⇨ WISMUTH

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: S2:D6-D11
Where: Wismuth and the Carnival Grounds
What: The carnival enjoys a few days in Wismuth, a coastal city on this planet's version of the American east. However, there are a few things very unique about this version of the planet...
Warnings: The usual, wholesome fun.

PILLAR OF CREATION↴ Upon arriving, things in Wismuth will seem pretty peaceful. It's a massive city, with no shortage of things going on, but things like violent crime and homelessness are at an all time low. You can wander the streets without much scrutiny, presumed to just be tourists, and most people here come across as helpful and friendly. ► VIBRANCY: The main thing that sets this planet apart is its vibrancy - AKA, the raw creative energy its filled with, flowing from its status as a Pillar of Creation. There is no literal pillar, but Wismuth and its planet is a place where Creation's energy comes through strongest. As a result, everything here feels somehow more real, more intense in a way that's hard to put a finger on. Life is abundant, and its bleeds through in every sensation. ► ATTRACTIONS: There are plenty of things to see while going around the city. First and foremost, there is a lovely beach area bordering the ocean, and a number of tourist aimed attractions built around it. There are giant malls, movie theaters, live stage performances, museums and all kinds of other points of cultural interest. Anything you can do in a big city you can do here, but better. ► ALLOWANCES: The Ringmaster will be giving everyone a reasonable amount of local currency for a few days on the town. You can't make any massive acquisitions with it, but it's more than enough to eat out, see some shows, go to the beach, and whatever you like. You can feel free to pick up some casual supplies, like mundane clothing and souvenirs. There will be more given out later, after the performance week. ► PERFORMANCE: Performance week is starting early this time, after only a couple days of exploration. When the carnival has already been on vacation for a month, the Ringmaster figures they may as well get right to it, and then do more touring afterwards. Members of the local populace will find themselves in the carnival once performances begin, dazzled by the other worldly sights. Magic doesn't seem to exist here, despite the fact that it will flow easier for people bringing it from other worlds.

Comments

Cole | ota!

[hurtcomfort]

a: rats with wings
Cole feels amazing. This place feels right. It's easier to express himself, to help, to be. Throughout these first few days at Wismuth, he seems brighter and happier than he did for those who knew him before. The spirit is just feeding off of this intensity in a way that makes him feel more powerful and real.

So, he's going to spend some of that time at the beach. It's got sand, water, and plenty of seagulls. And not even seagulls are exempt from the spirit of compassion's...well, compassion. Cole's amassed himself a tiny little gathering of seagulls that are hanging around his feet as he tosses them bits of bread and then later, bits of popcorn bought from a beach boardwalk. As he feeds his seagull army, Cole's just straight up talking to them as if the birds can somehow understand what he's saying.

Of course, seagulls are terrifying and awful birds. If anyone approaches Cole, one of the seagulls might squawk loudly at them before Cole chimes in with a, "No, don't do that!"

b: spirit vs. cars
The beach is nice. The city itself is amazingly confusing. Cole has no idea what's going on in Wismuth proper and can be found looking worryingly at a car, looking worryingly at a stop light, looking worryingly at a fire hydrant, looking worryingly at a billboard, or looking worryingly in the windows of various electronics, home goods, or technology stores.

You don't know these things when you're from a fantasy canon. He would be getting in people's way...except that most people seem to outright ignore Cole entirely, instinctively walking around the spirit if he wasn't there. He can make it so the carnival staff can see him. But everybody else? It's better if he remains unseen.

c: performance week
Feeling amazing doesn't change the fact that Cole's got a game booth to run and that he's doing it terribly. It's a simple carnival game, toss a ball at a stack of milk bottles, knock em all down, you win a prize. It's just that Cole is an absolutely terrible barker. Sometimes he doesn't really say anything, just watching people as they pass by. Other times when people approach him, he gives a stumbling awkward answer that hopefully manages to help. But there are some times when the hurt is so strong, shining brightly, that he has to comment on it and has to try and help before he can actually get to his game.

"Soft hands, soft smile. She said it wasn't your fault and it isn't. Hurts happen, accidents exist, hearts break. None of you could have done anything." An awkward pause. "Would you like to throw the ball at the bottles?"

Someone please stop him from scaring away all the customers.

wildcard
hit me up for anything! please check out Cole's permissions post if you haven't already b/c he's infomoddy as hell

c

[genice]

Feeling everything intensely isn't helping Victor, outside of allowing him to cling to a sense of suspended disbelief and tamp down tight on the distress he hasn't allowed himself to process. He's set himself to a mission that extends from his hiring: a showman trying to gain an understanding of how the whole of the show runs through the carnival, inside and outside the big top.

