[OPEN]

[dontpokethat]

Who: Ginko and ANYONE
Where: Wherever animals are kept
When: Variable? Let’s say anytime in the week after Orientation (10/16-10/23)
What: Ginko tries to do his job, with “tries” being the operative word
Warnings: weird animals? Potentially bitey weird animals? To be added as necessary

A carnival can’t be fully experienced with just one sense. Just looking or listening isn’t enough; taking it all in requires much more than that. Of course, while smelling one’s surroundings might bring its own benefits in other parts of the carnival… well. Not so much here, unless you really like the smell of wet fur, animal waste, and lots of hay.

The menagerie is unlike any zoo that could be found in most worlds, if only for the sheer variety of animals kept there. The Ringmaster likes to pick up specimens from different worlds, the more unusual the better, and the end result is… well, not necessarily chaotic. But it’s definitely highly varied, and pretty strange.

Most hours of the day, anyone who happens to wander into the area, by accident or intentionally, is likely to run across Ginko at some point. He’s always been inclined to take his work seriously, and that certainly hasn’t changed since he started working here. The fact that he’s the only veteran keeper left after the recent mass exit doesn’t really help matters, either, and the end result is that he spends even more of his time in the menagerie than could be accounted for just by regular shifts.

Depending on when one comes by, he may just be mucking out the stalls - but a lucky visitor (or one who has the schedule memorized) may come by for feeding time, or in time to watch the process of grooming or exercising those animals that need it.

Closed to Bonnie

Ginko has to admit, after several weeks of trying to keep up with all these animals on his own, he's pretty glad to be getting help again... though he'd be happier about it if it weren't from a young child who clearly doesn't want to be here.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot he can do about that but to try and make sure this is as good an experience for her as it can be - which means making sure she's as prepared as possible for the work ahead.

It's fairly early when it comes time for Bonnie's first work day, but not ridiculously so. Ginko's already fed those animals that need to eat early, and he's waiting at the edge of the menagerie when she arrives, cigarette in hand and elbows resting on the fence. He raises his free hand when she gets close, giving a small smile. "Hey. You ready to meet these guys?"

((OOC: Closed prompts might be added later! For open stuff, feel free to take a look at this (in-progress) spreadsheet to get an idea of what all animals there are! If you want to assume something is there but aren't sure you should, just message me.))

Comments

[meanlook]

Typically, Silver will end up in the animal area a few times a week. When your job is to do whatever needs to be done, you tend to become somewhat familiar with multiple areas. Today's task has him delivering some hay, which he is trying his best to appear as if he's not struggling with. It's a rather large bushel, and he's swerving a bit as he's nearing his destination.

Finally, it's thrown off his shoulders, his chest heaving heavily from his breathing as he steadies himself atop the bale for a moment of rest. His eyes dart around, hoping nobody has seen him in such a (to him) humiliating state.

definitely bitey weird animals

[atouts]

One would think looking the way it did, The Monster Books of Monsters would be a less than viable candidate for someone trying to pick it up. Only when it's sleeping, it's not moving, and if it's not moving, it's easier to mistake it for nothing more than a book that someone had a field day with binding. It doesn't help matters that Childermass has handled quite a few odd books in his time and finding this one doesn't ring any particular magical warning bells.

It's about the time that Ginko is off, out of sight, mucking out the stalls that he's happened by. Seeing no one immediately around enough of an invitation to come poking through the menagerie, although he did have a better reason for it. It's just the reason was put on hold once he spotted a book in a cage and, well, what follows is audible throughout the place. There's a snap and a startled shout, growling and a short scuffle, and what Ginko will find at the end of this is the unfortunate John Childermass with his arm stuck in the proverbial cookie jar.

Only the jar is the book's little cage and the book, being the cookie in this case, is attached to his arm. He's not the sort the panic, so there is that on their side. Instead, he's stoically trying to carefully pry it off. Every attempt only encourages another growl and for it to sink its teeth deeper through his black coat's arm, which disguises the growing bloodstain for now, and even deeper into his actual arm underneath that.

I mean mbby it has purpose mbby she's building her eldritch tolerance

[fortuneglass]

[Carly appears to be here for very Personal reasons.

Very. Personal. Maybe it's feeding time, she doesn't actually know. But she's on break, and it's one of the few breaks she has before it's time to head out and do some scouting, which means ONE THING.

STARING CONTEST WITH THE SLENDERMAN.

It never seems to go well, as far as staring contests with things that have no eyes go, but she tries.

She Tries.] MMmmmm....

.....

MMMmmMMMmnnnNNN....hhAAHHH- [Blink.] You win again..!

......

