⇨ 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

Five | OTA

[brightspot]

broken illusion.

When the ground first starts shaking, Five's in the middle of a dance with another summoned guest like herself, and she pauses not due to the tremors but because suddenly her hands aren't grasping anything solid - her partner is fading away... Her mind is still hazy enough she has the thought (controlled, planted there) to simply find someone new to dance with. It takes the earthquake actually knocking her off her feet and to the hard floor to knock her to her senses (though, perhaps, only temporarily, for now).

She looks up and around wide-eyed and frightened, trying to arrange the voluminous skirts of her ball gown in order to stand back up. "What's happening...?"

signed the contract.

Five doesn't bother asking for a lot of information before she agrees to sign. Even if it's switching one master for another, with the Ringmaster she's at the very least being given the illusion of choice here, rather than just being kidnapped and brainwashed. It also doesn't bother her (in fact it makes sense to her) that the Ringmaster would ask for her service in return for rescuing her. She is, after all, risking a lot and putting a lot of effort into saving people here, even Five can see that much. Granted, a year seems like a long time to be away from her home, from the Raza. She's going to miss her friends a lot, and she's already worried about what's going on back there while she's here, but. Again, there doesn't really seem to be a lot of time for questions.

She lets the Ringmaster go back to doing what she needs to do, feeling... still confused, and more than a little lost, but at least somewhat on more solid ground. She clutches her walkie-talkie in her hand, then turns it on and begins fiddling with the radio as she walks cautiously, watchful in the early morning daylight, hoping to hear a familiar voice or at the very least some hint as to what she's supposed to do now.

A place to hide until things settle down some more. That's probably what she needs.

regroup ► but more importantly, WARDROBE.

In fact, what she needs is to get out of this... floofy, ruined gown. It started out very beautiful, if a lot different from anything she's ever worn before: a brilliant lavender, almost satin in texture, with lavish skirts and bows. Now, however, it's dirty, torn, ruined. And yet still entirely cumbersome to move around in.

Once the portal has been opened to lead back to the carnival, she'll head through and begin her search for a place to get more convenient clothing, stopping to ask either a passing person or a voice she may hear over the radio where she can go for that.

"I'd like to help, with... with whatever happens, here on out. But maybe in a-- a different outfit?"

[ ooc: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. maybe this works, though? brand spankin' new and throwing myself in the fray here. be gentle with me? ]

contract!

[kingsroads]

At least in this thread, she sees someone before she hears them. Strange also looks a bit of a mess. His purple suit is torn, dirty, and a bit bloody in some places, and his face looks like he's been crying. Also, unsurprisingly, he's damned tired and was making his way to some sort of area in the safe zone where he could take a friggen nap. That is, until he spots Five. Once he's done so, the plans change.

"Is it a bit selfish to say that I'm glad you are real? After all, I enjoyed our conversation." And not just because Five thought his magic was neat! Giving the girl a little nod, Strange walks over towards her.

"I do wish that you could have signed on under better circumstances."

[brightspot]

A familiar figure and a familiar voice. He's definitely a welcome sight, even if he looks even more in disarray than she does. She hurries over to him with a smile born of relief at first.

"Mr. Strange!"

The smile fades though the more she looks at him, concern blooming over her features. If she stops to think about it, it shouldn't be surprising, with everything that's happened and is happening, this is hardly the time for smiles and laughs. But...

She shakes her head, foregoing the question of selfishness or not (and maybe it is a little, but Five wouldn't and doesn't hold it against him) in favor of looking him over more closely, then taking note of the blood, even if it's only a bit, and the fact that he looks like his emotions have taken a beating too.

"Are you hurt?"

[kingsroads]

Strange is trying his hardest to seem like everything's okay! He's fine! He's got this, just ignore the fact that he's riding the hot mess express. So, at Five's question, he shakes his head.

"Thankfully, no. Some of these are just scrapes from escaping the manor. But what about you?"

After all, nobody was expecting the manor to just up and collapse like that. And Five seemed to be just a teenager (though really, Strange was learning that very few people at the carnival could be judged on outside appearance alone).

