just gotta ignite the light and let it shine

[whattaprick]

Who: Everyone who's stupid enough to show up for this, because legal drinking ages are for people from a different century/planet.
When: Afternoon/Evening, Day 30
Where: Lakeshore
What: Local Carnival workers get wasted and set off fireworks by the lake.
Warnings: Carnival shenanigans, ie. booze, drugs, and people getting set on fire probably. Put any tag-specific warnings in your headers!

So, Wismuth happened.

Lambert's pretty willing to bet a good chunk of the Carnival is pretty happy to act like Wismuth didn't happen, but he also doesn't really care about what sorrows people are drowning or not tonight: he knows he needed this drink, and after he'd slept off the immediate exhaustion that came with running around Wismuth for nearly two weeks with the power of Creation more or less constantly burning through him, he's ready to something, anything to feel like himself again.

Fast-forward to the lakeshore. There's a huge bonfire going, a box of assorted fireworks that's been 'liberated' from wherever the hell engineering keeps their supplies, and probably a crate of wine that's going to disappear sooner rather than later. Anything else, someone's going to have to bring themselves.

[ ooc: This is a mingle log! Bring your own entertainment, food, questionable substances etc. ]

Comments

[periphrasing]

"Uh, I was trying to destroy those you know," Peridot sighs, looking sour. Sorry Amethyst, she's a failure snack maker and everything is terrible.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst pushes the back of a hand over her mouth and looks at Peridot in surprise. She can tell she's less than pleased.

"What? How come?"

[periphrasing]

"Apparently, according to all the humans, they're disgusting," the engineer growls, shoving another firework into the pipe and then cramming fried zucchini in on top of it. "Abominations! So I'm culling them."

[drrdrrdrr]

"Aww, what," says Amethyst, scrambling over with renewed urgency. "No way, they're great!" She gives Peridot a genial shoulder punch. "These guys just don't know how to have fun."

[periphrasing]

Peridot at least tries to put on something of an appreciative smile, glancing at Amethyst briefly. But her eyes cast back downwards, and she sighs. "I suppose... But they're the whole reason I wanted to make these things in the first place. So if they're not enjoying them, then what's the point?"

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst's shoulders sag a little. Peridot does kind of have a point.

"I guess..." She frowns. "Well... If you're gonna shoot 'em out a cannon, we should get a better cannon."

[periphrasing]

Peridot stares. Blinks, comprehension dawning slowly... and then grins.

"I think I'm picking up what you're putting down," she snickers, beaming, assuming that Amethyst means they go get a certain treasure from Atlantis and bring it to this party.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst grins back at her, extremely glad to have lifted the mood some.

"Wait here," she says, and gives her a VERY furtive peck on the cheek before hurrying off to retrieve exactly what Peridot is assuming she's talking about: she's back in a few minutes with the wrecked ship's cannon held over her head with both hands, and she plonks it down heavily next to where Peridot's got the fireworks all set up.

"TA DA."

[periphrasing]

STILL grinning, Peridot literally prances on the spot while cackling softly like a delighted gremlin. "Perfect, it's PERFECT!" She scampers over and puts both hands on it, running them across the rusted metal surface. "So how does this contraption work??"

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst beams. Getting Peridot out of a funk is always the best feeling? Even if...

"Uhh, honestly I dunno, I was kinda hoping you'd be able to figure that out."

[periphrasing]

"Hmmm," she hums, walking around and peering into the muzzle end of it. "I would assume it's not too different from the piping I've been using to launch the fireworks, in theory... But are you supposed to just shove it into one end to make it work?"

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst hops up to sit on the barrel of the cannon, watching as Peridot examines it. "I guess? I think there's supposed to be, like, a fuse in the back?"

I actually had to google how cannons work for this tag fuck me

[periphrasing]

"A fuse?" Peridot scampers over to look, but finds... nothing? The material for it must have decayed in the salt water environment that they pulled this thing from.

She leans back from the cannon and grumbles, tapping her foot thoughtfully. "There's nowhere to load it from back here... Which leads me to conclude that it needs to be loaded from the front end. HOWEVER... The muzzle on it is much too long. We'll need some sort of tool to push the ammunition into place with."

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst, who has had some experience with functioning cannons, immediately shapeshifts into a purple ramrod with a face on it. "Try this!" she says, from where she's fallen onto the floor without any limbs to keep her up.

[periphrasing]

Peridot, who has plenty of experience with Amethyst shapeshifting herself into what would otherwise normally be inanimate objects, only stares for about a second before she bends down, picks her up, and turns her attention back to the cannon.

"Let's see," she muses, looking absolutely ridiculous standing in front of this gigantic old-timey massive GUN with Amethyst in one hand and a fire cracker in the other. She places the firework in first, and then an over-salted, deep-fried head of cabbage in front of it.

Whmp whmp whmp. She tamps both components into the back end of the muzzle, and after a few... thrusts... pauses with Amethyst still shoved inside the thing. "How's it looking?" she asks loudly.

[drrdrrdrr]

"It's shoved in pretty good!" yells Amethyst, heavily muffled. It is really tempting to eat both the cabbage and the firework, though.

[periphrasing]

Amethyst gets pulled back out before she gets a chance to give into that temptation. Peridot rests the end of her that doesn't have a face against the ground, leaning on her a little like a farmer might lean on a pitchfork or something.

"Now we just need to figure out a safe way to light it," she says thoughtfully. "And, which direction we want to shoot it in."

[drrdrrdrr]

"I got an idea," says Amethyst, shapeshifting back to normal but doing it so she's sitting on the floor rather than standing up, so that Peridot can continue leaning on her head without moving at all. "How about... you shoot it straight into my mouth. It'll be like target practice."

[periphrasing]

Peridot stares, brow furrowing with concern. "Okay I'd have to run some numbers to say this with absolute certainty, but I'd estimate that there is about a ninety-three-point-three-three percent chance that you would explode if we tried that," she says flatly.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Aw, c'monnn," says Amethyst, making the expression in this specific icon. "I bet it'll be fine! I'll just regenerate if it isn't, anyway."

[periphrasing]

"What if I hit your gem?" she says skeptically, looking worried. "It's midway between both of your mouths, there isn't even a better one to aim at!"

She's self conscious of the fact that she's kind of being a worry wart but, also, there's a pretty high chance of this going badly!

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst sags in disappointment, which is bad news for Peridot if she's still leaning on her head. "It's not like it's an actual cannonball..."

[periphrasing]

She is, but she just kind of bends at the waist and goes down with her. "No, but it still has explosive force. I could still aim it straight upwards, and you can see how many bits you can grab before they hit the ground?" she suggests, hoping for a compromise.

Sorry Amethyst, we just got through an event where everyone was in mortal peril for a large chunk of time! Peridot has had enough excitement for the time being.