⇨ 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

[worldlyafflictions]

Pink.. huge... There was the vague attempt at a coherent answer to Cole's question, the start of a thought but... Shima has finally hit his threshold for thinking about bugs, especially giant ones. If Cole is still listening to Shima's internal monologue, it has been replaced by a high pitched shrieking sort of white noise. The only thought or feeling that can really be made out through it is STOP!!!!

It is time to go back to the carnival now!!

On the plus side, he is not longer thinking about how his movements feel all squirmy and awful, which means he's just going for it, which really frees up his ability to actually get places. On the minus side he has started rolling Cole along back toward the teleporters, looking for any avenue of escape he can find.

[hurtcomfort]

Well okay. They're rolling now. Cole doesn't really know what's going on but he takes it like a champ, not really trying to stop or get out of the way or anything. If Shima's dragging him somewhere, then he's going to get dragged somewhere!

"Where are we going?" Cole asks, as they head back towards the teleporters. His field of vision isn't exactly the best, alright, he'll figure it out eventually.

[worldlyafflictions]

"Back! I can't take this anymore!"

He shoves Cole onto the nearest teleporter with the single-mindedness of someone who's mostly lost all sense of himself and needs out, probably nearly bouncing him off the wall of their transport in his hurry to wheel him in. Thankfully this is Space and the commands to get back to Zargon and the Carnival are easy enough to just smack a button for.

[hurtcomfort]

Once he's shoved onto the teleporter, Cole just stays there, watching Shima all the while. Shima's probably going to be the one to hit the button as Cole's robot no-fingers over here. But the button is hit, the teleporters start to light up, and Cole and Shima are teleported back to the carnival. Once they reach the carnival though, everybody's back to normal! Cole is once again his awkward, floppy-hatted self and he looks down at his fingers with new appreciation.

"I like the carnival better," he says, vocalizing what's on both of their minds.

[worldlyafflictions]

As soon as they're back, Shima pats himself down desperately to make sure he's all back to mostly normal and then slides down to his knees in utter relief.

"Uuu... I'm never leaving the carnival again! Ugghhh... I can still feel it all itchy on my skin!"

[hurtcomfort]

As Shima slides to his knees, Cole starts to wiggle his fingers, opening and closing them to make fists, moving his fingers around just for the sake of moving his fingers around.

"We'll have to leave eventually," Cole points out, with a little frown. "You need to steal, I need to watch." They've got jobs to do. Sticking around and hanging out in the carnival just can't happen.