⇨ SAY UNCLE

[ringleaders]

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.]

Comments

[moonfang]

[Ichigo fades away and Zangetsu flops, spreadeagled on the sideways building. He feels the drops of cold rain on his face and he brings up his arm to cover his eyes with his forearm. Just because he doesn't want that accursed precipitation in his eyes. Definitely not because he can feel the edges stinging.

He hadn't meant for this. He hadn't meant for any of this]

I didn't... I didn't do it because I wanted to be free or any nonsense like that. I did it for him. [spoken quietly, for only the Old Man to hear, in a voice that has lost its angry, bitter edge] Neither of you were ever supposed to know. [he takes a deep breath in, and it shudders in his chest] And even then! Even when I'm not in here... I'm still with him. It would take... it would take so much more for me to ever sever myself completely from that fucking moron. Why doesn't he understand?

[and he doesn't really want to! Maybe before, maybe a few times, but... he was part of one of the most powerful beings their world had ever seen -- that ANY world had ever seen. And it came from their synergy, hard won that it was. And now he feels like he's shot himself right in the foot by trying to do the right thing] Whenever I try to help, I just fuck up.

[eclipsingblade]

I know.

[The manifestation sounds .. weary. Looks it, too. This inner world was depressing. Would it always be so? Could there ever be anything else for someone so desperate to worry over everyone else but himself? But they had their own goal, and it didn't mean they wished to protect everyone Ichigo did.]

All he has ever been allowed to know of you, is vicious spite and hostile possession. Assistance ... at a price. Power with cost, with danger. I can think of very few times where your direct meetings have not ended in violence. I ... perhaps should not have made it so.

[It's not said ungently, this is old territory and in truth it wasn't .. entirely Zangetsu's fault. The old man himself had more a hand in that than the zanpakuto spirit did. Times change, but first impressions do not. And introducing a fledgling shinigami to the embodiment of his own enemy, but inside? Seemingly desperate to take over? To kill?]

Without that interference perhaps you would be as other spirits are to their masters. Still.

[He turns one calloused hand palm-up, to catch the splatters of raindrops.]

It must be unpleasant, to know you have been given what seemed to be a years-long goal of freedom, so soon after the effort to have you reforged and finally accept ... that you are the one who had always ...

[Very rarely had it been Ichigo's quincy powers that had saved him. Time and time again, it hadn't been, and when it was life or death .. always Zangetsu. The apparition shakes his hand off to be rid of the damp but the rain's not getting any less. It won't, for a long time.]

I understand there is no severing the bond between you. I do not think he understands, though it seems the thought alone of losing you is enough to return such rain to us.

[moonfang]

[Zangetsu hates this damn weather as much as the Old Man does. And it kills him to know how often he's the cause of it.

Because it's what Ichigo needed, at the time. An enemy, not a friend; someone to fight against, not alongside. Because that's how Ichigo learned best, and quickest. They needed him to get strong fast, Shinigami/Zanpakutou relationship be damned.

He doesn't hate the Manifestation for it. It was what had to be done to win. But dealing with the fallout now was painful.]

It's what he needed. You knew that, so that's how you made it happen. It accomplished what we needed it to. That's all that matters. [as much as it hurt, the ends always justified the means. That's what Zangetsu believed]

... I know why he's upset. But there's nothing I can say to make him understand me. So I'll just have to show him. [ he peeks at the old man from behind his arm] Sorry, my friend. Give me some time to stop the rain.

[eclipsingblade]

[Some trees would be nice. Something besides these empty buildings and the rain. Sometimes it was bright and clear but those times were few and far between.]

It is not needed any longer. It is well past time that you be able to take the place I usurped.

[Especially since... he knows when it comes to fighting Yhwach, that quincy power will be a poisonous liability, whereas hollow reiatsu..

He never was strong enough, but he'd been good at pretending. Zangetsu on the other hand had been plenty strong enough. The cloaked figure stops not far from the far paler one, expression still dour. None of this was going the way it had been intended, but what could be done besides move forward?]

You will not have an easy time undoing the mistrust I have worked so hard to instill. Almost as difficult, perhaps, as learning to fight alongside another instead of alone. And perhaps later, when all things are returned to how they are meant to be..

[He offers one hand to the weakened spirit, expression still as grim as ever. He hadn't been weakened, pulling Zangetsu upright won't be hard. Nor would steadying him once he's off the wet glass.]

You may tell me what it is like to experience that other world.

[moonfang]

But you're so good at it. [he says, finally giving something of a laugh. It's shallow and somewhat humorless, but more like himself than the sullen creature he's been during this conversation.

Never stop moving forward. Hesitate and die. Look back, and die. There were no options except these.]

I've been up against worse odds, buddy. I'll manage. [Zangetsu looks at the hand and gives... something almost like a warm smile? An expression that is much more often found on Ichigo's face than his own. He grabs it and allows himself to be helped up and steadied, his clothes damp already from the steady, light rain]

Oh, I will. It ain't all it's cracked up to be! This Hollow part of me is drivin' me just about crazy with the hunger out there. [if that was one thing about being where he actually belonged, it was that he wasn't struck with such intense emptiness and hunger. In here, he felt complete. Because things were as they should be, after all] But... it's giving me plenty of ideas for things we should ask Ichigo for! [he feels.. somewhat less exhausted than he was before. But he still needed significant rest]

Now, if you don't mind... even manifesting here is slowing me down. I need to just... take a big ol' nap. [as he says it, his body begins flaking away at the edges, disappearing back into Ichigo's deep consciousness] Think about if you have any more questions and I'll answer 'em when I wake up, before I step back out.

[eclipsingblade]

[They would have to manage. What other option was there? The manifestation himself, incapable of interfering overmuch these days, could do very little beyond advise, but he had a wellspring of disconnected experience to draw on at least.

It told him they needed to learn to cooperate, fast.

And if they did... perhaps it would help in the future. Genuine trust and cooperation would perhaps begin to undue the damage he'd done. He was proud of how far they'd come.. but they could go further.]

If this .. ringmaster is capable of granting the otherwise impossible, asking for a dampener for that hunger might be advisable, in time.

[Zangetsu would need rest a while yet. This was a tiredness that he'd not encountered much, but recovery could surely take hours, if not another day. Perhaps it would be worth suggesting to Ichigo that he do something about the hollow's hunger.

If he'd listen.]

There may be more questions but for now, it is enough. Rest. I will keep watch.

[moonfang]

[that was a thought. She may even give it to him gratis if it prevented him from eating any more of her changelings. Protecting your assets and all. But he could think about it more later. Right now he was slipping away, his mind going all fuzzy around the edges. As he falls asleep and vanishes, there is a small smile on his face. Here, he will rest. In his home, where he is complete.



It's a full six hours before Zangetsu awakens again, completely restored and rested. He probably could have emerged from his deep nap sooner -- he did the equivalent of rolling over and going back to sleep a few times. But now he felt energized and ready to go, and even a bit antsy thanks to his ability to manifest outside.

A pool of darkness forms in one of the windows, and a shadowy figure rises from it. The black flakes away, revealing Zangetsu, stretching and yawning]