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

[forkedroad]

"Susan," Annabelle says a bit more loudly. She doesn't sound angry, but she's trying to get through to him. Obviously, he's being obstinate about what he perceives as orders; she relates to it, but has never been on the receiving end of this behavior. "You are punishing your brother for something that isn't his fault!"

She did, of course, only 15 minutes ago, have a heavy suspicion he was a monster all without his humanity. But it's clear as ever he's more or less the same person, as far as she could tell (it wasn't like she ever saw Lauren cry before or anything). Just changed.

"He is a victim. Please find your calmness."

[wild_magic]

"I'm not punishing Lauren for anything! I know it isn't his fault, he wouldn't ever ask for this!" This isn't right, it shouldn't be like this. Lauren is a half-elf, not a...

He shakes his head, stopping that right there.

"That doesn't mean he gets to tell me I can't be mad!"

[forkedroad]

"You frame it as though he has no authority over you because he failed to avoid being taken by an otherworldly, powerful creature. That is punishment." She leans forward. "It is not productive. He already hurts. You of course can be mad, Susan. Anger is a moment. Feel it; I don't care."

She leans back, feeling exhausted and frustrated by the both of them. She knows this is all going to sound like an attack, but she unfortunately doesn't know how else to frame it. She doesn't know how to be delicate all the time, nor delicate much at all even quite infrequently. She thinks it's helpful, but that has been consistently and evidently untrue.

What else can she do?

"But you are misdirecting your feelings."

[mylastchance]

He doesn't even hear their continuing argument. You couldn't even stay safe. The words hurt more than he thought they could. He'd tried so hard, failed at so many things, but he thought at least he could do one thing right. He was wrong.

Stanley's squeaks grow louder in Susan's hand until finally she bites him for his attention.

Lauren wasn't trying to tell Susan what to do though, he'd just meant to ask. Susan had a right to his anger, but to direct it at someone else? He thought he'd taught Susan better than that. One more thing to add to the list of his failures.

[wild_magic]

Susan is about to respond when Stanley bites him, and for a moment he's almost tempted to throw the stupid rat. Instead though he leans down, ignoring Annabelle, to put her down on the ground.

"I'm not misdirecting anything, I'm not mad at Lauren."

[forkedroad]

"Fine," Annabelle relents, sounding tired and lifting her hand. She feels like he definitely was, and whatever he said made Lauren more upset. Either way, it's all distracting them from problem solving. She feels like they're both too emotional to really do that, though.

Regardless...

"Either way, we need to be thinking about what to do. Denial and blame aren't helpful."

[mylastchance]

Stanley makes her way over to the cot. She can smell Lauren, she knows he's near, but something is different. She squeaks out his name and as ridiculous as it is he turns to the sound. He can understand her after all, being the one who first taught her speech in the first place. He'd almost forgotten she was there. He reaches down, to pick her up, but at the movement she lets out a terrified squeak draws away. She runs to hide beneath some nearby table, and Lauren watches her without saying a word. He pulls his hand back, before settling it in his lap.

"We can talk about it later. I'll just stay here for the night."

[wild_magic]

"I don't want you to stay here." He knows it's childish, but he wants his brother. Lauren isn't a danger to him, in his opinion, so he just wants things to be normal. (They wouldn't be normal, though, he thinks, but he could pretend. It didn't matter, as long as Lauren didn't attack anyone. But he shouldn't have to worry about that, should he?)

He glances to Annabelle, before looking back down at the ground.

"I don't wanna talk about it, either. Nothing has to change."

[forkedroad]

"It already has."

She knows he doesn't want to talk about it, so she doesn't push it—but indulging this denial is literally dangerous, so nuts to that. She looks to Lauren, crossing her arms again, making it very clear that's who she is talking to instead.

"Here may not be so safe either. If you feel you might be in danger of doing something you regret in your own trailer to someone you love, then what of a tent full of your weakened, less important neighbors?"

She glances down in thought, and peers at Lauren again. Even if he isn't looking back at her. It doesn't bother her. It would be less emotionally traumatizing, she thinks, for her to attack Lauren if he slipped up. Perhaps they could all 3 occupy a space for a night, if Susan couldn't be torn from his side. She would be more likely to be attacked than Susan.

But she knows she can't suggest this out loud with a volatile, emotional child in the room.

