what's cooler than being cool? ice cold

[kingsroads]

Who: everyone!
What: hey wait a minute, why's it suddenly cold oh for fuck's sake Strange...
Where: the carnival + Alola
When: all of day 76!
Warnings: none, will edit if needed

the Carnival
Surprise, it's now winter.

Starting from the early hours of day 76, the Carnival is covered in snow, the temperature rapidly dropping from 'nice' to 'freezing.' Patterns of frost cover everything and icicles dangle from most buildings. Try to be careful as you're walking around, patches of the ground are frozen over and incredibly slick. Nobody be that dumbass who tries to stick their tongue to the ferris wheel, you're just going to regret it later. Enjoy the fact that almost anything that used to be a liquid is now frozen solid. All in all, it's like someone flipped a switch from summer to winter--there was absolutely no sign something like this would happen in the first place. Why not ask around to see what's up? Or, just enjoy the change of weather and pelt your friend in the face with a snowball, that's also an option. The Carnival re-enacting the plot of Frozen lasts all day, though things finally start to melt and/or magically vanish once dusk settles.

For all you vampires who've slept through most of this, the effects of winter still linger a bit after the faerie's vanished, though in slowly diminishing form. The temperature's a bit warmer and some of the liquids have started to melt, but it's still a bit uncomfortable. It's hard to clean up an entire magical wintery hellscape by yourself, okay?

Alola
Due to the way the Carnival drops people in Alola, it's entirely possible to miss the fact that something weird's going on at the Carnival. Still, some of the winter wonderland manages to seep it's way into the tropical paradise. For most people, the changes are noticeable but easily dealt with. The temperature drops to something more chilly but not downright freezing. Occasionally there are small flurries of snow, but they'll end up melting fairly quickly. Locals are downright confused, mentioning that really, it shouldn't be this cold, this weather is weirdly unseasonable.

Also, what's that weird little ice fox that keeps showing up? More and more ice Pokemon feel a little bit braver thanks to the cold temperatures and are willing to venture out into areas that ice Pokemon might not normally live in. Go train all your fire cats by having them beat up the sentient ice cream cones, everybody.

( ooc: here is the relevant ooc post! This is an open mingle-style log, so feel free to create your own threads, tag around & have some fun! )

Comments

[pipers_son]

"For us who've been here a couple of years, that was the other shoe," Joker admits plainly, no faffing about. With the vampires having attacked once, well, there was no telling when things would next go south, was there? It's just that all the new folks- and there are a damned lot of them, now, with the exodus of the last attack- have never experienced it.

Makes him wish they'd talked a little more to the newcomers about all that.

[whattaprick]

"I think I gathered that much," Lambert shrugs. Sure, it would have been nice to get a heads up -- especially with him participating in the ritual that was supposed to thrown the Morningstar off their tracks -- but in the end, they all made it out, minus one Nightrider. All the trauma along the way was incidental, though he's aware he's probably a minority with that particular opinion.

Though this does remind him -- he'd asked the Ringmaster about it and gotten no satisfactory answer, maybe Joker will have something else to offer. "How much do you know about the people the Ringmaster's tangled with in the past?" he asks, idly. "Got the chance to ask one of the vampires a few questions during the masquerade. Seems like someone else with a bone to pick with her was helping them find us."

[pipers_son]

....Oh christ. Joker presses his fist between his brows and just sighs.

"About as much as you do," he says dryly, utterly unsurprised that someone else is pissed off. Great. What does their Ringmaster even do to earn this? Besides be herself. "Only thing I know much is that she's pretty friendly with another fair lady, so ta speak, who kept us around ta recover after the first attack."

[whattaprick]

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Lambert answers dryly, like he doesn't think it's fantastic at all. It's not remotely reassuring that a supervisor doesn't seem to know any more than they do about what's going on, though he could have guessed as much from how things went down during the damn Celebration...

"Any chance you might recognize her by description? White hair, drop-dead gorgeous?" It's not much to go on, and his wry expression says as much.

[pipers_son]

Welcome to the carnival, Lambert. Joker still listens, although he doesn’t think it’ll do much good, and shrugs helplessly at the description. “No one I’ve run inta or heard of yet,” he answers. “I don’t think I heard any of the workers before me talk about it either, although I could give it a go rememberin’. I’d ask the Ringmaster, but…”

He quirks up an eyebrow pointedly. It’s the Ringmaster. Getting straight answers out of her sometimes is like trying to cut your own hair, a lesson Lambert should know by now.

