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

Are there a lot of books about her? Rita's not sure she wants to picture that. What kinds of things could people be reading about her now...!?

This book, for instance... "This is about the first time we went to Heliord..." she murmurs, eyes darting back and forth between the illustration and the text. "Why the hell is it focused on me and Estelle!? Is the whole book like this?"

She rips the book out of Yuya's hand and starts flipping through it. Yuya might catch glimpses of the illustrations as she does. One page shows the princess holding the scholar's hands in an excited, friendly gesture. Another shows the princess imprisoned in a large magic sphere, the scholar reaching out for her. Yet another shows the two of them sitting on a stone floor together, the scholar seemingly attempting some sort of spell.

Yuya yanks his hands back once Rita takes the book, as if they're going to be a casualty of she doesn't get to claim it smoothly. "W-well, it is called the Scholar and the Princess."

That's a 'yes'. Yuya can take a guess Rita is the 'scholar' so that must make Estelle the 'princess'. And hey, she never mentioned knowing a princess before!

"Is Estelle one of your friends?" Yuya asks while stealing some glances at the pictures, like they're going to be more illuminating. One of her human friends, at any rate.

Rita sighs, seemingly in resignation, and nods. "...Yeah."

She's not sure how much she wants to say about that, but after giving it a few seconds of thought, she elaborates. "She's the first friend I ever had. Besides the blastia, I mean."

Rita's willingness to talk about it makes Yuya relax. At least she's not too offended, which encourages him to inquire a little more.

Yuya lowers his hands to his lap with a smile. "Yeah? What's she like?"

His tone is genuinely curious. It's kind of a reverse of when they were sitting in the garden in the Summerlands, and Yuya knows how important friends can be when you're so alone otherwise... spirits or blastia aside.

Rita lowers the book and frowns as she tries to articulate the kind of person Estelle is. "She's... I don't know, the bright and cheery type. Always tries to see the good in everyone and tries to help people, even if it means taking stupid risks..."

Her gaze drifts to Yuya in a sideways glance. "Kind of like you, in some ways."

"Really?" Yuya perks up at that, laughing and rubbing the back of his head. So it's not entirely a fluke that Rita's friends with him, maybe. "She sounds really nice. Maybe..."

His gaze drifts sideways. "Um, Mr. Strange and I were talking about some way that we could still talk to each other, even when everyone goes home. If we figure it out, maybe I could see some of the stuff from your world. Like your spirits."

A way to talk to each other from their home worlds...? Rita's eyes widen and she falls silent for a few seconds. It would be nice, having some way to stay in contact after their contracts are finished...

But that's too embarrassing to say, so instead, Rita just glances away and says with a shrug, "What, you want to meet a princess that bad?"

"You didn't tell me you were friends with a princess!" He protests lightly, resting his back against the bookshelf as he gives her a silly grin.

It only holds for a moment, though, before his expression slips to something more muted. No less genuine, though. "I know a lot of us are going home when we finish our contracts... but even if we're really far away, I'd like to keep being friends."

Most of them probably aren't from worlds that have interdimensional travel figured out, after all. That might be a bit of a stretch, but even just to talk...

Rita leans back too, her gaze still pointed away from Yuya. A bit of redness creeps into her complexion.

"...I guess that wouldn't be so bad," she agrees, understating how much the idea appeals to her. Then, as if she needed a pragmatic reason to be on board, she adds, "After all, I came here to learn about the magic and technology of other worlds. If we didn't have to break off contact, I'd still have a way of hearing outside perspectives."

But should she really trust Strange to come up with something like that? Maybe Rita should start looking into this, too.

"Well, I dunno how much I can tell you about magic back home. But we have a lot of technology because we learned to do everything without it... that's going to be a problem when you convert all the blastia, right?"

Yuya definitely doesn't want to keep in touch for practical reasons, but if Rita's looking for it, that's the best his world has to offer.

"Right. We'll have to find solutions to practical problems, both temporary and long-term. Even just hearing how another world handles such issues could be a big help in figuring out how to develop our technology."

Had it not been for her exposure to Earth technology, Rita might have underestimated the value of electrical power, for one. It seems like people use it for everything in some places. Maybe they can harness some of that power in Terca Lumireis...

"That reminds me," she says after a moment. "I read something earlier that sort of reminded me of your world. Something about an Entertainer who battled with dragons."

"You'll probably understand it better than I do!" He grins, unoffended by the notion.

