⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 2

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

ota

[atouts]

i. menagerie vs one bird is really unfair

A whole menagerie of animals may be on the loose around the forest, but there's at least one that doesn't quite belong with it. A crow — very mundane by comparison, unless you're good at spotting changelings in disguise — flits from tree to tree, searching, but it's all for nothing. Childermass hasn't been able to spot the Beast anywhere and that's his sole purpose for being here, so, a little irritating.

But what's much more irritating than that? It's all the other animals who take an interest in the nosy bird. Flying fish trail along after him at one point, trying to race him. A particularly rude tree shakes him out of its branches and then flails about angrily in his wake. But the worst? Oh, the worst is always the cats and there are, of course, cats.

Because what do cats do with birds? They catch them, that's what. One wrong perch chosen and that's it. There's a loud, startled SQUAWK, a thump, and then one of the various felines in attendance has him pinned underpaw. It could be Goodberry (the cat the Wyld Faerie recently adopted from one incredibly strange cat cafe) or one of the other beasts from who knows where...

Whichever it is, the outcome is the same. A crow momentarily caught and flapping its wings defensively in the cat's face.

ii. and then he wasn't a crow anymore because he isn't food, you stupid cats

Or when searching by wing has failed, Childermass will revert to his regular self, feathers and all. He won't bother with a glamour, considering where they are. It's a faerie realm or at least an enchanted portion of the woods. If he's sporting crow feathers, it's not going to be the weirdest shit someone's bound to see here tonight. Searching by foot doesn't turn up much in the way of finding their host, either, but at least this way he can light up a cigarette and smoke while looking around.

He won't be eating any food, nor drinking any drink. What he is doing, though, is checking out the altered plant life with more than a little curiosity. He walks from plant to plant, leaving a trail of cigarette smoke behind him as he goes.

[espigeon]

"Hey that's cruel!" Something like a solid flame flares several bright wings, like some kind of bizarre umbrella appearing and opening. It's enough to startle the cat, and another nearby in the underbrush, into leaping and bolting like they saw a cucumber. Iuliael identifies more with birds than with cats, that's for sure.

He folds into a smaller shape, pretty convincingly birdlike, though it seems like there's a hint of eyespots in his feathers, and tilts his head. "Hello! ...Oh. Crows don't talk. Do they? Sorry. Caw!"

[atouts]

The problem with scaring the cat that way — turning into winged flames like that, something so very inhuman as well as unpigeon-like — is that it panics the crow, too.

Childermass is a sensible man more often than not, but between being crow and the gradual effects of the Fair itself? What spooks the cat spooks him and rather than stick around to chat with the pigeon, he takes off the second he's free in a flurry of black feathers, heading for one of the trees just above.

[espigeon]

"Oh, right." There's a long pause when the crow explodes up into the tree. Iuliael does not move to follow. This kind of thing happens a lot - all but the most injured birds will flee in these situations - but it still surprises him every time. He does know that cat claws and teeth cause terrible sickness in birds and he can do something to prevent that.

So Iuliael says the most cliche phrase availaible to angelkind, "Fear not!" and then starts singing. Nonverbal song, with the repetitive aspects and improvisations and millisecond changes in pitch that birds favor. Human and bird music is quite different.

[atouts]

Different enough that it really doesn't suit Childermass, not in the least. Being a real bird and being a changeling with a bird form aren't the same thing, so what an actual crow might not mind hearing only grates on his nerves. It's enough that he'll decide to change now that he's decided whatever that thing down there is actually doesn't plan on chasing him up here.

It isn't at all like a werecreature shifting forms, either. There's no in-between. It's just one second he's a crow, the next he's a person, having released the magic with a thought. Thankfully, he chose a branch big enough to support his weight, too, even if he is such a scarecrow of a man.

"Oh, cut that out," he tells the angel. "It's awful, whatever it is."

[espigeon]

"Oh! You're a... probably not a werecrow," he says thoughtfully, looking up. "That was so quick. Are you a mage? Or... no, not even a mage. You're..." Iuliael has to pause and sort through the options, eliminating angel and demon and vampire. "Oh, you're fae! Right? Hello."

He hasn't really noticed the tone, or the facial expression. This is not an observant angel, except when it comes to music. He just sounds concerned. "Did you get scratched? Do fae get, you know, with the cat claws and the sepsis? Birds do."

[atouts]

Fae? Fae. Of all the offensive things Iuliael could pick, it's that one. Childermass does not often take offense, but in this very particular case, he can't help but get his feathers up and reply scathingly, "I would not know. Perhaps you should ask a faerie if they do or not. I am mostly human."

