⇨ 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

[exaomori]

Heh, Shura's already making plans. She doesn't have a strategy for winning the game, but she knows a potential mark when she sees one. Give him a few rounds, let him build up his confidence, and then she'll see if he's willing to bet something. Sure, there might not be anything fun here, but didn't mean there wouldn't be something in the future.

"That's the spirit! C'mon, you can have the first round. Here, just take this and hit the button." Look at her, being generous and handing over the space phone. She may have already heard a few hints when she was first messing with it, but to be fair, it isn't as if most of them made sense.

[kingsroads]

Strange puts the phone up to his ear since Mr. 1810s at least has basic knowledge of how phones work. He still looks far too confident as he presses the button, only for the confidence to falter slightly when he gets his actual hint.

His favorite vacation spot is Plexar 12. Was that a city? Why would there be a number at the end of it, places don't have numbers on them! What an absolutely useless hint!

Strange frowns for a moment, looking over the myriad aliens as if one of them would tell him where the hell Plexar is. While he's frowning, however, something comes to him. Nowhere in the rules did Shura say that Strange had to tell her his hint. So, putting that confident smile back on his face, he hands Shura the phone. He'll at least give her a little help, though.

"That told me nothing useful," Strange laughs, with a little shrug.

[exaomori]

"Nothing useful, nyaa?" Of course he didn't have to share his hint. If he had and Shura was a more generous person, she might have been able to explain the hint a bit more. The game had come with an instruction manual, after all.

But there could be no bets without some degree of competition, and Shura gracefully accepts the phone and plays her next hint. While knowing that her potential alien beau's sense of smell is non-existent might be good to know in real life, it really doesn't help her on the game. So should she be looking for something without nostrils or what?

"Tch, even if I paid attention in biology class, I don't think I'd be doin' much better. How am I supposed to know alien anatomy?" Here, Strange, the phone's all yours.

[kingsroads]

"Why do I have a feeling this competition is going to end with us randomly guessing our suitor?" Strange teases, as he takes the phone from Shura. Alien anatomy, alien planets, this game was obviously made for a more worldly traveler than these two.

His second hint is slightly less useless. He's proud of his antennae. Well, there's a few of these creatures that don't have antennae...but at least 1/3 of them seem to be bug aliens of some sort. Still, that's useful!

He passes the phone back to Shura and continues to tease. "You'd think that our alien boyfriends would find a less convoluted method of telling us they liked us. Whatever happened to simple courtship?"

[exaomori]

"Ahh, you think they should be simple and straightforward? That's borin', isn't it? A young girl likes to have some fun~ Why not make it into a game?" Says the one who was dead set on a man that was completely out of her reach through her teenage years. Still, the games she played with men back then had been pretty fun at the time.

She holds back on getting her next clue, leaning in and resting her elbows on the table, leaving no room to doubt that she's conspiring something or other. "Nyeheh, if you think this is gonna come down to luck, should we make a wager?"

[kingsroads]

Strange's courtship basically entailed his wife trying to find a way to make Strange hold down a job and actually care about something other than her. While his and Arabella's courtship was fun in some regards, it was exasperating for Arabella in others.

His expression shifts slightly as Shura mentions a wager. Hell, why not? This is just a simple game. He's certain that whatever Shura wants him to wager, the thing that might be lost most is his dignity. And really, that's flown out the window a while back.

"That all depends on what the wager is. Have anything in mind?"

[exaomori]

Some would call that a long-term investment; Shura would call it a giant pain the ass.

Oh, good, he wasn't going to be a stick in the mud about taking a little risk. "Mm, it ain't like money's worth much here. You got any booze stashed away somewhere?" It had the potential to backfire on her since she barely had anything left by now.

[kingsroads]

And Strange laughs a little, shaking his head at Shura's question.

"Alas, I don't. I was, ah, indisposed when the Ringmaster told us all to pack for camping." He was super dead and stuck in the middle of a revival egg. "I've been relying on the kindness of others—I only have the clothes on my back because one of my friends was smart enough to bring them!"

God bless Childermass and his practicality. Still, that brings them back to nothing to wager. Strange frowns for a moment, thinks things over, before asking, "What about secrets? The winner gets to ask the loser a question which the loser has to answer truthfully."

The suggestion doesn't seem to bother Strange much. After all, he's annoyingly open about most of his life.

[exaomori]

"Aaah, yeah, that's right. I guess they were still too annoyed with you to bring you anything fun. What a pain! This place is too boring to stay sober the entire time." Besides, wasn't that one of the fun things to do out in the wilderness, drink and play with fire? It was such a pity they were on the run. Well, maybe if they got bored enough, they could work on some moonshine or something equally dumb.

But that's the kind of wager Shura isn't so sure about. "Secrets? Ha! A guy like you doesn't have many secrets, y'know~ That puts me at a disadvantage."

[kingsroads]

Shura has a point. Strange frowns for a little bit, actually thinking through what other things they could use to wager with. They don't have booze, secrets are out...the idea of just playing the game to play the game and not wager anything doesn't really enter Strange's mind.

"Do you have any suggestions?" he asks, still thinking to himself.

[exaomori]

A man so obvious and open that he won't even try to deny the fact that he had no secrets. Shura has to laugh.

"Mm, this place makes it rough! We might hafta to do something easy--whoever loses owes the winner a favor. Borin', but it's better than nothin'." Playing a game just to have fun? who does that?

[kingsroads]

"I suppose we'll have to do that." He shrugs and sighs. Strange really can't think of any better alternatives but here we are, favors might have to work.

"I think it's your turn, by the way." Honestly, Strange doesn't remember who's turn it is, but he barely has any idea who his space boyfriend actually is. Might as well let Shura go next.

[exaomori]

"Is it?" A favor it was, then. But there was still the matter of actually figuring out who her space boyfriend was, and that was the tricky part. "Ah, it prolly is. Let's see...."

Naturally, the next clue Shura gets is about as helpful as the rest of the clues, something about his thick mane. Should she just start by picking the most attractive one of the bunch? Maybe luck will be on her side if she just pick up one of the cards on the board--

It's a picture of some guy with more eyes than she's comfortable with. For just a brief second, he brow creases and she drops the card back to the board. "Plenty of variety out in space, I guess."

[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!