⇨ 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

Julien Delacroix | OPEN

[espigeon]

[Day 178:...]
Compared to the other people in the recovery tent, Julien's... well, he's not petrified, the stone scales move fine and don't feel heavy, but he's had a heavier dose of poison. He feels very much like he doesn't belong with the ex-imprisoned, though, and it's kind of unpleasant being in an enclosed space at all. So. He struggled out while no one who could stop him was looking and now sprawls outside. It's fine. He wants to soak in sunlight when it's light out. Feel the air on his feathers when it's not. Even get rained on, if the weather goes that way. It's better than being under a roof right now.

He looks terrible. There aren't bandages - his skin is good at closing back up, even without the healing ability the Earthmind gave him - but many white feathers are stained a rusty brown, and he's bedraggled, various feathers on his neck plucked out to show thin skin a few shades paler than on his human body. The skin of his eyelids is dry and so thin his pupils can be seen through them. The wings he has outstretched along the ground are immense, like on a small aircraft. Curled at his side, or under a wing, or lying on top of his feathery bulk, is his human body, uninjured and not as affected but with a sleepless, unhealthy look.

The contact and the pressure, received and inflicted, helps in the same way cupping an injury with one's hands helps. It also helps to be able to spread himself out, to perceive the world through a body that feels less abused. Still not great, though, and he has no idea how or when it got poisoned. It must be partly an illness in him.

It's going to take a lot of coaxing to get his bird body to move, but if you come by a floating spectral eye or three might appear in the air over him, and if you don't move on his human head will raise blearily to look at you, the fuzzy new pedipalps pressed against his face.

[Wildcard, After?]

The human-shaped part of him is in a good enough shape to go out and do things that aren't a strain. Or, well, everything's something of a strain, and he spends a lot of time curled up with himself, but if he can stop to rest pretty often Julien can walk around, get food, visit the menagerie, in general do something to not feel like a complete invalid.

He'd like to avoid various people he's ended up hurting or slighting or betraying in the past week or so, but Julien's thirty years old and tremendously social. He knows that doesn't work. Seeking them out right now is generally out, he doesn't have the energy or the panache to try to patch anything up, but he doesn't turn away or plot out ways to not let them see him.

[motivenotfound]

There's a difference, Mari thinks to herself, between actively looking to find her former prey and almost literally tripping on him as she rounds the corner.

It's not hard to identify him, at least. His feathers are basically the same, and the profile of injuries was pretty distinctive. Also, she'd had the dubious benefit of watching the massive dinosaur that had tried to eat her turn into a significantly-less-threatening pair of bird and hominid right in front of her eyes.

She isn't really sure what to do with him... on the ground like this, though.

"Nnnnno. That's... a bad spot. You are gonna get stepped on if you stay there."

[espigeon]

Most of Julien doesn't move from where he's sprawled out on the grass. Getting out of the tent and out of the immediate way of the entrance took a lot more out of him than he wanted it to. He's too tired to have the instinctive cringe back even as his first thought is a fear that she's here to attack him again. There's nothing he could do about that.

He looks up slowly, like his human head weighs as much as a daspletosaurus's, and blinks, playing out the fiction that he hadn't seen and recognized her as she approached through a couple of spectral eyes, that he has to wait until his human eyes catch on her. She's definitely bigger now, it feels like.

"Oh. It's the facehugger. Hi, facehugger. I can't move just yet. Well. Half of me could." He tries an exhausted smile.

[motivenotfound]

"....at least you're feeling well enough to crack jokes."

Mari crouches down on the ground next to him, eyes on her back keeping watch to make sure no one's going to trip over either of them.

"No offence, but if you can't move, how did you get out here?" She's not really sure how she feels about this guy just being.... underfoot. That's probably bad.

[espigeon]

"You'll know I've given up if I don't," he says, trying for lightness. Julien leans against his neck and closes his eyes again, though a different kind of eye appears and opens in front of his face, blue and birdlike and ringed in faint white light. He sees through the spectral eyes, but it's not the effort using his real ones is, not when he only has a few manifested at a time.

He twitches one of the pedipalps, keeps it folded against his face. "I could walk a little, but when I did I wore myself out. The human part of me's too small, I can't support myself very well." One of his bird legs is worse off than the other, though both are in much better shape now than, say, right after the hunt. "It's too confined inside."