When that leads him through the game booths it's with a hint of a frown, staying pointedly away from the bag-toss games. It's the rambling, seemingly disjointed nature of Cole's sell that catches Victor's attention through the other calls and wheedling. He can see the person standing close to the booth giving Cole a strange look, shaking their head and frowning. "No, I don't want to throw the ball at the bottles. I have no idea what you're going on about, but it isn't funny!"

They spin around and stomp off, shoulders hunched, hands shoved in their pockets. Victor watches them leave with his eyebrows hiking up, quietly observing them disappear into the milling crowd. He moves over toward Cole, still looking in the direction the other person had gone. "So is that how you usually get people to play, or...?"

Or is Cole trying to ensure he doesn't have to deal with customers? Victor looks his way, more openly curious than anything else. Hurts happen, accidents exist, hearts break. Glass hearts shatter, melt, and cool, different but whole all over again. He shakes his head, dismissing the thought, and offers Cole a small, close lipped smile. "The carnival doesn't operate on commission, does it?"

[hurtcomfort]

Well Cole's obviously annoyed at how terribly that went. The spirit isn't pouting, per se, but he does look a bit disgruntled about the whole thing. He's supposed to get people to play the game but he's also supposed to help. Doing both at once is harder than expected.

So, when Victor approaches, Cole perks up slightly, still full of slightly nervous energy. Cole has no idea what operating on commission means, so he gives Victor a little frown at that question. But he does understand the first question. And he can answer that.

"It isn't," he'll admit. "I'm two things but sometimes one outshines the other." He keeps on looking back to the person who left the booth, as if he'll somehow keep track on him in the crowd. Eventually though, he can't see that person any more, which worries Cole more than he'll want to admit.

"I've made things worse for him."

[genice]

Victor glances back in the direction the man disappeared, his own expression falling along neutral lines. "Maybe for the moment," he says. "But he's responsible for himself in the end. Like we all are." For the decisions made, the actions taken, and for seeing a way to betterment for their own sakes as well as others. He can imagine, if just for a moment, catching a glimpse of Yuri's messy black hair in the crowd, a hint of blue framed glasses. He's not there, but Victor knows that already. Yuri isn't due in St. Petersburg yet, let alone Wismuth on another world.

Victor turns his attention back to Cole, offering a small smile. "Bartenders might get away with more unsolicited advice giving, but that's usually not what people expect at a gaming booth. Even when you mean well." He glances at the stacked milk bottles, humming in a thoughtful way. "Did you know that man?"

A - Start with the birds, end with the home appliances

[chronosynthesis]

It took Syrlya all of two minutes to realize his own attire was completely out of place, take a quick look at the locals, and then turn his ass right back around to the carnival to wear something that's not going to make him obvious even with the humanizing glamour.

This is how he ends up in whatever shoes he gets from the wardrobe tent that fit, his usual purple pants, and this shirt. It's a good thing he looks pretty early 20s in his adult so his bad fashion choice looks at least deliberate out of youthful vigor and rebellion. Or something.

Anyway, birds. Cole has amassed a lot of squawking birds and there's a moment where Syrlya is briefly worried for his safety. But he's still going to keep a few yards between them, holding his hand up as he calls out to Cole. "Made yourself some friends, Cole?"

Friends, right.

[hurtcomfort]

Cole's attire is it's normal slightly homeless person level of shabby. He's also discovered the concept of layers and is wearing a light orange scarf over a slightly beat up t-shirt under a leather jacket. Most importantly, the jacket has a shit ton of pockets from which Cole keeps pulling out various food that he straight up stole.

Look, it was going in the trash can and birds need to eat too.

At Syrlya's question, Cole nods. "They're here because they're hungry. Scavenging the sand, refused from the rejects. They were going to throw it away anyway. Give it to someone who needs it instead."

One of the seagulls walks over to Syrlya and starts squawking loudly at the man. The inference is obvious: come on dude, feed me!

[chronosynthesis]

He looks right at home feeding an army of seagulls.

"Oh--" Syrlya holds up his hands as the seagull approaches, showing his empty they are. "I have no food for you! See? No food."

Actually... "How long have you been feeding them now?"

b

[dressedtothe]

Cole can be difficult to find most of the time. There was something he meant to ask him, but that sort of flies in the face of the worried expression on the spirit's face as he looks at all the TVs on display for an electronics store.

They're mostly showing cartoon movies.

Is it possible to sneak up on a spirit? Well, 9S is going to try. Approaching as quietly as he can, he reaches out to tap Cole on the shoulder.

