lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With only mild bitching from his end and moderate threatening from Lambert, Strange has been dragged by Lambert back to the Wolfe house. Something about trying to track a feather? Thinking back on it, Strange shouldn't have yammered about sympathetic magic too much, Lambert was starting to do things like get ideas and think he knows how magic works. Whatever. It'd be good if they managed to find something, but he's going to summon up Nightshade and ask for her help later. At least for Strange, this evening won't be a total lost cause.

In true Strange fashion, he's complaining at Lambert pushes open the door.

"...of course I've tried scrying already, but this is a fae realm. I'll need at least an attempt at a coven to make any sort of headway, and--oh! Good evening, Miss Wolfe."

As he spots Peridot, Strange's mood turns on a dime, going from bitching and moaning to oddly pleased. All the better. If she's here, then they actually have a chance at getting something done.

Lambert's getting accustomed to tuning Strange's bitching out, having recently confirmed that 90% of it doesn't requite any of his input or consideration and that the magician will carry on regardless of what he says or doesn't say. He's already comfortably deaf to the mage's complaints, holding the door open for him to step inside with a desperately bland expression on his face, though he blinks and glances between his sister and Strange when the mage suddenly turns chirpy.

What the hell?

"You two know each other?"

Peridot actually hadn't been expecting anyone back any time soon, so the sudden entrance of the pair of them catches her very much by surprise. From the looks of things, she'd been hunched over a battered old laptop doing some research up until their arrival, with her dog sacked out on the couch next to her.

Now both girl and dog are very much alert. Pumpkin jerks awake and lifts her head, wagging her tail at a steadily increasing speed, like she's revving up to take off.

"Mr. Strange!" Peridot chirps, hopping to her feet excitedly. Lambert gets a puzzled look, and she shrugs innocently. "He's the contact that I mentioned the other day. You know, the magician? The one from the Circle?" She folds her arms and looks pointedly at Strange. "I never did hear from anyone about that, for the record. I was going to call you..."

Was, but kept putting it off. Her dreams of the Circle have felt rather irrelevant, with everything that's been going on.

Strange shoots Lambert a horribly smug smile, reveling in the man's confusion for a bit. But, most of the attention goes back to Peridot and the dog. Bending down slightly, Strange makes a kissy noise at Pumpkin, trying to coax the dog over for pets.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss Wolfe, it's not your fault--your magical profile was very impressive and I'm certain they'll send out your letter of initiation sometime next week or so," said in a very matter of fact yet still annoyingly pleased tone. "It's just that with all the nonsense going on, processing new recruits has fallen a bit by the wayside."

This is interesting, though. How much of the nonsense does Peridot know about? Obviously she has to know some considering she and Lambert are together (Strange is 100% wrong about this) but how much has he told her? And, possibly more worryingly, how much of it did she discover herself?

"You do know about the magical nonsense, don't you?"

It's amazing how small a world Portland really is, at least on the supernatural side of things.

"You were trying to recruit my sister into the Circle?" For all they've got this alliance thing going on now, and that heartfelt plea in the alley, Strange is still ... Strange, and Lambert still wants to punch him, a lot. Also, trying to curry favor with his sister's dog! He takes such offense at that, and immediately heads over to his sister and the couch to take an immediate grip on Pumpkin.

Well, 'immediately.' Lambert's still moving pretty slow.

"She knows as much as I do," Lambert says firmly. Namely: Winter Court has the pieces they need for the spell, and they're pretty fucked, and also Childermass and a pendant seem to be the key to a lot of this. What she doesn't know, tho, is what a pain in his ass this guy has been, thought he'll helpfully elucidate by turning to Peridot and telling her:

"He quit the Circle and he's working for the Summer Court but he wants to get into the Winter Court and find Childermass as much as we do, so we're on the same side for now." Just so everyone's clear!

Pumpkin would have happily responded to that summons, too, if Lambert hadn't just arrested her progress. As things are, she just sits politely in his arms and stares curiously at Strange, panting exuberantly and still wagging her tail at mile a minute. But why is she not allowed to receive the pets?

