Put a smile on...

[myownpearl]

Who: Pearl and whoever is around...
What: Another gem finds her way to the carnival...she is not impressed.
When: Day 95
Where: The Backyard, The Big Top, The Cookhouse, and just around
Warnings: None...yet.


After running in to Steven in the mirror maze and figuring out that she had in fact done something to incur the need for a contract, Pearl had taken it fairly well. She didn't like it, but what was she going to do? Even if she hadn't, she couldn't exactly leave Steven here and now she needed to get an idea about exactly where here was.

Pearl had decided to start with the essential places: her new trailer, where she would perform, and where to find others. After looking at a map of the grounds she'd decided that the best place to start (aside from the trailers) was the Cookhouse. She wasn't a fan of food herself, but she could use the familiar layout of a kitchen to find some comfort in this place. Besides, if most lifeforms here required food it would be a good place to get some insight. A year wasn't TERRIBLY long for a gem, but it was enough time that she'd need to know a little more about this place, especially if she was going to be able to help Steven at all. He had three months on her and she needed to learn all that she could to "catch up" as it were.

If you meet her around the Backyard she is mostly looking at trailer numbers and trying to locate her own. This is similar to how she just wanders the carnival grounds just to see what she's gotten herself into and to familiarize herself with the layout.

Otherwise, she will make her way towards The Cookhouse and do a little people watching. She may get ahead of herself and clean up any tables that are left dirty or reorganize certain areas if there are more pepper shakers on one table and no napkins on another. She's an organized gem and sees it as her duty to make sure these things are sorted out if she's going to be staying here. You might notice she doesn't actually eat anything herself.

After that, her tour will take her to the Big Top, as even though shows have not begun yet this is where she has been assigned to work: as a performer. She wants to get a feel for what kind of act she can put on or what is already being done. You may see her try a few moves of dance or attacks with a spear to get a feel for the space. Just be careful not to get into a fight with her hologram Pearl, who may or may not be summoned to spar with her.

[ooc: I did prose, but I can switch to action if necessary]

Comments

BIG TOP

[starseedling]

Steven's a performer too, perhaps unsurprisingly. He probably told her that earlier, when he was helping her sort through some of the earlier stuff - checking in with the Ringmaster and all that. It was sort of weird, having the same thing happen again, but with a new friend. At least with Lapis, the damages she did had been so big it was kind of hard to say it hadn't earned a debt.

Pearl, though... she was just another one like his dad, where it'd been such a simple mistake that had caused all of this. He could get angry about it, maybe, but instead he just decides to stop thinking about it all together. Instead, he gives Pearl some time to get herself sorted and heads over to the Big Top to start messing around with some costuming stuff. He wasn't really happy with his performances in Alola, so he spends some time playing around with body paint and rearranging one of his costumes.

When he's ready to actually practice, he enters the ring on Lion's back - and quickly notices that Pearl is already here. He's already in his somewhat garish costume, complete with some glittery stars painted on his face and arms in makeup.

"Hey! Pearl!" he calls out to her, waving a hand. Lion just yawns at the sight, naturally.

[myownpearl]

While Pearl had made the connection, she preferred not to think about how she'd stumbled into a debt like this. Usually she was so careful. But she'd beat herself enough over that, or at the very least, for the time being. Steven was here and he'd start to worry about her if she started freaking out. So she kept it in check. She could always lose it in her trailer later and in the privacy of her new accommodations.

Pearl found that exploring the carnival was a good way to keep her mind off of her troubles and even more so trying to plan and organize a routine. She couldn't look back on her mistake if she was focused on making plans for her next year. Although thinking like that was going to send her into a spiral so she was glad to hear Steven's voice.

"Oh. That's right. You said you did performances as well," she smiled at his costume. It was...very Steven. "I was just getting an idea for what the space was like."

[starseedling]

Steven grins, and then leans forward to whisper something in Lion's ear: "Lion, do the thing."

Lion yawns and then flops forward onto his front paws in a stretch - just in time for Steven to flip over his mane and do a kind of cartwheel somersault down towards Pearl... ending in a dramatic pose of course. It's something that he's been practicing for a while now, and he's pretty excited to show off to Pearl, who is probably the other gem most into showmanship.

