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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yuya tilts his head the other way in response. "I know that, everyone's angry because the Prince has been hurting and scaring people all week, and now he's doing this." He scrunches his nose.

"But we definitely won't let him win. We're going to save them and fix this." He sounds sure as he says it. He has to be sure, because the alternative is too awful to think about. They need to be strong enough to act and succeed.

"You know that but you won't show it," Cole grumbles. "It doesn't matter that I'm new. If you feel something, then feel it."

Get angry, Yuya! Show those emotions, tell him how you feel, Cole can tell that Yuya's not letting himself get too angry because of this situation.

"You don't like that I was kidnapped. So say it."

Yuya's expression drops a little as he stares blankly at Cole. For a moment he wonders if there was something betrayed on his face, but then he remembers Reira. He remembers Portland. Some people could just... feel it, no matter what you did. No matter how deep it went. they knew when it was there.

Yuya lets out a breath, closing his eyes for a moment before he looks at Cole with a wry smile.

"I don't like it. I don't like anything the Prince did. I actually really hate him right now. But if I just sit here and think about how angry and worried I am, I'm never going to be able to move forward."

Good. Cole responds to Yuya's statement with a little nod of his own. There's not really any expression on his face, but it's obvious from Cole's more relaxed tone of voice that this has placated him somewhat.

"It would be easier if people said what they felt. I'm glad you did."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's hard." He knows, he spent a long time hiding things he felt. It's freeing to be able to express himself so openly, now, but he can't say he never felt the opposite.

He leans against the table. "So how do you feel?"

And Cole frowns, mulling it over. How does he feel...that's a good question. And an interesting one.

"Confused," is what he eventually settles on. "It was easy back home. A hole in the sky, working together to fix the fade. But here? The small things are easy, but the bigger picture baffles." The small helps are important, but Cole has absolutely no idea how to work with the big helps. It was easy back home. There was a tear in the sky, a breach that pulled all sorts of creatures into this world. He helped close it.

But here? The fear was more nebulous, more scattered. The fae and losing friends and being changed and what if we don't rescue them and on and on and Cole just didn't know what to do.

Yuya could understand why it'd be confusing, but... he's not quite following the 'why'. Is it just because everything going on is overwhelming? Yuya would have probably thought so if he wasn't already familiar with the fae.

"I can try and explain it for you. There's a lot going on right now." But the important question first. "Do you know what fae are?"

Nope. Cole has no idea what fae are. So he just kind of looks at Yuya with a confused frown before answering the question.

"The thing everyone is scared of?"

Technically true.

Well that's... not entirely wrong.

"They're really powerful people with magic that live in their own realms and visit other places. Some of them are really nice, like the Ringmaster... but the Prince isn't. The Ringmaster needed his help, and he wanted all of us here while they talked about it."

He frowns, remembering what insight Strange gave him earlier... that they were just here to mess up so the Prince could use them against her. "He hurt and kidnapped a bunch of people from the carnival. We have to save them all before..." Before he decides he's not getting what he wants, and it's too late for them.

They have to save them before it's too late. Cole can understand that much. The confusion, the frantic nature, everyone needs to be saved and needs to be protected otherwise everything's going to fall apart.

Though there is one thing that Cole still doesn't understand.

"Is there no Fade here?" he has to ask, a worried frown on his face. If there isn't...Cole doesn't know if that's a good thing, a bad thing, or it just is. But if it was here, that could explain some of their powers and some of the realms. But if it wasn't here...then they were dealing with something else entirely.

"Fade?" Yuya has absolutely no idea what that is, and it shows on his face. "I don't think so? But I've never heard of anything called that where I'm from. What's the Fade?"

Oh, how to explain this. It's difficult for Cole to explain things normally but explaining the Fade is like explaining the oceans or the sky. It's just there. It's always been there.

"It runs next to the world. Spirits live there, but people can access it too, but not like us. Not like this." Not physically, standing in here, face to face talking as Yuya and Cole currently are. "The fae should be from the Fade."

Magic came from the Fade as well. If the fae were these powerful magical beings from different realms that Yuya was thinking of, then it only made sense that they came from the Fade. But they don't because Yuya doesn't know about the Fade so where exactly did they come from in the first place?

Having it explained, the concept, at least, is familiar. He understands the idea of spirits living in a world alongside theirs, but they certainly don't call it the Fade.

