⇨ 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

closed | more dumbness or something in here

[wild_magic]

Susan still didn't really understand what was going on, or why it was so bad for him to just be with Lauren, but even though his brother seeming to be okay with it all annoyed him he still wasn't going to argue. In fact once they finally left the diner and started heading towards the light rail station, he ended up too distracted by the sights of the city to care too much about that any more. Sure he'd been in a modern(ish) city before, but it was still exciting to see everything, to see how different things were here.

When the MAX comes into view, his excitement only grows, and he looks up at Lauren.

"Is that what we're riding?" It's bigger than any car he's seen yet, so it must be cool.

Re: closed | more dumbness or something in here

[mylastchance]

It was obvious that Susan was excited. After their brief argument in the dinner Lauren had expected Susan to be sulky and sullen the rest of the evening. Instead he saw his little brother excited looking every which way. He was hardly watching where he was going he was so distracted. It was entertaining, especially since Lauren's new (?) set of memories meant that all the things Susan found interesting seemed pretty mundane to him. He's happy to see Susan looking excited though, especially considering the possibly dangerous circumstances they found themselves in. Susan's excitement at seeing the train though took the cake as far as amusing reactions went, and he struggled not to laugh at his little brother.

"Yeah, that's the light rail."

[wild_magic]

"Wow... It's so big!" He's practically bouncing as it approaches, super excited about this totally mundane thing. When it finally stops in front of them and the doors open, he looks up to his brother again and waits for his lead, albeit a bit impatiently.

[mylastchance]

He's does laugh, just a bit then, at his brother's impatient gaze before he steps on, before looking around for a seat. He guesses one with windows would be best considering how totally amazing Susan seems to think this is.

"Come on." It's a weird time of day, not morning and not afternoon, so fortunately there are lots of places they can sit. "Take the window seat."

[wild_magic]

Susan follows, happily taking the window seat when Lauren offers it. For now though he's looking around inside, not outside, watching the other people, looking at the posted signs, watching as the doors slide shut and looking around for where the voices are coming from as the door closing announcement is made. He'd ridden in a car before, and an elevator, but this is totally different and he doesn't want to miss a thing.

[mylastchance]

He smiles as he watches his brother look every which way.

"What are you looking at?"

[wild_magic]

He laughs as he turns back to Lauren.

"Everything! There's too much to see."

[mylastchance]

It was pretty cool compared to what they were used to (wasn't he used to it though?). They'd seen so much since joining the carnival, so many things the other workers considered plain. While part of him felt that was true, another part of him thought he was going insane. A world travelling carnival couldn't be real, and yet he knew it was. It was a distressing feeling simultaneously knowing your right and thinking your wrong.

"We'll probably be riding it again. Until we can figure this out."