lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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.

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Lambert has pretty much stopped giving a shit about school at this point -- he hasn't seen his thesis advisor for weeks, he's distracted as hell when he's in the library, and he's starting to dread what new supernatural ridiculousness is going to find him at the cat cafe next.

Bad luck seems to find him often enough at the university that he's in a hurry to get home, when a wrenching feeling in his stomach -- and a shriek of terror, not far away -- bring him up short. It doesn't even register in his mind, that the sound of the voice is familiar, or that nobody else seems to have noticed. He turns on a dime, nearly skidding across the concrete, and bolts in the direction of the sound.

What he sees is a pair of thugs with horns and claws, one whose skin is unnaturally flushed red while his friend -- who's standing to the side with his back to Lambert, arms crossed as he rolls his eyes -- is a dull shade of blue. Right now, with most people in class, the place is mostly deserted. In the red demon's grasp, though, is a much more familiar figure.

Lambert doesn't even think twice. A short whirling sound is all the warning the demon gets before Lambert throws his backpack straight at the back of his head. It's full of books that Lambert had borrowed from Strange, and a few more he took out of the library, so it's going to make quite the impact, thought he doubts it'll be permanent, whatever effect it has. What matters is that it distracts them long enough for Tamaki to ... get out of the way? Lambert doesn't know. But he's fumbling with something in his back pocket as he races forward, teeth bared.

"Pick on someone your own size!" The complete irony of this statement is lost on him, as he's the shortest person out of the four of them right now.

[Yuya's face contorts into a disgust that's almost childlike, like it's the first time his simple morality has been challenged. Because it's true, if they don't belong then it needs to be fixed, but why like this? Why are they the best option?

It isn't the first time, though. He remembers this feeling, but the recipient was much younger, much colder. He also thought, whoever got hurt, it was justified for the 'greater good'.

Slowly Yuya starts to deflate with a sullen expression.]

... Help me. [His tone is tight.] It doesn't have to be directly. I just need a--someone to contact, a book, a direction, something that'll work! If it is true we shouldn't be here... there's someone I still have to do something for first.

[Rita might be one of them, but he won't leave Axel behind either.] I won't tell anyone what you said.

There's a sudden thud, and the demon holding Tamaki curses, dropping his hold on the startled ghost. For a moment, Tamaki can only float there, stunned, but then he seems to snap back to his sense and move to put some distance between himself and the demons. He doesn't go very far, though, instead watching as Lambert approaches.

The demons seem pretty pissed that Lambert has interfered. The red one scowls, balling his fists and taking an aggressive stance.

"Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing!?"

"Looks like just a human," says the blue one, narrowing his eyes. "Do you want to die today?"

Tamaki's eyes widen, but he doesn't know what he can do to help. Hopefully, Lambert knows what he's getting into...

[ There's a pause while Strange mulls things over. The main problem here is that he really likes Yuya. The kid's got fire. That drive to push ahead and get things done and damn the consequences is something Strange admires and slightly envies. Besides, what's one changeling in the grand scheme of things? The one the Rose Queen needs isn't even in there to begin with.

He sighs as if this is such a major inconvenience but, in the end, Strange relinquishes. Hopefully this is vague enough to not count as a betrayal of Nightshade's trust. After all, he's not telling Yuya how to do anything, he's just pointing him in a direction. ]

Obviously the getting in is the easy part. But as for getting out...people have done it but again, I don't know specifically how. A warlock named Greg Demayo. Two weres, Foster and Amethyst Van Denend. There's a demon and an angel as well, though I don't know their names. Talk to any of them about the rescue mission to retrieve Amethyst and the angel. Feel free to mention my name if they ask where you heard about them escaping her realm but don't mention my current allegiance.

[ Lord knows Greg certainly wouldn't want to help should Yuya mention that Strange's taking up the Rose Queen's cause. ]

Wrapping his brain around that is too much for Greg right now. It's weird enough to think that something could push through the Severing, because that's the whole point of the thing, that's how everything's turned out the way it is, and that's the least of what Sans is saying... it's far too big, too strange for Greg to comprehend. Someone would have noticed sooner, all of them would have, and yet...