[brightspot]

That's not really something Five can readily ignore, Strange, sorry. Especially when she's trying so hard not to let her own feelings (namely fear, and loneliness, a sense of being lost and out of place) be too obvious. Of course, her emotions are often written all over her expression, sad smile and all. The relief is still there though, even if she knew him only for a few hours, he's someone familiar.

She pauses, hesitating for a moment, before looping her arm through his so she can stand at his side, and walk with him. It's not quite a hug, nor is it holding hands, but only because they've just met and she hasn't been able to tell yet how comfortable he would be with that kind of physical affection and comfort. He had danced with her, though, so clearly he wasn't prone to avoiding touch altogether. The proximity helps ease some of her own negative feelings, the nerves, and she hopes it's enough to give him some comfort, at least.

"I'm not hurt, just... Still kind of confused I guess? And... scared," she admits, but with a smile up at him, like it's just a statement of fact and nothing to worry too much about, nothing for him to worry about especially. It's not like it should come as a surprise, anyway. What's going on is pretty scary. "Can I ask you something?"

He's not wrong: she is a teenager. But she's been taking care of herself (and sometimes others) for... what, at least four years, maybe longer? Even if she doesn't have access to all of those memories, just bits and pieces mostly from dreams. And from the information about her former self she'd been given when she'd been held at Hyperion-8. Only more recently has the taking care of herself started to include fighting as well, but she can defend herself alright so long as she's not outnumbered... And she's fighting, you know, humans. Monsters are kind of new territory! New terrifying territory. Up against that sort of thing, she's fairly sure her stealth is still her best defense.

[kingsroads]

If Strange minds Five looping her arm through his, he doesn't show it. He does look a bit surprised for a moment, mostly because he didn't expect this, but he adjusts to this closeness soon enough. He's not really one for public displays of affection, but Five's scared, worried, and probably needs all the reassurance she can get. He will straight up allow himself to get clinged on.

And, he'll allow her to bother him with questions. After all, fae are terrifying. Exciting and interesting and something Strange desperately wants to learn about as well, but definitely also terrifying. "Of course," Strange answers, without hesitation. "You've been thrown into this mess at a confusing time. I'm certain you have plenty of questions."

And Jonathan Strange, in all his egotism, is certain he's the person who can answer all of Five's questions and answer them in a way that makes perfect sense for her.

[brightspot]

It's not that Five is a casually clingy person - it's definitely more about the reassurance factor, to have someone at least somewhat familiar and who she's deemed as "safe" to stay close to, to have their strength to borrow from when she needs it most. Touch for her is mostly fueled by emotion: saying goodbye to someone with a kiss on the cheek, or greeting someone she'd been worried about with a hug, and comforting a friend with the clasping of hands.

She's grateful for both his offer to answer and his acceptance of the contact. The reassurance helps her, though she wishes she knew of a way to help him in return.

"I do... But... the only one I'd actually planned on asking was: how long have you been here?"

[kingsroads]

"I've been here around five months." Sort of. One of the months was spent in an alternate universe and frankly, Strange doesn't know if that counts or not. Still, rounding everything up to vaguely five months is at least an answer and at least something that he can tell Five.

"Normally it isn't as...chaotic as it currently is. However, we've had other scenarios that went just as poorly as this."

There's nothing in Strange's tone of voice that suggests he's averse to talking about just how poorly these other scenarios went. After all, Five needs to know what level of bullshit she's been unceremoniously dropped into.

[brightspot]

Five would probably say it counts, since being in an alternate universe still isn't being home, and he probably ended up there due to being here, anyway. So, totally counts. And five months is... Both a long time and not. It's hard thinking of being away from her friends that long. Maybe they could find her, though?

Strange mentions those other scenarios and Five's eyes go sort of wide as she looks at him, a split-second deer-in-headlights look. She's got enough fear as it is, maybe telling her about other times things have gone poorly isn't the most effective solution right now, but she's... pushing past it. She always pushes past it.

She swallows, chooses her words carefully. "Okay... Do you mean poorly as in... People getting hurt?"

