⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 1st - 7th, 2017
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Memories begin returning to the displaced as the fall gets chillier. How the hell did we end up here, again? Also, apparently, the fair is in town.
Warnings: Individually marked!

PORTLAND BY NIGHT↴ Memory regains will come into effect at the beginning of October, to whatever degree you've decided upon, and may be regained at whatever pace you desire from then on. For those with their full carnival memories, it will be like waking up in the body of someone else - for those with half and half, it will be like rapidly recalling sets of memories from a totally different life. Those with full amnesia will simply feel as if this is how it's always been. Unfortunately for you, memories aren't the only thing you have to deal with. The supernatural community of Portland is bustling all of a sudden - could your presence and these events somehow be related? ► THE OUTER CIRCLE: As of the start of the month, the Portland Circle of Enlightenment will find itself starting to get swarmed with members from other chapters. Most notably, it would seem that a small cabal of top mages from the North American Enlightenment Council will be making their home in Portland's HQ. For anyone but the highest of ranks, the purpose behind their visit will be unclear, but it seems like something is definitely up on a metaphysical level. The Circle will be buzzing with rumours of unique planar activity and threatening omens. It seems that it all started with an unusual flare of activity in the planetary ley-lines, starting approximately a week ago. However, even if you would usually be the type to keep tabs on such things, you will find that you oddly have no memory of observing this phenomenon yourself. ► THE ANIMAL FAIR: Good news, the fair is in town! Or, at least, it would be good news... if this was a regular fair. Instead, what's being observed is a bunch of nearly identical flyers, spread all around Portland - each of which bears only the words "THE ANIMAL FAIR", a seemingly bloody paw-print of unknown origin, and the directions to a vague forested location outside of the city. It's dated for October 7th, and all instances of its posting having been discovered with a scattering of rose petals, crow feathers, and pre-burnt matches laying on the ground around them. Most are taking this to be some kind of bizarre viral marketing campaign, but others may know better. ► THE EARTH SPIRIT: If you have connections to The Pack or any of its many variations, you'll probably hear whispers of something very odd that occurred last week - according to the elders, it sounds as if the Earth Spirit, the magical and spiritual center of the planet, has suddenly taken a wound. It's not clear why or how, but there is a fair bit of concern among spiritual types, as it is werebeast belief and nebulous magical fact that the magical forces within the earth are the source of all magic here, as well as the source of life. While many werebeasts claim to have felt the Spirit succumb, you strangely have no memory of such an event occurring. Though things do feel strange, if you know how to tap into the Spirit yourself. ► THE WAR CRY: Though Anath's rain of terror across North America lasted for the first fifteen years or so of the Severing, most independent demons have had enough time to start taking the arch-demon's relative inactivity for granted. For that first while, the warrior queen had seemed determine to rebuild an army on earth by forcing her scattered brethren into service - only for her to gradually settle down in a fortress somewhere in Texas and dig in her heels. Of course, this was too good to last - it sounds as if she and her demonic legion have begun tearing their way up the west coast, their goals remaining a mystery. Their destination, however, is almost certainly Portland.

Comments

⇨ INVESTIGATION THREADS

[ringleaders]

Below are prompts with specific investigation-based hooks. The first ones are hooks designed for specific characters, who may reply as they see fit, but if you find something you'd like to investigate, please make a post here explaining what your character is doing to find out info. All investigation threads will be done in summary form as opposed to going tag by tag.

DON'T BE VAGUE. If you are having your character investigate something, you must explain what your character is specifically doing to find out information. Don't just say "I investigate the posters." You have to be more specific, by saying what your character is doing, such as "My character is going to ask around in X community where a poster was put up, trying to find out if anyone saw who did it." The more specific you are, the better info you will get in return.

You can also confront NPCs by this method, and you'll get summary posts in return explaining how the situation will unfold based on your actions. Investigation is important for this plot! Various boons and advantages will be given out for characters who make a difference.

► SANCTUARY RESIDENTS (OCTOBER 3RD)

[ringleaders]

On October 3rd, the residents of the Portland Sanctuary building will find that the main doors have been overgrown with vines that have seemed to crop up overnight, blooming with pure black roses. They won't be that hard to remove with a little elbow grease, but they are obviously magical, and... well. Probably not a good sign, considering the city's local fae.

