⇨ GAME START INTRO LOG!

[ringleaders]

Who: EVERYONE!
When: NOW!
Where: Around the carnival grounds, and in the Cookhouse.
What: Carnival worker orientation, Ringmaster style.
Warnings: Alcohol consumption, maybe drugs. Other things?

BRAVE NEW WORLD↴ ► THE NEW: It doesn't matter when you entered the tent to discuss your new contract with the Ringmaster, you exit it beneath a blanket of stars. Pointedly alien stars at that - currently the carnival grounds are being treated to a show of shooting stars, and what appear to be unnaturally large and living green moons hanging just a bit too close. The carnival was bustling when you entered, but now it's in the latter stages of being shut down for the night. If you manage to find a clock, it states that it's around 8PM. Workers from during the day will be passing through the grounds, attending to various pieces of business. None of them will seem very surprised or concerned by the goings on, though some may be sympathetic enough to pause and answer your questions. If you put some effort into finding out how it became nighttime, you may discover that it's been anywhere from a few hours to 7 days since you originally signed your contract. Someone may explain to you that it was probably some kind of time bubble, meant to keep you out of the way until the Ringmaster had time to deal with you. Every few minutes another new person will pop out of the tent, looking just as confused and under the impression that they had only just finished discussing things with the Ringmaster. Weird. She passed you a note before you left. Opening it up, you'll see you've been assigned a trailer number, and been given the instructions to drop off any excess belongings and do what you can to get settled in. You have until exactly 9:36PM to do so, because that's when you'll be expected to attend what is listed only as "WORKER'S ORIENTATION". This is, perhaps, more abrupt than you were expecting - but what can you do? You're here for the long haul. ► THE OLD: If you've ever seen a mass recruitment before, then this is no surprise. People enter the tent when they're recruited, and then sometimes how up again days later when the Ringmaster is ready for them. She isn't a big fan of wasting her time on individual orientations when she's expecting a crowd. Maybe you're too jaded to all of this to care much, but you'll see the newbies wandering around, probably confused and maybe a bit lost. Maybe you're the kind whose is sympathetic enough to pause your role in clean up and give them some directions, and maybe a word of confidence. Maybe you'll just jeer at them, because you're some kind of asshole. Either way, you expect you'll have the chance to see them later tonight. Whether by world of mouth, radio, or written note, supervisors will be passing out the following message: all workers are to report to the Cookhouse at 9:36PM sharp for "orientation." If you are at all familiar with how things go around here, you probably have a good idea of what this implies. Mandatory Karaoke Night. MANDATORY KARAOKE NIGHT!!!↴ At 9:36PM, the main dining hall of the Cookhouse will be found heavily decorator with various coloured lights and at least one disco ball made of what is ostensibly high karat gems. There are a bunch of cushions and additional seating set up along with the usual tables, and at the head of the call there is a state set up - a karaoke stage. For veteran workers, this is no surprise. Karaoke nights are fairly frequent as activities go, even if they are not usually mandatory. Some of you probably have signature songs already prepared. The karaoke machine is set up with mostly karaoke tracks that would be popular in the 90's and 00's on the average modern earth, with a few that are more recent. It also has some other random stuff from other worlds that people rarely sing because they are confusing and in languages no one understands. Here is a big karaoke list for your inspiration! The more stereotypically karaoke the better. Beyond that, there is plenty of food and snacks that were prepared by the cooks earlier, as well as a bar set up for alcohol and other vices. The selection is, as most things in the carnival, eclectic. Music will be played in between if nobody is singing, and otherwise veterans are encouraged to bring along their own fun and show the newbies a good time. The Ringmaster does ask that vets attempt to be courteous to their new coworkers. It's just being a good host.

Comments

[puddingemote]

"A trick or a prop? What do you mean?"

Ah, except he's supposed to be rapping now.

"It's the weirdest thing that I've ever seen,
You're challenging people from up on the stage,
If you're not careful you're gonna make me rage."

Yeah, it's definitely a lot harder when he has to come up with his own lines.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

With a toss of her hooded head and a flick of one forehoof, Zecora waved off his rhyme as if it were nothing.

"You will rage and simmer
Because you're dimmer
Than a starless night
You have no fight
No pop, no snap,
You ought to slap
Yourself for claiming
These words, they're shaming
Your foolish face
You're a disgrace
You're way off-base
So learn your place."

[puddingemote]

Tamaki scowls at that, though it takes him a moment to think up a new rhyme to start.

"So learn my place
Don't screw with me
I am the best
That you'll ever see
You think you're tough
'Cause you can rhyme a word
But to me you just
Sound like a nerd."

