lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 22nd - 31st, 2017
Where: In Portland, for the last time.
What: The seasons change as the Winter Court seizes a surprise victory, claiming both the Tree of Life's pendant and the blood catalyst needed to take control of the Severing Ritual. Meanwhile, interdimensional problems are about to get more weird. Check out the conflict results for the attack on the Circle as well as the Beast's attack on the Summer Court here.
Warnings: Individually marked!

DAYS OF WINTER↴

As the end of October nears, so does the grasp of winter. On the night of the 22nd, it will freeze overnight, and the temperature will drop for the following days. As the night grow long, world-wide magic slowly reaches it apex, set to reach it on the night of Halloween. With so many factors at play, knowing what to do with that moment of power may be a challenge.

► FULL CIRCLE: The Angels succeed in their planned attack on the Circle, managing to get to the living quarters of the Council members with the help of Ashleigh Mischief. The plan goes without much resistance from the mages or from the demons attempting to claim the ritual object for their own. Of course, when the fae make a surprise attack on the Angels after they flee the scene, it has the surprise result of the Winter Court ended up with the pendant in their talons. Threads for this attack can be done in this log. If you need mod direction at all, let us know, but otherwise feel free to NPC demons, angels, or random Circle members as you require.

► THE QUEEN'S GARDEN: Realizing that the Rose Queen is distracted with attempting to claim the pendant, the Beast will summon her co-conspirators to raid the Queen's gardens. The ultimate plan seems to be to get the Beast far enough into the gardens to kill the Queen, while also rescuing as many changelings as possible along the way. As it turns out, this doesn't go well. While they do manage to penetrate the gardens with Childermass's help, the Rose Queen, Ignatius, and Nightshade happen to all be there. Seriously outnumbered, even by the Beast's terms, it will take everything the group has to just make it out alive, sustaining heavy injuries as they go. In the end they will manage to rescue Greg universe and four additional changelings that were imprisoned there, but any damage done to the Summer Court itself will be negligible. Threads for this can also be played out here!

► REFLECTIONS: As the ritual draws closer, the line between this reality and the one you came from will also be becoming less clear. Regaining memories is not required, but it will naturally become easier to occur, especially if you're already started receiving them. It's a good time to start making connections, while you still have the chance.

► THE SEVERING: One way or another, the Severing is going to make an impact on both this world and the lives of those trapped inside of it. The Angels are going to be making an attempt to interrupt the Winter Court's ritual, as will the Summer Court and Anath's forces. Whoever comes up on top will be the ones to decide what to be done with it. Yet, with news that the Severing continuing could cause irreversible damage to the planet's spirit, it could feel like there are no perfect options. There will be an event header put up for this by the mods closer to the end of July.

(NOTE: canon powers will returning while the ritual is in progress, so keep that in mind for planning - both sets of powers will be active.)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Rita may be unconcerned, but when Yuya sees the elementals approaching he can't help but shrink back for a moment. He doesn't want to seem like a liability, though. He doesn't want to be one, so he swallows thick and holds the crowbar like a bat, steeling himself to attack. Fighting a large monster was a little different than someone who looks like a person.

"Uh... are these things weak to iron too?" He's never tried to use his telekinesis on something that moves--the crowbar may be all he has until they get somewhere with objects he can throw.

[Truly. He pauses, trying to grasp what exactly she means by it, but... no he doesn't quite understand it seems.]

Eh..?

[Though unlike when people usually mix up his name for something else entirely, no surprise fit of anger at the barely-different name he thought was the real one.]

... Well I'm not that young either. [Or as old as his angelic self should be.] What do you mean?

The problem with focusing all your efforts on one or two sides of the conflict is that you completely miss other sides. As such, this is Strange's first time to hear that the angels have an idea of how to break the Severing. But it only takes him a few moments to make a snap judgement about how well they might do in the first place.

