lostcarnival | ⇨ SAY UNCLE

Entry tags:

⇨ 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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"It seems like everyone's asking me this, lately..."

That's an exaggeration, by a fairly significant margin. But, still, in just the last few weeks, several people have wondered about whether he eats. When he goes to the mess hall! At odd hours, maybe, but still!

"But yes, I do! You mean you don't? At all??"

"I don't," Cole responds, with a little nod. "I'm a spirit. I don't think we have to eat."

When you've only encountered a handful of beings of your race, it gets a little dodgy about what you can or cannot do as a whole. But Cole doesn't need to eat and other spirits didn't talk about eating, so maybe they don't have to eat at all?

"I suppose you'd know, by now, if you did have to..." Papyrus muses, and studies Cole a little more carefully.

That term has a whole lot of synonyms, and different people already seem to use the same words for very different things. Just listen to the difference between, say, Lambert's monsters - seemingly much closer to the painfully confused and shapeshifted people attacking anyone close to the manor - to Papyrus and Sans and Alphys' monsters! But, well. Spirit sounds like ghost. And there were ghosts back home; probably fine enough folks, aside from the spooky things of turning invisible and floating through walls. How easily they could violate a skeleton's privacy, and he'd never know.

There's a pause as Cole just looks at Papyrus, staring at the skeleton in a way that's slightly creepy.

"They called me a ghost once," he explains, not really realizing that he's responding to Papyrus's thoughts. "The Ghost in the Spire. It's right, but it isn't."

He was in the Spire. But he wasn't a ghost. He was just lost and confused and worried and making terrible choices that shall not happen again.

That creepiness is fair, they're both staring a little too much at each other. Well, mostly fair. That comment was right on the nose, an astonishing guess at his own thought process. And a bit of a puzzle: Right, but isn't [right]? How is that supposed to work? Then again, with two things to that title...

"Because... you're not in the spire anymore?" he guesses, then goes still as the other part really sinks in. "Are you a ghost?!"

"I'm a spirit," Cole insists, looking over at Papyrus. At least in his mind, there's a definite distinction between the two. Ghosts were people. Spirits just were.

"But I was in the spire. I met friends there."

Ghosts are people, slightly spooky ones. The least physical monsters that exist, and that's with people like fire elementals around. This spirit, though, looks very physical indeed! Opaque and bipedal, with skin and hair and everything. Maybe it's just a vernacular coincidence.

"The Spirit previously residing in the Spire..." Papyrus sounds out, and shakes his head. "It doesn't have the same ring. What are you called now??"

"I'm called Cole!"

And this is something he's certain about. Cole might not know about spirits or ghosts or what have you but he knows who he is and he knows that he's Cole.

"What are you called now?"

Because it's polite to ask. People don't like it when he just addresses them with their names from their mind (but Cole does it anyway.)

"That sounds... like a name! So, call me Papyrus."

Not Ishmael, or any other literary name, for all that his name's from a truly ancient kind of parchment. And there's not, not really, a surname to go with it. All the more important to have a variety of titles available for embellishing it.

"Janitor Papyrus isn't really regal enough, but it's the most accurate."

Cole also doesn't have a surname. So he sees absolutely nothing wrong with Papyrus not having one either! After all, plenty of people don't have surnames. He doesn't. Solas doesn't as well!

However, Cole doesn't really grasp that the 'janitor' part isn't part of his name. So he nods slightly at Papyrus before talking. "It is a name. And it's nice to meet you, Janitor Papyrus."

He can hear Varric's voice in his head at the conversation. Be nice, introduce yourself to people, kid. Everybody likes polite people.

What estimable company to be included in! Not that he really knows of either one. Or that, truly, he cares about the prestige aspect. He's already counting 'king' among his titles... having been elected to the position when the other leaderly sorts disappeared.

Compared to that, even Janitor is downright heroic; at the end of this, way more people will be saved. So he spends hours every day cleaning some really gross messes! Scrubbing toilets! He hadn't really even known what a toilet was before coming here!

"You too, Cole!"

