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.

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This is either going to be hilarious or-- well, it's probably just going to be hilarious.

"Baker," Childermass says, attention shifting back to the dog once Strange has settled. "Ready? Go."

And that's a command, the last one he'll be giving verbally because the second Baker lurches straight into a run, the other magician's form flickers into that of a bird to fly alongside the racing arcanine. Not for long, though. When he had said Baker was fast, he had meant it, soon beginning to outpace even a flying bird, to the point where the crow is forced to land and hang onto Strange's shoulder rather than try to keep up on his own.

Oh my God this is awful, that dog is running too fast, what the hell why doesn't this dog have a saddle or a bridle or anything like that?! Strange is just holding on for dear life as Baker races across the moon. When Childermass lands on his shoulder, he's halfway tempted to just curse the damn bird out—but that would mean opening his mouth and oh good shit, Baker's jumping over something now?! Why can't Childermass have gotten a horse! Horses make sense! They're designed for riding!

Strange manages to hold on for most of the trip, though he's obviously uncomfortable throughout the journey. But it's as Baker clears a particularly large snowbank that Strange loses his grip on the dog's fur and he straight up falls off, unseating Childermass as well. It only takes a split second for Strange to scrunch up his eyes into concentration and turn into his purple smoke, moments before he hits the ground. Yes, he is falling into snow, but it would be just Strange's luck to manage to break a wrist on a snowbank.

It's good to have wings, isn't it? For Childermass, anyway. Obviously not Strange. So when Strange goes falling off, the crow on his shoulder takes off with a startled caw, wings flapping wildly to stay aloft and land on Baker's head instead. There, all it takes is one beaky nip at the dog's ear to get his attention, which inevitably gets him to turn back around and go charging back to where Strange fell.

It's snow, which means he's not terribly worried about the man, but it's not like they're about to abandon them. He takes off again once Baker is turned back and heading over towards where Strange fell. That's where Childermass is heading as well, flying back to see what's become of Mr. Mass of Smoke Strange back there.

Strange is still remaining a mass of smoke, very pointedly not turning back just yet, even if the bird beats the dog back to him. It's only when Baker and Childermass return and Baker stops kicking snow up as he romps through the untouched snow that Strange pulls himself together and turns back human, standing in a spot of snow that's been trampled down by Baker's feet.

"Can't you get him a saddle or something?" Strange complains to Childermass before turning back to Baker. "Baker, down."

He's no idea if that's the words Childermass uses to get the dog to lay down and the tentative tone in Strange's voice tells Childermass that much.

Baker... does not lay down. No one should be surprised by this. Rather than do anything useful, the big dog keeps walking through the snow, right up to Strange, shoves his nose right up in the man's face, and applies a massive, slobbery tongue to his no-longer-smoky face. Apparently, someone else trying to command him just equals 'go over and lick that person's face a lot'.

Enjoy.

Childermass, still a crow, lands on a nearby hill of snow and, rather than doing anything at all to help, cackles. It's cawing, sure, but it has the intent of laughter behind it. Not much of an answer to Strange's question, no, though he would think a 'yes, he does need a saddle' would be a given.

Strange takes the dog kisses like a champ. As soon as he sees that nose somewhere in his vicinity, he scrunches his eyes shut and purses his lips together like he just swallowed a lemon. That doesn't entirely mitigate the big slobbery dog kiss (the ears, Baker? Really?) but at least there's not dog drool in his mouth now.

Once Baker's tongue is nowhere near him, Strange opens his eyes and gives the dog a little scratch behind the ears. "You weren't any help," he teases, looking over in the bird's direction, as he continues to scratch Baker behind the ears. "Though he does need to lie down again if we're to keep on moving."

There is no way in hell Strange would be able to climb up on top of Baker unless the dog laid down or bent down. Sure, Strange could try to scramble up on top of Baker himself but he's got a feeling that'll end up with him kicking the dog in the head or pulling on his fur or something that would result in Strange getting nipped at instead of Baker.

"He does," Childermass agrees, having transformed in a flicker of shadows once again, from crow back to human. He gets to his feet, brushing snow off idly as he does. "Baker."

That gets the dog's attention, even if he is still leaning into Strange's scratching fingers.

"Down," he says with a gesture. Unsurprisingly, this time Baker does lay down and Childermass can gesture for Strange to climb back on, raising an eyebrow at him expectantly. "I'm not sure how much farther we have to go. Hopefully not terribly far, but we can always turn back if you're having second thoughts."

"Why on earth would I want to turn back?" There's multiple reasons why that isn't going to happen. They're not terribly far from where Childermass wants to go. He's already fallen off the dog once, his dignity's a bit ruined as is. And most importantly, Strange is the sort of person who when someone implies he might give up or might not want to do something barrels forward in the spirit of fuck you, I'm doing this.

Even if they're not implying he can'd do something to begin with.

So, Strange awkwardly climbs back onto Baker's back, giving the dog one final scratch on the head as he does so. He sits back down and adjusts his arms slightly to try and get a better grip this time.

The only answer he has to that is a shrug, which he gives and then gives Baker the go-ahead, immediately turning back into a crow after the dog leaps back to his feet and takes off again. He wings his way after, catching up before the arcanine can reach his full speed again. Once more, Strange will find a bird on his shoulder.

And not for terribly much longer. At the clip Baker can run, it's only about another twelve minutes or so before they begin catching sight of the carnival grounds beneath the moon, only to them, well, it's above them, as the sky.

Strange doesn't fall off this time, clinging onto Baker for dear life as the dog continues to run through the snow. Once the carnival grounds approach, however, he gets distracted, looking up at the sky in a bit of awe. That really is impressive, and he's got to admit that.

