lostcarnival | well, i think i see another side, maybe [OPEN]

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well, i think i see another side, maybe [OPEN]

Who: June and YOU!
When: Day 28
Where: the trailer park, the medical tent, Around
What: Mom has arrived! Come say hello. Maybe bring one of those molded jello trays. Everyone loves those.

The last thing June was expecting when wandering into a carnival she hadn’t heard was coming to town was to get tricked into some kind of arcane contract by a mysterious being, but then, last week she’d been kidnapped in the trunk of a transforming alien sports car, so these days, she doesn’t really know what to expect. She is pretty annoyed about the part where she’d been manipulated into it, and if it weren’t for the promise that she’d be returned home afterward...well, she doesn’t know how solid that guarantee really is, but she doesn’t have much choice but to trust the Ringmaster right now. It’s not that June is opposed to a little adventure now and then, but she has responsibilities. Jack doesn’t exactly have a dad anymore, and while the Autobots have proven to be dedicated guardians, he still needs his mother. That’s what June’s telling herself, and it’s true — but if she were honest, the prospect of going an entire year without seeing her only son is...a little bit of a difficult one.

She’ll make do while she’s here, though, and they’re apparently in need of medical staff, and that’s something she can do. As long as she’s able to help people, keep busy, she’ll be alright. She hopes the people around here are at least a little less...eccentric than the Ringmaster seems to be.

backyard
June is doing her best to settle into her trailer — she doesn’t have much with her, but she’s trying to at least make it feel cozy. Mostly so far it feels more...dorm-y, which simultaneously makes her feel both younger and older than her actual age. Hopefully in the near future she'll have more of a chance to collect some decor, plant some flowers, make this place feel a little more homey -- but for now, it'll do. Well, the mailbox is a little crooked, but she can fix that.

"Home sweet home," she sighs wryly, righting the mailbox and stepping back to have a look at her trailer, just to take it all in. It's a lot to take in. After a moment, the mailbox lists to the side again with a squeak.

Ah, well.

medical tent
Seeing as this is where she'll be working, June might as well familiarize herself with the medical facilities. Well...what facilities they have to speak of, anyway. She wasn't exactly expecting a fully-outfitted emergency ward, but she was sort of envisioning something more than...a tent. Well, she'll make do -- she always does, and she's got enough experience to make up for it.

She hasn't met the doctor yet -- West, she's pretty sure his name is -- but she's glad there is a doctor on staff, at least. (Later, when she finally meets him, she will retract that statement.) He's got a little office partitioned off in here, and while June is ordinarily the 'respect other people's privacy' type, she is definitely having a little look around, just to see what they've got to work with.

June hasn't met any of the other staff yet either, and she isn't exactly set up to work, but hey, she's still in her scrubs, and if anyone comes in needing treatment, she'll do her best to help them.

[ feel free to hit me up at

runawayballista if you'd like to plan something else! ]

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The handshake is a little awkward, but it's not too bad. Maybe a high five would have been better? Hm. June blinks at him.

"You were human? So, er...what happened, exactly?"

"I am human," he insists, getting that foot back on the ground with a bit of relief. He can stand on one leg for quite a while, but he's out of practice at doing that while using his other as an arm. It always means holding himself differently than usual. "It's a really long story and involves aliens. Perhaps another time? All that needs saying is I can show a more human face too, these days, but I'm always going to also be a bird."

His powers and backstory are both things that take a lot of explaining and it's just better to leave them for a different encounter. "Really I wanted to ask if you've had the chance to look around and know where to go! There's a specific place where we do laundry, and the Wardrobe Tent can outfit you with all the basic clothing you need. You are absolutely not limited to what you came here wearing," he says with a delicate shudder of his head and neck. Julien's something of a clotheshorse and can't imagine just washing and wearing the same outfit for a year. "Come see us anytime! Anything reasonable, we can get you."

"Oh," June says, with a mixture of confusion, understanding, and sympathy. Aliens she can understand, sort of, but turning people into birds?? Good lord, she has a lot to learn here. But she's happy to let the topic slide since Julien clearly doesn't want to go into it right now.

"I'm still getting settled in," she admits with a slightly helpless smile. "I wouldn't mind a bit of a tour, if you're offering. I, er...I could definitely stand to get out of these scrubs, at the very least."

"I'd love to show you around! I could give you the aerial tour, but honestly it's better to see things on foot, at least at first." He makes that part of the offer half-playfully. Julien is absolutely large enough to fly carrying someone, but it's a weird thing for most people to contemplate, and possibly scary.

He nods. "Oh, well, why don't I show you to Wardrobe, first off? You could pick out some things for the next few days, and we can work out more than that when you've had a chance to settle in some more. Or you can just come by whenever to pick up something new, we'll be happy to oblige! I swear there's a department store's worth of individual articles in there, and we've got some great sewing machines, so it's easy enough to alter to fit."

