lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

Entry tags:

⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Impressive? "Guess so," Rita says in a flippant tone, but there's a sense that her ego's inflating just a little bit. "I had to make do with the resources I have here, but with a little planning and effort, I can make just about anything work out."

But enough about her genius mind... "You here to train?" she asks, looking the young woman over appraisingly.

"I don't need training," Ash said, way too quickly. "I just do." If her magic had been learned through rigorous practice and dedication... well, she knew how she'd turn out. She'd lived it. The only thing that made her own abilities palatable right now were that they were inherent, as much a part of her as ears and eyes and tail. "I just heard the noise and was worried."

"I was just blowing off steam," Rita explained with a shrug. She had some doubts about the woman's claim that she doesn't practice. Don't all skills take practice to improve, innate or not?

She gave her a curious look. "You just do... what, exactly?"

Rite could justifiably be skeptical, since really, the problem was that Ash didn't consider her sort of practice to be 'practice'. But the catgirl had something of a point in turn.

"Music magic," she said, without any particular enthusiasm. Her curiosity was more for Rita. Kid was pretty young to have that sort of power... not that it meant much, Ash just figured that meant a lot of hers was innate as well.

Rita raised an eyebrow. "I thought music and magic were both things that took a lot of training to get any good at." She also couldn't quite imagine how those two things went together. "What kind of magic is that, anyway?"

"Not for me. Catpeople are more magical than normal humans, so at worst, any given one has the potential to learn magic of some sort. I'm one of the stronger cases, and that's my magic." Ash shrugged. Truth was, the magical heritage of her species was pretty underexamined, so she didn't really know exactly why she'd turned out like that. "So it means whenever I do any sort of music, I get a full accompaniment to complete the song, and I can channel magic through it. Have to, if it's my own music."

"Catpeople?" Rita's gaze, naturally, fixates on the woman's ears. Given how things at the carnival tend to be, she thought at first that they must have been a fae aspect... but that's what she's always been? And she has to channel magic...?

"I'm trying to picture it, but..." She looks a bit perplexed at the concept. "Think you could show me?"

"Sure." So long as she was just covering something, she couldn't really cause any damage... right now, she wasn't sure she could trust her own magic if she gave it the freer, more powerful reins of her own music. "Got a particular song you like? Or maybe a genre?"

One hand went over her shoulder to grip the neck of her guitar, the way one might draw a sword, but she didn't pull it free yet. Just in case the girl liked polka or something.

A song she likes...? The very notion seems oddly foreign. Rita shakes her head. "I've never really listened to music much, to be honest. We never had any minstrels or music troupes back in my hometown."

She encountered some from time to time on her travels, but she doesn't know how to describe their music, in comparison to other styles. Even Portland Rita didn't have much exposure, besides whatever she heard in the stores around town.

"Oh."

Ash hesitated, fingers tightening and loosening on the neck of her guitar in degrees.

"You're missing out. And to be honest, I'm the last person you should be asking for an introduction to music, a real introduction. You want to really experience music, you've got to find someone who put their life into it. Me..."

Ash shrugged, then with more effort than she showed, cracked a smile and whipped her instrument around into her hands. "But I'm gonna give you a taste anyway."

"I'll keep that in mind, if I ever feel like giving it a try," Rita replied simply with a shrug. She's never disliked music, or anything like that. It just wasn't a priority at any point in her life.

Arms folded casually, she took a step back and nodded at the woman. "Whenever you're ready."

Ash took a step back, curling her claws out to rest them against the strings of her guitar. The moment she did, the low sound of strings run through an amplifier rolled out of the air around them, for all the world like an electrified orchestra was sitting there, invisible but not inaudible.

Ash let the music roll around in a repetition before she drew her fingers tight on the strings and strummed out the first chord. Or maybe hammered out was a better term, the way the distorted notes filled the air like they'd set every molecule to humming with their power. Never mind that she didn't need have an amp. She didn't need one.

A rhythm guitar and percussion joined in on the second go-through, as orange-gold light crawled out of her skin in response to the power she was pushing through her blood and her will. Her magic was the least subtle imaginable. The accompanying music thumped down to the verses as Ash lifted her hand from the strings, pointing two glowing claws at Rita.

There was a place, a little town
Where we used to play and laugh around, she sang, her voice reverberating off the ground and faintly echoing in the air.
We went too far reaching for that star
And the light moved away from me.

Bringing her own instrument back in, Ash slid one foot out to solidify her stance. But the spirit never died.
The world belongs to me.
This is where I've been given time to live and see! The light around her blazed upwards like a fire fed with gasoline, as she raised her voice and let her fingers play. The truth was that none of this was of her own volition, not really -- she couldn't misplay or mis-sing if she tried. Alter to make the music more of a cover than a repetition, that she could do, but screw up? Impossible, in the most literal of senses.

But she could pick the song, and she could put her heart into it, so Ash just leaned her head back and tried to give Rita her very best.

I'll never give up! Never give in!
Won't stop believing, 'cuz I'm gonna win
Sing with my soul before I get old
'Cuz there may be no tomorrow!
There is no limit to what can be done!
Climbing the mountain with power so strong.
Dusty roads, down the way
Leaving the future behind me!

Rita's eyes widen in wonder as the magic begins to take form. It's in Ashleigh, and in that aura around her... not just there, but in the sounds reverberating in the air around them...

The style of the song is somewhat alien, the instruments beyond her recognition, though she feels like she's heard something like it back in Portland. But then... it wasn't like this, not really. The feeling of magic pulsing around them, radiating from the musician... For a few moments, Rita closes her eyes and simply allows herself to listen and take in the experience.

"... I've never heard anything like it," she says once the song seems to have come to an end.

The song normally jumped directly into the next verse, but Ash modulated it down into a short, repetitive bridge as the volume pouring out of the air around her dwindled down.

"There's more different genres of music than you can count, and then subgenres on top of that. There's something out there for everyone." And when it came to music, she had to emphasize that hers was not special, not the baseline to be drawn from. It was created, not performed, and that had always made it far poorer an example in her mind.

While there may be genres of music that would appeal to Rita, the mage has certain priorities. "I'm more interested in the magic than the music, really," Rita explains, cupping her chin with her hand. "Does it have other uses, besides putting on a one-woman concert?"

Ash nodded, fingers still dancing over the strings without the slightest bit of effort or attention on her part. "Songs have effects based on what they are, so a song like this one is good for strength and morale. I could channel my magic into it and you'd feel great. Or I could use it offensively, though it isn't as perfectly suited to that."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject