lostcarnival | ⇨ SAY UNCLE

Entry tags:

⇨ SAY UNCLE

Who: Everyone who isn't in jail!
When: Day 175, 11:30PM onward.
Where: The Realm that used to contain Heartstone Manor.
What: Team carnival has gotten what they came for, but in the meantime they have lost what they came with. With his ace in the hole gone, the Prince is tearing apart the Heartstone Manor and reshaping it into an impregnable fortress to lock away his new most precious commodities - the Ringmaster's captured followers. Welcome to a hostage situation, this could take a while.
Warnings: Violence, and etc.

AFTER THE BALL↴

Around 11:30PM is when everything starts changing - and for most in Heartstone Manor, the triggers will have remained unseen. In the ongoing thunderstorm it was easy to miss, and the Prince losing control over his realm only occured before a small group of workers intent on saving the carnival from a terrible fate. An ancient High Fae artifact called the Blue Rose was stolen from the Prince, and in reaction he is being forced to abandon his plans of controlling the Ringmaster, instead trying to hide away in his realm for the purposes of saving his own skin.

His main bartering chip? The workers that he's been capturing up to this point. He knows that, unlike himself, the Ringmaster cares about mortals, and especially about the ones who follow her. He's willing to bet that she won't allow them to die for the sake of her own convenience, and he's right. Now that the Blue Rose is the carnival's, she's intent to take back what was stolen from her, as well as the lives of all the servants that the Prince has been stealing away for eons. By whatever means necessary.

► SPLIT THE EARTH: Characters all across the Manor will be treated with initial tremours that will soon escalate into a full-fledged earthquake, capable of collapsing buildings and rending the earth. The cause of this is simple: the Prince is using his powers of elemental earth to reshape his realm into something more suited to protect him. Specifically, he is changing what was a manor house into a fortress meant to defend, and allowing the rest to collapse into ruin. The Manor is still nothing but a castle floating in a void - as the earth breaks apart, it will be nothing but an endless freefall between the floating chunks of debris. Over the next twelve house that earthen debris will be reshaping and solidifying into a new layout, but having to be there while it happens is one hell of a ride!

► BREAK THE ILLUSION: It's as the world starts shaking that the last of the Prince's spell over the minds of his guests will begin to fade away. However, it may wear off more slowly than is helpful in an emergency earthquake situation. The ballroom trance may linger even as lives are threatened, and it will take a pointed effort to make sure that everyone gets out of the Manor's collapse safely. At the same time, the illusionary guests will begin to fade and disappear. The ones that remain are the ones that are real, but it may be a bit painful to realize which ones were simply a lie to begin with.

► SAVE WHO YOU CAN: Despite being knocked out by a surprisingly massive blast from the Prince's magic crystal, the Ringmaster will manage to gather herself up eventually. When she does, the last of the storm will finally come to an end. She'll be doing what she can to try to gather up both servants of the Prince and all of her workers, but it'll be impossible to get to all of them first. A large portion of the servants have undoubtedly been stolen away by the Prince into his newly built fortress, but with the effort of carnival members new and old, they can still save as many as possible. Of course, those held in the Prince's most secure prisons will remain out of reach... for now.

► WAKE THE SUN: As the worst of the earthquakes stop and the new islands of floating land begin to settle, the clouds from the thunderstorm will finally pass, as the Ringmaster seems to summon up a sun to light the realm for the first time since the carnival's arrival. In reality it's sometime in the early, early morning by the Manor's schedule, but whatever! It's easier to not die when the sun is out, don't you think? The Prince's security and gargoyle soldiers are still out and about, and they're clearly interested in capturing as many hostages as possible.

► SIGN A CONTRACT: This is when the Ringmaster will be taking those that were summoned to the Prince's ball aside to offer them contracts in order to free them from the Prince's influence. She'll do her best to explain that the only way to wipe out his control is to take on a new 'master', but they can take some time to think about it if necessary. The truth is, of course, that until they officially sign onto the Ringmaster's camp, there will still be the chance that the Prince will be able to control them.

