⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everybody!
When: Day 64
Where: The Camping Grounds
What: While the Ringmaster attempts to purge the carnival of magical tracing spells and deal with the angry fire fae in her belly, everyone else is getting sent on an emergency camping trip with some unusual local fauna.
Warnings: Camping.

CRYPTIC CAMPGROUNDS↴ You're given about three hours to prepare, after the Ringmaster tells you her plans for the coming week. There is a vast selection of camping equipment at your disposal, and the means to take along enough food for the length of the stay. The wilderness of the planet you're left on is nearly idyllic, but some people just don't like the great outdoors. ► CRYPTOZOOLOGY: As it turns out, the carnival won't be alone here. There is a varied ecosystem of cryptids to be found as well, living in relative peace and mostly reacting to the newcomers with curiousity. More details can be found on the plotting post. You are free to NPC the cryptids as much as you need to, as long as you stick to the behaviours described. ► DREAMSHARING: There is a player plot going on which will allow characters to share dreams! These are specifically more dreams than nightmares, and the mushi-adept characters will be here to help. ► CHILLAX: There isn't any plot twist for this setting, so this is mostly an opportunity to decompress from the last plot and get ready for the future. The Ringmaster will show up occasionally to help with needed medical treatments and check on things, but won't stick around for long.

Comments

[anti_nonsense]

"I'm sure he'll figure it out," Rita offers unhelpfully, standing nearby with her arms folded as she watches the elbow jab its way through the shell.

[starseedling]

"A bath?" Steven ponders, and then lights up. "Oh, I'll go get him some water!"

Without waiting for commentary, Steven goes running towards the lakeside to fetch some.

[kingsroads]

Yuya yanking some shell off definitely helps. That, plus Strange attempting another elbow attack, makes the hole big enough to look inside and large enough that some goop spills out. Strange is slightly visible inside the egg. He's naked, groggy, covered in egg goop...and his hair is on fire. The ends of his hair burn like tiny matches: Strange doesn't notice.

"Bell?" he murmurs, with all the coherency of someone who just woke up from a long nap.

RELAX (with alcohol)

[whattaprick]

[ For being in such bad shape a few days prior, Lambert is overall looking in disgustingly good spirits. He's still covered with a ton of bandages just to spare people the sight of mending skin in progress, but he's well enough to sit up for extended periods of time, which is what he's doing when he catches sight of Rhys. ]

You look glum. [ Is what he says by way of greeting, waving him over. At least he doesn't look like he's about to hit him again...? ] Relax, it's a vacation.

[hippocarnival]

"Whoa--" Yuya jerks his hands back and cringes as egg goo gets all over them looking mildly disgusted. Still, he gets right back to it as Strange calls out, peeling more shell away.

"Mr. Strange?" He leans over to peer in, relief washing over his face just for the little bit of proof that Strange is all right (but is there a light in that egg?).

"No, you're in the carnival!" He laughs. "Hold on, we'll get you out."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya has a careful eye on her, but she isn't struggling and the creatures don't stop her from leaving, so he doesn't worry.

He moves right to the edge of the water, putting his hands on his knees as he leans over to look at Reira.

"Wind magic, huh?" Not the shield. "What's the wind magic gonna do?"

Re: RELAX (with alcohol)

[seniorvicejanitor]

This is a vacation?

[ what the heck kind of things did lambert do for work that this was a vacation for him? it was dirty and bug infested and he was pretty sure he was going to get rained on at some point during this trip. ]

Why do you look like you got into a fight with a skag and lost?

[ that was a lot of bandages, lambert. ]

[betheman]

Home has never looked better- though some of the patrons appear to be more monstrous than not. More than a few Superheavy Samurai can be spotted wearing curiously fitting hakama-

Gongenzaka himself is among them, hooves and paws neatly at rest on the ground as he struggles to catch a goldfish. "Hmnhhh..." He is well focused...well focused...he just needs to act perfectly to catch the fish and not break the pon....

[hippocarnival]

There's Gongenzaka--Yuya was probably supposed to meet him and Yuzu here, right? But Yuzu isn't here, maybe he came with his mom...

