⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 22nd - 31st, 2017
Where: In Portland, for the last time.
What: The seasons change as the Winter Court seizes a surprise victory, claiming both the Tree of Life's pendant and the blood catalyst needed to take control of the Severing Ritual. Meanwhile, interdimensional problems are about to get more weird. Check out the conflict results for the attack on the Circle as well as the Beast's attack on the Summer Court here.
Warnings: Individually marked!

DAYS OF WINTER↴ As the end of October nears, so does the grasp of winter. On the night of the 22nd, it will freeze overnight, and the temperature will drop for the following days. As the night grow long, world-wide magic slowly reaches it apex, set to reach it on the night of Halloween. With so many factors at play, knowing what to do with that moment of power may be a challenge. ► FULL CIRCLE: The Angels succeed in their planned attack on the Circle, managing to get to the living quarters of the Council members with the help of Ashleigh Mischief. The plan goes without much resistance from the mages or from the demons attempting to claim the ritual object for their own. Of course, when the fae make a surprise attack on the Angels after they flee the scene, it has the surprise result of the Winter Court ended up with the pendant in their talons. Threads for this attack can be done in this log. If you need mod direction at all, let us know, but otherwise feel free to NPC demons, angels, or random Circle members as you require. ► THE QUEEN'S GARDEN: Realizing that the Rose Queen is distracted with attempting to claim the pendant, the Beast will summon her co-conspirators to raid the Queen's gardens. The ultimate plan seems to be to get the Beast far enough into the gardens to kill the Queen, while also rescuing as many changelings as possible along the way. As it turns out, this doesn't go well. While they do manage to penetrate the gardens with Childermass's help, the Rose Queen, Ignatius, and Nightshade happen to all be there. Seriously outnumbered, even by the Beast's terms, it will take everything the group has to just make it out alive, sustaining heavy injuries as they go. In the end they will manage to rescue Greg universe and four additional changelings that were imprisoned there, but any damage done to the Summer Court itself will be negligible. Threads for this can also be played out here! ► REFLECTIONS: As the ritual draws closer, the line between this reality and the one you came from will also be becoming less clear. Regaining memories is not required, but it will naturally become easier to occur, especially if you're already started receiving them. It's a good time to start making connections, while you still have the chance. ► THE SEVERING: One way or another, the Severing is going to make an impact on both this world and the lives of those trapped inside of it. The Angels are going to be making an attempt to interrupt the Winter Court's ritual, as will the Summer Court and Anath's forces. Whoever comes up on top will be the ones to decide what to be done with it. Yet, with news that the Severing continuing could cause irreversible damage to the planet's spirit, it could feel like there are no perfect options. There will be an event header put up for this by the mods closer to the end of July. (NOTE: canon powers will returning while the ritual is in progress, so keep that in mind for planning - both sets of powers will be active.)

Comments

i.

[periphrasing]

Someone else in the alley is staring back at Childermass with equal amounts of scrutiny. In fact, the look she's giving him is the kind of expression you might expect from someone trying to make sense of a particularly bad piece of abstract art, eyes narrowed, lips pursed.

With typical Peridot brand bluntness, she completely ignores his question and jumps right to the point:

"How do you know my brother?"

Yeah, she saw you trying to manhandle him a few minutes ago. Like hell she's going to let that bizarre occurrence go uninvestigated.

[atouts]

Oh great, and now it's Lambert's other weresister. Provided they don't all die, he's going to need to have a long talk with several people about not inviting just about anyone they see along to a secret assassination attempt. Anyway, the question is met with an incredibly deadpan stare and answer in return.

As if it would ever be anything else.

"The same way everyone else probably does," is the answer. "He made me coffee at some point in time and said something terribly rude about cats."

[periphrasing]

Hey, listen, at least this sister isn't a LITERAL SIXTEEN YEAR OLD.

"It is incredibly unlikely that that is the full story," captain obvious here responds in an equally deadpan tone. She shoves her glasses back up the bridge of her nose like the mega nerd that she is, still squinting at him in a shrewd manner. "Or if it is the full story, I'm going to have to hex you to teach you a lesson for thinking that you can push him around just because he served you coffee at one point."

Look, she may know now that her familial history with Lambert is a complete and utter lie, but that knowledge hasn't erased the bond that they've shared... and Peridot really doesn't appreciate when people try to bully her friends.

Also she knows it's not the full truth anyway, because she has ridiculously good bat hearing and was definitely eavesdropping on most of their conversation.