A dimensional traveler. Something about that phrase strikes a chord with Greg, hits him in a way he didn't expect.

He remembers. An argument, or disagreement, or confrontation... with a woman. A woman who wanted him to do and see more than what his world allowed him.

"Who was...?" Greg puts his head in his hands, suddenly dizzy. "Oh man. That doesn't--this doesn't make sense. Sans, what the heck."

"It doesn't," Sans agrees, deflating a bit given that Greg has no idea what to say about it either. His wings droop and refold themselves behind his back, having been flared out with agitation moments before. "But it's what I've been hearin'."

He flops down again, defeated. It's not really fair to take this out on Greg - not if they're maybe experiencing the same thing. He'd come here expecting that it would just be a him problem that Greg could listen to, and both of them potentially being embroiled in it changes that reality considerable.

"Whatever it was..." He trails off, staring into space. "I don't wanna go back to it, man. I dunno what that stuff I remembered was, but..."

He finds himself staring down at his hands, at a loss. The memory of it fills him with revulsion and fear.

"I don't want it."

After a moment, Greg lifts his head again and looks over at Sans. The idea alone is overwhelming to him, but he can't recall anything as intense or frightening as the little Sans has spoken about.

"Maybe you don't have to."

So, everything they thought they knew may be completely different. But--but, in the end, his first point can still stand, can't it?

"You--we're here now. Whatever this is... that doesn't mean you have to go back to it. Right?"

That's pretty optimistic, and it makes Sans let out a soft chuckle. He doesn't know about that, but the sentiment is nice.

"Being an angel isn't like being a human. You can't just... mingle with whatever you want. Be whatever you want. Angels are all part of the plan. We've all got a mission, and we share that."

Even if they don't always like it.

"Got no reason to think I still have any place in it, if any of them knew. I'm not real like they are, and... I know you don't get a ticket from hell to heaven just like that. I never understood how an angel like me got made in the first place."

[Greg... Yuya knows Greg, although he hasn't really seen him since all this chaos started. But he's also not sure Greg will respond well in general to Yuya looking for ways to break into the Rose Queen's lair. That probably qualifies as "too dangerous".

Maybe he'll let Rita talk to him.

Still, that gives him what he needed--someone with experience and knowledge to help.]

... Thanks. I won't tell anyone who you're working for.

[He turns to leave--and stops, glancing back over his shoulder after a moment.]

Do you... know of any fae that runs a carnival?

[If that doesn't sound even remotely related, it's because it isn't--but he feels like, once he leaves, he can't ask Strange anything else until this is resolved. They're already testing loyalties now.]

A little optimism in the face of a complete existential crisis never hurt, probably.

"I... Sans, I'm just a human, so... y'know, take all this however you want." Greg runs a hand over his face. This is all way above his pay grade. He's spent a lot of time around nonhumans, getting used to their way of thought, trying to come to an understanding... but this is a whole different level.

"If you're seriously... genuinely not an angel, then... then that means you get choices now, don't you?" He eyes his friend. "Just because things aren't the way they, uh, are, doesn't mean they have to be the way they... were?" Does that make sense? He's not sure that makes sense.

[ Strange is about to scoff that no, of course he doesn't, why would he know any fae that run a carnival to begin with...before he pauses. That concept is damn familiar for some reason.

His face goes through a spectrum of emotions, disdain going to outright confusion. Why is that familiar? Certainly none of the Portland fae run a carnival. It's possible he read about it somewhere, but this is Yuya he's talking with. The likelihood that the kid and he had read the same texts was slim to none. ]

I don't think so? But the-- [ Nope, gotta take a pause while Strange has a small coughing fit. ] But the concept sounds oddly familiar. Do you know of any fae that do so?

[ Obviously, this is weirding him out. ]

I think so. [Despite the mood a wry, crooked smile starts to pull at Yuya's lips. Everything about Yuya's knowledge and memories lately has been "I think". It's such a jumbled mess now he's having a hard time keeping track whether the running coast side is Portland or somewhere else, or who he knows, where he knows them...

