⇨ ATLANTIS

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

Jimmy Novak - OTA

[empty_vessel]

Fish Friday

In hindsight, Jimmy should have known something was up when he noticed his fingers were webbed. Not just a little more skin between his fingers, seriously webbed with translucent white skin coming almost up to his fingertips. Yup. Should have been the first tip off, especially after he'd been talking about it with Joker the other day. And then he looks under the covers to see what else has been altered.

NOPE.

The next thing he knows, he's sitting in the middle of a giant cloud of ink, trying to strangle one of his own tentacles. His tentacles. Great. At this rate, Jimmy's going to be in therapy forever. But first thing's first. Get the ink out of his house. So open the doors, put fans in the windows without thinking too hard about how that is even supposed to work, and sit in the front yard and wait.


Treasure Hunting

He hadn't planned on going out to see the shipwrecks, not initially. But swimming is hard when you've got an enirely new set of legs and he totally meant to go out here and Jimmy didn't end up drifting randomly until he could figure out what was going on. Really.

At least there's lots of things to grab onto and practice moving around with. Even if he does still bang into a wall occasionally. And eight arms does make it fast to sort through the sand, if he doesn't look too hard at what's going on.

Wildcard! Surprise me!

Treasure Hunting

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock, being the incredibly curious detective that he was, eventually made his way over to one of the shipwrecks to see if there was anything he could learn from it. What kind of ship was it, were the makers originally human, was there any treasure...? The last part intrigued him more than it usually did, maybe from being in the carnival, but he'd always wanted to be a pirate as a child. This was sort of a dream come true.

Sherlock swims closer, his sea serpent-like lower half was that of a frilled shark, which also included the fancy frilly gills. His skin was mostly the same uniform gray, and his mouth was full of a lot of sharp, backwards-facing teeth.

He notices something--no, make that someone--banging against walls occasionally, with what looked like tentacles.

Ah. He recognized him.

"Looking for sunken treasure?"

[empty_vessel]

Eight new limbs are really hard. Except when they're not and bones are kind of an afterthought in this whole deal. Which is about where Jimmy's at. Trying to get the hang of moving all of the new limbs without looking too hard at them twitching in the sand. (They're black. Why are they black!?)

Sherlock's silent arrival and comment startled Jimmy enough to send him dashing across the open space and banging into the other wall, finishing up with the tentacles wrapped around a few wooden planks on the other side. He's still wearing the hat, and added a small golden coin of some sort on a chain around his neck. And a thick stripe of black extending up his spine as he twists around to get a good look at what spooked him. "Sherlock. Hi. Sorry.... Just... caught me at a bad moment."

[thevictoriandetective]

Ouch, that didn't look pleasant. Sherlock swam closer, he'd fortunately gotten the hang of moving around, though he'd had an equal time of smashing into things.

"Is it instinctive, or do you have complete control over them?"

The detective pointed to Jimmy's many tentacles. He seemed quite genuinely and scientifically curious.

[empty_vessel]

"Still figuring it out. There seems to be some stuff that's instinctive, though..." Jimmy is pointedly not looking at the black tentacles gripping onto the planks as he makes his way back down to the sea floor.

"I've been working on it, though. ..... once I figured out how to swim." He clears his throat and moves on before how long it took him to figure it out can come up. "It's just bizarre all around. I think everything from the ribcage down that isn't my spine is kind of just a suggestion at this point."

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock's so incredibly curious. His face is awash with delight at the sheer impossibility of it all. He swims closer, getting a better look, and points to one of his tentacles.

"May I?" If it wasn't too weird.

"Your ribcage is probably the extent of your skeleton. You might possibly be able to squeeze into a small burrow or something."

[empty_vessel]

Well isn't that a lovely thought. Jimmy looks down at his tentacles, all happily sifting through the sand and piling up that handful of odd beads he'd found. Those worked well, oddly enough, they were larger, so he could focus on gripping and manipulating them. Since he was stuck with them, he might as well learn how to use them. Even if he really, really didn't like them.