She's just gonna fuckin' kidnap him

[motivenotfound]

"Well, there's gotta be a better way to get some fresh air!" She sets two hands (not necessarily a matched set) on her hips, staring down at him with at least half a dozen of her eyes.

"And I have an idea."

This is gonna get her in trouble, probably. But she's not a super, so...

"...oh, wait, hang on. First thing's first." Feeling confident in her yet, Julien?

"Can I like... separate you, with your bodies and all? Do those need to stay near each other?"

[espigeon]

He will admit to himself, the four-armed look is a good one. Be cool if he could pull that off. Not with arms like those, or human arms, though, especially since changes seem to be mirrored between his bodies.

Julien's dazed but he knows the introduction to some kind of escapade when he hears it. He hooks his bigger, feathery head over his human shoulder and opens the eye on that side, turns his human head, all just to trade a glance with himself. At extremely close range like this it's really just for the visual effect.

A smile starts hovering near his lips. "It's more comfortable like this but I can split up, sure. Should I ask what your idea is? If you wanna surprise me can I request it's not something that leaves bruises? And should I call you something besides 'facehugger'?"

[motivenotfound]

"Hmmm." She adopts a pensive posture, crossing a pair of arms and tapping her scale-flecked chin with a purple-clawed finger.

"Well, I can't promise this won't bruise you, but the patient's comfort is pretty important! So you're both on board now." She crouches down, and does not even ask before sliding her arms under his massive (surprisingly sturdy) pigeon wings, tucking her own dinky baby wings flat against her shoulderblades so she can piggyback his bigger half. Her broader, monstrous arms are wrapped back, claws nestled gently in the slightly-bedraggled feathers of his torso.

"You're so soft!" She sounds genuinely awed--she shifts him up so his beaked face is resting on her shoulder, and her various eyes make eye contact with both of Julien's bodies in amazement.

She doesn't actually answer his other question, though, not until she's gathered his human half up in her smaller, more humanlike arms, bridal style.

"There. All set!"

That wasn't so bad! Honestly, splitting her two arms into four was one of her better ideas. She'd never thought of two bodies, though... she wonders if he can fuse them into one, like Israfel. Probably not, she supposes. If he could, he probably would have for this.

"Comfy?"

She'll provide him with a name in a minute. Probably.

[espigeon]

"Uh. Is this really happening?" A lot of his apparent size is feathers making a dense shell around his very compact body, but he's not small. He overhangs, broader and longer in the torso than her, and it's a good thing that his spine is rigid and his expansive keel and breast muscles can carry his weight. Somewhere back there his feet just sort of hang.

He's very soft, and when he speaks through his bird body his voice thrums through it oddly, the vibrations lower and more full-bodied than a human voice, resonating into whatever it touches like low notes on a big speaker sounding in a listener's chest. "God, you're strong!"

Many, many birdlike spectral eyes appear and open during this maneuver. If they're touched they have an almost soap bubble sort of physicality, like a very small amount of something stretched to make a larger shape, though rather than popping they just close and disappear if handled roughly.

While this has been going on Julien's other half stood up. He starts laughing as this, too, is scooped up like it's easy; both a disbelieving, vocal, human laugh that shakes his shoulders, and a near soundless trembling and shaking of his tailfeathers. "What the fuck! Okay. Hi! Uh, could be worse I guess? Depends on your plan here."

It's not a bad feeling, which is a little surprising. Kind of nice, even if there are hard small wings pressing up into his chest and little useless dinosaur arms pinned against her back.

wildcard!

[hurtcomfort]

Oh! It's him! Two minds, two thoughts, a person who isn't a person who is a person. It's when Julien is walking around that Cole appears, seemingly out of nowhere as he follows Julien, matching his pace footstep for footstep. This is good. He's back to normal. He's himself again.

"She doesn't leave behind her own," Cole explains, in a quiet voice. "I told someone that. And it proved true. You're you."

Julien is back to being Julien. Not Julien but with the Prince added. And honestly, that's one of the best things Cole's heard in a while.

[espigeon]

Without the driving need to see in all directions in order to best serve the people around him, Julien's not doing that thing he was constantly maintaining during the ball, where he manifested dozens of spectral eyes to keep tabs on his surroundings. It gets tiring, anyway, and he's not up to it right now. One or three pop up here and there, now and then.

Some appear and open looking back when Cole speaks up from right behind him, and Julien stiffens with surprise, jerks like he'd like to whirl around, stops himself because he's unwell, he'll fall over if he tries that and anyway this is that weird... embodiment of kindness sort of entity from the ball, probably not a threat.

