⇨ 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

TRAINING GROUNDS

[whattaprick]

[ D4 Onwards ]

For those who drop by the training grounds in the afternoons, they'll occasionally catch sight of the Nightrider hanging out. Lambert's still in not much shape to do ... anything, really, so he's not on the obstacle course himself, sitting off to the side in a red and black kimono that he's wearing slightly askew and wrong-side-over the other at that. Not that he cares. It's easy to pull on and easy to take off, and that's all that really matters.

Most of the time, he can be found smoking and offering idle commentary from the sidelines. At other times, he's just ... walking along the track that rings the main part of the course, a small, furred form running by his side on the ground offering a quiet running commentary to distract him from the stiffness in his gait. It's better than it was a few days ago, but it's still a real pain in the ass, and the frustration is evident in his expression and the tenseness of his shoulders.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya doesn't come by the obstacle course much, and he really shouldn't be on it now with his shoulder recovering. But Lambert wasn't in the medical tent, so Yuya was just guessing places he'd find him instead. He's glad to see he's not actually trying to run it himself.

He can in fact recognize Lambert's clothes as a kimono, so as he approaches his greeting gets a little waysided as he outright scrutinizes the way he's wearing it.

"Hi. Are you okay to be up now?" He seems a little suspect about that, too, but he can't exactly make Lambert go lay in bed even as he needs it. So he'll just prod him for some confirmation and they can act like everything's fine.

[whattaprick]

It's definitely being worn incorrectly, right over left -- even if it was originally put on the right way, Lambert's clearly taken his own liberties with how it should be worn, showing too much chest (though the glowing fae marks emblazoned along his collarbones are harder to make out in the sunlight) while keeping it belted firmly at the waist. Under it, he's barefoot, though it makes no damn difference to him when his feet are stone.

Lambert heard Yuya approaching long before he said anything, one of the dark-furred ears now attached to his head flicking in the boy's direction, but it's not until he actually speaks that he'll greet him.

"Yeah, I am. Walking's supposed to be good for your health, you know."

"Hello, Yuya!" Celandine pipes from the ground, more cheerfully. The ability to fly from Greysol isn't one that's carried over, so she looks comically tiny next to Lambert, although she's closer to Yuya's line of sight.

[hippocarnival]

"It can't be just that, right?" Everybody walks all the time. If that was the case, wouldn't people get sick even less?

He's quickly distracted by Celandine, however, and he crouches down closer to her level with a grin. So that's what a polecat looks like. "Hey! If you're staying around that means you picked a name, right?"

She can't just be 'Lambert's daemon' forever, and he never did hear what it was before they left Greysol.

[whattaprick]

Lambert just shrugs. He's up and out of bed regardless of what anyone thinks his recovery time ought to be. If Yuya wants to drag him back, he's welcome to try.

Celandine, unfortunately, isn't at her best despite her chipper tone and clear alertness -- she seems underfed, somehow, fur patchy and unkempt in places, and she moves as stiffly as her human body does. The effect of the injuries and the poison on Lambert's body may have been partly addressed, but his soul is still suffering for it.

"I did. My name's Celandine," her nose wiggles at him, slightly, stage-whispering like she's imparting some grand secret. "I'm only here when Lambert wants me to be, though."

"And I can send you right back," the witcher threatens, without much conviction to it. After all, even if he banishes the spell that's letting her manifest, the only place for her to go is back in ... wherever souls go, inside people.

[hippocarnival]

"Celandine," he repeats the name, smiling a bit. Her injury is obvious, and the only reason it doesn't surprise him is because Gongenzaka had told him back in the ballroom that it was a poison to the soul. Koemi reflected his scars, of course Celandine would too.

"Well I'm glad to see you again." Hear her again? Technically, this is his first time seeing her. He folds his arms over his knees, looking back up at Lambert. "I thought maybe you'd be out here, but there's not even anyone to watch running the obstacle course..."

[whattaprick]

"We're glad to see you too. We thought you might've been hurt!" If there was a daemon for Celandine to jump on, she would have, but she can't touch other people without Lambert feeling it. Instead, she just sort of quivers briefly as she masters the urge to leap up on Yuya, before she settles for racing around him instead, looking him over. It really is too bad not everyone brought their daemons back. Lambert had only the vaguest awareness of Yuya being involved in the plan to distract the Prince at all, but he remembers he was there.

