⇨ 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

[osteothropy]

He hasn't eaten properly in days. Down below he'd only been able to feed off what sustenance New collected, after the initial food supply went bad. In the cave, he'd been too sick too eat, for the most part. Even now, it's hard to feel any kind of appetite.

He looks at the tray and rolls his shoulders, contemplating how he can't really feed himself like this, so it's probably going to end up like it was in the cave, with people basically just shoving food in his skull. The idea doesn't humiliate him. It's just the way it is.

"I feel sick" he explains, looking a little bit wary about the whole thing. He feels ill but it's just one ailment on top of many. "It's too hard to eat."

Though not eating is probably contributing to that illness, and etcetera.

[spaghettimonster]

"Too hard...?" Unable or unwilling to eat... Just another sign how very, very out of sorts his brother is. And there's a joke to be made here, about not eating and wasting away to bones, but... Papyrus isn't the skeleton to make it. Maybe later, once this is distant enough they can laugh. Maybe never, it's not that good a joke.

At least he's responding to the notion of food, and eating it, like he knows what that is. And with a little less unhappy helplessness.

"Hmmm. Is that because, you think you'll get sick?" If so, he's going to enlist advice from people with stomachs before offering more than a couple bites. Getting vomited on... for the sake of family or friends, he'd bear it if he must, but he'd really rather not.

"Or because your hands are tucked away, and you're not sure how to feed yourself? You might manage with your tail." And if not, well, he probably won't think to handle the door handle that way. "If not... I am here, and ready and able to help in the ways that I can."

[osteothropy]

Really, it's a combination of both. Now we've come to the inevitable moment where he tries to engineer his escape, of course. He's attempted this at least once with almost every person who he's spoken to.

"Take this thing off," he says, moving his arms around beneath the blanket. At least the fact that it's not literally a straight jacket means that he can reposition himself as much as necessary, but it's still really frustrating. He looks at Papyrus from the side of his sockets, watching for his reaction. "If... If you want to help."

He is not very well equipped for emotional manipulation like this, but he can try to appeal to his 'helpful' sensibilities, at least. If any of these people really cared they wouldn't keep him like this.

[spaghettimonster]

"You'd rather eat with your own hands?" Papyrus asks, nodding slowly as he puts the tray down on the bed. "That's fair enough, I would too."

He rests a hand on his brother's shoulder, considering the remarkably tight blanket. There's no sign of it being tied after all, no point where it's been snugly sewn into place... It's like it was woven into existence around him, too tight below the arms and above the shoulders to be pulled off in any direction. So the only way to remove it would be, to tear it? At which point, his brother would be entirely free, and...

"Wait a minute." Reality catches up, and Papyrus yoinks his hand back. "You said, you want to go back! Where, you'll get hurt you even more?"

Even as he says that, starting to reject the request, his expression gets pained and conflicted, and he looks around them again. It's hard to fathom whatever's going on inside his brother, but some of it's clear. Tied up and trapped in a small space... Unable to read, or talk on the radio, or indulge any hobbies... Those scratches on the wall, remarkably like footprints dragged out in some unhappy emotion... No wonder he feels so helpless. Nobody's done much to help him not.

"Helping you do that isn't help. I'm not aiding, or abetting, your... it's not self-destruction, but..."

[osteothropy]

He isn't very happy with the result. For a moment he'd hoped that Papyrus would go through with it, and when he doesn't the desperation on his face only becomes more intense. Papyrus makes him emotional on a level no one else has quiet reached, yet, and he doesn't even fully understand why. The barrier between them here feels more frustrating and unknowable than average.

"N-Nothing he could do would hurt me. Not really," he says, almost like he's pleading, even though he's already pretty sure isn't happening. "The... The worst thing is just being here, being like this, and if... if I was doing what he wanted then it would be better."

"That's the only thing I know, is that I should be there. But none of you care, you won't listen..."

[spaghettimonster]

Nobody in this trailer is happy. Why does every party result in such longterm emotional turmoil? Like hangovers that last for weeks or months, and all the house is filled with pernicious stains, and important furniture and kitchen fixings are broken, and... it's just a bad time all around.

