lostcarnival | ⇨ ATLANTIS

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⇨ ATLANTIS

Who: Everyone!
When: The morning of D44 and onward.
Where: The ocean realm of Atlantis.
What: The carnival abruptly arrives at an underwater realm, and everyone is transfigured into merpeople just as suddenly.
Warnings: Body horror, I guess.

THE CITY OF ATLANTIS↴

The visit starts without much warning, but at least there is a full week of free time before performances start. In the meantime, your characters will be given ample opportunity to adjust their acts for an underwater audience, get used to their new fishy appendages, or just spend the whole time enjoying the sights and sounds of Atlantis city. King Triton will not be immediately seen, but it's possible to gain an audience with him if you get in contact with the ambassadors of the kingdom. Just, make sure that you're not wasting his time. He's a lot less patient with nonsense than the Ringmaster is.

► FISH FRIDAY: You fell asleep, whether or not that's something you usually do, and the next morning you wake up as one of the merfolk. A few last additions may grow in after you're awake, but for the most part everyone will have a method of swimming and a method of breathing underwater transfigured into them upon waking. Don't worry about your belongings - everything is waterproofed, and technology will work the same underwater as it does above it. That doesn't mean there won't be plenty to get used to, though.

► GREAT BLUE YONDER: The ocean realm where Atlantis resides is enormous, and the depths seem to be unending. Despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be any surface, sun glimmers all the way down to the ocean floor. Atlanteans use creatures like whales and dolphins as rides and beasts of burden, and they can be seen swimming in and out of the city as constantly as roadways filed with cars in earth civilization. Beyond that, there's everything you would expect to see on the ocean floor here - huge reefs of coral, both familiar and exotic, enormous ocean plants, deep ocean trenches, and all kinds of weird critters living in them. There are a mix of mythical and standard ocean creatures, and are likely a combined populations of many oceans worth of beings.

► THE ATLANTEAN MARKET: The Atlantean market (aka the "merket") is a long trench between rows of buildings in the middle of the city, lit with bio-luminescent plants and rocks, and filled with all kinds of weird mer stuff that you can buy. There are a great many individual booths, mostly with hand crafted wares and objects that have been salvaged from various sunken ships. The Ringmaster has already traded a large number of goods to the merfolk here, and has taken the profit to award each worker with 100 Atlantean Gold to spend as they please. One gold is worth roughly five USA dollars, for a comparison of how much that is. There is a top level set up below in which characters can make their purchases, and you can also handwave the purchase of random common, necessary items (food, drink, etc) at your convenience.

► TREASURE HUNTING: Right now, the only major salvage areas are a few left over sunken ships that have mostly been picked over by the merfolk. However, you are welcome to head over to them and explore, and see if fortune smiles on you when it comes to finding anything that hasn't been taken yet. The current options are three similar looking brigantine that all probably came from the same world. Merfolk do not seem to consider them to be anything extraordinary, though magical items and gold have allegedly been found within them. Whether or not anything is left, is the real question.

► LIMELIGHTING: Merfolk are curious and generally socially forward, as a species. This mean that they find the carnival's workers to be a fascinating novelty, and also are unafraid to make that fascination obvious. Given the opportunity, merfolk will demand your character's attention for bombardments of questions and for general socializing, especially if they are particularly unusual for some reason. Don't be surprised if you get invited to stay at total stranger's houses, or dragged off to a merfolk bar to surprise party with their friends. They'll let you say no, reluctantly, but they will also be pleased as punch to get up in your gill.

It's also possible to make some money, this way, if you're willing to do street performances, or are willing to sell your "skills" in a more private environment. Yes, there are opportunities to become a fish hooker if you are so inclined. Merfolk may also offer money to take you as arm candy to various public events, escort style. They don't consider this to be a particularly socially inappropriate thing to do, either.

You can ask general questions about this setting over on the event post. There are top levels below for buying Atlantean merch, and also for making dolla dolla, if your character is inclined to try.

