lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 15st - 22th, 2017
Where: Still in Portland
What: As all sides of the struggle gradually become informed, and the awareness of outsiders begins to spread, Portland faces a critical question - what should be done with them? And who gets to decide?
Warnings: Individually marked!

THE WOLVES AMONG US↴

► WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS: It's fairly common knowledge that October is a special month - Halloween has always been an excitable time in the supernatural community, because its during this month that the magical energies of Earth seem to disproportionately swell in power. This peeks on the 31st, and has every year for as long as anyone can remember. The holiday of Halloween is a byproduct of this, because the magical phenomenon has gone on for ages past. It's also a pretty common time for wizards to attempt bullshit shenanigans, and also when the Severing first came into effect.

► TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL: Towards the end of the week, Prudence Jaeger will be asking her angelic contacts for a pretty huge favour - she wants them to help her and some of her associates break into the Circle stronghold that the visiting Council members are staying at. It seems that they have some kind of macguffin item that will be needed to crack the barrier cutting off the Earth from the cosmos - and, to that end, allow the angels and mysterious outsiders to return to wherever they call home.

► THE PATH TO HELL: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Team Heaven isn't the only group to clue into the fact that the Circle has what they need. On the same night that the angels go in, so will Anath's army, as the arch demon finally arrives in the city just in time to join the party. Whether the angels and demons fight each other all the way or cooperate to achieve a mutual goal is up to them.

► WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: The Circle and Torchlight aren't all bad, okay? It's entirely possible that they are just acting in the best interest of humanity - unfortunately, that has resulted in them being pretty massive pricks recently, and now the payback for that is arriving on their doorstep. If you're a member of the Circle, you may or may not realize that anything is coming in time for you to prepare. (That will depend on your threads up to the end of the week.) However, once the fight starts, you'll be charge with defending the Councillors whether you like it or not, and Torchlight is getting pulled in as an unexpected ally to ensure their safety as well. Are you going to heed their call? Or is it time to split from the pack?

► BLOOD OF ICE AND FIRE: It's been made no secret that the Rose Queen isn't the only fae trying to pull back her lost changelings - now the Winter Court appears to be doing it, as well. More than a handful of changelings have gone missing over the last couple weeks, lost to both the thorns and agents of the Count. Whatever they're doing, it's also in competition with each other - Winter and Summer will be biting at each other's heels far more than normal, to the degree that it becomes clear they must have some competing objective in mind. Unfortunately for everyone else, that objective happens to conflict with the desires of just about everyone else. Fae are, by nature, opportunists.

- ✪ -
These are the major conflicts that will be coming to a head towards the end of Week 3. In the meantime, your actions will decide how certain elements are set up, and what the likelihood of success is for each group.

Dice rolling handily won the opinion poll where we asked for the preferred method of conflict resolution, so that will be coming into effect a bit later on to determine who actually wins and loses, with advantages based on the choices made.

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Closed to Sora
[The memories were getting more and more intense. Because that’s what they were — memories. Not just weird dreams.

And now Sora was in them.

He quickly shoots his friend a text message, asking him to meet after class at a coffee shop on campus.

Rin sits at a small table with a coffee in front of him. He stirs it with one of the cheap wooden sticks, but doesn’t actually seem interested in drinking it]

Closed to Steven, the most popular boy
[WELP. Rin tried not to think much about the supernatural stuff that happened in town. He just wanted to live a life!! So he knows vaguely about the fae shit that happens in town, and their weird habit of stealing children, but that’s about it.

But now, that stuff he tried to ignore was staying in his house, so… he sort of had to think about it. After dinner the first night he got there, the kid understandably just wanted to rest. But Mom had insisted that Rin try and make the changeling boy feel as comfortable and at home as possible.

Rin takes the day off from class and leads Steven into his bedroom. Steven seemed to be so much younger than he was … what are grade-school kids into these days?]

So uh… do you like videogames?

WILDCARD
[u want sum ~~fuk~~ Rin??? U CAN HAV]

[Sora's just tired, mostly. Tired of the visions, of the memories, of the crazy shit happening around the city, all of it. But, through it all, he's still managing to drag himself to class.

This will be the second day in a row that someone has texted him to meet him after class. Normally, he'd welcome the distraction, but something tells him that his friend doesn't want to meet him just to hang out.

The thought continues to hang over him as he goes to sit down across from Rin with his own coffee in front of him.]

Hey.

[Rin has been missing class an alarming amount lately. Some days, he just... doesn't know who he is. Is he Rin Fujimoto, half demon? Or is he this other kid... an exorcist in training?]

Hey, man. Sorry I haven't really been around. [he offers a smile, one that actually seems genuine! It's warm, and pleasant, and Rin is SOOO good at faking being ok.] How have you been doin', bro?

Edited 2017-07-25 00:00 (UTC)

I'm... okay. [Listen Sora is also super good at faking being okay. They're faking each other out.]

Still getting weird visions, but I'm okay.

What've you been up to?

[As though they're both pretending that the city isn't basically going to hell in a handbasket around them.]

[HECK YEA fake happy! so good]

Me? Oh, not much. Mostly hanging out at home. Mom is kind of keeping me under her wings... for... you know.

[Reasons. Reasons like shit in the city falling apart]

We were gonna go on a vacation to Hawaii but Dad poopoo'd it. Said it was too much like running away.

Hehe, I'd be too jealous if you went to Hawaii without me anyway.

