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

"Hauhhhhh..." For a brief moment more, Reira is utterly transfixed by the display, mesmerized by the slow transformation of the glass. As wings begin to appear however, she hurriedly stretches her own out- wobbling only slightly, but hopefully helping to give Rita an idea of what hers look like.

Rita gives an approving hum at her cooperation. She continues shaping the wings in great detail, and even poses them in a manner that's a bit more theatrical than what Reira's shown her. Then, she goes on to add more texture to the fur and ears...

She doesn't speak as she works, but it isn't long until she seems to finish, stepping away from the rod and looking over the bat sculpture. A paw is pressed against her chin, as if she's thinking carefully about it.

"MNhhh...Mnnnhhh...um-"

Reira, it seems, is still holding her wings out- "I can sit, right..?" she squeaks a little worriedly, wobbling a little on her legs. It's quite tricky to stand like this..!!

"Huh?" Rita's eyes glance over in her direction. She waves a paw. "Yeah, sure."

She gives the sculpture another long look, then mumbles, "I guess it'll do..." Using her tools, she removes it from the rod and sets it aside in a designated cooling space. As it cools, the glass gradually becomes clearer, and the details seem to glitter faintly.

She'll then wander back close to Reira and reach out her legs for a nice big stretch. Then, as if actually noticing Reira for the first time (at least, as a person, and not as a convenient practice model), she asks, "Right, uh... you want something?"

"Phew..." Sweet relief. She curls up there for a moment, letting her arms rest. "Um- I was looking for things no one wants anymore," she explains, peering up at the cat. "I'm using it to build shadows, but I don't want to ruin things that people are still using."

Rita turns her head and gestures to a corner of the room. "That stuff seems like it was abandoned by whoever used this place before I moved in. No one's claimed 'em, and they're getting dusty, so you can probably take what you want." What she points to is one of multiple shelves containing a variety of glass items: dishware, statuettes, a stack of colorful marbles, and a pile of shards from some old work that was apparently destroyed.

"And... I don't really need all these cats, so help yourself to whatever you want from there, too," she adds, indicating the part of the room where she's keeping her own creations. It's mostly cats.

"...What do you mean by 'build shadows', anyway?" she goes on to ask after a moment.

"I can use those too!?" Well, she's quickly moving for the Cats before all the...other glass stuff, suffice to say. The hobbling moves much faster when it evolves into leaping push-ups.

A lot faster, as she clears the distance between herself and that side of the room in seconds.

"Umn..." She pauses from where she's already looking over the pile, before immediately starting to shove a few into different positions. "You just...build something, just the right way..." Shove, shove- she moves with a decent amount of precision actually, and seems to have little trouble climbing over the pile to nudge things into new places. "And then, when you have it all built right..."

She squints at the ground- and then waves. "Um-!! Can you put fire, right there," she points, gesturing somewhere above and behind the pile. "Just to make a light!!"

One of Rita's ear twitches with uncertainty, but she follows the gesture and holds out a paw. As requested, a ball of fire appears in the air there, burning brightly enough to cast shadows against the walls and floor.

Reira scurry-flaps away rather quickly so she doesn't ruin her own work- it's crude given it was short notice, but ta-dah!

...

She's made a larger cat shadow from all of these Tiny Cats.

"Like that! ....But nicer," she adds, shuffling her wings. "...With eyes, or maybe whiskers..."

Rita's gaze falls to the shadow cast by the compilation, and her eyes widen slightly. It's... a cat?

"Huh... so that's an art form, too? I've never seen anything like that before... but then again, I've never really cared for art." She shrugs. Sort of. Whatever the cat-equivalent of that gesture is.

"Yeah!" Yeah is...most of her answer, but she'll explain the art form anyway since Rita just said she's never seen it before. "...I don't think most of us liked art before," Reira adds, unintentionally filling in the gaps of an alibi.

"But, um...I just make the piles work until they can make the right kind of shadow. The pile doesn't look like the shadow, but it's better that way, since it shows you're not just copying something then."

Control how the light is cast, control the shadow. "Um...I think it's like feelings, I guess." It seems to be the best way she can come up with ideas anyway, when it comes to feelings and how those feelings come about.

"...Feelings," Rita repeats, sounding somewhat unconvinced.

"Well, whatever. You're still welcome to any materials I've got here." She waves a paw dismissively, then glances back at her. "The name's Puri, by the way." Remembering all these new names is a pain in the ass, but she'll share it anyway.

"Yeah." Without being prompted, Reira will (unfortunately, perhaps) explain. "...Because lots of people try to make it look like they're feeling a different thing than they are. Or they say they're feeling something different from what they are. So they're 'one thing', but the feeling is a different one."

Or something like that, she thinks. She seems to give it some further thought before following the topic of names. "Um! I'm 'Phanu'-!" she cheerfully introduces. And quite honestly too! "...It's a nice name, I think!" They said it was from the soul. That's already extra nice.

⇨ EDEN

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