⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

"I can do some carpentry, if I've got the tools." Or he could ask someone in Engineering, but he highly doubts Peridot, Scout, or Rita would be enthused about building a wooden man-cave for Lambert and Strange to sweat in.

With his eyes closed, Lambert doesn't immediately notice the purple color beginning to tinge the air, nor where it's coming from. He does, however, notice it when he reaches to pour more water on the rocks, and tell Strange they should probably start thinking about getting out soon.

The wooden ladle drops to the floor with a clatter as Lambert bolts upright.

"What the fuck?!"

[kingsroads]

Lambert's explanation is enough for Strange to lazily open one eye...and then frantically open both because he might not know much about saunas but even he knows that's not supposed to happen.

"What the hell--" he starts to say as he gets to his feet, only for Strange to find that surprise, he currently doesn't have feet. The fact that nothing's touching solid ground is enough of a shock for him that he straight up loses his balance and falls over, hitting the ground with a thud and bruising the shit out of his elbow in the process.

It's only when Strange tries to get to his feet that he realizes surprise, they aren't there. "Well," he simply says, trying not to show just how freaked out he is. "That's new."

[whattaprick]

It's alarming, to say the least. Why is Strange turning into smoke in the sauna? Why is he purple? Lambert opens his mouth to yell out just that, but it turns out Strange's lack of coordination is even faster than Lambert can run his mouth, and he winces as the magician goes down with a thud.

"No shit, unless you have something you wanna tell me." Lambert says, stepping over to Strange in order to cautiously crouch down beside his legs. Yep, that sure does look like smoke. He takes a cautious sniff of the air, just in case, and then...

Reaches out and waves a hand right through the smoke where Strange's feet should be, brow furrowed. "You know, you're usually an easy person to see through, but this is a little too literal, don't you think?"

[kingsroads]

Strange awkwardly tries to push himself up so that he's sitting on the ground. Considering that he's still absolutely naked and just wearing a towel, the awkwardness only increases. It's odd, though. As he sits up, he definitely feels like there's moments where he could stand up, despite the fact that he currently doesn't have feet.

As Lambert sniffs the air, he'll find that unsurprisingly, Strange smells even more like smoke than normal, but there's a sickly sweetness to it as well, like someone had burned something sticky.

Still, Strange can't help but roll his eyes at Lambert's joke. His feet just vanished into nothingness, is this really the time for bad jokes? "Do you really think I'd have any idea how this happened in the first place?" he grumbles. "Here, give me your hand," said as he extends an arm to try and grab Lambert's hand.

[whattaprick]

"You'd have a better idea than me," Lambert answers, smirking. It's always the time for bad jokes, Strange. It's practically a time honored witcher tradition.

Why does it smell like burned sugar? Lambert shakes his head and reaches out to clasp Strange's forearms with both hands, getting a firm grip so that he can pull he magician with him as he gets to his feet. Well, 'pull' is a bit of a generous word. It would be more accurate to say he yanks him upright, more carrying Strange than just supporting him, meaning Strange is liable to find his face smacking into sweaty chest (or worse, on the silver medallion Lambert still hasn't shed) if he isn't careful.

[kingsroads]

And Strange gets yanked up to his feet, awkwardly smacking into Lambert as he does so. This isn't anywhere remotely near what he wanted. He's supposed to be relaxing! Not getting his face accidentally shoved into his friend's sweaty pecs and awkwardly trying to figure out how to navigate his current lack of feet.

Now that he's on his metaphorical feet, Strange is somehow balancing and remaining upright. He's terribly wobbly, like someone trying to figure skate for the first time, but at least he's still standing. "The Ringmaster isn't even here!" he whines, trying to remain upright. "I've no idea why she decided to stick me with another change now."

Because this is what it is, isn't it? Another carnival change. It has to be! Though why the carnival's decided Strange might be best without his feet is beyond him.

[whattaprick]

"Maybe it took a while to kick in," Lambert answers dryly. He'll keep his hands where they are, steadying Strange so he doesn't just fall over while his feet try to slip all over the place (do they count as feet if they're not technically feet right now? Now there's a mental conundrum if there ever was one). Since Strange doesn't seem to be in any immediate distress, it seems like a good time to make things worse.

"Is it just your feet, or is anything else starting to feel gassy?" he ponders out loud. "Hope this isn't permanent." Though with some of the people running around... this is hardly the most outlandish change that exists, is it?

Before he can expound much on that thought, though, the sauna door opens again, revealing a cheerfully smiling faerie ... whose expression immediately changes when her eyes land on the sight of one sweaty, mostly naked man supporting another, equally sweaty and naked man, both standing in steam marbled with purple smoke. She doesn't look so much scandalized as she does coyly delighted.

