lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah. Maybe. I guess." Such enthusiasm for the prospect couldn't help but overwhelm Joker utterly, could it. "Except... uh, probably no one is cooking, since we all just got back. Unless you know how?"

Ash could fake it with her magic, but right now, she really wasn't certain she wanted to.

"Now, this may suprise ya, but I used ta be a butler once upon a time." And he... guesses he can add 'angel' to his resume as well. Okay, nope, not going to think on that anymore, so he starts to wobble a bit in the direction of the cookhouse. "We'll be fine, probably."

Probably.

"...You were a butler?"

Yeah, it surprised her. She didn't disbelieve him, because he had no reason to lie and because far stranger things had happened, but damned if it wasn't hard to picture. "Wait, do butlers cook? I thought they just buttled."

"They cook when yer house is a bit, ah... unconventional." Sure let's say that. It's a lot easier to swallow than anything else. Joker focuses on his walking a bit more, regaining his sense of balance.

"I had ta take over a few times, and help some of my family- we all worked in the same manor, see."

"Storytime?" Please, distract them both from thinking about everything that had just happened. Ash would have plenty of time to mull it over, late at night when she was lying awake in her trailer with all the lights off and silence swirling about her, with only her thoughts to keep her company.

The downside with that is that storytime of being a butler is a horrible story. The good news? Joker can bullshit.

So he laughs it off, finding the more he forces it, the more he can fake it. "I was a butler! What do ya want me ta say? Although I suppose it does explain why I'm a- what do ya call it- a renaissance man? And also why I'm so handsome~." There's the cookhouse up ahead, still empty as far as he can tell so far.

Don't be Ash, Joker. If everyone fakes it, it'll collapse all the harder. "How did you get into the job, then? Who did you butler for? Buttle? Is that actually a verb?" She thought it sounded like it was supposed to be a word...

Sorry, Ash, but this carnival was full of jackasses with questionable coping methods before you arrived. It's why Joker seems to pause and give that question some thought as he reaches the door.

"...I don't bloody know, I ain't particularly learned, Ash. Is it a word?"

"YOU'RE the butler!" See, this was exactly why she was skeptical. Weren't butlers supposed to be the classy, highly-trained and educated sort? "What did you call it when you did you job then?"

Maybe it's because he's just so stressed that anything would be hilarious, but the offense in her voice has him burst out laughing and he almost trips over his own two feet as he enters the cookhouse himself. "Yeah, but ya can be a lot of things and not know a thing!" It's not recommended, but... "I just called it work!"

Giggling, he wipes at his eyes. "Well, I never claimed ta be the best butler."

"Nrrrrrr." The noise was about three-quarters indignant cat, and she deliberately misses a swat his way. "How does someone just fall into a job like that?" Was he a combat butler? He was a combat butler, wasn't he. Ash was gonna call him Hayate.

Just another laugh at her purposeful missed swat. "When the other party is cheap," he says simply enough, without saying much more on it. "Anyway, what do ya want ta eat?"

"Fish," she said immediately. It was a horrible stereotype but she couldn't help it -- she loved fish down to the genetic level. But she paused in the door, as the realization struck here that she hadn't seen this place in a month...

"Um. Is anything here going to still be good? There's, like, fae magic preservation spells on the food, right?" If not, they might be in trouble.

Well. That's one way to get him to stop completely in his tracks. Right... With how long they've been gone, what do they even have on hand...? They'll have to restock, among so much else- Something hits him and he turns on his heel to look at Ash.

"Where are we, exactly? I mean-" His hand waves through the air aimlessly. "The world. We have ta be settled somewhere, don't we?"

Ash took a step forward just at that moment and had to grab the door jamb to keep from plowing straight into him when he stopped. Which was honestly more ungainly than just bumping him would have been, but that was Ash for you.

"I thought you knew. You know I haven't been here anywhere near as long as you!" She was certain this wasn't the dreamlands, and they definitely weren't underwater or in a computer system, so where did that leave?

"Yeah, but I didn't really take a look around!" So many skies look similar to another when you've traveled enough, after all, and he pauses to go through the back door of the kitchen. A flap of his wings has him up into the air to get a good look at where they are.... and relief eases into him as he lands once more.

"Summerlands," he says, relieved. "We outta be completely good on just about everythin', thank the lord."

The sudden spring upwards startled her; despite the fairly obvious wings, she tended to forget he could do that. Around here, animal parts all started to blur together and seem perfectly normal in a cosmetic sense, especially to someone quite used to them nonetheless.

"Oh good. Not that I think the Ringmaster would have brought us somewhere she knew was dangerous... but I wouldn't put it past her to bring us to the World Where Crocodiles Eat Everyone But Fae, on the theory that she'd never been eaten there and thus it was perfectly safe."

⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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