lostcarnival | title goes here [Open]

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title goes here [Open]

Who: Blue Diamond, Open
What: Getting down locations, meeting new 'coworkers'
When: 1-2 days before Event
Where: All over the Carnival
Warnings: None currently

1

[The only thing keeping Blue complacent is knowing she made the choice to be here herself. The indignity of being reduced to a mere aid for others when she was a diamond for stars' sake would be intolerable even for her. But the prize is worth it.. and it's only a year.

A year is still long enough to need to know who her coworkers are and more importantly who those who outrank her are. Not all of them would be telling her what to do, but keeping things working smoothly in case she did need to go to them for something - or them to her for some requisition or other - is simple common sense. A little asking around gets Blue pointed in the right direction..

Which means visiting supervisor's grove. She has a mental list of descriptions and names of those she's supposed to be looking for, and once she spots one (and presuming they don't look otherwise occupied at some other task - Blue is mindful, and she knows what work looks like in its many forms), it's just a matter of saying hello.]

Pardon me. Do you have a few moments?

2

[Peoplewatching follows. There's a lot of people in the carnival, some human, some ... mixed? Some don't seem as if they were ever human to begin with but there's plenty of locations for Blue Diamond to settle down in a somewhat out of the way place and do nothing at all but watch the others go about their duties, sitting or standing depending on location.

The diamond - in this case the Ringmaster - of course set the tone of a location, but it's the lower class gems that always lived and breathed it, and if she was going to blend into this place, she needed to better understand how they behaved, what they did ... and why.

Perhaps you're the person Blue's chosen to watch right now, a silent seven and a half foot tall azure shadow keeping tabs on what you're doing, what you're wearing, everything you're saying.. it might be a little uncomfortable but for the air of benign benevolence she manages to cultivate.]

3

[With a better idea of what this place expects by way of appearance, it's time to familiarize herself with locations. If a new arrival can get there, Blue's going to be there sooner or later, looking around with interest and attempting to at least become familiar with various locations and what they're for.

Roping her into lending a hand with this small task or that one shouldn't take much effort at all, Blue seems interested in learning and being of what assistance she can be. Got a task? Make use of the strange blue lady hanging around.]

4

[There are times when Blue simply leaves the main carnival and heads into the woods for a little bit of quiet to allow herself some time to acclimate to new information and the general headache and effort of pretending to be this entire place's newest Pearl.

The forest prevents anyone from leaving, but Blue isn't trying to leave and perhaps something of the entangling, confusing place understands that. It's easier to find little quiet out of the way spots amongst the trees to loiter a while, even if she's not terribly comfortable with being surrounded by so much organic mass. She'll be here well into the evening, a dark blue wraith between the trunks, seemingly looking for something. She's not lost .. not yet, but that could change at any time with this place.]

5

[Wildcard; bring it on]

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What else would it be?

[ Oh God, is there something else? Is he going to have to learn space nonsense to grapple with the computer nonsense he still doesn't understand? ]

There's other forms of 'year', I had hoped it might be ... something a little longer. Only eighty years?

[Blue's shock seems to be turning rapidly to something very much like sadness.]

I think I see why your people haven't even reached the next planet, you're ... all only recently emerged and then...

If eighty years is so small to you, then how long do your people live?

[ This confusion is doing more to cement in Strange's mind that Blue isn't human than her coloring or her lack of knowledge about magic has. And Strange, in true nosy fashion, is just going to keep pressing for as long as she lets him. ]

We don't have a finite life span.

[To a species that is functionally immortal, one that only makes it to eighty or ninety was a terrible tragedy.]

... Perhaps that is one of the reasons she wished to preserve your kind. With such a fragile form and such short existences, how could humans prosper without being watched carefully?

[But that aside, before she works herself to tears again...]

But ... these 'vampires'..

[ At the word 'vampires,' Strange's opinion noticeably shifts. He sinks in his seat as his expression turns to a scowl. Almost getting murdered by vampires a few times has done nothing to endear the species to Strange. ]

Vampires aren't human. Oh they used to be, of course, but the act of becoming a vampire changes all that.

Many creatures are not human. What they are may be more helpful than what they are not.

[To a nonhuman, being told some other thing isn't human really isn't saying much, and by her tone might be confusing the issue a little. Blue hadn't been aware humans die at eighty, things like the undead were likely to be completely new as well.]

I don't know the specifics of vampirism, just what I've experienced. They subside off the blood of another, they're weak to silver and sunlight, and to properly destroy one, you need to destroy the head or the heart. They have some form of compulsion that they can use to draw you in. Joker called them demons...but I doubt that term means much to you.

