⇨ 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]

"That's because they probably are," Lambert says, from his undignified position, shifting slightly to get more comfortable against the wall. There's no surprise in his voice, but it occurs to him that ... there hasn't really been a chance to share the information the nightrunners have painstakingly gathered outside the narrow circle of people with combat-readiness that he knows.

"The servants said the house is alive, under the Prince's control. We must still be somewhere inside it."

[wild_magic]

There isn't much to do here, and so even though Susan is pretty damn quiet near the beginning of their jail time, it doesn't mean he isn't listening to everyone else. What else are you supposed to do to try and not be bored and not panic about being cut off from your magic?

"Does that mean the house is one of his servants too, then? And can talk?" Because alive = being able to talk or something. Or at least have some sort of way of communication, at least, since even animals and plants can be communicated with if you have the right magic like his brother does.

[whattaprick]

"If you ask me? I'd say it's more like his slave. It's bound to him, though I don't really know how," Lambert says, shrugging. "It's got permission to help the Prince's servants -- they can ask it to open doors for them -- but it's bound by the Prince's rules probably even more than they are." He nods towards the end of the cave he's seen tunnels opening from, not that he knows if anyone can see that right now.

"It can't talk, but they said it responds to them," he snorts, tapping at the wall with his claws. "They said it doesn't like the Prince much. If it could, I think it'd be talking to us by now."

But it might talk to the servants. That part, though, he doesn't plan to share until he can figure out where Sans's loyalties lie.

[wild_magic]

"You probably could talk to it if you know how... You can even talk to things like plants, if you know how. Lauren can do that." Maybe that means he can talk to the house somehow? Who knows. It doesn't matter without their magic, anyway.

"But if we're in it, and it's alive... Is it like it ate us? Are we in its stomach now?" Because that's kind of terrifying if it's the case.

[mylastchance]

Lauren scrunches up his nose in disgust at the thought.

"Susan." he says, mildly disgusted as he looks around them. He is now seeing their surroundings in a very new light, and it is not a very pretty light if he's going to be honest.

"Looks more like it's bowels."

[wild_magic]

"That's even worse." Although if he thinks about it...

"Except then that means there's a way out sooner, right?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert can't help it -- despite the grimness of the situation, he laughs, short and loud enough to echo off the walls of the cave.

"That'd be one way to get out of here, wouldn't it?" He asks, the smirk audible. "I don't think it works that way. I don't feel very digested. Do you?"

[wild_magic]

Susan almost smiles at the bizarreness of the suggestion, too, before shaking his head.

"I don't, but I've never been digested before. I'm not really sure what it feels like."

Still, he's sure it doesn't feel like being trapped and hopeless, as you slowly turn to stone. It's probably only the trapped and hopeless part.

[mylastchance]

Lauren has a feeling "turning to stone" is definitely one word for what happens. But he's definitely going to be keeping that thought to himself.

[whattaprick]

"Not the kind of thing you usually want to find out," Lambert answers dryly, though he'll pause before he continues. He's more interested in a different kind of feeling, or lack of it.

"How stuck in the rock are you?" Not for the first time, his position irritates him. He mostly faces with his back to the rest of the captives, tail lashing irritably at the confinement.

[wild_magic]

Susan glances to his brother before speaking; with the position Lauren is in it's possible he hasn't had a good look at Susan's own stuckness and he doesn't want him to worry more about him. But it's important for everyone to know, and so after a moment he responds anyway.

"It's not as much as some of you... My hand, and one leg and foot. And my other shoulder is... It's the one, turning to stone." It's hard to keep his voice level, but he tries anyway. It's hard not to panic when he really thinks about the situation they're in.

[mylastchance]

Lauren's watching him when he talks, clearly concerned. In his case it's only his ankles and the bottom of his calves that have begun to change. He isn't nearly as concerned about that as he is about Susan though. He wants to take Susan's free hand in some attempt to be comforting, but he knows Susan will just get mad and embarrassed if he does so he doesn't looking away instead and leaving the two of them to their conversation. (Though he's definitely still listening.)

[whattaprick]

Lambert can tell he's young -- he's heard this voice on the radio before, may have even spoken a few times, but nothing that sticks in the memory -- and obviously trying to put a good face on it. That's a good sign. He doesn't need criers, or rather, he doesn't need anyone who can do things except cry. It's the brother he remembers better, from performances and the like, though he doesn't have a solid impression of his personality, either.

"That question was for both of you, you know." Nonetheless, whether Lauren answers or not, he'll continue on. "What did you do to end up here?"

