lostcarnival | wandering clown

Who: Allen and YOU
When: Day 90
Where: Throughout the carnival
What: Allen getting acclimated and being a tool

The Cookhouse

[Allen was in a bad way when he stumbled into the Carnival--literally fell through a wall and found himself here. Barely conscious and desperate, he signed a contract with the Ringleader, buying himself some time. If he had passed out, he would have woken as another person. Now, with her suppressing the memory of Nea, he can sleep. He can recuperate while he learns how to beat the demon inside him.

But first, he must eat. And, following his nose, he beelines for the smell of food.

For those who wander into the Cookhouse early in the day, they will find a young boy devouring a mountain of food. No, seriously. The precariously stacked pile of meats, desserts, pastas, and sweets towers high above the tables, almost touching the ceiling. It sways as Allen tugs a leg of lamb from the bottom and promptly stuffs it in his mouth. The speed at which he eats causes cream and scraps to go flying. It's a messy, terrifying affair that honestly belongs in a cartoon.

Will you stare in horror? Play Food Jenga? The choice is yours.]

Wandering Through the Woods

[If you want to understand something, you might want to go to the beginning. Allen decides he needs to get to know this new, temporary place at which he's staying, so he heads toward the woods.

What do you get when you combine an enchanted forest that turns you back around and an incredible skill for getting lost? A pathetic mess, that's what.

Allen sprints through the trees, emerging again at the forest's edge. He's irritably scratching behind his right ear, where two white feathers have erupted the skin, just beginning to grow. A bulbous golden orb with wings limps through the air behind him.]

Seriously?! [He shouts to the sky:] Is this really all there is?!

Recuperating

[Thoroughly frustrated with the failure that was the forest, he finally finds the lake. Finally, a place he can explore and rest. Taking a moment to clean himself up, he takes off his shirt, kicks off his boots, and rolls up his baggy clown pants. Allen gingerly lowers himself to the water's edge, dipping his bare feet in the shallows.

Anyone walking by may notice the old scar running from his shoulder to his opposite hip, mirrored on both chest and back. A newer wound festers in his stomach, twitching tendrils of white feathers emerging from it. They are made of a divine substance, and it's healing him from within.

Still, it's completely disgusting, and he's in obvious pain.]

Exploring the Mountains

[Once he's gathered enough strength to continue, he pulls on his shirt and trudges up that strange, warm path leading up the mountain. It's practically calling to him, the unknown.

It takes him about thirty seconds to get lost. In the mountains. Alone.

This is it. This is the end for him. RIP Allen Walker.]

((I'll match prose if that's your preference!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Axel grins at Allen's willingness to help.]

Name's Axel, by the way. Got it memorized?

[With that he steps into Allen's hands. His hoof actually smokes a little as it touches the left, but it's solid enough that he can put his weight on it for a second and vault into the tree.

Yolky's pretty high up (thus the source of his panic), but Axel coos gently and he flies right into his "mom"'s arms. Then Axel lowers himself carefully to the ground, still cradling his solosis.]

Sorry about that. I thought he was following me. He's just a kid, a baby.

Memorized. [He says it with a small smile. This guy is weird, but not bad.

Now that things have calmed down, he leans over to take a closer look at the strange creature.]

It's kind of cute. [He reaches out his right hand to give it an experimental poke] What is it?

[Allen just hasn't seen him on a bad day. Regardless, Axel grins back, before idly... dribbling Yolky. The pokemon coos and chortles, so apparently it enjoys this, but it's still bizarre.]

He's a solosis, I think they're called? It's a kind of creature from another world. This guy had a ton of eggs and I hatched a few for him. They were all the wrong color or something, though, so he let me keep one. Apparently color's important to him.

[It seems kinda racist to Axel, but he's not saying that. It might be weird.]

[He watches Axel dribble his friend in awe. The universe is amazing.

Wait--Allen frowns. Someone didn't want an animal because they didn't like how it looked?]

