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

She's killed their kind before... Rita's stare intensifies as she considers that. Of course the Courts are afraid of her. That's why they bothered with spoken threats, rather than a display of power or a preemptive attack.

Actually, while she's considering people's motives... why hasn't Childermass clammed up yet? He doesn't strike her as especially careless. Telling someone who hates the Rose Queen about someone else who might have the power to fight her... Maybe he's not as loyal as Rita thought.

"I need to meet her. How can I do that?"

There could be plenty of reasons for it. Rita could be correct about not being all that loyal. It could also be he doesn't consider Rita a threat or the Beast a threat or that he doesn't see the Rose Queen as in danger in the first place. Whatever it is, Childermass isn't revealing his own motives, although he can guess at Rita's own with her renewed interest towards meeting the wyld faerie.

No Summer Court changeling who's escaped has much love for the Rose Queen.

Though he does take his time in answering. He finds his cigarettes first and checks to see how many he has left, then looks up and around for a sprinkler system. Luck's with him since there isn't one. Good thing, too, what with Rita being so fireball happy. If a smoke detector didn't go off for her, well...

You'd better believe he's going to light up in the library if only to be obnoxious. It's only after then that he'll say anything more.

"She's still in the forest, where the fair was. You can go there and try calling for the Beast if you'd like. You could even say I told you to go looking for her." Again, he shrugs. "Who knows. Maybe it'll help your case."

And if the Beast decides to include the fiery changeling on their little plan, well, he won't argue. She'd probably make a decent enough distraction if it came to that.

As he takes his time lighting the cigarette, Rita grows impatient, her eyes narrowing and her teeth clenching. She has to force herself not to yell at him to get on with it. Fortunately, he finally gives his answer.

In the forest? Rita has some doubts, considering how much time she spent there with no sign of the fae, but maybe having a name and a reference will make a difference. She has to try, anyway. This could be her ticket. "I'll do that," she says, much calmer than before.

Since it looks like she won't need to try to kill him, Rita raises her hand, chants a quick spell, and waves her fingers. The scattered flames around the room bend and wave in unison with her gesture, then suddenly extinguish, leaving several thin wisps of smoke. She'd left those pages to burn not out of apathy, but as potential catalysts to enhance her fire magic, should their conversation turn to violence.

"Shouldn't you go?" she suggests. "The person you're looking for probably isn't here, and you're not exactly welcome around here anyway." Even if he did just share valuable information with her. If what Childermass told her turns out to be true, he might not be her enemy, but that doesn't mean they can start acting like friends.

"What? So soon? I've only just gotten here," Childermass says in a slightly mocking way, a faint smirk creeping into existence around his cigarette as he takes in a drag off of it, then breathes the smoke out. While he can, anyway, seeing as Rita's little fire extinguisher trick also managed to suck the flame right out of the lit cigarette.

It smolders, but won't last long. He does take a few seconds to hold it out and give it a skeptical look. Like, gee, thanks... But whatever. She isn't entirely wrong. Sticking around here would be a poor idea for the likes of him.

"Though you may be right. I have no idea how often Mr. DeMayo visits the Sanctuary."

Rita wears a flat, humorless stare, until he mentions the name of his supposed person of interest.

DeMayo...? Rita folds her arms, thinking. Where has she heard that name before...? DeMayo... Greg DeMayo? Right, Yuya mentioned him too. Rita seems to remember meeting a Greg around here before... was that him? She doesn't know much about the guy, but it seems like he's deeply involved in a bunch of this nonsense. Maybe Rita ought to check him out... even pay him a visit, if she can find him.

"I wouldn't know, either," she offers uselessly, shrugging. "I don't go out of my way to keep tabs on everyone around here."

"You might be surprised who you can find here, then, Miss Mordio," Childermass replies with a shrug. What he doesn't show is the mild confusion over how he knew that other name, too. Is it even hers? Rita Mordio? But he doesn't care to look put off in front of her, lest she takes that as a reason to mistrust him further or even attack again.

So, he just carries on like nothing strange has just happened.

"As such, I think I'll take a look around," he adds, though after he says that, he does tilt his head slightly to one side, a curious gesture. "Unless you plan on running off and raising an alarm about me?"

Mordio? The name sounds so familiar that, for a moment, she doesn't find it strange that he'd call her by it. But then it sinks in, and Rita realizes that actually, it is really strange, because that's not her name.

Ugh... and he's planning on sticking around. Way to complicate things, Childermass. Rita still doesn't know if she can trust him. What if all that stuff about the Beast was just a distraction, something to get her off his back long enough for him to do as he pleases?

"Wait." There are a few things bothering Rita right now, but most of all she wants to know... "Where'd you hear that name?"

"From someone else, I would assume," is the answer he'll give Rita after a moment of pause, where he frowns and thinks about it. It could be he had misheard, although he still isn't even sure where he heard her name before in the first time. "Why? If I got it wrong, please, feel free to correct me."

Or don't. If it isn't the girl's true name, it's probably better she doesn't share that with anyone at all. Childermass would certainly understand that, considering his own problems currently (thanks, Strange, thanks so much).

"It's just Rita. I don't have any other names." Maybe she'd have a family name if she ever had a family, but she doesn't. She has a fake name for her fake driver's license, but it isn't Mordio.

So why does it sound so familiar? Wait... could it be related to those memories? But how the hell would Childermass of all people know something like that?

Rita sighs. "...Forget it. Just go." They don't have time to attempt to solve this mystery here and now, and finding the Beast needs to be her main priority. Rita has no choice but to leave Childermass to his own devices and hope for the best. If it turns out he is screwing with her, she'll just have to get him back for it later.

"Odd, I could have sworn..." Childermass almost wants to dispute the claim, because it still feels wrong, but then again, it's her right not to claim a name. He'll drop it, shrugging. "Fine. As you say."

With her telling him to just go, he'll take that as whatever unexpected business they had with one another to be done. He hadn't come here expecting to point another changeling in the Beast's direction, but he'll let the faerie decide whether Rita's tagging along or not. Before he does go, he does have the gall to sketch out a fairly mocking bow to Rita upon her dismissal.

"Until we meet again, Miss Rita."

And then he's gone, very abruptly falling into his own shadow and flitting away through the stacks — shadow to shadow to shadow — rather than retaking the form of a crow.

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject