⇨ 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

[otoko]

The hesitance, Gongenzaka immediately notes, is rather...odd. He can't put his finger on why, exactly-but it is odd nonetheless. Perhaps merely an indication of the aftermath-clearly servitude, and given where Herbert's answers continue to fall, he's only being proven correct on that guess. Honestly, all of Herbert's answers are odd however, and the man admittedly wonders if he's-

Ah, well, the answer to that is obvious he supposes in hindsight. Of course this man isn't okay. "....All of those things in order..?" he questions, voice somewhat gruff. "...Or did you encounter the Prince, and then find yourself with this duty..?"

Well, Herbert IS correct all the same-Gongenzaka nods. "....There is little that I, the man Gongenzaka, could possibly do to hold you here. If you must continue, then continue."

[scientificist]

"I...wasn't expected to serve until the Prince found me," Herbert offers. "The. Ball was worse." Or maybe they're on the same level. The Ball would have been worse if Herbert had felt as piecemeal from the start as he does now. A collection of parts, only vaguely animated.

Anyway, there is one thing Gongenzaka could do to hold him here and that's make himself a problem vis this onion. Herbert picks it up again, with purpose this time, shucking the onion of a couple of its layers and placing the now smaller onion and its outside layers down in front of Gon's face again. There. He's definitely solved the problem. Nobody can accuse him of not doing his job.

"That should ssssuffice," he says, leaning to grab the bowl and standing back up.

[betheman]

"It was worse?" He remarks in confusion, narrowing his eyes. A low rumble, a growl, begins-but Gongenzaka manages to quash the sound, focusing on what's in front of him. While Herbert shucks the onion, he looks to the man and continues his questioning. "....How so? As a servant, you are to be cleaning up after those here, feeding us, and so on. ....Do find that better, somehow, than how you were at the ball?"

It should suffice, yes-and perhaps now it finally does. This time as he tries to eat the thing, it gets stuck on the partially shucked layers, his teeth sinking in. He rears his head back like an awkward snake, releasing the onion into the air in order to snap-

Snap-

And SNAP-

Until the onion and its juices are crushed within his jaw, allowing him to swallow it almost whole. He's done this with worse, perhaps. He doesn't allow himself to dwell on that fact however.

[scientificist]

"Yes," says Herbert after a pause, watching the creature eat the onion. Again, it seems odd to have sent him to feed these barely restrained prisoners. He's hardly equipped to deal with jaws and claws and other such dangerous things. Perhaps he was not meant to succeed. That would suit how he feels about all this.

"I am rarely required to interact with others in this position outside of this very moment while at the ball there were. Crowds. Dancing. This is preferable." He understands better what's happening now too. He knows whose will has overcome his own.

[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."

[scientificist]

"Herbert West," says Herbert because he's starting to feel prompted by the man saying his name over and over again. "It's the task I was assigned: these onions have nothing to do with me."

[otoko]

Gongenzaka nods.

But he says nothing more. He has a feeling that it would end in a sort of 'loop', at this point.