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.

Who: 9S and Lapis
What: Two people being shitheels to each other :)
When: Backdated to before the final showdown in Wismuth
Where: Out on the Wismuth streets
Warnings: Space racism and general jerkassery

( :V )

Who: Everyone! But especially HARBINGERS!
When: S2:D16-22
Where: All over Wismuth!
What: As the Harbingers reveal themselves, those among the carnival that Creation has chosen will start to discover new powers within themselves. It's because they're magical girls, yo.
Warnings: Harbingers being assholes.

HARBINGERS OF VOID↴ On Day 16, the Harbingers begin revealing their new selves... in the form of wreaking havoc on the city! CY-Ren isn't looking for mass panic or serious structural damage - instead she wants constant annoyances and distractions, of the sort that will keep those that might be on her tail distracted from her true plans. However, when Creation is faced with the threat of twelve new Harbingers, it will have to fight in kind... ► HARBINGERS: Your job is to use your powers to create messes for other people to clean up! CY-Ren gives no specific instructions outside of a general framework... flex your powers! See what you can do. Don't destroy the city or anything, but give Creation a run for its money. She needs these civilians alive for her later plans. ► STAR GUARDIANS: Twelve members of the carnival have been chosen by Creation to fight in its name, even if they don't realize it yet. When confronted by the Harbinger's chaos, their Sparks will make themselves known in whatever form is appropriate to the character - and they will be asked if they are willing to use the power of their soul to fight the darkness. How this scene plays out can be flexible, but essentially they will find themselves faced with the question: are they willing to fight for the preservation of life? If they say yes, their Spark will emerge, and they will be able to trigger a magical girl transformation, as you do. ► CHARITY CONCERT: While everyone else is busy with the sudden rise of the Harbingers, CY-Ren's PR team is releasing a statement -- they will say that new information has revealed that there had been bomb threats made against the canceled concert, which are now being blamed for the damages. CY-Ren will make a personal statement, saying that in order to apologize for the failure of her previous performances, a new free to attend event is being planned for the near future - people who had tickets to the previous event and had to go home early get top priority!

Who: Nightrunners and whoever wants to make use of the training yard for whatever reason.
When: S2 D1-D5
Where: The Training Yard
What: Training, or pointing and laughing at people training.
Warnings: Explosions and swearing, probably.

( mysterious as the dark side of the moon )

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 173, the Afternoon
Where: Heartstone Manor Courtyard
What: Everyone goes into the forest with arrows, swords, and horses and is told to hunt and the kill the biggest beast they can find. Best kills win a prize! Or, if you'd rather not, you can wander around the forest and pretend to hunt instead.
Warnings: Violence and ethical quandaries.

BEASTS OF BURDEN↴ Come the day of the Hunt, everyone will be brought to the courtyard forest and provided with arrows, bows, and blades as requested. Magic and other weaponry can be used to hunt, but it is suggested by the Prince that the best kill is the one done in a gentlemanly manner, which probably means he will be most impressed by those using the tools provided. The "Best Kill" will be determined from a mixture or whatever beast the Prince decides is best, and the method in which it was killed. The less damage done to the body the better - tearing the body apart will receive poor grades. The corpses are not yours to eat or keep, and all must be returned to the Prince at the end of the day for judgment. The servants are especially nervous, tense, and solemn today, and unless they have no choice, most of them will be trying to give the courtyard a wide berth. Those that have to serve will have stony expressions, or at best will be trying to put on a cheerful face. If casually asked why they are upset, most of them will say something vague about the Hunt making them nervous, and how dangerous it is to participate. OOC: Those who make top levels will have a chance to be randomly selected for a couple particular plot events, so be prepared for that.

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 155 - Day 169
Where: Greysol
What: The carnival resumes its tour, this time heading to Greysol, a city tied deeply into the fabric of the multiverse. Here, everyone has an animal companion from birth that is the second half of their soul - and thanks to the Ringmaster, so do you. (Remember, joysweeper is our guest event runner for this location, and location specific questions should go to them.)
Warnings: Individually marked!

