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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"I doubt you will," Strange responds, with a wry little smile. Because yeeeep. Strange has a sneaking suspicion that like a good chunk of the carnival, Shima's going to be needlessly secretive for no good reason.

"I hope you'll prove me wrong." He takes to the air and flies over towards Shima. "I'll see you around. After all, it's not a large city."

But before he flies off, Strange takes one last look at Shima's tail...and then tries to pull at it a little with his beak.

Regarding the third point: Peridot says that's all well and good, but slow and subtle isn't really the carnival's strong suit, and they're working on fairly limited time frame. Unless Agla has any ideas for some way to change a lot of people's minds very quickly, they might have to come up with some other way in which the carnival can be of assistance to the Furies.

1. Do they think that ANY of the twelve are actually likely to change their tune about Lilith? Are some more reasonable than others?

2. On that note, what's up with the Serpent? Before coming here they'd heard that the Twelve had once been Thirteen, and that the Serpent was said to have left out of sympathy for the Furies. Yet the glimpse they'd gotten of her outside the tunnels seemed to indicate that, uh... she's not quite all there anymore, if you catch her drift, says Peridot.

"I have no preference," which he does even if he understands he's making Reira make a choice. His stride is much longer than hers and her flight just might be better for her. Plus, he doesn't know if she can carry much of anything. It's a mouthful but he's setting them back in the cloth he had acquired in order to carry them.

After that he'll follow her closely, keeping mind of who is around and what they are doing.

Scout's aware of species like the Codru-Ji who have distinctly non-sentient animalistic 'juvenile' stages and metamorphose into their sentient 'adult' stages at a certain age, and knows there's some kind of transition period as they catch up to their newly expanded mental capacities. She doesn't know if the Honored are like that, though, if she should act like language and names and so many other things only a few beasts have good equivalents for come easily or with time and effort.

She dips her head. "I think I'm becoming better at fading into the background. It's useful sometimes to go unseen, in the jungle, but it's different here. What about you? Shamsi?"

It's weird being so much bigger than most people. Not something that's never happened before - her form back on that asteroid was enormous - but this is certainly striking. Besides, as a star dragon she'd been long rather than tall.

Scout saw this bird during the short period between everyone turning into animals and showing up in the grasslands, but it's not someone she actually knows. Her big ears come forwards, cupping attentively. The distraction, if nothing else, does take her attention from the pain of her own brand. "How are you holding up?"

Honestly, it's a notion he almost outright dismisses but then he has to stop and consider, head tilting some as he scowls and thinks. Isn't that just what the stained glass in church windows do? Colored glass blocks the light, technically, even if it does filter through.

Would the colors that light casts be considered a shadow? Only he can't ask using that example, now can he? A dog, new to sapience and art, wouldn't really know about stained glass. He does acknowledge the idea, though, so Joker gets that much.

"I hadn't thought of it but maybe that would work," he replies, "If it's thin enough or the light itself was a different color or something like that."

"Maybe only to you and me," Childermass says, shrug as evident in his voice as he can possibly make it without, you know, actually shrugging. "Could be that's how birds are meant to dance in Eden. I wouldn't know, would I? I'm only a dog."

Yes, only a dog, no experience flying whatsoever over here.

"Flying looks a bit like dancing anyway, doesn't it? Just in the air."

Rude! After he went out of his way to paint as much of a picture as he could for Strange while trying super hard to avoid tanking Iggy's chances of interacting with the Carnival amicably. Not every problem needs a mallet you know.

He isn't expecting the yank though so Strange gets to be satisfied with the weird screechy startled tanuki noise Shima makes as he flies off.

"Awww, such a shame. Until I'm an artist they're impressed by, my dashin' good looks are all I have ta keep me afloat~." Not that he really cares if they think he's a fantastic artist or not, beyond any privileges it might grant him. They aren't supposed to stick around here, after all. If they do, well... That will be a sign that things have gone south.

In the meanwhile, he keeps his tail spread out for her, allowing her choice of whatever she likes. "Well, ya can grab a pretty, ah... mouthful?" Right, none of them have hands. He'll have to keep watching his mouth- beak on that one. "It doesn't hurt me much ta lose a few feathers."

Well, if that's the case, she'll go at a run to start- or more of a jog than anything; Reira managed to get about the only bat known for running and as it turns out it actually does make her fast enough to out pace a wolf walking.

He's certainly correct to assume she can't carry anything however- at all, really. A few yards out, and she'll use one of her running 'vaults' to take to the air and lead Tyki on that way though. The reason why will be clear soon enough- while she does fine on a relatively flat surface, they need to head up some sort of slope to get wherever she's leading him.

"It's just how it's going to go, I guess," Carly sighs, seemingly not caring much about the poor peacock's standing. She is, however, careful about what feathers she takes. "Hmmmm...well, I want to go for a bit of a rainbow so.... hold still!" she announces-

And rather abruptly, plucks at a few.

1) Some of them already have, so yes.

2) Most of this happened before their time, but the Serpent ostensibly attempted to seize control of the powers that Lilith uses to create and bless the residents of Eden with, so that they could live without her. She also intended to cure the ones that Lilith had driven wild as punishment.

Unfortunately, that resulted in the Serpent being banished as well, and also robbed of her sapience. Yet, she holds onto enough of the power that she had before that she has been able to protect and preserve future generations of Furies.

