⇨ 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

[hippocarnival]

It's going to be all the reassurance he's going to get, and that's fine. He'd rather know the truth than be blindsided with ignorance anyway.

"Is it?" He perks up, however. "I don't think I've seen anyone use any magic yet. Not like you or Mr. Strange."

Is it just less obvious? Maybe, or maybe practicing magic in the middle of the park is too obvious.

[whattaprick]

"Neither have I. I've been walking around the city and I haven't felt even a hint of magic anywhere." Which is odd, he thinks. But then, people don't seem aware of the vibrancy of this world, either. Still, a world without much magic to it feels more like a relief than anything else. Portland was choked with magic, and look how that turned out.

His glamour is visible to Yuya because he's not consciously willing it to be unseen by Carnival members, and it's laughably ordinary compared to the ostentatious figure the gold horns and tail make him. If Yuya focuses on seeing past it, he can see Lambert's tail switching back and forth, ticking back and forth curiously.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya glances around thoughtfully. "Maybe it's like my dimension? If people can't really use it, they wouldn't know about it."

At least, he assumes they don't know about it if they haven't found ways to use that magic. It seems like everywhere else there's magic, people develop entire professions around it. Maybe his earth has more in common with this one than he thought.

"What else have you taken pictures of?" He turns back to Lambert. He's obviously been experiencing the city a little differently, so Yuya wonders what Lambert's seen that he missed.

[whattaprick]

"Oh, now you're interested in seeing pictures?" Lambert smirks, but he fishes out a stack of polaroids from his pocket anyway, handing them over to Yuya. As far as photos of actual people go, they leave something to be desired. Most of them are of places -- museums, libraries, other major landmarks and places where people gather. Most are taken either from the front of the building or angled at a view that suggests Lambert was standing somewhere higher, trying to get capture the lay of the land.

In between whatever isn't a place are random pictures of life around Wismuth, weird little details that probably seem ordinary to someone like Yuya but which Lambert wanted to capture for some reason. There's a picture of a swarm of pigeons descending around a bucket of spilled popcorn. The window display of a shop selling used retro game consoles. A cat hissing at the camera, back arched and tail puffed out. An empty playground.

What the pictures do have in common is that they've been shot with a clumsy, amateurish hand. It's the sort of disconnect from someone trying to get the camera to show what they can see with their naked eye, and failing to account that a camera's depth of vision is so much more limited.

[hippocarnival]

"They're not pictures of me." Not that Yuya's usually camera shy. But he takes the polaroids and flips through them one by one. He's not looking at them critically, so much, although the subject matter sure does seem odd for a few of these. He assumes Lambert was just having fun with the picture taking itself, if he's taking photos of pigeons and cats. He does notice the weird cropping, though, and the way some of them are blurred. He's never asked, but it'd make sense if Lambert was from the 'past' like Strange, right?

"You bought the really old camera, right?" He glances up to confirm, even though he's already seen it. And yep, that's a polaroid. "Is it your first one?"

[whattaprick]

"It is," Lambert confirms. He has a vague memory of using smartphones in Portland, but his life there hadn't really been focused around taking pictures. "Back home, you want a picture of something that actually looks like something, you pay someone a small fortune to paint it. This just makes it easier."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya can't really imagine going to someone to get a painting done of every little thing. Definitely not for the candid moments he's more likely to take a picture of in the first place. How would you remember all the details by that point?

"I can show you how to use it if you want." He offers the photos back to Lambert. "Digital cameras are more common now, but it's not much different."

[whattaprick]

"What's wrong with these?" Lambert asks, clearly puzzled as he accepts the photos and tucks them away back in his pocket. Whatever shortcomings Yuya sees in them, he clearly doesn't -- it's far better than anything he could draw, and that's really all that matters, isn't it?

[hippocarnival]

"They're not that bad, just kind of..." Yuya makes a picture frame with his fingers and turns it diagonally, like that's supposed to explain it. "Are you looking through the lens when you're taking them?"

He's no photography expert, but if Lambert's doing this for work there's supposed to be... quality, right? Or at least the subject a little clearer, or the detail. He's gotten around blurry, at least.

