⇨ 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

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya glances to Yugo and Clear Wing with a smile. Normally he'd ham it up for the audience, but... that's probably too much for Gongenzaka right now.

Instead he listens closely to Gongenzaka, waiting for him to get through the first couple lines before he jumps in singing. He remembers the lyrics less clearly, stumbling once or twice, but he follows well enough to not disrupt the song. His tone is much higher, and it's still identifiable against Gon's voice even when they sing together.

He closes his eyes to focus on the song, surprisingly into it.]

[dressedtothe]

Awww and here he was, hoping Strange would get fooled into participating. Well, maybe Lambert will help out anyway. Strange doesn't have to give consent.

9S cheerfully returns, "If you become resistant, then I'll just have to find a loophole," his cat ears wiggling in good cheer. "You don't expect our enemies to be easy to overcome, do you?"

[dressedtothe]

Huh. That's not something humans normally do, right? Usually they use a knife to skin a fish...

Hold on. "Wait, you're still gonna eat it?"

[kingsroads]

"I don't. However, I expect you to be smart enough to realize the value of practicing on multiple people."

Strange's words are equally cheerful, but there's something a little tense in his expression. If this is solely an excuse to pick on him then obviously, he's not going to have much tolerance for it.

[kingsroads]

Strange looks a little proud of himself. A more modest man would point out the many factors that lead to Strange becoming a magician, starting with 'it might be part of a prophecy' and ending with 'no seriously, I've no idea why I suddenly could do magic in my late twenties.' Strange is not modest. So Strange is going to gloat a little.

"Well I did do magic for the King of England." Just because there were only two magicians in England. And the magic didn't really do anything. But he's gloating and preening right now so those things don't matter! "I suppose that makes me 'really good' by default."

[kingsroads]

None of these clues are helpful. Strange just stares at the board with utter confusion as the phone happily tells Strange about his boyfriend's chitinous exoskeleton. Strange, a man who's level of biology knowledge doesn't get more in-depth than 'that thing breathes water', is out of his depth.

"You'd think that they'd at least have a guide as to who's what species," he responds, as he hands the phone back to Shura. "Or would that be prejudiced? Damned if I know, this space stuff is too confusing."

Give him magic, any day. That's much more sensible!

[prazerbutterfly]

"You have a point, beautiful. I'm easy to please as well. It'll work out for either of us," he respond with the same vigor as usual. He lets his eyes roam over her to her glass and then back up at her face again. It's rude to stare at that impressive rack of hers by Victorian means but right now wasn't time for that. It was the company that was pleasing him more at the moment. The only real threat was the carnival members themselves right now and anyone that bothered him right now would get retaliation in spades.

"It's one of my better wines given the quality is harder to find in most places. This one is from Wismuth. It actually had a shop dedicated to wine."

[pipers_son]

"Oh, without a doubt," Joker agrees, not even trying to hide his grin now. Sometimes, it's just not worth the effort when something is this funny. "But I think that she won't really go along with it that easily, whether yer speakin' or writin'. People are stubborn like that."

[pipers_son]

"Ha, well. I just wanted to sorta apologize for what happened in Wismuth?" He rubs the back of his head, carefully avoiding an obstacle course of ear, wing, and antler. It's truly a trial.

"I was tryin' ta be antagonizing and provokin' and all that, just tryin' different things ta see if I could break through ta any one of ya, but I was always a tad worried about it." He does rather like Carly, after all, and it'd be a damn shame if he ruined a perfectly fine relationship. That some of that hadn't just been an act is, well, something that doesn't need to be mentioned.

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus still isn't sure what he's looking for - listening for? feeling for? - when he starts stepping backwards. It's almost like moving back out of nervousness, but he doesn't feel any more nervous than before. And his legs keep going, even once he tries to stay bravely put.

"Uh," he says aloud, frowning down at his legs as they go from simple steps to some more complicated motion. Is this... a jig? "Okay... I knew this wouldn't be easy, but this is... How do I do this?"

It's like he needs to dance, trying to just stop dancing hardly slows his movement. The closest he gets to success is as he thinks of other types of dances, and his body falters before switching rhythms.

[prazerbutterfly]

He'll filet it properly when he gets somewhere more flat and it is closer to actually cooking it.

He lifts a brow and gives a short nod, "Mmhmm. If it's off it won't kill me and I do love the taste of fish. Who knows, it could be better than the Earth type. Where is your sense of thrill?"

[soft_focus]

"She still has to deal with it, especially if Ginko has to tell her to listen though." As far as Reira is concerned, Ginko is boss.

So if Jasper doesn't deal, then Ginko has to scold her. It's that simple!!

(It's quite the image, in any case.)

