⇨ 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

[kingsroads]

"No, the bubbles should fit her. I simply haven't wrapped my head around the workings of the spell just yet." And yes, he could just ask one of the people here who cast bubble charms to do it for him but his sense of pride and egotism makes Strange want to piece out the magic by himself instead. He doesn't need anybody else to do it, he can cast the spells himself. And...just make it rain until he figures out how.

"I should be able to cast the bubble spell by the end of the day. It's just that I'm loathe to practice out here because, as you said, we have glamours on for a reason."

"And he's not a witch either," Siobhan lazily chimes in, as she swims right up to Strange, landing with a thud at his feet. "The rain at least can sort of be seen as natural." Granted, they both know that too much rain in a short time in a small space will end up with people asking questions, but this is just a temporary measure...even if it's a temporary measure that Strange kind of enjoys doing.

[destiny_key]

"I mean, I guess," Sora shrugs. "I really don't get what being a witch has to do with magic, though. Where I'm from, anyone can do magic if you teach them. It doesn't matter what world they're from."

Well, most everyone. It's kind of a nitpick, though.

"You should go back to the carnival and practice, then." Rohan complains. "I'm sick of being stuck inside Sora's hood."

[kingsroads]

"I don't get it either," Strange admits, with a sigh. "All I know is that here, all the impressive feats of magic are done by witches and witches are somehow different from humans to begin with."

What are the specifics? He just doesn't know. All Strange has so far is that it might involve birds, but even then he's not so sure if it does involve birds in the first place.

As for Rohan's complaining though, Strange rolls his eyes. "I'll stop the rain in a minute or so. You can wait until then."

[destiny_key]

Rohan grumbles unhappily, then jumps out of Sora's hood to shift into an otter in midair. At least it's not so bad being wet when you're something that's made for the water. The daemon turns to Strange, sticks out his tongue, and then goes to frolic with Siobhan in the rain.

Sora just sort of laughs awkwardly and watches him go.

"Every world has its quirks, I guess."

[kingsroads]

The shift takes Strange by surprise and his eyes briefly widen in shock as Rohan changes form. It's only a moment later, add the now-otter runs off in the rain that Strange remembers these things can change shape to begin with.

Of course, that offers a different set of questions.

"What does it feel like when they constantly change like that?" he asks, gesturing to the otter. "Siobhan settled fairly quickly so I barely have any experience with daemons shifting the way yours does."

[destiny_key]

"Oh, um. I don't really feel anything, to be honest," Sora answers, cocking his head a little in confusion. "Rohan just kinda shifts whenever."

He stops, and thinks for a minute, watching his daemon play with Strange's.

"The only time I've really feel anything too much is when he gets to far away. But, it's kinda weird... Most people seem like they keep their daemons pretty close. Like within a few feet. But Rohan and I can get pretty far away without feeling anything."

[kingsroads]

"That's odd," Strange remarks, with a little frown. "The further I get away from Siobhan...I still don't know how to describe that feeling, but I don't like it."

It's wrongness mixed with sadness, a feeling that this isn't right and he needs to be back at her side. Strange and Siobhan are terribly codependent, neither of them wanting to test the length of the bond between human and daemon.

"I wonder if it comes down to individual personality traits, or if there's another factor entirely?"

[destiny_key]

"I dunno. I don't really think there's a ton of difference between us, is there? I mean, we're both human, right?"

That makes sense, kinda. But he can't really think of why he and Rohan would be so different from Strange and Siobhan.

"I get what you mean about that feeling, though. I feel weird when he's too far away. Like I'm sick, and dizzy. But, like, he's gotta be pretty far away is all. Way further than other people and their daemons."

[kingsroads]

"As human as one can be considering the circumstances." Though of course, both Sora and Strange were in the same circumstances: humans whose bodies had been changed by fae magic, gaining tails, fangs, or all other sorts of new additions.

And yet, something's got to separate Strange from Sora, if Sora's daemon can go out that far. The question now is, what the hell is it?

At least the rain's stopped, as Strange gives Sora a quizzical frown. "Maybe it's something to do with your age? People whose daemons keep shifting can be further apart, or something of that nature."

[destiny_key]

"Um... maybe?" Sora responds. He pulls his hood off, now that the rain is gone, and runs a hand through his hair as though to fluff it up again. Not that it needs it. "I dunno, though. Seems like most of the other kids I've seen need to be as close as the adults do."

Rohan finishes rolling around in the puddles, and shakes himself thoroughly before turning into a wolf and moving back over to stand with Sora.

[kingsroads]

"Hmm," Strange simply remarks as he looks over at Rohan, like staring at the wolf will somehow help him figure out why exactly he can be further away from Sora than Strange's seal could be from him. Unsurprisingly, just staring doesn't give him any answers.

"Well! Since neither of us know, I suppose I'll have to ask around and talk to others native here with daemons. Because honestly, now that I'm thinking about it more, I'm quite curious as to why this is."

[destiny_key]

"Me too. I mean, I'm not that different from anyone else, I don't think."

Except he's a worlds-traveling keyblade wielder, but that doesn't seem like it'd have much effect here. Sora reaches down and scratches Rohan behind the ears.

[kingsroads]

Strange, in comparison, has a different point he wants to call Sora out on.

"Not that different from anyone else? I assume that doesn't take into account the fact that you work for a worlds-traveling carnival?"

[destiny_key]

"No! I meant the locals!" Sora laughs. "I mean, like, compared to the other people from the carnival. Most of us are... or, um, were, pretty human, right?"

[kingsroads]

"A fair amount of us were, at least. Between the gems, the android, the skeletons, and the horse, we've a surprising amount of people in the carnival who aren't even close to being human."

Something that Strange didn't realize until right now, when he's actually paused to count out the nonhumans. It's easy to forget that some times, especially considering all the changes thrust on the carnival members.

[destiny_key]

"Yeah, that's true. I guess we're kind of an... assortment, or something."

Considering that some of his best friends are non-human, you'd think Sora would be less quick about jumping the gun.

[kingsroads]

Yeah, you're buds with a duck, Sora. You can't talk.

Though, this does make Strange wonder slightly. Frowning, he thinks things over, before he starts talking. "I do wonder just what sort of people will sign onto the carnival next. It's useless trying to guess these things, but that doesn't change the fact that it's fun."