⇨ EDEN

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

UMAB'S DELIVERY SERVICE INTERRUPTION (Day 85)

[osteothropy]

A mentioned elsewhere, Sans has been cycling information through a mailing list four time a day. He'll reliably keep up this schedule from Day 80 to Day 84 - it's only at the midnight of Day 84/85 that he'll suddenly miss his delivery run, with no explanation.

For the rest of that night, he is nowhere to be seen. It's not until late morning that he shows up in the library, working away at some writing project as if nothing happened. You can try to interrogate him for information, here. The general gist is that he doesn't remember anything that happened last night, and he also doesn't seem concerned about it.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita will have spent the whole night awake, and she looks visibly frazzled when she finally finds him. It takes all her self-restraint to not run and make a scene, but she walks up to him, sits, and staring incredulously, demands, "Where were you?"

[osteothropy]

Sans whole response is to look up from writing (which amounts to him skittering across the page like a type writer) and drawling:

"Where was what?"

[anti_nonsense]

"You, last night, when we were supposed to meet," Rita clarifies through clenched teeth.

[osteothropy]

He doesn't really seem to get what she's pissed about. This would be easier to decode if playing dumb wasn't sort of Sans's whole schtick.

"Oh yeah? What for?" he asks.

[anti_nonsense]

Okay, that throws her off.

"You know what for," she hisses, trying to keep her voice low. "Look, I'm not in the mood for any stupid jokes right now."

[osteothropy]

"Hey, buddy, I'm not trying to hiss you off or anything," he says, with the verbal tone of a shrug. "I dunno, I must have fallen asleep or something."

[soft_focus]

Not being on the mailing list in the first place (Carly actually actively withholds the more proactive stuff from her), Reira will approach Sans once she sees the beetle at work and observe for a few minutes.

Eventually, she notes that he seems to be writing better than he was before. And writing more in general.

She asks if this means she can't have his crumbled paper sheets.

[osteothropy]

Huh? Sans seems confused. He's end up saying "Well, sure, if I'm not using 'em."

[soft_focus]

Ok well, that's weird. The confusion, anyway. She'll ask what scraps there are that he's written on but decided aren't useful any more.

She also asks Why he suddenly got better about writing things in the first place. Did he find something he liked? He had a lot of starts without finishes before. She was sort of worried actually- she confesses it's why she was going to use his scraps for a piece. Maybe it would have made him feel better.

[osteothropy]

Did he? Huh, weird.

He'll tell her that he's not sure what his problem was, he guesses the ideas just came to him, today. He'll look around for scraps to give her but then realize he doesn't actually have any pages that are disposable.

[soft_focus]

He did! She explains seeing at least one honorable even try to read over what he had to help.

It didn't. Or maybe it did, she admits, since he's writing now.

She doesn't hide being a bit upset about the lack of scraps, but with a sigh says her piece probably wouldn't be any good now anyway.

She'll thus have to make something else- "What are you writing about?"

[osteothropy]

"Oh. Uh, I dunno," he says, going back to his page and starting to skitter across it again, leaving a trail of words. "Just whatever, I guess."

She can try to squint at the words, but it doesn't make a lot of sense out of context. Something about time tunnels and and a bunch of big words she probably doesn't understand.

[chronosynthesis]

Things that are worrying: that. But Syrlya's seen enough shit in the carnival now that he's going to not make a big deal about Sans missing his circuit and instead try to read what he's writing.

"How was your night, Umab?"

[osteothropy]

"Cool, cool," he says, continuing to 'type' even as Syrlya speaks to him. If Sans knows he did something wrong, he's sure not showing it. It takes him a moment to remember to ask anything in turn. "You?"

The current page involves some kind of baffling screed about alternate universes and 'unrealities' that is honestly hard to make out the meaning of unless you squint and reread the paragraph like five times.

[chronosynthesis]

It's... probably not code writing, so his attention slides sideways to Sans. If birds could raise eyebrows, he would, but mostly he's just staring blankly.

"That's good to hear. I was concerned something had happened to you, when you didn't show up."

[osteothropy]

"Uh... sorry, I guess," he says, and it seems likely he's not totally sure what he's apologizing for. "What did I miss?"

He doesn't notice the scrutiny at all.

[chronosynthesis]

"Oh, nothing important I suppose," he waves a wing. Getting the talent of acting is making this bullshitting thing almost too easy. "It was a collaboration, but if you've found something else to be worth your time instead..."

If Sans remembers anything, that's probably going to sound immediately wrong. But if not... he tilts his head. "What was it you were doing, then?"

[osteothropy]

"Just chillin', I guess," he says, writing a few more words on the page. "Uh... What did you end up making?"

He feels like he should ask for some reason.

early evening D85

[spaghettimonster]

What with their past experiences in visiting unfriendly places and not being able to chat at their leisure, Papyrus gets pretty anxious about not having the radio for checking in. He expresses it by checking on people regularly - and his brother in particular a couple times every day.

So when there's no sign of him in the early morning, and nobody else has seen him, and then Reira gives Papyrus some very alarming news? He's close to fullblown jittery panic come afternoon when he runs into Rita, who exchanges worries and helps hatch a Plan.

And then he searches all the regular places he's seen the beetle before, getting close and greeting a bunch of other insects along the way, before finding the right one. "Hey! Is that Umab?"

Re: early evening D85

[osteothropy]

'Umab' isn't actually in the library at this point - he's out near one of the communal sleeping areas, chilling near a ridiculously fancy fountain. Well, chilling in the sense that he's still writing shit on a stack of papers, a bottle of ink resting on the rock beside him.

"Oh. Uh, hey," is all he says, at first. He sounds pretty normal, all considered, except for the part where he is busy writing line after line when earlier in the week he'd been having a crisis over committing even a single sentence to paper.

[spaghettimonster]

Finally. He's pretty sure they don't have duplicate names, so either this is the real deal, or it's the real fake deal. Either way, the plan can get under way.

"It is you!" Which is a relief, and he fails to hide it as he releases a gusty sigh, then trots over to sit beside the fountain and look things over. "Phew! I looked for you earlier, but, I kept finding other beetles? You're so small. It's inconvenient sometimes!"

As he chatters, he glances over first his brother, then that writing. Reira had struggled to describe it, making it all sound very worrying, but... she is very young, and maybe it's just something that goes over her head. Hopefully.

[osteothropy]

He's writing more or less the same stuff as before. Excessive rambling about the space-time continuum interspersed with stream of thought feelings of existential dread. It all seems like stuff that Sans might think, but without any filter what so ever, nor the ability to think straight.

"Sorry," he says absentmindedly - not insincere, but not like he's really gripping what the problem is, either. "I guess I keep coming up short."

[spaghettimonster]

...He's making bad puns, that's another point in favor that it's him. And yeah, that looks like the written version of a few nights after Grillby's happy hours... When things got a little less happy, and a little more rambling and not-quite familiar and mostly bewildering. It's somewhat concerning, but Papyrus figures it's not the most pressing matter. Not compared to the vagueness of this conversation so far, which is also familiar, in a very bad way.

"Well! You should be. And you can make it up to me, by, uh, coming up with an answer to my question." Papyrus looks around them, way more shiftily than this secretive plan needs, and leans down. "What's the... earliest thing you remember?"

[osteothropy]

"You mean, like, today?" he asks, like he doesn't understand the basis of that question. "Or do you want a full rundown of my childhood? 'Cause I don't know if I've got that in me, right now."

He tentatively types out a few more words.