lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's just some relatively new science fiction book that's been receiving some positive press. Sans is basically down for whatever when it comes to reading new things, but whether it's one of the Good ones is still up in the air.

Though the reading has to get put on hold for a moment as his eyes narrow slightly. With his tendency to just devour drinks he's given, he's already downed about two thirds of it before he notices something off. He pauses and looks at the drink with actual scrutiny for the first time.

"Whoa, what did you put in this thing?" he asks, his voice wavering a little. He sounds more confused than anything.

He shrugs, as though the question isn't even worth thinking about.

"Some berries Foster gave me. I couldn't tell what they were but they looked like they might be sweet."

No nefarious intentions here, no sir. He's definitely not using Sans as some kind of berry guinea pig or anything. In fact he doesn't even ask how Sans' is feeling or why he asked, just to prove how little he cares about whatever effect these berries might have.

"Does it need booze?"

In this situation, Foster's name doesn't immediately strike him as a bad thing, like it might have elsewhere. His first thought is that putting unknown berries in anything is a terribly stupid idea, but he can't tell if Pal is being a dick or is just an idiot.

All the same, any normal toxic berries shouldn't be effecting him this strongly. It takes a lot of alcohol to get him going, after all, and it doesn't last as long as he'd like. But this? Phew. His head is starting to spin in a way he's rarely felt in his life as an angel.

He ignores the suggestion about alcohol and starts to stand up. His discomfort is obvious. It's hard to focus on both moving and talking at the same time.

"Dude..." he manages, his voice growing faint. "Not cool."

And then he blacks out, falling over the coffee table and onto the carpet.

At first he's pretty sure Sans is fucking with him. Sans is an angel, not just any human with a regular constitution. He could drink so much and not even get a hangover the next day. He was made of bones, talked without moving his mouth, not even his eyes were real! So how could something is small and harmless as a fucking berry knock him out? But as Sans continues to not get up, panic starts to set in.

The demon's eyes widen in shock. He leans forward, wings shifting behind him as San's continues to not move.

"Shit! Sans?!" He's off the couch in an instant, lifting his friend off the coffee table and trying to get a look at his eyes. Was he fainted? Was he near death?! He didn't know what was going on, but even worse than that, this was his fault!

"Fuck!" After setting Sans on the couch he digs in his pocket for his phone. The first thing he does is send Foster a text saying that he should under no circumstances should he eat any of the berries. Then he dials Ginko's number, because for some fucking incomprehensible reason most of his supernatural friends don't bother carrying phones. Also, Ginko has a car, another thing most of the supernaturals he knows don't bother with.

"Ginko, I think I killed Sans."

Alright, this has... officially beat being asked to post bail for "most unexpected and concerning phone call from this guy". Actually, scratch that, this is probably the most upsetting call he's gotten from anyone.

"What the hell do you mean you killed Sans?"

Sans doesn't react to being picked up or moved every remotely, and almost as soon as he's passed out, his wings and halo have also dimmed to a fraction of their usual radiance and size. Even his bones have gone faint and more ghostly and transparent than a proper angel manifestation should appear - but at least he's apparently stable.

If he was dead, his soul would have broken apart and stopped existing already.

All of his eye sockets are empty for the the time being, which makes it impossible to read his face, even more than usual. As it is, he's left with faded husk of Sans's usual angelic form, laying still on the couch.

"I don't know! I just gave him a drink and now he's fucking see-through!!"

Not the full story, but close enough. He's too panicked to mention the berries, damn it!

"He's-- what kind of a drink was it, fucking-- what, is there an opposite to holy water or something?!"

Seriously, how do you poison an angel. But there isn't much more time to ponder that; instead, Ginko scoops Miu up from where she's snuffling at some flowers (which she does not appreciate) and hurries back to his car. "Okay, okay. Shit, I'm coming over, I'll... I don't know, is there anything I should bring?"

"I don't know! It was just some random berries Foster found. I made it into a smoothie to see what it would do but I didn't think it would kill him!!"

If he wasn't a demon he might worry about going to hell over something like this. Though, even as a demon he still really wanted to avoid going to hell ever again. That place was a total shit hole!

"I don't need anything, we just. We need to get him to the clinic."

And it's obvious when he says the clinic which one he means. Zecora is the only doctor they know who would be able to help them in anyway.

"You... wait, you gave him a smoothie made of random berries that Foster found? Why would you do that?"

Dammit. Once Miu is back in her cage and he's settled up front, he starts toward the apartment.

"Right. Okay, I'm on my way-- what do you mean he's see-through, I didn't know that was even a thing."

"I mean he's on my couch and I can see it through his body!" What the hell do you think he means! What could see-through possibly mean besides that you can see through something!

"I mean I didn't think whatever it was it would be strong enough to kill an angel!"

"Why? Is that an angel thing, is he... I don't know, flickering or anything, or is he just there!" HE HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS and he doesn't actually know how useful having the answers would be, but. He wants to know, just in case.

"Okay, fine, fair, but that doesn't make it a good idea!"

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

a quick post mordem

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject