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

[spaghettimonster]

"Hey, you look hurt! Did you fight any of the vampires?"

Good news, Ginko; being hospitalized means being an excellent captive audience to a stressed skeleton who's wandering through the medical tent. Or maybe being a source of information.

[dontpokethat]

Ah yes. The best news.

Oh well, conversation is conversation, and Ginko doesn't seem too bothered at the moment. He gives a quiet laugh, then winces a little. Okay, that wasn't a great plan. "--Ah. Uh, n-no. Not really."

[spaghettimonster]

"Oh." That's a little disappointing. But then again, "Wait, I didn't ask that right. Did any vampires fight you?? I'm not just asking about your fighting techniques."

[dontpokethat]

"Well... if by 'fight' you mean one of them tried to drain me dry, then yeah." He sets a hand briefly on the side of his neck. "Why d'you ask?"

[spaghettimonster]

"Drinking blood..." Papyrus shakes his head at how disgusting that is, or maybe at how that doesn't tell him anything new. "I want to know more about them! They kidnapped a lot of people. Including my brother... So, obviously, I'll need to be on the front lines of our rescue!"

[dontpokethat]

"More about them? Uh..." He frowns up at the ceiling. "Were you not around for the last time, then? ...And I'm afraid I don't know a whole lot about fighting them, myself, in any case."

[spaghettimonster]

"Oh," Papyrus repeats, not bothering to hide his disappointment. "I wasn't here. Most of the people who were... got taken."

Everything about the situation is inconvenient for everybody. Bad for the ones taken, because who knows what kind of terrible pain and suffering they're going through. Bad for the ones who need answers to questions, in order to succeed in the rescuing. Bad for the ones staying behind, because they'll be without company!

Well, at least there's probably stuff to clean in here. Especially if people have been coming in with bloody wounds, and making do with non-magical healing methods.

[dontpokethat]

"...So I've heard." He looks at Papyrus thoughtfully for a couple seconds. This had occurred to him a moment ago, though he'd wondered if it was presumptuous... but there's no reason not to ask.

"You're Sans' brother, right?"

[spaghettimonster]

"That's right," Papyrus confirms. He pauses what he's doing, table partly raised with one hand. "Hey, wow, I didn't even introduce myself. Did I?"

[dontpokethat]

Ginko gives a quiet, rather unenthusiastic laugh - not annoyed, because, he's not, but. Tired. Everyday formalities are honestly a way more appealing topic right now than thinking about how little he can do about... anything right now.

"Guess not. But... it's Papyrus, right?" It would be hard for him not to know that, hanging around Sans as much as he does. "I'm Ginko."

[spaghettimonster]

That's okay, Ginko. Papyrus can be loud and enthusiastic enough for them both, even in the midst of the fear and heartbreak. He has plenty of practice; that was practically his job. He gets right into doing so, gasping and grinning at the question.

"That's right! Wow! Finally, someone knows who I am... without me saying it first!"

Before his arrival, and for weeks afterwards, his brother didn't mentioned him to anyone. Not his name, not his coolness, not his very existence. The realization that none of the people who'd known Sans for years here had ever heard of Papyrus... well, it stung in a surprising and unfamiliar way. But the brothers reconnected and made up, and they've been back to gossiping about each other for at least a month now.

[dontpokethat]

That gets another laugh. "Sure do. Honestly, it's strange to think that we hadn't actually met until now."

Or that it took him so long to identify Papyrus. He really must be out of it, shit.

[spaghettimonster]

"Hmmm. We've probably, technically met. Like in the mess hall! Coming and going, minds busy with work stuff..."

There's probably not many green, horned ex-humans in the carnival, but... It's just a running thing, he doesn't recognize people unless he interacts with them a lot.

[dontpokethat]

“Probably - I know I’ve seen you around before.”

Ginko isn’t too great at remembering people, either, but he’s not terrible at it. And… there’s the whole skeleton thing.

“Guess we just never got around to talking before now, huh. What do you do for the carnival?”

[spaghettimonster]

"I'm the janitor! I janit. And clean up after everybody. Such messes, you have no notion."

It's a terrible, and terribly necessary, job. Good thing it's not just Papyrus doing it, that might have been too much even for him.

"What do you do?? Most jobs make mess, but I promise I don't hold it against you."

[dontpokethat]

"I can imagine." Given what kind of stuff goes on here...

"I'm an animal keeper. I look after the menagerie and all that." Until recently, he was the only one doing that. Which was... kind of a pain, frankly.

[spaghettimonster]

Best if they don't imagine. It's the kind of thing words can scarcely describe.

"Ah yes, the miniature zoo... Do they have contracts too? The animals there?"

[dontpokethat]

"Ah... no, they don't." He sounds faintly amused by the idea - just a little. "They're just animals the Ringmaster picked up from different worlds. Things she found interesting, y'know?"

[spaghettimonster]

"So they're... her pets? Not people animals?" It's a fuzzy line back home, with the wide range of animal monsters. "And you take care of them? That seems like cheating!"

[dontpokethat]

"I'm not sure I'd say they're pets, exactly," says the guy who routinely talks to the animals while he's working and spends a considerable amount of time petting some of them. "A lot are used in performances, though some are just for display. Either way, though, they're a part of the carnival, y'know?"