⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 138 - Day 152
Where: The Summerlands
What: The Ringmaster brings the carnival to the Summerlands immediately after being freed from Portland so that everyone can take a fucking nap. Her included.
Warnings: Individually marked! Most likely discussion of torture and trauma in here.

DAYS OF SUMMER↴ You made it! And things are back to normal... more or less. Upon waking, you will be greeted with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze – the carnival has found itself situated between a pair of mountain peaks, with great fields of flowers extending in the distance. In the other direction, you’ll see mountain-top cities and tall waterfalls accenting vast swaths of forest. Some of you will already know this place. It’s the Summerlands. You game here once to rest in safety nearly a year ago, and now you’ve come to rest once again. ► WAKING UP: Shortly after the carnival arrives, the Ringmaster will send out a somewhat cryptic radio message - but her immediate location won't be clear. Whatever items you had on your person at the time the Severing was broken will still be on your person, including whatever clothing. All of the animals and pets of the carnival will have returned to the grounds as well, though they are currently free from their designated living spaces. Things in the carnival will appeared to have naturally aged a month, as if the carnival was been sitting here empty and waiting while everyone was in Portland. The lawn needs mowing. ► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, they will welcome you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but they will not be particularly offended if they are turned down, for now. ► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will mostly enjoy the company of any carnival members that offer it - it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do. ► NEW ARRIVALS: Though the Ringmaster will not be offering much guidance for the first week or so, eventually the carnival will begin running for a few small performance sessions, off and on, as a thank you to their fae hosts. The carnival will also be open to receiving new arrivals during that period, and so there will likely be some newbies to train and get orientated as well.

Comments

[hippocarnival]

Eh? [Yuya stops as Yugo does, hunching a bit as the need to propel forward stops taking up the forefront of his mind. Is Yugo offering a piggyback ride...?

Now that he has the moment to look, Yugo's still so much taller and bigger than Yuya. He knows he's been in the carnival longer, so that's expected. But it's still a little weird when his impression of him is still that they should be almost identical.]

... Fine. [Better to hitch a ride than have to turn back because Yugo decides he can't handle it or something. So he climbs right on his counterpart's back.]

[bananaspeedrider]

[But of course, just because Yugo looks the part of being big and strong doesn't mean he doesn't take a few moments trying to get used to a new weight on his back that's practically his well-fed self from early carnival days minus these extra fae parts.]

Hah. Makes me wish I could fly like Clear Wing too...

[Perhaps he should look into it. But finally he starts off again.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya holds on tightly as he go. He doesn't exactly hitch rides with other people like this, so when Yugo mentions Clear Wing, he's instead reminded of the way it feels to ride on Odd-Eyes during their duels. Briefly, he wonders if Odd-Eyes wishes he could fly too.

He pulls the card out of his pocket, looking at it with a small smile. It's really been a while.] How's Clear Wing doing? It feels like Odd-Eyes has been really upset since we got back...

[He can't really blame him. He did just get abandoned for a month--even if it wasn't intentional.]

[bananaspeedrider]

Blowing the whole thing off as if it was just one long break from being with me all the time. But you could probably guess as well as I can how he really feels.

[Disgruntled, no matter what his dragon insisted was the true reason. No big deal now.]

Not like we could have helped what happened so from here the only thing to do is make up for lost time, yeah?

[hippocarnival]

[They really haven't been separated from their dragons even since they were Zarc, have they? Even if Yuya didn't remember, he knows Odd-Eyes did... so he can take a pretty good guess how Clear Wing must really be feeling, losing its master like that.

He holds Odd-Eye's card closer to his chest.] That's right. We definitely won't abandon them.

[He owes his monsters some quality time once he's recovered, though.] I should take Gongenzaka up on that offer to duel...

[bananaspeedrider]

[At the thought of dueling it makes Yugo pause to try and find a reply. It's not like he can help thinking about having a hypothetical duel with his Standard counterpart, but despite how otherwise calm the dragons are and the Ringmaster's diligent watch for most dangers to the carnival...]

... Heh! If Jack Atlas is still around here, then there's no way I'm going without dueling him! One of these days real soon...!

