⇨ 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

[anti_nonsense]

Yeah. Definitely not suspicious.

"So you're new." Rita's tone is mildly disdainful, but she gives that a little thought and then asks, "Wait... just joined? When?" They've only been back for a few days, tops. Is the Ringmaster already recruiting new people?

Or... was this girl at the manor?

[sworntothesword]

"Uh, that would have been...." She tried to count on her fingers. That can't be right.

"Ten.... days ago? Right before the hunt."

She had a natural response to try to check her phone for the time, but it had been dead for over a week now.

[anti_nonsense]

Right before the hunt... so, probably while Rita was in the Prince's dungeon. Looks like her guess was right: this girl was at the manor.

"I suppose I wouldn't have seen you, then," she says vaguely, shrugging. "I wasn't around here."

[sworntothesword]

Already here for almost two weeks, wow. Time flies.

"I haven't seen a lot of people so far, not since the ball. Things have been really crazy."

She noticed that Rita kind of just skipped introducing herself.

"How long... have you been here?"

[anti_nonsense]

You'd think she'd introduce herself after Connie gave her name, or shortly after, but Rita has no manners, even after all those lessons on courtly manners before and during their last stop.

"Since my contract started? Little over three months, I guess." She glances around idly. So she showed up at the ball, and probably didn't have much choice but to come along after... "You're pretty unlucky, getting stuck with this disaster of a group."

[sworntothesword]

Connie sincerely didn't understand where Rita was coming from. What group? Did she accidentally get involved in some kind of delinquent clique? What was disastrous about them? Had she also been cursed wiht bad luck? Fae do that a lot.

"I don't-- think I understand...?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita gestures vaguely. "I mean this whole group. The Carnival. Nothing but idiots and trouble, nonstop," she huffs, seemingly ignoring the part where she's kind of a part of all that. "That whole mess going on when you joined wasn't the first of its kind, and it probably won't be the last. That's why I'm saying you're unlucky."

She might kind of sound like she's just badmouthing everyone and complaining, but she's also, in her own inelegant way, trying to warn Connie.

[sworntothesword]

"Everyone I've met has been really nice."

Except for maybe Rita.

She can't argue with the Happenings, though. If this is gonna be a nonstop rollercoaster of craziness.... well, then she'll pretty much be on Steven's level.

[anti_nonsense]

"Never said they aren't nice. I said they're idiots, which is the truth." It's practically an objective fact, as far as she's concerned. Glancing away, she adds, "Nice doesn't keep people alive." Not that she's really tried it, but she's confident in that assertion.

[sworntothesword]

Maybe Gonganzaka wasn't the smartest person she's ever met, but doesn't excuse that kind of denigration. And other people she's met were very smart!

"Maybe not directly, but we'll probably have a better chance if everyone can get along and work together."

[anti_nonsense]

"Hmph..." Rita doesn't seem to like that, but she isn't exactly offering an argument against it. She knows she has to work with other people here. But she can still do that while being honest about how stupid she thinks everyone is, can't she? Of course she can.

"What's your job here, anyway?" she asks, perhaps abruptly.

[sworntothesword]

Oh jeez, put her on the spot, right?

"Um, the Ringmaster said I was a 'patrol,' although I'm not entirely sure what that entails..."

[anti_nonsense]

There's a flicker of surprise in Rita's expression.

"It means you're expected to help protect us against enemies... and handle peacekeeping in general, I guess." But that first thing is the really important part. Rita looks Connie up and down, skeptical. "Do you even know how to fight?"

[sworntothesword]

"Yeah!" Connie retorted indignantly. "I was trained by a Crystal Gem named Pearl. She was a veteran of a war that lasted thousands of years."

Rita's answer was slightly helpful, but not much moreso than the word itself and some context.

"But I still don't know what enemies we face, or what trouble tends to well up..."

[anti_nonsense]

"A gem...?" A look of recognition crosses Rita's face.

Pearl? Wait, then she was... Suddenly, a lot of connections are being made in Rita's head. The 'Pearl' she knew in Portland, the gems, Connie's teacher... It looks like Rita might have known her, in a way. It's complicated.

Her contemplative silence lasts long enough that she misses the opportunity to make another insulting comment, so she instead focuses on the actual issue brought up by the girl.

"The fae. They're our enemies... both the Summer and Winter courts."

[sworntothesword]

Connie recognizes the dichotomy, more known to her as Seelie and Unseelie, but she seems to recall hearing Summer Court used as well.

"...I don't understand, we're enemies of both courts? Isn't the Ringmaster part of one or the other?"

[anti_nonsense]

"The Ringmaster's a Wyld Fae, unaffiliated with the courts," Rita explains, waving a hand as she talks. "And... we antagonized some powerful fae from both courts during a recent stop. Not that it matters, though, because it looks like the Ringmaster already had enemies galore across the realms."

There's no shortage of exasperation in her tone when she talks about the Ringmaster. As far as Rita's concerned, this is mostly her fault.

[sworntothesword]

"Jeez, that doesn't sound good."

But then, Connie was used to knowing, abstractly, that the universe was out to get her. At least since she met Steven and found out about Homeworld.

Which isn't to say she hadn't always suspected the universe was out to get her, but that was always irrational.

Probably.

[anti_nonsense]

"Like I said, it's a disaster," Rita groans, bringing a hand up to rub at her head, as if warding off a coming headache. One might assume it's from exasperation at their situation, and that wouldn't be too far off... but there's also a distinct paleness creeping into her tone.

"...I should get going," she says, somewhat abruptly.

[sworntothesword]

"Oh, okay. Uh-" Definitely say something before she leaves, Connie.

"Um, what was your, uh- name?"

[anti_nonsense]

Oh. Right. She forgot to mention.

"It's Rita," she says, bringing her hand down and facing Connie properly. "Rita Mordio."

She waves a hand as she turns to leave. "Try not to get killed, Connie." She says it so casually that it might sound a bit callous.

[sworntothesword]

It seemed to Connie that 'try not to get killed,' was kind of intentionally callous.

There were so many other better ways of saying that, like 'stay safe,' or 'take care of yourself', but Rita's phrase was both more violent and kind of passive aggressive, implying that at some point, Connie would be trying to get killed.

Connie wasn't offended so much as baffled. Rita seemed like the kind of person who liked keeping people at arm's length. She wondered why.

"You uh- also do that!" she called after, not having had a chance to really decide what she wanted to say and failing to commit to repeating the phrase back.