⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 138 - Day 152
Where: The Summerlands
What: The Ringmaster brings the carnival to the Summerlands immediately after being freed from Portland so that everyone can take a fucking nap. Her included.
Warnings: Individually marked! Most likely discussion of torture and trauma in here.

DAYS OF SUMMER↴ You made it! And things are back to normal... more or less. Upon waking, you will be greeted with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze – the carnival has found itself situated between a pair of mountain peaks, with great fields of flowers extending in the distance. In the other direction, you’ll see mountain-top cities and tall waterfalls accenting vast swaths of forest. Some of you will already know this place. It’s the Summerlands. You game here once to rest in safety nearly a year ago, and now you’ve come to rest once again. ► WAKING UP: Shortly after the carnival arrives, the Ringmaster will send out a somewhat cryptic radio message - but her immediate location won't be clear. Whatever items you had on your person at the time the Severing was broken will still be on your person, including whatever clothing. All of the animals and pets of the carnival will have returned to the grounds as well, though they are currently free from their designated living spaces. Things in the carnival will appeared to have naturally aged a month, as if the carnival was been sitting here empty and waiting while everyone was in Portland. The lawn needs mowing. ► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, they will welcome you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but they will not be particularly offended if they are turned down, for now. ► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will mostly enjoy the company of any carnival members that offer it - it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do. ► NEW ARRIVALS: Though the Ringmaster will not be offering much guidance for the first week or so, eventually the carnival will begin running for a few small performance sessions, off and on, as a thank you to their fae hosts. The carnival will also be open to receiving new arrivals during that period, and so there will likely be some newbies to train and get orientated as well.

Comments

[espigeon]

WAKING UP: The first thing Julien does finding himself here and something like himself is open his inventory again and haul out his human body. Not caring that it's soaked to the skin, he throws his arms around his thick-ruffed neck and pulls himself closer with a folded wing. He doesn't cry, he doesn't speak, he just sits like that for a while. He needs the contact, and who's closer than yourself?

He is a sight. A scalded, bedraggled pigeon the size of a microcar, with a small young man drenched in seawater hanging off him. Later he'll remember he was trying to hide that he's a two-parter. Right now it just doesn't matter.

Eventually he opens his eyes and, oh, that's more than he was expecting. It takes a while to figure it out. He's carried that weird fluid angel tendency for eyes to appear and disappear, except these aren't really set into his flesh. It's not too big a deal. His bird eyes have a really wide field of view, and he's had some practice looking at the world out of four which normally aren't pointed in the same direction, this is just an expansion of that. And if the eyes appear and disappear and are kinda hovering against him like his inventory portal, that's honestly for the good, they're not fragile and vulnerable in the same way as his actual eyes.

SUMMER CITY: His unharmed human body is just too small compared to his scorched bird one to help it move around much, and there's a while where he doesn't want to move them too far apart. It's just so reassuring to care and be cared for, even if he's aware the whole time that he's playing both roles. Still, he's got a healing factor. Within a few days his bird self can be seen dozing in the sun or half submerged in the lake, while at the same time his human body is in the city. Or it goes the other way around! The fae obligingly find his plumage elegant and appealing and enjoy his guitar skills. It's kind of nice.

He's not easily recognizable as Iuliael, though his voice and the eyes that appear over his skin and feathers and clothes are the same. Over the next few weeks he's able to control them better, but more tend to appear when he's interested or excited about something.

WILD CARD? ?

Summer City

[pipers_son]

Considering he- or rather the angel version of him- didn't have too much personal trouble with the Summer Fae of Portland and that he's been here before, Joker has no issue with wandering through the city. There are familiar faces here, after all, although all of them are arguably familiar considering.... you know.

So he's simply passing by when he hears the sound of Julian's guitar.... and, more importantly, the sound of his voice as he talks to a few of the fae around. He pauses for a second before venturing a little closer. He doesn't say anything, not right now- what is he even supposed to say? 'Hey so we were both weird angels, how about that'? Instead, he just stays quiet, listening.

[espigeon]

Julien idly strums chords, more for the enjoyment of feeling them resonate in his old much bestickered guitar than to play a specific song. One of the summer fae is inspecting the waterproofed case he's kept the instrument in. The outside is, of course, wet.

He's explaining his inventory. "Yeah, it's not a common thing back home, but there's others who can do it too. It's, uh, it's a connection to the timeless primordial sea of the Earthmind, or something like that? Pretty much anything special I can do is because of it. You can take out something someone else put in, but I can't do that here. Maybe if Aaron or anyone showed up."

How he misses his Keye City friends. If only they'd gone through this too. He suspects they'd have had less extreme, strange other lives. Then again, it was like that already. None of them had turned into giant birds. "Apparently I can uh, also make life in there, but I only know how to do that with one thing. And that's this." Julien takes a hand off his guitar and indicates his chest, self consciously.

An eye opens on his shoulder, right over his clothes, and a couple more follow as he sees Joker lurking there, but if he doesn't want to come join the conversation yet, Julien won't force it. He's not sure what he'd say either. Just turns his face that way and gives a nod.

