lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Peridot's top priority when everyone was receiving their animal forms had been to memorize A) what her friends looked like, and B) what the other supervisors looked like. It had come as something of a relief when she'd noticed that she and Childermass had both been placed under the same architect. Even if there's no restriction on animals under different spiritual leaders interacting with one another, the connection makes it easier (at least by her logic) to justify approaching as soon as time allows. That's how you make 'new' friends in a new place, right? You find commonalities with one another and start by bonding over that.

So, while Childermass is in the middle of working, a little raccoon shows up to watch him work. She has to admit, his talent is certainly fascinating, and she gets caught up in observing for a few minutes before she can bring herself to interrupt.

"You're sure getting right into things," Peridot observes blandly.

Chances are Childermass would have been fairly easy to figure out regardless; black-furred dog, the sort with a long crooked nose and gangly as all heck limbs. Gangly limbs he's currently using to sketch out horses in shadow, though he does pause when Peridot finally says something. He had known he had a little audience, he just didn't bother acknowledging her until now.

"Would be a bit odd to ignore it," he replies, looking up at what he's set down to the wall for now, then turning to glance back at Peridot, taking one forepaw off the wall as he twists about to look at her. "Don't you think?"

"I suppose so," the raccoon says with a noncommittal jerk of her head. "Personally I've been too busy familiarizing myself with how this place works."

Actually she's been ignoring the call of her talent and it's killing her a bit, but she's trying to focus on the whole reason why they're here and at least try to track down a few leads first. MISTER ACQUISITIONER.

"My name is Salathi, by the way," Peridot adds, looking sort of pained when she says the name. "And you? What name did the wise Saraqael bestow upon you?"

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?"

Fitting in is for squares.

"Well yeah. In a place like this there's plenty worth looking at," Peridot says, making a vague gesture with one paw. "It's all so... New! New and UN-familiar to me. Just being given a name is weird! I'm still trying to get used to it."

Lean into the awkwardness, Peridot. It'll make the act seem more convincing. Probably.

She sits back on her haunches and cocks her head at the borzoi. "I asked someone about that, actually. The names, I mean. Being given a name where I had none prior is... an honor, of course, but I was curious how that even worked. So I asked this coyote-- A coyote, can you believe that? A natural predator of my species, the raccoons-- I asked, 'How do the architects even come up with so many names for all the animals here?' and SHE told me that the Architects can read your soul and derive the name from that."

Now that's interesting. Childermass drops down away from the wall entirely, leaving the shadows where they are, stretched across the wall as drawings, and turns towards her before plopping down to sit.

"Odd way to do it," he comments idly, as if he only finds it curious and not, say, worrisome. There's a lot of questions that raises, ones he can't ask in case any of the real Honorables happen to overhear. "I didn't know soul-reading was a thing."

Although, there, he looks back up at the wall.

"Didn't know this was a thing, either, though, so I shouldn't be surprised. Did she say anything else about it? Can they only see names in a soul?"

"She said something like... The Architects have such a masterful perception of reality that they can see the 'foundations of our potential' in our souls, and they derive everyone's names from that," Peridot replies, trying not to show how concerned she is about this. She's wringing her little raccoon hands a bit as she explains, though.

"So they see what we might become," Childermass considers aloud. It sounds like they could see more than that, but if they could, why did no one raise the alarm? So he only tilts his head back up, twisting around to look at his drawings.

"In this case, artistically. Perhaps that's why the naming is after the anointment."

"Oh! Yes. That would make sense, wouldn't it?" Peridot nods, trying to sound impressed by the observation, like she'd failed to make that connection herself.

Now how the heck does she make her next point without just making it super obvious what she's talking about.

"It's interesting, how they..." She makes a circular gesture with one forepaw, filling the space while she chooses her words. "They don't just tell us what they see in us. It's like they want us to discover it for ourselves, so they can... Watch, and see what goals we establish for ourselves," the raccoon says slowly and awkwardly.

That's what she thinks she'd do, if she were in the Architect's position of detecting interlopers of some sort, but not knowing what their intentions were. She'd keep going like nothing was wrong, while keeping a close eye on the offender to try and figure out exactly what it is that they're after.

So they're watching them to see what they do, rather than raise an alarm. That's more likely, to be honest, though Childermass won't say so aloud. He turns back away from the wall, looking down at Peridot again.

"If that's so, I haven't seen any of them around me," he admits. If a dog could shrug, he would, but he'll just have to settle on shaking his head a bit like he's clearing at the cobwebs as he thinks this over. "But I'll keep an eye out. I can't say I feel much up to having an audience for my work just yet. T'would be awful if an Architect caught me working on something less serious."

⇨ EDEN

shadow arts!

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