⇨ GREYSOL

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 155 - Day 169
Where: Greysol
What: The carnival resumes its tour, this time heading to Greysol, a city tied deeply into the fabric of the multiverse. Here, everyone has an animal companion from birth that is the second half of their soul - and thanks to the Ringmaster, so do you. (Remember, joysweeper is our guest event runner for this location, and location specific questions should go to them.)
Warnings: Individually marked!

THE CITY OF GREYSOL↴ The carnival arrives in a manicured park in the center of a big city that sprawls out along where the river reaches the ocean. It’s spring, early enough that nights are chilly, warm enough in the days that people and their souls savor the weather, and sometimes shelter together from the rain. Greysol was designed from the bottom up to accommodate the human-dæmon bond. Go out and see! ► THE SHAPE OF YOUR SOUL: The dæmon-forming spell kicks in at about four in the morning. Most characters will wake up with their souls in some small form, curled against them. Even if they were awake, they became dazed and unfocused while their souls were being drawn out of their bodies and have little memory of how it happened. Until that evening every character's dæmon is able to change shapes, and children and some teens will continue to do so. Most will settle on their permanent forms by evening. Characters without dæmons will just look on, and the few who are thousand-pound bears have to handle being really big. ► IT’S GOOD TO SETTLE: Elaine Tavis Aracari, sixteen-year-old daughter of two actors and a moving pictures sensation herself, just ‘settled’ - her dæmon Tavis stopped changing shape - as a stunning blue peacock. Settling is a major coming of age milestone and celebrated as such in different ways all over the world. She and her family are throwing a massive party in the central park and inviting the public to join in! Enjoy easy access to free catering, live music and showings of moving pictures, and displays of mostly trivial magic. There are also form readers from across the country setting up booths, happy to accept a small fee to inspect your dæmon’s settled or most favored forms and tell you what they mean. Is there anything to these analyses? Eh, maybe, but they’re flattering and fun. ► WITCHING HOURS: Characters who are clearly witches for this event will often be assumed to be in town for a lover, and people, witches and not, may want to know who that is. Humans usually regard them with wary respect and interest. Real witches living with their human families or on business quickly suspect that something’s up, but without clear and present danger take a relaxed wait-and-see attitude. Wait for long enough and any possible decision will come around again, they believe. There isn’t time to learn much witch magic, but witches, real and carnival-made, have an inherent power: the ability to fly using branches of “cloudpine”, an attractive soft-needled tree common in the park. Witches usually ride large branches as if they’re steeds but can use even short sprays, and you’ll probably see the few witches in the city coming to the park to do so. Why not try? ► BEAR PUN: Human-panserbjørn relations have historically been troubled, but have warmed in the past century. It’s the 65th anniversary of the breaking of the Siege of Bertin, a much-mythologized time when Spectres flooded Greysol and a company of panserbjørn arrived and directed efforts to get the survivors out of the city. A statue is being erected and many florid accounts of the story are being told. If you’re in a panserbjørn shape for the duration of the visit you will probably get thanked and celebrated by people trying to hide their nervousness of you. Expect someone to ask if your dæmon would be a human - it’s a common supposition. ► KERNER ISLAND: From the harbor you can see a wooded island. Although there are no rocks to speak of it sports a tall lighthouse, and nearly all boat traffic avoids it carefully. On a clear day someone with binoculars or a particularly sharp-eyed soul can see loads of trash, birds and various other animals that don’t seem local, and… children? Adults and settled teenagers will see tall vague shapes moving about too. When asked about it the most important thing adults will tell other adults is don’t go there. They’ll hold their dæmons close and tell you that on that island are things that eat souls. They may also admit with mixed pride and shame that it’s been a source of wealth and innovation for the city. There’s a facility there that can open windows into other worlds, and the children who can reach it can cross through and bring things back. Many of the children are recruited by research and development teams on the lookout for items they can use, but there are also kids out to have adventures or who’ve run away. More on this later.

Comments

[pipers_son]

Ginko, that's right cheatin', and yer dastardly good looks when ya get a point can't hide that.

[Aurora pecks at his ear.]

Don't let him distract ya.

[dontpokethat]

[For a moment, at least, Ginko's smirk drops into a scowl.] Oh, don't start in on that now.

[So much for not getting distracted. Midori, however, pipes up again.] How's it cheating? We're just giving the facts here.

[pipers_son]

'Cuz I said so.

[Truly a mature answer. But it's one both Joker and Aurora are tossing to the side as they lean forward, his ears perked up.]

And start in on what now?

What, that yer handsome?

[dontpokethat]

Ah, really now. Didn't know you wrote the rulebook on negotiating work schedules.

[--Oh boy now he's doing THIS. Ginko frowns and leans away in turn, hunching his shoulders.] Yeah. That. We know you think that's hilarious, but it's actually sort of obnoxious.

[pipers_son]

What-

Do ya think we're jokin'?

[Well, now they're at it, and that's both of them fluttering down from their respective perches. Get ready for some douchebag to be on the ground- although it doesn't seem as if Joker is doing it to invade Ginko's space. Gotta keep that distance, after all.]

Why would ya think that? I don't joke about folks bein' attractive.

Can't exactly judge when yer missin' a limb.

[dontpokethat]

You joke about everything else. It seemed like the obvious conclusion. Hell, it's right there in your name.

[He raises his eyebrows, and just kind of... looks at Joker. Just looks at him. Because has Joker looked at himself lately.]

Missing an arm doesn't mean you're not attractive.

