⇨ 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

[anti_nonsense]

[Rita narrows her eyes, but her expression softens a little as she looks between Yuya and Koemi. She turns her head away.] ...You too, huh?

[Krios' ears perk up at the sound of her actually acknowledging those feelings, and the fact that she and Yuya can relate to each other on some level. But Rita can't seem to bring herself to say much more, so he fills in.]

Rita's never had a family, but... she forgot about someone really important, too. [Rita flinches at being reminded of that, but she doesn't move to silence Krios this time.]

It helps to have something from home... something to make you feel connected to it again, even though you're far away.

[hippocarnival]

[There it is. Yuya smiles warmly as Krios continues, nodding.] Yeah, like your Blastia, right? That's why I'm grateful that Gongenzaka's here, too.

[Having his best friend made things so much easier and... maybe it's a bit off to compare a person to a magic rock, but Rita's had a lonely past. It's just as important to her.

He suddenly straightens up, though, as he remembers something.] Oh, and Yuzu's here, too! [There's definitely happiness in his voice, there. But also apprehension.] If you see her, don't tell her what my contract is, okay?

[anti_nonsense]

[Still looking away, Rita nods. It's true; the first thing she did when she got back was run to find her blastia. It just wasn't normal for them to be separated for so long.]

[But that name he just mentioned...] Yuzu?

[Krios' ears perk up once more.] Isn't that...?

[Rita exchanges a look with her daemon, and nods. She remembers what Yuya said about her.] That girl you were trying to save... [And her expression turns flat.] Hmph. You're keeping that a secret from her?

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya frowns, deflating a little. Yeah, he knows what everyone thinks about that but.]

She doesn't know how dangerous things were or what happened. I'm going to tell her! But I don't want her finding out things from everyone else before I get to. That's fair, right?

[anti_nonsense]

[Rita and Krios share another look. After a pause, Rita sighs while her daemon nods.] Fine. It's not really my business to go around blabbing about stuff like that, anyway.

[It might be a different story if she knew Yuzu, or the situation, better. But with only a vague understanding of both, Rita can't exactly go around acting like she knows better than Yuya. She'll leave it to him to do what he thinks is best.]

Just be careful with secrets. Try to hide something too long, and it might end up coming out at the worst possible time, somewhere down the road.

[hippocarnival]

[He lets out a put-off sound from his throat. He's heard this, he's already been judged!!] I know that. It's fine! I'm going to tell her, but it's be better if she heard it from me.

Anyway, thanks.