⇨ 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

[anti_nonsense]

"It better not be," Rita grumbles in response. "People here have enough to worry about without having to deal with... this," she says, gesturing vaguely at Strange in general. "You look like you got hit by a truck after a long night of drinking." He did ask.

"Not a great image for a prim and proper mage of the Circle, if you ask me." As if Rita really cares about that. She just enjoys the irony. "But then again... do they even know you're here?" From their last conversation, it seemed like he was doing quite a bit of investigating behind their backs. Maybe that's still the case.

CARLY | OTA

[insidescoop]

[You Can't See Me If I Can't See You | Carly's Apartment Building, 15th - 16th]

[She doesn't know what to believe any more. Aslla's attempts to speak to her are met with silence as she mutes out his voice, the words of her own shadow falling upon deaf ears. She remembers Jack but it is not Jack all the same. She remembers herself, but it is someone else, she remembers Aslla and somehow despite everything he seems practically the same as he is now as he is 'then', and she doesn't know what to believe.

Carly mutes her phone, and shuts her computer off, the minute she is home after her ritual on the 14th. She throws her clothes (stained) in the sink, fills it with what she knows will clean out the blood, and watches numbly as the fabric soaks, and the water flows a ruddy hue.

And for the rest of the night she holds her Iguana on her lap and watches netflix comedy that she isn't really that interested in but hopes dully will help soothe her mood. When she falls asleep, it is on the couch, and when she wakes to the sound of the demon in her shadow again all she can think is of what occurred again, the cycle continuing.

Work is calling, and she ignores it. The clothes need to be scrubbed and properly washed, but she leaves them.

She spends as much time as she can dully perceive sitting there in the dark, and in the meantime wonders what it all means.

It would be a true shame, then, if a knock on the door stopped those thoughts.]

[I Believe It, Therefore It's True | Around Portland, 16th - 18th]

[Carly cannot stay inside forever, and this fact burns at her the most when she opens the refrigerator to find that she hadn't done the grocery shopping she'd planned on doing the week prior, and at some point the left-over pizza is going to run out. Her work will need paying attention to, her boss will want a text back, and after the last few knocks on her door, reality is sinking in.

She still has a Life, or at least she thinks she does.

But when she comes near the places she would have gone ordinarily, she finds herself pausing. She finds her thoughts growing hazy, and her questions multiplying rapidly, and her feet become unable to take her there. To the Cat Cafe, to Sanctuary, even to the headquarters of the Circle, where she should really be putting out her feelers for information at this point.

She can't move.

And while she can be found near all of those places, in the end she is found most at a bridge over a man-made river, her eyes staring vacantly at the water while she loses herself in thought.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's been at Gon's side most nights since the attack, often too busy to come during the day. He didn't want to leave his friend alone, though, so he often pulls a chair closer to the bed and falls asleep in it.

He rouses very quickly as Gon starts to mutter more loudly. He shifts up, rubbing his eyes as he mumbles just as sleepily.]

Noboru...? 'Re you awake?

[atouts]

First point of interest, Childermass would have gone back to the Rose Queen to report that he has delivered her message and it was not taken very seriously. Assuming she doesn't shoot the messenger...

Childermass will be taking a closer look at what entrances into the Rose Queen's realm he has access to. He wants to determine the best route to getting The Beast in. Once he figures that out, he will relay this to the Beast when he can (assuming she's still back in the forest and willing to show up and talk with him regularly and so on).

[kingsroads]

If that's the case, then the question still remains: why us?

[ It's not like they knew each other before a few weeks ago, after all. And, odd memories aside, there's nothing that connected these two to begin with...was there? ]

Fae carnival aside, what else have you been remembering?

[kingsroads]

"They don't." There's a pause, while Strange mulls things over. It's best to tell Rita some aspect of the truth. After all, if she tries to ask about Circle things, he'll have no idea how to answer in the first place. He's not telling her the entire truth just yet because an agent of the Rose Queen prowling around the Sanctuary? People are going to jump to all the wrong conclusions and they'll jump to them fast.

"And they won't know what I'm doing any way. I've decided to sever ties with the Circle." Something which is utterly terrifying but also...kind of awesome? There's a little part of Strange that leaps at the chance to put the bureaucracy and politics of the Circle behind him and just do magic instead.

[hippocarnival]

Maybe we... were all in the same place once? [Its a hesitant suggestion, but--]

There's some people here I already knew, from... not Portland. Uh, I've been remembering a lot of things that happened, but they're really confusing by themselves. [Like he knows what happened, but not why.]

A

[bananaspeedrider]

[Against the bright sky, a giant "dragon" with crystals isn't overly inconspicuous even while listlessly slumped up high on a building. Not like he doesn't have the power interchangeably bend light and become invisible to those with an eye for the supernatural... whenever he notices. Perhaps it was the drawn out groan made by the angel that brought this attention to him, almost too dramatic but certainly sounding depressed.

It's not a matter of being injured or lacking energy for his current state then. Yugo peers down when he hears the familiar voice.]

Oh, hey yourself Yuya.

[Don't mind if the angel's mouth on his true form doesn't move while he speaks. Weird. Like most full-blood angels that don't assume a human form one could guess.]

