lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN

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⇨ EDEN

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 79 - Day 85
Where: Eden
What: Everyone arrives in Eden with their new animals forms - unfortunately, the welcoming party is a bit more intense than expected, with a ritual called 'The Anointment.' Better get this place figured out before anything gets any crazier.
Warnings: Hopefully no ritual sacrifice!

FLAME OF INSPIRATION↴

So it begins. After everyone has been given their new animal form and have had about an hour to readjust to it, the Ringmaster begins the infiltration. You don't see a lot of the specifics of the magic - all you know is that Pru's sword, the Hand of God, is somehow involved. It alone can tear through the wardings of Eden's realm, and once that entrance is made, the teleportation is instant. Everyone will find themselves in an open grassland overlooking a dense forest, with buildings and lights poking up out of the leaves. Behind you, there is a darker place - the barrens, the Ringmaster has explained. It's were the Outcasts are sent after they're banished.

You are scattered across the area as if you've been dropped in with nothing. You've been given specific instructions - act as if you have no memory besides the vague life of being an animal. None of you know each other. You don't know how you got here, you've just been suddenly found yourself enlightened. Hopefully feigning ignorance will be what the residents are expecting, as what information the Ringmaster could find suggests it should be.

Before the beasts of Eden come to claim you, you'll see the Ringmaster once last time, in the form of a giant serpent. With a nod of her head, she slithers away towards the barrens - she'll be in touch.

► THE WELCOMING: It's not long until you're discovered. The first to find you is a pigeon, who seems rather surprised. She'll ask the first few new arrivals she sees a couple questions - 'did you just get here?' 'did you meet the great Lilith?' Regardless of your answers, she'll hurriedly say she's going to go get help, and will fly away back into the forest. A short while later, an entire welcoming party of different animals will have come to greet you, sweeping out to find every straggler and explaining that you are the newest of the chosen. After they are sure that nobody is being left behind, they will invite you into Eden.

► THE GARDEN: Eden is a beautiful place. Every street, every structure, is surrounded by flowers and vibrant plant life - every bit as idyllic as its mythos would imply. The architecture is ambitious and creative, as if the residents have been perfecting the art for thousands of years, which they almost certainly have. There is the sweet smell of perfumes and incense on the other animals are you are led into the city. This is your home now, the locals will explain. You have been chosen by the Creator to serve Her cause. You will become one of the Honorable, one of Her artisans working towards the Divine Clarity. But first, of course, you must be sanctified.

► THE ANOINTMENT: On that first night, everyone is brought to a vast cathedral, covered in unknowable writings in a shining script. You are brought in through several gorgeous hallways lit with shining crystals and blue flame torches, only to emerge in a great hall built around a circular, sparkling pool of water. There are several braziers around its circumference blazing with fire, with sets of tools hanging out of them, like iron pokers. All of the new arrivals are gathered into the grand hall, and scriptures are read in the background that you can't really make out the specifics of.

You will all be made to stand around the outside of the pool, and the local animals will gently explain to you what needs to be done. To become a new Honorable, you must be Anointed with the Flame of Inspiration - that is, they are going to brand you with the metal pokers they have heating up. If you go along with it, they will burn the mark into a highly visible part of your person (they have smaller brands for smaller animals), and then cool it off in the pool of water, where you are encouraged to bask until you are comfortable again.

There are obviously a couple concerns with this. The biggest one is that it's sketchy as hell. The second one is that the brand is definitely made of medium grade iron. While the painful difference it makes won't be super obvious from the outside, long-term veterans and those with superlative fae qualities will find it very uncomfortable, and it will blister for a fair while afterward, which is seen as unusual. If your character refuses, or tries to get around it somehow, please explain in reply to the post down below.

► THE DAYS AFTER: After everyone is branded (or isn't, as the case may be), you'll be given the opportunity to dry off and head back into town. All of the fancy structures here are communal, they will explain, and you can choose wherever you'd like to sleep. There are a few buildings that are mostly empty that newbies seem welcome to hole up in, though the locals assure everyone they will be nearby in case they need help.

In the days that follow, everyone will be welcome to explore Eden and find their bearings, and begin to discover what gifts the Anointment has bestowed on them. Whether or not you were good at a creative pursuit before, you will find yourself filled with inspiration for something - any artistic talent will do. It's like a creative talent will have been born in you overnight, or like an existing talent of yours has been boosted to near perfection. This effect will last as long as the characters are in Eden unless you are told otherwise.

You won't feel the need to eat, but there is breakfast available, if you'd like it. The locals are very courteous, though they seem a bit confused. Something about your entry seems to strike them as different than usual.

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"Feh," is what Peridot thinks of that idea. She was literally told that arguing isn't at all against the rules, so she's not too concerned about coming off as ornery. "Just because they're more experienced doesn't mean they need to scoff at me when I ask a simple question. I'm just trying to figure out how things work around here! But." She sighs exasperatedly. "I suppose you do have a point..."