"Ta dah!" he says, and then stands up normally, with just the slightest bit of bashfulness, like he's shy to know what she thinks. She's the one who has done the bulk of his training, after all.

COOKHOUSE

[drrdrrdrr]

Pearl is not the only person clearing off tables with food left on them... but she's definitely the only person specifically trying to see to it that they're clean right now, because what Amethyst is doing in here is opening her mouth all the way, shapeshifting it into a hinged trash can lid, and then indiscriminately sweeping everything off the table directly into her troubling rectangular face hole.

When she spots Pearl across the room she immediately straightens up in surprise and calls over to her – or, rather, she makes a weird honking sound because her mouth is still a trash can lid. She catches herself, shapeshifts it back to its usual, speech-capable configuration, and, waving one pawlike hand in the air, yells, "Pearl! Hey!" She leaps over a table in her haste to scramble over to her. "Hey, when did you get here?!"

[myownpearl]

Somehow she'd overlooked Amethyst, perhaps so focused on the stains that seemed to be refusing to come out of the table tops that she hadn't thought to look for a purple humanoid. Of course when she hears her name she straightens up, turning and blinking in surprise. Steven had mentioned Amethyst was here, but it still caught her off guard.

"Amethyst. Of course I'd find you where there's food," she folded the cloth and placed it on the table top. Most people would probably just toss a rag like that, but this was Pearl and even while cleaning she kept her supplies neat. "I suppose it's been several hours now...but not long." Enough time to run into Steven, find out she'd accidentally gotten herself into debt, and then assigned a job and a trailer.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Eh, just doin' my part to help clear up the trash," says Amethyst, grinning. "Whoah. Just a few hours and you're already cleaning stuff up in the cookhouse? Go figure... Oh, hey! Does Steven know you're here??"

Big Top

[fourthscribe]

Given that it's an off-week, Tanyuu has quite a lot of free time on her hands. While she is on call for anyone that wants to figure out a new look for their performance makeup (and still on the look out for any troublesome lingering mushi from the disaster last week), her services aren't often needed when it's just the staff around. Which is why she's come into the big top to watch any performers practicing, and slithers in just in time to catch the tail end of Pearl sparring with her hologram.

It's quite an impressive sight, and when the hologram disappears Tanyuu applauds with a delighted smile. At her shoulder a tiny Cutiefly hovers and buzzes happily, apparently pleased as well. "That was amazing! I don't think I've ever seen a fighter so graceful before!"

[myownpearl]

The holo-Pearl disappears in a flash of light as Pearl cleaves through it with her spear. She's breathing hard, but she feels better after working off some of her stress. Pearl blinks at the applause, lowering the spear and looking over her shoulder. "Oh...thank you," she spots the person in the audience. Thankfully, she'd been wandering around enough that most of the transformations of the carnival workers didn't surprise her as much. It also helped that she was used to gem monsters which could take on unusual forms as well.

"I was thinking of using it as part of an act. That seems to be my new assignment after all." She sounds cheerful enough, but anyone who knew Pearl would probably pick up on the irritation that lay beneath that comment. Still, she shouldn't take it out on anyone here, they were all in the same trouble after all.

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu may not be familiar with Pearl, but she is familiar with how unwilling contractees tend to feel. The slight tension in her voice gives Tanyuu's expression a shade of sympathy--really, she does understand.

"That's a wonderful idea. You could weave a story around the fight very easily--a sorcerer creates an evil double that you must defeat to rescue your love, or something similar? The audiences usually love things like that." She pauses for a moment, then laughs self-consciously. "Apologies if it's a bit forward of me--I hear ideas being thrown about all the time when I'm getting everyone ready for their shows."

CARNIVAL GROUNDS

[betheman]

The Carnival Grounds are Gongenzaka's domain, more or less-as a member of the Patrol Team, he needs to know them inside and out-and then more, and the four legged 'dog-taur' makes his rounds with surprising dedication considering it's an 'off week' for the show. As much as the gates haven't opened for those in the Mainframe after all, there is-in his eyes, at least-ALWAYS a chance that someone may cause trouble, or need help, or-

The 9-foot 'beast' pauses as he spies Pearl making her way around, taking a moment to stop and speak. His archaisms will most certainly make themselves known from that; he speaks as if he stepped right out of the 'samurai' period of Japan. "Mmn? Hello?" he begins, coming near as his ears give a flick.

