limacharlie | Public Channel | forward dated to S2:D9, Morning

I see Carly already told you about the clothes. Good!

Uhhmm, it's good to think about the dangers in the places we visit. They're not really safe or predictable. Staying on Carnival grounds is safer but then you don't get the benefit of the whole interdimensional tourism thing, so you gotta strike a balance.

It's always reassuring to know we're not all expected to go threadbare until we can afford otherwise.

( Said with a light laugh, but really, it's one of those grounding details he'd been glad to learn. )

Safer isn't the same as safe, either way. What kind of... ( he hums, cutting himself off while searching for words. How to say what he wants to ask? ) For those places we are, what knowledge do we have of potential dangers or cultural clashes before we arrive?

I know, right?

Well we've got our scouts for that. When we arrive somewhere they go out for us and test the waters and come back. Obviously they don't always get the full picture but it's a nice solid concept, don't you think?

If they're sensitive to cultural cues, yes, it would be. Then again, if the point is only to look like we blend in, it's less important to know nuance outside of what's considered appropriate in public, I guess? Performers and the idea of the carnival itself would forgive other odd behaviours...

( He trails off as he considers this, but more of his point of view comes out of traveling to various countries all his life and trying to learn some of those different cultures while largely being a time-pressed outsider. He's there and gone again so fast it doesn't usually matter, but it's what he enjoys, the surprise of what he learns, and the enrichment from all of it. )

... Which reminds me, how long does the carnival tend to stay in any one area? Or... ( he sighs, laughing a little afterward. ) How long does it stay connected to any one place in particular, from what you know?

I'm sure it varies per person but I get the impression that they're looking for broader strokes. Some of the places we go are weird.

In theory we're only in one place for, eh, about two weeks, maybe a little more or less, with some interstitial time in between where we stay in-Carnival. And half of that is a performance week where, obviously, most of us have some work to do. But there's been some stops that were longer and took us entirely outside of that schedule.

From a certain standpoint, can't just about anything be considered weird?

( Sounding more amused than anything else. Point heard and considered. )

Talk about an ambitious schedule! ( Here he really does laugh. ) More so than most ice shows were, and far more movement than what my competitive calendar usually looks like. Good to know! There's a general schedule, and we go off schedule when things come up one way or another.

Oh, yes! But we were on a world where everyone's a two-part person, the human half and the animal half, and you weren't to touch someone else's animal half because that was assault. So, well.

Heh, yeah, it is a bit! Good thing we have so many performers. You've really got to establish your own pace and schedule for shows, don't take on more than you're comfortable with, you know? We've got people for whom the performances are effortless and those that really aren't, so you're in charge of that for yourself.

( A two-part person? One half is an animal? One half human? )

Two parts that shared one mind?

( He sounds perplexed, not piecing the offered narrative together in any way that makes sense. )

Hahaha, so true, all of that. I'm not really worried about it in comparison to having to be out on the ice; even if I go with a dance performance, I won't be dealing with the same jumps that end up being so taxing on my stamina on ice. Performances day to day would be fine even if I was skating--while in good physical condition. Pushing limits isn't the same as needlessly ignoring when you're at your own.

Kinda? They all believed that the animal halves were their souls and they'd talk and argue with them sometimes. The Ringmaster went and did something to most of us so while we were there we had soul animals too, because it would've freaked all of them out so hard otherwise.

Oh, good! I'm sure someone in your general... sector can arrange ice if that's your deal, same with music and whatever effects. Heh, I'm not involved with that part of it, I'm more hair and makeup and general clothes-editing.

And a glamour wouldn't have worked?

( he's trying to suss out what limitations there really are on illusions; he can make a few guesses, but he doesn't know if they're even close to on the mark. still, interesting to know. important? that's anyone's guess. )

Ah, would that include haircuts, or just styling? Out of curiosity.

A couple of us got those but I think the Ringmaster just wanted us to have dæmons. It was kinda rad, I've gotta say. And definitely spell-dæmons were more interactive than glamour butterflies.

It does include haircuts! I was a hairstylist for about a year back in '09, I don't have a special genius on this but I can get it done.

What was your dæmon?

Excellent! I'll have to come to you when my hair gets any longer than where I like it to be.

She ended up a pigeon, so, that kinda says something about me doesn't it!

Of course! Your hair's a little closer to what I'm used to than on some of the others here, so it shouldn't even take long.

That you're adaptable?

( Look.

... Pigeons are really freaking adaptable, at least in his opinion, so )

I'm not entirely convinced everyone even has hair here, and that's a fine thing, variety is the spice of life, but--good to know!

Oh, that's a good one! Yeah, probably. I'd like to think so! And that, y'know, they're resilient and loyal.

Heh, well, I've got feathers, unsurprisingly.

Resilient makes sense, loyal is new, but I haven't spent much time considering pigeons, I admit.

( He's fed them before in Palace Square, but he's also fed the gulls, and neither are exactly good habits, more... contemplative ones. #yolo He's more glad Makkachin usually didn't give chase. )

Feathers don't need trimming, do they? Don't they just... I forget the word. Shed?

Oh, yeah, it's a whole thing. It's lots of why we domesticated them in the first place, the whole 'messenger pigeon' thing is because they want to get home.

[He still considers himself human, basically.]

Molt! It happens about once a year and sucks a lot but at least it's over in a month or two. I'm not looking forwards to next time it happens to me.

Is it? I never knew! For whatever reason I thought it was more like salmon spawning... which sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.

( Considering that's less about a drive home and more about a drive for reproduction. Ah... )

Oh, molt! Thank you, I'll try to remember that now. So it takes a month or two in total? Do you end up losing and replacing feathers simultaneously, or... I can't imagine any bird loses all their feathers at once.

( Then he wonders if Julien uses any molted feathers as quills or for making hats or costumes, but, well, opts not to ask that. )

I mean there's some of that, but it's more flexible? It's kinda complicated.

No big deal. Uhh, I think there are some real birds that do, basically, but it's stretched out some more when I do it. It's very itchy and annoying and it means shedding so many more feathers, ugh. The rest of the year I'll just lose a bit of down, usually.

Huh, still not anything I knew. I'm just impressed when my dog knows how to get back home after a day in a new city.

( Warmth creeping into his voice just talking about Makkachin... who he'd dearly love to curl up with on his bed and just try to process things, but good dogs are not trapped in crazy carnivals with their owners. )

Wow, that sounds really unpleasant! ( In a very "that's a bum deal" tone of voice. ) Is there anything that helps with the itching at all?

Heh. Well that's not bad either! Must be a bright dog.

Lots of bathing, really, and sometimes sympathetic friends, but it's the bathing mostly. And just in water, you can't apply a lot of products to something like me.

Makkachin is the brightest dog!

( The warmth in his voice comes right back, affection audible as he broke into a broad, unseen grin. He follows it up with a hum of consideration and acknowledgement, figuring it was sensible enough, and something like the birds he's seen bathing themselves in puddles in the summertime. )

Bad for the balance of skin and feathers, I'd think?

Awww! Sounds like you really love him.

[Julien's not the biggest fan of dogs as a whole - he doesn't like the jumping, and when you're a bird sometimes pets think you're a big toy or a meal - but he has nothing against individuals, or people who like them.]

Aaah, well, soap kind of strips the oil off both, and then it gets trapped under feathers and it's a huge pain getting out. So yeah pretty much.

Public Channel | forward dated to S2:D9, Morning

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject