Bright lights! An abundance of color! A cacophony of laughter and delighted (?) shrieks! Welcome, everyone, to the carnival! Enough of those nonsense protein shakes and that hoity-toity recycling; it's time to let loose, have some fun, and live a little! No judgment will be allowed today, not when everyone’s dressed up in ridiculous costumes and eating those unnecessarily huge turkey legs (it... is turkey, right?). For you see, CERES has invited the Traveling Circus of Tjghsldiwk (they hail from a different planet, but here's a hint: the h is silent) to bring some joy to the colonists. This is a safe place to let your inner wild child out, really. Definitely safe. Promise.
Yet for those who are a little less easily convinced to follow the sounds of laughter and amusement (bless your sensible hearts), they will find themselves grabbed and forcibly dragged by a pair of friendly souls in matching costumes. Everyone should be able to enjoy the festivities, don’t you think? Can’t have them missing out on all this jolly good, innocent fun!
The Public Announcement System crackles with... well, a fit of coughing first. But then a gravelly voice speaks! It seems the ringmaster has an announcement for you all. What joyous news can he bring?  Listen... I know that we’re supposed to keep these idiots entertained for at least another day or two but the machinery’s starting to complain. I think I heard the gates of the petting zoo groan – they’re on their last legs.
... Wait, this isn’t the direct line
Oh.
Ohohoho!! Have a great time, everyone! Everything is perfectly fine!
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PHASE I [ 11 00 ] Come one, come all!! There’s quite a large amount of people here, isn’t there? You’ll find yourself tugged this way and that – up until you get dragged right into a changing booth. The helpful attendant meets you with a worryingly large grin – how is her face not breaking? – before pushing you right through the curtain. Then you’ll be given your choice of one of these lovely garments to change into. Look, one of them has to match your skintone, right? Don’t be picky about it! You also have... 90 seconds to figure out how to wear it before you’re tossed out into the middle of the crowd again. Have a good festival!
If you’re not willing to put on the outfits though, that’s fine. Instead, they’ll top you off with a cape and crown, shoving you out onto a... stage? Your adoring public cheers for you, yells your name, and throws confetti in your honor! Then a jester appears again, announcing your grand title:
The Ugliest in All of Cerealia.
Don't worry, that's just your introduction to the carnival; enjoy the rest of your time here! (They may or may not have given you back your clothing.)
PHASE II [ 1600 ] Do you hear that? Cymbals crashing together, trumpets blaring off-tune, the march of absurdly tired feet – a parade is coming! Best move off to the side before an acrobat quite literally tumbles into you. If you are an unfortunate casualty, they’ll actually just start to fall asleep on you because they’re tired… so very, very tired.
Yet the parade continues to march on without them and you can let yourself be distracted by the impressive jumping around and festive partygoers (who seem to be joining in the parade as they please, in various states of undress). But be wary. Distraction will only make you easier prey for the very hungry caterpillar that’s coming up the street next. Run if you can, but it has so very many legs and it’s coming after you.
For those unable to make it away from the caterpillar, they will find themselves gulped right into its gross, drooling mouth – and about five minutes later, they’ll be released out again onto the streets covered in a pink slime. It looks like you won't be able to free yourself from the stuff, so hopefully you can find a friend to get some help! Or one of the strangers around you? Unfortunately, when a kind soul finally comes by to pull you out of the slime, they’ll find that the outside of the gunk is not only immensely sticky but also slippery. If they're not careful, you'll both end up stuck to the gunk together.
You both better get out of that stuff quick because once someone joins you, the slime starts to move. Quick and gooey, it'll pull you and the hapless soul with you down the street at a much too quick pace. Hopefully you won't slide into too many people as you skid your way through the streets of the Entertainment District like some sort of demented Katamari Ball. This is why you should never trust giant bugs!
PHASE III [ xxxx ] In a smaller booth, toward the outskirts of the carnival, some may find a familiar face manning a quiet little shack on her own. Although those who have been in the colony long enough may have first encountered her as an 8-bit version of herself, Aria the fortune-teller is now back and more than willing to drag unsuspecting people into her hands again. Once you step into her stall, she takes one long look at you before sliding over a fortune cookie and a mask. What do you mean you didn’t ask for a mask? That's too bad, because it's yours now. She won't say anything more than that, giving nothing more than a quiet dismissal with a hand and an enigmatic smile to match.
