⇨ 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]

It's the power of having some degree of genre-savvy, Strange. Unfortunately, having a hypothesis and acting on it are two entirely different things. Lambert seems a little relieved -- and then immediately worried -- to have his guess confirmed, and moreover, corroborated.

So, that's the end of all he's got to offer right now.

"Speaking hypothetically," Lambert begins, looking at Strange intensely. "If that theory is correct and that's how the spell works ... how would you break it? How would you even set it up in the first place? Binding ordinary spirits probably isn't a cakewalk to start with, how would you bind something that big?"

[kingsroads]

"I wouldn't be surprised if all of the big players in Portland have a ritual to break it up their sleeve--I know the Summer Court certainly does." It doesn't occur to Strange that huh, Lambert doesn't know how he'd know that information in the first place. Strange leans back on the couch slightly, thinking things over as he talks.

"Alternatively, I'd imagine just punching a metaphorical hole in the spell would break it as well. But again, you'd need to be an immensely powerful mage to do that."

[whattaprick]

Hold on one damn minute.

"The Summer Court does? How do you know that?" Lambert asks sharply, stepping forward to loom over Strange on the couch, all the aggression he's been keeping in check rushing to the forefront now.

[kingsroads]

Ah. Whoops. It's amazing how a grown man can sink into the couch so much. Strange is trying his hardest to seem like he's got everything under control and he's not scared of Lambert in the slightest. But honestly? Yeah, he's a little bit scared of Lambert.

"I know that because I've made an alliance with them," Strange simply responds, trying to force as much bravado into his voice as possible. "I've been in contact with the court ever since the start of the month."

[whattaprick]

Strange may find it comforting how easy the couch is to sink into, broken in by many enthusiastic jumps (it wasn't brand new when they got it) as it is. Of course, short of phasing directly through it like a ghost, he isn't actually going to succeed in melting through it, so he just has to deal with the full weight of Lambert's stare of disbelief.

Of course, in retrospect, it all makes sense. Strange knows a lot about faeries. Knows about binding and contracts. He'd been disdainful of the idea of contracting with demons, but he'd held the contract with faeries in high regard.

For a moment, his hands clenching into fists at his side, Lambert looks like he really does want to hit Strange again. Somehow, he manages to reel it in, though he grits his teeth and gets out the question word by painstaking word. "An alliance on what terms?"

[kingsroads]

Congrats Lambert, you are succeeding at scaring the shit out of Strange. He looks like he wants to be anywhere but here and looks around the room in a skittish manner, like he'll somehow miraculously find a distraction that he can use to escape this line of questioning.

"Initially, the alliance involved me using the resources of the Circle to help find out more information on a question the Summer Court had. But now that I've left the Circle, the alliance consists of me helping out the fae in whatever way possible. We both want the Severing broken, after all, and I can do things and go places where they fae can't."

Most notably, the Sanctuary, now firmly shut off from the Rose Queen and her forces but not warded against nosy human mages.

[whattaprick]

"Do things like what?" He's not getting any less scary by the minute. Try to escape and he'll probably only pick up Strange and shake him until the answers fall out...

"You said making deals with faeries was supposed to be a give and take. Sounds like they're not doing a whole lot of giving to me."

[kingsroads]

"They're the ones who actually told me about this damn soul nonsense to begin with! They're the ones who told me how-" How odd. How strange. "-how powerful I could be in the first place! Why wouldn't I help them?"

There's something bitter and personal in Strange's voice as he attempts to get up, to try and stare Lambert in the eye instead of letting the other man loom over him.

[whattaprick]

Lambert stares at Strange, like he's still awed by how the enormous stupidity of what he's gotten himself into still hasn't sunk in. He won't stop Strange from getting up, but he won't move back either, meaning they're uncomfortably within each other's personal space.

"'You think what you're going to get is worth more than the price you're going to pay,'" he says, derisively, throwing Strange's words from -- oh, just days ago -- back in his face. "What happened to 'it's in their nature to trick or swindle humans, just because they can'? What about 'if I was in charge, things would be different'?" Although it's also pretty much a given that Strange is just that shitty at following his own advice.

[kingsroads]

"That was before I knew the Circle cast the Severing in the first place! I refuse to be part of such a close-minded organization that seals off entire realms just because they think they're dangerous."

But they are dangerous. The entire realm of faerie's dangerous, the fae themselves are dangerous, Strange knows that, and yet he meddles with this magic anyway. He's still uncomfortably in Lambert's personal space but it looks like it's not bothering Strange. He jabs a finger into Lambert's chest, still complaining all the while.

"Besides, you should be thankful I've done this," he hisses, glaring at the other man. "Every scrap of information I've given you in the past month has been through my research or was given to me by the fae. Where the hell would you be now if it wasn't for me?!"

[whattaprick]

That gets Strange a scoff, and a roll of his eyes. Where would he be? He can answer that easily enough--

"Not here yelling at an asskisser who's in it for his ego, that's for sure. They are dangerous! After everything you've seen, everything you know, you still think that isn't true?" Lambert asks, voice rich with disbelief. He's being a total hypocrite here because he certainly isn't exhibiting any sort of self-protection regarding the fae, but he also isn't making any deals with them.

"Assuming they aren't just fucking you over, what would you even use that power for?" He snorts. "Breaking the Severing, then what? Bringing your wife back? I don't think there's enough magic in the world for that one."

[kingsroads]

"Leave Arabella out of this!" Strange snaps. It's an unintentional mistake, one that'll confuse Strange if called out. He's only got the vaguest idea who Arabella is to begin with and yet somehow it's the first name that pops to his head when Lambert mentions his wife.

