open!

[loverboi]

Who: Lance and you!
When: Early Juril
Where: Various
What: Open quests with some closed prompts in the comments.
Warnings: None for now!

a new look.

[ a quest that'll give lance new clothes to look good in is a quest that absolutely cannot be passed up, in his humble opinion. he's more than happy to give the designers some tips when they ask for his own personal style, but he's mostly excited to see what they have for him to model. sure, he probably can't keep the clothes, but he'll probably take a few selfies with them anyway for safe keeping.

also, this is good for his ego.

he walks out of one of the designer shops wearing some pretty fancy clothing (excluding the crown). it's well-fitted, comfortable and easy to move in. there's even a slot in the back for his fin, too! he looks very, very happy wearing it. catch him looking fancy anywhere in the city! ]

cheerful buns.

[ 'cheerloaves', huh... he feels like he should've been able to guess what this would entail after hearing the name, but somehow he wasn't prepared to come up with compliments for loaves of bread. he was doing okay at first and complimented the bread on its (potential) smell, texture, warmth -- but after some time, lance started running out of things to say. there're only so many things you can say about bread, after all.

and he's looking desperate for help, because one of the bakers is saying that the bread needs more cheer. ]

How many compliments do you need?!

[ whoops. he's a liiiittle frustrated. but if he sees anyone passing on by, he won't hesitate to run outside and flag them over. ]

Hey, I could use some help here if you've got time! And compliments. Tons of compliments for some bread dough!

circque mystique (3rd)

[ lance has always participated in aefenglom's various festivities. he's a guy who likes to be out and about and experience new things, and generally he tries to keep an open mind about them (though that often results in being unsuccessful), but this ring-toss game is not making him happy whatsoever. ]

Okay, I definitely had that one!

[ he gives up some cunes for another shot at the ring-toss, and he's actually throwing the rings properly. they seem to be on their way towards landing properly on one of the bottles, but every time it looks like it'll stay, the rings bounce off of the rims and land on the floor.

lance grumbles. he's not about to yell at the person running the booth -- he learned his lesson from the underground -- but he is about to yet again flag someone over to check his technique. ]

Can you do me a favor? Keep an eye on the rings for me? I'm ninety-nine percent sure my aim's right. It's gotta be the bottles...

anything else?

[ hit me up at amplitude if you wanna plot something! ]

Comments

[getting_better]

Ah. It went through.

[ He said rather dryly but behind that dull expression was a smile most devious. The barker was slack jawed as he stared at the hoop as if it were a live tuna a top a hillside, out of place and impossible. Then he turned his attention to Bishop - ]

Y-You! You're a witch, ain't cha?!

[ 'Of course I am, you window licking neanderthal' he thought to himself but continued with the feigned innocence. ]

Yes, that true. But what of it? It's not like this game was rigged, yes?

[ He says with particular emphasis and volume on the word, getting some people's attention. ]

[loverboi]

See?! It is rigged! I wasn't gonna say it, but...

[ see, bishop, this is why you're his buddy!! lance looks pretty upset about the whole ordeal, and when some people turn their eyes on the man, he seems to panic. lance just stares him down, folding his arms across his chest. ]

Are you gonna give me my prize or what?

[getting_better]

[ The barker squirmed while alternating looks from Lance to Bihsop, who continued to innocently chew on the grilled squid, before clicking his tongue and putting the prize owed to Lance on the counter. ]

Congratulations. Now go on! Git!

[ Something Bishop was happy to do after giving the barker a courteous bow, and once he was out of ear shot - ]

Well, that was fun! But, man, carnies will be carnies wherever you go, I guess. Even another world.

[loverboi]

Hey, you beat that guy at his own game though!

[ the prize...is a blue lion! he smiles and hugs it close as he talks to bishop: ]

I'd say that was worth it. Thanks for the help, man. ... How'd you do that?

[getting_better]

[ He raised his hand out of his pocket and hovering above his palm is a blue ring of magic, roughly the size of palm, with markings on them. Surrounding the ring were five more rings looped around each finger. ]

A counter spell, one of my own design. It was subtle but, the game was rigged with magic so I locked on to it and bend it a bit. I could've broken it but, well, the guy's gotta make a living and I'm not so cruel as to deny a carny their due.

[ The spell decapitates into a blue electric sparks and some equally azure and petite gusts. ]

Besides, I've got a soft spot for them. Helped smuggle me into Belgium, and gave me some nice recipes for pretzels, caramel for caramel apples and popcorn, different kinds of lemonade, and a recipe for apple cider doughnuts.

sorry for the late, rl kicked my ass orz

[loverboi]

You're pretty sharp, aren't you?

