lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 2

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 2

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 7st - 14th, 2017
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: The week begins as the time of the Animal Fair finally arrives! Meanwhile, the truth of this reality starts to be revealed, and forces both human and celestial alike attempt to take advantage of a rare opportunity.
Warnings: Individually marked!

BY ANY OTHER NAME↴

Tensions thicken as various supernaturally forces react to the events of the previous week. Something critical is afoot, and it's only a matter of time before things start coming to a head. It's time to find out more about what's happened to this world, and what will happen in its future.

► A NIGHT AT THE FAIR: From the night of the 7th to the morning of the 8th, the Animal Fair is officially in town. There is a top level down below with more information, though you can also RP content from this elsewhere if you wish. The host, who is very likely something called a Wyld Fae (if you discovered that ICly), will be present, but they will only be appearing to you of their own accord and attempting to track them down by force will be ineffective. Just kick back and relax! Fairs are supposed to be fun.

► THORNS IN YOUR SIDE: Culminating in a full fledged attack against the Sanctuary, it would seem that The Rose Queen is declaring war on the changeling population of Portland. Though the vicious attack of thorns against the safe house was eventually stopped, it wasn't without damage, and the black roses that caused it are still popping up around the city and threatening the places where homeless and lost changelings would be likely to congregate. It's obvious now that this is a serious threat - will it ever stop without an intervention?

► HELL ON EARTH: As Anath's march draws near, the first waves of her demons will be entering the city. Primarily acting as scouts and foot soldiers, these demons will be attempting to secure loyalty from the local demon populace, as well as taking out any angels they can manage to catch. It's a level of aggressiveness against heaven's forces that hasn't been seen for years, and it's a foreboding hint of things to come. These demons can be NPCed by anyone, and will mostly be thugs or manipulators who don't know much about Anath's plans but do know that you need to join their side. They are also rowdier than most of the demons in Portland, and are a threat to the innocent mortal populace as well, if they decide to try to get their kicks here.

► THE WIZARD POLICE: The Enlightenment Council seems to have demanded control of the local Circle chapter, and now backup has arrived. These mages are being sent out into the city as if they are a police force, and will be attempting to demand control of various common supernatural areas, as well as questioning community members that they run into. Whatever is going on, it seems to have resulted in the Council instituting what is essentially martial law... of course, not everyone sees any need to heed their demands. If you are a demon, warlock, or other rogue element, expect to be harassed or even attacked by them. These character can be NPCed, and if you need additional information you can ask the mods.

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[Hope It Gives You Hell]

Demons were pouring into Portland, and Knotley was insisting on Doll fortifying herself in The Collapse's headquarters. So naturally, she ignored him and stayed out on the streets. At least his nagging had shifted from 'Souls Souls Souls' to 'Stay Alive Stay Alive Stay Alive', and she might feel the slightest bit surprised if she wasn't certain he viewed her as a very useful meal.

But things were certainly getting serious. These demons were patrolling streets at night, leering at her, sniffing around for demon hangouts and swaggering around like they owned the place. These streets were Doll's before they were theirs, if anybody could own streets, and while she resented the behavior she wasn't about to pick a fight.

But after a few days of this, she's had enough. She's out collecting cans and walking towards the university to see if she can contact Tamaki, when she spots a couple of demons in polo shirts with sweaters tied around their shoulders harassing someone. Right now it just looks like talk, but she can tell from their target's body language that they want to be left alone. She marches across the street.

"Oi," she calls. One of them glances back, eyebrow arched. Who is this uppity street child? "Yeah, I'm talkin' t'ya. Move along."

[Hey Satan, Paid My Dues]

As the week goes on, Doll can only fly in the face of these demon pricks so many times before they start to get honestly pissed. She sticks her nose into Anath's scouts' business too many times, and finally three of them have had it.

Sometime in the late evening, Doll gets yanked feet-first out of her tent and starts getting absolutely whaled on by one of the goon squads-- they don't even give her a chance to stand up before they're kicking her. A few seconds in, they stop and the biggest one pulls her up by her jackets.

'You're a real thorn in our side, you know that sweetheart?'

Doll coughs and tries to blink away the disorientation. "Your breath is worse than mine, and I don't own a toothbrush."

