ringleaders: (Default)
Lost Carnival Mods ([personal profile] ringleaders) wrote in [community profile] lostcarnival2017-08-01 10:34 am

⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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.
dontpokethat: ill be dead in my grave (if anyone needs me)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-06 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
That is... more than a little distressing, actually. Ginko's discomfort doesn't show beyond a slight furrowing of his brow, though, and he focuses on figuring out how to answer that.

"I'm... not sure," he admits, quietly. "I take it you don't have a preference?"

If that comes out sounding a little dry, there's a reason for that. Why is he being expected to make his own relationship decisions now?
control_freak: (Sleep not as an island)

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-06 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Foster just.... looks at Ginko. It's not really pitying, but it's not condescending. It's just... well.

He makes a short, unimpressed humming sound, but doesn't say anything. He also refuses eye contact.

Perhaps Ginko has forgotten, but Foster's preference, if it exists, is meant to be disregarded.
dontpokethat: knock it off (hey murderers and killers)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-08 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
...Right. He can't even ask if Foster has an opinion. This is going to be one hell of a conversation.

"Fine, then." Ginko's tail swishes back and forth in the grass, and he tilts his head back, staring up at the sky with his brow furrowed. How hell is he supposed to decide something like this on his own? Since when has whether to continue a relationship ever been up to him?

"I... like I said, I don't really know what I want here. But... I do know that if we just leave things as they are, I'm going to end up regretting it. So I guess we should probably at least try."

So... basically he wants to make an attempt at being friends, but how the hell is he supposed to say that.
control_freak: (Pillar of the trenches)

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-08 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't feel obligated." It's not sarcasm. It's not a polite demurral.

It's blunt and hard, a block of lead, a brick, a cold stone dropped directly into Ginko's lap in return.

"Don't bother trying to spare me. I mean, I wouldn't blame you." He has angled his head just slightly downward, looking up at Ginko from lidded eyes.

"So there's no point in forcing yourself, Ginko."
dontpokethat: i will ever need to know (i already know everything)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-08 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
...You know, normally that tone from Foster would make Ginko pretty uncomfortable. Nervous, even.

Except for the fact that what he's saying is completely ridiculous.

Ginko doesn't even turn his head at first, just looks sidelong at Foster, raising an eyebrow. "Forcing myself? Seriously?"

He sits up straighter and stretches, then rests his elbows on his knees, looking up at Foster properly now. There sure do seem to be a lot of assumptions about his motives going on here, huh. "Foster, if I didn't want to talk to you, I would have left already. When I say we should try, I mean that it's going to bother me, personally, if we don't. It's not a matter of pity or obligation, it's what I want to do."
control_freak: (Hear my words that I might teach you)

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-09 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Foster starts to smile, the kind of thin, backhandedly deliberate smile that Ginko is probably extremely sick of by now.

But then he blinks very slowly. And his eyelids only open to half-mast.

"Guilt is a terrible motive," he intones coolly.

Then, more quietly, he says "....but I can't stop you."

It's almost uncertain. Almost small.
dontpokethat: knock it off (hey murderers and killers)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-09 07:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Ginko looks at him for another second or two. Then he sighs, and rests his chin on his arms.

"If you still think I'm doing this out of guilt, I think you might have misunderstood me."

There's nothing accusatory in his voice, and whatever annoyance had been evident a moment ago is gone.
control_freak: (Where proud you stand)

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-10 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Fear, then," Foster replies, agitated. He lifts one foot, stepping backwards--not so much away from Ginko but because he can't run his claws back through his hair now--there's too much of it and it's clipped up and he can't put his claws there but he needs to, and suddenly his confused energy develops an aggressive edge as he breaks eye contact with Ginko with a decidedly unsettled laugh.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter. I don't understand what you want from me!"
dontpokethat: into the sea (and drive a ride on lawnmower)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-10 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Not fear, either." He won't say that he's not afraid of Foster, because, well. Even now, he's kind of nervous about being this close to him with nobody else around. But fear isn't why he's agreeing to try to make this work.

