⇨ 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

[periphrasing]

Okay now all of that is much, much more concerning. Peridot listens with rapt attention, a grimace creeping slowly across her lips as Lambert delivers his explanation.

"And here I thought the Fair was some sort of sinister were-related event," she grumbles thoughtfully, chin cupped in one hand. "It-- Wait." She blinks, frowning blankly at him. REWIND A SEC. "Did you just say that it adopted a cat?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert closes his eyes, briefly, and somehow manages to make it look like he's smoking even harder before he speaks again.

"Yeah." He doesn't want to talk about it, his expression makes clear, but... "It came to take the cats because I pissed it off when I took down the posters." Look, it didn't make any sense the first time he heard it, he sure hopes she doesn't expect him to provide insight on that.

[periphrasing]

Sorry, Lambert; Peridot is sort of indifferent to how uncomfortable you are with talking about this, because she's kind of an insensitive jerk.

"Okay but you just said it adopted a cat. Like... It didn't just come in and spirit one away, it actively picked one out?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert looks mildly pained, but he nods.

"Like I said, it was pissed off, and it wanted me to open all the cages. Obviously, I wasn't about to do that, so..." John's secrets aren't his to give away, so he'll pause for a moment to mentally revise events. Though Peridot might have seen Lambert's 'friend' hanging around outside their house occasionally, or smoking with Lambert on the fire escape, she probably doesn't know much more than his name.

"I told it I'd put the poster back up and not take it down again, and it wanted a cat to seal the deal. So I had it fill out an adoption form, and it left." End of story.

[periphrasing]

"Oh my god." Peridot looks... shocked? But also, definitely kind of amused, and intrigued. "It filled out the paperwork and everything?" Suddenly, she gets a really intense look, her eyes flashing. "The form. Do you still have the form? I want to look at it."

[whattaprick]

"You can't just go through customer records, Dot," Lambert answers automatically. Sorry, he's a huge stick in the mud about this whole process, but add to that that on the whole she seems most unnecessarily interested in this in a way that puts him on the defensive instantly. "Why do you want it?"

[periphrasing]

"Oh come on, it's not like I'm violating some human's privacy, Lambert," Peridot huffs over the first remark. "I just want to look at it for research purposes. This fae-- it had to have put down some kind of name, right? I want to see exactly how it filled out this form, maybe I can use this to get more background information on who it is, or what it actually wants."

[whattaprick]

"Why would you even want to research it?" Lambert objects -- entirely hypocritically, one might add, since he's been puzzling over it himself.

"All it wrote for a name was 'the Beast' ... and it said it came from the Wylds. That's with a y, not an i," he adds, with a frown. "And I already told you what it wanted -- to pick a fight because it's pissed at the local faeries, who apparently don't like it much." Another, beat, and the frown deepens.

"Although it might have been female ... it was hard to get a look."

[periphrasing]

Privately, she's logging all this information away, in case she can't twist Lambert's arm into letting her just look at the application. She'd really much prefer to examine it herself, but this info is better than nothing.

"Geez Lambert, you can't just assume it's gender based on it's physical appearance," she chastises him. Is she joking? Maybe a little.

[whattaprick]

Lambert rolls his eyes -- though he winces, slightly, at the headache straining like that produces. "Right. Because I'm sure that's what a fae like that really cares about."

Between the cigarette and the familial banter, he feels almost like himself again, though he is still extraordinarily hungover, and having to maintain a semi-coherent conversation isn't helping.

"Anyway, that's all there is," he grunts, tapping ash off his cigarette. "Probably would've taken all the cats if I wasn't around." Hard to say if he's relieved or annoyed at the actual outcome. "Could've gone worse, but I sure as hell don't want to do that again."

[periphrasing]

“It’s odd, if you think about it,” Peridot muses, one hand on her chin. “I mean… You’re hardly the only person to have taken down those posters around here. Why target the café specifically?"

[whattaprick]

"Maybe it just really wanted a cat," Lambert answers, shrugging. "Wasn't exactly in a position to ask."

[periphrasing]

Peridot doesn’t seem particularly impressed by his smartass reply, and gives him a flat look for his effort.

“Well at any rate,” she says like that didn’t just happen, “you should let me examine the application, at least for the sake of scientific investigation.”

[whattaprick]

"There's nothing scientific about faeries," Lambert grumbles, exasperated. "But fine. Wait here."

Whether she agrees or not, it doesn't terribly matter much, because he's heading back inside regardless. Though he will be a bit more visibly annoyed if she's chosen to disregard his orders and tag along, either way, he'll eventually come up with an adoption form that looks like something filled it in using nothing but a claw to write it ... which is exactly what it is.