lostcarnival | ⇨ THE LUNAR SOLSTICE

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⇨ THE LUNAR SOLSTICE

Who: Everyone!
When: Winter Breaks: Day 6 - Day 25
Where: THE MOON
What: The carnival journeys to one of its moons to celebrate the Lunar Solstice. More information here.
Warnings: Winter fun.

MOON WALKING↴

The journey to the moon only takes a blink of an eye, but it leaves the carnival far away beneath you. The second moon can be seen on the peripheral, massive compared to its usual view. At least when the holidays start out, there will be no notable wildlife on the moon, though this is something you can talk to the Ringmaster about if you think it needs a change. It sounds like this is the first time she's used it in quite a while - it probably needs some dusting off!

Claim your cabins, and proceed to... well, do whatever you want! There is no rush and little obligation, besides to enjoy yourself. For real, this time. She promises there will be no vampires. Or, at least, none that don't already work for the carnival.

► CABINS: Living arrangements are character choice for this event, and there are a variety of cabins of various sizes, mostly built to house 2-6 people, though you can fit more in if you squish. They are all made of wood and of a rustic design - no fancy modern furniture, here! Each building is housed with a fireplace and the needed amenities. You can pick up materials to cook with the private kitchens if you like. Theoretically, you could spend the whole holiday sequestered away, watching the snow fall. Some of them also have outdoor hot tubs available!

► ACTIVITIES: Activities are mostly going to be character driven, though there will be some large group games like bingo and maybe a poker tournament happening at some point in one of the festival halls. Otherwise, there is a lot to offer: skiing, snowboarding, hiking, ice sculpting, snowball fights - it goes on! If you'd like to run a winter activity, just let the mods know, and we will get the word out there for you.

► FEASTING: Every day isn't a full-out feast because that would get a bit unhealthy, but there will be a number of specific feast events over the holidays where everyone is encouraged to let out their inner hedonist and stuff themselves. There will be one big feast per week, with smaller but also delicious meals offered in between. The feast dates will be B12, B18, and B24. There's also plenty of alcohol available for anyone who wants it.

► SHOPPING: As mentioned in the planning post, there is a massive market being run by the World Walker Caravan! The Ringmaster has given everyone 1250 credits to spend on items, but there is a caveat - must spend at least 500 of those credits on gifts for other people. And it better be a good one, if you only buy one! (She will ask that you do not buy her presents, however. She appreciates the sentiment, but it seems sort of silly buying her things with her own money! If you'd like to gift her, please have it be something more personal or handmade, but you are not obligated to get her anything at all.)

► TREATMENTS: The beginning of the holidays will also be about the time that the emergency Medical Team will have finalized their treatments for the Prince's poisoning. Watch out for further information on that - and make sure to get treated if you are suffering from petrification or poison induced illness! The holidays will be a lot more fun that way.

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"Oh! Right in the heart!" Doll lets the snowball hit her, and she clasps her hands to her chest and falls over dramatically.

"Vengeance!" And in the next second she's flipped back onto her feet and is gathering up snow to fire another snowball back.

No, that's wrong.

[It's the wrong answer, and Foster is running out of afterglow to soak it up with. Then again, it's not exactly easy to absorb a feeling like resentment in artificial bliss. He just ends up... dissatisfied.]

It's... wrong.

Alright, then what would you say is the right answer to that?

[You know. To finding out that his boyfriend, who he first kissed when thinking he was his then-best-friend's boyfriend, who he may or may not have been accidentally cheating on in a weird alien way, who he hadn't been willing to sleep with despite Psi clearly wanting to, and whose species he already kind of knew typically had multiple partners at once, had slept with said former-best-friend-not-actually-boyfriend after Ginko had turned him down.

Because seriously, all he can think is that that seems... fair enough. And pretty unsurprising. Even if it sort of hurts, in a frustratingly irrational way.]

Foster absorbs this information with a kind of detached scepticism, the furry end of his bovine tail switching back and forth at his ankles. Honestly, the thing that's really sticking with him about this, besides the fact that even robots possess blood in some fashion (a fact that he is personally somewhat pacified by), is a notion that's not something he really aspires to, but the consideration it might be possible is certainly giving him something to think about.

Of course, he chooses to express this in the worst way possible.

"So there's really nothing stopping me from raising or animating a giant robot with my own magic one day."

He's avoiding the word 'zombie' now; it's sometimes hard for him not to echo people's word usage back to them, but that term is so excruciatingly old-fashioned he practically felt himself become his own great-grandfather for a second there.

But I still can use it if needed.

[ Strange is unintentionally digging in his heels a bit, as he looks at the stitch ripper. Of course he's going to try and make this thing as best as possible, but the fact remains that this is literally the first time he's ever sewed. That stitch ripper looks like it would be a useful thing for the process. ]

( At least the conversation is veering away from Solas, for which Lavellan is grateful. She doesn't know how to discuss that around Cole, who only wanted to make people happy. This is not a problem he can fix, however, no matter how hard he wanted to try.

