⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 138 - Day 152
Where: The Summerlands
What: The Ringmaster brings the carnival to the Summerlands immediately after being freed from Portland so that everyone can take a fucking nap. Her included.
Warnings: Individually marked! Most likely discussion of torture and trauma in here.

DAYS OF SUMMER↴ You made it! And things are back to normal... more or less. Upon waking, you will be greeted with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze – the carnival has found itself situated between a pair of mountain peaks, with great fields of flowers extending in the distance. In the other direction, you’ll see mountain-top cities and tall waterfalls accenting vast swaths of forest. Some of you will already know this place. It’s the Summerlands. You game here once to rest in safety nearly a year ago, and now you’ve come to rest once again. ► WAKING UP: Shortly after the carnival arrives, the Ringmaster will send out a somewhat cryptic radio message - but her immediate location won't be clear. Whatever items you had on your person at the time the Severing was broken will still be on your person, including whatever clothing. All of the animals and pets of the carnival will have returned to the grounds as well, though they are currently free from their designated living spaces. Things in the carnival will appeared to have naturally aged a month, as if the carnival was been sitting here empty and waiting while everyone was in Portland. The lawn needs mowing. ► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, they will welcome you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but they will not be particularly offended if they are turned down, for now. ► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will mostly enjoy the company of any carnival members that offer it - it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do. ► NEW ARRIVALS: Though the Ringmaster will not be offering much guidance for the first week or so, eventually the carnival will begin running for a few small performance sessions, off and on, as a thank you to their fae hosts. The carnival will also be open to receiving new arrivals during that period, and so there will likely be some newbies to train and get orientated as well.

Comments

[periphrasing]

To be fair, Peridot's role on Homeworld was more or less in the same category as what she does at the Carnival, so. He technically already knows what she's for. He just doesn't know that he knows.

Pumpkin's eyes shoot open, and she makes a tragically betrayed whining sound, trying to meet the eyes of the man holding her with her own weird hollow ones. Peridot just levels an unimpressed look at him. "Isn't that kind of just the same concept? You'd be calling her by what her typical perceived purpose was."

Also please don't eat her dog.

[whattaprick]

"Yeah, but at least it's not as literal," Lambert grins down at the unfortunate little gourdbeast, giving her a friendly tap between the eyes. It's the closest he has to getting to poking her on her nose. Don't worry, though, Pumpkin, you're not on the menu tonight.

However, that doesn't mean Pumpkin's safe from being casually flipped over, her underside examined as Lambert raps at her belly with his knuckles. Sure, he'll cuddle her, but that doesn't mean she's off the hook for all sorts of other indignities. "How do you even know she's a she?"

[periphrasing]

Poor Pumpkin doesn't really have any choice but to take it, too, because she is a literal gourd with nubs for legs and has basically zero dexterity or flexibility. She's a lot less fussed about being flipped upside down than she was about being called dinner, though.

Also if he gets his hands too close to her face again, he's going to get pumpkin slimed by her weird tongue.

Annnnd Peridot's puzzlement only increases. "Wwwwhat else would she be?" A he? That would be ludicrous.

[whattaprick]

"An it?" Lambert asks, quizzically. It's technically correct. At any rate, ew, his hand is getting slobbered as he turns her back on her belly, and he glances around like he's noticing what Peridot's doing for the first time.

"What are you doing, anyway? Making more?"

[periphrasing]

"Can't. I'd need Steven to come down here lick all of the seeds to infuse them with his weird Rose Quartz magic for that to happen." She gives a little shrug like, yup, that is definitely a totally normal and not at all bewildering thing to say to someone.

"Besides, he made Pumpkin for me and Lapis specifically. I feel like it'd just be weird to have more than one of her running around, y'know?"

icon kw relevant

[whattaprick]

It's really touching how much Pumpkin's a symbol of your friendship with Steven and all, Peridot, but aren't you kind of missing an important point here?

"Steven made Pumpkin for you? By licking seeds?" Suddenly, Pumpkin slobbering on his hand feels a lot less benign than it first seemed. What the hell even is up with that kid, anyway?

LMAO

[periphrasing]

Pumpkin just cuddles him innocently, the very picture of the least sinister creature in the entire multiverse. Born from a pumpkin seed soaked in a 14 year old boy's spit.

"That's what I said. And before you question any further, let me stop you: You'll have to ask him how the heck it works. I don't know if it's like... A Rose Quartz thing? Or if it's just a Steven Thing, because he's some kind of weird hybrid." Every other rose quartz in existence has been bubbled up and locked away since long before Peridot came around, because the Diamonds thought the rebellious sins of one was enough to damn the whole cut of gem. So. She couldn't tell him anything about their range of powers if she wanted to.

