lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN PT. 3

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⇨ EDEN PT. 3

Who: Everyone!
When: End of Day 88, on to Day 89
Where: Eden
What: The carnival breaks into two groups, as one entertains the Architect Samyaza at her festival, and the other assaults the Cathedral through a secret passageway with the intent of claiming the Silver Mirror and liberating those imprisoned.
Warnings: Ritual sacrifices.

IN GOD'S HANDS↴

Only those left in Eden and remaining undetected will be able to come to Samyaza's festival, which is an increasingly small group. It's also a dangerous proposition - there's no way to know what Samyaza has in store for her visitors, only that she apparently wants to interact with them before allowing the other Architects to act. It could work as an excellent distraction, drawing the eyes of the Architects towards the festival instead of towards the Cathedral while the attempt to claim the Mirror is taking place.

For those that arrive in Samyaza's gardens, they are beautiful and well prepared, and music of otherworldly perfection flows through them. Tables are arranged with amazing works of art as their centerpieces, while the trees themselves are made into dazzling displays of color with an effect that seems to turn their leaves into pure light. Samyaza will be presiding, a hare that looks like she's made of something ephemeral, like wind of pure colour. She invites you in kindly, saying that before she speaks, she will honour you with a song...

► THE SET UP: For the first hour or so, the festival will be nothing but celebration. There are other Honorables there, but not as many as usual - the main event are you and the other new arrivals. After the hour mark, Samyaza will perform her song. Until then, threads can be made focusing on the pre-song mingling and planning. Will you listen when she sings?

► THE TWIST: There will be more happening at the festival than Samyaza plans. While she is comfortable waiting to act, other Architects are less patient.

ON HOLY GROUND↴

With carnival members (and Ignatius) in enemy hands, there's no more time for hestitation. Based on the information given to her by various carnies, the Ringmaster will meet with the Furies and declare her intent to attack the Cathedral's underground during Samyaza's festival on the evening of Day 88. The Furies will agree, saying that those they have on the inside will use their influence to ensure there are as few Architects and Scholars are blocking their way as possible, but they must all still expect a fight.

Furies from the base in the barrens will be coming along with this raid group, using what information they have to speed transit through the underground tunnels. They only ask two things - that after the Mirror is collected, it be used to save the lives of Hasma and the other captured Furies, before being used to repair the mind of the Serpent herself.

► THE SET UP: The Ringmaster will lead the way into the secret ruins that Childermass and the other found - the main difference is that she will smash right through the cracked wall defending the depths of the Cathedral, clearing the path entirely with her now serpentine body. Her plan is this - to draw the attention of the Architects to the surface by taking on the appearance if the Serpent, while carnival members and assisting Furies search the tunnels below to find the Mirror and the captives.

► THE TWIST: The people captured by the Twelve and imprisoned in the garden (AKA characters on the TDM) will be found, but the carnival members won't be. At least, not in the same place as the other captives. A megathread will go up for the group that goes to capture the Mirror, but you are free to NPC and thread confrontations will Scholars that are protecting the underground prison and the chambers where the Twelve held their meetings. Please report any Scholars that are killed or seriously harmed to the mods. Lambert will be leading the part of the group heading towards the Mirror, while Sans will head the group searching the tunnels for captives.

Now is the time to let loose and use all your powers. It's probably best to keep your disguise to catch people off guard, but it is no longer necessary. New characters will be directed to post here once accepted.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Amethyst pushes herself up against the smooth sides of the prism, withholding the urge to pound her fists against it perhaps only because doing so would take more energy than she can spare right now.

Instead she stays quiet, and listens, anxiously glancing between Lilith and Steven and the others. A diamond? Lilith must just not know much about rocks.

"So what if we did," she says weakly. "You obviously weren't usin' it for anything good."

That feels like a bad thing to say.

Like, a really bad thing to say, and so Reira anxiously chimes in as well- "It-"

"O-Others were already going to take it...they-" She chokes, trembling. "...They'd ruin everything before they got to it, if they could..."

And if there is anything she would rather not happen- anything she'd hope Lilith cares about for that matter, it's Eden, Exploding.

In hindsight she doesn't think she made it any better, but that can't have made it worse right?

