⇨ 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]

"I didn't," Lambert agrees, though he'll flash Childermass a quick smirk all the same. "Though out of all the times I've been fucked over, that was probably one of the better ones."

Not that he imagines Childermass cares in the least about those other times, and frankly? Lambert doesn't care to dwell on it it either. When the magician grants his permission (though even if he hadn't, no doubt Lambert would be bothering him regardless) he nods and slings the cleaned fish up to a better grip as he saunters towards the campfire.

"Works for me." A quick scan of the surroundings shows some likely-looking sticks to spear the fish on, and he goes about doing exactly that, setting them up to begin the slow process of cooking on the side that Childermass isn't using.

[atouts]

"Why am I not surprised..."

Regarding it being one of the better ones, though he is right. Childermass doesn't care to ask about those other time.

And yeah, he had already figured if he told him to get bent about using the campfire, he would have just wandered over to use it anyway. It's not like there's a whole lot he could do to stop him, apart from being petty and dousing the whole thing. Since Childermass isn't about to do that, he'll just deal.

Back over at the campfire — he had trailed along after once Lambert strode off, not in any particular hurry to get back — he goes right back to where he was before, retaking his seat on the ground and lounging back against one of the logs he'd dragged over, one elbow propped up on it. The fish getting staked by the campfire get an idle look, just to check where they are, and then he's attention drifts back out to the lake.

[whattaprick]

If he had doused it, Lambert would only light it up again until he gave up in annoyance. So, luckily for both of them, they're not experiencing that particular exercise right now.

Perhaps unusually, things lapse into silence after that. Lambert seems preoccupied with the fish and his own thoughts (shocking as it may seem, he has a lot on his mind right now) while Childermass is occupied staring at the lake. Though after a few minutes (it turns out fish don't cook any faster no matter how hard you stare at them) Lambert looks up and tracks where the magician's gaze falls.

"Beautiful view, huh?" Even he can appreciate that, despite being someone who was just, you know, throwing bombs in the water. "Guess she really can do anything she wants here." Who or what else would put a big-ass lake in the Carnival overnight?

[atouts]

That the man who had been trying to hard to blow up nature is capable of stopping to look at it is, actually, a little surprising. A little surprising and also a little funny, enough that Childermass lets out a faintly amused huff along with the smoke from his pipe. He takes the pipe away from his lips again along with the sound, turning his head only just enough to watch Lambert out of the corner of an eye.

"Suppose so," he'll kind of agree. It's not England, but he's also extremely biased there, so take it with a grain of salt. "I'm more impressed by the mountain than the lake, though that she could make all of this makes enough sense. It is her realm. Everything around us is likely just an extension of her magic, not unlike how the Celebration was an extension of the Host."

[whattaprick]

"So in a manner of speaking, we're all inside the Ringmaster," Lambert quips, the lilt of his voice enough to turn the sentence into something bawdy, even if only by implication. There it is, any fleeting impression he might have a sensitive soul under all that bluster ruined.

His attention turns back to the fish, which ... hm. How do you tell it's done, anyway? And there's something about turning them to get the cooking even, he knows that, too. But now, or later?

Maybe he can speed things up with a little magic. A flick of his fingers, and, well, there are definitely two of those fish that are just straight up on fire right now.

[atouts]

Wow, Lambert, that's...

"Well, someone's a poet," Childermass deadpans with all the deadpan in the whole freaking universe right there, buddy, though only after a moment of silence in which he turns away from gazing out across the lake to stare at the witcher. Like, really? Really, yes, apparently yes.

Of course, having turned back, he also gets to catch Lambert literally setting the fish on fire. That itself earns a crease of his brow, though not quite a frown.

"You do realize that's just going to burn them, right?"

[whattaprick]

"I've done it before," Lambert reassures, though it's not really all that reassuring. "Always turns out edible."

Then again, considering who's talking, 'edible' might not be the best gauge of anything. Sure enough, as the fire keeps going, the unmistakably unpleasant smell of scorched fish starts to fill the air, and Lambert extinguishes the fire with another quick gesture.

"See?" And he'll hold up a fish on a stick, only to have to quickly catch it with his fingers (ouch, but he doesn't do more than grimace) to keep it from falling right off. It's mostly charred, and he picks at it desultorily with a finger, trying to find any trace of white meat.

"... Might have overdone it. Next ones should turn out better--" And he's reaching for the others, abject failure apparently no reason not to try again.