Oh, excuse me! Should I give you a few more minutes? Just step outside once you're ready for your manicure and pedicure, she trills. From the look on her face, she's already trying to figure out how to incorporate this new information into the rest of their beauty regime.

[kingsroads]

Later, Strange is going to put the pieces together and realize just what that cheerfully smiling faerie thought about the awkward situation Strange and Lambert gave off. As it is, he currently doesn't have any feet, so that's priority number one.

But as Lambert mention the fact that it might be permanent, Strange just looks aghast for a moment. "I hope it isn't," he can't help but mutter, looking down at his lack of feet. He really wanted that pedicure and also he just kind of wants his feet back.

He's still leaning against Lambert, though. Awkward as this may be, he's not an idiot, he doesn't want to eat floor for the second time in five minutes. And might as well answer the first question while he's at it.

"I feel...lighter? Not gassy thank you very much. It's like the moment before I vanish in a puddle or how I feel whenever I create a breeze." He's light enough that, as Strange quickly finds out, he can float. Moving his grip to Lambert's arm, he tentatively moves forward a few inches...and then a few more...and then he stops and his claws straight up dig into poor Lambert's arm as he wobbles precariously.

That confusion is slowly fading away in the face of Strange's excitement at the unknown. This is an odd new discovery and honestly, Strange is a little bit excited to figure out how it works.

[whattaprick]

Lambert doesn't have to have much of an imagination to know exactly what the faerie was thinking, but he does have to pause and consider whether it's something that's going to get them in trouble or use to their advantage. The concept of a couple's discount doesn't exist where Lambert comes from, but he's certainly adaptable.

"So ... full of yourself?" Lambert resigns himself to being used as a balance beam while Strange figures his shit out, flinching more out of surprise than actual pain when his claws prick into his skin. As soon as the magician seems to start settling down, Lambert's going to step away from him too, though won't quite shove him off (yet).

"Not that this isn't entertaining to watch and all, but maybe you should start feeling like you have feet."

[kingsroads]

"What a ridiculous idea," Strange can't help but grumble. "How does one feel like they have feet?"

But, ridiculous or not, he's trying. Strange sighs and closes his eyes, squinching his nose up in concentration as he starts thinking of feet. It all feels a little bit silly, picturing his feet, thinking of the feeling of walking on something, remembering what his toes look like and oh god, this is so stupid. But hey, it's working. The smoke that had dispersed through the room starts floating back to Strange as if being sucked up by a vacuum. The smoke around his feet turns into feet shaped smoke...and then poof, his feet are back to normal.

As Strange actually feels the wood under his feet, he opens his eyes, gives the floor a little frown, then turns to Lambert with a slightly smug 'I totally meant to do that' sort of expression. "There we go! Back to normal!"

He has absolutely no idea how he managed to do that. "Shall we continue the spa day?"

[whattaprick]

See? Stupid suggestions or not, Lambert does know what he's about, sometimes. He can't help rolling his eyes at how darn smug Strange looks about all this.

"Fine. Whatever you did to make that happen, try not to let it happen again," he says, letting Strange go and stepping towards the door on the far side of the room. Maybe it was being in the sauna that set it off? One can only hope Strange doesn't keep doing this through their stay, or it's going to be a very aggravating afternoon.

At any rate, Strange will have to contend with his next hurdle: the icy-looking pool waiting for them, glinting in a faintly menacing way, much like Lambert's eyes.

"Sauna virgins go first," he chirps, cheerfully, before pushing a hand into the small of Strange's back to try and shove him into the water.

[kingsroads]

It's going to be the most aggravating afternoon known to man. Sorry Lambert, but Strange not having control of his limbs is going to be a reoccurring theme for the next lord knows how long.

As they enter the room with the pool, Strange makes a fatal mistake: he stops to look at the pool instead of remembering what Lambert had said earlier about the fact that freezing cold water comes after the steam room. He's an easy target and straight up gets pushed into the pool, letting out an undignified little yelp as Lambert shoves him in and he submerges with a splash.

Thankfully, it's shallow enough to stand because yeah, Strange can't swim. He splutters slightly, thrashing around a bit before his feet touch bottom. He looks like a wet, soppy mess and is just glaring up a storm at Lambert. So, of course it's time for retaliation. It only takes a gesture of his hand and two or so quickly muttered words for Strange to cast a spell and cause a jet of that cold water to shoot up from the pool directly at Lambert's face.

He deserves it, the jerk.

[whattaprick]

Look on the bright side, Strange: at least he let you keep your towel on. What else are friends for? Gratifyingly for the magician, perhaps, Lambert yelps as he's splashed right on the front with water, but he recovers quickly enough and hops right in after, though not without a shout.