"I doubt that," Strange remarks, with a bitter laugh. "Do they even have a catalyst?" However, that line of conversation's stopped as one of the angels fires a spell in their direction, targeting Strange but seemingly overlooking Yuya. Thankfully, Strange casts a quick barrier spell, strong enough that the angel's spell dissipates on impact instead of hitting them.

"Look, you need to leave."

"A catalyst?" Yuya looks piqued by that. He didn't really ask a lot of questions about the ritual, he just--well, trusted them to be a better choice than anyone else. "What kind of catalyst do they need--" he's cut short as he looks over his shoulder at the spell aimed at Strange, not him. But he still moves, reaching for Strange's sleeve as if he's going to pull him out of the way.

But it's not necessary. The barrier takes care of that quickly and Yuya settles back down. He frowns. "I'm not going to run when everyone else is putting themselves in danger to do this!" Yugo and Gon were risking themselves--Gon especially, with so much holy magic around--how can he just stay behind? "I can help too."

"What, your new masters didn't tell you?" Rita's expression flattens. "I tried to kill the Rose Queen. Didn't exactly go as planned, though..." She frowns at that fact, but isn't as deeply bothered as she perhaps ought to be. It's practically a miracle that Rita and all of the others got out alive and free after that disaster of a fight. Well, almost all of them did...

Someone close to him, though...? "Hmph... you've still got a friend even after the sudden change in loyalties? I'm surprised." Rita figured he must have burned all those bridges by now.

It had all happened before he could even blink. One moment Childermass had Lambert's arm slung over his shoulder, keeping his weight off his injured ankle; the next, he was torn away from Lambert's side, leaving him unbalanced. The only sign the changeling was ever there at all is the single, lone feather in his fingers, still bleeding at the quick -- torn free from Childermass's arm when Lambert had tried to hold on to him.

Despite having the energy to yell, Lambert isn't really in much shape to do much else. He staggers a few more steps forward, nearly teetering into a rosebush before he catches himself. They can't stay here -- he knows they can't. Can they really trust that the Rose Queen will remain in her realm, without sending anyone else after them? It's only a matter of time.

Yet for a few more seconds, Lambert remains frozen, watching the sky before his shoulders sag. He wants to run and follow, but unless he grows wings in the next few seconds, that's not going to happen. Part of him is still confused: just what the hell was the name he'd shouted, back there, and why does this feel like he isn't the first time he's lost someone?

Pushing it down, Lambert glances down at the unexpected voice piping up with such distress. The kid from earlier ... a changeling. Someone he really hadn't expected to see on a mission like this, but though he's in rough shape, at least he can stand and walk. Lambert can't see him too well, since he also lost his glasses sometime in this whole mess, but he recognizes the sound of it.

"No, it's not," his voice is rough with emotion, but he pulls it together and carries on, shaky. "You should get out of here." It would be pointless, all this trouble, if everyone involved just up and got caught.

Edited 2017-07-24 06:14 (UTC)

"What an amazingly terrible idea," Strange deadpans, giving her a look. Because hot damn, it is an amazingly terrible idea. Let's go try and stab one of the most powerful magic users in Portland, right in her own domain, what can possibly go wrong?

At her other statement though, Strange frowns. "I didn't say he was a friend. I just said he was close to me." There's a pause, while he mulls things over, debating how much to tell Rita. Screw it. He's never been one for secrets, both here in Portland and (as he was quickly learning) back in England. "He's a changeling by the name of John Childermass. I've reason to believe he was kidnapped by the Winter Court, though I don't have any actual proof right now. No matter what, I'm getting him back."

Yes, Strange realizes how entirely hypocritical he's being, paying attention to this changeling while he was turning a blind eye to the Rose Queen kidnapping other changelings. But this is Childermass. This is different.

"And get yourself killed in the process?" he snaps, looking over at Yuya with a glare. Strange is keeping the barrier spell up, trying his hardest to keep this intact, despite the fact that spells and occasionally people keep bouncing off of it.

