⇨ 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

LMAO WHUPS

[pipers_son]

If all anyone ever needs from him is just to be a warm body, Joker is more than glad to be that. It's an easy thing to be, especially when you don't care about personal space. Maybe he can't talk, or be honest, or offer anything good... but this much, he can do. So he stays where he is, rubbing her back and listening to the soft almost-purrlike trilling deep in Feathers' throat.

Silence doesn't last, however, and his hand pauses in surprise at what she says. After a second, he heaves out a sigh, his breath rustling over her hair. "S'fine," he says quietly, staring blankly somewhere at Feathers' chest. He really has become a huge bird, all from the situation that him and his sister were arguing about in the first place. "I'm sorry for worryin' ya. S'just not easy, tryin' ta balance watchin' out for everyone else under me while also thinkin' about how it effects ya. And this was one thing where I figured it'd be alright if I got involved. It was all performance, after all. I didn't have ta be good at fightin' or magic or whatever else."

[steadydollypegs]

"It's not easy tryin' ta stay away 'n be safe while wonderin' if yer comin' back, if I could help, if I should go against ya'nd follow.

"I coulda been useful too, if it wasn' fightin' or magic." She looks up at him, wide eyed and silently pleading for him to agree. She can't say she's sure he will, but it feels to her that even without the shift away from how the carnival used to run, something has to change.

hell no. I mean, okay. probably a good spot

[prazerbutterfly]

"It'll be more along the lines of you hitting me. At least this time around," he responds, adding no comfort to the situation. Ginko agreed to this after all.

He stretches out much like a cat, with ears bent back and tail lashing gently. It's then that he's up on his feet again with a small pop of his back. Sleeping on the ground was fun and all but he's ready to sink into something more plush and his tent was a mess of stolen sleeping bags and pillows, "Tomorrow then."

[stillwinningthehardway]

"Hmmmm." Scout ties knots into her blade of grass, accepting that there's a lot here that she just isn't going to 'get' perfectly. "Not likely to happen again, I guess."

He seems unconcerned about the tokoyami, but she's got to ask. "If something else does manage to get it to do that again, somehow - what do you want people to do?"

[dontpokethat]

"No. Hopefully not."

He hesitates, and... for a moment, he does look sort of troubled. It's not like the possibility isn't something he's thought of before, but he certainly hasn't made a habit of talking to others about what to do if it happens, since... well, until the past couple years, it was most likely that if the tokoyami took him it would be without anyone else nearby. It just didn't seem likely enough to be worth worrying people with.

But, after Wismuth, and since she's asking... "If there's no obvious way to stop it? Just keep your distance. When it's in that state, it may well have a risk of spreading to other people."

[whattaprick]

It's just what you do when someone's clearly trying to drown their misery. Lambert may have a limited grasp of proper social interaction, but he's got an handle on that one just fine.

"Guess that's better than nothing," Lambert shrugs. He can't really relate to the scale of the problem Syrlya's talking about, but he can't help but quirk a brow at him, tail swaying lazily behind him.

"Does your world depend on you that much?" He means it to be teasing, but then again, now Syrlya has him wondering.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya stops before he's going to take another drink. That's not a question he's been asked before, and he slowly lowers the bottle as he stares blankly at the fire.

"I suppose it does," He says with a shrug, straightening up--only for a moment before the alcohol weighs him back down and he slumps again. "My Wyld Hunt was to combat the Elder Dragons. We all simply... underestimated the complexity of the issue."

"But I have already started it." He glances sideways to Lambert. "Of course, every race must deal with this. It threatens the entire world." Syrlya is just the one they expect to have the answers for it.

Too many people died for Syrlya to lead this cause. He can't be the guiding figure they want to see him as, but he can at least finish what he started.

[whattaprick]

"This is why destiny's bullshit," Lambert says, matter-of-fact. "The whole world gets boned just because you weren't in the right place at the right time? Kind of shitty for the people who don't even know who you are."

Though he remembers enough of what Syrlya said, and he raises a brow, smirking.

"So, where does the resurrection come in?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert considers Peridot's words, thumbs hooked into his belt, and cocks his head. Suddenly, something occurs to him.

"Was this why you were asking about making amends in Wismuth?" Lambert's already mostly forgotten that conversation, having had other things on his mind at the time, but in the way of dreams, the memory is easy to retrieve. The scenery around them doesn't change, but an echo of Peridot's voice from Lambert's recollection, uneasy and wavering:

Do you... Believe that it's possible for someone to make amends for something that they did in the past that was really, really bad, by doing something really really good?

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya snorts. Yeah, it's not always great to be on the recieving end of destiny. "It is my Wyld Hint because I am capable of fulfilling it. The Dream does not choose Valiants lightly."

That doesn't make it any less of a gargantuan task, but rather than argue out (and have to try to prove) he's not totally a failure, he latches onto the next topic.

"Balthazar killed me." That's the short, simple answer. There's a pause as Syrlya's expression twists. "It was a trap. I underestimated him, in that regard."

