⇨ SPACE OLYMPICS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 30 - Day 44
Where: The carnival, Zargon, and Olympic Spaceship
What: Things return back to normal as the carnival performs for aliens of all sorts at the Space Olympics. Or at least, as normal as it can be when you've got an underfunded and falling-apart spaceship hovering over a deadly planet.
Warnings: Sports and people's inability to do them.

REACH FOR THE STARS↴ At first glance, the Space Olympics seem marvelous. Aliens from all over the universe, of all shapes and sizes have joined together in an intergalactic display of teamwork and sportmanship. What could be more inspiring than that? It's only when you hang around for a bit that you notice things aren't exactly in tip-top shape. ► OLYMPIC SPACESHIP: This is where most of the events are held. It's a massive spaceship spanning hundreds of miles and consisting of multiple floors. Teleportation discs and space public transport can take you anywhere on the spaceship in a blink of an eye. It has almost every amenity an athlete can think of: multiple gyms, practice arenas, saunas, etc. Likewise, there are plenty of things for civilians and spectators: merchandise stands, shopping malls, grocery stores, and television screens everywhere so people can watch the event. Shuttles to and from Zargon arrive on a regular basis. ► ZARGON: Facility wise, Zargon itself is less impressive than Olympic Spaceship. The carnival and the athlete's village comprise most of the habitable areas. Both are concealed underneath a large biodome, the main thing making the area livable. Enterprising Zargonites have set up stands that let people explore outside of the biodome. Rent a spacesuit and you too can enjoy Zargon's natural wonders, such as the distant red plateaus and the stunning solar winds. Just try and stay away from the toxic mold, naturally occurring pockets of hallucinogenic gas, and ten foot tall Zargon Death Flytrap. ► 1980s TRAINING MONTAGE: Since carnival members can only attempt to medal in one event, why not try different sports to see what that one event is? There's equipment for all sorts of sports: gymnastics, swimming, biathalon, snowboarding, etc. They've even somehow brought space horses up here for Space Dressage! There's also equipment for sports that carnival members might not have even known existed: Space Gymkata, Space Pooh Sticks, Space Limbo Skating, etc. The sky's the limit! ► A BIT OF A BUDGET SNAFU: The Space Olympics is kind of falling apart. After performance week, the carnival is drafted to help out and keep the Space Olympics running as smoothly as possible. This means fixing buildings, breaking up fights, helping in the kitchen, trying to sell merch, etc. If there's a feasible problem, the carnival members will be drafted to help fix it. The biggest problem of all is the multiple mechanical failures: artificial gravity stops working, temperatures on the ship rapidly shift from hot to cold, and the snow machines for Space Slopestyle won't turn off. ► PERFORMANCE: Performance week will start early this stop, to try and get everyone back into the swing of things after the chaos of Wismuth. Athletes from the village roam the carnival, taking in the sights and sounds. A lot of them haven't ever seen anything like the magic of the carnival and it's workers and will proceed to ask question after question about how all of this works: turns out that sci-fi and fantasy don't crossover as much as one would think. Still, don't be alarmed when you turn the corner and there's a Hutt trying his hand at test your strength.

Comments

9S | OTA

[dressedtothe]

9S hates all of this. Aside from being surrounded by aliens -- something that fills him with wariness and disgust -- the greatest insult is being transformed into the body of some kind of alien biomachine. While he's still mostly mechanical and mostly looks like the human creators he was modelled after -- it feels different, wrong, even Pod 153 has commented on it -- a pair of white, cat-like ears protrude from his skull and a long, fluffy cat tail pokes out from the seat of his pants.

The only thing placating him right now is the technology -- even if it is alien -- out on display or for purchase. Or just plain being given away, in some cases.

9S is wearing a dark grey T-shirt featuring this year's Space Olympics mascot, Johan the Athletic Porg, forced on him after a gigantic alien accidentally ruined the shirt he was wearing by leaking corrosive liquid from their body onto him. 9S was fine but his old shirt... was not.

He can be found kicking around a hacky sack that occasionally seems to spontaneously change direction... potentially into you. Alternatively, he can be found eyeing sign ups for Space Pod Racing as an Independent Athlete. The flying vehicles are different to what he's used to, but how hard can it be, really?

As usual, his tactical support unit hovers around his shoulder.

[OOC: If it isn't apparent already, 9S is a huge alien racist and not about to change his views on it any time soon. If you'd rather not deal with that, let me know and I can try steering the conversation away from it! I can be contacted at jesii for plotting etc.!]

[chronosynthesis]

"Oh--9S," Syrlya raises his hand high to draw attention to himself as he tries to get through to the other Nightrunner while he checks out some of the technology for sale. Although, initially, Syrlya probably isn't very familiar at all--his facial structure is similar, but his body is shaped with more curve and breasts, his skin is some shade of purple and made of flesh, and... well, it's hard to tell what exactly the short tendrils sweeping back on his head are, but they seem to be of the same flesh.

He's figured out by this point that he's something called Asari, and also not terribly like he normally looks. So, when he approaches, he immediately clarifies that. "It's Syrlya. What have you found?"