"Are you perhaps...among recent hires?" Considering the time, he supposes, there's a strong chance of it. Certainly, not too many of the midway games and rides are actually open for this particular moment. "Is there anything that I, the man Gongenzaka, can help with?" Annnnnd there's the archaic 'i, a humble man' phrasing...

[myownpearl]

Pearl was fascinated by many of the transformations she had seen. It didn't disturb her very much, given that gems could take on many forms, could shapeshift, and also they dealt with the corrupted gems on a regular basis. Even though most of those transformed in this case were human, which was odd, she knew that it had something to do with the carnival itself thanks to Steven.

Besides, she had bigger problems than strange combinations of dog and man. She was tall, but 9 feet was a little much even for her. She looked up at him, nodding, "Yes. I was just taking a look around to make sure I understood where everything was."

His speech bothers her even less, she was over 5000 years old and was used to a variety of speech patterns, "Ah...I suppose if you'd be willing to show someone around. This place is a lot bigger than it looks."

[otoko]

"Absolutely!" Honestly for him, it's a relief whenever someone doesn't point it out-both the size (not exactly typical for a 14 year old) and the speech (self explanatory stop calling him THE MAN, GUYS), and it serves to put things on very cheerful footing right off the bat. Giving a slight gesture to one of the paths, he continues- "Before I, the man Gongenzaka, do so however, I must ask if there are any locations you have already seen thus far. It would not be a well planned tour if we were to retrace your steps after all!"

Big Top

[amusicaladventure]

"Hey!"

Ash could recognize a performer easily enough, so she practically bounds over, tail swishing and ears forward as obvious signs of her delight.

"You're new, right?"

[myownpearl]

Pearl looks up. She was aware that the big top might have other performers, but somehow it is still more crowded than she had anticipated.

"Ah, yes, my name is Pearl. I hope you don't mind I was just wanting to see what I could expect from the layout and arrangement of this tent." She looks around, it was actually bigger than she'd anticipated -- though there are smaller areas that might work better for the idea she has.

[amusicaladventure]

"Name's Ash." (She wasn't particularly fond of her full name.) Ash stuck out a hand for a proper greeting, all bright smiles and amused confidence. "Did I see you waving a spear around? Is that gonna be part of your performance?"

Cookhouse

[handwringing]

Elsa is seated at a table flipping through a book when she notices someone out of the corner of her eye approaching the table. Though the person in question doesn't look human, Elsa knows she hasn't seen them around before. A new arrival? Or just another veteran who has been away for a bit?

She watches the new person move the salt and pepper shakers around. When Pearl reaches for the empty plate that about twenty minutes ago held Elsa's lunch, she speaks up.

"I can take care of it later. Don't worry about it."

[myownpearl]

Pearl hadn't been paying attention to the patrons so much. Oh, sure, she was paying attention to the fact that they were there and what they looked like. She was going to be here for a year and that sort of information would be important. However, she mostly kept to herself unless someone else spoke up. Mostly she's on autopilot and not necessarily paying close attention to if what she is doing might actually be bothering people.

So when the blonde woman seated at the table speaks, she pauses and pulls her hand back. "Oh. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just so used to taking care of the various chores back home...sort of a habit I guess," Pearl offers her a slight, if apologetic smile. Sure she was assigned the role of performer, but Pearl still wants to find her own way here as well.

big top

[atouts]

The Big Top is a fairly common place to rehearse, so it shouldn't come as much a surprise at just how many of her new co-workers Pearl will inevitably meet there. In this case, it's a dog. Usually, a dog that doesn't stray far from his master, Childermass, but this is one of those times that being told to 'stay' while the magician goes off to get something has taken no effect. It's forgotten as soon as the Growlithe — yep, that's another one of the carnival's recently gathered Pokemon — spots Pearl out in the ring sparring... herself?

Well, it's not like a dog can tell that's just a hologram. What he can tell is that someone is fighting something else! Clearly, she's in danger! And so he leaps up from where he had been told to sit and stay at and charges out from the backstage, barking at the hologram. Stupid thing is barely over two feet tall, so... not exactly intimidating here.

[myownpearl]

Slice. Spin. Jump. Jab. Dodge.

