⇨ 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]

I...don't know what I'm seeing here.

( what the fuck.

no really W T F. )

Are you a bird?

( seemed like the most prudent question to ask. )

[pipers_son]

[He could make this easy, he really, genuinely could. Joker knows that. But, honestly? How is that fun? Allowing his wings to fold in against his back again while Feathers doesn't bother, because he's still a show off to the end, he just laughs.]

You'll have ta be more clear on who yer talkin' ta! There's two of us here, y'know~.

[whattaprick]

Given the height difference between them, Lambert has had to crane down a little to let Peridot comfortably hold onto his hand, following along behind her like a big, reptilian balloon. The sudden zap through the portal has him tightening his fingers on hers reflexively, though fortunately witcher balance wins out in the dream so he doesn't end up falling flat on his face when he's dragged through.

He looks around -- it's huge on a scale his mind almost struggles to comprehend all at once, and it takes him a moment to even come up with the words to respond.

"Why the fuck is it so dark here?" is probably not what Peridot wanted to hear.

[whattaprick]

Lambert shakes his head.

"I mean you never even spoke to Childermass in Portland. At least, not that I know of." Still doesn't, really. Who Childermass talks with on a regular basis beyond is a mystery to him, but's it's kind of strange to realize how much Yuya knows about their relationship even with that.

[whattaprick]

Baker whuffs against Syrlya's hand, curiously, but he's too well-trained to actually chew on it. Syrlya's a bit too active to be thought of in the same terms as a stick, although it's close enough there's a lot in common...

"Baker? Yeah, he's Childermass's. Same world Pig comes from... Butcher's dad, actually." He'll ignore that raised brow in favor of expectantly watching for Syrlya's reaction. Most people have something to say about a dog and a horse having a donkey for a baby.

[hippocarnival]

"Oh--no." Yuya shakes his head, furrowing his brow as he recalls the details. "I saw him at the animal fair back then, and when we invaded the Rose Queen's realm." So no, they really weren't well acquainted at all. Yuya just shrugs, though.

"I think he was there for you anyway." And if it was all just some excessively prominent dream in Yuya's head, he's not going to mention how close they were getting to making out on the couch. "We were talking about him, kind of, so maybe that's why he showed up?"

[periphrasing]

On the contrary, Peridot seems to expect that kind of input. There was as much disdain as there was pride in her introduction of this place, a two-faced combo of admiration and loathing. She sighs, sagging her shoulders with a frown.

"Realistically speaking, it's probably just because the canyon walls are so high that the sun can't easily reach down here," she sighs, tackling the more literal definition of 'dark' first. "But... If you're wondering why it's so depressing? It's probably because the production of gems in this area sucked all the nutrients out of the ground and left it a lifeless, barren husk."

[chronosynthesis]

"Butcher--your young horse?" Because hell if Syrlya knows what a donkey is. He knows what it looks like, though, and he stares dumbly at Baker for a long minute before his attention slowly slides back to Lambert.

"But... how--no, wait, actually, I don't really want to know." It's clear Butcher only takes after his mother, anyway, which honestly just makes it more questionable but he is not remotely in a place where he wants to try and decipher foreign animal reproduction.

Instead, he takes a swing straight from the bottle in his hand--and his face immediately scrunches up in distaste as he swallows.

[seniorvicejanitor]

( yeah, rhys can see that which is just making this worse. he's not that smart a man, you know, and he needs a break sometimes! )

It's a question for...however many of you there are. General question for the crowd! Everyone here can answer the question!

( just to cover all bases. )

[dressedtothe]

9S hesitates. That seat wasn't there before. How did he miss it? There was simply no way he would've missed that seat. There had only been enough for Rita and the cats, not for him.

"Uh... Sure, I guess."

He walks over and sits down in the seat next to Rita, bewildered. He can't help but be concerned. Of course, Rita talking technical blastia theory is the same, but... he's fairly certain the Rita he knows wouldn't want to be caught dead talking to cats, especially ones that can't talk back.

"...Are you alright? You know you're, uh, talking to cats, right? They can't talk back."

