⇨ 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

APPROVED!

[ringleaders]

1,250 credits spent.

APPROVED!

[ringleaders]

[nevergained]

Yeah, there's a lot in there that Frisk understands. Not so much the forgetting part - they weren't allowed to forget - but feeling like you've done all of this before. Being on the other side of a SAVE.

They need to see if those still work here.

Frisk nods seriously. "I'll remember that." But Julien's demonstration of his eye trick has them smiling a little bit again. "It's still pretty cool though."

[chronosynthesis]

Dragons. [He lifts his head and opens his eyes, propping his chin on his hand as he stares ahead.] We shouldn't kill then, but we have to.

[He waves his other hand vaguely.] It's a very long story.

[One he's not in the mood to try and sort out right now. Another time, when he's not on drugs.]

[dirthena]

Maybe he does, but Lavellan will never know. She pushes back her hair from her face with a hand, and hums slightly. There are so many things stopping her, but she settles on perhaps the easiest to explain, the one that does not leave her open and raw to more questions than she feels like answering.

"He left, and I was in no shape to follow him. Not that he wanted me to," she muses, her lips twitching up wryly for a brief moment. "But we are at odds, the two of us -- I doubt he'd give me the chance to say so without fleeing like the coward he is if we were ever to meet again." For he runs from her in her dreams, although he dares to invade them in the first place.

She is torn, she is always torn -- between the Inquisition and her clan, between her duty and her desire, between loving Solas and wishing to wrap her hand around his neck and strangling him for all that he's done. It hardly matters now, though, and she shakes her head.

"But that is in the past, for now." And that is where she is content to leave it.

[pipers_son]

"S'not the view..." Another frustrated nuzzle. "S'about.... not being stuck. Or trapped. You can just-" He tries to make a gesture, forgetting that his hand is behind Ginko's back.

"Go." Before he can say anything else, however, his feet get tangled up in one another, and he wobbles forward with a curse even as he digs his fingers in.

wow, i thought i replied to this but nope

[whattaprick]

"Hm." Lambert still doesn't get the whole human-android thing, nor why 9S seems so hung up on that, but he can tell when someone's pissed off, even if it's not necessarily at him.

"What was the point of making you, then, if they're not even around to look at you? Humans in your world sound like dicks."

[dontpokethat]

"Ah-- hey, careful." Ginko catches Joker and pulls him upright, getting him back on his feet. He regards him for a moment before scooting over so Joker is right behind him, placing Joker's hands on his shoulders - and then, in a quick movement, crouching just enough to get a hold of Joker's legs and pull him onto his back.

"There we go. This'll probably work better after all. Anyway, I'm... afraid your point is probably going to be lost on me, no matter what. I just can't really think that way."

[atouts]

Whereas Childermass has slouched back, head leaning against Lambert's arm and swashbuckler hat tipping haphazardly downward as he does. He wouldn't be shocked if he were about to doze off as well, though not yet, not just yet. He smirks faintly at Strange's idle chatter, at least still aware enough to listen.

"Snow isn't so bad," he comments idly, but to the rest, he adds, "And I suppose it isn't so bad, doing something like this on occasion, though I would never have anticipated company like this."

Because Strange is from a vastly different social standing, fellow magician or not, and Lambert... well, he's Lambert. The man's stated enough times that witchers don't stick around and make friends, so any other scenario would have had them passing each other by, all three of them.

[anti_nonsense]

"No," Rita replies simply, raising an eyebrow. Does she want to know? She's not sure, but she's just curious enough to try asking. Maybe she'll regret it, but maybe Strange will regret it more, making it somewhat worth it.

"What happened in Venice?"

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but laugh, a small little quiet laugh, at Childermass's words. No, he never anticipated company like this either. What would they say, back in England, if they knew that the king's magician considered the servant of his former mentor and a crude, brash monster slayer his closest friends?

"Likewise," he admits, leaning back against the couch, head resting on it's back as Strange stares at the ceiling. "I like—" And then he yawns. "I like the company, though." Strange is keeping himself up solely due to his inability to shut up. He's tired and yawning and it's obvious from the tone of his voice that if he stops talking just for a moment or two, he'll fall asleep.

"When I return home to England, I'm going to introduce you to Arabella—and properly this time." Not an illusion caused by the Prince. "She needs to know who to thank for keeping her reckless husband safe." Never mind the fact that by the time he and Norrell break that curse, Childermass and Arabella might have met already. That thought doesn't seem to cross Strange's mind as he drunkenly (and sleepily) plans for the future.

[kingsroads]

"I ingested all sorts of plants and poisonous concoctions, turned a woman into a cat, went mad, got cursed, and then radically changed the landscape of English magic." It's all said in a matter of fact tone like Strange is explaining a shopping list. Strange can't help but look a little embarrassed about parts of it, but not the overall whole. After all, he couldn't go back and change any of it.