'The only reason we haven't ripped you apart is because we haven't smoked out Knotley. So where is he? Huh?!' Doll sways as the demon shakes her one-handed and she kicks trying to find ground or wall or something to push off of. 'We wanna talk to your master, and we'll get to him one way or another.'

No ground and no wall, so Doll only has one option-- she grabs her attacker's arms and sets them on fire. Which just makes him laugh because, duh, demon. 'Oh sweetheart, don't make me laugh!'

He makes his own fireball in his hand and holds it very close to Doll's face, to her left eye and bangs. Something old and not entirely rational grips her, and she starts flailing twice as hard trying to get away.

"No-- No no no no no no no--" She kicks uselessly and she's starting to cry. God, so much fire, God she hates fire.

"Hey!" Marinette shouts, as she sees the demon bring the fire closer to the girls face. She doesn't know what's going on here, or who this girl is, but she knows demons are bad news and she can recognize these goons for what they are, no problem. Changing her stance, Marinette puts a hand to her hip and suddenly angel wings sprout from her back. She motions as though pulling a sword from it's sheath, and pulls a long sword out of thing air.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own power level?"

Edited 2017-06-22 00:50 (UTC)

The three pause, Doll keeps on fruitlessly kicking and trying to pull away from the heat, but their focus is definitely on the smaller angel at the mouth of the alley. They take a moment to look at each other and chuckle.

'Sorry sweetheart, you just got cut in line,' the one with the fireball says, extinguishing the spell and patting Doll right where he was about to burn her. He swings Doll back towards the tall and lanky one, who catches her easily and deposits her on the ground behind them. The only way she's escaping is through the oncoming fight.

'You know, usually I'd say it's rude to butt in to other peoples' businesses-- but unlucky for you, our boss gave us veeeery clear instructions. We see any of your kind?' He holds out his hands and a fiery mace falls into them from nowhere. 'We get to clip your wings.'

The other two arm themselves similarly-- the tall and lanky one has a bow, a squarely-built one with a chain and sickle.

'How's this for power level?'

Her eyes flick to their weapons as they turn to face her. She was fast enough to avoid the mace, most likely, but the sickle and chain and the bow were bigger concerns. Despite the obvious danger, she smiles. Fighting demons, this was what all her years of training had been for. Three on one weren't great odds for a fight, so it was a good thing her angel patron was by her said. She could hear the angel even now, though she wasn't visible, boosting her power and giving her strategic advice.

If she could keep the guy with the mace in front of her, she could use him as a sheild against his buddies distance attacks. That would mean no ariel maneuvers and made dodging to the side dangerous unless she was really quick about it. Or she could duck past him, use her magic as a temporary sheild against the arrows and chain, and then takeout the two lackeys. The angelic runes on her sword gleamed in the light, showing it's holy power, perfect for taking care of jerks like these. She smirks.

"Eh." she answers, letting them know she's not impressed, before charging forwards toward the guy with the mace. She holds her sword at the ready, making it look as though she intends to run him through the middle, but at the last second jumps and flies above him instead. With a murmured phrase in latin, her sheild activates, and she dives straight for Mr. Arrows first.

The demon with the mace swings up and then down, cracking a crater into the cement below. It takes him a while to realize that she's not there anymore, not even close-- she's above them.

The three jerk their heads up, and poor Mr. Arrows, probably the worst prepared and least brave, just shrieks and tries to dive out of the way. He doesn't get very far, his legs fall under the shield, his bow clattering to the ground and sliding towards the opening of the alley. Mr. Mace makes a wild horizontal swing at their angel interloper, apparently unconcerned for his friend's shattered legs.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sickle-and-Chain makes a move to get out in front of Marinette, but Doll, discombobulated as she is, isn't about to make it easy for these three thugs to gang up on someone else. She leaps and latches her arms around the third demon's neck, and ragdolls herself. It's not much extra weight, but it has the other demon flailing and trying to pry her off.

One second, there's just fire and demons and a scared little girl.

The next second the demon loses both his arms.

Joker doesn't pause for a second after landing with all the burning light of a shooting star, wings still shimmering and tense along his back, body a little ephemeral as it tries to stay with a human appearance and God's holy fucking smiting light. All he does is smack the flat of the blade towards the demon's legs, aiming to get him straight on the ground and all the easier to skewer.