Peridot completely ignores the weird custody battle the two of them are having over the affections of her dog, and glances back and forth between both men. How peculiar. Lambert hadn't mentioned anything about Strange, even during all their 'real talks' of sharing information, so she's just as surprised to find out that they both know each other already.

It kind of shakes up the calm, professional air she was trying to put on in the presence of guests. Plus, there's just.... a lot to unpack here. "Stars," she mutters with annoyance, and she can definitely feel gem Peridot taking the reins here for the moment; she briefly rubs two fingers at the center of her forehead where the gem in question should be, a reflexive gesture of stress.

"Allow me to address all points in order: Yes, Lambert is correct that I do know about the "magical nonsense". By that token, I'm glad to hear that you're no longer with the Circle, since I've actually really lost my taste for the organization knowing what I know now about their responsibility for the Severing and what it's doing to the Earth Spirit. I'm less glad to hear about your affiliation with the Summer Court, since apparently THEY'RE the ones responsible for making the Circle think this world needed the stupid Severing in the first place by being a bunch of world conquering clods."

She pauses for breath, and it... seems like she's done lecturing, until she tacks on at the last second: "Also, to be brutally honest? Helping my brother get back his weird broody and mysterious secret boyfriend is just sort of extra motivation. I'd need to get in there anyway, since destroying the Severing and keeping the literal soul of this planet from dying is kind of actual top priority."

Blah blah lecture, blah blah Earth Spirit, the 'soul of the planet' jesus christ, how many people actually bought into that hippie nonsense? Strange doesn't believe in that sort of thing at all and will probably need a bit more selling to admit that it's a thing. Strange just rolls his eyes at Peridot's lecture as he makes one last attempt to coax Pumpkin over with another kissy noise. He's about to start in about how really, the Summer Court know what they're doing, at least they have a chance to break the Severing because the demons have no clue what they're doing, but then Peridot tacks in that last little lecture.

"Secret boyfriend?" Strange adds, with a frown. Well heck that's new. Was she talking about Childermass, that doesn't make any sense in the first place, why would oh my god Strange gets it now. And suddenly some missing pieces of the cat cafe debacle slip into place. "Oh good Lord."

It's odd. Strange has enough of his Portland personality to just be absolutely disgusted. A changeling, Lambert? Really? Urgh, you can do so much better than that. But he has enough of his carnival memories to realize that he should be giving both men immense amounts of shit for this (and definitely will give both men immense amounts of shit for this once everybody's back to normal.)

Strange stands back up, abandoning his quest to pet the dog in favor of teasing. He's got an odd expression on his face, like he just doesn't know what to think about this and what he should be doing about the whole scenario. Which of course he's going to talk about, because the fate of the world can be put on pause in the presence of hot gossip.

"Huh. And here I thought the two of you were together."

Even though Strange has lost interest in trying to call Pumpkin over, the moment the words secret boyfriend slips out of his sister's mouth, Lambert just about drops the poor little dog anyway -- who immediately races over to check out the new person, odd-smelling as he is and all. She recognizes that smell! He's been here before!

Lambert would really like to state categorically that Peridot's just being a little shit and Strange absolutely shouldn't take her words literally. However, much as he'd choked on his own words when Miko asked about the sweater, he struggles to get it out, making a weird noise in the back of his throat (vaguely reminiscent of a deflating balloon) as he goes sheet-white in indignation, then bright red in mortification. It's not a good look under the bruising. How could Peridot even say something like that?

(Of course, it's pretty obvious in retrospect how she could, but even Lambert doesn't know how he feels about Childermass, except possibly 'irrationally attached,' and they haven't exactly gotten a chance to talk about it! Some part of him is offended! They don't need labels!)

Of course, by the time he actually manages to gather his scrambled wits together to muster a coherent response, Strange comes out with that and Lambert's jaw nearly hits the floor.