[pipers_son]

Well. Multiple eyes looking at him really aren't the strangest thing Joker's had to deal with since joining the carnival. Case in point: the odd nonsense that all of them literally just went through. Still, now that he's been spotted, it'd feel too weird for him to stay quiet, so he puts a smile on his face and shifts into the conversation proper.

"Impressin' the locals, then, huh?"

[espigeon]

Joker is clearly not the same as angel-Joker, but there's definitely similarity there. Julien wonders about the arm. It seems like a bad idea to come out and ask, though.

"I'm not sure I'd say impressing, but it's always good to make new friends," he says, smiling. Summer fae, all as alike as siblings, make a playful protest that he plays well and has such interesting things to talk about, then withdraw a bit to play a hard-to-follow game involving a hacky sack, chalk, and a series of sticks. He's pretty sure they're still listening though.

Well, anyway. Julien clears his throat and stands up. "Ah... you know what? Let's try to start from scratch. I'm Julien Delacroix! Human, desp... well, actually, this body's still pretty human looking. Despite that my other one's a bird, I guess."

[pipers_son]

Ah, fae. Such fickle things, apparently, no matter the location or the species. Joker huffs out a quiet laugh as they move away, although his attention is clearly brought back to Julien. There's a surprised blink at the introduction but, quick enough, he grins right back.

"Joker, also still pretty human despite all the evidence ta the contrary. Stage Manager, so you've probably heard my name around." He offers his good and only hand, even though it's made of wood in that strange natural twisting way instead of anything polished. "Just Joker. Nothin' more or less, never had any name before it."

[espigeon]

Amazing really. They'll be back, Julien knows, until a butterfly or the shadow of a cloud takes their fancy instead. He's too used to making friends he leaves behind soon after to really mind.

Julien powers on through his moment of hesitation at the living wood hand and shakes it, curious about the texture and if it has any give. A couple new eyes appear on his hand as he does, getting a closer look at it. This body, his human body, does look mostly human. Blue birdlike eyes come and go on it, his normal, regular eyes are a silvery blue, and his hair is blue primitive feathers, like on an emu. That's about it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Joker! Yeah, I've heard your name. I'm in wardrobe and makeup, so I'm supposed to keep an eye on what the performance wing's doing. Circumstances have kinda prevented that, but hey, there's time to make up for it."

[pipers_son]

Joker's hand is sure an experience, that's for certain. There's a certain strange kind of softness to them, necessary for them to be as flexible as they are, and yet at the same time... There's something very sturdy beneath it all that's more noticeable than human flesh, and hints of opalized wood peek out from between the bits of wood that twine together.

"Yeah, that, ah, happens." Joker shrugs, because it's true. This year, so far, more than ever. "Still, you've gone and met Carly properly, right?"

[espigeon]

Well, that's fun. If not how it would've been weird and creepy he would have liked to investigate Joker's hand and examine it closely. There was nothing quite like this among the champions at home, not wholesale flesh replacement. Julien puts his hand back at his side, hooked casually at his belt.

"No, not properly! I know she's my boss and I've seen her around, but we haven't really talked. I should change that!"

[pipers_son]

So.... nothing happening with the eyes that had popped up. Well, Joker can handle that, and he lets his own hand rest on his hip. A low whistle slides between his teeth.

"Ya should! She just got the job, so she could use all the help she could get. She's been here for a while, but never as a supervisor. Support never hurts in a time like that, huh?"

[espigeon]

Julien is totally staring because that's what's great about being able to make birdy-looking eyes appear just above his skin. You get to just look at things while maintaining steady normal eye contact. It also conveniently makes up for something he's found he doesn't like about being human-shaped compared to a giant bird; human vision is just really limited in a lot of ways, from color to speed of processing to a narrow field of view and the inability to see multiple things at once with any clarity.

"Makes sense! I'll have to do that." 'At a time like this'. Julien's smile is easy and never far from his face. It takes a wry aspect now. "Are there a lot of 'an intense thing happened so now we have a couple weeks to pull ourselves together' periods here, then?"

[pipers_son]

WELP. Joker does his best not to flinch and mostly succeeds. That's not exactly what he had meant, but also he can't blame anyone for asking. That kind of thing is.... Beyond everyone getting hurt, it's messed with their heads too.

"Nah, it's... Listen. When I first got here, I had a whole year of basically nothin'- Well." He pauses. "I almost got beheaded once but that's what happens when ya flirt with a king's daughter, so I brought that one on myself. But that year, and the year before that... I heard that was calm too." Grimacing, he shrugs. "This year has just been a bleedin' mess."

[espigeon]

Whoops. Julien lets the smile fade. He hadn't meant to upset Joker but, still, he really has to know what he's gotten himself into here.

"What's changed? Does the Ringmaster have enemies who've like found her?" He wouldn't have thought basically leading a tourist campground that also performed would make that many people angry, but then again there are people who can get angry about anything. And there's no telling just what that woman has been doing, and maybe some of the employees...

[pipers_son]

"Well..." Curling his hand at his chin, Joker considers the question. "From what I understand, the one behind the vampire nonsense from not that long ago sure didn't like her.... But that one got- eaten or somethin'?"

