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

June | OTA

[milkruns]

June's not really the 'party irresponsibly' type; she's usually painfully responsible, because somebody's gotta be. But the last few days have been, uh...well, she thinks 'earth-shaking' is a fair description, and she's still reeling from the fact that she won't see home or her son for a year, and really, honestly, right now, she could use a drink.

The fireworks she'll eye warily from a distance, but the bonfire is warm and inviting and is giving off a sort of comforting vibe, like a college party she's way too old for but somehow found herself at anyway. She spends a little bit of time hanging around semi-awkwardly, feeling oddly out of her element, before she decides to hell with it, and grabs some of that wine going around before it's all gone.

She doesn't drink a lot, and it kind of shows in how quickly she slips into a tipsy mood -- a little more prone to laughter, a little more honest, and a little more pliable. If you wanted to get to know June without her polite friendly neighbor face on, then this is the time, and she's happy to accept any offered drinks once she's gotten going, provided it's, you know. Not too suspicious.

But for the first time in a while, June is determined to do something fun. She's also a little more willing than usual to do something stupid. Sometimes those things are synonymous.

[dontpokethat]

It's cool, June, certain people around here are willing to be responsible adults in your place. And it's only partly because their go-to way to deal with stress is by giving themselves more work.

Ginko is taking a moment to ruffle up Miu's fluff and shake some of the sand out of it, and takes note that there's someone around who he doesn't recognize from the Carnival. "Hey. You just sign on?"

[milkruns]

Aw, Ginko. Relatable. It's probably a good thing that June doesn't have much work to do just yet.

He's strange-looking, but so is everyone else here and she's starting to get used to that. But she's also had a couple of drinks so while she's kind of staring, it's mostly interested staring. "Me? Oh, yes, just a few days ago. I'm June." She gives him a bright smile and extends a hand. Okay, so she's still a little neighborly.

[dontpokethat]

He's pretty used to the staring - even from before ending up here. In a way, being just one of many people getting stared at whenever someone new shows up is a nice change.

He can also definitely handle neighborly. He reaches out to shake her hand, and smiles back, though he can't muster much in the way of enthusiasm. It's genuine, anyway. "Ginko. Nice to meet you."

[milkruns]

"And it's a pleasure to meet you too, Ginko." Except he seems less than jazzed about it. Maybe he's not a party-going kind of guy? He seems alright, though. And then Miu catches her eye, and she's definitely never seen anything like that, but it is extremely cute. "Oh, and who's this little guy?"

[dontpokethat]

'Not a party-going kind of guy' is probably a good summary.

Ginko smiles down at his Pokemon, and gives her fluff one last ruffle before letting her go. Rather than darting off right away, though, she opts to stick around for the moment and shuffle around to investigate June. "Miu. She's a Spewpa - a kind of animal from a world we visited a while back."

[milkruns]

"How cute!" You know what's a great distraction from the weird existential paradigm shift of being consigned to work in a magical traveling carnival? Adorable animals. June crouches, holding a hand out for Miu to...sniff? Probably sniff. "I guess you get to see some pretty interesting things working here, huh?"

[dontpokethat]

Seems to Ginko like as good a way of coping as any. And Miu is very cute, so that's convenient.

The little Pokemon scoots forward, and definitely seems to sort of examine June's hand. Actually, after a moment, she bumps her face against it a couple times, as if there might be some hidden treats there for her to find. Ginko huffs and pats Miu before standing upright again. "Definitely interesting, yeah. A lot of people around here have some kind of pet they've picked up on the way, one way or another - and that's just the ones the employees own, not the Carnival-owned menagerie."

[milkruns]

A headbutt from an adorable Pokémon is actually kind of exactly what June needed right now, and it shows on her face as she laughs and opens her regrettably empty hand for Miu.

"It's nice you get to keep some things for yourself here, then." June straightens up, plucking her clothes back into place. "What was the last place like?"

[dontpokethat]

"The Ringmaster tries to make sure we can pick up souvenirs and the like when possible." Sometimes those souvenirs happen to be living animals that took a liking to them.

That, though... for a moment, Ginko isn't even sure how to answer that. "It was... pretty interesting." Good start. "We ended up in this city by something called a 'Pillar of Creation' that amplified what we sensed."

...Including unwanted romantic feelings for close friends, but, you know, that's. Fine. Anyway, the vibrancy effect seems like a good way to ease into talking about Wismuth.

[motivenotfound]

'Sometimes' they're synonymous?

Oh, June. You do need to loosen up.

That said, Mari isn't really big on the company of adults. This has nothing to do with her teenage appearance--it's just the way adults think about the world, and treat the world, how inflexible they are about their selves.

The whole 'responsible adult' thing is so tiresome.

Responsible for what?

Anyway, that's why she shoots June in the back of the head with an eyeball.

Yes, an eyeball. She has a gun that shoots eyeballs.

Splat.

[milkruns]

Alright, so June might be a little looser after a drink or two, but when something connects with the back of her head she still jumps a little, and reaches around to touch it and...oh. It's wet and squishy?? And then she pulls it out of her hair to look at it and...oh. Okay. That's an eyeball???? June is used to a certain level of gruesomeness, but even so, she stares at it, and then she locates the one person around here holding a gun and stares at her. June looks fucking appalled.

[motivenotfound]

Well, she has time to decide which eye or eyes she wants to stare at, because with a spaghetti-strap tanktop and a cat-eared umbrella resting against a shady tree, Mari has about a score of them visible on the front half of her body to choose from.

She tips the gun back by her ear--like a Western cowboy in an old pre-Second Impact film--and smiles.

[milkruns]

June stares a little more, specifically at...all of those eyes, wow, that sure is a lot. She stares at the eye in her hand again and then finally drops it with a barely suppressed shudder.

"Please tell me this eye came from -- never mind. I don't want to know. Why are you shooting eyeballs at people?"

She manages to sound very much Demanding Mom despite being still very appalled. Why!!! Why is the big fucking question.

[motivenotfound]

Don't worry, June! The eyeballs are magic, and come from magic--although there's also no shortage of eyeballs in and on Mari personally. She studies June for a moment, then lowers the gun at her again, taking aim.

"How am I supposed to know what questions to answer if you immediately recant them like that? Okay, think fast!"

She aims, she fires.