HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

[ringleaders]

Who: The people who escaped!
When: Very early Day 66 to Day 67
Where: The Carnival
What: The Ringmaster brings everyone she can back to the carnival after getting kicked out the Celebration, a bit worse for wear. Those that have resolved their threads at the Masquerade can start trickling over here as they sort things out.
Warnings: Angst, mostly likely, as well as potentially graphic injuries.

RETURNING HOME↴ About 45 minutes after the conflict with the vampires begins, the Ringmaster will finally show her face at the Masquerade - and immediately be mortified by what she sees. Though initially mostly confused by the fact that there's been problems over the week, and characteristically obtuse about what's going on, as soon as she realizes the severity of the threat she will launch into action. If the Host managed to miss the combat already going on, they won't be able to miss the Ringmaster tearing up the joint and looking for her people. She's quick to scoop up those that have managed to gather in the dining hall - but unfortunately her arrival seems to be the vampire's cue to retreat. Her attempt to challenge the Host about this will result in the being finally losing their patience and banishing all the vampires and all of the carnival workers from the premises, forcing them back to the portals they arrived from and launching their remaining belongings out with them. The Ringmaster will be pretty fucking pissed off when they return (once again) and will tell everyone to take the time they need to recover, but to stick together and stay safe for the time being. She has a plan to chase down the carnival members that have been stolen, but it will take time. ► BEER PONG: Apparently the Ringmaster spent the entire week playing a nonstop game of beer pong, against several dozen of the Host's bodies. She hadn't quite won yet when the Masquerade began, so she was late. Whether or not she was caught up in the same spell as everyone else is up to interpretation, but the answer "definitely probably." She won, for the record. ► MISSING: Upon doing headcounts, it will turn out that all the supervisors are missing, as well as several regular workers - a few of which will have been spotted as freshly turned vampires during the fighting. Whether that was the point of the attack or not is unclear, but it's pretty clear that the Ringmaster is a little bit devastated about it - particularly about the supervisors. However, she will refuse to talk to anyone long enough to get into too many details. ► THE PLAN: The Ringmaster will announce that she intends to get everyone back - it's just a matter of figuring out their way back to the dimension they've been stolen off to. She guarantees that she will find it, but that it may take some time. In the end, the workers will have a total of two days to recover and plan - during the evening of Day 67, she will be leading a rescue mission to get them all back. You don't have to come, but lives do depend on its success.

Comments

Scout | OTA

[stillwinningthehardway]

A young woman arrives with a complete lack of ceremony. She's been here before, and when she left she said she might return when she was in her twenties as a full Knight. Seems like that fell through. Scout's about seventeen and not even dressed in her Jedi robes. The small horns on her forehead point forwards and frame the nub of a lure that's usually kept curled, and a ridiculously long silky-haired tail curves up behind her.

It's strange to see the Carnival this empty, but she's been briefed, she knows why. Scout takes a long and winding walk through any areas not closed off to her, taking stock of what's changed, what hasn't, if there are any familiar faces. She'll smile if anyone meets her eye, and if engaged in conversation launches right into a comment.

"This place was getting attacked by sangui vampires when I left, too. I really hope this isn't all you guys've been up to."

[starseedling]

Steven is sitting on a cot in the medical tent, still wearing a white dress with a distressing amount of blood on it. No worries. None of it is his.

His mossy lion ears fold back as he yawns, slowly shaking his head.

"No, this is new. Last time it was computer guys in suits."

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout assessed him coming in - bloody, yes, but none of it's flowing, he doesn't act hurt, it's probably fine. She's had more experience with blood than someone from a setting where most weapons cauterize the wounds they cause ought to.

"Computer guys in suits? That's different." She smiles faintly and shakes her head. "Last time it seemed like everywhere we went was just annoying at the worst, and the violence was all in little, manageable packets, right up until the sanguivores. It was nice."

[starseedling]

"Oh," he says, tired in the way that makes everything unnecessarily confusing and a fresh revelation. "Were you here before?" He puts out his hand to shake - his fingers end in pink crystalline claws. "My name's Steven!"

[stillwinningthehardway]

"That's right! I had my year, went home, now I'm back." Used to aliens of various descriptions and remembering how people here tend to look after a while, she squeezes his hand with care for those sharp claws. Her own nails have a normal shape but are thicker, made of some tarnished golden metal.