[ Blue didn't know magic, Blue didn't know vampires, it was a logical guess that she doesn't know what a demon is either. ]

[Parasites. She understood that well enough. No danger to her at all if they require blood, no gem had any of that, but possibly an issue for other species. Organic ones.

But there's a smile on her face when Strange rightly notes that she has no idea what demons are.]

No more than a Pearl would mean much to you beyond the scope of inert rocks of your world. The nuances of the organic parasites and predators of a colony were never much of a concern, being little threat to a gem.

Is that what you are then? A gem?

[ Strange has heard the term used before--just being stuck in a carnival with multiple gems means that he's heard the term bandied about. But he's never actually sat down with one of the gems and gone through the whole 'so how precisely are you different from people' talk.

Well, no time like the present. It's his turn to give Blue a small smile as he starts to gently tease, ]

In that case, I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. You seem to know plenty about humans but I hardly know anything about gems.

Edited (thanks html) 2017-06-19 17:55 (UTC)

I am.

[And it's a bit off topic, but she may just have to get the excruciating details about vampires and why everyone hates them elsewhere. And possibly other ill-meaning creatures that could be skulking about!]

Ahh.. that's little surprise. We left your world a long time ago, once it was decided it was unsuitable for a colony after all. I imagine if your ancestors remembered us at all we have long faded to myth and legend. But I hardly know where to begin, I might be able to answer some questions at least.

[But not all. There were things to be maintained private of course, like how to stop one permanently.]

Truth be told, since I don't know that much about you, I don't know where to start with asking questions!

[ Still, Strange mulls this over with a frown before asking, like a child who desperately wants to know how things work, ]

Are you naturally blue? Are all gems that tall or are you an exception? If you have infinite lifespans, then how do your people grow up or get old? [ And then, as if he's just remembered something, Strange pauses, then looks a bit sheepish. ] Although I should start by asking you your name. This conversation's gone on for so long and I haven't even bothered to ask? Terribly rude of me.

[Humanity may be primitive but they certainly have plenty of curiosity. Perhaps she would have to see about finding some toys for the ones in her zoo for novel things to keep them busy with..

Strange isn't interrupted at all, she simply waits until he temporarily runs out, looking a little amused. There'll be more, she's certain of it.]

My name is Blue Diamond. If you know a gem's gem, you know her name.

[She raises one hand to touch the gem at her chest; it really is a blue diamond apparently, and at a size that puts the Hope Diamond to shame.]

I am naturally blue, and I'm currently rather small. Ordinarily I would be ... mm, three or four times this height?

[This was an easier form to interact with humans and the rest of the carnival with, she could acknowledge that. But it felt so strange, being so small.]

We do not 'grow up', I'm unsure what that means beyond the obvious. We are always the same height unless we choose to shapeshift a bit, from the day we emerge onward. If our lifespans do have a natural end, no gem I have ever heard of has reached it.

My name is Jonathan Strange. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Diamond.

[ As Blue raises her hand to touch the gem, Strange looks awkward for a moment as he tries to find a way of looking at the gem that doesn't involve staring directly at her chest before realizing that really, it's a bit futile. And yep! That sure is a diamond in her chest. This really shows him how little he knows about...well, everything. ]

And by 'grow up,' I mean...change your form, I suppose. Age. Humans change their appearance as we go through our lifespan. A one month old human being looks different from an eight year old human being which looks different from an eighty year old human being.

[At least it seems that Blue has none of the qualms with being stared at that a human woman might. Perhaps it was the lack of the male/female relationship, maybe it was just the importance of knowing what someone's gem was, either way his awkward expression however brief it is seems to amuse her.]

... I see. That explains why the population keeps changing in physical size, I had ... assumed different things. We go through no similar process, I'm afraid. Does all organic life do this?

All organic life on my world does. [ Because after traveling from world to world with seemingly different rules, Strange knows too well to make a blanket statement about all the realms. ]

Humans, birds, fish, all of us start small and then grow bigger and stronger. Of course, [ and here Strange frowns for a second, mulling things over. ] I actually don't know how faeries enter the equation.

[ There's so little he knows about faeries. How are they born? Can you have child faeries? What happens when a mama faerie and a daddy faerie love each other so much? Strange's confused expression easily relays the fact that this is actually the first time he's thought about this (this being faerie sex). ]

It seems I have far more research to do than I originally planned here.

[Organic life, this growing thing, and possibly the involvement of fae. The Ringmaster had struck her as being closer to a gem than a human, but it was possible, she supposed, that the same flaws could be shared across many, MANY species..]