Regroup

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya stops when Five calls to him. He's discarded his equally ruined formal wear for his usual clothes already, one arm limp at his side and there's a shield and a sword sheathed on his person.

He pauses because she must be new--someone the Prince kidnapped during the ball, or before it? He supposes those people must have come from somewhere.

"Ah, Perhaps there is something that will fit you," he mutters more to himself, looking over his shoulder thoughtfully. "I can guide you to where the clothes and costumes are kept."

[brightspot]

She lets out a breath of relief, feeling hopeful that he both can and is willing to help.

"Thanks. Thank you. I... I'd appreciate it, I'm a little.. lost..."

Five notices that he does look all suited up and ready for battle though, and she feels a little guilty for stopping him if he was on his way to help people. "But... Are you sure you're not too busy..?"

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya shakes his head. Right now, they're all in 'recover and resupply' mode, and Syrlya feels he's very accomplished with that right now.

"Not at all. Right now, what we need it to help each other." He turns a bit on his heels, looking thoughtfully around the perimeter before he points in a direction. "It should be that way--you are unharmed, I hope?"

[brightspot]

At his question, Five looks down at herself, her ruined dress. She feels a little exhausted from the escape, the action, the chaos, honestly. But she's pretty sure she's not injured. She looks back up at him and shakes her head lightly, gives a small, grateful smile.

"No injuries. Just... kind of a mess. And really, really, unfamiliar with... basically all of this." She casts her gaze over the surroundings for a moment, smile dropping.

[chronosynthesis]

"It is a lot to take in." Even without everything with the Prince, she's still signed up with a fairy carnival. That's even more confusing if you don't know what fae are.

"But you should be safe within the carnival grounds. Things are very urgent right now, but do you have any questions?"

[brightspot]

She's sort of had the fae explained to her, and sort of has an idea of what they are from fictional fantasy stories, but... Admittedly, that's a whole lot different, from the looks of it. Maybe the only real similarity here is Magic, but in any case, she thinks it's a longer explanation that can wait until later, probably.

"Uhm, mainly just the... clothes one, for now, I guess." And she looks toward the direction he'd pointed her in for a moment before turning back to him.

"...Are you going to fight?"

[chronosynthesis]

"If it comes to that," he says with a nod. At least, if it does, he hopes they're able to take that fight only to the Prince. But he'd rather be prepared for a fight that doesn't happen than the opposite.

Still, he gestures for her to follow him so he can lead her to the proper tent, because the layout of the carnival could be a bit confusing. "But that isn't our immediate concern. Finding our numbers and preparing ourselves is. Ah--I am Syrlya, by the way."

[brightspot]

Five nods at what he says. Battle strategy isn't something she's real familiar with, but obviously it makes sense to do the planning before rushing out with sword waving in the air. Even if that's not quite the way her friends have always seemed to do their fighting.

"My name's Five," she introduces herself back with a small smile as she follows him. Much like most everyone else she's run into so far, he has some... Physical oddities she's not used to seeing on people. "Can I ask... how long have you been with the carnival?"

broken illusion

[atouts]

"It would seem out host is angry," a low, gravelly-toned voice answers from off to her side. A tall man in black and silver finery, with short black feathers for sideburns and a whole general motif of 'pale and black things' going for him, has more or less appeared out of nowhere next to Five. In actuality, he appeared out of a shadow, which may as well be nowhere.

Oddly enough, he's toting a katana with him, the blunt side of the blade balanced against a shoulder. It's... not his, but that's a different story altogether. Childermass is able to offer her a hand up with his other, however, and that's exactly what he does.

"You haven't vanished with the rest. Are you real?"

[brightspot]

Five briefly startles at the sudden appearance of him, realizing after a second she's pretty sure she recognizes this figure from when Strange had been showing off his scrying to her. Her mind's still oddly hazy, she can't recall if she learned his name. The katana is making her remember a friend (is he still a friend? That's a hard question) from back home.

She takes the offered hand grateful and uses the leverage to help pull herself up off the ground, and she then grabs onto his arm to try and keep herself from being knocked off balance again as the rumbling seems to continue.

