⇨ 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

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya pushes her paw away.] It's... Yuzu.

[He shifts on his feet uncomfortably.] There's... a lot she doesn't know.

[otoko]

Indeed there isn't. That much was clear with what she was speaking about...

"How do you intend to break the news to her?"

[hippocarnival]

I--[He looks around quickly, like she's going to pop up at any second.] I don't think we should right now.

[He doesn't meet Gon's gaze again, but he does hold his hand up to let him keep talking.] I didn't get to explain everything to you last time. But can we go somewhere else to talk about this? Like my trailer, or yours.

[It's a conversation he really doesn't want anyone else overhearing.]

[otoko]

....We can go to one of the trailers. ...But Yuuya... ...whatever there is to share, we will come forward about it sooner rather than later.

"Lest it come forward in another unfortunate manner down the line, after all."

[hippocarnival]

I know, but it's going to be just as bad to just dump it all on her now!

[He lets out a frustrated sigh before gesturing for Gon to follow.] Let's go to my trailer. I can tell Tamaki to stay out until we're done.

[And when they get there, he'll let Gongenzaka and Marishi squeeze in first) before hopping in behind him, rooting through his drawer to grab a sock that he sticks on the outer doorknob before shutting the door hard behind him.

Koemi abandons his shoulders to hop to the floor as Yuya leans his back against the door with a weary sigh.]

[otoko]

"Now, don't just assume it would be like that..."

We'll go now then. It should be closer than my own, and more importantly, I, the man Gongenzaka, do not imagine Zangetsu would be so keen to listen to such a request.

"Not to mention his own daemon..." [But as it is, they'll come in, taking awkward seats and watching.]

...A sock?

"Mmmh, a few have made jokes about that sort of thing haven't they?"

[hippocarnival]

Tamaki said this was how we could let each other know not to come into the trailer without knocking first. Did you know he can just walk through walls, now?! [They needed trailer rules!! He also clearly has no idea what those jokes are.

Yuya leans off the door and sits on the couch with a bit of a bounce. Koemi bounces over, and he picks her up and sets her on his lap.] Anyway... I really need to finish explaining things to you, first.

[otoko]

...Is he aware of what that implies..? [He asks, his daemon more focused in this case.]

"We're listening..."

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya is about to start on getting back to the story of Zarc, but Gon's words make him pause.

Tamaki is weird, so he didn't put much stock into where he got the sock idea. But Gongenzaka's heard of this before?

He squints.] Why, what's the sock mean?

[otoko]

....it is meant to imply that the ones inside are... [Annnnnd he's blushing. W-Well-

"Typically, it means someone is in bed with another."

AAA-UAHHH!! W-What happened to putting things gently!!

"Oh please we've all taken that class, we're just aware of more phrases related to it now..."

1/2

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's scrutinous expression quickly shifts into alarm as Marishi spells it out for him. For a few seconds he's too stunned to move as his face starts turning a shade of red that's competing with his hair.]

[hippocarnival]

Tamaki! [And then he jumps up suddenly, Koemi letting out a cry as she's thrown from his lap to the floor.

That bastard.] Hold on!

[He rushes back to the door and shoves it open again so he can rip the sock right off the door knob. He throws a few things off the bookshelf carelessly as he gets a piece of paper and a pen.

He scrawls a big ol' "KEEP OUT" sign with his name signed at the bottom, sticks it outside the door, and slams the door shut.]

[otoko]

MMMH-

D- Are you saying he was the one who suggested this..!?

[Oh dear-]

[hippocarnival]

Of course he was! [Yuya storms back and sits on the couch again, crossing his arms. His emotional options are angry or embarrassed here, so he's going with angry.] But he didn't tell me what it meant!

[Koemi just makes herself comfortable on the floor near Gon's feet, apparently offended at being tossed around so carelessly.]

[otoko]

Mmmmh...

"Well," [Marishi remarks, tone clipped,] "There are more important matters as it is. You were saying, Yuuya?"

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya sighs as he leans his head back against the couch and closes his eyes. They did have something more important to talk about.

At least he got abit of practice telling Yugo.]

I told you that we were once Zarc, from the original dimension, and that's why we all look the same. And Yuzu and the others have the same face too...

[It's implicit, but Koemi spells it out.] They're the same soul, too. From the same dimension.

[otoko]

Yuzu? [Hmmm.] ....I, the man Gongenzaka, will admit that I was suspicious...

"After all, Serena-chan has the same face as well. Not to mention, Kurosaki's claims of a sister... ...A fourth is logical, but the fact that there are four at all with your situation makes it clear."

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya nods.] We're all... reincarnations, I guess.

[Split into four, but that requires a little more context first.] In the original dimension, they were Ray. Akaba Ray.

[He worries over his lip.] Akaba Leo's daughter.

[otoko]

A-AKABA?!

"Oh!! ...This... ...explains quite a lot, actually..."

Th-Then the reason he targeted Yuzu and the others, would have been to target his daughter..!!

"Yuuya... ...Akaba Reiji was unaware of this, wasn't he. ....How did he take this news, if this was the case..?"

[hippocarnival]

He wanted to bring her back. [His expression grows tight, and Koemi looks up at his distress.] He didn't know. Nobody did... I don't know how he feels about it. Zarc was so close to reviving and The Professor was already trying to merge them, there was too much that needed to be stopped.

... But we didn't stop any of it.

[otoko]

[It is the last point which draws a chill down their backs, both of them. Without realizing it, he's found himself with a hand on his daemon's head, calming himself, calming them...

And with a swallow-] ....Yuuya...if we didn't succeed...

"....How is it that you are here."

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya sucks in a breath, going quiet as he figures out how to proceed.

Koemi ceases her sulking finally and pulls herself up and back on the couch to cuddle in Yuya's lap.]

Um, you need to know first... Ray was the one who stopped Zarc originally. With four magic cards called the En cards. She used then to beat him in a duel and they split him. And her, and the dimensions.

Zarc wouldn't accept that. He planned to resurrect through us, so... The Professor said Ray followed so she could prevent it.

[otoko]

...So then....You fought Ray?

[Except something seems off here.] "Except you said 'originally'... ....If the professor was the one who re-split you, we wouldn't be having such a serious talk, would we..? ...So then who did it this time?"

[hippocarnival]

Ray split us, not the Professor. She gave up a lot to stop us...

[He pulls his daemon closer.] They had the En cards again, and... Reira and Ray used them to stop us again. But before the dimensions split, Reira... [He puts a hand to his chest.] She took Zarc out of us and into herself. The Ringmaster has him now.

And Yugo asked for us to be split again, so I guess that's how we're like this again... [Thank God for Rini.]

[otoko]

Aaauh, that was what I referred to after all. This second time, if Ray could not-

[And they freeze. ....Reira?]

"....The youngest brother..?" [No, wait-]

Sister..!? [Gongenzaka questions, eyes wide.] But how..!? And for that matter, why would she keep Zarc?

"A combination of contracts seems to have paid off here, but then, doesn't this mean Reira may also tell Yuzu of these matters?"