⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 1st - 7th, 2017
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Memories begin returning to the displaced as the fall gets chillier. How the hell did we end up here, again? Also, apparently, the fair is in town.
Warnings: Individually marked!

PORTLAND BY NIGHT↴ Memory regains will come into effect at the beginning of October, to whatever degree you've decided upon, and may be regained at whatever pace you desire from then on. For those with their full carnival memories, it will be like waking up in the body of someone else - for those with half and half, it will be like rapidly recalling sets of memories from a totally different life. Those with full amnesia will simply feel as if this is how it's always been. Unfortunately for you, memories aren't the only thing you have to deal with. The supernatural community of Portland is bustling all of a sudden - could your presence and these events somehow be related? ► THE OUTER CIRCLE: As of the start of the month, the Portland Circle of Enlightenment will find itself starting to get swarmed with members from other chapters. Most notably, it would seem that a small cabal of top mages from the North American Enlightenment Council will be making their home in Portland's HQ. For anyone but the highest of ranks, the purpose behind their visit will be unclear, but it seems like something is definitely up on a metaphysical level. The Circle will be buzzing with rumours of unique planar activity and threatening omens. It seems that it all started with an unusual flare of activity in the planetary ley-lines, starting approximately a week ago. However, even if you would usually be the type to keep tabs on such things, you will find that you oddly have no memory of observing this phenomenon yourself. ► THE ANIMAL FAIR: Good news, the fair is in town! Or, at least, it would be good news... if this was a regular fair. Instead, what's being observed is a bunch of nearly identical flyers, spread all around Portland - each of which bears only the words "THE ANIMAL FAIR", a seemingly bloody paw-print of unknown origin, and the directions to a vague forested location outside of the city. It's dated for October 7th, and all instances of its posting having been discovered with a scattering of rose petals, crow feathers, and pre-burnt matches laying on the ground around them. Most are taking this to be some kind of bizarre viral marketing campaign, but others may know better. ► THE EARTH SPIRIT: If you have connections to The Pack or any of its many variations, you'll probably hear whispers of something very odd that occurred last week - according to the elders, it sounds as if the Earth Spirit, the magical and spiritual center of the planet, has suddenly taken a wound. It's not clear why or how, but there is a fair bit of concern among spiritual types, as it is werebeast belief and nebulous magical fact that the magical forces within the earth are the source of all magic here, as well as the source of life. While many werebeasts claim to have felt the Spirit succumb, you strangely have no memory of such an event occurring. Though things do feel strange, if you know how to tap into the Spirit yourself. ► THE WAR CRY: Though Anath's rain of terror across North America lasted for the first fifteen years or so of the Severing, most independent demons have had enough time to start taking the arch-demon's relative inactivity for granted. For that first while, the warrior queen had seemed determine to rebuild an army on earth by forcing her scattered brethren into service - only for her to gradually settle down in a fortress somewhere in Texas and dig in her heels. Of course, this was too good to last - it sounds as if she and her demonic legion have begun tearing their way up the west coast, their goals remaining a mystery. Their destination, however, is almost certainly Portland.

Comments

Amethyst | October 1st-4th

[drrdrrdrr]

i. cool leg
Unsurprisingly, Amethyst isn't the most diligent of students, but she doesn't slack off completely – if she dropped out of college she'd have to work out what else she's going to do with her life, and no lecture or homework is more intimidating than that is. For some reason thinking about her long term future is just kind of... weird? Not right? Like something doesn't fit exactly, the same way that trying to think about some stuff from her past just feels kind of wrong sometimes.

Which – whatever. Amethyst isn't a fan of introspection. She probably just feels that way because she's, like, a piece of shit, or something, and that is what it is so she doesn't care. (She cares.) The point is, she could have slept all day today, but instead she's here, loitering in between attending classes.

But ... here's one of those posters again, with its bloody pawprint and its scattering of weird debris. Huh. She leans forward and furtively sniffs it... but while her sense of smell is pretty acute even when it isn't her time to change, she doesn't have a lot of experience with distinguishing a lot of different kinds of smells besides the contents of trash cans. It just smells like old blood. She grimaces a little. Maybe she can ask around at this week's Beast Wrestling meet...


ii. the wrestle hole
She hasn't gotten to asking around yet. She's too busy riding the high of exertion and violence, which honestly was exactly what she needed. She's been so on edge this week; whatever it is she keeps seeing out of the corner of her eye but can't seem to catch has, it seems like, just left her with this mounting sense of unease and wrongness. Spending a night just punching people is a welcome relief.

She just pummelled a werecat who thought she'd be easy to beat and she's feeling pretty good about herself. Her tail is hanging out behind her, a little bruised but none the worse for wear, and her teeth are sharp and her round ears are poking out past tied-back hair that's looking a little more white than blonde. The current location for these underground werebeast fights is, as ever, out of the way and not advertised to anyone who doesn't know, which means it's fine to let that kind of thing hang out. Amethyst doesn't run with the Pack, but being here is always kind of a relief for more than just the fighting.

