⇨ 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

[seniorvicejanitor]

You don't sound entirely convinced.

[ yeah, rhys heard that bit of uncertainty there. he feels you, he really does. ]

Maybe she doesn't know.

[seniorvicejanitor]

Sorry, sorry!

[ rhys doesn't want a talking tree mad at him. but he also remembers conversations he's had with people about certain portions of themselves turning...strange because of their time here. ]

You're part tree? Because of this place?

[seniorvicejanitor]

You don't remember what you did?

[ rhys can't help but wonder if that's because of whatever the Ringmaster had done to him or because of the drinking. rhys isn't sure which one he'd prefer either. the drinking probably. because at least you had fun with your forgetting. ]

It's pretty strong.

[ his throat feels like it's on fire. his eyes are crossing and he's pretty sure that booze is eating the lining of his stomach. ]

[dressedtothe]

"Mmm, well... Most of the time I hack into enemy defence systems," enemies that weren't always machines, "or take them over. The more advanced machines have stronger defences against hacking, but if I take over the simpler ones I can use their system ID to gain entry to other machines."

There's a lot more he could theoretically do, but... Rita doesn't need to know he can mess with memories, too. Not that he would. Not unless asked to, anyway.

[kingsroads]

Oh! Well that's reassuring. Strange looks a little cheered up at the idea of not being eaten.

He has no idea that Zangetsu practically ate his body to get it back to the Ringmaster in remotely one piece.

"I suppose we won't find out until we ask the Ringmaster herself," he muses. "With her not camping,I'm certain we'll have plenty of time to find a way to ask it delicately." Because you don't just ask someone hey, how does the laying eggs thing work.

[dressedtothe]

Hm... What's up with that? It has to be something important if those words are sitting in Strange's brainspace like that. It's got to be about his capture and rescue. Was it really that bad...?

He isn't here to rifle through Strange's memories, though, as interesting as they are.

The hacking space is a little different from what he's used to, which he expected. It's not so surprising for an organic being to be different from a mechanical one.

Alright, let's see if we can get you to do something simple.

"Hug the nearest tree," he commands Strange.

[kingsroads]

He watches intently, only wrinkling his nose slightly when Lambert gets to the gross guts bits. At Lambert's question, he gives the other man a look like he's an idiot.

"Of course I can," Strange answers, like Lambert asked him to do something as simple as pick something up. "Do you have a bucket or something like that to catch the water?"

Because of course Strange is going to make it rain.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya makes a disagreeable face, turning back to the water as he shoves more snacks into his mouth. He doesn't want to have to deal with school in his dream, so he comes up with the most immediate and obvious excuse that isn't skipping class.

"It's Sunday." Not 'I'm currently on the run with an interdimensional carnival', no. It's Sunday.

Regardless, Yuya gestures right to all the books he's holding. "What's that?"

[npcarnival]

The Summer Queen stands at her throne, looking down upon you. Her fears clearly extend to consequences beyond your own fate. She looks away, thinking, before eventually turning back to you.

"They can't know this is possible. It shouldn't be possible," she says, her hand clasped over her chest. "You must go, before you're seen. The balance must be kept, for the good of all Arcadia."

[kingsroads]

Strange nods a little, pleasantly surprised. Good, the shield remains stable. Turns out this thing is more powerful than expected.

He gestures to the ground. A spike of earth shoots up, at an angle where it's aiming for the shield. It's only a few inches in diameter, so it's not too big, but it's still large enough that Reira can't ignore it.

[npcarnival]

"Mm, no," she admits, her smile fading, if only for a moment. "But... I suppose it can wait till later."

She slips her arms over yours, leaning down to trap you in a kiss. There is a coldness to the touch, but the emotions behind it is warm. The encounter begins to take on a dizzying effect, your interactions escalating in smooth and dream-like ways.

There is pleasure. Lots of it. And there is love.

'I missed you,' you think.

Yukio | OTA

[reflash]

A: general wildcarding
[Yukio isn't used to having downtime. It makes him uncomfortable, tense, makes him feel like he's missing something, like there's something else he should be doing.

Yukio can be found in the makeshift medical tent, if you need help. Or away from the camp practicing with his bow or his throwing knife. Or sitting under a tree, surrounded by books and notebooks, studying. Or out in the woods gathering plants.]

B: dream
[Isn't this where you wanted to be? Of course it is, you're walking into the well-maintained courtyard so this place must be where you wanted to go. The monastery is smaller than the buildings around it, and not any fancier or nicer than the surrounding buildings, the train trestle, the sidewalks. But it's clean and maintained, taken care of by the people who live here, and walking through that open gateway feels like coming home.]

works for me!

[dressedtothe]

9S can't help but smile back in return, even if Papyrus is still kind of weird! He's really nice... which made it all the more unsettling when he'd faced the skeleton -- 9S still doesn't quite understand how he moves when he has no muscle or muscle substitute! -- back in Wismuth.