"Uhm, sure?" Physically, he's fine. It's just the associations that make him nervous and get the tentacles twisting and kicking up small clouds of sand.

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock's quite pleased and swims closer. He's careful not to crash into him, minding the currents and using his tail to get the distance just right. Sherlock Holmes was many things, and graceful was certainly one of them, if he wasn't turned into a chameleon, that is.

He gently tried to pick up the very end of one of the tentacles on the side, attempting to lift it up to peer closer and examine the texture of it.

"Are you controlling them when they're doing that?" He nods his heads towards the beads.

[empty_vessel]

The tentacle is purple-ish underneath, with a double row of suckers running down its length. It tries to curl around Sherlock's fingers as he picks it up, making Jimmy pale and the other tentacles continue to writhe in the sand. ".... no. Not really. I was kind of working with it, but it's.... slow going."

FISH FRIDAY

[betheman]

[Join the party, Jimmy-Gongenzaka is curretnly trying to figure out how to...move. Walking is awkward, his legs tangle into the other. Swimming...also awkward, as all of them try to run ANYWAY, still getting tangled while he kicks his tail. Why this.

The cloud of ink?] Auhhhhhh-

[That makes for a rather ominous collision opportunity there, and he hurriedly scoots back as best he can to avoid it.]

KFGH-

[This ends in crashing into a wall. NO BIG DEAL RIGHT?]

[empty_vessel]

The thud gets Jimmy's attention, getting him around the back of the trailer and peering through the cloud of ink at somebody. "... Hello? Sorry about the ink..." He's refraining from adding 'I didn't know I could do that.'

[otoko]

[Well, that certainly happened. He groans, rubbing his head as he attempts to right himself in the water. That voice...he feels he's heard that voice before, but it takes a few moments more to clear his head enough to really focus on that.

Eventually, he does manage to squint in Jimmy's direction however. His ears perked, his eyes... ....Ok those are still squinting.] Hmmm? This was your doing..?

[empty_vessel]

"... yeah. I woke up, saw the tentacles and well.... I got more than tentacles, look like." Jimmy coughs politely, trying to avoid discussing the giant cloud of ink drifting around his trailer.

[otoko]

Auhh...I see... [Gongenzaka will politely follow along on that.] It would seem coming to an underwater location has resulted in quite a number of...varied changes, [he observes, pausing for a moment to find the correct word. A few of his shrimp legs twitch in turn, and he looks himself over.] I, the man Gongenzaka, certainly would not have thought of 'this' before now...

[empty_vessel]

"Yeah. It was kind of a surprise to me too." Both the tentacles and the ink. Although the cloud of ink does make a bit of a statement, it's really not the one he wanted to.

"How are you doing?"

[otoko]

Auh.. [A few of his legs fiddle.] It is...taking some time to adapt to, I will admit...

...however, I, the man Gongenzaka, have sworn to make certain that I do so swiftly, so that I can continue my work..! [he declares passionately, voice nearly a roar in itself.] ...T-Though, bridging the gap even between walking in this state, and walking regularly, has been difficult...

[empty_vessel]

"You still have actual legs and joints. Trade you." A tentacle sort of waves at Gongenzaka. "I'm pretty sure that everything below my ribs is gone." Not that he's really blaming anyone, but it's hard to really feel sympathetic for too many legs, when all of yours are gone, more or less.

fish friday

[pipers_son]

"Looks like you've got a bit of a problem, huh?"

Joker thinks he's getting the hang of it. A part of it is almost like flying, and, well, he already has wings, so he's used to that bit, too. It's the moving his whole body part that he's still practicing, but right now he's just letting himself float back down to earth. That happens to be conveniently near Jimmy's trailer, and he glances at the ink drifting out with an amused grin.

[empty_vessel]

".... You could say that, yeah." The fans are doing a decent job of clearing the ink out, and hopefully it hasn't stained anything, but it's still huge billowing clouds of black ink getting pulled out of his house by the fans in the windows.

