⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

Yet Lambert has a question of his own, that suddenly feels a lot more urgent in the light of this new information.

"So what does that imply for the Severing?" he asks abruptly, cutting in after Peridot's question without giving the Beast a chance to respond. "If someone undid that, would they just pick up where they left off?"

[npcarnival]

The Beast just shrugs, both because she doesn't know and also because she's sort of indifferent. Does she look like she's part of the Courts? Actually, maybe she does, she's not sure.

"I suppose they'd get back to it sooner or later..." she says. "Everyone in Arcadia has probably forgotten about this place at the moment. I just figured it would be a laugh to take some of them out while they couldn't call for backup... the Courts really do seem to enjoy swarming things."

[periphrasing]

"Alright, hold on just a damn second," Peridot interrupts. She's squirming out of Lambert's arms while she talks, in order to clamber up onto his shoulder; it's a little bit more dignified (at least in her mind), and it puts her at, uh... well, at least slightly closer to eye-level with The Beast?

"You said annex. The whole universe? How? To what end, for what purpose? And where exactly does that place you in this whole picture? You're fae too, aren't you? And what the hell is Arcadia?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert is just kind of going to suffer through being used as a glorified bat-tree, because Peridot's questions are more or less the same as his own. Anyway, at least he's used to this.

[npcarnival]

"To consume and repurpose it for the glory of Arcadia of course," she says, though she rolls her eyes a little, like she personally isn't that into the idea. "You are familiar with changelings, aren't you? Imagine a fae making a changeling... but the changeling is a galaxy and everything in it."

She gestures vaguely up at the sky.

"Universes like this are always filled to the brim with empty space and dead weight. Most of it would probably be discarded or destroyed in the process. Like refining wheat into flour to make something more ambitious..."

She shrugs.

"The Wyld Fae have never had much interest in this kind of thing."

[periphrasing]

"For glory," Peridot repeats flatly, clearly unimpressed. "Not even for resources, or anything like that? They just do it because it's fun or something?" Chalk this topic under the THIS IS SOUNDING UPSETTINGLY FAMILIAR IN A WAY I CAN'T FIGURE OUT category.

[whattaprick]

Multiple universes, huh? Lambert can't say he's ever paid much attention to theories like that. He is less interested in a lecture on faerie court culture as he is in other practical matters, though.

"You said they'd be forgotten -- is that part of how the spell works? Twenty-five years is a long time to forget about a whole world of people..." Though to the immortal fae, that's probably not even a breath.

"Where do the--" He is making the most unbelievably pained expression saying this, like it hurts to have these words pass his lips. "--angels and demons fit into all this? Are they trying to take over too?"

[npcarnival]

"You have so many questions!" she remarks. Thankfully, her patience doesn't seem to be quite running out, but it's always a possibility. "But the Court's goals are a way to pass the time, I suppose..."

"And you're thinking like a mortal. If you send your human mate to fetch something from the store, there would be some time before you become concerned about their absence. As for the angels and demons, they care mostly about the economy of mortal souls. I don't think outright ruling the universe is a requirement, though they do come from outside of it."

"Hardly a sniff compared to the real thing, though. Neither are them are the original source of their breed. They're both derivatives at the end of the day."

[periphrasing]

"So, just to ascertain that my facts are lined up correctly: This court," Peridot says like the word is unfamiliar to her, "shows up from across the multiverse one day with some grand plan to take over this realm because... glory. And you're both saying that the Severing was an effort made-- presumably by a mortal-- to neuter that plan, and cut this invasion force off from your... Homeworld or whatever. Am I on the right track here so far?"

[npcarnival]

"Yes," the Beast says, watching her with amusement.

[periphrasing]

"And where do you fit into this, exactly?" she asks bluntly. "You're just some random unaffiliated fae trapped here by circumstance?"

[npcarnival]

Okay, now she's a bit annoyed. She takes a step towards Peridot and flicks her finger at her.

"I already told you - I'm a Wyld Fae, and Wyld Fae don't care about colonization unless they've been forced into it by the Courts. I-" She stars strong, but then pauses. Why did she come here, again? Presumably it was for fun, at least initially...

"I was here for unrelated reasons."

[whattaprick]

Taking a step towards Peridot means taking a step towards Lambert, and he instinctively straightens, snapping out of racking his brains to frown hard at her. He'll never forget the circumstances of their first uneasy meeting, and even with the ache of his winter-inflicted injury on his arm, he's not about to let anyone flick his sister. Fae or no fae.

'Unrelated reasons,' huh? Well, he's mortal, so he probably has no frame of reference for what those reasons might be. He doesn't care about a fae's reasoning for anything, only the actions it takes.

"Are you still planning on taking out Portland's fae?" he asks her, directly, lifting his chin ever so slightly. "I know you've killed True Fae before." It doesn't really matter why -- if they decide it's fun, that's all the reason they need to decide on a course of action. Hard to imagine her doing anything of the sort like taking out a Court faerie, though, when all he's seen her do is frolic naked in the woods and spook the shit out of some cats. What is she really capable of?

[npcarnival]

"I would like to destroy the Rose Queen, yes," she says, apparently already beginning to relax from her flash of temper. Really, you should feel lucky that all she's been doing in naked frolicking. "It would make a nice feather in my cap... the only challenging part is that she has refused to leave her domain ever since the Severing, presumably out of cowardice."

[periphrasing]

Peridot leans back with a squeak when she steps forward, wrinkling her nose up a bit. It was just an innocent question, geez.

"The Rose Queen?" she asks, interrupting once more, having learned nothing. "I'm guessing she's the one responsible for this ill-fated invasion business... Why are you so keen on taking her out?"

[npcarnival]

"Oh, what? Haha!" She bats a hand at them, bubbling with amusement. "No, no... I mean, yes, she is part of the invading force. But there are dozens of other Summer Court fae on this planet, and I'm not sure I'd have the wherewithal to destroy all of them. Did you really think the whole world revolved around Portland, Oregon?"

"She just happens to be the most powerful fae in this particular region. That, and I've decided I don't like her face!"

[periphrasing]

"O-oh," the bat mumbles, glancing at the ground with embarrassment. IT SOUNDS REALLY OBVIOUS, WHEN SHE PUTS IT LIKE THAT?

[whattaprick]

Kill other fae for the bragging rights: sounds pretty fae to Lambert. Well, he doesn't have any particular desire to get involved in this, but there's only one specific reason he really has any investment in asking this question:

"And what's going to happen to the rest of her court? The changelings, everyone in her service? Are you going to kill them too?" He's pretty sure the answer is 'no' but he'd like to hear it from the beast's own mouth, so to speak.

[npcarnival]

"I have no reason to kill her servants unless they get in my way," she says, absently looking at her claws. "Why? Are you concerned for them?"

She grins a little, like she thinks it's a funny question.

[periphrasing]

Yeah Lambert. WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN? And why do you care so much.

[whattaprick]

Only one of them. Insanely, Lambert hopes like hell her nose isn't good enough to pick up the fact that a certain winter court changeling is responsible for stitching up and bandaging the still-healing wounds on his arm, mementos of his last run-in with another winter court changeling.

"Something like that," he grates out, instead. It's the worst lie of all time. "Good to know, though."