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

Keep showing him kindness...well, Strange is trying to do that anyway. Keeping that up should be easy enough. He still doesn't really know how to show Ignatius that human's lives aren't inferior, but maybe if he keeps helping him out and sticks around even after their agreement is broken, that'll help stick. He gives Yuya a little nod.

"Thank you, by the way. I don't think I'd have known where to start if we didn't talk about it beforehand."

Unsurprisingly, the person from a period drama isn't so used to the idea of shonen protagonist-ing your way into friendship. But hell, if it worked for CY-Ren, perhaps it will work here.

"Of course! You know, I want to see things change too." Even if this never ends up effecting his world (and he hopes it doesn't, they have enough bullshit) he'd like to see a better relationship between the Fae and the worlds they visit--or at least for them to stop conquering them all.

"What's your talent, anyway?"

"Dancing!" Strange explains, with a smile. Not writing, which he was good at already, or anything that would make sense for a bird to do, but dancing. Strange was a halfway decent dancer before Eden so he's been making it work, but the truth remains: it's really friggen awkward to watch a bird dance.

Still, Strange doesn't mind. He liked dancing as a human, might as well enjoy it as a bird. And the more he adds aerial movements into his routine, the more fun he's finding all of this.

"Maybe I could give you a performance in exchange for the tea?"

Yuya's kind of visualizing it as waltzing, but with animals. Which probably isn't right, and he's curious, so he nods enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure! You can have more, I really have a lot..."

He folds his paws over the table attentive.

Strange is interpreting Yuya folding his paws on the table that way as Yuya wanting to see Strange dance. Which alright, he doesn't mind that. So, Strange flies over towards an open space in front of Yuya's table, strikes a pose, then starts to dance.

The basic moves and steps are fairly waltz-like. However, since Strange has wings instead of feathers and is currently dancing by himself, this means there's naturally going to be some additions. He moves his wings around as he dances, like he's doing a fan dance (not that Strange would know how to do that sort of dance to begin with). He's moving oddly deftly for a bird, but the movements are definitely impeded by the fact that this is all on the ground.

At the end of it, Strange does a little spin, takes a bow, and then looks up at Yuya. "Truth be told, I didn't really know what I was doing for part of that."

Yuya claps as Strange finishes, though the effect is a little lost with paws.

"It was still good! You can be an improv dancer." Does Strange even know what improv is? Like Yuya knows how modern of a term that is. "Or... you know, telling a story with it."

What the hell's an improv. Strange gives Yuya a bit of a blank look before he helpfully provides a clarification. Tell a story, he can understand that much. "Like ballet?" Strange clarifies.

Hopefully like ballet? He's not entirely sure if this 'improv' is anything like ballet, but that's the main form of narrative dance that Strange can tie the concept to.

"Yeah, like that." Yuya squints a little as he visualizes a raven ballet. Weird, but he can see it. He's a fox making tea after all. "Maybe you can work with some of the other Honorables?"

That's not going to happen. Strange knows he's already a bit suspicious and it wouldn't surprise him if the goose in the healing temple was already gossiping about the weird raven who couldn't get a hint and almost had to be thrown out of the temple (mostly because Strange knows that if he were in the goose's shoes, he'd straight up be gossiping). Still, Yuya doesn't need to know that.

"Perhaps," Strange muses. "I'd want to work with a fellow bird, however, and I haven't seen many of them dancing."

Mostly because bird bodies aren't physically built for dancing. Details, details.

"Maybe you can put up an advertisement for partners?" Yuya's blissfully unaware how suspicious Strange is right now, and is instead taking fitting in very seriously. Granted, that's because he's a little afraid of the consequences of failure here.

"That's a good way to get to know people."

Strange is very aware of how suspicious he is right now. Still, he'll at least pretend to entertain the idea of asking birds to dance.

"I'll need to come up with a few things before deciding on an advertisement," Strange muses. "What sort of dances, for example. And it would probably be best if I found a musician as well!"

⇨ EDEN

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