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

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.

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."

"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."

There's a flicker of anger in her expression at that response. Fallen asleep!? People were worried, damn it! Too bad a library is no place to yell at someone.

Also... she has a bad feeling about this.

"Ugh... fine. So are you doing deliveries today, or what?" He already missed the morning one.

"Uh..." he starts, uncertainly, but picks up the tempo quickly enough. "Sure. What do you want me to deliver?"

That's not... really a question he's had to ask before.

"...Just the usual," she says, carefully watching his reaction. They don't have any new information to circulate, after all, but his delivery route doubles as a way to check on several people. He knows that... right?

It's too bad that beetles don't really have faces that you can read, because it would really make Sans's hesitation all the more clear.

"...S-Sure," he says, the hesitation fading once he makes a decision. "Do you have anything to give me?"

"Not right now," Rita says, still staring as if expecting something from him.

Wow, awkward.

He decides he isn't a fan of this, and opens his shell.

"Ok, well, let me know when... you want to do that..." he says uncomfortably. Then he just abruptly flies away, leaving all the pages he'd been working on lying on the table.

THAT WAS WEIRD.

Rita's gonna take a look at those pages before she leaves to warn some people.

While containing a lot less hollering about God, Sans seems to have written a seven page screed with a coherency level similar to the Time Cube website. It's talking about time, and time travel, and a lot of stuff about physics, and also random segues into rambling about the concept of nonexistence. It doesn't talk about Time Cubes, but it talks about magical interactions with time and space on a similar level of esotericism.

It's very stream of consciousness and is a combination of words that seems like it could mean something to someone, but that person is not Rita. Sans apparently quit writing mid sentence before leaving.

Yikes.

That's enough library for Rita today. She's out.

⇨ EDEN

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