When you step back outside, you’ll find that you just can’t get rid of the mask. If you toss it into a trash bin, it’ll be right back in your pocket. Throw it at a friend? It’ll be in your hand in the next second. Throw it away enough times and it’ll suddenly plant itself on your face -- which leads to all the alien carnival goers in the nearby vicinity suddenly going still with fear before moving to get as far away from you as quickly as possible. Well... you seem to be able to take it off for now if you still want to enjoy the carnival. It just won't go away, and every time you try to throw it away, it'll attach itself to your face. Might as well just keep it.
But... still, it's strange how none of the aliens running the carnival will look you in the eye now, isn't it?
PHASE IV [ 1200 ] For those who aren’t interested in dealing with the abundance of people, there’s also an assortment of critters gathered around for the petting zoo! They all seem to follow a general theme… kind of. That might be floppy ears and a tail if you... squint. The alien staff is right there and quick to ask you not to worry, they're perfectly harmless -- they don't eat humans! It would be bad for their diet, so feel free to pet them, if you can gather enough courage to do so.
Unfortunately, it seems as though this part of the circus was not put together very well; the rickety fences and cages don't really seem to do much against these giant...creatures. Towards the end of the circus' time here, it looks like those cages will start breaking down more and more, too.
The animals rattle the makeshift fences of the petting zoo, until finally, the fences just... collapse. Oops. The ground shakes as the animals stomp and immediately move to break out of their little ring. Well, would you look at that? You’ve apparently found yourself in the middle of a little stampede -- and those warnings about these animals not eating humans doesn't seem to hold much weight when now they're looking at you -- and they look pretty hungry.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] Left and right, there are voices shouting for your attention. "Hey pretty young miss!" or "Excuse me, you stud!" or "Look at this, jackass!" – that said, aliens think that you all manage to look the same, so who knows if they’re yelling at you in particular – and they’re all daring you to come and try your hand at their carnival game.
It’s run of the mill stuff: shooting games, tests of strength, and knocking down a couple of milk bottles. You might actually be doing well! Or... you might be embarrassing yourself in front of whatever cute person you’re trying to impress! But regardless, in the last allotted ten seconds of your game, no matter what, you’ll find your point score plummeting right into the negatives. Did you get a bullseye? What do you know, that’s now worth -1000 points! You missed? -5000 points.
The stall assistant seems to be having a grand old time, laughing at your pain and when the clock finally runs out, they'll give you a large grin. "Look at that score! Well, you know what that means, don’t you? Now, we win you!" With that, metallic tentacles suddenly sprout from the booth itself, looking to capture you and whoever you’re with. Welcome to the carnival, now you're one of the prizes. And it seems you'll be here for quite some time. That is, of course, unless someone can win you back from these really horribly rigged games.
Looks like you'd better get comfortable hanging motionless from a display, like an oversized stuffed animal. You'll be here for a while.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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ota
[It all happened so fast. One second, Hikari was being half-dragged, half-carried to some sort of changing booth, a flurry of blue fabric being tossed her way and told to change...the next, she was stumbling out wearing her new outfit for the afternoon. Only to find notable claw marks on the faces of the nearby attendants and a notably confused Tailmon, upon seeing her unharmed.]
[She glanced down.]
Is this...part of the game?
PHASE IV
[After wandering for a time, Hikari came across the animals.]
[She stared up at them, fascinated, with her mouth forming a small 'o'. The animals stared back. Creatures unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Big. With teeth and tusks and trunks and such amazing different shapes and patterns!]
[One in particular must have noticed the little girl watching, because it approached. Several others around her seemed frightened by the creature, but Hikari merely stared up at it. Unblinking. Watching as it came all the way up, so close that it could reach out and touch her with its trunk.]
...hello. [Then, she smiled, and offered a gentle pat with her hand. Completely unafraid.] You're just lonely, aren't you?
BONUS!
[There were so many games! And they looked like such fun!]
What do you think, Tailmon? Should we try one?
[The digimon companion at her side gave a hesitant nod, and the two of them headed for the nearest booth...unaware of the silent tentacle that had sprung up from the one behind them, its suckers looking for some new prey to put on display as a prize....]
phase four
When racing to the source reveals only Hikari and a lone elephant, both Rapunzel and Pascal breathe sighs of relief and, seeming not to care about the potential hazards, the former approaches. ]
Hey there, big guy... What's your name?