"She's my sister!" he thunders, startling poor Pumpkin, who was just getting to pawing at the mages legs. Denying the whole 'secret boyfriend' thing is just going to take a backseat to this for a moment, because what the fuck, Strange? He immediately regrets getting worked up when sudden twinges of pain all around remind him why, in fact, he shouldn't be getting up, and he winces, dropping a hand to his side and leaning back against the couch. Yeah, that was a bad idea. No yelling.

Edited 2017-07-29 20:59 (UTC)

Look Strange, she was INCREDIBLY skeptical about the whole "Earth Spirit" thing too, up until she actually managed to talk to it.

She was definitely just being a little shit about Lambert and Childermass, but she sure didn't expect to see such a dramatic reaction out of her brother. She'd had her suspicions about them, sure, but apparently she was more on point than she realized. Eyebrows raised, she watches him with a sort of bemused interest as his face shifts through a veritable rainbow of colors... and then Strange goes ahead and says that.

Peridot doesn't believe in karma. But. Wow.

"He's my BROTHER!" she squawks simultaneously to Lambert's outburst, disgust written all over her face. It really doesn't matter if she knows for a fact that her whole family history with Lambert and Miko is a false one, that's still just weird and gross.

Strange has started giving Pumpkin some well deserved scratches and is about to go into a little whoosa woosa good dog, issit you, yes it's you when all of a sudden, he's yelled at from two different people. His eyes just bug out for a moment and Strange just instinctively backs up because again! He's getting yelled at! And he's getting yelled at over something stupid?

Honestly, it's not completely out of the ordinary that someone would make a mistake like that. The haughtiness kicks right back into gear as he pushes back that surprised expression for one closer to his normal annoyed.

"How was I supposed to know that?" he grumbles, gesturing back at Pumpkin. Come back here you little fluff, it's okay, the yelling's stopped. "You don't look a thing alike and you share the same last name. Of course someone would assume married over siblings."

At least, of course the man who doesn't have any siblings in both realities and was also married in both realities assumes married over siblings.

Okay, now there's too much yelling going on down there to be ignored. Miko tried to mind her own business, really, but--

--But okay no she did not try at all. Miko scoots a couple steps down the stairs and crouches on a step, furry ears angling toward the living room while she tries to stay out of sight. Stealth!! Sort of, theoretically. Hopefully they'll be distracted enough not to notice her.

Lambert's just going to stare incredulously at Strange for that. Literally only you would make that assumption, Strange, how old do you think they are?

"We were in the same foster family," is just what he's going to finish with, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes.

The rest of statement is so incredibly stupid it doesn't even deserve being acknowledged, so he's not going to, and he's just going to move right on to correcting the other mistaken assumption in this conversation.

"And Childermass isn't anyone's boyfriend, much less mine. That was a joke." The metaphorical eye-lasers he's shooting at Peridot after that say it had better be.

Edited 2017-07-31 02:48 (UTC)

Pumpkin happily trots right back over now that things are a little bit more calm. She gets her front paws up on Strange's legs and looks back over her shoulder at Peridot and Lambert with a dopey grin, like HEY CHECK THIS GUY OUT! HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? WOW!

Meanwhile, Peridot looks utterly unrepentant in the face of that death glare, defensively bristling and scowling right back at him. WHAT THE HECK IS LAMBERT SO MAD ABOUT?

"Hey! I am merely drawing conclusions based off of the evidence that I have observed for myself so far," she says snippily. "The key point here is that, whatever he is, he's obviously very important to you!"

Edited (LAST EDIT I SWEAR) 2017-07-31 05:04 (UTC)

As long as Pumpkin's somewhere remotely near Strange, he'll happily give the dog pets and scratches and just generally try to endear himself to this adorable little animal as much as possible.

"I'd hope they're not boyfriends," Strange idly remarks, with a smile that's a little too smug and a little too malicious. "Childermass is already seeing someone else--I'd hate for Lambert to be the other woman."

Other man? Whatever. And it's not like Strange is entirely certain Childermass is seeing someone else. But two weeks or so ago, Childermass was pretty cozy with Strange's ex-wife in a way that suggested to him at least that they were pretty close to being a couple.

