⇨ 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

[dressedtothe]

9S waits for Rita's breathing to draw slow and relaxed as she slips away into sleep. He resists the urge to brush the hair away from her face or grasping her hand -- Would that wake her? He's not sure -- and settles for getting started instead, the usual ring of light appearing around his wrist.

Pod 153 is still activated, a precaution in case something goes awry.

He doesn't know what to expect, not really, but he's not afraid as he hacks Rita and sends his consciousness into her head...

[anti_nonsense]

In Rita’s mind, she sits at a round table made of wood, its surface smooth but its base uneven and twisted, seemingly rooting it into the ground like an old tree. On it is a teapot, several tea cups, and an arrangement of sweets. The stools surrounding the table also look as if they simply grew where they stand, though each of them are currently occupied.

One occupant is, of course, Rita. In this world, she appears fully human and dressed in a yellow sundress. She holds a teacup in one hand and uses the other to gesture wildly as she argues with her company.

“Bogden!? Hah! What a hack. Please, you can’t tell me he’s come up with anything that Miska hasn’t already done better!” she barks at one of them.

The object of her ire, dressed in a top hat and bow tie, retorts with something that sounds like “mrrrowrr!”

For as it turns out, her company is made up entirely of cats. They sit on the stools in the normal way a cat would sit, though their size is such that they stand at the same height as a human adult. The android’s intrusion goes unnoticed for now, as they all seem engaged in this lively debate, though all of their contributions sound like unintelligible meowing.

[dressedtothe]

9S doesn't immediately enter the dreamscape, but when he does, he takes the time to absorb everything. The unnatural formation of the plant life, the human-ness of Rita's appearance, the tea and sweets, Rita's appearance, the cats, and... the fact Rita is talking to said cats as if they're people.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

9S takes a step towards the table and the company of cats. "...Rita?"

He sounds entirely (unsure). Is that really her?

[anti_nonsense]

Rita glances over her shoulder, her face brightening as she sees 9S. "There you are! Can you believe it? This idiot," she waves her teacup in the direction of the cat with the bowtie, "just said that Bogden revolutionized blastia infrastructure with his containment theory! Sure, he made some distinct improvements to established formulas, but his theories were largely derivative. Everyone knows that." She rolls her eyes as the cats respond with catlike murmurs, then looks back to 9S.

"What are you just standing there for, anyway? You want to join us?"

Something peculiar happens then. When 9S first looked at the table, he would have seen that there were precisely enough seats for the gathered company, with no room for additional guests. But now, as soon as Rita suggests it, a second look will reveal an empty seat conveniently located next to her.

[dressedtothe]

9S hesitates. That seat wasn't there before. How did he miss it? There was simply no way he would've missed that seat. There had only been enough for Rita and the cats, not for him.

"Uh... Sure, I guess."

He walks over and sits down in the seat next to Rita, bewildered. He can't help but be concerned. Of course, Rita talking technical blastia theory is the same, but... he's fairly certain the Rita he knows wouldn't want to be caught dead talking to cats, especially ones that can't talk back.

"...Are you alright? You know you're, uh, talking to cats, right? They can't talk back."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita looks perplexed at his concern. "Cats are more intelligent than you think," she says, frowning. "Of course they can..."

She trails off, gazing out at the other cats as they mew casually at each other. "Huh?" Rita glances at 9S, then back to the cats, knitting her brow in confusion. "I can't understand a word they're saying..."

But they were talking normally just a second ago. Weren't they?

[dressedtothe]

The cats sound exactly the same as they had before he interrupted their apparently riveting conversation. Not being able to understand them when Rita could sends a prick of irritation through him; he doesn't like being left out of a conversation!

But he blinks in surprise when Rita says she can't understand them anymore. "Weren't you talking with them a moment ago?"

He reaches for her hand.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

[anti_nonsense]

"Yeah..." Rita frowns, then scoffs in irritation. "I didn't even get to tell him about Miska's theories yet! Ugh."

Apparently, that's her biggest concern right now. The fact that she knew how to speak Cat a second ago and now suddenly can't is only secondary to her desire to win that argument in as thorough a manner as possible.

She sees 9S seeking out her hand, and she extends her free hand to meet his, the other still holding the teacup. "Of course I'm alright," she replies, looking amused at his seemingly baseless concern. "What are you so worried about?"

[dressedtothe]

"I, uh. You don't usually talk to cats like they're people." Not even with Francis! "And cats aren't usually wearing head coverings. Did you do that?"

And she certainly doesn't try to talk advanced theory to Francis. ...At least not when he's looking. This is all weird...

"I thought..." He hesitates, threading his fingers between hers. "...Something might've... happened?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita shakes her head. "The cats dress themselves, stupid. Why would I do it for them?"

