⇨ WISMUTH

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: S2:D6-D11
Where: Wismuth and the Carnival Grounds
What: The carnival enjoys a few days in Wismuth, a coastal city on this planet's version of the American east. However, there are a few things very unique about this version of the planet...
Warnings: The usual, wholesome fun.

PILLAR OF CREATION↴ Upon arriving, things in Wismuth will seem pretty peaceful. It's a massive city, with no shortage of things going on, but things like violent crime and homelessness are at an all time low. You can wander the streets without much scrutiny, presumed to just be tourists, and most people here come across as helpful and friendly. ► VIBRANCY: The main thing that sets this planet apart is its vibrancy - AKA, the raw creative energy its filled with, flowing from its status as a Pillar of Creation. There is no literal pillar, but Wismuth and its planet is a place where Creation's energy comes through strongest. As a result, everything here feels somehow more real, more intense in a way that's hard to put a finger on. Life is abundant, and its bleeds through in every sensation. ► ATTRACTIONS: There are plenty of things to see while going around the city. First and foremost, there is a lovely beach area bordering the ocean, and a number of tourist aimed attractions built around it. There are giant malls, movie theaters, live stage performances, museums and all kinds of other points of cultural interest. Anything you can do in a big city you can do here, but better. ► ALLOWANCES: The Ringmaster will be giving everyone a reasonable amount of local currency for a few days on the town. You can't make any massive acquisitions with it, but it's more than enough to eat out, see some shows, go to the beach, and whatever you like. You can feel free to pick up some casual supplies, like mundane clothing and souvenirs. There will be more given out later, after the performance week. ► PERFORMANCE: Performance week is starting early this time, after only a couple days of exploration. When the carnival has already been on vacation for a month, the Ringmaster figures they may as well get right to it, and then do more touring afterwards. Members of the local populace will find themselves in the carnival once performances begin, dazzled by the other worldly sights. Magic doesn't seem to exist here, despite the fact that it will flow easier for people bringing it from other worlds.

Comments

[hurtcomfort]

About that. Cole shakes his head at Tyki's question. He wasn't always a spirit? That's the thing: he's still not entirely sure about this. He might have been confused for a while, not knowing who he was, thinking he was the real Cole...but he never was, was he. A confused and scared spirit is still a spirit. Perhaps. Maybe.

"I think I was. Scared and unsure, not knowing, stories split into two directions." His voice lowers as Cole tilts his head towards the ground. "Broken and bloody, guts spilled. I wanted to help. But I couldn't. So I remembered him instead. And got confused, minds merging, thoughts twisted together. But I still was me. Not knowing isn't not being."

Cole tried to help the real Cole, the mage who's face and name he shares. But there wasn't anything he could do to help the dying man. And so, he accidentally took on the mage's memories as well and things got...weird.

[prazerbutterfly]

"He can see the deepest part of you past your own memories into things you yourself don't remember. He can even drag minds into other minds given time and patience. But as I said, he is not a spirit."

Though he blinks in a hint of curiosity at what he says. Spirits never started off as spirits. They had to be dragged back from their controlled peace in order to harness them or they had to have a reason to stick around, "That's another difference then in my world. No one starts off as a spirit. You only become one after you die and most of the time there has to be something else interfering with death to make a spirit."

The Earl had a heavy hand in that often causing loved ones to call back souls. His uses were for creating Akuma though and not to make spirits.

[hurtcomfort]

Now that's interesting. Cole frowns a little, thinking this over. If no one starts off as a spirit, if there aren't spirits of wisdom, justice, compassion in Tyki's world, just people who become like lost souls left behind...well that all sounds terribly boring in Cole's mind. And terribly worrisome.

"So there's nothing like me where you're from? Where did they go?"

He says, not really realizing that Tyki doesn't know the full extent of what makes Cole Cole to begin with. But there must have been spirits like him in Tyki's world (he thinks, he hopes).

[prazerbutterfly]

"There are entities," he begins, "But they don't have the form that you do. They are shapeless, artificially created, and often not spirits nor have souls." There was a rather large one in the Black Order's Headquarters that housed all the Innocence. He had only heard of it but hadn't seen it himself. There were others like that depending on where one went.

