[open] ring the bells that still can ring

[pipers_son]

Who: Joker and you
What: All's fun and games, but the Performers still need to work. Joker occupies himself with that, and maybe a few other things. Like cooking. Or sunbathing.
Where: The Big Tent, the cookhouse, trailers, and eventually the lake
When: Days 145 - 152
Warnings: Potential talk of trauma? But nothing more than that

A - Time to Work

[It's over the Performance Department's channel on the radio that Joker's voice buzzes through.]

While it's all well and good ta take a break, this is a reminder for folks ta get practice in. We won't be doin' real impressive shows for a while, probably, but that just means it's more important ta keep practicin' for when we move on from the Summerlands.

Any problems or questions, come find me in the Big Top. Oh, and we got some new folk in, in case ya haven't seen yet.

[Sure enough, Joker can be found in the ring, bouncing around making sure people are doing fine, practicing some tricks himself... All sorts. He'll come over the second he sees someone enter.]

B - Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle

[In the cookhouse today? Well, you'll find Joker getting to work, apparently mashing up all sorts of fruits, getting their juices.... Of course, with the one arm problem, sometimes this means needing to get inventive.... Are his feet shoeless? Don't worry about it.]

[Later on, Joker is bouncing from trailer to trailer, leaving jars of jelly and jam for everyone. Why? Well, you'll have to stop him to find out.]

C - Lost in Thought

[Joker knows a lot of people in the Summerlands, what, with the carnival already having visited it once before and Joker being... himself. So it's of no surprise that throughout the carnival's stay, he's often gone into the city, chatted with just about everyone, and acted as if he's perfectly fine.]

[On occasion, however....]

[Those who go to the carnival's lake will find him trying to push what looks like a.... blow-up rubber floating thing out onto the lake's surface with his feet, Feathers the Dartix trying to help him along. Joker is notably not wearing any actual swimwear... besides, like, his usual atrocious mash up of 'modern' fashion.]

[Later on, if no one interrupts him on shore, Joker is out in the water proper, but not... really messing around. He's just sprawled along the pool float stomach-first, his wings stretched out completely and partially in the water. Occasionally the water carries him a little closer to shore- perfectly within talking distance.]

Comments

[espigeon]

[Julien has found a giant bucket of popcorn in the concessions area and is carrying it around awkwardly in his beak. Eyes appear periodically on his neck and chest, since despite how big he himself is there's enough popcorn and enough bucket that it's otherwise hard to see around his feet while holding it level by the rim. #birdbodyproblems

Putting the bucket down on the shoreline, shaking his head to dislodge some popcorn that got up into his nares, he waves a great white wing at Joker, who's laying out in the water.]

Hey! How's it going, Joker?

[He doesn't really look like his human body, aside from the eyes and the coloration, but he sounds the same.]

[pipers_son]

[It takes him a second to make the connection, but once he does, Joker adjusts himself a bit with his good arm propping him up and waggles his fingers a little bit.]

Warm! Summerlands, always livin' up ta its name? Whatcha got there?

[Because it looks like a giant bucket of popcorn, but he's out adrift and who knows what people do here sometimes. They're all a bunch of weirdos.]

[espigeon]

[It might help that both of Julien was there when the Ringmaster turned into an egg, though he hadn't spoken to the supervisors.]

Corn! Turns out if you're as big as me and you eat with your face you get popcorn in your nose, though. And butter on your forehead.

[He shoves his beak right into the fluffy stuff and comes back up after a couple seconds with kernels stuck to his ever-smiling beak.]

Worth it. Do I have something on my face?

[Julien is not entirely sure he'd been this into grain before he started working here, but it's a little hard to tell. Foreign memories fog everything up. Between this and really wanting to coddle the Ringmaster's egg, though...]

[pipers_son]

[This isn't the first awkward body shenanigans Joker has seen while in the carnival, but it's still enough to make him laugh.]

Need help cleanin' it off? Because, ha, ya kinda do.

[espigeon]

Nah, but I appreciate it! I've got the rest of me turning seams right now even if I can't wipe this off on my... own? God, I haven't really figured out the pronouns for this yet.

[He shakes his head, less as a 'no' and more as an animalistic shaking-off-things, and some comes off.]

Mind if I come in, show off my duck impression?

[pipers_son]

Wish I could help ya there, but never got my learnin' up ta that kind of point.

[What the fuck is English? That thing Joker occasionally butchers with more glee than anything. Cheerily, he adjusts to wave him over.]