Pearl is concentrating hard when a few thins happen simultaneously. First, it's the flash of yellow and red out of the corner of her eye as the dog-like creature bounds in her direction. Second, she stumbles over her feet to stop her attack, gasping in surprise. Third, the holoPearl, seeing both the movement and hearing the bark, immediately turns her attention to the creature.

"New challenger approaches! Do you wish to engage in combat?" The holoPearl holds her spear forward, pointing it towards the creature.

"I don't think so," Pearl commands, stepping forward as she catches up to what it about to happen. She doesn't know what this thing is, but she already incurred one debt and she doesn't need a holographic version of herself to earn more. There's a flash and the holoPearl disappears.

big top

[mirrortide]

The moment Lapis becomes aware of Pearl's presence is probably the worst moment she's experienced thus far at the Carnival. Of course Pearl found her way here, why wouldn't she have?

Lapis leans against one of the pillars as she watches Pearl fight against her holo pearls, watching quietly from the side for a solid few minutes, eyes narrowed into a look of dislike. A few more moments, and Lapis waves her hand, and Pearl will suddenly find herself fighting against more than just her holo pearl, one of Lapis' water clones joining the fight against her.

... It's particularly more aggressive than the hologram.

[myownpearl]

Steven had mentioned Lapis being here as well. Pearl had filed this information away but had, of course, not gone out of her way to find the gem either. What would be the point? Of course, she hadn't thought to ask what Lapis did here at the carnival. Which might have been helpful information to have.

Instead, she's caught by surprise when her holoPearl duplicates into a water clone. She recognizes it, because this wouldn't be her first time fighting a water clone either. Pearl frowns but doesn't have a chance to look for Lapis because she's being attacked. Instead she swings her spear to block and deflect, keeping the water clone away from impaling her.

BACKYARD

[walkonedge]

It's still a habit that Yamato keeps his harmonica on him, and every so often, when he's in the mood and there isn't a show going on, sometimes he sits on the steps of his trailer and works on simple tunes that he can turn into more full-fledged pieces later.

He's in the middle of developing a new riff when he catches sight of Pearl out of the corner of his eye stopping every few trailers to check on the trailer numbers in this row, and he stops in the middle of the riff and puts down his harmonica. "Hey," he calls out, "Are you looking for someone?"

They've been getting a few newcomers to the carnival lately - Yamato is fairly certain that he has never seen her before, so she should probably be kind of new.

[myownpearl]

Pearl hears the harmonica, but doesn't pay it much attention. She's on a mission after all -- albeit a rather simple one -- and won't be distracted.

At least, that was the plan until she was spoken to directly. She stops walking, looking over to the young man who had called out to her. "Not really. I was actually looking for a trailer that has been assigned to me for the duration of my stay," she explains. She hadn't thought that it might actually take some work to do so. "The number was 26. And then I was going to see if I could find my friends."

The admission to looking for a trailer was probably enough of an indication that she was new.

Cookhouse

[periphrasing]

Word of Pearl’s arrival had gotten around quickly enough. It’s funny how that works, actually; sometimes new arrivals show up, and Peridot doesn’t hear anything about them or even see them around until weeks after the fact. And then other times? Other times, a new gem shows up, and it’d be impossible for her to not to hear about it.

She’s heard some other stuff by now, too, specifically regarding Pearl’s job placement. That’s probably why, when the green gem marches into the dining area looking for her, she’s carrying herself like she has a bone to pick.

With little regard for standard sanitary regulations, Peridot marches in and hoists herself up onto the table that Pearl is currently cleaning, both to get her attention and also so that they can talk to each other at a more comparable height.

“Pearl,” she says, somehow managing to sound polite and clipped at the same time. “Lapis told me you were here. Good to see you again.”

[myownpearl]

Of course Pearl has no idea that her job placement would cause such conflict. Lapis had behaved strangely enough, but she was so unfamiliar with Lapis that she just wrote it off as the usual attitude from her. Now, while she hadn't expected as touching a reunion as Steven's had been, she still felt she would have received a slightly warmer greeting from the little green gem.

Granted, it was Peridot, and despite any "bonding" they might have had she was still a little odd about emotions and feelings.

Pearl looked over when Peridot approached, offering her a polite smile, "Hello Peridot. I guess word got around then. Is everything all right?" Peridot didn't strike her as the type to desire food.