lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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.

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Since Yuya's been... politely dissuaded from getting into the hot air balloon ride without a sincerely experienced driver with him, he's having to make his unicorn excursion by foot. With things obviously not moving yet in terms of mobilizing the Maiden or rescuing the Ringmaster, this seems like the best chance.

So he's got a bag of snacks slung over his shoulder as he marches through the fields, making an impulsive detour in the direction of where Ignatius is hanging out until he finds him. He knows this isn't the most comfortable place for him, that his whole... everything is probably upturned. But Yuya feels bad just leaving him to isolate himself.

"Ignatius! Hey!" He bounces forward with a grin, pointing to the distance. "I'm going to go look for unicorns, wanna come?"

Ignatius is honestly just walking around aimlessly when Yuya finds him - apparently, fae are capable of spending hours and hours of doing nothing in particular when they are feeling distracted or moody. Since they arrived Ignatius has been doing very little, much like he did at the Wyldlands campground. There's a lot of just sitting quietly in though and going through pointless menial tasks.

Thankfully, it's not hard to spot due to his hair still being a living flame. He stops where he is, dully regarding Yuya as he approaches - which takes a while since it's a big field.

"What do you need with unicorns?" he asks without much inflection, his arms crossed over his chest as he stands waiting, presumably out of sheer courtesy.

Maybe it's the short lives of mortals, maybe it's just because Yuya is filled with energy. At least finding Ignatius takes up time, something they have a lot of suddenly.

"Nothing," he admits with a shrug. "But last time we visited the Summerlands, Lambert and I saw some from the sky. We didn't get a close look, so I wanted to try and find them again."

It also means he needs very little reason to exert effort outside pure curiosity. "You're not busy with anything else right now, are you?"

"I suppose..." he says, not giving Yuya much to work with otherwise. He'll wait until Yuya has come to his side and then shrug a shoulder, not sounding completely sold but with a lack of better options.

"Lead the way, then."

"Great!" Yuya falls into step beside Ignatius. It's not a surprising reaction, but Yuya doesn't let it damper himself. "I don't really know how to find them, though. I thought I'd just look around and see?"

So Ignatius doesn't get any ideas that Yuya has competently planned his excursion or has any purpose here. It'll be some fun spontaneity.

"Um, how are you doing here?"

"I'm sure the Gilded Mark could find you one," he says, stiffly. It's unclear if that's an honest suggestion or if he's being shitty. What is clear that that Ignatius is boldly ignoring Yuya's question.

"Yeah, I guess." Yuya raises an eyebrow. "But that's not as fun as going and finding it myself. And I definitely need a way to stretch my legs that's not dancing."

There is so much dancing here. "... Have you talked to her yet?" Tentatively, he tries another direction to see how he takes that question.

Edited 2018-11-30 02:26 (UTC)

"Somewhat," he admits, which is true. They talked a few times in Polaris, but they haven't talked at all since they got here. Mostly because he hasn't spent any time in the city after the first day.

"I understand her intent," he says.

"Her intent?" Yuya looks up, his expression faintly expectant like he's looking for more of an answer. "What's that?"

"I understand that she wants to help me," he explains, not looking at Yuya as he walks ahead, his tail swishing through the yellow flowers be behind him.

"... She still cares about you." Yuya smiles a bit. So of course she wants to help him. Because he's her brother. "I'm sure she always did."

Even when things fell apart like they did. Yuya remembers the apology he was meant to pass on. He doesn't know if she's already said it.

"She made her choice a long time ago," he says, his arms still folded around his body as he walks. "So did I."

"Yeah, that doesn't make you suddenly stop caring about people important to you. She still matters to you, doesn't she? That's why it hurt."

Yuya rubs the back of his neck as he looks ahead again. "I think it's been the same for her. She was surprised I knew who she was at all..."

"There are some things I can't forgive her for," he says coldly. Or maybe it's just distantly. "And there's many things that I shouldn't be forgiven for, either."

Ah, so it's that. Not just her sorry, but his. Yuya falls quiet for a moment, watching the grass crunch under his feet.

"Do you think you can't move forward because of the things you've done?" He looks up at Ignatius again, his expression softened faintly by a similar sort of pain. "Or that you shouldn't, because you can't fix it?"