[This seems to be a semi-regular occurrence; if the slight movement of the shadow is any sign however, the Slenderman might be less interested in the contest and more interested in whatever strange conversations it can hold with less than (formerly) human beings under the guise of a staring contest.]

[dontpokethat]

Sorry, Silver, no such luck. Ginko comes around the corner just then, hauling a bag of soiled hay over his shoulder. When he notices Silver, he sets the bag down and walks over. "Hey, you alright?"

[meanlook]

The words make the teen visibly jump and turn on a heel. "Fine! I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?"

After a few beats he calms down somewhat, scratching the back of his head. "Here's the hay you needed. I still have to go get the second one."

[fragileandsoft]

While the vast majority of Greg's job is geared towards the flash and dazzle of lights on the stage, he's still got to pay attention to the electrical needs of the rest of the carnival too. Where there's a light, there's an electrician. As a new recruit, he's making an effort to check out every area for future reference.

Greg himself has made a point to keep quiet and out of the way while working; there's nothing exciting or magical or noteworthy about doing lights, so ideally no one should take notice. He's a normal guy who's super normal, all the time, don't mind him. It works well enough in most areas, but today he's a bit distracted and not paying proper attention, letting himself fall into routine rather than thinking it through. Perhaps a menagerie full of strange creatures with specific individual needs isn't the best place to start flashing lights at.

[dontpokethat]

Ginko raises his eyebrows, looking at Silver skeptically. Sure you are.

He doesn't argue, though, and gives a nod a moment later. "Right, thanks. ...If you show me where the second bushel is, I could get it myself."

He doesn't want you straining a muscle or something, okay.

[dontpokethat]

The moment he hears that snap, Ginko pretty much drops his tools and runs in the direction the sound came from. He swears under his breath when he confirms what happened, and immediately goes reach into the cage.

"Dammit-- okay, hold still." He takes hold of the book, quietly glad that this thing can only bite one person at once, unlike certain other animals. He shoots a glance at Childermass, scowling, as he starts petting the book's spine. "This should only take a moment... you know, you shouldn't just try to pick things up that you find in cages."

[atouts]

"I had not moved since I got here, so I decided to take my chances," Childermass replies, voice tight with pain, though he doesn't show much sign of that otherwise beyond that and the stiff set of his jaw, biting back any other complaints he might have. He'll leave off trying to pry the book back open, more than grateful to let Ginko take over from that point on and making an effort to hold as still as he can with something like that gnawing on him.

To the scowl, he at least offers a weak, one-sided shrug (not wanting to do anything to further pull on his chomped arm) and a nearly apologetic, "Not one of my better choices, I will admit."

[meanlook]

Silver's reply is so quick his voice cracks from the strain, "Why? I can do it."

The look in his eyes is fierce, ready to fire back to any response other than 'Okay' with protests. His tail swishes behind him, a clear indicator of how wound up he is even as he's trying his best to hide it.

[dontpokethat]

"Yeah, well, sometimes a bear doesn't move for a while, either," Ginko mutters, but after that he leaves it alone. After a few moments of Ginko petting its spine carefully, the book gives a little snuffling sound and opens up.

Ginko sets it back in its cage, patting it and mumbling something about behaving itself, before turning back to Childermass. "There. How's your arm?"

[dontpokethat]

[There's something about feeding an animal scraps of paper that still strikes Ginko as a little bit strange, but he guesses it's not really the paper that this thing eats so much as what's on them.

Either way, he approaches the pen (thank goodness it's actually in there for once) with a handful of paper, frowning when he notices what Carly is doing. Again.]

Still don't think that's a good idea, for the record.

[dontpokethat]

Ginko has kept quiet, too, having noticed Greg's presence but not wanting to distract the electrician or himself from their respective jobs. He's put his focus instead into brushing down the hulking rat king, waving off its paws with whenever it starts trying to return to favor and get its claws into his hair.

When the lights start flashing, though, the enormous rodent stops what it's doing, the more mobile of its heads looking around to look for the source, pulling away from Ginko in the process. He sighs and follows its gaze, giving a brief wave with one hand.

"Hey, uh-- would you mind doing that a bit later? Trying to keep this guy still can be pretty tough as it is."

[dontpokethat]

"I know you can," Ginko answers readily. He knows Silver well enough not to try to argue that. "But if there's anything else you need to be doing, I'd rather not keep you from it."

He hopes Silver will accept that, but he's not particularly optimistic.

[atouts]

A bear can't be picked up and read. That makes a huge difference, Ginko, but he won't add that. He'll respect the muttering for what it is, not something to be answered. Instead, he waits, then cringes when the book finally lets go, though after that it's safe to say he looks relieved.