"Jesus Christ, you're a ninja," he says, too tired to shout even if yelling had ever been his thing. Julien takes a deep breath and tells his heart to slow its roll. "Hi, uh... wasn't it Cole?"

[hurtcomfort]

The hell's a ninja? Cole can't help but look a bit confused before, thankfully, Julien changes the subject. Maybe he can ask about ninjas later. At the question, he nods.

"You can call me that if you want. Most do. Hello there, Julien."

If Cole's aware of the fact that he did Julien a frighten, it doesn't show on his face. He's looking at Julien from beneath his hat, looking him over with a small little frown.

[espigeon]

Swaying a little in place he wipes his face with his palps, pushes his glasses up. "All right. I guess you turned out to be real, huh? Made a contract?"

It was and wasn't too bad that Brandon hadn't been real. Julien's friend and comrade had such a horror of his body changing, he would have hated knowing it was inevitable here. But it had been so wonderful to see him again, or some shade of him anyway, to be around someone who knew him and shared injokes and really, sincerely cared about him.

Well. It is what it is, and there's the present right here, looking at him. "Something on my face?" Pause. "...get it, because I got poisoned and now I have spider paws on my head?" He doesn't mind them quite as much as he'd expected he would, but they're certainly a thing.

[hurtcomfort]

Cole continues his creepy staring but is pulled out of it by Julien's question. And wait. They were new? He's only seen the man once before and those spider things were there then, so Cole's assumed they were always there.

"You didn't always have those?" It's a genuine question before Cole pushes a bit further into his thoughts. Ah, so he was wrong. The spider parts are new. "No, you didn't. You weren't always two Juliens either."

A pause, and a shrug. "I wouldn't mind that. Sometimes I wish I were two Coles."

[espigeon]

Julien gives him a lopsided smile.

"I think of it as like having two arms. In a place where everyone's just got, I don't know, one and their teeth." This is a metaphor that could get away from him quickly, he's not sure how good Cole is with this kind of thing. "It's useful sometimes! But if you had two bodies, one of them would have to look a lot less human. That upsets some people."

His palp taps thoughtfully on his collarbone. "You know already you're going to end up looking different, right? From being here?"

[hurtcomfort]

"I don't mind that," Cole shrugs. "The body is borrowed to begin with."

This isn't what he looks like normally. Cole really doesn't know what he looks like normally. This is just the appearance of a dying mage that Cole took on because he couldn't think of any other way to help.

[espigeon]

"Is it?" He tilts his head, unconsciously birdlike. Julien has no idea what 'borrowed' means in this context so he'll just try to roll with it. "Won't the old owner not like it if it's not in the same condition when you bring it back, or is this like test driving a car and if you like it you buy it?"

Maybe he can use references sometimes talking to Cole, if Cole's going to be dipping into his head anyway? Maybe?

[fortuneglass]

Yes, about that bedrest. Carly is by no means a....Strict employer. In fact she's probably considered more lenient than anything, or would be if she had more employees for such a reputation to gather around. Even if she feels that fate itself has punished Julien enough though, she can't simply stand by and leave it at that.

Not without a talk, at least.

There's a call on the radio.

"...Julien?" begins a relatively flat, no longer bouncy voice.

...Better not ignore that.

"I'd like you to report to the Wardrobe Tent when you're able, please."

[espigeon]

He'd said 'Can do, boss' in a subdued tone, but as if he felt strong. Of course, once you fake strength once you have to keep doing it, so he had to suggest a time, and he had to come in.

Julien is someone who considers what people around him would best respond to, and he tries to do it. Sarcasm and pettiness. Insight and intelligence, as much as he's able. Sincerity and vulnerability. None of those aspects aren't him, aren't real, they're not a calculated show, but he'll lean more on different ones at different times. Fucking up like he did, though, that means it's better to be open, to be vulnerable, uncomfortable though it gets.

When he shows he looks worn out. Julien tends to look somewhat younger than he really is, usually. Not now. Now his shoulders are slumped, the skin under his eyes looks bruised, and his clothes, while they still fit great, are just kind of there, not chosen in combination. The new pedipalps are curled up tight at either side of his face, from the front looking like his sideburns have just become really elaborate.

He has to stop and swallow. "Carly?"

