lostcarnival | ⇨ SAY UNCLE

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⇨ 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 wasn't aware there was more to say, though Peridot obviously disagrees. Childermass looks to her again, eyebrows raised ever so slightly as if to question her own question. The inevitable problem here is a different approach to being upset, which he isn't entirely unaware of. The gem had been upset even over Tyki going missing and she had hardly known that man, to begin with.

With Lambert, however—

"I do not know what else you would have me say," he admits outright. "I could ask what happened, but I already know how it ends, with the Prince taking him away."

Because he isn't here, so it must be that.

Tyki's case had been more of a canary in the coal mine thing. A signal that things could start going horribly wrong, like they did at the Celebration. Lo and behold, they did!

Lambert, and Sans, are both much more personal. And she's never had to cope with anything quite like this before. Maybe more than anything what Peridot wants is for someone to be as upset about this as she is... even if, from all her interactions with Childermass, she knows she's barking up the wrong tree for that.

"Some kind of acknowledgement of how much this stinks would be a good start!" she snaps. "This is at least a little bit your fault for encouraging him, you know!"

She is barking the absolutely worse tree possible, even. Childermass just stares at her for her outburst for a moment, a brief one, and then shifts his weight from one foot to the other again. A little bit his fault? Really?

"It is," he won't argue against that, although his voice has dropped into an icy tone, as if she's finally testing his patience here. "That this stinks, as you say, that's implied. The rest... We needed that rose. I needed to make sure the Prince wasn't paying attention to me. Should I have asked someone else, Ms. Peridot?"

How do gems even address one another? Who knows. He just goes with what he knows.

"Who would you have put in danger in place of the Nightrider? Steven, perhaps? I'm sure he would have tried his hardest, had I asked him instead."

"Steven wouldn't have turned into a gigantic dragon and crashed an ENTIRE BALCONY into the courtyard!" Peridot immediately counters, finally jumping to her feet, too agitated to keep resting on her laurels. Of course, Sans had been the one behind the balcony destruction, but clarifying that detail hardly seems important for the moment.

"You could have easily asked any of the nightrunners!" she continues, and she starts to pace fretfully, tugging at her own ears. "Why did you have to go after someone who actually matters?"

So there's the crux of it, why Peridot is so upset. Chidermass grits his teeth against snapping back about how she isn't the only one who thinks that way about Lambert, because that only opens the argument up to a path he's far less comfortable with. Which means he's left frowning at the gem for her outburst, pausing a few seconds in his own counter to that, rearranging what he does want to say.

Overall, that part isn't too hard. If Peridot thinks kicking someone else into danger's path for Lambert's sake would ever be seen favorably by the witcher, well... He won't even question the dragon part, though that's definitely new. Since when could that asshole turn into a dragon? But he can't even ask about it, it would only highlight how unaware of what happened during that fight he is.

Instead, what he says is, "Really? Is that what you would have done in my place?"

He changes how he stands a little here, folding his hands behind his back rather than leaving his arms crossed over his chest, and he tilts his head at Peridot while asking that. It's a curious gesture, more akin to him asking what her preference in decor might be or what she would like for breakfast, only he's asking—

"Which of his people would you have thrown away to protect him, Ms. Peridot? Who do you believe to be expendable?"

"I'm not... trying to say that anyone is expendable," Peridot growls, backpedaling a little. "I'm just saying some losses are more tolerable than others! Having the Nightrider fall into that crummy Prince's paws is just..."

She stands there and opens and closes her hands, trying to think of the right word. Much as she wants to convince herself otherwise, she knows this isn't just about strategy, or what's best for the carnival as a whole. Even if, OBJECTIVELY, it would have been much easier to cope with having a non-supervising member taken away.

"That clod has already ruined Sans and the others. And now, if he hasn't already turned him into some kind of pointless statue, he's probably going to do the same thing to Lambert, and NOBODY ELSE SEEMS TO CARE!"

"I do care," Childermass doesn't even need more than a moment's pause to give Peridot's outburst some space to say that much, at least, and he says it softly, a polar opposite to her yelling.

It wasn't meant to go like this. The Ringmaster should have ended it when she had the chance. It shouldn't have mattered that they momentarily lost Lambert and the rest. The rest, just how many are 'the rest'? How many did something unbearably stupid while he was out of the ballroom? If he had known this would be dragged out, would he have changed his decision?