"Well, let's see," Childermass says, turning his attention to his torn sleeve. It takes a moment, carefully rolling back first his coat's arm, then the sleeve of the shirt under that. The black coat, he's sure he can mend. The white shirt sleeve, on the other hand, now has a huge swath of red staining it. He sighs at that, grumbling quietly and mostly to himself, "Not as bad as the last time, at least..."

And then louder, once he's had time to hold his forearm up and inspect the bite wound more closely, "The bite did not go as deep as I had feared. It should be fine."

Probably.

More importantly, he'll look around Ginko at the cage again and ask, "Is that all it takes? Petting the spine?"

[meanlook]

The redhead's eyes narrow. He's torn between not wanting to make it obvious his ego's on the line and not wanting to look like a pushover in front of Ginko. He's come to, in his own bristly way, respect the supervisor in a way he hasn't quite reached with the other adults.

With a large sigh the tension in his body lessens, "This sucks, you know. Being smaller. You don't have to say it, I know it was probably too big for me."

[fortuneglass]

[Carly gets pretty into these sessions, so between that and Ginko's rather quiet approach, she jumps a good foot in shock.] HIHH!

Th- AH-

Well it doesn't seem to bug him, right? I think he might even be having fun!

[...Probably has more fun with her shadow, honestly.]

[fragileandsoft]

"Whuh?"

Greg squints through the light, before turning it off one more time. It takes a few seconds of blinking for him to register the rodent hydra Ginko's handling.

"Oh--oh. Sorry about that, I..." He winces, rubbing at his jaw. It's been really killing him lately. "There a better time I should come by, or like... do some of these guys need to live in eternal shadow that I should know about?"

[waitingforplayer2]

Chiaki's mostly trying to keep to her own area; the Gamer's Circle keeps her pretty busy, since it's just her and Yuugi. But every so often her curiosity gets the best of her, and she goes wandering around the Carnival to see what else is around. Every time, she gets a little closer to the animals.

Today, her wandering is close enough for Lamar to leap out and attach itself to her head, causing Chiaki to cry out and fall over.

Luckily the headcrab's been debeaked.

[dragnerd]

Natsu knew as soon as he'd heard about the menagerie that he wanted to come and see it, even before he'd joined the carnival. Now that he's an actual employee, though, and there aren't any guests around, what's stopping him from sneaking a peak at the critters that aren't on exhibit? Maybe he'll even find a Vulcan or something. Eh, but then again, that would have to mean someone got eaten, right?

A lot of the animals and monsters there seem pretty standard, and several are pretty weird - one pen had, like, a person? Whoever it was just kind of stared at him, but it was definitely a person, right?

What stopped him, though, was one enclosure in particular. It looked like this one wasn't a part of the ordinary carnival display - it was pretty big, after all - and it was curled up towards the back of its enclosure, so it was a little hard to see, but the leathery wings wrapped over itself and the scales that caught the scant light were unmistakable. Suffice to say it halted Natsu's progress as soon as he saw it. He heard someone walking this way, but for once Natsu didn't greet whoever it was. He was just leaning against the enclosure, eyes glued on what could only be a dragon.

[dontpokethat]

Childermass might notice Ginko raising an eyebrow at that bit about "last time", but Ginko doesn't say anything about it.

"That's good to hear. I'd still suggest you stop by medical, though, just to be sure."

His frown deepens when Childermass looks at the book again. "I certainly hope you aren't planning on trying to read it again."

[dontpokethat]

Okay, good. Though it may not be as noticeable, Ginko relaxes a little, too. He gives a small shrug and his mouth quirks slightly in what passes for a reassuring smile.

"Well, you got it here, didn't you? You just need to try and pace yourself, and it'll get easier over time."

[meanlook]

"Yeah," he slowly nods, "That's it. Nothing to it."

The more he thinks about it, the more his expression brightens. It is a delicate balance to find an answer that will get past that hefty pride of his, but somehow Ginko usually managed to do it. Perhaps it was why Silver tended to do more than give him blunt words in passing and actually sought him out for conversation on a rare occasion.

"But, I kinda wish they'd send me out on an acquisition sometime soon. Then they'd really see what I can do. It gets mind numbing doing this stuff day after day."

[dontpokethat]

--Ah, crap, sorry.

[He frowns and glances at the Slenderman, not looking too convinced.] Well, it doesn't seem to have tried to abduct you yet, so I guess that's reassuring.

...So, how are you going to tell if you win?

[Like. He cannot stress enough that this thing doesn't have eyes.]

[dontpokethat]

That gets a huff of laughter as Ginko coaxes the rat king's attention back toward him.

"Nah, they can handle a little light. Just kind of distracting. Actually, if you can hang around for a few minutes, I only have a couple more to groom after Rex here. Then you can flicker all the lights you want. ...Within reason, anyway."