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

[cellphoneangel]

"Witches without a demon's help is mostly unheard of in my world, but Strange said the world he comes from that everyone has magic."

The problem with telling Castiel something is that unless he feels it is worth keeping quiet on, he sees little wrong with repeating it. He watches the cards until they're gone, no recognition showing of the joker or that way they had been laid out. He truly is magic stupid unless it's the ritualised demon-powered sort of his world.

"It is a rare thing where I came from. Highly abused for personal gain."

The offense in Childermass' voice is missed by Castiel, only interest and a distant sort of confusion in his face.

"I am Castiel. I'm assuming you mean Jimmy Novak. He is my vessel." Just how he and Jimmy are existing as two separate people is beyond Castiel's understanding. "Jonathan Strange said the same. Magician, not witch. What is the difference? Working with demons and not?"

That distinction is lost on the angel.

[atouts]

Everyone has magic from their world now? Strange still has some funny ideas, though he won't bother to correct Castiel on the matter. It could be everyone does have the ability to learn it, it could be that they don't, and the debate wouldn't have all that much context for someone on the outside of it.

"Mr. Strange said the same because we are of the same world," Childermass at least confirms that much. "And you will have to tell me what you mean by vessel. You speak of demons. It could be that you are one, hiding in Mr. Novak's flesh..." Which, in that case, isn't something he'd be able to help against anyhow. "But to answer your actual question, English magic draws much of its power from the land itself. The rest is only a matter of learning it. Although, if stories are to be believed, the Raven King certainly did visit Hell at one point, but he had brought magic to our land long before that ever happened."

[cellphoneangel]

That is what Castiel took away from talking to Jonathan Strange. However, Cas didn't quite get some forms of sarcasm, lies or joking. Pop culture often met the same wall. Little wonder he ended up speaking to people like Sherlock, Strange and Childermass who didn't make puzzling Star Wars references.

A look over is taken of Childermass, picking out likenesses in dress and vocal inflection between this man and Strange that he had ignored before.

"Dean had mentioned something of the same, working with ley lines for magic instead of being bought. Or natural talent that's a long earned thing instead of cheating by buying favour from a demon."

Whether he realises it or not, he has put Castiel's mind at ease some. No demon work then although that doesn't mean Cas won't be viewing them with suspicion. Magic is the enemy most often. But the witch has earned at least an answer. "I am not a demon. I could show you, but you may not believe your own eyes. If you had holy water or knew how to draw a Devil's Snare, you could test that way. Jimmy can confirm for you who and what I am. He has to everyone else."

The rare tone of annoyance in Castiel's voice shows all his feeling on that. He would have preferred the world not know that an angel had worn Jimmy as a meatsuit.

[atouts]

Whoever Dean is, he'd be closer to figuring out English magic with those ideas than anything to do with demons, but as much as discussing magic and demons, whether Castiel is one or not, don't take as much precedence as what Jimmy can confirm. The note of annoyance does not go ignored and Childermass is left quirking an eyebrow at it, curious.

"Not happy about that, are you? And just what else will Mr. Novak tell me should I ask about you, Castiel?"

[cellphoneangel]

Dean hates witches more than Castiel does. He might not look at being right on something could be a compliment and an insult.

That emotion falls away from Castiel's face as he focuses on Childermass again. The low gravely tones return to being bland. Being caught out experiencing feeling on something is still new enough to disquiet the angel.

"Very little. He is a vessel, not an angel himself."

Which is about as close as he'll come to suggesting no more be asked. Since arriving back to the Carnival, he's been mistaken for Jimmy and then been told what Jimmy had said about him. None of it has been flattering. Angels (and demons) don't think or care about what their vessels experience. Only now is Castiel considering.

"But he could confirm for you that I am an angel, not a demon. I would like to know what you can tell me about these vampires. Jonathan Strange said they behaved more like demons."

Attempted subject change is a go.

[atouts]

The attempt doesn't go unnoted. Childermass regards Castiel a brief moment longer, silent and searching. If anything, claiming to be an angel instead of a demon is what draws most of the curiosity now. He's not a particularly religious man himself, though he supposes he shouldn't be too surprised. Between the Raven King's own stories and what he's since seen or heard in his few months with the carnival itself, why shouldn't angels be real?

Which probably makes God very real, too, but he isn't particularly in the mood to have an existential crisis over that fact just now, nor is he going to try and pick a fight over whether vessels should or shouldn't be respected as people. They likely should be, but it isn't exactly his problem, now is it?

In the end, he'll just let it go. Castiel will get his shift in subject and Childermass will shrug.