[whattaprick]

"I'd get better answers asking a fish," Lambert concludes resignedly. Oh yeah, he has a pretty good idea of how evasive the Ringmaster can be confronted with direct questions. Maybe one of these days, he'd just have to actually challenge her to a game or something to figure shit out. For now, though...

Oh well. Time for a change in topic!

"So just how long do you have to be in the Carnival to get those?" Lambert smirks, gesturing over his shoulder to vaguely indicate where wings might be if he had them. "Convenient way of getting around, though they probably don't make it comfortable to sleep."

[pipers_son]

Topic change accepted!

Twitching his wings out, Joker grins. "What, these lil' ol' things? Funny ya ask, I actually got 'em a year inta my stay here." He tilts his head down with a knowing little quirk of his eyebrows. "In fact, a certain someone thought they'd make a pretty fetchin' reward for steppin' up ta the job of stage manager." Well, they're not the worst "gift" he's ever gotten, and Joker has to admit that there's nothing quite like flying.

"Sleep, and gettin' clothes, on and on. But hey-" He shrugs. "I manage well enough. Get a little hammock sorta thing in my trailer, lay on my stomach, works well enough."

[whattaprick]

"Hah. Smart." Lambert laughs, short and sharp. "Though you might have asked for them, since they actually seem useful instead of just coming from whatever mess we get into."

He takes that opportunity to run a hand over one of his his own golden horns idly, indicating what he means. Honestly, the most annoying thing about them is they really do limit his options for sleeping positions. Good thing he was already a stomach sleeper himself.

[pipers_son]

Ah, yes. The horns dilemma. As a man who has to deal with antlers himself- although at least not ones the size of freakin' moose, thank god- Joker gives a sympathetic nod. That's a problem that the carnival and all its poor involved bastards have had to deal with since.... probably its inception, honestly, now that he thinks about it.

"Frankly, I woulda been fine before without 'em, since I try ta stay away from some of the real magic stuff," he says honestly, "but after a while, well, ya learn ta just stay away from the dumb and dangerous stuff since there's no point for anythin' else." A snicker finishes off his sentence.

[whattaprick]

If Lambert had been given moose horns, alas, he'd be cutting them off all the time. The golden horns are weird, but easy enough to ignore until he has to do something mundane like duck under a doorway or slip a shirt over his head. Lambert's going to have to invest in button-ups from now on...

"Can you stay away from it?" Lambert wants to know. "Seems like trouble finds the Carnival no matter what, anyway."

[pipers_son]

"Well, yer in the Nightriders, so, no, not for you." Joker grins, fangs catching the firelight. "Shite luck, mate."

Ha. Yeah.

Still, Joker consider the question a bit more seriously after that, and shrugs as he does so. "And frankly... It depends. I've worked here for two years, now, and honestly? The worst trouble we had before that vampire incident was when some tosser of a king tried ta behind some of us. Anythin' else... It could be troublesome, but it wasn't dangerous- difference, ain't there? I mean-" And his mouth twists a little. He's not feeling charitable to the Ringmaster right now, but... "If a world has real dangers, she... does tend ta let us know what stupid things not ta do. Or, at least, stupid if it would hurt the bleedin' carnival."

this tag made me laugh horribly, tbh THANKS JOKER

[whattaprick]

That's enough to make Lambert smirk. "Yeah? Well, I've been told a million times no witcher's ever died in his bed, so that's nothing new."

All joking aside, it's true: too many witchers he's known have died not to be proof of that. Joker's perspective is interesting, as a veteran of the Carnival, though it doesn't line up with Lambert's experience much thus far. He really must have picked a hell of a week to stumble in...

"How well did you know the Nightrider?" Is he going to react as violently as the Psionic had, he wonders? Well, only one way to find out. But while he's making up his mind on whether to accept the Ringmaster's offer or not, he might as well try to figure out everything he can.

HE'S HERE TO HELP

[pipers_son]

"Huh, Mari?" That's enough to earn a slight frown from Joker, but not because he's ever had anything against her himself. It's... more a frown of pity. Most of them managed to get out of Hell, after all, and yet...

"We got on alright, I like ta think. Decent lass although, y'know- still a bit young, especially when she took on the job herself." He winces a bit at his next words. "Was the one in charge durin' the first attack, the event that got us all in this mess. Don't think she ever really got over it."