[dressedtothe]

9S catches the hacky sack turns at the sound of his name and encounters someone with an alien appearance. He might've been more grumpy if it was an actual alien, but the use of his name clearly indicates that it's someone from the Carnival whose shape has been changed.

"Oh, this?" 9S holds up the metallic hacky sack. "It's a simple toy. You're supposed to kick it around and keep it in the air using only your feet. But they've inserted some kind of randomised propulsion device that will activate after a certain number of kicks 'to keep things exciting'."

But more importantly, he has a burning question that needs to be answered immediately.

"Um. Did you just become female?"

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya stares uncomprehending for a moment.

"Oh! You mean my body--" He looks down at himself briefly for confirmation. "Yes, it appears so. I am only passingly familiar with the race I am supposed to be."

Which is not at all, and he's tried to keep conversation with other aliens short as a result. He touches his face. "I think the glamour is a little more... thorough this time. I feel like flesh."

That, frankly, is the disconcerting part to him. He feels so squishy.

[dressedtothe]

9S lets out a snort of laughter. 'I feel like flesh,' isn't a turn of phrase he expected to hear from the sylvari.

Leaning forward, 9S asks, "So what's the experience like? How does it compare to being, er, a plant? Are you enjoying it?" Even if Syrlya is an alien, the scientific part of him can't help but be interested in Syrlya's experience. "Though I suppose it would be hard to enjoy something so alien..."

he has a 'hollow face' i had to-

[betheman]

When it comes to spontaneous directional shifts, Gongenzaka seems to be...unfortunately good at ending up in the way of it. He's fairly large-even now, and how he appears at the moment is actually the cause of the next problem. Not only does it slam into him, but rather-

"KHHH- KOHHH-!"

"Oh-! Noboru, are you choking on something!?"

"KGMNH- That would- Imply this form- breathes, but-" Gongenzaka appears to be accompanied by some sort of 'alien cat'-which can no doubt be identified as his daemon at this point, but what's more key is that he's still going through the motions of someone who just swallowed a chunk of hotdog wrong. It takes a few more 'coughs', before the hacky sack comes launching back out the way it came...

Seemingly no different from before, except a little electrically charged as Gongenzaka himself shakes his head-a motion akin to a disgruntled horse.

"Hffhh..!"

"Well that was something..." The daemon-thing shakes her own head, peering toward 9S for now. "And what was that, anyway..!? Shouldn't you watch where you shoot those?"

[dressedtothe]

Whoops!

At first, 9S doesn't feel too bad about the alien made toy slamming into another alien, but then he hears the 'alien's' name and that changes everything.

9S waits for a bit before gingerly picking up the hacky sack with his gloved hands. Electricity and androids haven't particularly gotten along, and even though he's no longer an android, he can't imagine it would bode particularly well for this mechanical alien body either.

"Sorry, sorry!" He doesn't sound sorry at all. But peering curiously at the alien, cat ears flicking, 9S asks, "You're from the Carnival, right?"

[betheman]

Names are power, or something along those lines, but naturally one can never apparently feel That Bad about harmless static choking that ends in zero injuries.

Then it's just funny. Gongenzaka for his part is still trying to clear his non-existent throat, so Marishi answers in his stead. "We are! It is Marishi and Gongenzaka Noboru, at your service~" she hums in reply, waving a paw. "I suppose we should have expected it to affect daemons..." The 'cat' inspects herself...looking even less suited to her partner than before, now.. "It really is a thorough cover, isn't it..!"

[dressedtothe]

So it is Gongenzaka, like he thought. Though... who the hell's Marishi? He would have thought alien, but juding by her words, she's either a new member of the Carnival he hasn't met, or one of the daemons that still exist sometimes.

"I guess."

His ability to scan people is a little hampered by this form, but at least his hacking powers are still as potent as ever. Ugh. Can they leave yet?

9S makes a sour face as he kicks at the ground, grumpy. "I wonder why it isn't an illusion this time. Don't you find being something else weird?"

[stompadour]

Jasper catches the hacky sack in her awful mouth pincers before it can hit her in the teeth. "Hnnnguh," she says angrily, holding it there in an aggressive grip and casting around for the person responsible for this affront but unable to actually verbalise the threat that she looks very much as though she'd like to make.

[dressedtothe]

Well, the alien catching it before it can really hit her(?) is a damn shame. Though 9S hardly imagines the toy, regardless of the fact it's made of metal, would do that much damage.

Still, it's his hacky sack, even if it was offloaded onto him by a merchant desperately trying to get rid of their stock.

"Hey!" he shouts, shaking a fist. "Give that back!"

He doesn't want alien slobber all over it!

[stompadour]

"Hrrrgn," says Jasper, scowling down at him. She reaches up to remove it from her external fangs, and then bares the teeth behind them as she holds it out towards him -- out of his reach, though. "What is this thing?"

[dressedtothe]

Damn it! Reluctantly, 9S starts to make his way towards the alien.

Instead of answering her question, 9S says, "I said give it back! Are you stupid?"

