lostcarnival | My fair faire

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My fair faire

Who: Erryone
When: Day 170, right before leaving for Heartstone Manor
Where: The cookhouse
What: ~~dinner and a show~~ A crash course in table etiquette, and/or your chance to get your bad behavior out of your system.
Warnings: Watch your damn language.

With the threat of behave or die hanging over their heads, Hinawa is feeling very nervous. She's only tangentially familiar with the rules and regulations of formal dining and mingling, having only experienced it for the first time during the Celebration, and for the most part she's just a simple country gal. The last thing she wants is to get everyone in trouble because she used the wrong fork, and she can't help but feel like she's not the only one, so she comes up with a plan!

She only hopes it'll be enough.

[This is a mingle-ish! Jump on in!]

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"Th...then..." Well. She can certainly manage to remember that-it's not quite on the level of how etiquette in Japan works (at all), but the bit about not ignoring superiors? Definitely easy to keep in mind.

But. "....does that mean most of the others can't just start talking to me..."

"That depends. They can certainly start a conversation in private and around other carnival staff. But if the Prince were in the room or if we were at an important function like dinner, that's entirely different. We need to be on our best behavior when he's around."

Of course, the main emphasis here is when he's around. The servants will inevitably gossip about the Ringmaster's eccentric lot, but that's what servants do in the first place.

"And it's okay even if the servants are near then..?" She took a wild guess about the gossip that might go around, and it's...a little worrying suffice to say.

...Really. Worrying. "...I... ...I really don't want to make this a mess..!! At all..!!"

Strange's small little frown tells Carly what he's not saying. No, it probably isn't okay even if the servants are near them but really, what else could they do? It'd be a miracle if they managed to make it through the first dinner without someone drooling into the soup or awkwardly dodging the 'why aren't you eating' question or dropping their fork on the ground because they have paws or hooves.

"I've a feeling the servants are going to gossip no matter what. If the worst thing they say to the Prince is that members of the carnival are oddly informal with each other instead of gossiping about how we were rude to the Prince or utterly destroyed dinner, then I'll consider that a success."

Of course it isn't okay. And that's what scares her. She can only manage herself, her emotions, her...Everything so much, she still barely knows everyone in her department (she couldn't even respond to the others with regard to any 'problem' members) and...

...And she's shaking, Strange no doubt will notice. Shaking, and simply not speaking for a moment.

"...Strange," she finally says, swallowing anxiously. "....Do... ...do you think being a supervisor will mean... ...he pays more attention to me, when I'm around?"

It's hard enough not to mess up when she's in the background.

But now she's scared, and she's likely representing a lot more than herself.

"Undoubtedly." He's not going to bullshit her. Carly's a supervisor: while Strange can advise everybody else to sit down and shut up and that would be enough, he won't be able to do so with her.

"There's a chance this place will adhere tightly to social strata. That means if the Prince or any of his servants wish to complain about or request help from any of the workers, they will ask you instead of talking to us. If that happens, you need to answer them promptly, and without seeming rude."

Which Strange knows will be tough for Carly. She's already nervous enough as is. But that's just the way things will be and the way things have to be done if they want to get through this scenario as easily as possible.

Undoubtedly certainly does leave very little room for doubt, at the least, and Carly swallows anxiously at the thought. Her eyes are wide, and she can only really whisper-

"....I don't want to ruin this," she squeaks, trembling. "I....I can't ruin it..." And she sort of gets the feeling that this isn't getting covered at dinner.

Oh dear. Strange looks briefly worried, looking over at Carly with a frown, before he decides 'fuck it' and starts talking.

"You aren't going to ruin this. And if you feel like you're about to do so, find me and I'll do my best to make certain things don't even approach being ruined. I've experience with society and faeries: I can help."

This is possibly a bad idea. Strange has already told Lambert to delegate to him should he feel overwhelmed and now he's telling Carly to delegate to him should she feel overwhelmed and that's on top of his nightrunner work and helping others with manners and the fact that Strange still is a bit apprehensive of this whole 'visiting a faerie realm' thing to begin with. It's entirely possible that Strange is going to run himself ragged within the first few days.

But, that worry's only playing distantly in the back of his mind. What matters is getting everybody through this with as little drama as possible. If that involves him running around like an idiot, going from person to person, helping out, then so be it.

She listens to his words and hears them as if through distant water, her ears focused too hard on her own pounding heart. But she reaches for those words all the same, taking deep breaths as she listens. She's not going to ruin this. She's not going to ruin this. She...

....

She nods. She cannot burden Strange with this- "....You're helping everyone, it seems," she admits, chewing her lip. ...She manages a weak smile, however, and nods. "...I think.... ....If I just make note of what you'll be reminding us of before we go now..."