"I don't think I was really given a choice," he says, dismally. "I'm not sure what I'm expected to do. Is anyone?" He stares down at the grass. "All I can look forward to is hoping to appease those I am seen as lacking by."

Yuya bites his lip, briefly. "I don't know."

It doesn't come out with the same conviction, but it's the only truth he has. "I don't think there's any guide for moving forward when you see you've hurt others and... you regret it. Maybe you can't be forgiven for all of it, but..."

He grabs his pendulum tight in his hand. "But you can make your future different. You can be someone who won't do those things to anyone else."

Whatever Ignatius thinks that is. Yuya isn't mentioning specifics because Igantius hasn't, but whatever he's actually sorry for, Yuya would like him to find peace.

"And then... I lose everything I ever had in the other side," he says. "In exchange for what? Unending scorn?"

"Why would someone choose to put themselves at the mercy of their former enemies? With no expectation of ever finding forgiveness or peace? At the cost of losing the ones that supported them?"

"Because they really believe that they want to change and be better than they are. It doesn't mean anything if it isn't what you want, Ignatius."

Yuya nods once, his hand pressed to his chest. "If you want to go back and keep things like they are, I think you should do that. No one's keeping you here anymore."

And he's completely genuine about that. Of course, Yuya prefers one option over the other. But if punishment was what mattered to him, they didn't have to go through all this.

Edited 2018-11-30 04:32 (UTC)

Ignatius looks back at him just long enough to narrow his eyes, then turns back to staring ahead.

"As if I even could," he says. "But I was only posing the question. It does not make repentance an appealing option."

Yuya rubs the back of his neck. "I don't think it's really that hopeless anyway... or at least it doesn't have to be. Everyone being nervous now doesn't mean they'll never give you a chance. We did. And the Courts aren't all terrible, even if they think it's okay to do things that are terrible for us..."

He adjusts the snack bag. "And it's not something you have to deal with alone, either. Any of this."

"You aren't the first one to tell me that," Ignatius says, with the first bit of lightness in his tone, though it doesn't stick around for long. "But you speak of the Courts with surprising mildness, considering the severity of their actions."

Yuya's expression twists wryly, moving like he's going to stuff his hands in his pockets--until he remembers he doesn't have any on his pants anymore, and then just awkwardly flails his hands for a moment.

"It's not I don't think it's bad. Invading worlds, kidnapping people, tearing their lives apart. It's horrible, but... I know people can do bad things without being bad people, and I haven't even met most of the fae."

Maybe most of them are really like Ignatius. Maybe they'd stop if their Queen's discouraged it, maybe if the Summer Court didn't think they had to compete with the Winter Court they just wouldn't bother.

"And I think... I'd want to give anyone a second chance. I don't think we can move forward if we're constantly fighting and hating each other." He looks back up at Ignatius, with a smile. "It's hurt a lot, and I'm terrified. But I'd still choose to work together to change it if I could."

The Courts are a much bigger battle than Academia, but it's a similar idea. And Yuya doesn't deserve to revoke forgiveness from anyone who actually wants it.

"A sense of inevitability fuels a lot of it," Ignatius muses, not very surprised by what Yuya says, based on what he knows of the child. "If the Courts don't take control, someone else will. That mortals will do the same things to each other, even if we leave them be. It's not as if I never understood that it was cruel, before now..."

The feeling that evil would happen regardless, that it was simply the way the world was... that had shaped his outlook from a young age. That, and it had never seemed to be his job to decide these things.

"Perhaps we are driven by pessimism, as a species. We assume the worst, so we might as well be the worst. All we have ever known is conflict."

Yuya's gaze drifts further and further down, until it's stuck to the ground as Ignatius speaks. It's a shameful knife to his heart, and he chews his lip as he wars with himself about what he should say and what he wants to say. Maybe hiding it is unfair, especially if he's going to claim to understand it at all.

"I... get it." Yuya takes a deep breath, steeling himself. "I felt that way once, too. I thought people were just--violent and selfish anyway, so it... it didn't matter if I hurt them. I thought they deserved it, anyway."

He turns his face away, reflexively, twisting his hands around the strap of his bag. "But that's not true. Sure, some people are really that cruel, but not most of them. Not even a lot of them. And we fight to stop that in each other, too. Even if it's bad now, we can make the world a better place that way."

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⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

For Ignatius | Day 122

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