RAT PARTY LOG: Day 105

[dorkypantsuit]

Who: Everyone and anyone.
What: A party.
Where The menagerie.
When: Day 105


It’s a rat’s birthday party, and if you’re in the labor crew attendance is mandatory. After watching his department's sense of team spirit drop to dangerous levels Psi has decided to try and force people to have a little fun. Of course, the recent lack of camaraderie among the Labor Department isn’t the sole reason for the party; as Ginko had mentioned, anyone who decides to take a look at Rex the rat king will find a seventh head apparently in the process of emerging from around his shoulder. It’s not quite fully formed yet, essentially just a nose and mouth poking through the fur, but it’s very definitely there.


I. GINKO AND REX
A table has been set up near Rex’s enclosure with a number of rat king-safe treats laid out on it, so as to reduce the risk of visitors giving him something he shouldn’t eat. All the same, Ginko will be spending most of his time near Rex, and keeping an eye on things - just in case he has to, you know, discourage people from putting their fingers too close to the new mouth, or something like that. Fingers are not considered rat king-safe treats.

II. TWISTER AND OTHER FUN GAMES
Psi is here as well obviously, and he does have twister. He won’t actually make you play, but he will call you a wuss if you refuse to join in. Twister isn’t the only game they have available though, as later on Psi will also be forcing allowing people to play “Who Am I?” In this game the name of another person at the carnival is placed on a player’s back. Players then have to guess whose name is on their back by asking questions yes or no questions about that person to other people at the party. (Feel free to pick whatever name you want for your character.) Although Labor Department members have to play, others are welcome to join too.

III. FOOD
But what would a party be without the free food? There’s lots of good stuff. BBQ Ribs, Chicken Adobo, Pork Mango Habanero and for dessert there’s cupcakes in the chocolate and lemon flavored variety. Lar’s made it all so feel free to be shocked about that.

((OOC: As this is a party log feel free to make your own top-levels))

Comments

Ginko | OTA

[dontpokethat]

A - Adult Supervision Required

Anyone who has worked at a petting zoo probably knows that giving a large number of people unrestricted access to one or more animals has the potential to end very badly. It gets even worse when the people in question have access to alcohol - which, regardless of whether it’s visibly present on the food table, Ginko assumes will be available, given the carnival’s everything.

So he spends most of his time hanging out near the animals, and particularly near Rex’s enclosure. The massive rat king seems quite curious about all the activity, poking a couple noses out of his cage to sniff at the air or at the food set out for him nearby. Whenever he starts doing that, Ginko will pat one of his noses and mumble something to him, sometimes picking up a snack to pass to whichever head had been getting impatient.

Whenever someone comes by to see him up close - or is even just hanging around looking like they might want to - Ginko will wave them over with a small smile. “Hey; did you want to come see Rex? He seems to be handling all the excitement pretty well.”

B - Party Games Are The Worst

Ginko has never played Twister. In fact, he never intended for that to change, because it honestly looked to him like an uncomfortable at best and hellish at worst experience.

But also, he promised Psi that he would play, and he doesn’t intend to add breaking promises to the list of things he’s done wrong recently.

He’s frowning down at the dotted mat, ears pinned against his head. “So, how long is this supposed to go on for?”

C - Break Time

When you’re used to being alone in the mountains, parties are only bearable for so long. A couple times over the course of the party, Ginko will pull one of the other animal keepers aside to watch Rex for a bit while he steps away to go hang around by the far side of the barn for a while, away from the commotion.

He sits down against the wooden wall, and digs in his pockets for a couple seconds to get out his cigarettes and matches. After the recent infestations, he feels like he has to be all the more careful about keeping mushi away, even if it’s not an exceptionally logical response.

Wildcard

(( OOC: Let me know here, on discord, or on omixgirl10 if you want to do something that doesn’t fit into these prompts! ))

a

[espigeon]

Julien is here as a giant black-and-white dove, almost five feet tall at the shoulder, like a small horse. He can raise his flexible avian neck to reach the eye level of any but the tallest people, but he's got it lowered now to peer at Rex.

The curve of his beak suggests a constant subtle smile, but his voice, much more human then the rest of him, is smiling much more broadly. "Good grief, that's amazing. I guess I can see why you wouldn't give him party hats!"