Lambert shrugs again. It's probably best not to mention he probably picked this time precisely because no one else was around to see him fumble through pretty basic motions like walking, after all the adrenaline of the past few days caught up with him.

"Sounds like you're volunteering to me."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya knows exactly what she's doing--he's got six cats and dogs after all. But he also knows very well how daemon's work, and he's not going to reach out to her. Celandine will decide if that's what she wants, but she looks too injured to be handled by anyone else anyway.

So instead he watches her run around. He doesn't look terribly injured, but there's definitely bandages bulging under his shirt, on his left shoulder and upper arm. His expression turns a touch sad, for a moment. "No, that's why he couldn't prove I helped break a rule. So he just took Gongenzaka and Yugo instead."

He purses his lips. Yeah, that still hurts to talk about. The next topic isn't any better, and he absently grips his arm just below his injury in response. "Uh, but I did get hurt during the hunt. Otherwise you know I would..."

[whattaprick]

Discussing what kind of company Yugo and Gongenzaka made in jail isn't the greatest topic, either. There aren't really a lot of great topics to pick from, right now. Gon and Yugo being captured and injured is, Lambert supposes, directly caused by them helping him, although they'd known the risk and chosen to involve themselves anyway. Still, it doesn't seem like Yuya's expecting an apology.

"That's why you stick to ranged weapons," Lambert says, practically. Now that he's looking Yuya over, he can see the injury. "How bad is it?"

[soft_focus]

While Lambert might not be on it, Reira certainly...is. Whether she started after he was already there (and merely ignored the emotion presence as per 'probably just someone else'), or before, Reira's a bit focused on it. Before she starts up the course itself, she clicks her Duel Disk on-it projects its holographic blade, but more importantly a computerized voice announces the word 'CROSSOVER', immediately scattering random platforms and cards across the entire thing.

Next step? "I summon 'Film Magician'!" Reira calls-and there he is, a good foot or two taller than her, hovering at the side. That is when she starts, and that....was probably a good idea. For starters.... She hit Hard. So everything is absolutely moving. But more importantly, the first immediate obstacle is a vault. For adults.

....Film Magician is presently boosting her over, before she proceeds at an astonishing clip through everything else. Bridging otherwise impossible gaps on moving platforms with her duel disk's stationary ones, scurrying without pause when there's no need...She's. Not too bad at this, surprisingly-in fact she manages to hold her left arm, the duel disk arm, more or less in position the entire way for the sake of keeping the cards stuck to it.

(She does manage to fall flat on her face running in the corridors however, since while height was never an issue there, it also meant she misjudged and ran too fast. "Oof-!")

It's up to the others, if they want to interrupt before she's finished, really.

[whattaprick]

Lambert doesn't feel a need to interrupt the exercises going on, taking a breather as he is at a bench with a decent view of most of the course. He's content to sit and watch Reira work through it with a detached sort of attention, letting his focus drift to her and back away as he puffs on one of his cigarettes -- one of the last, tragically, which means another acquisitions run might be in order eventually. Maybe they could still save some of those cigars the Prince had lying around, he certainly had plenty.

It's always funny to see people running the course because of seeing who uses magic or other abilities, and who gets by on nothing but physical skill. There aren't any rules about it using it or not, except you have to repair whatever you destroy -- and he heckles Strange mercilessly whenever he cheats with magic, but that's just because he's Strange, and depending on that shit's going to get him killed one day, because it won't be there when he needs it the most.

For now, he's watching, waiting to see if she'll even complete the course in the first place.

[soft_focus]

The answer to that question it seems, is, 'yes'. After a second or two of apparently resigning herself to life face first on the ground in the 'Narrow, Low Corridor' area, she's back on her feet and ducking past fire jets to reach the Final Jump.

Which means running, Jumping, and doing a relatively well timed roll-landing. She ends up blowing on her hands a bit after-that stung!!! But better to spread that fall energy than, well. Shatter wee ankles.

The course shuts down, resetting for later. Reira's summoned magician however, along with the rest of her disk summoned things, remain, the former apparently staring toward their 'audience'.

That's Kinda Creepy, Film Magician.

