⇨ HOME AGAIN

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone!
When: Day 68 - Day 72
Where: Carnival grounds.
What: Everyone makes it back to the carnival after their adventure in hell. The Ringmaster makes a new lake to celebrate, apparently.
Warnings: A notable absence of torture.

TO HELL AND BACK↴ The rescuers and the liberated captives will emerge from the portal like bats out of hell. Much like their previous return, this arrival will be met with a flurry of medical activity as everyone gets their injuries seen to, particularly those that had been held prisoner within Morningstar's hell fortress. It will still be night when they arrive, and the rest of Day 68 will be clouded over completely, for the benefit of the new vampires as they get settled in. After the immediate panic is dealt with, the Ringmaster will disappear into the forest until the morning of Day 69. It will be raining off and on during her absence. ► RECOVERY: Unlike the last time, the Ringmaster will be supplying the carnival workers with some healing potions from her private hoard, given that most of the healers are already wounded or spent. Damage caused by iron poisoning will not be cured by healing magic or healing items though, unfortunately, and those who have spent a lot of time in contact with iron will take at least a week to fully recover. However, regular healing remedies like bandages and herbs may help speed things along if the patient is suited to them. ► A BRAND NEW LAKE: On the morning of Day 69, the Ringmaster will return the forest to announce that she's built a new lake into the carnival grounds, only a short trail's distance from the backyard. Unlike most of the forest, this area won't just lead you in circles when explored, meaning that it can actually be modified and developed as the workers see fit. The water is always clean and just the right temperature for swimming, though it gets a bit cooler the deeper you swim. At the far side of the lake, there is a warm, stone pathway leading up the side of the mountain, that will eventually take you to some bangin' hot springs. Brought to you mostly because the Ringmaster doesn't know how to say sorry with actual words. At least it gives you something to play with while you try to shake off the trauma. ► FRUITS OF VICTORY: On Day 70, all the workers who came to hell for the rescue mission will be given a gift from the Ringmaster. Each of them will receive a bright green, glowing seed, about the size of your thumbnail. She will tell you that, when planted, the seeds will swiftly grow into a small citrus tree, which will grow fruits with regenerative properties. More details about these plants will be written up in a separate post, but for now your characters can ogle them and decide if they are going to plant them or not. ► TAKE ME TO CHURCH: Staring on Day 71, the Ringmaster will be starting to work on removing the vampirism from those infected with it, which apparently involves a lot of... meditation? She will take the newbie vampires out into a shady area of the forest and encourage them to look inside themselves and attempt to separate themselves spiritually from their demonic beasts. How well you character masters her teachings over time will determine whether or not she is ultimately capable of stripping out your demon soul and returning you to life. Of course, not all demons are made equal, and some will be more difficult to separate than others...

Comments

[whattaprick]

Lambert's busy with his hands, in any case, so the lapse into the silence is filled with the sound of earth being overturned, the tip of the spade digging through the soil. It's slow going since the thing's entirely made out of wood -- no sense in having one made of iron around here.

"Gardening," he answers, shortly, but the witcher won't dwell on that subject for long, instead launching directly into another topic, eyes still on the ground.

"Iron's a son of a bitch," he says, matter-of-fact. "You been using anything on those or not?" In the shuffle after their return, it had largely been a bunch of potion-dosing and binding of the most serious injuries. Bruises and blisters seem relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, and are probably an easier fix than their psyches.

[dorkypantsuit]

Iron; the subject is changed on him again. His attempt to find stable ground is overturned just as easily as the earth Lambert works with his spade. He looks to his wrists, trying to remind himself that he wasn't a captive anymore and not to deal on the memories those marks bring.

"Magic can't fix it..." he comments, attempting to keep himself in the here and now even if this reality was feeling less real all the time.

"Everything else was healed."

[whattaprick]

"Maybe not magic, but that's not the only thing you can use for injuries," Lambert stops, letting his spade lean against him while he digs into a pocket. What the search produces is a small, shallow pot of ointment, something he'll waggle at Psi for his attention (if he can't even keep track of one subject change, maybe he's got a concussion too).

"Here, catch." He tosses it lightly at him. Hopefully, even if he isn't coordinated enough to get it out of the air, it will at least land lightly on his lap, which is what he was aiming for.

Inside, if Psi cares to investigate, is an unappealing looking green ointment (probably nothing on what various excretions you're likely to encounter being a resident of Alternia, let's be honest) that smells like freshly cut leaves -- crisp and green. At any rate, Lambert goes back to work trying to straighten the garden plots out, the dark earth a stark contrast to the patch of green surrounding it.