Talking about what went on here -- that was easier. )

Once I get more settled. ( For knowing how things could go badly here -- it seems she can't shake old habits, can't completely rid herself of the mentality that she needs to be doing something. That, maybe, is her and not the Inquisitor, and Lavellan makes a small note of it in the case that she needs something to refocus on in the future when concerned about who she is and isn't. ) Have you be helping them with the fallout then, Cole?

Normally he would do what it took to get out of common work but the quicker he paid his debt the better. Yet... he was getting kind of lazy and letting it drag already.

"It's not as if I have anyone to perform for right now anyways. I get the feeling you're not entirely wrong. Are you one of those people, Mister Ginko?"

~~Poor Tamaki. It's a good thing Tyki's not interested in woo'ing Doll because 17 is a more than enough acceptable age for gentle of Tyki's era.~~

"See, now I'm going to make a point of it when I feel like it," he teases with his hand sliding the water towards the little lady to assert the point. "In truth I know you're not one for private parties, tea cups, and manners. Women of that appeal are a little dull with no real freedom of their own. You may not be a Lady but you're still a lady.

"A powerful lady can get what she wants," he replies, "But if you feel like chugging the water to prove me wrong, be all means. Just don't throw it up."

Lambert doesn't bother the question, because in Lambert's mind, the thing that needs to be thrown out of here is definitely Cole, who's thoroughly tanked his good mood. He takes advantage of the momentary moment of distraction to come right up to Cole and grab him by the shirt like one might pick up a stray cat. If that manages to work, the next thing he does is try to lift Cole off his feet.

"What part of get out did you not understand?" he hisses, sharp teeth bared. And if he can get away with it, he's already dragging Cole to the door, yanking it open so he can shove him out into the cold. He's not the one in the wrong here! Weirdos who show up in your cabin out of nowhere to be creepy and cryptic are!

Cole nods. Reira's line of thinking makes sense, though he knows he'll have to ask around and see how different people think about this. Not that he doesn't trust her, just that at least in Cole's mind, better safe than sorry.

"I don't have any money left," he admits, "but maybe we'll come across cameras again. I think I'd like one." Because this? This is pretty cool, Cole's in favor of this.

Cole's all skin and bones. Even without the added witcher strength, Lambert could probably lift him up. And so, he hauls Cole up, lifting him off the floor as he gets dragged to the door. Cole makes a cursory attempt to try and wiggle out of Lambert's grasp but it doesn't go anywhere.

And so, the door's opened and Cole's shoved outside in the cold. He stumbles forwards, trying to catch his balance, before he turns around to look at Lambert and his cabin with a little frown. Yeah, he's not going to try and go back in there again. He's already been thrown out once, Cole doesn't really want this to happen a second time.

Alright, so this didn't work. But it would certainly work next time. With a little hmmph of annoyance, Cole starts to walk away from the cabin. He'll find another way to help Lambert. Somehow.

"Many things live in the same environment as humans," Cole points out, accidentally undercutting 9S's argument and almost making it worse at the same time. "Like dragons."

And Cole just gets even paler because oh no, are there moon dragons?! There could be moon dragons, this isn't good, he doesn't even have his blades! How can he stop the moon dragons by himself, he can't really do anything about that!

"I don't have my knives," he mutters, more to himself than to the others. "Daggers dancing in the dark, it's protection even though it's hurting."

I've been trying, [ said with a little shrug. However...Lavellan's here. She can understand Cole's particular annoyance with certain carnival members in a way that other people couldn't. ]

Some don't know about me. Worlds without spirits, cut off and dead. I have to do more explaining than helping at certain points.

[ What are you, well I'm Cole, that's not helpful, well I'm a spirit, what kind of spirit, well I think I'm compassion, how can that be a spirit, and so on and so forth. At least back in Thedas, people knew about him and knew what spirits were and what they could do. It's part of the reason why he clung so close to people like Rita: he didn't have to explain things to her as much as others. ]

Hey you don't know that for sure, if some of these are just for the occasion.

[Either way it's not like the regular carnival kitchen staff would be likely to get this extravagant on what they serve, true.]

Anyway... looks like I need to go make some room on this plate!

[Meaning time for him to go sit down and eat if Reira doesn't join him. He certainly doesn't recognize if there's a big bird occupying a spot at a table as hers- but the teen's just going to take a convenient empty spot.]

Strange got a slightly creepy gift from the Ringmaster (so, of course, he thinks this thing is amazingly awesome). However, one of the problems with a magical quill used to write powerfully binding contracts is just that: it's for contracts. And someone can't make a contract with themselves.

If he asked Lambert to test this with him, Strange knows he's in for a long lecture and a lot of judging and really Strange, why the hell do you think this is a good idea. Asking Childermass to test this with him is right out thanks to lingering problems from Portland. So, there's Rita. He's certain she's going to judge him about this (as Strange has just started assuming everyone's going to judge him about everything he does) but she's one of the few people in the carnival who could realize the importance of the quill's magic in the first place.