And really, that's part of the reason why he's approaching the guy now.

"Yeah, I could use a few." Weird way of saying he has time, but he supposes it gets the point across. "The Ringmaster gave me some magic I want to test out. Basically, it extends my hacking ability so it can be used on living," is Papyrus living?? He's certainly animate, at least, "beings instead of just mechanical beings."

[dressedtothe]

He hasn't really interacted with Lauren in a really meaningful way, but Susan thinks he's cool and Lauren didn't join in on chewing Rita out over the radio, so maybe...

"The Ringmaster gave me some magic to extend my hacking abilities so they can be used on living beings."

He's hoping it shouldn't be much different from normal, but he wouldn't be surprised if it is; biological beings are very different from mechanical, after all.

"I need to test it out, so... If you don't mind?"

3

[kingsroads]

Camping is indeed the worst, especially when 1: you're navigating your hair being on fire, 2: everybody keeps picking a fight with you, and 3: no booze. Strange is enjoying this just about as much as Shura is.

Strange had intended to just walk right past Shura and go back to being a grumpy magician in the woods...but he's got no idea what the hell she's got set up on her table. Strange's natural curiosity wins out as he walks over towards her to take a look at Space Dream Phone.

"Does that thing light up?"

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya proceeds to drop the rest of the fruit from sheer surprise.

"Wh--Childermass!" Well that he definitely didn't expect. He stares dumbly for a minute before he remembers himself, and ducks to collect his remaining fruit. "You were--that... hello."

He's got nothing.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya's been back maybe twenty minutes? It means that Lambert's greeting is met with a hazy, weary expression as Syrlya squints at him in some brief attempt to decipher where he is, and who everyone else is. The memories are there, but all of them at once is a little disorienting.

"Lambert... thank you." He rakes a hand back over his hair, his gaze drifting down to his shirt. And raises a brow. "That's an interesting choice of attire."

[kingsroads]

And all of Yuya's freaking out and flustering is met with a confused frown from Strange.

"I don't watch you," Strange points out. Not unless Yuya's doing something interesting, that is. "I just like to check in on people every now and then."

Via magic. Without their consent. And without people knowing. But really, those are just small problems, that still doesn't explain why Yuya's freaking out about this.

[hippocarnival]

"Okay, you're still invading my privacy." Yuya points his stick at Strange emphatically. This is the conversation with Tamaki all over again, isn't it? No boundaries at all...

"That's rude! And weird, and I definitely didn't say you could do that."

[pipers_son]

Yeah. He has, hasn't he? He really has missed her. That feels right. And, more importantly, it feels wonderful. The lack of details isn't important so much as the warmth overlapping all of it.

Still, even as he wants it to never end....

...It's going to.

[insidescoop]

"Heh..?" Suffice to say, between having a drink or two and having a dance that's truly meant to just be 'a dance', Carly doesn't understand why the other hesitates. She stares, widely, and confusedly, before shaking herself.

"...But... ...Why not?" she asks, staring. "You're not worried about not knowing how to dance are you..?"

[insidescoop]

"Mmmhm~ Ah, a little anyway," she decides, laughing a little nervously. Time, boredom, vacations...she's managed to figure it out somewhere in the middle after all.

"Do you have everything you need?" she asks, hoping the other says yes- it would be no good to find the good spots only to have to run back for supplies after all. "If you can, it's best to get the tent set up out of the way- more time to enjoy everything else then~"

[insidescoop]

"Hmnh! She would have enjoyed it I think," she remarks rather wryly, shaking her head as they dance. It is, at least, smoothing out the less nervous she gets about drawing from memories of the manor for this. "Or at least been oblivious to the actual dangers... ...She never did get to find out much about Fae after all, good or bad," Carly sighs.

"...It was just Aliens and magical fights, for her..."

[pipers_son]

"Yup yup~." Looking over his shoulder, he whistles for Feathers, who wanders away from a tree with a delighted coo. ATTENTION? ATTENTION, YES? Joker does indeed give him attention, patting him on his hooded head. Somehow, a backpack of his own has been strapped to the bird's back. Considering the wide range of changes in the carnival, perhaps it's not surprising that one was able to be found.

"Feathers can carry things now, so we both got stuff of our own~. So, shall we start workin' on the tent together?"

[anti_nonsense]

As the fire finally recedes to the point that it extinguishes, Rita slowly clasps her hands around Strange's in a gesture that ought to be reassuring, both in the gentle touch of it, and in the knowledge that it's only possible because they've successfully stopped the fire.

She waits a few moments, then says, "You can look now."

It hasn't fully occurred to her that the result of this is Rita sitting and holding hands with the guy she was screaming at a minute ago.