His expression slips as she continues on, though, paling just a little. That's the story Strange found, isn't it? How does everyone else keep finding it?

"Did it?" His tone is soft and light, and he's all but forcing himself to make eye contact now. "Why?"

"Hmm..." Rita cups her chin as she gives it some thought. "Well, the boy in the story used dragons to fight opponents in an arena, to entertain an audience. And he could hear the dragons' voices, even though no one else could."

It reminded her a little of how Rita views the blastia... and how Yuya treats his cards.

But after a few beats, she waves a hand dismissively. "The story goes completely off the rails halfway through, though. Hard to believe it actually could've happened somewhere in the multiverse."

Yuya lets out a short, disbelieving laugh. "Like the carnival doesn't go off the rails all the time."

She doesn't even think it's real. There's a pit of guilt in his stomach, because it's almost like lying to lead her off path when the story is definitely about him. He averts his gaze down, pursing his lips.

Huh. He doesn't seem very curious about the story, which is unusual for Yuya. He even looks kind of gloomy at hearing her description.

Rita watches his gaze fall with a curious look. "...Something wrong?" she asks after a short silence.

Yuya doesn't look up at first, or offer much of a verbal response. He's internally warring with himself. It's so much easier to keep that part of him locked up, like it didn't exist, around his friends when there weren't pieces of it available to them. Stories, or Reira, or anything like that. Then he doesn't have to admit to anything, because there's nothing there to admit to.

Somehow, it doesn't feel as easy every time he's confronted with it.

When he does look up at her it's with a slightly crooked, hesitant grin. "I thought you didn't care about reading stories like that."

Okay, maybe he could be approaching this a little better.

Something's definitely off... but Rita doesn't have enough evidence to confront Yuya about it. She can infer, at least, that there's some truth to the story, whether literal or metaphorical... and that it relates to Yuya's world.

"I... I don't!" she stammers, indignant at his comment. "It just stood out to me, that's all."

"Uh-huh." Yuya doesn't sound convinced, but like with Strange he finds some confidence in turning the conversation away from the story itself. There's just a little teasing in his expression as he leans over. "Which is why you sat down and read the whole thing, right? It's okay to be honest!"

Heat rises to Rita's cheeks and she even pouts a bit.

"I was just looking for information that might be buried in some of these stories! You can't always tell if something's important until you read to the end! That's just common sense!" It's not, really, but that's her story and she's sticking to it.

Yuya's shoulders sink a little as he relaxes a little more, stifling a laugh. "Sure, sure. But there wasn't anything important in that one, was there?"

At least, not what's most immediately important to Rita. He pauses for a moment, then much more controlled than before he asks "Do you remember where you saw it?"

"I put it back on the shelf. I don't remember where," Rita replies with a shrug. At the time, she didn't think she'd want to go back to it. Now, though... she has to wonder if it would've been worth giving it a closer look.

"As for whether there was anything important..." She meets his gaze, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. Yuya's obviously hiding something.

"I don't know. Was there?"

Yuya pouts a little when his plans to find the book are foiled again.

His expression slips when Rita turns her suspicion onto him. That had mostly been good natured teasing, so as first he's surprised to have her emphasize it. At first he only stares back in silence, his gaze locked with her in an uncomfortable staredown as he tries to control that sinking feeling in his heart again.

Finally he looks away. "I haven't read it." Which is true, he's had no luck finding the book himself. He just lived those events. "But you said it reminded you of my world, right?"

"...Right," Rita says, some of the sharpness in her stare easing away.

"I heard something before, you know," she goes on to add, turning to look forward, at the shelf across from them. "About how your world was once destroyed. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous. How could it have been destroyed when you and your friends clearly came from somewhere?" It's absurd. Unless...

"But it would all fit together if, like in the book, the world had actually been split into four different worlds... right?"

Yuya doesn't remember telling Rita that, so his attention snaps up quickly. "That's--" He panics, briefly, unsure how much of this story hasn't gotten out of his grasp now.

"That's... right. There's four dimensions, now. But is used to be one." He says it slowly, hesitant. The more details he mentions, the more someone's going to figure it out at some point, right? If anyone does, it's probably going to be Rita. But he's scared, and it's hard to apply a philosophy of courage when the truth is you were a demon.

Rita relaxes slightly upon hearing him confirm what she's figured out so far. Ultimately, it doesn't tell her much. What difference does it make to Rita if his world is singular, or one of several spawned from an original source? But with each new answer comes a new question.

"Why hide it?"

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