UH HUH

[whattaprick]

Now that's a bit more information than Lambert was able to pull from anyone else, so far. Lambert can't help hiding the interest in his expression or the way he leans forward a little, but he figures there's no point in feigning disinterest or that he doesn't want to find out more; if Joker's willing to talk about it.

"So she as young as she looked? I thought that she was using fae magic altering her appearance." What does it say about Lambert's world that his first assumption was that, really... "What happened then? I've heard a couple of people talk around it, but not a lot of the actual story."

What's interesting, too, is that Joker hasn't changed back from being a vampire yet -- a choice, or inability to? That question will have to wait for a while.

[pipers_son]

Listen, buddy, don't ask about the fangs and he won't smack you upside the head, alright?

However, for the interest, well, Joker doesn't seem to mind much. Simply a shrug. "I mean, we weren't too close. Too different areas of the carnival, most of the time." So, basically, who knows, maybe fae magic vanity was a thing. He never questioned it, because it never mattered.

What does matter is talking about the first attack, and his mouth twists a little in distaste. Before, he always left it to Mari if she wanted to tell her Nightriders about that little venture, but... Well. the problem is obvious there. "Basically.... A regular stop, right? Except I guess the Ringmaster asked the Nightriders ta do somethin', it pissed off the local vampires..." His nose wrinkles in distaste. "And they came after us in the carnival as payback. At least, as far as I understand it."

[whattaprick]

Someday, it should be fun to see Joker try that -- but that day won't be today.

"Any idea what that 'thing' was?" Lambert wants to know, brows raised. "Considering everything we've just dealt with, it sounds like something we'd like to avoid dealing with again. Could have saved a lot of grief if someone had just told the Ringmaster 'no.'"

Then again, how much of an option is that, really? They have a lot of latitude to do what they want, but Lambert gets the sense the Ringmaster doesn't handle disappointment well. Just a hunch.

[pipers_son]

Sorry, he can't help it- he snorts out a laugh at Lambert's final comment.

"I'd like ta see someone try," he muses aloud, ears twitching with the words. "It took a good while for us ta remind her that the carnival had ta get movin' when we were recoverin' after the first attack, although at least for that she was just.... Ha. Occupied with a lady friend of hers."

[whattaprick]

"Did I just sign away a year and a half to work at a carnival where my life and death depend on who my employer is or isn't fucking?" Lambert deadpans, gaze turning heavenwards like the stars might possibly have the answer to this question.

[pipers_son]

Joker's grin can't stretch any wider. "If it makes ya feel better, the odds are a bit better that she's not fuckin' most people," he says, voice barely restrained from cackling like a loon.

[whattaprick]

The joke has Lambert rolling his eyes, even as he smirks.

"Did you know all of that before or after you decided to take up being stage manager? 'Cause that seems like it probably would've influenced that decision."

Or maybe it wouldn't have. Whatever Joker wanted, he supposes, he could have arranged just working as an ordinary employee under a contract so he didn't need to take it on if that had been his goal in the first place.

[pipers_son]

"After," he admits, honest enough with his shrug. Frankly, he hadn't been surprised that the Ringmaster had some certain intimate acquaintances, but he hadn't really known any of them at that point, either. If not for the vampire attack, who knows? He guesses there's a good chance he might never have known at all.

"Still, probably wouldn't have cared much back then, so still woulda done it."

[whattaprick]

"And now?" Lambert murmurs. "If you could make the choice again, knowing what you do, would you choose the same?"

The witcher seems strangely invested in the answer. He could try to play off his interest, but he doesn't, watching Joker with a calm, steady look. After all, he's thought about it -- there's a chance Joker could have been kidnapped by the vampires as an ordinary worker, but being a supervisor guaranteed it. Joker still hasn't shed the demonic influence running through him, though others seem to have done so readily, can't walk in the light or consume anything that isn't blood in some form or another.

[pipers_son]

That one is a bit of a tougher answer, and Joker thins his lips a bit as he takes in the scrutiny he's under. This is certainly a lot of interest.... "Suppose I would," he says simply. "I already decided I would be here for a long bleedin' while. Even if I don't get ta know everythin', I have a better chance of knowin' what's comin' and havin' an influence on it than otherwise."

Shrugging, he closes his eyes and focuses on the feel of the fire. "Even as just a stage manager, I get that much."