lostcarnival | ⇨ GREYSOL

Entry tags:

⇨ GREYSOL

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.

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Koemi chirps with delight and flips right over, diving under the water for a moment. Play time is definitely on!

Yuya doesn't have any complaints about resting his feet for a moment and treads closer to the edge of the water before sitting on the beach. His attention drifts to Siobhan.

".... Yeah, I guess she wouldn't fit in any of the fountains" he says humorously. He doesn't know what all these animals really mean, but a big soul, a big sense of self, is something he finds fitting for Strange. "How do you feel about it? This, uh--daemon stuff." He gestures outwardly to the pair.

There is no goddamn way this massive seal is fitting in any fountains. Strange can't help but laugh a little at Yuya's statement because hey, it's true.

But as for Yuya's question...Strange looks out to the two daemons, who are diving and swimming and just generally enjoying the hell out of play time and enjoying the hell out of the lake. It's odd. The 'daemon stuff' feels perfectly natural and yet slightly bizarre at the same time.

"Truth be told, I quite like it. I think Siobhan and I were already close to begin with, but the longer I'm able to examine this spell, the more comfortable I am with it--and with her, of course." After all, it's only due to the Ringmaster's magic that they have these daemons to begin with. Through his third eye, Strange might not be able to piece out entirely how the daemon spell works and he certainly hasn't found out enough information on how it was cast in the first place, but he's able to piece out enough to know just what these creatures are.

"That means you're pretty comfortable with yourself, right?" Yuya smiles to himself, propping his hand on his chin as he watches them play in the waters. Siobhan is way bigger, but he doesn't even need to tell Koemi to be mindful of that--she already knows, and she's enthusiastic but mindful as they wade the waters.

"It really surprised me at first, but... it's not bad. I don't really feel like my soul is any farther away than it was before." Not that either of them have wanted to get far from each other. It's a much more intimate connection than the one he still shares with his counterparts.

This is literally the first time Strange's put together that being comfortable with his daemon means that he's comfortable with himself. But Yuya's pegged it. Strange always had a strong sense of self, comfortable in his status of magician, husband, soldier, and so on. Of course someone so confident and so obnoxiously assured of himself would fall perfectly in sync with his daemon.

"I suppose you're right!" Strange responds, mirroring Yuya's smile. "And, I'd imagine you're comfortable with yourself as well."

After all, Yuya's description of the matter doesn't sound like someone who's been having issues with this whole 'separate soul' business.

"Yeah, I guess I am now." Or at least, he's comfortable being Yuya. He isn't as strongly assured as Strange, but he doesn't need to be because Koemi understands and shares the things that he's not as confident about anyway.

He puts his shoes aside and leans back on his hands. For a while he's content in the silence, just watching the two daemons flop around in the waves.

"Oh!" There was something Strange mentioned last time they were just sitting and watching, in the Summerlands... "I met the Summer Maiden."

"You did?" Well, that's certainly gotten Strange's attention. He looks over at Yuya with rapt attention. Surprising no one, the mere mention of faeries is enough to make Strange a hundred percent more interested in the conversation.

"Well go on," he continues, a bit impatient. "What was she like?"

Because OBVIOUSLY Yuya's going to gossip about their meeting, right? Why wouldn't he?

Yuya smiles and nods. There's a conversation he's not going to tell Strange about, because he promised... but Strange wasn't asking what they talked about anyway, specifically.

"She's really nice! She's really sunny... uh, literally! Especially her hair. And she was glad that the Ringmaster and everyone got out of Portland." Of course, they already established the two were close--it only reaffirms what they'd learned that the Summer Maiden cared enough to be thanking Yuya for his part in their escape.

Strange wasn't asking what they talked about yet. You bet that question's going to come up at some point during the conversation.

Still, really nice, really sunny, that's...honestly a bit to be expected. Strange won't complain though, any information still counts as information. "How on Earth did you meet her in the first place?"

Yuya scratches his cheek. "I was visiting the Summerlands one more time before we left and I ran into her talking with the Ringmaster."

So completely by accident. "She doesn't like the way the fae courts treat people, either. She said all the summer fae stay out of the way of humans, so I don't think she's on good terms with the Queen anymore." If the Summer Queen is part of heading this conquest for Arcadia, that's a decent guess.

"Well, at least we'll have one less fae to worry about in the inevitable fight," Strange remarks, with a little sigh. Because of course there's going to be an inevitable fight. That's the one thing that Strange is certain about in their dealings with the Summer Court, that it just isn't going to end with Portland.

"What else did she tell you?"

Yuya falls quiet for a moment. Not because he forgot anything they talked about, but because he needs to mentally draw the line between what he promised not to tell and what was all right to be open with.

"Uh... she said that she and the Ringmaster rebelled against the courts before, but not what that was." He shrugs a shoulder helplessly. If they were still conquering places, he probably doesn't need to say they weren't successful. "And she thanked me for saving the carnival... but that really wasn't just me!"

