lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4 PT2

"Um... can he actually do that?" Nightshade asks after a moment, sounding genuinely unsure. As for Ignatius's threat, her face wrinkles in distaste, but she doesn't comment.

Yuya stares in disbelief. If... if this is the route they're going. Okay.

He cups his hands around his mouth and calls out. "That's right! We have the only way that you're going to get home too, so if you mess things up you're going to be sorry!"

He doesn't even know if this is true or if they're bluffing.

The sound of Ignatius' booming voice makes Rita visibly cringe. She remembers a different Rita... quiet and obedient, someone who strove to play the role of a tool perfectly, carefully avoiding his fury for years.

But now, Rita's the furious one, and Nightshade's the one to spark her anger. She's the one controlling Strange (and being weird about it while she's at it, great), and she wants to get Steven back for the Rose Queen? "Your taste sucks, and your queen's not getting a damn thing," Rita snaps at her, but she doesn't move to attack. Her eyes follow Ignatius with a wary look. As far as she's concerned, he's the biggest threat at the moment.

Ignatius comes to a stop, not sure what to make of that threat. Is it true? Ignatius is not much of a rituals type person, himself, and at no point in all of this had he been preparing for the event of casting one, unlike the Rose Queen.

It would stand to reason, considering all the energy that the Count has had to build here. Thankfully, Ignatius is in no rush. He raises his arms in the air in challenge, but doesn't progress any further.

"Then who among you will face me?" he laughs, as if the challenge is a joke to him. None of these fools would survive it, he's sure. His eyes do linger extra long on Rita, however.

He recognizes you, Rita.

"I will," Rin says confidently, striding forward. His sword is drawn and he is engulfed in blue flame.

"Let's see how good your fire power REALLY is!"

Psi reaches out to catch Foster's body as he falls thanks to the return of his psionics. He's mad in a way he didn't expect. That this woman would move to violence thanks to a simple discussion. It was clear from the very beginning Foster wasn't any kind of threat to a group like this. They'd simply been talking, maybe even getting somewhere, and she'd stepped in. There was no reason for it, except perhaps arrogance that anyone dare question her plans.

He doesn't say anything. He's not an idiot, at least not completely. He knows starting an argument now of all times would be disastrous for the entire group, especially if others were so easily moved to violence. He simply lays Foster on the ground out of the way, hoping that Pru is right when she says Foster should be fine. Of course that's when the true fae decide to enter. He doesn't care much for the Fire Lord's intrusion, but when he sees that purple witch his already tangible anger spikes. His Psionic aura grows, a soft vibrant purple glow surrounding him as he stands to regard the fae. He looks calm on the surface, but underneath he's anything but. It's been a long time since he's actively wanted to harm someone, but now was one of those moments.

The fighting begins, though it seems everyone's hesitant to do any true damage. Ignatius was angry and seemed to be acting purely on instinct. Meanwhile Nightshade was hanging back, letting her puppet do the work for her. Comparing the two Ignatius was clearly the bigger threat, but the Psionic didn't actually care about that right now. Nightshade had come for the queen's kin, or so she said, and the Psionic just wasn't in the mood to watch anyone get kidnapped again. The brainwashed Strange was bad enough.

Without moving or even a word, he attacks. His aura grows, purple color seeping into the air as he uses his psionics to throw any still remaining snow or water on the ground up at all three of their opponents. However, the real attack is the bright red and blue blasts that fire from his eyes towards their opponents, the snow and water hopefully acting as a smokescreen to delay any attempts to dodge. The light is impossibly bright and easily as big as Nightshade, perhaps even a bit bigger, and you can bet she's his target.

Somewhere else in this nest of the Winter Court's fae, there is the sudden feeling of rising fury. Some disturbed force of wrath boiling up, seeping through the walls and floors, its source unseen and distant. But it is felt.

It is bitter and cold, as suits this place, almost like an acrid taste in the air as it seeps across the battlefield. There's no blind frothing berserk frenzy here, not this frigid building storm of rage. No passionate intensity, but so easy to pick up on anyway, so easy to feel, so easy to make one's own, as if that feeling had once been theirs..

The fury of someone tricked, kidnapped, manipulated, trapped and only realizing it for the first time.

and someone will pay DEARLY

That force of terrible rage is coming this way. Slowly. Inexorably.

That too can be felt.

Strange doesn't have much time to act. As he sees the snow and water get thrown in the air, he steps in front of Nightshade, hands out as he casts a barrier spell, possibly the only useful thing that Portland-Strange has given him.

