⇨ 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 did talk about his spirits on the radio, but that's not the kind of thing he'd expect Childermass to jump to as a comparison. Especially when they just got out of dealing with a bunch of book spirits.

He looks sideways at Lambert, pursing his lips in a thoughtful manner. "The spirits in my cards are real. They're really there."

He doesn't seem as reluctant to explain that, this time, and instead counters like he's relaying a definitive fact. Since, well, it is. "It's just most people can't hear them."

[whattaprick]

Lambert just looks at Yuya helplessly. Look, he isn’t all that smart, all right?

Fortunately, Childermass — dream Childermass, evidently — picks up the thread.

“If you claim they are real based only on what you can perceive, what’s to stop others who cannot from claiming otherwise?” He steps to Lambert again, though he’ll come to a stop before him, with an expression that ... well, it couldn’t be described as sappy, but it’s certainly intense and focused, and when he reaches out to take Lambert’s hand the witcher is helpless to resist.

Childermass tugs Lambert to him, gently, and the scenery shifts again, as he pulls them and Yuya through the shadows — to what’s evidently a basement filled with strings of lights, cheap furniture, and a box spring mattress. Incongruously, there’s Chinese food on the counter. Yuya wouldn’t recognize it, but it’s he house John was squatting in, in Portland, some slapdash mockery of a college student’s dormitory, and poorly heated besides.

But this is Lambert’s dream, and his memories make this place warmer than it was. His gaze is still locked on Childermass, dazed — but Yuya will find, suddenly, a large muzzle nosing at the small of his back. Baker is here too — in his church grim form, meaning that cold spot at Yuya’s back is much colder than a dog’s should be.

[hippocarnival]

"Because the spirits are the ones that have magic back home." He gestures to his pendulum for emphasis. "They can still affect us even if most people can't hear them."

Granted, Yuya recognizes it's probably better when they don't, and most people wouldn't believe in them... but it's a little less perception, and a little more of a hidden truth. He'd explain a little more thoroughly, but then he's pulled through a shadow and ends up off balance as he finds himself in a dingy basement instead.

And then Baker puts a cold nose to his back and he jumps and yelps, spinning around. "Wh--ah! Don't scare me."

[whattaprick]

Hearing Yuya yelp like that pulls Lambert out of falling back into the lull of a dream a little, and he shakes it off some, looking to Yuya again.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he mutters, frowning. Baker seems to think otherwise. Sure, he looks like a creepy death omen of a dog right now, but his tail is still wagging, looking at Yuya expectantly.

[hippocarnival]

The creepy death omen is still getting pets, Yuya ruffling the top of his head and scratching behind his ears.

"If I knew how to walk out of your dreams, I would." Because he can take a few guesses what they're going someplace private for, and he's not looking to be a voyeur tonight.

"Should I just use the door?" Is there a door?

[whattaprick]

Baker, for better or worse, is also only semi-solid, so Yuya's fingers will at least partly find themselves slipping right through instead of on him at points. Not that the dog seems to mind -- his tail just keeps wagging faster.

Dreams ... right, he's dreaming, Lambert remembers, and he definitely doesn't need Yuya hanging out in his dreams to see Childermass casually putting a hand on his ass (as happy as he would be to have it there under any other circumstance). There is, in fact, a door -- two large glass ones that open out onto a stone balcony, with stairs that lead up the side of the house to ground level.

"Leaving already?" Childermass doesn't sound particularly put out, but he does do something that makes Lambert suck in a breath, sharply, and put his hands to his chest to push him back.

"I'll be back," the witcher mutters, reaching up to adjust his glasses (where they've come from, he's not sure, but his other changes have faded with them). If this is his dream, he should be able to shoo Yuya out of it, right? Stepping away, he heads for the doors, which push open easily at his touch.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya has his back to them, for privacy's sake and because Baker is very demanding for attention. Which, his hand going through is weird and makes him pause, but since Baker doesn't seem to mind he doesn't pull away until Lambert pushes open the door.

