⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 15st - 22th, 2017
Where: Still in Portland
What: As all sides of the struggle gradually become informed, and the awareness of outsiders begins to spread, Portland faces a critical question - what should be done with them? And who gets to decide?
Warnings: Individually marked!

THE WOLVES AMONG US↴ ► WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS: It's fairly common knowledge that October is a special month - Halloween has always been an excitable time in the supernatural community, because its during this month that the magical energies of Earth seem to disproportionately swell in power. This peeks on the 31st, and has every year for as long as anyone can remember. The holiday of Halloween is a byproduct of this, because the magical phenomenon has gone on for ages past. It's also a pretty common time for wizards to attempt bullshit shenanigans, and also when the Severing first came into effect. ► TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL: Towards the end of the week, Prudence Jaeger will be asking her angelic contacts for a pretty huge favour - she wants them to help her and some of her associates break into the Circle stronghold that the visiting Council members are staying at. It seems that they have some kind of macguffin item that will be needed to crack the barrier cutting off the Earth from the cosmos - and, to that end, allow the angels and mysterious outsiders to return to wherever they call home. ► THE PATH TO HELL: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Team Heaven isn't the only group to clue into the fact that the Circle has what they need. On the same night that the angels go in, so will Anath's army, as the arch demon finally arrives in the city just in time to join the party. Whether the angels and demons fight each other all the way or cooperate to achieve a mutual goal is up to them. ► WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: The Circle and Torchlight aren't all bad, okay? It's entirely possible that they are just acting in the best interest of humanity - unfortunately, that has resulted in them being pretty massive pricks recently, and now the payback for that is arriving on their doorstep. If you're a member of the Circle, you may or may not realize that anything is coming in time for you to prepare. (That will depend on your threads up to the end of the week.) However, once the fight starts, you'll be charge with defending the Councillors whether you like it or not, and Torchlight is getting pulled in as an unexpected ally to ensure their safety as well. Are you going to heed their call? Or is it time to split from the pack? ► BLOOD OF ICE AND FIRE: It's been made no secret that the Rose Queen isn't the only fae trying to pull back her lost changelings - now the Winter Court appears to be doing it, as well. More than a handful of changelings have gone missing over the last couple weeks, lost to both the thorns and agents of the Count. Whatever they're doing, it's also in competition with each other - Winter and Summer will be biting at each other's heels far more than normal, to the degree that it becomes clear they must have some competing objective in mind. Unfortunately for everyone else, that objective happens to conflict with the desires of just about everyone else. Fae are, by nature, opportunists. - ✪ - These are the major conflicts that will be coming to a head towards the end of Week 3. In the meantime, your actions will decide how certain elements are set up, and what the likelihood of success is for each group. Dice rolling handily won the opinion poll where we asked for the preferred method of conflict resolution, so that will be coming into effect a bit later on to determine who actually wins and loses, with advantages based on the choices made.

Comments

[flashover]

[Which is good! Steven didn't say ten words the whole night, and most of them weren't in full sentences. He wondered if it was shyness, or fae shit. Good to know it was just shyness after all!]

Good! So I don't have to explain the concept like I had to do for my mom. They don't have videogames in hell! Ha! [Rin taps the entertainment center, pointing out his various gaming systems] Let's see here... I got a PS4 and a Nintendo Switch... I think I have a Wii back here somewhere. I like Nintendo best. What about you?

[starseedling]

[Steven has to puzzle over that one for a minute, trying to remember a time before being in faerie. He considers, and then nods.]

I think I had a... Nintendo Cube. It was purple and square. [He gestures vaguely.] What's a Nintendo Switch?

[flashover]

Oh! A gamecube!! [Rin smiles brightly, remembering the system fondly] That was a great era, man. A switch is their newest console! So... like, first was the Nintendo, the the Super Nintendo, and then the N64... then the gamecube! After that, there was a system called the Wii, then the Wii U, and now, the Switch! [he pauses to grab the gamepad from the cradle and looks up, thoughtfully] Man, has it really been that long...? Anyway! This is a switch!

[Rin hands the whole system to Steven, consisting of a tablet-sized screen with buttons and joysticks on either side] Isn't it rad? You can play games on that screen, or you can play it on the TV!

