lostcarnival | ⇨ JAILHOUSE ROCKS

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At least being addressed has the song dwindle off, and Joker blinks for a moment as if snapping out of a daze. Which, he supposes, is accurate. He's well aware that something has been put into them, and poison does have that affect. Fucking manticores.

"Oh, I'm doin' just fine," he says, voice light enough to not show any sings of panic but not nearly bouncy enough to get away completely with the lie. "The others have ta have done somethin', judgin' by that god awful ruckus, don't ya think?"

Well, good. At least he's not going nuts. Probably.

"Yeah." Rita's tone is firm. Confident. "Looks like that idiot prince couldn't catch them, either. At this point, he's basically just a sore loser throwing a tantrum." Rita doesn't know what he kept hidden away that's so important, but if reaching it got such a big reaction out of him, it's probably a good sign.

Besides, now that she's already in as much trouble as she can be in, there's no need to hold back in badmouthing their host anymore. Rita's going to enjoy that bit of freedom to her heart's content.

At least she's feeling confident about things. Joker, while he's hiding it well, is struggling to do the same if he's honest. Hell was one thing. It'd been a straight forward affair. Fae are horrifically and frustratingly trickier, as anyone who's actually tried to have a conversation with the Ringmaster would know.

Besides... Looking back at it all, Hell had been straight forward. A simple fortress to storm, from what he understands. The things that's happening here...

Joker doesn't say any of that. He simply makes an agreeable noise. "A sore loser with a lotta power still, from the looks of it. I guess he had a trick up his sleeve. Just like the good Fair Folk."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Rita says, attempting a shrug with her one free arm. "Never thought for a moment he'd invite us into his house without plenty of tricks and traps at his disposal. It sure would have been nice if the Ringmaster gave us a better idea of what to expect in the first place, though..."

But she's fae, too. And if there's anything Rita's learned from her time at the carnival, it's that fae can't be trusted.

"Remember when I mentioned talkin' ta her before we went up?" he asks, referencing when he was gathering their, ha, crack team together. It wasn't much of a rundown, but they were short on time. "Well, apparently us followin' rules like not runnin' off after curfew, but what we were supposed ta do."

Which, obviously, a few people didn't. Joker can't blame any of them, but, still. Dammit.

"She really thought there was a chance of that working out? Any idiot could've guessed how that would go." Rita didn't think for a second that their group would be able to sit still that long. Hell, she couldn't sit still that long, knowing that something was going wrong, and people on her own side were hiding things... It's like being treated like a child. She can't stand it.

"She had a lot of faith in us," Joker drawls, sarcasm heavily coating every single syllable. It was obviously going to be a mess from the start. The only question had been of "when". "Still, no use cryin' over spilled milk."

Partially because if they start now, Joker isn't sure they'll ever stop. This place is gloomy enough just on its own merits. They don't need to add to it.

"So how did ya get caught?" He was kind of busy being fucked up by a gargoyle himself, so, you know.

Rita sighs. It's kind of embarrassing to talk about her own failures, but...

"Gargoyle got me. We were flying up to the tower and one of them just... latched on. Grabbed me in mid-air." She shivers at the memory. At the time, Rita thought she was going to fall. The ground was so damn far, and she was off-balance and trying to fend off that thing, and... ugh. It was awful.

"That skeleton freak tried to save me, but he ended up falling instead. He's... probably fine." He's not here, and his abilities should have protected him from falling to his death.

Having been grabbed himself, Joker clicks his tongue in sympathy. Gargoyles aren't delicate things, either. While he's used to being roughed up and can take it, it's not something he'd wish on anyone else. Besides, he got luck in a little way, at least: his flexibility meant he could avoid the worst of it if only slightly.

"Well, he can float. Ya saw Scout make it ta the other side or not?"

"Yeah... I think she got up on the roof, at least." Does that count as making it? Rita's not sure if there's an easy way down from the roof to the rooms within, but who knows? Scout might be more capable than Rita would've guessed; in fact, she already showed that she has a few surprising tricks.

"That's as far as I saw before I got dragged away, though," she adds with a helpless half-shrug.

"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.

⇨ JAILHOUSE ROCKS

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