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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"I'm sure you'd figure something out. But, hopefully it won't come to that."

Truth be told, Ginko hadn't really thought of the possibility that Joker and Doll might not be related by blood - but he doesn't say anything, instead just listening to Doll quietly. As she goes on, though-- as she explains what happened, how she got scarred, Ginko's eye goes wide, a little at a time.

"...I'm sorry." He really wishes he could be more shocked by the thought that someone would do that to their own child - to any child. But... he can't be surprised. He just hates to think that it happened to Doll.

"And Joker took care of you after that?"

"Yeah!" Doll's voice sounds thin and wet, but she's clearly bolstered by the conversation turning to Joker. It's hard for her to repeat this, she's never had to tell anybody before-- her siblings just... knew. And with everybody else she was never close enough to have these kinds of conversations so freely.

"Joker found me th'next day, took me to a church. The sisters there were real nice, tried their best ta help, 'n at least I didn't die from it, but..." But there was nothing to be done for her face. "He made sure I got all the way better. Him 'n Beast, 'n Jumbo, 'n Dagger, 'n Wendy 'n Peter. An' I'm alright, even now I'm alright.

"But it's odd, ain' it?" she says with another off chuckle. "Dolls are pretty things, 'n perfect. But that's what Joker wanted ta call me, so..."

He'd hoped that moving to talking about Joker might help, so it's nice to hear that it seems to have worked.

He tilts his head, though, one ear lifting upward as he considers that last comment. "...I don't think it's odd at all, actually. Dolls are supposed to bring people comfort, and happiness, aren't they? You're pretty good at that."

Doll stops walking, still holding Ginko's hand, looking up at him as though he's told her some incomprehensible secret. It's big, and hard to wrap her head around, but it seems to open some door in her she hadn't figured out yet.

"I do that?"

...You know, despite everything, it's kind of surprising to hear she didn't realize that. It's so obvious to him, and, he's sure, to everyone else around her. But... then, he guesses that's how these things go sometimes.

"Of course. If you don't believe me, you can ask... well, anyone who knows you, I'd guess." He smiles, just slightly. "We're all really lucky to have you around."

Doll continues to look at him in awe, but she doesn't argue it. She can't think of somebody who doesn't like her-- she's pretty sure nobody has said anything negative towards her. Maybe he's right. Maybe anybody would say that.

After another moment, she smiles, wide and pink-cheeked, up at him. "'M lucky ta have you around ta tell me that."

And, for some reason, that surprises him. It's not exceptionally visible - just a slight lift of his ears and eyebrows.

"Uh... no problem. Wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

Doll's smile stretches a little wider and she keeps one walking, gently swinging her and Ginko's hands as they walk.

"I knew somebody who wore an eye patch ya know. His name was Sm--. Smile," she says, deciding against using his real name for the moment. "His eye, he said he lost it in an accident, but I saw him once without his patch. It... it glowed pink. Is that what yer eye is like...?"

Ginko raises his eyebrows a little further hearing that, but gives a small shake of his head. "Glowing... no, nothing like that. Actually, the eye itself is entirely gone."

Yep. Just... gone.

"Oh..." Doll tries to imagine that and feels a little awkward and squirmy in her stomach trying to picture it. "Have ya tried maybe gettin' a glass eye? Sometimes people do that."

"Had one for a while, actually. But I lost it." Which is to say, he just straight-up gave it away.

"I thought about getting a new one, but, uh... matching this eye color is pretty expensive. Besides, keeping it in was pretty uncomfortable, since it's not..." He hesitates a moment, brow wrinkling. But-- she'd told him about what happened to her, and that was clearly pretty hard for her.

So, it's only fair.

"If it were just that the eye is gone, that would be one thing. But there's, uh... there's something else in its place."

Doll looks up at Ginko with a concerned frown. Something else in it's place but the eye was totally gone...? But he could still get a glass eye in?

She looks up at their path and makes a decision-- she pulls on Ginko's hand and starts jogging the rest of the way to her cabin. It isn't too much longer, but they'd get there faster if they jogged.

Ginko blinks, somehow not expecting the pull, but speeds up to follow Doll easily enough. "--What's the rush, suddenly?"

Maybe he doesn't quite make the connection between his weirdly cryptic explanation and Doll hurrying up - or, more likely, he does, but he doesn't quite get it.

"I want ta see!" she says, like it's obvious. The sooner they got to the cabin, the sooner they could pull the curtains back, so to speak.

"Sounds a strange thing, after all. Can' blame me for bein' curious!"

"Ah-- guess not." He's... pretty sure he did a good job of stomping down any sign of nerves in his voice there. Doll would absolutely not be the first person to be curious upon hearing about the condition of his eye, but at least she's... you know, asking, and not just going to push his hair aside herself in front of everyone on the moon. Could be way worse.

Fortunately, the cabin is close enough that he doesn't have long to keep stressing about it. He pulls at his scarf once they're inside, and his tail thumps on the floor. "Do you want to get the hot chocolate first?"

He's totally not stalling. Definitely.

"'Course!"

Yes, she took that as a request, not a suggestion. But still, she happily sheds her scarf, coat, and gloves-- gets a few steps into the cabin before backtracking to pull out of her boots-- and heads for the little kitchenette.

"It's so quick, too! Who knew such a small box could be so useful?"

Ginko drops off his boots, scarf, and coat, too, and goes to stand nearby and watch the cocoa-making process.

That gets a quiet laugh. "I dunno, plenty of things that come in small boxes can be useful."

Doll carefully pours milk into two mugs and puts one into the microwave-- taking care to keep it in the very center and shut the door securely.

"Okay, an' then we hit these buttons... One, four, five-- Big green button!"

She pushes that one with a flourish and the thing starts up.

He watches with interest, ears perked forward slightly; even after having gotten some experience using these things himself, it's still interesting to watch.

Besides, Doll is clearly getting a kick out of it, which is adorable. Ginko even claps a couple times as the microwave starts, not bothering to hide the smile pulling at his mouth.

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⇨ THE LUNAR SOLSTICE

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