lostcarnival | ⇨ THE ATHENAEUM

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⇨ THE ATHENAEUM

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 47 - Day 58 ish
Where: The Athenaeum
What: The carnival arrives at book world. First week, they'll be performing for magical manifestations of book characters. Second week, it's time to hunt (for books, in the library.) Around Day 58 some stuff will occur.
Warnings: Reading is mandatory.

FAERIE TALES↴

Though the carnival will be performing for its guests in the first week, they are welcome to search the Athenaeum while they are off duty during that time. The manifestations of story characters will be out in full force during performance week, with animals, people, objects, and even locations growing out from various tales. Most are distracting at worst, and will be curious to check out the carnival. Some, however, can be as dangerous as they were in their stories of origin. You know what to do.

► IT'S TIME TO ROLEPLAY: The best way to deal with book ghosts is to follow their narrative to its logical conclusion - turn the tables, work the story so it ends in your favour! Naturalistic and narratively satisfying plotting will have the manifestations following your lead. However, push too hard and introduce too many plot holes, inconsistencies, or illogical plot twists, and they will reject your reality utterly, becoming quite aggressive in the process. You can also use your natural abilities and powers to fight them in a traditional sense, but in the Ringmaster's experience, it's best to fight reality benders by bending reality right back at them. If you aren't careful, it's possible to be dragged fully into a story's reality, and then things get really messed up.

► IT'S ALSO TIME TO READ: The carnival came here for a purpose, and that purpose is to research. Specifically, the Ringmaster is looking for information on the Queen's Miracles - the set of ancient fae artifacts that the Blue Rose is one of. The carnival needs these artifacts to defend itself, but nobody knows where they've been for thousands of years. That's what the books are for. However, nothing is stopping you from pursuing knowledge for personal reasons. The halls are open to your perusal, and only your heart can guide you to the book you truly seek. Check the plot post to see what's allowed, and sign up to find plot info or other important game information below.

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Something inside her coils in on itself, defensive and angry, upon hearing that name. She stares back at Cole in shock, her thoughts racing. This is exactly the kind of reaction she's always been afraid of, if people were to find out her past, which, it sounds like Cole definitely has. But how? There must be a book somewhere... She can't--

"I didn't even exist when the Cluster was first made," Peridot snaps, once she recovers from the unpleasant surprise. "And more to the point--" she glances around to make sure no one is listening, then lowers her voice to a hiss. "How did you find out about that anyway!?!"

Edited 2018-04-26 22:27 (UTC)

"There is a book. The worries of that Peridot are the same as yours." It's a combination of Cole finding a book about Peridot's past and using the creepy empathy powers to fill in the dots.

The words are out before Cole realizes what he's saying. She seems worried. Worried they'll learn about her, they won't be friends anymore, they'll be angry, they'll attack. And, well, Cole's just proving that right.

Oh. Cole has experience with this. He should have realized that this was something Peridot pushed down, tried to hide, she's not the old Peridot anymore and she never will be. He's still sitting on the table, but his expression shifts slightly, going from an angry frown to a more neutral one.

"You're like him," Cole remarks, as if understanding something for the first time. "You're like me." There's a brief pause, before he quickly asks, "If you could stop the old Peridot, would you?"

There's a book? Stars, of course there's a book. She needs to find it, and hide it as soon as she possibly can--

Cole's question interrupts that frantic train of thought. She's panicked, and her emotions are extra volatile. Her first instinct is to snap about what a stupid question that is, but by this point she has mostly learned to resist voicing such caustic reactions. Instead she pauses, forcing herself to consider what he's asking more carefully.

"That's... An interesting, if impossible scenario. Though I understand you're speaking hypothetically," Peridot grumbles, padding out time while she thinks of her answer. "Um. Are you specifically asking me if I'd undo my past actions?"

Mr. Feelings vs Ms. Logic-Pants over here.

Edited 2018-04-27 19:11 (UTC)

He doesn't really notice she's padding out time. Cole wants an answer, so Cole's going to wait and listen and pause until he gets an answer. Her clarification is...odd, but Cole can work with that.

"Would you change it if you could?" Cole asks, still very insistently. So yes, he is asking if she'd undo her past actions, just in his normal, vague, slightly bullshit Cole way.

"No!" she says with surprising force. She feels scared, and looks shocked by her own conviction, pausing for a second before launching into a hasty explanation: "Yeah, fine, I may have been wrong to think that way! I fully admit that! But to undo that entire part of my life, or to erase it entirely-- that would cause so many more problems! It's only because of all that that I was able to warn Steven about the Cluster in the first place! If I hadn't gone to Earth with the orders to destroy it, it never would have even been saved! It would have blown up into a thousand little pieces when the cluster emerged! And..."

Peridot has to pause, swallowing thickly. "I also never would have learned to change, if I hadn't messed up in the first place. I would never have even met Steven, or learned how much more there is to life than following someone else's orders all the time. So. No! I wouldn't change it for anything."

Well that's an interesting answer. So many of the people Cole's seen would change their own actions. They'd sheathe their swords. They'd think over their actions. They wouldn't put it up in the first place. To hear Peridot say that she'd still do what she did because then the old Peridot could be the new Peridot is absolutely interesting.

