⇨ 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

[flashover]

Well, no, I just didn't expect it to happen so fast. But I guess if you're really good at it...

[eh??? FOR HIM? He blinks] Oh, eh... don't they shrink when you wash them?

[steadydollypegs]

Doll crows at the top of her lungs and face-plants onto the sled, sliding head-first down the hill. She gets a lot of distance before the lip of the sled hits a dip and Doll flips onto her back into the snow.

She sits up almost immediately and jumps to her feet, dancing around.

"Ah!! Cold! Cold down my back!!"

gently retcons one of his self-buys, PERFECT

[flashover]

"DUDE!" Rin says, holding the gaming system aloft, "I was JUST thinking about buying myself one of these! I'm glad I decided not to..." he quickly scans the box, then points at it excitedly, "And look! It comes with two controllers!! We can play together!"

Rin beams at Sora and wiggles excitedly. "I think I saw some guys selling some TVs, we'll have to get a nice flatscreen one!!"

[steadydollypegs]

Doll snickers and dips lower into the bush she's hidden in. Syrlya's been a nice enough guy to her in the past, he's probably not going to be too mad about a little harmless prank.

REFUND (also known as a retcon)

[flashover]

Refunding/Retconning Rin's purchase of the PARTY CONSOLE (+150 pts)

I'll keep the DLC add-on that I originally purchased though!

[steadydollypegs]

The first two springs go just fine, but then Doll is falling towards a landing that has no table under it-- her physics are off here because she's pretty wasted.

Tyki fortunately catches her before she lands on her head, and she's a little startled by it mostly because she's upside-down. But she poses anyway, grinning away. "Nice catch!"

[pipers_son]

...Ah.

[Pausing, Joker takes a moment to look over Julien a lot more carefully. Things suddenly make a lot more sense.]

Already had a bit before comin' over, I take it?

lmao perfect

[destiny_key]

"Okay!" Sora responds, Rin's excitement infectious. "We'll have to get it soon so we can test it out! I bet it'll be really cool!"

He's pretty pleased Rin liked the gift. Sora owes him one, after all, because of that mess with the Prince's mansion. The guilt is eating at him that he dragged his friend into that mess, and he wants to make it up to him.

[soft_focus]

Umnhh.... ...like how you traveled dimensions on one? [She's. Aware of that much after all, so is that what the world exploring is about?]

ffffff OK SORRY, HERE GOES

[scientificist]

Simon Says. Herbert raises his other hand in an irritated shrug, rolling his eyes and sighing deeply.

"Take the medication, unscrew the bottle, pour the liquid into your mouth and swallow it--must I describe each thing I require from you before you'll deign to do it? Continue to provide specimens for my research--should I repeat that as well? Or are you waiting for more abuse?" Something occurs to him and he giggles abruptly, high and breathless. "Will I create a, paradox by, telling you you don't deserve it yet?" He smiles, as brightly as he ever does. "Take the medicine and...I'll consider it."

oh boy

[soft_focus]

"Umn...." There are a number of things Reira was preparing to do and say. Initially she was content to internally sigh at Flowey after all-and then as Foster began speaking, she was ready to correct him. Flowey didn't feel like a teleporter after all, it was more like....he was moving through things really, really fast, the feelings trailing with it.

And from there there's the matter of wondering if she should go or stay with regard to shopping...but bitterness is rising in the air, and it rises to a sharp, steep peak. Reira grimaces as thoughts begin to run rampant in the room around her, taking in a sharp breath through her nose as she closes her eyes. It's worse, it's worse, it's worseee...

"...Stop." It's sharp, and biting, and when her eyes open they stare at the couch. Foster, certainly, knows exactly who she's speaking to however. "....Stop thinking about what's making you hate."

[bananaspeedrider]

[There wasn't really much time for it or space in his attention span for it but...]

Wasn't really on my mind at the time, but if things were different then yeah... sounds about right.

... Feeling better from whatever got you down?

[criticallyfucked]

Foster's face, lit up as it is... he's almost beaming, insamuch as Foster is capable of making any face that could ever be described as 'beaming.'

He's testing the sword, opening the blade and snapping it shut again, the sound of bare metal shearing the frigid air.

"....I think.... it will be."

[dirthena]

( it's the panic that worries her, and her remaining hand goes out to try and calm him -- a touch of his shoulder if he'll let her, or anything to get him to focus. she knows that he's made himself forget things, such as the memory of the real cole, but she hadn't expected this. she trusts him enough not to question his statement that he wouldn't have forgotten.

so instead she focuses on his question, and then suddenly wishes she hadn't. )

Yes.

( there's no point in lying. all of what occurred had been painful; every agonizing moment of pain from her arm, every truth unveiled. he needed specify, the answer was going to be the same. )

How long have you been here?

[steadydollypegs]

"Me neither!" Doll enthuses, apparently thrilled that Ginko's coming along. She holds Ginko's hand, her own a little cold but she doesn't seem bothered, and starts leading him back to her cabin.

"We got blankets too! 'N some books! It's a right cozy place ta be after gettin' all cold 'n wet!"

Just kick him in the face while he's down there

[criticallyfucked]

The shell buckles; Foster crumbles. All at once the egg, crushed beneath Herbert's proverbial heel, weeps yolk and albumen--viscous and stillborn.