Strange walks up to Rita's cabin, after doing a little bit of creepy scrying to make certain she's actually there. He's holding a few sheets of paper as well as the quill, still in the box the Ringmaster gave him. Approaching the door, he knocks a few times, in a slightly impatient manner.

When Strange used his scrying, he most likely saw Rita sitting in a chair, writing onto a stack of paper with several loose sheets scattered around her.

That's pretty much what she's still doing when he comes to the door, and it takes her a few seconds to set her work neatly aside before she comes to answer the knocking. Opening the door, she greets him with a mildly surprised look. "Oh, good. You actually used the door this time," is all she has to say at first.

Strange can't help but look briefly affronted as Rita points out the fact that he actually was a decent human being who knocked instead of barging in like an idiot—really? That's how they're starting off the conversation?! Honestly, he uses doors occasionally! This isn't something for her to chastise him about!

"It's bad form to annoy someone if you're going to ask them a favor," Strange explains, with a little frown. And though he may have knocked, he's certainly inviting himself into Rita's cabin as he tries to barge in like an idiot. "I've something you'll want to see as well."

A favor...? Rita's eyes narrow in suspicion. "Fine. Come in." It looks like he's coming in anyway, but... whatever. If it's something unreasonable, she can always tell him to buzz off.

Besides, something she'll want to see, coming from Strange, usually means something magical.

Walking along with him to the cabin's main living area where a few comfy-looking chairs face a fireplace and a wooden table stands by a small kitchen, she takes note of the box and the paper he's carrying. "What's in the box?"

"Sweet! It looks like you're figurin' it out pretty fast." Granted, Miko is no expert on knives, either. But it does look to her like he's doing a good job, alright. "How much does 'the basic principle' mean here, anyway?"

[They'd agree on that point. Cuts and bruises healed with time, naturally or with magic. What happens in your head will take a lot longer or maybe not even go away at all. But in the end it's probably good to keep going.]

I don't know. But it sounds like you'd make sure they're safe here and I think they'd be happy to see you. Even if it's just a...um, vacation. A good one.

[It may be an odd choice in words, but Frisk has more or less lost the proper definition of a 'vacation' in exchange for something not so nice.]

That's true. But Frisk has a lot of issues with it and they'd rather stop here before anything happens. It's probably for the best.

But hey, that's sure a topic they can roll with! "I think they're cool! There's a lot of Monsters in the Underground, so they've got a lot of cool things going on."

They can think up a number of interesting parts of the Monsters before they realize they're getting sidetracked in their own thoughts. Again.

"Um, can I see? It sounds pretty cool, but only if you're okay with it."

He is, especially since there's a flicker of magic and shadows and he's getting over the table, down to the floor to snatch the paper, in the quickest way possible. Which is to say, as a crow. That requires infinitely less leaping over furniture. Of course, that means the damn magician-turned-bird now has Strange's drawing in his beak and of course he's going to cock his head to one side, beady black eye gleaming and focused in that too clever way that corvids have about them.

He doesn't take off once he has it, just standing in place and waiting to see what the other two do next. Almost like he's taunting them or something...

Lambert, legs still hooked over his seat, looks offended by the laughter for all of a second before he hoists himself back up to sit properly at the table. Unlike Strange, he doesn't have any particular incentive to snatch the paper back, so he simply leans his elbow against the edge and picks up his drink again, directing his words at Strange instead.

"See, this is why I tell you that you need more exercise." He uses one hand to pour another generous measure of ambrosia into his mug ... and the other all too casually reaches out to attempt to give the crow a clumsy pet down the head and back.

"Exercise doesn't do a thing when the other person cheats," Strange points out the obvious. Birds have wings buddy, what the hell could he do then? Still, two can play at the dumb shapeshifting game.

With a wry smile on his face, Strange turns into smoke. The purple smoke lingers where he stood for a moment before trailing over towards Childermass (and Lambert by proxy). Strange doesn't really have a plan here. Get in Childermass's face? Make him cough so he drops the paper? Can birds even cough to begin with? All he knows is that smoke in Childermass's face will be annoying, ergo that's what Strange will do: try to float around Childermass's bird face in an annoying manner.

Pity he's forgotten that he's slightly poisonous. Thanks, alcohol.

Once they're at the wooden table, Strange sets his box down on it. Taking the top off to show Rita the quill, he starts to explain. Strange explains it all in a matter of fact manner, as if this is business as usual with them and the carnival.

"It's a gift from the Ringmaster. This quill can be used to write magical contracts. Of course, one needs multiple parties to form a contract. It can be something simple, an arrangement to answer one truthful question or something like that. I simply want to see how it works."

In his explanation, Strange is talking around an important part of his proposal: he wants to see how it works and he wants Rita to be the other person in the contract.

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⇨ THE LUNAR SOLSTICE

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