lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN

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⇨ 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.

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It's so much easier to remember who someone is when they're human and not when they're fluffy with paws. Even as a bird, Strange somehow manages to give off the impression of 'oh fuck, I know this guy, what's his name again.' Still, he's got plenty of experience bullshitting his way through situations, so that's getting put to use. Since he can't really smile (no lips), Strange makes a happy little chirping noise of acknowledgement.

Thankfully for Shima, this is a bit after Strange secured Ignatius and he's backed off of his panic attack. And he hasn't caught him at a bad time at all. Strange had been scouring the city, trying to find good, relatively secluded places so he could do some creepy scrying in peace. He doesn't mind interrupting that for conversation. Strange turns around a little and shows Shima his wing. The brand is placed a bit higher up, on whatever the birdy equivalent of the upper arm would be.

"I am. I've only arrived a few days ago. They've called me Zophi," he explains. "What about you?"

"They tell me it's Rachi." He'll pat the ground once and leave a pink paw print in the dirt in case Strange needs any help identifying him.

Since Strange was already on the search for secluded places, it's convenient that Shima's also scouting for hiding spots. He nods to him to follow before he trots off in a seemingly random direction in the gardens. Taking to the air is certainly a good way to canvas for quiet spots but there's plenty of things to hide under too, so he's gonna point them toward and older art installation that people have lost interest in but hasn't been dismantled yet to poke under for a bit of cover.

"Ya seem much calmer, things worked out with your friend?"

Edited 2018-07-14 20:38 (UTC)

The voice is familiar but the pink helps give it away. Oh. This is Shima. Well, that's good. He thinks Shima's alright, if a little annoying. He doesn't really have a reason not to chat with Shima so Strange follows him, flying over towards the art installation.

"They have," Strange admits. With hindsight, he realizes that his behavior when Ignatius was missing was...not ideal. But in Strange's defense, Igs had gone from 'almost dying' to 'missing in action' just in the span of twelve or so hours, that's a perfectly valid reason to freak out. "I'll admit, it was touch and go for a bit, but things should be back to normal."

He hopes.

At the very least even if he's annoying, Shima's mostly relaxed and friendly toward Strange, when he isn't complaining about something.

"Haha, well normal seems ta be stretching it, but I get what ya mean. Ya really did get a chance ta talk ta him after all, huh? You two getting along?"

He crawls into the piece, the inside of it hollow and spacious enough for a few animals their size to hang out comfortably though it clearly isn't meant to be viewed from the inside. Light filters in through the material it's made of, showing the seams that can't be seen from outside.

"We are." And Strange can't hide the little smile in his voice as he says that. Granted, he and Ignatius have a long way to go before they got to something more than 'tolerating each other', but Strange is confident that they'll reach that eventually.

As Shima crawls inside the piece, Strange understands what he's doing. This place is quiet, relatively out of the way, and nobody can see them. The perfect place to talk secrets. He swoops down towards the ground, landing on the dirt, before following Shima into the art installation itself.

It's only once they're inside that Strange continues talking. "I don't know the specifics of where he was, if that's what you're planning on asking."

"Ah, well I mostly wanted an update on him since I haven't had a chance ta chat with him myself since the first time. 'N figured I'd get ya back a little for all the questions I had ta answer about how he was doing before!"

"Was he knocked out the whole time?"

If Shima wasn't on Acquisitions and wasn't someone who already had some contact with Ignatius, Strange would be a lot more reluctant to explain Ignatius's circumstances. Still, he was going to explain them to Childermass anyway, it would be better if more than one person on the team knew.

"Not all, but most of the time. Whoever took him from the temple put a sleeping spell on him. They brought him to this cavern, he woke up, he fled."

He settles down, grooming the back of his paw a couple times, a thinking gesture one might make like scratching the back of their head if they were human.

"Eeh, he wouldn't say what his escape route was, then?" Shima asks, since he'd mentioned he doesn't know the specifics. Is that what getting along looks like to Strange? Shima isn't sure if that's just because all his friendships are kind of combative and he just doesn't have a frame of reference or if it's something else.

Edited 2018-07-16 03:58 (UTC)

Strange shook his head. "Considering he can turn into ash, I think I have an idea of how he escaped." Turn into ash, float through whatever nook, cranny, or opening you can find, turn back to your normal form and run like hell. It's a strategy Strange has contemplated multiple times with his smoke.

"But no, I don't know the specifics." He doesn't seem to mind that, though.

Shima tilts his head a little as a different explanation for this suddenly occurs to him.

"Ah... Could it be ya decided not ta push him about it 'cause he was still traumatized from the branding or something?"

