⇨ 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

[npcarnival]

On Shimmer's side, she will go into the alcohol hard, downing the first glass almost immediately and quickly refilling. The Ambosia is a bit insidious in that it doesn't have much of a kick, and therefore you could find yourself putting down a lot without noticing, if you aren't careful.

She'll say that she isn't sure how much the rest of the Court ever adopted the technology - she saw little of Arcadia outside of Mother's own domain. There were a few times, but... she's not sure that any of the others were all that interested in something that a few saw as a pathetic attempt to usurp the power of the Summer Court.

Which, is sort of was, really. Of course, it was never her business to question it.

She has little reaction to his condolences, and will say that far worse things happened in that place, and that she is the last person that he should feel sorry for. She was up there in the hierarchy, by the end, and she managed to bring her brother, Scald, with her.

[kingsroads]

Strange'll ask as a point of clarification, so each fae has their own domain in Arcadia proper? Or is Arcadia more like an organization and less like a physical place that he was under the impression it was?

Strange does make a sort of 'urgh, of COURSE' noise as Shimmer mentions that people thought the Mother of Invention was trying to usurp the Summer Court and adds in that yeah, people thought that with the Count of Crows as well. Maybe Frost too, but Frost was just kind of a dick, didn't really get a good chance to talk with the guy.

And with a caveat that she doesn't have to answer this if she doesn't want to, how did she and Scald escape Mother's domain and join up with the caravan?

[npcarnival]

Arcadia is a physical place, yes - a domain is just, like, her house, or her property. It's just that when fae are so powerful and the rules of physics are a little bit nebulous, each fae's home can feel very distinct from the rest, and sometimes operate by different rules. It's all the same place, though, generally speaking. You don't have to cross between worlds to move around it.

She'll laugh, and say she's not sure if the Summer Court is as jealous as the Winter Court seems to be. Maybe jealousy is just a part of the court's design. She never knew any Summer Court until she met Moss, here at the caravan. It seems like the carnival has a Summer Court with them too, don't they?

There's not much hesitation in explaining her escape. Essentially, she had just been a trusted enough disciple to work at one of the Mother of Inventions colonies, set up on a mortal world. The Caravan happened to pass through while they were operating there, and got caught up in the whole thing. In the end, her and Scald ended up aiding and escaping with them.

[kingsroads]

See, the problem here is that Strange is a fricken idiot and doesn't know people got their souls changed via Portland. So he looks a little surprised to hear that they've got someone Summer Court in the carnival! But hey, if Shimmer says that's a thing, he's got no reason to not believe her so yeah, they totally do have a Summer Court.

They also might have a Winter Court, though Strange isn't 100% certain on that matter, just that a certain raven man's magic looks pretty damn Wintery. He's not certain either of them might want to talk about changeling drama or what have you, as Strange implies that their court affiliations come with a bit of baggage, but he'll be happy to make introductions if Shimmer wants (and after he goes through a list of possible people who said Summer Court person might be).

Gossip-wise, he doesn't know if the Summer Court is as jealous as the Winter Court but both courts certainly seem to have their fair share of assholes. Strange is also getting a liiiittle more liberal with the alcohol because that first half a glass went down real smoothly and he feels fantastic, this stuff must not pack a punch at all!

[npcarnival]

Shimmer will clarify that she does mean the young boy with the rose wings, and that she noticed the man with the dark feathers as well. The two of them came off like changelings to her, in a way that the others don't. Of course, Strange himself is a changeling, she'll point out, in a sense. He has the magic of the Ringmaster.

The boy and Childermass, though, seem to have something far more innate. Her and Scald had been curious about it, but didn't want to ask unprompted. Court affiliations and changeling business is almost always a sore spot.

Shimmer seems to be trying to remember if she has seen the Count or Frost. One time she was brought before the one and only Winter Queen as one of the Mother's assistants... that entire experience was very overwhelming, of course, so it is hard to recall.

Despite the grim reality of the events she's talking about, Shimmer is getting pretty giggly as a result of the Ambrosia.

[kingsroads]

Well it's a bit of a surprise to learn that your friend's being has indeed been changed by fae magic to that extent...so Strange just fuckin chugs the rest of his drink.

Strange will tell Shimmer this much: Steven & Childermass's aspects being changed in that way is most likely the result of a powerful spell that shifted the carnival changelings' identities for a month. Shit happened, it sucked, he's happy to bitch and moan about it if Shimmer wants to know more.

He definitely is interested in her seeing the Winter Queen because Strange knows enough about fae hierarchy to know that it's a Big Deal and oh my God does Strange desperately want to gossip.

Shimmer's getting giggly, Strange is just getting loud. His hand gestures are also going all over the place but he's grinning like an idiot all the while. For all of Strange's 'oh, I'm just gonna pace myself' that moderation went out the window and he's getting pretty drunk as a result of the Ambrosia as well.

