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

"There are easier ways to poison you than with onions--that seems like a waste of resources to me." As far as Herbert is concerned, that was a reassuring sentence.

He looks at the onion in his hand. He's not exactly confident about what he's supposed to do if they refuse the food, such as it is. Will he get in trouble if he doesn't make them eat now or will he just be sent down again with tubing and funnels? It's unclear, and he hates how unclear it is, when he'd felt twitchy and on edge but confident on his way down through the tunnels to here.

"Y-you would rather die than eat--" the onion gets shaken demonstratively, "an onion." He sounds withering, unimpressed, looking back up at Rita again.

"I won't die," Rita says, with complete (unjustified) confidence. "I don't plan on staying here long enough to starve."

Now that she thinks about it... isn't there something kind of off about this guy? Rita can't put her finger on it, exactly, but he doesn't seem to totally fit in with the other servants. He's not from the carnival, that's for sure, so... what could it be? Maybe it's her imagination.

Rita's not alone with that sentiment though. As much as there's been many things orphans growing up in the slums of a city had to do to survive that most might balk from.... sometimes you gotta draw the line somewhere on what to eat and what not to eat.

"What she said...!" Man he's so tired right now too, which has been getting exponentially harder not to show. And not even a bit hungry anyway. But with the way his stomach keeps flip-flopping, whatever it is he might try to choke down probably wouldn't stay there.

"Did you pick those out yourself just to mess with us, then?"

"Yoouuu're trapped in a wall," Herbert points out. "I can't see how what you plan on matters, take your damn onions." Why are there so many children here? His brain slides off of any conclusions he tries to get it to make.

"I 'picked out' nothing. Why should I care who you are, to mess with you? I was sent here. This is my. Job." Almost like he doesn't like that, but his face twitches back to flatness right after.

Thanks, Yugo, for backing up her tough-girl act. Rita appreciates it, even if it doesn't look like this guy's any more convinced. If he even cares.

And more and more, it's apparent that he doesn't quite sound like the other servants. Is he new? But the only way that's possible is... hm.

In any case, he's pushing those stupid onions really hard. She gives it a little more thought, then... "Hmph. Fine. Give it here." Rita holds out her one free hand.

It's his only job, Rita, he just wants to get rid of these onions and go upstairs and maybe get to not talk to people some more.

Maybe if he does well enough the Prince will give him his re-animation serum?

Walking over, he places the onion he's been gesturing all over with into Rita's hand.

"You get one..." he announces, tone tilting upwards at the end almost like a question.

"Oh man. And here I was dying to have the whole bowl when my turn comes."

Thick sarcasm there. But if the raw onions were at the very least raw potatoes instead, then maybe it would be more honest. Or perhaps not. Yugo literally still wants nothing to do with anything that vaguely resembles food.

Rita just stares at Herbert as he puts the onion in her hand.

Yugo chimes in then, and the moment it looks like the servant's attention has been even slightly diverted, she slams the onion down, throwing it to the floor with as much strength as she can muster in a half-petrified arm. It smashes against the stone floor with a satisfying thud.

She doesn't say anything. The action speaks for itself, really.

Herbert turns back from Yugo to look dispassionately at the onion on the floor before his eyes flick back up to look at Rita.

Then he turns and walks over to Yugo, placing another onion on the floor beneath where he's trapped in the wall.

"That should count as delivered," he says, softly and quietly. As far as he's concerned he tried, and they'll have to deal with their folly with nobody here to hand them the onion. Yugo gets lumped in by virtue of yelling at the same time, oh well.

Edited 2017-11-03 01:11 (UTC)

"Fine by me," Rita replies smugly. Yep, she's real proud of herself. She won't give in to anything - not the Prince, not the venom, and not these stupid onions.

But... there is something she's curious about. "What's with you, anyway?" she asks after a pause, but before he can walk away. Of course, if he does walk away instead of answering, it's not like she can stop him. "You're not like the other servants. You new or something?"

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.

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.

Interesting analysis from some shouting kid. Alright. He will answer, then.

"I was a guest. The ball ended." He hates to think about becoming dulled to this, no longer having the will to struggle. He likes to think he'd find a shovel equivalent before it got to that point, but then, here he is, handing out onions. Pathetic.

So she's right. He was a guest at the ball, and then... hm. Rita supposes the Prince just decided to keep him as a servant. Or... is that how he gets his servants normally? In a way, it's not too different from how the Ringmaster makes employees out of the visitors to her carnival.

"Oh, I see..." Rita muses, a hint of humor in her tone. "You're just a prisoner like us, then."

One who gets to keep the use of all his limbs, which is probably nice, but a prisoner nonetheless.

He doesn't like that tone of amusement in her voice. It feels like mockery. "Essentially," he says stiffly. "Only the. Method of imprisonment is different and perhaps you, are aware of why you're here."

A frozen pause and then he turns back away. "Consider keeping the onion next time."

⇨ JAILHOUSE ROCKS

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