⇨ 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

Elizabeth | New | Ota

[beunbroken]

The New

She'd never seen a sky so beautiful before. The twilight overhead was enough to take Elizabeth's breath away. She'd never seen the stars before. At least, not like this. They were so different from the illustrations she'd had on the ceiling of her tower. It was beautiful.

Elizabeth's content to stand still for some time, looking up at the meteor shower. Occasionally, she'll move a few steps, too hypnotized by the sky above to really notice where she is going.

Karaoke

This is new. Really new. People are watching her and looking at her, and wow, those lights are bright. She blinks at them, smiling nervously. "Uhm. Hello...? I'm not really sure how this- oh! I guess I'll sing, now!" Elizabeth tries to start, but soon the music begins, and she finds herself fumbling through the lyrics to Girls Just Want To Have Fun. Her voice is good, but the problem comes from the music itself. It's clear that though she knows the lyrics, the tempo and all together the stylings of the song are completely foreign to her.

By the second verse, however, she's getting the hang of the new tempo, and is able to finish with relative success.

Choose Your Own

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"You look like you're far away," came an accented voice out of the darkness. Fortunately, there was enough light out here that she was more than JUST a voice, so she paced up to stop a couple of yards away. Carefully not intruding too closely.

"This must have been quite the day."

[beunbroken]

The voice catches Elizabeth's attention, drawing her back to earth. In the moonlight, she could make out the shape of what appeared to be a horse of some sort. A striped- a zebra? There was a zebra here and it was talking to her.

It was not the weirdest thing that had happened to her today.

"You have no idea." Exhaustion creeps into her voice, but only just.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"I agree, that much is true.
I cannot say I really do."

Her own stay had been very voluntary and calculated, after all.

Stepping closer, Zecora joined the girl beneath the night sky. Something about her seemed faintly absent, but her presence itself was very real. An offer to listen, if a listener was needed.

[beunbroken]

Elizabeth watches as she joins her. She's beautiful- with green eyes and her necklaces, and Elizabeth reaches out, to see if her fur is as soft as it looks. But she doesn't make contact with her. Instead, she stills her hand before curiosity can get the best of her.

"I've been running all day. This is the first moment I've really had to... to catch my breath."

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora noted that gesture but didn't acknowledge it, merely regarding the woman out of the corner of her eyes with mild interest.

"More excitement will come soon.
Tell me, can you carry a tune?"

the new

[rescuee]

[ Elizabeth isn't the only one with eyes on the sky. Jajo has seen a million skies like this one — in fact, he's recently not only seen a meteor shower, but dodged meteoroids. They're much more lovely when they're not likely to kill you at any moment. So his attention is less awe and more unhappy memory, but the distraction is just as thorough.

That would be why he runs straight into Elizabeth, knocking into her from behind with all 7'5 of his enormous frame. He's jolted immediately back into guilty attention, and flails in a (sort of tragically uncoordinated) attempt to catch her. ]

Oh — I'm sorry — !

[beunbroken]

[The man that runs into her is at least two feet taller than her, and as such, Elizabeth is knocked off-kilter, her heels doing little to lower her center of gravity. On her way down, her assailant manages to grab on to her arm albeit awkwardly, catching her before she hits the ground.

Woah.]

Oh- no, no, it's alright. I'm sorry- I wasn't looking where I was going.

[rescuee]

[ He's got her, what means he hasn't completely knocked her off her feet, which is the tiniest sliver of a silver lining. He reaches out the other hand to join her first, and both of his large, metal, three-fingered hands pull her back up right to set her carefully back on her feet. ]

I'm really sorry. [ And he looks the part, too, guilt written all over his face. ] That was entirely my fault — are you alright?

[beunbroken]

It's alright, I'm fine, I just wasn't- [she looks over at his hand and her bright blue eyes go wide.]

You're-- [Songbird had hands like that. He had metal claws that once she'd run to, but had come to run from.] You're going to take me back to him... [To her tower, to Songbird, to Comstock.]

[rescuee]

[ Confusion flickers within his concern and he shifts backward, releasing her again and pulling his hands with him. This is... not really the conversational turn he'd expected. He was sure there would be at least thirty seconds more of apologies. ]

I'm afraid I don't understand. [ Seems like a safe start. Next he tries, hesitantly: ] I wasn't intending to take you anywhere... should we know each other?