The air in front of him shimmers for not even a second before the blasts collide with the spell. His magic manages to hold off a large portion of the blast but the barrier cracks at the end, shattering as Strange takes the brunt of the remaining eye lasers straight to the chest. He lets out a yelp of pain at the impact, staggering backwards.

Nightshade's safe, though. That's what matters.

Sans has been holding back mostly, since the ritual has started to be put together - he's watching the craftsmanship behind it curiously, but his goal is to defend. Then, of course, the crow sisters are abruptly put down, the True Fae show up, and Psi decides to take the stage.

This seems like a bad thing. The lasers don't strike him as any surprise, anymore, but who he's aiming them at? This seems like a bad, bad idea.

His sockets go wide, and his flies up to meet Psi in the air, but he can't bring himself to act. He's paralyzed, for the moment, unsure of what to do.

"Psi! Stop!" he shouts after him. "Dude, back it off!"

Everything is moving so fast; the true fae, the... something that Tamaki can feel coming from the castle, that alien guy attacking Strange even though he just said Strange is brainwashed...

And then it looks like the angel from before (Tamaki remembers him now, though they'd never talked much) is going to try to actually do something, but then he looks unsure, frozen in the air.

"Warden!" he yells, because he remembers now, that's what Sans is. "Now is your chance to intervene!"

Ignatius had been just about to accept Rin's proposal, about to ready to duel honor, when Psi simply begins attacking without warning. It's immaterial whether that attack is against Nightshade, or against himself. Psi is attacking members of the Summer Court, and Ignatius will not accept that insult - most definitely not after having offered a civil and one on one challenge.

Psi hasn't been sportsmanlike, so Ignatius isn't going to be either. His glare sets on Psi as the lasers start pouring down, and he ignores what Nightshade and Strange are doing for the moment. Instead, he will launch himself like a fiery rocket directly into Psi's laser beams, the energy washing over him only seem to fuel the power of his flaming, growing larger and more wild as he rapidly approaches.

He will strike Psi like a meteor, plowing him into the ground in a vicious attack. If it weren't for Psi's psionic defenses, it would almost certainly have killed him instantly. Otherwise... it only might have.

"BWAH!!"

THIS WAS NOT THE PLAN. This was not the plan at all!! Rin watches in abject horror as Ignatius takes off like a rocket, and crashes down like a bomb on a guy he actually recognizes now.

"PSI!"

On top of that, he can feel something else, something from deep within the castle. A cold, calculating fury. It... it felt like Mom.

(No. Not Mom. Not his mom. She was dead.)

Rin rushes Ignatius, just praying his satanic hellfire can overcome the elemental.

Ignatius gets off of Psi, stoically turning towards Rin as the half demon comes running. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the first of those flames have the opposite of the desired effect. As the blue fire attempts to burn, it only seems to join with Ignatius's own flames, adding to their colour and growing larger and more ferociously.

"I said one at a time," he says, smirking as he approaches the teen. He flicks his fingers through the flames, looking at them curiously. "I hope you have some other tricks up your sleeve."

Yuya stares in horror as Strange is blasted. Even if that wasn't Psi's aim, he's one of their own! Brainwashed to betray them or not, and what happens if they hit him again?

He grits his teeth and leans back. The carnage makes him sick no matter who's suffering, but watching carnival members go down just makes it worse.

He turns to Damien again, more panicked. "How much longer does this take? Someone has to go find the pendant!"

Hahah. Haha. Oh. Oh no. That is not good. That is very not good. Seeing his flames entangle with Ignatius' and for the whole thing NOT to turn into a blue conflagration... that is not something he is used to. Well, the guy probably did have hundreds of years of practice on him. He pins his ears, but then snarls.

"You're damn right I do!"

He still has a sword, after all! He pulls back on his flames a bit, and goes in for a flurry of slashes. Maybe he couldn't overcome Ignatius with flame, but that didn't make the little half-demon any less fireproof.

They're spinning in mud, it seems. They need the pendant, and they need it fast. Scrying has been mentioned, but as Yuuya strains for an idea, Gongenzaka finds himself frowning. And...

"...I, the man Gongenzaka... ...May have a spell," he admits to them both, swallowing. "...it is something that reveals my own presence as a cost, but... ...if what we seek has enough energy, then perhaps..."