A

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's attendence wasn't mandatory, but he didn't see any reason not to come and celebrate Rex's birthday--given the announcements he assumes this is a big deal for a Rat King.

"Hey." He waves back enthusiastically as he approaches the cage. "Yeah. It's his birthday, isn't it?" Even if Rex is an animal and not a person, it seems rude to ignore him at his own party.

C

[dorkypantsuit]

He notices Ginko pulling away once or twice over the course of the party, so the third time it happens Psi follows after him. He's not exactly announcing himself as he does so, but he's not trying to be sneaky either. He knows Ginko probably cam over here for some alone time, but well, maybe he wouldn't mind a little company if Psi wasn't being too obtrusive about anything.

To be completely honest, Psi could do with a little space from the party as well. For a few days now he'd been getting some weird feedback when he was around other people. It wasn't too terribly bothersome most of the time, but here at the party it was actually starting to give him a bit of a headache. He didn't want to think too deeply about what that meant. He'd never been the sort of Psionic that had been able to look into other people's minds, but well, it wouldn't be the first time someone's powers had grown here in unexpected ways.

All and all he's trying not to think about it.

"Having a good time?"

B

[fourthscribe]

"I've not a clue." Tanyuu frowns down at the instructions as she reads them over, having been assigned to the 'caller' position due to a lack of lower limbs. "Probably when someone collapses, from the looks of it."

A!

[puddingemote]

So this is the rat! It's pretty impressive, Tamaki has to say. He doesn't come by the menagerie very often (some of the other things in there creep him out), but Rex is just kind of big weird, not really that scary. He waves at Ginko as he approaches.

"Can we give them these treats?" he asks, looking at the table of said treats curiously. He did say he would give every head one, after all.

Julien | OTA

[espigeon]

Julien's here as a black-and-white pigeon the size of a small horse, wandering around with dark curious eyes. He feels a little more comfortable walking around as a bird, to be honest. It's been a while since he had basically any human features, and while it's coming back to him, he's too naturalized to this form to want to let go of it. Being big and having amazing eyesight just feels right.

He could eat an immense amount of the free food, which all looks and smells really good, but he contents himself with browsing and picking, delicately operating tongs and serving spoons with his hand-sized beak and the two clawed, scaly fingers left on each wing. The adobo is so good that he wraps some, steaming, in a length of saran wrap that wasn't there a moment ago, and draws an invisible line down his own closed wing with his beak. After a moment a visible line appears and becomes an oval full of vague dark shadows, not a hole set into his body but a sort of window hovering against it. Julien beaks the plate of food through and the oval closes, and he ruffles his feathers in a satisfied way.

Otherwise he spends quite a bit of time seemingly perusing the animals in the menagerie, exclaiming quite often. He's also here to scope out who else is here, relying on it being very hard to tell what a pigeon is looking at, but the animals really do impress him.

"I feel like we should be friends," he says playfully, looking up at the featherball T. rex, which surveys him with keen interest. "We really should! Even if I'm envious 'cause you're fluffier!"

[songbird_slayer]

These were the strangest creatures she's ever seen. But they were so very charming! She supposed when a carnival traveled through the veils between worlds, you picked up a few odd critters on the way. It was natural, right?

But Madhuri quietly found who she was looking for and did a little sneaking to reach his side. Arms folded behind her back, she coyly smiled and tipped her upper body his way.

"I think you're perfectly fluffy, dear. I take it you're Julien?"

[mylastchance]

He can't help but laugh at the comment, watching a large pigeon speaking to a larger stranger bird. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but well, too late to pretend he didn't overhear now. Bird envy.

"I wasn't aware fluffiness was a desirable trait for birds."

Miko | OTA

[pullingamiko]

A - Handle with Care

Miko hasn't spent a whole lot of time in the menagerie, beyond the times when she's been sent here to help clean up or transport supplies. Frankly, though, she'd like to hang around here more - it's just difficult to find opportunities when there's so much else to check out around the carnival and the worlds it visits.