No. He doubts it.

"And I want them all back as much as you do," he adds, this time with a tired sigh. The magician's shoulders sag with that admission — as obvious as it should have been, anyway — and, while it irks him to show it, he can only hold himself totally aloof for so long after a night like this. He's tired. There's no time to rest.

"What we need to do is focus on how to do that, not what might be happening, not what we should have or shouldn't have done. Doing that will only exhaust you and then what help will you be?"

Hearing him admit it takes the wind right out of her sails. Maybe that's all she actually needed, was to hear any kind of hint that she's not the only one who's upset about this. Everything between the start of the ball and now had just happened so quickly, she's barely even had time to process it. A lot of people will only just be finding out what happened in the courtyard, but Peridot has known for hours now, and her panic over it has been lurking at the back of her mind for the whole time.

She almost appears to deflate, and then drops heavily back onto the ground next to the sword. She wraps it back up and pulls it close to her chest, huddling with it sullenly. "I'm already exhausted," she grumbles quietly, refusing to admit to Childermass that he has a valid point, even though he definitely does. "And I already know I'm no use to them anyway. I was right there when that jerk took both of them. I couldn't do anything about it..."

Edited 2017-10-29 23:22 (UTC)

For better or worse, they won't have a chance to dwell on that thought long before a sharp yapping fills the air, and what resembles nothing more than a gourd on nubby legs comes dashing up to Peridot. Who cares what she's holding on to or what the mood in the air is? Pumpkin sure doesn't. That's all the warning Peridot gets before launches herself at the sitting gem to lick at her face with her awful, slimy, produce tongue, probably babbling in whatever mystical gourd-dog language she speaks about all the adventure she's had since the castle began crashing down!

Not far behind, though much easier to miss for one not looking for it, is a grey-and-purple body scuttling over the ground, antennae twitching in agitation and relief. Yeah, Stumpy's here for the party too, though in considerably more high-strung spirits than Pumpkin is. This whole world-falling-apart thing hasn't exactly been easy to deal with, and the terror isn't so easily lifted, so Stumpy's probably going to attempt to hide under Peridot if she'll let it happen. Just please, please let this be over.

Peridot isn't the only one being reunited with familiar faces, though. In the tremors that still shake the ground as the Prince's world reshapes itself, it might have been easy to dismiss a distant rumble or two as nothing more than background noise. It's less easy to ignore a bright flash of orange and blue as it darts forward, Butcher nickering in excitement as he runs in circles around the magician, demanding his attention.

Pig, far more sedate than her other companions, brings up the rear, having shed the other Pokemon once they were in view of the carnival's other workers. She's covered in dust from crumbling mortar and disturbed earth, the plaits Lambert normally keeps her mane and tail in coming loose, but she doesn't appear winded or distressed.

Some habits, though, still die hard. Despite the lack of any obvious pockets, she's going to head right over to Childermass and nose at his coat, looking for food. Come on, now, she knows you keep treats for Baker around somewhere, and doesn't she deserve one after all this?

Edited 2017-10-30 05:41 (UTC)

"And if you had tried, we would only be down one more supervisor," Childermass points out, which would make her actually useless, but there won't be time to mention that part or even argue over it since there's suddenly far more unexpected arrivals than— well, he can't even say 'than expected', since he hadn't even expected them. Where did the Pokemon go hadn't even crossed his mind until right this moment, although the animated pumpkin gets the most peculiar of looks before he's forced to turn his attention elsewhere.

His first inclination is to try and reach for the prancing Mudbray, saying, "Butcher, stay still! Where did you even—" Ah, there, that's where they came from. The tremors should have given it away immediately. With Pig shoving her nose at his coat, he has to switch attention yet again to Butcher's pushy mother. Pig's the one who could tear his whole damn coat off if she felt like it, so Butcher will have to wait.

"You got out..." He says quietly, suddenly glad he'd never let Baker leave his own side. What would have happened if he'd left his pokeball behind in his room? In the manor? He turns, patting her nose, but also having to admit, "I'm sorry, girl. I don't have anything on me in this coat."