She can't just make this someone else's problem. She can't.

And she won't ruin this, she won't, she won't ruin this-

"....Thank you, Strange," she adds, wiping her eyes of what starting tears came in her brief panic. "I..." She starts to say something-perhaps about earlier, perhaps about the stress, but-

...No. She can't do that.

"....I think I'll be fine, now."

At Carly's statement, Strange simply shrugs, giving her a small smile. "I'm doing so because everybody needs help."

And if he runs around, helping other people, focusing on getting the carnival through this as smoothly as possible, then there's less time to worry and dwell on anything about himself. After all, Strange hasn't forgotten the fact that they're going to a faerie realm...and also that his track record with the fae is abysmal.

"And you're welcome, Miss Nagisa. Like I said: you'll do fine." Carly at least was aware of the dangers and would try to stave off any possible mishaps, unlike other carnival members.

"Everybody is still a lot of people though," she admits without thinking, her glow dulling just slightly. "...It seems overwhelming..." ...Or so it seems, but then this isn't the time to really focus on that now is it. The point is what needs to be done, regardless of how they feel, regardless of what they think will happen as a result.

If no one tries, then nothing good comes of it, so they need to focus. So she nods, and takes a deep breath. "...Right." Well. "...I should get some of these out to the stage, so I can show everyone where the laces and things go..."

"Do you need any help moving them?" Strange asks, nodding towards some of the dress forms.

He is one hundred percent ignoring that statement about how this seems overwhelming. Because Carly's right: it seems amazingly overwhelming. And so, Strange is just going to ignore the fact that it seems amazingly overwhelming and keep pushing forward because he's not going to think about it. There's no use thinking of these overwhelming odds and how it's all most likely going to hell anyway.

"Ummm..." Does she? She looks around, and turns from the models to Strange. "....It wouldn't be too much trouble...would it? We only need three of these I'm pretty sure, probably....this one, and..." she mutters a bit to herself as she nudges the others forward.

"There's enough variety in how they've been put together for that.... ...Oh! You don't need anything on a model to do your part, do you? Men's wear could be weird when it was from the older times..."

As Carly mutters about the models, nudging some forward, Strange steps out of the way so that Carly can get a better view of the models and decide what she needs to bring in the first place. His hands are behind his back as he starts talking, giving Carly a little shake of his head.

"No, I don't need a model. Unlike women's wear, I've plenty of experience with putting men's wear on and taking it off. I'll be able to explain the ins and the outs to anyone listening. And likewise, it wouldn't be too much trouble at all for me to help carry things. I'm here, aren't I? It'd be silly if I made you do this by yourself."

Just ignore the fact that his upper arm strength is absolute shit.

"Ehhh....alright, I was just thinking that it'd be sort of weird to give an explanation without a visual..." But well, as long as he's got it, he's got it. She grunts, getting the model up an inch or so off the ground however. "Well..!! At any rate, we just need to get these to the stage then! ....Hopefully these aren't too heavy..."

"I think we can lift them!" Strange remarks, as he grabs one of the models...and also lifts it about an inch or so above the ground because wow, this is heavy.

"If it proves to be too much of a hassle, I'll simply find a way to move them via magic."

Not that he's giving up already! Just that Strange knows this might not work as smoothly as either of them wish.

"Oh....th-that's right, you could, huh..." Well, in that case- "...Why aren't we doing that anyway though?" It seems easier.

"Mostly because my transportation magic involves either mirrors or water," Strange adds in as an explanation. And the closest mirror he can think of is in the kitchen, not the dining room itself.

"If you give me a few minutes, I can make a puddle to the dining room."

"Ah." Uh. "...W-Well, as long as no one slips I guess...."

"You'd think that people would be smart enough to stay away from a puddle," Strange gripes, with a frown. You'd think that. And yet some members of the carnival are damn dumb.

There's a pause, as he looks over the wardrobe tent, trying to find some sort of water he could use. Thankfully, someone left a bottle of water just sitting on one of the tables. With a smile on his face, Strange walks over, picks up the bottle of water, and then just straight up empties it onto the floor, though thankfully away from any of the dresses or fabric.

"I'll clean this up later," he tells Carly, before Strange steps in the puddle, quickly mutters the incantation, and straight up vanishes. Gotta make a puddle in the wardrobe tent in order to return from the dining hall, after all.

"I've noticed that a lot of people are really inattentive here," Carly admits, laughing a little nervously. As it is, she nods, and shuffles the nearest model aside so the puddle can pool properly.

"I can get it after they're through-flying there is pretty fast after all!" she notes, beaming. "And this already saves lots of time!"

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My fair faire

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