[Open]

[hippocarnival]

Who: Yuya & everyone
When: Day 146-152
Where: Around the Carnival & Summerlands
What: Recovery, new changes, and continued antics while the carnival has a nice, long break.
Warnings: None, probably?

[Handstands]
[Yuya's in significantly better health than when they first arrived. He can still feel the residual pain and his stamina is rebuilding, but he's much more lively than before. He also realizes he needs to rebuild his strength, so even if he can't perform yet he's at least practicing so that he'll be ready to bounce back into action as soon as he's cleared.

He's taking his exercise outside the tents so the rest of the performers have plenty of room, and instead can be found tending to his errands around the carnival... on his hands. Just walking on his hands, knees bent for better balance as he navigates from the trailers to the cookhouse for lunch.] Excuse me! Coming through!


[Shadow]
[His shadow has been acting up since he returned. At first he was sure it was just a trick of his mind, but the long it goes on, the more chances he has to see that it is, in fact, just moving on its own sometimes. Okay, that's weird, but he just tries to ignore it. Only it doesn't end there, and by the second week it's taken on a different shape entirely. That's not uncommon, he's been assured, but when he finds it morphed into someone a little broader, taller (older), with hair that spikes up... it's unsettling.

He knows who it looks like. He's standing, shoulders tense as he glares at his own shadow. In the middle of the walkway.]


[Summerlands]
[Yuya's come to accept the Summer people. They're certainly not at domineering, volatile, or frightening as the rest of the Summer Court, and plenty of veterans--not the mention the Ringmaster seem to trust them wholly. So he's navigated deeper into the city, to one of the miracle gardens hidden behind pillars and wisteria.

It's a very small, circular garden, flush and green with scattered flowers. The greatest concentration of them, currently, is around Yuya--who's sitting down with dried fruit to snack on, looking serene.

It's easy to tell what's going on, because as soon as anyone steps in with a positive feeling flowers will start to sprout near them. The better they feel the bigger, brighter, more beautiful the flowers become. They smell wonderful, and something about that scent will bring good memories more easily to the front of their mind--no doubt generating more good feelings and more flowers. It's cyclical.]


[Wildcard]
[???]

Comments

[hippocarnival]

[Strange is nosy, and Yuya's expression turns a little wry at that question. Well, he can tell Strange one of those things, anyway.]

Lambert said I should have her look at my soul and make sure the ritual didn't do anything else to it. [Which probably just makes the ritual sound even more worrying, so he quickly waves his hands.] Not that I expect her to find anything! It's just a precaution.

[Or a post-caution, really, given the damage has already been done.]

[kingsroads]

She should be able to do that much, [ Strange remarks, entirely unaware that the Ringmaster's already done the 'check on people's souls' thing before in Portland. Unfortunately for Yuya, this also means that Strange doesn't know how the Ringmaster checked Lambert's soul in the first place (she shoved her tongue down his throat) and can't warn him of how stupid the experience might be. ]

In Portland, Nightshade was able to tell that my soul was odd. The Ringmaster's more powerful than she is, so something like checking on the status of your soul should be easy for her. [ Which is kind of reassuring? Maybe? ] Anyway, it's painless, so there's nothing to worry about on that end.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya lets out a little laugh at that, rubbing the back of his head.] It seems like everyone else is more worried about my soul than I am...

[He lowers his arm and gives Strange a considerate look.] Nightshade... is the one who was controlling you, right?

[Brainwashed, really. But he remembers hearing her name during the chaos of the ritual.]

[kingsroads]

[ He nods. It's obvious that Strange is still a little uncomfortable talking about all this...but he's got to. As much as he would love to pretend this wouldn't happen again, the Summer Fae were still out there. ]

She's the small purple one--the loud tall one was a fae named Ignatius. She's Summer Fae as well, and was serving the Rose Queen in Portland. She...it's honestly a bit of a long story as to how the Portland version of myself got involved with her, but if you want to know anything about her or the rest of the Summer Fae that I've learned from either Portland or here, simply ask.

[hippocarnival]

I think everyone needs to know about those fae. [The Summer Court is probably more urgent than the Winter Court, but the more everyone is aware of all of them... the better.] And... what they can do.

[Like hideous brainwashing. His gaze drifts to Strange's wrists.]

[kingsroads]

[ hey Yuya guess what YOU'RE GETTING AN INFODUMP.

And it's going to start with his wrists because Strange has spotted Yuya looking at them. He's halfway tempted to just dodge the question and even starts like he's going to pull his sleeve down. But no, he told Yuya he'd answer some questions, there's no use dodging this. So instead, Strange pushes his sleeve up slightly, revealing thin mirror-coated scratches along his wrist, like if someone brushed up against a rosebush. ]

During our last week in Portland, that version of me summoned Nightshade. He bartered my memories back, but didn't barter my safety. I was trapped in her realm for the next few days before she enthralled me and set me loose in the Count's castle.