[flashover]

Heheh. You just think, huh? Well if you say so! [Hmmm...] ... Hey, this is a weird question but... do you know anything about a weird carnival?

[starseedling]

[Steven takes it in his hands, looking it over in bemusement. Wait, where is the rest of it? He peers at the back side of it like he's convinced he must be doing it wrong.]

What do you mean? This is the whole thing?

[Technology is amazing.]

[whattaprick]

"Do things like what?" He's not getting any less scary by the minute. Try to escape and he'll probably only pick up Strange and shake him until the answers fall out...

"You said making deals with faeries was supposed to be a give and take. Sounds like they're not doing a whole lot of giving to me."

[flashover]

Hehe, yeah!! This is the whole thing! Amazing, right? [Rin turns it on and brings up the menu, then selects the Mario Kart of the era] You've played Mario Kart, right?

[kingsroads]

"They're the ones who actually told me about this damn soul nonsense to begin with! They're the ones who told me how-" How odd. How strange. "-how powerful I could be in the first place! Why wouldn't I help them?"

There's something bitter and personal in Strange's voice as he attempts to get up, to try and stare Lambert in the eye instead of letting the other man loom over him.

[mylastchance]

[He doesn't know when she learned to shapeshift OR if she has a boyfriend, and to be frank he doesn't particularly care either.]

I'm trying to figure out how to fix it, but I can't find anything out.

Don't you know or remember anything?

[moonfang]

[Woah. It takes him a minute, but Zangetsu never forgets a face.

Especially not THAT ugly mug.

He's missing his planty-horsey-dog bits, but it has to be!]

You're the man, Gogenzaka!

[moonfang]

Zangetsu notes the body language, but also takes the seat. This is how much he cares about making people uncomfortable, Sans.

(It's not much).

"I suppose that was kind of the point. Imagine how I feel. It's all invasion of the body snatchers up in here, except the body snatchers never asked for this."

[starseedling]

[Who even knows what Mario Kart it it these days. Steven sure doesn't. He watches, transfixed, and for the first time since coming to the house, he seems to be brightening up a little. Like something familiar like this can pull out from inside himself.]

Yeah!

[He smiles a little.]

I used to play this one a lot... but it looks kind of different, now. Though... I guess a lot of stuff kind of does.

[osteothropy]

Sans just kind of chuckles permissively at that. It's hard to imagine that this guy is being for real right now, and that this is actually a thing that's happening, but he supposes this conversation will only progress if he allows that to be the assumption for now.

And hey, if the Hand of God is willing to buy it...

"Have you recognized anybody else from your... it was a carnival, right?"

and then i realized oh it is my turn

[atouts]

"And what is that supposed to mean? Just what did that nasty creature promise you?"

More knowledge, something he'd gained from Nightshade? But how does that link into having more power? The notes mentioned the Severing, but Childermass can't imagine how the mage might connect undoing that to more power. It's not as though the courts would bestow a kingdom or something on him for helping them with that.

[periphrasing]

"...Probably not," she admits, "but. It can't hurt to try, right? Or maybe I can look into enchanting some things for you... Loathe as I am to admit to any lack of knowledge, I do have a contact who's a much more... (ugh). Experienced magician than I am. I could get in touch with him."

lmao, no worries

[kingsroads]

How on Earth is he going to explain this? Oh, she simply told me that I'm not from this world which led to the memories of this magician rattling around my head and oh by the way, he's probably from the fucking 1800s and also downright insane.

"She didn't promise me anything. She simply showed me the truth and showed me my potential." Strange pauses for a moment, mulling things over, looking at Childermass with a frown. There's another Jonathan Strange and another Yuya...it would be just his luck if there was another Childermass.

"Tell me," Strange asks, seemingly out of nowhere, hoping that the madness will cover for this seemingly random question, "have you ever been to England?"

[whattaprick]

[ He's pretty sure she didn't mean to send that. He pauses for a moment, considering if he even wants to acknowledge it, but then ... ]

Can't change the past. Can still change the future, so long as it hasn't happened yet.

The demons are planning to destroy the spell? How?

[whattaprick]

"No damn sense at all," Lambert snorts, sounding equally cynical. He wears the stress worse than Sans in some ways, but then again, humans are adaptable. However, what Sans says is interesting enough to make him perk up a little.