"I..." She's not entirely sure how to answer that question, so she just asks one back with a look of uncertainty. "How would I know if I'm not?"

[atouts]

"The fact you didn't pass right through my hand seems reason enough to believe you are," Childermass points out as Five pulls herself up and hangs onto his arm. He doesn't mind, as that's what he would have suggested anyhow, with the floor shaking itself apart as it is.

That decided for now (for him, in any case), he'll turn his attention to what's around them. The rest of the party-goers fading away, bits of the roof caving in, grand pillars of marble crumbling. Somewhere amongst those, he's sure he'll find an exit.

"Hm." Somewhere... over there? That might work. He looks back to Five. "You aren't afraid of the dark, are you?"

[brightspot]

It's oddly reassuring to be told she's real, and she's not sure why. Maybe just because this situation is so odd, surreal and frightening. It's good to know something is solid. And not shaking. She silently nods her head in response to that though.

As he's scoping out their surroundings, Five is taking off her high heels and holding them in her free hand (the one not clinging to his arm) to prevent her twisting an ankle if they have to run.

She looks up at him when he asks her a question, and there's a flicker of disbelief over her features at being asked that, when there are occasions when she prefers being in small, dark and quiet places. She quickly shakes her head. "No, I'm good in the dark."

[atouts]

It's an odd question, sure, but an important one for what's about to happen next.

"Good," he says, gaze turning back to the nearest doors and the shadows that gather nearest to it. With the whole place falling apart, shadow-stepping a great distance in one go just became a lot less safe. He gives Five a few more seconds to get her heels off before looking back again and adding, "Hold on tight. We're leaving."

And then he'll pull her one step, two steps over and into the shadow of, yes, literally a falling rock (previously a part of the roof). There won't be much time to react to that, maybe just enough for a yell or scream or cuss, and then he'll be sweeping them both across the ballroom through the shadows.

Travelling via shadow is swift, but it isn't without a moment of absolute nothingness, hence why he had asked about the dark. Whatever place between he takes them, there's no light, no sound, just black and the feeling of the arm he's expecting Five to hang onto. Then, two, three seconds later, they're back in the ballroom, stepping out towards the doors which now hang ajar, knocked partway off by the shaking.

[brightspot]

A little bit of an explanation beforehand would definitely have been appreciated by Five here, but she also understands they are under time constraints. That doesn't stop her from gasping with a mixture of surprise and fear when they head straight under falling debris, though. She doesn't really have a moment to ask questions, because just as swiftly as they moved into the shadow, they're moving through it, somehow, and the darkness that comes with it is not completely dissimilar to looking into the vastness of space... minus the stars.

It's just a void, but whether or not it feels like vast open darkness or more tight and suffocating, she doesn't have long to think about it (though, frankly, she'd rather have the latter over the former), because in the next few seconds they're back in the ballroom and Five's still hanging tight to the man's arm. She's even more disoriented now than before, not quite certain what just happened but pretty sure she'd just experienced more magic.

"Wow." And for the moment that's all she can really say. Except, maybe: "How...?"

[atouts]

"I'm a magician," Childermass offers as the simplest of explanations. Of course, that only works if Five knows what a magician even is, but now that they're out of immediate danger, he is in slightly less of a rush. He'll nod towards the askew doors and move to lead her that way, pace careful thanks to the sword — the damn thing's unwieldy to him, as he doesn't know much about swords, to begin with — braced against one shoulder.

"And we will have to do that a few more times," he adds. "It's the fastest way out with this place falling in on our heads."

[brightspot]

She has some clue what a magician is, yes. Not even just because Strange was showing her earlier some of the things he could do with magic, but also because magic tricks exist in her time and universe, just nothing on the scale of actual magic. Nothing on the scale of this. She had no idea magic could be used in that way.

Five nods, looks around while still holding on to his arm with a lighter grip now, like she's a little distracted, or maybe it's her mind still trying to work through the Prince's brainwashing.

"Yeah... It's a mess. Can't dance here anymore." It's such a silly thing to say and spoken in a dazed voice anyway, but there it is.