⇨ JAILHOUSE ROCKS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone who IS imprisoned, brainwashed, or infiltrating.
When: Day 175, 11:30PM onward.
Where: The Prince's shiny new fortress.
What: Those that have been imprisoned by the Prince languish in their underground cell, while those that are under his control continue to do his nasty bidding. Also, Foster might be here? We'll see how that goes.
Warnings: General fuckery, maybe torture.

THE LAIR OF THE BEAST↴ As the fortress comes into being, the Prince has been reaching far across his realm, beckoning his servants back to him and corralling as many helpless hostages as he can manage. In the case of the unfortunate carnival members who made the mistake of crossing him during their stay, they are being locked away in the most secure inner sanctums, held as collateral against their former master. Those freshly captured haven't yet been bent to his will, but they can certainly be neutralized. Carted away by security and pulled deep underground, there feels like there is little hope of them escaping on their own. ► GROUNDED: The Prince's dungeon is a simple one - in place of cages and manacles, there is only natural stone. A claustrophobic cave somewhere deep in the earth, those within it will soon be completely cut off from the outside world. All the prisoners will have been injected with manticore venom at some point or another, which will be slowly turning parts of their bodies to stone, and if that wasn't enough they have also been partially encased in the stone walls and pillars, as if phased halfway into the rock and left there in various positions. It is an enclosed area, and all the prisoners are within talking distance of each other - which is a good thing, because there isn't a lot else to do with their powers mostly bound and their bodies becoming less and less capable of movement. ► CONTROLLED: Those of the brainwashed that manage to return to the fortress will be set to work guarding and attending to these hostages, along with the help of some of the long term Manor servants. They still need to eat, right, and that can be difficult when you arms are stuck in a cave wall. Otherwise, there may come a time when the Prince calls upon them to do something more specific - and there's also the chance that the new prisoners will fall victim to his power and succumb to his control as well. With the poison in their bodies, it's only a matter of time before they lose themselves.

Comments

[whattaprick]

"Apparently, the rock insulates magic. Guess the Prince really doesn't want to take any chances." Lambert snorts, quietly. "Maybe we should be flattered. He actually thinks we could be dangerous."

Or at the very least, a pain in the ass. Lambert will settle for that much.

[pipers_son]

Well well well, it looks like the more gloomy of the pair is finally taking part. But calm and laughter are good signs in times like these, and Joker keeps grinning as he looks over to Lauren.

"Oh, it seems like we have an expert, then! Why don't ya show us how it's done, eh?"

[scientificist]

What's with him? Too, too much, a fist around his brain, so much quicker than a laser drill to the putamen. Pulling at the ends of strings he can only discover when they tug him back into line. Half the time he forgets, he thinks this is what he ought to be doing.

"In which way?" he asks, turning around after he says it, facing Rita again. It's a fair question, he's met one servant who sent him with the onions, and vaguely noticed the staff at the ball.

[scientificist]

Herbert's first, and confusing impulse is to respond with 'Neither do I' but...he does, this is his job, this is the task he was assigned. It doesn't matter if he finds it distasteful, that doesn't change things.

"You wouldn't dare," he says instead, jaw tight. "It wouldn't do you any good anyway."

[criticallyfucked]

"Yes! Yes!" Foster's arms rotate at the wrists, claws spread wide, palms--and teeth--bared; the latter in a smile, but frightening.

"What is a fact?" He asks. "A lie, a truth you think you know? Belief is meaningless. False! Futile! Faith is the worthless currency of the desperate, the degenerate. And yet." He stops, the animal membrane in his eyes making them gleam in the dark--or maybe that's just the reflection off Herbert's glasses.

"Until--unless--the Ringmaster saves you, you have nothing."

His too-wide smile and wild-eyed condesencsion vanishes, replaced by a saliva-slick sour. "I don't deserve the onion."

And if Herbert tries to give it to him again, Foster will make sure he regrets it.