.... You're not still mad at me are you?

[anti_nonsense]

"You... what?" Rita's eyes widen, and she actually stumbles back a step. This guy? The guy who, just last week, couldn't shut up about his station and the wealth of information the Circle grants him access to? Rita might not think much of the Circle, but he clearly does... or did, and now he's throwing that away? She can't believe it.

"Why the hell would you do that? Wait... you're lying, aren't you? They must have kicked you out. Right?"

[osteothropy]

Sans stares at Greg for a few moments, apparently completely disarmed by that question. That makes it sound so simple, but at the same time... is it complicated? Sans just doesn't know, because he's never done it. At least, not that he remembers.

A snort bubbles out of him, like surprised laughter. He bundles his arms in his hoodie, looking down at their mutual feet.

"Dunno," he says, finally, with a note of quiet humour. "Sounds like a lot of responsibility."

[kingsroads]

[ Can't be as confusing as memories of trying to go mad, Strange can't help but think. ]

Perhaps they'll sound less confusing if you say them out loud. [ This is a terrible solution but hey, it's the only one Strange has off the top of his head. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Wanna bet on that.]

Okay. [Yuya takes a deep breath. He's honestly avoided saying any of his memories out loud until now, but if this many people really are going through the same thing... maybe they won't sound as crazy as he thinks they will?] You want me to just start... listing them off?

[kingsroads]

The guy who, just last week, spent most of the conversation lying through his teeth about just where exactly he got some of his information from. The guy who made a bargain with a fae and he still can't piece out why he did it, just that it's the best decision he's made in a while. And the guy who really didn't want to be around the Circle when that piece of information came to light. It's self-preservation, not cowardice.

At Rita's accusation, Strange can't help but roll his eyes. "Ridiculous. I've simply found another cause more worthy of my time and more likely to achieve what I actually want."

This is a hundred percent bluster and Strange trying to seem like he knows what he's doing. "I don't think they can afford to kick anyone out now anyway."

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya slows to a stop, expression slipping. Oh, it's the angel. Really, that's the first thing he asks?]

I dunno. Did you apologize to Noboru?

[bananaspeedrider]

Oh uh...!

[That's obviously a no. Whoops.]

Well where would I find him then?

[Clearly this should be seen as a good sign. Despite that as far as Yuya's seeing, Yugo's just been sulking. But in his defense, he was totally doing productive things earlier like beating up demon goons.]

[otoko]

[Not quite. Not until a bit of time after the mutterings, at least. It is a good ten minutes first...and then...

Is that red...and green, perhaps..?] ....y....yuuya...?

[amusicaladventure]

"I don't know if you noticed," Ash said, letting his lie pass (because she was reasonably confident he could magically handle something like this), "but there are a lot of reasons lately to be concerned. In specific and in general."

[kingsroads]

[ And thus Strange learns the true nonsense of children's card games. ]

I suppose so? [ the question mark is obvious in his tone because look, he's got no idea how to do this, this is 100% Strange still trying to seem like he's competent and knows how to do things and has all of this under control despite the fact that he really, really doesn't. ]

[kingsroads]

"No rest for the wicked," Strange chimes in. "There's plenty of nonsense happening and, annoyingly, it's all happening at once."

The demons. The changelings getting kidnapped. The animal fair. The Winter Court coming into town. The part with the Council coming in and taking over. Etheric weirdness and terrible omens. It's been an ever-increasing load of bullshit for the past few weeks and the annoying part is, Strange is fairly certain that's not all the bullshit that's happening.

"Great job dealing with those Council members, by the way," he says with a roll of his eyes and in a tone that's utterly sarcastic.

[amusicaladventure]

"Great job backing me up dealing with them and making it clear they couldn't just sweep me aside without trouble," Ash shot back with absolute and undisguised bitterness. "Though the situation isn't played out yet."

[hippocarnival]

[Yuua starts to settle back down quickly, assuming he misheard Gon's dreams.

But when he calls Yuya's name directly, Yuya shoots up out of his seat.] You're awake!

[He leans his hands against the bed at he peers down at him.] How are you feeling?

[hippocarnival]

Uh, well... There's someone I just met here, but I remember being really good friends with them. And I remember living with my mom, but my dad disappeared. And their names were definitely Yoko and Yusho. [He didn't forget! He just... remembered the wrong set of parents.

He furrows his brow. This is where the memories start being less clear, with less reminders to connect them to in Portland.] I remember playing a game with monsters, but there was something that made the monsters real. So some--someone used them to start an invasion.

[hippocarnival]

At the Sanctuary... can you even get close to him without hurting him?

[Otherwise, maybe consider a letter.]

[bananaspeedrider]

[All things considered, this angel's particular aura and shine ebbs and flows depending on his emotions and degree of focus. What's normal for Yugo isn't guaranteed to be the norm. He ponders a moment and nods- oh wait Yuya's still all the way at the ground.]

... Yeah. I can.

[But first...]

I swear I'll get around to it soon, but can I ask you some things while you're here? Weird memory stuff.

[hippocarnival]

... Okay. [He supposes this isn't a weird memory thing he can really put off. He needs answers just as much.] What is it?