This, though, is a fantastic opportunity, and Miko doesn't intend to waste it. If she's gotta be here anyway, she might as well look around! As such, she spends a good chunk of the party going from one enclosure to another, leaning in to get a good look at the animals inside. And... sometimes sticking her fingers in to try and pet them.

The crate of arms particularly seems to have caught her attention at the moment - and, since that one doesn't even have a cage to stick her hands into, she's just letting the tiny hands sticking out of the slats grab her fingers, then pulling back with a noise that's simultaneously amused and disgusted. She has, in fact, done this repeatedly. "Man, what is this thing? Like, does it even have an actual body or what?"

B - Party Games 1

Awww yes there's Twister. It may not be as much as her thing as, say, rock climbing, or anything involving simulated violence, but it's still fun.

Miko is nearly bouncing with excitement - even if she's far enough into the game for that to be a not-great idea as far as, you know, maintaining balance. "Just watch, I can keep this stuff up all day! I'm gonna kick all your butts at this."

C - Party Games 2

"Okay, so... is it a supervisor?"

That's the best way she can think of to start narrowing it down right away. Of course, maybe she'd have some idea of how ridiculous that was if she knew the paper on her back had Amethyst's name on it.

(( OOC: If you want a different prompt, hit me up here, on discord, or an omixgirl10! ))

party games 1!

[kingsroads]

Twister is dumb as hell. So naturally, Strange is a hundred percent interested and happily agreed to play, if only to see what the game was like. And turns out that being a lanky skinny noodle of a man is a bonus when it comes to playing Twister because (to Strange's surprise) he's halfway good at it.

He's good at it to feel confident enough to shit-talk Miko as whoever's spinning the spinner tells them left hand on red. "Pride goes before the fall, after all," says literally one of the most prideful men in the carnival. "I hope you're ready to eat your words when you lose!"

Strange carefully moves his hand over towards red, but not after wobbling slightly and quickly catching his balance. He will kick this teenager's ass at Twister and he won't feel bad about it in the slightest.

party games 1~

[puddingemote]

Bouncing around isn't really doing Tamaki any favors either, since his leg is currently crossing over hers and it getting bounced into doesn't make it any easier to stay in this position.

But he doesn't say anything about it, instead watching the spinner with intense focus. As soon as they say right hand on yellow, he shoots for the spot most convenient to Miko.

"Hah!"

Taako | OTA

[tacosgay]

Taako has mostly come because he figures a party will be more interesting than wandering around, lost, or just sitting in his trailer; he spends much of the night sampling the food, seemingly quietly judging it and making faces in reaction to each. (They're mostly pleasant reactions, though.)

Since this is his first real outting to meet the other folks here in person, he's very interested in seeing what sorts of bodies the voices he's met belong to. He's people-watching, picking out those he's spoken with from those who are entirely new, and silently wondering just how much of the strangeness he's seeing is natural and how much is fae magic leaving its mark.

What a weird party.

[ophidiarex]

Hey, look, it's another person with pointed ears.

He's also standing in the corner, sipping out of what at first glance looks like a white juice box. It's a little weird, but hey, it's a party for strange people. Occasionally he lifts his head and looks around, forked tongue flicking. His face and hands are visible under his sweatshirt and jeans; both are dotted with scales.

He's not sure about the party, but Taako's scent is... different. He doesn't smell like the carnival yet. It's odd. Emily's noticed too, and at her prompting, Snake appraches the elf. "'Hello, are you new to the carnival?' says Emily." His voice when he speaks for the snake is high, piping, and feminine compared to the voice he uses to explain who he's speaking for.

[betheman]

Gon is Patrol, not Labor-so he as well is far from required to attend to the party. But, he feels it best to at least 'congratulate' the Rat King (it is...rather impressive, he will admit), and more than that, being inside for too long is becoming a source of irritation these days.

Strangely, he doesn't feel that his mane is to blame for that but...well. Here he is. And if Taako hoped to see how far anyone's changes go, he's about to get an impressive answer. Gongenzaka stands at just about 9 feet tall thanks to the massive boost from his 'centaur' body, if one includes the ears; equine feet at the back, bear-like paws at the fore, and plant life in brilliant shades of scarlet covering silver bark or white fur. If anything, he probably looks more like some sort of 'beast' rather than a 'faerie', especially with the added natural 'shadow' over his eyes to add that menacing stare.