"Anyway," the Engineer continues, sweeping some seed packets around to her side with her tail, "You wanted to know what I'm doing? I'm preparing the soil for the installment of a vegetoid kindergarten. Farming, you humans call it."

[whattaprick]

So the kid who may or may not still be something the Rose Queen wants to come after also has the power to spontaneously create life with his spit? Unbelievable. Carnival gets weirder every day.

"Mages spend their whole lives trying to get close to that kind of power," is what he'll settle for instead, shaking his head in disbelief. He'll have to ask Steven about this whole Rose Quartz business later, won't he? For now, Lambert sets that aside in favor of staring out at the garden... farm? Or at least the beginnings of one.

Ultimately, the question that comes to mind is simple enough: "Why?"

No offense, Peridot, you're about as far from the nurturing type as it gets, and that's saying something. Lambert might not be hip to farming, but doesn't that shit usually require things like patience?

[periphrasing]

Peridot shrugs awkwardly. "I dunno... A lot of reasons, I guess." She picks at the dirt with one claw, averting her gaze. The full answer to this question is kind of strange and personal, and she hesitates a moment trying to determine just how much information to impart. Her "brother" Lambert would have gotten the full details, but Peridot is painfully aware that the two of them are back to being just colleagues. So where's the line?

"I was a certified kindergartner back on Homeworld. Maintaining the equipment, tracking and modifying gemetics... That was my job. As it turns out, growing plants isn't entirely dissimilar from growing gems," she starts to explain. "Many of the same factors need to be considered, like soil quality, weather conditions..."

She huffs, perhaps realizing she's getting off track. "Anyway... Back in our dimension, the three of us-- meaning me, Pumpkin, and Lapis-- made this "barn" of Steven's into our new home. It had all the equipment required, and... I don't know. I guess I just wanted something familiar to do."

There's a teal color creeping into her cheeks, a blush growing at the knowledge that she's already getting more in-depth in this explanation than she should be. Peridot aggressively flicks at a pebble, grumbling her words. "I just need more ways to spend my time, after Portland. I figure at least this way I can do something productive and provide some food for the kitchens... Not like I'm going to eat the stuff myself."

[whattaprick]

Lambert lets her keep going, partly because he's genuinely curious, and partly because ... it's familiar, even when it really shouldn't be. Their memories in Portland were a lie, and they'd realized that long before the end of it, but they haven't faded enough yet for Lambert to forget times when he's sat with Peridot, just like this, listening to her babble in excitement over something she loved or venting her spleen over some perceived slight. There's a lot in what she says right now that he could probably follow up on -- gems grow? And someone trusted he with that? What the hell is a Homeworld?

"Huh," is all he says, in the end. "Good luck, then. Hope it turns out better than mine did." He jerks a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the paddock in the distance -- which is, at this point, really more like a mudpit with a fence built around it. And also one of the Ringmaster's citrus trees planted next to it, for some reason, though Pig has miraculously decided to avoid eating those ever since she ate one and was shaking with unspent energy for hours afterward.

Nailed it, right?

[periphrasing]

Peridot gives him an odd look, and then leans slightly one side to look past him towards where he's pointing.

Confusion shifts into mild disgust. Her lip curls a little bit. "That's yours? Uh, no offense, but. What happened?"

[whattaprick]

"As turns out," Lambert says dryly, "A Pokemon called a 'Mudbray' happens to really, really like mud. So when she couldn't find any, she decided rolling around on all the dirt I dug up was good enough."

[periphrasing]

"Oh! Yes!" Peridot exclaims with a snap of her fingers, recalling those days spent constructing the obstacle course. Pig was there then, wasn't she? "Your Pokemon. Yes... It's a mudsdale now though, isn't it?" She nods with sage approval, barely waiting for any confirmation on Lambert's part. "Ground type; exceedingly useful, displays incredible strength and stamina, capable of traversing rugged and rocky terrain" She grins at him. "An excellent choice of partner, if I may say so."

Guess who spent all of her stay in Alola committing every single minuscule detail of the Pokedex to memory.

[whattaprick]

Lambert blinks, mildly taken aback by this unexpected display of rampant nerdery (but is it really unexpected???) but he nods anyway, flashing her a smirk.

"Yeah, but she trashed my garden before she evolved. But she's been pretty useful to have around." Tendency to cause earthquakes wherever she goes aside...