"Same thing happened to me. Sort of. Some guy showed up at the cafe knew my name, called me a Nightrider." He rests his arms against the table, only to wince and shift, taking his weight off his injury again. His brow is knitted in frustration, but there's something subdued in his expression, all the same. At this point, he hasn't yet had that conversation with Strange, so he's hasn't gotten the idea of how widespread this phenomenon really is...

"So what's the theory? That people like you and me--" He gestures derisively between them, and admittedly, it's ridiculous: do they have anything in common at all? "--are both cuckoos in the nest or something? Like changelings, but for this world?"

[puddingemote]

Even if Tamaki can't hear Lambert's thoughts directly, the idea of where to go in Lambert's mind is strangely enough to communicate what to do to him. Tamaki hasn't possessed people nearly enough to understand how it all works, but they hardly have time to explore the limits of possessed human/ghost communication at the moment.

As he turns left and keeps running, he can't help but wince at the wound on Lambert's arm. It's been awhile since he really, truly felt pain - Yuya's body hadn't been injured, and as a ghost Tamaki couldn't truly feel anything like that anymore. All that is left for him to feel is unpleasant hunger that gnaws at his stomach, even if Lambert has eaten recently.

He glances back over his shoulder at the demons who are starting to look less and less interested in running after them. It's probably too much to hope that they'll give up completely, but Tamaki hopes to at least put enough distance between them that they won't notice him duck in the cafe Lambert is leading him toward.

"They're ugly," he says to Lambert, if he can still hear.

[hippocarnival]

Hey--[Yuya moves to try and grab the wizard's wrist to make him stop.] You can't do that! That's kidnapping.

[Obviously.] You can't just do whatever you want because of what he is.

[puddingemote]

When Tamaki hears the door open, he whirls around, sending what are thankfully harmless toys thudding against the front windows. At least none of the things he tossed were breakable... except maybe the odd plate.

"Lam-san!" he snaps again, and from the state of his face, it looks like he's been crying. It's hard to tell; tracks don't really show on his translucent skin, but there seems to be something dripping from his face.

"It's bad! It's real bad! It's dying!"

He looks around, moving his hands like he wants to do something, but he can't think of anything that can actually help in his panicked state, and instead knocks over a scratching post.

[puddingemote]

That only makes Tamaki look even more pissed off. Luckily for everyone, he hasn't started going ghost-crazy on the cat cafe, although it could happen at any time.

"Yeah. Guess not." He certainly hadn't been spurred to action before, so maybe Tamaki is just at turns suffering and benefiting from Sans' laziness. Or apathy, or whatever this is. Tamaki can't really get an emotional read on him and he doesn't really care to.

He turns his face away for a moment, considers going back inside the cat toy, but possessing things gets kind of stifling after awhile. He'd rather be moving around the shop.

So he stays right where he is, pouting at the wall, and then suddenly adds, "I'm not supposed to be dead, anyway."

[dontpokethat]

"Go out?" His first thought is like on a date, but, uh. Asking that out loud sounds like a good way to make himself sound like a lovestruck teenager trying to figure out how to handle his first relationship. Which he isn't, of course! He's a lovestruck 24-year-old trying to figure out how to handle his second relationship. Huge difference.

Either way, he doesn't hesitate long before nodding. "Uh... yeah, sure! Did you have anywhere in mind?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert stares at Strange, like he's still awed by how the enormous stupidity of what he's gotten himself into still hasn't sunk in. He won't stop Strange from getting up, but he won't move back either, meaning they're uncomfortably within each other's personal space.

"'You think what you're going to get is worth more than the price you're going to pay,'" he says, derisively, throwing Strange's words from -- oh, just days ago -- back in his face. "What happened to 'it's in their nature to trick or swindle humans, just because they can'? What about 'if I was in charge, things would be different'?" Although it's also pretty much a given that Strange is just that shitty at following his own advice.

[whattaprick]

Lambert's face looks a bit like he's bitten into a sour lemon as Yuya confirms it for him. Of course, there can only be so many 'Mr. Strange's looking into the Severing around the city... but there's no time to get into how both of them know the man. Considering how their last meeting went, Lambert would rather think about the mage as little as possible.

"He told me the same thing. And at least a couple other people seem to think the same, so his theory isn't completely off the rails," he says, reluctantly. "Did he also happen to tell you he's working with Summer Court to try and break it?"