abraxaslogs | Open Log + Closed Prompt

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Open Log + Closed Prompt

Who: Nadine + Open
When: August
Where: Horizon, Nadine's Domain
What: It's a carnival!

Nadine rarely changes much in her domain, save to shift it from season to season or decorate for major holidays. But every now and again she has cause for something a touch more dramatic.

On the last month of summer, she makes one of those changes. In the town square that is the centerpiece of her little patch of the Horizon, the shops and town hall and church and open green park have been replaced with a small town style carnival. The sort she remembers from her childhood in New Hampshire.

The towering Ferris wheel dominates the space, surrounded by a variety of rides such as bumper cars and a Gravitron, a Viking swinging ship and flying scooters, a freefall tower and even a small roller coaster with a fanciful dragon theme to it. Besides those are the tamer rides - a 'haunted' house that's not at all scary but more silly, a tunnel of love, and of course the skeletal carousal that's always there. But for this month it's in bright carnival colors, blues and pinks and yellows.

The horses are still skeletons, though.

And the other trappings are there, game booths and food stalls and vendor booths along the midway. There's even a stage from which a spectral, unseen band seems to be playing classic rock, and a little wooden dance floor in front. Nadine hasn't made any staff for the carnival, as whenever she tries to make people in the horizon they just come out as shadows. Not the vibe she's going for here. But the rides and games function as though manned, and the food stalls have all variety of fair goodies on display for the taking.

There's a sign by the entrance booth that reads 'WELCOME - PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL' - for anyone who may wander in when Nadine isn't there, or simply without warning.

While Nadine is happy for anyone to come and enjoy the little summer fair, she does have some specific purpose for the place.

She doubts Geralt and Jaskier have anything like this in their world, and she imagines another touch of good old fashioned American summer fun would probably do Julie some good. She knows it will do her some good. What better way to enjoy themselves than all four spend a day at the fair?

Considering the amount of time they all spend with one another in various groupings and pairs already, it just makes sense do something as a foursome. It's like a double date, though she doubts Julie or Geralt would describe what's between them as dating. Nadine wouldn't, either, but they're still something of a pair. Just a different kind than her and Jaskier.

She'd extended the invitation and it had been accepted, and she's finding herself rather excited about the whole thing. Life's probably going to go straight to hell again before too much longer, it always does, but for now...she's going to enjoy a day out with her lover and her closest friends.

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[ There he is.

Geralt leans slightly to the side so Jaskier's head doesn't smash into his nose upon waking. Somehow, he's not surprised Jaskier's concern is getting back on the ride. Unfortunately for the bard, Geralt, too, has zero inclination to getting back on that swinging ship. He isn't spending the rest of their time here watching his friend pass out on and off while Nadine frets herself to death.

He does not miss Julie catching herself. He tries not to let his amusement show. ]

We can all use something less exciting. [ He glances over his shoulder. ] And stationary.

[ Isn't there a juggler or a flame swallower around they can watch? What else do they have at carnivals in Nadine's world? ]

[Jaskier first blinks at Julie, as if he's processing that he's actually startled her. And then he huffs.] My heart is perfectly fine! You're all treating me like a child. And I know you were not going to say "tamer," don't lie to me.

[He blows them all a raspberry because the lack of oxygen to his brain has obviously done a bit of damage in the moment, smoothing his shirt down and fixing the collar to where it's meant to be. And then brushing his hair out of his face, fixing the wayward strands.]

I'm not going to die, you know. Not in here. I've done much worse. [He sniffs.] Though now you mention it, [no one actually did] I am rather hungry. What about something sweet? That's a specialty of this sort of place, isn't it?

[Yes. He's clearly unbothered by the idea he passed out multiple times. Who wouldn't? It was exhilirating!]

I mean, I never saw a kid pass out on a ride either, so. [ Her brows lift. Jaskier can pout all he wants, it doesn't change the fact that she is now pretty sure he won't be able to handle anything more intense than the merry-go-round. ] We got lots of carnival games. Should be easy to keep everyone on their feet durin' skee-ball.

[ Julie doubts Nadine even attempted to create sideshow acts, or things like a dunk tank, so they are relegated to the kinds of things that can run more or less on their own. Fuck, she really hopes Nadine made a target practice booth. And whack-a-mole.