"Fuck, that's cold!" Even as he complains he's ducking his head and upper body so he can vigorously sluice sweat off his entire body, his tail churning in the water. Dripping water off his scales and horns, he starts to wade towards the shallow end.

A couple of fluffy-looking robes have been hung up for them, and a sign directs them to deposit used towels in a bucket. After squinting at it for a second, Lambert shrugs and strips the towel off, leaving him bare for a few eyesearing seconds before he puts on the robe to replace it.

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but let out a laugh of triumph as he splashes Lambert in the face. That's enough for him to call it even and he doesn't make any move to splash Lambert any more.

He's about to ask just how long they have to stay in this freezing pool when Lambert's making his way to the shallow end--and thank God for that. Strange also wades to the shallow end, as he desperately tries to keep his soaked towel around his waist. The haphazard attempts at modesty only continue as they get out and oh no, yep, that's a penis, thanks for that view he did not want to see at all, Lambert. It's an awkward few seconds while Strange tries to put on the robe while also holding the towel around his waist while also trying not to get the robe wetter than it already is. Unsurprisingly, nothing's working.

"Unlike you, I actually have some modesty remaining. Turn around, please."

At least in Strange's mind, it's not a terribly hard request if you don't want your friend and your boss to see you naked. It's just common sense.

[whattaprick]

Better still, it's a penis that's just been in freezing cold water, so it's not at its proudest at the moment. None of that is going to stop Lambert from outright leering at Strange, though it's mostly in jest.

"No need to be modest, Strange. I'm sure your wife doesn't have any complaints." After the obligatory shitgiving, though, he'll roll his eyes and turn away, if only to investigate the vaguely fruity and sweet-smelling complimentary drinks left for them at a side table.

Strange better get something on quickly, though, because the smiling faerie from before is just gonna pop right up in front of him with no warning again, cheerfully asking them if everything's to their satisfaction.

[kingsroads]

"And the last time I checked, you weren't my wife." As Lambert turns away, Strange quickly drops the towel and throws the robe on. After all, it wouldn't surprise him if Lambert turned around again right when he was in the middle of changing just to spite him.

He's got the robe on, everything's covered, and he's fiddling with tying a knot when the smiling faerie appears directly in front of him. As he hears her voice, Strange tenses up, obviously not expecting her to just appear like that...as his feet vanish into smoke again.

At least Strange is remaining upright, though it's obvious she gave him a bit of a scare by the flustered tone of his voice. "No, no, everything's fine. We both enjoyed the sauna, by the way."

[whattaprick]

"But I'd look just as fetching in a dress," Lambert calls back -- and Strange isn't wrong, he is tempted to look back, and it's only his picking up a drink that saves the magician from further ribbing.

When he hears Strange talking to the faerie, Lambert he looks over, stifling a laugh when he realizes Strange has fallen apart again. The faerie doesn't seem too worried about this state of affairs -- presumably having seen stranger -- and her artificially youthful face doesn't even wrinkle, though she does have to tap her finger as she considers his now-missing feet.

Well, I'm glad to hear that! I hope you enjoy this next part just as much. The smiling faerie ushers them through a hallway to a room that looks more like a garden than anything indoors, a lattice of vines and leaves overhead providing shade. They end up in lavishly cushioned wicker chairs with arm rests and are directed to sit down and put their feet into pools with tiny, silvery fish swimming around.

[kingsroads]

Strange doesn't bother making his feet solid as he floats down the hallway to follow Lambert and the faerie. If this is going to keep happening, then he needs to at least practice moving so that he won't fall on his face again. That being said, he's still wobbly as hell, but he remains upright the whole way.

Aaand the next treatment involves feet. Of course it does. With a frown, Strange closes his eyes again, wrinkles his nose, and thinks his feet solid. He's getting better at this, but it's still too awkward.

"Well, at least the chairs seem nice," he remarks, as he looks at the pool of fish with a frown. They're tiny fish. What exactly are they going to do? Very carefully, Strange puts his feet in the pool. Thankfully, the water's lukewarm, something which he looks downright relieved about after that last freezing cold pool.

[whattaprick]

And as soon as Strange sticks his feet in there? The fish swim right on over and start nibbling on his feet. It's more a tickling sensation than anything else, given these fish barely have anything that passes for teeth, and given their volume and how eerily their bodies wiggle as they feast on Strange's toe gunk, well... it's a little unsettling.

Lambert, who's sat his ass down in the seat next to Strange, laughs when he catches sight of what's going on, which is all the prompting the faerie seems to need to launch into an explanation of how the fish are eating off the dead skin to make the later treatments more effective!

[kingsroads]

Is that explanation even slightly accurate? Hell if Strange knows. But then again, the entire theme of the spa so far has been treatments that Strange has no idea even existed actually exist in the first place. The fish might be odd but nothing's actively hurting him so nibble away, you weird little fish.

