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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yuya shrugs. "I dunno, but you're here wiping snow off our porch instead of having fun."

This is just a continual feedback of confusion. Yuya is a teenager, and tidiness and order are usually not the first things on his mind. "Come on, we can find something better to do! Like make snow bunnies, or go skiing, or something."

"What's skiing?"

This is going to end up terribly. Cole's all limbs and elbows and not the best at coordination, any attempt at skiing is going to go so terribly so fast. And yet, Yuya thinks skiing is fun so Cole will definitely try skiing!

Yuya points in the distance, where the horizon seems to get higher. "Skiing is where you slide down steep mountains in the snow on long boards! It's probably up there, because that looks like the highest place here!"

Slide down steep mountains on long boards? Well that sounds a bit dangerous. Cole can't help but frown as he looks over at the mountain.

"What happens if you fall over?" He's picturing a sledding sort of situation here, which he knows can end with people tumping over and falling down in silly ways. It hasn't really occurred to Cole that the large boards would even be remotely strapped to his feet.

"You get back up and keep going." Dangerous? More like exciting. Yuya loves action and he's not even a little worried about getting scratched up. "It's snow! Snow's soft, it doesn't hurt much. You want to try it?"

Cole mulls it over...before sure. Why not. It'll make Yuya happy and he does want to try new things, even if Cole's worried about them in the first place.

"Alright," he says with a nod. "Let's go skiing?"

Is that the right word to use?

"Great!" Yuya gestures for Cole to follow him right up the hills, past the cabins. It's going to be a bit of a walk up there, so Yuya stuffs his hands on his pockets and keeps his pace with Cole's.

"How are you, by the way? I mean, with the carnival and everything. I don't think I saw you after... everything was over."

Or still going on, but Yuya was understandably occupied.

"You don't need to worry about me," Cole simply replies, as he looks over at Yuya. "Others were worse."

He's staring right at Yuya as he says that. Others were worse. Others who tried to kill one friend and succeeded at killing another. Yuya's been through so much pain, much more than any person should go through, how exactly has he been dealing with it?

Yuya stares back at Cole for a moment. He is, at least, brighter eyed than before. Doing better, sleeping better. It doesn't all leave his thoughts, the anxiety, the blood... but they're safe now and Gongenzaka won't let him carry any guilt for it.

He, too, is more worried for those that had it worse than him. That were kidnapped and poisoned and starved.

"Eh... but even so, that doesn't mean if you're hurt, you can still say something. I'd listen."

It's just battle of the compassionate optimists over here as Cole just keeps looking right at Yuya. He doesn't seem to get it. But then again, most people don't, so Cole can find a way to work with this.

And at least his hurt is a hurt for others. Not enough people feel that way.

"I'd listen too," he simply responds. "A baggage of burdens, worried weight. It helps to spread it around, if you can."

Cole, sometimes that staring of yours is creepy. But what he says is earnest, so despite it Yuya smiles strongly.

"That's really nice." He remembers something about Cole 'knowing' when people hurt. "You usually try and comfort people when they don't feel good?"

"It's what I am," Cole explains. He moves his arms up to his chest, wringing his hands slightly as he tries to find a way to explain this to Yuya. Because that's the problem: Cole's not entirely certain he can do this without messing it up. The thoughts are clear but the words get stuck.

"Help and comfort is how I can be me."

Yuya's brow furrows a bit, confused. It's probably clear that he didn't quite pick up on what he meant by that. "You mean like a therapist?"

That doesn't quite fit 'how I can be me' except maybe he just means he really likes doing it? Yuya expects it's something much more than that, however. "It is related to the whole..." he taps the side of his head. "Hurt-feeling thing?"

Cole looks a bit confused at that. What's a therapist? Is it just someone who helps others? Does that make him a therapist?

Though, at Yuya's question, Cole nods. Yuya still doesn't understand. But he's trying. And maybe this could help. "I'm not people," Cole explains. "I thought I was, but I'm not. Feeling is what I am, what I do."

Not a person? That's kind of a sad statement coming from someone who certainly looks like a person. But if talking to Foster showed him anything, it's that immediately arguing that doesn't help anything.

"If you're not a person, then whay are you?" He hopes Cole doesn't say 'something to be used'.

"I'm a spirit." Oh thank god, it's an answer that makes sense. "Some call me compassion. I call me me."

After all, Cole knows his purpose, Cole knows what he's supposed to do as a spirit...it's just that he thought he might not have been for a while. There's always going to be that bit of Cole that's uniquely Cole, contrasting him from everyone else.

He has a name, so Yuya's not sure why anyone would be calling him 'compassion' instead of 'Cole'.

"A spirit?" He's a very human looking spirit... maybe a ghost? His head bounces back and forth from 'ghost' to 'ethereal'.

"Well, you're definitely you," he finally decides. That's a certainty. The rest of it's a little bit beyond him, because despite his slight spiritual sensitivity he's not remotely a spiritual person.

"I know that much," Cole clarifies, a little bit of an annoyed tone slipping into his voice. It's not Yuya's fault. Yuya wasn't there. Yuya doesn't know. But man, he spent an entire year trying to figure out what he was.

"I just didn't know which me I was for a while. Pulled in two choices, black or white, but I think I'll always be more gray."

Be a spirit, Cole. Be a human, Cole. But both times were influenced when he was neither, when he was confused. It's always going to be that way.

Yuya frowns, stuffing his hands in his pockets. It'd probably be easier to understand if he had the context for this. He can't think of anything to say that might help him make more sense of it, so he turns back forward an squints at the distance.

"I think I see it," he points to the dark building ahead. Although, this didn't feel like a very steep incline. Maybe the other side is steeper?

Whereas Cole is thinking oh thank the Maker, it doesn't feel like a steep incline. He's still a little apprehensive about skiing, it's best to do these things veeery slowly.

He reaches up to rub one of his ears, more as a nervous tic than anything else. Though...wait a moment.

"If that it, then why haven't we seen any people going down?"

Because the other side probably is steeper.

"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.

As they enter the structure, Cole sees skis for the first time. And his eyes just bug out in surprise as he looks at them.

"But they're so long!" he mutters in amazement. For all of Yuya's talking about long pieces of wood strapped to your feet, he didn't know that they would be this long. "Some of them are taller than Varric."

Varric is a dwarf. A lot of things are taller than Varric.

"And these go on your feet?" Holy shit, this is amazing.

Yuya feels sorry for Varric. It must be hard to reach the cabinets. "Yeah. You strap them to your feet and use sticks to push forward and you slide down the hill!"

He glances between the skiis and Cole before grabbing one and point out where he'd fit his feet into. "It's really easy! You just want to make sure you get the right size so they fit."

"How can I tell the sizes? Do they fit snug?" Cole's just a bundle of questions as he walks over towards the skis in order to get a better look. He's certain this must be something he's never seen before, not something he's seen and then forgotten, because he has absolutely no idea how to do this. There are sticks? Where are—

And then Cole spots the ski poles and his attention is diverted to that. "Are the sticks special?"

"Really snug!" Snug enough that they don't fall off his feet. That would be bad.

He follows Cole's gaze to the ski poles even as his hands are finding their way to one of the round metal sleds. "Uh... special how? I guess you could probably use any stick for skiing, but these are already here. I know they look fancy, but its really simple."

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