I plan on telling everyone about what they can do, by the way, [ Strange remarks, as a brief aside. ] But you're already here, so I suppose I might as well start with you. And I wouldn't worry too much about my wrists. The mirrored coating is a change of the carnival--I've got a growth of it on my chest as well.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya pulls his gaze away as Strange explains the marks on his wrists, looking back at his face. His face scrunches up.] But she still hurt you, didn't she?

[He rocks back on his heels, wondering if the one on the chest is from Psiionic.] Why did she enthrall you? That wasn't the deal for your memories, was it?

[There's a lot of room for motive, in there, and maybe it's too personal... but just as much as 'what', Yuya wants to know 'who' they're up against.]

[kingsroads]

She enthralled me because she's a sadistic bitch and she thought I'd be more useful under her control than left to my own devices.

[ It's an uncharacteristically blunt assessment from Strange but this is an odd situation to begin with. He doesn't answer Yuya's first question about if Nightshade hurt him, though Strange so candidly calling her a sadistic bitch is a PRETTY GOOD SIGN that the answer's yes. As for that second question... ]

The deal was that if she restored my memories, I would grant her access to look at one memory in particular. The memories she wanted to see dealt with a previous fae I had summoned, back at the carnival. Were you here at the start of Alola, when the carnival was frozen over?

[hippocarnival]

[It's really rhetorical, because Yuya knows Strange was hurt--it's been clear in his response to the whole deal and his scars. Still, Yuya asks for the chance for Strange to tell him.

But they're not broaching that topic, it seems. But it does confirm that Nightshade is straight up evil and awful. He shakes his head.] No, I arrived a couple days before performances started. What happened?

[kingsroads]

I summoned a different faerie.

[ And, at this moment, Strange realizes just how damn predictable he is in certain regards. ]

It's a bit of a story but the long and short of it is that I summoned a Winter Court fae named Frost to the carnival. He wasn't very fond of the Ringmaster, froze the entire carnival over, and generally was a nuisance for the rest of the day before Childermass and I banished him. Apparently, Nightshade knew him as well, because when the me in Portland mentioned that the me of the carnival summoned Frost, she became quite interested.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's face falls flat at that. Really, Strange, how many fairies is going to be enough fairies.] So all the fairies know each other, and we might have made more of them enemies?

[This is why he was concerned about the allegiance of the Summer Fae here.] The Summer and Winter Court didn't get along with each other either, but the Count tried to make a deal with Ignatius when we were about to complete the ritual--to stop us.

[kingsroads]

We've at least made one of them our enemy. I don't know if we'll see the Count or Ignatius again, but I've a feeling we haven't seen the last of the Rose Queen.

[ This is just paranoia feeding into paranoia feeding into even more paranoia. Though that last bit is interesting. Because that's around the time that Strange got knocked out so the two courts teaming up? How...odd. ]

He must have been remarkably desperate. Every Summer Fae I've talked with here doesn't have a good opinion of the Winter Court.

[hippocarnival]

It was right when we realized we could complete the ritual with Peridot instead of the pendant, so I guess he was. [He frowns, furrowing his brow in thought.] It was the same result, but at least Yugo and I were willing. I don't see why he wanted to stop it so badly. Did he think we were going to leave them stranded there?

[kingsroads]

[ Strange puts his hand to his chin in thought, mulling things over. Because really? He didn't know much about the Count to begin with. ]

You said that Pru's sword was the thing used to stab you, correct? Obviously the fae couldn't have something exactly like it, as it was angelic, but they must have had something like it if they were going to complete the ritual in the first place. Perhaps it was that, those minute differences between rituals, that made the Count feel he had to cast the ritual himself.

[ This is a grand theory but it doesn't change the fact that Strange has no idea what those minute differences would even be in the first place. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Nobody did, except maybe Childermass--if he could remember that much. Yuya had a harder time remembering what his Portland life supposedly was except for that last month.]

Yeah, maybe. I guess if it was something you could break easily, they wouldn't have been stuck there that long. [And then it leads the question of who would have done it instead, since all avenues ended up needing carnival members.

His face twists up with conflict.] We didn't really... we weren't supposed to be there. Do you think their memories fixed themselves when ours did?

[He hopes, at least, neither the Rose Queen or Count will be pursuing their changelings once they remember what they never were.]

[kingsroads]

I don't know, [ Strange admits, with a frown. ] But I hope they did.

[ Not because of the Rose Queen or the Count but because of the other people in Portland. The fae at least would be slightly used to supernatural nonsense, but what about the non-magical people who their other selves knew, lived with, or worked with? ]

However, I'd imagine that they kept some of their memories. Otherwise it'd be damn hard to explain why the Severing was there and then suddenly it wasn't. It'd probably be best for all of us if they remembered that much.

[hippocarnival]

[That makes sense. He's not so worried about them remembering so much as being aware that their memories were tampered with. They deserve to know that much.

But he responds with nothing more than a soft hum.] What else did you find out about the fae?

