⇨ 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

[npcarnival]

As you try to move backward, you somehow manage to knock a bunch of shit off the walls. A vase falls over and shatters. This isn't going well.

[seniorvicejanitor]

Of course I do.

[ just BARELY. ]

This arm of mine isn't just for show.

[ he waves the robotic arm around and smiles proudly. ]

[steadydollypegs]

...Right, that too. There's no choice but to find her, otherwise it could be the end of everything she knows. Exactly.

That's why she follows the trail of light, because no doubt it will lead her straight to who she's looking for. The shapes moving behind the ice make her shudder and slow her pace, but she tries so hard not to stop and stare. Keep going, keep moving, nothing else is important except for finding her.

The dead end is disheartening, and her eyebrows come together in despair and confusion as she looks up at the bodies moving in the ice. She'd been so sure, but...

Oh no--

She rushes to the hand. No no no, this can't be happening, she'd tried so hard--!

After a tense moment, she reaches and takes the hand. Is she too late...?

[seniorvicejanitor]

Bugs are getting in the way of everything.

[ rhys glances over, nods at the man and then does a double take at feathers. then, he asks a dumb question: ]

Are you part bird?

[exaomori]

Wait, had she noticed? She has to tamp down on the urge to kick the Gilded Mark in the shin, but she can't stop herself from growling at at her. "If you knew--"

No. Take in a deep breath. She could do this. She might be lazy, but she was ultimately competent. She just had to keep her temper. "My medallion. I don't have it," she answers the Incandescence, looking to her and meeting her gaze. It isn't defiance, simply a matter of accepting that she screwed up. She should have noticed before it got this far. Though, really, what did that medallion look like? She can't remember it clearly.

[pipers_son]

THIS IS TOTALLY GOING WELL. DEFINITELY. Fuck.

But are the footsteps coming closer? His ears strain, hoping that they really aren't but knowing that's kind of stupid.

....He has ears doesn't he-

[npcarnival]

As you clasp the hand in yours, the person behind the ice suddenly becomes clear. You see a woman, a fae - a face you recognize, and that the sight of which makes your heart ache. Her eyes are closed in an expression of pain, with her head left bald, her hair extinguished. Tattoos similar to your own line her scalp, and her skin is shakes of pale white and blue. Her fingers are cold in yours.

They are only there for a moment, though, because in the next they are falling apart. Her hand slowly crumbles into glittering ash, and the body inside the ice begins to crumble as well. You have to get her out! Now!

[wild_magic]

"About what?" He smiles as Fluff keeps getting pets, the cat purring as she keeps butting into Lauren's hand.

[mylastchance]

"That she doesn't like me." he says with a laugh, knocking a shoulder into Susan gently.

[npcarnival]

"It's alright, my Fiery One," the Incandescence says. She reaches up to rest her hand on your jaw, guiding you down so that she can kiss your forehead. She touches your chest with a hand, and a beautiful golden medallion writes itself into existence - the intricate emblem of a sun in the center of your chest, and a chain extending up and around your neck. She pulls back and offers you a wry smile. "See? It's been here all along."

She steps back, and then gestures to the gates behind you. She lifts her arms in an elegant bow.

"Now go," she says. "The medallions will allow your entry to the throne room. Your Queen is waiting." Both the Torchbearer and the Gilded Mark are looking at you. Are you supposed to go first?

[kingsroads]

"Papyrus might still have some of the egg shell," Strange explains. "I don't think I want it myself, so feel free to use it."

Which he realizes is an intensely morbid statement...but isn't keeping a memento of when you died also intensely morbid? Strange doesn't want any of that egg, no thank you, he'll just settle for memories of how he died.

"As for the soul, I do not know. I've assumed that in my world, the soul does have awareness. With the blood magic I used, those who were formerly dead provided very...vivid descriptions of their time in hell." Though Strange is willing to talk about his necromancy, he doesn't particularly wish to dwell on it. So, he continues the topic elsewhere. "The soul probably has some awareness, though not as much as soul connected with body. When Sans died, there wasn't anything left of his body, but the Ringmaster was still able to revive him. Perhaps that is the 'soul.'"

This is all far too metaphysical for Strange, a man who only went to church to impress a girl he liked.

[wild_magic]

Hey, he's still sleepy, okay! He laughs though and bumps Lauren back.

"She likes you enough!" Which means she doesn't dislike him, at least, even if she doesn't particularly like him either.

"If she didn't like you, she wouldn't let you pet her."

Wildcard

[bananaspeedrider]

A certain someone's walking up to the stealthy tree tent with some sort of mysterious book in hand that only a few people in the carnival just so happen to know about- since it's not like Yugo brags about any his belongings aside from the D-Wheel or his deck. Of course, he doesn't really expect to have an easy time finding the kid, so the teen employs Clear Wing's help in making sure that at right tent he's...

"Oii...!! Reira!!"

... Shouting with just barely contained enthusiasm for her to come out and join him in whatever he must be up to. "You up there?"

[npcarnival]

They are. All reason aside, panic floods you. You start crashing down the hall with no regard for property damage, all in the name of trying to find a particular room. You hear voices yelling and, somewhat preposterously, several gunshots and a small explosion. None of them touch you, though.

