⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

HOME GROUND↴ At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment. Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply. The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it. ► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling. ► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it.

Comments

Flowey | D4-6

[wilt]

Flowey has a really eclectic amount of emotions now, and out of all of them, he only has one good one. You can see him clip through the fairgrounds just about everywhere, looking at things, deliberately avoiding people-- in the more remote places, he just kind of lays back and stares at the sky. It's just... there. And it's so underwhelming. It's just light.

He's but a few drops in of a whole jug of emotions, so it's safe to reason he still feels largely dead inside. You might see him following you out of curiosity. Maybe your monster changes interest him. Maybe the fact that you look like an ordinary, grown-up human interest him. Maybe he just really wants to tell you your jeggings look terrible and he's ashamed for you, and you taught him a whole new feeling, shame for someone else, and he'd like to thank you.

Despite being a bouncer himself, he'll probably trigger no-go zones on accident, because he's wandering.

HEH...

[sunflowerfields]

Hinawa is busy. When she's not in the medical tent, she's in the kitchen. When she's not in the kitchen, she's at the trailers. When she's not at the trailers, she's back in the medical tent. She's been pushing a tea cart around all day, laden with food and drink for the sick, injured, and just exhausted, all while doing her best to ignore her own growing exhaustion.

She's headed back to the kitchen for a restock when a yellow flower pops out of the ground directly in her path, and all at once, she's wide awake. "Ah!"

[wilt]

Almost at once, he pops back into the ground.

But she already saw him, though... he couldn't brush this one off as a trick of the eyes. He re-emerged and he knows he should be forcing something else out if he wants to learn new feelings, but--

"Watch where you're going! I was almost paste!"

... Alas, he can't force himself out of his first reactions even if he knows that's exactly what he should be doing. It's just too tempting to be his old shitty self.

[sunflowerfields]

A talking flower!...Sure, why not. She leans around to address him. Part of her wants to remind him to mind his manners, but she's honestly too tired for that right now. And, well, it was her fault.

"I'm so sorry about that, dear," Hinawa says, apologetically. "I was letting my thoughts wander and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!"

Alphys | OTA | B1:D1 and onwards

[textsfromhotland]

A: Her bedside manner could use some work

The medical tent is the last place Alphys wants to be right now. It's full of people who had Fallen Down and miraculously got back up. Oh, sure, they seemed all right now, but she really doesn't want to be around in the event that they suddenly become not all right. Sure, they were human and not monsters (mostly), but it had to take a lot of something to bring them back from the edge, and what if their bodies couldn't handle it? God, it would be her luck.

Unfortunately for her, it's all hands on deck, and Alphys finds herself loaded up with supplies and sent to check on the injured. At least it's basic first aid stuff- dressing wounds and the like- and she can be in an out pretty quick. Still, she's noticeably nervous as she flits from cot to cot, and tries to stick to those who are sleeping to avoid talking to them.

"O-oh, h-hey," She stammers if someone catches her. "You, uh, d-doing okay? Nothing destabilizing? You haven't felt, uhhh, sticky lately, or anything, have you?"

B: What makes you tick

And of course, as soon as she can, Alphys is outta there, and looking for something to take her mind of off... literally everything. She can be found in the trailer park, having absconded with a couple of Peridot's defense drones. She's sitting at a table deep in thought as she carefully dismantles them, laying the pieces out in perfectly aligned rows. She puts them back together, then takes them apart, then puts them back together again, almost as if in a daze. Occasionally, she builds them up into a singular SUPER DRONE, then zaps it with a tiny, electric bolt from her fingertips to bring it to life.

...And then she takes it apart again.

She's been at this for a while and doesn't show any signs of getting bored, nor any signs that she'll even notice anyone coming up to her. She has a lot to think about.

A is for ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

[betheman]

Gongenzaka of course, isn't in the Medical tent. He takes up far too much space, it's difficult to get any kind of cot made up for him....no, instead with a few quick hands, his friends and a few others managed to deal with the Big Tent enough that he could be laid to rest in there. Apparently he'd be living there anyway, after all.

It's easy, of course, to slip into a tent. Easier still to actually see where the right spot is-for all the hangings still draped over most furnishings, the porch steps to the 'bedroom' area are pretty clear, as is the mess of blankets and pillows on a ground-level bed.

The man would be imposing enough standing, but even laying down, he's no doubt quite a sight. Half of him, unfortunately, is still rock-on the side where his left arm was taken, to rub salt into things. It leaves his hair a bit of a mess among the large leafy mane, but perhaps if it were tidied up another time, he could look relatively impressive even now. Two new horns sit between his ears, and his right eye remains bandaged carefully...