Shruuuuuuuuuug.

"I was a bit unconscious for that." Probably because he tried to eat Childermass, but it's.... fine.

[espigeon]

Remembering the smoke dragon monster who was also the Ringmaster going and biting the fire fae, Julien also shrugs. He can believe it. At least, he hopes it was the Ringmaster doing the eating and not the carnies. "Vampires? Oh boy. That sounds... well, terrifying."

A sensitive sort who also automatically downplays things that really upset him, Julien has his suspicions about Joker's nonchalance on the topic. Nothing for it but trying not to step in it too bad though. Maybe it's time for a subject change. "Your wings are gorgeous, by the way. Uh... how long have you had them?"

[pipers_son]

"Yeah." That's just about all that's getting out of him right now, his smile not budging an inch. Vampires are definitely terrifying. Let's not talk about it now.

Which means Julien's made a good chase of subject change, and Joker actually has to pause a second as he looks back at them. "Oh, probably over a year, suppose. Ringmaster gave 'em ta me as a present, I guess, when I became the stage manager. Although they've definitely... changed a bit." That is to say, one is the same magpie black, and another dove white.

....The glitteriness of the inmost feathers hasn't changed, however.

[espigeon]

Julien laughs, shakes his head. "That is a weird reason to grow wings, but I guess the reasons here are different, anyway." He inspects Joker's wings openly, his fingers curling and stretching out at his sides. He would like to touch, to feel for the joints and how they intersect with the man's body. You just don't do that, of course, but he doesn't see anything wrong with wanting.

"I've had wings for... man. More than a year too, by now. They work pretty differently back home, though - no one's a hexapod, I think." Maybe if someone became buggy? But they'd probably have to shrink for that.

[pipers_son]

"The carnival is run by a weird lady," he says dryly, not too concerned when the Ringmaster is out of commission like she is for the time being. With how things have been lately, he thinks he's allowed to shittalk her just a bit. Especially when she's not listening.

Best not think about that or his mood will get worse than it's already been for a while now. So he focuses on what Julien is saying, and blinks. "Hexwhat." While he likes to think he's become a lot more learned while traveling with the carnival, some things are still a bit outside his realm of knowledge.

[espigeon]

"Mmm!" Julien agrees absently. That glitter is amazing, like and unlike the iridescent shine on his bird neck. Feathers are so great.

He straightens up out of his admiration and laughs self-consciously. "Sorry, sorry. Biology stuff. Six-limbed, or uh, like conceptually something six-limbed." Since Joker's just got the one arm and all. "I think my point was changes back home were more limited. Less flashy."

Julien forms an eye underneath one of his normal ones just so he can wink both the ones on that side.

[pipers_son]

"Ah." Raising an eyebrow, his lips quirk up in amusement. "I think I can see that." Although he wonders if any transformation can be called less flashy no matter where it is.

Still. There's a more important question to ask.

"So what do ya call a five limbed creature?" he asks, grinning.

[espigeon]

True, it's hard to beat getting an entire extra body. "Still weird as hell, but I got used to a lot of weirdness back home. I think I'm getting a handle on it here."

Julien matches the smile. If Joker will make quips about it, it's probably fine for Julien to if they're on the gentle side. "Pentapod! Like a starfish. Like most starfish, I guess. Or you call one Joker, if you know his name."

[pipers_son]

A lot of people can sometimes be a bit awkward with his missing arm- which isn't bad by any means. Still, Joker can't help but grin wider at the joke, a couple of laughs escaping him.

"Well! Now I'm expectin' ta get all sorts of pink skin~. How do ya think I would look like with it?"

[espigeon]

He puts his head to one side, unwittingly very birdlike in that moment, and strokes his chin in exaggerated contemplation. "Hmmmm. You'd end up pretty cute, I'd think! Of course, you're pretty well there already."

He laughs, because lots of guys don't like comments like that and turning it into optionally-a-joke gives an out. "Might clash a little, too, but it'd work."

Waking Up

[manycharms]

The eye thing is what gets her attention, but it's not what makes her say something. Although meeting Julien feels like it happened a life time ago, she recognizes him when she sees him, and she can recognize that he's hurt. More than that, he's got a water logged boy with him who looks like he could die of pneumonia any minute.

"Hey-! Uh... Are you alright?"

[espigeonage]

Julien opens a few more eyes and turns his faces towards her. It just seems more polite. After a second he reconsiders and his bird head tucks in like he's going to go to sleep. Focusing on someone with two bodies feels way too much like he's scrutinizing them.

"Whoah, hey. Marina... no, Marinette, right? Sorry, it feels like it's been kinda a while." That's an understatement. Iuliael's memory had always been poor and being here, being solid and himself, has put in another level of remove, but those often foggy memories go back a very long way. A scary long way. 'The first human city was very exciting and novel and smelled like goats and old fish at the best of times' long way. "I'm. Well, it kinda hurts, I think I'm dropping feathers, but it's not going to kill me. I'll be fine. How are you, any damage?"