Instead, you find yourself arriving in a quiet corridor that seems too small for you to enter. You've found it, at last, but you can't fit in the doorway. What the hell?

"Winter?!" you yell. Stealth is over, apparently.

[kingsroads]

"Run." Would Lauren like this answer? Probably not. But without a plan in mind, without the slightest idea of how the Rose Queen got here and what she was doing, that's the safest solution. Strange is trying to keep his voice calm and level.

"You take Susan and Steven and run. And if you encounter a High Fae when you're unprepared like that ever again, that's what you should do. Especially if it's one of the ones we deal with on a regular basis."

[kingsroads]

He lets out a little laugh at Tyki's story and the mental image of poor Tyki struggling to get back to his tent while falling through the ground every step of the way. Because hey, it's funny.

"So is that how you can breathe? Or how you can eat? You subconsciously want to do those things, so your body does them?" This is intensely interesting, and Strange just has nerdy question after nerdy question for Tyki. His Power to Choose...Strange had only a vague idea of what Tyki could do. Now that he's learning the full scope, he's downright impressed. This must be more powerful than Strange ever imagined.

[pipers_son]

As long as he's not hit, it's fine. He tries to remind himself of that, with debatable success, even as he crashes through more than a few areas. It doesn't matter. What matters is-

This. He thinks. Bewildered at the tiny ass doorway and absolutely ignoring stealth- he's shit at it anyway (apparently?)- he tries to reach forward. Even if he can't fit in the doorway, can a part of him....?

Or at least break the door, since he's already causing property damage. It's fine. It doesn't matter.

[kingsroads]

Strange matches Rita's look with a sulky yet slightly cornered one of his own. He has a feeling that she'll get back to arguing...and is pleasantly surprised when she doesn't. The fact that Rita's helping him with his currently on fire hand is appreciated, even if a part of Strange wishes that he had figured this all out on his own.

"I'm not hopeless," Strange grumbles, as he closes his eyes. "I just don't know how this works yet."

He has had a very weird past twelve hours, okay? Strange is still stressing out and fuming a bit, but closing his eyes means that the fire's slowly starting to sputter out a little, even before Rita starts suffocating some of his flames.

[exaomori]

Has she ever been touched like this, so kindly and tenderly? She can't recall a time like this before. Yuri, perhaps, but that had been so long ago, and it was hard to remember that now. Yuri was long dead and gone, and the Incandescence was right here in front of her. She swallows, feeling just a bit of a flush on her cheeks.

But then the Incandescence is moving away, and she knows she has to keep moving on. She can't put off meeting the Summer Queen, no matter how much she may want to linger here. The weight of the medallion around her neck is comforting, a solid reminder of what she's here for, and she lets her fingers trail over the emblem before dropping her hand back to her side.

Right. She can do this. Rolling her shoulders back, she can fake it until she makes it, taking the first step forward on her own. But before she takes a second step, she pauses, turning back to the Incandescence and murmuring softly.

"Thank you."

Now it's time to meet her fate. Or the Summer Queen. It may or may not be the same thing in the end.

[mylastchance]

"She blocked the exits." It's an excuse, even to his own ears. It only frustrates him further. He hates this, listening to Strange talk to him as though he were a child, as though he didn't know any better.

"I don't need you to tell me it was stupid." He already knows it was a mistake. He wouldn't be here if he didn't.

"I had plenty of time to think about that when I was stuck in the ground." And he certainly has no intention of reliving the experience.

[kingsroads]

"You're my apprentice," Strange responds, as if it's obvious. Of course he'd teach Yuya scrying or talking through mirrors. Yuya was smart, Yuya was talented, and most importantly, Yuya was willing to put in the effort and the practice to learn something thoroughly.

Strange gives Yuya a little grin before continuing. "I'll teach you whatever you want. Now, what shall we start with?"

[steadydollypegs]

"Oh God--!" She looks at her own hands in horror, dusted with the ash of the hand she'd just been holding.

"No no no--" She presses her hands against the ice and looks frantically for a flaw in the ice, someplace for her to pry it open, she beats her fists on the surface. It all feels so futile, there must be something she can do to get her out before the worst happens.

"No, please, please, don't go--!" She grits her teeth and raises her fists again to bring them down on the ice as hard as she can.

[npcarnival]

You tear the doors off their hinges with trivial effort. They come right off in your hands, and you toss them to the side. This probably isn't what she wanted you to do.

"You're being such a fool, right now," a voice says below you.

You look at your feet, and she's there. Standing in the doorway is Winter.

But she's smiling. She comes over and lays a hand on your paw, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. You're not sure if you should be apologizing right now.

"Did you forget what you learned?" she asks.

[pipers_son]

It might not be what she wanted, but he doesn't think she minds too much. She's important, and, more than anything else, that tugs at him.

"I did try," he says, in a sort of apology. "But it wasn't a particularly fruitful effort." He sort of want to touch her, but is he allowed? It's hard to remember if he is, only that he wants to.

"I'm glad I found you."

[mylastchance]

He pets down her back again, this time stopping to scratch at the base of her tail.

"I'm sorry for waking you." he says idly to Susan.