[kingsroads]

[ They're going to be here for a while. As Yuya asks him what else he found out, Strange just straight up launches into some gossip. ]

I've been chatting with various Summer Fae since I arrived here. These fae in the Summerlands separate themselves from the rest of the Court and Arcadia. There's a ranking system as to who the most powerful fae per court are: Maiden, Queen, and Crone. I think this means the courts are matriarchal. The Summer Maiden is a close friend of the Ringmaster's and the one who's in charge of the Summerlands.

I've also found out some information about the Portland fae. The Rose Queen is odd but does a wonderful job holding onto territory, Ignatius is best at quick and fast damage, Nightshade is a servant of the court and quite good at poisoning people, and no one knows much about the Count of Crows though they do theorize he's more of the type to go on covert missions--which would explain what Winter Court was doing right in the middle of Summer Court territory.

[ And info on Frost but who knows if Yuya would want to hear about that or not.

It's odd. Strange is just rattling all this off and using these terms like he's fluent in them. He certainly wanted to learn more about the fae ever since he arrived here, but to learn some intimate details of the faerie court system? That's a LOT MORE than he was expecting to learn. ]

[hippocarnival]

So there's a Winter Maiden and Queen too... who are the Crones? [That just sounds less pleasant of a title, but then again the Queen isn't a pleasant person. Arcadia isn't very pleasant, actually, and this all sounds very militant. He doesn't like that.

That does means she's probably very powerful, though. And they just straight up attacked her--they're lucky she didn't straight up slaughter them all!

Which, he remembers, he explicitly avoided telling Strange about. This is only going to be more worrying, but--] Uh--did you hear yet that a bunch of us attacked her? The Rose Queen. Including the Ringmaster.

[kingsroads]

I did. Both Lambert and Rita filled me in on what happened. [ His Portland self was far more judgmental of that action than Strange currently is. Obviously with what they know now attacking the Rose Queen wasn't ideal, but it's no use judging people on half-formed actions based on muddled memories. ]

That's obviously something to worry about, but perhaps not as much as you'd think. I don't think the Rose Queen is the Summer Queen. They said she was involved in colonization efforts and holding onto territory. Why would the fae send one of their most powerful members, one of the major members of court royalty to do something so base?

As for the Crones, I don't know much about them. Understandably, most of what I've heard was about the Summer Maiden, though there was a little bit about the Winter Maiden as well.

[hippocarnival]

So there's more than one Queen? [But he has a point. Royalty probably doesn't take to the frontlines, just like the Professor didn't come out of his base to handle the invasion.

Yuya threads his fingers through his hair with a frustrated pull, scrunching his brow. This is too much politics to keep track of.] Why is the Summer Court trying to invade other worlds? Is the Winter Court doing the same?

[Ah, that's right.] What'd you hear about the Winter Maiden?

[kingsroads]

[ Whereas Strange who's spent a lot of time dealing with kings, lords, peers, men of parliament, and so on and so forth, is doing a pretty damn good job keeping up with all the politics. He doesn't like it, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that he's better equipped to deal with these sorts of things than a lot of the carnival. ]

I'm still a little hazy on the specifics, but the Summer Court is trying to invade other worlds in order to colonize them. The term I heard used was 'repurpose.' Probably changing them to become more fae-accessible for the glory of Arcadia or some nonsense like that. I can only assume the Winter Court's doing the same as well.

[ Though about the Winter Maiden... ] Apparently Frost carried a bit of a torch for the Winter Maiden which made things awkward between the Winter Maiden and the Summer Maiden for some reason. If that were the case, I think we can at least assume the two Maidens are on relatively good terms...and since the Summer Maiden is also on good terms with the Ringmaster, who's not particularly a fan of Frost, that means the Ringmaster might be on good terms with the Winter Maiden as well.

[ this is high school levels of bullshit and even Strange is seriously considering making a flow-chart for all this nonsense. ]

[hippocarnival]

They really are like Academia. [A flow chart would probably help. He has no idea what Strange's archaic terms for romance are, however, so that just gets a confused look.] What does that mean, 'carried a torch'?

[He's visualizing this very literally. But what a torch have to do with the relations between the two maidens.]

[kingsroads]

[ There's a pause, where Strange comes up with a few synonyms. ]

Infatuated with, lovesick...to have a crush on? [ That's a term he remembers from Portland, hopefully it would help here. ] It's usually one-sided, though.

[hippocarnival]

Oh. [Yeah, he knows exactly what it's like for someone to come on way too strongly. He also has an idea why that probably makes things awkward for the Maidens...] So the Summer and Winter Courts don't get along with each other, but the Maidens do. And the Ringmaster gets along with the Summer Maiden, who doesn't care about all the invading that the Summer Court wants to do. The Rose Queen is probably not the Summer Queen, but she's still important in the Court? And the Ringmaster is a wild fae, so she's not really part of any of this... except for the people she makes friends and enemies with.

[Is he following this right.]