"They do have a connection with a Satan-like figure, that much is true," he says. "So I would not be shocked if they were demonic creatures on top of being undead."

[cellphoneangel]

Castiel gazes back at him as Childermass looks him over. Being stared at isn't unusual, and he doesn't fidget or grow uncomfortable. He has until the end of time in his mind and could stand there before anyone without a twitch. What goes on in human minds is still something of a mystery to him, and the idea that someone might not believe in God or anything else is beyond him.

That the human lets go of the subject of Jimmy is enough. He needs to deal with Jimmy, and until he does, none of it is worth discussing. What his vessel might have told these others is too much of an unknown.

"Then I may be able to exorcise the demons without the vessels being damaged. May. Circumstances change too much from one time to another. I'll have to find one who isn't one of us for a test."

A thought but nothing more right now. Castiel has no idea what the Ringmaster is thinking on this one.

"The Raven King?" At some point he'll remember to actually ask Childermass who he is.

[atouts]

Whether he asks his own name or not hardly bothers Childermass. He's avoided giving it out directly, himself, still wary. Angel doesn't exactly meant friendly, as far as he's concerned.

"If it does turn out to be that simple, I imagine those taken will greatly appreciate it," he comments almost idly. Apparently, suggesting to use some random vampire as a test subject doesn't bother the man, either, as there's no real change in his own expression, either. It carries on as before, considering Castiel thoughtfully. Without his cards in hand to fidget with, though, he will set to idly tapping a finger against a knee.

Coming back around to the Raven King, though...

"John Uskglass, the King of the North. He ruled over Northern England for some three hundred years and was a magician himself. He is the man who brought magic to England in the first place."

[cellphoneangel]

"Appreciation doesn't matter. We can hardly run the carnival with possessed people. They're not very dependable unless they have a goal, and the Ringmaster couldn't be a proper Queen of Hell."

The angel sees this all in black and white, very clear terms. The moral or ethical situation that these people might prefer to be themselves is skipped over. The lack of judgement from Childermass makes that much easier to admit. Few humans took well to it. Childermass has managed to bump Strange aside in Castiel's regard.

A nod meets the Raven King information, something Castiel may check on later. The Winchesters had relied on books and other sources so often that it might not hurt Cas to take a look into it. Not that he expects to find much with how the outside world can be something so different than what it was before.

"Can't you use the exorcism spell that humans do?"

[atouts]

"Oh, I don't know. She may be able to pull it off," Childermass says more as a joke than anything else, but his tone is more or less the same throughout. Dry, deadpan, not really emotionless, just neutral. In retrospect, he might realize that doesn't really work on people like angels.

The mention of a spell does get much more rapt attention out of the magician, however. He raises his eyebrows at the question, thinking it over for a second or two. He, personally? No. He has to wonder if England ever did have such a spell, but without the library back home, it's pointless to sit around and wonder for too long. So, he has to shake his head.

"I do not. I admit, I never thought exorcism might be something I should learn," he answers. "Besides, isn't exorcism more in line for a priest to know?"

(I am sorry I missed this earlier)

[cellphoneangel]

Neutral is something Castiel would grasp although for his kind it's more of a 'don't give a damn' sort of situation. Humanity had rolled on for thousands of years while they watched without much care. He does mistake Childermass' tone for being in the same mindset.

"Priests? I suppose, but many of them follow the Bible which gets more wrong than it does right. Hunters use exorcism spells as well as witches and anyone who fights with demons. The same with a Devil's Trap symbol. They can walk in but not back out."

Sharing information about demons doesn't bother Castiel in the least. Should there ever become a reason for it, the more people capable of stopping, trapping or exorcising demons, the better for him.

"Most hunters are incapable of magic, but the exorcism spell works for them. It drives the demon out of the vessel. If the vessel didn't take fatal damage while the demon was in control, the vessel should live."

That dispassionate tone is still present as Castiel speaks of human beings as nothing more than 'vessels'. Little wonder Jimmy loathed him.

s'all good o7

[atouts]

The Bible, getting more wrong than it does right. God, Childermass really is glad he's so uninterested in religion all of the sudden. He'll listen, nodding some as Castiel goes over most hunters not using magic, which strikes him as odd for a spell. Was it ritual? Was it powered by something else entirely?

"Good news for the vessel, in that case," he adds, slightly more amused than the typical neutrality of before. The way the angel speaks of them isn't lost on him, but he also doesn't know Jimmy well enough to come to the man's defense. It's not as though he's being directly insulted, in any case. So Childermass just moves on. "If they don't need magic to do it, then chances are I should be able to manage it as easily, provided someone shows me how it works."

That someone, he assumes, being Castiel, but we'll see.