[dressedtothe]

9S leans forward, trying not to make his intense interest in human fishing obvious. But he's not kidding anyone; the way his eyes fixate on the line.

"Incredible..." he says, approaching the water's edge and crouching down, awed. "I wonder how long humans had to observe marine life to figure out all that. And I suppose the knowledge was passed down over the years... It'd be awfully inefficient to rediscover the fishing techniques with every new generation."

[dressedtothe]

The answer is no, no one in the Carnival knows how to speak to girls. Not even 9S, whose interactions prior to the Carnival were 99% with female androids.

Though his consciousness is primarily poking around Strange's head, 9S still does have some level of control over his own body; hacking would be rather useless in combat against the machines if he couldn't split his processing power between controlling his body while hacking. But nevertheless, dedicating some of his processors to hacking does mean that less is available to process combat inputs. So while he nimbly jumps away from the faultline, the reaction is marginally slower than usual.

Okay, so attacking him with magic is kind of the opposite of what he wanted. Sooo, what if he got Strange to cast his stupid magic under himself instead?

[textsfromhotland]

Maybe I want to be devoured by some giant monster.

[It'd be better than camping.]

[textsfromhotland]

"B-but I gotta stock up!" She insists with her armfuls of snacks. "I've never even seen one of these places! What if I don't get another chance?"

[textsfromhotland]

Instead of taking Reira's hand, Alphys just sorta rolls over off of the tent. "Howzat?"

[textsfromhotland]

"Like...FOREVER." It was maybe fifteen minutes. "These instructions don't make any sense! And I swear there aren't enough poles!"

[seniorvicejanitor]

But then you'd be dead.

( and that was not a good thing. )

[kingsroads]

While Strange does have worryingly low self-preservation instincts, he's got enough self-preservation to not attack himself. He still casts earth magic under himself but it's a different type. With a wave of his hand and a quick muttered incantation, the ground under Strange's feet rises a few inches, making a tiny little plateau instead of a baby earthquake.

Thankfully, Strange figures out that 9S is doing some hacking. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what the point is.

"I know you want to test out this hacking, but what even are you having me do to begin with?"

And then, under his own will, Strange makes another tremor underneath 9S's feet.

[sunflowerfields]

"We just have... a lot of them." She laughs awkwardly. No, they'll never run out of potatoes. "How's your watch going, dear?"

[wild_magic]

Susan smiles at the explanation, nodding as he thinks about it.

"That makes sense! That's way more interesting than the other magic I know about." Mostly because it seems all like... Memorization and reading. Which are both boring.

[wild_magic]

"What if I just wanted to talk to you?" He says it with a cheeky smile, but after a moment he continues on anyway.

"I'm trying to be a nightrunner. The Nightrider said I have to talk to all of you, though, before he'll say yes. Since you'll have to work with me and stuff." It's maybe not quite as simple as that, but he doesn't know how better to explain it right now. It's close enough at least.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita looks perplexed at his concern. "Cats are more intelligent than you think," she says, frowning. "Of course they can..."

She trails off, gazing out at the other cats as they mew casually at each other. "Huh?" Rita glances at 9S, then back to the cats, knitting her brow in confusion. "I can't understand a word they're saying..."

But they were talking normally just a second ago. Weren't they?

[anti_nonsense]

"I heard," Rita replies. She wasn't going to bring it up first, but she might as well admit as much now that he's taken that step.

"So what does a runt like you want to join a mercenary team for, anyway?" The same could probably be asked of Rita, considering she's not all that big or strong-looking herself. But she wants to hear his answer, even if the question may be worded in a somewhat hypocritical way.

[soft_focus]

Reira doesn't seem to take it personally, watching the other roll away before pointing at various 'tubes' on the tent. "The tent has to get held up by the poles. So things for the poles to go in, have to be there. Like these," she explains, flicking one.

[soft_focus]

Her plummage is beautiful and fluffy, so Yes, Super Lovely.

The food is not very lovely. "It's her meat," she replies. "She chomps it up and tries to drop it for me, when she's supposed to eat it." So...kinda like birds, but it's no less gross really.

Ew.