[otoko]

"Alive?" he asks, blinking blearily. Well. He huffs-he certainly doesn't feel anything to the contrary after all, but all he can find himself thinking is... "....A truly horrible fate, then..." he grumbles, his ears twitching.

"....No doubt then.... ...given the 'silence' thus far, we cannot communicate with them..."

[whattaprick]

"Could be the house is a magical construct. Or a spirit or elemental bound into the shape of one," Lambert huffs. There's stories about that kind of thing, he just didn't think he'd ever live through one. "But you're right. Pretty sure it can understand us just fine ... but we can't hear it. Not unless we can find a way to let it."

[otoko]

"....The energy is that of one who is alive," Gongenzaka replies rather calmly, but from there, he goes silent.

And thinks.

"....How is it...that they know the house is 'alive'; how does it help them, specifically..?"

[whattaprick]

This is possibly a part Lambert tuned out of because there was sniffling and crying, but after some pause to reflect he'll continue:

"Little things, they said. Things that the house could do to make their jobs easier, that it didn't have to. It--" He frowns, thinking. "I think some of the nightrunners saw it open a door so an injured servant could rest. We ran into a couple of servants who tried to escape, during the hunt. One of them wasn't supposed to be out there at all, but the house might've helped her sneak out."

this tag is otherwise known as 'Gongenzaka cannot ask for shit like a normal person'

[otoko]

And again, Gongenzaka is silent. Opens doors, possibly changes pathways....hmmm.

After a moment, he wonders- "...Assuming then, that it cannot allow anything the Prince disagrees with..."

Gongenzaka glances to Sans, and then closes his eyes, lowering his voice to a whisper. He does not intend for Lambert to hear him-unless the other can hear it in fact, it may seem as though the beast is lost in thought. But he whispers.

"....If indeed, you have the capability...to understand myself, or even our spirits-forgive me for how I, the man Gongenzaka, presently address you. If it is the case, however....a slight motion of the floor, near my arm, is all I, the man Gongenzaka, will need as an 'affirmative'. ...I, the man Gongenzaka, understand, that there is no doubt many things you are forbidden from sharing or doing... ....if this is one of them, then very well.

"...However, I, the man Gongenzaka, trust that together, somehow, we shall all of us, be freed from this 'Prince'..."

....he'll just wait, for now, and hopefully SOMETHING will happen?

[whattaprick]

"You know I can hear you, right?" Lambert asks, out loud, because he's an asshole. To be fair, he at least waited for Gongenzaka to get all of that out before he actually said anything, and he's mostly keeping an ear out for any possible intruders. If this actually works ... well, he doesn't know if it'll help, but it's a start.

[betheman]

"....If you can hear my mutterings, Lambert, your hearing is perhaps as impressive as my own then," he replies dryly-though curiously, it takes a moment before he does so, as if he were briefly focused on something else.

As it is. "...If you will excuse me... ...I, the man Gongenzaka, shall continue attempting to focus on what is before us."

Which is a very, Very vaguely put way of saying that he's trying to listen to the house, thanks.

[whattaprick]

"I'm a witcher," Lambert says, like that should explain everything. "But I'll leave you to it."

He's more interested in keeping an ear on the Warden regaining lucidity, anyway, as vanishingly small a possibility as that seems right now.

[betheman]

There is, only briefly, yet another pause as Gongenzaka turns an ear back to Lambert again. What. A what???

What?

"....What is a 'Witcher'?" EXPLAIN

[whattaprick]

Not this again ... still, Lambert's explained this enough times that it's mostly automatic by now.

"I'm a mutant," Lambert explains. "Created to hunt monsters. Obviously, to be good at that, they had to change a few things around."

[otoko]

Gongenzaka is, in reply, rather quiet a moment-he strains to turn his head as best he can toward the other, an ear twitching as he considers what Lambert said. Mutant to hunt monsters...

...

...Well, he's encountered Demonic Vampires, among other things by this point, so he merely nods. "....Then, in that case, you should be able to realize what it is that I, the man Gongenzaka, am currently doing."

[whattaprick]

"Yeah, I do." In an unnecessarily convoluted way, Lambert might add, but after being bossed around by someone like the Prince, he suspects the house doesn't get a lot of sweet-talker. However, he hasn't forgotten about their companion -- dazed and listless he might be, but he has eyes and ears. If the fae could dive into Strange's memories and see them in Portland, there's no guarantee the Prince can't do the same.

It's probably best to leave things at that, but after a few more moments of silence, Lambert casually volunteers:

"Thanks, by the way. I didn't think you'd actually show up."