Portland is a friggen soap opera apparently.

If Strange is going to be like that, Lambert's going to be nasty right back. It's probably hard to maintain the appropriate snippiness when Pumpkin, being a dog and therefore entirely immune to passive-aggressiveness, is now trying to lick Strange's hand off, but dammit, he's going to try.

"What, you mean fake-dating your ex-wife because you asked him to stalk her?" he asks, with feigned surprise. "Like I said, I know he's not dating anyone, because we actually talk about things."

The last part is straight up false because Childermass divulges personal information like rocks dispense blood, but you know what, sometimes a lie is necessary in service to a greater cause. It's also amazing how much Lambert wants to just throw Strange out a window and wonders how he ever let himself be suckered into thinking the man does things like, you know, care about other people.

Though as soon as the words are out of his mouth, Lambert instantly regrets them too. He buries his face in a hand, groaning, and shakes his head. "But that's not the point! We all want the same result no matter what our reasons are, so can we please just focus?"

Edited (lambert has too many instant regrets) 2017-07-31 15:04 (UTC)

WOW OKAY this conversation sure is. Swiftly. Becoming a lot. Peridot gives Strange an odd look at his snarky commentary towards Lambert, but then Lambert starts talking about... Fake dates? Stalking? Ex-Wives? Peridot is nosy, but only insofar as the topic directly affects her or her friends. Whatever's going on between Childermass and Strange, she doesn't want to know.

"Focus on what?" she asks. "You haven't even told me why you're both here yet."

Aside from the obvious point that Lambert also lives here, anyway.

Strange briefly shoots Lambert a downright death glare, the sort of 'oh my god don't you dare bring that up' sort of glare before turning his back entirely on the man to focus directly on Peridot. Is this petty? Yep. Does Strange care? Not really! "My efforts to locate Childermass haven't turned up much. Most likely, this means that he's in an area that's warded somehow. While I am skilled in the art of scrying, I'm not powerful enough to push past some wards by myself."

Besides, it just feels right to do magic with two people. There's a longing in the back of his head, like he's missed this sort of thing. He continues talking, but tries to pick up Pumpkin while he does so because this dog is currently in the running for 'best person in the whole room.'

"I said you were a talented mage and I meant it. If we combine our magic and cast the spell together, we might have a chance of finding Childermass."

Or not because the true fae are bonkers level magic but hey, attempts count for something.

Jeeeez what kind of weird crap has Lambert even gotten involved in here. Who the hell are they even talking about that he's so--

Wait. Wait.

Fuckin' SWEATER GUY.

Miko does her best to stifle a squeak as she works it out, by... shoving her face into her rabbit's fur. Sorry, Screamo, this was not what you signed up for when you followed her out of her room. She hurriedly scoots another couple steps down, scooping Screamo into her arms.

Not having supernatural hearing, Lambert doesn't pick up on the scuffle on the stairs -- though he's also busy rubbing a new set of lines into his forehead. Pumpkin is definitely the one in this room having a good time, shamelessly bestowing her doggy affections on Strange, mwah mwah, hope Strange's fingers don't have weird poisonous plant juice on them because that would be bad.

He's not sure how he feels about Strange praising Peridot either, but the turn the conversation's taken gives him a reason to get up and (slowly) move over to the other side of the room.

"And I have something that belonged to him." He doesn't know if it'll actually help, but hey, anything's worth a shot. Don't worry, he's not pulling out the sweater. Instead, he's going for the closet and digging into the pocket of the jacket he'd been wearing during the attack on the Rose Queen's realm, producing a slightly banged-up looking black feather.

His glare dares them both to say anything snarky about this.

Peridot definitely hears something coming from the stairs, and she shoots a suspicious glare in that direction. Fortunately for Miko, Lambert and Strange quickly distract her from investigating the disturbance any further.

She nods thoughtfully as Strange explains his proposal, and then cocks her head curiously at what Lambert has produced from his coat pocket.

