⇨ 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

[scientificist]

The Olympic spaceship is big enough that Herbert starts out doing a wandering tour of it, just to determine what it contains. It's slow going when the hallways aren't tall enough for him to glide through properly, and he's a three foot tall bird thing with small bird feet, but he's making enough progress to get an idea of things.

He's peering in on the rock climbing practise room just as Miko tumbles off it and his ears twitch back against his head in response to the loud thud of Miko into the padding. Stepping in a bit further he tilts his head up to get a full idea of the person he's just walked in on. It sounds young (she? perhaps she, there's something feminine about the style and voice, after all) but he can't determine much else outside that. Certainly, he has no idea who she is.

In the end, it's a good thing that Miko is actually from the Carnival and Herbert isn't about to cause an international incident because he proceeds to open his beak and say, in a hollow parrot version of his voice, "I wasn't aware robots qualified as their own species for, the purpose of the Olympics."

[pullingamiko]

Miko dusts herself off, or tries to - hard to do when you're made entirely of metal. Then she snorts and tilts her head at the little... bird-guy in front of her. She can't be sure how little, since being this big throws off her sense of scale, but definitely little.

"Maybe not regular robots, but Cybertronians do! They-- uh, we're totally a species."

[scientificist]

Herbert would be making an incredulous face but his face is fairly stiff as an avian so he just sort of stares at her instead and then graces her with a slow blink with all six of his chameleon-like eyes.

"Cybertronians." 'They.' Sounds fake, Miko! "Are you from the Carnival."

[pullingamiko]

Well, crap. She doesn't really pick up on the actual issue here, but anyway. She huffs, crossing her arms. "...Yeah, I am. What, are you?"

[scientificist]

"Of course," he says. His...neck is starting to hurt. Running briefly forward, he pushes off the ground with his back legs and flaps up to grab onto the rock wall at closer to Miko Head height, wedging his booted feet at the midpoint of his wings on the best handholds he can manage and turning his head around to look back at her. Much better.

"I'm the Medical Supervisor. Dr West. Is this event...designed. For someone your size?"

[pullingamiko]

"Ooh, so you're the new doctor guy." She's probably seen him around before, even if they haven't spoken.

Then she pouts, arms still crossed. "Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure it's made for basically whoever. It'd be pretty dumb if they made this thing so someone could only use it if they were tiny - like you."

As if Miko isn't usually much smaller than she is right now.

[scientificist]

"I'm not usually a bird," Herbert says, unnecessarily. As if he isn't usually tiny. "And it seems unlikely they'd manage to make a single course for every size and variety of creature--this is honestly an extreme version of, a co-ed Olympics. Do they impose handicaps? How can these possibly be fair competitions?"

[pullingamiko]

"How should I know, man? I don't run this place." Jeez. She gestures at the climbing wall. "All I know is that this thing can totally hold up a giant robot, so don't worry about that."