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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"....Because when you know how to read those words, you know it faster." This is probably not sufficent enough an explanation however, so she thinks...Aha!

"...It's like making clothes~!" Carly blurts, before coughing. "Ahe...w..well. Like learning to, at least. When you start, it's really slow! If you just try making the things that are interesting right away, before learning how to do the boring things, or the little pieces that are boring, you just suck at it! I know I did..." Case in point, her first year tailoring...

But hey. "...When you know how to do something, and you've practiced doing something...things happen faster, and you can do them faster-so you can get a lot more from it~ So learning the long words, and practicing those, is how you can read a book fast and really enjoy it instead~"

Susan frowns deeper as her explanation continues. If the whole answer to enjoying it is to just keep trying even when it's hard and boring, then is it even worth getting better?

"That's just a lot of work, just to read a book."

"Mmmm, not if it's over time right?" How does she put this...

"...Unless you think my sewing was 'a lot of work, just to make a shirt'? The idea is that once you're able, you can do a lot more! Lots of books are stories about distant lands, or intriguing mystery, epic adventures..~ Or they're information! Information about new spells, or how to cook...It's really worth it~!"

"I guess it makes sense... I just don't like it. Can't I just learn spells or cooking or stories by asking people, or by them showing me? It just seems like it's easier that way." Even if he does kind of get where Carly's coming from, it seems like everyone else is just fine with reading, and like he's the only one who finds it difficult to do. He doesn't like it when things are hard, it makes it feel like he's bad at things, so it's easier to just avoid them.

"Mmmm...think of it this way. If it was by word, you'd have to be right there to learn all the time, right? But this way," she gestures to the library as she goes, "You can choose what you're learning- and it could be from years and years ago, before your time...or from a whole other country you'd never see..! It's about making something you couldn't get from people that way, because those people wouldn't be there, or they wouldn't have time for everyone to be taught..!"

He nods as he thinks about that.

"I don't know how much of those things are useful... But that makes sense. You don't have to find a teacher that way."

"Exactly! And as for what's useful..." She shrugs. "...That's up to you. There's books about pretty much anything where I come from...so you can bet there's plenty here..! Ah-"

The woman frowns, tapping her chin. "...Though, we need to see where you stand at reading comprehension then...there's a difference between knowing how to read, and knowing how to read fast..."

He frowns again at that comment.

"How can you see that...?" He can figure out what reading comprehension probably means, but he still doesn't know what she has in mind here.

"Well that's easy~ We time how fast you read something! Something simple, then sort of trickier, and up!"

She's excited-! Ah, but-

"But...so that it's not boring, we look for subjects you'd want to learn. How's that?"

So what do you want to learn Susan.

"Sort of like... A game?" He perks up at the idea, and even though reading still isn't the most fun in the world, that definitely makes it sound a whole lot better.

"I like... Animals, and magic!" Very specific interests there, yep. That's about all he can think of.

"Ooo~ ..Well, magic might be tricky, but animals...let's see let's see..."

She searches even just the shelves and-aha!

It's a fairly simple book- anyone in their early years of school could read it. It's not even a book, more... "A scroll~ It looks almost like it's from home..."

She proceeds to unclip it immediately- and on the one hand, there's the text.

On the other Oh No.

"....Ah- ...AAAHHH!!! L-LET'S FIND A DIFFERENT ONE!!" WHY

Of course her reacting like that just has him want to see it more, but even after he stands on his tiptoes he's still too short to really see.

"What is it? Let me see!"

"It's gross is what it is..! It's not animals at all!! It's..." Hmm. What would wo- oh.

"Medical!!"

YEAH. She's just rolling that shit up real fast now.

That actually still sounds more interesting than some of the things he's found, especially with how flustered she is, but he doesn't press her any further on that one.

"Okay... If you're sure."

"Euuggghhh, very..." she groans. "And I've seen a lot..."

Deep breaths...Hoooo...

She's put the scroll back but it's pretty easy for Susan to reach if he Really Wants. For now though, she keeps looking.

"Okay...let's try something else..."

He looks to where she's placed the scroll, keeping it in mind for when she seems distracted enough he can pocket it for later or something, but then he's distracted by watching her again.

"I don't know if there are any good books about animals... I looked at so many already."

"Don't be so sure!" she insists, back turned to scan the shelves. "I've found all kinds of things here after all, and...Oh!"

Hold on, she's got something. "Here we are...and good, good, it's a basic reader, so a good start..."

The book, from the outside, certainly looks basic. The inside is going to be more interesting, if she ever bothers to hand it over. She seems to be giving it a skim- flipping page after page with rapidly moving eyes.

It definitely has pictures, on the front, which is a good sign. Things with pictures are hard to find, he's found, and so he's already a little hopeful (even if of course he's still not sure about books at all). He's used to Lauren also trying to judge the books for him before handing them over, and so he waits patiently for Carly to finish giving it a look over.

"Is it good?"

"The Serpopard~" she cheers, holding the book over. "This looks to be from a more alien realm...but it's all stuff about the 'Serpopard'. Varieties according to where they live, different colours...it's a wild animal, and all there is to know about it is in here!"

Indeed there is- it seems to be some world's version of their big cat, with more inclination for running and striking rather than how normal cats work. It has sharp quills, a tail that acts akin to whiskers, and...it looks like at one point the book goes into detail about bones and muscles for the thing. It's definitely a LOT of pictures over words-the words are only ever simple paragraphs of information.

He honestly could do with even less words, but the pictures are enough that he doesn't even think about that yet, his eyes wide in amazement as he looks over the pictures on various pages.

"Woah... It's so cool!"

"Good~!" Ahh! Carly beams rather proudly at the success, before coughing as she remembers the point of this. "Butttt..! You have to try reading it still; at least sections, so that we can see where you stand on comprehension levels, alright?"

There is a pause, and...she shrugs. "...And the text should make what's in the pictures more clear, so." Or at least some of the pictures anyway.

His excitement fades and he practically pouts at the pages, but he nods anyway.

"...Out loud?"

"Ahh..." Oh.

Oh. "Oh, that's a good point...I can't really judge how well you're doing if I don't know how much you've read...out loud it is! Don't rush yourself either, ok? We don't have to get through the whole book to see where you are on this."

He nods, flipping back to the beginning (not because it's a story or anything, but because it's probably an intro to the animal or something so it Makes Sense). He hesitates a moment before reading slowly. Obviously rushing himself doesn't seem like it's a problem with this; as opposed to literally everything else Susan ever does, reading is a slow process, even a book meant for kids a few years younger than he is. At least at this level he doesn't get stopped up by too many words, although he still has to sound out more than a few.

It doesn't help that he's clearly getting frustrated by his attempts, either.

Carly, for her part, does her best to help- she lets him figure the words out, she lets him focus...she's getting a pretty good idea of his level as it is though, which is a good sign.

"Mn- not bad," she comments after a bit. "Not bad at all..! Mnn...it wouldn't be wrong to say there isn't 'school' where you're from, right? Or....not school in the sense of places like 'Wismuth'?"

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nsfw-y image: IT'S TANUKI SO

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spoilers it won't be dogs

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