He does not address Taako himself-though, the snubbull on his back (her own fur rather long, and bits of moss forming a set of little ear bows for her) is doing a good job at starting a staring contest.

"....Buuh!"

[starseedling]

Steven has been wandering around the party for a while, eating food, playing with the rat, etc - but it isn't until he overhears Taako talking that he will really gain his attention. Steven turns around, pointing his finger at Taako as if with some great revelation.

"It's you!!" he says, too loudly.

[wild_magic]

There was no way Susan would miss a party, and even though it had taken a bit of convincing to get Lauren to agree to let him go, he'd still managed it somehow. At first he'd visited the animals, eaten food, played games... But now he's doing a bit of people-watching, too, to see who's here he might want to talk to.

At first Taako catches his attention just because he's someone he hasn't seen before, but once he spots him he frowns, a little confused. Is he an elf? He hasn't seen an elf for a while...

After a few moments of staring at him with his mismatched cat-like eyes (looking otherwise like a completely normal half-elf child), he comes closer with a little smile on his face.

"Did you try the games yet? They're more fun than just watching people."

[fourthscribe]

For outlandish-looking, it's hard to beat purple-skinned naga with moss and plants growing all down her back. Tanyuu has been keeping more to the edges of the party, conversing when approached but mostly keeping to herself. Most of her time has been spend feeding the birthday rat plenty of treats (and being a sibling nuisance to Ginko), but Taako's connoisseuring catches her eyes when she comes up to the actual food table.

"Is it compliments or concerns we'll be passing on to the chef for you?"

Snake (+Snakes) | OTA

[ophidiarex]

It's always good to come to the menagerie...even if the party is when the labor department's one and only vampire would usually be sleeping. It's less good to be surrounded by people. Snake takes a few minutes to visit the members of his usual entourage that are currently in the menagerie. This doubles as a chance to avoid the other attendees.

However, this behavior can't continue forever. Eventually he has to go join the party. He's a bit of a wallflower, though; after offering some extremely large yogurt balls to Rex (while wearing gloves to prevent predatory scents from freaking the rat king out TOO much), he's not got a lot to say or do. He can't play twister, after all; too close to too many beating hearts. Add in that he doesn't know enough people to play Psi's who-am-I game very well, and he's stuck, just as the sticky note on his back labelled with Sans's name is.

He can't even eat. He's just sipping at a juice box. It's white. There's a red biohazard label on it. The straw is opaque. Three guesses what's in it, first two don't count.

[puddingemote]

"It's a supervisor. On your back."

Tamaki comes around from behind Snake, carrying a plate of food piled high with a few ribs and way too many cupcakes. At least he's not too messy of an eater, and most of the mess from the ribs has ended up on the wad of napkins in his other hand and not on his face or clothes.

"Don't you want to play?" Twister, or the name game - any game in general, really.

[wild_magic]

Susan isn't even in this department, but he couldn't say no to going to a party. He's already played Twister a few times (and lost every one), eaten snacks, and visited the birthday rat, and now he's moved on to socializing. At first he only was talking to people who were actually trying to socialize, but when he sees Snake he decides he has to get him to participate too. Only his brother is allowed to be a wallflower at this party.

Luckily he hasn't seen his snakes, or has written them off as some sort of change or clothing choice rather than as actual snakes. Otherwise him approaching Snake may have turned out entirely differently than this. As it is, though, he approaches with a small smile, trying to not be too obnoxious - he wants him to join in the fun, not get scared away.

"Are you people-watching?"

Foster | OTA

[control_freak]

Foster.... does not want to be here. At all. In any capacity, for any reason, and yet here he is.

There is nothing about parties that he enjoys. Interacting with people is never worth it. It's tedious and overwhelming, frustrating at best and nightmarish at worst. Large numbers of them are not an improvement. And Ginko in particular is not someone he wants to see right now--for multiple reasons. He doesn't even like animals, so interacting with Rex has no place on his extremely short list of possible interests. If that weren't ordeal enough, birthday parties especially are unpleasant for him--right along with New Years' Eve, celebrations of time passing.

So why is he even here?