I expect some world class quackin'!

[espigeon]

I'll work it out, no worries!

[Julien wades gladly into the lake and starts paddling deeper. He doesn't sit as high up in the water as waterfowl would, but he still floats well enough that his back is dry. Drops of water roll off his feathers at first, though the waterproofing is only going to last so long.

He'd love to make a Daffy reference but he's pretty sure Joker won't have any idea what he means. Instead he'll go for a different joke. Julien reconfigures his syrinx and bells his throat out in a really good imitation.]

Honk!

Wait, no, that's a goose. Let me try again.

Hwa!

[Julien does his best to stretch out his neck and slick down the feathers on it, and raises his folded wings in imitation of an angry swan's posture.]

Guess I'm a swan now. Well. Gotta make the best of it.

[pipers_son]

[Joker has to admit... He's almost been decapitated, almost died, was kidnapped by vampires, and has had his memories overwritten... But the carnival really does supply him with the most amazing sights sometimes. For example, right now, a giant pigeon making his way into a lake, sinking a little bit but otherwise afloat.]

[Sometimes things aren't too bad.]

[He's mostly content to just lay there, watching Julien lazily... When that sudden honk makes him burst out cackling from the sheer unexpectedness of it. The swan noise just makes it worse.]

I don't know where you're from, but where I am, swans are mean little things!

[espigeon]

[Julien's bird body is full of air. Trapped under his feathers and kept in the air sacs that extend into his bones, he's really very buoyant. The absurdly dense flight-related muscles on his chest act like the keel of a boat.

He is a sight, isn't he? Julien's tail shakes back and forth behind him, sprinkling drops. For his bird form, that's laughter.]

That's what people say at home, too! Would you believe they've never given me trouble? But I've seen them mad at others, I know how it goes. Hiss.

[He literally just said 'hiss'.]

[pipers_son]

[His lips sputter along with his snort.]

Yeah, that's about how it goes. I wonder what makes 'em like you enough?

[espigeon]

I just understand them more!

[Julien relaxes his neck and lets himself drift. The sun is so nice here.]

They're just... not shy, they go and hold their ground, and people expect animals to always be either shy or friendly. But they read things into our body language, even though we don't, uh, even though humans don't look like them, and they think we're really rude and making challenges.

[pipers_son]

See, now I imagine that with wings, I'd just go and make myself out ta be more of a tit ta swans then.

[He doesn't know half a thing about wing language, for all that he has them stretched out for sunbathing.]

[espigeon]

Yeah probably! I like them but they are some touchy people. Mostly the males when they have mates and children, admittedly. Pens are more laid back, assuming they aren't protecting their young.

[This body has no facial expressions and the shape of his beak always suggests a faint, subtle smile. But there's mischief in his voice.]

Just make sure you never do this when they're around.

[It's Stand Up In The Water And Flap time! He's facing Joker and not splattering him more than a few drops' worth, but that could change.]

[pipers_son]

Whoa-!

[THAT SURE IS WATER HAPPENING NOW]

[Joker jerks his wings up, still clinging to the float with his good arm, and peeks out with an amused snort when it's clear he's not going to get soaked.]

What's that mean, then?

[espigeon]

[More tail-shaking is happening as Julien falls back to his floating position. Some of the feathers on his belly are starting to soak through. Not being a waterbird, his waterproofing is better for short contact than long immersion.]

I don't know but they sure get mad! And so do a lot of other people. I own at splash fights.

[pipers_son]

I bet ya do. Well, you'll want ta be careful who ya pick a fight with here, because yer not the only one with wings.

[His own flap lightly in response as he laughs before settling down.]

No fae friends today?

[espigeonage]

Well. Sometimes the king need to take challengers, doesn't he?

[He arches his neck dramatically.]

Nah. They're real friendly people but I don't think they have the same sense of time as humans do - like, I met one who casually went and turned into a tree and slept for a few years and it was no big deal, so they're gonna be casual about people stopping here for just a few weeks.

[pipers_son]

Ha, don't I know it. [He tries to paddle a little closer, just so he can raise a hand and start to whisper conspiratorially.] Last time we ended up here, the Ringmaster kept messin' around with her girlfriend for so long that we had ta remind her that the carnival had other stops ta make.

[espigeon]

[Obligingly Julien kicks his feet under the water to drift closer. And then counter-paddles to kill his momentum instead of drifting into the man.]

Aww. Well, that's a thing with long distance relationships when you're also good together up close, right? Making up for lost time?