⇨ 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

[atouts]

"Yes, it was me," Childermass answers what Syrlya was trying to ask, even if the answer is obvious enough. After that, he'll take a bite out of the fruit he'd been thrown, and immediately grimace, pulling away from it. Oh, he'll still chew it through and swallow (it helps that he never takes that damn anti-toxin necklace off, so), but once he's done—

"That one's a bit sour, if you don't like that sort of thing."

[anti_nonsense]

"Then, if those abilities translate to organic life forms... you'd be able to control their bodies?" Rita asks, her brow furrowing as her uncertainty becomes more apparent.

She trusts 9S, of course. There's no reason for her to worry about him commanding that kind of power... but the power itself is still kind of unsettling.

[scientificist]

"Of course, because they're drawn to you for whatever reason." Herbert has his hands in his jacket pockets because he is absolutely wearing his entire suit while camping like a weirdo. He's ready to walk along with Ginko whenever he starts off, glancing sideways and keeping a sort of periphery eye contact as they go. "You've mentioned they're, spiritual creatures of various types...leading to various treatments. From your world. Tanyuu only mentioned one, which I recall sounded like an inner ear infection."

[atouts]

"Ravens can mimic words on occasion," Childermass knows that much, at least. Anyway, his attention flits to those arms again, even if they do appear to be healing. "So those are growing back? I hadn't actually considered that possibility."

[scientificist]

Neither does Herbert have any idea! By the time he saw Strange again after the Ignatius confrontation, he was in an egg.

"Yeeees, she seemed oddly guarded in relation to her, physiology and anatomy...out of character for her, I thought." The Ringmaster's usual mode of operation seems to be Does Not Give A Fuck in Herbert's so far admittedly limited experience. "You've been here longer--how would you go about asking?"

[atouts]

There's a lot Childermass could ask about, what he was up to magic-wise, why he bothered to follow, what he was yelling about (Ignatius, one would assume) but then Lambert gets to that last part and Childermass stills, so much that he even ceases idly scratching Baker behind his ear. The arcanine snuffles at that but, well, he's just as content to lay across the magician like that.

"He knows?" Childermass purses his lips into a thin line, brow furrowing. "Did he finally guess at it?"

[whattaprick]

“This is where gems come from? Holes?”

Lambert looks around dubiously, even as Peridot surrenders to the limitations of her body mass (or lack thereof).

“Does that mean you have a hole too?” Unlike Peridot, it’s harder for him to grasp he’s dreaming; he rambles on, undeterred— “I guess if you think about it, we all come from holes. Maybe Gems and humans have more in common than I thought.”

[exaomori]

Her heart is pounding heavy in her chest, its thumping ringing in her head as the Summer Queen looks away from her. What, what has she done wrong? Just what the hell is she missing?

It's when she's told to go that she feels her fear turn to rage. She had to go? Go where? And damn it, why? None of this made sense, and the damn Queen was being vague as she wanted. She rises to her feet in an instant, too angry to be scared.

"What are you sayin', you trying to tell me that something's wrong with me? I ain't here to play games!"

So fine, she didn't really know exactly why she was here to begin with, but she wasn't there to fool around.

[exaomori]

"It's nice, right? It has everything a girl could need ♥!" There's no need to try and put a damper on Alphys's excitement. Choosing snacks was a very important part of one's grocery shopping, after all.

"C'mon, get what you want. We gotta get some drinks, too."

[exaomori]

Shura snaps her fingers at his suggestion. "Rice!" Yes! That would be good with this. Of course, it was just one more thing to make, but it wouldn't be that hard.

"Eggs, rice, one more of these," she reaches for one more bundle of greens, dumping it in the basket with the others before she reaches to take the one Joker has in his hand. It'd work, probably. "And beer! We gotta get somethin' to drink with this." Beer, sake, whatever it was, they couldn't just drink water.

[periphrasing]

"Oh my god," Peridot groans, dragging a hand down her face while sounding more like her Portland self than she has since the day they left that realm. "There is a world of difference between clawing your way out of a hole in the ground, and being pushed out of a vagina," she says, gesturing with both hands like she's indicating two separate items on an actual table. "And gems don't come from holes, they make the holes when they form after they're finished incubating!"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita tenses when he places his hand over hers. The last thing she expected was to be thanked for those things now, after all that arguing. Her face reddens and after a moment of confused staring, she jerks her hands away.

"I-it was the obvious thing to do. Both of those things," she mutters, awkwardly. Without looking at him, she adds, quickly enough that it could almost be missed, "I'm glad you're back."

She is, even though she's absolutely furious about his opinions on Ignatius. For the past week, she's been compiling notes, researching the fae... and finding herself reminded again and again that the one person who'd be most enthusiastic about the task, who'd eagerly read every word of hers and contribute plenty of his own thoughts, wasn't there.

[whattaprick]

"Not exactly," Lambert makes a face just remembering it. Of all the stupid things to happen to him here...

"He didn't like what we did to Ignatius, threatened to quit the Nightrunners over it. I told him I wanted him off anyway." Childermass probably needs no elaboration to imagine exactly how well that conversation went, meaning not well at all. Lambert gestures vaguely with the spoon.

