[Fin] The Carousel of Chaos (role madness murdergame)

[Caret]

A tall, well-sculpted young woman wearing a grey varsity shirt and a long, flowing scarf with white, woolly hair, pointy ears, and a sheep tail stands up. She mutters something in Italian.

"Eh? Dove diavolo sono? Cosa intende quella voce con "divertimento"? Oh, ci sono delle persone. Non possono vedermi così stressato. Meglio rendermi presentabile."

She takes a deep breath and starts speaking in English in a bombastic tone.

"Well, hello people! Looks like I'm stuck in some circus. I have no clue how I got here and I'm a teeny bit concerned... but I'll be fine, right? I'm always fine!"

[Florien]

Oh... good. That's... better. You're not one of my cousins trying to haul me back and get me in trouble for the 3029b box thing...

It seems to calm down a bit, though clearly it's very uncomfortable with being in a circus tent. Or in the general area of a circus. It runs a claw over one of its leg scars nervously. It looks suspiciously like a burn scar. It has dozens of similar scars over its body.

I'm... Avrilvanhazorhirhmanetzhonak. Of... Of... No family. Yes. No family right now. Avril. Avril for shorter, if you don't... all the syllables. Neutral inanimate, please. it. I'm an it.

[noodlesnook]

A puddle materialises into a dark-skinned sea-faerie. They take a look around, confused.

[Kennifer]

"Oh, so this is like a talent show? I'm not really prepared, and I'm not sure I can compete with dragons and magical girls and um, all of that..." Somehow fully-charged electronics and a bit of cosplaying didn't feel so impressive.

"...anyway, my name's Lithium."

[PointMaid]

I don't know about 'fine'. But if you do well, you'll be remembered, I'm sure!

Candy Watermelon, presenter for Capitol News.

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

And I am Jack Kilborn, the greatest television personality of all time. I've covered seasons of the Hunger Games and kept people in suspense with my amazing storytelling abilities and my charisma, which is second-to-none.

[noodlesnook]

“Bronwyn,” the sea-faerie says, “Son of the Sea.”

[awe921]

"oh, nice to meet you, Avril!"

"i'm Khom! and... i guess you can say i also don't have a family?"

[Caret]

"My name is Valania Pecozotti, team captain of the Muttopolis Mockingbirds and 2022's Most Valuable Player of the New Italian Aviation Association! Glad to meet you all!"

Wait, dragons? But they're supposed to be extinct, how can there be dragons here? Confused. Valania looks at Avril and Khom. They sure do look like dragons.

"Uh... firstly, are you two actually dragons and not changelings pretending to be dragons?"

[awe921]

Wait, is that sheep woman questioning his existence??? What's up with that?

"uh."

"... yes?"

[Florien]

Avril is now fiddling with its jewelry, especially its charm bracelet (large enough to qualify as a hula hoop), and manages to accidently injure itself on the obsidian shards hanging from it.

So, no family, we're stuck in a tent... other people here? We're about to get...

organ harvested... maybe? Oh no.

While trying not to panic about kidney theft, Avril tries to come up with a response to being asked about being a dragon, but struggles to stay composed enough to formulate a sentence.

...yes im a drach... dra.. d. u,mm Iwi th the wings and the... I'm yes. Yes Im a im dragon what'sachangeling

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Ooh, dragons. Hopefully they'll all spice things up. Start some fires. Use them to make s'mores or cremate people. Fun, either way. And if we're all here for organ harvesting, I hope you can all stomach it. It takes heart to make it though. You should also use your brains. No bones about it. It's liver let die.

[Whistle]

The fox stands up, startled. It's full of strangers...
Wh... Where is this?
/check for exits

[Caret]

"...Shit. You two are living, breathing dragons."

Valania seems to be struggling to find the right words for this situation. She's talking in a more quiet, natural sounding manner

"I don't know how else to explain this, but your kind is supposed to be uh... to put it bluntly, extinct."

She goes silent for what seems to be a long time, then she starts speaking in the same bombastic, yet somewhat forced tone as before.

"This is so AWESOME! Looks like I just found proof that dragons aren't extinct after all! Tell me, what things do dragons get up to? Can you shapeshift as the legends say?

[Florien]

Something sets off Avril about Jack's statement.

I DON'T START FIRES!

I DON'T!

Avril aggressively stalks up to Jack and draws up to its full, rather intimidating height, and bares its teeth, while seeming on the verge of tears itself.
DON'T EVER ACCUSE ME OF STARTING FIRES! I DON'T! START! FIRES!!

[PointMaid]

Candy grins.

Always gotta love a flamboyant contestant.

[awe921]

Khom is also now starting to struggle to respond- why is him being a dragon such a big deal???

"w-what- wow OKAY that's- that's a LOT of assumptions being thrown around, one at a time please--"

[awe921]

... then he immediately flinches from Avril's shouting. Scream?? Answer questions??? Object to someone assuming he breathes fire????

"AAAAHHH WHAT- WHAT"

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Jack isn't intimidated at all by Avril. In fact, he smiles giddily over the dragon's outburst and how aggressive it's acting towards him.

Hey, I like your passion. Use that and I'd bet you would easily win the Hunger Games. And don't worry about whether or not you start fires. I won't judge. In fact, I'd admire that greatly. Have to make things hot somehow. But whatever, it's your business. Still 10/10 for your menacing stature though. Real scary.

[Kennifer]

"...okay yeah I like the talent show idea a lot better than the organ harvesting idea. Or the starting fires idea but that seems to be not something that's happening."

And if Lithium had been in a decent mood... yeah not so much any more.

"...giving people headaches though, that seems to be happening."

[awe921]

Khom grabs onto his head with both hands, as he's trying to digest what's going on. Something had shifted in Khom's eyes, and breathing... breathing starts feeling impossible. It's as if the neck of the jacket he's wearing is *choking* him.

"O-ookokay, okay, okay, okay-"

[Florien]

Avril continues to have problems.

We're going to have our organs harvested and people are mean and don'ntgevenetnyalruyeaudythey'erbalaamingnmeyeforytehefires! ETHEERarntentenvenanyfiresYETANdandytheyreealreadydeoingit!!!

It >Looks for a place to hide.

[awe921]

Oh! Looks like it's time for the collective Dragon Anxiety Hour. There's so many things to worry about! Like for example, that seems to be the first impression of dragons that sheep woman is getting. Way to go, Khommodior! Or how he hasn't- has he answered any questions? What was the last thing he did? What was-

aaAAAAAAAA"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

[Caret]

OK, geez. Valania doesn't really understand Arvil's deal, but she does her best to comfort it.

"Hey! Don't worry! I'm not going to harvest your organs or accuse you of starting fires! We're in this as a team, and the last thing we want is infighting! And... Arvil just decided to run away. Well then."

[PointMaid]

Hmmm... you know, if we're going to be on TV again, I'd better look like it. Too bad I don't have my usual Capitol stylist with me.

[Candy adjusts her clothing and opens her handbag to remove her makeup pouch. She finds a mirror and her lipstick and begins to re-apply, before adding a bit of matte powder] Can't be getting oily on TV.