⇨ 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

[starseedling]

Steven crawls the rest of the way over, shock passing into relief now that he has some of the others with him. He's grinning happily to see that Strange in on his way towards staging a breakout, and is looking at Yuya and Rita in excitement.

He moves up to the other side of the egg, pressing his ear to it.

"Mr Strange, can you hear us?" he calls.

[kingsroads]

The elbow moves back inside the egg. And then, for Steven's trouble, Strange's elbow jams out again, breaking through more shell and getting real close to hitting Steven in the face.

[spaghettimonster]

There have been plenty of acts of vandalism. Papyrus even left art supplies outside the tent, in a nice little basket with a note encouraging people to show Strange how they care. Displays of earnest emotions like that could only help!

The expert eggsitter himself isn't right by the tent, but pacing around the clearing and chattering on the radio. It's not like watching his brother, who he felt so intensely responsible for, and besides - eggs don't generally go anywhere on their own. There's still the risks of things falling on them or sticky-fingered cryptids wandering in from the woods, and he's been keeping watch for that, but the biggest concern on the skeleton's mind is that fever Strange's egg is running. He's been calling up Gongenzaka and Sans at random times to quiz them about their eggsperiences, even trying the Ringmaster once or twice to check that it's okay for the egg to be so warm.

But Steven's shouting is attention-getting, and he startles out of the radio chatter to look over. "Is something changing?!"

[starseedling]

Steven yelps and falls onto his butt. Thankfully, though, he's already laughing in the next moment. The cracks formed by the elbow strike almost perfectly bisect the heart Steven drew on the egg earlier.

"He's hatching! Do we need anything for when he comes out?" he asks, counting down an inventory in his head.

[hippocarnival]

"He's, uh--" hatching?? That is technically the right term for this, but it feels way too weird to apply to a human being.

"He's coming out!" That doesn't sound much better, but they get the point. As Steven is nearly elbowed, Yuya resolves to curl his fingers around the edge of the opening on his side and pulls at the shell. "I don't know, I've never seen someone do this before. What happened when Sans was reborn?"

[spaghettimonster]

"Already?" Papyrus peers down at the egg, and sure enough, those are cracks.

"Phew! Uh, you see..." He hums and struggles to remember. Having been rather inebriated that night, memories of the hatching itself are fuzzy. "Sans broke through the shell... and! needed a bath. Badly. Food is good too!"

[anti_nonsense]

"I'm sure he'll figure it out," Rita offers unhelpfully, standing nearby with her arms folded as she watches the elbow jab its way through the shell.

[starseedling]

"A bath?" Steven ponders, and then lights up. "Oh, I'll go get him some water!"

Without waiting for commentary, Steven goes running towards the lakeside to fetch some.

[kingsroads]

Yuya yanking some shell off definitely helps. That, plus Strange attempting another elbow attack, makes the hole big enough to look inside and large enough that some goop spills out. Strange is slightly visible inside the egg. He's naked, groggy, covered in egg goop...and his hair is on fire. The ends of his hair burn like tiny matches: Strange doesn't notice.

"Bell?" he murmurs, with all the coherency of someone who just woke up from a long nap.

[hippocarnival]

"Whoa--" Yuya jerks his hands back and cringes as egg goo gets all over them looking mildly disgusted. Still, he gets right back to it as Strange calls out, peeling more shell away.

"Mr. Strange?" He leans over to peer in, relief washing over his face just for the little bit of proof that Strange is all right (but is there a light in that egg?).

"No, you're in the carnival!" He laughs. "Hold on, we'll get you out."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita, being the great friend that she is, doesn't move to help, though her brow furrows as she peers at the egg. "What's that light?" she asks, expecting that someone will investigate for her.

She doesn't lean in for a closer look. Rita knows he's naked in there.

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus, for his part, has ducked into the tent to look for anything else that could help out.

"Where's the light from?" He calls out from inside as he gathers things. Soap? Towels? Surely not that snack that... Oh, the mouse has gotten into those snacks. Terrible.

[kingsroads]

More shell is broken away, enough where Strange can almost stick his head out. And so, he does, awkwardly breaking more shell in an attempt to stick said head out. Strange's head is covered in egg goop, but his new fire hair is strong enough to burn right through that goop.

He's tired, groggy, and looks like he still needs a nap. But hey, Strange is in one piece and doesn't look decomposed in the slightest!

He looks over at Yuya, Rita, and Papyrus...before letting out a bit of a tired yet annoyed noise. What gives? None of you are Arabella!

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's tail starts to swish with excitement as Strange tries to poke his head out, grinning. He yanks another piece of shell and tosses it aside as Strange finally forces his head through. "Mr--"

He stops, completely, frozen in time for a second.

But just a second. "Your hair's on fire!" Why is his hair on fire?!

[anti_nonsense]

That sure is Strange's head on fire. There's a flicker of surprise in Rita's expression, but it doesn't last for long. Weird as it is, it's a trait she's seen before... in some of his other changelings.

"Must be Ignatius' influence," she says bitterly.

[kingsroads]

His hair's on fire? That sounds like a problem he can deal with later. Strange continues to try and pull himself out of the egg, cracking the shell as he does so.

He's gotten his head, shoulders, and upper chest out of the egg before Strange pauses. This is tiring! So, he looks up at Yuya, gives him a weak little smile, then just kind of falls on the ground, exhausted and covered in egg goop, hair still on fire.

Little help, guys?

[starseedling]

"I'm back!"

Steven returns with a pink bubble full of lake water floating over his hands. He was going to use this to give Strange a shower when he was ready, but he was ill-prepared for the sight of Strange being literally on fire.

"Is he - ahhhh, fire!" Steven yelps, impulsively bursting the bubble and letting it drench Strange as he lies on the ground.

[whattaprick]

Between all the shouting and the splashing, it's almost easy to miss the soft, unmistakable sound of a shutter clicking.

Looking better than he has been -- still rough, but upright and with golden scales starting to peek out from under his bandages -- Lambert lowers the camera, watching Strange. He'd been heading somewhere else, but the commotion was hard to miss, and now he's got a nice little picture of the whole tableau.

Celandine's reaction is less restrained.

"STRANGE!" she hollers joyfully, racing across the damp ground, skidding to a stop beside the damp magician (accidentally kicking up mud on him in the process). "You're back!"

"He's naked," Lambert observes, meandering his way over. "And still on fire."

[spaghettimonster]

Oh, that warmth and light were because Strange is part-fire now. No wonder! And, given what monsters are like, it's not alarming. It's certainly not any more unexpected than Sans gaining extra arms, or whatever happened to Gongenzaka after his egg time.

So Papyrus finishes gathering things before coming out, just in time to see Steven dump water all over Strange.

"Oh my god!" He dashes forward, towel at the ready, and drops it on the man. The towel should soak up egg goop, water, and mud alike. Hopefully it's not too flammable.

"...I don't know if I should be alarmed! Strange, does the fire hurt?"

[hippocarnival]

"His influence?" Yuya turns to Rita and gives her a confused look. "You mean it's a change from being under him...?"

That's something he would dwell on longer, had Steven not just popped a bubble of water right on Strange's head (he feels a few droplets hit his face) and then for a moment he just stares stupidly.

There's a building crowd, so Yuya snaps himself back to attention and looks between everyone, and Strange. The fire doesn't seem to be growing at any rate, though it's still a question of whether it's flammable to everything except Strange. Yuya bends over to grab one of his arms. "Can someone help me pull him out?"

There won't be any modesty or clean up as long as he's still halfway in a goopy egg.

[kingsroads]

And then a bubble of water falls on his head. Strange is just too tired to move right now, so he can't really do anything as he gets wet. The flames in his hair sputter and most of them go out. A few of them start to light themselves up again, but the towel that's also thrown on his head puts out the remaining stragglers.

Now he's naked, wet, muddy, and goopy but he also has a towel on his face. Go team!

As Yuya grabs one of his arms, Strange blindly reaches out with the other arm to try and pet Celandine. At the same time, there's a lot of people yelling and talking at him and urgh, he probably should answer one of these questions or at least get some clarification

"What fire?" he very groggily answers. Because he doesn't see any fire. Is something on fire? Where is it?

[starseedling]

"Oh no," Steven says, abashed. "Was that just his hair? I'm sorry..."

He takes a step back, covering his mouth with his jeweled hands.

[anti_nonsense]

"He's fine," Rita assures Steven, though it probably sounds more dismissive than anything.

With Yuya trying to pull Strange out of the egg, Rita simply turns around and faces away. She wants to make sure he's safe and himself again, so she's staying nearby, but if he's coming out naked, she doesn't want to see it.

[whattaprick]

"Don't worry about it," Celandine scolds. She won't let him pet her right now, since she's uncertain of his mental state, but she'll stay close.

Now that Lambert's gotten his blackmail material, he should probably help Strange out. He's not to heavy lifting or bending over right now, but... his tail works just fine, so he'll use that, wrapping it around Strange's upper arm.

"Lift on three," he tells Yuya. And then, at no one in particular-- "Can someone grab a sheet? We should get him to West."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya hooks his arm around Strange's, then pauses and glances between him and Rita. If she weren't here, he probably wouldn't think twice about Strange's bare ass... but she is, so he shifts his jacket off and awkwardly holds it out while he continues to balance one side of Strange.

"I have this if no one can get a sheet now." It'll at least cover his hips, because how many sheets were brought in lieu of sleeping bags by the carnival? He looks back up to Lambert, waiting for his cue.