⇨ 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]

This seriously is happening. Siobhan just looks so goddamn smug as she gives Childermass a smug grin before turning back to the crow. At least in her mind, she's won this conversation and is going to have a lovely chat with her new crow friend and suck it Childermass. "Do you want to continue to make your coin stack while we chat? Jonathan has money, he can go to the next store over and get change. Maybe he can take Childermass with him and we'll talk about them when they aren't hearing!"

So, Strange's bluntness and lack of secrets is apparently being interpreted as tactlessness by his soul. He still looks amazingly embarrassed but he's not going to fight this. Scrawny magician vs. hugeass seal, if Siobhan wants to stay and chat, then she will stay and chat. Maybe he can find a book to read when that happens.

"I'm happy to get change but really, don't you think it would be best if you were more subtle about your plans?" says the pot calling the kettle black.

[atouts]

"Hmm. She really is a lot like you," Childermass can't help but comment when Strange asks the seal that. Subtle plans would not make sense for a daemon of his, it really wouldn't. Of course, that's only said after Siobahn gets a tired look, but then he's resigned to this being a thing.

He can't leave if his daemon refuses to.

But they can, at least, go to the next store over, as suggested. He turns back towards Strange, sighing as he adds, "Very well. Let's go and let them talk. If that crow really is a part of me, I doubt it'll be interesting at all as far as gossip goes."

[kingsroads]

"Considering that seal is a part of me, she'll try her hardest anyway," Strange remarks, with a sigh. But, onto shopping. The fountain's stuck between two stores: the bookstore that Childermass came out of, and a stationary store. It's to the stationary store that Strange starts walking towards first.

"I keep misplacing my pencils," he complains, as he holds the door open for Childermass to enter. "Since I've some money here, might as well restock my supplies."

Buy some pencils, an eraser, maybe another little notebook since Strange's is already mostly full with doodles, scribbles, and nonsense.

[atouts]

To that Childermass makes a noncommittal noise, although it's probably a safe bet to assume he agrees with that. She will. He actually has no idea what the crow may or may not say, in all honesty, though the seal seemed hellbent on finding out just how terrible he's been.

From book the stationary, at least the smell of paper stays about the same. He could do with picking up a few more notebooks himself, but that's not been the main goal he's had since arriving in Greysol. If he needs paper, well, he'll end up lingering by the card stock, the other thicker kinds of paper, but all he'll do is frown at each and every piece he picks up and sets down again.

"You would misplace less of them if you tried tidying up your trailer from time to time," he will at least comment off-hand, if only for the sake of keeping the conversation going. Which isn't like him, really, but this is Strange he's with. The man will carry on with or without input, so he may as well.

[kingsroads]

Childermass is correct. If he tried to end the conversation, then of course Strange would keep talking, yammering on about pencils or notebooks or what have you. Strange finds himself by the pencils, grabbing a handful of plain ones before mulling over the colored selection. Yes, he doesn't need any colored pencils, but that purple one does look quite nice. And perhaps his drawings would actually be recognizable should he add color.

"One of the perils of being a lowly worker, I'm afraid! Were I a supervisor, I'm certain I'd have enough space to contain the mess."

That wouldn't happen. Were he a supervisor, the mess would just spread out to all aspects of the trailer.

"Besides, my most recent attempts at magic have been outside. The smell has a tendency to linger in the fabric." An oblique reference to Strange's new habit of turning body parts to smoke and the oddly sweet smell that smoke has. Though...come to think of it, has he even shown Childermass that talent yet?

[atouts]

That does at least get him to stop sulking at the various kinds of paper in front of him, attention drawn back to Strange when he mentions his new attempts at magic involving a smell. That doesn't bode well for anyone, is his first thought on that, but he won't say so until he actually knows he's right.

"The smell?" He questions it, naturally. That's the weirdest part of what the other magician said. "What are you doing that involves a smell?"

[kingsroads]

"Watch my arm." Strange pushes his sleeve back slightly, so Childermass could have a better view of his arm. He also adjusts his position, so that his hand is blocked from sight of everyone else in the shop—because of course he's going to do the magic now, why wouldn't he? There's a pause before Strange closes his eyes and thinks.

His arm from the elbow down turns into smoke. It's a dark purple smoke, the color of nightshade berries (though Strange doesn't really remember what color nightshade berries are to begin with) and it smells sickly sweet. The smoke holds the shape of Strange's arm for a moment before it starts to spread out.

This is what he's doing that involves a smell. And Strange thinks this is the coolest shit ever, grinning at Childermass as he shows off.