Glancing over at Jaskier, Julie starts ticking off various foods on her fingers. ] Oh, sure. We got funnel cakes, elephant ears, fried Oreos, sno-cones, cotton candy, candy apples, churros, chocolate bananas... basically, if it's bad for you, we eat it at carnivals.

[ She bumps her shoulder to Geralt's arm. ] And I know exactly what you should have.

[Nadine has not made any actual people. For reasons she doesn't quite understand - her own subconscious preventing her - she can't make people that can pass as actual people. Even her animals seem a little....off, on close inspection.

But there are plenty of games, that all work as though manned. Mechanisms reset themselves, bottles restack, targets return to their starting position. And all offer prizes, released if the game is won. It's the same with the food, each stall with freshly made fair food sitting out and ready to be claimed, and the scent of more cooking despite a lack of cooks.

Even the 'live' music seems to be coming from nowhere specific, just the general area of the empty stage.

But food sounds like a good, safe activity. And the games will probably be a good distraction for Jaskier to calm down with, too. Geralt might even enjoy them.]

Yeah, I don't want to test what the experience of dying in here does to a person. Let's hit the midway, that's where all the food and games are. We'll get you a corndog and funnel cake to start, they're carnival staples. Corndogs aren't sweet but they're delicious garbage food. And you have to eat at least one food on a stick while at the fair.

[ It is, Geralt thinks but does not point out, because Jaskier seemingly has the constitution of a child where these aggressive rides are concerned. He keeps it to himself, not out of courtesy but because there's plenty of time later to give Jaskier shit for the incident. He's patient. He can pace himself.

His brows wrinkle a hint over elephant ears. ] You eat only the ears?

[ He's never...encountered an elephant in person. He's only seen drawings, from the faraway lands of Ofir. He doesn't linger on it long—between stick corn and elephants, he's willing to accept without too many questions whatever it is they hand him—and follows Julie towards the meal she has deemed ideal for him to try.

He does keep one eye on Jaskier. Just in case the bard has another delayed fainting spell within him. ]

Yes, well, I've never seen a child sing the trousers off a Redanian duke in less than ten minutes, either. Thank you very much.

[He sniffs. And gives Julie an annoyed little squint, because he's fairly sure she is specifically listing words that have absolutely no meaning to him -- ah, she tossed "apple" and "banana" in there to throw him off.

He makes no effort to pick one, considering he trusts Nadine enough to know what he'd like, and he -- he has no idea what most of those are supposed to be. To her, he remarks:] A bit similar to what an orgasm would, I imagine. [Speaking from experience.] Wait, your people were eating dogs and elephants? In the same place? I mean, I'll try anything once, but I don't know what the stick adds to these... particular foods.

Edited 2022-09-13 05:17 (UTC)

Jaskier, please explain how bein' a slut has anythin' to do with not passin' out on carnival rides.

[ She does not say this judgmentally. She just doesn't see the correlation. Nor does she understand how any of the foods she listed are confusing -- at most, there are two words in the entire list that they wouldn't know (Oreos and churros). Everything else is pretty self-explanatory, in her eyes.

Which she rolls. ] We don't eat dogs or elephants. They're just names, jesus. And the stick makes it easier to eat while walkin'. This is not that complicated, I swear y'all are just hellbent on makin' anythin' past the dark ages seem impossible to understand no matter how straightforward it is.

[ Honestly, she sometimes finds it frustrating. She is totally willing to explain all kinds of modern insanity, but not every single thing should require a detailed discussion of how it works. Julie is one hundred percent sure that the Continent has the concept of context clues.

But whatever minor irritation she has disappears as they pass the various food stands, and with a soft, "Ooh, tornado potatoes," she jogs away from the group for several moments.

When she comes back with a potato in hand, she offers Geralt a comically huge turkey leg wrapped in bacon. ]

A corn dog is a hotdog in batter. A hotdog is a kind of sausage, the meat is pork and beef. And the stick is just fun, we don't normally walk around eating food. But that's what we do at carnivals, so there's a lot of food on sticks to make it easy.

[Nadine, at least, is very used to explaining things an average adult already knows. That was half of teaching elementary school kids. She just takes the same approach when it comes to explaining things to Jaskier and Geralt. Usually Jaskier. Geralt tended to ask far fewer questions.