THE CITY OF GREYSOL↴ The carnival arrives in a manicured park in the center of a big city that sprawls out along where the river reaches the ocean. It’s spring, early enough that nights are chilly, warm enough in the days that people and their souls savor the weather, and sometimes shelter together from the rain. Greysol was designed from the bottom up to accommodate the human-dæmon bond. Go out and see! ► THE SHAPE OF YOUR SOUL: The dæmon-forming spell kicks in at about four in the morning. Most characters will wake up with their souls in some small form, curled against them. Even if they were awake, they became dazed and unfocused while their souls were being drawn out of their bodies and have little memory of how it happened. Until that evening every character's dæmon is able to change shapes, and children and some teens will continue to do so. Most will settle on their permanent forms by evening. Characters without dæmons will just look on, and the few who are thousand-pound bears have to handle being really big. ► IT’S GOOD TO SETTLE: Elaine Tavis Aracari, sixteen-year-old daughter of two actors and a moving pictures sensation herself, just ‘settled’ - her dæmon Tavis stopped changing shape - as a stunning blue peacock. Settling is a major coming of age milestone and celebrated as such in different ways all over the world. She and her family are throwing a massive party in the central park and inviting the public to join in! Enjoy easy access to free catering, live music and showings of moving pictures, and displays of mostly trivial magic. There are also form readers from across the country setting up booths, happy to accept a small fee to inspect your dæmon’s settled or most favored forms and tell you what they mean. Is there anything to these analyses? Eh, maybe, but they’re flattering and fun. ► WITCHING HOURS: Characters who are clearly witches for this event will often be assumed to be in town for a lover, and people, witches and not, may want to know who that is. Humans usually regard them with wary respect and interest. Real witches living with their human families or on business quickly suspect that something’s up, but without clear and present danger take a relaxed wait-and-see attitude. Wait for long enough and any possible decision will come around again, they believe. There isn’t time to learn much witch magic, but witches, real and carnival-made, have an inherent power: the ability to fly using branches of “cloudpine”, an attractive soft-needled tree common in the park. Witches usually ride large branches as if they’re steeds but can use even short sprays, and you’ll probably see the few witches in the city coming to the park to do so. Why not try? ► BEAR PUN: Human-panserbjørn relations have historically been troubled, but have warmed in the past century. It’s the 65th anniversary of the breaking of the Siege of Bertin, a much-mythologized time when Spectres flooded Greysol and a company of panserbjørn arrived and directed efforts to get the survivors out of the city. A statue is being erected and many florid accounts of the story are being told. If you’re in a panserbjørn shape for the duration of the visit you will probably get thanked and celebrated by people trying to hide their nervousness of you. Expect someone to ask if your dæmon would be a human - it’s a common supposition. ► KERNER ISLAND: From the harbor you can see a wooded island. Although there are no rocks to speak of it sports a tall lighthouse, and nearly all boat traffic avoids it carefully. On a clear day someone with binoculars or a particularly sharp-eyed soul can see loads of trash, birds and various other animals that don’t seem local, and… children? Adults and settled teenagers will see tall vague shapes moving about too. When asked about it the most important thing adults will tell other adults is don’t go there. They’ll hold their dæmons close and tell you that on that island are things that eat souls. They may also admit with mixed pride and shame that it’s been a source of wealth and innovation for the city. There’s a facility there that can open windows into other worlds, and the children who can reach it can cross through and bring things back. Many of the children are recruited by research and development teams on the lookout for items they can use, but there are also kids out to have adventures or who’ve run away. More on this later.

Who: Lapis, Peridot & Lambert (later)
When: Between Week 2 and Week 3
Where: Peridots House
What: hormonal young adults
Warnings: its steamy and then extremely not steamy who trusted me to write this description ITS LEWD
( Read more... )

Who: Lapis and Peridot
What: Lapis is having bit of A Depression after Blue Diamond shows up. Peridot is very concerned.
Where: Supervisor's Grove! Inside their shared trailer.
When: Prior to the AU event, a day or so after Blue Diamond arrives.
Warnings: Nah. No nasty content, just rocks being sad.

Ages. That's what it feels like. It feels like it's been literal ages since Lapis last got up out of her hammock and actually did anything other than sleep.