[whattaprick]

Lambert's blank stare probably says it all, but it still probably explains a lot when he answers:

"Aren't you just supposed to point it at things and press the button?"

[hippocarnival]

"Yeah, but... that camera doesn't have a screen, so you have to look through the window so you know what you're taking a picture of."

He stands... as straight as he can seeing as he can't bend his feet in these skates, trying to point out the eye window on the Polaroid from his 'more than a foot shorter' vantage point from below.

[whattaprick]

Obligingly, Lambert looks through, but frowns as he switches between peering into the window and at their surroundings. He can see what it's meant for, but he's still not seeing what Yuya's getting at here, really, so he settles on just thrusting the camera at him instead.

"Why don't you just take some pictures and show me?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya fumbles with the camera as it's thrust upon him.

"Uh--okay." He turns it in his hands with a little frown, but his expression smooths out quickly as he lifts the camera up and peeks through the window. Aiming it right at Lambert.

"Say cheese!" He waits just one second before he clicks the button, grinning as the polaroid slowly rolls out.

[whattaprick]

'Cheese'? Why cheese? Lambert doesn't get a chance to ask before Yuya's taking the picture, capturing his glamor's mildly bemused expression in full if slightly faded color as it develops on the paper spat out from the camera. It's funny, looking at the picture -- blunt teeth and normal ears, no horns, and brown eyes that look just a touch golden in the light.

"If you wanted a picture of me, you shoould have just asked," he snorts. "You could've gotten my best side."

Not that Lambert really has a best side to begin with; he's an ugly bastard from any angle. As it is, given the height difference, it's probably at least half just a shot of Lambert's neckbeard.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya laughs and pulls the photo out to look at it. It's true, from this height it doesn't come out to much. Just some weird worm's eye angle of Lambert's chin and neckbeard. And without all the changes of his magic... it makes Yuya think of Portland. He wonders if this is how Lambert normally looks, or if hes a little unique even without the fae meddling in his appearance.

Yuya keeps the photo between his middle and index finger as he holds the camera up again. "You have to come down here! Then it'll be a better picture."

[whattaprick]

Lambert rolls his eyes, but he obliges Yuya anyway, electing for the straightest route of bending a knee and getting down in the dirt rather to put him below Yuya's eye level.

"Not my fault you're a dwarf," he points out. "What's the point of saying cheese?"

[hippocarnival]

"Hey, I'm not done growing!" Yuya protests, as if he's going to get much taller and as if he still isn't shorter than most of his other friends.

Yuya carefully assigns the camera again, but pauses at Lambert's question. "It's because it makes you smile. See? Cheeeese."

He leans sideways so Lambert can see it on his face, saying the word with a bit of an accent like he's not quite saying it in Faeish.

[whattaprick]

It takes conscious effort to hear things the way it's meant to be -- Lambert's never paid much attention to the magic that makes it automatic for them to understand each other -- but as Yuya speaks, he mouths along with it, feeling how it stretches his face.

"Cheese," he says, blinking. Then a much more real, amused smirk crosses his face. "Huh. It does make you smile."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya grins and response, and while Lambert's smirking he presses the button to snap another photo. Yuya snatches it before it even finished developing to look. Lambert's much more centered in it now that he's closer to Yuya's height, and it doesn't make a bad picture at all.

After a moment, he turns it around so Lambert can see. "I think that's a good one."

[whattaprick]

"Is it?" Lambert squints a it dubiously. It's not that he hasn't seen himself before -- even dingy, mirrors existed back home, and of course the Carnival has plenty even if he's forever turning them around to the wall to avoid unwanted visits from Strange. At this point, he's so used to the weirder features being here has given him, it's a little odd to see himself so plain.

"Guess it's a good thing these get fooled by the glamour."

[hippocarnival]

"Eh? Why, what's wrong with your changes?" Yuya turns the photo back around and looks at the glamoured Lambert thoughtfully.

He's no Gongenzaka, at least. Yuya can understand not liking a change coming on since they don't get any day in them. He just didn't realize Lambert might be one of them.