⇨ THE LUNAR SOLSTICE

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[atouts]

Good god, Strange can do that with his entire body now? Childermass doesn't even waste the time needed to make an offended noise at Lambert's petting, instead straight up just taking off once the hand has left his back. It's... a very short flight.

See, someone didn't take a little fact like body mass into account when changing into something significantly smaller than a fairly tall human man.

Childermass has had a cup of wine and some of the ambrosia at this point.

What does that equal?

A crow taking off, flying a short distance extremely awkwardly, and then landing poorly on the next table over, tripping over his own wings as he tries to cross it. The silver lining is he's evaded the purple smoke (for now). The more rusty and sharp lining is, uh, well, he probably can't take off again, as a few false starts send him tumbling over an edge and onto a chair's seat instead.

[whattaprick]

Lambert just laughs like an asshole when Childermass takes off and takes an awkward spill. Now that is hilarious, and all this over a shitty drawing of a dog?

Strange being smoke puts a cramp in the whole 'getting drunk together' thing (alcohol evaporates, after all) so it's time to put a stop to that. Lambert waits to see if he'll follow after Childermass first, but whether he does or doesn't, as soon as he's taken another deep gulp of his drink, he's raising his other hand and waving his fingers in a lazy gesture.

Most of the time, Lambert can cast Yrden in his sleep. Most of the time, Lambert hasn't been spending hours trying to learn a different way of casting a spell that comes second nature. Meaning when the purple runes meant to force Strange back into corporeality appear on the floor, there's something subtly different about it, a glowing ball of purple light hovering lightly in the center.

A ball of purple light that suddenly shoots a streak of crackling force at smoke-Strange. If it makes contact, not only is Strange going to find himself suddenly corporeal, he's also going to find himself flung backwards.

CUSTOM

[dressedtothe]

Item Purchased: Custom... Armour? x 1
Gift?: No
Total Item Cost: ???
Credits Spent: 9S (??? 9S has 359 remaining credits I'm willing to burn on this)
Additional Notes: A scabbard that fits his katana. No special properties at all. It's just a scabbard, because he doesn't have one and walking around with your weapon drawn all the time is rude.

[anti_nonsense]

"Magical contracts...?" Rita looks over the quill, her eyes still narrow with doubt. As she does, one hand grips a circular amulet hanging from her neck -- her own gift from the Ringmaster. "You mean, something like that binding spell the other you used in Portland?" While she can't clearly recall the details of that magic, she distinctly recalls Strange using it to make a binding agreement between the two of them.

[betheman]

[He nods, and then nods again, but with the answer merely beams. (And dammit Yuuya how many with spears are that SMALL-)]

Correct..! Tama-C seemed...simple enough to make from snow, after some thought...

[soft_focus]

Well, they'll have to keep their eyes peeled, she certainly agrees... "Mnh. Maybe they'll have them in the stores at other places... ...I'll say if I see them, so that you know..!"

[insidescoop]

...I'm going to be the one deciding if it's needed.

You don't have a lot of chances with this thing..! So you need to trust me when I say just how much you need to make sure you don't need it..! You'll ruin your fabric otherwise..!

[soft_focus]

Hmmnn.... [Indeed that is...not helping. And there goes Yuugo...toward her spot. Reira almost says something, but-

Welp, angry screeching Yuugo, ANGRY. SCREECHING. There is a large eagle who is none too pleased about this, so Reira starts walking over to cool this down...]

[prazerbutterfly]

[It's daunting for a man with his incredible power to be downed so easily by a fae. Even the Ringmaster had absolute control over his choice if she wanted. She just chose not to and he was thankful for that.]

You're right. I would do anything for my family to ensure their safety. I know they'd fit in well here. Or, most of them. [He chuckles at Frisk's choice of words.] Vacation. A rough vacation but appropriate. It's what I was considering it as until recently but you don't have to worry about that right now. It should return to normal soon.

[kingsroads]

"I suppose so," he admits. He literally didn't think of that: great, something else to remind people of his Portland self. "However, the binding spell could be performed without one's consent. Since both parties have to sign the document, consent is needed from both." Portland is still a sore spot for Strange and his Portland self even more so. But Rita is right: if this was going to be compared to anything, it would have to be that man.