But it's easiest to just show him, in the case. Nadine diverts to a different stall, grabbing two cardboard sleeves with freshly fried corndogs nestled in checkered paper. She offers one to Jaskier.]

Oh! I know what else you should try....a slushy. It's a cold sweet drink thing, we can split a big one.

[And in a matter of moments, Nadine has the promised slushy drink in hand - cherry flavored.]

[ While Julie vanishes, Geralt peers at the so-called fried oreos. Easily identified seeing as there are signs and images labelling damn near everything.

They're squat and round. Looks like a doughnut to him. Perhaps the filling is different. It's not as though they belong a merchant—so curiosity getting the better of him, he takes one. He's chewing through it when she returns carrying a leg on a stick that's damn near bigger than her head.

Which. That's certainly something. He huffs a quiet laugh, and takes the thing from her. It's absurd.

Yeah. He just starts eating it, really; not much needs to be said about it when one's hands are...full of meat.

Though he does tip the turkey leg towards Julie for a bite if she wants one. ]

[Jaskier gasps at such a term being applied to him.] Excuse you. I will not stand here and be slandered!

[Yeah, he will.]

Perhaps you should take it up with those who deal with your world's nomenclature. When we name a food, it is what it is. We don't roast a chicken and call it a bloody duck. And get annoyed all you like, but I will not cease to ask questions.

[He huffs at Julie and focuses on Nadine, patting her hand, because at least someone is patient at recognizing that different spheres mean this is bound to happen. Besides, why invite them to a piece of their world if they don't wish to explain it?

Especially because Nadine is much more immediate with her explanations. A food on a stick is placed in his hand and given a name. He sniffs it, curious, brows raising.] Oh. It's a sweet batter. [See? He knows what a bloody batter is. And whatever way this thing is created -- which appears to be dipped in a vat of boiling oil, if the pictures on the awning above indicate anything -- it steams heartily, and smells heavenly.

He takes a bite, chewing it with an enthusiastic chorus of "mmm"s and "oooh", which continues with a drink of the slushy -- which he understands to be a name from "slush," thank you, which is a fair enough name.]

Oh. That's a rather... I don't believe that drink has ever touched a cherry, actually. [He spies Geralt's own stash, though, hopping forward to peel a bit of turkey away. He licks the grease from his fingers.] Oooh. Lovely! This is all very... very rich, honestly. I can see why it's a special occasion.

It's not slander. You did pass out on the ride. [ It's hard to tell if she's being intentionally obtuse just to poke at him (she is). But, in her defense, she fully supports sluts' rights either way, so it's fine.

She does roll her eyes at him fawning over Nadine explaining corndogs, but other than muttering under her breath about how fawning over a grade school teacher's explanations does nothing to dispel the comparison to children, she lets it go. Instead, she looks around at the various foodstuffs available -- it's interesting because not all of these are things Julie knows to associate with fairs. Sure, the classics are all available, but she knows that fairs tend toward super regional foods as well. ]

Nadine, did y'all have bierocks? They're like, crazy popular where I'm from, every fair I ever remember had 'em, but I think they might be a Kansas thing.

[ She takes a bite of turkey, offering Geralt some of the potato she's holding at the same time. As they walk, she pauses to grab an extremely large plastic cup that's labeled cherry limeade. It is not given to Jaskier as a drink that is made of actual cherries. ] Yeah, this is somethin' we do once or twice a year. Back home, we had way more festivals and fairs -- sometimes in the summer, I'd go to a different one every other week -- but only the big state fairs and carnivals have all the real goodie.

[The corn dog is, as hoped, a hit.]

No, that has never been near an actual cherry, it's full of fake cherry flavor that's way sweeter than the real thing. It's garbage but that's what makes it so good.

[Which goes for all of the carnival food, really. Which is certainly distracting from the events on the swinging ship. Jaskier does seem to be perfectly fine, and his appetite hasn't been hindered any.

That's a good sign.]

Bierocks? No, I've never even heard of those. We had a bunch of regionally flavored things that were really popular. Like pumpkin whoopie pies, those were huge. And creamees.