Some members of Wardrobe actually design and make clothes out of whole actual cloth, and there's quite a bit of that around too, but Julien's better at and more inclined to just tailoring things.

"Yes, I think I'd rather keep my feet on the ground for now," June admits wryly, clasping her hands behind her back. "Wardrobe sounds like a nice first stop. I'm kind of curious. I mean, I didn't think I'd be stuck in these scrubs forever, but it sounds like you've got a whole boutique operation here. It's...kind of comforting, actually."

"Cool. I may be dressing it up a bit, we're more loose and informal than that, and of course, price isn't generally an issue. But we do have a lot of stuff!" He starts back towards the big top. "We also handle the costuming for the performers, which takes a lot of time and energy, but even when we're preoccupied with that there's stocks of premades in various sizes."

Yesterday there was the big plot concert out in Wismuth, and that had meant prepping some people to attend, and without the Supervisor it had been something of a headache. But the nice thing about Cinder Sprites is you can just get them to clean up after you and hopefully they haven't put things away in the wrong places.

"May I ask after your fashion tastes? I'm... well, this body pretty much counts as fully clothed already." He's got some kind of scarfy garment slung around his neck, just for the look of it. "What kind of look are you after? We've got scrubs, but we can absolutely get more informal styles that may or may not still have great pockets."

June looks down at her day-old scrubs and lets out a laugh. "If I'm totally honest, this kind of is my look, but I think I'm due for another one. Pockets are definitely a must, though," she says with a very straight-faced nod. "But I guess...I don't know, something casual and comfortable? I don't suppose you've got a good pair of jeans and a sweater in the racks somewhere?"

"Absolutely! In any colors you want." He opens his beak a few degrees, head angled so that it looks more like he's smiling. "And any thickness for the sweater. The weather here in the Carnival is pretty consistent, it gets a bit cooler than this at night but not all that cold. But we stop at colder places sometimes, and please come get warmer clothes when we do, the last time I kept finding people freezing in their normal clothes and having to steer them back here."

Here they are. It's a tent, like most of the structures here. The friendly-puffed feathers on Julien's head and neck subside and then pull closer to his skin, making him look sleeker and a bit smaller. In his bird form he's picked up a degree of claustrophobia and the windowless tent makes him uncomfortable. He ducks and pushes through the opening anyway.

Inside it's pretty well lit, if darker than the sun outside. The ceiling is high and it's a large space, though it feels smaller due to the way cloth muffles sound. The biggest clear area is here near the entrance, set up like a waiting room with chairs, a hot plate and a kettle and tea bags, and a wooden mannequin. The space is surrounded with impromptu changing rooms, scaffolds draped with cloth that can clearly be arranged to enclose someone. Past that it's got a sense of controlled chaos to it. Bolts of cloth, sewing machines, several cluttered workstations, rack after rack of containers for thread and buttons and all kinds of similar things, an elaborate gleaming device, and warehouse-like shelving with countless items on hangars or folded on shelves and in stacks.

"As you can see we've got kind of a setup," Julien says, surveying the space. "Do you want me to bring you some options, or should I just take you in? As you can see there's a lot of stuff, and our organization system is a little baroque."

Edited 2018-03-18 16:52 (UTC)

Controlled chaos is something June finds oddly comforting, whether it's in an emergency room or an esoteric carnival boutique. She takes a good long moment to take in everything around her, and then lets out a little breath. God, this is weird. But Julien's proving to be a pretty even-keel tour guide, which she really appreciates right now.

"You know, I don't think I've needed actual cold-weather clothing in a really long time. I live in a small town in a very large desert. It doesn't really get cold." She tucks her hands into her scrubs pockets and smiles, nodding to the vast, colorful jumble that is the inside of the wardrobe tent. "I'd appreciate the nickel tour, please. I think I'm better off with a guide."

This is not super what Julien wants to hear - being among the shelves in that more confined space is not going to be fun - but he's not sure how weird it would be to excuse himself so he can drag his human body out to take over. He's not sure June knows about the changes yet.

Well, he can handle it. "All right then! Just this way... so, okay, blue jeans are a pretty popular pants style..."

This probably takes a while. Julien offers his back to carry any clothing June wants to take to the front and try and does his best to hide his growing discomfort, keeping his voice relaxed and peppy, but his feathers are held close to his body and his neck is higher than outside. As things go on he shifts on his feet more, moves his closed wings around, and preens his neck and shoulders in rapid little strokes. He also starts manifesting eyes when he doesn't think she can see - a point of faint light forms floating in the air, stretches out into a line, and opens into a floating blue birdlike eye ringed in that same light, which when she starts to turn back closes and fades.

June starts to regret asking for the tour once she notices how uncomfortable Julien is, realizing she's misstepped a little. He's so very polite about it, too, and she tries not to take too long sorting through clothes -- she can always come back here later, now that she knows where it is. She gathers up a few pairs of jeans and folded sweaters and starts to turn back to Julien.