"I'll let you set the terms of the contract, though I'll write it out myself." As he has a feeling that whole writing with one's own blood thing might weird Rita out.

[kingsroads]

Strange lingers for a bit as Childermass takes a tumble. Well then. That's unexpected. Bird went down and went down hard. However, Strange lingering around for a bit means that he's a sitting duck and perfect target for Lambert's spell.

There's a brief moment of shock as Strange realizes that Yrden's been cast and a brief moment of confusion because he hasn't seen that purple ball before. As such, the spell hits him right in the chest. Only a moment later Strange turns back to solid form as he's flung head over heels. He hits a chair, legs draped over the chair, chest on the floor, looking awkward and gangly as hell as he looks over at Lambert with surprise.

"That's new."

[hurtcomfort]

"Thank you," Cole says, with a little nod to Reira. Though, this does beg the question. Reira's going to look out for cameras for him, what can he keep an eye out for her?

"What should I find for you?"

[nevergained]

[Frisk nods, smiling.]

Yup. It sounds like everything was really bad for awhile but I hope you and everyone else feels okay soon.

[Not better, but at least okay. And yeah, Frisk is rather concerned about other people's happiness. Hence why they were here.]

[whattaprick]

Lambert continues to look entirely unrepentant, but Syrlya manages to divert the topic before he can make a different joke...

"Don't look at me." Lambert raises his hands defensively. "I just go by whatever season the Ringmaster says it is. She could change that whenever she wanted, anyway."

Although...

"Huh. Now that I think about it, it makes you wonder how long the year and a day people agree to really is, doesn't it?"

[flashover]

Rin isn't affected nearly as much... probably because he isn't a person held together entirely by stress and is fairly relaxed anyway. But it sure does feel nice. His worries about how Yukio had acted the other day just sort of.... melt away into a golden haze.

Though he does laugh when Yukio offers his glass to Kuro, who immediately sticks his head all the way into it to lap up some of the golden ambrosia.

"I guess he kind of is like our brother! Our older brother."

Like Mephisto and Lucifer except not horrible.

[atouts]

All this over a shitty drawing of a dog, that's right, although Childermass had meant to return it after making Strange chase him around a bit. That plan is super dead right now, though, because he's already dropped the drawing in his efforts to try and right himself.

He does manage to roll off of his back at some point, only it also means rolling straight off of the chair he landed in and to the floor with a dull thump of feathers and a plaintive caw.

Yeah, whatever Lambert and Strange are doing over there? Crow ain't paying attention. Crow has bigger problems right now.

[atouts]

"Yes," Childermass already has the answer to that. He'll draw his attention back down from the sky and move over to Baker's side, opening the bags he had thrown over the massive dog, rifling around in them to pull out a picnic blanket first and foremost. In this case, it's fairly tarp-like, since... snow.

"It's only an hour by flight, so I decided to try going back through the shadows. It's how Lambert got his entire workspace up here." Yeah, he did that, rather than moving it piece by piece. "I would not suggest it. While I did succeed, the effort was too much for me."

Yeah, he passed out.

"Although that was purely faerie magic. Here, lay this out," he adds, handing the tarp over to Strange. Next, he'll start pulling out wrapped food, which immediately gets Baker to crane his head around and sniff the air rapidly. If he hadn't been drooling before, he sure is now, but Childermass doesn't offer him anything just yet.

But continuing his train of thought from before.

"I do not know if a spell could be powered by an external force rather than a personal one to manage it instead, but that would undoubtedly be less exhausting if it could be."

[reflash]

“No, no,” says Yukio absently, petting Kuro in an absent, uncoordinated sort of way. “He’s our little brother. Little-big brother.”

When Kuro pulls his head out of the glass, Yukio points at him, getting right up in his face with an accusatory finger.

“I’ll only call you nii-san when you’re larger than me!”

[flashover]

Kuro has his fill and lets himself be pet on because HEY. It feels good. He may not be a cat but he can appreciate a good petting. Oops. But then Yukio is in his face with a finger.