As for Lambert's question, though, Strange pauses for a moment before he continues. He's running on instinct and arguing and pure 'why not'. Lambert's not going to understand this. There's not a romantic bone in the man's body. But Strange can at least try to make him see why he's doing what he does.

"If you must know, I'd use it to explore. Magic is...too big, too wild for it to stay in the confines the Circle wants it to. I know the form of the spell--the English magician, the one from my memories, he could simply push through the mirrors and find himself in a different realm entirely."

The way Strange talks about magic, it's like he's talking about a primal force. He's in awe of it and loves it at the same time. However, a noticeable tone of jealousy creeps into his voice, when he admits, "I just can't do the magic like he can."

[whattaprick]

"Arabella? I thought it was my Amanda?" Lambert asks scornfully, though not without a twinge of confusion himself. He knows which name Strange used in the cafe, yet one undoubtedly feels more correct than the other. Though for Strange to confuse a detail like that, maybe he really is going crazy...

A thought that's only reinforced by what he says next. All that magic and power, and he'd be using it to take a daytrip? It sounds exactly like the sort of trivial thing a magician would be into.

"A different realm? Like another world?" Now why does that sound familiar ... oh, right. The carnival had done that too ... at least, according to Peridot's account of it. Those memories don't exist for him at all.

[kingsroads]

"Isn't that what I said?" Though there's a confused frown on his face. Obviously he meant Amanda. That's his ex, after all. And yet, why does the name Arabella feel like it fits so much better?

Thankfully, Lambert's question distracts him from thinking too much about the name confusion because it's giving him the chance to be a pedantic asshole. Another world. Please. Those things were obviously different...just ignore the fact that the terms are exceedingly vague.

"Not exactly? Compare our realm, the realm of humans, to that of faerie. You've got two different domains but they're part of the same world and talented magicians can enter in between them. A different world is more like...something that's not Earth-based entirely. A world that's entirely underwater or a world inhabited by strange creatures, for example. This world consists of the realms of Earth, faerie, heaven, and hell but different worlds might only have one or two of those realms instead."

The more Strange rambles on and becomes a big ol'nerd about these sort of things, the less aggravated he gets. He's calming down, though he's still looking at Lambert with a glare and a sort of 'you should know this already' expression.

[whattaprick]

In contrast, the more he rambles on about that sort of thing, the more visibly frustrated Lambert gets. Look, he gets it: you're a nerd, he's also a nerd, but that doesn't mean he's into your kind of nerdery, so he's just going to hold up a hand and cut Strange off there (or at least, try).

"All right, I get it. Though this is all theoretical, since you can't get to any of them without power," he interrupts, glancing down with a frown. This isn't exactly helping with the Severing question, and it's eating up his time.

"I'd rather stay right here. Things are weird enough without actually going where all these things come from."

[kingsroads]

Strange gives Lambert a downright confused look...before he shrugs. It's not like Lambert could understand the appeal of visiting different realms. After all, he was only human--and a non-magical one at that. It'd be like explaining to a fish the wonders of the sky.

"Your loss." There's an awkward pause before, "Is there anything else you want from me or can I have my notes back and leave?" He's already been punched once and almost been punched another time, he's not going to continue to chance it.

[whattaprick]

Lambert pauses, considering Strange evenly, before he speaks abruptly.

"There's one more thing. You bound John to serve you. Can you undo that?" Not that he has any actual way of making Strange do it, or checking that he's actually done it, short of calling Childermass up and asking 'hey, so do you feel any different?'

[kingsroads]

Strange's eyes narrow as he glares at Lambert. Back to the changeling, it seems. Urgh, did Lambert actually care for that thing? Thankfully Strange is smart enough to realize that he's liable to get kicked out soon, so he stands up and starts going to collect his notes himself, not really caring if he messes up Lambert's filing system.

"I can. But I won't."

What did you expect the answer to be, Lambert?

[whattaprick]

Lambert's already copied what he needed off of the mages notes, so he lets Strange collect his things, feeling the anger starting to build again. It's exactly the answer he expected, of course, so why did he bother asking? Better gather those notes up fast, Strange, because you're well on your way to getting punched twice in the same afternoon.

"Why? Doesn't it bother you even a little, using another being like that? When they don't even have the choice to say no?" He assumes if he could have, Childermass probably wouldn't have let himself get ordered around into doing things like 'stalking Strange's ex-wife and also sort of dating her.'

[kingsroads]

It does bother him, a little bit. There's something inside Strange that makes him feel sick to his stomach every time he orders Childermass or forces him to do something. But, instead of thinking it through and realizing just what that horrible feeling is, it's so much easier to attribute it to the poison.

Strange continues to collect his notes, still making a mess of Lambert's additions. "It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I told you already, you need to stop thinking about the changeling like he's you or me. He's not even human to begin with."

[whattaprick]

"More human than you," Lambert answers, face twisting up into a sharp, ugly expressions. "Take your notes and fucking get out of my house."

It's a tone of voice that implies that if Strange doesn't do so in the next five seconds, Lambert's going to ensure it personally.

[kingsroads]

"So be it," Strange hisses, glaring still at Lambert as he finishes gathering his notes. "I hope that, for your own sake, you won't need my skills any time soon. I doubt I'll be this charitable ever again," he says, like he was doing Lambert an honor by letting him steal his notes.

This is why we don't tempt fate, Strange. Still, Strange takes his notes and with one final 'hmmph' of disdain, starts heading off towards the apartment's exit.