[hippocarnival]

You'll have to wait for a place with streets before you can have a riding duel. [He points out helpfully. For a moment he considers asking Yugo if he noticed anything strange about Jack's memories, but... decides that's likely only going to be a confusing and fruitless conversation.] But don't let that stop you from challenging him! Someone has to fill the spot of Duel King in Synchro!

[And Yuya's got his own dimension to stay in.]

[bananaspeedrider]

[With memories of a certain tournament coming to mind...]

Did you end up winning the Friendship Cup? ... It got pretty close to it being between us for the semi-final duel didn't it?

[A good thing, in the end. But it still sucks to think about being so close yet not close enough to accomplishing a childhood dream.]

[hippocarnival]

Oh--yeah! [That's right, Yugo just sort of disappeared again while he was dueling Yuri. It was Yuzu's bracelet again, wasn't it? He smiles a bit fondly at the memory, even if everything surrounding it was chaotic--they'd at least succeeded in calming the city and having a great duel after all.] Yeah, I did. But I didn't stay. I went to save Yuzu, and when I finally found her... that's when we got thrown into another dimension again. I ended up in the XYZ dimension. Yuzu went straight to the Fusion dimension, right?

[bananaspeedrider]

Yeah no stops in between as far as I know. But her bracelet is definitely what threw me and that bastard Yuri into Fusion.

[Look as "cool" as the four of them may eventually get to- it'll be hard to get over... disliking their fusion counterpart for some time no matter the guy's genuine sob story.

.... If one uses the "illegitimate child" definition, is this a pot calling a kettle black?]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya frowns. His last interaction with Yuri was a vicious, angry duel after he carded his father... something that's still agonizing to think about. It's hard, right now, not to hate him, even knowing that they're the same person--the same way he can't fully accept Zarc.

He knows Yugo feels the same, but he doesn't want to sit here and mope together about how much they don't like Yuri. So he lets out a sigh and gently tucks Odd-Eye's card back into his pocket.] Can your D-Wheel ride on grass?

[bananaspeedrider]

It could maybe, but I don't have it equipped right now for this kind of off-road stuff. All the long grass and flowers everywhere wouldn't be good even if I went as slow as I needed to.

[Not that he doesn't have the right parts to swap into.]

But what are you asking for, I'm fine...! No problems here!

[Such a statement is slowly becoming a blatant lie.]

[hippocarnival]

I was just asking! [Though he does shift over a bit to see how Yugo's fairing. He's not super heavy, he knows, but Yugo's also no body builder. Or maybe he is now with these rare changes, Yuya doesn't know.

Speaking of those...] How long have you been with the carnival, anyway? I know it changes us, but you're a lot bigger now.

[bananaspeedrider]

[Bodybuilders aren't the strongest there is, surprisingly. With the amount of trouble it took before Portland happened just to lift Yugo's D-Wheel if it's fallen on its side, Yuya's concern isn't without merit.]

I've went through two other contracts with the Ringmaster before now, but yeah I guess being an angel as big and tough as I was rubbed off on me...!

[hippocarnival]

So this is your third? [That's a lot of contracts, buddy. And yet, somehow, he can totally see Yugo repeatedly signing up to a fairy carnival.] What were the first two contracts about?

[bananaspeedrider]

Well for the first one I asked for my D-Wheel back since at the time I was sure I still needed it for saving Rin and.. well... I got it back alright, but as the wreck it was when...

[Yugo actually quiets down before he can finish the sentence. Sometimes he still can't believe the last moments he'd seen of Rin and it doesn't stop being painful.]

Er... anyway what I should've thought of was for Rin to always be safe and happy, so I made that as my second contract as soon as I could...!

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya smiles. Yeah, it's short sighted (these two aren't the forward thinking counterparts) but he understands the sentiment behind it--his contract as well was nothing more than a vague request for help.]

It's kind of weird when you think about it.. that means you were here for two years, but I didn't even know other dimensions existed until a few months ago! Time really doesn't make sense here, but I guess that's a good thing.

[He'd hate to make everyone worry disappearing for a year.]