With a few additions, true, but he'd still rather claim the human race as his own over what his father is.

i

[hippocarnival]

Nature or not, Yuya doesn't want to see a cat make a meal out of anything living today. He marches over and moves to scoop the cat up in one swing. "Stop that--hey, hold still," He huffs, wrestling the cat in his arms.

"You didn't hurt it, did you?" He frowns at the cat before peering down at the crow just caught on the ground. You're not supposed to touch wild birds, so what does he do if it is bleeding?

[atouts]

And the moment he's free, there's a flicker of movement that's impossible to follow. When he changes forms, there's thankfully no drawn out process or any in-between that a werecreature might have. He just releases the spell and he's himself again, albeit still somewhat feathery. Normally, he would just fly off.

Normally, he wouldn't reveal such magic to what may very well be a regular human, either.

But it's a faerie realm out here right now, hopefully temporary. Shapeshifting won't be the oddest thing going on and, in the end, any normal person would laugh it off as a trick, something that was just a part of the fair itself, surely. Plus, frankly, he'd rather be his tall usual self than a crow with all these other animals around, especially after getting caught by the cat still struggling in Yuya's arms. To the cat, he can't help but give a nasty look.

"No, only startled. It didn't have me for long."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya jumps as Childermass transforms right in front of him--definitely different from a wereperson. He stares, and while he's staring the cat wiggles out of his arms and runs away, startled by the morphing of its crow.

"Uh--good! I mean, that's good." He smiles, bemused. "I didn't really expect you to be a person. Hi?"

[atouts]

"People typically don't," Childermass says with a shrug. After that, he'll dust himself off a bit, because changing only transfers dirt from feathers to his clothes. "But you'll either forget about it later or we'll never meet again so that I did hardly matters."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya blinks rapidly at Childermass. "Why would I forget? You're not going to erase my memory, are you?!" He leans back and holds his hands up in the air, placating.

"If you want to keep it a secret I won't tell anyone! I don't have any problems with you being a Changeling!"

[atouts]

Why in the world would anyone even jump to that conclusion... That's actually kind of funny, enough that he'll give a small, amused snort, looking up again to eye Yuya.

"Why? Do you think I should?" He says it in good humor, which is a nice break from how generally grouchy he feels just being here. "Could be you've seen too much, hmm?"

i

[manycharms]

Marinette has been watching the animals, interested, but wary. She was honestly expecting to see something a lot more malicious when she came here tonight. Instead all she ends up seeing is weird plants and people drinking too much, the later of which really isn't anything to extraordinary. Out of all the strange animals and plants she sees, however, the thing that she finds most interesting is the ordinary animals mixed in with the strange ones. Why bother keeping ordinary beasts if you could have flying fish? She wondered just what kind of person had organized such a fair.

At least, that's the sort of thing she's in the middle of thinking when she see the cat pounce on a hapless crow. Her eyes widen, startled at the sudden movement, but she's instantly moving forward to try and pull the cat away from the bird.

"Hey now, what's the point in even catching a crow?" she scolds, standing up straight and holding the cat by the scruff of its neck. It struggles in her grip. "You cant even eat a bird that big."

[atouts]

Childermass is one of the few who could tell her outright what kind of person organized it, but he isn't likely to. Only part in due to being a crow right now (and those can't talk), though he's been reluctant to spread the information beyond the Rose Queen's own circle, even when human. Anyway, that's neither here not there, since he's dealing with a cat.

Or was.

The crow flops on the ground a second longer after the cat's been snatched up off of him, then he rolls over, back to his legs. He makes an aggravated croaking noise and shakes out his feathers, then is quick to hop a few steps back, eyeing the girl holding the squirming cat aloft warily.

[manycharms]

She glances to the crow as the cat struggles in her grip. At first she's worried he or she won't be able to get back up, but soon enough its back on its feet. She always forgets how big crows can be until she sees them in person. Bigger than pigeons, she thinks, a kind of bird she sees a lot more often around this city. Or maybe they just looked bigger because pigeons seemed so round and chubby. The cat hisses loudly at her distracting her from her thoughts.

"Sheesh alright, I'll put you down." Or at least she was going to until she notices the crow just staring at them both. Strange bird, shouldn't it be flying as far away as it can?

"You know, if you stay so close to the ground you'll just end up a cat's plaything again."

She hasn't seen any either crows around either, which now that she thinks about it is strange since she thought they usually flew in pairs of two at least. Maybe she was wrong about that.

[atouts]

It's ultimately pointless to pretend to be an actual crow when already stuck in the Wyld Fae's realm. Besides, these people are just as stuck, including his current cat-wrangling hero. She'll either fall in line with most normal humans and rationalize after the fair or... well, chances of meeting again are slim, especially when flying allows for easy avoidance.

