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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, if you say so..." 9S' smile draws wide. "Pod, open a line to Rita, will you?"

Using his pod to connect to the walkie talkie network is so mcuh easier than using those handheld devices, that's for sure. Obliging, the pod calls Rita, a holographic screen opening nearby. Normally, a person's portrait would appear, but unfortunately, there's only sound here in the Carnival.

"Hellooo Rita. Do you have a moment?"

He has the biggest damn grin on his face as he says it.

Strange remains quiet as 9S calls up Rita. Really, the likelihood that this conversation will end with Strange butting in or breaking into a fit of laughter is high, but right now he's remaining as quiet as he can, smirking still.

Though, the fact that 9S used Pod is interesting. He'll have to ask what that screen is supposed to be. Obviously it's something video, that's how he watched his performance, after all. But what do videos have to do with phone calls?

Fortunately(?) for Strange, he's going to be able to clearly hear Rita's response to his call.

Glancing over in Strange's direction, 9S just casually gets up and walks a few steps away. Close enough that Strange can still hear their conversation, but oh, he'd like to have a little bit of distance in case Strange decides to do something about him telling Rita. After all...

"Sooo, I was just talking to Strange. You know Strange, right? He thinks we'd make a good couple." A glance over in the magician's direction. "He thinks we're doing things."

What?! That's not what he said at all!

Strange just flushes bright red before he starts complaining, hoping that Rita can hear him. He's attempting to stand up and walk over towards 9S's direction...but forgot that he currently has a six food chunk of his soul hanging out near his feet.

"Really, I didn't--" And then Strange lets out a small yelp of surprise as he stumbles slightly against the seal, "Siobhan, move!"

This is giving 9S plenty of time to throw Strange under the bus before he can defend himself.

And gleefully throwing Strange under the bus he does. Sure, 9S will come to his rescue if things get too hairy, but otherwise Strange is just going to have to deal with Rita's wrath. Surely it can't be that bad?

Just to make things harder on the magician, 9S walks a little further away. When Rita asks where they are, he replies, "At the Big Top!"

Somehow, he manages to keep his laughter from his voice.

Stumbling over his seal, Strange jogs a little bit towards 9S. Of course, he's still whining and complaining all the while...especially since he has a feeling he knows what Rita just asked.

"Now you're just being difficult, turn that thing off!"

Of course, Strange's rarely used voice of common sense points out, there is a puddle up here and mirrors down on the floor of the Big Top. He can just turn tail and chicken out of Rita shows up.

Hahahahaha not happening.

Well, in the end, 9S doesn't get much of a choice, because Rita closes the call first, causing the holographic screen to disappear.

Now that the call is over, 9S doesn't try running away. "You sound worried. What's the big deal?"

His grin is far too wide to be innocent.

"I'm hardly worried," Strange complains, with a little huff. It's just that Rita's punched him like three times by now and, at least in Strange's mind, only two of them were deserved.

"Honestly, I was only teasing. I don't see why you have to bring Rita into it just because of something like that."

Idly, Strange starts walking back towards his seat...though he doesn't sit down, instead climbing over the seal to stand in the stairs area of the bleachers.

It's not long before footsteps can be heard from the entrance. Apparently, Rita wasn't far away. Or she was in a hurry to show up. Maybe a bit of both.

When Rita steps inside, she gives 9S a short glance, then immediately zeroes in on Strange. "To begin with... what the hell prompted you idiots to talk about something so stupid in the first place!?" Is this a chance to explain? It almost seems that way, but Rita is making a beeline towards Strange at a brisk pace, and it doesn't look like there'll be much time before she's in punching range. Her daemon, in the form of a caracal, slinks along behind her.

As Rita makes a beeline towards Strange, Strange makes a beeline towards the puddle on the top of the stands he magicked himself through earlier. Unfortunately, it's looking like Rita will manage to reach him before he reaches it.

9S you traitor. Still, Strange tries his best to explain what's going on as Rita storms towards him.

"I was teasing 9S about his infatuation. Any sort of implication that things are..ah, otherwise is purely his fault!"

Because Strange will happily throw 9S under the bus and call out the fact that he's got a big'ol crush on someone to try and save his own skin.