[anti_nonsense]

He just seems... out of place. It's hard to articulate exactly why, but she'll attempt to.

"You don't seem like you're used to this," she answers. "The others act like they've either seen this all before, or they've spent enough years in that freak's service that nothing surprises them anymore." Or they've learned to fear the Prince to the point that they don't dare do anything to stand out.

[betheman]

"Mmmmm....not much," Gongenzaka mutters, furrowing his brow. "....Certainly nothing beyond these walls, at the least...."

[betheman]

"Hmmm. Isolation-I, the man Gongenzaka, understand..." Well. He has few questions for the other. Pity, certainly. But questions...

He cannot think of them, so instead he nods. "...Once again then, sir-I, the man Gongenzaka, thank you for the onion. It is more than what we have had thus far these last many hours, after all."

[betheman]

Yes. Food. Food is important, and honestly at this point Gongenzaka is fairly certain that they can't make the situation much worse. His nose crinkles as Foster insists such things of himself however-and certainly, if he didn't think the man wasn't a traitor before, he doesn't think him as one now. Why would traitors care so much to insist what they fail to deserve? At least, those who are imprisoned with the ones they supposedly betrayed. Still, Gongenzaka can recognize someone who is entering 'deeper' thought, or at least some attempt to think at all. He remains silent, and waits. Waits for Foster to struggle through his explanations, wait for Lambert to continue...

"...If it was in neither's, then who was it who took the 'rose'?" he questions alongside Lambert, his ears twitching again.

cw for low-key implied people eating, i guess

[whattaprick]

"Oh, I don't know. We haven't exactly been getting meat down here, and you should ask yourself: do I look like a man with anything left to lose?"

Lambert grins horribly, then pops the rest of the onion into his mouth, crunching on it noisily while he holds a hand out.

"Gimme more onions."

[pipers_son]

Your brother is also in prison right now, Lauren, it's fine. Joker sure doesn't stop for a few more verses, and winks at the younger boy when he finally does.

"C'mon now, it's fun! And a good way ta pass the time."

[whattaprick]

"You know that doesn't make it any better, right?" the witcher's snickering now, though which part of that he's responding to, or all of it ... that's up to Gongenzaka to guess on his own.

"How long have you been at the Carnival, anyway?" It must have been a while, Lambert thinks; extreme changes seem to be a common trait among the veterans he's seen.

[otoko]

"Hmm!" Naturally, Gongenzaka makes it rather clear what his thoughts in regard to that comment are. Of course it doesn't make it 'better'. Of course. He can focus on answering better questions anyway. "...Not including the half year in which I, the man Gongenzaka, was within one of the Ringmaster's eggs for revival... ....I shall be renewing a contract within a matter of days."

There is a pause, and he grimaces. "....Or so that is the hope, at least..."

[wild_magic]

By the time Joker does stop Susan is laughing, and he grins over at Lauren.

"And they're more fun than any of the other songs, too!" Which at this point is probably something they all need. Anything to keep spirits up, right?

[mylastchance]

That's has Lauren claming up immediately. As Joker continues to stare at him expectantly he blushes, before looking away embarrassed.

".... Uh. No. Thanks."

[mylastchance]

He doesn't understand how you can just stop being human. Unless maybe it was something like lycanthropy. Even then, the infected were still human, they were just something else too. It doesn't make sense to him, but he doesn't ask about it again, instead preferring to puzzle it out on his own.

He's also never heard of a spell that turns ghosts corporeal, so that's where he redirects his attention for the moment. He's surprised Lambert calls it 'simple.' Then again, with how different magic was between worlds, should he really be surprised.

"How can magic be so different in so many places?"

[mylastchance]

"Why is this more fun?" he says, looking back to his brother. "It's just... Dirty."

[pipers_son]

"Well, ya did better than me," Joker says dryly, unable to really gesture to himself or flare out his wings for emphasis. Really, he's almost embarrassed, but there's just a bit too much exhaustion for him to give anywhere near a proper fuck about that for right now.