Like the last time the Carnival was in a city, 9S doesn't have Pod 153 by his side. Sticks out too much, even with glamour. Today he's chosen to forgo wearing his coat and visor, instead wearing a T-shirt with his usual shorts and boot ensemble. Beneath the glamour, the pupils of his eyes are slitted, cat-like. Different to when his appearance was completely human back in the manor.

[hurtcomfort]

The worried expression is partly because Cole doesn't know what television is, partly because he is downright distressed by Tom and Jerry. That poor cat! Why was the mouse being so cruel to him and why would they show something like that? Did people know that the cat was being mistreated, how could Cole fix this?!

As such, for once in his life Cole's the one surprised by someone creeping up on him instead of the other way around. He tenses up as 9S taps him on the shoulder and turns around, hands already going to his sides where his knives should be...but then he relaxes as he sees it's 9S.

"Don't do that," he frowns, entirely unaware that Cole does that sort of thing on a regular basis.

[dressedtothe]

When Cole whirls around, 9S jerks back, holding his hands up to show he isn't an assailant, grinning. "Hey, you sneak up on people all the time. It's only fair!"

That Cole gets snuck up on himself some time.

"Anyway, what's wrong?" 9S steps forward so he can stand beside Cole. "You know it's not real, right?"

A....

[soft_focus]

For Reira at least, the birds certainly start pausing as she approaches. But what's kind of odd is how they sort of shut up and turn one after another, and then just sort of. Go back to squawking for fries and popcorn and bread from Cole. It's a brief pause, but one that Cole probably picks up on-Reira certainly does, as much as she ignores it.

The seagulls were confused. In any case, Reira's wearing your dumb pompom earrings, so that's nice. "Ummm... ...They're all hungry aren't they," she 'wisely' concludes, blinking at the flock. "...Is there never fish here?" She thought these things ate fish not....Everything else!

[hurtcomfort]

Cole can't help but smile a little as he spots Reira's earrings (good, he hoped she would like them). The little smile then turns to a more neutral expression as he looks over the seagulls.

"Not as many as they'd like. The people scare most of them away." And so, the seagulls would have to fly further out from the beach in order to get any fish before flying back to the beach in order to eat and share it. It's a bit of a distance and why go to all that trouble when there's french fries and potato chips here they can eat instead?

Cole's got a question for Reira as well. His attention shifts from the seagulls to her, though he's not really looking Reira in the eyes as he talks. "Why did they become quiet when you arrived?"

[soft_focus]

"Mnng...so they didn't make it easy to get food..." As soon as he said the fish were scared off, it felt like she could understand-if food was too far, you went for the food closest. It Made Sense.

She has to take a moment to answer Cole in any case, largely because she...isn't sure what the answer is. "Umn...I know that the birds I look after, like Tyrannosaurus, sometimes pretend I'm a bird," she offers, blinking. "But....I don't know if it's that..." She knows one of the natural energy spirits/cards she absorbed was 'Birds', but she's pretty sure they figure out pretty quick that she isn't...a bird.

The seagulls mostly just figure she's some strange not bird that feels like a bird, not that she realizes it. It's a bit of a whatever, for them. The stray chick isn't taking their food, so it's fine.

b

[anti_nonsense]

Rita might not feel the vividness of Wismuth as intensely as Cole, but she's certainly happy with their destination. The futuristic city has much to offer in the way of information and technology, and it's almost a shame she only has a few days to enjoy it before performances start and she has to spend most of her time working backstage.

She walks along the street with Francis, glamoured to look like an ordinary cat, at her heels, when she sees Cole standing by a busy intersection, looking worriedly at various things. He sticks out like a sore thumb, but no one else seems to notice.

"First time in a city like this?" Rita asks, stopping a few steps away from him and giving him a curious look.

[hurtcomfort]

Cole's just so relieved because Rita's here, everything's going to be fine, she knows what she's doing. And she can probably help him figure out what he's doing. Cole obviously relaxes a little as he nods, looking from Rita to the intersection.

"Bright and busy, so many lights, so many sounds. Have you ever been to a place this loud?" Cities have ambiance that your average castle in the middle of nowhere or wide expanse of explorable farmland don't. And even the cities that Cole has been to before didn't have cars, advertisements, all sort of background ambiance noise of a big twenty-first century city.

[anti_nonsense]

"Nothing quite like this, no. But I've seen a few big cities before." This is just a little step up from the others, as far as Rita's concerned. "It's busy, but it's organized. A lot of clever design went into this place." Things people probably wouldn't expect Rita to have an appreciation for: urban planning.

