lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[D1 | Medical Tent]

[Yuya's not as bad off as those that were kidnapped and poisoned, but he does still have deeply gored tears in his shoulder and upper arm that need to be tended to. His coat is off with Rita, now, and his shirt sleeve has been rolled up as far back as it can go to allow room for the gauze and bandages that cover the wound.

He's still pale and dizzy from blood loss, however, and he's waiting for his friend, so after he's been tended to he sits down close to the entrance with some water and stares at people coming in and out. His fingernails have grown to short, hardened claws since the hunt, and with the tightness that he grips the cup he's leaving scartch marks on the glass.

He's looking, of course, for familiar faces. Friends he's worried about.]

[D2-onward | Around the Carnival]

[Once he's recovered a little more, Yuya's back to routine around the carnival. His practice regime is shot again given the wound in his shoulder, but he still eats in the mess hall for every meal, still circles around the trailers when he wants to visit someone. Nothing feels back to normal, but going through the motions of it at least helps him keep his emotions together. It also helps nobody's in immediate danger of actually dying.

Sometimes, when it's night, he goes and sits at the edge of the lake alone. He fumbles absently with the pendulum that hangs around his neck, still and silent. He's exhausted, but it's hard to sleep.]

[Wildcard]

[Shenanigans]

Edited 2017-11-12 21:15 (UTC)

[ When your sleep schedule is still a bit fucked and your new roomie literally glows in the dark, that makes going to sleep a bit harder than expected. So, Strange is up and about as well. And, after fifteen or so minutes of fiddling with a spell he was attempting to iron out proved fruitless, he decided that he might as well perform some magic he knew how to do. And what better place to let off steam and be alone than the lake?

But he stops as he sees Yuya. Ah. It seems he isn't the only one who's having a hard time sleeping. Because that's the only reason why someone would be up so late, wouldn't it? And considering multiple of Yuya's friends were some shade of kidnapped during their stay at the manor...well, he doesn't blame the boy for not sleeping.

Strange remains out of eyesight for now, but with a little mutter under his breath and a gesture of his hand, he casts a spell. Some of the water rises from the lake to magically form an otter: specifically, a watery replica of Yuya's daemon from Greysol. The water-otter swims through the air towards Yuya, moving in a circle around him, though keeping enough distance that it doesn't get Yuya wet. ]

[Yuya shifts up when the water moves, not sure what's going in at first. But Strange isn't a subtle person, and even if he didn't guess who immediately it is, when he sees the otter forming he understands a bit of what it is.

He leans back on one hand, turning to watch the otter swim around him with a growing smile on his face.]

[ The quiet continues for another minute or so as the otter continues to swim around Yuya. Occasionally, it turns a circle, rolling around to present it's belly, just generally looking like a real friggen cute otter.

Strange is certain Yuya knows it's him. But it's only when he stops the spell and the otter dives back into the lake with a small splash, that he feels it's the right moment to talk. ]

I assume you couldn't sleep either?

[ He walks towards the edge of the lake, sitting down next to Yuya. It's hard to tell in the dark, but it seems like Strange's hair has gotten a bit more shimmery, like someone dumped a box of tinsel over his head. ]

[Yuya watches the otter, letting out a quiet laugh as it flips over and swims through the air. When he turns to look up at Strange his eyes are weary, but his shoulders are less tight and his expression less heavy than before.]

Hi, Mr.Strange. [He shakes his head.] I didn't want to lay in bed, either.

You're about to turn into a mirror yourself, you know? [He points at his hair. Yuya's changed a little too, and his fingers now have small claws at the end.]

I am? [ This is something Strange apparently hadn't realized. His hair's still long and shaggy enough to be in his face, so Strange moves a clump of his hair so that he can see it easier. Hmm. So he is. ]

Well, it's only fitting, [ he'll admit, still frowning slightly at his hair. ] Though it'll be damned annoying to perform if I reflect spotlights all over the place. [ Strange grins slightly, as he starts to tease. ] Prop me up in the mirror maze and I'll reflect your desires!

[Yuya grins wider.] I bet Rita can find the right lighting for it!

[Rita who's hurt, but recovering. Even right after the hunt she still had all her fire in her, and he's not as worried about her recovery. Mostly, he's sorry, but it doesn't outweigh his mood this time.] Some of those mirrors are scary. I think one that reflects desires would be better.

Perhaps I'll be both? I'd reflect their fears first. And then for those that stay and don't run scared, I'll show their desires as a reward.

[ Strange flops back down on the grass as he talks, looking up at the sky with a wry smile on his face. His hands go from his hair to his side (though his messy mop of hair is still all over the place.) ]

But you're right: I should ask Rita. I'm sure she'd welcome the distraction. [ Rita's probably going mad from boredom as is. Any distraction would help. ]

Don't push her too much until she's actually better. [Not that it matters, because Yuya's sure just like after Portland that they won't really be performing for a while. He sure won't be allowed to until his shoulder had recovered.

Yuya pulls his knees up, resting his arms over them before he looks up at the sky as well.] How are you feeling?

[ Strange knows what he should say. I'm fine. I'm alright. You don't need to worry about me, I wasn't kidnapped or poisoned or killed. But he can't bring himself to say that. He can't bring himself to just lie like that, not when the pit in his stomach starts churning and that sinking feeling sticks in the back of his throat.

So, there's a ten second or so pause as Strange looks up at the sky before he answers Yuya's question and answers it honestly. ]

I miss her. Oh, I know she was an illusion and I know I only saw her for a few hours in the first place, but that hardly changes the fact that I miss her. I miss Arabella.

[ Yuya met Arabella. Yuya saw the Stranges together and saw them happy He should be able to understand this more than anyone else in the carnival might. And then, because Strange knows he needs to at least ask, ] What about you?

[He did see Arabella. Saw how Strange's attention revolved around her, heard the way he talked about her... it's not a love he's familiar with, but the dedication. That he understands. That he knows very well.]

I'm--[He stops, considering how to respond. He wants to say 'I'm okay', but he's not. He hasn't been okay for the past few days, and even though the worst of it is over and everyone's moving on... the worst of it continues to replay in his head.]

... I'll be okay. [That much is probably true. He looks over his shoulder at Strange.] I'm sorry about your wife. If she's like that, then she's really nice.

[ If Yuya doesn't want to talk about the events of the past few days, then Strange will happily not talk about them. Lord knows he'd rather not mention the Hunt any time soon.

But Strange will gladly talk about his wife til kingdom come. A small dopey smile forms on his face as he continues talking. ]

She is. Arabella's one of the kindest people I've ever met. [ mostly because she's tolerated his aggravating ass for so long. ] And yet, at the same time, she's so passionate. She's never hesitated in telling me when I was being an idiot and always made certain to tell me how she felt.

[Yuya smiles again at that. It's not so much he doesn't want to talk about everything, as... he's not sure how. It's overwhelming how the past week and a half has been.

Arabella is a simpler topic, he thinks. One that makes Strange happy to talk about.] When your contract's over you're going back to her, right?

OTA

the lake!

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D2, trailers

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