The mental scramble to remember what happened moments before is forgotten as Yuya carefully moves around to Gon's side to watch his goldfish catching attempts.

"Get that one," he almost whispers, pointing to an extremely small and quick one. Whether keeping his voice low will actually avoid startling Gongenzaka is to be determined.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita, being the great friend that she is, doesn't move to help, though her brow furrows as she peers at the egg. "What's that light?" she asks, expecting that someone will investigate for her.

She doesn't lean in for a closer look. Rita knows he's naked in there.

childermass, ota

[atouts]

a. small, fluffy, and probably edible [cw: dead animals up in here]

As far as campsites go, you'd better believe Childermass picked a flat space of dirt as feasibly far away from everyone else as possible. It's still technically a part of the main campsite with everyone else, of course, but only barely. As such, being far enough away from the center means having a campfire to themselves (yes, themselves, as it would seem he and Lambert are sharing a tent for some reason or another). It also means close enough to the edge of the wilderness for he and Baker to go practice a very unique kind of... uh, fetch.

That fetch happens to be fetching jackalopes and they've returned with at least two of them. Now, Baker, a big fluffy Arcanine with cream-colored feathers poking out of his mane, lounges nearby, watching with obvious interest, tongue lolling happily out of his mouth. What is he watching?

Childermass is similarly seated out in front of their tent, at work skinning the first jackalope, of course. Why else would he be doing with a massive, super-fast dog out there? Admittedly, it has been awhile since he's done this kind of thing, but he's getting minimal amounts of blood and gore on his feathers as he works on that, very much out in the open.

They look like rabbits, so that makes them decent enough eating, right? Right? Well, he supposes they'll find out soon enough.

b. mothmen, lake monsters, and... giant... crow things?

Another perk of being out in an alien wilderness like this is there's no one to protest over Childermass getting some practice in with his massive, fairly monstrous crow form. The damn thing is about the size of horse and could easily be mistaken as a griffin of some sort, although the kind with clawed wingtips to walk on rather than forelegs and no real sign of cat legs, just more wicked talons.

One would have to wander farther off to come across him like this, though, seeing how only a handful know he has this spell up his sleeve and he is, as ever, a private man. Easy enough to think such a beast is one of the world's own creatures and simple enough to spot him overhead wherever the forest clears, a great black-feathered shadow winging his way through the sky, inevitably changing direction and landing nearby whoever might be keeping an eye on him with a loud thud of mass settling on rock or dirt.

Be prepared to be eyed up and down by this thing. With the serrated beak and sharp claws he has, well, it really doesn't lend a friendly look, now does it?

c. dreaming of a beach, not a forest [dreamshare]

As far as dreams go, Childermass doesn't really have a lot of good ones. At best, they're as quiet and stoic as he is, but in this particular one, that's far from the case. It has color, it's warm, it's a lot of things he sure isn't.

The dream is of a beach overlooking a brilliantly blue ocean. There's a breeze, it's warm and sunny, palm trees, and Childermass with a beach chair, a big ol' umbrella overhead, the whole deal for just chilling out somewhere like this. Yes, that is a purple with white flowers Hawaiian shirt -- or, in this case, Alolan shirt. Yes, sunglasses, too.

He isn't even alone. While there are probably other animals around, you'll chiefly find Growlithes chasing around the beach while he watches, drink of unknown origins (very likely alcoholic) in hand.

d. wildcard?

For other ideas and dream prompts, etc.

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus, for his part, has ducked into the tent to look for anything else that could help out.

"Where's the light from?" He calls out from inside as he gathers things. Soap? Towels? Surely not that snack that... Oh, the mouse has gotten into those snacks. Terrible.

[kingsroads]

More shell is broken away, enough where Strange can almost stick his head out. And so, he does, awkwardly breaking more shell in an attempt to stick said head out. Strange's head is covered in egg goop, but his new fire hair is strong enough to burn right through that goop.

He's tired, groggy, and looks like he still needs a nap. But hey, Strange is in one piece and doesn't look decomposed in the slightest!

He looks over at Yuya, Rita, and Papyrus...before letting out a bit of a tired yet annoyed noise. What gives? None of you are Arabella!