Steven is visibly shaking, and pulls back his hands to cover himself the moment they are let go by the force inside his prism. He doesn't get what she means. Diamond?

The first thing that comes to mind is that the Blue Rose somehow changed him. But yet... The Blue Rose wasn't any particular gem. It was just crystal growth, something else completely. It makes his stomach turn a little bit regardless. He doesn't know what that means, but it's forboding.

"I'm... I'm sorry," is all he manages to say. Is it sincere? At the moment, definitely yes.

Lilith pays no attention to their excuses, making gestures that bring all the prisms into an even circle around her. In each one floats one of these captured thieves... but are there more?

"You will be made to pay for your crime," she says, evenly. "But first, tell me... who among you is most innocent of sin? The least complicit in your misdeeds?"

She's asking for a vote.

"Reira."

Tanyuu's answer is instant, voice clear and steady despite the fear that threatens to overwhelm her. Much as she wishes she could argue for the safety of everyone here, or at the very least all the children--Lilith won't care. She tore the very mind out of the Serpent and those Honorables that stood against her, left them to suffer for eternity without a second thought. What hope of mercy would thieves from outside her realm even have?

"Please...spare her. She's done nothing to fight, she's only here because we'd nowhere else to go." Rin, Ginko...I'm so sorry, everyone.

That sure sounds like a question for which there are no good answers. While Eruka’s dithering over an answer, Tanyuu speaks, and that makes the decision for her.

“Tanyuu!” She squeaks, pointing — not as a vote, but out of shock, and she claps her hands over her mouth immediately after. Will Lilith even know them by name — their real ones, not the ones the Architects chose for them?

Steven is trying to think of the right answer, but with a sinking feeling, he realizes he's not sure there is one. He shakes his head, his expression pleading.

"I-I don't know," he says in a small voice.

Reira stares- unable to look her in the eye, unable to speak for herself, or indeed most of the others-

And why is Tanyuu saying her name, she's certain she's not the one free of 'sin' whatever that even is, she can't be, but...

But then she remembers who went up on those pillars, and speaks-

"...Y...Yuusei." She nods, steadying herself. "Y...Yuusei just wanted to build things, here...he got to be a hummingbird, and only built metal things to try and make them move. I..." The bat takes a deep breath. "...I don't know why he was 'arrested'...but I know he didn't do anything to try and steal anything, or...Or even help anyone else who wanted to stop you."

Like the Furies. "He... ...He's the blue one, with lizard legs," she continues with a braver voice, "But a lot... A lot of the ones who came for the party, weren't going to do anything... ...We were just going to enjoy a party that was supposed to make everyone feel better..."

Which...isn't a lie. Certainly not in her mind. The party had been touted as something that was going to smooth tensions that were rising in Eden lately, a party that they were all encouraged to come to, to enjoy...it might not have quite turned out that way, but it was still a nice party.

In Reira's mind, most of them here weren't fighters.

That was why she just wanted to enjoy a party to begin with.

"...Can..."

She swallows. "...What if one of us took the punishment for them..? What if I..."

"Reira, don't you dare!" Hinawa interrupts. The thought of being able to save only one of the children present is bad enough- she's not about to have one of them take the brunt of whatever Lilith has in store.

"Please," She turns to Lilith, pleading. "Please don't harm the children. If you're going to punish someone- punish me!"

Wow, Ginko... hates this. A Lot. It's a hell of a question, especially with all these kids here, but on top of that... how are they to know what answering will even cause?

Hinawa's approach is, frankly, pretty relatable, but-- "...Why do you want to know? What are you going to do with what we say?"

Amethyst slumps wearily against the wall of the prism that's holding her, so that her face smears against the inside.

"This is janked," she groans. "She's obviously done more messed up stuff than any of us have."

Edited 2018-08-13 23:24 (UTC)

Yuusei hasn't said much since his initial snarl toward Bezaliel, especially once his pillar was enveloped in shadow. It was so cold, and he felt like he was missing something. His chest ached with longing and a sense that this, all of this, was somehow his fault. And he still feels like that, even as he lies slumped in his crystalline prison. Inprisonment within inprisonment. The iron hurts.

Hazily, though, he lifts his head and stares in confusion and then shock as Reira speaks. Why him, why him? He doesn't get it, why of all the people here, she would choose...