"Tallisibeth, but my friends call me Scout. How long've you been with the carnival?"

[starseedling]

"Two months," he says, after a moment of thought. "...My dad accidentally played a game when he didn't have enough tickets, so I decided to sign on too so we could stay together."

"I wish it was like how it was before the vampires," he says, frowning. "It's nice when there isn't something bad happening."

[stillwinningthehardway]

He'd certainly racked up a lot of changes, unless he hadn't been human or near-human to begin with. Scout speculates that it was because of the violence; she has her own theory about any changes not caused by the Ringmaster directly.

"Yeah... So much downtime, though. I had to set myself a schedule so I didn't go soft." She shakes her head, refocuses. "Anyway, were you hurt, or are you a healer? That doesn't look comfortable." Scout nods at him, indicating the drying blood.

[starseedling]

Steven was already magic, so maybe that helped! Either that, or it was the getting shot thing. A mystery.

"Oh... it's okay, it's not mine," he explains, waving a hand at her clumsily. He's very tired. "I'm... I'm just healing people. I can do that. I'm a healer, like my mom!"

[stillwinningthehardway]

"Must be useful," she says, smiling. "I can do a few things, but healing proper is a rare gift." One she could have used, many times over - but it's also true that some of those had been cases in which even the most gifted Jedi couldn't do more than make someone comfortable. "You've been working hard, huh?"

[whattaprick]

To be honest, Lambert was just looking up at the wrong moment while he was on his way to get a meal -- whatever he can get out of one of the line cooks -- before he heads back to the medical tent to tinker with more alchemy. What he's not being expected is to be accosted into conversation so abruptly, and he responds to that smile with a scowl.

"Hell if I know. I've been here less than two weeks, so as far as I know this is all normal."

[stillwinningthehardway]

She hitches her shoulders, unperturbed. "It might be! Then again people seem shocky enough that it might not, or not on this scale."

[whattaprick]

"I get the impression not a lot of people around here are actually fighters," Lambert will shrug. "But you said 'when I left' -- that mean you've been here before?"

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout nods. There's been heavy turnover, but there was a similarly eclectic mix of people last time she was here. Some were amazing fighters, some relied on powers rather than their bodies, some couldn't defend themselves from a Ghostling.

"Yeah, I served my old contract and went back. Time passed, then I saw this place again and realized there's something else I need. So, here I am."

[whattaprick]

"Huh. Didn't know you could do that." Regardless, it's handy information to know, if Lambert ever decides he's in enough of a bind to need it.

He doesn't pry into what she might have asked for, though. For one, he's not really interested and it doesn't seem particularly useful.

"Good time to come back, I guess. We're a little understaffed." He pauses. "You know how to fight?"

[stillwinningthehardway]

"It was my plan leaving! It's just not at all predictable when you'll see this place again, or even if, I guess, and the time passing here, while you're gone, might not be the same amount of time passing out there with you." Scout shrugs.

"I do," she says, not elaborating further. "Sounds like that'll be a good thing soon."

[whattaprick]

"Pretty big bet to make," Lambert muses. Gotta admire the forward thinking, though. Still, with talk of a fight, it's time to get down to business.

"So you said you've tangled with these vampires before, yeah? You know how to take them out?" A pause, and then: "Hope you're not planning to disappear halfway through the fight this time."

[stillwinningthehardway]

"Accusing me of being a coward! Very nice," Scout says, cheerfully sarcastic. "You'd mingle well with the Mandalorians." She'd been there through the whole thing, but doesn't feel the need to defend her honor about it.

"Well, they die like most people when you cut them up. Anything that relies on blood loss or restricting bloodflow doesn't do anything, but hitting the heart is good. Actually it's the best way to put them down. They can limp off and heal from practically anything else."

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock's still confined to the med tent, his injuries, while better, thanks to Steven, were still bad enough that he wasn't allowed very far. His ribs ached with every odd movement, and he still had a semi-permanent headache. Plus, he was going through withdrawal from whatever he had taken at the Celebration, and nobody wanted a bitey snake-man biting anyone who so much as looked at him funny.

They were wrong, of course. He'd just snap at anyone he found irritating.

Which was everyone.