[ he gathered that from the day they'd met. bishop seems like an observant guy who's highly aware of his surroundings. it probably just comes with having more life experience. lance could learn a thing or two from him.

there's something bishop says that catches him a little off-guard, though. ]

Wait, what do you mean by smuggled you into Belgium? The food sounds great and all, but what?

np it happens

[getting_better]

Smuggle. You know, illegally move or transport goods - sometimes people - in or out of a country. In this case me into Belgium.

[ He says as if what he said wasn't out of the ordinary. ]

Not that big a deal. I was travelling with the carnival troupe through France, got into a bit of a...misunderstanding with some people, and the carnies were kind enough to hide and smuggle me into Belgium. We parted ways in...Ghent. They went on to Brussels, I headed for Bruges.

[ A beat. ]

Actually I was on my way there when I got snagged up and wound up here.

[loverboi]

I know what smuggle means! Just --

[ how does bishop's life just keep on sounding crazier and crazier? HOW. lance can't quite wrap his head around this guy's shenanigans... ]

So you were part of a carnival. What for?

[ he wants to take a guess but he's not even sure what that'd be. ]

[getting_better]

[ Lance is barely scratching the surface of the craziness that is Bishop's life. ]

Not part of it. In my world -

[ He gets that out before finishing the rest of the squid and tossing the stick in a garbage can. ]

- traveling by land is incredibly dangerous. Some countries actually forbid it and arrest anyone that's caught who aren't authorized military personnel. France is one of the more lenient countries when it came to land travel so the carnies and gypsies struck a deal with me. They'd get me into Belgium and I serve as their guard through the long trek. They were short one guard since their regular guy was healing from an injury.

[loverboi]

Oh yeah?

[ geez. that sounds pretty harsh and definitely very different from his version of earth. ... assuming that's where bishop's from, anyway. ]

Definitely sounds different from the earth I know. [ ...he hopes it's still as he remembers, anyway. ] What made it so hard to travel on land? Seems kinda fishy if you ask me.

[getting_better]

War. World War. One of catastrophic level.

[ The one to end all wars. The battle for the soul and freedom of mankind. Quite literally. ]

There's so much chaos and random destruction that you never really know who's who or what's happening until it's too late so, unless you're military and armed to the teeth, no one is usually allowed out of the cities. Of course, not everyone really follows and the government still makes good use of black market land runners and other off the books forms of transport. Like those carnies, they were also transporting some good which I can't confirm nor deny I've seen which are illegal in certain countries. The German government ordered it so they're delivering.

[loverboi]

[ when bishop talks about war, lance falls quiet. you never really know who's who or what's happening until it's too late. some of that strikes a chord with him, mirroring his own experiences in the intergalactic war he's been pulled into. but he's lucky he has a castle to call home in the midst of all the chaos, at least. ]

Yeah. War's just like that.

[ which may sound odd, coming from someone like lance, but behind his answer there's some experience. ]

Anyway, that all sounds pretty hard. ... Do you think being here's better than home, then?

[getting_better]

[ Now that question caused him some pause since he's been trying to avoid thinking about it. He took a breath and sighed softly as he weighed out the differences between his life back in his world and here. ]

From an objective stand point, one could say being here is better. The conflicts here, not to downplay them, are minor compared to what I've faced in my home. There's no shortage on food, water, and good will. And more importantly, I don't have to sleep with one eye open and a loaded gun in my hand.

But that's purely objective.

[loverboi]

...Yeah, I can kiiinda relate to that on some level.

[ The part about sleeping with a loaded gun, at least, and the conflicts being more minor. Not that Lance sleeps in his paladin armor and his bayard activated or anything, but being ready to go at moment's notice, not knowing when danger will strike...all things that he understands, even if he may not look like he does at a first glance. ]

I'm sorry to hear that though, man. War's not a fun thing to have to go through.

[getting_better]

[ Especially not a war that you're losing. ]

Thanks, but don't feel bad. That's just my lot in life.

[ His an about a billion other people. Billions who are not here. ]

Are you a soldier too? Or maybe a vet?

[loverboi]

A soldier, yeah. I guess you can say that, heh.

[ He most definitely is. It just feels...weird to say that, for some reason. ]

It all just kinda happened. I didn't have a say in it, but I don't regret it. Saving the universe? Someone had to do it -- not that I'm by myself or anything, but we just happened to be the ones who got chosen for it.