That's sad. I wonder what happened to the others . . . [Maybe that's a little depressing for a first meeting, though. Focus on happier things, Allen, don't be depressing! He flashes a smile.] Well, I'm glad you found Yolky.

[It's a little depressing, yes, but the feeling doesn't really reach Axel. They generally don't. He knows he should feel depressed, he just can't. It's not possible, or so he tells himself. So he pulls up memories of depressed, and uses them to arrange his face in such a way that he seems a little sad. Years of practice make it easy.]

Yeah.

[It's easier to pull up a smile. Fewer muscles involved.]

At least I could save him.

[As someone who forces smiles far too often, Allen has grown fairly practiced at seeing that careful arrangement of muscles in others. He thinks he sees it in Axel, and he gives him a curious, studying look for a moment.

He drops it for a smile.]

Me too.

So, Axel, right? What's your job here?

[The smile becomes more natural, easier, as it settles and the subject changes. It's easy to remember happiness; it's there in his time with Roxas.]

I'm a patrolman. I keep everyone safe.

[Because someone who pings as an akuma is exactly who you want doing that.]

I also sometimes work as a nightrunner, a mercenary.

A mercenary??

[Now that aligns more with his idea of Akuma, but he sounds shocked. The carnival has a use for killers for hire????]

You don't, ah, assassinate people, do you? [HE THOUGHT THIS WAS A NICE PLACE]

I used to.

[Advantage of not having feelings: no shame.]

Now it's mostly just going out in the worlds the carnival visits and looking for work.

[He's not going to say that that's never killing people. Sometimes it is. More often it's just taking out monsters or something though.]

[Allen grumbles lowly, giving Axel a Look that says "please don't kill people." HE DOESN'T LIKE THIS]

I didn't think a carnival had use for soldiers . . .

[As a soldier himself, he knows it can be necessary. But he doesn't have to like it.]

Well, I didn't think carnivals wandered the worlds. We have scouts, thieves, and yes, mercenaries.

[He shrugs. No promises, Allen.]

You had me until mercenaries.

[Now he's just being a bit of a brat. He'll have to keep an eye out for ~~anything he can stick his nose into~~ anyone who might need help.]

We've got enemies that might strike at any time, and so do other people. Mercenaries are just the people who protect people's interests outside the carnival, you follow?

[He taps his head, as if to confirm that it's gotten through Allen's.]

Their interests, or their lives?

[Now he looks curiously interested. The way Axel is describing it now, it doesn't seem all that different from what Allen does. Did. Which is it??]

Lives are an interest.

[Semantics! But not bad ones.]

We're soldiers, yeah. Soldiers for hire, even. But we tend towards social responsibility, if that makes sense.

[He smiles briefly. He's satisfied with that.] It does.

[At least until later, when he starts asking more questions. But for now! It works.]

I'm a soldier back home, so I think I can understand. There are good and bad sides to an organization like that.

Yep. I used to work for an organization too, so this is pretty familiar.

[Now he doesn't, though. It wasn't a good place for him.]

So... you have any other questions about the carnival?

Um . . .

[Allen puts a thoughtful finger to his lips. He has perhaps the Most Important Question of All]

Well, someone mentioned we can play the games between performances. Do we also get some of the carnival treats from the vendors?

Within reason, but it's better to use the mess hall. It's actually stocked for use.

[Plus then you actually eat healthy.]

[who needs to eat healthy when there's funnel cake?]

Fair enough. I don't think I have any more questions, then . . . [His eyes drift up to that twin spirit haunting Axel] Except, perhaps, one.

[insert ominous music . . . and Allen points just past Axel's shoulder]

Did you know there is a spirit behind you?

There's a what?

[He looks behind himself... and sees nothing. The spirit smiles, a little sadly. It looks just like him, except it's dressed in black and has no marks on its face.]

I don't see anything. Is this related to your eye? You seein' things?

wandering clown

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