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

Once the cure has been fully developed and their trial run is confirmed to be successful, Rita's quick to start on curing herself. By the time the network announcement is made, she's already downed a full dose of the potion and prepared a bath for herself in the cabin. Maybe it would be safer to do it with everyone else, but who wants to go take a bath with a bunch of drunk men? Rita sure as hell doesn't.

Besides, 9S is around, and if Rita suddenly fell unconscious and started drowning, he'd be sure to notice with his ability to monitor vital signs. And Cole's got that emotion-reading thing going on for extra assurance, assuming he's somewhere nearby too. So she's fine.

Well, except for the fact that the potion she drank contained an absurd amount of alcohol, and in the time it takes to have a bath, it's completely gone to her head.

She manages to dry and dress herself (though her sash is tied sloppily and her tunic isn't exactly straight) and opens the door to step out into the living room, steam wafting in behind her. Her skin is back to the smooth texture of flesh, but her feet are unsteady and her face is visibly flushed, both from the alcohol and the heat. She tries to take a step forward, but immediately stumbles and grabs the door frame for support.

Sure enough, 9S is in the cabin.

Where 9S wants to be is outside. He is loving this chilly weather, being totally unperturbed by the cold. If anything, he's running even better than usual, thanks to the low temperatures taking the burden off his cooling systems.

But he's not going to leave Rita alone while she's undergoing the stone removal process. And of course he's not allowed to be in the bathroom while Rita's in it. So the next best thing he can really do is wait out in the living room with some of his processing power dedicated to keeping a metaphorical eye on her vitals in case anything goes pear shaped. The moment he hears Rita open the door to the living room, he pushes away the holographic projection he was working on and rushes to her side.

"Rita!" Try not to fall over on your face! 9S is there, offering a shoulder for support. "Be careful. Your balance might be off after losing the stone."

Rita leans hard onto his shoulder when he offers it.

"I'm fine," she says, despite taking the shoulder and clearly needing it. She then pulls back her collar to show. "The cure worked. See?" Indeed, the skin of her shoulder has returned to pale flesh and the feathers lining said shoulder are back to a soft texture.

Never mind that 9S didn't actually ask if it worked, but she's happy to show him, both because she's glad to be cured, but also because it was her skills that helped make that cure come together as fast as it did. She feels accomplished, even if her head's kind of swimming.

9S was going to help her over to a seat by the fireplace when he's completely derailed by Rita exposing skin and feathers to him.

Oh yeah, he sees alright. 9S' stare along Rita's exposed shoulder lasts a little longer than it should and there's a unusually lengthy delay before he responds verbally.

"Great! I knew you could do it!" Alright let's get moving. "How do you feel?"

Rita lets go of the collar, allowing it to slip back into place (or as close as it gets), and holds on to 9S as he guides her forward.

She's glad he's here. Rita can always count on 9S to help her.

How does she feel...? She has to think about it. As much as she'd like to say she's all better, no problems at all, the fact is that the poison's cloud in her mind has been replaced with a different kind of fog. "Better, I think... Kind of woozy right now," she admits, not quite acknowledging that the wooziness is a pretty clear sign of drunkenness.

What's that supposed to mean? Sometimes, 9S finds it hard to figure out what humans mean when they talk about their physical biological reactions. But it's clear she's leaning quite heavily on him, so...

"Alright. Let's get you sitting down."

Will they make it to one of the seats by the fireplace??

They do make it to the seat... but Rita tries to sit just a bit too early, and ends up falling down toward the floor, butt first. She grabs for 9S's arm as she does.

Whether he stops her before impact or not, she doesn't look all that alarmed about it.

Oof! 9S grabs for her before Rita can hit the ground, letting her down gently. Okay, no chair tonight, it seems. Floor seat it is!

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" He sounds distinctly skeptical. This doesn't seem better, even if the stone is gone. "Your motor functions appear to be even more impaired."

Floor seat works. Rita simply crosses her legs and makes herself more comfortable.

She shakes her head at his concerns, the motion a bit more aggressive than it normally would be for her. "It's nothing. A temporary side effect. Don't worry so much." Her motor functions look impaired? Psh.

"Hey..." she adds after a moment, "Can we talk for a bit?"

"Mmm, if you say so."

9S doesn't sound like he completely believes her, but this isn't something he'll argue the point with.

"We're talking now, aren't we?"

But he senses a slightly more serious air, so he settles down on the floor beside her, legs stretched out before him. The skin is still melted off his legs, but the other burns have since been repaired.

"What do you want to talk about?"

There are certain thoughts that Rita never talks about, her rational mind dismissing them as unimportant. However, she feels a distinct urgency to discuss them now.