He has to find it funny, because being so unsure of who he's been all his life is just unsettling.]

She agreed to help save someone important to me. But I don't remember her name.

The concept catches him off guard. He hadn't considered it that way at all, focusing mostly on fearing what he remembered and wanting to cling to what identity he still had. Finding a place in between seems somehow improbable, want part of him is desperately reluctant to let go of the comfort of something oppressive but familiar.

His gaze flicks towards Greg, and then away again. That's not part of his inner makeup, and possibly being a fake hasn't changed that feeling. He still feels like he should be an angel, should follow those rules, even if he can't anymore. But yet...

"I don't know... how," he says, proceeding slowly and uncertaintly. Sure, angels could make plenty of little choices. Where to hang out, who to love and befriend. Even so, the purpose and trajectory of their life was already spoken for.

Duty came before everything else.

While Rita is no longer staying at the Sanctuary, she still visits often to check on things, and to make use of the library there. This was one of those times, but as she returns to the entrance hall on her way out, she sees a familiar-looking man.

Strange doesn't look quite as he did when they last met. Like he skipped a few days of sleep, or just got back from dumpster-diving, or maybe both. Rita doesn't look the same as she did, either: while inside the Sanctuary, glamours are optional, and she left hers off while focusing on her reading. Red-black feathers peek out from the cuffs and collar of her jacket, which appears to have been modified to fit around the spikes growing out of her shoulders. Colorful horns grow from her head, and a long, fan-like feathered tail trails behind her.

More familiar, however, would have to be the look of disgust that crosses her face when she sees him questioning one of the residents. She marches right up to them, and to the interrogated party, says, "Ignore him. I'll deal with this idiot." They're all too happy to leave the two of them alone.

Strange receives a pointed glare for a greeting. "What are you doing here?"

Greg offers Sans a small smile.

"Well then. Choice number one: do you want to learn?"

He knows angels can gain knowledge and experience but Greg's not sure how often they get the chance to learn something new.

Oh for fuck's sake. Rita gets a disgusted glare as well. Of all the places in the city, he runs into her again! Now that her glamour's off, Strange gives the actual-Rita a onceover, wrinkling his nose slightly at her horns and spikes. Why does he keep running into her? This is Portland, it's a huge city and the supernatural community isn't that tiny.

Still, there's no harm in telling her a sliver of the truth. Strange starts to talk, crossing his arms over his chest and still sounding far too haughty for a man who looks pale and haggard.

"I'm looking for someone," Strange answers, still glaring at Rita. Someone who he's not going to tell Rita the identity of, because nothing would get him booted out of the Sanctuary and put on people's shitlist faster than if he admitted he was looking for the Rose Queen's missing changeling son. "Besides, this is the Sanctuary. I could visit here no matter what I was doing."

[ That also sounds familiar. The idea of doing something desperate to save someone important to him plays in the back of Strange's mind like a familiar song. But who? And why? And why does this still sound so familiar?

Strange still looks confused, but he tries to play off the confusion with a little joke, in an attempt to try and make it seem like this entire conversation isn't weirding him out. ]

I'd warn you against joining a fae carnival, but it's a bit like the pot calling the kettle black now, isn't it.

[ says the person who willingly joined up with the Rose Queen's court. ]

[Yuya laughs at that. It probably is inadvisable to join a fairy carnival, but Strange doesn't exactly lead by example.]

It might be too late anyway. I think it's one of those memories.

[The new (old) invasive ones that fill his head in pieces. Weirdly, it's the only one that's involved actual fae.]

"Oh that's goddamn wonderful," commented a familiar voice from not far away. Ashleigh had spotted her colleague in the distance and moved to give him -- well, if not a greeting, maybe something of a quiet judgmental glaring -- but then he had to go and, well, do all of this. "What did you do to yourself?"

"It's not a sanctuary for people like you," she retorts. After the Rose Queen's attack, they really should be more wary of visitors, especially suspicious people like this guy. Rita doesn't expect anything good to come from letting a changeling-hater into a safe house for changelings.

