Uploading this today because tomorrow I'm going to get started on my research paper. Wish me luck, loyal subjects. ._.
"This place looks like shit." Were the first words they spoke as they looked at the town of wash-ups. It was the very image of bitter disappointment and broken dreams. The houses were worn down and shabby, with roofs of straw-like material. They were cramped together, and there were people bathing in the river that cut the town in two. The people were sorry sights as well, with the men having numerous scars, cuts, and scrapes (some looked infected), and the women (the few that were allowed out, it seemed) were barely clothed, enticing other men to follow them to god only knows where. Dirty children were running around, not a care in the world. They didn't seem to know what was wrong with their life.
Iris kept a tight grip on Sheila's wrist, her polite facade cracking as she noticed a man watching Sheila, "Well, we'll just see if there's a fygg around here, and then take our leave. Marine, you can go check out the bar, Sheila and I will talk with the children, and Alice-"
"Where the FUCK did she go?!" Marine interrupted her, looking around angrily. She gave some of the men a dirty look, trying to figure out if one of them kidnapped the small Celestrian.
"Alice will be fine, Marine~" Sheila cooed, "She just wanted to go play at the carnival."
Alice stood outside of the large tent, it was striped with many colors, but it was too faded and dusty for Alice to make out what colors they had originally been. There was some type of music playing that Alice had never heard before. Alice was almost overcome with glee; she'd never seen a REAL carnival tent before! Maybe, if I'm lucky, there will even be some clowns!
Alice skipped inside, and was immediately given a huge dosage of disappointment. There were no benches, or seating of any kind. There was only broken boards lying everywhere, as well as numerous red chests, and large quantities of gold just piled around the room. Off to the right was a jail cell full of red chests, which made no goddamn sense to Alice, but maybe it was some new mortal thing? In the middle of the room was a small, raised platform where a lone red pirate stood, worshipping his pile of gold. There were only two other living beings in the room beside Alice and the pirate, with one being a bearded man who looked like he was a fallen king, and the other was a grey medislime just floating around.
The medislime noticed Alice staring at him, and slowly floated over towards her. "Hello there! This be Cap'n Meddlin's castle (slurp)! The Cap'n collects the shiniest o' mini medals scattered all over the lands. If ye give him yer medals, he might reward ye."
Alice blinked, and was ushered towards the red pirate man before the medislime floated away again. Alice stared at the pirate man who was facing away from her, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Eventually, the man staggered to turn towards her, almost falling over. He really WAS a pirate, he even had a parrot on his shoulder, an eyepatch, AND a pegleg! It was one of the coolest things Alice had ever seen.
"Ahoy there! I be Cap'n Max Meddlin', swashbucklin', seafarin' collector of only the miniest o' medals! I sailed the seven seas all me years, plund'rin' the most maximal amount o' treasures me hold could carry. Until one day, the patch fell from me eye, an' I saw that the maximum joy I ever had meself was from these here miniature medals!" Max looked into the distance, eyes glazed over with nostalgia. Alice almost thought he had forgotten she was even there, but he startled her by getting up in her face.
"What say ye, traveler? I can smell the mini medals on yer person. I can make it more than worth yer while, I've a boatload o' booty to give ye in return."
Alice looked at the medals behind him that she had mistaken for gold coins, and her eyes widened when she recognized the symbol on the medals. She dug through her bag, and poured several hundreds of medals out onto the platform. She remembered how she had always been eager to collect them whenever the two of them would sneak off into the Protectorate. Though, it wasn't really so much as they sneaked off, as nobody cared because they'd always come back, or Aquila would fetch them. Meh, she won't mind. She only liked them because they were shiny, and she's always up for trading junk.
Alice handed them all over to Max, letting him inspect each and every one. Vastly satisfied, he gave Alice loads of questionable clothing, a cool sword, a "thieves' key".
Max grinned at the small girl in front of him, who had collected so many treasures, and had just handed them over to him, just because he told her he was collecting them. "Arrr, ye're a queen amongst mortals, Alice, bringin' me all these mini medals like ye have!" Alice wondered why Man mentioned mortals specifically, but shrugged it off. "Me medal collectin' ancestors are smilin' down on ye, ye can lay to that! Thank 'ee kindly!"
The pirate/medal collector looked off into the distance once more, "...Now, at last, it's time for the next chapter in the medal-plund'rin' saga to begin! Ye can pick whatever booty ye want from me."