“I wanted to talk about—well...” She turns her head, her unfocused gaze drifting away from him. “What do you really think of me?”

Where's this come from? He gets the sense that she's trying to find something with this line of questioning, but he's not entirely sure what. He watches the way she looks away from him, his own gaze steady.

"I said it before, didn't I? That I think you're smart and the goal behind your research is admirable."

Things that he said before... At the ball. Oh.

"Is th his about the ball?"

Edited (Auto correct! !) 2017-11-26 21:43 (UTC)

That much is consistent with what he said before... but that's not the part that was bothering Rita.

"That's not the only thing you said, stupid..." she mumbles, her speech slightly slurred, but not consistently so. She doesn't deny that this is about the ball, because it totally is.

"Up until 2B showed up, you were carrying on like... like..."

9S can't help but wince at the mention of 2B, but brushes it off in favour of dealing with... whatever it is that Rita has got on her mind.

"...like?" he prompts, wanting to know the rest of her thought before he says anything more.

That slurred speech, the unsteady gait earlier... aw man. He's seen this before, at the Resistance Camp.

It doesn’t seem like he’s following, and that just frustrates Rita more. Shouldn’t it be obvious?

“I’m talking about how you said all that stuff about liking me, and then you just ran off!” she sputters, her tone uneven. “You can’t just do that, you know!”

Huh? 9S only gives Rita a look of confusion.

"Why not? I mean, yeah, okay, I should've explained where I was going," oh right he did say he'd explain, but he never really did... except he sort of kind of did when he told Rita about the things 2B had said when they both woke up...? "but I don't understand why this is a big deal."

Why is she getting so flustered talking about this???

"Ugh! You don't get it. That's not the problem!" It's part of the problem, but it's not what's got Rita worked up over this. Unfortunately, embarrassment and drunkenness both prove to be formidable hurdles in actually communicating what the problem is.

"You just don't get it," she repeats, unnecessarily.

"What?" Because Rita's flustered, he's getting flustered. "What don't I get?"

What's he done!?!?

"Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to talk about this? You seem," drunk, "out of it."

"I'm out of it?" she repeats, seemingly indignant but not quite getting the tone right. She faces 9S with an accusing look that's somewhat dampened by the glassiness of her eyes. "I'm not... you're out of it."

Maybe there was some alcohol in that potion she drank, but it's not like it got her drunk. She doesn't look drunk, does she? Sure, she practically stumbled over here, but that's just... because of the poison, and stuff.

"You think you can just dump a love confession on someone and then disappear? You're way out of it, mister." The more she repeats the phrase, the less she seems to be comprehending it.

Rita is totally out of it. Nevertheless, the heat still rushes to 9S' cheeks.

"A love confession!?" he splutters, his voice high and strained.

Is that what she thought their conversation was!? It wasn't, he never, that hadn't been his intention at all! A love confession is usually someone declaring I love you! after performing some kind of dramatic act, isn't it? So how the heck did she get that idea!?

"But you're a human! I couldn't...!"

His ability to form coherent sentences has flown out the window, alongside Rita's lucidity and dignity.

He sounds... confused? But everything he said that night seemed pretty damn deliberate. He can't just weasel out of it!

"Couldn't what? I mean... you did, didn't you?" That was how it sounded to Rita.

"I did what!?"

He didn't confess! There's nothing to confess! How did this happen!?

"Rita, that wasn't...! I mean, even if I did confess, which I didn't," he'd just said he liked her, and that she's someone special, "it wouldn't work out!" The words are tumbling out of his mouth, his thoughts barely being processed before he says them, "I'm an android. I could never be equals with a human!"

Sure, it probably wouldn't work. Not because they aren't equals; that thought hadn't crossed her mind. It's because 9S clearly seems interested in 2B. It's one of the reasons his actions at the ball were so confusing to Rita.

But... he's saying he really didn't mean it the way it sounded? That would mean...

Rita stares right into his eyes and asks, "Are you saying I made a mistake?"

9S quails under Rita's stare. "Um, well, I mean, I wouldn't say that... I really didn't mean it as a confession! But it's true that I like you and you're special and--"

He's babbling now.

He’s interrupted by a frustrated shout. "Argh!! It's because you say it like that that you're too damn easy to misunderstand, damn it!" Rita swings her arms emphatically (and clumsily) as she scolds him.

Here he is again, in another setting that could easily look romantic, with the two of them sitting side-by-side by the fireplace, saying things about liking her and how she's special! Sure, it's not bad to hear those things. But it proves her point, doesn't it!?

for 9S | B11

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