He shakes his head and attempts to push himself into some sort of sitting position, but he hardly has the energy for that. Instead he can only shake his head. "...I was arrested for colluding with heretics," he rasps, and it's technically true if only because of his connection to the carnival and not because he spoke to the horse on display. "I..."

He thinks carefully - as carefully as one can in his position - on his next move, and he swallows thickly.

"...I lied to you," he whimpers, particularly to Reira, "and I've done more than you're even aware of... Lilith holds my sins, after all; she would know..." And as such she might know that he's exaggerating some.

He attempts to gaze upon Lilith's radiant form, but it's somewhat difficult to look at her. "...those of us here, they... They meant you and your people no harm, harboured no ill will... If you intend to punish those most burdened with sin, then spare those who wished to come here... They wanted to avoid harm and strife with those under you..."

"Whatever. If this is still about trying to find that perfect soul, then IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN with the way you or that stupid bear and the other "Architects" run the place!"

This is probably what happens when shadow magic mixes the darkness of someone's heart with absolute pure stupid.

"So few true answers," she says, still impossible to read. She gestures, and the prisms spin around her, shifting their relative places. She speaks and acts at a leisurely pace, like one toying with their prey.

"Perhaps you'd prefer this: which among you is the most filled with sin?"

"...those of us who attacked did so out of fear or self-defence," Yuusei speaks up rather quickly despite his slowed tone. "...if lashing out because one feels threatened is considered a sin to you... then after all that you did to those honorables who were displeased with your ruling, after doing that to so many of them... would you be the most filled with sin...?"

"Me," snaps Amethyst, exhausted and annoyed. "I'm fulla sin. Check it out."

She slaps her butt.

Eruka fails to respond on account of being mostly preoccupied not throwing up from being spun and basically centrifuged as a jelly frog.

Ginko's ears flip back against his head. Great. More of this shit, and they didn't even get an answer as to why.

He casts a worried glance at Yuusei, because... besides his condition, he doubts that answer will go over well. But, either way... "I'm guessing this would be by your own standards - so I couldn't say."

Steven seems less confident about this, but apparently following Amethyst's lead, he nods and folds his arms around his body, looking off to the side.

"Yeah. Me too."

Reira, as well, fails to answer. In one sense because she simply doesn't want to. The more everyone talks, the more the emotions closest to her sit upon her back and weigh her down, dread and confusion brewing in her heart as a reply. It doesn't feel like Lilith is asking because she'll do something to each answer any more. It feels like they're just going to get hurt, badly hurt, no matter what.

It leaves her scared.

Because in the second sense she barely knows what 'sin' even means. She had assumed, with what Tanyuu said, that it was a question of who did the most wrong. That was 'easy' when it mattered. Almost all of them had attacked, or done something...and even then, supposedly she was wrong! Yuusei's answer supported that anyway. But to answer who DID do the most wrong?

"...I don't even know, how you'd measure the 'most' of that..." she mutters quietly, more to herself than to the Nephalem before her.

But she knows that she likes everyone here too much to give the answer even if she knew.

This question at least excludes all the children ~~in her mind.~~ But she also doesn't want to sell anyone out, so let's just stay tight-lipped for now.

Tanyuu braces herself, ears laid tightly to her head and eyes squeezed tight against the dizzy sight of everything spinning around her. The most sin--?

"I fell into the Void's grasp! If you want a darkened soul, take mine!"

Ginko's plan had just been to keep quiet after being a shit, but Tanyuu's reply makes his attention snap to her, alarm clearly written on his face.

Amethyst's and Steven's answers were troubling in their own ways, but they weren't presented as genuine the way this was; what if Lilith sees it the same way? "--Don't!"

Makes a displeased noise from his own crystal.

"Um, rude implications there! I'm pretty sure we're all getting punished regardless, isn't that what she said? Is a being who swore off siding with both angels and demons gonna be that interested in morality anyway?"

Yugo narrows his eyes.

"Everyone sins anyway! No one's better than everyone else about whatever you think is sin!"

Anyone familiar with the boy might think by now that he sounds... off. "That's the way the world works and my soul was already a part of something that knows how to raze an entire world of it."

And then the teen grins, which combined with the look in his glowing eyes and sharp fangs, something's not right. ~~Reira would be familiar.~~

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