"Well, go on," he teases, with a little smile. Stick your feet in too, Lambert. "They're just fish. They barely bite in the first place."

They don't really bite at all--this is more nibbling than anything else. But considering that the theme of the evening's swapped to two grown men teasing the shit out of each other, Strange is going to continue that.

[whattaprick]

"Some of us don't have feet that turn to smoke," Lambert retorts, but as bidden, he goes ahead and sticks his feet in. It's a weird sensation, but not unpleasant, though it's fairly unclear to him how this is supposed to help his feet get any softer.

At any rate, while they leave their feet to soak, the fae claps her hands. Instantly, a pair of other winged fae -- about the size of a cat -- come out carrying baskets almost as big as they are, which they set down on the tables next to the chair's armrests. Lambert sniffs the air curiously, brow furrowing. Something smells ... sweet?

Before he gets a chance to ask about it, they're both being prodded into putting their hands into bowls filled with warm water, the fae tutting over the state of their respective hands. Lambert's, in particular, merits serious head-shaking, but Strange also gets some disapproving chatter, along with the promise that they'll 'take care of it for you, just wait and see.'

Lambert's not sure he likes the sound of that.

[kingsroads]

The main faerie starts explaining what'll happen next, though Strange honestly has no idea what half of her words mean. The warm water's to loosen and relax the cuticles before something called a manicure? And then there's something involving moisturizer? The word pumice stone is thrown in there as well, to help scrape off some of those callouses, really what were you two doing that your hands got messed up that much, the Ringmaster should know how to treat you lot better.

All of this is just going over Strange's head, so he's decided to ignore most of the technical terms and just follow the faerie's instructions no matter what (though really, it's half technical terms, half terms used in ways that Strange had no idea dealt with spa treatments.) Fish are eating skin off his feet, his hands are in a bowl of warm water, that's normal, he can do this!

"Be careful of my wrists," Strange can't help but advise, giving the faerie a little nod. He's got no idea how moisturizer or manicures would react to the mirrored scratches but he doesn't want to find out. Likewise, he's got no idea if these treatments will even reach his wrists in the first place but fish are eating his feet, he's just going to point out the wrists no matter what. It's as the faerie goes back to grab a few more items that Strange turns towards Lambert, giving him a slightly amused smile.

"I assume you also only understood the bare minimum of what she's talking about?"

[whattaprick]

"Not a clue, but I could get used to this," Lambert answers, cheerfully, even as his faerie attendant buzzes off to do the same thing as Strange's, clearly feeling her current tools around up to the task at hand. When the witcher settles back into his chair more, the seat back rather abruptly reclines back, making Lambert yelp in indignant surprise, only to relax when he realizes he's not falling backwards.

This is a lot more complicated than anything they had at the Celebration. Which is hilarious, when you think about it, but it made sense. That place could give you almost anything you could think of with its magic; if you couldn't think of it in the first place, it wasn't about to provide. Also, the people attending you weren't exactly the chatty type...

"Unless they're trying to kill us through relaxing, I guess there's nothing to worry about." Lambert's already shutting his eyes, to all appearances ready to doze off.

[kingsroads]

Well that looks damn cozy. Strange looks around for a lever or something before he makes the seat recline back as well--though he, thankfully, stifles his surprised yelp. Still, hands soaking in water, feet also soaking in water, leaning back in a comfortable chair while wearing a large fluffy bathrobe...he could get used to this.

"Death via comfort? I wouldn't mind going out like that." Unlike Lambert, Strange is keeping his eyes open, as they dart across the room, like he wants to take in as much of this place as he can.

By now, the fae have returned. Lift your hands up, please, they ask. Moments later, the attendants have started to go to town on Strange and Lambert's hands, using pumice stones, moisturizer, cuticle scissors, nail clippers, and nail files to try and get their hands and nails something close to acceptable before the nails get painted. It's an uphill battle for both but hilariously an uphill battle for Lambert's poor attendant, who can't help but look at his calloused hands with something close to horror.

[whattaprick]

"I'll second that," Lambert answers, voice already muffled as he snuggles his head more securely into the pillowy headrest (which somehow is constructed in a way that it doesn't make it uncomfortable for his horns to rest on! It's a problem he never thought he was capable of having until he showed up here and started turning into a bigger freak than he already was).

Whatever the fae are doing with his hands, Lambert doesn't particularly care. He does, however, crack an eye open when that sweet smell hits the air again, and he realizes his hands are being vigorously rubbed down with ... sugar? Whatever. It's surprisingly relaxing, and thus it's no surprise at all that Lambert, exhausted as he still is, passes out right in the middle of all of it, meaning he isn't awake to answer the fae prodding him about whether he'd like his nails (now magically filed down into bluntness) painted.