lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

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⇨ 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.

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"Well, yeah, I mean--" And then Taako stops short, eyes wide. "... wait, hold on, do you mean for real? Like, a real TV?"

"Of course I mean real TV! There is only one kind of TV!" Zim has exclaims, flailing his arms. "You were some kind of horrible food service drone! It was awful! You were doing disgusting things with MEAT!"

As it slowly sinks in-- that Taako has lived his actual dream here-- one question still rises in his mind. He voices it cautiously, after a moment's consideration: "Hey, is my show still... like, on the air? Am I still making it and everything?"

"YOU DOUBT ZIM??" He snaps automatically in response, then pauses. "Wait, why wouldn't it be off the air?"

If he's remembering correctly, that horrible show is popular. Really, really popular. There's usually someone watching it once a day, and Taako's face is fairly common on the home magazines the library carries. Now that he's really thinking about this (why he hasn't before is beyond him), it kind of seems like Taako is approaching the same celebrity-esque status of the Tallest.

"No, I mean, like..." He sighs, trying to think of how to word it. "Did something, like... happen, or is it good?"

Zim scoffs, growing more suspicious. "It's so good these hairy monkeys practically WORSHIP you!" Why would anyone, let alone the celebrity himself, think otherwise? "Are they not supposed to? Is this some kind of masterful plan to rule the Earth??"

The realization washes over Taako all at once-- and, suddenly, an incredible degree of selfishness strikes. This is a world in which he is an actual TV star, on TV, and the poisoning hasn't happened. It's like facing the chalice all over again, but a thousand times more intoxicating because he's already here and can see it all around.

"Hoo boy," he murmurs, sinking into his chair, threading fingers through his curls. "Uh... oh, geez. Listen... Zap? Is that your name?"

This time, instead of the flailing, Zim hops onto the table to he can yell directly into Taako's face. "ZIM! My name is ZIM! Get it right!!"

Taako reaches up and plants his hand flat across Zim's face.

"Okay, Zip, fine, but I'm gonna have to ask you to back way, way up out of my face right now, okay?"

Gross. Very gross. Zim makes some inhuman hissing noises, reaching up to claw a bit at the air, before smacking Taako's hand away and backing off.

"ZIM! Not ZIP! Get my SUPERIOR name right already!"

"Okay, how's 'stay the hell away from me or I'll set you on fire' suit you, then? Because I'm pretty sure that's a thing I can do now, and I won't fuckin' hesitate, my friend." Still, as rough as his words are, he's got more important things to worry about than how rude this little bug thing is being right now. "Listen, I've gotta go pick up some magazines on myself, why don't you go dig in some more trash cans or scream at people or whatever it is you do when you're not screaming at me for a little while and I'll get back to you?"

He doesn't wait for a response; he's on his feet before he finishes speaking, heading to the front of the library to see if he can find any information on the life he supposedly had before he woke up as... himself... this morning.

This is quite possibly the rudest person he's come across so far, excluding himself. Being set on fire in a public place would be more than a little attention-grabbing, but he can't exactly let this guy just walk away when he clearly has important information Zim hasn't managed to siphon away yet.

"HEY! We weren't finished!" He yells after Taako, hopping off the table to follow after him, abandoning the broken scanner. This is more important than having more equipment he can take apart and put back together and besides, scanners are easy enough to come by. Weird nonhuman things with knowledge of why his brain is more messed up than usual? Infinitely more valuable.

"How is any of that important?? Don't you have those memories?!"

"Nope," Taako answers bluntly, picking a magazine up off the shelf. It's definitely his handsome face written across the page-- though it's paired with a name he's never heard before. Who the hell is Justin McElroy? Is that a name he's been using in this world? He flips through the article; sure enough, that name does seem to be referring to him.

The good news, he learns, is that he's still every bit as charming and hilarious in this universe as he's always been, so there's that. The interviewer asks him the usual shallow celebrity questions: what inspires you? Who were you wearing at this event? But then he asks a question that stops Taako for a moment-- she asks him about the rumors of his affair with a man named Axel.

