lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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⇨ 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.

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Weird kangaroo legs or not, the voice is distinctive enough that Lambert could pick it out anywhere. It's getting harder to grasp the memories of Portland that are from earlier than the month they actually lived there, but the recognition, the sense of familiarity, it lingers in a way that's hard to shake.

Even if she currently looks ... basically nothing like she did in Portland. Go figure.

Lambert watches her hop along for a little bit longer, then shakes his head. "No, just exploring. Are you trying to get back?"

"Yeah." She makes a face. "Gardens aren't really my style, y'know?"

...Okay, that was more just a turn of phrase than actually being intended to bring to mind the fact that he probably does know, but. Well. That's a little awkward.

Lambert does know -- or at least, other Lambert did. It's uncomfortable to dwell on, so he typically doesn't, but for now he's just going to tilt his head and smirk at Miko like the reminder doesn't bother him at all.

"Really?" He drawls. "Could have fooled me. You seem like you're a regular plant lover."

Miko responds to that by slumping her shoulders with an exaggerated groan. "Ugh, no way. Plants don't do anything, they're just kinda there! Unless there's some weird magic crap happening, I guess."

"Yeah, but I'd rather take plants that sit there and don't do anything over ones trying to burn off your face," Lambert mutters, darkly. However, he'll shake it off and get to his feet.

"Well, if you're trying to get back, I can point you in the right direction."

...Well. She had been wanting to go back, but she heard just enough there to get her interest.

"Wait, plants that try to burn off your face? What kinds'a plants do that?"

Lambert can't help grinning at the look on her face, though she's unlikely to find his follow up answer unsatisfying.

"Cursed ones. Good news is I don't think we have to worry about 'em here."

Yeah, no, she super won't accept that as the whole answer.

"What kinds of curses? Is that a thing where you're from, or something from the carnival? How d'you deal with cursed plants, anyway?"

What's 'giving people time to answer one question before asking another', sounds fake.

Lambert seems to take the questions in stride -- though he tries not to think about why that is. This feels familiar, still, like he's done it a hundred times before (just not about cursed plants).

"Curses that happen when people die violently. It's a thing where I'm from. Mostly, you set 'em on fire."

Miko hums thoughtfully. "So, wait, curses happen when someone dies? I'd thought curses were like... y'know, something someone puts on you. Like, witches and stuff."

"There's a lot of ways a curse can happen," Lambert shrugs, leaning back and crossing his arms. Unintentionally, he's entered a bit of a lecturing tone of voice -- he's spent enough time memorizing it, after all.

"Like you said, one way is that they can deliberately be cast by a person. Sometimes, like with cursed plants or objects, they happen because of a violent death leaving an impression on the place it happened. The main thing they've got in common is negative emotion -- resentment for a slight, a grudge against the living, or malice."

"Man... that's pretty metal!" Yes, Miko, the lingering impression of negative emotions that are actually capable of harming people are definitely 'metal'. "How d'you get rid of 'em?"

"Depends," Lambert shrugs. "Silver and fire takes care of most. Sometimes you need a ritual, or an object that was important to the one who passed away -- something keeping them bound to this world. Something that was deliberately cast..." He scratches at his chin absently. "Those are the toughest. Usually gotta talk to whoever put the curse on and convince them to take it off, or figure out the conditions to break it."

"So... some of it is just like getting rid of a ghost, then, right?" Sounds simple enough. She's watched horror movies, she knows this stuff.

"What kinda stuff do you have to do to break them? Is it something the person who set it decides, or what?"

"Exactly," Lambert smirks. "Though -- at least back home -- you're better off not putting any stock in holy objects or salt. That doesn't bother the dead much."

You know, in case Miko gets any funny ideas.

"As for breaking a curse ... yeah, the caster usually decides on the condition. Of course, they like making it pretty cryptic so the chances of breaking it are lower. if the curse wasn't cast deliberately, that's trickier."

"Too bad! Does that make it tougher?" She doesn't specify what she's thinking it might be tougher than. Horror movies, maybe. It's not like Miko has a lot of ghost-hunting experience, herself, so her point of reference is a little limited here.

She makes a face. "Yeah, 'course they do. Why can't bad guys stick to just going for it and not making their plans all complicated and crap?" Honestly, super rude.

"What do you gotta do then?"

"Not for a witcher." Lambert's grin is distinctly sharp at that. And he could say that making plans complicated is probably what the whole point of what being a bad guy is about, but that's probably pretty self-explanatory.

"You gotta figure out what happened. Figure out who'd be holding a grudge -- sometimes it's someone dying in a bad way, sometimes someone's just unlucky and their parents pissed someone off before they were even born."

Right, this probably sounds like she knows how it works. “Okay, yeah… then if someone did it on purpose do you have’ta kill them?”

"That's one way to do it." Lambert's preferred method, to be honest. "But sometimes that just means the curse can't be lifted at all. So usually, you've got to try to convince them to lift it themselves."

Of course, sometimes death wasn't a barrier. You could raise a spirit and parley with it to figure out the conditions of a curse... but that's probably more than Miko ever needs to know.

Yep, that tracks with her… still-very-limited prior knowledge of curses. Though she still has one question. “How do you tell which is which?”

"Mostly? You ask questions." Lambert shrugs. "If you're lucky, someone can point you in the right direction. Otherwise..."

"...Otherwise, d'you just have to guess?" Yikes. That sounds like a few different levels of risky, right there.

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⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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tmw you definitely didn't use the word you meant you but YOU GOT IT ANYWAY

\o/

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