lostcarnival | ⇨ WISMUTH

Entry tags:

⇨ WISMUTH

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.

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"I guess so..." Yuya's gaze drifts down. He tries not to think about that so much. He's never 'lost' a friend, and there's so many people in the carnival that he's going to miss dearly when they leave... and when he leaves.

"That means we should make it extra special then, right?" He turns to 9S with a glance of confirmation. "Because we'll only get to share it once."

It's been on his mind every now and again. The realisation that all the friends -- friends -- he's made in the Carnival so far will be leaving before him.

But he does nod eagerly at Yuya's proposal. "Our contracts are always for a year and a day. Maybe the last day should be a holiday. Then we can give people a big send off before they go home!"

One final gift.

"Like a going away party? That's a good idea!" Gongenzaka's just signing another contract when his ends, and Yuya can't think of anyone else leaving anytime soon... actually, Yuya's doesn't know when anyone else's contract ends, but they'd probably say something if it was soon, right?

He's lost in the reverie of party planning for a moment that he almost misses the arcade. But he stops abruptly, squinting in the doorway before he grins wide and points it out to 9S. "There we go, that's an arcade!"

It's a modern arcade, with a mix of classic and newer games, all in game boxes or racing boxes, and some of them are multiplayer.

It's a plan, then! On the last day of someone's contract, they'll party hard! There'll be food, drink and... hm. What do humans do when they party?

But 9S is quickly distracted when Yuya points out the arcade, blinking in surprise when he takes in the noise and flashing lights. That's... not exactly what he was picturing when he said 'arcade'. But he can't help but be intrigued, immediately walking towards it, assuming Yuya will follow.

Near the entrance iiis... a DDR machine.

"Hey, what's this one?"

Yuya's first stop is the coin machine, slotting in a couple small dollars to get something suitable for starting up the games. He's scooping them into his pockets when 9S speaks up, and Yuya turns around to see what he's referring to.

"Oh, that? It looks like a dancing game." He walks over, leaning over the railing to peer at the mats. Yep, that's dancing. He points to the arrows on it. "You step on those in time to the music to get the best score."

Dancing? 9S looks back at the machine and its brightly coloured arrows. That's dancing? He shoots Yuya a highly dubious look.

"I thought dancing was something you had to do in pairs. Like... at the Prince's manor."

A lot of terrible things happened there, but for a brief time he got to enjoy dancing with both Rita and 2B.

"This looks nothing like that."

"There's all kinds of dancing. A waltz is a fancy dance," or something like that. He's only heard of it being used at balls and parties anyway.

Yuya swings himself around the back bar and onto one of the pads. He offers his hand to 9S, encouraging him up.

"This is a dancing game, so it's a little different. I'll show you!"

Well, Yuya's made him an offer he can't refuse.

"It looks like fun!" Grinning, 9S takes his hand and gets up onto the dance pad next to Yuya's. "Alright. So we just have to step on the arrows in time to the music?"

But how does he know which arrow to step on-- oh, the screen?

Yuya turns to the dual monitor machine to pop in the coins. It immediately comes to life with a brief welcome screen. Yuya points to it, looking over his shoulder. "The steps show up on the screen. When they line up with the arrows on top, you step on ut! You get a better score the more accurate you are."

He waves his hand vaguely before flipping through the songs. They're mostly very electronic and energetic. "You'll see it. We can start with an easy song first. "

9S brightens even more. They're scored on performance? Well, he better aim for the best score, huh? His hand twitches as he holds back the urge to hack the machine while Yuya sets up. Maybe afterwards?

"Then work our way up to harder songs? I'm game."

Don't be a cheater, 9S.

"That's right!" Yuya selects one of the songs and quickly bounces back to his pad. The guideline arrows appear at the top of the screens, amidst a colorful background, and the designated steps slowly scroll up to them.

The song is on easy, so neither of them should have a lot of trouble. Yuya matches the steps closely, obviously having experience with a game like this before, though he glances aside to see how 9S is faring.

9S is faring pretty okay. The first few arrows, he scores Good! and Great!, but as he figures out the timing of it, then it's basically maths to him. Though the music is audible, he isn't using the music to assist his steps, going purely off what he's seeing on the screen.

But... something he's noticed is that the animated character dancing in the background of the screen is using a different technique to Yuya. Where the character stands in the centre, Yuya is standing on the arrows. Why? He doesn't see why Yuya would use a different technique to what's being dictated on the screen...

When the song finishes, 9S has scored reasonably well; after the initial learning phase of Goods and Greats, the rest of his score is filled with Perfects. The song was easy, after all.

"Let's try something harder. That was too easy!"

Yuya, meanwhile, is keeping pace with the rhythm of the song. For the most part he watches the top of the screen rather than the space between each step, absently bobbing to the beat. He's not terribly rushed, because it is an easy song.