"Yuya, these are the fae. They won't care that you're a kid, they won't care that you aren't an angel. All they care about is that you're on the opposing side. Given the chance, they won't hesitate to cut you down."

And...well, Strange doesn't want that to happen. The kid's the closest thing to a friend Strange has in this place. He's not letting Yuya die.

Cellphones took Taako a little while to get used to. He's had three weeks now, of course, to adjust and attempt to learn how to use them, or at least the one "Justin McElroy" had purchased for his use, but it still catches him off guard when his phone goes off suddenly, buzzing and chirping out of nowhere, dragging him rudely out of his attempts to meditate where he sits on his bed.

He rolls his eyes, sighing heavily, and unfurls himself, reaching out to grab the odd little device from its place on the nightstand and see who the hell could be bothering him. Who even has his number anymore? As far as he can tell, "Justin" doesn't really have a lot of close, personal friends, which has suited his needs just fine so far.

"... ah shit."

Foster. And he's pissed. The question is, what about, exactly?

Taako can't help but feel like he knows exactly what. Still, he tries to play it cool. His response is slow-- he's still adjusting to typing, especially on such a little screen-- and he spills over his bed, preemptively tired from the conversation he instinctively knows is about to happen.

fair enough but refresh my memory whatd i do

Edited 2017-07-24 14:25 (UTC)

"I know! But even if you say that..." His friends were already here, fighting. How can he just abandon them? Maybe he could fall back to the angels side--but he's startled from trying to think of a compromise when someone hits the barrier again.

He scrutinizes the barrier spell, looking between it and Strange. Even with the spell they're being really obvious sitting ducks to both sides. "This isn't really the best place to convince me! Can't you just trust me?"

The barrier spell creaks ominously as yet another spell hits it. Thankfully, Strange realizes their situation at the same time Yuya does: this really isn't a good time or place. It was too late to convince Yuya to do anything different--he's already here. So really, annoying as it is, accepting Yuya's decision is the only choice he's got.

"Fine!" Strange grumpily yells, as he reinforces the barrier spell with a few hand gestures, eyes scanning the room to try and find whatever angel tried to take him out in the first place. "If you're still alive after all of this is over, meet up with me then!"

Yuya leans back as the barrier comes down, looking around quickly for which direction to bolt. The left has a path he can cut through to disappear into the crowd again.

"I will! So you have to make it out too!" He insists. Even if Strange is technically his enemy now, Yuya just can't see him that way. Misguided, maybe, but in the end they were working for the same goal with different people.

He bounces back to motion and darts off, weaving between angels and Fae alike to put distance between them again. It's a couple minutes before the shun hitting resumes, but this time he has an angel running with him--far clumsier than Yuya but a great defense again any Fae or wandering magic.

It's just nobody expects it to end because a bunch of crows fly in and steal the pendant from the angels.

Ash is still nominally on the angels' side -- more so now that she's actually been pried out of her hiding state to take an active role in the conflict. Her aim is retrieving the artifact, the loss of which she has taken rather personally.

She may jump ship if she hears or sees anything that makes her think the angels shouldn't be the ones to break the Severing, but she wants that shield down, damn it.

Her eyes narrow at his ridicule of her attempt. Better than being a coward, she figures.

They narrow more when he mentions his companion being a changeling. Since when does Strange associate with her kind? It's Childermass, so... does it have to do with his allegiance to the Summer Court?

"What makes you think they did it?" Rita asks, knowing full well that they did. She wants to know why Strange came to that conclusion. Then, if she's feeling generous, she can go ahead and confirm his suspicions. She saw it happen, after all. "And since when are you in the business of rescuing changelings?" Not that bringing him back under the Rose Queen's control is really rescuing.

So Ash was on Team Angel.

Didn't see that coming. Actually, it kind of bothered her -- angels were goddamn creepy bastards, prone to hiding themselves behind Gothic fonts and good works so no one could see their real agenda. But for now, being on their side was the best available option. Pity they'd screwed it up.