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[She turned back to Rapunzel with a smile. Able to sense the good in people's (or, in this case, animals') hearts, yes, but she was hardly a mind reader.
No matter what some people might try to claim.]I wish I knew what pen he came from. It might have been written down somewhere.
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I would hate to leave him in an unfamiliar place, especially with all the other animals running around like this. [She did offer a small frown at that, glancing around her. Chaos wasn't entirely accurate...yet...but she knew there was a strong chance that things could take a turn for the worse. Which was why it was even more important to allow any animals that approached her to feel as safe and comfortable as possible. So they wouldn't be frightened.] We know what that can be like.
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But - all right! [ She laughs. On her shoulder, Pascal scuttles out of his hiding nook and climbs up onto her head instead, scouting the area. ] Let's see if we can get him home. –Oh! Does... he have a name, Hikari? [ Somehow she feels the little girl would know, if anyone would. ]
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[Not that she...spoke alien animal.]
Should we give him one? Just until we find out what his real name is.
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No, that's okay. If you have a good name, I'd love to hear it.
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I
Well, should Hikari find him, he'll be wearing a certain outfit of his own too.
Not to mention how itchy it felt too!]
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[Granted, she hadn't been expecting to find him in that outfit, but it was far from the worst she'd already seen. Many of the older girls and women were walking around in what looked like shiny bikinis...like they were at the beach, only this definitely wasn't the beach...and she still didn't know why the game thought she needed to wear the outfit she was wearing. In fact, the only thing she did know?]
Takeru-kun! You're here!
[She wasn't the only one wearing strange clothes. Which, somehow, made her feel a little better.]
They made you change too?
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But when he heard Hikari nearby?]
Eh? Hikari-chan? [He said before looking over to her. At first, he was wondering why she was wearing that outfit before it suddenly dawned on him!] Wait, they made you wear an outfit too? That's really weird, I wonder why they would make us wear really strange costumes!
[Pause] But I guess maybe they wanted us to be happier and have fun here?
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[But, still, she smiled anyway, glancing around at the scene before them. There were so many lights and colors and sounds.]
It looks a little like the festivals from back home. Do you think they have rides we can go on?
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[He said before looking around to see if there were any rides to go on!]
Patamon and Tailmon are older than us right?
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[She had to stop and think about it for a moment. Taichi had been gone for months in the Digital World, he said, before he came back home the first time. That meant time there was very different. A year in their world would be...how many in the Digital World? And Tailmon had been searching for her for years. She knew that much because of how long it had taken her to evolve to Adult level on her own.]
[Actually--]
Well, Tailmon is an Adult, right? That must count!
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I think so! We have an adult walking with us so it should be okay to go on the rides if we tell them!
[Hopefully they'll let them go on them right?] If not, maybe we can ask Han-san to come with us! I don't think he'll say no!
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Is he here too? I haven't seen him yet.
But maybe we can try some of the smaller rides until then.
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Bonus
A moment later, he's neatly slicing through the tentacle and taking care of it. Cerberus decides that's not good enough, and picks it up in one of his mouths, growling and shaking it back and forth to make sure it's not going to cause anymore trouble, the other two heads taking a bite at it too.
Nico reaches out to lightly touch the girl's shoulder while Cerberus is demolishing what's left of the tentacle.] Are you okay, Hikari...?
Bonus
[...aside from Tailmon, of course, who instantly went on alert the second she heard evidence of an attack going on behind her. Before she could properly react, however, she looked up to see...a giant dog-like creature decimating the remains of a...was that a tentacle?]
[For a fleeting moment, the poor digimon wasn't sure if she should be more worried or confused at what just happened.]
Ah! [Also startled, though equally by the appearance of the boy she'd spoken to over the network as his...friend.] It's...you.
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[She had a strong feeling she missed something important.]
Is that your friend? Why is he eating one of the stuffed animals?
[At least, that's what she thought it was; she'd seen something similar to it poking out amongst all the other prizes in one of the booths a few meters back.]
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Cthulhumon, it's three years too early for you to start stalking her. Calm yourself.]no subject
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A...alright.
Where should we go? Some of the lines for rides are getting longer. More people are arriving.
[The carnival must be a popular event with people around here.]
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