And it's a distraction from the tentacles that seem to be happily sorting through the rocks on the ground on their own, too. "At least the fans work for helping to clear it out. Even if they shouldn't. So all I really need to do is wait." Not that 'how does my electrical fan work underwater' holds a candle to 'What have I been changed into now!?' though.

"You seem to be doing okay. Ish." At least, moving around better.

[pipers_son]

“And if there’s anythin’ worse left over, well, we can figure it out when we move on from this stop.” It’s probably not that surprising that such a thing is the tried and true solution of the carnival: leave just about all your world-related practical problems to be dealt with after it’s moved on, and get ready for whatever might come next. At least, that’s the only one that Joker has figured really works.

Hitting the ground, Joker just shrugs and smiles lopsidedly. “Once you’ve been flyin’ for a bit, well, it’s a little like swimmin’, right? I got that edge, I suppose. Although Sora helped a bit- have ya met him?”

[empty_vessel]

"Just... walk away? Well, that makes sense, given how mobile this place is." He would have thought that running away from your problems wouldn't have helped, but when you're literally dimension hopping every month or so, it works out better.

"Sora? Nope. Never heard of him, but considering how long I've been here, that isn't saying much. He's offering swimming lessons?" Jimmy looks down at his tentacles, idly sifting through the sand. At this point, lessons would be a huge improvement.

[pipers_son]

“A lot easier ta leave problems than back in England, I’ll tell ya that much.” Well. For the most part. But what happened with the supervisor meeting is something Joker doesn’t really have any interest in talking about to the regular employees. No reason to worry everyone when they’ve… probably got it covered.

Anyway, there’s the immediate matters here. “Yeah. Ya shouldn’t have a hard time recognizin’ him. Mess of brown hair that goes all over the place, big baby blues. Ya know the classic mermaid tails? S’what he has, last I saw. Prrrrobably didn’t change.” But, in the carnival, he’s just going to put that down as a ‘probably’.

[empty_vessel]

"Probably worth it to check him out, then. See if I can get any general advice. There isn't a lot of overlap between mermaid tails and an octopus." It's still worth it to check out, though, if he's agreeable. Just having someplace to practice might be nice.

"I.... You're from England? What's it like? We.... We talked about going, at one point. She's got family over there and we thought it'd make a good vacation." The smile gets a bit strained as Jimmy thinks about his family. Everything he did to them and how his stupid decision hurt them as much as, if not more than himself.

[pipers_son]

Well, better something than nothing, in Joker’s book. Then again, his standards, in some ways, have always been pretty low. He supposes that’s just what happens, sometimes. Before he can air that viewpoint, however, Jimmy asks that question and Joker pauses.

“Depends on when, ta tell the truth,” he say with a laugh, shrugging. “I ain’t particularly sure when it is you’re from, but- 1880s, that’s what it was for me last I was there! So I might not be yer man in this area.” Another laugh, hiding his real feelings on the matter quite soundly. “But when I was there- beautiful when yer travelin’ inbetween places. There’s nothin’ like the sun overhead and fields just stretchin’ out before ya, forests alive with songbirds…”

Yeah. Those are the good memories, he thinks. When him and the others never had to do anything, just travel and practice routines. It almost felt a little like freedom.

“S’nice when the mist rolls in, too. Somethin’ sort of ethereal about it, I think is the word.”

[empty_vessel]

"The 1880s?" He blinks, stunned at that bit of information. The Carnival traveled through time too!?

.... Although Jimmy has to wonder how many paradoxes it would cause for him to get dropped back off right before his past self walked out the door, punch himself in the face and throw his own stupid ass back inside. Far too many, probably. But it is an interesting thought. Maybe he can ask the boss about it later.

"I'm from.... 2008." It's hesitant, partly because, well, he's not entirely sure about if telling Joker anything would change anything (that thought lasts roughly two seconds before he remembers exactly where they are), and that the year is about the best he's got for when he left. After 'yes' it all gets kind of vague.