► ASHLEIGH MISCHIEF (OCTOBER 1ST+)

[ringleaders]

The head of Portland's Circle chapter will find herself under sudden scrutiny, at the beginning of the month. Some of the head honchos from the North American Enlightenment Council have intruded upon her territory with little warning, claiming that they require jurisdiction to research some dire and super secret metaphysical events. Ashleigh doesn't have the authority to make them leave, but she does have enough authority to make their lives difficult - the first step in this development is deciding whether or not she'll be cooperating with the Council's demands.

► GREG UNIVERSE, PEARL, CHILDERMASS (OCTOBER 2ND)

[ringleaders]

On the morning of October 2nd, you will all find a large, blood red rose growing somewhere in your home. This isn't a surprise, because this is how the Rose Queen usually addresses her subjects outside of the fae realm. Inside of the blossom there will be a small, paper scroll filled with an ornately written message, requesting that you investigate the source of the "Animal Fair" posters that have been popping up around the city. There is little explanation besides that.

► LAPIS, LARS, AMETHYST, AND FOSTER (OCTOBER 1ST+)

[ringleaders]

Starting October 1st, you'll notice that you're being followed by something. It's not clear what - you'll simply notice something strange out of the corners of your eye, something purple and fluttering. Whatever it is, it seems to be localized to your apartment building, because if you talk to each other you'll realize that only the people in these two apartments have noticed it.

Additionally, sometimes when you go to investigate what you saw, you'll find some small, shiny berries left behind. They're always black.

► HEAVEN ALIGNED ANGELS (OCTOBER 4TH)

[ringleaders]

Around the 4th of October, most angels will receive letters delivered by doves made of holy magic. All of them will be written the same way, and signed by "P Jaeger, The Hand of God." Most of you will know what this means. The Hand of God is the title given to a half angel woman who is well known among celestials for doing a variety of super cool urban fantasy protagonist-esque things, though you may not actually remember the specifics. She has some kind of fancy, angelic weapon that was supposedly bestowed upon her by god themselves. Whether or not you believe that is up to you.

At any rate, it seems that she's asking for your help, and offering a note of advice:

"To Those of the Choir,

I'm in need of your help. To any willing to hear me out, I will explain more in person, but for now: be wary. It is against your best interest to cooperate with with any agents of the Circle. An event of great significance is unfolding, and they're doing their best to keep it under wraps.

Expect that hell will be following in their footsteps.

Til Kingdom Come,

P Jaeger
Hand of God"

Animal Fair

[hippocarnival]

Yuya is going to claim one of the posters as soon as they go up. On Oct. 5th in the mid afternoon/early evening after school he'll make a trip straight for the marked location to see what's progressing. He will be using his smartphone for GPS, for as accurate as it can get.

He won't try and hide himself from spectating but he's also not trying to be obvious, so he'll approach quietly and stand close to trees.

[periphrasing]

Being incredibly stealthy and intelligent, Peridot is going to investigate that spot in the woods referenced on the fair posters, because she's a genius with an amazingly innate sense of self-preservation.

They catch her eye because man, she sure is having some weird memories come back to her all of a sudden! Real unsettling stuff. Stuff about a fiery realm, strong emotions including flashes of anger and violence, and the knowledge of lashing at people with claws she doesn't remember ever having.

In first few days after the fliers go up, she's mostly going to be googling shit and checking local-based online forums for any information. She'll also be lurking around the various posting locations on the campus of the community college she attends, keeping an eye on the sort of people who stop to take a closer look at them, and also eavesdropping on her fellow students for any rumors about just what the hell they are, or who put them up. Fortunately she has crazy good bat hearing, so eavesdropping is actually a potentially feasible way for her to get some clear information.

On the day of the 6th, around dusk, she's going to flit out as a bat to the location referenced on the posters, to try and see if there's anything fishy going down. Mainly she'll be looking for any strange gatherings or activity. Her eyesight as a bat isn't great but she has fantastic hearing. If the night before yields nothing, she will come back on the 7th. Both times, her guard is going to be extremely high, and she'll be playing things very stealthily because lets be real, while she assumes this is probably just some dumb performance art stunt or something, that bloody paw print unsettles her a lot more than she'd like to admit.

