Oh, the dashboard melted, but we still have the radio [OPEN]

[flashover]

Who: Rin, the new arrival! And whoever he comes across! Plus a closed prompt for Sora.
What: A new hire settles into the carnival.
When: Post Atlantis, before arriving in PARTYWORL.
Where: The trailers, the cookhouse, wherever!


A] Trailer #15 -- Closed to Sora

[Rin looks like someone who has already been at the carnival for some time -- the swishing black tail and pointed ears definitely mark him as something other than human. But the fact that he looks a bit lost doesn't match with that story. He has a sword in a red cloth bag slung over his shoulder, and another large bag seemingly filled to the brim with stuffed animal prizes from the carnival. He approaches trailer fifteen, a small twin-tailed cat padding behind him. The cat meows curiously and Rin nods, looking at the slip of paper in his hand]

Yeah, Kuro... it looks like this is where we're going to live while I work off this debt... [he sounds pretty dejected about it -- if Yukio knew about this, he'd get an earful for being so stupid] But hey! Look, there's even a little cat door for you! Let's, um... meet our new room-mate, I guess?

[Kuro looks apprehensive, folding his ears]

Don't be that way. I'm sure he's nice. The Ringmaster wouldn't put us with someone who doesn't like cats, I'm sure of it.

[Rin collects himself and knocks on the trailer door before entering] Ah... Hello? Anyone here? My name's Rin, I'm gonna be... staying here a while, I guess? Oh, it's pretty cute and cozy in here...

B] Out in the carnival -- OTA

[Having met his new roomie and settled into his trailer, Rin is now off to find the place he's supposed to work -- the cookhouse! He gets to pay his debt off by cooking! That's, like... not even a real job, in his mind. That's just fun.

But Rin doesn't know the lay of the land, yet, and he's... well. He's lost. He stops whomever he sees nearby, lightly tugging on shirt sleeves if needed]

Hey! Uh, I'm new around here. Can you tell me where the cookhouse is? I'm supposed to get to work there, but I'm kind of overwhelmed.

C] Games -- OTA

[directions get! Now on the way to the cookhouse, Rin has to stop and look at one game in particular; Test Your Strength. It looks... remarkably intact.

It was not that way when he left it.

Indeed, breaking this game was a big part of his debt]

Wow... someone already fixed it? I busted it pretty badly... Woops.

D] Cookhouse -- OTA

[Finally! He's reached his destination. Rin can smell delicious food inside, and he enters the building with a bright grin on his face, full of confidence.

Now, whether that confidence is real, or just bluster, remains to be seen] Never fear! Okumura Rin is here! I guess the Ringmaster decided this place needed some real good home cookin', and so she hired me! Wahaha!

[someone tell him he's just a line cook, please]

E] Jokers Wild
[Got another idea? Hit me up! We can work something out!]

Comments

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy winces in sympathy before reaching over to give Rin another pat on the shoulder. "I'd like to tell you that you shouldn't let it get to you, or that he doesn't mean it. But I like you too much to lie to ya like that. It hurts. You know you're never gonna make them happy, but you try anyway."

"It gets easier to recognise and easier to separate yourself from as you get older, but it never stops being a terrible thing to do to somebody." Jimmy reaches over to fish a bottle of juice out of a plastic flat of them and offers it to Rin. "Maybe underneath, your brother does care, maybe he's projecting everything he couldn't do onto you, or maybe he's just a jerk. I can't say, I don't know the guy. But regardless of the reasons, this is on him, not you. You're trying to make him happy, get through cram school and not get yourself offed in the process. Sounds pretty impressive to me."

[flashover]

Rin takes the juice with a small, but grateful nod, and cracks it open. He sips as he listens, still frowning a bit. But... Jimmy was right. Whatever Yukio's hangup with him was, it was his problem, not Rin's. Whatever stick was up his twin's ass, well... he'd have to figure it out for himself. Rin had tried (and failed, many times) to suss out Yukio's problems, especially with him.

He's quiet for a moment as he thinks, then looks at Jimmy with a bright smile and a nod.

"You're right. I'll just have to blow the test out of the water and show him I can do this! Thanks!!" He goes back to peeling the potato, but his cheeks blush a little red. "Ah... sorry though. That conversation got a little dark and we just met one another! I guess I have a lot more weighing on my mind than I thought."

[empty_vessel]

"It's okay. Peeling veggies isn't the most mentally demanding job in the world. And good company makes it go faster." Jimmy shrugs. "Better to air it out than let just stew like that, especially since it's bothering you so much." He likes Rin, and it's a shame to see him get worked up like that because his brother's a jerk.

