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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Definitely talking! The jellyfish floats up, and in a stretching blur of black and orange appears to...not just be a jellyfish for that matter, but a woman. Oops.] Well, o-obviously most jellyfish don't talk, but even if they don't talk, it's still rude to just poke things!

If you just poked a cat it could bite you, right? [She insists, voice somewhat muffled by the jellyfish canopy over her.] So it's the same thing!

[ok but you were a tiny jellyfish about two seconds ago...]

[ Well! So the jellyfish is a carnival worker. Strange had no idea about that in the first place. He at least looks a bit apologetic as he continues to talk back to Carly, frowning still. Because yeah, like Strange is going to admit that he shouldn't have done something. Forget that noise! ]

If I saw a cat, I'd try to pet it. However, I've got no idea just how one would pet a jellyfish. It doesn't really have fur and if I attempted to scratch you, I'd be worried my nails might pierce the jellyfish's...skin?

[ What's a jellyfish composed of anyway? As he talks, Strange gestures towards Carly. He's got small, sharp claws on each finger. ]

With that sort of logic, isn't poking just as bad..? [she mumbles, blinking a few times while she floats. It seems that way at least.] Jelly fish is just weird jelly-skin stuff..! It's sort of like, um...

[She pokes her own arm, and then crosses them as she attempts to think about it.]

...It's like melted glass, probably!

Except it's not strong at all, so don't poke it!

[ yes, poking is indeed just as bad but shhhh, ignore the fact that Strange is a total hypocrite. ]

I had no idea, [ he can't help but mutter, watching intently as Carly pokes her own arm, as if that'll somehow tell him just what sort of texture it is. ] To be honest, this is my first time I've seen a jellyfish in real life. Unsurprisingly, it's a bit hard to stuff a jellyfish and store it at the British Museum. But you'd know best, so I shall take your advice!

[ there's a pause, before ] But what about light poking?

A museum..?

Why would you put them in a museum, that's what aquariums are for I though... [Oh boy, time gaps-

In any case, she practically pouts.] How boring though! Even at home I could see little jellyfish if I went to the beach..! And we were always told not to touch them, or they'd sting you, and-

[Oh.] AH! If you don't know about something, that's another thing though! It could be so dangerous that...even just touching it does something wrong!!

So don't even lightly poke it until you know!

[It seems that her original intentions for these warnings are...changing quite a lot.]

In that case, tell me which parts of the jellyfish sting and I'll make certain not to touch them!

[ said as if it's the simplest thing in all of creation. ]

Mmmmmmhhh well normally it's the tentacles but...

[Well.] I'm not venomous I don't think...and I think there's lots of different jellyfish in the ocean too. It's probably better just not to poke it...

[The woman shrugs, frowning.] I don't see why poking them is so important to you anyway, it's still really rude!

I'm in a strange new world filled with creatures I've never seen before, [ Strange explains, as if it's the most obvious thing ever. ] I want to experience as much as I can before the carnival leaves!

[ Because he knows that eventually it will. Eventually, the Carnival's going to leave and who knows when he'll be able to see all these weird things like jellyfish and coral and really huge sharks again. So, Strange is just taking everything at full speed. Let's go do all the things and bother all the critters. ]

I guess if you can't get to a submarine that makes sense...but...

[She resolves herself, clenching her fists and shaking her head in protest. Sir, that's no excuse! After all-] But you can still die, you know..!

And unless you've already made a deal about that with the Ringmaster, there's no coming back from that one for sure! [Especially since it's not proper resurrection. More like...Soulnetting. Soulblocking. Soul... ...honestly she has no clue, just that it's been DONE.]

[ HOLD THE PHONE, somebody did not tell Strange about that whole nor proper resurrection thing. And man, he's a little bit peeved and confused about that. ]

What do you mean unless you've already made a deal with the Ringmaster? She told me she couldn't bring someone back from the dead when I first signed on!

[ might not have told this random stranger that BUT OH WELL. ]

Well I don't think she can bring back someone from the dead if they didn't make the contract..! But there were people that died in the Carnival that she was able to bring back...

[Look, she's going off rumor man, rumor, ~~otherwise there'd be intermuse mingling and that's just No Good~~ okay!] I don't get it either, but it probably means she had to do something before they died, right?

[ the rumor mill's enough for Strange to get this slightly manic expression on his face as ideas start forming. The Ringmaster can bring workers back from the dead. Oh, that made his exploring of Faerie and poking around in places that he shouldn't be a lot easier. ]

Oh, you're probably right. But still, that's...that's entirely what I need! Bringing people back from the dead, how wonderful!

You keep saying that like it's something you could do for someone other than yourself though, I'm getting really worried..!!

[Oh dear what HAS she wrought...she doesn't even know how this works, she just heard stories! Really vague ones mostly along the lines of carnival-wide radio announcements.] I'm serious, if she said she can't do it, then it has to have something to do with the situation, I'm sure!

Well it's magic, isn't it? If I learn her spell and combine it with the knowledge I already know, who's to say that it can't be used for someone other than myself?

[ said with the utmost confidence and belief that nothing will go wrong! ]

I mean it's definitely magic, but it's a different kind of magic right..?

I can use Aslla's magic, but that definitely doesn't mean I could do something like...well. [She's still not really sure about what happened that day, honestly.] Whatever that was...

[In any case.] Anyway either way, normally coming back from the dead has a really huge price you know..!! I know that better than anyone!

[ Strange's experiences with raising the dead are the one time it went annoyingly wrong (tip: black magic sucks) and seeing the after-effects of when it went right (or so he thinks). So Carly's statement takes him by surprise. ]

You do?