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's tail starts to swish with excitement as Strange tries to poke his head out, grinning. He yanks another piece of shell and tosses it aside as Strange finally forces his head through. "Mr--"

He stops, completely, frozen in time for a second.

But just a second. "Your hair's on fire!" Why is his hair on fire?!

[anti_nonsense]

That sure is Strange's head on fire. There's a flicker of surprise in Rita's expression, but it doesn't last for long. Weird as it is, it's a trait she's seen before... in some of his other changelings.

"Must be Ignatius' influence," she says bitterly.

[soft_focus]

"It's going to mean I can turn to wind," she says plainly. He may now recognize this as the exact thing she mentioned wanting to do...a while ago, before she even started working on shields with Taako. Actually, shields with Taako was meant to be a diversion back then.

(It only partly worked, as one can see)

Once she's close enough to shore that she's standing, it's easier to speak- her head above the water by virtue of height alone now, the water doesn't muffle her words. "If I can do that, then I can't be hit by things, right?"

[betheman]

Truthfully, while the dream is in Maiami, he hasn't thought of Yuzu showing up. His homesickness had limits, it would appear. "Hmnn-! Very well..!" He replies automatically, and with a swoop, the fish is in the pon. "MNH-"

At which point he realizes that he hadn't spoken. Jumping (and nearly losing the fish), he turns. "Mn...Yuuya! Are you here for fish as well, then?" he asks.

Notably, these goldfish appear to have...fur, now? Well ok then.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya grins up at Gongenzaka, less sorry about having startling him since he managed to successfully catch the fish. He hasn't even noticed the fur yet.

"You think I should try?" He pushes his sleeves back (but they fall right back down) and wiggles his fingers over the pond. "I think Core would just eat them if I take them home, but maybe I can help you catch more?"

[hippocarnival]

Still on that, huh... "Unless they have magic that lets them hit wind... or turn you back."

It's not to discourage her, but magic as far as he's seen can do anything. And they can't take for granted if something works or not.

He crouches to her level, resting his arms over his knees. "Is that what you're worried about?"

[kingsroads]

His hair's on fire? That sounds like a problem he can deal with later. Strange continues to try and pull himself out of the egg, cracking the shell as he does so.

He's gotten his head, shoulders, and upper chest out of the egg before Strange pauses. This is tiring! So, he looks up at Yuya, gives him a weak little smile, then just kind of falls on the ground, exhausted and covered in egg goop, hair still on fire.

Little help, guys?

[betheman]

"Hmnnn, even from a tank..?" Idly, he finds himself dipping a finger into the water, eventually petting one of the fish. Cute. "I, the man Gonenzaka, had considered adding them to the pond at my home...they would probably grow quite large, aah?"

[hippocarnival]

Core is smart enough, and now they have two more cats. Yuya won't endanger the fish like that.

"They have to if they have all that space." Yuya stands up on his toes, trying to see how many fish Gon has caught as is. The problem is Gon is absurdly tall as a result of the carnival, and Yuya stretching and holding on his arm isn't getting him a good enough look to tell. "How--many do you have? You can get an extra prize, right?"

[soft_focus]

Well. To that, Reira just frowns. "....There's more chances of that not happening," she protests with a grumble, staring at the other. Good thing they're both there to swim, apparently, or that would get kinda uncomfortable after he got out of the lake- no one likes wet cargo pants.

"...I don't like being hit by things," she replies. "...But I'm not strong enough to just fight things. ...So if I'm attacked, it's easier to just run away, in a way you can't be followed, or hit."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya still stands at the edge of the shore--maybe it's only crouching closer to her level, but she's a small child anyway.

"I didn't mean how likely it's going to happen..." He scratches his cheek a moment, considering how to phrase it. "But it's still good to remember--like if my shield didn't work."

He knows of at least once instance where it didn't, after all. It's unsettling to remember what would have happened if not for Creation. "But I'm glad you're finding ways to escape if there's trouble."

[whattaprick]

I got half-incinerated, then got punted into a wall by the Ringmaster. So close enough.

[ It's all very matter-of-fact. Though after a moment, he gestures to the bottle beside him with the hand that isn't currently holding a lit cigarette. ]

You want a drink?