Not that she expects people here to be friendly. Still a little dizzy and exhilarated from the fight, she bumps into someone on her way to grab a bottle of water, and her immediate reaction is to bare her fangs.

"Hey, you tryna start something?"


iii. trash night
Some werebeasts' changes are dictated by lunar cycles. For others it depends on weather patterns, or equinoxes. For Amethyst, who is a werepossum, the day she changes into her full beast form is the day in her neighbourhood when the trash gets taken out. And that's tonight, so here she is, a possum the size of a large dog roaming the streets of Portland. Not very glamorous, but it's kind of nice to just trundle around and get into garbage, honestly.

Here are some options for this one:
You heard something rooting around in your garbage and went to chase it away but there's this huge awful creature tail up in your trash can with its stubby legs just kind of sticking out the top;
You just hit what you think might be a dog with your car or other motor vehicle and now it's playing dead;
You were just walking down the street and you saw this thing walking along the top of a fence and you are pretty sure that possums don't come that large but you've made eye contact with it and it's not looking away;
OR, WHATEVER YOU LIKE, HONESTLY! I'M EASY

III

[periphrasing]

Peridot is pretty deep in her own thoughts as she's walking back to her apartment on the night of the 2nd. As a were, she has also taken a particular interest in the posters that have been popping up around town, but thus far all her researching and snooping isn't really getting her anywhere.

She's just thinking that maybe she needs to try a different approach, when the movement of something huge in her peripheral catches her attention. Startled, she turns to her right, and immediately finds herself face to face with the largest opossum she has ever seen.

Also, it's staring at her. And she can't get herself to stop staring back.

"....Um," she says after a tense silence. Either this is another were, or she's about to get her face bitten off by a huge wild animal.

[drrdrrdrr]

The possum stares back for a moment longer.

Then it tilts its head, and says, "You didn't see nothin'," and hops down off the fence to waddle past her. This usually works because most people would absolutely prefer to pretend that they didn't see anything and get on with their night.

[periphrasing]

Peridot takes a half-step back to make room when she hops down, still slackjawed and gaping dumbly. Before Amethyst has a chance to disappear, though, her body finally catches up with her brain, and she blurts out:

"Wait, you're... another werebeast, aren't you!?"

Duh.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst stops and looks back at her, blinking slowly.

"I mean, yeah, but..." She squints a little. "Hey... don't I know you?"

[periphrasing]

Now it's Peridot's turn to blink slowly, and look rather unimpressed.

"...I don't know. Do you?" she asks a little dryly. You're a huge opossum, Amethyst. It's not like Peridot can place your face or anything while you're looking like that.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Hey," she says, perking up a little, "I totally do, you sit in front of me in math!" She sits back on her haunches and commits an inexcusable possum smile. "You know about this stuff?"

I

[puddingemote]

People loitering around outside classes isn't unusual. But someone sniffing a poster definitely is.

Maybe it's some kind of scratch-and-sniff thing? Tamaki remembers when people would have scratch-and-sniff stickers, or scented markers in school. Unfortunately, smell is a sense long lost to him, but, out of boredom, he comes closer anyway.

If Amethyst can see ghosts, she'll see a teenager staring at her, staring at the poster. If she can't, she might notice it's gotten a bit chilly suddenly.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst isn't super up on the non-beasty areas of the paranormal, but thanks to the fact that her brother is kind of haunted she can more or less spot a ghost. Getting stared at by one definitely feels a little bit colder than getting stared at by a person, that's for sure. She goes still when she feels that shiver crawl up her spine, and then slowly turns to look at him.

He doesn't look very creepy, at least...

She squints at him slightly.

"Yo." She gestures at the poster with a thumb. "This got something to do with you?"

[puddingemote]

Tamaki raises an eyebrow. So she can see him after all - he wasn't expecting that, but it's not a bad thing.

He peers at the poster, then shrugs.

"No." He's never heard of this thing, but then, the affairs of the living have little to do with him now. "I guess it's an animal fair."

He's just a wealth of information.

[drrdrrdrr]

She looks profoundly unimpressed. "Uhhh, no kidding. You don't have any, like, spooky knowledge from the other side or anything?"

[puddingemote]

"Spooky knowledge...?" he repeats, like he's never really considered that. It's not like there's a ghost phone tree they all call each other on.

"I guess I could ask around..." There are probably a few other ghosts in the area.

[drrdrrdrr]

Look, Amethyst doesn't know there isn't a ghost phone,

"Yeah, like... I dunno, stuff you've heard through the... ghostvine, or whatever. There's a bunch of these all over town."

TRASH NIGHT

[walkonedge]

So the thing about wolves? They're fairly confrontational. Even on the night without full moons.

