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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If Tyki wants to be nosy, he can see that Strange's messenger bag is just as messy and unkempt as the magician himself normally is. A blood-red quill peeks out from the side, as Strange rifles through books, papers, and more papers.

"Here," he says, as he hands Tyki a few sheets of paper. "Copies of the notes I promised—feel free to keep them for your own reference." The notes are disjointed, written in Strange's slightly sloppy cursive and one of them has a bit of a jam spill in the corner. The Mother of Invention, Strange writes, is a fae who was working on technology to help mitigate the fae's weakness to iron, either by reducing the effects of iron on the fae or changing the fae themselves to become resistant. She built quasi-technical devices into her changelings: Shimmer had a device that ran on magically treated water. In her research efforts, however, the Mother of Invention murdered or killed a lot of changelings.

"As for my book, I plan on writing a memoir of my time in the carnival. The greatest magical library in England has vanished." Which is kind of Strange's fault, his bad y'all. "At the same time, there is more magic and more magicians than England could ever have. I want to write my book, publish it, and have it serve as a cautionary tale of what any magician should expect if they venture into faerie."

Because while Strange doesn't regret his time at the carnival and has come to enjoy aspects of it, he knows he might have had second thoughts if he knew about the rampant enthralling, near death experiences, physical changes, or that one time he turned into a video game chest monster. It's things like that which England needs to know about.

The quill is out of place. Were it on a table or not on Strange's person he would've picked it up without asking. Being as it isn't, he lets it be but his eyes do stray upon it a little longer than his notes.

His hand is out to take them and he'll lean back against a stack of books and look over them. It's messy for someone of his position at home, Tyki's cursive was on point, but it hasn't been the first difference he's noticed over time between their two stations or worlds. It's still information, that he's grateful for, and he indulges in it with strict scrutiny. "Being what she is, is she a threat to the carnival other than the fact that ridding fae of iron would take their most known weakness away from us?"

To be honest, he hasn't regretted his time in carnival either. The thought of staying a little longer is tempting but there was a lot to consider especially since brainwashing, enchantment, loss of life and limb always seem to be a possibility, "I would be interested in anything that you wrote."

"I've no idea," Strange admits, with a shrug. Because he doesn't. He thought the Mother of Invention was someone that would explain a backstory but they'd never actually see, like the numerous people who various carnival members had in their histories. But the fact that she's shown up twice now is too much of a coincidence to ignore. "No matter what, her work on iron is worrying. Shimmer—that's the changeling who told me this, by the way—Shimmer said that her work was important enough to gain an audience with the Winter Queen. The Queen seemed disinterested, but the fact still remains."

Besides, the idea of making a fae immune to iron is a point of worry as is. It's the only readily accessible weakness of theirs that Strange can think of off the top of his head. The way that he defeated his faerie in England, throw a shitton of magic at him, can't be used for every fae.

But back to the other matter: Strange's writings. "I have some chapter drafts in my trailer," he explains, gesturing in a vague direction towards the carnival. "I'll lend you them when we return for the night."

"Sans also thought I should ask the Ringmaster given not many known about her and what she might potentially pose to the carnival," he explains carefully. He is not nearly as invested as Strange is in fae but he liked to have his information up to date. As a conman, and someone who ran information at home, he liked to have all of his options at hand. Tyki excelled not in strategy but being able to think on the spot, impulsively act without warning when a solution was at hand, and effectively eliminate a problem.

"Also, when you are that determined no matter how many die in the wake of progression of your goal, that is usually a dangerous thing. It usually means that things like compassion, consideration, and mercy are off the table. I know fae are different now than humans but determination can be exceedingly deadly." He often questioned how durable they were. If Tyki plucked their heart, could they keep walking? If he ripped a spine, were they still stable?

"Thanks, I'll return them in the morning."

Strange frowns a little before nodding. Talking about it with the Ringmaster does make sense. It especially makes sense for someone like Tyki to bring it up, someone who hasn't had as many dubious interactions with the fae that Strange has had.

"I think the scores of corpses show just how deadly the determination is," Strange darkly mutters. And then, because he knows he hasn't actually said that much, he explains. "Those are in the notes, by the way. The Mother of Invention tested her experiments on changelings in her service."

Something which Strange is not at all pleased about.

He might broach the subject after the whole miracles is settled as not to make it less of a priority. The Mother of Invention seems like something he's interested in but if anyone was going to ask about fae it would always be Strange. The poor man just seemed so unfortunate to run into them.