"Thought I would do a bit better, but that bleedin' storm wasn't anythin' ta laugh about." Why yes, that is what he's blaming it on.

[whattaprick]

There's an urge to snap back at Julien for that, something equally sarcastic maybe, but it would all be misdirected anyway. Lambert waits a little impatiently for him to work through it, frowning as he realizes he's learning more about exactly where the hell Julien and the rest got taken to -- the place no amount of scrying or scouting could find.

"She took his Rose," Lambert murmurs, quietly. Foster had at least already filled him in on that much; he might as well pay back the favor and let Julien know just what's gotten them into shit. From the way it sounds, it looks like the Carnival's settling in rather than pulling out, which is both encouraging and dismaying. The smart thing to do would be to get out, but it is the Carnival, after all.

"Idiots," he snorts quietly. But that really doesn't seem like it's directed at anyone in particular, nor is it unnecessarily vehement. They're all idiots: the ones stuck down here, the ones who got caught in the first place, the ones who don't have the common sense to leave while they can. Then again, maybe the Ringmaster took taking the Warden's name as a personal insult. Hard to tell, with fae.

[espigeon]

"A rose? With a capital R? Wow, this is kinda beauty and the beast." A delirious ghost of amusement touches his tone. This is the first time Julien's heard of the Blue Rose. "I have no idea if that's good or bad, but he's angry about it. That's. That shouldn't be good." It's not right, to want his master to be stalled out and inconvenienced, he knows that even as he does want those things. "But, anyway, he has a... he has a shiny rock as big as me that's all powery, and he has his trophies, and he's making them upset out there. I don't know his plan but he thinks he's winning."

Julien struggles to think, and dips his big head to restlessly pick at and worry his neck, usually only tugging his feathers hard enough to preen on them, once or twice clamping down with his beak and pulling a feather out with a soft and unpleasant sound. If he was using his human body he'd be swaying, but he's more stable as a bird.

What should he do? What should he say? He's powerless, whatever half-fantasy he'd had out there deciding to come visit them. Julien knows the only reason he could get here at all is because he hasn't specifically been barred from it, he's probably on the list of people sent to feed the prisoners and it's just that he's usually outside so he hasn't. "I think... I've kinda, maybe got the feeling I've got poisoned. Maybe everyone who was down there got poisoned. The, the warden got stung by my master too, on top of that. He's definitely poisoned. I think it's a theme."

[whattaprick]

Lambert could explain it further, sometime, but right now, it's too technical and he isn't particularly in the mood.

"You're asking the wrong person about both those things," he snickers. "Ask one of the real magicians, sometime." If they ever see them again, anyway.

"If I had to guess, fire's common because it's elemental. Even monsters like dragons and wyverns can use it." He coughs, slightly, making a rasping noise at the back of his throat. It takes a few tries before a small lick of flame puffs out in front of his face, a temporary flare of light in the relatively dim cave.

"...that's about as much as I can, right now."

[pipers_son]

"Dirty and dumb~" Joker agrees, his voice still a foot in sing-song. "Haven't ya ever done somethin' a little ridiculous before just for the sake of it?"

He will do this poor boy a favor and not bring up the birds and the bees on a personal level. There are some things that don't need to be brought up, even when you're stuck in a shitty cave prison and have a potential chance of dying.

[pipers_son]

Joker chuckles. Now isn't that cute? "Then it's listenin' ta a song that's all wrong," he says, before humming a few of the notes. Even if he doesn't know the words or the language, he can carry the tune well enough.

"Although if it makes ya feel better, I don't think most folks in here will judge."

[wild_magic]

"Lauren never does ridiculous things on purpose, he's too shy. He only does them on accident." And he definitely has some stories he could tell there, but he doesn't share them... Not yet, at least.

[wild_magic]

Susan knows it won't make Lauren feel better, but honestly Lauren feeling uncomfortable with it makes him feel more comfortable, and he actually smiles a little.

"Come on, Lauren... You know it better than I do."