⇨ 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

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."

[otoko]

Good that he does, leave it at that he means. Dazed and listless and unstable as Sans is for now, Gongenzaka does not wish to take even the slightest risk that the skeleton could remember what they say.

And repeat it, for that matter. Gongenzaka is quiet. His head rested upon the ground, mutterings occasionally escaping him still-but then he pauses ('forgive me, but I, the man Gongenzaka, must answer this-')

Gongenzaka turns his head awkwardly again, and stares. "....It is what I, the man Gongenzaka, swore I would, is it not?"

There is a pause-and he adds, "...When a man swears to be there for another...it is an unbreakable oath! ....to claim otherwise... ...to do otherwise," he corrects, "...it would be unforgivable."

[whattaprick]

Now Gon's just made this awkward. There's a lengthy pause before Lambert replies, the edge of a snicker in his voice.

"You talk like someone I used to know and he's got at least three centuries on you."

[otoko]

"G-OH!!" If there was anything that could draw his attention, apparently Lambert found it. Like a dog responding to the word 'Vet', Gongenzaka's ears shoot up, and a wash of energy from some unknown place returns for one single purpose.

"I, THE MAN GONGENZAKA, AM NOT OLD, I AM FOURTEEN..!!!" he roars, every leaf on his being standing on end. It's been bad enough when someone has assumed 'older teen'-he can swallow that and correct them, after all. But if there is one thing that he still to this day refuses to simply take, it is the old man gags based in something other than his baffling height and size.

They're just...

Old.

[whattaprick]

There's a bit of a pause after Gongenzaka says that, meaning --EEN^EENEEN continues to echo off the walls for a good number of seconds.

"Bullshit," Lambert says, eventually, though it's immediately followed up by, "How? What did they feed you growing up?"

This is pretty rich coming from the guy who was almost certainly fed a fuckton of hallucinogencis and other questionable substances meant to make him put on muscle faster growing up, but come on.

[betheman]

The pause is long enough for Gongenzaka to at least somewhat cool off, even if it means remembering what kind of pain he's actually in. He grimaces, but as Lambert finally speaks, cannot help but snort. "Hmm!" After all, this aspect of disbelief is far from unfamiliar.

"I, the man Gongenzaka, have eaten the same form of meal as my father, and as my mother. The size of my body as human is merely the result of healthy diet, and careful adherence of training schedules as created by my parents, for the entirety of our dojo..!"

It's 100% magic drug proof, and yet this kid could punch through concrete in his canon.

Incredible.

[whattaprick]

"If your parents are horse and a sphinx, that would explain it," Lambert comments dryly. In the Carnival, you can really never be too sure -- after all, a dog and a horse produced a donkey. There's probably some combination of something out there that would produce something like Gongenzaka even without fae changes to account for.

[betheman]

If Gongenzaka could properly give Lambert a scowl, he would. Unfortunately, his head can't quite turn that direction, so all he can manage is an awkward narrowed stare over his arm, one which is likely only effective thanks to the glow in his eyes. As it is, he huffs. "I, the man Gongenzaka, was assuredly not speaking of any height gained through my stay with the Carnival. That, naturally, was all magic. As a typical human, I, the man Gongenzaka, stood at 5'8''," he explains; not that the number lines up with his age as it is.

"It is... ....Hmm. Without my animal, and plant features, my upper body looks quite the same as it did before," he explains-and quite likely, he makes it worse. The man does have to chuckle however. While the comments are certainly something he has grown used to after all, well. "....I, the man Gongenzaka, have never heard myself compared to a 'sphinx' before," he observes, smiling a little. "...It is typically a bear, or a hound at best. Considering how my ears were before the largest of changes however, I, the man Gongenzaka, am fairly certain much of these came of foxes..."

It's not exactly relevant but...well.

[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..."