[dorkypantsuit]

He doesn't even move, catching it mid-throw with his psionics. A faint purple light outlines the object as he flies it towards him before dropping it in his hand. He opens the pot, and sees the ointment inside. He isn't entirely certain of it's purpose, but he can guess it's something to do with helping wounds heal. He closes it back up, before looking back to Lambert and seeing him working again.

"Do you need any help?"

[whattaprick]

Oh, right. Lambert forgets he can actually do that, though he shouldn't be so surprised, given he was flinging people around bodily during the Masquerade.

The salve won't heal as fast as magic -- nothing ever does -- but if he applies it to the bruising and the blisters, it should help them fade faster. Maybe it'll help, maybe it won't, since he's not human, but if he's got blood and it acts the same way as human blood, same principles should apply, right? Comfrey, yarrow, plantain and beeswax ... basic as hell, but it works.

Though the question makes him blink, looking between Psi and the garden. Considering he just said he hadn't done this himself, it's a funny question to ask. Don't you have anything better to do? is the first thing he wants to say, but maybe, like Zecora, he's looking for something to do.

"It'd go faster with another pair of hands. Or in your case..." He taps at his forehead, wincing when his finger encounters the base of a horn. They're such a new change he forgets they're there at all.

[dorkypantsuit]

The gesture makes Psi smile, just a bit, but he nods.

"Yes, with my brain powers." he smirks a bit, before lifting a huge chunk of dirt without lifting a finger.

"So you just want it flat?"

[whattaprick]

All right hotshot, we get it, some of us have more cool brain powers than others. Lambert eyes it warily, but he nods, indicating the area surrounded by the string.

"Yeah. Need to get rid of any rocks and move dirt around so it's all level and the water won't just run off."

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi nods, looking over the dirt. He isn't sure how he's supposed to look for rocks, but flat earth isn't a problem. He shifts the dirt to the specified area, before letting it fall to the ground. Then, as though a giant invisible hand is pressing it, the dirt begins to flatten itself down. The Psionic stops once it starts looking level.

"Like that?"

[whattaprick]

"It's a start," Lambert says with obvious amusement, but he's leaning on his spade now, enjoying the show. Come to think of it, he probably could have asked Strange to do something similar, only given the man's lack of subtlety with magic leads him to think he'd end up with half the lakeside churned up.


"Still gotta break all that dirt up, make sure roots can get in there." The novelty of being able to boss around a supervisor is definitely not lost on him.

[dorkypantsuit]

You aren't bossing, he offered. Though he does look a bit stumped about how to break up the dirt while keeping it level. He closes his eyes, thinking it over for a moment before the dirt begins to swirl, as though it's being run through a giant blender. When he opens his eyes (all four of them) again he looks pretty pleased with himself. He looks over to Lambert grinning smugly.

"It's okay to be impressed."

[whattaprick]

"Show-off," is what Lambert has to offer, but that's as good as saying 'yeah, I'm impressed.' Witcher magic is useful and all that, but it could never compare to the scale Psi's doing it at, faster and quicker than Lambert could ever manage with a hoe and spade.

"Not bad. Maybe you should quit Foreman and we'll make a gardener of you instead." Though what a Carnival would even do with one, who knows? It's not a normal Carnival, anyway.

[dorkypantsuit]

He laughs, still looking quite a bit pleased with himself. On Alternia labor like that had been the job of burgundy-bloods. It was kind of funny to imagine himself in their position. Honestly he probably would have enjoyed it a lot more than the sort of work he'd actually done.

"No thanks... I like being Foreman. It's nice, working on something people can enjoy."

Back on Alternia all he'd ever been told to do had led to hurt trolls and lost lives. If he looks sort of distracted, it's because he is, thinking about what he'd done and how he'd been controlled into attacking others in their group only a few days ago. Of course, he's been pretty distracted this entire conversation so that's not really anything new.

[whattaprick]

Boy, does that 'people can enjoy' sound like a potential leadup to somebody's crapsack life history being unloaded on him (again), so Lambert's quick to seize on what seems like the safer and more interesting subject:

"How'd you end up becoming a supervisor in the first place, anyway?"

As far as Lambert can tell, most of the supervisors do seem like they fit the job, though there's not a whole lot of supervising happening that he can gather. Then again, he's never had a chance to see the Carnival properly in action, and maybe that's not about to change anytime soon, with everyone else still trying to get their bearings.

