lostcarnival | ⇨ SPACE OLYMPICS

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⇨ SPACE OLYMPICS

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

a

In some ways, Shura's fortunate. Her glamoured disguise leaves her in a humanoid shape, so she doesn't have to learn an entirely new way of getting around. On the other hand, she's not really fond of being in any form but her own, so she won't be sticking around Zargon for long. Or, at least, she didn't plan on sticking around for long. Before she can successfully make a break for it, there's someone shoving a bunch of ~~crap~~ merchandise in her arms and tell her to move the stuff to Arena B.

"Oi--wait! I ain't a worker here!"

Maybe if they realize how much she complains they won't make her work?? But alas, the guy's already moving on to assign duties to the next poor fool.

b

Shura hadn't signed up for the intergalactic version of Wipeout, but apparently taking advantage of the FREE BEVERAGES sign was the same thing as volunteering for the event, and she finds her intoxicated ass being forcefully escorted to the starting line.

In spite of the the fact that she's way past her usual levels of inebriation and the fact that she quite frankly does not care about winning a medal here in outer space, Shura's doing pretty well for herself. Maybe it's luck, maybe she watched too much Takeshi's Castle or something, maybe she doesn't want to get trampled by the Rhino Alien coming up behind her, but whatever the reason, she's keeping with the head of the pack. At least until that very last obstacle, a slippery cliff that probably requires a few more limbs to climb. She tries once, twice, and on that third time she finally just gives up. Screw it. It's so not worth it. She doesn't want a medal, medals are stupid. She'll just... lay there for the rest of the race. That's the best option, obviously.

In the end, surviving the Space Drunken Obstacle Course™ was the easy part. The hard part is getting back to the carnival. Drunker than an intergalactic space skunk and trying to make her way through a open corridor with the artificial gravity on the fritz, she's having a little bit of difficulty. Even when the little gravity situation is solved, she's still limping and stumbling around on her own two feet.
~~help her please~~

Edited 2018-04-04 17:00 (UTC)

Shura needs help. Cole's got this. Unfortunately, Cole looks like a Dalek and can't really do much to offer a hand for Shura. Still, he's a big metal...thing? Anyway, he's large and he's stable and has a silly little plunger arm for her to grab onto.

They'll just figure out the rest later.

Cole whirs up to Shura, stopping behind her as she limps and stumbles and flops around. "Take my arm," he says. There's a bit of a robotic filter to Cole's voice but the intent sounds genuine enough. "I can't do much but I want to help. It'll steady you."

Shura does need help. A lot of help. Probably more help than just one paid professional can offer, but she's managing. Mostly. Kinda. She still hasn't fallen over, though she's just about to when she hears something behind her. Reacting in a drunken instant, she swears, pivoting on her heel. Except pivoting makes it sound like she's moving in a controlled and agile way. No, she's flailing, reaching and grabbing at anything as she stumbles over herself, which means she will take Cole by his little Dalek arm. Once it's in her hand, she has to stop, stare hard at the machine in front of her. These didn't look real. This was some cheesy prop or something. But still, she's clinging to him for the second, afraid of falling to the floor.

"This ain't yer arm!" It's his nose, obviously. It's too hard to figure out what's underneath the glamour, feeling her head spinning as she tries to focus. Ugggh, she might puke.

And Cole stays where he is as Shura grabs his arm and holds on tight. He gives Shura a look of his own, as his eyestalk looks her over. Yep. She's drunk. "It's my arm here," Cole explains, as if that makes sense.

There were teleporters to the village, near the carnival. Hopefully one of those might be working. Because otherwise...Cole's got a feeling that if Shura goes on a shuttle to the carnival, she'll puke all over the floor. He's dealt with drunks before, he's metaphorically held back people's hair, and he knows that the human body is capable of holding a surprising amount of vomit.

"Come on," Cole says, as he slowly whirrs forward. He thinks he knows where a teleporter is on this floor. That would be best. "I'll help you home."

Shura's not drunk. She's trashed. Which is why she can't just let this arm thing drop, even as Cole tries to move on and try and take her somewhere better to inevitably puke. She's not budging. There's a point to prove.

"Nuh-uh, it's yer nose. I know whadda nose looks like, and this izza nose." To illustrate, she'll move her grip to the tip of his little plunger arm, squeezing the end. "See? Nose!"

Likely, noses aren't super important for robots, but it's still probably pretty rude. Whatever, she's pretty well distracted by this point. What was she doing here, anyway? He couldn't take her home even if he was the sweetest robot in existence, she was stuck at the carnival because of that dumb contract.

.....what the hell is he supposed to do here. See, Cole's strategy for helping out trashed people involves the use of his arms and his legs. As he currently doesn't have things like 'fingers', this is making the strategy so southward fast. He doesn't really react as Shura squeezes the plunger arm...though it's odd how a robot with no face can radiate uncomfortableness.

"I don't have a nose," he points out, as he goes back to slowly wheeling Shura in the general direction of teleporters. Or, at least, he doesn't have a nose like this. He's got a nose normally, of course. "I think you squeezed my arm?"

Why his arm is a plunger, Cole doesn't know. But he picks up on Shura's worries, her distractions. She wants to go home. And well, she's right. He can't help with that. But it might be best if they talk about it later.

Let her go, Cole, let her go. She'll survive... somehow. Or maybe they can fumble through this together and hope for the best. At least she's kinda letting him guide her in the direction of the teleporters. Kinda sorta in the sense that she knows she'll probably fall if she doesn't start moving with him. It's a very slow process.

"Ya think" Clearly, Shura doesn't quite believe this. If he doesn't know, how was she supposed to believe him? Jeez. "What else is it, if it ain't yer arm and it ain't yer nose?"

"But it is my arm!" Cole points out, slightly confused. "You think it isn't, but it is!"

Sure, the little plunger arm can't do things like bend. Or pick up things. Or move all that well. But it's still his arm! He knows it is! Why can't Shura realize that his arm is his arm?

Cole continues to slowly move towards the exit, assuming that Shura's just going to keep following him. He'll stop if she needs him to but otherwise, they're going to keep moving.

Shura moans. Jeeez, why was he so fixated on his nose being his arm?? ~~at least she's not assuming it's something else??~~ "Whatever, I don' care what it is!" Because arguing over what this appendage is is really just giving her more of a headache. But for now, she'll let him keep pressing them on to the teleporter, and she'll even stay quiet until they're close enough for her to realize that they were actually going somewhere. Which reminds her--

"Ngggh, I need some water. We're gonna get some, righ'?" Wait, where were they going again?

"We're going back to the carnival," Cole explains, not really realizing that he's picking up on Shura's worries and thoughts and things that she never said out loud. "You'll get water there."

And a snack. And possibly brought back to the trailer. Cole is sticking right at Shura's side as she navigates being drunk or until she passes out and falls asleep. Because this? It's not all that good.

The teleporters are within sight. It's still going to take a moment or two as the world's slowest Dalek whirs towards the teleportation pads.

Wait. That's.. . She didn't bring up the carnival. Shura's brow knits together, trying to figure out just what was going on. It's possible that he was just that perceptive. It's also possible that he had less than honest intentions. Sure, little robot was being nice, but why?

"Oi--oi-oi-oi--who are ya, anyway?"

She shifts, moving to stand on her own feet. She's drunk, but she has just enough of her wits about her still not to be a complete trainwreck.

"I'm Cole." That is not an answer. And yet, Cole is treating it like it's an answer and it's good enough for Shura.

And so, since he has obviously answered this question to the best of his abilities, Cole continues to try and wheel Shura to the teleporters.

shura | ota

b!

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B

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1/3

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