► WALK THE RUINS: One Day 176 things will have settled completely, with the land now forming a massive fortress on the far side of several large floating islands. The ruins of the old buildings will scatter those islands, forming towers that will swiftly gain small colonies of gargoyles, ready to swoop down and attack carnival members. Further complicating matters is the fact that the rending of the landscape has resulted in bursting open the underground prisons that the Prince had been keeping his most bestial servants, which mean all kinds of mortals long since twisted into the forms of giant spiders, scorpions, monstrous beasts, and other terrifying creatures will now be running amock on the islands, desperate for food. Try not to hold it against them - they didn't ask to be this way.

► REGROUP: While the Ringmaster doesn't want everyone to just run back home (if they do that, the Prince will undoubtedly make them unable to enter again, or at least take over the landscape more fully) she will manage to open a portal back to the carnival in the afternoon of Day 176, formed between two freshly grown trees. This means that carnival members will be able to fetch new clothing, supplies, weapons, and whatever they need to prepare for the battle ahead. Right now, the chaos is still unfolding, but the battle to save the Prince's captives is still ahead.

[OOC: Gargoyles and transformed servants from the underbelly can be NPC'd from this point onward. Gargoyles are the Prince's most deadly servants made of extremely durable rock and bearing scorpion tails with venom that can turn bodies into stone. They want to grab anyone they can, trap them, and then fly them off to the Prince's dungeons as collateral. Don't let them!

Transformed servants are the beasts who were freed from the underground prison they were left in to rot. They are servants that were transformed into monsters by the Prince, and most of them have been driven insane with bestial hunger from months and years of starvation and atmospheric poison. The Ringmaster is interested in helping them, to see if there is way they can be changed back, so if you have the heart nonlethal methods are most appreciated.]

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He doesn't know what he wants to hear first. He doesn't know what's important for saving the other carnival members and escaping.

He looks forward as they dart for the exit, adjusting the load over his shoulder. He starts parsing Strange's suggestions in order, and the Hunt brings up a visceral image he wishes he could forget.

But Zangetsu didn't attack Gongenzaka for no reason.

"... Some of the animals, they--they were people, weren't they?" That's what Gon said. That's why they had to protect the winged stag, and when Yuya realized how vicious and dangerous the Prince was.

"Why did he want us here?"

"They were," Strange explains, with a nod. "I managed to break the enchantment on one of them. I'm certain I can replicate it, but the effects have been...off lately." A nice way of saying Strange has absolutely no clue how to replicate it because the last time was a fluke accident.

As for Yuya's question, Strange frowns. How best to explain this...

"He had a place where people could be stored and he had a spell ready to warp their minds. I thought he wanted us here as a show of power, but he might have wanted us here just in the hopes one of our number would mess up."

Yuya's attention snaps up at that. The Prince was hoping they would break his rules, because rules are important to the fae. Rules are how they trap and control people.

His expression sours considerably, angry. "Then he could make the Ringmaster do whatever he wants to get us back, like marry him."

Disgusting. "If he's destroying the place we don't have to play along anymore, right? We can do something."

"That's correct," Strange responds, with a nod. Whatever happened in the manor, to make the Prince decide to change everything up like this, that seems to Strange to be a surefire sign that any semblance of decency and pretending to be respectful has gone straight out of the window.

"I'll admit that I don't know what that something is just yet, but we'll figure that out once we regroup."

But they're definitely doing something. After all, he's got to help save people.

Yuya's more than ready to throw off any illusion of tolerating the Prince now that it's come to this. He looks up at the crumbling ceiling with defiance.

It's true they need a plan, first, and everyone to safety. 'Everyone' reminds him that there was someone of utmost importance to Strange here, and right now he's alone.

"Where's Mrs. Strange?" He's probably already evacuated her, right? She must be safe.

This...conversation is going to suck. And Strange just tenses up like he knows this conversation is going to suck. There's a brief hitch in the start of his words, but he keeps talking, without making eye contact with Yuya. He's not going to start crying again (he is a magician, dammit, but also and just as importantly he's an adult) but he doesn't exactly want to watch Yuya in case of

"Were you in the ballroom once the illusions started to vanish?"

Strange still doesn't want to say it. Give him a few more hours and then he'll be comfortable saying that Arabella wasn't real. But right now, in this moment, it's too raw and too heartbreaking to actually say those words. Hopefully Yuya will get the inference.