"I'd change the old Cole," he mutters, more to himself than to Peridot. After all, the Spire wasn't so big. He could meet Rhys and meet Evangeline without murdering people. His actions when he didn't know who he was were simply senseless. "He didn't know."

Cole looks down at his feet for a moment, with a frown. Then, a second or so later, he looks back up at Peridot, looking down at her from beneath the brim of his hat. "You are not the old Peridot anymore. I know you know and it's good that you know but now I know. And that's...good. You're trying."

She blinks for a moment, taking that in. Then she gives him a small smile. "Wow... Thanks. I think." Her relief would be palpable even to a non-empath, the visible tension in her shoulders easing as she lowers her guard a bit.

She's also curious about this "old Cole" that he mentioned, but first thing's first: "Uh... Can you just do me a favor, and maybe don't tell anyone else what you read? They... might not understand. Unless they've already found the same book you found, in which case you can absolutely tell them how awesome and different I am."

Cole's used to keeping secrets. Heck, he's kept secrets for about half the people he knew back home at various points. So, at Peridot's request, he nods like it's the easiest thing in the world.

"A different Peridot did all that anyway. You wouldn't do it now." And really, that's what matters in his mind. She's never going back to the Peridot of old, the one who served the diamonds and tried to stop the Steven. And if it hurts her to bring it up, then the simple solution is not to bring it up in the first place.

"I won't tell."

"Thanks, Cole," she sighs with a relieved smile, sagging a little to lean onto the table she's sitting at. She has no reason to believe he'll actually keep this secret but, she has no reason to believe that he won't, either. Either way, having him understand is a vast improvement over some of the other reactions she's gotten from even coming close to touching this concept in the past.

Peridot sits back up and cocks her head at him slightly, as a question crosses her mind. "Hey... You said a moment ago that... I'm "just like you". What did you mean by that?"

There's a long pause. He looks intensely uncomfortable for a moment before answering Peridot's question. Cole's not making eye contact, though. Instead, he's looking down at his feet, trying to hide behind the hat.

"If people knew what I did, they wouldn't like me either."

Rita liked him. And Lavellan liked him. But Cole knew those were exceptions, Cole knew that not everybody would be fine with surprise, you murdered so many people.

Well that's unsettling to hear. Peridot isn't exactly put off, though. It sounds like neither of them are in danger of repeating their last mistakes.

"Pffff. You know my dark past, and you're not even going to tell me yours? Unfair." She's sort of being a little shit on purpose, but she is genuinely curious too! Come on Cole! "You're a-- what did you say you were when we first met-- a spirit of compassion? What's the worst you could have done?"

"I killed people."

Starting this off kind of terribly, it seems. Because Cole just looks down to the floor, wringing his hands a little. It's not going to happen again. He'll stop himself if he starts to hurt people like that again. But it happened and he can't change it and Peridot wants to know so he's going to tell her.

"I wasn't myself. People couldn't see me and I-I was scared. But when they were dying, when it was just myself and them, then they could see me." There's a small pause. "I killed six. Those are the ones I regret. There are others that I don't regret but people here think odd about killing so I don't mention those."

"Oh," is all Peridot says, staring at him with surprise. This guy? Killed people? Seriously? She has no choice but to take him at his word but. Yikes.

"Well. I won't tell anyone your thing if you won't tell anyone mine. Even if I am a bit curious for details. I don't think you need to worry too much, though," the gem snorts. "I'm sure Lambert has killed a bunch of people and so have some of the others here. As long as you're not running around actively offing people..."

Distracted by a thought, she cocks her head at him, pursing her lips thoughtfully. If he managed to find something about her past in this library... is it maybe possible that what she read earlier was...?

"Actually... I read something earlier that recalled to mind that phrase you used to describe yourself, back when we first met. Are you familiar with something called the Fade?"

Peridot's talking about the Fade but Cole's still a bit scared and still trying to justify his actions. She's worried. She doesn't know what to think. "I killed the Venatori because they want to end the world and I killed Lambert because he hurt people, but I won't kill here. Not unless they're trying to hurt us."

The words come out in a bit of a ramble, as Cole continues to justify himself. In his justification and slight panicking, Cole doesn't realize that he probably should specify that the Lambert he killed was a dude from his world. Whoops.

But then he backtracks a bit. He was so focused on the tragic backstory bit that Cole completely missed what Peridot mentioned. The Fade? She did mention the Fade, didn't she? How would she know about that? "This place doesn't have the Fade," Cole mentions, after a moment's pause.

Edited 2018-05-16 01:21 (UTC)

Peridot can at least assume that it's a different Lambert from context, though hearing the phrase 'I killed Lambert because he hurt people' does throw her for a second.

"So you DO know what it is," she says triumphantly, excited that her conclusion seems to be correct. "They may not have the Fade here but they do have books about it. So that is the true point of your origin?"

And Cole nods. All spirits come from the Fade. He is a spirit, ergo he must come from the Fade as well.

"I haven't been there in a while. And the last time I went, things went wrong." Like, 'trippy hellscape face your inner demons and acknowledge your fears' levels of wrong. It was not a good time for anyone involved and Cole's awkward little frown tells Peridot that without him even having to say it.

"But that is where I'm from." A pause, before he asks, "What did the book tell you?"

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⇨ THE ATHENAEUM

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