⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4 PT2

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone and everyone!
When: October 31st, 2017 HALLOWEEN!
Where: The Count of Crow's Underground Realm
What: The displaced carnival members break into the Count of Crow's underground fortress, in the hope of taking control of the ritual and maybe saving Childermass's life.
Warnings: Violence, ritual blood letting, other stuff.

DAYS OF WINTER PT2↴ The night of hallow's eve has come, and there's no more time for waiting. As Portland begins enjoying the festivities of the night, you are tasked with something darker - you must find the Count's realm within Portland's underground tunnels, and fight off those that would stop you. The ritual will be starting soon, and once it's finished the very nature of this reality will be in the Winter Court's hands... the only choice is to intervene.

Comments

[kingsroads]

Hmm. This is interesting. If it was another one of the angels, he'd try and kill them outright. After all, the angels had an investment in this, the angels had spearheaded the attack on the Circle, the angels were obviously more of a threat than he had realized. But this is Yuya. He's only human...though, fortunately human in his case.

Strange gets to his feet, looking over Yuya with a frown, as if trying to calculate and figure out what to do next. "It is," he simply says, in a more calm and collected voice that Yuya's ever heard. This does not at all sound like the Jonathan Strange that Yuya's interacted with over the past month.

"I assume you arrived here with the angels?"

[hippocarnival]

"Mr. Strange!" Yuya lets out a breath of relief and grins wide. He doesn't even notice the off tone at first, just glad that it didn't seem like the worst had happened. Like dying, or being kidnapped by angry Fae (aha).

Of course, the moment he takes a step forward he slips on the ice. He lets out a wail, slamming the end of the crowbar into the ground to keep himself from falling over. He takes a couple slow, steady steps out of the way of the ice before starting to walk closer to Strange.

"I did. We're going to stop the Winter Court and break the Severing our own way. I told you they had a plan!"

[kingsroads]

As Yuya almost wipes out, Strange just grins, a nasty smirk briefly visible even through the darkness. A moment or so later, his expression settles back to that carefully controlled neutral. Pity he didn't wipe out all the way. That'd actually be pretty funny.

Strange remains where he is, hands behind his back, standing in front of a large frozen section of wall, as he watches Yuya approach. Well. So the angels had a plan? Oh that was good to hear, Nightshade would love it if he told her their plan. And this dumb little kid cared enough about him that he might actually tell Strange the plan! Still eerily calm, Strange asks,

"What is their plan, by the way? Do they even have a spellcaster and a catalyst in the first place?"

[hippocarnival]

"Of course they do!" Yuya rolls his eyes. That was the same argument Strange had last time--and, all right, he was right then but things are different now. "That's what it takes to break the spell."

He looks almost proud as he says that, but the expression starts to slowly shift as something seems... a bit off. Strangely blank about, well, Strange. Yuya was still an empath, and even if he couldn't tell what was going on...

"You went missing for days, you know. What happened? Are you okay?"

[kingsroads]

"I'm fine," Strange simply says, with a placating hand gesture. However, now that they're close enough and Yuya can actually look at Strange, it's obvious he's less fine than he says. He's still worryingly pale but his hands and wrists are scratched to hell and back, covered in small little scratches that are reminiscent of plant vines. The rest of his body is hidden via the long coat he's wearing, but it's safe to assume the scratches don't end there.

"Tell me who the catalyst is." Because he might have to kill someone and really, it's just so much easier to kill the member of the two who isn't an accomplished spellcaster.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya purses his lips. Truthfully, even in best case scenario he's a little reluctant to just blurt out that he's the catalyst to Strange only because he's expecting at minimum another lecture, and he has neither time or desire to hear that.

He's not even sure what worst case is, just that something feels strange about Mr. Strange.

"You're not fine. You shouldn't even be here!" A pause, as he remembers. "Are you... did you come because of the Summer Court?" Or just of his own will to save Childermass--which is a discussion for another time. But if Strange is bringing the Summer Court with him, Yuya needs to warn the others.

[kingsroads]

There's a pause, while Strange considers how best to answer Yuya's question. He did sort of come because of the Summer Court. But mostly he came because Nightshade asked him to and of course he was going to do what she wanted. Why would he even think otherwise? "I came alone," is what Strange settles on. Because it's a technical truth.

"Now please," Strange starts, still unnervingly calm, "tell me who the catalyst is." Perhaps he needs to put a bit of force behind the words. With a wave of his hand and a brief muttered incantation, the room starts to get even colder as frost tries to creep up Yuya's shoes. Strange's goal right here is to freeze him to the spot, but there's plenty of time for Yuya to just back off or step away.