Obviously she just needs to make something incredible using the two (2) years of experience she already has under her belt from making her own meep morps prior to coming here. And then everyone will be so impressed by her that they'll announce her a prodigy and label her as the next Architect or something!

"Here. Come... Take a seat with me, over there," she says suddenly, trying to draw the fox away to a spot out of the way of foot traffic, where they can talk a bit more freely with less of a risk of being interrupted or overheard. "I want to talk to you some more about these... uh." She looks at the object clutched in one of her paws. "What are these that you're making, exactly?"

They smell amazing.

Yuya balances the teapot carefully, fumbling a little because of the heat. But he manages to pour two cups without spilling everywhere, and after he drags his own cup closer.

And then basically sticks his snout into the cup as he tries to suck some out. Being one of the first tries, the flavor is light, simple, and not terribly exciting. But it's tea, and it's drinkable.

"My leg feels all prickly," he says, his ears drooping back. "But... I think... I'm okay?" He lays down too, resting his head on Yuya's side. The branded leg seems kind of twitchy as he stretches out his toes.

He'd still take it over being kidnapped by his mom, so relatively speaking, he's doing pretty okay.

He wonders is, given the way the branders were panicking, they can really say they're not okay. But they're both not inclined to make someone else in pain worry about them instead, so Yuya can only take that answer.

When Steven rests against him, Yuya tilts his head down to poke his nose to the top of Steven's head while his tail curls around like an arm to provide comfort. "Can you walk? I can carry you if it's too hard."

For what good healing spit will do a burn made by iron. Childermass might not be awake at that very moment but it's inevitable that the rasp of a lion's tongue over the still painful mark will have him grumbling in annoyance and cracking an eye open. He moves his head, craning his neck just enough to see Steven without lifting his head.

That's... definitely a cat. Of some kind. To be fair, he hasn't encountered lion cubs before, even if he knows what grown lions do look like.

"What..." He starts speaking, though long spats of sleep have left his mouth and throat dry. His voice has always sounded like gravel, sure, but it's definitely worse now. Still, he brings his head up off his forelegs and tries again, "Stop that. You'll make it worse."

Lapis is going to be asking

1.What the Bear Architect is best known for,and if asked why, she'd say that she'd like to follow in their footsteps.
2. How the names for new animals are chosen.

"Oh--okay." Yuya's ears perk up, curious, as he obeys Peridot's direction to move a little further away.

He sits, and when she asks about his craft he relaxes a little. That's an easy question. "It's a flowering tea ball."

He points at it with his paw. "You steep it in hot water like normal tea, but when it's in the water it opens up and there's a bouquet inside. It's really pretty... and I just kind of felt like tea making was right for me, after the branding?"

His tone falls a little remembering that, but he tries to keep it in. It obviously wasn't the worst thing to Honorables.

He sits up a little, leaning over to lick his own haunch. Unfortunately, his healing powers don't work on himself. Not like that, anyway.

"Yeah... I can do it," he says tiredly. "I just didn't think this would start off so bad."

HE'S FITTING IN, MISS ENGINEER. It's a thing, try it sometime.

"Considering how many places around here I can put these drawings up at, I imagine I'll see more than enough of Eden as I go," Childermass replies, sounding flippant about it all. He'll get there, he's sure of it. As for names, his ears perk forward as Peridot 'introduces' herself. Salathi. Better remember that.

"I'm Pravu." Although since Salathi is so busy looking around, he'll add, "Found anything worth looking at yet, Salathi?"

None of them did. What part of paradise includes ritual iron branding?!

"But then you know tomorrow has to be better than today." He doesn't know that, but he sounds confident enough. "They said there's places we can sleep so we can recover. Think you can make it there?"

If not, he can probably fit on Yuya's back. It'll be slow moving, but Yuya won't just leave Steven alone in pain.

It will at least help with the pain of the fire part, even if it won't be able to heal a wound made by iron as well as Steven would usually be able to. The roughness of his tongue may be balanced out by the gentle pain-numbing effect of his saliva, managing some of the symptoms of the iron poisoning even if not curing the iron itself.

He only licks the wound a couple times before leaving it be, and then impulsively licks Childermass's cheek before flopping down again. He's too messed up to worry about containing his feline urges at the moment. He curls up and stays where he is.

"No I won't," he mumbles, and his voice is Steven's, even if Childermass didn't recognize him before.

"Yeah," he says, and slowly starts to stand up. He's basically not putting any weight on that leg at all, if he can help it. "I have to find... some people. That looked like they didn't take it well."

Yuya could point out Steven doesn't look like he took it well, but that won't deter hin from helping right now will it?

"I'll go with you." He says it quickly and pulls back a little before he slowly moves to stand. "Did you see where they went? Or, uh, didn't go?" As the case may be for anyone still passed out in the pools--he hope it's nobody.

"Yeees I'd like to know how many other things were, excluded that we should know about--I'm not sure I would have agreed to come had I known it involved...scarification." He side eyes the brand in his thigh with distaste. "Anyway, I intend to return to the temple later--if all of these societally necessary things are seen as hobbies I see no reason I can't simply become. A healer in addition to the art."