That wouldn't normally be something that would stick to him enough that he'd be telling other people about it, but he remembers that warm weight in his chest that it gave him and how mysterious the fae are has kept it on his mind when he thinks about them.

Edited 2017-09-08 03:28 (UTC)

"No, but you were one of the ones who got your soul stabbed. I imagine that has more lasting effects than simply being knocked around by the fae."

Even if with some of the people at the ritual, 'knocking around' was replaced with 'horrifically beaten up.' Strange is listening, but it's obvious he's a bit disappointed with the information. That's it? That's a bit anticlimactic. The bit about the rebellion is good, he can add that to his notes, but the rest of that doesn't add anything new to the equation.

Then again, it's not like Yuya could have known what to ask to begin with.

"And that's all she told you? Just...small talk?"

"So did Peridot," he points out helpfully. He'll always insist that his soul is fine and seeing Koemi run around is only proof of that.

He props his chin on his hand with a dull expression on his face. "Well, yeah. It's not like I went to find her on purpose for anything. We were just talking!"

And the Ringmaster told him to be polite, so 20 questions when he barged on their conversation seems a little much.

"But I'm not talking to Peridot right now," Strange points out, not very helpfully. Needless to say, he'll probably get on her case eventually for that 'yeah so your soul got mad stabbed' bit but she ain't here, so suck it up Yuya, you're getting all the concern.

Being someone who would interrupt a conversation with 20 questions, Strange is just frowning. What the heck, why couldn't you have talked about something useful! The state of fae politics or what the Summer Maiden can do, or all sorts of things like that. Strange is just kicking himself for missing that opportunity.

"Well, thank you for getting a little bit of information. We didn't know about the rebellion before. At least that's something new."

Yuya raises a brow. Strange is not a subtle person, so Yuya has a feeling he really wanted to meet her for information and not just to see what she was like. Which isn't a bad thing, but Yuya is probably the last person you trust for recon.

"Couldn't the Ringmaster tell us more about the fae herself? I mean, she is one."

"There's a difference between 'could' and 'would,'" Strange explains, with a frown. Could the Ringmaster tell them? Absolutely. But would she tell them? Probably not. He can already see how the conversation goes, the Ringmaster brushing off his concerns with 'it's nothing to worry about' or 'I can take care of it' and not answering him in the slightest.

Which is really annoying to a specific nosy magician.

"I'm certain if we directly asked her, she'd find a way to dodge the question."

"Why do you think she'd dodge the question?" He asks genuinely. Although he can guess why, if the conversation looks like it's going to turn upsetting. If she's really that troubled by the suffering they went through...

But it doesn't have to go that way, right?

"Because she's the Ringmaster," Strange replies, as if that's obvious enough. "She doesn't give anyone a straight answer or fully explain details unless she has to."

Yuya wasn't here for most of them, but Strange's resigned tone of voice implies that there have been plenty of times where the Ringmaster dodged questions, didn't give straight answers, or ignored some details entirely.

"This seems like a good time for it to be 'has to'..." he frowns, is head tipping over further against his hand as he stares out at the waves. He's suddenly a little more deflated on the matter. "I know someone like that... but I really think it's better if people are honest and up front about stuff."

He stares blankly again for a long, quiet moment. "I mean, most of the time."

"I do too," Strange grumbles. "There's rarely any use in keeping secrets."

Said with such an annoyed tone of voice that it's pretty obvious Strange has a personal grudge against someone keeping a secret or has personal reasons why he thinks secret keeping downright sucks. "Still, short of someone casting a spell of truth, there's not much either of us can do about it."

Fun fact: Strange doesn't know if spells of truth even exist in the first place.

Yuya nods, as if he himself is not currently planning to keep a lot of very big secrets from someone he's close to. Look, there's always an exception to the rule.

He wrinkles his nose at that suggestion, though. "I don't think we need to go that far. Even if it's annoying, forcing someone like that..." Well, that still gets a bit too close to taking away their autonomy for his liking.

"Oh, there's no need to worry," Strange quickly responds, now that he's spotted Yuya's frown. "I don't know anyone who has any spells like that in the first place."

That is, he doesn't know anyone who has any spells like that yet. Strange hasn't yet learned about Lambert's magical mindwhammy.

"It probably wouldn't work on the Ringmaster, anyway." So nobody should try, although he doubts Lambert would.

Out in the water, Koemi is starting to slowly float closer to the shore on her back. Yuya leans over and cups his hands to his mouth to call out to the daemons. "Hey, getting tired yet?"

Siobhan's also floating inward as well, though she looks like she's had an AMAZING time and can probably go for a little bit longer. Shaking his head, Strange laughs at the daemons.

"It's odd. They're certainly a part of our souls, I understand that much. But I wonder what it says about us that our souls are perfectly happy to splash around in the lake like that?"

Yuya smiles, reaching his hands out as Koemi reaches the shore and flips over. He gathers her up in his arms when she's close enough. "Probably that we know how to have a good time."

Yuya's an entertainer (and a fourteen year old kid)--bringing fun and being fun is kind of his thing. "What else are a seal and an otter going to do, anyway?"

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