⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 119 - Day 126
Where: The Summerlands
What: Ignatius and Gild portal everyone to the Summerlands, with hopes of appealing to the Summer Maiden for help. Meanwhile, the carnival gets the chance to relax in luxury as only tentatively welcome guests. Here is the location write up from the last time the carnival visited. Since then, of course, some things have changed.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

THE SUN RISES↴ After taking the time to rest, Ignatius and Gild will be able to pool together their energy to portal the carnival (and the airship) to the Summerlands. Those still in Polaris will be left to their own devices for the moment as Gild intends to ask for the Summerlands aid in relocating them, hopefully as soon as possible. With the effort the carnival put into sorting things out in there, however, they should be fine on their own for a little while, at least. They will arrive in the flowery fields at the base of the mountains, and soon the Summer Fae will notice their presence. Since the last time they visited, however, the atmosphere has changed. ► YOUR ARRIVAL: As the Summer Fae discover the group's arrival, it will quickly become apparent that there is a tension present that wasn't there any of the other times the carnival has visited. The Summer Maiden comes to greet the group personally, with an entourage of armed Summer Fae. They are not at all aggressive unless provoked, but there is clearly a wariness that is new. They seem uncertain about Ignatius being here, and while Gild will be able to do a lot of the talking and smooth things over, the Summer Maiden will deflect having a serious conversation about affairs until the carnival has taken time to 'rest.' It's more likely that the Maiden needs a moment to think over this new information before dealing with it. ► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, and the initial uncertainties are accommodated, they will invite you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but it feels like more of a formality, and no one is obligated to take them up on it. ► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will do their best to entertain these new visitors - but it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do. ► FAMILIAR FACES: One very different thing about the Summerlands this go around is that there appears to be a small settlement built at the base of the mountains, filled entirely with the former residents of the Manor. Alyss and Reyna will explain that they set up a place to live down there with the Summer Fae's help, and that the fae seems to be trying to remain hands off except when they are needed. The Manor folk overall seem to be doing well, though there is some tension regarding their place in the Summerlands - they are clearly seen as refugees, and while the Summer Fae do their best to help them, the arrival of the carnival and the request for even more help with refugee aid seems to be making things awkward. ► OF THINGS TO COME: The Summer Maiden will remain distant for the first few days, but according to Gild and based on personal observation, it will seem that the news that the Ringmaster has been taken and the idea that even more desperate mortals are requesting to come here are putting her at significant ill ease. She's not rude or dismissive, but she seems reluctant to address the situation head on, though she has said that she will hold a meeting with the carnival later in the week to discuss everything in more detail. None of them seem particularly angry or resentful, but they seem to regard the carnival as an ill portent of things to come.

Comments

► UNCOMFORTABLE ATTENTION (DAY 119+)

[ringleaders]

Carly, Childermass, Herbert, Lambert, Rita, Sylyra, Steven, Strange, Tanyuu, and Yuya will receive the gift of weird looks and some uncomfortable/curious reactions from the locals after they show up. Whatever weird magical things they have going on inside of them, the Summer Fae seem capable of noticing, and while they are trying to be polite, it seems clear that these carnival members in particular are a pretty big spectacle.

If they want to know why in particular, they'll have to ask someone, though the reasons may also seem pretty obvious. The Summer Fae will react to this stimulus in different ways - some curiously trying to stare and subtly follow them around looking for more information, and others outright trying to avoid them, with most of them settling somewhere in the middle.

At the very least, they don't seem to blame the changelings for being this way, but that doesn't make it any less strange.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya will crack pretty quickly since he's already anxious about what a spectacle his recent changes will be back home. So when he catches one of them blatantly ogling he just straight up asks what's wrong.

[ringleaders]

Luckily for Yuya, most of the attention directed towards him seems to be on the curious/perplexed side rather than anyone being freaked out or off-put. The fae he asks will essentially just tell him that he has 'the glow of Creation' about him, in a way that is unusual. They'll ask him how he gained Creation's favour.

