⇨ MAINFRAME

[ringleaders]

Who: EVERYONE.
When: Day 92 - Day 105
Where: Mainframe, the city inside a computer.
What: The carnival stops at its next location, a computer world full of computer people. Except, this time it's not the Matrix, don't worry.
Warnings: Nothing inherently suspect here.

THIS PLACE, MAINFRAME↴ After the Nightrunners have done their search, you will be welcome to enter the tree portal into Mainframe. There is no loading room this time - instead, any alternations will occur as you pass through the portal. Remember to wear your icon buttons! If you aren't wearing one, you won't be able to pass through the portal, and during your stay you will not be able to remove it. The portal is currently opening into a forested area of Mainframe, filled with a bunch of sort of low res trees. A large section of a residential area has just been nullified by a Game Cube. A large quantity of former sprites and binomes are now wandering the city in the form of null worms, and the rest of the city is generally in a panic. You'll be able to learn about the details of what happened if you ask the locals, though they will act incredulous if you behave as if you don't know what a Game is. Just tell them you and the others just arrived from a different "system" in the "Net." Yeah, that seems to allay their suspicion. Nailed it. Here is a convenient map of the Mainframe from the original cartoon, which this setting is more or less based on. This Mainframe is larger and lacking areas dedicated to specific characters (no Megabyte or Dot's Diner), but is laid out basically the same, for reference's sake. ► LOW RES: Your glamour will come into affect as soon as you cross through the portal, and while you are here your body will function like a weird mixture of its original self and the formatting of a program. You can eat their food and use their amenities, but if one of them were to look at your coding it would be obviously foreign to them. Also, maybe your skin has turned blue, or green, and your clothes are suddenly way more 90's scifi? Maybe you look like a giant number 7 to other people. This place is weird, aesthetically speaking. ► RELIEF EFFORTS: For the altruist out there, you can offer help to the locals that are trying to recover from the recent Game loss. The buildings that were caught within the Cube's range are twisted and burnt out, as if the energy has been sucked right out of them, and it sounds like all the losers were transfigured into slugs. You might want to avoid Game Cubes if any show up. Just an FYI. (As if that will happen.) In the meantime, you can console the programs whose family members are now works, or help try to clean up the buildings that are now falling apart. Or, you can ignore all of this. That's cool, too. ► VIBRANT CULTURE: Despite being weird computer program people made of boxes and spheres, the people of Mainframe seem to live their lives much the same ways humans do. They have TV programs, restaurants, and other shops that you can buy weird 90's computer world bullshit from. There's even a Hollywood inspired area, where you can go to shows. They also have some neato hoverboard things you can fly around on. As usual, the Ringmaster will be giving people an allowance to buy any modest souvenirs or necessities during their stay. Feel free to be creative about fleshing out sections of the city! The mods barely remember the details of this show, either.

Comments

Low Res

[fortuneglass]

Ahhh~ [Carly, for her part, did not just go 'full humanoid'. She practically colour inverted, with her skin going orange and her orange markings going inky black. And also shiny.

She's very shiny.] What cool marks~ Though, your ears look a little strange now...

[amusicaladventure]

Oooh, you look wil-- huh? [Carly saves herself for once, as her comment distracts Ash. She tries to look up, futilely, at her ears. On the other hand, not being able to see them is a good sign in some ways...] What's with my ears?

[fortuneglass]

Mnn? They sort of look like how your tail does right now?

[amusicaladventure]

Whaat? [She slaps her hands to her ears and, yep -- they feel different. Definitely boxy and not even furry, they're just textured polygons.]

[Ash practically wilts.] Oh, great, I bet they look really stupid, don't they?

[fortuneglass]

EH!? N-Not at all!! [Carly jumps, waving her hand in fluster.] I'm surprised they're here at all, that's it..!!

My wings disappeared, and so did my tail, and everything else...it's really nice that you got to keep those~

[amusicaladventure]

Catgirls are pretty standard video game icons, after all. I'm just lucky I don't have a giant Croftian parallelogram on my chest.

[fortuneglass]

I guess...they're pretty popular in a lot of things actually, [Carly notes, crossing her arms.] ...Croftian?

[amusicaladventure]

Okay, see, back in the day when video games were really low poly, there was a girl whose chest was just -- [Ash draws a bigass triangle in front of her own chest.]

[insidescoop]

Hehhhhhh... [She... ...Well. She doesn't know what you say to that.] ...Anything to get an image across, huh...

[amusicaladventure]

T&A sells. It's a miracle they keep you behind the scenes back at the show, you know. [Ash winks brightly, though the gesture is a little off -- being as her eye goes from open to closed without a transition in between.]

[fortuneglass]

[.........................Yeah the eye caught her most.] ....This place is definitely more weird than I expected...

[amusicaladventure]

[Hey they had to skimp on animation frames SOMEWHERE.]

Really? 'Cuz name one place that's been more normal than you would've expected.

[insidescoop]

[She pauses. She thinks for a moment-]

The Sci-Fi Utopia~

...It was more like a nicer version of home, really.

[amusicaladventure]

The what-what?

[Blink. (Weird weird blink.)]

Any place with 'utopia' in the name is automatically suspicious in my book...

[fortuneglass]

I guess that's fair...

It really wasn't a bad place though! It was a 'real' Utopia~!

[amusicaladventure]

Really? [Despite her suspicions, she can't help but be curious.] What was it like?

[insidescoop]

It was...

[...She goes a bit quiet.] ...It was sort of like home, actually. Except if things were better-if there was no Satellite, no 'Tops'... ...It was really nice...

[amusicaladventure]

That doesn't tell me a lot, y'know. I don't actually know much about the world you came from.

[fortuneglass]

Ehe... ..I guess not...

...But there was a really big class divide where I came from-and no motion to help the ones who were suffering at all, basically. It was really nice to see a place where that wasn't the case..!

[amusicaladventure]

Oh. Ew.

[Ash makes a face (that, also, looks just a bit uncanny-valley), and decides she needs to stop asking.]

So that was the nicest place you saw while you've been in the carnival?

[insidescoop]

The nicest one? [Hmmmm...Very Good Question, actually. She frowns, and thinks it over.] Hmmmn...

Probably a mix of the Summerlands, and Alola, actually~ That pokemon place was just so nice and warm, and just 'real' enough that it wasn't right out of a fantasy..!

...The Summerlands were just good for sleeping though...

[amusicaladventure]

All these warm beachy places and I have yet to see you in a bikini. [Ash tuts, grinning.] Alola was pretty nice if you don't mind how weird the whole Pokemon thing is, I'll give you that!

[fortuneglass]

I-I-

You know I've worn mine at the springs in the carnival grounds right!?

[amusicaladventure]

And yet I keep missing you there! How about we go together sometime?

[insidescoop]

Th-

If you want to join me so bad just join me..!!! You're making it feel like it's something way more serious than that!!