Axel... if Zim is here, could that Axel also be here? His answer in the magazine is, of course, irritatingly vague and cagey, as is his nature; he huffs a laugh at himself, annoying though it is for his attempts to gather information.

He doesn't...? Now that's interesting. Also terrible, but mostly interesting. The inconsistencies in both their memories means that whoever is causing this has some very deliberate scheme going on that isn't necessarily related to the kinds of memories.

Zim rubs his chin thoughtfully. Apparently the medium doesn't matter either - this guy's obviously got a completely fleshy mind, but his own memories are stored on a drive. The possibility of this being magic-based pops into his head immediately, but that's followed quickly by another thought of that's stupid, magic is stupid.

He is going to annihilate whoever caused all this.

Turning his attention back to Taako, he tries to yank the magazine down to get his attention. "None? Not even of your horrible tv show?"

Taako glares sharply at Zim over the magazine, yanking it back from him.

"Okay, first off, snatching is rude. Second, my show is badass and you'll acknowledge it as such when speaking to me, if you don't wanna get lit the fuck up-- understand me, little man?" He goes back to his magazine, nose in the air. "... and also, no, I don't remember any of this stuff. I remember getting stuck in this... magical carnival, and then I woke up here. That's it. I mean, sure, I had a show back home, but it wasn't like this."

And also it stopped being a thing, like, six years before Zim had ever met him, but he doesn't need to know that.

He won't go for the magazine again, though he is being persistent in his stance. "This memory problem is more important than your terrible show!" He means his memory problem, of course. Taako's memories are only important in that he hasn't actually lost them.

"You need to tell me more about this carnival you were in!" That seems like the best place to start anyway, and if it's irrelevant then he's confident he'll figure that out pretty quick.

Taako holds up a hand, without looking away from the magazine; after a beat of focus, a small amount of fire dances over his fingertips, a quiet threat aimed squarely at Zim.

"Alright, sounds like somebody's squirmin' for a burnin'," he says, glancing up at Zim over the magazine's edge. "Hey, here's an idea: you stop being rude for ten seconds, and maybe we can talk about the carnival then, and I might not burn your ugly green face off! How's that work for you?"

Fire isn't exactly appealing, though for whatever reason he's pretty sure being on fire isn't the worst thing he's ever experienced. Which is... slightly unsettling. Slightly.

Regardless, his priority here is fixing his memories. "Are you going to go back to your awful magazines?" He counters. "We don't have time for that!"

Taako finally did look up from his magazine, shooting Zim a surprisingly intense glare. The fire on his fingertips intensifies, rising slightly.

"I'm trying to figure out what's going on. See, unlike some people, instead of screaming at every moving object until it either stops moving or tries to kill me, I'm actually doing research." And then his rage is promptly overwritten with a smug grin; he holds up a single, flaming finger, giving Zim his most shiteating of grins.

"And, unlike some people, I might actually have a lead. So, if you'll excuse me..."

And then he presses that fingertip directly into the center of Zim's face.

Despite the fire Zim looks like he's about ready to keep arguing and yelling and generally doing all of the things Taako explicitly doesn't want him to do, so it's probably a good thing for everyone involved that he's dealing with a demon and not a regular person. Even better, he's dealing with someone who clearly is not putting up with his shit.

In fact, Zim's attention is more on Taako having a lead than the fire, right up until that finger is all up in his business and then the horrible burning starts. Zim shrieks like a little gremlin, stumbling backwards and landing on the ground, his skin continuing to sizzle grossly.

Taako doesn't even look at him as he exits, placing the magazine back on the rack calmly and heading for the doors.

Zim can be someone else's problem for now. He's got what's likely to be a way more useful lead now.

"Seeya later, Zoop. Good luck with... whatever it is you're doing."

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

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