She wants to know who he's looking for (not that she'd help him in any case), but first... "What happened to you, anyway?" she can't help but ask instead. "You look like crap." He'd better not be bringing any weird illnesses in here with him.

Strange can't even fight the judgmental glaring, he knows that he kind of deserves this. There's nothing dignified about puking into a garbage can, one just has to accept the fact that they're going to look awful. Once everything's...out, he stands back up and looks over at Ash, with a slightly annoyed glare of his own.

"I didn't do anything. It's just a stomach bug." This is a lie. Still, considering the fact that Strange obviously looks like crap, a stomach bug isn't that outlandish of a lie. It's certainly more believable than the actual truth.

"Concerned about me? That's new."

[ Strange can't help but frown, even more confused as Yuya mentions it's one of those memories (the implication of which he gets instantly.) ]

That's odd. Obviously my memories aren't as vivid as yours, but the idea does seem familiar to me as well--in a those memories sort of way, I mean.

[ Which is weird. Why would they both have traces of memories about a fairy carnival? And why would a fairy carnival pick up both a teenage esper and a middle aged magician? ]

Edited 2017-07-10 18:14 (UTC)

[Yuya turns back around when he says that. If Strange is confirming it's the same feeling, then it can't be anything from Portland. So they've had this kind of contact with fairies before?]

It doesn't really match the other memories I'm having... maybe it's part of what's happening to us now?

"Stomach bug--and don't worry, it's not contagious." The lie will fall apart the more Rita presses for more details but Strange has already found that people don't really want to know the details if you look like shit. Fingers crossed that applies here.

Still, Strange can't help but pause before asking, "Do I really look that bad?"

It's asked in an honest and curious tone, like Strange legitimately has no idea that he looks kind of awful.

[And In My Sleep, My Dreams Come Crawling | YUUYA]

[In his sleep, he dreamed of a great many things. The blood had helped significantly to kickstart recovery; but while he slept, he slept deeply. He dreamed of being thrice bitten. He dreamed of surrounding himself with leaves in both a literal and figurative sense. He dreamed of a many things, and through it all, mutterings escaped him-some of them were names ('Yuuya', he muttered the most, though occasionally it just sounded like 'you'), others were clipped statements of unknown origins...

'...Battle beast...' Or was it The Beast? Or The Great Beast?

'...stop... ...don't hurt... don't...' It sounds like a nightmare, the mutterings that last before he truly awakens. It sounds like-]

...I, the man Gongenzaka...

[...something else.]

...will kill you myself...

[Something far beyond the attitudes of both halves to him.]

[Crawling, While I Lay Awake | SANCTUARY, 15th - 17th]

[During the first three days spent at Sanctuary, Gongenzaka recovers slowly. He remains in a room without windows, far away from any sunlight, though a bulb turns on with the proper time whenever he is awake himself. There is not much to do, while recovering. For a while he is stuck laying on his front, waiting for his back to heal enough that he can put weight on it again. Eventually, closer to the final day however, he can finally just deal with 'bedrest' (however that works for vampires).

Zecora comes and goes with a bit of a 'drink' to help his recovery, and beyond that, he is left with books and his dog, the latter brought to him shortly after he regained consciousness. It's good to see her okay.

...Though he wonders, now, what it is that he 'truly' is.]

['Till I Can Follow | Around Portland, 18th-19th]

[There was something wrong with his 'soul', apparently. Something odd, something that could be detected alongside Yuuya's, a few others...

It was something unique, that much was clear.

They didn't know how well this trick would work, but for now Gongenzaka sought to try it in small doses at the least. He does not go to his usual park, however-he tries other places, places where he can easily and immediately pull out his wings and fly away to avoid capture, if he so needs. If he can find others like them, however...if he can find the oddity in himself and latch onto it in others...

Gongenzaka folds his hands together, and focuses on the spell.]

Edited 2017-07-10 22:36 (UTC)

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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sanctuary!

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Gongenzaka | OTA