[periphrasing]

"Well. Hopefully that means she'll stay away from this garden, if she has evolved into her more mature form...?"

Hopefully.

[whattaprick]

"Well, she still likes rolling around in the dirt," Lambert smirks, but shakes his head. "But she's calmed down a lot. I think she's satisfied with where she is."

[periphrasing]

The gem does not seem totally convinced.

"Maybe I should set up some security around this patch, just in case," she half mutters to herself, glancing around dubiously.

[whattaprick]

"If it makes you feel better, but I don't think you've got much to worry about. She's more interested in hanging out with her friend than trashing any gardens." Speaking of which ... he points at the Mudsdale and the Arcanine emerging from the treeline, back from wherever the hell they'd run off to.

"See?" The Pokemon seem to be entirely unaware of being observed. Baker, being the more nimble of the pair, is racing circles around Pig and stopping from time to time, but although she's perkier than she usually is, she still won't let herself be rushed.

[periphrasing]

Peridot glances over at the pair, and her wide-eyed expression seems to indicate that she'd completely forgotten how massive both these kinds of Pokemon actually are.

"An arcanine?" She frowns. "I thought we were all only allowed to bring back one Pokemon each. So whose is that? Or did you somehow get two?"

Pumpkin, still resting in Lambert's arms, perks up a little at the sight of the duo, and starts making whining noises like she is seriously contemplating going over to investigate them both.

[whattaprick]

"Oh, Baker's not mine," Lambert says, snorting at the very idea like it's hilarious. He tightens his grip on Pumpkin -- uh uh, kiddo, you're a vegetable, Pokemon eat those -- in case she runs off, then continues.

"Childermass decided to keep him. He used to be about--" he vaguely indicates a point in the air that is, shockingly, even shorter than Peridot. "-- that high. He's been like this since we got back, though."

[periphrasing]

"Childermass?" Peridot says incredulously, and turns back to look even more critically at the arcanine.

"Weird," she says after another moment of watching. "Somehow, he never really struck me as the sort of person who would favor a gigantic, boisterous fire dog as his Pokemon of choice."

Peridot you have barely ever said more than two words to the guy before today.

[whattaprick]

"I didn't think so, either," Lambert smirks. No doubt about it, Childermass and his dog are an odd pair, although with the Arcanine's evolution, it seems the pet has taken after his owner -- the creamy feathers mixed in among his fur seeming to indicate that workers aren't the only ones potentially affected by fae magic.

"He's been training Baker, but as far as I can tell he mostly spoils him rotten." It's funny watching a huge horse and an equally huge dog playing, but that's what they're doing all right -- Baker dashing ahead and Pig ... well, kicking up mud that he dodges out of the way of.

[periphrasing]

Given what little Peridot knows about Childermass, and the fact that basically everything that she DOES know is thanks to Portland, she definitely assumed he would've had a murkrow or... some other sort of bird, at least. It does not cross her mind that this train of thought may be kind of changeling-racist.

"Huh," is all Peridot says to that. She tears her gaze away from the frolicking Pokemon and glances sidelong at Lambert, frowning thoughtfully. "So... You already had an established acquaintanceship with him prior to the whole Portland debacle? How's that working out for you now?"

Sorry, DID YOU THINK YOU COULD AVOID THIS TOPIC FOREVER, LAMBERT? At the very least, there's nothing antagonistic or implied by the question. Just good old fashioned curiosity, delivered Peridot style: Cut straight to the point.

[whattaprick]

To be fair, no one could ever have guessed Childermass would pick a dog, of all things. Lambert isn't even really sure why he did.

When she turns that question on him, though, Lambert can't help flinching reflexively -- some lingering touch of embarrassment, which is a decidedly foreign feeling for a man who usually has none -- which in turn immediately elicits a scowl. As much as he'd like to shove it behind him, the man he was in Portland still finds odd ways to crop up.

Retribution, however, is swift and decisive, his expression schooling itself into lazy indifference and a shitty, shitty smile.

"Dunno. How well is it working out for you and Lapis? Has she figured out how to do more than put a hand up your shirt?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot makes a choking noise, and her face turns almost completely teal, the tuft of fur on the end of her tail puffed out like the bristles of a bottle brush before Lambert even finishes asking the question.

She exhales at a loud snort.

"Well, seeing as she's been completely avoiding discussing the topic since the return to the carnival, I'd say it's going pretty decidedly not well," the gem says with false brightness and ends on a growl, stabbing a claw into the dirt and twisting it around. "Do you have any idea how annoying that is to deal with? When we SHARE A TRAILER?"

Stab. Stab. Stab.