I suppose a reasonable first question would be if faeries are organic at all. I'm afraid I don't have the senses to tell most species apart in that fashion..

You know, I honestly don't know. I've only ever met three faeries, and I've never thought to ask them the ins and outs of their species.

[ One was a man from home, a gentleman with hair the color of thistle-down, who Strange had a conversation with for all of five minutes. Another was a being with skin as cold as an icicle, who tricked Strange and froze the Carnival. The third was the Ringmaster. Three different circumstances and yet three different times when Strange really couldn't ask 'by the way, how do you work.' ]

I suppose we'll have to ask the Ringmaster that herself. I've nothing but half-formed theories as to what faeries are in the first place.

[Blue considers this for a long few moments, weighing exactly how one would ask that sort of thing without being potentially rude. Rudeness could lead to unfulfilled requests.]

With a bit of luck she won't find such a line of questioning offensive. I have no wish to anger my temporary patron, after all.

[They were under the Ringmaster's roof, often literally.]

Or perhaps one will turn up sooner or later that might be approachable without such concerns. Though only having a year to wait, the odds may not be favorable.

If I knew the name of an approachable one, I could easily summon them. However, considering that the results of my last summoning were...a bit disastrous, I'd rather not chance that unless it becomes the only option.

[ And since this is just them being curious and nosy and hypothetical, yeah, that summoning is unlikely to happen. ]

I don't think the Ringmaster would find questioning offensive, though. If anything, I think she'll find it endearing.

That sounds like an eventful story.

[And one she's fully intending to ask after, sooner or later. Now might not be the right time or place, but eventually perhaps, when work was concluded some day..]

I'm afraid I hadn't had much opportunity to simply socialize when we'd met. Not long enough by far to get a good measure of her temperament. If you truly believe she wouldn't be adverse to answering and one day you ask, I'd be very interested in the replies. There's so much I don't yet know, and no libraries to indulge in..

[Partly For Science, because she was as curious as any other being out there. Surrounded by humans for the next year and beholden to a fae for the same amount of time, Blue needed to at least have a basic working understanding of what's going on!

She pauses, considering the place where Strange had been putting on his display. It was a waste of talent if magic worked the way she thought it did, using it for mere entertainment.]

.. On an unrelated topic, might you have some idea of how to bond silver to steel, or force silver to hold a cutting edge?

[ Strange's eyes light up as Blue mentions libraries. This is a sticking point for him as well. They're in faerie, they're in a carnival that travels through realms, and there's barely any sort of libraries to find out how all these things work. ]

I've picked up a few books from our travels. They don't have anything to do with the Carnival itself, but you're free to borrow one, if you wish.

[ At her question though, Strange can't help but frown. That came seemingly right out of nowhere. Still, he pauses for a moment, thinking things over. ]

I'm not a blacksmith so any work I do would be rudimentary at best. [ how do swords work, Strange doesn't know. ] Still, there's no harm in giving it a try.

I would like that.

[Although gem society has long since moved on beyond books of the normal sort, there was a sweet nostalgia to a bound tome, so rare now on homeworld. It would take a while to get through, especially if they were in languages she didn't know, but that too would be worth it.

Blue's question is out of nowhere, but it is .. somewhat related to a previous topic.]

I believe I could provide both silver and weapon after a visit to another world or two, it's the combination of them that eludes my poor craftsmanship. And to get such a thing to hold a cutting edge..

[Blue can accept her flaws. And if this magic could do what she could not, so be it!]

There was another seeking such a weapon as a defense against certain .. 'supernatural' foes of this place, vampires may be part of that. If your magic allows you to defy physics as I know it, perhaps this too it would be able to achieve.

[Probably many people might be interested in learning magic themselves, but to Blue, learning someone else's powers was ... simply impossible. One simply admired the distinctiveness, or perhaps envied it a little, but acquiring it surely couldn't be done.]

I'm in trailer 29. Feel free to stop by and borrow the books whenever you like.

[ But back to the previous question. Strange has a little feeling he knows who was asking about silver weapons. He loves Lambert dearly and counts him as one of his closest friends, but the man can be a tad predictable in certain aspects. He smiles before starting to yammer on about magic. ]

I could easily manipulate the silver to form a cutting edge if there was already a silver sword. It's binding it to an already made sword or coaxing the silver to form a sword shape that would be the problem. Binding would be the easiest--but I'll need study and practice in order to perfect the spell. I'm glad I've got some of my books now, Collins has a bit on binding spells that I'd love to try....

[ It's obvious that given the time and if nobody cut him off, Strange could blabber about magic all day. ]

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