She'd abandoned subtlety entirely; defensive spells and wards wreathed her, crackling with an energy and intensity that made electronics near her flicker and and supernatural senses tingle, and one hand idly toyed with runes and sigils printed on cardstock and cut out like a deck. Every so often, as she stalked the streets of Portland, she paused to murmur a spell of finding, hunting for angels she could ask what the hell was going on.

Her feet led her towards the Sanctuary, hoping she'd find answers there, but she welcomed anyone who dared to approach for any purpose.

U KNEW!!!

The reply is almost immediate--it doesn't matter what Taako said, because Foster was already typing before he received the 'demon's' response.

He's hunched in the wreckage of his room with his phone in his hands. There are no tears, but his throat burns, raw with inchoate grief. Maybe he's supposed to cry. He feels like he's supposed to cry, like his eyes should feel like his throat does, with only the sting of anguish holding it back. Or maybe that faux threat of emotion is all that can reach him through the rupture. Dry eyes he can barely focus and a throat like an open wound.

FUCK YOU
U KNEW!!!!
U KNEW!
U KNEW!!

Shit.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. What the hell does he even say? Does he lie?

For a very long moment, Taako just lays there, staring at the dimly-lit screen, his eyes unfocused as he thinks. Fuck, when did he get so wrapped up in this motherfucker's life? It's too late for him to back out of it now, not without causing even more of a mess.

Finally, he does respond, and the response he gives is almost exhausted, even through text.

did you really want to know

"Lambert!"

Miraculously, Peridot had managed to avoid taking any serious damage during the raid, which is more than most of the others can say. Honestly, she probably LOOKS a lot worse than she actually feels; blood and singe marks tend to stand out pretty boldly against white fur.

She'd gotten caught up in the swarm same as everyone else when the Winter Court attacked... had instinctively gone upwards to try and get out of the thick of things. And when the crows all cleared-- because those stupid birds had gotten what they needed-- Peridot had already been up in the skies, and she didn't even think twice about giving chase.

All that explains why she's winded, and also looks like a cotton ball that's been rolled around through a filthy back alley, when she swoops down to land next to her-- no, not her brother. Gems don't have families. She needs to keep reminding herself that.

Then again, gems shouldn't be able to bleed either, and she's definitely done a good amount of that today. Some of the cuts she's sporting are obviously more fresh, little nicks and scratches from getting caught up in a swarm of freaking corvids. In particular there's an alarming amount of dried blood down one side of her face where her ear got sliced along the edge by some errant thorns... but dealing with that is the last thing on her mind right now. She flops on the ground, panting heavily, her flight muscles screaming from the exertion.

"One-- One second," she wheezes, trying to catch her breath. She's only been gone maybe 10 minutes or so, but it was a 10 minutes with a lot of wing flapping involved.

"I'm not in the business of rescuing changelings. If this wasn't Childermass, I wouldn't bother." Harsh? Yes. But true? Maybe. Strange would like to think that's true but he's honestly not entirely sure what sort of man he is anymore.

"The Rose Queen needs her changeling son in order to complete the ritual to remove the Severing. It wouldn't surprise me if the Count of Crows wanted to do the same--that's Childermass's dad, by the way. Likewise, powerful magics are preventing me from summoning or scrying on Childermass, and the only beings in Portland with power enough to block my summoning spells are the true fae."

A part of Strange realizes that's an immensely egotistical thing to say...but it's also kind of true.

Birds are the absolute worst. After the fight is over and people have started to leave, Strange sticks around, waiting for Yuya...and also just waiting in general because he's got a black eye and nosebleed, let's at least hang around and wait for the latter to slow down or stop happening before venturing back to his apartment.

