⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4 PT2

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone and everyone!
When: October 31st, 2017 HALLOWEEN!
Where: The Count of Crow's Underground Realm
What: The displaced carnival members break into the Count of Crow's underground fortress, in the hope of taking control of the ritual and maybe saving Childermass's life.
Warnings: Violence, ritual blood letting, other stuff.

DAYS OF WINTER PT2↴ The night of hallow's eve has come, and there's no more time for waiting. As Portland begins enjoying the festivities of the night, you are tasked with something darker - you must find the Count's realm within Portland's underground tunnels, and fight off those that would stop you. The ritual will be starting soon, and once it's finished the very nature of this reality will be in the Winter Court's hands... the only choice is to intervene.

Comments

[kingsroads]

Calmly, quietly, Strange walks over towards whoever fell. Once he sees that it's Steven, that small smirk just turns to a wide grin. Perfect! Here was the brat, ready for the taking! And he wasn't going to mess it up this time.

"Hello there Steven," Strange simply remarks, as he looms over the boy. There's an eerie calmness to his words, a sharp contrast from the manic energy that Strange seems to exude most of the time. "You're about to make my evening so much easier." As he says that, he attempts to just straight up grab Steven by the wrist, trying to yank him up off the floor. Granted, Strange doesn't really have much upper arm strength...but then again, to the best of his knowledge, Steven doesn't either.

[starseedling]

Steven yelps, trying to pull back as if burned. Elsewhere, he could have tried to fight back with his vines, but... as it turns out, growing Summer Court plants in a Winter Court realms is actually extremely difficult. Steven feels worn out from the coldness of it alone.

That means, he's more than a little bit scared to find this man coming after him again - though it seems different than before. Strange had seemed to reluctant to demand anything before, just implanting ideas rather than making demands. The way he's talking now feels so weird... possibly because Steven actually knows Strange better than he thought he did?

"No!" he insists, his hand slipping on the ice when he tries pull back. He ends up half on his feet, without any traction. "Let me go, right now!"

[kingsroads]

Strange simply scowls at Steven as he watches the kid pull back out of the way. Pathetic. He was a Summer Court changeling in the Winter Court's realm--how long did this kid think he could hold out in the first place?

"Get up," he says, still unnervingly calm as he attempts to grab Steven's wrist again--though as Strange is taking care not to step on the ice himself, it's a bit of a reach. "Or I'll make you get up myself. Your mother wants you back--so much so that I think she'll overlook it if you come back broken."

This is Nightshade who brainwashed him, after all, of course she'd add in some petty cruelty to the brainwashing terms and conditions. With a gesture of Strange's other hand, the room's temperature starts to slowly drop as the already cold room gets even colder.

[starseedling]

"No!" Steven shouts back a him, continuing to slip on the ice, but pulling back so that Strange will have to step on the ice to actually reach him. "I'm not going to let you take me! I'll fight you!"

Sometimes, you have to. He feels like he's experience that lesson a lot, in his short life.

"Why are you helping her?" he pleads, his voice becoming more desperate.

[kingsroads]

Strange pauses, looks at the ice with a frown, and then very carefully and tentatively steps onto it. This whole 'bring the brat back alive' thing is more annoying than expected. Still, he can at least cut off some options. With a gesture of his hand and a brief incantation muttered under his breath, multiple spikes form from the ice around the door frame. They aren't huge but your average normal ten year old would have a hard time breaking them.

Of course, Strange isn't counting on ten year olds with weird gem superstrength. That'll make things a bit easier when Steven busts out.

As for Steven's question, Strange looks at him like it's the most obvious answer ever. "Because she asked me." Obviously there's so much more than that what with the brainwashing and all, but at least in Strange's mind, Nightshade asked him to do something so of COURSE it was going to happen! Again he reaches out to try and grab Steven, though Strange's footing is shaky at best.

[starseedling]

Strange will get Steven's arm, and Steven will pull back, shuddering with the increasing cold in the room. This is really hard for his changeling body to tolerate, and falling down on ice isn't helping. Yet, the thing that stick out most if Strange's phrasing.

Because she asked him. That's it. That's the whole explanation. It strikes a familiar chord in him, and what that fills him with dread. He pulls back his wrist, which will probably end up dragging Strange down on top of him, as they wrestle on top of the ice.

"Stop... Stop listening to her!"

[kingsroads]

Strange slips, landing on the ice with a solid thud. He tries to stand back up and yank Steven up with him, but considering the fact that they're both on ice, Strange's feet slip out from underneath him every few steps. Dammit! If he could just get the changeling to stay still then this would all be over.

"I can't!" Strange hisses, actual emotion pouring into his voice for the first time in this entire conversation as continues to deal with a flailing child and stand up straight on ice at the same time. Honestly, he's halfway tempted to just punch the kid, maybe that'll make the brat stop flailing. "I'd do anything Nightshade asked of me, of course I'm going to listen to her!"

Just from the tone of Strange's voice, it's obvious that Nightshade brainwashed him hard. She's so lovely, so wonderful, the fact that she would even pay attention to a failure of a magician like him, of course he'd do whatever Nightshade asked.

[starseedling]

He can't be reasoned with, and that's more terrifying than anything. Steven recognizes it in his voice, he recognizes the wording - this is different than before. He never tried to attack Steven before, and he let Bud go when Steven listened to him.

He's afraid for both of them, but his visceral terror of being taken again outweighs it. As Strange pulls him to his feet, something in him snaps, and his fear becomes anger.

"I'm not - going - WITH YOU!" Steven yells and punches Strange squarely across the face, his incredible strength returned.

[kingsroads]

And Strange goes down like a chump. Not only is he not expecting the kid to actually punch him, but he's certainly not expecting the punch to be that hard. Strange lets go of Steven to bring a hand up to his nose. However, as he does that, his feet slip out from underneath him due to the ice and Strange just wipes out, hitting the ground hard.

He's got to take a second to catch his breath but a moment or two later, Strange finally realizes that the ice on the floor is the main problem here and he's a magician. As he attempts to get to his feet, Strange mutters a spell under his breath to make that damn floor ice melt. Needless to say, there's plenty of time for Steven to smash through the ice near the door, kick Strange in the ribs, or do something else of that sort.