As he does so, his blood roars like a wildfire, enraged beyond all coherent reasoning and belief, and Joker- he can't even say why this pisses him off so much. The only time he's ever gotten this full of wrath is when his charges throughout the many centuries have been in danger, but this.... This isn't...

He'll wallow in confusion later. Right now, he has three demons to take care of.

Doll doesn't even have the breath to scream when she lands on the ground next to two severed arms. She can't even describe what happened aside from a flash of brilliant light and suddenly unholy screaming coming from the demon who had been preparing to torture her. She feels like she has tunnel vision as she watches some barely-human-shaped being, glowing violently, lay the armless demon smack down on his back before he delivers the killing blow. Doll scrambles back against the wall of the alley, too terrified to move.

The other two demons have quit their laughing too, staring slack-jawed at the sudden death of their friend.

'Shit--' The taller, skinnier one in a backwards baseball cap and flannel spreads his wings and bolts straight up out of the alley. But his short, stocky friend is far too proud to run, and smoke seems to pour out of his nose and mouth as he faces the interloping angel.

'Alright you fucking sanctimonious pigeon, bring it on!!" he screeches, forging a chain and sickle from his own hellfire and swinging it menacingly. The two have apparently forgotten about Doll, cowering behind an angel in a strange twist of events.

It's been a long time since he's had to sink his sword into a demon, but it's not an unfamiliar thing. Out of the entire strange mess that is his head currently, at least that much is still the same. Drawing himself up, he lets the coward make a run for it. While that will likely be a mistake in the long run, he has someone else to take care of first.

Jerking his weapon out of the corpse, he gives it a swing as he eyes the demon. That's sure a lot of bravado for someone he is pretty sure is more scout than warrior, but he's never been a merciful type when it's come to fighting. So he suddenly swings his leg back, kicking the corpse straight towards the other demon before launching himself forward with his sword thrusting right along.

Doll has never seen a fight between angels and demons before, but she's sure that this is the most intense display of raw power she's ever been close to. The angel is radiating it, and it feels light and cool in contrast to the hot, cloying air demons put out. He moves like it's nothing, doing what he does, impaling a demon in one breath and throwing one the next.

It's true that these three unfortunates weren't warriors of hell by any stretch of the imagination, but they had ambitions enough to act like they could do whatever they liked, harass whoever they wanted to, party hard and walk away with no consequences. It's proving to be a deadly flaw. The body comes right at Mister Chain and Sickle and he knows then he's made a mistake not cutting his former friend out of the way. He gets Joker's sword through his gut for his hesitation, but throws his chain like he's skipping rope, thinking he'll catch the back of Joker's neck and pull him closer using the momentum. Nothing he can do about his stomach, might as well make it count.

Meanwhile, the coward, realizing his friend had stayed behind, has come back and is perching on the roof. He swears nervously again, he really wasn't looking to pick fights with goddamn angels, but here they are. He fumbles for a moment before he forms a bow and summons what looks like five arrows into it. He's aiming for Joker's back, hands shaking.

Doll sees him, and despite her terror, she sees the angel's open back and her legs unfold from under her and she leaps with her arms stretched out. She doesn't know if he's seen the other come back, and she can't let him die, not here, not against his kind.

Whoever that is. Knotley? The only name that's comingto her is... Black.

Having a chain around his neck isn't the ideal, but Joker accepts it, jerking forward and jerking a hand up to the demon's own neck. As with all angels, he can smite with the best of them, and there's no reason for him to hold back now. Holy power sings along his grip, burning and tearing the demon from the inside out.

"Enjoy that, you fuck," Joker says, which isn't the most divine thing to say in the moment, but it's what comes out.

Yet he's barely gotten his feet under him again when he tiny little body is smashing into him from behind, and he grunts as he's driven forward- which isn't anything compared the pain which slices through one leg and lodges itself in the other. While his back and wings have escaped unscathed, there were a lot of arrows, and some have hit their mark. Grimacing, he tries to twist around to find the source- and protect the girl at his back.

The shriek the demon emits as it bursts into thousands of shreds is piercing, and it goes straight down Doll's spine even as she leaps to keep the angel from the rain of arrows. With the archer's hands shaking so bad, it seems like his aim wasn't so good and only the one hit him. Small miracles, she thinks as she completes her tumble and runs smack into the opposite wall of the alley. She's dazed, wondering where the wall came from, and--

Her forearm has an arrow through it. She hadn't felt the impact, there was too much going on, but now that she's seeing it, she can feel it. Doll grips the arm tightly to her chest and crouches behind the angel, shaking and trying to think straight. What does she do now? Does she pull it out? How is she going to stop the bleeding? It's not gushing, but it certainly is creating a stain on her sleeve at a steady pace.