But it's not just Rita who's comfortable regardless of the crowds and lights. Even Francis, who normally doesn't venture into the worlds they visit, seems oddly content despite the usual grumpy look on his face.

b

[puddingemote]

Tamaki was born and raised in Tokyo, so navigating Wismuth is almost like second nature to him. Sure, he has to get his new bearings, learn where everything is and the easiest ways to get there, but once he starts getting the hang of it it's not bad at all.

He's on his way to check out an arcade he noticed on his way back from the beach the first day when he spots Cole, looking decidedly lost in this kind of place.

He has to run across the street, ignoring someone who honks at him.

"Co-chan, hey!"

[hurtcomfort]

Cole has no idea that by 'Co-chan', Tamaki means him. Add in the fact that he's lost as hell and a little bit scared and he's just not having a good time. Cole looks up in confusion when Tamaki arrives and he hears his voice. Oh good, someone who actually might know what's going on. Cole looks relieved, not even noticing that Tamaki almost got hit by that car.

"You called me Co-chan. Is that a nickname?" Being in a party with Varric, a dwarf who literally refers to everybody by a nickname, means that Cole grasped the concept of nicknames quicker than some other concepts (like 'jokes' or 'armor.')

[puddingemote]

"Yeah." He nods in confirmation. "Like, the first part of your name. And -chan, like, a little kid or something."

Cole looks like he's around Tamaki's age or a little older, and if he's a spirit he's probably way older, but he's so clueless that he's like a kid. At least that's Tamaki's reasoning.

"Checking out the city?"

wildcard-ish

[whattaprick]

It's a good morning, at least as far as Lambert's concerned, and since he did the bulk of his work yesterday (well, work's a generous term and he did stop by the afternoon to have an early dinner with Childermass instead) he decides he's going to spend the morning on the beach for fun. He's staked out a place on the beach a little way away from the tourists and thrown a towel down to sit on, crunching through what as far as he can tell is a solid lump of sugary ice on a stick as he watches the light play across the waves.

He's wearing those terrible floral Alolan shorts and thrown on an open unbuttoned shirt, keeping his sunglasses to ward against the glare. It really is bright here, brighter even than Alola in a way he can't put his finger on, and that place was already pretty damn vibrant. It's just too bad there aren't stranded Pokemon around to throw back into the water to make some quick cash. Maybe he should have brought Pig, but even glamoured, a horse on a beach is hard to explain away.

All in all, he's pretty content for the moment, letting himself quietly enjoy this moment and the memories that it brings to mind. Too bad that's not going to last.

[hurtcomfort]

"Sun and sand, throwing them back to the living. Children challenge but I have faith, let them come, I don't care. Pig'll kick their ass anyway. Little punks."

That moment is ruined because here comes Cole. He's awkwardly standing near Lambert, not really looking at the man as he talks, as he details this memory and this happiness shining so bright. His voice changes slightly for the last sentence or so of his creepy memory reading: it's still Cole's normal voice but he's mimicking and taking on a bit of Lambert's whiny cocky vocal cadence he has half the time.

And oh dear, Cole's just now realizing that he should have probably introduced himself or made himself known or something like that. He knows Lambert doesn't like him (Lambert doesn't like most things, pricking, sharp, they won't like me anyway witcher, freak) but he just felt so happy and it's so much easier for Cole to feel in this place that he felt a bit drawn over, like a moth to a flame. There's an awkward pause before Cole tentatively says, "Hello."

If he messes this up, he can just make Lambert forget. Solas might not like it. The Inquisitor—no, she's Lavellan now—Lavellan might not like it. But it is an option so it will be considered.

[whattaprick]

It really couldn't even last five minutes, could it?

Lambert's expression immediately sours as he cuts his gaze over to Cole, though the contentment has rooted in enough that it's not so easily banished, for better or worse. At the very least, his first impulse on seeing Cole isn't violence... yet.

"I told you not to do that," he snarls, in lieu of greeting him like a normal person, but he looks out at the sea again, trying to summon the peace of mind that was there before. That's more or less impossible, though -- he's all too pricklingly aware of the body beside him.

A

[sworntothesword]

Connie has been informed of the horrors of seagulls by Steven, so she does approach Cole hesitantly, and very much appreciates when he calms them down.

She had grabbed a stick, ready to throw down with some rascally birds. "Is it safe to approach?"

[hurtcomfort]

Cole...is downright confused. He looks over at Connie with a frown. She has a stick. Why does she have a stick. Seagulls don't play fetch, what else could she use a stick for?

"Why wouldn't it be?" One of the seagulls is giving her a stink eye while another flies up a bit to perch on top of Cole's head. If this bothers him, he doesn't show it.

[sworntothesword]

She knows Cole is a little odd so she just decides to answer his question literally.

"Because you've got a lot of Big Birds around you and I'm afraid of getting bitten..."