⇨ 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

[osteothropy]

Well, good news, Sans pretty much lives here, now. There are going to be some exceptions in common says, but the angel has been hanging out in the cafe so frequently that it almost certainly be breaking the two hour rule or whatever. Though, honestly, he broke that rule even before he got hired on as an "employee" for room and board.

Really all that involves is sitting around reading books and stroking cats and generally being filled with malaise. He doesn't really pick up on Foster as someone as note either - at least not because he immediately recognizes him.

Instead, he picks up on that demonic aura in no time. His seven eyes will all swing up to stare at him at once, his wings spreading in a way invisible to most of the other patrons. And then he'll realize that this is the guy he gave a book to that one time, when haunting Lars's apartment.

Still, he just stares. He'd been feeling more lackadaisical about demons before than he is right now.

Seven eyes... what is this, Neon Genesis Evangelion?

[control_freak]

It was actually a pretty good book. Foster still has it.

Unfortunately, that is not actually why he's here.

It takes a few minutes for him to get to the point where he can do what he's here for. He can't avoid Sans' stare while he recovers, so he just... closes his eyes, at least at first. It's not the staring that bothers him so much as not knowing what to do about it. He's never been... good at people. What looks natural?

In this case, it probably doesn't matter...

When he opens his eyes again, he makes direct eye contact and gets to his feet, crossing the distance between them via the most cat-free route he can manage.

He still trips on one. But he reaches Sans more or less in one piece.

"Hey. Sans, right?"

yes, obviously

[osteothropy]

Sans leans back, looking at Foster with an expression of mild skepticism, between the fact that he suspects there is a motive here and the fact that Foster was just kind of standing there for while.

He twirls his stir stick in his drink.

"That's me," he says. "And you're Foster van Denend. What's up?"

It would be more earnest to ask him 'what do you want?', but Sans is not the most earnest guy.

[control_freak]

"Ha ha. Unfortunately." Foster manages to look tired and really detached at the same time without actually losing any of his smile. But he makes eye contact with... at least one of Sans' eyes, and the smile drops away a half second later.

"What's up is I owe you an apology." He pauses, reaching up to push some hair out of his face, readjusting the lime green butterfly clip to better contain it all.

"I mean, it wasn't exactly my fault...? I was finding these berries around and he said he had an idea. I was like, sure, just let me know what the fucking deal is."

He knew the demon was going to feed them to someone somehow, but he gathered it wasn't anyone he knew, so it was well beyond his ability to care. Or rather, he cared significantly more about learning what the berries did and how much he should be bothered about it... well.

Too little, too late.

[osteothropy]

Well, with that incomplete story, it makes Foster sound less responsible than he maybe actually is. Either way, it barely makes a difference to Sans. Psi giving him the berries is distressing for reasons entirely unrelated from expecting decency from near total strangers.

And Foster is a warlock. Usually Sans knows better than to trust those to start with. He guesses he throught that Foster was an exception because of his unusually decent demon.

"Whatever," he says, dismissively. "No big. It was my bad for getting so comfy. Forgot that downstairs doesn't operate by the same standards as the rest of us."

[control_freak]

"Haha. Wow." Foster's laugh covers his gut reaction. In fact, he's immediately torn between kneejerk resentment of Sans for the accusation and the fact that it's the entire reason he chose a demon at all.

Well, maybe not the entire reason. But it was certainly part of it.

"If that's how you feel, I'll leave." And he won't miss a moment of your presence, believe him. He's a little annoyed he bothered to apologise at all. He doesn't really trust angels, but he'd assumed--perhaps ironically--that his demon's friendship (or whatever it was) with this one made an exception? Maybe not.

"--but can I ask you something first?" Salty or bitter or sour or whatever else he may feel, Sans' opinion isn't wounding enough to prioritise over Amethyst.

[osteothropy]

In Sans's opinion, if the apology was only out of weird social obligation, then it wasn't worth much anyway. Still, however, Foster isn't the one he's mad at - even if his choice in lifestyle is still ultimately a pretty garbage one.

He'd trusted Psi way harder than he should have, ostensibly. Sans isn't sure if there are really exceptions to anything, right now.

"Go for it," he says.

[control_freak]

Sans isn't totally wrong in writing Foster off. And Foster's perfectly aware of that. But it's not the nature of Sans' opinion he was ticked off about.

Either way, he stopped caring about Sans' thoughts about two seconds ago, so there's no use dwelling on the past. He pushes his hands into his pockets, turning his head aside so that he's regarding Sans less directly, from the side of his eyes.

"What exactly did the fae want with you? Amethyst told me they didn't hurt her, but she also said they were interested in her soul." Which... scares him more than a little. Not that he'd ever admit it. Not out loud.

[osteothropy]

"So, she didn't give you the details, huh?" he asks. Then again, Amethyst hadn't really seemed like she was processing what they were being told very effectively. She seemed too confused and angry to really analyse what was happening.

He doesn't know what kind of relationship those two have, and part of him is inclined to respect her privacy. So, for now, he waits on an answer.

[control_freak]

"No, she did." Foster doesn't bother to hide his impatience. He just said she'd told him that the fae were into her soul for some reason. "We're sibs, what do you think." His hands are already back out of his pockets and he's gesturing again.

"But you were there too. And I want to know what happened."

It's not that he doesn't trust Amethyst to tell it to him straight. He certainly trusts her more than Sans. But he also worries, just a little, that he's missing something, or that Amethyst might not tell him something that happened because it especially sucked, or maybe didn't seem important, and he's a lot more comfortable grilling a stranger than someone whose feelings he actually cares about.

He's aware that probably makes him a bad person, but Sans has clearly already made up his mind about him, so any possible doubts he might have had have already been cleared.

[osteothropy]

"...So, she didn't, then," Sans repeats. If he needs a second account then he is obviously doubting the veracity of her statements. He's not really sure how much he wants to divulge this info, for either his sake or her own.

"...The fae thought we were special, for some reason," he says, going on regardless. "So they were trying to figure out why. Can't say I understand it, myself. But getting your soul probed feels about as great as it sounds."

Still not super inclined to repeat what Nightshade actually said to them, though.

[control_freak]

Foster is about to argue, but Sans appears to capitulate before giving him a chance--probably for the better, because Foster is not too proud (or too self aware) to take out all his frustrations on someone at once.

He frowns, brows coming together, but he seems to have settled back down immediately. Sans' vague answer does jive with what Amethyst had told him--about their interest in her and her soul, and the way the fae obviously expected her to know something but refused to tell her what it was.

He doesn't want to tell Sans about what Nightshade had said about not Amethyst not being a 'real' were because he doesn't like it. But that and the part that bothers him are definitely related.

"She talked about multiple souls, or souls split in half or whatever, right?" Foster doesn't slow down for that question, waving one hand and continuing without waiting for Sans' answer.

"...Amethyst said something about how they'd learn more if they kept her for a while. Something about change."