Logically, Peridot knows that isn't actually the case, that Lapis has only been in this position for maybe two days, tops, but what can she say? She's worried. Lapis may not be the most energetic or vivacious person she knows even on her best days, but Peridot doesn't think she's ever seen her quite THIS lethargic before, not even when the Crystal Gems had first brought her back to the Barn, after everything with the Cluster happened.

She sort of gets it. Blue Diamond, Lapis's Diamond, is here at the carnival now. Here to STAY, apparently, and that knowledge has to be what's messing with her, Peridot just doesn't quite get why. She keeps attempting to understand, trying to put herself in Lapis's place, but that tactic really isn't helping any, because it's not like Lapis got into a screaming match with Blue like she had done with Yellow, right? Things could be a LOT worse. But Lapis won't engage with her about the topic, so Peridot can't gather anymore data about the issue, and she's getting increasingly frustrated and worried about her friend.

That's fine then. If Lapis doesn't want to talk? Peridot will try to cheer her up a different way.

And so, the engineer sidles into the living room where the hammock is set up, a big cheesy grin on her face.

"Heeeeyyyy Lapis. Laz! La-zu-laaayyy. Here's an idea: Why don't you come outside and smash a box of these colorful illumination spheres with Pumpkin and me?"

She's talking about light-bulbs. She has a huge box of them in a myriad of colors, bits that she's been hoarding off of the old food stands whenever they need replacing. She's still not sure what she's going to do with them, or with the glass once she breaks them, but she thinks they could both make some pretty good Morps with the stuff.

Who: Peridot, the engineering team, Lambert, Steven, Amethyst, Lapis, uh… Anyone else who has CR with any of the engineering guys and can justify crashing an engineering related meeting.
What: TEAM MEETING! Lambert wants to build a training/obstacle course and practice area, and Peridot needs all hands on deck because she has no idea what she’s doing because she values all of your opinions.
Where: Supervisor trailer #9, AKA Lapis and Peri’s Gem Cave.
When: Some misc. evening between Day 92-98
Warnings: Nah.

Notes: The meeting is the reason for the gathering, but there will be time for people to chatter amongst themselves and kick back with some snacks or whatever, so this will be a mingle style log. In other words, feel free to post your own top levels so you can get to know your fellow repair/effects workers! I’ll be posting my own top level for the main meeting thread, which will be a free-for-all with no particular tagging order.

------

Peridot’s instructions, given to each and every one of her subordinates over radio, are very straightforward: Mandatory meeting tomorrow night, at her trailer, 8 PM sharp. She’s cryptic, when pressed, about the reasons for calling such a gathering so suddenly… All she’ll divulge is that they have a new project to work on, and she needs everyone to come together and collaborate. You’re all encouraged to bring “your favorite human snacks, or whatever,” to share with your coworkers to promote maximum synergy and cooperation. Peridot won’t eat any herself of course, but she’s given to understand that shared food generally results in higher moral among organics.

The chosen meeting place is, of course, her personal trailer in the Supervisor’s Grove, which despite all appearances on the outside, is more than large enough on the inside comfortably fit everyone on the team and then some. The interior itself is rather elegant, and it seems like it could be luxurious... but it’s obvious that neither of the gems who live here really understand how good they’ve got it, or appreciate the amenities they have access to. There’s all kinds of junk strewn over nearly every surface, and weird contraptions that don't seem to do anything other than move or make noise are rigged up to the ceilings and the walls. There's also, FOR NO APPARENT REASON, a gigantic stuffed rasta banana propped up in one corner? It can probably be used as an extra seat if you're not too horrified by it. Otherwise, you may have to move a meep-morp or two off of a chair in order to make yourself comfortable.

Lapis and Peridot's pet Pumpkin is also here, and will gladly smother you with affection if given the chance. Finally, for the comfort of her extremely nervous wimpod, Stumpy, Peridot has respectfully requested that all Pokemon either remain in their pokeballs or be left behind at their respective trainer’s trailers for the duration of the meeting.

Who: Pearl and whoever is around...
What: Another gem finds her way to the carnival...she is not impressed.
When: Day 95
Where: The Backyard, The Big Top, The Cookhouse, and just around
Warnings: None...yet.

( Wandering around seemed like a good idea at the time... )