[hippocarnival]

"Really?" Yuya looks surprised to hear that. Not that he didn't know Strange had a personal reason for being here, but once he went missing and Yuya learned the truth he didn't have a lot of hope in it following through. Clearly he'd gotten into trouble, but maybe--

His thoughts stop as the room temperature drops before he can speak again and he looks down. He lets out a yelp and jumps quickly, scattering to the side before the ice can restrict him.

"Is that you? Stop that!" He takes a step back. Normally, answering Strange's question wouldn't hurt... but this is leaving Yuya nervous. It's not the Strange that he trusted, even when they chose opposite sides of the fight.

"Why do you want to know so badly? You can't cast the spell." Strange didn't need a reason to want to know, but Yuya wants one.

[kingsroads]

"I know that already," Strange points out, as if it's the most obvious thing ever. And then, equally obvious, "But if I kill the catalyst now, then the angels won't even have a chance to cast the spell."

Nightshade's brainwashing runs deep. It doesn't even occur to Strange that he's attacking Yuya, attacking the person who was his only friend for the past month. All he knows is that Yuya knows who the catalyst is and Strange needs to get that information from him before the angels realize that Yuya's not with the group. Obviously he won't kill him--how would he get the information then? But trapping him's a perfect option.

Strange stretches his hands out, palms facing down towards the doorway as he casts another spell. The ice creaks to life and with a loud crunch, jagged spikes a foot to two feet tall shoot out from the ice near the doorframe. It's a crude but effective barrier.

[hippocarnival]

Well if there was any one sentence to assure Yuya is not going to admit to being the catalyst, that would be it.

So he turns and runs straight for the entrance--and barely stops himself before impaling on the ice as it juts up to block his path. He hisses a curse under his breath and looks between the door frame, his weapon, and Strange.

It's not Fae ice, so it takes more force for Yuya to slug at the ice spikes. He aims at the thinner ones, trying to break himself open a hole to fit through. Thankfully, he doesn't need a big one, but it does impede him enough that Strange can start to catch up.

[kingsroads]

Strange isn't the best at cardio--in fact, it's kind of hilarious how bad he is at cardio compared to the rest of the Nightrunners. But this is just a room's length. He races towards Yuya, taking care not to step on the ice spread out on the floor.

"I don't see why it's this hard." A hint of exasperation creeps into his calm tone like it's somehow all Yuya's fault that the kid doesn't want to be killed by a brainwashed magician. "Just tell me who the catalyst is and I'll let you go."

Well. He'll let him go eventually. Once he's close enough to Yuya, Strange tries to grab for the weapon, aiming to yank it out of Yuya's hands.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya glances over his shoulder and sucks in a breath. Just as he has the ice clear--

"Sorry Mr. Strange, but I can't!" But he isn't really sorry about that at all. When Strange grabs for his weapon he ducks and swings the rod forcefully at Strange's shins to try and disable him long enough for Yuya to get away. It worked on Fae, for sure it was going to work on humans!

He's a little sorry for assaulting him but better to ask forgiveness, right?

[kingsroads]

While an iron poker to the shins might have a stronger effect on the fae than on humans, it still is an iron poker to the shins. It hurts like hell, especially considering that Strange's legs are already covered in nicks and cuts thanks to Nightshade.

He yelps in pain, stumbling backwards. The stumbling continues as one of Strange's feet lands on a slick patch of ice. As he tries to straighten back up and regain his composure, he flings a force bolt somewhere vaguely in Yuya's direction. It might not hit (though he's really hoping it'll hit), but it'll at least land close.

[hippocarnival]

Karma is clearly on Yuya's side, the way Strange slips on his own ice patch. Yuya jerks aside as the bolt barely misses, cutting his cheek and taking out some strands of his hair.

He wastes no time worrying about it or Strange, though. Instead he throws his crowbar out the doorway and jumps. He grips the top of the door frame tightly and pulls his legs up, swinging forward and jumping clear over the spike barrier to the hallway on the other side.

He scrambles for his weapon, gripping it tightly and doesn't even look back as he runs.

[kingsroads]

Jesus Christ when could the kid do that?! Well Strange wasn't expecting Yuya to just swing over the barrier like a circus acrobat. Strange rushes forward, parting the ice with his magic, only to see that Yuya's already made it halfway down the hallway...and Strange can hear the tell-tale rustling of angelic feathers from the other end of the hallway.

Yeah, screw this, he's out. He's no use to Nightshade if he's dead or captured. Strange walks back towards the reflective patch of ice on the wall and magically vanishes into it.

It's possible they'll run into each other later, considering how Strange's strategy seems to be 'travel through rooms until he finds the right path'. And they're definitely going to run into each other again at the ritual. But for now, Yuya's made a solid escape.