HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

[ringleaders]

Who: The people who escaped!
When: Very early Day 66 to Day 67
Where: The Carnival
What: The Ringmaster brings everyone she can back to the carnival after getting kicked out the Celebration, a bit worse for wear. Those that have resolved their threads at the Masquerade can start trickling over here as they sort things out.
Warnings: Angst, mostly likely, as well as potentially graphic injuries.

RETURNING HOME↴ About 45 minutes after the conflict with the vampires begins, the Ringmaster will finally show her face at the Masquerade - and immediately be mortified by what she sees. Though initially mostly confused by the fact that there's been problems over the week, and characteristically obtuse about what's going on, as soon as she realizes the severity of the threat she will launch into action. If the Host managed to miss the combat already going on, they won't be able to miss the Ringmaster tearing up the joint and looking for her people. She's quick to scoop up those that have managed to gather in the dining hall - but unfortunately her arrival seems to be the vampire's cue to retreat. Her attempt to challenge the Host about this will result in the being finally losing their patience and banishing all the vampires and all of the carnival workers from the premises, forcing them back to the portals they arrived from and launching their remaining belongings out with them. The Ringmaster will be pretty fucking pissed off when they return (once again) and will tell everyone to take the time they need to recover, but to stick together and stay safe for the time being. She has a plan to chase down the carnival members that have been stolen, but it will take time. ► BEER PONG: Apparently the Ringmaster spent the entire week playing a nonstop game of beer pong, against several dozen of the Host's bodies. She hadn't quite won yet when the Masquerade began, so she was late. Whether or not she was caught up in the same spell as everyone else is up to interpretation, but the answer "definitely probably." She won, for the record. ► MISSING: Upon doing headcounts, it will turn out that all the supervisors are missing, as well as several regular workers - a few of which will have been spotted as freshly turned vampires during the fighting. Whether that was the point of the attack or not is unclear, but it's pretty clear that the Ringmaster is a little bit devastated about it - particularly about the supervisors. However, she will refuse to talk to anyone long enough to get into too many details. ► THE PLAN: The Ringmaster will announce that she intends to get everyone back - it's just a matter of figuring out their way back to the dimension they've been stolen off to. She guarantees that she will find it, but that it may take some time. In the end, the workers will have a total of two days to recover and plan - during the evening of Day 67, she will be leading a rescue mission to get them all back. You don't have to come, but lives do depend on its success.

Comments

[stillwinningthehardway]

She hitches her shoulders, unperturbed. "It might be! Then again people seem shocky enough that it might not, or not on this scale."

[whattaprick]

"I get the impression not a lot of people around here are actually fighters," Lambert will shrug. "But you said 'when I left' -- that mean you've been here before?"

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout nods. There's been heavy turnover, but there was a similarly eclectic mix of people last time she was here. Some were amazing fighters, some relied on powers rather than their bodies, some couldn't defend themselves from a Ghostling.

"Yeah, I served my old contract and went back. Time passed, then I saw this place again and realized there's something else I need. So, here I am."

[whattaprick]

"Huh. Didn't know you could do that." Regardless, it's handy information to know, if Lambert ever decides he's in enough of a bind to need it.

He doesn't pry into what she might have asked for, though. For one, he's not really interested and it doesn't seem particularly useful.

"Good time to come back, I guess. We're a little understaffed." He pauses. "You know how to fight?"

[stillwinningthehardway]

"It was my plan leaving! It's just not at all predictable when you'll see this place again, or even if, I guess, and the time passing here, while you're gone, might not be the same amount of time passing out there with you." Scout shrugs.

"I do," she says, not elaborating further. "Sounds like that'll be a good thing soon."

[whattaprick]

"Pretty big bet to make," Lambert muses. Gotta admire the forward thinking, though. Still, with talk of a fight, it's time to get down to business.

"So you said you've tangled with these vampires before, yeah? You know how to take them out?" A pause, and then: "Hope you're not planning to disappear halfway through the fight this time."

[stillwinningthehardway]

"Accusing me of being a coward! Very nice," Scout says, cheerfully sarcastic. "You'd mingle well with the Mandalorians." She'd been there through the whole thing, but doesn't feel the need to defend her honor about it.

"Well, they die like most people when you cut them up. Anything that relies on blood loss or restricting bloodflow doesn't do anything, but hitting the heart is good. Actually it's the best way to put them down. They can limp off and heal from practically anything else."

[whattaprick]

"You're the one who said it, not me," Lambert points out, equally sardonic. How else was he supposed to interpret 'getting attacked when I left?' Still, he's smirking. He's got no idea what the hell a Mandalorian is, but he figures it's not that important; if it's supposed to be derisive, he's probably better off not knowing the details. (Though he is a mercenary right now, so for all intents and purposes it's even more appropriate than he realizes.)

"Silver seems pretty effective at hurting them," he'll add to that, mulling it over. Cutting them up is a nice idea; they're just usually fucking fast on top of strong, so it's not as easy as slicing straight through people. "But then again, they also know to use iron. Doesn't affect me--" The blessing of being new to the Celebration, thankfully. "--but seems to hit most people pretty hard."

[stillwinningthehardway]

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Would I lose more honor if I explain non-literalism, or not? Well, whatever. You're not a Mandalorian anyway." Nothing depends on keeping him happy. She can afford not to care.

"Yeah. I'm not any more changed than I was last time, so it's not too bad. Some salt water to flush wounds and I'm fine." Oh, it hurts, but that's never stopped Scout before, or at least not since she started her regimen on increasing her pain tolerance. "Try not to get to the point where it's hand to hand, but that's probably obvious. The people living where they're from bless weapons and armor before fighting but I'm not sure if that does anything."

[whattaprick]

To that, Lambert shrugs. "Nah. I'm a witcher. Happy to say that honor's the last thing that matters to me." There's a joke there, by the way the corner of his lip seems to be unable to keep from lifting, but he doesn't explain that, either.

"Blessing never worked on the vampires back home, but I already knew these were different. Too bad we don't have any priests around here... that I know of, anyway." Considering the odds stacked against them? Anything is worth a shot.

[stillwinningthehardway]

"And I'm just Scout, or that's what my friends call me," she says. "You'd better tell me a name or I'll come up with one."

The Jedi are a religious order, but not in that sense. "Right now? No idea."

[whattaprick]

"Lambert," he answers, easily. He gets enough weird nicknames as it is, no need to invite more. Her own disclaimer will earn her a proper smirk, though, brows raised. Given what she just said about not being literal, it's too tempting not to point out:

"Little early to consider me your friend, but I guess we can work up to it. With a name like that ... lemme guess. You're with the nightrunners?"

[stillwinningthehardway]

Details. She shrugs cheerfully.

"Well, sometimes. They do a lot of sitting around between missions and missions are often kinda widely spaced, did you notice? Otherwise I'm with repair."