[She doesn't ask Julie to explain, assuming she will. It's not something she'd ever really thought about, how carnival food could differ from region to region. But it makes sense. It's funny to think that despite coming from the same country in the same world at the same time, she and Julie have had such different cultural experiences.

A thought occurs to her as she looks about the midway, to where the food stalls give way to other booths entirely.]

Oh, we should check out the games next.

[That's something Geralt might actually genuinely enjoy.]

[ It is not slander if it's technically the truth. Only one of them has roughly four or five concurrent paramours.

Geralt continues to quietly eat, as he's wont to do. He takes a bite of what Julie gives him, offers little by way of commentary on the taste of the foods (rich, buttery, occasionally either too sweet or too salty, but none of it is unpleasant and some even familiar), and allows Jaskier to steal pieces. It is, in other words, a good thing he is in the company of three because the silence from him on his own would've been deafening.

He is enjoying the excursion. Just hard to tell unless one knows him.

At some point, Geralt hands the remaining hunk of leg to Jaskier and reaches for a beer from somewhere behind a market stall. Was it always there or did he subtly manifest it himself? Doesn't matter; he's used to drinking almost always, and certainly when there's an outing. So that's what he has. It is bottled in glass, in the style he's come to know from too many visits between Sam and Julie and Dean, and he pops the cap easily with his thumb.

When they draw up towards the games Nadine speaks of, he doesn't see the games at first. Instead, what confronts him are multiple walls lined with colourful stuffed toys. Hm.

With some consideration, Geralt reaches up and squeezes one upon its fuzzy yellow belly where it says press. It gives a distant, tinny squawk. ]

Every other week? Gods, I couldn't imagine. We traveled plenty, of course, but even a festival was rare, often only seasonal. On an equinox or solstice. Often focused on a village's crop of choice. [He sighs, taking another slurp of slush.] Mostly corn and wheat.

[Nothing that tasted even near to the thing he's had here. He does not really understand the concept of calling something enjoyable "garbage," but he senses there is a sort of sarcastic irony to the idea. He takes in what words he can, taking the proffered turkey leg without a second thought, finishing it off as he magics a handkerchief to wipe his face in the case any grease from the meat lingers.

Even if he may have gotten sick off of this in the real world, it does not touch him here. Things are overwhelming, or too salty, or far too rich, but his stomach takes it all in with the ease it would of a boiled egg.

And he lights up at the idea of games. Games, apparently, which come with walls of horrible flashing lights in every color he can imagine, and these great big stuffed amalgamations that may have been animals, once, if they were in shades of pink and blue Jaskier has never seen before.] At the risk of mentioning games I like and being hounded about them, er... what are some of these? There are balls. A lot of these involve balls, apparently.

I know what whoopie pies are, but what the fuck is a creamee? Why does all the food from New England sound like someone named it right before they tried to fuck it? [ She manifests a little stiff paper tray and passes it to Nadine. It holds what look to be several fist-sized dinner rolls; once bitten into, they are revealed to contain a filling of seasoned beef, onions, cabbage and cheddar cheese. ] These are bierocks. They're like, one of the most important Kansas foods.

[ She shakes her head as she takes of drink of her lemonade. ] They weren't all big county-level fairs like this one. One week'd be the rodeo, then a beer festival, then someone's church would throw a fair, on and on all summer, until you hit harvest festival around October. A lot of the time, they were to raise money for stuff. Church fairs alone could eat up a month of Sundays. [ Julie absolutely cannot express how many church activities she has been involved simply because there were so goddamn many churches in her tiny town. It stops being religious at a certain point, and just becomes how the community gathers.

The midway is as bright and enticing as Julie remembers, all flashing lights and cliche music from the speakers. Maybe this was what conditioned her to take so well to Las Vegas. Familiarity.

Geralt inspects what Julie knows to be an incredibly cheap toy with such thoughtfulness that she laughs, then offers him a softball. ] You stand back here to throw. You're tryin' to get the ball in the top of the milk can. Get the ball in the can, you win a prize.

[ Which are, of course, deceptively far away and have an insert inside to narrow the opening. That's how these things work. But she doesn't tell him that for now. ]

Well, the New England winter nights are long and lonely...

[Sometimes Nadine makes jokes.]

But a creamee is kind of like a soft serve ice cream cone, only it's made with maple syrup and brown sugar and cream. They're almost painfully sweet but I loved them when I was a kid.