[atouts]

"'Always turns out edible', hm?" Childermass was apparently correct to be skeptical with that. When Lambert reaches for the next round of fish, however, he finds the need to intervene. His little campsite on the beach already smells like burnt fish and he would prefer it doesn't get worse. "No, I doubt they will. Stake those and give them here."

He's since put his pipe out, having overturned the ashes and tapped them out, so he can put it aside on the log he was lounging against and get up. If he's going to be handling fish, well, that's the end of smoking for now.

[whattaprick]

Lambert glances across the fire at Childermass, squinting skeptically, as though he's trying to find fault in that. Finally, he shrugs and brushes soot off his fingers, before passing the uncooked fish over.

"Thought you didn't want dinner," he says, apparently not a believer in not looking gift magicians in the mouth. Though the fish he'd tried to cook is mostly a sad little pile of charred scales and bone, a little industrious poking is enough to reveal parts that did turn out marginally edible. While Childermass does whatever he's up to, Lambert picks the pieces of salvageable fish meat out with his fingers and eats them, appetite (and a small, annoying desire to prove the magician wrong) apparently winning out.

[atouts]

"I don't," Childermass confirms. He really doesn't want your fish, Lambert, but if you're going to insist on being terrible at cooking, there's no real choice here. He takes the fish, staking them out on his side of the fire, then settling back down to watch and wait. Unlike the witcher, he's going to be patient, but just in case Lambert continues to wave his hands and set things on fire—

"You have to turn them to the other side when the first starts looking dark enough, not throw magic at them."

Even if Lambert is still so intent on picking out what little there is from the fish he basically ruined, it hardly impresses the magician. He's already sure that it tastes terrible.

[whattaprick]

It does taste terrible, or it would, if Lambert wasn't already used to his own shitty culinary skills. In any case, he grunts at the explanation and focuses on picking the fish clean of whatever's salvageable, then discarding the bones nearly to the side, to be cleaned up later. What's really impressive is how quickly he does it, but that does mean he's out of things to occupy himself with, and the fish still isn't done. He doesn't have any alcohol on him, either, so...

Conversation it is.

"Looks like your face healed up all right." He can see it pretty well from here, especially with the fire casting its light on Childermass. "What happened with that, anyway?"

[atouts]

Well, he's already given up hope for a quiet evening without having to talk to anyone, so...

"Well enough," Childermass agrees, "And it was the stage manager. Miss Ashleigh and I went to find him while we were all in the vampire's realm." He doesn't want to call it hell. It's really weird, thinking he's been to a hell, so he just won't say it. "He attacked, but a knee to the face was as bad as it got."

[whattaprick]

Lambert thinks about that mental picture for a moment, and can't help barking a laugh in response, because ... what else do you do about traumatic experiences but laugh at them once they're over?

"Nice hit. Didn't see it coming, did you?" Imagining bony, flashy Joker throwing down like a street thug is hysterical, honestly. Not that it's all that impressive to hit Childermass in the first place, but from a certain perspective you had to admire how cleanly Joker would have had to land one to do that to his face. "The doctor and the head cook didn't give us as much trouble. Warden was a different story, though."

Said with super casualness. No big deal, happens all the time.

[atouts]

"I didn't think he would attack me," Childermass will admit that much. Or at least he assumed any attack that came would be directed at his neck once he realized Joker was a vampire, but having a knee to the nose was probably the better outcome there. "A mistake I won't make again."

Although he honestly hopes it won't ever come down to Joker trying to attack him, like, ever again.

But moving on, as Childermass hardly wants to dwell on his own minor screw ups, mention of the warden earns a quirked eyebrow from him.

"Is that so?"

[whattaprick]

"Might not be able to fix it next time," Lambert agrees -- though whether he's thinking about another knee to already-injured nose, or something more permanent and potentially fatal is anyone's guess. Could be about even odds.

With nothing else to do with his hands while the fish cooks, Lambert pulls the dagger out again, running his hands along the blue-sheened surface and checking the edge for nicks as he speaks.

"Vampire we were up against had an affinity for controlling beasts. Just so happens the Warden ended up under her influence." What with being a werewolf and all, or maybe just because he's so animalistic already? Lambert's been wondering about that, wondering if the fledgeling vampires they have running around will display the same talents or not -- and if so, what implications that could have for the rest of the Carnival's members. If it's the damn Warden's job to defend them, and he couldn't resist the lure ... hell, he can put down workers if he has to, but he'd rather not.