towerofanimus

Characters: Anyone coming to Zo's carnival
Setting: Cafeteria; please specify the date and location in the carnival in your subject header!
Format: Anything
Summary: Zo has set up a carnival for the residents, but it's not meant to last. Anyone wandering after the bombs go off might see things they never wanted to see...
Warnings: Psychological and body horror
Note: Characters entering the carnival from the 27th to the 30th will experience visions! Please refer to the info post for details and reply to this thread if your character enters the carnival during these days.

[The carnival has taken up the entirety of the cafeteria. A large roller coaster and ferris wheel tower over the residents, while a child-sized roller coaster, a merry-go-round, and spinning teacups project much less daunting silhouettes. Stands are set up with standard carnival foods available, from ice cream to cotton candy. These stands do not ask for anything as payment.

On the twenty-seventh, the carnival appearance changes. The machinery all appears rusted and broken down, as if weathered with decades of rain and snow. Plants grow up and around the rides, ruining them, and all the food is rotten.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Note to self, liege lady is not signed up for airship rides.

Asch waves the hand with the buttered corn slightly, dismissing her concerns.]

Just dizzy - I got dragged onto one of those things already this morning. It'll pass.

[Still, she'll kneel nearby. On top of being a familiar presence in an unfamiliar situation, she wants to make certain whatever those "rides" did to her knight does indeed pass.]

They do seem rather... overwhelming. [No Zelda that's just you] Which one, if I may ask?

[Not that she knows what any of them are called but the more she knows about what they actually do the less out of it she'll feel.]

The teacups one.

[It's okay Zelda, he doesn't know what they're called either. Even though he used to hire circus mercenaries, his world remains selectively steampunk.]

You should be fine as long as you don't try to watch the mechanisms while you're in it.

Teacups...

[She'll take a moment to look out into the carnival then, searching for this dizzying dinnerware. She still looks uncertain when she finally does find it.]

Ah... I believe I will be keeping my feet on solid ground for as long as possible.

[Parkouring through trees: okay. Spinning metal future contraptions: not so much.]

The one that looks like a wheel might be nice.

[He points at the ferris wheel with his free hand so that she doesn't have to search for it.]

It reminds me a bit of Baticul's railcars.

[She follows his gesture, though the ferris wheel is rather hard to miss. Still not looking so sure, but--]

It does seem to be going more slowly than the others, at least.

It's also not spinning.

[Well, okay it is, but that's on a vertical axis and you don't spin while on it. Good for not being sick.

Asch takes a bite off his corncob.]

Probably has the best view in here, too.

[Not that he understands why the cafeteria is Suddenly Huge.]

[When she looks back at Asch, one brow is arched questioningly, as a slight smile pulls at the corners of her lips.]

Are you trying to persuade me?

I'm trying to persuade myself.

[You just happen to be available for verbalizing his thoughts at, sorry Zelda.]

It sounds as though a part of you is already committed.

[And hate to break it to you, Asch, but you're a very stubborn person.]

It's a part of me that doesn't talk to the rest very much.

[He doesn't get nostalgic for his home or anything!!!!

Yeah, he's a stubborn one.]

[Fortunately, she is fluent in tsundere (thanks England). She's... still rather uncertain about the whole thing, but...]

Would the rest of you like to escort me on the railcar wheel, then?

[Clearly, if Asch had been born on Earth, he would have been British.

He stands with a bit of a smile, offering her the arm that isn't occupied with food.]

It would be my pleasure.

Let us be off, then.

[And she'll take that arm, even letting her skirts flutter a bit as she stands herself. Obviously, she doesn't often play up the princessly aspect of her identity, but maybe it might be fun, just for a bit.]

What did you say it reminded you of? Bati-- 'Baticul'...?

[He's just as out of practice playing the duke's son, so they'll be a good match.

He nods in response to her question.]

The city where I was born. It was built inside of a large crater to take advantage of the natural walls in case of siege; when the population grew, rather than building out, they built up.

[Bless Zo for remembering to add trashcans to this place - he dumps the remains of the corn in one as they go past.]

The railcars are used to get from one section of the city to another quickly, such as from the port to the lower section of the noble's quarter.

[She listens dutifully, brows raised and eyes alight with interest. A city so large it towers over itself? She can hardly picture such a thing.]

What does it look like? It does not sound like Hyrule has anything its equal.

The city as a whole, from a distance, looks almost like a mountain itself, if a mountain were made out of buildings.

[He's not very good at describing.]

The main streets are set off a bit from the crater walls, with only a few bridges leading to the trade roads and the port. So it looks almost as though the city is hanging in the crater.

From the top, you can see for miles and miles off towards the ocean and Inista Marsh to the west.

[He smiles slightly.]

That's the view I'm most familiar with.

A mountain suspended in a crater...

[His description might not be the best, but at least she's not imagining towers upon towers anymore. She's been in this place far too long.]

It sounds like quite the view to behold.

[And it explains a bit more about why he wanted to go on the 'railcar wheel'.]

[Which they are now arriving at! It's a bit of a wait until it comes to a stop and lets them on, though.]

People hung banners across rooftops wherever they could reach, in the lower quarters, so it was always colorful. Something to offset the sight of metal, I suppose.

[His memories of the city itself are mostly rusty copper blurs, interspersed with people in bright colored clothes and the grey of the paving. That's what happens when you were only waist high for most of your memories of it.]

The top level of the city was the royal castle, my father's manor, and an earl's manor that had been converted to a public garden a couple generations before my time. That's what I'm most familiar with.

1369

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this is ironic now that Zelda has her vision result

nothing can remain pure and wholesome in her life

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