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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"A goat? I don't know how to turn myself into a goat-- All of my spells are transformation spells!" she cries, grabbing her own ears and tugging them straight down in distress.

...The further implications of Lambert's words, hit with a moment's delay. She legs go of her ears and looks slowly at him at him with her head cocked, squinting suspiciously. "Wait. Hhhhhow do you know all of this...?"

"Because I used to have to hunt them," Lambert answers, matter of fact. "This--" He raises a hand, indicating their surroundings now, a beautiful, sprawling landscape nestled in the heart of the mountains. "-- is where I grew up. Kaer Morhen."

Peridot goes wide-eyed once more, which is an expression she has been making quite a lot in this library.

She gazes around at their surroundings with a newfound sense of curiosity. Lambert grew up here? This is his world, the one that's full of monsters and the other witchers who hunt them. In all her time at the carnival, she has done her fair share of world hopping, but she's never actually seen the home worlds of any of her multiverse friends. Even if this one is just an illusion from a book, it's still significant. It's surreal, actually, having something that clarifies for the gem that, yeah, Lambert really did have a life outside the carnival. This is where he came from, before they started working for the Ringmaster together, before Portland rewrote their histories and tied them together as human siblings.

"Oh," she says softly, still boggling. But no matter how much her thoughts are racing with curiosity, they can't outrun the looming pressures of reality. She shakes her head like a dog, trying to focus back up. "Alright, I have a million questions, but they'll have to wait until a later time because we really need to get that book back!"

Edited 2018-05-04 14:29 (UTC)

Lambert's less visibly impressed by their surroundings, but that should hardly be any surprise -- he's seen it countless times before. Maybe if he were someone else, there'd be room for sentimentality and homesickness ... but not with what Peridot's talking about right now.

"Right." Back to business, and he looks at Peridot warily. "Can you carry me if I stay like this? I really don't want to find out if the library has any punishments for people who suddenly show up naked."

Which he will be, once they get out of here, if he has to transform himself.

Edited 2018-05-06 06:41 (UTC)

It takes Peridot a second to catch on to what he's talking about, and when she does, she looks far less than thrilled by the prospect. She doesn't bother arguing, though; Lambert basically just explained why she has to be the one to play the part of dragon taxi, and getting that book back is way more important than anything else.

"I carried Jasper's ridiculous bulk out of the Prince's Manor," she huffs. "I think I'll be fine." Granted, she's leaving out the fact that she and Jasper barely made it to a safe landing spot, but. Whatever! Her form starts to glow blindingly bright, the edges of it expanding and warping rapidly as she takes on her draconic shape.

"Now let's get moving already before that stupid thing eats our book or does something equally horrible!" she growls, crouching down so he can climb onto her back.

Look, Lambert is equally unthrilled by the prospect of hitching a ride on his sibling from another lifetime, but what choice have they got here? He steps back to give her space to transform, lifting a hand to shield his face from the light.

"Right." It takes him a moment of looking her over to decide where he can comfortably plant his feet, hands, and ass on a dragon, but he's not going to take too long thinking about it. He places a hand on her neck and the other on her back and hoists himself on with a grunt of effort and not a little wriggling to get settled.

"How's that?"

Everyone here is incredibly uncomfortable. When Peridot carried Jasper, she'd been gripping the other gem by the shoulders, rather than letting her ride on her back. She has a feeling that's not an option that Lambert would be comfortable with, unfortunately. So if the witcher wants her honest opinion...

"...I absolutely hate this," the dragon replies frankly. "But it'll have to do. Just do your best not to fall off, because I'm probably going to have to fling myself off of something pretty high in order to get airborne."

Without waiting for any confirmation on that, Peridot stands back up and starts scuttling her way over to the nearest cliff edge. She has fairly short little legs as a dragon, which means her footfalls are fast and frequent, making for something of a bumpy ride.

Edited 2018-05-07 21:35 (UTC)

As Peridot jolts into motion, Lambert's legs tighten instinctively to keep him on her back. It's nothing like riding a horse-- the movement's completely different, rocking side to side, and he hunches over her neck and grabs at it -- spines, a mane, whatever there actually is in the way of a handhold -- to keep himself from getting shaken off as the jolting pace rattles his teeth in his skull.

At the very least, he can offer mildly useful direction.

"There's a drop-off," he manages to get out. "To the left, keep going straight. Can't miss it."

Peridot can feel his fingers in her mane which is. WEIRDLY UNPLEASANT, AND KIND OF INTIMATE IN A WAY SHE ABSOLUTELY HATES, but she keeps that to herself, and focuses on following his directions instead.

"I can see it," she huffs ungratefully, and picks up her pace to a running start. Normally, she's a "look before you leap" kind of gal, but. She needs the momentum, and also she's trying not to not give herself time to think about the fact that she hasn't really done a take-off like this before, or that the idea of flinging herself off of a cliff is actually pants shittingly terrifying.