[whattaprick]

Yeah, no, Lambert knows all about weak ankles. Tragically, witcher training never did focus on what to do when falling from any considerable height, meaning most of Lambert's training injuries came from unfortunate tumbles.

Nonetheless, as Reira wraps up her circuit and her summoned creatures linger and glance in Lambert's direction, the Nightrider figures he may as well formally make his presence known.

"How many times have you run that?" he calls, from where he's seated, elbows resting on knees. Not that the answer is especially important at the moment; it's just curiosity, at this point. He may not have ever properly met her in person, but he's got a decent memory for faces -- and there were only so many seven-year-olds at the carnival who went missing at the dining tables during their stay in the Manor. It's not hard to guess who this is.

[soft_focus]

"Ah-" Oh. He's spoken. Reira admittedly didn't expect that voice. Not because of who's speaking, necessarily, but rather who is speaking. A voice she'd heard so many times on the radio, being here, in person, was not a voice she thought she would actually. Well.

Be able to connect to a face. "...On....the 'hard' version, or both?" she asks, mentally counting in her head. She can't really do A Lot of runs before she gets tired and sort of nauseous and has to lie down again-she wasn't dosed with the SAME poison as others, but it was still enough to make her weak and tired if she pushed things too hard.

But she's also been doing this since the day before. "For just this version... ...That was the third one," she notes, looking to her summoned magician as it briefly nods. "....I tried it after the normal version... ....but I still need a lot of monster help, so far...."

In all fairness, that's still only on the parts that were 'height restricted'. She probably should have looked for the customization settings before doing this.

....

"...Why?"

[whattaprick]

"Haven't seen you around here before, that's all." And he would know: he makes a point of keeping tabs on who's making use of the place, even if he doesn't interact with them directly, and coming here was a regular part of his daily routine before shit happened.

Lambert takes a drag on his cigarette, his gaze shifting from Reira to the strange, humanoid thing beside her. Presumably, that's one of the 'monsters' she's talking about, and there's a touch of curiosity when he gets a proper look at it. However, he's not going to acknowledge it yet, and when he speaks again, the smoke curls away from his lips.

"You're not used to training by yourself, are you?" It's a guess, coupled with what little he knows about her from their previous conversation.

[soft_focus]

"Oh." That's all she says initially. 'Oh'. After all- "...........Yesterday was the first time I was here ever, so..." So that makes sense, given she's only been running the course between then and now. She does however, frown a little at Lambert's question-mostly due to confusion if anything. "........I don't get to train at all," she eventually says, not seeing any sense in hiding such a matter. "...I wasn't supposed to 'get ready' for things where I came from, I just had to do it, and not make any mistakes."

Which was a bit of a yikes, but anyhow. "And... ....All of the duel monsters things, mom just put in my head, so..." She means this quite literally. "...I think I like being able to train, though. Even if I need some help on adult jumps."

[whattaprick]

"That's stupid," Lambert answers, matter of fact. He doesn't entirely grasp enough of Reira's explanation, but the details don't matter too much to him. "Making you do things just like that? It's like they wanted you to fail."

That's not even touching on the other shit. Putting information directly into a kid's head? What's the point? Nonetheless, he'll continue on.

"What are you trying to train for?"

[brightspot]

Five's been wandering, so it's really only a matter of time before she happens upon the training grounds. And she's instantly reminded of the training room aboard the Raza, her spaceship back home. She remembers her fighting lessons, mostly with Four as her teacher. It's sort of a bittersweet, painful memory now, all things considered... And, admittedly, there seem to be a lot less weapons about. There were swords and knives and other sharp, pointy, deadly things a-plenty in the training room on the Raza. So many that One had mistaken it for a torture chamber, once upon a time.

This thought makes her aware of the knife she's got tucked in her boot, something small like the kind she'd carried around for protection prior to arriving here, acquired for her by Mr. Strange. She pulls it out now since she hasn't really practiced with it or anything yet, deciding... this would probably be a good place to do so, right?

The weight and shape of it is familiar enough in her hand, and she holds it like someone who's had a few months of training in using it (because, well, she has had that), runs through a series of movements, slashes, and jabs, against no target in particular but the air, mostly on instinct. Her small stature helps with agility, and the jacket she has tied around her waist twirls like a skirt.