"To a better place," is his generic answer and it sounds more like a question than an actual statement. He knows there is a God, baseless and cruel as he is, but he has no idea where and if souls go. All he knows is that he can drag them back with the Earl's influence, "Heaven, is what they call it. Or Hell."

[hurtcomfort]

"We call it the Fade," Cole answers, with a little frown. It's obvious he's still a bit on edge about this information about Tyki's world and that it's thrown him for a loop. So...what? Did that mean something like him couldn't exist there? Or would he be something else entirely?

He knows about souls, but souls are different than spirits. And, at least from Tyki's description, what he had was something else entirely.

"Compassion, command, wisdom, despair. Where did they go?" he repeats, a bit more insistently this time.

[prazerbutterfly]

"Aren't those just morals and feelings? If they exist they certainly only do in the hearts of humans. Unless I'm mistaking your question." There's only a God, humans, akuma, and Noah in his world. Except for a couple of unholy abominations most fit into that category.

"I know of the inner workings of my world and the Fade is something I've heard of."

[hurtcomfort]

"They're more than that," Cole explains, with a little frown. He doesn't really know how to describe what spirits are: embodiments of the emotion and concept, beings designed purely to act according to what they are.

That frown still lingers as Cole thinks things over a bit. "I'm compassion. I'm Cole, but I'm that as well. It's what I am."

Does that make sense? Probably not. Unprompted, he continues talking. "You are you. Splintered, fractured, pieces of a puzzle that come together as a whole. You are so much. I'm not."

[prazerbutterfly]

He's actually listening intently now at this new revelation. Different worlds were always so interesting given the vast changes and the fact that Noah didn't exist. Noah were responsible for the creation of humans and demon at least from the ancestors of Noah himself. There was nothing like emotions that had any sort form or influence. "More than that?" He doesn't understand but the way Cole explains it isn't as clear as he wants it to be.

"You're both, huh?" he says with odd confirmation. He did mention minds merging and Tyki can piece some things together. "Complicated as I am this is how I will always be until I am not." Even if he wasn't Tyki in another life he'd remember that later. It's just he didn't remember what he was suppose to.

[hurtcomfort]

Welcome to the first rule of dealing with Cole, Tyki: he's never as clear as people want him to be. Cole frowns for a moment, thinking, trying to come up with a good way to explain this.

"They call me Cole because that's who I look like. That's who I thought I was. Solid and stable, a face to the formless. But I know what I am now. I remember." There's a pause, as he looks over Tyki.

"I wish you did as well," Cole murmurs, almost under his breath. He can tell that Tyki's missing memories but he can also tell there's nothing he can do to fix that. He makes people forget. He can't make them remember.

[prazerbutterfly]

At least Cole is trying to be helpful. Tyki wasn't clear simply because he was often vague on purpose. He's even spread information about himself to various people but everyone new something unique about him. Not many actually knew the same thing.

"Sounds like possession," he says with a hint of amusement. Akuma were sort of like that except they were souls that wore the skin of those that called them back from their resting place.

Yet again his smile falters just for a moment. His fingers even twitch gently out of habit. Information like that, in his world, got the seeker killed, "That's considerate of you considering you have no idea who I might be."

[hurtcomfort]

"I know enough," Cole simply responds, as he looks over at Tyki. "You are Tyki Mykk. A Noah, an uncle, a gambler. There's something more inside you, though."

Something more that Cole isn't entirely sure he wants to find out what it is. He's not scared of Joyd, per se (though he doesn't realize that's what the something more is). But it's off-putting, worrying in a way that Cole's not entirely sure how to deal with and how to react to it.

[prazerbutterfly]

The heel of his shoe scrapes lightly as if he was bracing for something as his fingers twitch at his side with one hand. It's instinct he's fighting against as his expansive grin starts to crack at the edges the wider his grin gets. It's hard not to move, to reach forward, or to attack.

He's also not going to apologize if a bountiful edge of malice or murderous intent creeps up into his emotions. Still, he's exceptionally polite, "I would appreciate it if you didn't inform anyone else about that."

[hurtcomfort]

Oh. Oh.

It's easy to tell something's a secret when they worry about it constantly. Finding out new information, everyone's doing this except for me, they'll know that I'm a fake, a fraud, I don't deserve this. But when something just is? When it's a part of you, not something you constantly fret or worry about? It's a bit harder for Cole to tell.