"It's something I can understand. Humans and non humans alike strive to achieve out of desperation and power. Determination on the other hand is deadly more so when one uses their own kin and family." Something he would never do even to further Akuma progression or to gain the Heart. "To make the Court of Winter truly undying and yet using the same people to further her wants. Terrifying."

Strange shakes his head slightly. Kin and family? Perhaps here. The Ringmaster at least values their opinions and takes the feelings of carnival members into account. But with other fae, he's not so sure.

"I think the Ringmaster is the only fae who thinks of changelings as someone worthy enough to listen to. When I was under Nightshade's thrall, she treated me like a lackey at best, a toy at worst." As Strange talks, his hands start to tremble slightly before he shoves them in his pockets. "For the Mother of Invention, experimenting on changelings must be like experimenting on rats or frogs."

"I should have known but I don't like to assume," he says with a matter of fact. Tyki weighed all his options carefully from his words to his actions. He adapted to heated situations because of this.

His thoughts move back towards the Manor again and if Strange is observant enough he might note the way Tyki's grin creases gently at the corners. His eyes drop towards Strange's hands as he speaks, "That makes it more lackluster. Still, eventually when progress stops so does the motivation. Or you run out of test subjects."

"I worry it's the former over the latter," Strange admits. After all, the Mother of Invention was a fae. She could probably pluck as many test subjects from the multiverse as she wanted.

"I got the impression that her experiments never went as well as she wanted. The Winter Court was also disinterested in her experiments: Shimmer said that the Mother managed to gain an audience with the Winter Queen, but the Winter Queen seemed disinterested in her progress."

He nods in quiet contemplation. That's right, changelings were a result of something far more sinister. She could always just take people as well. Those that hurt their own didn't seem to care if bystanders were subjects as well.

"Do you think it is because the Winter Queen thought it was a waste of time or something that could never be completed?"

And Strange shrugs! "I've got no idea. By that point, Shimmer was downright drunk and the conversation shifted elsewhere."

Of course, Strange was downright drunk with her. What started as an info-gathering session ended up with vomiting on the floor. Buuuuut Tyki doesn't need to know that part and Strange will gladly not tell him.

His brow kinks high again, that grin spreads, and he's barking laughter at Strange's expensive.

"Maybe you shouldn't drink a woman into the ground if you want more from her, Mister Strange," he says knowing full well that Strange is married.

Strange shrugs in a sort of 'what can you do about it' manner. "She's the one who would only offer up gossip over alcohol! I was simply being a gentleman."

And a boozehound. Mostly a boozehound.

"Right, right. A gentleman," he says plainly yet full of doubt. He knows Strange likes to indulge in drinking and he's sure Shimmer didn't have to twist his arm over it.

"I suppose you did your best, either way."

Strange knows that Tyki's teasing him a bit. And honestly, it doesn't really phase him. He like booze, he likes gossip, it was a match made in heaven when he discovered Shimmer liked the same.

He leans in slightly, like he's giving Tyki some hot gossip. "She has a brother, you know. Our drinking pissed him off tremendously."

He lifts a brow at the juicy gossip and he finds himself leaning to the side closer to Strange as the other leans in. He then rests his elbow to his own knee, chin into his own hand like he's ready to hear more.

"What? Did he think you were trying to court her?"

"I hope not!" he laughs. "That'd make the whole thing even more awkward than it was!"

Mostly because Strange had his wedding band on at the time...though come to think of it, did either Shimmer or Scald know what a wedding band meant? It seemed like such a universal symbol that it just now occurs to Strange that others might not know what it is.

"I think he was mostly angry because we got quite drunk. Erm, vomiting level."

"I don't know. If there was vomiting in general I'd say you had a pretty good time," with this Shimmer.

It's something he's never really thought about either despite the fact he has seen Strange always wearing that band. Tyki himself would never tie himself down to something as committal as marriage.

"Protective brother, then?"

"Most likely," Strange answers. "The two of them escaped the Mother of Invention's thrall together. Most likely, they're all each other has."

And so, Strange had to deal with a protective brother who wasn't so keen on the drink until you puke thing. He's explaining all this in a matter of fact tone, not really judging either of the changelings for their actions. It was inconvenient, that's all.

"That's almost sweet," he sneers. He doesn't know whether or not they care about each other but he finds he kind of doesn't care.

Older protective brothers were always fun to tease and he himself was a huge offender of that. He's slept with many, many young ladies with a lot of older, protective brothers. Kiss but don't tell. Then again, he left his mark everywhere. "Never gets old."

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⇨ THE ATHENAEUM

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