This was nice. Ashiore was looking for a relief from the events of a few weeks ago. That was time enough to recover physically, at the very least. She was still stuck on what the ramifications in terms of the game world would be, particularly with that odd fortune still on her mind. And besides, she was still trying to... get over some of the other things that had happened. But this wasn't the time for that. This was a time to celebrate, and have fun, and not worry. Ashiore had gone through a few attractions, marveling at the stalls and booths, and relaxed over at the food court with Prometheus for a while. Unfortunately, the vulture had gotten it in his head that there was an abundance of meat at the food court, and was off terrorizing people to get at their juicy dinners. She had gotten the sense that this was more out of a sense of glee at being able to hound festival goers rather than out of any real hunger, so she had left him with a stern warning not to go too overboard, and to come back to her when he was done. She had been wandering the area when she ran into a familiar face. "Ah, Velka! It's great to see you again. It's been a while, hasn't it!" She gave the other woman a smile. It really had been a while since they had seen each other, and Ashiore was looking forward to catching up. Before she could get to any sort of conversation, however, she felt a hand close over her upper arm, pulling her back. "Hey!" Out of reflex, started struggling. "Let me go!" @Velka
Velka was on a mission. A group of fancy nobles were slated to arrive in a few minutes and most of the tour guides for the Strange Exhibition were either drunk, unconscious or dysfunctional enough that the show couldn't risk it. She had been offered a temporary job, despite having no experience or idea what was in the show, and gladly accepted it. After all, she could always just blame whoever ran the the thing in case it all fell apart. She was about to head to exhibition proper when she spotted Ashiore, the woman she had slain the 'eel' with before. As she was about to make her way to her and maybe get a word or two in before the job started, Velka noted with annoyance that Ashiore was getting dragged away by one of the assistants of the exhibition. Walking faster, she cleared her throat and tip toed to tap the assistant on the shoulder, signalling that she had it from here. She was about to clear her throat again when she realized that she had already done so, so she just started talking. "Hello Ashiore, it has been a while. If you have a bit of free time now, there is a job available. A group of important people will be taking a tour through the exhibition but all the tour guides are... indisposed. Would you like to join?" Honestly, the job should be fairly easy with or without help as there was a lot people would believe if you said it casually enough. A group of nobles looking for a night out would probably be the least discerning people, especially if they had been participating in the festivities beforehand. Still, it would be nice to have help and potentially a chance to catch up afterwards. The money would't hurt either, owner was desperate.
Velka thankfully saved Ashiore from the insistent person who was pulling her along. She sighed in relief as the man walked away, but before she could express her gratitude, Velka began speaking. Ashiore listened in mild curiosity as the other woman outlined her current problem. The prospect of a job was certainly appealing. Ashiore had just been looking for something to do, since wandering aimlessly around the festival was starting to get a bit old. She could also probably guess the meaning of 'indisposed' given the copious amounts of alcohol just lying around everywhere. "Sure! It sounds like it'll be fun." With any luck, it wouldn't be too difficult of a job. There were surely descriptions of all the exhibits lying around, which would be a great help to being an impromptu tour guide. With that agreement given, Ashiore began following Velka over to the exhibition. They were nearby so it wasn't too far of a walk. Ashiore tried making some small talk along the way, but it was quickly cut short by the end of the brief journey. Ah well. Hopefully there'd be more time to catch up once this job was done. There was a banner that loudly proclaimed 'Earnesto Munster's Strange and Savage Exhibitions' hanging over a constructed walkway. Beyond that, there were a few cages that looked to have some figures inside of them, tall and gangly and vaguely humanoid. Looked like there were quite a few different creatures, Ashiore thought, impressed. And then she got an actual close look at the supposed 'creatures'. Which were all obviously people. In badly made costumes, and facepaint that was pretty obviously done by one of the many artists at the stall. There was even a man just wrapped in what looked to be a bear pelt? And that was apparently it for his disguise. And someone who had a sword strapped to all four limbs, though to their credit, they at least they tried to hide the rope with some clever costuming. Just... what? Ashiore exchanged a dumbfounded look with Velka. This was the exhibition that was supposedly so popular? And they had to guide some important visitors through this farce of an attraction? "Ah, there's the exhibitions!" came a high-pitched and rather fancy-sounding voice. "Come along, I see the guides there. There's more to do so let's go, everyone!" Well... Shit.
Ashiore was going to die. It was official. A hundred percent, super official. She was going to die of awkwardness and embarrassment, and who even cared what kind of weird death compulsion or phobia she would get from that, because nothing could be as horrifically awkward as the last hour and a half that she went through. She never saw Mr. Earnesto Munster himself, but that was probably a blessing at this point. With a wooden, forced smile, Ashiore waved goodbye to the retreating group of nobles who were excitedly chattering among themselves. Never again, she promised. No matter how good a friend the person asking her for a favor was, she was not going to go through this humiliating experience again. She turned to Velka. "I don't know about you, but I think I'm just going to uh, wander the festival a bit. And not come back here ever again, oh god, I'm never going to be able to look any of those people in the eye ever again. So, uh, nice talking to you and seeing you again, but goodbye for now!" And with that, she hurried off deeper into the festival grounds, trying to erase the last embarrassing half-hour from her memory. But try as she might, her traitorous brain couldn't help but conjure up the most embarrassing moments. ----- "Uh. And this is a- uh." Ashiore looked frantically back towards the man in the cage. He was painted bright red, and had some sticks attached to his head that sort of gave the illusion of horns. In the right light. If you squinted, and stood very, very far away. There wasn't any plaque or similar label that she could use to get some idea of anything at all that she could make up. Velka had covered the last "exhibit" so now it was Ashiore's turn to try and think of something. Uh, uh, what could it be... "This is a demon! F-from the north. Um. A rare... specimen. Of, Blood Demons. That's why they look red." Oh nooooo. "And, uh- The horns! They're found up north. Um, a lot further north than Astorea. They live in colonies of up to-" Um, what's an impressive yet believable number of demons, uhhh, "-two hundred. This one is a- a King Hemodevil, one of the strongest kinds of demons." To his credit, the man in the cage was playing along as best as he could. Snarled and menaced as best as he could from behind wrought iron bars. He certainly seemed to be taking this better than Ashiore would if she was in his situation. The nobles were looking rather bored, though. Ashiore caught a muttered, "Is that all?" and "How quaint," and a few yawns. Velka had explained that these were important guests too, and Mr. Munster was very keen on impressing them. That's his own fault for making do with this bad substitute! she couldn't help but think. But as much as she was tempted to just blow it all off, she couldn't bring herself to when she had already agreed to help out seriously. What sounded impressive. Uh. Uh. "A-and! Demons are normally very dangerous and can kill dozens of people on their own. But we're safe now, because the adventurers that captured him have bound him using a magical ritual! So- so he has to follow all orders that are given to him!" That caught the attention of the visiting guests. Unfortunately, what Ashiore didn't notice was the rather insistent silence from the man in the cage. "Oh? Let's see then. Make it dance!" Turning to look at the man in the cage, the noble shouted, "Dance, demon!" Ashiore turned, just in time to catch the costumed man give her the stoniest look that a person had ever given her. She cringed- oh. Oh, that was probably a bad thing to say. ----- Oh god. Ashiore cringed at herself, recalling the icy glare the man in the cage had sent her. Please, if there was any god out there, any at all, let her never run into anyone involved in that exhibition ever again.