[small_reservations]

After a cursory googling, Axel will be putting out a casual text on the 3rd to the changeling network members that he's in touch with to ask about the Animal Fair, if any of them heard anything or saw someone putting up the posters, or knows someone who did. Regardless of what replies he gets, he will be sneaking out with binoculars on the 5th and 6th to see from a distance if there's anything suspicious going on in the woods; there's a good chance that he will likely join anyone trying to slip in, if he sees them.

On the 3rd he will also text Helen or another sanctuary member looking for information, but will not help with clearing the vines; the last thing he needs is the Rose Queen finding him again.

[kingsroads]

Strange will be doing two things with regards to the lovely information that the Circle's gotten.

1: legwork. If you wanna figure something out, do it yourself. Strange will gladly join in on Circle gossip about the threatening omens b/c that is more his cup of tea than planetary ley-lines. After nailing down some specific omens through gossip, Strange will investigate said threatening omens to see just what those omens are and what level of bad shit they represent (bad mojo vs. APOCALYPTIC MOJO, for example). He'll investigate using resources of the Circle, resources at the university library, and good ol'google as a last resort.

2: straight up creeping. Using scrying spells, Strange will try and creep on Council members at random times to see what they're doing/what they're up to. Because excuse you, he wants to be the next big shot within the Circle and can't do it if all these other randos are there! If they're doing something boring, then he'll just watch for five-ten minutes, but if they're doing something interesting (and haven't put up counterspells to prevent from being creeped on), he'll watch for an hour or two.

[drrdrrdrr]

Prior to mysteriously disappearing on October 5th, Amethyst is going to be looking for a bit of information on a couple of points in between werebeast wrestling matches.

1. She's pretty skeptical about this Earth Spirit stuff, but she's heard a few people mention it even if Beast Wrestling isn't the most spiritual of werebeast social hubs, and she's curious. She's going to bring it up to a couple of other werebeasts of a slightly older and more traditional bent in a sort of casual "geez what's up with THAT crazy rumour" way.

2. She's also going to be asking around to see if anyone knows anything about the 'Animal Fair', because she thinks that between the name and the weird bloody footprint it sounds like it MIGHT be related to the were scene.

now in the correct thread: animal fair + precog shenanigans

[whattaprick]

Lambert is going to be pretty annoyed at the flyers, since they're cluttering up both his workplaces (the cafe and the library) with even more crap than usual. Wherever he encounters them, he'll be actively throwing them in the trash/discarding them.

He will be asking his coworkers and library/cafe patrons if they've spotted who's been putting them up; if that fails to produce any useful information, he will try to keep a lookout for whoever's leaving/posting them. Lambert will also be checking online forums for any rumors pertaining to the Animal Fair, such as whether anyone's heard of it before or if people have any ideas what it's even going to be.

On a whim, he takes a picture of the bloody pawprint before he trashes one of the posters and 1. runs an internet search with it, 2. post it to a more animal-obsessed subforum asking people if they recognize it or if it's just some trashy graphic design. He's bracing for the nine million replies bitching about the anatomical inaccuracy.

If he succeeds in getting a recognizable description or he catches anyone in the act, he will not hesitate to get right up in this person's face and demand to know what the hell the animal fair is and also (if time permits) delivering a blistering lecture on littering not being a marketing tactic. He will do this whether or not his magic sight perceives the individual in question as human or not.

In the background of all this is his off-again on-again precognition (which is specifically geared towards alerting him if bad shit is about to happen that he has the opportunity to intervene and prevent). It manifests mainly as a crappy feeling in his gut and a tug towards wherever it's happening. Should it be triggered by anything during the course of his efforts, he'll attempt to investigate that feeling further.

TIME 2 INVESTIGATE

[insidescoop]

Carly would be a pretty poor reporter if she didn't try to look into any of this; first and foremost, she's familiar enough with the Circle thanks to being -ahem- pulled by the ear a few times by Ashleigh to recognize when the bees seem to be swarming, and she'll try to stealthily get around and near their building in an attempt to catch some rumors buzzing around. Will she hear anything? Who knows.

She attempts to also ask if Aslla has heard anything-but while his AU counterpart would probably know about the demon stuff, Aslla being without such memories is of No Use At All. She'll have to ask her friends for information...LATER THOUGH, for now...