For once, Rita isn't joining in on the complaining, though she probably will once she gets past the facts that Ignatius is here, he's been jabbed with iron, and now they're all on thin ice.

"You can try, I guess," she says to Herbert. Frankly, if any of them tries to go back into that temple, Herbert would probably be the least likely to blow their cover. The healers already seemed to question Rita and Ignatius' reactions to one another, and Strange is suspiciousness personified... Herbert at least has the excuse of being genuinely interested in medical treatment.

But there's one question still weighing on her mind, so she gives Strange another pointed glance and asks, "Why did that freak want to come here, anyway?"

That freak, of course, is Ignatius. Rita's trying to get into the habit of avoiding names... which is actually not that hard for her, considering her tendency to use insults instead.

It is a pretty impressive visual display. The smilodon watches her approach with increasingly wide eyes as it becomes clear she's landing on him. Then he stays still, to be as easy a landing pad as possible, until it seems she's settled down.

"Good guess! But... 'whoever-you-are' is too long," Papyrus teases. "I'm called Yehudi. It might be harder to remember... but it's shorter."

They did have that hour, getting used to their new bodies and checking in with friends and coworkers. There's enough people in the carnival yet that memorizing everyone would've been a challenge. but voices aren't too changed.

Well. Strange just had an illuminating conversation with Ignatius. And he told Childermass before coming here that he'd keep him up to date on everything, and so Strange shall do just that. His mood's also calmed down slightly from the utter panic attack that it was for all of the previous day. Granted, he's still nervous and tense because most of the information he's gotten has been shades of 'terrible', but Strange is at least a more capable bird now than before.

He's been flying around Eden (because flying is awesome, and Strange loves it) before he spots Childermass. Strange catches a gust of wind down towards where the dog is doing his artwork and executes a solid three point landing right on Childermass's head.

And then, because it's his turn to be an asshole bird, he lightly nips Childermass on the ear. "I've found something of use." But Strange is briefly distracted as he looks at the wall. "Though hmm! That's new!"

Almost instantly, Strange starts to work himself back up into a panic attack. He doesn't know what Gon actually found, but his reluctance to say things and Gon drawing out the matter isn't a good sign.

"Well go on!" he snaps. "Actually tell me the bad news."

It certainly is! With a short grunt and a nod, it's off to work then. The weaving he's making is definitely going to be small given what he uses- he's careful to entwine various strands to make longer and longer cord however, so that he can get some sort of patterned 'cloth' for the teapot at least. This is going to be great! Or somewhat great!

Or maybe mediocre? They're in art-land, it's a hard call. But for he's optimistic, at least.

He's going to swipe you again. It's not much at his size, but he will swipe you-

In fact, while looking Strange dead in the eye, the bird might feel something poking at His soul. It's a bit of a message he could say- or at least the image of Gongenzaka proper absolutely scowling. There's no words, but the meaning is there.

TRY to calm down, before you get EVERYONE here caught, Strange-

It's banished as quickly as it comes- and Gongenzaka The Octopus is speaking again.

"Everyone except for one is accounted for. Either they have been taken elsewhere, or they have cloaked themselves somehow. I, t... ...I cannot say for certain."

At least somebody here's keeping calm because Strange sure as shit isn't. Still, walking through what happened, he can do that, he's got this.

"We all saw that he reacted badly to the brand." For obvious reasons, what with the whole 'iron' thing. "He was taken to a healing temple. I came along with him, but I was ejected from the temple shortly after. I arrived back there in the morning to find that he wasn't there and nobody would tell me where he is."

Strange looks like he's working himself more and more into a panic. "I've been looking for him all day, but I don't think he's anywhere in the city to begin with!"

"I don't know," Strange admits. He does another quick glance around to make certain that nobody's listening before Strange continues talking. He's keeping his voice low, however.

"I thought it might be because he wanted the Mirror, but he made an agreement with the Ringmaster that he wouldn't sabotage our attempts at getting the Mirror. I trust he'll uphold it, so that leaves...what?"

Because now that he's promised not to make a go at the Mirror, Strange also has no idea why Ignatius would want to come here. Change of scenery?

"Yehudi...." She ponders the name for a moment, and beams. "It's definitely shorter than 'whoever you are'...! And so is my name!" she adds, coiling more properly on the other's back. "Sabathi! It's lovely to meet you then! Just what were you on your way to?" She wouldn't want to interrupt that for tooooo long right?

"Zophi, I would like to be alone," Ignatius says from... whenever he is in the grass. The brooding tone he says it with is obvious - apparently he's suddenly in a bad mood, in a way that being kidnapped by the zodiac government didn't manage.

That's a good question. Maybe just go around asking about him until he shows up? He's usually somewhere in the library but he's also one of those people that seems to arrive whenever you talk about him enough.

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⇨ EDEN

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sounds good!

shadow arts, late day 81

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