"I didn't know," he simply says, as he looks over at Tyki. "But people should have secrets. I won't tell anyone."

[prazerbutterfly]

"That's an odd thing to say. 'I didn't know'." Because to him it was rude to poke into someone else's head and his nephew did it all the damned time. "Unless you're really that naïve."

He's not particularly angry as much as he is somewhat bothered by the fact he could do it at any time. Still, it makes him just a tad hostile for the moment. "I'm inclined to believe you... for now. Not that I'll really know if you tell anyone."

Unless he stalks him or slips a Tease in him but that was generally frowned upon.

[hurtcomfort]

"But I didn't know," Cole explains, in a matter of fact tone. "Secrets and whispers mix with the loud and blunt. There are hurts on both sides. Sometimes it's hard to tell."

When you can read everybody's thoughts and constantly see everybody's inner workings...well, then what? What's really a secret in that case? Heck if Cole knows, and he can't really tell unless someone worries about keeping something secret or tells him outright.

[prazerbutterfly]

"It's passive then..." more of a hinted question than an actual statement. He can understand if Cole can't help the thoughts he hears but if he's actively probing that was another matter all together.

He snorts gently and steps to the side now that he's calmed a little. He's lost interest in the car but he can fix that later. "It must be a pain. There are a lot of things in this world and others people would enjoy never hearing."

[hurtcomfort]

Cole doesn't say anything with regards to Tyki's statement. It's a bit of both. Passively hearing thoughts, bouncing from person to person, but actively probing to figure out if needed. So yes, it is technically passive.

As Tyki mentions it being a paid, however, Cole can't help but look at him in confusion. There are things nobody wants to talk about? Well, yeah. But he's got to talk about them anyway.

"There are," he responds, as if it's obvious. "But I help and heal. I can't be me unless I hear those things."

[prazerbutterfly]

Help and heal. No soul he ever knew wanted to help without something in return but then Cole insisted he was a spirit. He licks over his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and his hands smooth against his pants until they slip out his cigarettes. He sets it to his lip and lights it with a slow intake of that pleasure and vice. His thoughts are a mess now that he's thinking more on things that bother him.

"Well, I don't need your help or your healing when it comes to my thoughts so stay out of my head."

[hurtcomfort]

"I'll try," Cole responds, with a frown, "but it's as much as me as your Noah is you. I can't turn it off."

As shown by the fact that Cole actually referred to it as Tyki's Noah, a term he plucked from Tyki's mind (though one that Cole isn't really connecting to what a Noah is. Context clues can only go so far.) Still, it made Tyki uncomfortable, so while Cole really didn't want to do it (why would he want to not be him?), he could at least try and push down some of himself for Tyki's sake.

[prazerbutterfly]

He stares at Cole for the moment because impulse is still beckoning him to do something about it. He exhales slowly and lightly drags his thumb across the butt just to mess with something, "Alright. That satisfies me."

His Noah is something he generally tries to avoid assimilating with too much but he's aware just how much more active it is now compared to how it was before. There's the sudden scratch or itch at times or the way he can feel it on his face or mind when it reacts to something. It's disturbing.

But one more thing before he lets him go, "It's Cole, right?"

[hurtcomfort]

When Tyki stares at him, Cole looks back in his general direction. However, that big hat of his is preventing most eye contact. Once Tyki says that it satisfies him, there's something in Cole's demeanor that relaxes a bit. His shoulders slump as some tension falls.

At Tyki's Cole nods. "It is." People call him Cole so yes, that's good enough for him. "And you're Tyki."

[prazerbutterfly]

"Mmhmm," comes his now relaxed tone. He's no longer on edge and a lot calmer now that he's enjoying one of his many vices. He gestures with the cigarette and a wave of his hand at the car to get back on the original topic.

"In any case. I'll get back to you on... this if I find out anything else." And he will because he'll be crashing a lot of them in the next week and at least get one lesson.

[hurtcomfort]

"And I will find you if I learn anything," Cole responds. What he expects to learn, he doesn't really know. But Tyki's looking out for things and learning about cars, so Cole can look out for things and learn about cars as well. It's only fair.

"Until then," said with a small nod. And then, when Tyki looks away or turns his attention off of Cole, even for a moment, he'll find that the spirit just isn't there anymore, having vanished from Tyki's sight and senses.