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

Lauren's got a few flowers he's been carrying in his mouth, because deer. He comes closer at Yuya's call, setting the cut stems down gently before looking over the fox's work space. He sees flowers, and some kind of herbs, but it's not clear to him what Yuya's making just by looking.

"What is it?" he asks, curious. He leans in closer, examining the flowers, surprised and not surprised that he knows the names of each one. This place is weird.

"They're flowering teas." Yuya's been explaining this a lot, so it comes out sounding practiced. "They bloom when you brew them."

He's reached a point where he's playing around with the effects of blends, matching them to the flowers inside. It's resulted in quite the variety, most of with seem well composed but some of the combinations are giving off strange combinations of scents. "You can have a few if you want, I really don't need all of these."

He looks even more confused at the explanation. He'd never even heard of such a thing. Did you put the tea bags in a cup and watch the blooms after pouring the hot water over them? But then wouldn't the flowers get in the way when you tried to drink it? Was a clear pot meant to be used instead? Or maybe one without a lid, but then wouldn't the tea get cold? He has a lot of questions about the process, but doesn't ask any of them.

He gives the offered bag a look, and then leans closer to try and catch it's scent.

"I'm not sure I would know how to use it."

Is he asking Yuya to explain how tea is made? .... Kind of.

"Oh. Well... you put it in a teapot and pour boiling water on it." The process of making tea is really that simple. "Then you let it sit for a few minutes, and that's when the flower opens and you can drink it. The water, not the flower."

"But how can they see the flowers if they're in a teapot? Doesn't the hot water ruin the flowers? Will it clog the spout?" Suddenly all his questions from before make an appearance at Yuya's unsatisfactory answer. Sure none of the flowers on the table were poisonous, but he's wondering if Yuya really knows what he's doing here.

Edited 2018-07-13 01:34 (UTC)

Yuya can't really just up and talk about how he didn't invent flowering teas, and some of that obviously isn't a problem if they exist and are popular. But he's supposed to be only a recently enlightened fox, not a human who's seen them before.

"You use a glass teapot, it doesn't, and it doesn't clog the spout. It's woven together so it doesn't just fall apart when it gets wet. This is my inspiration." He knows what he's doing, which is honestly the weird part.

So then without the glass teapot the tea bag was useless.

"Are you giving away the teapots too?"

"My talent isn't making teapots." He could try but that'd probably end very poorly. "But other people do, it's not hard to get one..."

Rita just grabbed one from the shelves, although she might have also made it given glassblowing is her specialty. Still, Yuya didn't expect anyone to ask hin for teapots too.

He frowns. He's new, he doesn't nobody. Yes he could ask people, but that also sounds really embarrassing. And wouldn't that draw attention? Is it an okay kind of attention or is it not? Being undercover is given him even more anxiety about mundane tasks than normal.

"Maybe if I find one I'll come back?"

"You don't have to take one." This is obviously becoming a bigger deal than Yuya thought it was going to be, so he waves his paw dismissively before continuing to weave another one together. "I'm still learning, anyway. I don't know if they'll all taste like they should, so don't worry about it."

⇨ EDEN

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