First, she trawls the usual internet haunts-Do Mages have a forum? She's going in. Do other supernaturals? TIME TO DIG DEEPER. She's only got as much access as someone who can be sneaky and beg her way into a basic 'member' account has, but someone's got to be chattering right?

From there, given the black roses and odd posters around, Carly not only tries to do some internet searching on the Animal Fair, but on beings other than a certain fae that might be associated with roses-after all, she's been at this long enough that she Probably Knows A Little About the Rose Queen being a thing. What DOES she find in the depths of the internet..?

After that, there's only one thing left to do. On October the 6th, she'll be hoofing it through the woods to try and make her way to the Animal Fairgrounds-what will she...and Aslla, for that matter-feel on their way in?

War Cry

[handwringing]

Elsa is not particularly interested in joining an army because it would significantly cut into her time being an angry hermit who doesn't like people or demons. Once she knows Anath has left Texas and is headed toward Portland, she'll start contacting demons further south on the coast to see if they know anything about what she's up to. Maybe at least one of them will be willing to answer her with something other than sass or threats.

Outer Circle + Animal Fair

[stillwinningthehardway]

Tallisibeth is too shy and feels too unimportant to approach top mages herself. She'll look them up though, see if they have social media accounts, if their apprentices or junior colleagues do and if those hint at anything. In public areas she'll send her cockatiel familiar to hang out and listen, but not try anything too covert.

She'll also look into omens. It's a vague topic, but she'll go through local news looking for unusual weather, births (probably of animals), and look at the blogs of local birdwatchers, since birds avoiding or congregating strangely is sometimes a sign. Since Tallisibeth has never done much with divination she's not going to try anything big now, she knows she'd be unable to tell if anything was unusual in that way, but she'll try one thing: writing out rumors on shed cockatiel feathers and dropping them dozens and dozens of times in her room all week long, trying to see if any of them land face-up more often, in stranger places. I mean hey, it could work??

ETA: After being approached by the faildemon about the posters Tallisibeth hits the books seeing if there are any relevant-seeming rituals involving the items scattered near the posters, and seeing if she can test them to discover if they're fae in origin. Actually going to the place sounds like a terrible idea. She'll look at satellite pictures of the area, which probably won't be that current but will at least show if there's a clearing or it's just forest.

Psi will get her a drone that she'll spell up (putting a scrying focus on it next to the camera, something to make it silent and less visible, idk what else) to investigate the area from above.

In which Sora gets a vision and its actually useful for once

[destiny_key]

Sora picks up one of the Animal Fair fliers from around school on the first day they're out. He finds them kinda creepy, but he pockets one of them just in case and brings it back to his room. He thinks about asking Joker or Snake if they know anything about it, but he forgets, and it's left just lying on his desk for a day or two.

After a few days, wherein he's getting slightly more upset about all the crazy that's happening, he has one of his visions regarding the subject. Luckily, the only thing he's holding is a ballpoint pen. It's likely this that spurs him into actually going and checking it out (whether Joker wants him to or not).

doin' renegade stuff

[anti_nonsense]

As a member of the Renegades, Rita will be sent by Pearl (on October 2) to investigate some of the locations where the posters were put up, and will attempt to use a spell to scan for traces of magic around them, while taking samples of the feathers, petals and matches, and recording the poster locations so the data can be examined for any patterns.

She'll then be sent to stake out the indicated area on the posters throughout the following days, along with some of the other Renegades, sometimes alternating shifts or going back to make periodic reports. Because Rita suspects fae involvement, she'll be attempting to conceal her magic nature using a spell. The spell should protect her against spells or abilities that would detect her magic nature (as both a mage and a changeling), but anyone can still see her and the gang hanging around, and those with advanced perception may still physically see through her glamour.

(and here's a link to Pearl-mun's comment, as Rita's investigation will be largely linked to hers.)

► A regular noir parade of investigators here

[spaghettimonster]

► THE ANIMAL FAIR, WHICH IS FOR ANIMALS?

Papyrus saw the flyers around town; honestly, it'd be hard not to see them. They're all over the place. It's a very creepy and dramatic advertising campaign! So enigmatic! But what's it even advertising, anyway? 'Animal fair', with no description or explanation...