[For some reason, she'd expected a sort of dessert food, and she looks curiously at the rolls Julie hands her. They smell good...and taste the way they smell. She nods appreciatively as she chews. It's almost like a hand pie, but with a way better filling and crust than any hand pie she's ever had.]

Oh these are really good. [She holds out the paper food tray for anyone else to help themselves.] And yes, a lot of carnival games involve throwing balls at things or into things or through things. But there's other ones, too. Like water races and rope ladder climbs and test your strength - that's where you take a mallet and swing it as hard as you can against a board and it sends a ball shooting up towards a bell at the top. If you ring the bell you win a prize. It's considered pretty hard to actually win these games, back home.

[Because most all of them are rigged. And while Nadine's aren't rigged, exactly, they aren't effortless to beat. It's not like it's costing any money, they can play as many times as they want. It's all for fun, and to share a little bit of home with Jaskier and Geralt.]

But it's kind of tradition to play them, and try and win a prize for whoever you're at the fair with. Or yourself.

[ Geralt releases the sad squawking duck to find a ball in his hand. He weighs it idly; lighter than a typical leather ball but with enough heft. When it comes to games, he supposes there isn't anything more universal than throwing balls into buckets and cups.

Can't remember the last time he played any sort of game where drink wasn't involved.

He squints at the jug for a moment or two. Gives it an experimental lob. He takes a couple of tries—they neglected festival ball tosses during his Witcher training—but the third sinks in neatly, as does the fourth. Like once he's caught on how to aim it, he's incapable of missing.

If anyone has him do it a fifth and sixth time, they'll find that's exactly the case.

Hm. What does he win. The squeaky duck? The fluffy rodent that looks as though someone splattered it with paint while blindfolded? Nadine says who you're with; he ends up looking to Julie. It only seems fitting—what else would he do except give one of these glassy-eyed colourful toys to her? ]

[Jaskier commits to only listening to the ladies' back and forth so he can try to pick up what they're talking about, to imagine what the childhood of these women on such a different world must have been like. From what he's beginning to hear... it's apparently a lot of food and a lot of celebrations, for any occasion. An overabundance of both. So were there no peasants? No misbegotten farmworking children?

He doesn't know if it is better than the Continent or not, especially considering its fate. It's certainly different.

The bard does sample one of the -- birocks? -- and is pleased to find it reminds him well enough of pierogi with a doughier texture. They're lovely, actually, and he takes a second one as he parks up next to Geralt's other side at the game.

Of course, Geralt wins one effortlessly.] I doubt I will be near as skillful at any of these compared to a Witcher, but I can certainly try.

[Jaskier's choice is something that he thinks is a bit like darts, but has some sort of... cannon? in front of it. When he pulls a button on the underside of the cannon, water shoots out the end instead of pellets. Ah! He's done something similar before! But, ah, not with water, and not with a cannon --

At any rate, he figures it out over several games that a certain angle is needed, and it is consistent. He finds the right angle and sprays water through a hole in a round board, and though it wets the board as well, he apparently wins --

Something small? The choice looks between some sort of mutated fish and what he is rather sure is a peach. With eyes.] Ah. Whatever the lady chooses, it shall be hers!

You're gonna like skee-ball.

[ Leaning against the side of the game booth, Julie watches Geralt quickly puzzle out the angles and pitch necessary to beat the game. Her smile is somewhere between fond and highly entertained -- she would actually very much like to see the reaction of real carnies to how easily he figures it out.

She is barely listening to Nadine and Jaskier. There's a lot of noise and lights surrounding them and what's being said is information she's known since childhood, but mostly she just isn't focusing on them.

The booth flashes lights and makes a celebratory trumpet noise, which Julie assumes is the substitution for a barker yelling out that we have a winner!. She doesn't really think about the prize; like most decently-adjusted adults, she doesn't really have much desire for an odd, inexpensive toy made in a sweatshop in Horizon-China. When a macrocephalic, tie-dyed stuffed hamster is handed to her, however, she accepts it without blinking. She wordlessly tucks it under one arm and takes his hand to follow Jaskier and Nadine to the other booth. ]

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Open Log + Closed Prompt

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supplies a link because i don't think they have a name

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