Yuya might have been able to dodge a lot of attacks and weave out of the way, but Strange looks like he got hit by almost every attack that went his way. Nothing's broken, but he's dirty and beat up to hell. Spotting Yuya, Strange walks over, his words a bit muffled due to the fact that he's pinching his nose to stop the bleeding.

"I think we can safely say none of us were expecting that." He's pretty damn pissed off.

Yuya's nursing a bruise on his cheek as Strange approaches, likely from some sort of blunt force. But he's unharmed aside from dirt, so at least his new angel friend kept his back safe. Mostly he's just... confused. The pendant is just gone, what were they supposed to do now?

He knits his brow at he looks Strange over. The angels didn't really bring first aid, so he hopes Strange thought ahead more than he did.

"That wasn't one of the Summer Court?" He has a hard time believing it was some random flock of birds, but if Strange was angry it couldn't be to their favor either. "What were those birds?"

It's a good question. Rita's never really dealt with elementals before.

"If they were conjured through fae magic, then... probably?" Rita guesses, but the fire elemental starts winding up for an attack, and she has to respond. She conjures a shield in the form of a flat disc of spinning flames - the only defensive spell she really knows - and holds it up. The creature winds up its head, opens it maw and spits out a blast of fire, but Rita intercepts it with the shield, absorbing the flames that spill from its body.

"This one might be tricky," Rita warns, though she still doesn't sound that alarmed. "My fire won't work on it." The good news, though, is that if she keeps that defense up, its fire won't work on her, either.

Yuya nods, ducking behind Rita's shiekd with her. But if her free want going to work, that left it to him, didn't it? But hitting fire is not going to be like hitting someone's shins, how can he do it safely? He looks between the crowbar and the fire elemental...

"Oh!" Duh! He puts enough space between him and Rita so he can swing the crowbar wide before throwing it. With that momentum stated it's easier for him to launch it with his ESP to collide with the elemental's skull-- and then pulls it right back through the air with his abilities, floating in the air as he tries to beat it with the bar from afar.

He just hopes it's actually doing any damage.

Rita's eyes widen. "Her son...!? Then... damn it," she hisses. That was what the Summer Court was after from the beginning... why they pursued Steven, and his dad, and the people around them. Is he safe now...? With time running out, and the Winter Court holding an advantage, the Rose Queen could become desperate.

No... besides that, there's something that doesn't make sense here. "Why stop them? I thought you wanted the Severing removed." It seems like every time Rita talks to Strange, he's after something completely different. Also, since when does this moron have the power to summon Childermass in the first place!?

► FULL CIRCLE - for Sans

After more than a week, there's familiar patterns to the noises he can make out through the closed door and walls. Occasional muffled conversations, occasional footsteps, sometimes a distant phone. Today, that pattern breaks. There's outright yelling, and what seems like explosions.

Papyrus listens as carefully as he can for sounds of somebody in the hallway, and eventually starts calling out in hope of drawing someone to his cell.

"HEY! What's going on? Is the building burning down or something??"

► REFLECTIONS - OTA

Between the various vivid dreams, having almost nothing else to occupy himself with, and the astonishingly familiar face of his rescuer (basically accidental rescuer, but results count)... it's clear to Papyrus that he's remembering things from another life, and that he's not alone in this.

He takes a note from the book of whoever ran the animal fair, designs and prints out a poster to hang up all around the usual haunts he remembers seeing other familiar people in; the cat cafe, the various parks, the college. Even the woods where the fair had been held, just in case.

DO YOU RECOGNIZE THIS SKELETON??

(It's a photo manip of a muscular figure with a hand-drawn skull and several pairs of sunglasses added.)

PLEASE CALL (727) 555 - 9787 !!
WE NEED TO TALK!

► WILDCARD - OTA

[If you've got another thought in mind, give it a shot or hit me up via plurk/pm to let me give it a thumbs up]

Edited 2017-07-24 18:17 (UTC)

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

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AFTERMATH (I know we're still backtagging other shit but sshshhsh)

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Papyrus