Matt is quite certain that this... creature that's rooting around in his apartment building's garbage disposal (he's on trash duty this week at home, how fun) is large enough to be another werecreature, and while he would honestly have preferred having someone else around as back-up or just the Pack being around in general, he's going to shift into a slightly more confrontational stance and growl, almost instinctively.

It's a growl that's asking what the fuck are you doing, and well, if Amethyst doesn't recognise him as another were, that's enough to basically out him.

[drrdrrdrr]

The back feet and fat tail flail for a second, and then the oversized possum tumbles backwards out of the garbage disposal along with a shower of miscellaneous trash.

Her attention fixes on the wolf with a look of faint alarm and she makes a quizzical grunt around the slightly mouldy loaf of bread she has clamped in her jaws.

[walkonedge]

That growl is one of mild disgust, actually, considering that trash is kind of filthy. He's no cat, not by any stretch of the imagination, but even he knows that rooting around in trash is a sure-fire way of getting food poisoning or coming down with some kind of bug.

He's not a scavenger, he's a hunter.

So yeah, there's another faint growl of disapproval in response to Amethyst and the slightly mouldy loaf of bread in between her jaws. He resists the urge to gnash his teeth at her.

Don't do that, his narrowed eyes and the Look that he's giving her seems to say. Go and actually hunt, damn it.

[drrdrrdrr]

She rolls her eyes and makes a show of chewing on the bread. Does she look like a hunter to you, buddy,

WRESTLE HOLE

[control_freak]

Wow, Amethyst. It's a good thing your brother has the empathy of an empty soup can, or he might be a little offended. Instead he shoves a bottle of water into her paws, adding, "Oh, great. We can't BOTH have memory problems or we'll never get home."

He's joking, for the record. He's actually feeling fairly good today, all things considered. That said, they both know he'd eat it if they stepped into the ring together. Sure, he's like... a few hundred pounds heavier than her (bears are bigger than opossums, news at 11), but trying to pin down a slippery fucking opossum without getting perforated by 3092578912 tooth holes sounds like a Sisyphean task. Also, he has lupus.

Funnily enough, Amethyst and Foster actually look a lot alike despite having the basic silhouettes of Ernie and Bert, respectively.

"So, gonna live?"

[drrdrrdrr]

"Pffft, yeah," says Amethyst, grinning as she takes the bottle. She fumbles with the cap a little, because having your hands slightly possum-y for the claws is great when you're fighting but not so much when you need to perform fine motor tasks, but she gets it a second later, and takes a grateful swig. "Were you even watching? I creamed that guy."

Smuggery is a word now

[control_freak]

"I don't come here to do anything but watch--haha, that sounded way worse when I said it out loud." Whoops? "But yeah, you fuckin did."

The first part is not entirely true. He also places bets and makes other dubious financial decisions. And sometimes he gets laid. But other than that.

"Rolled up all impressive like he's some big apex predator, too. Then he got his ass beat by a trash eater with foot thumbs." There's a pause, and then, with a smile and uncommon smuggery: "I hope he's embarrassed."

[drrdrrdrr]

"He better be," says Amethyst happily. Hearing a flattering blow-by-blow of her own fights is always a mood-lifter, even with her mood already pretty lifted by having won in the first place. "When'd you get here, anyway?"

[control_freak]

"Uhhhh, I don't know--some rando gator dude was getting his tail whupped when I got here, so like right before your fight." He waves his hand vaguely; Foster has a cell phone he can check for shit like that, but he doesn't actually pay attention to what time it is.

"So, right on time, hahaha. Ginko says hi, by the way." He didn't tell Ginko where he was meeting Amethyst, obviously. Just that he was going to, and he'd see hi9m later. By now, no one asks where Foster is going when he doesn't volunteer it himself. After enough non-answers, they kinda got the point.

"Were you gonna fight another round?"

TRASH NIGHT oh god Vincent has literally no icons for this shit.

[coffincomfort]

Vincent is.... very tired, to be honest. It's kind of a weird feeling; it's been some years since he was last capable of feeling 'tired' in a traditional physical sense, but being returned to basic human functions and limitations has definitely been... an experience. He's not sure how much he appreciates it.

It's...

Well, it doesn't matter what it is, because Vincent is about to learn a valuable lesson about why you're not supposed to drive while distracted.

Rounding the corner, he has about a split-second's glimpse of something silhouetted in his headlights--something about the size and shape of a Nibel wolf or Kalm fang--before he hits it with his Volvo at 40 mph.

[drrdrrdrr]

There's an unappealing yelping sort of sound... but after that, whatever it was, it's not moving.

[coffincomfort]

.......

Well.

Vincent's already slammed on the brakes, although it's much too late to avoid the actual collision; he couldn't explain where or why, but somewhere in the process, it just became an obligation to find out what he'd just potentially killed as a consequence of his own carelessness.

So he jams the clutch into Park, punches the hazard light button, and climbs out of the front seat with his phone to search the roadside for... he's not totally sure.

A corpse, or something to put out of its misery.