Strange may be avoiding eye contact, but when he starts speaking Yuya turns to keep his whole attention on him. He's confused, at first. He had been in the ballroom, but he wasn't interacting with anyone when everything started to shake, so wrapped up in his worry for his friends. And then all he cared about what finding Yuzu, making sure she stayed safe as things were falling down.

He's got a bad problem with tunnel vision, but after a minute of silence he thinks he picks up what Strange is saying.

"You mean... some of those people weren't real?"

He didn't know. Oh, this is going to suck. Strange continues to try his hardest not to meet Yuya's gaze as the conversation continues.

"They weren't. Some of them were just illusions, created by the prince. I can only assume he drew some of them from our minds as the results were quite specific." After all, during the ball, Strange had to contend with his enemy, his friend, and his wife, all seemingly real. The Prince had to have been rooting around his thoughts just to come up with illusions that felt so perfect.

"Arabella was—" take a deep breath, press onwards, you need to say this. "Arabella was one of them. She wasn't real."

She wasn't real. On one hand, that means she wasn't in danger by the Prince or the Gentleman, if he was even real too. But Strange misses his wife. The love he has for her is so obvious even Yuya couldn't miss it, and what he thought was a chance to be with her when he's been separated, when he's almost lost her...

Yuya can't really imagine what that feels like, but he's sure it hurts. He purses his lips, not sure how to find the positive side to that. Well, he can, but is Strange really going to be eased by it? At least you got to see her, even if he didn't really, at least the Prince hadn't kidnapped her. So he settles for the only words he can get out with certainty.

"I'm sorry."

He'll think of the positive side later, when he's got a few more hours to himself and his nerves aren't as raw as they currently are. But at the moment, Strange would not have taken well to any mention of the positive side. It's still too soon.

"Thank you," Strange simply says, taking another deep breath, trying to keep his cool. After all, Yuya was a child and Strange was an adult. It wouldn't do any good for him to see one of the grownups so dangerously close to flipping the fuck out.

"Though, it seems the master of Lost Hope wasn't real either. The Prince must have had far too much fun poking around my mind if I was lucky enough to have multiple people I know arrive!"

It's Strange trying to seem joking and trying to seem light-hearted, but he can't deny the underlying bitterness in his tone. Because again, why him?

That has to be how he knew enough to make illusions of people they know. Dennis wasn't real either, and that's kind of a relief after the way he turned back to Academia.

But it's just one among a lot of cruel and careless actions of the Prince. He kidnapped people, hurt Reira, abused his servants, drugged them and invaded their minds and used Strange's wife against him...

Yuya's expression pulls back in distaste. "The Prince is a creep. He's the worst!" He's hardly seen someone so morally depraved since the Professor, but he really takes the cake.

And now that they don't have to abide by his rules, Yuya can insult him as much as he feels like! That freedom incenses him, and he swings a fist through the air as his grief gives into anger. "I'm going to make him regret this!"

Strange just has so many questions about Yuya's statement. Just exactly how does he plan on making the Prince regret this? Still, he can understand the difference between 'words spoken when someone you care about is having a rough time' and 'a 100% ready to go battle plan' so Strange can't help but smile, as he turns to make eye contact with Yuya for the first time in the past minute or so.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to get in line," Strange lightly teases, still trying to keep that joking tone going. "As I'm going to make him regret this first!"

It really is nice shittalking the Prince after the slight garbage fire that was the past few days (oh god, it hasn't even been a week yet.)

"Eh--?" Yuya snaps his attention up, adjusting the bundle over his shoulder. "That's not fair! You have magic," he whines, because obviously magic gives Strange every unfair advantage here.

Actually, 'magic' seemed to give just about everything an advantage over Yuya. He didn't like everything that came with Zarc, but some of those weird force-like abilities would probably come in handy right about now. It's too bad he can't separate that from the bloodthirsty anger.

"Then you'll simply have to learn magic yourself to catch up!" Strange teases, giving Yuya a joking smile. This is just teasing Yuya for the sake of teasing Yuya, not teasing him about his inability to cast magic. At least in Strange's mind, anyone who wants to learn how to cast magic can and should learn.

