lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMER COURT

Who: Everyone in the Summer Maiden's entourage.
When: Day 129 - Day 131 (Subjectively experienced as only one day.)
Where: The Summer Court
What: The Summer Maiden returns to the Summer Court for the first time in eons, leading a posse of carnival workers and Summer Fae. The Summer Queen has initiated a peaceful Elysium for discussions to take place, with dozens of the Court in attendance, but the true tone of the negotiations has yet to be unearthed.
Warnings: Fae being bitches.

SUNSET OF AN ERA↴

The phase shift takes few minutes to complete, when it's time. The Summer Maiden gathers everyone together - her guard of Summerland Fae, and her carnival wards - and activates the spell to bring them to the Summer Court. It's been planned with the Summer Queen, she says, and they should have her cooperation. Nothing has been settled in terms of negotiations, but at the very least, the Queen was not willing to shut down the opportunity to see her daughter for the first time eons, along with her lesser children, Ignatius and Gild.

The Summer Maiden has recommended that everyone dress formally and conduct themselves with respect, but she is not forcing anyone to do so. It simply seems like the best way to make an impression.

When they arrive in the Summer Court, they are in a courtyard. The Maiden's light magic fades and they will see themselves in a garden of alien trees, with golden towers rising up around them in all directions. Two Summer Court fae are waiting for them at an ornate gate, but it isn't until the Summer Maiden has claimed her role as an adjudicator or the present Elysium that she breaks the barrier surrounding her party. She tells everyone that it is safe to go forth but to be cautious. There is no way of knowing what direction negotiations will take.

The guard leads them in, and they will find themselves in a spacious and life-filled throne room, with massive trees that function and supporting pillars and the throne itself. A variety of True Fae that the carnival has never seen before are scattered around the room, waiting with a thick air of tension. As the Summer Maiden leads them in, she will announce herself to the Queen, and claim all those present as under her protection.

The introductions are brief, and after the Maiden is done, the Queen will ask to speak with her privately. There is a clear nervousness beneath the Queen's veneer of control. As the Maiden joins her at the throne to speak about personal matters, everyone else is free to explore the throne room and mingle - if they dare.

► STICKING OUT: There are some notable reactions going on as the Maiden's entourage arrives. In general, the Court Fae respond strongly to Ignatius's presence - both the fact that he's turned up as an ally to the Maiden, and his curious magical transformation. Ignatius, for his part, holds back and tries to keep to himself, looking like he's trying to hide a significant amount of stress. To the Gilded Mark, there is a particular note of resentment, which she mostly seems to ignore and focuses on staying close to the carnival folk. The Starlight, the Whirling Rainbow, and a few other Summerland Fae have come along, and they all hold back as the Summer Maiden discusses things with the Queen privately. In general, the Court Fae eye the carnival with a mixture of curiousity and disgust.

► TOUGH CROWD: There are dozens of Summer Court Fae here that no one will have seen before. They mill about the room as if this is an uncomfortable formal engagement, eyeing up the Maiden's entourage an gossiping with one another. The opinions they hold of the situation vary wildly - some seem more of the attitude that the Court would be better off if the Summer Maiden were to die and be replaced, where others are openly optimistic and excited about the potential of reparations being made. You are free to make up/NPC any of these fae as long as they aren't doing anything radical, like trying to break the Elysium. Some of them will treat the visitors as threats, while others may even attempt to ask them questions about the situation.

► ACCOMMODATIONS: There is food and drink provided while negotiations endure. Normally you may want to be cautious about accepting this kind of thing, but given that it's part of Elysium, they are obligated to not harm any of those present. So, if you want, you will be able to enjoy faerie ales and other luxury foods that have the capability of being distractingly tantalizing to mortals with low self control. If you need some space, you are free to go back out to the courtyard where you arrived. There are few fae out there, but it is still covered by the Elysium. Take some time to settle in - this could take a while, and there's sure to be drama before it's over. Later on, there will be public discussion.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hearing Ignatius admit that they've earned in makes Yuya grin happily, honored to hear it (given, well, how it all started).

He'll agree that it's a lot bigger, and the influence of the fae means it's going to change things on an enormous level. It makes him really nervous, but... if he didn't have any faith in it, he wouldn't have been trying to convince the Summer Maiden to talk to the Court again.

He does ask what Igantius' opinion on the Queen's stance is. It is a doing things right by her Court thing, or does she really believe in (or understand) the suffering the Courts colonialization causes?

The Court comes before everything else, essentially. When you are as old and unchanging as fae, it's easy to see only the big picture, or only your own needs. It's easy to ignore the suffering of mortals as simply the way of things, or to choose not to concern yourself with it, because it won't matter to them for long when they die after what seems like a very small amount of time.

It would be easy to compare it to how many mortal species look at animals, except... not exactly. It's not that fae don't understand that mortals have emotions on the same level as them. It's just that they seem so malleable and finite... that it's easy to pretend it isn't so important when they are tampered with.

He knows that, personally, he always felt that the fact that mortals do such evil to each other made the fae's oppression of them seem no different. That it was guiltless to do to mortals what any mortal with enough power would do their own kind. That, perhaps, any being with the power of the fae would behave the same way. That it was the only natural way, and that trying to change it was a futile effort.