[fortuneglass]

Carly's back is to Julien, and she does not turn to look at him, not yet. Her arms are folded at her back, and her wings folded tightly there, making it appear as though from the head down there is merely a river of light ever flowing downward. Misting across the ground, and wafting gently over the fabrics.

She is not there to stand and look pretty however. "..........Julien," she begins, swallowing.

".....................I'm sure you know...what this is about."

[espigeon]

He'd suspected she's called him in to boot him from the costuming and makeup department. It's going to be fine. Currency isn't really a thing here, and he's worked a lot of customer service over the years; he'll get by. It really stings, though! Getting fired always hurts, even in terrible jobs where it's good to go elsewhere and that freedom helps mask it.

No consolation here, though. He can tell his face has gone red with dismay, painfully hot, and pulls his folded palps in to half cover his mouth, to press on the bridge of his nose, getting the sting out of his eyes.

After a moment Julien realizes he's left an awkwardly long pause and clears his throat with a little difficulty. "Yes. I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble," he says quietly. "You've been very kind, and you deserve better people, who reflect better on you. I won't bother you anymore." He hasn't left much in the way of personal effects, and none of them are things he really needs.

[insidescoop]

wat

"...That's NOT what this is about at all!" she shouts immediately, still holding her cold tone-her light flares cooler shades as she turns, whirling on the spot. "You're not going anywhere!" And if he tries, he's going to find that rather difficult with the exit blocked by energy flame. She's quite serious.

"I'm not someone who 'fixes' problems by looking away..! ...And that includes not being someone who casts people away, when there are better things to do! So explain yourself," she adds, clenching her fists.

"Now!"

[espigeon]

"Uh!" Congratulations, Carly. Julien is pretty good at not having major involuntary reactions to being surprised or frightened. Jerking in place like this and exclaiming a little bit, not even really yelping, is pretty rare and nearly as good as it gets. The array of spectral eyes that open in the air around him do kind of make up for the lackluster reaction otherwise, though.

With those, he doesn't need to turn to look at people. He does anyway, clearly uncertain.

"It's not? Well - I -" His palps twitch, rock up and down, and he rallies, straightening in place, not sure what she wants. Most people don't want explanations, really, they want to hear what he did wrong. "I've got a very limited form of something like teleportation. So, I made a severe error in judgment and assumed if two places were both approved for me it was fine if my roommate was in them. She was hurting being near all those people."

If she gets violent, and between the sudden flames and the last few days that definitely feels like a possibility, he knows he'll just take it. Nothing he could do, and he knows he can survive horrible injuries. Hah, he can survive getting killed. It's going to be all right, he tells himself, though his face is still red.

"I wasn't thinking of what I was doing as breaking the rules at all, and that was stupid, and I wish I hadn't done it, I wish I hadn't told anyone, I wish none of that happened. But it did, and some of it's my fault," he says, some bitterness in his tone. "I did what seemed like the best and kindest action at the time and I was so, so wrong."

[fortuneglass]

Well get ready for more surprise, if he's not careful. It. Is rather difficult not to react to how those eyes are blinking in the air though. Well, anyways. Still. She keeps her arms crossed, and listens. "So then, instead of contacting any of us," she starts, frowning still, "You assumed."

Carly stiffens. "....To keep things to yourself is worse, Julien. This Carnival is more than just a work place. There are people here who CARE about each other, just like you did-and those people include the Supervisors, and the Ringmaster herself. WHY didn't you think that anyone-at the very least me....Why didn't you think to ask for help for them?" It doesn't sound like she'll be getting violent, despite all of Julien's fears. If anything Carly sounds pleading. Worried.

...Ready to cry. "Why can't you let us do our JOB for you!?"

[espigeon]

"That's right. I assumed." The spectral eyes start winking out. Julien closes his real ones as they start stinging again and takes a deep, steadying breath.

"I didn't think. I just didn't." The lines from a web-based comic he used to read come to mind, unbidden. I never meant to hurt you. You have to believe me. I wasn’t thinking about you at all. He winces.

Now's not the time to say What would you have done? It's never going to be the time. Julien knows not to say things like that, or that he doesn't trust that anyone would be willing or able to help. He especially knows not to say that asking for help - not even asking for help, trying to keep people updated - had only made things worse.

So he doesn't say that. Eyes down. Be defeated. Submit, survive. He knows that that thought comes from being slave to the Prince and it fills his throat, almost chokes him. It's that and hearing Carly close to tears. Julien makes a little gasp and with difficulty says, "I'm sorry, Carly."