Strange HAD given him permission, and 9S is the sort to take a mile when given an inch. Well. He'd probably take a mile anyway, regardless of permission. But Rita arrives and 9S stands back out of her way so he can watch.

Aw man, why did he have to go tell her about that?

"I'm not infatuated with anyone!" he protests loudly. "You're the one who thinks that about me and Rita!"

That's his stance and he's sticking to it!

Rita breaks into a run as Strange tries to retreat, but it's Krios, her daemon, that gets ahead of both of them. In a truly catlike fashion, he darts ahead and then meanders into the path of Strange's feet. If Strange is unlucky, he might trip on the creature, but even avoiding that, the obstacle may serve as just enough of a delay to ensure Rita catches up.

"No excuses!" she yells after him. And, as soon as Rita's close enough to punch, she does, grabbing at Strange with one hand (she wouldn't want him facing away) and using the other to swing at his face.

Fortunately for Strange, he manages to make it to the puddle. Unfortunately for him, dodging Krios means that Rita's managed to catch up with him. He plants his feet in the puddle, spinning around to try and cast the spell...but then Rita grabs at his coat and clocks him right across the nose.

Congrats 9S, you got a human punched, how does that make you feel. Because Strange sure is giving 9S a glare like this is somehow all his fault despite the fact that Strange was the instigator. But, he's standing in a puddle and he really doesn't want to hear the riot act from Rita so turning tail it is. Strange quickly mutters an incantation under his breath and then magically vanishes into the puddle, a trick that he's getting annoyingly good at. As the magician teleports away, so does the daemon, though where Strange vanishes through the puddle, Siobhan simply vanishes.

Later, losers! Strange is halfway across the carnival now: have fun explaining all this nonsense to Rita, 9S!

As Strange slips away, Rita shoots a look at Krios, who's already scanning the room for signs of Strange's daemon. "They're both gone," he reports. Rita groans with annoyance. Well, at least she got one good punch in before the coward bolted.

Sighing, she makes her way over to join 9S. It looks like she's about to say something, perhaps comment on what just happened, but instead she suddenly swings out her fist in a sucker punch to his nose.

"Hmph! You're both pathetic," she says through gritted teeth, as she tries to pretend that didn't just hurt her hand a whole lot. In fact, it really, really hurts.

It actually feels awful seeing Strange get punched. 9S' expression twists. Why does he feel so terrible? It's just a punch! Strange is clearly not hurt that bad! He's so preoccupied with examining this odd feeling that he doesn't realise Rita is rapidly approaching until it's too late.

He backs up, but it's not enough to save him from the punch to the nose. "Ow! What was that for?"

It hurt, but. Well. He's made of metal underneath. The punch definitely hurt Rita more than it hurt him.

"Geez. You know I'm metal underneath. Of course it's going to hurt." He has the grace to look concerned, a tendril of guilt in his voice. This had all started off as a joke played on both Rita and Strange, but now he just feels awful. Unusually awful. It's so weird. Yet Pod 153 isn't commenting on any sort of anomaly. "I don't have medicine for humans, but I could bring you to the medical tent."

What was it for? "Don't play innocent. You were obviously baiting me." Of course, she doesn't doubt that Strange is to blame, too, which is why she went along and showed up despite knowing that.

And... speaking of acts that don't fool anyone, it looks like 9S sees right through her tough act. Offering to get her treatment seems overkill, though. "No need. It's fine," Rita insists, but since the cat's out of the bag anyway, she gives her hand a few shakes - an impulse she suppressed moments ago. For a few seconds, it looks like she intends to leave it at that, but remembering that 9S might not perceive pain and injury the same way humans do, she clarifies. "It stings, but that won't last long."

Well, if she says so... Rita doesn't seem hurt too badly, so 9S tries to put it out of his mind.

"Strange started it!" he pouts, kicking at the ground. "He really did say he thinks I have a crush on you."

Which he doesn't. That would get into weird territory real quick. He can't be equals with a human!

"But why would he say--" Krios starts to ask, but Rita turns and shoots him a look, prompting him to shut up. She's a little curious about what prompted such a claim, and how their conversation got to that point, but right now she's trying to end that line of talking, not start it up again.