It isn't until this point she notices Lambert there on the sidelines, and immediately she stops and straightens, realization dawning. She recognizes him, from the scrying that Strange had shown her at the ball.

"Oh! The guy with the hat!"

[ ooc: boop. lmk if I should change anything, but hopefully this works! c: ]

works for me!

[whattaprick]

'Guy with the hat'? At the very least, now that they've spoken on the radio, so Lambert recognizes the voice without much effort, the boar's ears that he's acquired since the hunt twitching idly as she calls out to him. He's been watching her train with a sort of distracted attention: it's probably a little creepy, but that's the least of his concerns right now. At any rate, now that he's been noticed, Lambert's response is a shrug and a raised brow.

"It's Lambert, actually. And you're Five." The girl with either a strange nickname or parents with an unfortunately literal way of naming their offspring. It's not too unusual to think she might have spotted him twirling around at the ball.

"You can keep going, you know. Wasn't trying to interrupt." Though he was sizing up just how good with that thing she is. If she's at a comparable enough skill level to Strange, maybe she'd be up for sparring with the magician, although he suspects the difference in their frame might be a pain in the ass. It'd probably be too much to hope for that it would teach the man some humility, but it'd still be pretty entertaining.

[brightspot]

Thankfully, Five doesn't really see it as creepy. From her perspective it looks more like Lambert belongs here, like these are his grounds and Five is maybe trespassing. But then, that's sort of how she's seeing the whole carnival right now. She doesn't quite feel like she fits here yet, like she's part of the team. She wants to, though.

It takes her a minute to recognize his voice too, he seems to sound a little better than he did over the radio? Though, even if he weren't someone she'd spoken to directly, it was always possible anyone who'd been listening over the radio would have heard her say her name too. She doesn't explain the name since he hasn't outright asked.

"Lambert," she repeats, then lightly shakes her head at his suggestion to continue, fiddling with her knife in her hands before leaning down to tuck it in her boot. Now that she knows someone is here, she'd much rather talk, to learn more about the people here and the carnival in general.

"Is that what this place is for? Fighting and training and stuff?" She casts a glance around them before looking back at Lambert.

[whattaprick]

"That's the idea." Lambert shrugs, easily. "This is still a carnival first, so I don't expect to see everyone out here but the nightrunners, but it's there if people want to use it."

After all, one never can tell if they're going to end up in another situation like the Manor ... for all the good that did them there. Still, since she seems to have finished for now, he'll shift in his seat, looking back at her curiously. She's got the look of someone with something on her mind.

[brightspot]

"The nightrunners?" She thinks she might have heard the term used before, but she's not sure.

Curious, she stands on one of the standing poles for practicing balance, arms out to her sides, and speaks without looking at him, like she's just spewing unimportant facts into the air. "We had a... Training room kind of? Where I'm from. My friends were teaching me things there... Like with the knife." Among other things.

[whattaprick]

"That's what they call the mercenaries and scouts who work for the Carnival, 'cause their boss is called the Nightrider. Don't ask me why: I'm not the one who came up with it." He gives her a helpless little shrug, then cocks his head as she goes on.

"Good friends," is what he'll opine. "Not bad teachers, either. At least they got you gripping the right end of the knife -- you'd be surprised how many people get that wrong." His smirk suggests he's joking. Possibly. "Wish more of the carnival would do the same thing. Never hurts to know how defend yourself if you need to."

[brightspot]

"Oh. I didn't know this place had mercenaries. My friends are... were..." She bites her lip in thought, settling on the right words, the right phrasing, especially when she's not even sure if they're dead or alive now.

She gives a flicker of a small smile and a shrug. "We were kind of mercenaries too. Heists and stuff for money? They were teaching me so that I could stay safe, 'cause yeah that life - and I guess this life too? - 's kinda dangerous."

[whattaprick]

"Oh yeah?" She doesn't look like much of a mercenary, but he supposes that's what the training part was for. Lambert quirks a brow as she wavers between tenses, but doesn't comment. That sounds like it's opening up a can of worms for potential baggage.

"It's not always like the manor, but yeah, we've had our share of trouble. Can't expect much else when you're crossing between worlds, I guess." He shakes his head slightly. "Won't hurt to stay in practice, but it would be better if you could find a sparring partner."