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

Foster jerks, beady blue eyes opening with a wet snort of surprise. Possibly because Peridot's particular pitch and volume is a little startling even before factoring in how much better a bear's hearing is.

Either way, he can be irritated all he wants--and he is, thank you--but it would be dishonest to say he's pissed because he was actually getting anywhere.

"What do you think," he asks flatly, giving the phrase absolutely no inflection at all. "I don't know what we're doing wrong, but there has to be something we're missing." A pause.

"Or else it's just us," he adds bitterly.

"Great. So it's NOT just me." Something in her tone is accusatory; OBVIOUSLY, you two were supposed to be able to pick up the slack, since Peridot had known from the get-go that she wouldn't be very good at this.

The bat groans and flops forward, pressing her face into the dirt. "Face it: We're never going to commune with this stupid spirit. We're just not werebeast enough for it," she sneers.

Peridot, did you really expect Miko to be any good at meditation.

"How're we supposed to be more werebeast? Do we have to... I dunno, roll around in some dirt? Eat a bug? D'you think the spirit will talk to us if we eat a bug first?"

Man she hopes that's not the solution.

That would almost be a fair complaint, except that Peridot is working with her own sister and a man who showed up to this in a shirt that featured a tired quote about being the "lead dog" and an anatomically correct rendition of a dog's ass. If she wanted were Jack London, she probably should have looked a little harder.

"We're already in the dirt," Foster points out a bit tiredly, but Miko's 'speculation' has him thinking. It actually has him a little... angry? "Wait. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's the problem. Not that we need to start eating bugs. Or. Well. You can if you want to. But hear me out first." Peridot's words--about not being were enough--have struck a nerve. Maybe a couple of different nerves. But in particular.

The fae had told Amethyst that she (and presumably Foster) weren't real werebeasts.

He's clambering up to his feet, teeth bared, eyes suddenly brighter--too bright, maybe.

"We're were animals. The animal thing is what matters. We need to actually think more like animals. Feel like actual animals... we're not mages, we're beasts."

Peridot lifts her face back out of the leaf litter, only to give Foster a kind of dubious look. "That... Actually does make sense," she admits reluctantly, "but you propose we achieve this how, exactly?"

Miko perks up, her tail starting to wag at the indication that she may, in fact, have had a good idea.

"Yeah! Gotta get into the mindset 'n all that. ...Though I actually don't want to eat a bug, so! What else did you have in mind?"

"Your loss," Foster quips, although you never know, Miko might end up eating a bug before this is all over. Don't write that one off yet.

"But we've basically just been fukken meditating the entire time. Like... well, like people. Humans. We need to tap into our animal spirits... follow our instincts." He looks at Peridot--partially because he doesn't know anything about bats and partially because, frankly, she's not a domesticated species. Sorry, Miko, but a love for tummy rubs probably isn't an instinct.

"What do your instincts want you to do?"

Peridot meets that gaze, and that question, with a crinkle of her snout. Her ears twitch thoughtfully.

"I think my instincts want me to hang upside down from a tree like an idiot," she says flatly. "I guess I could try meditating while doing that."

Miko lets out a laugh that sounds kind of like a bark. "Oh man, you definitely should. Too bad I can't use my phone camera like this."

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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