[mylastchance]

"Maybe the Ringmaster can help." he offers, finally glancing her way.

"I'll try and talk to her, and see what can be done."

[wild_magic]

He finally looks up from the ground at that, shaking his head.

"No, how can she help, she couldn't even stop this from happening! She wasn't even there..." He looks away, glaring down at the ground again, kicking at it with his foot. She didn't even care about them, did she? She let them get attacked before, too.

[forkedroad]

"Well," she says, clapping her hands together. Does she seem a little impatient. "If she's here now, which I feel she might be, considering we aren't at the ball anymore, she may be able to help."

MORE MISDIRECTION OF ANGER, clouding progress. But at least Susan seemed to be slowly coming around.

"She's extremely powerful, regardless of your disappointment in her. Asking couldn't hurt, could it?"

[mylastchance]

Lauren nods his agreement, she was powerful. That much was true even if the rest of the adjectives he'd use to describe her aren't very kind.

[wild_magic]

"I'm not asking her anything." She may be powerful, but he's powerful, too. That doesn't mean she can help, when she hasn't helped before. She couldn't even help Lauren with what he'd asked for when he signed his contract, how could she help with something big like this?

[forkedroad]

"That's fine. Then don't," Annabelle says coolly, meaning that she or Lauren will. Annabelle is also powerful, but neither of them can fuck around with other worlds to the extent she does and with such ease.

[wild_magic]

He doesn't respond, only continuing to glare down at the ground. She's so annoying, why can't she just stop and leave him and Lauren alone? She isn't helping anything and she's only making stupid suggestions. The Ringmaster is useless - talking to her isn't going to help anything, and maybe it would only make things worse. If she wasn't here then they wouldn't be trapped here doing what she says and getting attacked so many times.

[mylastchance]

He looks to Susan concerned, before glancing back to Annabelle.

"Is she back then, the Ringmaster?"

[forkedroad]

"I assume she must be. How else would we be here?"

She tilts her head, a bit. She wonders about other turned carnival workers, the victims all around...

"Unless she's still finding survivors from our carnival and the like... Clean up."

[wild_magic]

"It doesn't matter where she is!! It's not like she even does anything when she's here, all she does is get us attacked and trick people!" He finally breaks his silence only to lash out more - it may not be a logical target, but it gives him someone to latch on to, someone he can pin this all on that isn't Lauren (or himself, it isn't his fault, he isn't the one who failed Lauren, it was the Ringmaster). He glares between the two of them, angrily gesturing with his hands as he talks.

"If she isn't here, then she should just stay gone!"

[mylastchance]

Lauren looks to Susan again, honestly shocked at the outburst. He'd seen Susan angry before, of course, but never had he seen him act like this. He'd rarely even seen Susan direct his anger at someone that wasn't himself. He doesn't know what to do about it or how to help.

"Susan..."

[forkedroad]

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Annabelle asks, crossing one leg over the other as she also crosses her arms. She seems—frustrated, and like her fuse is burning shorter. But aside from sounding a bit snappy, she's rather calm. "We're only trying to consider our options. You're welcome to contribute if you have something to offer besides shooting things down and shouting angrily."

[wild_magic]

That only makes him more angry, and he glares pointedly at her before whirling around and storming out of the tent.

[mylastchance]

Lauren looks wearily at the ground after watching Susan storm away.

"He's just a child."

[forkedroad]

Annabelle feels irritated. She just wants this all to be dealt with already. Her impatience towards resolution has ended in it biting her in the ass. She doesn't think she was wrong, but not quite right, either.

She drops her head with a sigh, cradling her forehead in the space between her thumb and index finger.

"I know."

She'd said so herself, earlier. And where had that gone?

"I know that. I lost my patience. It's been nearly ten years since I've interacted with a child, before this week." She sits straightly again, looking at the ground as well, her hands in her lap. She feels a strange mixture of things that causes her to wrinkle her forehead pensively. It's unpleasant. "...I'm..." She shakes her head. "I'm sorry."

[mylastchance]

He's surprised at the apology. He didn't think her the sort to say sorry so freely. He doesn't even really know what she's apologizing for. It certainly wasn't her fault Susan was upset. His brother would have felt that way whether Annabelle were here or not.

"It's not your fault." he looks to her, his expression earnest. He wants her to believe him. "He's never been good at dealing with things like this."