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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The last time I checked, faucets weren't usually found in the stairwell."

Should a grown man be tag-teaming with a college student to guilt trip a teenager? Nope. Is a grown man tag-teaming with a college student to guilt trip a teenager? You betcha.

"Yeah! And there's a perfectly functional tap in the bathroom upstairs! YOU LIAR! EXPLAIN YOURSELF AT ONCE!"

YOU'RE EMBARRASSING HER IN FRONT OF GUESTS, MIKO.

Miko shoots a scowl at Strange - nobody asked you, old man - before turning back to Peridot, her free hand on her hip.

"Well I don't have a cup up there! Besides, why would I want to listen in on you guys' boring egghead stuff, anyway?"

Don't mind Strange, he's just staying quiet and watching the argument with so much interest. This is petty and kind of stupid and he straight up wants to see how it ends.

"Uh, because you're nosy!? And it's not egghead stuff, it's very serious magic that we're performing for a very serious reason, and--"

Partway through this sentence Peridot realizes that trying to stress the importance of this scrying session to her teen sister of all people is completely pointless, and she breaks off in a fit of indignant spluttering, like Miko has somehow duped her into having his argument on purpose and Peridot can't believe that she walked right into it.

"Just-- Go to the kitchen!" She flaps her hand agitatedly towards the entrance to the other room in a shooing motion. "Retrieve your water and then BEGONE FROM OUR SIGHTS!"

Honestly, even if she hadn't realized it on her own, the fact that Miko has twisted her expression into a mockery of Peridot's and is currently lip-syncing clumsily along with what she's saying would probably be a good indication.

Then she literally actually stomps her foot. "Fine! Have fun with your weird nerd crap, I'll be upstairs having a life!"

She stomps into the kitchen, making a point of being as LOUD AS POSSIBLE about getting a glass of water, because if she has to do this now to maintain the illusion she set up, she's going to be annoying about it, dammit.

Only child Jonathan Strange thinks that this is all really funny. He's trying to hide that smile on his face and look like a mature, responsible adult but Miko literally stomps into the kitchen, he cracks. Strange grins, a big ol'shithead 'I find this hilarious because I'm not part of it' sort of grin.

"I don't know. If she's curious about the magic, I personally don't mind her watching as the spell's cast. Of course, it is 'weird nerd crap' in the first place."

He is causing trouble just for the sake of causing trouble.

Peridot is just mortified that she's acting this way in front of guests. In front of her potential future teacher, no less.

...Then she catches a glimpse of that grin and. Hm. Well at least he's not actively disapproving of this whole display?

"Please don't encourage her," Peridot growls at him, breaking her death glare directed towards the kitchen long enough to shoot him A Look. She's just going to tap her foot impatiently, waiting for Miko to reemerge and disappear back upstairs again so that they can get on with this spell already.

Oooh man that is good to hear. As little as the workings of magic tend to interest her, she is curious about this whole thing.

Besides, if she stays it will annoy Peridot. Always a bonus.

She trots back out of the kitchen, water in hand, grinning. "Hey, it could be less boring if I'm actually watching! And I can be quiet and stuff."

Strange is straight up encouraging Miko. Or, at least, he's deliberately being a gadfly and poking and prodding both girls just to see how far he can push this gloriously petty sibling rivalry.

"As I said, I don't mind her. But as a whole," he says, turning towards Peridot, "it's your decision. After all, you're going to be as much a part of the spell as I am. If you think Miko would be a nuisance, then we simply won't perform the magic until she leaves."

This is a room full of metaphorical children.

Well now if she tells Miko to get lost she's just going to be the bad guy! Plus, she knows if she says 'no', Miko will probably just stick around out of spite and then they'll all be in here all night. So in the interest of expediting things...

"Fine! Whatever, you can stay!" she cries with exasperation, throwing her hands up. "Let's just get this thing started already..."