"Then he said that the reason I didn't want him to get into anything was obviously because I was in love with him."

Honestly, that level of obliviousness is incredible. Maybe they should look into weaponizing it against the fae, like if Jonathan Strange decides not to notice something, it might simply cease to exist.

[kingsroads]

"Lambert doesn't mind," Strange points out, like this changes everything. Except no, Lambert did mind at first, but now he's just accepted the fact that Strange is going to spy on him like nobody's business.

"But fine, if you want me to stop scrying for you, then I'll try to do so. Crisis situations excepted, of course."

[hippocarnival]

"I'm not Lambert." Which is said like it's the most obvious thing, which it should be! And he's pretty sure even if Lambert doesn't mind (questionable) most of the people Strange spies on would.

"Wouldn't you feel weird if someone was looking at you without you knowing when?"

HI YUKIO

[worldlyafflictions]

[Shima hasn't needed to drop by the medical tent since they arrived in the forest full of cryptids, and he's been keeping himself plenty busy as it is, so it's probably at least a few days before he goes purposely poking around to see what Yukio is up to. Though he doesn't really have to search long since the temporary medical tent is the first place he looks.]

Yo, Okumura-sensei! Why don't ya come set up with the rest of us! I know West-sensei pretty much lives in the medical tent even normally but we're supposed ta be taking a break!

[atouts]

"And?"

That's all, just a prompt to continue. Childermass could easily say something sarcastic about Strange thinking that, of all things, but he'd rather just move onto the damage. If there even is any. Doubtful, but one can hope.

[whattaprick]

"And that's how you'll end up killed by a fae in glitter," Lambert points out solemnly, letting her take the stick from him.

But enough bullshit for now. Back to work.

"What exactly do you think needs work?" he asks her, head cocked. "You said combat training, but you never specified what you had in mind."

[prazerbutterfly]

[It comes with the territory. Skill~ Look, he's already set up inside of the tent. Where are you at, Rhys?]

Without a doubt. You staying? [In your own tent.] I'll even fetch the firewood and kindling. I plan on setting up something outside along with a smoker later for jerky. Maybe an extra blanket outside for stargazing. I'll make breakfast each morning.

[starseedling]

Steven looks at them too, with a bit of awkwardness. He's been trying not to think about them too hard, personally.

"Um... yeah, I guess," he says, rubbing his shoulder. "That's what the Ringmaster told me. She said... it was because my arms were already made of plant stuff from the change I got from being a Groot. Or from being a Harbinger. I'm not really sure."

But the Harbingering was an even more awkward Childermass thing, so he moves along quickly.

"But since the Rose parts and the plant parts grow the same way, she said it would probably be possible to regrow my hands the way they were before. Probably."

[exaomori]

The first two could probably be bearable with booze. But no booze? What kind of crapsack world had the Ringmaster taken them to? It's good that they shouldn't be stuck here for too long. They might have to start making moonshine if things started looking bad.

Shura's quite happy to ignore Mr. Grumpy Magician, but she's not going to refuse a direct question. She holds up the little device and clicks a button. It lights up in response, making some weird noise and blinking for a few seconds. There's the faint sound of someone speaking, but it'd be hard to make out unless it was actually up to someone's ear.

"Like it? Space kids have it pretty good, doncha think?"

Her toys certainly weren't so fancy growing up.

[prazerbutterfly]

He does have some of his faerie ale with him in a small container. He had left the bulk of it at home. He just hasn't had the real decision nor reason to use it just yet.

"For the most part," or so he figures. Tyki wasn't one to methodically break down his power or how his body worked. He wanted to breathe so he did. He plucks out a potato crisp out of the bag and wags it around in the air, "I could just feed this crisp directly into my stomach with my hands but there is more pleasure in eating it the normal way. Taste is often taken for granted." And being of nobility, he does have a rather refined palate. That being said, he could easily shove something hazardous into someone else's stomach as well. "In my world, I can manipulate just about anything with my power." The Ringmaster's Realm was another thing all together.

[whattaprick]

"I fell over laughing at him. Then I told him I was in love with you," Lambert says plainly, managing to get the words out without a stutter.

"Next thing he did was try to punch me-- his fists light on fire now, did you know that? -- and kick me in the ribs." His hand goes to his side, just remembering the scuffle. Strange hadn't actually connected, but the sharp movement of getting out of the way ... that still pulled at things that really weren't ready to be pulled.

"Anyway Butcher didn't like that, so he stopped that pretty quickly."

[exaomori]

"He ain't the worst I've seen." Considering that some of the handsome and available specimens on the board had pincer-like appendages for mouths, Shura couldn't be picky about her alien beau.

"It's your turn now, yeah. Hit the button and listen for the clue." Shura holds out the phone to him, looking back over the pictures on the board. Baloral ridge, maybe she should call Four-eyes and see if he knew...

[kingsroads]

"Even if it was just aliens and magical fights, at least that means she was here for something she could deal with," Strange muses. "At least this way she never got close to being kidnapped or enthralled—or seeing someone she cared about in that situation."

Because having been on both sides? Hoo boy is is ten times worse to be on the side of the people watching instead of the people captured. Hopefully Strange will remember this insight when he wakes up, though it's doubtful.