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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There is a moment of silence.

"Ohhh," Duma says, as the first to react.

"Wait, what?" Yefefi says. "Then where are you from? You aren't..." They gasp, as if they've just understood something.

"Are you... not beasts?" Duma asks, swimming over to give Peridot a more discerning look.

Syrlya tenses as Peridot reveals part of the truth. The rebels may not align with Lilith, but that doesn't mean they don't believe in some of her indoctrination.

It can't be taken back, though, so Syrlya lets out a sigh. "No, we aren't. We are here in search of something we believe may be in Eden... a mirror."

Peridot fidgets under Duma's investigation and folds her ears back nervously. "Please don't freak out," she groans, already kind of regretting saying anything. "The purpose of my telling you this now is to serve as a gesture of good faith, to demonstrate that we don't mean any harm."

And there Peridot goes. Spilling the beans. The Big Beans. Not just the little beans! Zangetsu groans and covers his face with his sparkly pink fins.

"We're gonna die."

Jasper rolls her eyes. "I'd like to see these vermin try."

Zangetsu growls and slaps his caudal fin against the side of the box.

"Can you maybe NOT say stuff like that while I'm still stuck in the impenetrable box?!"

Yefefi crosses their arms, looking at Jasper with an expression of mild shock and disgust.

"Well, I never," they say, scowling. "You just stride on in here, tell us you're one of the Peoples, and then call us vermin? Why don't you tell us how you really feel?"

"But how did they get in?" Duma muses out loud. "Usually Lilith is the one who brings the Peoples here..."

Syrlya's feathers puff out as his head snaps to stare at Japser with an expression that would be more disbelief and irritation if he wasn't a bird with limited facial muscles.

He shuffles between her and the Furies, facing them. "I apologize for her--Jasper be quiet."

He doesn't have the patience to try and be kind about it right now. "We came in with a Fae, of our own accord. She is as powerful as Lilith, I do not believe it's an indication your world is compromised."

What Peridot wouldn't give to have hands to drag down her face right now!

"I'm so sorry," she adds, whimpering apologetically to Yefefi and covering her face with her wings instead. "She's an idiot, and I'm severely regretting my decision to bring her along. You're not vermin, we don't think that at all."

"Yeah, like I said: Just ignore her. She's like this to everyone." Just so there's no misunderstanding here. But something else definitely has caught Lapis' attention.

"What do you mean Lilith usually brings peoples here?"

"A FAE?" Yefefi squeals. "Oh no, that explains everything. The negative reactions at the Anointment... are all of the new arrivals really faeries?"

"Oh, it won't be long until the Twelve figure that one out," Duma says airily. "I'm surprised they haven't already..."

Yefefi looks at Lapis, raising their paws. "For the Divine Clarity project! I would have thought that was why you're here, but I guess not!"

"We're not faeries!" Zangetsu says with a SMALL AMOUNT OF OFFENSE. "Changelings. Mortals affected by fae magic."

He pauses, then moves closer to the invisible wall so he can look out more.

"But... I thought humans and stuff were forbidden in Eden."

"Well, they're forbidden to walk free," Yefefi says. "There's a distinction."

"Most Honorables don't know about all of this stuff, anyway," Duma says. "Or maybe they just don't really care."

"Examining the souls of various Peoples is a pretty big part of what they do down there," Yefefi says, like it should be obvious. "I think, anyway. I haven't been there myself."

"Down where," says Jasper, squinting at them suspiciously.

"I'm not talking to you right now!" Yefefi snaps back at Jasper.

Jasper leans back with a look of indignation and stamps her hoof. "Fine!"

Wait, what. "Then tell me, please. What they do down where?"

"And can I come out now? Pleaaase?"

Okay now they are starting to reveal a bit more information than Peridot was intending to and is comfortable with, and it's making her fidget. The mirror? The fact that a fae brought them here? She definitely feels like they're digging themselves a deeper hole here.

And then they drop THAT little nugget.

"OKAY I think we're getting off on the wrong foot here," she tries to interject frantically. "Can we maybe just, slow down for a second, and start from the beginning?"

"So you're telling me," Yefefi says, pointing a tiny finger, "that all of you guys turned yourself into beasts and broke in here... but you don't even know what Eden's purpose is?"

They seem reluctant to explain anymore before they have a solid idea of what these people are all doing here.

"I have literally no idea."

Peridot literally just. Gives up and lies face down on the ground at this point.

"This was a mistake. Coming out here was a mistake," she gurgles miserably.

"What I don't get," says Jasper, who has a bit of a one track mind, "is why these ones aren't corrupted when all the creatures back there obviously were."

"We heard that it was Lilith's attempts to achieve perfection. A being to rule the multiverse, or something along those lines. Has it changed?"

"Okay, well, you know that much," Yefefi says. "But... why are you here? You wanted the Mirror, you said?"

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