Meanwhile, if the archer was unsure of their odds now, he's even more certain that this is out of his league. The bow disappears and he spreads his own wings and takes off into the air, flying as fast as he can. Fuck this shit, he'll get new friends.

Yeah, he better fucking run.

On any other occasion, Joker would chase after the bastard. Divine wrath never rests, and some arrows in his legs are hardly a problem when he can fly. So long as he can do that and use at least one arm, he's good to go.

Except then he looks back over his shoulders.

Seeing her pale and shaking, blood a vivid stain against such muted colors, makes his heart leap up into his throat as if it's going to eject itself from his whole body. He's an angel, he's always had a soft spot for humans, but her in particular- something about it scrapes a knife against his lungs and twists it in his stomach. Body jerking unsteadily from the pain in his legs, he lets the demon fly off and reaches out to her. Some of his form steadies, a pair of wide lavender eyes bright with worry.

"Shush, shush now, it'll be alright- c'mon, I can get ya ta a doctor, I know someone, just don't remove the arrow, it'll do more hurt ta ya than good."

So many things are running through her head now, like she's trying to have four different phone conversations at once. It's the nice man who dropped a ten into her tin-- he's apparently an angel-- he's not going to wipe her off the face of the planet-- there's still an arrow in her arm-- why did she jump in front of him if she didn't even know it was him-- Knotley--

That's the thought that shoves everything back for a moment: the idea that he's going to find her like this and attack the angel, thinking he's responsible. Nevermind that Doll is certain that if this angel wanted her dead, it would have happened almost immediately, but Knotley might not see it that way. Doll shakes her head, continuing to clutch her arm and cover the wound.

"No-- no you have t'get outta here, he's gonna smell this 'n find me here with ya, 'n then all hell'll break loose, y'have t'go!" She swallows and goes over her babbling again before clarifying. "They were lookin' for my master-- I haven' seen 'im and I don' care t'see 'im, but he won' take kindly t'seein' you with me, I know that."

That's about as close as she'll get to admitting, in front of an angel no less, that her soul belongs to a demon. Now is he going to smite her? Maybe he'll just take her advice and leave, no sense in sticking his nose into a hornet's nest when there's nothing to be gained.

"I ain't leavin' ya again!"

The words burst out of him before his mind is good and proper settled, words that don't actually make any sense- a fact he realizes the second they've left his mouth. Hissing in a breath, he holds out his hands, fingers spread out, as if he can somehow make the world and all its wild ridiculous bullshit just stop for a second as he pulls himself together. Stress. That's what this is. He's just getting stressed, and his words are tripping all over each other. Usually he's good with his words, but there's a first time for everything, right?

Belatedly, his mind puts together what she's just said, all the implications... but he doesn't care as much as he thinks he should. Even for someone who's hung around Psi a lot.

Opening his eyes, which he'd squeezed shut, Joker takes a breath. "Hell's already breakin' loose in Portland," he says slowly. "Me takin' ya ta a doctor ain't gonna make it any worse."

Yes, hell was breaking loose in Portland long before the two of them even met... but what about him? What about his safety? Screw Portland, he didn't deserve to meet that wrong end of Knotley.

But those firm and desperate words, 'I'm not leaving you again', they feel right despite making no objective sense. She doesn't want him to leave her, despite how much she wants him to be safe. She's all alone, she's hated it every moment of every day, it feels wrong how hard things are and she can only think it would be just a little easier if she had people to share the weight with. This is it, this is someone to share the weight with.

Doll swallows down her next protest, unable to get it out of her throat. So much for keeping him out of everything. She unfolds her uninjured arm and reaches out towards him. She's trying to keep it together, but the lump is escaping the further she reaches. By the time her hand is extended all the way, her face is crumpling and her eyes are swimming in tears. She needs help, she can't do this by herself anymore.

Doll + OTA

Paid My Dues

AUGH SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT, con prep is murdering me DX

no worries!

AUGH SORRY AGAIN, my brain was not in fightymode. D|

Paid My Dues

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gives you hell

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