lostcarnival | ⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

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⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

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.

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Shima hadn't paid any mind to the translucent little white flowers that had sprung up near the head of his tent a few days after he'd gotten it pitched, noticing it but thinking nothing of them when there was already so much odd greenery and life everywhere already. It was all part of the atmosphere that made their latest stop strangely peaceful, and despite any excess energy he may have had after everything that happened at the Athenaeum, he doesn't find it too odd that he's able to get to sleep without much tossing or turning.

A. The mushi have definitely taken hold as he falls asleep and now he's dreamwalking. Perhaps he's wandered into one of yours?

B. You're dreamwalking and have either fallen into Shima's or yours has merged with his. At the moment he's dreaming of effortlessly jogging along a foggy walkway, railed off on one side as it overlooks an oddly Spanish European inspired hill of a town which falls away below, with high stone walls rising up on the other side as the town continues up. There's an excited sense of purpose here, though there's no one else around. It feels like you can reach anywhere you want to be, just by running toward it.

C. Those are definitely mushi around Shima's tent. Come bug him about it.

((ooc: anything to do with the dream stuff or mushi can go here! I'm around on discord or plurk if anyone wants to do extra plotting. See below for camping shenanigans!))

Upon dreaming, Shima will find himself, oddly enough, on a boat.

To the right are tall, jagged cliffs that threaten to dash to pieces anyone who dares approach. To the right is open ocean, dark and glassy. The sail creaks in the wind — what little there is of it — but otherwise things are eerily still.

And manning the rudder? None other than Lambert, though he’s looking a little preoccupied at the moment, scanning the open water. He also looks a little different from how Shima knows him. No horns or tail, though his eyes are the same slit-pupiled gold, and the scars remain constant. Two scabbards are strapped on his back, one sword drawn and resting in easy reach.

He hasn’t caught on to Shima yet, it seems, or just isn’t acknowledging him.

Edited 2018-06-14 05:54 (UTC)

He feels vaguely concerned that he might not know how to sail a boat, but not so much that it bothers him, or really even helps him register that there is anything odd about this dream. Instead he looks out at the water too, since that seems to be what they're supposed to do, his perspective potentially blending with Lambert's for a moment.

Is there something out there?

Lambert's holding himself still, the only motion the gentle rocking of the boat. In the strange way that dreams work sometimes, Shima might find his perspective overlaying Lambert's for a moment, seeing through his eyes as he looks at the water. At first, there's nothing.

Then-- there. Ripples under the surface of the ocean, sleek shapes that are just a bit darker than the rest. Slowly, their perspectives separating again, Lambert reaches a hand over his shoulder and wraps his fingers around the hilt of one of his swords.

It happens quickly -- an unearthly screeching fills the air and three bodies burst from the water, leaving an impression of writhing bodies and scales. One lands heavily on the mast, spines tearing through the sails as its tail lashes. Two other bodies heave themselves onto the boat, dumping water along with them. They're humanoid bodies attached to monstrous limbs -- a torso displaying bulges that could vaguely resemble human breasts if you had a good imagination, stringy hair like seaweed clinging to bulging skulls.

Lambert knows what those are, so Shima doesn't feel as much of a shock when the monsters start throwing themselves at the boat--that doesn't mean he can just stand there and gawk though. He pulls his spear from where it's holstered on his back, kicking at the nearest creature that's thrown itself on deck, ready to drive the bladed tip through any exposed vitals.

Sirens, the name supplies itself readily into Shima's mind.

Watch the teeth, use silver, don't be fooled-- As soon as Shima lashes out, the creature reels back with a shriek, its body shifting into a beautiful, damp woman ... albeit one still attached to monster parts it can't disguise. Those are some awfully life-like breasts on display, a deceptively vulnerable belly, but when Shima brings his blade up, he'll find a heavy tail swinging up to attempt to knock it -- and him -- into the water.

In the meantime, the one on the mast launches itself at the witcher, whose response is swift and brutal. An arc of silver slices through the air, and monster ichor sprays the deck as the siren slams into the edge of the boat, one of its wings cut clear through the membrane.

Don't be fooled but JEEZ, why do they have to be like this?! If Shima didn't say that out loud Lambert's still gonna know he thought it with how offended he is about this. Give him real naked women, c'mon! Shima gets distracted enough that he gets knocked right overboard into the otherwise placid water. It's deep enough here that he really should have gone right under, and under more nightmarish circumstances maybe he would have, but instead he treads the surface after he gets dunked, pushing himself along with the pole of his spear, torso mysteriously mostly above water because that's just how it works, and despite it dragging at his legs as he walk-swims, he makes his way back toward the boat to pull himself back up.