He meows angrily and hisses before jumping off of Yukio's lap.

"Oh, he says you should respect your elders, Yukio!" Rin translates helpfully.

[reflash]

“I’ll respect him when he stops licking himself on the kitchen counters!” Yukio may be relaxed, but there’s something... silly about this whole thing that makes him want to yell and flail a little bit. He downs the rest of his glass in one gulp to emphasize his point.

Re: Gongenzaka | OTA

[moonfang]

[What a cool gift it was. It looked awesome, and had some amazing features! It also meant that Zangetsu could regrow his own arm. Finally. The handicap was getting on his nerves, just a little. But he supposes that they actually lucked out quite a bit, coming to a peaceful place where Gon could actually get a replacement. It meant neither of them had to suffer too much in a strange and possibly dangerous location.

Either way, Zangetsu had just so happened to procure some alcohol of his own, not related to the cure in question. No, something called a "hot toddy". Look, he just knew it was warm and smelled of honey and lemon. The fact that it was at least 50% bourbon was just a coincidence. He also drank like three of them so to say that Zangetsu is toasty when he comes up with the "training regimen" is being generous.

Zangetsu emerges from a pile of snow caused by the repulsor arm with a hearty laugh and blue-tinged cheeks from both cold and alcohol]

Hehhahahaha!! Ok! Ok! [he dives back down into the snow and uses his bunny feet to start kicking another huge pile of snow up] This time, more concentrated fire!

[kingsroads]

Childermass doesn't suggest doing it. This means that Strange is definitely going to try it himself. Perhaps going from reflection to reflection would be easier now that they're closer to the carnival than before? He's got plans and ideas about how best to do that and is mulling it over.

Still, he's here, he'll help out. Taking the tarp, Strange pulls it out and flattens it against the snow. It's as flat as he can lay it as he listens to Childermass talk. Once it's laid out, Strange sits down on the tarp.

"I'll still give it a chance," Strange shrugs. "After all, there's plenty of factors that might be the cause for why you were tired."

And then Strange ends up passing out for the night.

[anti_nonsense]

Item Purchased: Wireless Texting Ring x 1
Gift?: Y
Total Item Cost: 180
Credits Spent: Rita Mordio (180)

Item Purchased: Wireless Texting Ring x 1
Gift?: N
Total Item Cost: 200
Credits Spent: Rita Mordio (200)

Item Purchased: Dueling Armor x 1
Gift?: N
Total Item Cost: 200
Credits Spent: Rita Mordio (200)
Additional Notes: As mentioned on Plurk, Rita's going to purchase something along the lines of this!

Total Cost: 580
Total Credits Spent: 980
Credits Remaining: 270

[anti_nonsense]

Cole is really not helping here.

"No knives," Rita declares in a stern voice. These idiots are out of their minds. The last thing they need is to start swinging weapons around.

With that out of the way, she whips her head back around to look at 9S. "Even if snakes could get to the moon, they wouldn't come here. It's too cold for them." That's not her best argument, but considering the situation, she figures simple arguments have a better chance of working than complex ones.

"And besides, if anything dangerous did get into the cabin, I would have blown it up by now," Rita adds in a matter-of-fact tone.

[whattaprick]

"Yeah," Lambert says, staring dazedly at the still-glimmering light in the center of the spell. In hindsight, pre-gaming on an empty stomach with the intention of being able to get comfortably drunk at the same pace as his friends was not the brightest idea he's ever had.

"That is new." The thump followed by a caw draws his attention, though, and he laughs, louder than he should. Seeing Childermass kiss floor is hilarious, though the magician's not like to see it that way.

"What, can't remember you're not supposed to have feathers?" he quips. Ah, but he sees that bit of paper has gotten loose again. Only, it is so very far, and he really doesn't want to take another spill ... so instead, he shuts his eyes and concentrates, and Celandine pops out of thin air and teaches everyone in the vicinity something that they hadn't known before (or at least Lambert certainly hadn't) --

"Lambert," Celandine says, with a plaintive hiccup and giggle, stumbling over her own paws as she trots towards the fallen paper. "This isn't what I'm for."

-- daemons can, apparently, get drunk too.