[fortuneglass]

"...Wismuth?" It takes...a moment to realize what Joker's even referring to.

And then she does. "...oh," she manages after a moment, her glow paling a little. "...I'm not sure anything would've worked, at that point... ...we're certainly close as coworkers, but..."

But in the end after all it took an arguable love confession from the half-star guardian in the audience combined with just about all of her allies turning to the light. She was stubborn in her dark.

She does manage the energy to get a rib out though. "....I definitely don't see how antagonizing someone would have worked in the first place though, you know..!" She'll just huff and pout as she says that, to get the humor across.

[pipers_son]

"Hey, talkin' at Steven seemed ta work! Somehow..." Joker still isn't entirely sure how that ended up working in the end. It doesn't even seem like the kind of thing that would happen in a fairytale. And he knows a lot of those.

Still... At least she's not upset, and he laughs a little bit at the ribbing. "Well, we have so many nice folks like Zaka in the troupe, I figured somethin' else had ta be tried! And I felt pretty safe hidin' behind a little boy." Hey, he can make fun of himself too.

[fortuneglass]

"Because that's Steven, and he was already on the fence about everything..!" she hisses, wrinkling her nose. "He's a very open-hearted boy, of course he's going to take anyone's words like that..!" Anyway.

She confesses that she's a little confused about the next part of Joker's words until he finishes. Her expression runs from absolute bewilderment to a dry frown, before she finally rolls her eyes. "...I think I spotted him during one of my earlier runs in the city...you shouldn't have been worried about someone the size of a pomeranian," she huffs. "Definitely shouldn't have been using a human shield against one..!"

[pipers_son]

That is the most hilarious mental image, and Joker is going to take the time to enjoy it, thank you.

"So has he done that yet?" he asks, once he's got it nice and memorized.

[soft_focus]

....

She frowns.

"...I don't know, he only lets me work with small things, and Tyrannosaurus."

In other words, she hasn't actually had to ask Jasper for...Anything.

Which in turn means she's been just fine at the job she's been given.

[pipers_son]

Alas, so nothing yet... Which means he just has to make the opportunity himself. So with that thought already in his head and set on its path, Joker raises one finger with a wide grin.

"What would ya like in return for gettin' a picture of him doin' that? Bossin' Jasper around?"

[pipers_son]

Size of a Pomeranian... Joker laughs. After all, she's not wrong. Even as a villain, Steven had been hilariously endearing. A shame that he'd been so miserable after all of that.

"But he's a tough little Pomeranian, right?"

[soft_focus]

What-

"....You want a picture of Ginko telling her what to do?"

That seems a mighty odd request, so she doesn't even think about 'rewards' honestly.

[anti_nonsense]

"I see..."

Rita turns her head away and gazes off into the distance. She didn't expect she'd come out of this feeling bad for Yugo, but... that's just an objectively shitty situation.

"Thanks... for telling me about this." It might seem like Rita's not very used to saying thanks, as she almost seems to struggle with the word. But she recognizes that she pursued this line of questioning out of her own selfish curiosity, and ended up learning about what was probably a horrific experience for Yugo. "I think I understand you guys a little better now."

[fortuneglass]

Well, she'd been referring to Gongenzaka when she mentioned the pomeranian...

Big Deputy Dog got himself shrunk into a mascot for a bit there. (If she were to compare Steven to a dog, it would be a Chow puppy.)

But misunderstandings continue, and Carly shrugs. "Well...he was. We both know how big Gongenzaka typically is..." She huffs. "Seriously though, using Steven as your shield..."

[pipers_son]

Listen, in his defense, there was so much happening there, it's easy to have it slip his mind on who got changed into what weird thing. That was all a mess.

"Bein' tiny just made him all the more endearin' in a whole new way~." Zaka is just such a charming boy, after all. "And anyway, Steven was just the only one willin' ta trust me! Tanyuu sorta.... nearly killed me, after all."

Along with her brother. And Scout. It was a bad time.

[insidescoop]

"Hmnnnn...she was sort of scary, come to think..." As to the others, that's what moving to different background positions does Joker. That's what it does.

"...But I'm not going to hold it against you too much. Maybe a bit of judgement..." Human Child Shields, Joker, "...But it isn't like we were all thinking straight when you were around after all..!"

[pipers_son]

Listen, it wasn't like he was really using Steven as a shield, just their relationship...!!

"Yeah, that seemed ta mess up all sorts of folks. I can just imagine how it would have affected the rest of us. Glad it didn't do that much, then." He heaves out a sigh. "Would have preferred we hadn't gotten dragged in at all, 'tho. Still." He starts to dig through his bag.

"S'all I wanted ta get off my chest."