⇨ 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

WILDCARD like D3 I guess. carebear time

[hippocarnival]

[After the hunt, Yuya's given Reira a wide berth. Maybe more than he needed to, but he remembers how much she was bothered by his distress inn Greysol, and he's only felt worse than that these past few days... so he figures it's much better for him to grieve first, so he can give her a stronger face.

Which means it's a few days before he's visiting her trailer, knocking before he tests the doorknob to peek in just a crack.]

Reira? Yuzu? [Really, he'll talk to whoever's in here.]

[soft_focus]

[Surprise-it's Reira. Fresh from becoming just 'Animal Keeper', Reira is having a 'rare' moment of bedrest again. That's sort of what happens when you throw yourself into Anything and Everything that could possibly require your efforts. (Has she clued into what the Ringmaster meant when she told her off about looking for things to help with? No. Give her time.)

Still, Reira looks up from another frowning stare with 'carebears', blinking at the door.] ....'s just Reira, [She eventually replies.]

[hippocarnival]

[Just Reira is fine. He smiles as he pushes open the door to let himself in and makes his way to the beds. Good, she's resting. As she should be since she was poisoned and all.]

Hey, Reira. You feeling any better?

[soft_focus]

[She's only resting SOMETIMESSSSS

Reira looks blearily over from where she is, blinking.] ....A little, I guess.

[She does Not feel better.]

[hippocarnival]

[And that not resting is why you don't feel any better, child.] That's good.

[He leans against the bed and looks at whatever's playing on the TV.] What're you watching?

[soft_focus]

Ummm.... .... [No it's totally poison dammit.]

...The video said it's called 'carebears'?

....I don't get it...

[hippocarnival]

It looks like a kid's show. [That's his best guess anyway. He's coming in halfway through, however, so he's no better for guessing the context.] I've never heard of it, but maybe you can tell me what's been happening?

[soft_focus]

....if I'm a kid, why don't I get it then? [WHY ISN'T SHE HIP AND COOL]

....There's a lot of bears that live in the sky, and I think they're trying to make people happy, but then they're shooting rainbows from their bellies instead of talking about things...

[hippocarnival]

Is this the first episode? [Is she even watching the episodes in order?

Yuya sits on the edge of the bed, watching the tv with her.] Do the rainbows make people happy?

[soft_focus]

...No they shoot them at other things, and somehow that makes it go away?

....it said it was supposed to be a movie.

[hippocarnival]

I think I missed too much. [It doesn't make much more sense to him, watching it. He's quiet for a minute as he tries to absorb the context.]

So they shoot away the bad things, and that makes people happy? [He guesses?]

[soft_focus]

Mmmm....but the bad things weren't causing the real problems...

[She? Thinks?]

[hippocarnival]

Then why are they the bad things? What're the real bad things?

[He's assuming even if she doesn't understand it, he hopes she can describe what's going on.]

[soft_focus]

[Yuuya. She is sick. And tired. And now frowning, frankly.]

...they're just things that people talk about and fix that way....

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya pouts right back at her. But he recovers quickly and moves to pat her head.] I'll find you a better movie later, okay?

[Someone's got to have some better VHS tapes somewhere.] Everyone's back now and the Prince is gone, so we can focus on getting all of you better now.

[soft_focus]

Mmmmnh... [To that, she frowns.] ...'ve still got to work. I can't just focus on being in bed, [she insists with a slight pout.]

[hippocarnival]

Huh? Who's still making you work like this?! [Psi? Childermass? He's going to have a word with them, that's too far--]

[soft_focus]

....Me... ?

....animals need food....

...'n I'm not that sick, [She grumbles.]

[hippocarnival]

Ginko's not poisoned and covered in stone. [There's an unsaid 'you are' in his tone.] You don't have to push yourself so hard. You should recover first!

... You know it's affected your soul, don't you?

[soft_focus]

Ginko's helping the people who are still really sick.

[Also.] ....'m only here right now bc I'm supposed to get 'some bed rest' that isn't sleeping at night still.

[hippocarnival]

Oh. [Well, that's good for Ginko.] Isn't there anyone else who can feed the animals for you?

[Wait a minute--he smacks his fist against his palm.] I could feed the animals! I have pets, I know how to do that.

[soft_focus]

....Are you sure? [Buddy.] ....Tyrannosaurus is really big, and she gets confused about new people....

[hippocarnival]

Yeah! [Yuya gives her a thumb's up with his good hand, full of confidence.] I'll ask Ginko what they need, but it's no problem! Then you can just focus on resting.

[soft_focus]

..............................I don't need that much rest, Yuuya.................

[Also.] ..............Tyrannosaurus is really big, too, so you have to be careful....

[Yuuya might slowly realize she's talking about An actual fucking dinosaur in a bit.]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya sure is gonna find out she means a big actual dinosaur.] Hey, I will, I will! And you probably need more rest than you think, you know? I know it's boring, but I'll come and visit and we can duel.

[In between his visits to everyone else, Yuya knows how to keep himself busy.]