It would have been better--it would have been better if Herbert had done it that way--if he'd thrown Foster to the floor, pressed the sole of his leather shoe into the muscles of Foster's neck, ground the heel into his ridged vertebrae. If he had toed Foster down, dragged him to the wall--

But he didn't, and Foster has to do it himself.

It's with an intense, undiluted form of misery that he takes the bottle from Herbert. Obediently. He unstoppers it, obediently, something inside of his eyes searing with something building, something that isn't anger at all, but its reverse. Whatever grief might be, if it could be felt only in the eyes--

And then, with absolutely no warning at all, he takes the bottle to his mouth and

Downs

The

Entire

Thing.

All at once.

He's obedient.

It takes him barely more than a second, but it drops him to his knees, eyes squeezed shut, shaking, trembling at Herbert's feet--

he'd like it too much

[scientificist]

This seems to be going fairly well, well enough that Herbert stays quite cheerful as Foster takes the bottle from him. Each time there's a success it feels like he's deciphered a portion of the code, the key to getting Foster to do what he wants.

Of course, then he's forced to realise how sloppy he was, accidentally, the order he missed. He has to puzzle out each scenario, rather like what he imagines programming must be like. An exact series of instructions or else the program crashes, or doesn't compile, or whatever it is programmers do to computers. If there was a manual for Foster language like there is for programming languages he imagines he'd do better. As it is, he'll have to write it himself.

His smile fades with Foster at his feet, eyeing the man. He's not really inclined to insult him further, even if he halfway promised. Maybe he'll treat it like a Skinner box, and hope it works on Foster, despite his unpredictability. Compromising, he prods Foster in the leg with the toe of his shoe.

"Tell me how you're feeling," he asks, not quite harsh enough to be a demand.

[pullingamiko]

"No way, seriously?" It doesn't seem that she's actually expecting an answer, and she goes right on from there.

"Humans made you? What humans? Are you from the future or something, because we definitely don't have any androids when I'm from."

[pullingamiko]

"Right? And if we manage it we get some pretty great bragging rights." She might be overestimating the importance of making a Really Big Snowman, but she could not care less. It's fun and that's what counts.

She considers that for a moment. "Uh... probably when we can't move it anymore. Unless we wanna pull more people in to help."

Emeto warning

[criticallyfucked]

There was a logic behind Foster's decision to take the whole thing at once, however deeply buried. Under the impulsive zeal, the spite, the knowledge that he could and the desire to get it over with, there was also the hidden knowledge that if he did not, that if he stopped, even just a moment, even just to breathe, he would never retrieve the willpower to to put the bottle to his lips a second time.

And that would have been unforgiveable.

It burns, not just in his throat, but worse; he can feel it, can already feel it, the sour lurch, the hot violence of nausea, and the haze behind his mind ripples and oh God he's going to throw up. He's going to throw up he'sgoi ng to t hrow u p he'sgoingtothrowup--

He does not throw up, but he's heaving in a way that suggests he might. The good thing about his position on the floor is that Herbert cannot see how his eyes have welled with tears, how flushed and creased his face. How pathetic and disgusting a creature--but how obedient.

"I--" He chokes out, wishing deeply, fervidly, for... for more. For other pain, for that relief, a bracing blow or cruel word, anything--

"I hate it," he starts, a string of saliva hanging from his chin, but he cannot stop, repeating himself over and over as he toes the precipice of desperation. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, hahaha--!" He breaks off--coughing, not gagging but on the verge of retching instead.

[dontpokethat]

Ginko tucks his free hand into his pocket, not sure what else to do with it. He's not exactly used to being led around like this, and suddenly every possible variable in his behavior seems like a way bigger deal than it should be.

How do people just not worry about this stuff, dammit.

He focuses on words, instead, because that's easier than... body language and physical contact and all that. "It sounds pretty nice. The cabins here seem to be set up really well - not too surprising, I guess."

[steadydollypegs]

"Ya think?" Doll muses. "I dunno, I didn' know what ta expect when somebody said we were goin' ta the moon! Don' think I expected all 'a this!"

For Doll, physical contact is as easy as breathing. She loves it, she thrives on it, she can barely live without it. As long as Ginko is holding her hand and doesn't go all limp fish on her, she'll hardly notice anything else.

[dontpokethat]

"Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't expect this just from the moon generally. But this place is supposed to be some kind of fae resort, right? They're probably outfitted to keep all kinds happy here."

He could be perfectly comfortable with way less than this, himself, but he's pretty sure his standards aren't really the same as most people's, especially not when it comes to leisure.

[steadydollypegs]

"Ohhh..." Doll nods, finally understanding why everything felt so comfortable. "Never been ta a resort before! No wonder people love 'em!

"Ya ever been ta one before now, Ginko? Someplace that's just f'r relaxin' 'n havin' fun?"

[wilt]

Ghhh--! No I'm not! I just... wanted to--

[ OH NO, HIS STUPID WORDS ARE INCREDIBLY STUPID!! ]

Thank you for the-- the--

You did some good things. Or er, you will. Would have? If you followed my advice after sparing me! But only then!