lostcarnival | ⇨ HOME AGAIN

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...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Susan's looking up at the sky, hoping that somehow if he focuses on the sky and on flapping as hard as he can this will work, even though it hasn't yet. He must just be doing something wrong, he just doesn't know what... He even tries jumping as high as he can (which admittedly isn't very high) just to see if it helps, but it doesn't do a thing.

He catches sight of a branch out of the corner of his eye, and he's already looking to Strange by the time he suggests that. He doesn't want to stop, but it looks like really they should... He nods after only a moment's hesitation.

"Okay, stop then... We'll have to try something different!"

Strange mutters something under his breath as he repeats the gesture he made. Slowly, the wind dies down, but not before a few leaves fly right into Strange's hair. It certainly looks like a small windstorm blew through the area, but Strange isn't making any sign of cleaning up the debris from said windstorm.

As for the main problem, what on earth will they do now? Strange also isn't too keen on the idea of Susan jumping off things, so that leaves...what?

"Do you have any ideas about what we'll try next?" he asks, with a little frown. Because yeah, Strange 100% can't think of anything right now.

Even if any leaves landed in Susan's hair you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, with how many usually end up stuck there somehow. His hair's even too messy to see much of a difference after it being blown all over.

He frowns as he looks back over his shoulder at his tiny and seemingly useless wings, before shaking his head.

"My only other idea was jumping off the ferris wheel, but I think Lauren'd be mad if I tried that, even if I did turn into a bird on the way down." And it's probably a bad idea, too, but he's confident enough in his abilities that he's not too concerned about that part.

"I'd have asked the trees to catch you if you didn't turn into a bird," Strange can't help but add, with a little shrug. But no, Susan's right, Lauren would probably be mad if Susan jumped off the ferris wheel. So that left...what? Not that many options, that's what.

"Perhaps you could jump off something smaller than the ferris wheel? There's a danger that you'll just land on your feet instead of flying but it's at least an option. Perhaps I could bring the winds back while you jump off of something smaller."

His tone is a bit worried. At least in Strange's mind, this isn't really the best option. But it's at least a option and beggars can't afford to be choosers.

He looks down as he thinks about it, kicking his feet a little as he tries to come up with something better.

"I don't know... If it's shorter then there's less time for magic to help, but for it to be enough for them to work then it's probably high enough to get hurt, right?" He doesn't like it, but it sounds like they aren't coming up with much of anything else, so...

"Maybe we should just stop."

Strange frowns, sighing as if this is the most inconvenient thing in the world. He really wants to help out and do whatever he can to help make the younger boy fly. But as it is? Susan's right. They really don't have any better options and Strange doesn't know if there are other options to begin with.

"I think that until we find a better option, you're right." So...now what. Strange looks around awkwardly with a little frown before asking. "How've you been lately, by the way? These past few days have been...trying."

Especially when you're a little kid barely twelve years old. He can only imagine how poor Susan's dealt with the vampires and the rest.

Susan looks over his shoulder at his pathetic wings, giving them another flap before turning back with a huff. If only he'd gotten something cooler, he'd thought wings were cool enough but they couldn't even fly. At least his eyes looked like his cat's now, that was pretty cool.

He nods vaguely at Strange's agreement to stopping, but then the man continues with a question about how he's been and it only makes him look very interested in his feet while he tries to think of an answer to that. Normally answers are easy, but when it's about how he feels or how he's been... That's another story. It would be easy if he really knew exactly how he'd been, but that wasn't the case, now, and an honest answer is nearly impossible to give. He knew he was mad, mostly at the Ringmaster, mad about being attacked when he'd thought they were safe, mad that his brother was taken from him (even if he was still there), mad that he wasn't even able to defeat the Ringmaster to try and solve this. He couldn't help but blame himself though, too, for getting himself and Lauren trapped here in a contract...

And if that hadn't been bad enough... Now he didn't have his magic. Not that he would admit it if he could help it, even to himself, but it was still true. How she could just take it away that easily he had no idea, but he felt empty without it and it was an uncomfortable and unfamiliar feeling.

In the end he only gives a little shrug and a small smile.

"I'm okay. Especially now that we have a lake, I missed the stream we had in our forest."

Most of the time, Strange's madness makes it so that he misses things like 'context clues for emotions' and 'subtext.' But as Susan looks down at his feet, the mental cogs turn and everything snaps into place rather quickly. Ah. Susan wasn't okay. That's to be expected, again, the past week was a nightmare. And obviously Susan doesn't want to talk about it...which again is kind of expected, Strange has been excelling in 'not talking about things' for as long as he was at the Carnival. So there's a pause in the conversation on his end, before Strange mirrors Susan's small smile.

"I think you're just about as okay as I am," he simply responds. Because for all of Strange hiding his feelings behind creating wind, helping Susan learn to fly, and small smiles, he's kicking himself for not doing more in Hell. Yes, they saved Koel. But couldn't he have saved Mari as well? And if Strange had been stronger, more competent at combat magic, could he have saved some of the others from being turned in the first place? All those doubts weighed on him though, like Susan, he's not going to actually acknowledge them. Repressing is totally a valid way to cope, okay?

Susan could interpret that statement however he wanted because Strange also keeps the conversation about the lake. "I've never been much for lakes myself. Still, the sound of the water is relaxing. I can see why people have lake houses."

He smiles a little wider at Strange's remark; he's good at reading people, so he can tell what he means, that the man isn't okay either, but he will be. Nothing dangerous, nothing immediately worrying, just general not okayness. It's probably how a lot of people feel, right now, and so for now it's just their new normal.

He turns back to the lake, looking it over and just listening to the sounds.

"I've never really had a lake, only a stream. We had a waterfall too though, that was nice. I wonder if there's any on the mountain."

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