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Susan knows next to nothing about fish, either (especially fish in the ocean; the few he does know about are the sorts you find in the rivers and streams near his forest), so despite the fact that he knows he can't use his magic here (fire and lightning spells don't do well underwater, generally, after all) he still as also ended up doing a bit of exploring a bit away from the city to take in all the sights. His familiar, in seahorse form, clings to his hair as he ends up nearby Strange, the man's endless talking making him grin.

"D'you think that they all even have names already? Maybe there's so many kinds that they don't and then we get to come up with names for all the different kinds of fish and everything and we'd be famous!"

Strange is equally excited, giving Susan a wide grin as they talk. He's feeding off the boy's enthusiasm as well. It's wonderful that someone else is equally excited about this world and the scenery and all the fish like Strange is.

"I'm certain that a fair amount of them have names but there's just so many fish in such a wide ocean! There's got to be a kind out there that hasn't been named yet—it only makes sense." There's a pause, while Strange thinks it over, before excitedly asking, "Shall we go find some?"

"Yeah, we should go right now! I don't know how we'd know by seeing it, though... Maybe we'll just know." Not really knowing though doesn't diminish his enthusiasm in the slightest, and in fact the thought of adventure and exploring is enough to excite him more. Sure, he could just look around on his own, but now it's like a quest or something and that makes it more fun.

"I dunno where to start looking." He looks around again, seeing if there's somewhere that looks cool to start - maybe a sea cave or something? He doesn't know where fish really live, not specifically, and so he just ends up spinning around slowly to see what he can see.

"Well, if we remember what each of the fish look like, we can describe them to the merfolk. And if they don't have any idea what we're talking about, then obviously it's undiscovered and we can name it whatever we want!"

This isn't a very good idea. However, it's the best idea that Strange has. He doesn't have any sort of other way to mark what fish they've seen on him right now (the notebook and pens he owns are back in his trailer) and he's got no idea if any sort of magic could serve their purpose. So, memory it was.

"Oh, if we can remember what they look like, I can even show them with my magic! That's even better than describing them, right? Plus it would be cool to do, I don't get to make illusions much."

It doesn't even matter to Susan if it's a good idea or not, it sounds like fun anyway. Even if all it results in is looking at fish then it's still a good way to spend time he thinks.

"That is better than describing them! What a good idea!" Strange is absolutely serious when he says that. After all, description is lovely but if you ask two people to picture the shade of blue, they might have two completely different blues in mind.

Likewise, Jonathan 'let's do everything with magic' Strange likes that idea so much better than 'find a damn pencil.'

"Well then! Shall we start exploring?"

The thought that he might not be serious doesn't even cross Susan's mind, as he honestly would do it either way. He grins wide again as Strange agrees with him, before nodding excitedly at his question.

"Yeah, I'm ready! We just have to figure out where the coolest unknown fish probably live, and go there first."

"I've seen some fishes of interesting colors among the reefs further away from the city," Strange muses, with a little nod. He gestures in that direction, pointing towards an outcropping of reef in different colors. "Perhaps it would be a good idea to start there!"

"That sounds perfect! It'd be so much better if the fish were interesting, I don't mind naming a boring fish but I'm sure the ones there are the best for discovering." This is obviously a logical conclusion to come to. He doesn't even wait for an answer before he starts off that way himself, although as sea dragons aren't inclined towards swimming at any kind of decent speed he isn't going very fast at all.

Goldfish aren't inclined towards swimming at any decent speed either, so Strange easily matches Susan's pace as the two continue to swim towards the reef.

"I've often thought about that when it comes to explorers. Obviously, someone had to find and name the common animals, like finches or crows. But do they ever feel any jealousy when they talk to the person who found and named the more uncommon animals, like peacocks or penguins?"

"Or, what if it wasn't just something common, what if it was something like a tick or a leech? I don't think I'd wanna be the person who discovered those and named them..."

He thinks about it for a second before continuing.

"I guess everyone would know what they were, though, that's better than if you found something really rare that no one ever hears about again."