It's also a bit confusing, just in a 'Strange never really thought about gravity in faerie' sort of way.

"That's amazing," he can't help but mutter, as he stares up at the sky and holds onto the dog.

It is, though Childermass can't agree just yet. Being a bird and all. The three carry on a little while longer before the crow-shaped magician takes off abruptly from Strange's shoulder. He flies past Baker's head, speeding on ahead of the great dog to alight on the top of a snowy little hill in the generally empty space that is the carnival's moon.

That's where Baker will clamber up to and stop, flopping down to lay on the ground and poke the bird with his nose. It's only after that that Childermass will shift back in a flicker of shadows and movement, too fast to catch just how he goes from one shape to another (which is probably for the best, let's be real about that).

"It is, isn't it?" He finally adds his own two cents, looking up even as he scratches behind one of Baker's ears. "I thought it might be like this, but I hadn't been able to imagine exactly what it would look like."

As Baker flops to the ground, Strange clambers off of the dog's back, giving Baker a few pats on his side for good measure. After all, someone was a very good dog, good dogs deserve pets. Though, it only lasts a moment before Strange's attention is drawn back to the carnival.

"I wonder," he can't help but muse, "could either of us use our magic to travel from here to the carnival? It doesn't look so far away when you look at it from this angle."

And yes, he knows it is far away. But from where they are, Strange feels as if it wouldn't be too hard at all just to find a puddle and travel from here to there. He can almost make out what some of the buildings are, though the 'looking at it from above' is disorienting Strange more than he realizes.

"Yes," Childermass already has the answer to that. He'll draw his attention back down from the sky and move over to Baker's side, opening the bags he had thrown over the massive dog, rifling around in them to pull out a picnic blanket first and foremost. In this case, it's fairly tarp-like, since... snow.

"It's only an hour by flight, so I decided to try going back through the shadows. It's how Lambert got his entire workspace up here." Yeah, he did that, rather than moving it piece by piece. "I would not suggest it. While I did succeed, the effort was too much for me."

Yeah, he passed out.

"Although that was purely faerie magic. Here, lay this out," he adds, handing the tarp over to Strange. Next, he'll start pulling out wrapped food, which immediately gets Baker to crane his head around and sniff the air rapidly. If he hadn't been drooling before, he sure is now, but Childermass doesn't offer him anything just yet.

But continuing his train of thought from before.

"I do not know if a spell could be powered by an external force rather than a personal one to manage it instead, but that would undoubtedly be less exhausting if it could be."

Childermass doesn't suggest doing it. This means that Strange is definitely going to try it himself. Perhaps going from reflection to reflection would be easier now that they're closer to the carnival than before? He's got plans and ideas about how best to do that and is mulling it over.

Still, he's here, he'll help out. Taking the tarp, Strange pulls it out and flattens it against the snow. It's as flat as he can lay it as he listens to Childermass talk. Once it's laid out, Strange sits down on the tarp.

"I'll still give it a chance," Strange shrugs. "After all, there's plenty of factors that might be the cause for why you were tired."

And then Strange ends up passing out for the night.

Of course. That's what Childermass gets for trying to dissuade the man, he's just going to do whatever he wants anyway. He rolls his eyes and finishes unpacking the rest of the bag.

Naturally, it's lunch. Or close enough, considering it's much, much later in the morning now. A canteen of coffee, a canteen of water and a bowl for Baker, fruit, then sandwiches cobbled together from early morning breakfast foods wrapped in napkins, some hardboiled eggs (also wrapped), and so on. It's the latter bits of food that he goes to deposit on the tarp by Strange, then he turns back to lay out the bowl of water for Baker, along with the fruit. It isn't the exact same as the berries the Pokemon eat back in Alola, but it's close enough and the dog doesn't seem to mind, the way he immediately buries his face in them.

That done, he turns back to join Strange where he sits.

"At least have someone waiting for you by your chosen arrival point, Mr. Strange. It wouldn't do for you to fall over and break your skull."

Curiosity getting the best of him, Strange looks over to peek at what Childermass is setting down. The fact that it's food makes sense—still, the idea of a moon picnic is a bit amusing. Imagine telling people back home about this! He pokes and prods some more, looking at the various sandwiches and canteens and then almost instantly makes a beeline for those eggs.

By the time Childermass is judging him for all his choices, Strange is already happily eating one of the eggs and will probably eat all of the eggs unless Childermass takes them away from him. He flashes the other man a grin: it's obvious Strange isn't taking the be careful or you'll pass out warning as seriously as he should.

"I do have that arrangement with the Ringmaster. Though, I'd prefer my death to be more tragic and heroic than a tap on the head."

Granted, he'd rather not die in the first place, but that goes without saying.

Eating eggs on a moon with a giant fire-breathing dog in lieu of a horse. Absolutely no one is going to believe it, most of all the part about Childermass being there because it's Childermass. Strange won't get all the eggs to himself, though, seeing how the other magician is sure to snag one or two along with a sandwich.

"If you do die that way, she's going to laugh at you," he points out oh so matter-of-factly. It's true. She would. "And then you would need to convince her to make a second arrangement. If you're going to be reckless, at least plan for it going wrong. It'll save you a headache."

Literally.

Smart planning, Childermass. Strange continues to focus mostly on the eggs, ignoring the sandwich and the rest of the picnic food for now.

And yeah. She would. Strange knows that the Ringmaster would give him shit if he died by bonking his head real hard. Still, he shrugs slightly as he continues talking.

"The next time I go back to the carnival, I'll set something up. Perhaps I'll surround a mirror with pillows or soft things. That way, if I travel from the moon to the carnival, I'll have something soft to land on if I pass out or fall unconscious due to the travel."

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⇨ THE LUNAR SOLSTICE

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