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

[mylastchance]

"That wouldn't fix anything! It would only make things worse!"

[wild_magic]

"You don't know that... It would fix things, and no one would get kidnapped or hurt here again." He's still not seeing how Lauren could disagree, but he's definitely starting to calm down, now just angrily speaking into his knees instead of yelling.

[mylastchance]

"No! She said she could fix me, if you killed her it would be worse and everyone here would have no way of getting home, and you would probably have died!"

[wild_magic]

He doesn't have anything to say to that. He doesn't know how much of that's true, how much is just Lauren trying to convince him out of this, how much is the Ringmaster trying to trick people. He doesn't even shake his head, not sure whether he even objects, all he knows is this isn't right.

[mylastchance]

"You never think!" he shouts again, his anger draining at Susan's stubborn silence. "You don't make any sense."

What was he doing here?

What was he doing wrong?

He slumps backwards, leaning against the door to the bathroom as his energy suddenly leaves him. There wasn't anyway he could make Susan understand this. Susan's way of thinking didn't make any sense at all. Was there something else going on here? Was he just too stupid too understand it? He sinks down the door until he's sitting on the floor.

[wild_magic]

Lauren doesn't make sense to him, either. He doesn't understand how he can't see his reasoning, but he doesn't know what to say about that, or what to say to him. He just wants his brother, he wants everything to be okay, he wants to be home in their glade in his furs with Lauren watching over him and for nothing to be wrong. He knows he can't have that, but more than anything he wants nothing to change, and that's all that's happening now and he can't stop it, and somehow he feels like it's his fault. If he hadn't gotten them stuck here...

In the silence it's probably easy to hear him sniffle quietly as he tries to fight back tears. He doesn't want to cry, not in front of Lauren, but he can't help it.

[mylastchance]

He does hear it, his only reaction that he now feels even shittier than he did a second ago. He sighs, burying his head in his hands. He wasn't supposed to be the one doing this, he never was. He sits there in silence for a moment, before he stands and opens the door.

"You're not allowed to leave the trailer." That's all he says, with a small glance to Susan, before closing the door behind him.

[wild_magic]

Susan doesn't respond, and he only finally looks up when he hears the door close again. He doesn't want to keep sitting here in the bathtub, but he doesn't want to talk to Lauren, either, and he doesn't know if his brother's left the trailer or not...

So for now he just stays there in the stupid tub, letting himself cry now that Lauren isn't there. He doesn't like it, but maybe it's better than being angry...