⇨ 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

[hurtcomfort]

[ Jaws clamping down, hearts rent asunder, so much crying and sadness and sorrow on both ends. It shouldn't have ended this way but that didn't matter because it did.

Cole had met Solas first. He knew of his past, his history, when Solas arrived at the carnival and Cole touched that hurt and then he learned. But he didn't learn this. He didn't learn what happened. Had to happen? No, this couldn't have to happen, there must have been another way. ]

It was killing you, [ Cole repeats, more for himself than for Lavellan. ] You did what you could.

[hurtcomfort]

He's not asking about the other people Cole lives with? Solas is just focusing on the pink thing under his hat which Cole knows what it is, that's why he's hiding it under his hat to begin with. There's a pause while Cole debates what to do before he decides to go ahead and say it.

He looks silly. He knows he looks silly. But Solas might be kind and not say what everyone knows.

"This place changes you. Some grow strong, some grow swift, eyes and claws and teeth pointed as an animal's." Hopefully Solas knew that. Because if not, well guess what buddy, you're about to learn just that. Cole takes off his hat. Once he does so, a pair of pink nug ears that had been pushed down by the hat spring upright to their full height. They twitch awkwardly, as it's another part of Cole's body that he just doesn't know what to do with. The hat's in his hands: and Cole's just wringing the brim of that hat so hard like he's going to tear it any time soon.

[dressedtothe]

"Yes you are," he insists, awkwardly holding her up. "You should go to bed. Sleep it off."

If human response to alcohol is anything like androids, it'll work through her system and then wear off.

[pipers_son]

Ah...

[Shit, he didn't even think of that. Julien's human body isn't stuck freezing to death in a snow pile, is he...]

Is yer other half stayin' put or is that elsewhere?

[dressedtothe]

9S' instinct on meeting someone new is to discreetly scan them, to get an understanding of what they are physically. The stranger looks similar to Taako with the ears, so 9S is expecting his sensors to report back something similar: some kind of humanoid being that isn't a human, despite the appearance.

"My name is 9S."

A YoRHa Number 9 Type S model. But it's painful thinking about YoRHa right now, so he leaves that part out. Fishing out his own walkie talkie he holds it up for the stranger to see.

"I can help you with the device if you tell me what your contract is."

He grins, cheeky.

[espigeon]

It's fine! It's fine. I was gonna piggyback but I kinda slid off, so I found a chair. See?

[He gestures with his head. There's Julien with a patterned shawl over his shoulders, raising a steaming mug.]

Also, I did totally eat something and I'm drinking water, even. Well, cocoa. There shouldn't be a hangover. There'd better not be a hangover. I want to get back in the air.

[sunflowerfields]

They do! So it may just fit you after all!

[Does that answer your question?]

[kingsroads]

It certainly isn't fun for Jonathan Strange, an only child that's still absolutely terrible at sharing a trailer space with someone. The fact that he's now sharing a cabin space with five plus people certainly is challenging. Or, at least, it's not fun when he's trying to sleep.

"I can see why the Ringmaster keeps it nice and balmy in the carnival but there are times I honestly wish we had a bit of weather. A rainstorm here or there, perhaps another snow day to change things around...." Strange trails off, with a grin. Yes, rainstorms and snow days would be bad for business but there were days when they weren't performing. Perhaps the weather could shift around then?

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya leans back as the sphere forms between them. It's like some mini black sun or something... something he thankfully has the sense to not try and touch.

But he's still curious.] What's it do?

[fusionactuallysuitsher]

"Ah... i-if you say you're okay..." Yuzu uttered, still worried. He seemed alright, but... augh, that stupid Prince!

[fusionactuallysuitsher]

"That... yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Don't want to go overboard." Yuzu said, nodding. Try to go easy and cheap should be the best way to handle things, right?

[hippocarnival]

No, like... thicker boots. With fur and better soles.

[He swings sideways so he can skate next to 9S, just in case he needs a hand on his back to keep him stable or something.]

[fusionactuallysuitsher]

"Exactly. Just... that whole thing with the Prince rubbed me the wrong way terribly..." she admitted. "I can't be sure of anything else right now..."

[hippocarnival]

"They're probably on the other side. It's be a bad idea to go skiing right into where people are walking around."

He shields his eyes as they reach the top of the hill, looking out... and yep, the other side goes down at a much steeper angle than the way they came. "It looks pretty clear. That's good."

They won't be as, likely to slam into a tree. There's skis available inside the wood structure, snowboards, and small disc sleds. And a bench for equipping them.