Papyrus wrings his hands together in his lap, the better not to do anything he'd regret - nothing besides refusing his brother's only request thus far.

"I don't want to doubt you," he says, voice heavy with the impending but that assures, doubt is already happening, and is going to continue happening no matter what. "Especially not right now, when there's so little you sound sure about. But..."

How does he ask this? If all ... his brother really remembers is the time since being caught, then, what scale of reference do they even have in common?

"I heard, from one of the others we saved... You guys didn't have much to eat. And, and what you had, was poisoned. So you were..." It's hard to say. It's harder to look towards his brother while saying. "Sick, and starving. That wouldn't hurt?"

[osteothropy]

He finds himself staring into space as Papyrus asks that question, reflecting on a concept that is hard for him to process at the moment. Images flash to mind - being wet, exhausted, and hungry, with an aching spine that wouldn't quit hurting and could barely move. In some ways it's like a memory from a previous life, and in other ways it still feels so close.

He also remembers being at the ball, and being so angry and determined, given a straight forward purpose as his choices were taken away from him, little by little. In the end, he'd been too weak to refuse anything. It had been so much easier to submit, to accept whatever was coming, just like it feels like it would now.

"I..." he mumbles, clearly somewhat dazed by the recollection. His pupils flick downward, looking at the floor, his sockets still wide. "I don't have anything better, now. I can't."

All he gets now is pain, and all he can think about is how the easiest and simplest thing would be to stop fighting, to stop trying to be a person, to just go back to his master and let him do whatever he wanted with what remained of him. It's the infectious thought that has been haunting him since the moment that he arrived - that submission was the only option, and that remaining hidden away here was denying the Prince's wishes.

All these people do is make things more complicated, and he desperately just wants it to be simple. To make it stop seeming like he had choices or other options.

When he snaps out of his daze, his sockets are watery, a tear just barely escaping from one of the right side.

"I can't..." he says again, more softly.

[spaghettimonster]

Is he... crying? Papyrus stares, a little bit horrified, unable to look away. How does this keep happening?

At least, he tells himself, the pained voice and hints of tears prove one thing. That's too many emotions for somebody who's really empty and nothing. Despite the blanket's cocoon impression, this isn't just a discarded pile of bones while all of his brother is elsewhere.

"I don't want to, to run ramshackle over what you know," he says, with that same doubtful tone, a little bit hesitant, like walking over crackling ice. He's sure that's false, but, for Papyrus to be
talking over his brother, disregarding all his feelings, his experiences, thus far... it's not great. Obviously, taking away somebody's memories and hurting them and scaring them is all very, very, very bad. The worst around. But a less-bad thing following a really-bad thing isn't good.

...But, maybe, it's necessary. Or the best option available.

"But... I promise you, you can. There's better food, right here," and he taps on the tray, drawing attention back to burger, and fries, and pancakes and toast and eggs, even some pieces of a mystery fruit. It's all cool, and getting colder, but not turning into poison at anything more than the usual rate for physical, organic, non-monster food.

"And you can eat it! I want you to. To eat, to... to sleep? If you want to sleep all day, to sleep until we get the rest of you back... I wouldn't mind in the slightest." And he would, normally, mind that very much. "Then... you wouldn't have to feel so, conflicted?"

[osteothropy]

There's the smallest flash of recognition, then - as if somewhere inside, that concession feels like it means something. He looks down at the food, dazed and unsure, and then back up to Papyrus. Only the one tear has broken free, but he's incapable of wiping the rest away. Not that it really matters, right now.

Very cautiously and tentatively, he shifts himself over on the bed with his feet, moving closer to the other skeleton. Moving his back to the wall, his slides over until he can lean his head against Papyrus's shoulder.

He knows what he's trying to do, and somewhere that feels far away, it feels like it would mean something - even if he can't understand it all right now. He closes his eyes, just trying to let go.

"Okay," he says. He can't help himself, but maybe... he can at least listen to someone else.