[hippocarnival]

Unusual could come from two places, simce they mention favor... so he'll give an explanation about having been made a Guardian to help save one of the pillar worlds that they visited.

And then less comfortably and less detailed explain he had something stuck in him when they were trapped in Polaris that seems to be using it's energy, like an augmentation. That's the dots.

[insidescoop]

Being already pretty upset by the thought of these dumb eyes, Carly's first thought is of course that the reason she's getting weird looks is...well.

Her eyes.

Eventually she'll snap to a near-tearful state at whichever fae were unfortunate enough to be giving her a look this time, and ask if there's somehow 'something' she's missed about these. She knows! They're super weird! It's terrible! Is there something they're going to say about it??

[ringleaders]

They seem pretty awkward and surprised by her blowing up at them, and will offer some attempted reassurances - the more reasonable among them will say that they had never seen the magic of the Silver Mirror before. The less reasonable will say something about how bringing the Miracles here is a risk to the Summerlands and that they think it's foolish.

[insidescoop]

There's a bit of crying, but she'll calm down at least.

Enough to try and hold a proper conversation anyway. First- the more reasonable get to hear about how her eyes actually came about due to chunks of mirror from Strange- who, she'll note, got himself stuck inside the actual mirror for a good amount of time. Like an Idiot.

Carly also explains that she straight up can't see any shadows anywhere, so if they see her bumping into stuff That's Why.

(Any fae offering attempted reassurances get weepy muttered 'thanks' until she's calmed down, on that note- she's well aware that this is Not the best behavior and it's hardly Their fault either)

For the less reasonable she'll irritably explain that the mirror itself should still be in the Ringmaster's realm, with the rose; unless even having people touched by that stuff is making it dangerous? (Some panic comes into that question before she contains herself again)

[scientificist]

Herbert's discussed his arms with Rita already at this point so he's going to assume it's that, and when strange looks eventually progress into being followed, when he finally notices he's going to push up one of his sleeves and turn on them, brandishing that arm, telling them it's VOID METAL his arms were REPLACED by the Mother of Invention, and they can pass that on!

[ringleaders]

Herbert being so blunt will result in at least one Summer Fae worry-trolling him about how he should really consider having them removed and something new grown in their place, because the Void is a destroyer and will only serve to shorten his mortal life!

[scientificist]

He'll tell that one specifically that ACTUALLY he's immortal now thanks to his own machinations and research, SO, he's gonna keep his real bones instead of losing the entire arm THANKS.

[kingsroads]

Strange is solving this the best way he knows how: being obnoxiously blunt. He'll chat up any fae that tails him, stares at him, etc. and basically say that he thinks he knows why people are staring at him, but if they could confirm his thoughts, he'd appreciate it: this is about the Silver Mirror, right?

(As a note, at any given moment, there's a solid 75% chance that Strange wearing the cloak with Ignatius's symbol on it that he got thanks to brainwashing.)

[ringleaders]

It is about the Silver Mirror, yes. They'll say that they've never seen a changeling with that power before, and that it seems to be affecting his entire body. If he straight up chats to them they'll probably chill about it and become more curious than wary, though some of them don't seem to like the idea of the Miracles influence being here at all.

Also, honesty, the fact that he's wearing Ignatius's branding is probably getting him even more wary looks than he'd be getting otherwise. Ignatius doesn't seem to have a positive reputation here.

[kingsroads]

As soon as someone says that they've never seen a changeling with that power, it goes right to his friggen head. Hot damn, this has made Strange feel a lot better about his brokenass mirror arms.

He'll happily chat about the Mirror, explain how he got the influence that he has, and backstory about Eden & Polaris as needed. He will mention that as far as he knows, the Mirror's shattered and broken into hundreds of tiny pieces: he's specifically looking to see how people react on that point.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya won't even ask about what the attention is for because he's pretty sure he knows it's the Blue Rose. It's extremely obvious to everyone, this is his life now.