Well, an animal fair must be about or for animals, right? So he brings his dog Coolbone to sniff some of the flyers and decorative animal parts, in hopes the dog can track the scent. Failing that, he can spend some time holding the decorations himself, in hopes of a helpful vision. And, of course, networking with random people he knows who have animals and are involved in mysterious creepy things.


► THE WAR CRY: CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR

As the warlock of a demon (a disinclined-to-overt-war, super-inclined-to-stupid-sabotage-stuff demon, but still a demon) Papyrus might not intend to do any investigating into Anath's movement, but it sure seems likely he'll get "asked" to.

Time for an epic fail

[bananaspeedrider]

"Hūgo" wants to be super proactive and decides to check out the Circle of Enlightenment for himself because nosy angel. Since he'll find pretty quickly that his invisibility will be ineffective, he will attempt to shapeshift into some normal-looking human intern sort of guy for snooping or otherwise eavesdropping.

Silly dragon, don't get yourself screwed during the first week.

the internet is good for most things, i guess.

[walkonedge]

As someone who's largely involved with the Pack, Matt will be reaching out to some of the werebeasts that he knows, both online and offline, to try and glean whatever information he can about the Earth Spirit's wound and whether there's anything that he should be concerned about.

He will also basically be trying to collect information from people in the Sanctuary by way of eavesdropping and getting into conversations with other staff and other Sanctuary residents - he's got this, he works there part time doing random odd jobs so he's going to come into contact with people even in passing, and he figures that some of them will spill things even if it's not on purpose. Some of the information that he's eventually going to glean is related to the black roses and the bloodied posters.

Following that, though, he's going to be bargaining for information trading online! He will mostly be found trawling supernatural-slanting Reddit equivalent forums to try and piece together all the disparate information that he's been looking for and will probably run into quite a few people there.

ETA: Depending on how much information he's found, he'll be putting it up in a post online for people to run across and spark conversation.

Re: ⇨ INVESTIGATION THREADS

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi would try and find out what kind of magic, if any was used on the posters. If he can't sense any kind of magic, he will just draw a dick on the poster instead.

Dignity Village and Sanctuary

[showmystar]

Allen first notices the roses in Dignity Village, where he lives. First, he attempts to feel out the magic to see if the roses have any personal magical signature left behind from their caster that would identify them, and if there is a trail he can follow.

He then takes a rose in a rag to stuff in his pocket, which he will use to show others while investigating. He refuses to touch them directly. He reaches out to the homeless across the city, both on the street and in shelters, as well as any changelings allied with him, to 1) see where else the roses have appeared, 2) what they think it means, and 3) if they can sense from whom they came from. Allen fears this is the Rose Queen trying to claim them, either as possessions or in death.

He will also check in with the Sanctuary, as he is an ally and a regular visitor. (He will take anything he finds to Helen and openly share any findings with his connections.)

[dorkypantsuit]

Can Psi track or summon Nightshade through her berries? He still has some left. Alternatively can he search for traces of her magic or presence in Foster's apartment? What would he find?

Re: ⇨ INVESTIGATION THREADS

[puddingemote]

So this came up in my thread with Amethyst and it might be a little vague, but!

If there are NPC ghosts around the area of the university and Tamaki were to ask around, would any of them have noticed anything about the Animal Farm, or have noticed anything about who put up the posters?

Animal Fair

[showmystar]

While in the park, Allen notices a poster just after it gets put up. He kneels down to feel how hot the burnt matches are to see if they were lit just before the poster went up or if they were lit long ago.

If they were lit recently, he'll figure some ritual is involved with the poster, which will lead him to look for any magical trace attached to the posters.

He'll also note how fresh the bloody pawprint is by touching it with a finger and tugging at the paper to see how flimsy and wet it is. Since he deals with a lot of injuries and death, he could figure an extremely rough estimation of how recently the pawprint was slapped on the poster -- up to a day, depending on how much blood they used for the print. It all depends on how chilly and windy this October is, but the blood stains Allen run into are generally out in the elements anyway.

He'll also be pocketing some feathers and rose petals, feeling out the rose petals for any magic similar to the black roses the Sanctuary and homeless changeling camps have been dealing with.