... Why did it have to be ice. It's very difficult to get to the ritual room with so much melted, but it's feasible. Axel managed it, anyway. His memories have yet to fully return, and he doesn't really understand everything that's going on, and he's not in the best shape, but he manages to walk in the door anyway.

A quick look around tells him everything he needs to know. This is a clusterfuck. But he's not about to let that stop him, not when Ignatius is for once out of the seat of summer power. Maybe he can help, maybe he can't, but he calls out anyway, not bothering to hold back a grin. "Hey Iggy! Fancy seeing you here! Wonder what winter would say if they knew?" Maybe it'll be a suitable distraction, while he's fighting Rin. Maybe.

Rin's attacks will cut lines across Ignatius's body, but all of those slits will simply burst into flame and then reform. After a moment, the fae will also raise his forearms to offer a half-assed block, but he clearly isn't putting in his all.

"Weak," he'll say, before lashing out to seize Rin by the hair and plow his face into the stone floor.

Edited 2017-07-29 23:33 (UTC)

Shit, shit, shit...

In the meantime, Sans will fly down to the ground where Psi has been left in the stone. His wings are flared out anxiously, and all of his pupils are down to pin pricks. He really doesn't want to lose anyone, so close to home. He hadn't acted fast enough, but what could he do?

He'll start to pick Psi up, regardless. He's going to fly him to safety, before something else stupid happens.

Funny story, about Strange. Nightshade had seen that blast coming, and had done exactly what was instinctive to do - she had easily poofed into a cloud of purple spores, a cloud of aromatic pollen. She had swirled out of the way - only to see her human taking a laser to the chest in an attempt to protect her.

That's sort of sweet, but also, incredibly stupid. She reforms once it's stopped, fluttering back over to support him at the shoulders.

"You stupid idiot!" she says. "You were supposed to teleport away! I can't seem to leave you alone for a minute, can I?"

Edited 2017-07-29 23:44 (UTC)

Taako has, meanwhile, kept himself and Garyl to the back, Shield cast the second things started looking a bit more active. He has no idea who these people are, he's not particularly eager to get involved with this fight, and he's only at a portion of his usual casting ability-- it would be the dumbest decision of his fuckin' life to hop into the middle of this.

Honestly, it would be ideal for him to just walk out... but he knows that at this point, he's basically stuck here to see the rest of this through. Whether he wants to or not.

Well. He might not be able to do much, but he can attempt to do this... from his place at the back, he begins to attempt to cast a little ditty he calls Crown of Madness, aimed squarely for Ignatius.

Edited 2017-07-29 23:47 (UTC)

Damien looks to Yuuya helplessly, raising up his hands. Damn, kid, what do you want from him? He gestures towards the rest of the ritual circle.

"The ritual is pretty much ready to go, but if the pendant is gone... I don't know! We're at a stalemate here, kid."

Though, he will listen to Gongenzaka as he speaks.

"Hey, if you think it'll have a chance... I'm ready to try just about anything right now."

Gongenzaka swallows, clearly anxious-but he nods. And immediately takes a seat. He crosses his legs, pulling in his wings and putting his hands upon the other as he takes meditative stance...

And focuses. Not only on the spell he 'mastered' in this life, his twisted aura flaring as the spell begins. But on the power that had rocked the room earlier, from within Lambert. On the sensation of life, the earth, and all that it entailed.

In this body, he was a vampire. Something rudely disconnected from such a spirit, he was sure. But he needed to try. Try to search for that which felt like the earth...

And feel for wherever it was...

Unsurprisingly, taking a laser to the chest really hurts. Strange is still in one piece, just knocked for a loop and most likely has some burns and a broken rib or two. But oh yay Nightshade's back and...fussing at him, oh dear, he really didn't want this to happen. He briefly looks guilty as sin before that composed expression comes back on his face.

"He tried to hurt you," Strange simply says through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry. I'll do better." Alright. Teleport away from trouble the next time. He can do that, there's plenty of water here, plenty of paths.

He's not attacking anybody, just watching the chaos, deliberately standing in a puddle, and staying close to Nightshade now that she's reformed (and hoping that somehow his head will stop spinning). Hey, he's not here to protect Ignatius, he doesn't really give a damn if that fae bites it or not.

When Axel spies Taako, he moves closer. The spellcasting is a little confusing - since when was the demon a wizard? And why's it not seem that abnormal? - but he does get closer, before asking, more quietly, "What's Iggy doing here? What're you doing here?"

He doesn't ever fully turn away from Ignatius, but he does mostly face Taako. This looks like it's going to be bad.

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