Sherlock Holmes had, unfortunately, a terrible bout of luck when it came to changes, and currently he was covered in green scales, had claws and webbed hands, tiny horns on his head, and his face sported a snake snout, forked tongue, and reptilian eyes. Needless to say, his instincts were impossible to resist. He'd managed to change into his usual button up shirt, and a housecoat hung loosely around his shoulders.

He sat on his cot, bored out of his mind, reading a book, eyes flicking up occasionally to where he can see people walking next to his bed. He hears a voice, and he can't help but pipe up.

"You'd think they'd be better fighting against them, if this happens so often," he scoffed.

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout couldn't help comparing this man to one of the alien species she was familiar with, even knowing how the Carnival worked. Kind of this, kind of that, not really registering to her as strange so much as being something she wanted to box up with a label. That's what you did, as a learned person out in the galaxy.

"There's that! Then again looks like there's been a lot of turnover." She hadn't been the only one who wanted to go home after the last bout with vampires, after all. "This time they didn't come to the Carnival itself, looks like."

[thevictoriandetective]

"Yes, well...there's that, at least." Sherlock wasn't sure how badly the fight would have gotten if they followed them here. Did the Ringmaster have special defenses? If they did come here, he'd likely be dead or turned. He was pretty much out of the fight when they got kicked back here.

Blue eyes flicked up over his book, as he studied her a moment. Even before his changes, his gaze was intense, picking out clues and deducing what he could from people he came across.

"I've never seen you before."

He hasn't seen her before, but she spoke as if she were a veteran, obviously. At this point he wasn't sure he could trust his assessment of people's changes, for all he knew what she looked like could be actually what she was. If she was a veteran though, they were likely from the Carnival. Balance of probability.

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout was quite young. All her clothing had gussets or the like at the joints for freedom of movement. Her training and powers let her watch her surroundings closely while her eyes and face indicate only mild interest; still, she'd positioned herself so if anyone came in she won't have to turn, and she stood easy and balanced equally on both feet. The scent of an alien forest was fading off her, and engines and oil. She was carrying something that whiffed of ozone, like the air in a thunderstorm.

"Nope! Not surprising, I've never seen you, either," she chirped, and decided to answer the question that had been unspoken. "I finished my contract, left, and I just came back." Despite having served a year she didn't seem very dramatically changed. Of course, it wasn't possible from here to tell that she'd grown taller.

[thevictoriandetective]

Very interesting. Someone that was familiar with combat, and knew how to protect themselves. The forest scent was...odd, the ozone scent even more so. He couldn't place what could possibly make an ozone scent.

"Came back?"

His eyes widened slightly. He couldn't imagine why anyone would voluntarily return, unless they had more deals to make. He himself had only accidentally been made part of the Carnival, it was his mistake that led to debt. However, he was interested in staying longer, he had deals to make, himself.

"I've not been here that long," it felt like forever, though. And he'd been sent back home for about a year, so it felt even longer. Real-time though, maybe about two months?

"I'm Sherlock Holmes." Introductions were in order, it seemed appropriate a time as any.

[stillwinningthehardway]

She inclined her head at the question, like yes, obviously. Scout found the Carnival restful, if often irritating. It had been a place where she'd had to maintain her own regimen; life in the Temple had had its similarities to boot camp and so having hours and hours of time to herself almost every day had been very strange.

The past year and a half had seen a lot more having to fill time herself, and a lot more uncontrolled violence. Better here than Mandalore.

"Good to meet you. My friends call me Scout."

[thevictoriandetective]

"What do you do here?"

He had an idea, but it could only be confirmed by actually, you know, asking. His deductions were pretty much garbage right now anyway, he could hardly trust himself or his senses after what he'd just been through. Plus all those vampire bites, who knew if they left side effects.

His cold, reptilian eyes continued to gather clues and file them away, as he did with pretty much everyone he came across, especially in this Carnival.

[stillwinningthehardway]

"Anything I can! I used to wrestle now and then, or perform. Mostly I work repairs. Sometimes I get to live up to my name." Though she remembers some likely-looking sites the carnival hadn't gone to, and some times they'd gone to places she'd never seen before. It was enough to wonder if the Ringmaster didn't actually need scouts. That or she slotted things into a much longer timetable.

"So, your turn. What do you do?"