"I don't think the fae are spirits. They're just really magical and powerful." They're far too tangible, interactive, and human in a way for them to be spirits, he's sure. Of course, his spiritual and magical experience before the carnival was extremely limited, hazy, and hard to remember. It's much easier for him to take it at face value because he has nothing to compare it with.

"Spirits can be magical and powerful as well." Though the words sound like he's being pedantic, Cole isn't arguing. At least in his mind, he's just pointing out the obvious, trying to see if that can be used to figure out just what the heck the fae are.

"Perhaps they're gods?" But even as he says that, Cole knows it isn't right.

Yuya shrugs. He's not a terribly spiritual person as is, he hasn't bothered trying to fit the fae into those classifications.

"They're people." That's the best Yuya can offer. It didn't explain what they are or where they came from, but it's how Yuya saw them.

"But sometimes people aren't."

It's not a very good explanation. But how else is Cole going to explain it? Sometimes people aren't people. They're trapped between two extremes, between people and something else. A spirit. An idea. A position. A belief. Some people could do it better than others: the Inquisitor was good at being people and not people, Solas was amazing at it. As for the fae...Cole doesn't know yet.

"You can be a person and be more than a person. Is that it with them?"

A person and more than a person? Yuya absently scratches his head as he stares at Cole, trying to comprehend that. The best he can envision for it is leadership. People whose public face is meant to unite people, who are meant to be role models and goals and represent ideals... but outside of all that they really are just other people, aren't they?

But does that fit the fae, who live amongst themselves, to the Ringmaster who lives alone with the company of her carnival? She didn't really seem to provide them a way to follow, so much as she was on the same adventure they all were.

Thinking so deeply about this means he's just been staring silently at Cole for a solid minute, and when he realizes it he startles quickly. "Uh--I really don't know? I think they're just the fae. It doesn't make sense to try and call them spirits or gods because they're not."

They aren't spirits. They aren't gods. They're people but they're not people. They're just the fae, but Cole doesn't know what the fae are to begin with. A brief look of irritation flashes across Cole's face before it settles back into a small frown.

Still, this isn't Yuya's fault. He's trying his best. Cole...just needs to find someone who knows more because there must be someone who knows more. There usually is.

"I should ask her," Cole decides, with a little nod. "The Ringmaster runs the rounds. She's fae. She'd know, wouldn't she?"

Yuya smiles sheepishly and lets out a short laugh. "Uh, yeah. She'd know a lot more about it than me!"

What with actually being fae and all. He's assume she'd know all about her own people? And she's old, at least compared to humans. "She's probably busy right now, but I'd ask her when all this is over."

When all this is over...well that just raises even more questions in Cole's mind!

"When will all this be over?" After all, Cole literally just arrived at the carnival and literally knows next to nothing about the fae. This certainly is something, but when will it stop?

Yuya looks up, uncertain and helpless for a moment. And then he just shrugs.

"When we stop the Prince and save everyone." Everyone who's captured and suffering. The servants, of course, but more importantly to Yuya is Lambert, Yugo, Gongenzaka...

And he hasn't seen Rita. Joker. Who else was missing, in danger?

"They'll be fine," Cole says, without thinking about it, tapping into Yuya's fears and worries without realizing it. "Hell. Portland. All of them have been gone before and all of them can be saved again."

Just don't ask how Cole knows about hell and Portland when he wasn't here for either hell or Portland.

"She won't leave hers behind."

"I know." It's not the Ringmaster he doesn't trust. It's his failure to make any impact to protect their suffering.

But he doesn't get the chance to sit and dwell on those thoughts, because his mind skips back over what Cole said and he does a double take. "Wait, where'd you hear about Hell and Portland?"

Is someone just telling the newbies about all the terrible locations first?!

"They hurt. So I know."

What an amazingly cryptic statement that doesn't tell Yuya anything about how Cole knew about Hell and Portland. And yet, he's saying the amazingly cryptic statement in a tone of voice that implies it should tell Yuya how Cole knew about Hell and Portland.

That explains absolutely nothing. "Did someone tell you about them already? This really doesn't happen all the time..."

Just more often than it should. More often than Yuya wants it to. He wants to help bring smiles to people with the carnival, not be terrified his friends are going to die.

⇨ SAY UNCLE

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