⇨ 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

[criticallyfucked]

Foster blinks. He looks at the duck--one of its eyes is almost rubbed out, its painted beak pitted with the predations of tide and time. It's definitely seen better days. When he squeezes it experimentally, it makes a pathetic deflating sound and dribbles seawater out of its bottom.

He's definitely keeping it.

There's no good way to say that, though, so he doesn't say anything back; whatever he was going to say is lost when he takes the time to actually sit up and immediately comes to regret his time spent horizontal. His entire back is coated in a solid layer of wet, crusty sand.

"Jesus Christ. Fuck me." It's in his... it's in his hair, he can feel it in his scalp and at the base of his neck.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst laughs at him, like the kind and supportive older sister she is.

"Way to go, dude. You know there's only one way to get that off, right?"

[criticallyfucked]

Foster actually laughs with her; he wholly approves of people laughing at him. Being the butt of the joke--or just being the joke is the only humour he enjoys.

He has no idea what she means about 'only one way,' though, and stops long enough to give her a questioning side-eye.

[drrdrrdrr]

She doesn't explain -- just scoops him up with one hand under his knees and one at his sand-crusted back and -- "Hup!" -- runs out a few steps into the ocean and tosses him in.

[criticallyfucked]

Welp.

Foster is given no chance to protest, and frankly doesn't fully grasp what's happening to him in time anyway--one second he's standing on the beach, itchy and sandy and salty, and the next he's not standing at all, because he's just in Amethyst's arms(!), and then--

And then he has full awareness of sailing through the air, just in time to see the ocean getting closer as he drops like a fuckin' stone and disappears underwater with a truly impressive splash.

Like, the kind of splash that might imply Amethyst had thrown a horse, maybe.

wtf i SWEAR i thought i tagged this

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst laughs so hard she has to put a hand on her knee to keep herself from doubling over. There's just something about the horse-sized impact when the glamour has Foster looking like a regular scrawny-ass dude.

A second later, though, it occurs to her to be concerned at how hard he's just sunk, and she drops all the stuff she's collected on the beach so she can hoof it after him into the waves.

STORY OF MY LIFE TBH

[criticallyfucked]

Foster can't swim.

This isn't really news, and it has nothing to do with the 80% horse attachment to his lower torso. He just never learned how as a child, possibly because of where he lived, possibly because his parents were having a hard enough time getting him to find the bus stop regularly.

It's strange, though; being underwater is... calming. Engulfing, in the most literal kind of way, like being swallowed by something powerful and absolute. It's also quiet, or quieter. The impact followed by silence... it's a little like the last few seconds of dying.

At least until he hits the bottom, which he definitely does.

It hurts.

[drrdrrdrr]

A second later Amethyst is hauling him up out of the water like someone scooping up a big baby, even though she's significantly shorter than him and he has most of a horse instead of legs.

"What the heck, dude!" She is kind of laughing, though.

[criticallyfucked]

Sorry, Amethyst, Foster is having trouble laughing--or talking--over the sound of his own near-drowning. He's coughing, sputtering and intermittently horking up bile and seawater onto himself; it's just a shame the glamour is there, because it's depriving the world of all four ridiculusly-long equine legs flailing in the air like the world's most pointless giant spider.

But once he gets quarter-breath of air into his lungs--

He finds his own narrowly-averted demise hilarious. A lot more than... well, what's normal for that? Who knows.

It takes more than a quarter breath before he can make words, though.

[drrdrrdrr]

"You dingus," says Amethyst, rolling her eyes as she hauls him back to where the water isn't. "I thought you were gonna float! Y'know, like a regular person!"