Sure, we'll go with that. It's better than the main reason, which was 'Strange got distracted' and 'Ignatius tried to metaphorically dangle the Mirror in front of him.' Birds can't bite their lips, but there's an odd little hesitation before Strange answers like he's biting his lip and mulling things over.

"I doubt he'd tell me even if I pushed. After all, why would he give up perfectly good information for free without getting something for himself?"

In Strange's mind, Ignatius is pretty desperate for any sort of leverage at the moment.

Hmmmm. Shima doesn't know enough about corvids to really get the nuance of that hesitation, but it's enough to at least tell Strange is holding something back. So he sidles forward a little, head bowed to kind of jab/nip bluntly at the raven's chest, a rude but playful gesture that also puts himself in pecking reach. He's only a little bigger than a house cat though, and most of him is fluff, so it won't knock Strange over or anything and he doesn't yank any feathers.

"Well, that's true. But you're sure keeping things pretty close to your chest too, aren't ya. C'mon, how's he actually doing? Did ya or didn't ya ask what he saw? I'm trying ta be helpful to ya as much as I can, ya know? Don't hold back~"

Yeah, Strange is mentally calling bullshit. Shima's trying to be helpful? How is badgering him for information being helpful? Sure, Strange doesn't mind chatting about these sorts of things, but don't say you're being helpful when all you're doing is asking questions.

He scoots back a little when Shima tries to jab at his chest. However, now that his head's close enough, Strange reaches over to try and tweak Shima's ear with his beak.

"He's doing fine," Strange responds, with a shrug in his voice. And then, he gets a bit of an idea. Shima was one of the ones that met Ignatius on the moon. And what did everybody up there talk about? All Strange has is a vague list of topics but absolutely no details. So, almost a little too casually, he adds in, "If you really wanted to be helpful, you'd tell me what you know about his Heart."

Hey now, information is critical to effective helping. Or in this case gauging what kind of approach or advice would even be applicable. Shima lets Strange tweak his unbranded ear with a huff, but drops the playfulness at that response.

"Still convinced nobody else has any good intentions toward him, huh. Ah well..."

Sets his head down on his paws, turning his nose away, feigning disinterest now.

"Maybe he doesn't remember it but I mentioned a couple times ta him back on the moon that the plan isn't ta keep his Heart forever. At least, that's not what the Ringmaster wants. Or maybe he gets it already and he just doesn't wanna look around himself since there's not really a trick to it or anything besides learning ta empathize with people enough not ta turn around and call the Summer Court down ta nuke us as soon as he's free. He does seem like the type ta think even entertaining a friendly thought about the Carnival is treason."

Edited 2018-07-18 02:17 (UTC)

So people who went on the moon visit knew about the Heart? But Strange knew Childermass was on the moon, and yet Childermass didn't seem to know about the Heart during their conversation.

...of course, Childermass could be lying. Strange's feathers fluff up a bit at the mere thought of it. Considering his past history with Childermass keeping things from him, it wouldn't surprise him if that was the truth. Ass.

But no matter. It's not Shima's fault that this is still apparently a problem with Childermass. Time to focus on something else instead.

"Or perhaps he simply wants it back. If you had your magic or abilities removed, wouldn't you want them back no matter the cost?"

There's the possibility it's just Shima, but well, once burned and so on. Shima doesn't know what Childermass has or hasn't said, unfortunately, but he had a reason for saying as much as he did.

He shrugs. A little over a year ago losing all his powers might have given Shima a chance to ditch his home life like he's always wanted, though admittedly at this point he'd be sunk if they were taken away. But either way he's clearly ambivalent about that line of reasoning.

"Dunno, sounds like 'no matter the cost' is pretty much him telling ya enough about the Heart thing ta have ya poking around all sneakily about it for him. I'm kinda only saying this much 'cause I'm assuming ya plan ta tell him."

And Strange can't help but give Shima a wry little smile. He never was one to keep things to himself to begin with but for some reason, being in the carnival has only exacerbated his distrust of lying and keeping secrets. Might as well leave everything on the open.

"He doesn't know where it is or how to get it back. I promised him I'd keep a look out for it." Of course, that was Strange just desperately trying to gain some leverage and find a way to convince Ignatius to forget the arrangement between them. Now that the contract is going to be broken when everybody returns to the carnival in relatively one piece...Strange is still probably going to look for it.

He knows the Ringmaster can't keep Ignatius forever. And he wants Ignatius to actually trust him. What better way to gain Ignatius's trust than to find out about the Heart? Besides, Strange still hates the idea of stripping away something so essential as the core of Ignatius's magic.

"So yes, I am planning to tell him what I find. It's not a secret," Strange remarks, with a simple shrug. "He deserves to know what's happened to his Heart."

"Mmmm debatable, practically speaking! But I guess we'll see."