No experience flying at all, nope, not for Childermass.

"That is a good way of thinking about it," Strange admits, with a little nod. Flying like dancing? Maybe! He hasn't really thought of it that way before, probably because he hasn't flown before this week. "Though I wouldn't know either. I haven't found myself a partner yet—and don't worry, I won't ask you."

Partly because Childermass is far too big compared to Strange, partly because Childermass is Childermass.

1) Can they say which of the 12 are already questioning Lilith?

2) This is mostly just for curiosity's sake: How is it that the Furies retain their sapience then? The other animals they met in the tunnels coming down here were absolutely out of their minds. Is the Serpent somehow responsible for that?

3) Do the Furies have some way of getting in/out of Eden that doesn't involve a perilous journey back through the wastes? Also, if they're going to work together, it would be helpful to know if there is a way of contacting the Furies from back in the city.

4) So say they do manage to destroy Lilith, and if Eden disappears, there's a safe haven (he's not saying there is). Is it possible that the beasts may all revert to their former, wild selves without Lilith? What would they need to do to prevent that?

5) The Furies haven't had any snakes show up at their doorstep recently, have they? Part of their reason for coming out here was to look for someone, but they've not seen any sign of them so far.

6) Some of the carnival's members haven't been particularly stealthy, and it seems that Bezaliel may be on to them. Would the Furies be amenable to the idea of giving them shelter so that they don't wind up captured and soul-dissected?

7) Jasper want's to know how many people they've got on their side. Like if they did press for an all out attack what would the numbers look like, and what do they think their chances would be.

8) For future reference: Do the Furies have any idea where the Peoples are being kept, or how they can access them?

THAT'S IT I THINK.

1) They COULD but they are hesitant to do so, for obvious reasons.

2) The nature of the barrens erodes the power of the Fruit and the Flame over time, but the Serpent's venom still retains the power that she stole. So, they inject themselves with that.

3) They do. They could contact them with one of their inside people, but they don't recommend that Peridot's crew try to return back as if nothing's happened.

4) They don't know. Maybe. But the power of the Fruit and Flame doesn't seem limited to areas of Eden's blessing. At least not the version the Serpent has.

5) Not besides the usual one. Though she has been moving around a lot more than usual, so maybe that's related.

6) They can do that, yes, in exchange for the new arrival's assistance with other things. But, the more of them that disappear, the more likely it is the Twelve will say 'fuck it' and persecute ALL of the newbies.

7) A couple dozen who live out here, and more than are sympathetic within the city. Still, an armed conflict is not the kind of revolution they're hoping for.

8) They have a pretty good idea, yes. It would just be suicidal to go there, as it is.

They'll leave it off there. They've already imposed on these guys enough without offering them anything concrete in return, and Peridot doesn't want to keep pushing their luck.

The only thing left to do is to figure out a line of communication between both parties, and then see if their crew can get back into the city. Peridot would like to know what the Furies recommend, in that regard. She says they were pretty darn careful to leave the city without being seen, and were kind of banking on being able to sneak back in before they're missed.

As mentioned in 3, they are STRONGLY recommending they don't physically go back at all. There are good odds someone noticed their absence, and they'd be walking straight into a trap.

Peridot is super perturbed by this. She didn't even look like her assumed identity when she left? What are the odds that in that entire city, someone would notice a single raccoon missing?

Not that she minds staying here. She would much rather just stay with these cool rebels than go back to the city full of snooty artists. She's more just upset that her super stealthy plan to sneak out un-noticed may have had a flaw to it.

Zangetsu will mention that uh, his body is back there. He's good with leaving it there -- it's well hidden. But to that end, no one actually saw HIM leave.

Jasper is extremely down to stay here. She isn't a big fan of rebels, generally speaking, but she really doesn't like the atmosphere in the city.

Zan is free to go back if he is sure he wasn't seen, but they are confused about what Period is saying. What does she mean she didn't look the same?

After a moment's consideration, Peridot just demonstrates by changing back into a raccoon. If she's staying here, the Furies would find out soon enough anyway. She can't keep casting the bat spell forever.

JUST A HANDY SPELL SHE HAS MASTERED, she says. NO BIG DEAL.

Now, if they have somewhere in this base for guests to crash, she would be very grateful if someone could lead her there. It's been a long night.

'Respectful distance' in this case is probably obnoxiously close without technically touching, kind of just getting used to the lion smell in case he needs to track her down later. Being this close up means he probably would catch sight of her new brand though, even if she were still laying down.

"Uwah, they sure put that front 'n center..."

Stumbles in whatever mindless little dance he was doing, plopping onto his rear to prevent just getting bowled over completely. He recognizes that voice from their Library rescue mission, and knowing that, somehow her talent is less surprising than it could be.

"Oh hey, so it can do that too! Ya might want ta watch where you're hopping though." Not that he was really paying attention to anyone else either just then.

"Yeah, nice ta meet ya! They're calling me Rachi, haha."

He'd circled around to Childermass' side mostly so he would be in the way of anyone trying to see what was going on with the dog's paw, but with him being a tall lanky Borzoi, it's hard to talk to him without craning his neck, so Shima backs up again a little bit, just so he doesn't have to tilt his head back completely.

"I saw those shadows earlier and just couldn't help giving it a try~ I guess that counts as our first collab, huh? Who'm I signing with?"

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⇨ EDEN

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