She waves a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Strange says a lot of stupid things. You just have to learn to punch him and get over it." At least, that's how Rita deals with people who gossip or tease her.

"But he's a human!" he protests. "It would be like punching my commanding officer."

Which would be bad. Not that he knows what would happen if someone did because no one would ever punch the Commander but it would probably be very bad if they did.

"Besides, I'm not a combat unit. I'm not supposed to be able to fight."

Says the guy who had met Rita while having a sword hovering at his back.

Just because he's human...? At first, that response surprises Rita, but she quickly gets over it. "Please. You don't need to give Strange that kind of respect. It'll just go to his head." Sure, this might be less about Strange himself and more about humans in general, but Rita never passes up an opportunity to take a jab at someone she knows.

And that aside... "What do you mean, you're not supposed to fight?" He did say his primary duties were scouting and the like, but considering how dangerous his work apparently is, and his equipment... "What's with that sword you've been carrying around, then?"

Edited 2017-10-01 06:40 (UTC)

Yeah, buuut...

Besides, despite the way the entire affair had panned out, Strange still had been pretty generous with his time and energy. 9S would respect him that, at least.

"Scanners like me aren't supposed to be able to hold a sword." He rubs at the back of his head. "I might have, uh, modified myself? But even so, I'm really not good at fighting. If a combat model was to come here, you'd see the difference immediately."

He modified himself? In a way, that's kind of amazing. But it's hard to imagine just what that's like, or what it really means for him. "You normally can't hold a sword... you mean, you wouldn't know how to handle one?" Something about his wording strikes her as odd. He shouldn't be able to?

"And why shouldn't you, anyway? Even if you're no front-line fighter, you still end up in dangerous situations, right?" It seems odd that he wouldn't be expected to defend himself.

It's definitely against standard protocol but Command lets him keep the modification, which is fortunate. It would be a lot harder to support 2B when she keeps getting into fights with machines! Just watching her makes him feel anxious. Trust a combat model to not get what keeping a low profile means!

But he wouldn't trade that time together with her for the world.

"I'm not supposed to get into dangerous situations in the first place." 9S gestures towards Pod 153. "Both of us are designed to detect the signals of nearby machines." He waves a hand as he speaks. "Don't worry, even without a weapon, us Scanners aren't totally defenceless. The machines have simple logic circuits, so I can disable them with hacking. If there's too many for that... a sword I can barely use isn't going to do much."

Well. Barely use is a bit of an exaggeration. But compared to the fluid movements of 2B, his own technique seems highly erratic in comparison.

"I'm more suited to sneaking around and disabling enemy systems than fighting the face to face." He flexes his fingers. "But I really mean it when I say I normally can't hold a sword. It's kind of like... you wouldn't be able to see if you didn't have eyes, right? Scanners are usually missing the chip and supporting systems that lets an android use a weapon."

But even with an NFCS chip installed, he just can't have the same level of power and control that a combat android has; he just doesn't have all the required hardware to sufficiently support usage of the chip. Kind of like trying to run software on hardware that barely fulfils the minimum requirements; it'll run but jankily and with several problems.

"I was... curious, I guess. About what it was like. I'm just lucky Command let me keep the chip installed on my models." He lets out a sheepish laugh. "It'd be a pain getting it removed after all that effort."

Edited 2017-10-02 05:45 (UTC)

Rita cups her chin thoughtfully as he explains. "I see. So even though you have the capacity for learning, there are... or were, limitations on what you can do." She wonders, are there other skills restricted in the same way?

"The sorts of enemies you might run into out here won't be vulnerable to hacking, so it's probably for the best to have some capacity for hand-to-hand combat." In other words, Rita approves of his modifications.

"I'd rather not into a fight in the first place," he grumbles.

His hand to hand is especially bad. At least a sword is separate from his body, so that strange disconnect isn't so bad.

Stretching out his arms, he asks Rita, "What are you planning to do now?" It only occurs to him now that he might have interrupted Rita from her research. "I recorded Strange's magic show, so if you want to watch that..."

⇨ GREYSOL

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