Shima gives Strange a side-long look, not lifting his head from his paws. "It'd help if you could chill out about defending his honor 'n let him get around ta doing it himself though. Honest advice.

"But since ya seem determined ta fuss at him, I guess you should know that the Ringmaster can't release the Heart herself now that it's sealed, due ta how it's been hidden. Ironically, the release conditions on it means that the more he knows about it specifically, the harder it'll be for him ta achieve those conditions, especially this early inta things. The most straightforward path is like I said: get ta know people. But he won't be happy ta hear that, and it might even sabotage things ta remind him."

This tells Strange a few things. One, Shima knows way more about the Heart than he's letting on. Two, the fact that Shima's putting emphasis on Ignatius getting to know people tells Strange that one of the release conditions is...what, being friends? That's stupid. And a bit impractical. And an imprecise metric for releasing the Heart in the first place. No, it's got to be something more than that. But what it is, Strange has no idea.

He can at least tell Ignatius about the Ringmaster being unable to release the Heart herself. It's a little bit of information, but it's more information than Strange had to begin with.

"If the Ringmaster can't release the Heart, then someone else from the carnival is the most likely candidate for being in charge of the Heart's release." And Strange can't help but wince as he says that. "I mean this in the kindest way possible, but barely anyone here is capable enough for that."

Shima's not sure if he managed to convey why 'make friends or you'll never get your Heart back' would be a stupid thing to tell Ignatius, even if that's not precisely how it works, but hopefully the implication is at least enough to understand why Ignatius knowing too much about the Heart could move his goal farther from him.

Finally rising nonchalantly to his feet again, ducking to glance out from their hiding place to see if anyone's around before he goes back to addressing Strange's assumption. "What, ya've never met a curse that could only be broken be true love? Not that that's what's happening, but way ta trash everybody as the first option."

Edited 2018-07-20 04:40 (UTC)

Strange still isn't buying this bullshit that Shima's trying to sell. Sure, he can yammer on about the magical properties of bonds, repeated actions, and emotional connections until the cows come home. But all of this is still so implausible. There had to be a better defined answer than just 'make friends'.

So, Strange is going to give Shima some bullshit right back.

"I meant that barely anybody else is responsible enough to be trusted with this. You've been here long enough, you've seen what passes for 'plans' around here." Half the time they just barely work, all of the time they're kind of dumb.

"Aside from that, we're a carnival full of teenagers. It's a bit degrading to have one's magical essence rest in the hands of someone who isn't even out of puberty!" That's said as he looks directly at Shima. He's not actively calling out the fact that hey Shima, you're technically still a kid, but Strange is certainly thinking it.

Edited 2018-07-20 05:05 (UTC)

"Haha, sounds like ya've made up your mind about it having ta be someone though."

Shima says that just a taaad humoringly, like it's funny that he's stuck on the idea that entrusting it to a person was the only option, not disagreeing with his assessment of the Carnival or himself. Think what you like, Strange! But seriously, Shima has nudged Strange around as much as he can at this point while trying to avoid being upfront enough to jeopardizing the whole delicate balance, so whatever the man comes up with from here, Shima is going to have to just wait and see.

"Well, if you're decided then ya won't be needing me for anything else. Probably about time we split up!"

Goes to stick his head out from under the installation. He'll give Strange a chance to stop him from leaving, but only barely. Otherwise he'll have to catch up to him outside, where the can't talk as openly.

"Of course it's someone," Strange remarks, as if it's completely obvious. "She wouldn't leave this up to chance."

And in Strange's mind? Nebulous win conditions like 'be friends' definitely count as chance. After all, everybody has different opinions on what counts as friendship and if people are friends or not.

"And there's plenty of things I'll need you for and want to ask you. I've just accepted the fact that you won't actually answer them."

Shima's trickier than he seems. This entire conversation was full of non-answers and hypotheticals and Strange has a feeling that it's ended with Shima knowing more about him than him knowing about Shima. He hops out of the art installation, flapping his wings and spreading out a bit once they're back in the open.

Laughs as he trots back toward the more trafficked areas of town.

"Eeh. With how you were talking, ya'd think any 'someone' would be chancy. Well, don't worry about it too much. Ya've got lots ta work with already. Maybe when things have progressed enough I can be more direct ♥"

"I doubt you will," Strange responds, with a wry little smile. Because yeeeep. Strange has a sneaking suspicion that like a good chunk of the carnival, Shima's going to be needlessly secretive for no good reason.

"I hope you'll prove me wrong." He takes to the air and flies over towards Shima. "I'll see you around. After all, it's not a large city."

But before he flies off, Strange takes one last look at Shima's tail...and then tries to pull at it a little with his beak.

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worldlyafflictions - 2018-07-21 21:08 (UTC) - Expand

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