He turns back then, when it creaks, and gives Baker a quick goodbye pet and muttering how he needs to go before he draws back. He approaches the door from the other side and peers out.

It seems to lead back to where they were before, except all the signs of Portland have given way only tl Yuya's home. Two people are standing on the sidewalk, waiting. One of them has pink hair in pigtails, that Lambert might recognize only from having seen her across the carnival until her disappearance in the Athenaeum. Yuzu.

The other one is a taller, muscular man who probably isn't initially familiar except for the styled pompadour that is the only physical trait Gongenzaka still has from being human.

Yuya's expression brightens, and even less inclined to sit around and watch Lambert and Childermass make out he walks through the doorway. He stops before he gets to far, turning back and giving a wave.

"Hey, thanks. See you later!" And then he runs to catch up with them, his carnival changes seemingly dissolving like an illusion.

[whattaprick]

With a final wave-- and Baker reluctantly returning inside -- Lambert watches Yuya go, frowning ever so slightly. He recognizes the girl on sight, but not the boy, at least not right now... but then a hand's snaking around his waist to pull him back inside, and he forgets to wonder about it entirely.

Later, much later, is a different story. With how active his dreams have been, Lambert can't say his sleep has felt very restful, meaning he's often ended up napping during the day. It'll be in the afternoon that he runs into Yuya, in the middle of munching through a loaf of bread snatched from their rations after waking up hungry.

Rather than spray the kid with a bunch of crumbs, Lambert raises a hand and gives a little wave.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya much appreciates not getting crumbs spat in his face, giving Lambert a smile and a wave in return as he approaches. He's comparatively more rested, if only for making up with overly active sleep with more sleep. It's a vacation, he can do that.

"Hey, Lambert. What's up?" Besides the bread, of course. There's a little curiosity in his expression.

let's maybe call this dayyyy 70? assume they've been too distracted to talk

[whattaprick]

Lambert takes a moment or two to chew the mouthful he's on, swallowing before he answers.

"Not much. Going to see about getting back into shape, now that I've healed up enough to do more than nap." He hasn't, really, but he isn't going to tear any stitches or rebreak any bones here, and he's well enough to start feeling restless.

"What about you?"

Sounds good o7

[hippocarnival]

"There's a lot of room to run around and do that." Climb some trees, for however long they'll be camping, he doesn't recall the Ringmaster specifying that. But he understands wanting to be active especially after extended bedrest.

"I'm doing better. I didn't really get hurt when we went to save Steven anyway, and the Kaoriyoroboki make it really easy to sleep." Maybe too easy. But it's better than sitting up because his mind won't settle.

He looks at Lambert curiously. "Actually... I think one was about you."

[whattaprick]

Yeah, Lambert's not even going to try pronouncing that. As far as he can tell, Ginko's gotten the problem handled -- or at least, he doesn't remember what he's dreamed about anymore.

Yuya mentioning him in his dreams, though? That gets his attention, and he grins.

"Oh yeah? Anything good?"

[hippocarnival]

"Eh... maybe?" He sounds uncertain. "We were talking, mostly... and Childermass showed up, but he looked more like he did in Portland."

He's looking for any recognition in Lambert's expression as he says it--there's parts that don't make sense even if his imagination was running wild, but it's the same result if Lambert doesn't remember it anyway.

[whattaprick]

The recognition Yuya is looking for isn’t immediately evident. Lambert looks at him in confusion for a moment or two, head cocked... and then clarity dawns.

Seeing Lambert flush in real life is surprisingly true to the dream, though he’s also much less eloquent. He doesn’t remember everything, but he remembers enough to know it was embarrassing. But he doesn’t know how much Yuya remembers, so it’s best to play it cool for now instead of reacting violently.

“Weird thing to dream about,” is what he manages to choke out. “You didn’t even talk that much back then, did you?”