"I want those shoes, and that's all. You can keep all the medals." Alice smiled, pointing at a pair of green boots.
"Very well, the pixie boots are all yours! 'Tis the minimum I could do for all yer efforts! Here ye go, lass!"
And so, Alice got neat stuff on her first trip to the carnival.
Marine scowled at the strong scent of alcohol and sweat. Of course Iris had assigned the bar to her. Even though she knows Marine hates alcohol. There weren't that many men in the bar at the moment, but the stench was still there, and the drunks were still whiny. One in particular (who looked like the most lecherous priest she'd ever seen) slung an arm around her shoulders as she sat on the stool beside him, eyes misty and limbs heavy.
"Hic! Hey there, pal! I'm sorry, but I don't have time to listen to your sob story. I have it much worse than you do. Hic!" Marine was inclined to agree with him, though she wondered offhandedly how he wasn't slurring all over the place if he was this drunk. Marine took his arm off her shoulders, possibly breaking them in the process, and shoved him off his stool. A tap on her left made Marine swerve around, fist ready to punch another drunkard.
Instead of having to get into a bar fight, Marine got a pair of slightly worn leather shoes shoved into her face. The owner of these shoes was wearing cracked red armor, and missing a tooth here and there. Surprisingly, he was not drunk, but he was laughing suspiciously enough for Marine to assume he had drank at least one beer.
"Ha ha! Look at these here leather shoes I got! I swapped Gerald a shinin' fruit for 'em, I did." Marine's eyes widened, "Jealous, eh?"
The bartender looked up from wiping one of his glasses, and decided to crush the man's joy. "Didn't you know? Old Man Mason bought that fruit from Gerald. He paid a lot of money for it."
The warrior's jaw slacked, and he went into a fitful rage until he was forced to leave. Marine turned to the bartender, jaw set and eyes serious. "Where does this 'Old Man Mason' live?"
Iris and Sheila hung out on the bridge that went over the shitty town below it, with Sheila chattering away, and Iris silently listened while she scouted the area for sign of Marine or Alice.
"Oh, hi Alice!" Sheila waved over the edge of the bridge. Iris leaned over to see where she was waving at, only to see Alice scaling up the bridge like she had the cliff of Port Llaffan. Iris made a mental note to teach Alice some proper manners. She hadn't been able to teach Marine, but Sheila had managed to absorb some semblance of grace.
Alice quickly made her way over the top edge, and dusted herself off. "Hi Sheila! Look at this cool pair of shoes I got from the tent pirate! He said I'm his queen!"
"...Why did he say that, Alice?" Iris's eye twitched, getting a different vibe from the statement then a child like Alice would. If that man lives here of all places, he cannot be a decent man.
"I gave him the medals my... darling had been collecting since before even I knew her. She won't mind, she has tons of more meaningful treasures hidden away in various places." Alice cupped her cheeks, a dreamy look on her face. Iris nodded, relieved that she was wrong.
Alice glanced forward, hearing quiet footsteps approaching them. Her eye widened as she saw who was approaching. Sheila and Iris looked at the direction Alice was facing, with only Sheila seeing the cloaked girl coming towards them. The girl looked at the town under the bridge, and sighed as she shook her head.
"...No... Not here, either..." With another sigh, the spirit turned towards them, and staggered a step back, "Huh? C-Celai? I-Is that you?"
The girl rushed forward, and peered closely at Alice's deathly pale face, eyes narrowed in concentration. Several tense minutes passed as they stared back and forth at each other without blinking. Sheila was watching the exchange, and Iris just stood there, not knowing what was going on, but sensed that it was supernatural since Sheila was looking at nothing.
Finally, the spirit backed away, a sad look to her as she shook her head once again. "...No. It... it is just my imagination." With that, she walked around Alice, going off into the distance once more. "What am I thinking, mistaking a mere traveler for a Celestrian like that...?"
Stella came out, blinking owlishly at the retreating spirit. "...? Haven't we seen that fashion abomination somewhere before?"
Alice glanced at Stella, who shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, whatever. As much as I'd love to fix her flappin' sense of style, you've got fyggs to find! Here comes that crass seagirl."
The three of them turned to see Marine jogging towards them, "I found it! I know where the next fygg is! We're goin' goddamn mountain climbing!"