lostcarnival | ⇨ WISMUTH

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⇨ 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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Steven is (mostly) back to normal at this point - at least in disposition. Sure, he's a bit skittish and uncertain about what just happened, but his usual methods of handling stress have had a chance to reassert themselves.

He's not too comfortable about his color changes or internal differences, but hey! Look on the bright side.

"Well, we did find out what we wanted to know," he points out. "It's just... that some not great stuff happened, too."

"Right. We got... some answers, to some questions, and that counts as a success in my book," Peridot agrees confidently.

She glances sidelong at him, head cocked slightly, and frowns. "You are feeling better though... right?"

Steven hesitates.

"Well... I still feel pretty weird about how my gem is kinda blue now," he admits, but that is ultimately one of the most superficial aspects to the situation. Still... Somehow his gem feels like one of the most sacred parts of his body. Changing it doesn't seem right.

"I don't blame you," Peridot says frankly. "If anything like that ever happened to my gem, I'd probably dissipate my form out of sheer outrage--!"

No. Wait. She breaks off. That's probably not a helpful thing to say, Peridot.

"Er, all I mean by that is... I can sympathize. With feeling 'weird' about it."

He gets what she means, but his expression does become a bit more grim as a result. He's pretty sure this would be a huge deal to other gems on a wider scale. The kind of things you get shattered for.

That was what they called them on Homeworld, right? Off Colours.

He knows it's not really the same thing, but still. At the moment, it just feels like another thing that's wrong with him, another way he doesn't match the expectations of any of the things he's part of. Anxiety rises in him for a few moments before he can push it down again, some of that emotional energy leaking out through his empathic abilities.

"Maybe it's because... this was my mom's gem. And now it's kinda messed up."

That, she understands a little less. Even during her time spent as a human, she never really had any mementos of that caliber.

She winces at that anxiety wave too, but Peridot's used to having to keep her feelings somewhat under wraps, even if she would generally prefer not to. She shakes it off, and tries to put on an encouraging face.

"Hey, look at it this way: It'll probably go back to normal once your contract's up and you go home. So, you really only have to put up with it for the rest of the time that you're here."

At least, she doesn't recall retaining any of her carnival changes the last time she visited home? So that's the basis she's working off of.

When it comes to the Ringmaster's changes, it's easier to believe that it will just go away, because she's the one that made it happen in the first place. With the Rose... if it will go away later, why can't it just go away now?

Who knows, though. There's not real point in assuming the worst, is there?

"Peridot... Are you going to go home when your contract is up?"

Peridot pauses, tensing. That's... A very direct question, that she was not expecting to get asked in this moment.

She rubs her arm and glances away, avoiding eye contact. Her tail curls around her own ankle in a self-comforting gesture.

"Probably not after this one, no," she admits. "I... Think I'd like to stick around for another year and see if the Ringmaster can do something to protect Earth from the Diamonds. We still have Blue Diamond's contract to worry about, after all."

"Yeah," he says, like his thoughts have very much been along the same lines. "There's so many things that... I..." He rubs his arm. "There's stuff I don't know if we can solve back home. And maybe this... is better?"

He sounds a bit unsure, mostly because a bunch of terrible things have happened to him as a result. Yet, if he's truly going to make a difference, it could be the best option they have. If they can make it.

"Yeah," she sighs in agreement, relaxing significantly now that she knows that Steven is more or less on the same page as her.

"...My main problem is Lapis," she admits after a moment. "She hates it here, can't WAIT to leave... I think she'd be really upset if I told her that I actually WANT to stay."

Steven nods gravely, knowing that is very true. Any time he expresses the desire to do things like that she seems upset. It's not like he doesn't understand why, but...

"I don't think she understands..." he says. "She's had such a hard time already... I don't think she can handle taking on anything else right now?" Which is... fine, but it makes things complicated when him and Peridot can't avoid looking at the big picture.

"I want her to be able to go home, too. But it's different if you have something you're fighting for, y'know?"

"Trust me. I know." She un-twines her tail with a flick, and sighs again. "The fact that the carnival travels as much as it does only makes things worse. I think if she could just stay in one place and wait things out, she'd be fine! But hopping between all these other worlds... It's stressful for her. Especially when at least half those worlds have been dangerous in some way. I swear, my first year at this place wasn't anything like this," Peridot finishes in a grumble.

"I kind of wish that I could have seen it, when everything wasn't so crazy," Steven says wistfully, staring up into space for a moment. "I think I would have really liked it... maybe dad could have liked it better, too."

His dad was honestly a similar situation to Lapis. Steven is pretty sure that Greg hadn't been very happy from day one, and the stress of dangerous situations only made it worse. He knows his dad would be upset if he signed on for another year.

But his dad is going to have to come back and finish eventually, right? What will he do if Steven isn't here?

Edited 2018-02-01 18:43 (UTC)

"Yeah, it pretty much all went down-hill after the vampires showed up the first time around," Peridot snorts, joining Steven in staring upwards at nothing in particular. "And then things REALLY got bad after Portland..."

Actually, wow, that reminds her! She tears her eyes of the skies to give Steven kind of an odd look. "By the way... You could have mentioned that the Acquisitioner made some kind of deal to protect you from the summer court."

"Huh?" he says, caught off guard, though it's quickly followed by a soft "oh," of understanding. He folds his arms around himself.

"Sorry. He didn't really explain a lot about it, and Childermass is always really secretive about stuff... I know it doesn't make sense, but it kind of felt like it was... private, or something."

He is genuinely sorry he didn't think of it, but that realization only makes much sense in retrospect.

"I dunno how well it will work."

"Hopefully it'll work just fine, if he worded the agreement right." Which, it's kind of hard to imagine the ever serious Childermass screwing up on something like that.

"Anyway, it's fine. You are forgiven. Besides, I already shouted at both him AND Lambert for not telling me, so I think I've gotten all the feelings of betrayal out of my system."

Well that makes him feel a bit worse about it, knowing that Lambert and Childermass took the brunt (what did Lambert do??), But he lets the subject drop. She knows now, right?

"Childermass knows a lot about Fae. I'm sure he did it right." Steven himself would be uncertain about making any deals with fae he didn't know. It was bad enough with the Ringmaster, and it seemed more and more like making deals with her was playing on easy mode. He sighs.

"I want to see if the Ringmaster can help the corrupted gems."

Put another mark under the 'things that Peridot is extremely startled to hear come out of Steven's mouth' column.

"Uh, not to tear down what I'm sure you think is a very excellent idea, but... You know some of those gems might not exactly be friendly towards Earth, right?" She says, teeth bared in an uncomfortable grimace.

Well god Peridot, when you put it like that anything sounds bad. Steven is momentarily surprised, but ultimately he just ends up sounding more sincere and more desperate.

"But... We can't just leave them like that?" he pleads. "I promised I would..."

She is sympathetic to that sentiment, at least? Corruption is horrifying, something so terrible that she would never have believed in it if she hadn't seen it happen herself. It would help her go about her life a lot more happily if she knew it wasn't a threat anymore.

Peridot groans, looking torn for a moment before she concedes: "Look, it's not a terrible idea at base... I'm just advising that you should be careful with how you phrase that request when you make it. An automatic and broad-reaching cure could wind up causing more problems than it solves."

Okay, well, that's fair... leaving anything strictly to the Ringmaster's execution is a little bit terrifying, because it'd be impossible to gauge the situation as you went along. He can basically agree with her concerns (even if he'd never accept it as a final answer) so he mostly just has to pause to think real hard about it.

"Maybe... I could ask her to give me the power to do it myself?" he asks, tentatively. "I thought... I thought my healing powers might be able to do it before, but it didn't work all the way. Maybe she could make me strong enough?"

"That sounds like a far more reasonable solution," Peridot says, nodding her approval. "Much better than going back home and finding the place overrun with a bunch of ticked off and disoriented quartzes who are all going to want to bash our faces in."

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⇨ WISMUTH

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