That's practically Papyrus' philosophy, to be pleasant, and friendly, and welcoming. And helpful! Which means, in this case... uh...

"But what were we talking about before?"

"Does it matter?" Cole responds, with a little shrug. "You're happy now. That's what matters."

Besides, there's nothing wrong with Papyrus forgetting. Forgetting the hurt, forgetting the sad things, forgetting what the conversation was to start with. Cole still remembers and Cole can simply ask someone else.

"It's true, that's one of the most essential, matter-ial things..." Papyrus admits, because really, how can he argue against his own happiness? And forgetting sad things, focusing on the positives of the moment, is the easiest path to happiness he or his brother has figured... out...

"But!! It's not just my happiness that matters to me! My biggest happiness... is when the people around me, are happy too."

"You're like me," Cole can't help but respond, looking directly at Papyrus. Just a skeleton instead of a spirit. Cole doesn't really think of happiness in terms of himself. Oh, there are things he likes, but the best feeling of all is easing someone else's hurt. It's nice to see that he can find a kindred soul even among those who aren't spirits. It's not really shown in his face but there's a little twinge of happiness in Cole's voice.

"Except for the fact that I have skin and you don't."

Well, yes. And a whole lot of other factors but apparently this is the point that Cole's still focusing on.

It's true, skeletons are a lot like humans, and spirits, and a whole host of other similar looking folks, aside from all the outer squishy trappings.

"And hair! But I try not to hold that against anybody," Papyrus offers, very generously.

But, that's probably not the stuff that Cole means. They had just been espousing values of others' well being, after all. Which makes sense to his impression of Cole so far, they'd started talking because there was some other person that Cole wanted to help be happy. But who was it, again?

"We could get you hair if you want," Cole helpfully offers. "There's some of it that isn't real."

Wigs. He's talking about wigs. Of course, it'd be different having a wigged skeleton instead of having a skeleton with hair but any port in a storm. It won't be the same but it might be good enough.

"Oh, I know! It's just... not the same as growing your own."

He remembers back in the first computer world, the one with a big white entry room for customizing your appearance within the simulation... Truly, you could while away the hours, touching up your looks just so. And unlike the more-magical illusions that they've donned in most of the visits... It seemed so physical!

Papyrus has experienced the wonders of hair, in wig-form and more. He even drove with it, once or twice, that last week in Portland.

And really, he's happier as a skeleton than the alternatives. But maybe he should look into a couple of wigs. For the fashion variety it presents. His head crystals make the pompadour-styles so much easier to hold in place...

Alright, note to self: Papyrus likes wigs. Find him a wig. Or, find him something that can help him grow hair (Cole has no idea just how to do that but he'll find a way!)

Though is hair really that important? Cole frowns a little, looking at his hair, which falls in front of his eyes in unwashed, shaggy, blonde chunks.

"I've never thought about my hair before. It was simply there."

It's a surprise to hear, and Papyrus shows it, backing up with a gasp. "Really?? You've never...?"

He considers Cole's limp locks, the way the large hat covers them up, and hums. Memories from life as his human alter ego still linger in his skull... and that Papyrus was even more image-conscious than himself.

"I suppose you don't style them! Or consider the incredible impact they can have on your look..."

"How do you style hair in the first place?"

Because obviously this is a big deal. Obviously there's something funny about the fact that he doesn't style his hair, otherwise Papyrus wouldn't act like it's so odd and it's a weird thing. And it was a big deal that certain people styled their hair back in Skyhold, as that was a good way of making fun of them.

But...well, Cole doesn't really know how to style hair, just that it's a Thing. Help him out, Pap.

"Oh, it's a mix of things!"

Papyrus starts counting off on his fingers, thinking through the more elaborate processes he'd used back then. It's pretty easy to recall, because those last days he'd remembered both lives, and had marveled at the whole process.

"Washing it, brushing it in different ways, drying it in even more different ways... Exposing it to goops and sprays and things, to make it stiffer... Or just hold the form without stiffness! That's trickier."

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⇨ SAY UNCLE

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