The edge of the drop-off seems to rush at them both. Peridot swallows anxiously, squeezes her eyes shut, and lets out a ridiculous sounding battle cry to urge herself onward, leaping off of the edge into empty space and unfurling her wings. The cry warps into a mortified squeal as the sensation of falling makes her stomach turn: they plummet for a split second before her wings actually catch the air with a loud thwap, like the sound of a parachute unfurling.

Sorry, Peridot, up and close and personal is kind of the name of the game when you ask someone to get on you. Lambert himself isn't exactly thrilled to be here, or to have to be trusting his (not entirely fictional) well-being to Peridot's flying skills (or lack thereof) but there doesn't seem to be much choice here. His fingers grip tighter into her mane as she launches herself off, a involuntary movement he can't help as his stomach lurches ... and then her wings catch the air and they're flying.

Lambert eases his grip, because even he knows choking his ride isn't a good idea, and squints down at the back of Peridot's head.

"Can you handle it?"

She's definitely having to flap her wings twice as hard as usual to stay airborne, but. "I'll be fine," Peridot groans. "Just give me directions to this stupid thing's nest, we haven't got much time!"

Right. Peridot's not wrong about that, they do have to focus here, especially if that book is as important as it sounds. It takes a little bit of trial and error, compensating for Lambert's line of sight and Peridot's actual ability to maneuver, but Lambert eventually gets them pointed in the right direction. It's a little weird, coming at it from a place where he has to trust Peridot's control in her flight and map territory he knows on foot, but it's surprisingly useful to be able to look down at things from above.

"There," he says. "That cave entrance on the cliffside -- head there."

When they land inside, Peridot will end up jostling a collection of bones stripped of their meat. The forktail drags its prey up here, into this dim, smelly cavern, but for now there's no sign of it ... or the book.

It's a bit of a rough landing. The clattering of dry bones certainly gets her attention, and the second Lambert is off of her she shifts back to her regular self to better avoid further contact with them.

"Ew!" she exclaims, lip curling with disgust as she lifts a foot up off of a few scattered ribs. Seeing that the forktail isn't even here does little to improve her mood. "Great! After all that, the stupid thing isn't even home!" Peridot complains in a hushed tone. "Any other bright ideas??"

Lambert wrinkles his nose at Peridot. After all they've been through, this is what grosses her out? They're just bones! Imagine when they still had flesh on them!

Instead of answering immediately, he steps forward further into the cavern, crunching past more dry bones and twigs, and finally finding what he's looking for: a mess of branches and mud packed into a corner, smelling like foul carrion (and yes, here is the half-eaten goat that was probably what the bones were, once).

"It's about the right time of year for ... there." Brushing twigs aside, Lambert triumphantly hefts up a sizable egg, grinning at Peridot. "We'll get its attention with this."

Edited 2018-05-20 19:54 (UTC)

"We're going to kidnap it's unborn child?" Peridot replies, lifting an eyebrow, suddenly showing a bit too much sympathy for this forktail that, until a few minutes ago, she was totally cursing out and calling horrible names.

She's also pinching her nose with thumb and forefinger to try and block out the scent of rotting goat, but it is NOT working super well.

"Ugh. Fine. Whatever gets us that book back. So what do we have to do with this egg, then?"

Lambert, who's started walking back towards the cave entrance with the egg gently cradled in his arms, raises a brow and glances over his shoulder at Peridot as he goes.

"Who said anything about kidnap?"

That's all the warning Peridot gets before Lambert lifts the egg over his head and throws it to the ground, where it shatters with a horrifying crunch. Yolk splatters on the dust and bones, eggshells bounce away, but more importantly --

A shriek of pure fury rises in the distance, rapidly getting closer, along with the sound of beating wings.

Peridot actually jumps backwards in alarm as Lambert makes the forktail egg do a humpty dumpty, a wordless exclamation of surprise punctuating the motion. The fur on the end of her tail is still all puffed out when she puts her foot back down, gawking at the resulting mess.

She knows it's not a real egg, but. Part of her still feels pretty guilty for it.

"...Oh my stars it sounds mad," she whispers, horrified. "How does it know--!? Why would you do that!?!"

"You wanted to get its attention, didn't you?" Lambert asks, glancing back at Peridot as he draws his sword. "Fastest way to do that to a mother is to go for her kids."

There isn't time to say any more before the forktail barrels into the narrow cave mouth, claws scrabbling and landing heavy as hell. The book is clutched in its mouth -- how it managed to sound so loud while still holding onto it clearly not a logic the story cares to explain -- but not for much longer, as it drops it and lunges for the witcher standing over the yolky remains of its offspring on the ground.

Predictably, probably, Lambert just laughs wildly, throwing his free hand up to cast a shield that the forktail slams into. The force is enough to dissipate the spell almost instantly, but the impact is also enough to fling the forktail back a few steps, leaving it temporarily nonplussed.

Edited 2018-06-01 20:05 (UTC)

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⇨ THE ATHENAEUM

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ALL ABOARD THE DRAGON TAXI

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