lostcarnival | ⇨ 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

Yuya's staring, mouth agape as Tamaki crosses the street. Not because the car just passed through him, no, that's expected of a ghost--but they're not even close to the dorms! And he's not possessing anybody! Just how did he get over here?

"Tamaki?!" Yuya doesn't move to meet up with him because Yuya would, in fact, be flattened by cars if he got in their way. So he waits for the ghost to make it to the sidewalk. "How'd you get here?"

"I walked."

That is, technically, true; he did indeed walk here, except for the occasional times when he floated. Tamaki seems to think that is a sufficient answer.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here, Yuu-chan."

"I could say the same to--Yuu-chan?" His expression sours, but slightly demeaning nicknames aren't the most important thing here.

"I thought you were stuck on the campus! When did you... is it related to the severing?" Because just about everything else was related to the severing.

It's not demeaning, it's cute! But Tamaki can argue about his choice of nicknames later. At the moment, it's not clear if he even knows what honorifics like "chan" actually mean.

"Eh... I don't really get it." Tamaki shrugs and scratches at his head. "I possessed Lam-san to go to the cat cafe. And then I talked to the earth spirit and realized I'm not really dead. Now I can go anywhere."

~~Bullshit ghost mechanics.~~

Although after dispensing that explanation, something occurs to him. "You know about the severing?"

"Yeah, I've been learning about it for the past month." By this point not even because he wants to, but because he has to. "What do you mean you're 'not really dead'?"

He looked and acted really dead to Yuya. You don't just turn into a semi-transparent specter for no reason, do you?

Yuya's way ahead of him on the "learning about the fate of the world" curve, but Tamaki at least knows enough to get the gist of the current situation.

"Mm, I mean..." He looks down at his own ghostly form as though considering. "I don't think I'm from this world. Like, maybe this "me" is dead, but it's not the real me?"

He looks back at Yuya, like maybe he understands all that nonsense. "I remembered my mom. I remembered her dying. But she's not in the earth spirit. She should be there, if she died here."

"Not--" Yuya lights up. Wait, if Gongenzaka could be undead here, but not in that other life... couldn't Tamaki be the same?

"So your memories let you walk around freely?" Maybe the Severing's magic has less of a hold on them as they remember things. "You don't happen to remember a carnival too, do you?"

"Mm... not a lot about it." Tamaki casts his mind back, into the foreign and unfamiliar memories, but his memories of the carnival itself are hazy. He remembers the lights, and the tents. He remembers a few familiar faces, including Yuya. But he doesn't know why he was there. Perhaps just to visit?

"But you were there, right?"

"Yeah! I think... maybe we knew each other?" Maybe that's why Yuya had been so driven to chase after Tamaki at first. His memories were coming back more clearly now, easier to recall as they collected in his consciousness.

"I think you were there when I joined."

"I was... already there?"

Tamaki thinks about it, and the more he does, the more that feels exactly right. Maybe he has been there awhile now. But he still doesn't know why. Unless...

"Ah... did I run away to join the circus?"

If his life was as bad in these foreign memories as it was here, he supposes that would make sense.

"Maybe? I made a deal with the fairy that was running it, I'm pretty sure." If that part sounds familiar to Tamaki at all, maybe his situation was the same? "Can you remember anything else that... doesn't fit quite right?"

Did he do something like that...? It sounds right, even if Tamaki can't remember making the deal, or what kind of deal it was.

"Yeah. I started remembering other stuff. Stuff about other people I've never met. Stuff about my mom."

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

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