[ Because now that is interesting. What all does this woman know about the price of coming back from the dead? After all, she had been mostly talking about rumors, but that statement was oddly personal. ]

I thought you said you only knew rumors about the Ringmaster raising the dead!

Well it's pretty different, I mean coming back to life was a thing that happened in my world, the Ringmaster had nothing to do with that...

[But she's getting a bit off track. The point is the warning, she tells herself-the warning, and so she steels herself and explains.] I...I made a deal with something really bad to come back though-I didn't even know what I was doing, and it meant I was forced to hurt a lot of people I cared about..! ...Coming back from the dead...

...You have to really look into who you're dealing with first, you know..! ...otherwise everyone suffers, even the one you wanted to come back to.....

[ Man, if Strange was from just one more episode, he'd agree with that ENTIRELY. As it is, he's still entirely too confident in his own abilities and is unfortunately missing the knowledge that Norrell brought someone back from the dead via fairy magic.

...she is a bit right, though. That time he managed to bring those Neapolitans back from the dead...well, those poor souls had been in hell. To go from hell to Earth then back to hell again. That had to be suffering. ]

I'm sorry you went through that, [ Strange simply says, giving Carly a small nod. ]

What happened to me is one thing, [she says softly.] ...But what I did... ...it hurt the people I came back for too, after all. I had to fight the one I wanted to see again...I had to let him see me do terrible things, that I didn't even want to do..! [she finds herself admitting, dropping her jellyfish curtain. Her wings grow limp beneath it, and she holds herself close, and her eyes closed.]

...that's why... ...if she said she can't do it, even though someone might have come back with it...I'm certain there was a reason she told you, [she insists, the softness of her voice made softer still by the curtain in front of her.] I...

...maybe you could ask whoever came back, even! ..Maybe they could explain why it was different... ...but I...

...Even though it's over now, there are times where I wish so badly that I'd just stayed dead, knowing what happened... [She knows that can't be the case now-and it's certainly nothing she would wish these days, not when she's been assured already that she'll be going back without her demonic hanger-on, without the weight of the crimes she committed.

...but when her thoughts go back...when she allows herself that much, it hurts.

It hurts enough that she wonders why she has allowed such a 'thing' to remain with her even now.]

[ He's getting signals pure and clear to back off. Strange is certainly pushy, impulsive, and would like to keep this conversation going and force Carly to tell him just how she was brought back to life in the first place...but her body language and tone of voice are telling him loud and clear that this is a sore subject for her.

He's still a gentleman, even under all his mania and madness. He still realizes just when to stop. ]

The only person who I could ask about being brought back from the dead in my world has been committed. Even if I could ask her, I doubt it would be much help. [ The problem with that, of course, is that Strange only knows about half of what really happened with regards to said person being brought back from the dead...and is operating on the entirely wrong assumption that English magic brought her back in the first place.

But 'what happened', though...that's interesting. And a bit worrying. Did whatever bad thing that happened happen because of Carly being brought back from the dead or was it a personal choice on her part? ]

If you wish to talk about what happened in your world, I'll gladly listen. But if not, I won't ask for details.

[ because something bad obviously happened beyond just 'coming back from the dead' and whatever happened is obviously a sore spot. ]

['Committed'. It takes her a moment to realize what the word means. It's not a very common thing where she's from, but it certainly does happen-and it tells her that whoever Strange is talking about is far beyond any proper means of sane communication.

Perhaps in her case she could say it's a mix of decision and revival. Or neither of the above, at the same time. The Dark Signers were 'made' to do the will of their god, and their god in turn chose them specifically because of who they were connected to.

Defeating your enemy is easier when you have someone they want.

Strange's tone and words touch her, however, and she nods.] ...I don't know if I want to talk about it, but...

[...But if she needs to. If she needs to, it is good to know there is another someone.] ...but I might ask, one day.

..If you have time to listen, I mean.

If you ask, then I shall listen, [ he simply states. Partly because he still desperately wants to know how Carly came back to life, what sort of magic her world used...but also partly because he has a feeling she might simply need someone to talk to, someone who understands the intricacies of magic and (unfortunately) has a bit of experience with death.

But this will happen on Carly's own time. This is obviously a touchy subject and while Strange wants to just plow ahead and keep asking her questions, it's obvious he won't get anywhere right now and could possibly do more harm than good. ]

I don't believe I've properly introduced myself. My name is Jonathan Strange.

[ He offers a hand for Carly to shake, giving her a smile that he desperately hopes is kind and reassuring. ]

[And Carly nods. She is no longer so naive as to think Strange's interest in the topic at hand has faded-too much has happened to her in life to be able to trust someone to drop something so quick. But the effort, at least, matters. It matters considerably, and in silence she lifts the jellyfish canopy again in order to more properly see, speak-and take the other's hand.

It is, apparently, a kind and even reassuring smile. She shakes his hand gently, and nods.] ...Carly Nagisa-pleased to meet you, [she adds out of polite habit.]

It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Nagisa.

[ This is obviously a tough conversation and Strange obviously isn't going to get anywhere else with Carly and learning about her death. So, changing conversations it is. ]

Have you been with the Carnival long?

[And what a welcome change at that-her smile returns more strongly, and she nods.] I have~ Over three years now, in fact! It's been a really wild ride!

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congrats carly, you totally described his canon as well

i can't believe strange has things in common with CARD GAME ANIME

look, the moral of the story is don't fuck with extradimensional beings/faeries/what have you

it's tru

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