a place for you there." She pauses. "No offense."

Amethyst snorts. "Yeah, I know that now. Pretty sure I got lucky, honestly, Earth is way better." She shrugs. "I'm just saying, I ain't judging."

"Earth is... fine." It's not Homeworld, but it's good for what it is, for everything that had happened. It's home now, though it seems like Lapis has angered some cosmic deity, because it seems like any time she has a 'home' it gets ripped away from her.

How long until she gets ripped away from the carnival?

She puts her hands behind her head, sort of leaning back in the water and gently undulating her tentacles to hold her position. "Ain't nobody there wants to crush my messed-up gem with their Diamond-size boot, counts as way better to me."

"Being a rebel probably doesn't help with that." Lapis points out very helpfully. "But you have a point, it would be unfortunate if someone were to shatter you." Look at Lapis, saying she doesn't mind Amethyst in a very roundabout way? Besides, it's not like she could go back again either, which is honestly still a little upsetting, even now.

Amethyst grins awfully. "Aww, you don't want me to diiie."

Edited 2017-01-31 00:44 (UTC)

"Peridot would be probably upset if that were to happen, so yes. I don't want you to die." Even outside of Peridot Amethyst is right? But Lapis has to at least keep up appearances.

Besides, she's only really salty about Pearl in particular. And a little bit at Garnet too, but she wasn't trapped in Garnets head.

"Heh, yeah, she'd be pretty bummed out," says Amethyst agreeably. "I mean, obviously, 'cause her taste is great."

"Could be better." That's not an insult. It's just Lapis being Lapis, and finally, she waves away the inky clone of Amethyst her hand. "You know, it's not so bad under the ocean. It's not as dark as I remember it being down here." Or maybe they're just not that deep.

Or maybe things are just generally more pleasant when you're not Malachite.

"Oh... yeah?" Amethyst watches the ink drift away into a formless cloud, and then glances, perhaps a little awkwardly, back at Lapis. "I mean, I guess this isn't the part of the ocean where all the fish start getting really grody..."

"Some of them are a lot nicer to look at in the dark, it's true." Just a bunch of colourful lines and dots, drifting in the deep. Sometimes one engulfing the other, you know, circle of life and all that.

"Did you, uh... see a lot of that stuff down there?" Amethyst scratches her nose. "Like, the weird fish?"

"Didn't see much except on the way down." It was, after all, a lightless abyss. "And on the way up." Besides, it's not like her or Jasper actually cooperated for more than a hot second to make a flashlight out of Malachites nose to look at the flora and fauna of the deep sea.

"Oh. Bummer."

Amethyst sort awkwardly of rubs the back of her neck and glances off to the side. BOY talking about Malachite is awkward.

"But... it's not so bad here, right?"

⇨ ATLANTIS

fart jokes

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