Though, as they talk, Strange mutters something under his breath, gesturing with a free hand. A small ball of fire, about the size of an apple forms, illuminating the hallways a bit and giving Strange opportunity to show off.

Yuya snorts. "It's definitely not that easy." It's probably years of rigorous study and reading, and even Rita was supposed to be a prodigy at it!

It occurs to Yuya he hasn't seen Rita for a while. Strange's little fireball does nothing to help him acutely remembering her, and the way the ballroom was falling apart, and he looks back to where they've left it behind with a frown. But she could fight and she had wings now, so she's probably fine.

It definitely is that easy. Strange can't help but give Yuya a confused frown as he mentions learning magic not being that easy because what, that's dumb.

"I—" oh, no wait, pause for a moment as the manor trembles and a piece of ceiling falls down a few feet behind Strange. There's a pause while he catches his breath before he continues. "A man under a hedge sold me my first spell. When I cast it, I had no idea what I was doing. Magic is that easy. It's simply a matter of practice and wanting to become a magician."

You know how when you're playing a sport and the person who's just naturally good at the sport has no idea why the person with no hand-eye coordination is sucking at it? That's Strange and magic. He learned magic fairly easily, so naturally others should as well!

"A hedge?" He looks incredulous, but in reality what he knows of Strange's magic really comes from Portland, doesn't it? And he knows, even though the specifics are so foggy now, that the lives they thought they lived there were very different than how they really were.

"So you didn't go to school for it or anything like Rita?" He looks thoughtful. "So anyone could learn to do that?"

He points at the fireball.

Strange nods. "Truth be told, I've had my magic for...less than ten years now? And of that, only about half of it was in a proper mentor and mentee context. But yes, I'd like to think that with the right tools, discipline, and amount of magic, anyone could learn magic."

Strange is optimistic. It's a lot easier to learn magic when your existence is tied up in a prophecy made by a hundreds of years old pseudo-mythological being than if you're just an average Joe. But Strange is just so determined and so firm in his belief that if Yuya wanted to, he could do equally impressive magic, that he just continues talking and affirming Yuya.

"Besides, you've already got the talent for it. You've that warding spell."

Yuya did have that warding spell--and he wasn't a magician in Portland either. Just a kid with some fancy abilities, and he learned it. Maybe it was that easy. Maybe he just needed to jump forward into it, and he could figure out magic as well.

"Yeah..." His expression brightens up, and when he looks up at Strange it's far more lively than he's been since the explosion at the balcony. He doesn't want to have to sit there, being protected because he can't protect himself. Being too weak to step in when they need him.

"I want to learn," he states with newfound determination and confidence. "I want to learn magic I can protect my friends with!"

"In that case, once we've finished dealing with the Prince we can sit down and draw up a lesson plan." Because of course Strange views himself as the person who's going to teach Yuya magic. Why wouldn't it be him?

However, there's a brief moment of insight (first time for everything) where Strange realizes that there are other magicians in the carnival and other people Yuya could ask to help him.

"That is, we can draw up a lesson plan if you'll allow me to help teach you."

"You want to teach me?" Yuya perks up, surprised. Maybe he shouldn't be, because Strange has helped him with magic before, likes talking about and showing off magic.

Yuya grins wide, a bounce in his step as he pumps his fist in the air. "Yeah, if you'll teach me then I definitely want to learn!"

He doesn't know anything about magic, but if someone will teach him then he has a clear way forward. It's exciting, and he feels confidence again that he can do something.

It's so easy to overlook the crumbling building around them because wonderful! They have plans! And plans for a future because they're going to get out of here and save everybody and maybe teaching Yuya magic will help keep Strange's mind off of other things.

"It would be an honor to teach you," Strange responds, with a grin on his face. Yuya's excitement is downright contagious. Whether Strange would be a useful teacher or not is still up in the air. But hey, Yuya wants to learn, he wants to teach, between the two of them they should hopefully manage to teach Yuya a spell of some kind.

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⇨ SAY UNCLE

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wow i sure did not finish a sentance in that last tag

I thought it was a dramatic pause?? omg

NOPE, just my inability to type

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