Edited 2018-06-19 08:08 (UTC)

In turn, Shima might feel a thin thread of amusement back. They really stop being so distracting when you’ve cut down a hundred of them.

Him hitting the water is more of a concern, but Shima’s not drowning, is he? Still, there’s a brief spike of controlled alertness — no panic, just anticipation, they’re faster in the sea than in the air, have to end it — and then in the blink of an eye, as dreams seem to work, the sirens lie in pieces on the deck and in the water. A few stray bits bob on the waves that have finally started up again, like the death and blood were all it was waiting for.

Lambert wipes his sword clean of ichor on the scaly hide of one, then starts chopping off heads, booting the rest of the monsters into the water. A decent job. Less sirens harassing trade routes will always have someone willing to pay. He might even be able to pay for a real dinner and an inn room tonight.

He finally seems to realize he isn’t alone. After a pause, he looks up, expression questioning.

It's not as gruesome as it might otherwise be. Collecting the heads seems perfectly logical, so Shima doesn't question it, though personally.. still kinda gross. It's only after Lambert gives him that kind of baffled look that it occurs to Shima maybe it's weird for him to be here.

He isn't gonna have ta pay his own way too, is he? That sounds like it means more monsters.

Mostly, it means less money for Lambert, since he can’t argue Shima didn’t earn at least some of his keep (by being a distraction, if nothing else). The rest of the sirens seem wise enough to stay away, and he doesn’t feel like sailing all around looking for more.

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?” is what he ends up asking, curiously.

"Eh, should I?"

He looks around again, some lucidness settling on him as the weirdness gets stronger and it starts to feel less logical that he'd be on a boat somewhere with Lambert of all people.

"Uh, I guess I don't actually know where I am...?"

"Off the coast of Spikeroog, in Skellige," Lambert offers, pointing out one of the closer landmasses breaking through the water. The foreign-sounding names roll off his tongue easily enough.

The lack of wind, unfortunately, means a lack of movement. Their fighting had jostled the boat a bit, but it doesn't push it along, and Lambert rummages in the bottom of the boat for oars, holding one out to Shima.

"Tell you what: help me get this thing back to shore, and I'll owe you a drink."

Bugging people about mushi is, in fact, one of the things Ginko is best at. So it doesn't take him long to wander over, hands in his pockets, as he looks over the flowers around Shima's tent.

He squats down to get a closer look at them, tilting his head, before glancing at Shima. "...You know what these are?"

Wow what's with this guy just invading somebody's campsite and poking around their tent?? Shima gets up from arranging the branches for the campfire to come around the other side of the tent just as Ginko looks up and points out the little white flowers.

"Erm, why, are they poisonous?"

Edited 2018-06-16 17:30 (UTC)

"Not exactly. But they shouldn't be here."

He sighs and sits back on his heels, frowning down at the little flowers. At least it's not too urgently dangerous of a species, but he'll need to talk to Tanyuu about this if more of them crop up.

"Just try not to sleep more than you have to for the time being, alright?"

Squints at him, listening to his voice...

"I dunno, it's pretty good weather for a nap. Shouldn't I just move my tent then?"

"Doesn't matter how good the weather is. It's dangerous."

Ginko gives a brief shake of his head; if he notices how Shima is examining him, he brushes it off as unimportant pretty quickly. Gotta talk about mushi!

"Moving your tent may not help; if we've got an infestation moving in, they'll spring up wherever they can find someone sleeping. I can get back to you once I've looked around more, but for the moment it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Okay so if it's not poisonous but sleeping is dangerous, what does it actually do."

Is there some reason he doesn't want to say?? Frown...

"...Did ya introduce yourself as Ginko on the radio a while back when we were digging stuff outta that library?"

Oh, he will absolutely say it. He's just... incredibly bad at getting to the point quickly.

Now, though, he finally will: "Simply put, it blurs the borders between sleeping minds. It's not dangerous at first, but extended exposure can keep blurring people's minds together more and more, making it harder to distinguish between individuals' memories and identities. Not something we should be risking."

He blinks, and lifts his ears slightly. "--Ah, yeah. You do sound familiar, come to think of it."

Which isn't to say that he's actually placed Shima's voice yet, because he hasn't.

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⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

DREAMSHARE MUSHI | D66-68ish

A: DREAMSSSS

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C, before the mushi announcement!

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