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"A nerd is smart, clever, witty," Zecora thundered back without a moment's pause,
"You're none of that, nor are you pretty.
You have no trait you can call great
So sit back and cry that you're fourth-rate.
I'm a doctor, a brewer
Mind and body renewer
A thinker, a doer
You're not fit to scoop my manure
No words could be truer
So go back to your sewer!"

[puddingemote]

Unlike Zecora, Tamaki definitely takes a long pause after that.

"I won't cry! I'll try to... uh..."

Yep, he's all out of rhymes. He rubs the back of his neck, not looking particularly embarrassed about his failure, though a little miffed at the situation.

"This is hard. I give up."

The boy has no follow-through.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora wasn't one to taunt an opponent by raking them with rhymes after they'd surrendered the battle. So, in respect to her opponent's efforts, she performed the traditional winner's salute she'd been taught much earlier in her time in the carnival: she stretched her foreleg out, uncurled her hoof very deliberately, and let the mic drop.

[puddingemote]

He watches the mic drop, unsure what to do in response. Should he drop the mic too? But that might break it, and he's been scolded before for treating equipment roughly.

Finally he just puts the mic back in its stand, gives a little bow, and walks off the stage, though he still stands in front of it.

"You're good. Do you practice a lot?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"You could say
I do each day."

Zecora picked her own mic back up in her teeth, tucking it back into its stand in turn. (She didn't know that really spoiled the gesture...)

"It is not a reach
For somepony with my speech."

[puddingemote]

"You always talk like that? Can't you turn it off?"

Tamaki thought it sounded difficult, to always have to think up a rhyme for everything he wanted to say. Sometimes it was hard enough just finding the right words to say what he wanted without adding another layer to it.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora favored him with a bright, confident smile.

"I always speak this way, it's true.
Rather why not, ask: why don't you?"

[puddingemote]

"Because it's too hard!"

Seriously, how can she think up rhymes so good? He taps his chin.

"Can you think up a rhyme for anything?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"Some words in this tongue do not rhyme.
It gives me great pause sometimes.
The zebra language flows like water,
Proudly passed on from mother to daughter.
If you learned it, you too would speak
In rhyme." She paused, then smiled slyly. "Or you'd be a freak."

[puddingemote]

"A freak!?" He wouldn't want to be a freak, that doesn't sound good. "Just 'cause I can't rhyme!?"

That doesn't sound like a very nice place. But maybe the zebra language is that different from Japanese.

"I didn't even know zebras could talk before I came here... but I guess you just have a language I don't know."

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

It would be very strange, like a human -- well, she's not certain what would be culturally aberrant for a human. But there had to be something.

"Equestria had no humankind.
It still is hard to get in my mind.
But out there I have seen stranger stuff
So accepting you is not so tough."

[puddingemote]

Lots of things, but Tamaki isn't the person to ask for a list.

"Uh, thanks." He's glad he won't be found unacceptable by this zebra woman. "You really came from where there aren't humans? That's weird..."

It'd be like if earth didn't have zebras! Even though he's never actually seen a zebra in real life...

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"Not a one to be found
In the sky or on the ground," Zecora confirmed.
"Meeting them was new and strange
But a pleasant, interesting change."

[puddingemote]

"I guess. Humans are okay, some of them."

Are they really interesting, though? Well, as interesting as a talking zebra is to someone who's never met one.

"Do you like being here?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"I do indeed!
It was my greed
For experience
That brought me hence.
My choice was right
And remains a delight."

[puddingemote]

"Choice? You're not in debt?"

Tamaki just sort of assumed everyone wracked up a debt like he did.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora shook her head. "I am not. I made a deal.
I did not accidentally steal.
The Ringmaster will pay if you choose
To sign up, and I had nothing to lose.
That is why I am still here--
I am beginning my third year."

[puddingemote]

"Three years..."

For someone who is only seventeen, that's a long time.

"But, she said I only have to work for one year - is that still true?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"A year and a day
Will pay your way.
Unless you get
Yourself in more debt."

Which could be voluntarily accrued, of course, though Zecora didn't mention that. Give folks more time to prepare for their new lives, for the year. Let them see if it suited them.

[puddingemote]

"More debt!? I can't get more!"

He wonders what all could happen to get in debt. He played games for free and Mitsuki broke a mirror... are there other things?

"How do I not get in debt?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"If you wish no more loss
Then incur no more debts with the boss."

Vague advice, but truthfully, Zecora couldn't predict what would actually be considered an indebting service from the Ringleader. Predictability was not a fae strength.

[puddingemote]

That was a vague answer and Tamaki doesn't understand those. Maybe she couldn't hear him? He'll try speaking louder.

"How do you not get debt?!" He practically yells the question.