⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 138 - Day 152
Where: The Summerlands
What: The Ringmaster brings the carnival to the Summerlands immediately after being freed from Portland so that everyone can take a fucking nap. Her included.
Warnings: Individually marked! Most likely discussion of torture and trauma in here.

DAYS OF SUMMER↴ You made it! And things are back to normal... more or less. Upon waking, you will be greeted with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze – the carnival has found itself situated between a pair of mountain peaks, with great fields of flowers extending in the distance. In the other direction, you’ll see mountain-top cities and tall waterfalls accenting vast swaths of forest. Some of you will already know this place. It’s the Summerlands. You game here once to rest in safety nearly a year ago, and now you’ve come to rest once again. ► WAKING UP: Shortly after the carnival arrives, the Ringmaster will send out a somewhat cryptic radio message - but her immediate location won't be clear. Whatever items you had on your person at the time the Severing was broken will still be on your person, including whatever clothing. All of the animals and pets of the carnival will have returned to the grounds as well, though they are currently free from their designated living spaces. Things in the carnival will appeared to have naturally aged a month, as if the carnival was been sitting here empty and waiting while everyone was in Portland. The lawn needs mowing. ► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, they will welcome you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but they will not be particularly offended if they are turned down, for now. ► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will mostly enjoy the company of any carnival members that offer it - it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do. ► NEW ARRIVALS: Though the Ringmaster will not be offering much guidance for the first week or so, eventually the carnival will begin running for a few small performance sessions, off and on, as a thank you to their fae hosts. The carnival will also be open to receiving new arrivals during that period, and so there will likely be some newbies to train and get orientated as well.

Comments

[manycharms]

It's beyond off-putting. In fact it's highly concerning, and were the Ringmaster not in the middle of making some obviously arcane gestures Marinette would have run over to her in a panic. The bird that appears when she's finished, however, is beautiful, and Marinette watches it fly away before realizing their leader is still kind of flaking apart.

"U-um... Are you okay?"

[lordofthering]

The Ringmaster looks back to her, vaguely surprised but only that. She's been trying to get a few things in order quickly, and thus she has been avoiding people who might stop her and ask questions of offer constructive criticism about her choices. Now, though... now it's fine.

"Not particularly, though the appreciate the question," she says. "I think I'm about spent."

She sounds more sheepish about that than anything else.

[moonfang]

Well, Zangetsu had actually intended to find the Ringmaster and give her a piece of his mind. The mess her mistake had left in everyone's souls was making him a little nauseous. He needed to know that wasn't going to happen again.

But that was when he thought she was pretty much immortal and unbreakable. As he follows the ashes, he can begin to sense that is not the case. She was falling apart. Literally.

And if SHE fell apart, then their deal would fall apart, too.

"You look like hell, boss," he says in his creepy reverberating voice. No 'hello' here, apparently. "Yer not gonna die on us, are ya?"

[atouts]

"She did say she was expiring," Childermass chips in what is, frankly, a very obvious statement here.

He hadn't been there — not visibly, anyway — before, but he is now. He's sitting on the nearest of the Big Top bleachers, front row, leaning forward heavily, elbows on his knees. He is, much to his great annoyance, still very shirtless, thanks to the Winter Court. Still somewhat bloody, too, but that's not really important right now.

"On the radio. You told someone that."

[lordofthering]

"Rude," she replies, straightening herself out and 'brushing off' dust as if she's tidying her clothes - in reality, another junk of ashy flesh just falls off of her, and she shrugs. "But, yes. In about two minutes, I think. I wouldn't worry about it, though."

She turns around to face the two of them. Both still newbies! So tragic. Then, of course Childermass speaks.

"Childermass!" she calls out to him enthusiastically. "There you are! That's the most of your skin I've ever seen!"

[atouts]

"Guess you really weren't paying attention during the Celebration, then," he replies, though the other two won't have a single clue what that even references. Oh well. In any case, he's still sounding as dry as ever, even if he also sounds rougher than usual. It'll pass.

So, too, will the Ringmaster, apparently, which is a little worrying. Childermass makes an effort to sit up a little straighter, but he can't do much of that.

"You're making this sound like a temporary problem for you. Is it? All of this?"

[moonfang]

The look on the zanpakutou's face is one of pure incredulity. She's talking about actually dying, while quipping with the human popsicle from the ritual.

"Wait. Hold on! You're gonna die? For REAL? And you're just... ok with this? What about our contract?!"

