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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phase iv.
Hiro!
[What's that, Ruby? Are you going to tell him that it's incredibly dangerous? Are you going to ask him not to fight? Are you going to swoon dramatically?
Nah.]
Let's do it!
[That sounds about right.]
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Think you can take him out from behind if Baymax and I keep his attention up front? [Hell yeah let's do this!!!]
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But she cocks the sniper rifle of her scythe, readying herself to dive into things. Let's do this thing, hero-partner-boyfriend-thing.]
I'm ready, let's go!
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Right! [Springing into action he and Baymax dive back in to keep the monsters eyes on them and not Ruby. Hiro's calling out commands for Baymax (karate moves, apparently) and they're getting just a little too close to that monster's mouth. Anytime you're ready, Ruby, let's finish the thing off.]
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Because when she sees that Hiro's getting a liiiittle to close to the mouth of that monstrosity, Ruby's not hesitating to fling herself into action more. It's a flurry of gunshots, momentum and sweeping swings of her scythe then--but she's letting loose now that they're surrounded by the creatures, and she hasn't gotten to do this in...well, awhile, really.
So she might be having a liiiittle too much fun.
Don't mind her.]
Hyah!
[Either way, she finished up her spree with a downward sweeping arc of her scythe, burying the point deeply into the base of the monster's neck. Stay away from her boyfriend, monster... she needs him in one piece.]
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They make for a good team and it's the combination of knife-hand strikes and punches and scythe swings and gunshots that brings the monster down and with Ruby's final swing, Baymax's fist connects right at the same moment to render the monster dead. He knows that wouldn't have worked if it had just been them, but the addition of Ruby ensures it falls and stays down. He swoops around on Baymax to where Ruby is, avoiding the other smaller creatures that had been taken out in the flurry to the back of the monsters neck and he grins down at her.]
Think we went a little overboard? [Because he doesn't. There are still more of them on the loose, but they have a few moments' pause for now.]
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And then she grins as she jumps neatly off of the monster's corpse, landing lightly on the ground. She's just going to give Hiro a thumbs up, because he's too far away for a fistbump.]
Pfffhaha nahhhh. [What's "overboard".] That was fun! [Monster-fighting, thrill-seeking tiny teens...what a combination.] By the way, those were some nice moves, Baymax!
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We make a great team. [Scanning her anyway though. Hiro's not going to ask if she's okay if only because he trusts her. She seems fine, he has Baymax to tell him otherwise, and Ruby's stronger than most people.]
I need to take him back into ViViD sometime by ourselves to work on some new ones for him. I want to write some new programming for him, but I haven't had time to find references to pull from because we've all been kinda busy which isn't bad since some of that busy-ness is because of you anyway but next time can we--
[And he stops. He stops rambling because he suddenly looks at her and it dawns on him what she's wearing. And...sorry, Ruby. He's staring. Just a little. Because um....]
Uh. [Dontblushdontblushdont--oh fuck it. That's clearly not working and he's quickly averting his eyes instead.] Sooo...I see they forced you to change, too. [Because he cannot picture Ruby doing this willingly.]
1/some
It's kind of like he's growing with us, like--
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...This...
[.......................]
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And, of course, she's tomato red.
Ruby red, maybe, even.]
wait i'm done
just kill her
this is horrible and she's so embarrassed and for a moment all she can do is make a strangled, dying whale noise. And then, when she finally finds her voice, it's just for a pathetic:]
Noooooooooooooooo....
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Nooooo you weren't forced into it? [Teasing. He's mostly just teasing even if he sounds nervous, finally rolling his eyes to focus on Baymax instead.] Baymax, a little help?
[The robot looks at Ruby for a minute before he gives another thumbs up…
…before taking off and soaring through the air and out of the circus entirely.] Hey! [Well. Now this is even worse. He pauses, casting Ruby another sheepish grin like he's trying to excuse his robot's weird behavior. Where the hell is he going anyway?] …on the bright side, at least it's your color.
[Okay no, now it's even worse.]
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And then Baymax pchoos right out of this thread, and Hiro tries to make things better but really doesn't help at all, and Ruby just.
Groans.]
Noooooooooooooo....
[But she can only make distressed noises for so long, so even with her arms wrapped around herself still, she just. Grimaces.]
It's so uncomfortable and breezy and drafty, Hiro! It's drafty.
[Calm down Ruby.]
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It's not entirely unpleasant, though. That's something to think on.]
What happened to your other clothes? Baymax and I argued with the attendants and kinda knocked over one of the stalls until I got my armor back. [Speaking of Baymax, he didn't disappear for too long before there's the distinct rumble of his rocket thrusters and he lands next to Hiro and Ruby before holding out something to the girl. A blue hooded sweater, it seems. Hiro's blue hooded sweater that he picked up from the workshop on his own.]
Your body temperature may drop if you are not properly dressed for these conditions. [He's aware that Ruby was sick not too long ago. Let's not have a repeat and Hiro's eyeing the pair curiously. "Not bad, bud."]
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[This is actually something that's more distressing than the fact that she's half naked in front of her boyfriend, but only just barely. Because she really likes that cloak, okay... don't judge. She was actually looking for it before she got distracted by both stampedes and Hiro-in-Stampedes. As one does.
But then Baymax returns with a hooded sweater and Ruby's immediately beaming up at him in relief, putting it on as quickly as she can. It'll sink in that it's Hiro's in a second, for now she's just grateful.]
Baymax, you're the best.
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There's no way they should just get to keep 'em. We should make sure the petting zoo's taken care of first and then head back to the entrance to get your stuff back.
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Okay! Now that I'm like this, I don't mind so much.
[Still a little uncomfortable in the leg area but at least her stomach is covered now.]
So let's do it! If it's us together, I bet it won't take very long.
[...]
You know, since we're awesome. [Yeah, he probably got it the first time, Ruby.]
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Dude, we're more than awesome. [Well he tried. He pulls away, still grinning to himself as he gestures for her to follow him and Baymax.] You've got speed, Baymax has strength, and I come up with awesome plans. I'd be worried about anybody who thinks they can take us on.
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Suddenly there's Hiro all up in her personal space, and she can't help but find that she doesn't actually... mind this at all. When he pulls away, there's a weird smile on her face that she doesn't even realize is there (fond, and sheepish, and a little dazed), and then he's moving on and she's quick to catch up.]
That's because nobody can take us on!
[This is definitely just healthy confidence right here.]
... Uh, but how many of these things are there, anyway?
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So…he doesn't talk about it. They walk and he finds himself subconsciously turning his hand palm-out in case she wants to take his hand like usual.]
How many of the animals? Probably more than just the three of us. [Shrug!] It looks like a lot of people jumped in to help when the stampede broke out at least. Sort of makes our job easier. It also kinda sounds like it quieted down. [A beat.] If this is a traveling circus, kinda makes you wonder how they were even brought here, doesn't it?
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Space...ships?
[She blinks at him, tilting her head thoughtfully. It always seemed obvious to her, but then again, she lives in a world where people travel by giant random ships all the time.]
Just because they didn't dock where we could see them doesn't mean they didn't fly in somewhere.
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Think we can go find them after we get your cape back?
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[She's down... she's also curious what their ships look like, so she doesn't see the problem at all.]
Cloak first, then ships!
[Because her cloak is the most important thing ever.]
Let's get going! [Just... tugging Hiro right back towards where they stole her clothes from her, it's fine.]
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You know? When we were talking about themeparks and stuff with Mary and Roxas this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But not all of it can be bad, can it?
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