[Like Joker would let him out of his sight that long, anyway. Not the way things are now.]

But yeah, I... I've been sticking to school. Joker doesn't want me near... what's going on.

But, I'm glad to see you! It feels like it's been forever.

[Joker could have gone too! He could be invisible on the plane. Stowaway!]

Mom is helping to watch one of the Rose Queen's changelings... he's staying at our house. Shit is, apparently, real, man. But it has been! I just... you know. Not living on campus makes it hard to get to class sometimes. I haven't missed anything very important, right?

[#1 difference between OU Rin and Portland Rin: Portland Rin cares about school somewhat]

I don't think so, but I... it's been hard to pay attention, lately. I don't think you've missed anything super important, but if you did, I probably did to.

[Telling it like it is. Honestly, some days he can't even keep himself awake well enough to go to class in the first place. And his roommate has a completely different schedule, so there's no use asking him. Joker won't leave his side when he's sick. He might be able to coerce Tamaki into going for him, but Tamaki can't take notes and forgets half of everything he's told anyway.]

Sorry, I'm... not much help there.

[Steven seemed pretty shy at first, but having been in the house for a little while seems to have him perking up a bit. At the very least, he's willing and able to carry on a conversation, which was arguable the night before.

Still, he seems pretty damn meek about his place here as he sits on Rin's bed.]

Um... Yeah. I played them a lot when I still lived with my dad.

[So, you know, before the kidnapping and torture part.]

[Which is good! Steven didn't say ten words the whole night, and most of them weren't in full sentences. He wondered if it was shyness, or fae shit. Good to know it was just shyness after all!]

Good! So I don't have to explain the concept like I had to do for my mom. They don't have videogames in hell! Ha! [Rin taps the entertainment center, pointing out his various gaming systems] Let's see here... I got a PS4 and a Nintendo Switch... I think I have a Wii back here somewhere. I like Nintendo best. What about you?

[Steven has to puzzle over that one for a minute, trying to remember a time before being in faerie. He considers, and then nods.]

I think I had a... Nintendo Cube. It was purple and square. [He gestures vaguely.] What's a Nintendo Switch?

Oh! A gamecube!! [Rin smiles brightly, remembering the system fondly] That was a great era, man. A switch is their newest console! So... like, first was the Nintendo, the the Super Nintendo, and then the N64... then the gamecube! After that, there was a system called the Wii, then the Wii U, and now, the Switch! [he pauses to grab the gamepad from the cradle and looks up, thoughtfully] Man, has it really been that long...? Anyway! This is a switch!

[Rin hands the whole system to Steven, consisting of a tablet-sized screen with buttons and joysticks on either side] Isn't it rad? You can play games on that screen, or you can play it on the TV!

[Steven takes it in his hands, looking it over in bemusement. Wait, where is the rest of it? He peers at the back side of it like he's convinced he must be doing it wrong.]

What do you mean? This is the whole thing?

[Technology is amazing.]

Hehe, yeah!! This is the whole thing! Amazing, right? [Rin turns it on and brings up the menu, then selects the Mario Kart of the era] You've played Mario Kart, right?

[Who even knows what Mario Kart it it these days. Steven sure doesn't. He watches, transfixed, and for the first time since coming to the house, he seems to be brightening up a little. Like something familiar like this can pull out from inside himself.]

Yeah!

[He smiles a little.]

I used to play this one a lot... but it looks kind of different, now. Though... I guess a lot of stuff kind of does.

It just looks better is all. And there's more characters and stuff... but the game is the same, you know? Banana peels are still useless and blue shells are still the worst.

[Rin carefully takes the console from Steven and places it back into the cradle, and the game appears on the big screen of the TV instead. He offers the controller to him] So, wanna do a race or two?

[Count that as the only thing that looks better after his imprisonment, then. Steven's smile falters a little, and then returns, thinking about it. He takes the controller. This part is familiar enough.]

Sure.

[He sits up, looking over the controls.]

I don't think bananas are useless, though.

[Nintendo. Nintendo never changes.

Rin goes about setting up the race (grand prix mode!) and then looks at Steven with a put-upon frown]

Whaaaat? They're just like... the poor man's fake item box! Maaaah... [he looks up, thinking] I guess they're ok as a shield.

And sometimes I can throw them in front of people!

[He grins a little bit, remembering that detail. It's pleasant when he can remember the details of stuff that happened before.]

Oh, that's tricky! I don't know man. They've got such a small hitbox, too.

[DISCOURSE. Rin loads up the character select screen]

I wanna be Yoshi.

[Sora was stressed out. So was he. Which meant they needed to do something to let off steam. The talk at the coffee shop had only really made things MORE awkward, so... Rin felt he needed to make it up to his friend.

With beer.

So, with the booze hidden in a backpack, he knocks on the door, confident that he has Sora's schedule memorized! He should DEFINITELY be home.

... Well, turns out he doesn't. ]

[Sean's home, though, and he's writing. Actually, he's writing about the weird dreams he's been having, memories of another life and visions of the world's end. It's all too much for him. Life's hit him hard this month, and he's not sure where to go from here.

... When someone knocks on the door, though, he jumps. How long has he been sitting there? When did the sun start to go down? It's starting to get cold, and that makes him itchy, makes it hard to stay human, but he answers the door anyway.]

... Oh, you're Sora's friend. Rin, right?

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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FOR SNAKE

It's still weird that he just talks in this AU