lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

[ Strange...just gives him a blank look. Sorry Yuya. None of those memories are any sort of familiar and aren't giving him any sort of deja vu. ]

Do any of them relate to you being an esper? All the flashes of memory I've gotten have something to do with magic.

[Yuya shakes his head, pausing as he thinks that over more deeply.]

... I don't think there was anything like that, or magic, or vampires or anything that really existed. I just remember things being normal until--[Until there was someone with his face, but--] the invasion.

[If anything, talking about it is helping Yuya figure out the order these memories come in. He's sure that has to be how it went--all of the mundane ones, those are earlier than the... more violent, alarming ones.]

I think the carnival was really recent, I think that was the last place I was.

[ For the first time, Strange wishes that he actually had more of these memories. All he has is snippets, brief images, like a collection of individual frames snipped out of a film with absolutely zero context. ]

Well if you remember the carnival and I vaguely remember the carnival, then perhaps whatever magic that touched our minds and souls came from that carnival in the first place?

[ Maybe. It's a tentative hypothesis and Strange can't help but frown, like he's not entirely sure he believes what he's saying. ]

Of course, I still have no idea how these memories got here in the first place--the Summer Court doesn't know either, by the way. [ He can tell Yuya that much. ]

But what did that magic do? They have to be real memories. [Yuya believes that so strongly. Maybe they aren't really his memories...? But they absolutely happened.] Do you think we both made a deal with that fairy?

[ Strange...isn't entirely sure. He'd like them to be real memories. Truth be told, he thinks he'd be happier as the other Jonathan Strange than he is now. But Nightshade's exact words were so vague, that he's still not willing to commit to anything definitive just yet. ]

Perhaps. But the fae are able to tell which court you belong to. [ And after last week, he knows that even certain changelings are able to track via court. ] When I made my deal with a Summer Court fae a few weeks ago, the specific fairy in question didn't make any mention of my soul being touched by fairy magic from another universe, just that it was touched by magic in general. And, most importantly, nothing's trying to drag me back or punish me for swapping alliances yet. [ Considering that he spent part of last week dealing with the Winter Court attempting to yank Childermass back to their team, Strange knows that's DEFINITELY a viable option. ]

If there is a carnival fairy in the first place and we did make a deal with it, it's either not here or just as muddled as we are.

Well, that's what the Servering did, isn't it? Mess with all their magic? [But if fae don't share well, maybe it's just Yuya. Sure would be nice of he could remember the details about that agreement.]

Do you know why a spell would even mess with someone's memories like this?

Sort of? [ oh God, are they going to get into magical history. ] When the Severing was cast, twenty-five years ago, it cut off the realms of heaven, hell, and faerie from Earth. What's going on now is somebody messing with the fabric of the Severing for...some reason.

[ he's working on that part. ]

As for why our memories? Hell if I know. Best guess is that we all know something someone wants us to forget.

[Something someone wants them to forget... that sounds so important. Yuya can't imagine what he knows, though.]

Okay, what makes the Summer Court so good at fixing this? What'd they tell you?

I'm afraid I can't pass on the specifics of that information. [ Because it involves kidnapping. ]

Needless to say, the Rose Queen is one of the most powerful magical beings in the Portland area. That's one of the reasons why they'll be the ones to fix this.

[That's just the Rose Queen's M.O.

Yuya doesn't look satisfied with that answer. It's practical, but he still doesn't know what makes her so much more powerful than, say, the circle.

He makes a non-comittable sound in his throat.] I hope it ends up worth it.

[He tries not to sound judgemental... okay, maybe a little judgemental.] My memories probably won't be much more helpful.

On the contrary, they've been quite helpful. I want to know how many people are affected and just what sort of memories they have. You can't do anything without set data, first.

[ And, nosy as he is, Strange just wants to know how many people have this nonsense to begin with. He thought he was special having a 'soul touched with magic from another universe', now there's like at least five people who're like that? What gives, Portland? ]

Yeah, you're right. [He smiles just a bit at that.]

I'm-- going to follow up on that important thing. [How vague does he have to be about getting to the fae, anyway.] Thanks again for the help.

... And you should really call out and go rest. [At home. Because he looks just awful. With that, Yuya turns to go again.]

I'm fine, [ Strange grumbles, with a roll of his eyes. As Yuya turns to go, Strange can't help but call out, ]

Best of luck, though.

[ He likes the kid. Yuya deserves to have his memories sorted out and to figure out this nonsense. ]

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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