[kingsroads]

There's really no good way to ask 'hey, so what's up with you and Rita especially when 2B exists, just ignore the fact that I was being a creepy voyeur in the first place'. Still, Strange is going to try and find a way to do so. Because all of this isn't sitting right with him. Not in a 9S and Rita shouldn't be together sort of way, they'd be a good couple. Just in a way where Strange knows he wants to ask for more details...but again, how do you ask for details without revealing the creepy scrying in the first place.

He'll figure it out. Though, as Strange spots 9S and Pod, he realizes he'll have to figure it out faster than expected. 9S isn't the only one with cat ears and a tail: though Strange's are grey and he's got a bit of a kitty snout as well.

"9S!" Strange calls out, with a wave of his hand, as he walks over towards the android. Small talk first, creepy questions later. "This is more your style of thing, isn't it? All this technology, these odd space bits...I've given up trying to understand most of it myself."

[dressedtothe]

9S brightens when he spots Strange but that quickly turns into a scowl when he opens his mouth, ears flattening against his head. "Sure, if this wasn't made by aliens. This whole thing is so pointless."

Grumpy, he scuffs his boots on the floor. It's weird to see Strange as a similarly cat-like alien, though he suspects Strange isn't biomechanical like he is. Does that mean whatever he is was modeled after their cat-like creators? That would make it a mirror of an android's relationship with a human.

A troubling thought.

9S' expression sours some more. "You're better off forgetting about trying to understand them."

[kingsroads]

Is that prejudiced? That's probably prejudiced. But so many people tarred all of the fae with the same 'ugh, fae' sort of brush that it's probably the same with 9S and aliens. Encounter enough bad eggs and you'll start to think it's a race entirely of bad eggs. So, Strange simply shrugs it off.

"I'll try not to understand most of them. I've decided I'm going to compete in one of those events—I'll need to understand my competitors if I'm going to win!" Because man, does he want to win. Forget the fact that he still can't really hold a pool cue with his paws, he wants to kick ass and get a medal.

"Are you competing in anything?"

[dressedtothe]

9S huffs.

"What's the point? We don't even get anything good from competing." Says 9S, immediately after he's signed up to an event. "I'm competing in Space Pod Racing. So, flying an aircraft at high speeds through a set course." It should be easy, even if the technology is unfamiliar. "The craft won't be anything like what we have back home, but..."

He trails off, looking out one of the biodome's transparent panels at the stars outside. The Bunker wasn't really much of a home, but he still misses it, a little.

[sunflowerfields]

It's 9S's lucky day when the hacky sack zooms off towards a horrible tentacle monster and sticks right to its gross appendages.

"Oops!" Hinawa gasps and holds up the little ball. "I think you may have dropped this!"

[dressedtothe]

9S' face immediately sours when he sees the hacky sack get stuck to a digusting alien. It has a minor resemblance to the aliens he saw on Earth, too. Ugh. Stupid alien toy, why did it have to fling itself like that!

But now that the alien's got weird goo all over it, he doesn't want it any more...

"You can keep it."

[sunflowerfields]

"Oh, but I couldn't! It belongs to you!" The monster oozes closer, holding out one slimy tentacle to hand the ball back...!

[dressedtothe]

9S takes a step back. And another. ...And another.

Ugh, could these aliens get any more disgusting? "Who'd want the thing after you touched it?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita isn't easily recognized in her current, faceless form, though her stature and blastia may give her away. 9S, on the other hand, catches her attention as soon as she lays eyes on him and the pod, though she can't help but take a few seconds to admire the cat ears.

Lucky. If they actually got to choose which aliens they'd resemble, Rita probably would've wanted something like that.

Well, things could be worse.

"Hey, Nines," Rita calls as she approaches, her voice recognizable despite a mild reverb as it echoes through her entire body, instead of through a mouth. She approaches and stops next to him, following his gaze to see what he's up to. "Thinking about competing?"

[dressedtothe]

9S knows it's a Carnival member the moment he's greeted with his name and the voice is definitely familiar -- there's no way he wouldn't recognise Rita's voice -- so when he turns, there's small smile on his face rather than the usual expression of disgust whenever he sees an alien addressing him.

After all, Rita is Rita, regardless of the form she's in. She called me Nines!

...Though he would prefer the appearance he's more familiar with.

"Hey Rita," he greets in return before looking back at the sign-ups for Space Pod Racing. "Maybe. The vehicles are nothing like the Flight Units back home, but it'd be nice to take the opportunity to try flying one, even if it is alien technology."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita doesn't quite catch his derision towards the alien part of the equation.

Casually, she says, "Seems like it'd be a cinch for you. You were able to figure out my blastia in a matter of seconds, and that's basically alien technology, right?" At least, to someone from Earth.

Also... flight units? This is the first Rita's heard of those, and her interest is immediately piqued. That's right... a world as advanced as his probably has all kinds of high-tech vehicles.

[dressedtothe]

What? No! 9S' ears perk up in surprise, tail curling upwards before it twitches side to side.

"Your blastia isn't alien," he insists. Surely not? "The core's biological, but the technological part is made by humans, isn't it? Not from some race invading from space."