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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Yuya pauses, squinting a little. She's got to be new to ask that, and only the carnival arrived recently.

"I think so? I'm Iofi." He says it slowly, still getting used to the new name for himself. At least it's short, and easy to remember. "I was named by Saraqael. He's the wolf architect."

"Wow, another coincidence! Me too!" Peridot replies, smile still plastered on her face, still talking in that sort of stilted and forced manner of speech. She sounds like someone who's really bad with kids trying to figure out how to interact, with a kid. Kind of inadvertently condescending sounding, even though she's trying to make this seem natural.

"My name... is... Salathi. Nice to meet you."

She almost sticks a paw out for a handshake, before realizing that a raccoon shouldn't really know how to do that.

Yuya... isn't sure how to take her awkward tone. Is she just having a hard time acclimating to becoming an animal?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you too. This is pretty different from where we came from, right?" He's trying to sound casual about it. "Have you, uh, made any friends yet?"

"Not really," Peridot says flatly, finally dropping the tone because she is no longer lying. "Though I blame the fact that all of the Honorables that I've met so far have been snooty stuck up clods who think they're all better artists than me just because they've had their brands longer than a handful of days," the raccoon sniffs, sticking her nose in the air. "That's why I figure it's better to stay close to the other newcomers."

Yuya waves his paw in a vague gesture like he wants to ask her to tone down the dissent a little, but doesn't want to actually start a confrontation over it.

"Some of them are nice... but they're all way more experienced then us, so I guess we have to remember we're new to thinking like this." He puts emphasis on the end, because they are supposed to be only recently enlightened animals, and not fully realized people. "If you show them what you can make, maybe you'll make a good impression."

"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.

"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.

"I've never even had non-flowering tea before," Peridot says, peering at the tea ball with widened eyes that are full of genuine appreciation for the craft. Neither Salathi the raccoon nor Peridot the gem have tried it, since food and drink typically hold little interest to her. Tea is something that Pearl was always interested in back home, but Peridot never really saw the appeal of just brewing a bunch of leaves and drinking the result.

THIS kind of tea sounds interesting, though. Flowers are a particular special interest of hers. She sticks her nose at it and gives a little sniff, and then looks up at Yuya. "Smells sharp-- but not in offensive way. Marigolds?"

"Yeah! You know a lot about flowers?" Yuya doesn't, but making flowering tea is definitely resulting in him learning about it. He didn't even know Marigolds were edible before.

He wonders if this is going to be permanent fixation of his, briefly, but he won't mention it. It's not a time to suspiciously question what's going on.

"More about growing them than about how they taste," Peridot admits. She pauses, and glances around real quick to really make sure that no one is happening by before she continues at something closer to a whisper. "Okay to be clear, your tea is genuinely pleasing to the olfactory senses and I meant everything that I said just now, but that's obviously not why I came over here. I wanted to get your name, and I want to compare findings."

Yuya tilts his head to better hear her (bigger ears help), his expression a little less relaxed as they get to business. He has his eyes focused out, watchful for anyone coming too close.

"I haven't heard anything about the... you know what." There's only one physical object they want here. "I don't think most of the Honorables know about it, but the Architects probably do."

"That's my theory as well," Peridot agrees, a grave expression on her face. "I'd say it's further supported by what I found out after the naming ceremony, which is that they apparently chose our names by looking at our souls."

Because yeah, if that's actually true, and that is how they do it? The connection is obvious enough. Souls are kind of the Silver Mirror's playground, from what she remembers.

Yuya jerks up slightly in surprise. "They--" No, no, wait, his ears fold back as he lowers his voice again. "They looked at our souls? And they... didn't see, uh... what we are?"

He trails off, those last few words barely audible with concern. Either this spell goes a lot deeper than he anticipated, there are limits to the mirror, or limits to them using the mirror. Or they do no the truth and they're all boned from the start, but Yuya's not going to think about that!

"They either didn't... Or they did, and they're just watching us extra closely waiting to see if we slip up, or if they can figure out what we're here for," Peridot hisses softly. "I'd say either scenario is pretty likely."

Not knowing is honestly a lot more stressful than if they knew they were infiltrators from the start. Was this really a good idea to handle things this way...?

"I'll be careful." That's what he can promise, given they're surrounded by a bunch of unknowns here. "Uh, I heard no one here is from when Eden first started... apparently Honorables die when they can't create anymore. And only a few Honorables are close to the Architects and work with them on their own projects. I think they're called Chosen? Or she saw herself like that, anyway."

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⇨ EDEN

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