"You know, I think this is just fine for -- " She blinks at the fading eye, not quite sure she actually just saw it or if it was some weird trick of the light. "What was that?"

Julien keeps thinking that he really should fish out his other body, even if it would be rude to wander off for a few minutes here, and considerably worse if he did it in June's presence.

Then she notices one of his eyes before it's totally gone and he makes a cough sound. "Ah. Sorry, that's something I picked up on a previous stop. Here."

He forms another spectral eye in plain view, just sort of hanging there. "I'm sorry, they kind of creep people out, but they're harmless, honest! If I don't have any appear for too long they sort of start up." Especially when he's anxious, fearful, curious, feeling any emotion where extra eyes might be useful.

"No, it's alright, I was just -- surprised." Okay, yes, she was a little spooked, but June puts a hand to her chest with a rueful smile. Julien's been nothing but a good host so far, but she feels like she's not quite repaying it in kind. "I didn't mean to stare, I'm just...very aware of how new I am here right now. I thought I knew everything after meeting giant alien robots, but I obviously still have a lot to learn."

"Hey, it's cool." He's still anxious about being in here - it's too close, he can't spread his wings without hitting things, he can't even turn around in the aisle between shelves without knocking things over, all sound is baffled by the walls of the tent, it's manifestly not being trapped underground and he has to keep breathing slowly and cataloging the scents to remind himself of that - but he works to push warmth and friendliness into his voice. Julien likes people, and likes taking care of and supporting them, and that always makes him feel steadier. "This place is really weird and you learn to accept only what you've already run into, right? I'd definitely stare at giant alien robots, and I even have more eyes than normal to do it with!"

He closes the one extra eye he's got out and opens it again, a sort of low-key wink. "Honestly I think you're doing great, and if you want to freak out somewhere about it that's also cool. I've done my share of that. There's all these layers of things getting weird here. It might help to remember all the things that are the same, too, the normal stuff. We're all new at some point, please don't feel ashamed about that."

June smiles a little sheepishly. She thinks she's probably lucked out, meeting someone this warm and hospitable right off the bat, and it does ease some of the tension out of her. If she can't get normalcy, friendliness is the next best comfort.

"That's very kind of you. I think my brain's still on a delay, so I think the freakout is probably coming later, so, uh, rain check?" She laughs a little. "There's not a whole lot that's the same here for me, but...I'll keep it in mind. What about you, though? Is any of this..." She waves at the wardrobe tent around them and beyond. "Familiar to you?"

He dips his head.

"Well." Part of him really wants to ask with some emotion if she can wait until they're outside, he has to keep from opening eyes pointing in every direction just checking that the shelves and the ceiling are stationary. Julien does his best to step on those feelings. "Mostly just in a general sense. But you know, when I became this bird, the world didn't change but my place in it did; people didn't change, but the way they reacted to me did. Very dramatically! What helped me was that I still needed to get the really mundane things done. I couldn't eat the same but I still needed to stock food and prepare it, or try. I still had to get things clean, including me. Laundry was still a thing even if pants weren't. Do you know what I mean? Normalcy is fluid, it fills the space given to it, and I've always found that kind of comforting."

There's not really space to shake himself here and try to release some tension. Some forwards momentum will make it more bearable. The eye closes and fades as he walks forwards and pokes some folded terrycloth with his beak. "Bathrobe? And something to sleep in - pajamas, maybe? We can nab them on the way back to the front."

Normalcy is fluid. That's a helpful thing to hear right now, and June smiles a little. "Alright, sure. But I think my shopping list can end at bathrobe and pajamas. It'll be plenty to carry back, I'm sure. And I don't quite have your wingspan."

It's meant to be a joke, even if kind of a lame one, but she smiles anyway. It's not hard to tell that Julien was more comfortable outside, in the open air, and at any rate, she thinks she might need a little air herself. The normalcy of clothes shopping is still competing with the sheer disorientation of...everything.

Julien trembles his tail in a polite 'laugh', and tips his head. "Who does? I can carry a lot, no fear. Not packhorse level, but not bad either, it's not as tiresome as carrying things in my arms. If I was better at stairs and doorways I'd be very sought after for moving day!" He's got powers for that, and honestly carrying cloth on his back requires a bit of tying down because his feathers are soft and slippery, but he can bear a lot of weight.

He appreciates that she seems to be picking up on his discomfort without pointing it out. It wouldn't take long to pick out the basic forms of the items he mentioned and then he can be free! Julien's not sure if deliberately going into places that feel tight is helping with the new-ish claustrophobia issue. If only he could ask someone. That he could just ask someone is not something that occurs to him, because this is Julien.

"So, have you met your trailermate yet? Did you get one of the empties?"

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well, i think i see another side, maybe [OPEN]

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