And what does he mean, she doesn't normally speak to cats like this...? Doesn't she? She feels like this is normal, but she can't remember clearly.

The one thing she is sure of is that 9S is worrying over nothing. "Something like what?" she asks, humoring him. "Nothing really happens in a sleepy village like this, last I checked."

Did you know you're in a village, 9S? Well, you do now. While the area around the table was vague and seemingly empty before, they can now see that they're in a small garden near some little wooden buildings with cone-shaped rooftops. Colorful flowers can be seen everywhere; on the ground, in flowerpots, growing along vines that stretch over the houses, but most striking of all is the enormous tree looming behind the buildings, its branches covered in pink flowers. From the way it stands, one would think the whole village would be covered by its shadow, but this spot where Rita and 9S are sitting still seems to be perfectly sunny.

[dressedtothe]

What?

9S jumps at the sudden transition that somehow he wasn't able to notice. How did that happen? Gigantic plant life isn't that unusual to him -- the trees in the city ruins were HUGE -- but he's never seen so many flowers... Operator 6O would've loved it... And maybe Operator 21O. Maybe.

"How did we get here?" He looks over at Rita in alarm. "That village wasn't there before! Wait." He turns, looking about as his gaze ping pongs while he searches for... "Where are the cats? They're gone! And..."

He frowns, his free hand going to his chin as he squints at the tree.

"The sun's behind the tree, so... shouldn't we be in the tree's shadow?"

[anti_nonsense]

"What are you talking about?"

His concern was endearing at first, but Rita's getting worried. He's starting to sound hysterical.

"We've been here all along. The cats... look, they're right there," if he looks, he'll see the table and the cats right there with them in the garden. In fact, there are now oversized cats walking around the village, too. They live here. Obviously. "And the sun..." Rita lifts her head to look. The moment she does, the sun will appear to have repositioned itself in a more logical location in the sky, relative to them and the tree.

"Are you okay?" she has to ask, looking at him with concern.

[dressedtothe]

What is happening.

"Of course I am!" It comes out indignant.

He's wide awake, unlike her. And his systems are fine and not corrupted, so that's fine. He's not imagining things, his memory data clearly shows the sun being in a completely different location and the village not being here when he arrived.

"I'm not the one who's sleeping."

[anti_nonsense]

"Sleeping?" Rita gives him an incredulous look. "What are you talking about!?"

She looks past him, out at the village, and for the first time, she realizes she doesn't know how they got here. Her head whips around behind her, as if to confirm. Is this Halure? It's not quite right, and she shouldn't be able to get here in the first place. The world around them shudders under the new application of logic, and Rita turns back to face 9S with a look of revelation.

"This is a dream--"

She wakes up. In an instant, the dream world simply vanishes, and her eyes flutter open.

[dressedtothe]

And just like that, the world around them dissolves and Rita disappears. Closing his eyes, 9S backs out, his consciousness returning to his body. Despite his irritation over the dream's events, he shoots Rita an apologetic look.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita smiles faintly and shakes her head. "It doesn't matter." In a way, he kinda did, but she's not bothered by it.

"So... your first time experiencing a dream. How was it?"

Rita runs the events of the dream through her mind, trying not to forget it as quickly as she would any other dream. She remembers 9S seeming... concerned, for a lot of it.

[dressedtothe]

"It was completely illogical!"

The words burst out of him before he can think better of it; it was Rita's dream after all. But the entire thing was so stupid.

He's so worked up by the entire trip into Rita's head that he starts gesturing with his hands as he continues, irritation lacing his expression as the words come tumbling out, "It made no sense! You were there talking to a bunch of cats like they were people and our surroundings would keep on changing and the environment would defy the laws of physics!"

Well, they sort of do strange things with physics all the time in the Carnival, what with magic and all, but at least that sort of thing had a certain kind of logic to it, in his opinion. The village should've been in shadow but it wasn't.

"But every time I tried to point out the weirdness of it all, suddenly everything would make sense! Which didn't make sense!"

Rrrgh!!

[anti_nonsense]

"I warned you," Rita murmurs smugly, unbothered by the rant. On the contrary, it's amusing, and sort of fascinating, to hear such strong opinions about a fairly ordinary human experience.

She's also just relieved her dream wasn't weirder. Or about something especially embarrassing.

"But when you put it that way... it kind of does make sense," she adds, shifting around until she finds a comfortable position again, her face still half-buried in her pillow. "Dreams are shaped by the cognition of the dreamer. Each time you told me about a logical inconsistency, you influenced my cognition of the world, which in turn influenced the world itself."

She yawns as she finishes that thought with, "or something like that."