[lordofthering]

She points a finger gun at Childermass and makes a click, apparently signalling that he's correct. She puts her hands on her hips.

"I'm dying for real, yes, but... it is a temporary problem. I guess I could stand to be less cryptic about this, hmm? But... the surprise is really the only fun part of this happening so... bear with me."

She stretches her arms and more ash falls off. Her silhouette has been thoroughly mangled by this process already.

"Most of the time this doesn't come up... but fae do have their limits. I have a limit of energy, and between fighting that demon, and then the Summer Court... and then trying to write everything that mad spell did to us. I guess I have to pack it in for a while. Not long, though. Even by your standards."

[espigeon]

Both of Julien is here following the ash trail, his smaller human self helping support his larger, haggard bird self, which is dropping feathers on one side and showing reddened skin underneath. Several extra eyes wink open scattered across his feathers and wet clothes and skin, usually winking back out of being before too long.

"Does it hurt?" is all he asks, curious enough to have heaved himselves up and came to see, too tired to get worked up about what this means and just what's happening now.

[lordofthering]

She looks in vague amusement at Julien walking with himself. She's only now getting to match her memories of creatures in Portland with members of her own carnival. She's not surprised one of Julien's bodies is damaged, though, based on that angel from before.

"I suppose that could be the word for it. But... not in any way that matters."

She pauses, as if mentally calculating something. Then:

"Well, that's about it. Any last questions? Do be concise."

[atouts]

Well, this one's probably important, so—

"Any orders for us besides 'wait here'?"

Which is assumed, seeing as the workers can't exactly move the carnival without her.

[moonfang]

Urrgggkk. Ok. OK.

"So, let me get this straight; you ARE about to die. But you're... going to be back? So in addition to being a dragon, you're also a phoenix."

He glances at Childermass. That was also a good question. Just holding pattern until she returned? He suspected this place was more of a rest stop than an actual location.

"And, I guess -- do you need anything from us?"

[lordofthering]

She grins at them, as if that's the best question she could imagine him asking. She nods.

"You'll be safe. This is the best place in the multiverse that you could be."

The ash begins to float off of her like a gas more than solid chunks, like steam rising off of something hot. She notices this, checks her arms, and then exhales as if preparing for something. Here we go.

"Anyway, this is it. Please stand back, for the sake of your eyebrows."

And then, abruptly, she will erupt into violent, radiantly hot flame that consumes her body all at once, swirling into the air like the after effects of a bomb. You will get singed if you stay too close. It burns itself to death as quickly as it begins, and after less than thirty seconds, it will have settled into an enormous mound of ashes and soot.

There is a bump in the middle, as if something is buried within.

[atouts]

Childermass is, thankfully, already at a safe distance, something that he's immediately grateful for. Walking isn't really his thing right now, it really isn't. When he pulls his arm away from shielding his eyes, though, and frowns long enough at the pile of ashes, that bump in it is all too obvious.

Only, again, walking still isn't his thing right now. He doesn't plan on getting up from his seat, okay?

"You or you," he points out the two here who aren't obviously injured — Marinette and Zangetsu — and then waves his hand back to where the Ringmaster formerly stood. "I think there's something in there. Check."

[moonfang]

Wow.

She literally just exploded.






Neat.

Zangetsu only managed to cover his face with his arm, but he's still a good enough distance away that it didn't matter much. Still, the heat is intense.


"I bet it's an egg," he says, jumping from his perch on the stands. "'Cause phoenix. Geez, boss... pick a mythical animal and stick to it!"

The ashes are still quite hot, so Zangetsu pulls his blade form off his back and uses it to gently push aside the ashes around the lump in the middle. What could it be!

[lordofthering]

IT'S NOT AN EGG.

Just kidding, it's an egg.

Beneath the ash there is an egg the size of a prize winning watermelon, with a shell that reflects various colours like a solid piece of ammolite. It's pretty sooty, and still fairly hot, but yes. It's definitely an egg.

What is with the Ringmaster and eggs, anyway?

[atouts]

Well, what do you know? The loudmouth was right. It's an egg.

Childermass breathes out a quiet sigh and slumps against the backing of the bench he's seated on. At least that's some relief, as eggs hatch into living things again. Still, this is a bit beyond his ability to handle and, he imagines, that goes likewise for the other four here (counting Julien twice, although he doesn't actually realize that).

"Right," he goes on after taking a brief moment to just stare at the egg, "So a phoenix it is. I believe it might be time to call the supervisors in."

