⇨ 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

sup figured I'd squeeze my way in here somehow

[prazerbutterfly]

The way she says human makes him feel she is not. He says nothing to it but nods his head as he settles in a sit nearby. Don't mind if he gets up and personal and invades a bit of space. He's quite invasive in nature. "If one was human and in that sort of water one would freeze in a matter of minutes to the point of disrepair. As pampered as she seemed to be I doubt she could find the strength to look for something else. Then again, you're right. There were lots of paddles and broken pieces they could've snared other float-able objects with."

not allowed go away!!!

[mirrortide]

Lapis does eye him carefully, and if he moves anywhere within her considerably large personal bubble, she'll be the first to move away. She likes her space, and that's about the only nonverbal warning he'll get about it.

"And another thing, shouldn't the life boats have been close by? I get that some humans can't swim," And none of them can survive being under water for very long, "but seriously? There weren't any around for what, at least a half hour after that?"

tooo late. you're infected now

[prazerbutterfly]

It's a very good thing then that Tyki does well at reading body language and when the large bear moves he won't follow. He'll give her the space she desires as if to further please her.

"I can't say I've had the luxury of boarding such a vessel. The best I've ever seen is a river boat." He leans forward as his hat is set aside and he'll tuck his cheek into his hand as he leans against it. "That's the thing, m'lady. Humans are self serving. Most of them won't hesitate to save themselves first over others. Fear likely drove them quite a distance. " While he's not human he himself wouldn't lend a hand to help unless it was someone important to him.

Morticia, the large panther at his side, settles into his back and gives a huff at his wording, It takes a special soul to do otherwise.

m'lady holy shit

[mirrortide]

"I was on a fishing boat once." And that sums up all of her extensive boating knowledge. "If you say so. I don't know too much about humans." So she'll take his word for it. She knows three humans back home, and she's closest to the one who's only half human. Naturally.

She really doesn't mind Greg so much, though. Andy was definitely iffy at first.

She leans on her elbow, face into a paw, looking rather bored for a bear. "It's Lapis, by the way." What even is a 'M'lady'?

manners. he has them.

[prazerbutterfly]

Ah, fishing. He could talk all day about fishing but he won't. "They are fascinating creatures but a lot of them are the same. The way that man tried to drag one of the others underwater is quite accurate."

He pities them in a way yet enjoys their lifelong struggle. He's almost sympathetic but not enough not to kill them in the end.

"Like the precious stone? A pleasure to meet you, Miss Lapis. I am Tyki Mikk." There, he corrected himself.

[mirrortide]

One day people will stop affixing 'like the stone' to the end of her name. That day is not today. "Not like the stone. I am the stone. At least when the Carnival decides to not forcibly change my shape, anyway. And it's Lapis. Just Lapis." None of this 'miss' stuff.

"I take it you're not human either?" Even if she absolutely disagrees with him calling humans fascinating.

[prazerbutterfly]

He missed that memo about Gems somewhere in the point of- oh wait, never. He never got that memo. "You are the stone?" He picturing an actual gem stone beautiful and bright. He's quite sure that is not exactly what she means, or is it? Tyki will just forever not understand. "Lapis," he sounds out as if the concept of first names is informal for him. He'll remember right now but maybe not later.

"I am but I'm not." It's a very morbid fascination.

[mirrortide]

"I am a Lapis Lazuli." She returns back with a bored tone. She doesn't even bother to look at him as the credits roll. "Sooo you're what, some weird hybrid?" Peridots' words, not hers. Granted they were about Steven, but a hybrid is a hybrid all the same.

[prazerbutterfly]

"Mmm, gorgeous." It's his only answer to her being a lapis lazuli because he still doesn't understand. Then again if she were her normal self or as normal as possible in this carnival and blue he might understand a little more. "No, nothing like that. I was human before and still am in a way. You could say I am a more advanced human than most to the point that I am barely human."

[mirrortide]

This time, she does give him a once over. And if bear faces had more range of facial expression, she'd probably look significantly more dubious about that than she is.

And then gives a rolling shrug of her shoulders. "Y'know what? Sure, I'll believe it." Weirder things have shown up in the carnival, so it's probably about time a more evolved human has shown up. He still looks human enough to her, though.

[prazerbutterfly]

"Come now. It can't be any different than anyone else making a case on things that exist on their own world. In mine there are only humans, us and then Akuma. No one is a stone nor is everyone from the same time period."

He looks over at the credits rolling, "As my first 'movie' you find this undesirable. What would you recommend to someone who has never seen one of these before other than now?"

[mirrortide]

"I did just say I'll believe it, didn't I?" Come on, Tyki, get with the times. "I know there's a bunch of weirdos from different worlds here. I'll take just about anything you tell me about your world at face value." And speaking of face value, there's a slight grin when he asks about better movies, and she turns her head to face him.

"Camp Pining Hearts is definitely the peak of human cinematography. Not that I could show you it even if I wanted, since we don't have a TV in our trailer, but it's definitely the best of human entertainment."

[prazerbutterfly]

"That you did, my lady." Oops, he did it again. "I take it then that you aren't normally a bear so I will have to see what you look like later." Since he's seen about two bears by now. It's a little odd that such transformations would over take people on the whim of the Ringmaster but he understood the importance of blending in.

"Camp Pining Hearts? While it might be a TV movie I'm afraid I don't have an inkling of what that is nor what a TV is."

[mirrortide]

"You won't have any problems spotting me. Look for someone who's completely blue." Which is hopefully fitting, of someone called Lapis Lazuli. "With any luck I shouldn't have any new parts by the time the glamour wears off." With literally any sort of luck.

She really hopes she has some luck.

"It's basically that," She motions with a paw at the giant screen which had just been playing the movie. "Except smaller. Small enough you can keep it where you live without problem."

[prazerbutterfly]

In a way he figures he should have assumed she would be blue. The best image he had was someone that wore a lot of lapis. "I was told changes would occur the longer I spent my time in the carnival but you can acquire them otherwise?" Tyki will find that out the hard way when the carnival moves on and his dæmon disappears.

He's going to be a little frustrated. Okay, a lot of frustration.

"Huh? That's kind of neat. I was wondering if this was just a popular activity or not. I imagine this would rake in quite a pretty penny. Then again, there are a lot of neat things around here I haven't seen before."