[hippocarnival]

Yuya mirrors Lambert's confusion when he finally speaks up. Not because it wasn't a weird dream, because it kind of was if only for its clarity compared to other times he's dreamed. "What do you mean 'back then'? I'm not untalkative..."

He's average talkative. But since Lambert hasn't been present for his history, he's not picking up on when he's referring to.

[whattaprick]

Lambert shakes his head.

"I mean you never even spoke to Childermass in Portland. At least, not that I know of." Still doesn't, really. Who Childermass talks with on a regular basis beyond is a mystery to him, but's it's kind of strange to realize how much Yuya knows about their relationship even with that.

[hippocarnival]

"Oh--no." Yuya shakes his head, furrowing his brow as he recalls the details. "I saw him at the animal fair back then, and when we invaded the Rose Queen's realm." So no, they really weren't well acquainted at all. Yuya just shrugs, though.

"I think he was there for you anyway." And if it was all just some excessively prominent dream in Yuya's head, he's not going to mention how close they were getting to making out on the couch. "We were talking about him, kind of, so maybe that's why he showed up?"

[whattaprick]

Damn mushi and their damn influence ... Lambert makes a face, but he won’t otherwise confirm anything, at least not right now. His own memories are patchy; are Yuya’s? He doesn’t recall all of what he said, but now that they aren’t dreaming, he’s a lot less loose-lipped too.

“Or because you were in my head,” he grumbles, at last. “There really isn’t anywhere private in this place, is there? Not even your own skull.”

[hippocarnival]

Yuya laughs sheepishly. "I think maybe we were in each other's head? I don't think anyone expected Mushi to show up here."

They don't usually seem to follow Ginko into other worlds, so they may have been present here from the start. "It keeps happening to me, but least they're not dangerous so far. Uh, do you remember any of it?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert, who distinctly remembers mushi stealing his voice and Childermass's vision the last time they were around, only grimaces even more.

"Some of it," he admits, grudgingly. He isn't sure if Yuya is thinking of anything specifically, so he'll pre-empt him.

"You ended up running off with a couple of people. One of them was a girl I remember seeing around the Carnival." Not since they got here, though. "The other..." He frowns. There'd been something familiar, but. Hard to say for sure. "Big guy. Couldn't place him."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya, luckily, does remember, and his expression lights up with recognition. "Yeah, after I left... uh, I think it was a basement?" Whatever dingy place Lambert was gonna hole up in with his boyfriend.

"That was Yuzu and Gongenzaka." You know, the even bigger furry guy. "Yuzu's not at the carnival now. I don't remember much of it after that, but I guess it was a good dream."

[whattaprick]

It was definitely a good dream, but Lambert's pretty sure he and Yuya aren't thinking about the same definition of good here. He rubs at his jaw, stubble rasping over his fingers as he nods.

"That's where he lived, in Portland. He was a changeling, so..." He trails off, shrugging, not sure if Yuya will understand the implications and not sure it's his place to tell, anyway. But more importantly--

"That was Gon?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya picks up on it, mostly because he remembers the state of a lot of changelings that he helped during the month they were there. They really didn't have it easy.

He laughs. "I told you, what he looks like now isn't how he really is!" Not that Gongenzaka doesn't still have the size and bulk that's unreasonable for a 14 year old, and would be easily taken as an adult. But he's not a 9 foot tall taur beast, at least.

"That's all changes from being with the carnival."

[whattaprick]

"He still doesn't look like any fourteen-year-old I've ever seen," Lambert says plainly. Is it some kind of condition? Genetic weirdness? Yuya clearly doesn't have it, whatever it is.

"Just how long was he with the Carnival, anyway?"

[hippocarnival]

"He signed a contract for a second year after we left Wismuth... I think he just has bad luck." Some sort of Fae magic magnet even besides the whole dying thing.

"He got like that after dying the--first time, I think." His expression twists uncomfortably. "I guess that was before you joined?"