[pipers_son]

Try tellin' that ta folks who always say "Ya could be handsome but-"

[THAT SURE IS TOO MUCH CONVERSATION ABOUT PERSONAL ISSUES. Admittedly, Joker knows, it's not the worst among the things he carries on inside of him, but- still. He pushes on pointedly.]

What makes ya think ya aren't attractive?

[dontpokethat]

Sounds to me like those people don't know what they're talking about.

[Indirect admission that Joker is in fact definitely handsome aside... Ginko huffs dismissively, but his discomfort may be betrayed by the way he looks away and shoves his hands deep into his pockets. That's a lot to ask from someone who's as averse to thinking about his own appearance as Ginko is to begin with.]

I have actually seen my own reflection, so there's that. I guess I might be pretty average if I didn't look so strange. Apparently some people find a kind of novelty in that, but I'd think you'd have gotten over that by now.

[pipers_son]

[At a different time, both of them would preen about that, but there's something more important here. Joker wants to hop back into Ginko's line of view, as much the bird as his daemon is, but he holds back. Instead, him and Aurora click their tongues together again.]

Everyone here looks strange, eventually.

And we don't care about that.

Yer plenty attractive. I mean, where do I even begin? [Joker leans back a little bit, head cocking to the side.] I like yer hair, how it's rose white, and I know it ain't as soft as it looks, but it hammers home that quiet air about ya. It even makes yer jaw look soft- like, most fellas with broad jaws like that, they seem tough, y'know? But ya look like a mountain in all the ways folks forget about.

[He's getting into it now, ears jangling with every twitch of his ears, and it's no surprise that Aurora is hopping along in excitement too.]

But it only makes sense! I mean, the green of yer eye, now ain't that stunnin'?

Yeah, yeah- like when I think about all the fairy tale forests that I'd read about, that's the kind of piercin' vivid green I'd imagine.

[dontpokethat]

[It's actually not too surprising when Joker starts in on his hair color - nor, however he means it, is it particularly flattering. Ginko isn't a huge fan of being reminded of that part of his appearance in general, but it's always been the first thing people notice about him - and the first thing they comment on.

...He actually is kind of surprised when Joker moves on from the color of his hair so quickly, and-- uh. Okay, he... had not anticipated that Joker could have actually thought enough about Ginko's appearance to go into all this. He was also not really expecting the nature comparisons which are frankly such an easy way to get to Ginko it's almost cheating.

Ginko starts to open his mouth, but it takes a moment for any sound to come out. Midori shifts a little on his shoulder with a quick glance toward him, just as unsure of what to say.] That... it's just a color.

[pipers_son]

[Ha. That's sure gotten him. Joker steps a little closer, hand on his hip and his head cocked to the side. Aurora flaps away from his antlers if only so she can do the same on his shoulder.]

And color ain't important?

Although if that's really how ya feel about it, I'll gladly talk about yer shoulders, or yer hands. Or both, even?

[dontpokethat]

It's-- I mean, not like-- [He gestures helplessly for a moment, because okay yeah he can't back that one up.]

What? What about my-- Ginko, don't ask, they'll take it as an invitation.

[pipers_son]

[Judging by their shit eating grins- well, shit eating grin plus an extremely cocky air about the magpie- Midori is absolutely correct on that front. Yet perhaps because they've been caught, neither of them presses forward on that front.]

[Or maybe it's just more fun to leave Ginko guessing.]

[Either way, Joker makes sure that the other man can't escape his gaze as he talks.]

Now, I don't know what fool went and filled yer head with this idea that ya ain't handsome-

Although they're a right tit for it.

-but trust me when I say ya are, Ginko. Ya may not be pretty, like me- [Joker flashes him a playful wink.] Or gorgeous like some ladies we've seen, like the Ringmaster can be when she ain't a pain...

But yer handsome in an earthly way. Like a kitchen full of herbs, or bein' at the base of a mountain.

[Aurora nips at his ear again. There's a lot of area to choose from.] That barely makes any sense.

Ah, but y'know what I mean, don't ya?

[dontpokethat]

[Ginko makes no effort to answer that first part, because that's a years-long story that he can't imagine Joker will actually want to hear. Instead, he shoves his hands into his pockets and grips the fabric lining tightly, then looks away and gives a short, quick nod, hoping that Joker can't see the heat that he can definitely feel in his face. Maybe his scales will be enough to cover it up.]

...Guess so. Kind of, anyway.

[He does know what Joker is describing. It's an easy thing to visualize, to feel - but imagining that feeling as a part of himself, the way he looks, is another story entirely.]

[pipers_son]

[Oh, there's a bit of something there, Joker is sure, but he plays nice. Ginko barely ever gets this flustered, at least in this way. So he exchanges a grin with Aurora before finally hopping back.]

Well, just think on it~.

And don't doubt when folks think yer handsome, because he'll go on all the more~.

[dontpokethat]

[Perhaps ironically, that comes as a relief - because it gives Ginko something to latch onto other than his own embarrassment. He laughs quietly, as shaky as it is amused.]

Are you threatening me now? I think that's just what they're doing.

[pipers_son]

Hey now, I'd just like ta remind all that're present that ya threatened me first.

All's fair in love and war when he wants ta use that excuse, of course.

[Laughing himself, Joker starts to flap upwards.]

Anyway, should I leave ya ta yer work? I suppose I outta get back ta mine, after all.

[dontpokethat]

Hey, now, I offered a compromise. If you take that as a threat, that sounds like a personal problem to me.

[HE'S JUST SAYIN'.]

Yeah, probably. I'll see you later, then.