....And he looks her dead in the eye (or, well, as best he likely can) when he realizes someone's in there.

...She seems concerned enough at least, though her questions are a little...odd. Gongenzaka's brows furrow, and he blinks. "...Sticky?" he questions gruffly, his voice still somewhat hoarse. "...Is this perhaps a side effect of any cure attempts, which worries you..?" he asks, unsure why else he would be....Destabilizing. Or something.

[textsfromhotland]

They told her to "look for the big guy", and she legitimately did not know how that was supposed to help her until she found... the big guy.

Holy crud he's huge.

And he's definitely not human, as far as she can tell. Is he a monster? Then what if the power that brought him back to life made him...

She doesn't get to finish that thought because he's looking right at her.

"Uhhh.... uhhh??" It takes her a moment to respond. "N-no! Nothing like that! I j-j-just... you know... there was probably a lot of, uh, magic? Magic! Involved to, um... bring you back from the dead... and all, and magic can be kind of un-unpredictable?"

Smooth, Alphys.

[otoko]

Interestingly, it was the power to bring others back to life that made him so...monstrous. In more ways than one, perhaps. He was, after all, recreated with magic.

"Auh..." He nods-a difficult motion from where he is, but he is very calm at least.

He's also about to speak Exactly like some kind of samurai in one of those anime tapes. "Fear not, then-for I, the man Gongenzaka, have...perhaps unfortunately, been revived more than a few times, in the past. It would seem now at least, that if anything, I, the man Gongenzaka, am faring better than when I was imprisoned..!" he adds, sighing a bit in relief.

"I, the man Gongenzaka, do thank you for the concern, however.... ....if I were not so restricted to this bed, I, the man Gongenzaka would perhaps offer you something to drink for your troubles however-though, that would require my tea being moved here, I suppose..."

He sounds like he's at least 200 or something.

[espigeon]

Julien's not quite asleep. His other, healthier half is outside, out and moving and doing things, but this half has been dozing, laid out on multiple cots with his neck extended. He's healing well from the various injuries, his mostly-white feathers stained rusty colors over the angry, raised red lines in his skin. If you asked him the poison would be the bigger problem.

While he's not the largest of the workers he's still larger than humans get and certainly bigger than the yellow monster, like a horse or a tiny car. The eye he opens blearily, pulling open the outer, normal eyelid and retracting the horizontal translucent one, is about the same size as an orange.

It takes him a moment to work out that he should speak. "...Sorry? Why sticky?"

[textsfromhotland]

Alphys shrinks away as the giant bird wakes up. Birds don't eat lizards, right?

"Uhhh...." She takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "W-well, you know, you just had a lot of magic happen to you! It could take a pretty serious toll on your physical form, that's all!"

Pls don't eat her.

[espigeon]

Birds absolutely eat lizards, but Julien doesn't.

He considers a moment, sluggishly registers that she's nervous, and tries gentling his tone. Can't lie down since he's already doing that, this is all he can do to be nonthreatening.

"It's okay. Thank you for helping." Julien's not actually opening his beak to talk. He doesn't have to, instead of a larynx and tongue and lips he uses the syrinx deep in his chest to form and shape sounds. "I really appreciate it."

[stompadour]

Jasper is at a loose end. She was far more in her element fighting monsters and participating in the Prince's hunt than trying to help people in the aftermath; she can appreciate a little downtime sometimes -- although you'd never hear her ask a superior for it -- but she really doesn't want it now. She doesn't want to relax and get her bearings, because that means having to think about this situation... about the fact that she hasn't been able to find Blue Diamond again, which means she must have already left like she said she was going to, which means the only instructions Jasper can follow going forward are those from the Ringmaster and the Supervisors. Which... she's willing to do, completely, if it'll mean Pink Diamond can be restored, but taking orders from non-gems -- non-gems and a treacherous, untrustworthy Era 2 Peridot -- is... the kind of thing that will take some getting used to, to say the least.

Not to mention the fact that it's impossible to determine someone's station in the Carnival by simply looking at them, like she'd be able to among gems. Ordinarily, she'd be able to simply class them all as below her by an order of magnitude by token of not being gems at all, but since she's been tasked with operating within the Carnival's hierarchy...

It's bad, and it also means that while everyone's recovering from the immediate aftermath of the hunt, Jasper's skulking around the Carnival grounds accosting people with a harried, slightly lost look about her, demanding, "You: what's your job here?"

[anti_nonsense]

Despite being one of the people in need of recovery, Rita's back on her feet within the week. She still spends most of her time resting, but it's hard to stay cooped up in her trailer all the time, and it's not like it'll kill her to walk over to the cookhouse or the medical tent to take care of her own errands once in a while.