LMFAO LAMBERT

[dorkypantsuit]

He shrugs, honestly he didn't really know how it ended up happening, it just had. He hadn't ever really thought he'd end up working at the carnival past that first year. He really hadn't expected to get a management position on top of that.

"Ringmaster just asked me to one day. I think that's what happens to everyone." There were some people who were clearly interested in leader roles from the start, some people probably had just straight up asked for positions in the past, but usually it was the Ringmaster making the offer instead of taking anyone else up on theirs.

"I'm not sure about her reasons." She could be a pretty mystifying person a lot of the time. The best way to describe her was probably enthusiastic weirdo.

"I still can't figure out why she made Sans warden."

LMFAO he doesn't even know how to deal with his own trauma, let alone psi's

[whattaprick]

"Just like huh?" It's hard for it not to be on his mind, what with one supervisor conspicuously missing and all. Mari's not dead, as far as anyone knows, but she's also not here, so who's overseeing them all? Does it even matter, assuming they're not jumping into hell again anytime soon?

Although when Psi brings up Sans, Lambert raises a brow. That's an interesting way to put it.

"Why not? Don't think he's a good fit for the job?" He can't deal with tragic backstory, but he doesn't mind gossip..

[dorkypantsuit]

The Psionic shakes his head, indicating Lambert has misunderstood him.

"He's probably the best fit... But the others might disagree with me."

And in this case he doesn't mean the other supervisors, but rather the other workers.

"He's very... Independent." And there he trails off, honestly not sure how to explain it. It was a situation the Psionic didn't fully understand in the first place, because it wasn't that Sans didn't work well with others. It would be more accurate to say that Sans didn't put anyone else in the equation to begin with. When it came to success or failure, Sans could only think of such things in terms of himself.

Sans was strong and smart, a good combination for the head of their security. He paid attention to what people said and did, he noticed things and seemed to be able to figure out the importance of them easily. At the same time he didn't seem to care what others thought of him. Sometimes it almost seemed he took particular pleasure in subverting people's expectations. People didn't like that, it made them distrustful. Unfortunately Sans was in a position were trust played a big part.

There are a fair few negative things Psi could say about Sans, but he doesn't want to, especially not to a stranger. He didn't hate Sans, he just wished the skeleton would look past himself every once and a while.

"I guess...He takes action before others think to look. Therefore they think he's done nothing." In the end it's the only explanation he offers up, but only because it's the simplest way he can think to explain it.

totally lost a word in the first sentence, wtg me

[whattaprick]

It feels like the Psionic's really thinking about the words he says, which is sort of disappointing, but totally understandable. Lambert's not the first guy who'd come to mind when it comes to confiding anything of a personal nature, that's for sure.

"Huh. Well, you know him better than I do." Is what he settles on saying, eventually. That's true enough, regardless of anything else. "Maybe she just sees something in him we don't." Or possibly the Ringmaster's just doing it for the shits and giggles. That seems just as likely and valid, from what he's seen of her thought process...

"What about the Nightrider?" Lambert's glancing at him with little apparent concern as he says that. He knows little about Mari's disappearance, but given at some point the supervisors might have all been held together, he wonders if Psi knows any more about where she's fucked off to than he does.

NP

[dorkypantsuit]

He freezes up at the question again, just like before. He's never been good at hiding his emotions from people, but he might not realize just how obvious it is to everyone else. Mari, that was something else he was trying desperately not to think about.

"What about her?" he says, voice quiet though it does nothing to hide the bitterness.

[whattaprick]

Now there's an interesting reaction. Bad blood between the two of them, or lingering guilt? It's a little strange.

"Did you know her pretty well? You're both supervisors, after all."

[dorkypantsuit]

"No one knew Mari well."

[whattaprick]

"Was she always batshit insane?" It doesn't sound like he means it like an insult, he's just genuinely curious.

[dorkypantsuit]

"Why?" he says, voice just bordering aggression. He glares in Lambert's direction. "Whatever she was she clearly isn't any longer."

[whattaprick]

"Does that mean she deserves to be forgotten, just like that?" Lambert asks, unflinching. "Like she was never here?"

[dorkypantsuit]

"That isn't what I said." He bites back, his voice stern and tone aggressive.

[whattaprick]

Psi could probably crack him open like an egg with that brain of his, if what he pulled off with the earth was any indication. Still, that possibility doesn't seem to worry him much.

"Maybe not." Lambert shrugs. "But if nobody'll talk about her, that's what's going to happen anyway." He turns back to the leveled earth, hefting up his spade again.