Edited 2019-01-02 03:49 (UTC)

Yuya touched a little on the Summerlands having felt from a similar position, once. But they're both also proof that changing isn't futile. Yuya thinks the bit of good he can do like this instead is worth the struggling, even against those who aren't sorry or want to change.

So what if it isn't in the Court's best interest for themselves what they're doing now? The Courts are racing each other to take worlds across the multiverse, but aren't there more positive and productive ways to balance each other out?

"I'd like to think so," he says, considering how to explain it. "It's not as if they've ever tried doing something different. At least... not as long as I've been alive."

He gestures in example, creating a glowing orb of wavering white light to illustrate his point.

"Fae believe themselves to be the origin of all life in the multiverse, and as far as I understand it, that belief is justifiable. At the beginning of time, the Queens split from the first thinking and feeling manifestation of life, born of the wild energies of the cosmos." He splits the orb into two halves. "At first, they were the Queen of Light and the Queen of Darkness - the primary elements of the conscious mind. As the first beings of energy that could know themselves and make decisions for the newly born universe, they gained the ability to shape reality in their image."

"After the formation of their united minds, they began to shape the physical reality of the world. The elements of heat and cold, and of life and death were made - the foundation on which everything is built. With their power, they created others like them... the first of the fae, undivided by Court. They also created the building blocks of everything else. Without both Queen's power, nothing they had built would have meaning. You can only definite what something is with its opposite. This would have been about the time that the Queen's Miracles were made, meant to embody both Queens at once."

He spreads his hands, summoning up a few dozen smaller orbs at the side of each central 'Queen' shape.

"How the divide in the Courts formed varies depending on who tells the story. Once it happened, though, each Queen turned their back on the other, gathering their favored creations and devising their own kingdoms to match their power." The orbs divide into two groups, with a few lost orbs stranded in the middle. "Those favoured by neither were left on their own, eventually developing into what we know as the Wyld."

"Since then, all of reality has been built on the foundations that the first Queens devised - and without both, in balance, none of it would survive. But with the energy of Arcadia extending further and further to support newer and more diverse realities, it became necessary to reclaim pieces of the Queen's power that had been scattered throughout the multiverse, to keep the Courts from losing their strength. That's what colonies are for. To reach out into the multiverse and harvest the fruits born from the seeds scattered."

With a flick of his hands, he drags some to the smaller, dividing orbs back to the central 'Courts', to make sure they retain their size. Then he waves his hands and dismisses the whole thing.

"One of the Courts growing unchecked could threaten the balance of the elements across all of reality. Consider what would happen if Death begun to overpower Life, or Cold over Heat. The ramifications would change all of reality as we know it."

Yuya listens attentively to the story. He's heard part of this, but Ignatius gives him a clearer picture of the Fae's mythology. He looks progressively thoughtful, face scrunching up as he tries to piece it together with his own experiences in his own world and with the fae.

He frowns slightly, fingers fumbling around his pendulum. "Yeah, Fae have a lot of ability to change reality and make their own worlds. But they're not the only ones, right? Because even they came from something else, and that was Creation and Void... right?"

He scratches his head. "Your people haven't touched my world at all, but that power--I've seen it through spirits that live there instead. Something really different from you. Sorry if this is rude, but... are they really certain that it's the Courts in Arcadia that all reality is centering around, and there isn't anything bigger than that?"

If that's the basis of their decision... is it a truth, a myth, or a justification?

Ignatius looks pensive.

"I don't know," he says, finally. That's all he can really say about it. "Creation and Void are on a much higher level than us, yes, but it was the Queens that gave that raw power form. Creation doesn't... live. It doesn't design or build things. It only provides the power for willful minds to do so."

He gestures, vaguely.

"Maybe it's true that somewhere else there could be a reality built by a different consciousness than the Queens. But... that isn't the reality we're living in." He shakes his head, like this is all a bit much for him. "How can one truly know where they sit from inside of it all?"

"The best way is probably to get outside it." Although that's easier said than done, especially for people who don't feel the need to get outside it all.

"I guess I wonder... maybe the Fae don't have to control this whole reality that's growing out of what they started? Maybe it's okay to let it handle itself, let that strength go and... maybe there's a way to make things balanced by making whole what's been broken."

His expression looks conflicted, then, pinched, before he shakes his head to relieve the expression. He puts a hand to his chest and looks up at Ignatius. "What does it feel like, having elements from Summer and Winter in you?"

"I don't have terms to describe it," Ignatius says after a lengthy pause, looking lost. "It's simply unlike anything I've experienced... to have opposites so impossibly united. One, or the other, or both at once. It doesn't make any sense."

He shakes his head slowly.

"Wyld Fae have always been able to wield conflicting elements, but... it's different, still."

Yuya nods, understanding. "It's a lot bigger of a change than growing a tail, right? But maybe, like the miracles... maybe the right way to balance the opposite parts of the Courts is to bring them together, instead of putting them against each other."

He threads his fingers together. "Because if you can't have one without the other, neither of them can actually win the fighting, right?"

⇨ THE SUMMER COURT

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