Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ringleaders) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lostcarnival2017-07-22 12:42 am
ringleaders) wrote in lostcarnival2017-07-22 12:42 am
⇨ 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!
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.) |
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"Secret boyfriend?" Strange adds, with a frown. Well heck that's new. Was she talking about Childermass, that doesn't make any sense in the first place, why would oh my god Strange gets it now. And suddenly some missing pieces of the cat cafe debacle slip into place. "Oh good Lord."
It's odd. Strange has enough of his Portland personality to just be absolutely disgusted. A changeling, Lambert? Really? Urgh, you can do so much better than that. But he has enough of his carnival memories to realize that he should be giving both men immense amounts of shit for this (and definitely will give both men immense amounts of shit for this once everybody's back to normal.)
Strange stands back up, abandoning his quest to pet the dog in favor of teasing. He's got an odd expression on his face, like he just doesn't know what to think about this and what he should be doing about the whole scenario. Which of course he's going to talk about, because the fate of the world can be put on pause in the presence of hot gossip.
"Huh. And here I thought the two of you were together."
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Lambert would really like to state categorically that Peridot's just being a little shit and Strange absolutely shouldn't take her words literally. However, much as he'd choked on his own words when Miko asked about the sweater, he struggles to get it out, making a weird noise in the back of his throat (vaguely reminiscent of a deflating balloon) as he goes sheet-white in indignation, then bright red in mortification. It's not a good look under the bruising. How could Peridot even say something like that?
(Of course, it's pretty obvious in retrospect how she could, but even Lambert doesn't know how he feels about Childermass, except possibly 'irrationally attached,' and they haven't exactly gotten a chance to talk about it! Some part of him is offended! They don't need labels!)
Of course, by the time he actually manages to gather his scrambled wits together to muster a coherent response, Strange comes out with that and Lambert's jaw nearly hits the floor.
"She's my sister!" he thunders, startling poor Pumpkin, who was just getting to pawing at the mages legs. Denying the whole 'secret boyfriend' thing is just going to take a backseat to this for a moment, because what the fuck, Strange? He immediately regrets getting worked up when sudden twinges of pain all around remind him why, in fact, he shouldn't be getting up, and he winces, dropping a hand to his side and leaning back against the couch. Yeah, that was a bad idea. No yelling.
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She was definitely just being a little shit about Lambert and Childermass, but she sure didn't expect to see such a dramatic reaction out of her brother. She'd had her suspicions about them, sure, but apparently she was more on point than she realized. Eyebrows raised, she watches him with a sort of bemused interest as his face shifts through a veritable rainbow of colors... and then Strange goes ahead and says that.
Peridot doesn't believe in karma. But. Wow.
"He's my BROTHER!" she squawks simultaneously to Lambert's outburst, disgust written all over her face. It really doesn't matter if she knows for a fact that her whole family history with Lambert and Miko is a false one, that's still just weird and gross.
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Honestly, it's not completely out of the ordinary that someone would make a mistake like that. The haughtiness kicks right back into gear as he pushes back that surprised expression for one closer to his normal annoyed.
"How was I supposed to know that?" he grumbles, gesturing back at Pumpkin. Come back here you little fluff, it's okay, the yelling's stopped. "You don't look a thing alike and you share the same last name. Of course someone would assume married over siblings."
At least, of course the man who doesn't have any siblings in both realities and was also married in both realities assumes married over siblings.
meanwhile in the Stairs Zone
--But okay no she did not try at all. Miko scoots a couple steps down the stairs and crouches on a step, furry ears angling toward the living room while she tries to stay out of sight. Stealth!! Sort of, theoretically. Hopefully they'll be distracted enough not to notice her.
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"We were in the same foster family," is just what he's going to finish with, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes.
The rest of statement is so incredibly stupid it doesn't even deserve being acknowledged, so he's not going to, and he's just going to move right on to correcting the other mistaken assumption in this conversation.
"And Childermass isn't anyone's boyfriend, much less mine. That was a joke." The metaphorical eye-lasers he's shooting at Peridot after that say it had better be.
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Meanwhile, Peridot looks utterly unrepentant in the face of that death glare, defensively bristling and scowling right back at him. WHAT THE HECK IS LAMBERT SO MAD ABOUT?
"Hey! I am merely drawing conclusions based off of the evidence that I have observed for myself so far," she says snippily. "The key point here is that, whatever he is, he's obviously very important to you!"
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"I'd hope they're not boyfriends," Strange idly remarks, with a smile that's a little too smug and a little too malicious. "Childermass is already seeing someone else--I'd hate for Lambert to be the other woman."
Other man? Whatever. And it's not like Strange is entirely certain Childermass is seeing someone else. But two weeks or so ago, Childermass was pretty cozy with Strange's ex-wife in a way that suggested to him at least that they were pretty close to being a couple.
Portland is a friggen soap opera apparently.
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"What, you mean fake-dating your ex-wife because you asked him to stalk her?" he asks, with feigned surprise. "Like I said, I know he's not dating anyone, because we actually talk about things."
The last part is straight up false because Childermass divulges personal information like rocks dispense blood, but you know what, sometimes a lie is necessary in service to a greater cause. It's also amazing how much Lambert wants to just throw Strange out a window and wonders how he ever let himself be suckered into thinking the man does things like, you know, care about other people.
Though as soon as the words are out of his mouth, Lambert instantly regrets them too. He buries his face in a hand, groaning, and shakes his head. "But that's not the point! We all want the same result no matter what our reasons are, so can we please just focus?"
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"Focus on what?" she asks. "You haven't even told me why you're both here yet."
