⇨ 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

[puddingemote]

"Huh?" Tamaki reaches up, blinking in surprise when he confirms, yes, there are horns up there. His eyes grow wide, confused.

"They do... unless they get corrupted too much, but..." He doesn't feel corrupted. At that point, you lose all control, right? That's what Tamaki had seen, once or twice.

"I'm not," he adds, furtively, in case Yuya gets any ideas.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya doesn't really want to think about what damage a corrupt ghost would do inside his body, let alone outside it. He's a little bit skeptical of Tamaki's claims that he's not, honestly.

"I haven't really met any ghosts besides you." Which is probably for the best, given how they met. "What's the corruption like? And how do you know when it does happen?"

[puddingemote]

"It's different for everyone. Whatever they're upset about, whatever keeps them here, it drives them crazy." And Tamaki is absolutely, positively sure that it's not happening to him.

(Maybe, if he had more self awareness, he would know that his increasingly desperate attempts to break things in an effort to get attention is a sign of growing corruption. But then, he did those things while he was still alive, sometimes.)

"Pretty much all horror movies show that? If they have a ghost."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's fairly familiar with horror movies--they're not the nicest depiction of the supernatural, but they're the easiest to access. He's fairly sure he's watched a lot of them for that purpose.

He tilts his head and looks at Tamaki, contemplating. "Why do ghosts stay behind?" There's an unspoken, what keeps you behind, in that. "Is it always for things that upset them?"

[puddingemote]

"It's different," he repeats. Ghosts are as individual as the people they were before they died; it's impossible to paint them all with the same brush.

"Some stay because they want to say or do something before they leave. But those guys usually move on pretty quickly."

He hesitates before continuing, "But for most of us, it's because we're upset."

It's the same for him.

"But I'm not corrupted."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya nods slowly. He doesn't have a definite opinion whether it's better to stay back as a ghost or move on. He's never had that choice to make--but somehow it seems... sad, to be lingering only because you're in pain.

"Why are you upset?" He asks, his tone innocently inquisitive. He didn't get a chance to ask Tamaki much about himself last time.

[puddingemote]

Ah... he's never really been asked that question. Tamaki hesitates a moment, looking a bit suspicious of Yuya's motives. If it's just an innocent question, that would actually be... nice, he thinks, but who knows if this information will be used against him.

"...I got really sick. With something curable."

He starts to look a lot more dead than he normally does, his skin looking pale and sickly, his cheeks hollowing, dark shadows growing under his eyes.

"No one took me to a doctor. Too sick to call 911. So I died."

[hippocarnival]

"Oh." The change in Tamaki sends chills down Yuya's spine, but he holds back the urge to flinch away. That's a lot of pain. He must be lingering because he's angry it could have been prevented... but how could anyone have been so neglectful?

"I'm sorry." Not personally, but he's sympathetic. "Did you die at the school?"

It would make sense why he haunts the campus, right?

[puddingemote]

"No..." Tamaki rubs at his hair, not sure why this feels embarrassing suddenly. "At the foster home I was in."

Normally, it would make sense for him to stay there, but he'd followed his body to the morgue. And when it was buried, he'd followed a kid working at the graveyard back to the college. And he'd stayed there.

"They didn't want me there. So I left. I liked the dorm building, though. Lots of people."

Something about the place felt comforting in a way Tamaki couldn't put into words.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya tried a couple times to respond, but somehow what he has to say feels inadequate. How can they just ignore Tamaki being sick to the point that he died? He's not familiar with fostering, but aren't parents supposed to do their best regardless?

Somehow, that feels like too heavy of a question to actually ask Tamaki. So he focuses on the positive part of this. "At least you like the dorm. Everyone in it seemed nice." All things considered, they could have been worse to Yuya given he tried to break in.

[puddingemote]

"Mm... those college guys are alright," he agrees. He doesn't really have anything against them, and they don't seem to dislike him, even if Sora sometimes gets frustrated with him. "The angel's an annoying guy, though..."

He shrugs. "They'll leave after a year, probably. That's what usually happens. But it's been nice having people who can see me."

The last few years' occupants couldn't. It was a surprise when Sora could. A bigger surprise when Sean suddenly could.

[hippocarnival]

He didn't ask which one the angel was, last time. But he'll take Tamaki's word for it. He knows them better.

"Most people can't see ghosts?" He looks genuinely surprised to hear that. Then again, he doesn't usually talk to other people about ghost sightseeing.

[puddingemote]

"Not usually." Maybe with certain ghosts in order to be extra spooky, but Tamaki doesn't know how. "But they can see our haunts. So they might know we're here but not what we want."

He remembers something Lambert asked him, but didn't know the answer at the time.

"Are you a medium?"

[hippocarnival]

"A medium? Like in the movies?" Yuya rolls his eyes up and taps his chin, looking thoughtful. His experience with this is all filtered through fiction, but he thinks he knows what Tamaki means by that.

"I... guess I could be? I'm psychic and I can see ghosts... but mostly I've practiced my telekinesis. You're the first ghost I've been able to actually talk to."

[puddingemote]

"Psychic... like Sora."

Sora's psychic powers are a little different, or at least that's what he thinks. He's mostly learned about them from observation rather than directly asking.

"Other psychics can see me too. A lot of them have been coming around lately, though..." He glances around at the clearing they're in, morning light starting to filter through the trees. "Because of this...?"

He looks back at Yuya. "Something weird is going on. Maybe."

[hippocarnival]

"They have?!" Yuya's noticed the uptick in supernatural activity, but he assumed it was mostly Fae... hearing about other humans like him gets him excited.

"They came to talk to you? What did they say? What were they like?"

[puddingemote]

"Um... there's an old guy, named Lambert. He was here, at the party..." Tamaki looks around, like Lambert might suddenly appear at the sound of being called "old." "He's... okay? He stayed around and talked to me..." Mostly to scold him, though.

"And there was another girl, she was looking at the posters for the animal fair. I said I'd ask other ghosts about it, and meet her the next day, but I haven't seen her anymore after that."

He taps his chin. "And there's Doll, but..." He trails off. He's not sure if Doll is psychic, but he doesn't know what else she could be. He's not very well versed in all the different kinds of supernatural beings.

[hippocarnival]

A grin creeps its way onto Yuya's face. For as much as he stalked after other supernatural people, his contact with other espers was fairly limited--he really found more werepeople and changelings, as was his luck.

Hey, maybe if Sora has no hard feelings about the whole breaking and entering thing, he can try talking to him, even.

"Do they stay at the campus? Maybe I can find them there."

[puddingemote]

"Sora does. And Doll comes to take showers." That's what she had said, right? She tried to sneak into the locker rooms so she could get cleaned up. It's a very street urchin thing to do; Tamaki would be impressed if it weren't so depressing.

"I don't know about the girl. I think Lambert lives somewhere else, though."

He seems like an adult. Adults have houses, don't they? They don't live on campus like the teenagers do. At least, Tamaki's pretty sure that's how it works. Everyone who's lived in his own dorm room has been a teenager.