Instead he'll try and use the attention to start conversation and ask if any of them know of Fae in the Summerlands besides the Summer Maiden, who might be old enough to remember a time the Summer Court had the Blue Rose and might know more about it. He's probably stuck with it now, so.

[npcarnival]

Syrlya will be directed to a fae called "The Whirling Rainbow", who is allegedly very old in fae terms. She is the oldest fae most of the faeries here know, and they'd estimate that she was created around the same time that the Rose Queen was, which was approximately forever ago.

It'll take some time, but if he asks around enough it will come to her attention, and she will appear to him to say hi. She arrives in a swirl of color, and it's not hard to guess that she's some kind of light elemental.

[chronosynthesis]

He'll greet her politely and introduce himself, before asking if she has any experiences or knowledge of the Blue Rose, gesturing to himself to emphasize the obvious influence. He'll explain the actual Blue Rose should still be in the Ringmaster's realm, but since he's coping with its influence he'd like to know if she has any advice or suggestions for dealing with it.

[atouts]

Childermass lived through this the first time in the Summerlands and that they insist on continuing to do it even after his last stay does, sooner than later, strike a nerve. Rationally, he knows they don't mean ill and, yeah, normally he would just ignore it, but he's tired of faeries even looking at him.

Basically, he reacts to the attention... poorly. He'll tell them to mind their own fucking business and go be useless and peaceful somewhere else and, if they keep on staring, a variety of other rude or even mean-spirited things that come to mind. He won't threaten or attack anyone but, man, if they were expecting a nice stare at that there void-touched Winter Court faeblood over here, think again.

[ringleaders]

Some of the fae will be a bit offended at any cracks about being useless and peaceful, but not enough to actually snap back at him (because what is conflict, lol) and will mostly just remove themselves from his presence. Given how badly he'd reacting, though, he'll probably have one particular fae specifically come over to him to apologize.

That would be the Starlight, who seems to have no problem finding him once he's arrived. She apologizes on behalf of her kin - she believes they see him and the other carnival members as a sign of the oncoming conflict, and they are fearful of that.

[atouts]

That's exactly what they are, Childermass will reply irritably but after that first snap, he'll calm down some. The Starlight isn't some faceless summer fae here to annoy him and that goes a long way for escaping his ire.

With less heat this time, he'll say they wouldn't have had to fear anything if they would all stop ignoring the monsters they've left rotting at the heart of Arcadia and did something about them.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita tolerates the weird looks with the occasional grimace or humph in response, but at some point, as one of the fae extends one of those invitations to dinner, she takes the opportunity to ask about the reactions. She knows she isn’t exactly normal, but what does she look like to them?

[npcarnival]

They'll say she looks like a faeblood of Ignatius, with the same element as... whatever he is, now. It's almost like the way that the infected Blue Rose changelings look, but different. It's very strange to see.

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu takes it with...at least a bit of grace, seeing as she was a minor spectacle in her own world for surprisingly similar reasons. (Void, you continue to be an ironic bitch.) But after what's happened recently she has her limits, and will pointedly ask if they would prefer she remove herself from their presence.

[npcarnival]

They'll say no, that it's not her fault, but it's terrible what the Winter Court has done to her. The Void is a disease, especially to mortals.

[whattaprick]

Considering what he told Strange about really not wanting to deal with anyone else's reactions to what happened to him in Polaris (which is what he naturally assumes is the problem) it won't take Lambert long to snap and ask the first gawker bold enough to ask him what's up if they're trying to pick a fight, because Lambert will be happy to give them one.

[npcarnival]

Actually no, uh, they don't want to fight him at all. They seem a bit shocked that he'd even threaten that, with the implication being that they could totally stomp him if they wanted. No need to get so pissy, dude.