Because, apparently, he has no choice.

The Psiionic, for reasons beyond his understanding, specifically requested that Foster be transferred to his department. And by making him a member of the labour department, he also made Foster's attendance at this event mandatory. If Psi had struck him as petty enough, he'd suspect some kind of particularly obscure revenge.

As it is, he's both confused and angry about it--he's deeply and openly suspicious of Psi's motives, but ultimately, he has no control over the situation.

So he's at the party, exactly where he doesn't want to be, looking both stressed and unhappy and watching the multi-headed rat monster with a fixed kind of intensity.

There's no force in the world powerful enough to make him play Twister, though.

[tacosgay]

... jesus. Taako can't quite sort out exactly what the vibe is this guy is giving off, but he knows it is not good. Every line of the man's body is stiff, like somebody copied and pasted him in from a totally different picture, and Taako lowkey worries that he's about to snap and murder the rat they apparently came to party over. And, while he has no particular attachment to that rat, that would be a real buzzkill.

Taako finally approaches him, curiosity temporarily winning out over his usual wariness.

"Hey, uh... anybody home in there?"

Sophie Welman | OTA

[detonarrator]

Rex

[Sophie has taken it upon herself to get Rex into the spirit of things by giving him a party hat. Actually hats plural. He needs one for each head after all. She's already be-hatted a few of the more indifferent heads, and now has worked her way up to the Troublesome ones. So come watch her grumble and mutter as she tries in vain to stretch herself tall enough to put a party hat on the topmost head. It doesn't help that she's fairly short and Rex can just crane his neck up and put his paw on her face to push her away and down.]

Come on now you ungrateful bastard. Don't be the debbie downer, all your other heads are into it!

[That is definitely a lie, as at least two of them are shaking their heads as best they can and occasionally pawing at the elastic string keeping the offending garments on their heads. Sophie herself is of course wearing a party hat of her own, and has a stack of them on the table next to her. Come get your own or she will chase you down with one just as soon as she is done with this stubborn rodent.]

Twister

[Sure, Sophie's playing. And getting way too into it. And also attempting to "strategize" by not taking the closest convenient dot, but purposefully trying to take convenient dots away from competitors. As such she is very soon very well Twistered, and now attempting to win via intimidation. Sadly her notorious Death Glare is less effective when it's coming from under her own armpit.]

[Grr arg, very intimidate. Much scare.]

Twister

[spaghettimonster]

[He might have come partly to avoid getting thrown in jail (it's a long story and possibly only a joke, but best to be on the safe side when you're not actually in the mood for incarceration), but Papyrus settles into the party games post haste.]

[It seems like tall skeletons have a natural advantage at this game. Namely, he weighs about nothing, can hold himself in place for a long time, and he has bone-thin limbs to stretch around his opponents.]

[Your move, Sophie]

Adrien | OTA

[chattypuns]

Even if it hadn't been a mandatory party, Adrien probably would have been there anyway. He hasn't been to a lot of parties before, and even one for some kind of weird giant rat seemed fun... And somehow more normal than the last (and only) party he'd gone to, where his best friend turned into a super villain and threw a birthday party for him, forcing all of their friends to come.

He hasn't tried the games yet, although right now he's watching as he eats some of the many (and delicious!) food choices, occassionally slipping a piece of something into his jacket when he thinks no one's looking. He's never played Twister before, so maybe for now he'll just sit it out...

[kingsroads]

Who has two thumbs and got bitten by the rat, hint, it's Jonathan Strange. Thankfully, it's just a small bite, more of Rex's teeth grazing Strange's palm than any sort of hard bite that would maul his finger. Unfortunately, he's bleeding. This doesn't seem to worry Strange in the slightest: there's napkins on the table though, he can use one of those to cover the bleeding. And really, it's his own fault for trying to poke Rex near his new head, the poor thing didn't even have eyes yet.

So, as Adrien goes up to get more food, Strange walks over, taking care to hold his bleeding palm away from any of the food. It's all quite delicious, after all, he doesn't want to ruin the ribs by bleeding into them. Unfortunately, Adrien is right in front of the napkins and again, he's not going to reach his slightly bloody hand over the food.

"Can you pass me that napkin?"