[pipers_son]

Cooing fondly, Feathers leans down to gently forehead bump Reira, and Joker chuckles. "I think that's a 'you're welcome'." He taps the large bird on the shoulder, gaining his attention anyway. "Now c'mon, you, let's find ya some snacks that haven't been stolen yet."

As he and his Pokemon go off back towards where their tents are, he waves to Reira over his shoulder. "We'll see ya around~."

[pipers_son]

"Ha. Well, it's a role that suits ya." Moving around, he has Feathers hold down one peg.

"I'm glad ta see that ya stepped up ta the role when it became clear we needed someone new."

[reflash]

There isn't an age limit for exorcist teams.

[exaomori]

That's--

[She pauses, her expression changing into something unreadable for a moment. Letting him say that kind of thing, even if he was just playing--it was the kind of thing she was going to regret later on, even if he might know the reason why.]

Ain't the point. Focus on passin' your exams, then try talkin' big.

[periphrasing]

Ooooh that's weird, hearing her own voice when she hasn't opened her mouth at all. She looks alarmed, straightening up and glancing around for the source with widened eyes before hunkering back down.

"...Affirmative," she groans, voice wavering slightly. She feels incredibly stupid all of a sudden, realizing just how much this has been bothering her... and then to have Lambert around to witness that shame? Ugh.

[pipers_son]

"You coulda," Joker agrees softly, none too happy even with that small concession. Doll is empathetic, and agile, and her and Gongenzaka and Yuya could have all been a good bunch of kids working together. Yet it doesn't soothe him any, and the words take a little while to come out to the surface. Not because he doesn't know them, but because they're selfish little things, and it feels a little bit like peeling back a rock to show all the things crawling underneath it.

"But... Nothin' has ever made me happier than the idea of you- and just just you, but everyone back home, too- not ever havin' ta deal with nasty unpleasant things. Like gettin' hurt, or gettin' scared." He lets out a slow breath, forcing his body not to quake. Why does talking about the truth get him so frazzled, body pumped full of adrenaline? "S'why I just wanted ta do all this work on my own, and have us all end up somewhere nicer. I mean, I'm the big brother, ain't I?" And big brothers are supposed to protect their family, even when they get hurt.

[whattaprick]

Seems like an ass-backwards way to do things, in Lambert's opinion -- what the hell would this 'dream' know about someone who hasn't even come to life yet? -- but

"Looks like he underestimated you too," Lambert points out. "What's the story behind that?"

You know, the whole 'hey I'm still alive' thing.

[fortuneglass]

"Well!" she hums, looking around for a peg to help out with. "It's the least I could do, I was already doing the job almost..."

She does laugh a bit nervously however. "Ahe...I... I just hope everyone's been alright with the stumbling about I did getting used to it ahahahahaaaa..."

EMBARRASSING!

[soft_focus]

"Um!! Ok! See you!" Reira calls out, waving a bit.

Her daemon, for his part, simply barks out a 'THEFT IS WRONG' that fades on the wind.

Enjoy those snacks, Feathers.

[pipers_son]

"It's fine." Joker spares a hand for a moment- which is still a really great thing that he rather likes, thanks- to wave at her. "It wasn't that bad, if ya ask me. All ya had ta do was get used ta bein' in charge and all that." Moving to another, he reaches out with one of his wings to lightly smack at her.

"Have a lil' more confidence."

[insidescoop]

"Hauuuhhh, not to mention figure out how to be authoritative in my own way..." She actually has to pause. "H..hey, I figured that one out right? It's not all weird and scary or ineffective when I give orders..?"

It is absolutely always one of those.

Anyway. "....phew...w..well. If you think I'm doing ok, then!!" She cheers to change the subject, hammering a peg down.

[chronosynthesis]

Most Valiants don't even get Hunts until after they awake, Syr is just a special protagonist.

A brief, crooked smirk reaches Syrlya's face at Lambert's assertion, and he sits up a little. "Using a lot of his magic against him. He was using souls of the dead to fuel his army, so when I died it was a way back out."

By killing a monster, but the alcohol is starting to muddle Syr's focus at an increasing rate and he figures trying to explain the traumatizing amnesia and soul searching and the technicalities of resurrection... well, that's too much of an explanation for right now.

"It isn't possible, normally. Were he not abusing the realm of the dead..." Well, Syrlya wouldn't still be standing here.

[pipers_son]

Oh, it is absolutely always one of those, and Joker's grin spreads slyly across his face. "Oh, it's often scary," he says, going with the more hilarious of the two options. At least, it's hilarious to him, considering how often he gets to see Carly be such a dork normally. Maybe his sense of humor is just warped.

"If yer not careful, you'll end up traumatizin' one of the people under ya~." Voice rising up sing-song, he finishes with the pegs on his end.

[insidescoop]

That..............was the wrong thing to say.

"I..." Actually Carly looks ready to break already. "N-No..! I really hurt one of my workers, trying to pretend to be like that..!! I can't still be doing that..!!"

[reflash]

[He doesn't know why her expression changes (or he does, he will, it just has no place in this dream) and he lets himself brush it off. He'll overthink it later.]

I will. Just watch me.