"Wh-- AUGH--!" Pumpkin basically sails into Peridot and knocks her flat on her back, and it takes her a second to process what's happening. There's no misidentifying that slimy orange tongue though.

"Pumpkin!? PUMPKIN!" Peridot snatches up the little dog and holds her straight up in the air triumphantly, overjoyed. She can barely even start getting to the bottom of the emotions that are overtaking her when her pokemon scuttles over top of her as well, half knocking the wind out of her.

"Oof-- STUMPY! Oh thank the stars, YOU'RE BOTH OKAY!" the gem practically wails, and she sits up and squeezes them both to her chest, and there's such an overwhelming tone of relief in her voice. Is she crying? MAYBE. ONLY A LITTLE. Given how everything else has gone so far, she half expected them to be lost in the Prince's realm forever.

Pig huffs in Childermass's face, giving him the best disappointed expression she can manage at the lack of food. She came here with a purpose, though, and once initial greetings are dispensed with she's already lifting her head, looking around. Searching for someone she was expecting to be there, but isn't.

Her easily distracted spawn has much simpler needs, slowing down to butt at Childermass's legs. Hopefully he doesn't end up joining Peridot on the ground or anything.

Speaking of the gem, hope she's ready to be subjected to more licking, because she absolutely is! Luckily neither of the hugging parties need to breathe or anything (Stumpy probably does, but she can't crush the breath out of the pokemon).

Thankfully, he doesn't, seeing how he's steadying himself against Pig before the little Mudbray gets a chance. It's still a difficult moment, considering how forceful the damn beasts can be. When he simply continues to push against his knees like that, it's inevitable. While Childermass won't be knocked over, he will let go of Pig and go down on one knee to bring himself to Butcher's level.

"Oh, cut it you, you fool," he mutters, reaching out to ruffle that blue mane of his. He does look back up towards Pig after that, however, because he knows what she's looking for. "I'm sorry, Pig. He..." God. How much do these creatures truly understand? Baker always came off as able to comprehend. Is that true for all of them? He sighs. "Lambert didn't make it out, Pig, but we are going to find him."

Peridot has sat up by this point, and pauses to stare, with Pumpkin still slurping at her cheek. She finally has to tear her gaze away when Childermass starts talking to Pig, and she squeezes the gourd and isopod both a little tighter. She frowns blankly at the ground and says nothing, momentarily too miserable for words.

Pig's a horse. Childermass honestly can't be expecting much in the way of conversation, can he? Her ears prick towards the magician, but after a moment of looking at him attentively, she does little more than lower her head to huff softly into the side of his head, tickling the feathers there.

Butcher, in the meantime, seems pleased enough with the attention he's getting, remains oblivious to the mood in the air. Satisfied he's gotten Childermass's attention, if only for a moment, his focus drifts and lands on Peridot, ears perking up. After a last butt of his head against the magician's fingers, he trots over the short distance to Peridot, sniffing at her curiously in a way more reminiscent of a puppy than the donkey he resembles.

Less conversation, more comprehension. Whether or not Pig does get it, he has no idea, though he will reach up again to pat her on the side of her face when she lowers it near him. As for Butcher, he lets him go do whatever he wants for now, even if that does include harassing Peridot.

He doesn't think Butcher will try and eat something like that pumpkin of hers. Hopefully. Really, really hopefully...

But now that watching the mudbray trot off has brought the gem back into view, he does feel the need to add, slightly awkward about it, "He's friendly." You know, just in case. "Probably too friendly, actually."

"Huh--?"

Peridot looks up from her brief moping session to see... Aaaahhh that's a large animal coming right towards her-- Not as large as Pig, who intimidates the hell out of the gem but. Still. Bigger than Stumpy, bigger than Pumpkin.

Speaking of Stumpy, the wimpod straight up panics at the sight of Butcher and wriggles free from her trainer's grasp, zipping around to cower behind her, spiky tail raised defensively. It's not surprising behavior to Peridot, who has come to expect that sort of reaction by this point. She's more focused on the mudbray anyway, making cautious eye contact with the pokemon. "Um... Hi there... Little guy..." she says uncertainly, reflexively leaning back a little as the donkey tries to sniff her.

Pumpkin is much more delighted. She barks a greeting, and will definitely slobber on Butcher if he gets too close.

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⇨ SAY UNCLE

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