[npcarnival]

Shimmer will prompt him to talk about Portland for as long as he wants, since that is very much something outside of her experience. Will he go over most of it?

She originally saw the Winter Queen because the Mother of Invention was showing off some kind of "tech" that she'd developed, in the hope that the Queen would be interested. A big part of her work was in trying to find ways around the Fae's weakness to iron... as far as she knows there was never any great progress with that, but essentially the Mother had been looking for Court support in developing what little she had.

As far as she recalls, the Queen was mostly dismissive, but she also wasn't allowed in any more secretive discussions of it.

The Mother... went through a lot of changelings, researching with iron. That was why she had to do it on a planet outside of Arcadia, because iron is forbidden there.

[kingsroads]

Strange will go over most of Portland. Admittedly, he is a bit hazy on some of the details (how the carnival arrived, how people talked to the Earth spirit in the first place, and how the spell was broken) but he'll talk about it for a while, give a fairly good rundown of the event, and mention all the major players. A lot of Strange's recapping will focus on Nightshade because really, fuck Nightshade.

He's also drunk at LEAST another glass during his explanation of Portland because again, fuck Nightshade.

Strange will admit that he knows absolutely nothing about tech but is quite glad that there wasn't really any progress in the Mother's work. What did the tech look like?

And again, Strange will be sympathetic and sorry about the fact that the Mother went through so many changelings. At least the two of them are free—and he's glad Shimmer's free because you're wonderful, you know that Shimmer? You're just so nice and so much fun to talk with and yep, Strange is straight up drunk at this point.

[npcarnival]

Shimmer doesn't know anything about Nightshade, but that doesn't mean she isn't interested in hearing about the whole thing. She is very interested in the workings of magic in a general sense, and that's leagues different from anything she's personally experienced. She's sure the courts would enjoy being able to do that, to retcon reality in such a way...

The tech has always been theoretical in most ways, so the forms it takes has shifted around a lot. The primary concept is to change Fae themselves in a way that will no longer be affected by iron, or that will be able to corrupt or change the iron when it comes into contact. Metals can lose their iron effects after being exposed to magic for a long period of time, so the idea is to create an effect like that but a much more rapid pace. Rapid enough that the Fae is never harmed.

She will feel the need to correct him and say that she isn't nice, he only think she is because he hasn't known her long. She was personally responsible for the torture and deaths of many of those changelings the Mother went through, after all.

She's drunk enough that all of that comes out almost casually - just a statement of fact. It's the way things are.

[kingsroads]

Strange is happy to yammer on about the workings of magic he knows more about: specifically his own English magic, but he does know about some of the details of witcher magic and the specific mage magic he used in Portland.

But then she goes and mentions that torture bit and hahahaha what.

Strange just kind of blinks at Shimmer confusedly for a moment. Well, she's not doing it now and that's what matters, right? It doesn't matter if you were stuck in a situation where you had to torture people or if you were stuck in a situation where you had to gas a child and kill a friend of yours, what matters is that you're not in that situation any more and you won't let it happen again, right? Right!

He's also drunk enough that all of that comes out almost casually. Though if pressed, he'll add in that everybody got better.

[npcarnival]

She won't press himself to explain himself at all, actually. Instead, she will stand (unsteadily) put her hands on the table, and ask him to dance with her. It's about that time of the night, isn't it.

Also, they've drunk most of the Ambrosia at this point.

[kingsroads]

He will happily dance with her, Strange responds. He wobbles slightly getting up and just unsteadily makes his way over to Shimmer. Lady's choice, he's a good enough dancer that he can follow along with whatever she does.

He does have his wedding ring on but A: Shimmer might not know what that means to begin with and B: that isn't stopping Strange from dancing with her in the first place.

[npcarnival]

She has no idea what that means, and she also doesn't care. They may or may not end up being the only people dancing at the time, but Shimmer will eagerly keep at it until she makes herself sick.

[kingsroads]

As long as Shimmer keeps dancing, Strange'll keep dancing as well, laughing like an idiot until he also makes himself sick.

[npcarnival]

In that case, they probably both get sick, and this situation only ends when Scald notices what's going on and angrily comes over to claim his sister - probably after she throws up on the floor a little.

Shimmer will keep laughing, but Scald will tell Strange off with as few words as possible, as if it's his fault that she's totally wasted.

[kingsroads]

Strange holds Shimmer's hair back as she pukes because he's a bro like that.

When Scald comes back, Strange just kind of laaaaughs because it's his fault? Sure, whatever, he feels amazing. Let's dance some more, Shimmer!

If Scald drags Shimmer away, Strange isn't going to follow but instead try to stagger back to party trailer.

[npcarnival]

Scald will just frown at him, at that point, and scoop Shimmer up in his arms. She goes along with it, still laughing and vaguely explaining what she and Strange were up to actually managing to clarify much. She'll bid Strange goodnight, but otherwise allow her brother to cart her off.