Karaoke

[waitingforplayer2]

By this time, Chiaki's actually made it to the stage, and her face lights up when she recognizes this tune. She's tapping her foot by the end of it.

Elizabeth's path from the stage takes her close to Chiaki, so it's not much of a stretch for her to step into view. "You were really good up there."

[beunbroken]

At the praise, Elizabeth turns, beaming. "Oh, thank you! I've never done anything like that before- I thought I knew the song, but..." At least she was a fast learner, and musically gifted.

"Have you gone, yet?"

[waitingforplayer2]

"Hm... maybe you heard a cover version of it? Sometimes in games, there'll be a slightly different version of the song, so they can use it..."

She shakes her head. "No. I don't think I will. I'm just watching."

[beunbroken]

Elizabeth blinks. "Oh, I think this was the cover," she says, gesturing back at the stage. She was from 1912. No way Cyndi Lauper existed then. Who would spell their name with a Y and and I in the wrong places? "What sort of games?"

She frowns. "Oh come on! It's good fun! I'm sure you can sing!"

[waitingforplayer2]

She doesn't know music all that well, so Elizabeth may very well be right.

"Games like Grand Theft Auto... where there's a radio station, but the publishers don't want to get sued."

She glances back at the stage, where somebody else has taken the mic, and swallows. "Well, I've played Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but there isn't usually a crowd there..."

the new

[atouts]

"So you are still here," a familiar voice says from the deeper shadows by the tent. He almost sounds disapproving, but as he rarely puts that much emotion into his words, it's no easy feat to tell. Childermass steps out into better view, out into the light. With how much black he wears, he may as well have been a shadow himself until that point.

The smell of burning tobacco follows him as he walks over. Since leaving the tent himself, he's lit up his pipe and, for the moment, holds it to one side so he's free to speak without the bit in the way.

"Hello again, Miss Elizabeth."

[beunbroken]

Elizabeth makes a face as the tobacco smoke wafts past, waving her hand in front of her face. She's only recently come to smell tobacco and couldn't say she enjoyed it at all. But everyone had their vices and so long as Childermass wasn't killing anyone or drinking too much she could let it go.

"And you, too, Mr. Childermass." Was he stuck here like she was, somehow wrangled into working for the carnival? "How did they get you?"

[atouts]

It is, at least, not as bad as cigarettes, but it is smoke and he does consider putting it out after a reaction like that. Only considers. He feels an evening like this calls for an inordinate amount of smoking, unfortunately. Her question gets an arched eyebrow, however.

"They did not," he admits after a brief pause. "I was here on business from the very beginning. It was my own choice to remain."

[beunbroken]

She's not used to most of the smells she's encountered here today, so please, don't take it personal. Give it a few weeks and she'll get more used to it.

"Oh- that's why you took the Roads." That made sense. So he'd traveled here willingly. She'd just found herself here, more or less. "Meanwhile, I've a debt to repay."

[atouts]

"I did tell you to be wary, but it looks as though they found something to steal, anyway."

In a roundabout fashion, true, but he had already guessed most of the carnival was a fool's game to begin with. Chances are that's why they parted ways at the gamer's circle.

"A year and a day, is it?"

The Now

[dorkypantsuit]

Hey, watch out!

[He uses his psionics to stop her before she runs into a cart. He feels bad using them, he knows it can startle newbies to suddenly see a purple glow surrounding them, but better to scare her than watch her get hurt.]

You know it's generally a good idea to look in the direction you're walking.

[beunbroken]

[Elizabeth gasps, stopped and surrounded by a strange glow. It almost seemed like one of the vigors that Mr. DeWitt used, in a way, upon further reflection, but in the moment it's extremely unexpected.]

Woah! What was that? [She turns to the man- man? Man with. horns...? -talking to her.]

[dorkypantsuit]

[He frowns, feeling guilty at how startled she seems.]

Just uh, my psionics. Sorry.

I wasn't trying to scare you.

[beunbroken]

Psionics? Is that a new vigor?

[She's learning so much about the world so quickly, and she's got no idea what psionics are.]

You didn't scare me- just startled me. There's a difference.