Her nose crinkles. She lifts a finger and points at it unnecessarily. “Hold on—Is that… Did you….”

Take that off of him? Pick up one of his shed feathers? Did he give it you as a gift or something? Lambert what the hell.

Edited 2017-08-01 17:05 (UTC)

Like Lambert, Strange is a boring human and doesn't hear the noise from the stairs. There's something new to judge anyway. Strange's nose wrinkles at the same time Peridot's does. Because Lambert. That's gross. Do you not realize how gross that is? So, despite the fact that Lambert's glaring daggers at him, Strange is going to open his damn mouth and give Lambert shit about this.

"Most people wear a jacket that their boyfriend gave them, not carry around the changeling equivalent of hair clippings."

And don't worry Pumpkin, those fingers are 100% not poisonous and also 100% giving ear scratches, oh my god he is so gonna steal this dog.

Miko frowns and looks questioningly down at Screamo, as if she's going to be able to answer what the hell they're talking about in there. What does Lambert even have in there? And... wait, so does that mean sweater guy is a changeling after all? She didn't know changelings could turn into--

Oh holy shit does he have like, a handful of feathers or something. Lambert what the hell. It's too bad she's supposed to be hiding, so she can't join in mocking him about it.

Edited 2017-08-01 18:56 (UTC)

Not deigning to answer either of them, Lambert stomps back over to the couch and drops the feather on the coffee table. His movements are sharp and jerky, but it isn't embarrassment at the present he's leaving them with as he retreats. There's almost definitely a bit of blood on the end of that quill.

It's only once he's stepped back that he offers any kind of explanation for leaving them with such a weird memento--

"It's hard to hold on to someone's jacket when faeries are kidnapping them, so this is all I've got," he says with false brightness, mouth twisting in a sharp, ugly sneer before he turns sharply on his heel.

"I'm going out. Text me what you want for dinner."

And before anyone else can react to that, he's gone.

The skeptical look on Peridot's face slooooowlllly slides away when her brother explains the significance of the feather and then abruptly leaves.

"Lambert--" she starts to say, half-rising from her seat, but. He's already gone. Pumpkin has twisted in Strange's arms to watch him go as well, whuff-ing inquisitively. Peridot just blows a harsh breath out with her cheeks, flopping back down onto the couch, her stare lingering on the door for a long moment. Great. And now she feels like the world's biggest tool. She hadn't even realized she was saying anything quite so hurtful, either...

She supposes the only thing to do for now is to try her hardest to locate Childermass, and apologize to Lambert later when, hopefully, they have more information on his whereabouts.

She looks up to meet Strange's eyes, scowling grimly because, hey, she's not the only one who fucked up here, and she hopes Strange knows that. "Alright, well... The fact that it literally came from his body and it isn't just a random belonging of his should at least help focus the spell, right?" There's even some blood on it! Lovely. Surely that must be help too. Blood is useful in magic, right?

Edited 2017-08-01 22:36 (UTC)

To his credit, Strange does look a little apologetic as Lambert leaves the room. That apologetic expression is on his face for a few moments before he feels Peridot scowling at him and Strange quickly adopts a scowl of his own. He's fine! He's not sorry about his actions, he didn't goof up, he is entirely perfectly fine with how things went except for the fact that he really kind of isn't.

"It should," Strange admits, as he gently sets Pumpkin down on the ground. Almost a moment later, she starts whining. "The spell I use can easily be modified to include a sympathetic tie, especially one as small and personal as this feather. We'll need a large bowl of some sort, like a mixing bowl, filled with water. Likewise, I'll need pencil and paper so I can write down the incantation--you'll say it, while I perform the actions needed, thereby linking our power together for the spell."

It certainly sounds like a lot of impressive magical bullshit, at least. And fits in with any theory that Peridot's read about multiple people casting spells and/or scrying.

MAGE PARTY, mid week, closed to strange, peridot & lambert the peanut gallery

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I realized far too late that Peri should've had a v. different reaction about the circle before. oop

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meanwhile in the Stairs Zone

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