He hums thoughtfully, thinking about that for a moment. "I guess the best way to put it would be that I'm curious. I don't like leaving options unexplored; whether this works or not, I'd rather try it and know for sure."
control_freak: (Hold onto your life)

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-11 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
That....

.... actually makes sense.

It's such a bizarre moment for Foster that he doesn't immediately react.

He just stares past Ginko with the same flattened, uncomfortably neutral stare, thinking.

And thinking.

But he can't... he can't find any real problem with that.

It...

It really has nothing to do with him at all, does it?

Nothing at all.

He starts to laugh. It's not malicious this time, or mocking or hollow or bitter or anything else, just... well. Foster laughs at him.

"........ okay."

He glances back at Ginko without moving his head--just his blue eyes staring down at the deerlike man on the ground.

"Mmm. In that case..."

He sits, folding his own unguligrade limbs to drop neatly into the grass near Ginko's horns. You wanted Foster to hang around? Here he is.

Wish granted.... Ginko.
dontpokethat: now that ive changed the meaning of really well to the opposite of what it means in my head (things are going really well for me)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-12 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
...Huh. He wasn't actually expecting that, but honestly? If Foster is willing to stop arguing this, he isn't complaining.

Ginko lets out a huff that sort of resembles a laugh, and crosses his arms behind his head. "Guess that's that, then."

He sure hopes Foster still remembers how bad he is at small talk.
control_freak: (Hear my words that I might teach you)

Typing the second paragraph made me sad lmao

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-14 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
"For now." Foster replies somewhat coolly, as though he does not expect it to last. But he doesn't push any further. Maybe he's just tired.

Honestly, Ginko still has reason to be concerned. Foster may be a lot less... of everything that he was.... in Portland, but he's still capable of holding a conversation more or less by himself. In fact, his inability to hold a conversation here is rooted in the same tendency--but without the dignity of an intact mind to cushion it. He's not unaware. But his only solution has ever been not to converse at all.

Then again.

Maybe talking isn't actually necessary. Not this time.

The gentle breeze ruffles his fur and hair, stinging the healing wound on his side. He sits with Ginko in the grass, silent, staring out over the summer fields.

He still can't decide whether he feels anything.

Isn't that supposed to be bad?

But he doesn't remember feeling anything at times like this in Portland, either...
dontpokethat: (i hit the hay all day mother fucker)

[personal profile] dontpokethat 2017-08-16 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
Ginko just answers that with a quiet hum. He can't say whether this will last or not - and maybe it isn't relevant, either way.

And however things go, he doubts Foster has any reason to harm him in the meantime.

Which is probably why it's only a few minutes later that his breathing steadies and slows as he gradually falls asleep in the grass.
control_freak: (Where proud you stand)

Good night, losers.

[personal profile] control_freak 2017-08-17 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
It takes Foster longer to succumb. He has a lot on his mind, and he sits hunched nearby, his ursine paws burying and re-burying in his hair, snagging occasionally on the little green butterfly clip, which he taps distracted patterns off of with his claws.

This isn't... necessarily how he wanted this to go.

But at the same time, it isn't how he wanted it NOT to go. It's not really an outcome he really anticipated or even considered as being possible.

He expected... he wanted(?) Ginko to tell him he doesn't trust him, that he, Foster, is dangerous and repulsive, to tell him that Portland wasn't real (even though the clip in his hair is right there, it's real and that meant something was real, didn't it), that he wanted Foster to stay as far away from his possible, that--

That... he wanted to be friends, but for all the wrong reasons, so Foster could tear him down, could reject him with full confidence that Ginko was mistaken.

But neither of those things happened.

And in the end, Ginko isn't the only victim of the warm summer sun and soft grass.

His train of thought endless and exhausted, Foster falls asleep too, curled up on his side with one paw cradling his head.