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
[If wandering into the carnival isn't enough to overload Yukina's senses, being dragged off for a costume change certainly is. She balks, protests all of the choices... it's even less clothing than what was thrust upon her in her swamp adventure. In the end it's all she can do to pick what she thinks must be the more modest of all the options and she finds herself dressed in a bright red outfit with far too many sparkly bits and far too little fabric.
It's an action she immediately regrets after the swirl of activity. She doesn't even mind the crown or the ugly portion honestly. What she does mind is being tossed right back out into the carnival itself still dressed in her outfit, clutching her sheathed sword in one hand and her regular clothing in the other. Her crown droops awkwardly down over her eyes.
She can change somewhere, right? Maybe? She looks towards someone else standing nearby, her face flushed.]
Excuse me--
[Or maybe she ought to just move out of the way for all the other people getting shoved right on through their own entrance fun times.]
[ PHASE II ]
[When all is said and done, Yukina fully expected to simply be food for the very overgrown caterpillar marching about. Instead she finds herself plopped right back on the street, thought this time it's a very... gooey affair.]
What is this?
[The demon naturally begins to try to pick the stuff off of her, finding out it's a futile task fairly quickly.]
Should I cut it?
[Would that even work?]
[ PHASE IV ]
[It started out with an attempt to pet said animals, how did it end up like this? The fences shake, rattle and finally start following right down. And as one of the admittedly pretty tiger-striped creatures begins to charge, all Yukina can ask is:]
Is this a common theme for this town?
[First swamp monsters, now giant... whatever these things are. At least Yukina has her sword this time around, whether or not she's managed to find a good changing place just yet. She's hunched down, her hand on the hilt of her sword and her gaze firm.]
Let's subdue the ones we can before they hurt someone.
[Not that she much likes hurting animals but they're big enough to where there isn't much choice. Take them down or let them tramp through the rest of the area.]
[ WILDCARD ]
[Feel free to run with a prompt I didn't use. Or hey if you want to join her in trying carnival food for the first time, be my guest!]
ii
Rude, tbh.]
Are you okay...? Augh, what a mess!
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[Here she threads fingers through the goop. It's not really that effective.]
... sticky.
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Of course when she pulls her hand away.... it comes with her?!]
W-What....?!
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phase iv!
[Because, honestly. How many Terrible ThingsTM can you throw at the general population before it all starts feeling the same? Not many. Not many at all.]
How good are your animal wrangling skills?
[Alternate question: Are most weapons even going to be sharp enough to deal some real damage???]
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I've never had to wrangle animals before.
[...]
I'm fast though.
[Would her weapon do much? She dearly hoped so. Kenmyoren was fairly sturdy, though she admittedly had never chanced it on a... whatever these things were.]
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[Not a guarantee, but still less chances. He checks his own weapons for a moment, before gesturing towards one of the, uh. Petting zoo """animals""".]
How about this question, then: Ever had to knock down something very, very large?
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phase i
What is important here is that when she calls to Genos, he'll automatically look down and begin to side-step her. He was sort of standing in the way with all of his bulk as he stared and watched the whole debacle unfold before them. Clearly this meant he was in the way. ]
My apologies.
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Don't apologize, please. You're fine, I just--
[He looked like another newcomer so she realized he likely might not know. Still...]
Do you know if there is somewhere to change around here?
[She's holding onto her sheathed sword in one hand, the pile of her clothes held up against her chest. They've more or less ejected her out into the rest of the carnival and no amount of trying to talk to the far too smiley woman or slip back into the tent has worked really. And while she may not really think of herself much as a woman, she does have some modesty.]
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I do not however...
[ He's not about to leave her like that and so Genos will look up into the crowd and scan it to see if there might be something that might work for what she needs. It's a lot of crowded spaces and people muddling about before he spots something rather isolated and seemed to be made to be an impromptu changing tent. ]
It appears that there is a tent that others seem to be using as one. It isn't too far from here.
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I
It takes him a little effort to close his mouth and keep his eyes on her face, only because it's...a little shocking to see anyone like this.
It's not a bad shade of red on her, honestly. That much he can tell. But it's obvious she's uncomfortable and he moves towards her. ]
There's a quieter sitting area nearby. Would you like to go there?
[ This is still better than dildo trees. Much better. ]
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Thank you. I would appreciate it.
[Ah, the poor man. She keeps running into him in awkward situations, doesn't she, and then ends up relying on him somehow.
She shifts her clothing in her hold and her sword in her hand, shifting out of the way of others pouring through the carnival entrance to follow him. It's a little mystifying how calm some of them are about their outfits.]
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I hope...this is all right? [ Less chance of being jostled. ]
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phase one
Hit by the arm in the collision, she whirls around to apologise. ] 'scuse me– ...Oh.
OH! Yukina! Hi!
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Are you alright?
[For a moment she almost forgets how she's here half-dressed and clutching onto her clothing and weapon. Particularly when she spots the cotton candy.]
... It's so fluffy.
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phase I
They got to you, too, huh? [She pauses, looking back over her shoulder.] I think the crowd's a little thinner back this way. [And so she gestures for her to follow, already leading the way.]
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[She's rather awed by Rise's poise to be honest. This sort of clothing is a touch too revealing for someone used to covering up near head to toe. Not that too many layers are that great either - she could never do formal kimonos comfortable like the Princess does.
In the end the first words on her mind come bubbling forward, meant in all sincerity.]
You look very comfortable.
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This isn't too bad. I might even keep it. [Of course she's teasing but it's only when they're safely out of the way that she turns to face Yukina, folding her hands behind her back primly.] All of my experiences in this place so far somehow involve people taking my clothes. It's not always like this, is it?
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phase ii;
[ This asked by someone who is watching from a very safe distance, because all that goop looks incredibly gross. ]
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I'm alright. It didn't hurt me, just... did this.
[Digested her? It was awfully quick for digestion, right?]
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i!
[ Saburo, currently wearing a similar crown and costume as Yukina, stops in mid-stride. Judging by her looks, she was probably the next "Ugliest" king after him. No wonder she looks so flustered. ]
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Do you happen to know a spot where I may change?
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[ He turns fully towards her and opens his arms, showing Yukina what exactly his state of attire right now is. They're in the same boat - the SS Horrible Ugly King. ]
And I'm pretty sure the guys in the tent aren't going to tell us anything about one, either.
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