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

Sora makes a strangled noise as he's suddenly hauled bodily from the room, but it doesn't take much to get him to follow behind as they flee the room.

It's much warmer in the main part of the library, but the temperature seems to be dropping out here as well, and it's probably best that they get out as fast as they can.

Even after Childermass lets go of his shirt, he keeps tugging the others forward, because while he may have a faint idea of what's going on, it's still not anything he wants to be near.

They make it out of the room with Childermass whirling around to rip it from Lambert's grip and slam it shut just as the bulging ice explodes into shards, releasing the growing shadows that had been collecting just below the surface before. Birds, so many birds. Crows and ravens and jackdaws and magpies, they all come shrieking into the study room and slamming mindlessly into the glass, more than a few hitting hard enough to crack it, then fall, necks broken, to the floor within.

Obviously, the three outside the room aren't going to stick around to see just how thick library glass is, so... Running, time to keep running! With Sora tugging at them to keep going, Childermass is more than happy to turn and follow as quick as he can. That glass won't hold for long. Hopefully, no librarians will get caught up in it, but—

Well, not his problem. Sorry, librarians.

"We should split up," he says as they make their break for it. "They'll only be after me! I can lead them out!"

"Fuck that!" Lambert exclaims, loudly -- much to the scandal of the librarians who recognize him as one of their own, but he ignores them all for now and sprints ahead of Childermass and Sora (not that it's difficult to do). Behind them, the birds keep smacking into the glass, and Lambert's not sure how long that's going to hold.

"Over here!" As he runs for one of the library's side exits, shoving it open, his mind's racing, trying to think -- what's the best way to deal with a bunch of murderous ice birds?

As he bursts through the door, his eyes land on a construction area -- some part of the pavement where people have been breaking up the concrete to lay down some new pavement. Given that the workers are still on their break, the tools they were using are currently unattended... the sound of cracking glass behind them probably suggests they should make a decision quickly about whether they keep running or make a stand.

Sora, still running and tugging Childermass along, agrees with Lambert, quite frankly. They won't be leaving anyone behind, if he has anything to say about it.

"We're not gonna just abandon you!" Sora exclaims, slightly indignant that Childermass would even suggest such a thing.

They make it outside, thankfully, but they probably won't be safe for long. Sora follows Lambert quickly, wondering what they're supposed to do now.

Oh, for the love of—

"You do realize I have better ways of getting away than running, don't you?" Childermass snaps back, though he'll continue to be dragged along and right out the door along with Sora and Lambert. He'll be sure the door slams right behind them once they're out, kicking it shut faster if needed.

When the birds do break through, they may not hear the glass behind them, but they'll undoubtedly hear the surprise and panic of the patrons within. A few are already taking note of the study room suddenly full of birds and making their own runs for it, seeking out someone, anyone to warn. It won't matter for the three already out here, though, by the construction site.

"Where are we going?"

It's an excellent question. Where are they going? This isn't something Lambert's thought through (obviously). There's open air above them where more attacks could come from, but the skies are clear -- for now.

Instead of answering Childermass's question, he rounds on Sora. "Do you have any iron on you?" he demands. "Toss it."

Hopefully, the changeling can understand why he's asking the kid that.

"Huh?" Sora flounders, wondering why the conversation has done such a 180 on him. What does iron have to do with anything? They're currently in the middle of being attacked, surely there are more important things to be worrying about.

Still, he pats down his pockets, but doesn't find anything.

"Uh, um, I don't think so? Why?"

"Because we're leaving," Childermass says as a way of explanation, which, overall, is a shit way to explain anything, but here they go. He grabs hold of Sora, then Lambert, and just as the birds from the library come crashing through the windows and door from behind them, he hauls them both a few steps forward and into the shadow of some construction equipment.

And then they're gone, escaping through the shadows as quickly as Childermass had originally appeared back then when he first arrived in the study room. It's an odd feeling, as if being stretched out, flattened a little. The world is dark, outlines to those not used to it, and muffled, but as they move quickly, there isn't all that much to try and see in the first place.

Where they pop out again isn't even on the campus, but into some tunnel through a hill in some park. It's not extremely far from where they began, but far enough, safe enough, for Childermass to feel fine with yanking them back out there.

It's not the first time they've done this, and it probably won't be the last, either. Horrifyingly, Lambert is even almost getting used to it.

He stumbles out of the shadows with a grunt, hands on knees, and looks around sharply. Not that he thought the birds could follow them immediately, but...

"Sorry for dragging you into this," he tells Sora, abruptly. "I didn't think they'd be that gutsy." The Winter Court must be getting damn desperate, but why? It had to be related to that ritual in Sora's vision. Just thinking about that makes his stomach turn.

Edited 2017-08-06 05:12 (UTC)

Sora, unlike Lambert, doesn't take to the transportation very well. He crashes down to the ground on hands and knees as soon as they arrive, gasping for air, and he can't tell if it's from the teleporting or the running beforehand.

"What..." he starts once he catches his breath. "I mean, it's okay but... I'd kinda like a better idea of what's going on."

It isn't a fun way to travel when unexpected, that's for sure, but Childermass won't apologize for dragging Sora along so abruptly. So they got him into trouble. They also got him out of it, for now. He will, at least, offer Sora a hand up if he needs it.

"The courts are coming after their changelings," he answers the 'what's going on' part. "I was warned that the Count needs one of his own blood for something, though what exactly, I do not know. It could be that ritual you saw."

"It might have something to do with the Severing," Lambert fills in quietly, holding his bag and the notes inside with both hands while the other two reorient themselves.

"Do you know what that is?" If he's never heard of it, explanations might have to start from there.

Sora will take the offered hand, and pull himself to his feet while he reorients himself to their surroundings. Looks like they're safe enough for the moment.

"Yeah, kinda," he says in response to Lambert. "My g- I mean, someone told me about it before. That's when God cut heaven off from earth, right? Or something like that."

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 3

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it feels so weird to have sora talk about God