Aside from the obvious point that Lambert also lives here, anyway.
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Besides, it just feels right to do magic with two people. There's a longing in the back of his head, like he's missed this sort of thing. He continues talking, but tries to pick up Pumpkin while he does so because this dog is currently in the running for 'best person in the whole room.'
"I said you were a talented mage and I meant it. If we combine our magic and cast the spell together, we might have a chance of finding Childermass."
Or not because the true fae are bonkers level magic but hey, attempts count for something.
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Wait. Wait.
Fuckin' SWEATER GUY.
Miko does her best to stifle a squeak as she works it out, by... shoving her face into her rabbit's fur. Sorry, Screamo, this was not what you signed up for when you followed her out of her room. She hurriedly scoots another couple steps down, scooping Screamo into her arms.
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He's not sure how he feels about Strange praising Peridot either, but the turn the conversation's taken gives him a reason to get up and (slowly) move over to the other side of the room.
"And I have something that belonged to him." He doesn't know if it'll actually help, but hey, anything's worth a shot. Don't worry, he's not pulling out the sweater. Instead, he's going for the closet and digging into the pocket of the jacket he'd been wearing during the attack on the Rose Queen's realm, producing a slightly banged-up looking black feather.
His glare dares them both to say anything snarky about this.
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She nods thoughtfully as Strange explains his proposal, and then cocks her head curiously at what Lambert has produced from his coat pocket.
Her nose crinkles. She lifts a finger and points at it unnecessarily. “Hold on—Is that… Did you….”
Take that off of him? Pick up one of his shed feathers? Did he give it you as a gift or something? Lambert what the hell.
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"Most people wear a jacket that their boyfriend gave them, not carry around the changeling equivalent of hair clippings."
And don't worry Pumpkin, those fingers are 100% not poisonous and also 100% giving ear scratches, oh my god he is so gonna steal this dog.
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Oh holy shit does he have like, a handful of feathers or something. Lambert what the hell. It's too bad she's supposed to be hiding, so she can't join in mocking him about it.
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It's only once he's stepped back that he offers any kind of explanation for leaving them with such a weird memento--
"It's hard to hold on to someone's jacket when faeries are kidnapping them, so this is all I've got," he says with false brightness, mouth twisting in a sharp, ugly sneer before he turns sharply on his heel.
"I'm going out. Text me what you want for dinner."
And before anyone else can react to that, he's gone.
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"Lambert--" she starts to say, half-rising from her seat, but. He's already gone. Pumpkin has twisted in Strange's arms to watch him go as well, whuff-ing inquisitively. Peridot just blows a harsh breath out with her cheeks, flopping back down onto the couch, her stare lingering on the door for a long moment. Great. And now she feels like the world's biggest tool. She hadn't even realized she was saying anything quite so hurtful, either...
She supposes the only thing to do for now is to try her hardest to locate Childermass, and apologize to Lambert later when, hopefully, they have more information on his whereabouts.
She looks up to meet Strange's eyes, scowling grimly because, hey, she's not the only one who fucked up here, and she hopes Strange knows that. "Alright, well... The fact that it literally came from his body and it isn't just a random belonging of his should at least help focus the spell, right?" There's even some blood on it! Lovely. Surely that must be help too. Blood is useful in magic, right?
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"It should," Strange admits, as he gently sets Pumpkin down on the ground. Almost a moment later, she starts whining. "The spell I use can easily be modified to include a sympathetic tie, especially one as small and personal as this feather. We'll need a large bowl of some sort, like a mixing bowl, filled with water. Likewise, I'll need pencil and paper so I can write down the incantation--you'll say it, while I perform the actions needed, thereby linking our power together for the spell."
It certainly sounds like a lot of impressive magical bullshit, at least. And fits in with any theory that Peridot's read about multiple people casting spells and/or scrying.
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And then she leaves, Pumpkin obediently trotting after her, perhaps hoping that there may be food involved in whatever task is sending Peridot into the kitchen. There's some rustling and clattering coming from in there, the sound of a tap running and then stopping. When she emerges once more, she's awkwardly balancing a battered looking mixing bowl, trying not to slop water off the sides of it.
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Instead, Strange sits down next to the computer for a moment to scribble out the spell in handwriting that's definitely readable, but also atrocious. He's still writing down the incantation when he hears the water slosh as Peridot returns.
"Good! Set that down on a clear space like a coffee table or something and place the feather to the left of it. I've almost finished writing down your part..."
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She holds the feather up for a brief examination-- more out of curiosity than out of a search for any additional information-- and then gingerly places it down by the bowl like she's asked, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from strange.
"I hope we can find something," she murmurs suddenly, her demeanor strangely devoid of her usual self-confidence. "I'd much rather have some good news to relay to Lambert, once he makes it back."
Pumpkin whines with concern and hops up next to her, and then leans over to try and sniff the feather. Pumpkin, don't eat that....
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"I hope we can find something as well," he admits, with a frown. Not because it'll make Lambert happy but because Strange desperately wants to make certain that Childermass is okay. He rolls up his sleeves slightly, before moving from the couch and kneeling down in front of the table. Poor Pumpkin gets nudged away by Strange's elbow as he kneels down.
"Tell me when you're ready. We don't need to hold hands or anything, but you'll need to place at least one hand on the bowl itself."
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...Unless it is better. She scoots down the last few steps and tries to peer around the corner, seeing if she can make out what they're doing without being spotted herself.
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"No offense, but your penmanship is atrocious," she says blandly, lowering the paper from her face. "As your apprentice, I could assist you with improving that. You know. Between lessons."
Peridot is now really the time--
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