[atouts]

It's incredibly obvious, actually, for the exact lack of effort he's putting into the explanation.

At the threat of being hexed, Childermass can only raise his eyebrows, looking much more interested in this little attempt to scare him than actually, you know, scared. Small angry nerd, is that really something that can run in a family? Miko seemed to have avoided such a fate, somehow.

"Maybe I'm mad at him over the rude things about cats he said," he carries on with that lame-ass story regardless, then adds quite casually, "Though I would be careful about hexing the person who's here to open the door for you. It would be a shame if you ruined everyone's plans."

[periphrasing]

At that, Peridot glances over at the rest of the crowd in the alley, all mingling and muttering among themselves. He's right, of course. She makes an irritated noise and folds her arms at her chest, gaze flicking back to the changeling once more.

"Fine. For the sake of practicality, I'll save the hexing for after this ridiculously ill-advised mission is completed. In the meantime, you should thank me for my incredible self-restraint by identifying yourself. Assuming you have an identity beyond just, 'magical doorman'."

[atouts]

"'Magical Doorman' seems accurate enough for now," Childermass replies oh so dryly. Since Peridot's offered it up as a name, why, sure, she can just call him that. "Though if you care enough not to be rude, I would much prefer Mr. Doorman from you, Miss Wolfe."

[periphrasing]

Peridot just gives him the most unimpressed, vaguely annoyed stare she can muster.

"...How about I just call you "Magical Clod" instead," she suggests. This guy, keeping her at a disadvantage and then telling her not to be rude...

[atouts]

He's being a jerk and he knows it, but he also imagines she'll hear more than enough about him if she gets around to questioning Lambert. Provided they survive, that is. So, for now, he'll only raise his eyebrows at the name Peridot suggests, then slowly fold his hands behind his back. He'll give an air of thinking about it for a second or two, but beyond all that, he doesn't give much of a reaction to it otherwise.

"If that pleases you," he gives as an obnoxiously neutral reply. "But I would reiterate that I would, at the very least, prefer that as Mr. Clod to you."

Because manners, right? Right.

[periphrasing]

“Proper titles and honorifics are for people who aren’t weirdly cagey with me,” Peridot insists stubbornly. Which, in other words, means that she makes no promises.

She snorts and shoots a furtive look over at Lambert, before returning her attention to the changeling. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you: I’m willing to help out The Beast and all that, but a large part of why I’m here is to also keep an eye on him. I heard you two talking just now. So if you can… I don’t know…” She shrugs with frustration. “If you think of anything that will help me to do that, I’m all ears.”

She looks extremely embarrassed to be admitting all of this but uh. Clearly, beating around the bush to try and get information isn’t going to work with this guy.

[atouts]

That's pretty much as expected. Childermass couldn't fathom her being here if it weren't for Lambert, who also shouldn't be here, but that argument has already come and gone. When she shoots that look the other man's way, he'll follow, looking as well. Where Peridot turns back, well, he keeps on eyeing Lambert from afar, frowning.

If there's anything that will help, huh?

"Drag him back home before he gets himself killed, chiefly," he ends up muttering first, but after that, he finally does turn his attention back to Peridot. "But we both already know that isn't happening. The best you can do is to stay close and watch his back. We're entering the Rose Queen's gardens, so if you have any way of setting plants on fire, that may be useful to you."

[periphrasing]

"I do know my fair share of fire magic," Peridot muses. "Not that i particularly like the odds of one fire mage against a whole bunch of fae plants, but. I don't know. Maybe I can at least keep him from getting devoured by a bunch of feral daffodils, or whatever the heck else the Rose Queen has waiting for us in there."

[atouts]

"Good," Childermass says, absolutely no sarcasm or dryness involved this time, "Fire will be your best bet, barring iron. If I'd known more people were going to be here, I would have—" He stops there, gives his head a shake. "Not that it matters now. I can't drum up suitable arms at the drop of a hat."

He can move around and collect all sorts of items quickly, but not iron, never iron. It burns him just as badly as it would burn the Queen's creatures.

"But fire will do and, careful, you aren't all that far off from there being feral daffodils. Just add 'ten foot tall' to that and you'd be closer."

[periphrasing]

Peridot pinches the bridge of her nose and groans. "Great! Feral AND ten foot tall. Good to know!" She huffs a sigh. "Why he insists on being present for this mission, I still don't know. It honestly defies all conventional logic."