"And now you see the reason why I don't exactly care about drinking or taking certain drugs. When I eventually return to England, they'll have plenty more to chastise me over than something like the fact I smoke weed."

This is not something to be proud of. And yet, Strange can't help but look a little smug about the fact that he's a massive trainwreck.

[wild_magic]

"I can try." With his new shorter height it's probably a little hard in all honesty, but he's gotten on his brother's back enough that he still manages to sort of climb/hop up and hold on.

"Okay, I'm ready!"

[dontpokethat]

"Hmm."

Ginko gives a quiet snort and glances over at Tyki. "Have fun with that. Hopefully you won't fall off the roof."

[fourthscribe]

A clown? I'll have to think up a suitable pattern for painting your face, then--if that's alright with you?

[She's already horribly taken with this child--they're earnest and sweet, obviously wanting to be sure they're doing a good job. Why else would they be practicing jokes like that?]

[...well, actually there's plenty of reasons to do that, but the context makes this especially cute, okay.]

We can do any sort of theme you'd like, and I'll do my best to not tickle you with the brushes.

[nevergained]

[It's an even split. They're a clown so they have to practice jokes and Frisk has a particular love of awful jokes and telling them. Win/win.]

As long as I look hot, it's okay.

[Yes, they said that with a completely straight face. Frisk can't resist awful lines like that either.]

Even flowers?

[They like flowers.]

[dressedtothe]

That's so weird. It almost sounds like whoever saved Lavellan was her enemy. Now why would someone like that bother to save her? Then again, 2B and him did help out Pascal every now and again even though Pascal and his villagers are all machines...

A small, wry grin curls at the corner of his mouth. It's in the past, huh?

"Well, there's plenty to see and the people here are kind. It's easier to," not necessarily move forward, but, "put things out of your mind for a while."

He gestures to the squirrel or swan ice sculpture as an example of a distraction.

"Anyway, are you with the Carnival? Or are you one of the other world travellers stopping here?"

how dare!!

[dressedtothe]

"They're not!"

The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them. 9S looks away, shame crawling through him after the outburst. They're not...

9S folds the T-Shirt back up and puts it back in the bag. "...They don't need to see us for us to do our job."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita just gives him a long, blank stare. She doesn't know where to begin with any of that.

...Well, he did mention the curse and the 'radically changing English magic' bit before, so she probably doesn't need elaboration on that right now. So to choose something she's pretty sure he hasn't shared before...

"You turned a woman into a cat? Why?" He did say he could do it, but it sounds like there's a story here. Also, was he using transformation magic while under the influence? With Strange, there are times that Rita just can't believe she's talking to a grown-ass adult.

[kingsroads]

"She wanted to become one." Hold on tight Rita, we're about to go into some dumb. "It was a spell that I pieced out. We made an arrangement: I give her what she wanted, she gave me what I wanted. She wanted to become a cat, so I made her one, and I wanted to learn madness, so she gave me a vessel symbolizing hers."

Oh right, the woman was mad, did he not mention that? Strange frowns a bit before deciding that obviously he must have, why wouldn't he otherwise?

"It was a more impressive bit of magic than I'm describing it as," Strange continues, with a sigh. "It loses some of the flair in the retelling."

[pipers_son]

Fuck. "Oh no," he says blearily, blinking as he's suddenly heaved up onto Ginko's back. He's always had good thoughts about Ginko's shoulders. Those thoughts are ten times better (worse?) with his position being what it is. As they start to move, he remembers to use his one good arm to wrap around him Ginko before he slides off again.

"Then- what do ya think of?"

[dontpokethat]

"Don't 'oh no' me. We can't have you falling over yourself all the way there," sighs Ginko, completely misunderstanding the issue.

He gives a quiet hum, glancing up at the sky above them. "About flying? Mostly that I don't want to fall to my death. Not like I don't trust you and Psi, but it's kind of nerve-wracking all the same."

Ginko has no idea if that's actually what Joker meant, but anyway.

[prazerbutterfly]

"Hopefully," he repeats before giving a rather large yawn. With that he falls asleep easily on the roof. Worse case scenario, he'll just go right through it while he's sleep but at least he won't fall off it.

[dirthena]

"I'll need the break," she admits, eyeing the ice sculptures in question with a wary eye. Still, any distraction is a good distraction, and she focuses on the question he poses to her. "I joined the Carnival, yes. Signed a contract and everything." Although she's coming to understand not everyone comes here willingly. And what a trip that must be, to suddenly find oneself almost enslaved to a place as strange as this.

"What about yourself?" For he doesn't seem to be as changed as most of the people she's come to consider being part of the Carnival are.

[dressedtothe]

Of course, 9S wants to find out what her contract is. But he's realised that some people -- Solas -- are less forthcoming about it than others. Given that she's new, he'll have plenty of time to ask.

"Yeah, I'm with the Carnival on contract, too. Working as a scout and," ugh, "repairs."