lostcarnival | Put a smile on...

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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ash didn't stop playing, or singing, her tail swishing behind her in time with the beat, but she did nod a little and flick the neck of her guitar briefly in a gesture she hoped would come off like permission.

I, I am the blade
I am the dream of the brave
I, I am the knife
I bring grief to your wife
I, I am the sword
I am the word of the Lord

Now the song at last settled into a bridge she could stretch out through repetitions, and she settled down slightly. Her fingers still danced over the strings, claws strumming them as the rest of the backing pounded out of nowhere, but at least now she could focus a little more on what Pearl was doing, and stop singing.

Hmm. Perhaps she had to keep singing in order to maintain the sword's form. Pearl couldn't figure it out otherwise, so selected a long saber with a silver crested handle and also located a rapier that had an intricate handle. Very different swords, but both appealed to her in their own way.

Pearl checked their balance, slicing through the air a few times. "Yes...these are quite good pieces...," she mused aloud.

"Sure," Ash said, free of her obligation to sing now that she could just draw the bridge between verses out on her guitar, though around them the bass and drums and rhythm still pumped out of nowhere. "I'm good at what I do. I can switch it up some if you want, though it'll take me another verse. Also I could animate them against you or even give you an opponent to face. And special effects behind you too, for the complete package!"

Pearl shook her head, unable to wave it off since she was holding two swords. "That won't be necessary...I was just curious. I didn't imagine you could do all of this though." She considers the offer. It's true she can make duplicates of her spears and even craft a holographic version of herself -- several in fact -- but it would get a little boring if she relied on the same act all the time. Aloud she mused, "I suppose that would help add some variety to the performance."

Ash laughed, bright and arrogant, as she jerked the neck of her guitar back up to break into song again.

Do what you will, I bring you the edge
I am the one to sever your head
I cut so deep, I can cut straight
It all depends on the move you make

Like a descending backdrop, a veil of a pastoral scene as viewed over castle walls rolled down around them, contrast to the armored knights that stomped down the battlements towards Pearl. All this was only illusion, tricks of the light; conjuring a full scene like this in reality was beyond the scope of a cover song. Ash might not like to admit she had limits, but she did.

Illusion or not, Pearl had to admit she was impressed. Perhaps there was more to the people in this circus than what mere humans could offer. She looked over to Ash, holding up the swords, "Perhaps a demonstration then?"

She didn't want to fight the knights if this was just to show off her own power--but now Pearl was rather interested in testing a new combatant--even if it was fake. It could still be fun and would certainly offer more versatility than her holo-Pearls.

I, I am the blade
I am the promise unmade

Ash skipped backwards lithely, the motion putting not so much as a hitch in her words, while the scene around them condensed abruptly to a backdrop of gentle color. Constant detailed illusion took a lot of magical effort that she needed to direct elsewhere.

I, I am the knife
I bring death to your life

The battalion of knights winnowed down to just three, and two stayed back while the one in front drew his weapon, then took up a battle pose. One solid combatant could provide a good challenge, she figure. They could showman it up to put Pearl against all three in a real performance, but that would take some choreography, and some fine-tuning of the music magic to get the skill level just right to make the show worth seeing.

I, I am the ax
To stop you dead in your tracks
I, I am the sword
I bring the fear of the Lord

The lucky part about music magic was that it counted so long as she was 'covering' a song as well as playing it -- so the catgirl burst into a fervent metal solo quite outside the scope of the original, as the knight charged forward to swing at Pearl.

Pearl watched as the scene changed--she didn't know what it meant but she made note of it all the same. She could figure it out later as this ability with singing and manipulating their environment. More importantly, the knights have suddenly taken an interest in her, which means that Ash is going to take her up on her suggestion to demonstrate.

Pearl raised one of the blades she had selected earlier, falling easily into a proper swordfighting stance. It was just in time too as the knight in the front of the group was now charging at her. Pearl lunged forward as well, thrusting her blade to parry his oncoming sword before turning to the right and getting behind him to cleave his follow up attack. Their blades clashed and the battle was on.

While Ash played her heart out, turning the fight into an orchestrated conflict worthy of screen and stage, the knight moved with a disconcerting lack of regard for the beat as it met Pearl's attack. Though it failed to meet her first blow with more than his armor, Ash adjusted his speed and tenacity within the magic, and it turned to lock swords with her with increasing strength. Had to find that sweet spot to make the scene a good show!

Impressive, so Ash was able to adjust in real time for the performer. That could come in handy, but was especially helpful as they learned each other's styles of combat and level of ability. Pearl still had a lot she could do--but she didn't want to show all her tricks in one go. She'd keep this a fairly simple fight.

Although, even for her that would mean a few acrobatics. Instead of parrying one of the blows, Pearl dropped and swooped beneath the swing. She popped back up on the other side, thrusting her blade towards the knight. She could fight like this for awhile.

(ooc: Do you think we can fade out/come to an end soon?)

Ash didn't seem to tire or flag as she ran through round after round of the solo; the music had to come out, after all, and she had a surprisingly durable form to make it. After a couple of minutes, she had the knight on point as well, adding flourishes to its movements and grace that would make for a show worth watching while it kept up with Pearl.

After a little of that, though, she flicked her claws across the strings to tease out a solid close to the song, letting the whole spectacle fade as she threw her head back so her hair tossed back, out of her face. "Kick ass. I think we've got a performance!"

Put a smile on...

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