So, he'll change forms. It's quick, no in-between like a werewolf or anything. A crow one second, a man the next, the transformation spell released. Childermass brushes his clothes off, rearranging where the scuffle had transferred over into setting his clothing askew in some places.

"The cat will have to become much bigger this time around if it wants to try," he says as he does that, sounding terribly bored for someone who just changed forms so drastically.

[manycharms]

She's so startled by the shift she actually drops the cat... Oops. Good thing cats always land on their feet. Marinette isn't quite so lucky. As what was once a small bird suddenly shifts into a regular sized man she steps back in surprise. Losing her footing, she cries out as she falls to the ground landing with a thud. It's not as though the supernatural was completely foreign to her, but she'd never seen a such a drastic transformation happen quite that quickly. Needless to say, it was surprising.

She winces, thinking she'll have a nice bruise in the morning as she looks up at the strange man.

"...Yeah, seems like it." Was that bird a guy this whole time? Getting pounced on by a cat when you're really a person seemed really embarrassing. Then again, so was falling flat on your ass.

[atouts]

Yeah, Childermass can see it was a surprise. He'd expected as much, anyway, and he at least steps forward to offer Marinette a hand up if she cares to take it, although he isn't about to apologize for scaring her so suddenly like that.

"That is, of course, unless that cat comes back with an infinitely larger cat. Considering where we are, that isn't entirely impossible."

[npcarnival]

Goodberry was definitely one of the cats mauling Childermass earlier on, and that exact cat is curling curled in a fae arms and looking very smug as the Beast approaches the changeling, sometime after he's stopped flitting about. She much prefers that things be done on her schedule. You can't expect to have her audience whenever you want it.

As opposed to the shadowy blur of glamour that she was bearing out and out, her true form (?) is much more obvious now. Black and glowing green patterns across her body, with wings that strike with the appearance of both feathers and scales. She's also quite naked, though its sort of hard to spot any of the details with the current form of her body.

The Beast sets Goodberry on the ground, who runs over to sniff Childermass curiously. The fae grins, revealing sharp rows of fangs.

"Goodberry told me you'd arrived."

[atouts]

It's at some point where he's stopped to rest on a thankfully not moving tree to doze a bit when she appears, waking the drooping crow up immediately. He had almost given up, actually, seeing how the host didn't seem to be playing the role as well as he's used to when it comes to mortals or the other courts. It's the wings that distract him at first, something vaguely familiar.

Has he seen wings like that before? No. He's not sure. He has more important things to think about right now than that, in any case, so instead of dwelling he hops out of the tree, wings opening so he can fly down and land and give Goodberry a moment to sniff at him. So long as the cat doesn't try to bat him around again...

But Childermass won't stay as a crow for much longer. Goodberry will have to be satisfied to direct further sniffing to his shoes. He changes his form in the blink of an eye, from bird to man, and once he does, he offers the Beast a polite nod. If he's otherwise bothered by her appearance, there's no sign. If anything, he's far too used to the fae appearing as just about anything and with or without clothes doesn't make much difference.

"After trying to escape with some of my feathers," he adds a little grumpily. Cats, why is it always cats? "I am afraid that I am here to deliver a message, though I suspect you were expecting that already."

If not from him, then some other hapless changeling messenger.

[npcarnival]

The fae leans back onto an oversized gnarl of earthy root, settling in to listen. Whether or not she actually knows what he's going to say is hard to tell, and she's not really giving him any clues.

"Was I?" she asks. She pauses for a moment or two, and then nods. "Go on."

[atouts]

Threats are pretty much the preferred method of communication between faeries, as far as Childermass is concerned, so it's no real shocker there. That in mind, he'll just get on with it, no dressing the Queen's curt words up in anything. He does manage to sound bored about the entire ordeal, though, in spite of how he actually feels (wary, nervous, but not outright afraid as he had been at the cafe).

"The Rose Queen finds your Animal Fair unacceptable and claims she will see you exterminated should you refuse to leave on your own accord."

[npcarnival]

The Wyld Fae listens patiently, her eyes gleaming with some kind of perceived victory. Oh yes, this will do nicely. Her tail flicks with interest, while Goodberry hops up onto the root with her.

"She fears me," she says. "This is most excellent."

[atouts]

And Childermass just shrugs.

"She was angry, that's all I know," he adds idly. Otherwise, yeah, if the Rose Queen is afraid or not, he wouldn't know, but that bring something Lambert had mentioned earlier back to mind. "Though if she fears you, I would have to wonder why. The Rose Queen is dangerous enough in her own right."