"If nobody hears about the rare thing, I think the problem is that they simply didn't promote it well enough. For instance, I've never actually seen a leopard. But I've read travel journals so I know what they look like."

Of course, he is from the 1800s, so the amount of animals Strange hasn't seen is a lot higher than some of the other people here. Strange pauses for a moment before

"You're right about ticks, though. I'd prefer the wonder of discovering something new without the horror that the something new is sucking your blood."

"I'd never even heard of one til I went to the 'zoo' in that last city... They're pretty cool, though." He thinks about that for a minute.

"But, you're right, I've never really seen an elephant either but I know what they are! So if we find something cool enough and tell everyone about it, I'm sure it'll get famous... As long as it's not gross."

"But what if it got famous because it's gross? I don't know how it is in your world, but where I'm from, there always were young boys interested in whatever sort of insect or disgusting thing they could find."

Some kids are gross no matter what the universe is.

He laughs a little.

"I dunno, I don't know what other kids really like, I've never talked to them. If it's gross though it would be fine I just don't want to discover a flea or mosquito or something like that."

He pauses again as he thinks that over before continuing.

"Actually, if we did find that it would be okay... I would just tell everyone my brother was the one who discovered it."

"You tell everyone your brother discovered it, I'll tell them Childermass discovered it, we'll let them deal with the hoards of people asking questions and we'll go search for something more interesting."

It's all said very matter of fact, as if Strange had been thinking about it for ages and this isn't something he literally came up with thirty seconds ago.

Susan nods, excepting this as a completely logical and obvious conclusion to come to.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan!"

He laughs as he thinks about it further.

"I don't think Lauren would like that very much, though, he's so shy. He'd just disappear or something if people started swarming and asking him questions."

Apparently the child and the madman are on the same wavelength because Strange as well views this as a logical conclusion...only to frown a little when Susan points out the obvious flaw in the plan: other people.

"Childermass wouldn't like it either and also would try to disappear. Of course, that's why I suggested him in the first place."

Surely someone with experience at disappearing would be good at dodging questions and getting away from crowds. At least, he certainly has more experience with that sort of thing than Strange does.

"I guess it would still work... I just don't want to upset Lauren, he'd get mad at me for it. Oh, maybe there's someone I don't like I can blame it on!"

Which obviously is a good suggestion. Why not blame things like ticks on other people?

"A wonderful suggestion! The problem now is finding someone you don't like in the first place."

Which...is harder than expected, especially since Strange has been getting along fairly well with the rest of the carnival. "The only person I actively don't like here, I don't know his name. But I suppose there's nothing stopping us from blaming it on people we don't like who are back home."

Oh, right, that was important to do first, wasn't it. He frowns, thinking about it for a second.

"I can't think of anyone I don't like."

But then his face lights up as he thinks of something else.

"Oh, but what if I just made up a person who doesn't even exist and then everyone would spend all their time trying to find them and not bothering me! Then when I get bored trying to discover more things I can just watch the people still trying to find the fake discoverer!"

"That sounds like it would be a lot of work," Strange can't help but muse as he frowns a little. Making up an entire person...coming up with the name would be easy, but what if people started to ask questions about this made-up person? You'd have to keep the appearance and personality straight as well.

"That could be fun though. And if you want to do it, then do it! However, if you want something a bit easier, just give them the name of one of my people I don't like. I'd be happy to share that with you."

"It might be hard but it would be fun!" But after a laugh he shrugs.

"But you're probably right, your people are easier than making someone up. But they have to be someone you really dislike okay?"

"Oh, I've got the perfect person in mind!" He gives Susan a little laugh as well. It's obvious that Strange has been thinking about this for a while, trying to come up with the perfect person to throw under the metaphorical bus.

"If anybody asks who discovered something horrible, tell them that Gilbert Norrell found the creature."

Petty? Absolutely. But Strange is just smiling happily at the idea of Norrell having to deal with people bothering him about some sort of fish tick or something like that.

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⇨ ATLANTIS

great blue yonder

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