lostcarnival | because we’re all one of a kind

Who: Ginko and whoever!
What: Ginko tries to do his job and restocks on cigarettes
When: Before and during performance week
Where: Around the carnival, specifically the menagerie and trailer park!
Warnings: ~~Drugs~~ not actually drugs. Weird animals, though!

A - evening of Day 81 - outside Trailer 13

Contrary to what some might assume, Ginko’s ever-present cigarettes don’t manifest out of thin air. At some point, if they want to make sure that they’ve got a steady supply, he or Tanyuu has to make them - and tonight, that’s exactly what Ginko is doing, since he’d rather get this done before performance time starts up.

He’s sitting outside his and Tanyuu’s trailer, with supplies laid out in front of him on a cloth - a mortar and pestle, a roll of paper, stacks of leaves harvested from an assortment of plants grown in and around the trailer - and the spewpa that Tanyuu had dubbed Miu nestled against his leg.

It would be a lot more convenient if mushi repellent could be made from just one kind of plant, but, no such luck. So here he is, grinding the herbal mix together, setting each rolled cigarette in a wooden box as he finishes.

It’s not particularly fast work, but he does it with a practiced hand and seems relaxed as he works, not paying particular attention to anything around him.

B - All week - Menagerie

Everything is always busier during performance weeks. It’s no surprise, really, but even after this long, Ginko is still impressed by the sheer degree to which that energy seems to permeate the carnival. It’s… exhilarating, in a way.

At the same time, though, it makes him glad that his involvement with the actual performances is so minimal. He’s not sure he could deal with that much excitement.

Instead, he keeps mostly to the menagerie during performances, focusing on the animals; there’s a lot to do, though it’s more manageable now that he isn’t the only animal keeper.

He won’t object of anyone wants to come by and chat… provided they don’t interfere with his work or try to mess with the animals. That, he’d rather avoid.

(( OOC: If you want to do something else, hit me up at

omixgirl10 or on discord! (Maggie#9624) ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is there anyone in this Carnival who isn't a huge fucking nerd about something, Lambert wonders? Because he's starting to feel like it's less of a performance troupe and more like an eclectic collection of people who need to get better hobbies.

Never mind that anyone could probably say the same about Lambert himself.

"You lost me there," he comments, crossing his arms. "What do you mean 'closer to the basis of life'?"

Honestly, Ginko could not argue with that - except, maybe, for the part about needing better hobbies. He likes his ghost bug research just fine.

"Ah... well, let's see." This part can take a bit of explaining. "I guess, to start with... where I'm from, all life originates from the light vein - think of it like an underground river of life force. Out of all types of organisms in the world, mushi are most closely and directly connected to the light vein, and their bodies have the greatest concentration of life force, as opposed to matter."

Lambert looks a little dubious about the whole 'light vein' thing until Ginko explains it with a description he understands, and he nods. It sounds a little strange to him, still -- nothing a lot like the monsters he sees in his own world -- but it's probably a good time to return to a point that Ginko mentioned earlier.

"You said you attract 'all kinds.' Why's that -- did you get cursed or something?"

"Cursed?" He looks a bit confused by that for a moment, but... when he thinks about it, if curses are an actual thing where Lambert is from, he can see how he'd make that assumption. He shakes his head.

"No; it's just... a condition, I suppose, that shows up in some people where I'm from. It's not especially common, but it happens."

Being followed by little glowing things that most other people can't see is a curse by Lambert's definition, but admittedly Ginko probably has a pretty different definition than he does.

"You're making it sound like the clap, you know," Lambert answers, idly. "Speaking of which, it's not contagious, is it?"

Rude. Ginko frowns at him, ears flipping back. "No, it isn't contagious. It's something you're born with."

Lambert is rude and water is wet. All par for the course, as he continues to prove by saying: "Sounds like a pain in the ass." He gestures around them, then indicates the mushi repellent Ginko's working on grinding down. "How effective is that stuff, if some of them are still hanging around?"

Honestly, Ginko can't even argue with that. It is a pain in the ass.

"It's pretty damn effective. It can't keep them all away, but things would be a whole lot more crowded around here without it."

"Just how many are we talking about?" Lambert asks, clearly skeptical. "It's a pretty big carnival."

"Hmm... maybe a few thousand." He shrugs; numerical guesses don't really communicate lot in this case, he supposes. "Enough to be a problem. A big enough mushi infestation can wipe out a village; this place may have more ways to handle them than most villages back home did, but it would still be a serious problem."

He would know, given how many times he's seen it happen. ...Made it happen, honestly.

Lambert's quiet for a moment, processing that.

"'Wiping out a village' directly contradicts 'mostly harmless,' don't you think?" He can't help sounding a little bit incredulous. The witcher hasn't even really had a proper introduction to this guy, and he's already not exactly forming the best impression here. "How the hell do people from your world deal with that?"

"Well, yes. Except that it's incredibly rare for enough mushi to congregate in one place for it to happen. It's not natural, really; things like that generally only happen if there's an outside influence involved, and anything can be dangerous if you get too many in one place."

It would be like treating insects as universally deadly, as far as he's concerned; too many can be dangerous, but they're necessary all the same. Granted, the impact of mushi on the world around them can be a little more extreme than that of any insect, but the same principle applies.

"In cases where mushi do pose a danger to humans, that's where people like me come in. I was a mushi master; solving the problems they brought on for people was my job."

That, at least, Lambert can recognize, and his shoulders relax a little, nodding. Good to know there's at least some way of dealing with these things if they can cause that much trouble. Otherwise, he's have to question the sanity of Ginko's world.

"Guess you could say my job's similar. Witchers deal with monsters and curses, but we don't go out of our way to hunt them unless they're actually harming people." Well, officially. Lambert is probably the most willing to use lethal force of all the witchers, he can admit that much, but...

"Although while I'm here, I guess that's not really my job right now. I'm Lambert," he offers, offhandedly. "New Nightrider, at least until something offs me."

"Yeah? Gotta say, monsters do sound a little more intense than I'm used to." With... a few rare exceptions, but anyway.

He nods, his brow furrowing slightly. "Ah, yeah... I heard Mari didn't, uh. Get out of the last world with us." He's not sure of the details, but he knows that much. "I'm Ginko. Just an animal keeper."

because we’re all one of a kind

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