⇨ 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

[wild_magic]

Of course making Lauren feel like a jerk wasn't his intention, but still, he can't help but be relieved when his brother sits next to him. He leans into Lauren's side, quiet for a moment before he thinks of something and looks up at him.

"But you still have to do your prayers."

[mylastchance]

"I can do it here." he answers, already shifting to sit cross legged on the end of the bed.

"Lay down."

[wild_magic]

He doesn't want Lauren to have to give it up, he knows that he's supposed to do it at the water if he can, but... If his brother thinks this is good enough, then he's happy for it. It's better for both of them this way.

It takes him a minute to lay down again, moving carefully to try and not tug at his injuries, and once he's there he watches Lauren quietly.

[mylastchance]

Of course, Lauren is already focused on his meditation by the time Susan gets comfortable. He expects Susan to simply fall back to sleep. His brother needs the rest, and it isn't like anything Lauren is doing is interesting enough to keep him awake. He is doing what Susan would officially refer to as "boring druid" stuff, which, admittedly, is very boring if you are not the one doing it.

[wild_magic]

It really is boring druid stuff, but there's something comforting in the routine of it, in knowing that things are really back to normal now if Lauren is doing it. He ends up drifting off to sleep again after only a couple minutes, though, since honestly watching it is boring and he's still exhausted.

[mylastchance]

It doesn't feel like much time has passed once he's finished, but he knows from experience it's been a half hour at least. He can feel his magic for the first time since their capture and he is relieved. He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, smiling weakly as he realizes once more that everything really is going to be okay. He hadn't disbelieved that before, but now he felt like it was really true.

He shifts, moving closer to Susan on the bed. He doesn't want to wake his brother, but neither does he want him to suffer. Reaching out, he puts a hand on Susan's shoulder before muttering the words to a simple heal spell under his breath.

[wild_magic]

Susan is sleeping lightly enough now that he stirs when Lauren touches his shoulder, but he doesn't wake fully. When he finally does later he'll be relieved that things hurt a bit less, though.

[mylastchance]

He leans down to kiss his little brother on the forehead, before he stands. Maybe if he's lucky he can get some breakfast from the cookhouse and come back before Susan even notices he's gone.