Yuya laughs, stepping down to flip through the songs again as it flashes their scores. They both managed to get an 'A'. "Sure, sure! Maybe... this one?"

The sample immediately blasts some sort of hard electro-rock song, and Yuya presses play without a confirmation. It's rated an 8/10, and maybe that's a bit of a jump from the previous song--but it is just a game.

Yuya bounces back into positioned, looking determined as it starts up.

"Alright. Let's do it!" This song sounds more like his speed! 9S nods along to the music as it starts.

But it isn't the processing of the sheer number of arrows on the screen and the speed they're flying across the screen that's tripping 9S up. Oh no, that part is fine. It's getting his feet in the right position. How do people do this? Especially since now this song has introduced two notes on the same beat.

Obviously, the previous way he was standing isn't much help here, so the entire song, 9S surreptitiously glances over at Yuya, observing how he's handling it while 9S himself struggles. But now he understands why Yuya stands on the arrows and not the centre. The game must not register the arrows while you're standing on them unless there is a note.

By the time they finish, there's quite a number of Bad, Misses, and Goods on 9S' score.

...It's pretty obvious who's the winner here.

"I want a rematch!" 9S immediately demands.

The bouncing around is invigorating for Yuya. For the duration of the song he's completely into it with a wide grin, occasionally grabbing the rail to catch himself when he moves too quickly. It's certainly not a perfect score, but it's high and Yuya's satisfied with it. When 9S re-challenges him he laughs, bright and joyful, and glances to the screen at his score.

"Okay, okay!" He's already fishing through his pocket for more quarters, approaching the slot. "The same song, or something else?"

Even though he's suffered the bitter taste of defeat, 9S isn't sore about it. It's nice, just hanging out with Yuya and having fun with these human created devices.

"Wait, hang on to your coins." Yuya shouldn't need to pay (more) for their playtime!

A ring of light appears around 9S' wrist shortly before he shoots what appears to be a ball of energy that moves so fast it looks more like a rapidly disappearing beam of light. A few seconds later, an extra 2 credits appear on the DDR machine's screens.

Casually, 9S comments, "Let's do the same song. It's not a rematch if it's different."

There's that beam again. Yuya stops as commanded, and when the game automatically registers more money without any coins put inside, he does a double take.

"Wait, what was that?" He points to the machine for emphasis. "I saw it when you were watching the roomba, too."

"Huh?" 9S thinks back to the roomba. "Oh! You mean the hacking? That's something I can do as a Scanner model."

It's kind of his thing.

"Not to brag or anything," he's absolutely bragging, "but I'm the best at it."

Yuya frowns.

"I could have paid for it." It's only change, Yuya's not exactly hurting for it. More importantly... "You shouldn't cheat the games like that. It's wrong!"

It's basically stealing, except there's nothing to return. That's somehow only more annoying than just being able to tell 9S to return a hat. So he just leans forward to press the start button.

This is having the opposite effect of what he intended!!

"What? How am I cheating?" The song starts up, but he's genuinely bewildered by this. This time, he takes a leaf from Yuya's book and stands on the arrows instead of the centre. "I didn't change the game or anything."

He could have, but he didn't.

Yuya jumps back onto the pad as the song starts, focusing on the screen with a furrowed brow.

"It's--cheating the arcade." Which he as least doesn't yell about, to not draw attention to it. "Like stealing."

He grabs the rail for support as he tries to talk through playing the game, pausing and fumbling some steps. "The arcade costs money to maintain, and all of it comes from the games. If they don't make money, it won't be here for everyone else to enjoy."

And so 9S gets a crash course in capitalism. "Stealing hurts other people, even if it's small things."

9S thinks about that really hard. Like really, really hard. Androids engaged in trade with each other, but that's because they were disparate groups with different needs. But more importantly, Yuya seems to be saying that by not paying the money, other humans wouldn't be able to enjoy the arcade.

And that would be bad!

He'd only been thinking about how Yuya, a human, shouldn't need to spend money on his behalf, not about how the human run arcade needs that money!

Oh no. Oh no. He'd taken that trip with Childermass, and...

"Oh no." The distress distracts 9S enough that he messes up the next few notes. "I went with the Aquisitioner to one of the electronics stores..."

Yuya turns his focus back to the game while 9S is dwelling on that, making up for his fumble. His expression is tight in concentration, and when 9S first starts confessing Yuya doesn't seem to respond.

But 9S doesn't need to finish that sentence for Yuya to pick up on what exactly they did.

"... How much did you take?" He's going to regret asking this.

He kind of doesn't want to say, but...

9S mumbles while he stomps on another set of arrows, "All the external storage on display."

"9S!" Yuya doesn't even look at him. "Just because the people in acquisitions can steal doesn't mean you should! Especially not from innocent people!"

He knows his opinion won't change the Ringmaster's or the way that department operates, but can't there be at least a little bit more moral jurisdiction? Like only stealing from evil people who deserve it!

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