[moonfang]

Zangetsu tilts his head and turns his new rabbit-esque ears up curiously. That is a big egg. A big, pretty egg. He crouches and extends a finger, tipped with a long black talon instead of his normal black fingernail, and taps it gently, seemingly amused by the sound it makes.

"Hehehehe! I'm so smart. "

He blinks, then looks at Childermass.

"Oh, I didn't bring my radio... thing."

[atouts]

And Childermass just looks back at him for a time. Then from him to the rest there, and finally at the egg again.

"Alright," he says, moving from where he's been slumping idly a bit to reach for his own radio. Whether it's actually something he had with him the whole time or something he's pulled out of his trailer through another one of his creepy shadow tricks, it doesn't really matter at this point. "Just keep an eye on her until someone else shows up to handle this."

[espigeon]

Well. That happened. The many eyes that had appeared when she caught fire start to close again, vanishing as they do. Julien feels like he should probably have some strong reaction, but just now he really can't.

The egg is lovely, though, in both hues and shape. Julien has a sudden unbidden desire to clean it off and care for it. "Does it need to be kept warm?"

Immediately he puts his hand to his forehead and with his bird mouth says "I am not sitting on it."

[moonfang]

Zangetsu continues examining the egg, and once it's cool enough to touch without immediately singeing all the skin from his hands, he brushes aside the ashes to look more closely at the sheen of the egg.

"I call dibs on the eggshells when she hatches. Heheheh!"

He pauses until Childermass is done with his radio message before speaking up again.

"She's real vulnerable like this, though. One'a the supervisors should probably keep this safe. 'specially after that fiasco in Portland. I'm sure there's more than a few workers who'd like to get their hands on this egg fer more nefarious purposes."

Which, he normally wouldn't care about in the slightest. Striking your enemy when they were at their weakest just made sense, even if it was no fun and unsporting. But he needs this egg to hatch back into a nearly omnipotent faerie-dragon-phoenix lady.

[manycharms]

Marinette, on the other hand, is entirely too shocked to do anything but stare and stammer in disbelief, no matter how lovely the egg is.

"She exploded. She caught on fire. She caught on fire and exploded."

She looks positively faint, and therefore not really too helpful at the exact moment. She stares at the egg, totally mystified. She gets the others are assuming the Ringmaster is in that thing, but really they didn't know that for sure and she was having a pretty hard time believing it despite everything the Ringmaster had just said.

She starts to emit a high pitched whining sound as her logical thought processes collapse around her. She's definitely on the verge of a breakdown.

[atouts]

Message given, he'll lower his radio and look at the others standing around. The giant talking bird with the unknown man gets one massive side-eye and he's sure he's actually spoken to a pigeon like that before, only smaller. Childermass frowns — as he often does, so no surprise there — and gives his head a small shake.

"No, I wouldn't want anyone sitting on it in any case," he agrees with Julien. That egg is probably self-warming, considering how explosive the Ringmaster apparently is. As he says that, his attention drifts to Zangetsu, who gets a nod. "And they'll decide on that once they get here. It should be soon... ah..."

Which leaves Marinette, who's finally rejoined the land of the speaking. He supposes it's normal enough to be shocked by someone falling apart and then going up in flames. If anything, shock is the sanest response here, but that whining...

"Miss," he starts, raising his voice sharply to try and get her attention away from the egg, which is, apparently, distressing her. "Yes. We know what she did. It sounds like that's normal for her. Perhaps you should sit?"

[espigeon]

"Maybe it needs a nest, though. A basket at least. You know, keep it from rolling around," and, grumbling, after that, "I am some kind of stereotype, aren't I."

Birds. Nesting. Is this new? He's having a really hard time telling if it's new. Julien's certainly wanted to take care of people before, he eats that kind of thing up, but did he find big eggs really cute? Go on, other bird person. Sideeye him.

Poor Marinette, though. He leaves his big injured body to just sit on the ground and comes over to give her a sympathetic look. "Sitting sounds good. I could go for some juice right now, do you want some? I've just got terrible water-and-corn-syrup stuff, but that does you good sometimes."

[osteothropy]

Sans appears, suddenly. He still has his seven eyes from Portland, but beyond that his form is back to the digitigrade legs and tail model - really, he wasn't that different looking as an angel to begin with.

He stares at the ashes and the egg - the ash is all too familiar conceptually, when it comes to death - and then he looks up at the others.

"Phoenix?" he asks. Like, it's pretty obvious when you add everything up.