Miko literally actually fist-pumps. "Sweet!"

She stoops down to scoop up her rabbit, who had followed her into the kitchen, then plops down to sit on the floor near where they're working. She's got a rabbit and a glass of water, all ready to watch magic shit she doesn't understand.

Spoiler alert, Miko: it's going to be really anti-climactic magic shit.

Still, Strange adjusts his position and rolls his neck some, getting a crick out of it, as if he's about to do some sort of physical labor and not cast a joint spell. He places one hand near the bowl of water and picks up Childermass's feather with the other hand (which is still kind of gross, sorry Lambert, stop being a creep.)

"I'm ready when you are, Miss Peridot."

Peridot shoots one last warning look at Miko, and then places her hand near the bowl as well. She lifts the spell up and squints at the little piece of paper, clearing her throat. Then she starts to read in a clear voice, pronouncing each syllable carefully.

To her credit, Miko does sit quietly as Peridot reads, watching in silence as the two mages work... even if she can't quite resist sticking her tongue out initially when Peridot gives her A Look.

As Peridot reads the spell, Strange traces various symbols and sigils over the bowl of water. He doesn't touch the water, but the outlines of the symbols glow as Strange traces them. Around halfway through the spell, he places the feather in the bowl of water, mutters a little something himself...and oddly, the feather sinks to the bottom. Near the end, he just repeats the same gesture, dividing the bowl of water into four over and over again.

Sorry Miko, the magic's boring as shit.

It's also anticlimactic as shit because as soon as they finish the spell, the water goes from clear to cloudy: it's a dark, murky, cloudy sort of water that you can't see anything in.

"Damn," Strange swears, "the same result. This only settles it: he must be in a faerie realm."

When the image settles, Peridot lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in an annoyed growl. She flops back against the couch, rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses.

"Great! So basically we learned absolutely nothing new." She huffs dramatically flops back against the couch, rubbing her eyes underneath her glasses. "Not even so much as a hint about where to find the entrance to the Winter Court... God." Her hands fall from her face, and she stares sullenly up at the ceiling.

"I was really hoping... that we would be able to give Lambert some good news," she says after a moment.

Well, it might not be particularly flashy, but it's still kind of cool. Miko frowns at the two mages, looking between them.

"Is there, like... anyone you could talk to who might know someone who knows? Or something like that. Someone's gotta know how to get in, right?"

"There is someone I know who might know things," Strange admits. However, he can't hide the small hint of nervousness in his voice as he talks. "But I won't be able to talk to her here and now. I'll call her up when I'm back at mine and then tell you all if I find out anything."

He won't. Because the person Strange is thinking of who might be able to tell them more about the Winter Court? That's Nightshade, and his dumb ass is gonna get kidnapped by that fae after they have their conversation.

Sorry team, he's a loser.

"We know at least one of the entrances is somewhere in Chinatown," Peridot says suddenly, sitting up and fixing Strange with an intense look. It doesn't matter if the magician seems nervous, she'll take any straw she can grasp at the moment. "If you can use that to get more specific information out of your contact, do it. Please."

Okay, now Miko has a few questions about the fact that there's apparently an entrance to the fae realm just hanging out in Chinatown, but, for once, she doesn't say anything - just keeps looking between Peridot and Strange uncertainly.

This is all... a lot to take in, and it's been pretty intense.

There's an entrance to the fae realm just hanging out in Chinatown? Well, Strange didn't know that either. He honestly has no idea if that would help in the first place but might as well mention it.

"I already said I'd do it," Strange grumbles, more out of annoyance that he's suddenly nervous about contacting Nightshade than anything else. Standing up, he starts to get himself ready to leave. After all, what else can he do here? Scrying was the only thing he could think of where they could find Childermass, he doesn't have any other tricks that he'd want Peridot or Miko to help out with.

"I've got Lambert's number. I'll contact him if I find anything even remotely useful. We can work off of that."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

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