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

"Yeah, I guess." He doesn't really expect to match up to their abilities, especially with a craft he's never done before. But maybe he can surprise them with something to take notice of. It's at least worth a shot for someone to try. "Have you learned anything?"

"Not much, but..."

Rita stretches a paw out, lightly touching Yuya's teacup. She holds it there, and seems to concentrate for a moment. She then leans back and takes another sip of her own tea.

"Your tea'll get cold," she says, vaguely urging him to take a drink from it.

Should he touch the cup, he'll telepathically receive knowledge of what Rita's seen so far. How she followed Ignatius to the healing temple, saw him pass out, then got shooed out along with Strange and Herbert. Upon returning another day, she learned that he wasn't there anymore. Additionally, she's heard that the Honorables find their arrival particularly strange, and rumors are already starting to float around.

Oh. And as an afterthought, she'll throw in a mention that she can magically imbue objects with information like this. Surprise.

Yuya tilts his head, curious when she touches his cup, but he obeys her direction and grabs it with both paws only to immediately stop as he's immediately filled with information. He's felt this before, with Rita's book, so the surprise is less that she can do it at all, and more that she kept the ability to.

He smiles, his expression someone twisted with amusement as he looks over at Rita. "You're really smart."

She knows that, but he feels the need to say it anyway. They can keep things completely secret this way. "Does it work in reverse?"

It's a good thing Rita can't visibly blush in this body, though her fur bristles and her ears flatten at the compliment.

She seems to struggle to find something to say to that, but then he goes on to ask a straightforward question for her to give a straightforward answer to. Shaking her head, she replies, "...No. It's one-way only." She wishes she had a better answer than that, but them's the breaks.

Yuya's ears perk up when her's flatten, which he's pretty sure if a bad reaction. Without seeing the blushing, he can't exactly tell she's flustered and now he's confused why she wouldn't want compliments to feed her ego with.

"Oh." Well, then he'll just have to continue to pick and choose his words. He pauses, wracking his brain for anything else important he's heard that Rita should know.

He leans in closer, lowering his voice. "The branding--uh, the anointment? It wasn't just to put a mark on us. It's the Flames of Inspiration, and that's how all the Honorables get their talents to make things."

So that, at least, isn't with the Serpent anymore. And it doesn't seem to be an Architect, either.

Rita seems to relax, and she nods at that information. "I figured." Part of that was explained to her, and her sudden inexplicable affinity for crafting lined up pretty closely with the event.

She casts a glance back at her thigh, where her brand happens to be. "I have to wonder, though... is it the fire itself that has those properties? The ones branding us didn't seem like they knew anything about enchantments..." She assumes the brand is a sort of enchantment, anyway.

"I think so, and Lilith doesn't have to do it personally. But it's hard to remember being just an animal before, right? Kerubi said she couldn't do any of her special talents before it."

It lines up with what they read, anyway. Those seem to be the starting point, and what makes Eden possible to begin with.

"Kerubi? Who's that?"

Rita's searching her memory, but she doesn't think any of their allies got named that... but she doesn't know most of their names yet, so who knows?

"She's one of the Chosen. She's a fox that makes illusions and she helps Saraqael." Definitely not one of them, although Yuya talks like he's got a positive impression of her. Which, with Yuya, is really not a high bar to clear at all.

"Huh... I met a Chosen too, but he wasn't exactly friendly. Rizo, an elephant that patrols this place. He seemed pretty unimpressed with our arrival group." Suspicious, more like.

But it sounds like Yuya's encounter went better than hers, so she'll ask, "What was Kerubi like?" Maybe he heard some other interesting things from her.

"Eh... distant?" He had to persist a little. "And confident. She thinks everyone has to find divine clarity their own way, since everyone has different talents... She's really serious about it. But I think she thought I was just trying to get further ahead talking to her at first."

It was hard to miss the way she worded her advice. He suspects she gets bothered for that a lot. "I asked if I could show her what I make, and she said yes. So, when I have a good one, I'll go talk to her again."

⇨ EDEN

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