[hippocarnival]

That's right... Yuya rubs the back of his head, looking ashamed. "Sorry I didn't give you a better warning. The last time things got dangerous it... wasn't like this. I underestimated what he'd do."

They all did, probably. Including the Ringmaster. "I'm really glad you didn't get hurt."

Like literally everyone else from their home did, Yuya included.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya pauses, then starts counting off his fingers with his brow furrowed. He's never been very good at keeping track of time.

"Six... or eight weeks, I suppose? I'm certain it hasn't been a season yet. I actually arrived similar to you, during a period of recovery after something went incredibly awry." Right, he's not sure of people are being as cagey about the Prince as they were Portland. He gestures. "That is largely what this is intended for."

[chronosynthesis]

Can you even feel the cold? [Does 9S have a sense of touch at all? Surely he has to, but he sure doesn't mind his frame being exposed if he does.

Syrlya sniffs as they enter the cabin, making a face despite himself. Pungent.]

[bananaspeedrider]

[Clear Wing rumbles out their own greeting in return and yet another gets to see how much the teen is healthy and stone-free.]

Yeah I'm good... and having a great time in this place! What about you?

[dirthena]

She'd be a fool to think he signed one for anything other than furthering his goals. What, exactly, she didn't know yet -- but it wasn't as if Lavellan needed to; he can probably guess at what she's getting from this. "I did, yes. For a year and a day." And that would be that.

For his location. Elera didn't agree on some hard way to stop him, even though she knows in her heart she should have. But if he were to turn away from the path he's set himself upon, it would have to be genuine or it would mean nothing. Some empty, hollow victory she forced upon him. Every option would have to be exhausted before she could do that to them both. It would destroy him. It would destroy her. Thedas would be saved, and she would have him, but at what cost?

Those thoughts are one she keeps off her face as much as possible, but worry and concern are clear on it -- she's never been good at hiding her emotions. Better to move on and hope some other emotion takes its place.

"Solas--" She starts, and then trails off, shaking her head. "I think the impossible has just occurred. We've run out of things to say to each other." Not true, for the longer she stays close to him the more she wants to say. Like how dare you and what are you planning and don't do it. Others she has buried further in her chest, hidden inside her heart.

pretend these sad icons have vallaslin

[dirthena]

( Her grip on his shoulder tightens briefly, before she lets her arm fall, shoving it back into the pockets of the clothes she'd been given. )

If I did, then it wasn't enough. ( And what does that say about her future chances? ) I can't let him tear it down.

( Lavellan thinks of Cole in the Fade, of how he'd hated being there. She can't imagine other spirits will take kindly to finding themselves in the waking world, or of humans, qunari, and dwarves alike finding themselves in a world so vastly different from the one they knew. Thedas was flawed, of course it was, and she would give anything to see the elves restored to power in the world once more, strong and unyielding.

But not at the cost of it all. So she must find a way to save Solas, or be forced by desperation to kill him.

She shoves past the thought -- a desperate attempt not to think of it -- and refocuses on him. )

What-- are those ears, Cole?

[espigeon]

"Yeah! I do appreciate your concern, though." It was too warm here for all these winter clothes, so Julien started shrugging out of them and draping them over his forearm as he set off towards the wardrobe tent. "Right this way! By the way, my name is Julien. What's yours?"

[atouts]

Take it or leave it, Childermass wouldn't have minded either way, but that Strange accepts even after being called out earns a slight smile from the man. He'll prod Baker, murmuring a word to get the great dog's attention, to have him stop. He talks quietly to him a little longer, whether it's actually telling him his new plan or just idle words to match the scratching he gives him behind one ear is unclear, but afterward, Baker basically flops down to lay in the snow, tail wagging gently.

"Alright," he says, turning back to Strange and giving Baker one last pat on the neck, "Hop on. It's enough like riding a horse, though you'll want to hang onto the parts of his mane at the sides of his neck, down near his shoulders, and tightly. He is much faster than you may expect."

retcon or refund ONE

[flashover]

"Hell yeah!! We can have it delivered too! And maybe we can buy some more games, even!"

Well, that's fair. But Rin doesn't actually blame Sora for that -- sure, it was his idea. But Rin went along with it. That was his decision!

[destiny_key]

Sora nods along eagerly, glitter shaking from his hair like snow.

"Yeah! You'll have to show me all of it! I've never played anything like this before."

[crimsonfallenangel]

"Only the Tree of Blight, Rufa, can awaken it," Anghel confirms. Rufa is inside his school's infirmary an entire world away. "It will not appear here."