Most of her injuries and stone patches are covered by her clothes and a yellow scarf draped loosely around her neck, save for a small portion along the base of her neck, visible between her tunic's collar and her scarf. She has a square bandage on her cheek, and another bandage on one of her feathered wings.

She looks up at the woman with a slightly weirded out expression, then shrugs and answers the question. "Uh... lighting and special effects, engineering division. Why?"

[stompadour]

Jasper squints. She pretty much only understood 'engineering' out of that.

"Huh," she grunts. "Engineering. That's under the Peridot, right? What do you do there?"

[anti_nonsense]

"The Peridot?" Rita's just giving her a weird look, like what a weird way to put that, lady.

But she goes on to answer the question. "During stage performances, I'm backstage operating lights and other visual effects. Making the spotlight follow the performers, applying colored lights thematically, using fire and explosions in a precise, controlled manner... stuff like that." From the flatness in her tone, it's not hard to tell she's not all that enthusiastic about her job, but it's simple and she's good at it, so whatever.

[soft_focus]

It's probably so easy to accost Reira, that she becomes Invisible.

And by invisible, it's meant 'you can't see her beyond Jasper's hand'. Regardless, she takes a half second to stare a bit owlishly at Jasper-taking in the Emotions coming off-and soon after answers.

"..................I'm an Animal keeper." .... "....I look after the animals here."

[stompadour]

Jasper's face creases into an appalled grimace. She's been assigned to work as an animal keeper too -- and yet this tiny, evidently weak individual has been given the same job? This is an insult.

She leans down.

And then a little further down.

"What do you do... to look after them," she demands, disgusted.

[soft_focus]

"Mostly, you have to feed them, and keep the places they're in clean," she explains. "....And make sure they aren't sick, or bored..."

There is a pause. She can. Definitely feel the insult and disgust, but well! It wouldn't be the first time someone didn't think much on a current arrangement.

"Different animals have different things they need. Explaining them is easier one at a time."

[spaghettimonster]

Finally, Papyrus' loose ends are re-raveling. His brother is returned, in one (admittedly painful) piece... A sorta friend from home is here (and also in a rather significant amount of emotional pain) and already making friends... He himself has caught up with just about all the people he's been worried about, and is even getting back in the habit of doing his job...!

He pauses at the question, broom idly in hand, and points at himself. "Me?" A quick glance around, nobody else is in this corner of the mess hall. "I am... a janitor. Effectively, the head janitor! I'm a double mentor by now."

Not that Foster was the most sincerely enthusiastic, or Miko seems likely to clean more messes than she creates... but still, it's a trust, and a truly essential task. Imagine this place without anyone cleaning. Horrible. "Why do you ask?"

[stompadour]

A janitor. Hm. Jasper reflects on this, trying to determine whether this puts this peculiar entity above or below her in the overall Carnival hierarchy. Above, presumably, if he's the head janitor -- but Jasper's so used to looking down on jobs like that.

She folds her arms.

"How important is a janitor here, exactly?"

[spaghettimonster]

If they were being technical, talking about the hierarchy of who tells who what to do... not very. His domain is still very small. But that's not the question. It's more, how much does a janitor contribute to everything going on. And that's an easy question to answer.

With no feeling of exaggeration, Papyrus shivers and declares, "very! They couldn't function without us. Nobody wants to go to a filthy carnival."

Just the employees and their day-to-day messes take some doing. Pranks, food prep, the grossness of biological functions... And guests multiply that a couple times over, with performances and littering.

[dontpokethat]

...Ginko is way too sleep-deprived for this. Like, there's a simple answer at least, but... being suddenly confronted by huge angry orange women is not something he's particularly used to.

"Uh... I'm an animal keeper. Are you... new?"

[stompadour]

Another one. Ugh. At least this one isn't as minuscule as the first.

One hand on her hip, Jasper leans forward slightly, squinting a bit as she looks him up and down.

"Of course I'm new. Why were you picked for that function?"

[sworntothesword]

Connie is kind of struck by the surrealness of this situation. So struck she can't even do or say anything until she's approached by the large orange quartz and what can only be described as 'interrogated.'

"Um- I'm a Patrol?"

She's not attacking so that's a good sign? Maybe this Jasper is from a timeline from before when she met her. Finger's crossed?

[stompadour]

Luckily (??) for Connie, Jasper doesn't recognise her at all. She remembers that Rose (or Steven, or whatever) fused with a human, and that the fusion defeated her -- but individual humans are pretty hard to tell apart for Jasper. She's accustomed to dealing with gems, who come in a much wider variety of colours and sizes, and can be distinguished by their actual gem and that gem's location far more quickly and easily than by things like facial features.

"A Patrol, huh," she says skeptically. "Is that important?"