"What are you studying? I've never heard of a cram school for exorcists before." It's fascinating, in a 'how does that even work?!' kind of way.

[flashover]

Rin nods, "Yeah. No point in keeping that sort of thing all bottled up. It doesn't do any good in there!" He wasn't the type of person to hide things, anyway. Whatever was going on with him, be it good or bad, people were probably going to know.

"Oh! Well... it's extra classes after my normal school. So during the day I've got math, Japanese literature, English, science, whatever. Then, after that, we just use this here key on any door--" Rin pulls an ornate key on a long necklace out of his shirt and shows it to Jimmy, "To get to the cram school! Ah, it doesn't work here at the carnival though, haha." He tucks it back into his shirt and goes back to peeling as he talks, "I definitely tried it on the first door I could find. But all the classes at the cram school have to do with learning to be an Exorcist. Most of it is just learning all the different species and classes of demons and how to deal with them, how to approach the public about these things that most people can't see, how to deal with wounds and illness caused by demons... Basically anything you could ever want to know in order to protect people from demons who wanna mess with 'em, and how to live peacefully with the ones who don't. Then you get to work toward a Meister! Ah, like your specialty. Mine is gonna be Knight, cause I use a sword, see?"

He turns his back to Jimmy and points to the long, skinny red bag slung over his shoulder. It certainly looks like its holding a katana or something else of that size and shape.

"But my bro, he's already a fully qualified Exorcist with several Meisters... He's a Doctor and Dragoon... which means he can heal demonic wounds and uses ranged weapons like guns and stuff. It's all really wild stuff, and like... up until a year ago I had no idea it even existed! I thought demons were just some shit priests made up to make people go to church."

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy blinks. Both at the complexity of everything involved (eat your heart out, Dan Brown!) and yeah, this is nothing like Jimmy's ever heard of, even with the secondhand memories from what the angel was up to.

The sword gets an appreciative nod, though. "That might be useful, considering that we've had fights in here before." He shudders at the memory of the Agents that showed up when he'd first arrived, but he doesn't know if it's any better letting Rin wade into the fighting like that.

"Maybe that's part of your brother's problem too. Throwing himself full-bore into school to overachieve has burned him out and under a ton of pressure to keep it up because he is who he is." Another shrug, another snuck bite of carrot. Jimmy's coming at this from a distinctly non-Japanese point of view, but burnout and workaholics? He gets those well enough.

[flashover]

Exorcism! Apparently a much more complex and exciting job than the movies would have you think! At least where Rin is from.

"Shit, really? What kind of fights? I mean, who wants to attack a carnival?"

Oh Rin. If only you knew.

"Whatever. Anyone who tries anything funny here will get a taste of my fire! Fwoosh-ah!" He extends his hand as he makes his stupid sound effect and lets out a plume of blue fire that quickly dissipates. He may not be here by choice, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to the people here! He shakes his head, thinking about his brother again. "Man, you can say that again. He's only 15 like me but I swear he's got at least ten gray hairs and a face like a 40 year old salaryman. He does it to himself."

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy just gives Rin a look. One with a raised eyebrow and inquiring if Rin really believes that this is just a Carnival.

A nod at the pyrotechnics. Jimmy is impressed. "The big thing here is that you're not just out there by yourself. There's a lot of other folks here who can fight, and the thing is to be careful and coordinate with everyone and make sure that nobody gets caught in the crossfire." He pauses and looks at Rin. "No pun intended."

"It might be worth it to talk to someone in the Nightriders, maybe see about doing some training with them to familiarize yourself with how they work." Sorry, Rin. Jimmy's about as non-violent as it gets for the most part. Finding out how people here fight is way out of his job description. Steven Segal aside, Jimmy's just a cook.

[flashover]

In response to the look, Rin gives a shrug. Well, maybe it isn't a normal carnival, but... What kind of trouble did fae get into, anyway?

"Heheheh! I'm really good at working in a team, so don't worry about that. That's part of our training too!" Rin nods. "Once we're done here, I'll go meet up with these 'Nightriders'."

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy nods. "If nothing else, you'll know how they fight, and they'll know how you fight, so you won't have to worry as much about getting caught in each other's crossfire." Not that Jimmy's ever been in a firefight, but 'getting in the way of your friend's bullets is bad' isn't rocket surgery.

"Just remember to be careful." Another carrot peeled and tossed into the bin.