⇨ 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

[wilt]

Call me lame? Well, you don't gotta, but it's a nice opportunity to get away with!

[ There's a stammer in his voice. What the heck? He was scarier than that thing when he was Omega Flowey! And then again as Asriel Dreemurr! ]

[soft_focus]

[T-Rex, presently, is inspecting a little butterfly high in the air.]

....I don't even know what the word means, I just know people use it when they're being mean.... [Anyway.] ..................Do you like cats?

[wilt]

?

They're okay, as far as animals go. One I know usually sells garbage and stolen things. [ Is she talking about a massive tigerbeast or something? Fear is a very hard feeling to shake, he's learning... ]

[soft_focus]

We have some cats here....and this time, when I feed them, you can always be bigger than they are, instead of with Tyrannosaurus, if you want.

...One's a Peacat, and the other is 'Snat'.

....We might not see the third one though.

[wilt]

That sounds fine in comparison to that-- thing. [ It was going to eat him, he's certain. ] I don't mind if we visit them.

[ He leaps up to her forearm and wraps his roots around it. Easier than constantly popping up behind her, right? ]

[soft_focus]

[Apparently a lot better, as after a brief blink of surprise, she actually smiles.] Ok! [She decides, keeping her arm steady. This, at least, she's great at.] First we have to get the food, [She explains, heading back to the lonely rope that marks where the enchanted pen 'ends' and the other paths and bridges begin.] And then we can go feed them-and play with them too, since they have to play a bit every day. Peacat likes to be high, but sometimes he just shows his feathers. Snat doesn't have legs though, so we have to play different with him....

[wilt]

What are Peacats? And Snats? I've never heard of anything like that before. Where I used to live, we didn't have a ton of ... outside knowledge, so to speak.

[ Besides what he cheated to gain, of course. ]

[soft_focus]

Ummm... Peacat is...a cat, but with bird things. They have a bit feather tail, and they're blue, [She explains, walking back to the supply shed along the various rickety seeming bridges of vines.]

And...Snat is sort of long, but not snake long. They have to move like a snake though, so I guess that's why they're 'snat'.

[wilt]

[ The carnival is really...

And he's from a land of monsters, so this shouldn't...

... he's still surprised, go figure. ]

I've met stranger dogs, so I can't really talk.

[soft_focus]

I think a lot of duel monsters look more different too? [She's not sure. Anyway.] I have to take off the rain thing too by the way. Otherwise I'll smell weird to them.

[wilt]

Rain thing? You gotta be more specific, I don't know what a 'rain thing' is. It could be a lot of things.

[ Despite feeling kinship and fear, he's still... Flowey. ]

[soft_focus]

[Reira merely holds out her free arm, showing off the rain slicker she's still wearing. It has bits of meat grime on it from the Treat still.] It's this.

[No one told her it's a slicker/poncho!!]

[wilt]

[ Suddenly he feels extremely dumb. He thought she could control the weather before he thought she was referring to her coat. ]

Oh-- That makes sense.

Should I just-- yeah, I'll sit on your hand to make it easier! Hopefully I don't feel too gross or anything!

[ He just has to tease about how creepy-crawly roots must be, but he makes it up to her hand so she can take off most of the coat before Stretching his stem to the other side.

[soft_focus]

Um! It's probably okay! [She immediately decides, watching the flower move. It is...a little interesting. But it's only to make getting the slicker off an easier task, so she moves to do just that. The sheet is pulled up and over the head and-

There she is in her striped shirt glory.] Got it.

[wilt]

.....................................................................................................................

[ Theoretically, it'd be bad to unlock two new emotions in one thread, but dang it if [ nostalgia ] isn't pressing at him like it's trying to hammer its way out. That'll need something stronger though. ]

Hey, did you know? Only kids wear striped shirts! It's the rule.

[soft_focus]

[It would be rather intense. His poor flower noggin must recover first!

Reira of course assumes this to be some sort of rule 'from home', but that doesn't change the surprise.] ...Really!? Only kids can..?! Why..?

[wilt]

It's just how you can tell they're a kid. I wear a striped shirt too!

[ That last line sounded like Asriel's voice, almost. A bit softer and higher pitched, but he deliberately ignores it and goes on with his regular, scratchy voice. ]

It's...

Tradition?

[soft_focus]

[...Woah. Good thing she has a poker face, or this would be...odd. Still, she does log that misspeak away, quietly, as she moves to get the cat food buckets.]

...Is it because monsters all look different?

[wilt]

... I don't know, but that's just how it's always been... as long as I've known it, anyway. Like an icon? Yeah, definitely.

[soft_focus]

[Buckets, ACHIEVED. Time to feed some cats.] .............An icon?

[Oh dear.]

[wilt]

... [ He frustratedly wilts, a little. ] To be honest, I don't really understand myself.

[ he liked being COOL and KNOWLEDGABLE but now he's less smart than Monster Kid?? ]

So it-- so it's like seeing someone from outer space but wearing something you'd consider a uniform from home!

[soft_focus]

[YOU'RE STILL BOTH OF THESE THINGS IN HER EYES....] Oh..!!

I get it now. ...I just didn't know what an icon was.

[Whomp whomp-]

[wilt]

You don't know what an icon is? That's so--

[ Kinship beats itself against the back of Flowey's head, reminding him to keep his pettiness in check. It's not hard. ]

-- normal if you're still relearning things. How do you learn new things? Feelings? Just by interacting with animals?

[soft_focus]

[She can kinda tell, but she can tell that the feelings are kind of plowing against each other like a pair of battle bots, at least. So that's sort of nice???] Ummmmn....

...Mostly I just watch people and try to figure out why they're doing things, or know what they're saying from what they're talking about.

...Sometimes it works, but sometimes they have to explain it more.

[wilt]

[ . . . ]

Want me to teach you what you taught me?