⇨ 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

[dressedtothe]

9S actually... allows her to pull his sword out of the wood, even though he's perfectly capable of pulling it out himself. Once it's out, though, he'll be taking it back by using his field.

"...Thanks."

Wow this is awkward. Considering the last time they had met, they engaged in petty sniping, 9S isn't really sure how to talk to Lapis. She's still an alien, but after hearing what happened to her over the radio, he could... sympathise. Just a little.

Thousands of years stuck in a mirror...

"You look like you've had a crap week. Did you come here to blow off some steam?"

[mirrortide]

"You're not looking too good yourself either." Surprisingly, Lapis doesn't mean that in a mean or petty way. "No to the blowing off steam thing though. I wasn't exactly made for combat, and if I used any of my powers for it, this entire place would end up being sunk. Peridot wouldn't like that."

And she cares what Peridot thinks! Surprisingly enough. She's one of two people who have that privilege. "What's got you so worked up anyway?"

[dressedtothe]

Meh, who cares about what Peridot thinks! But sinking the carnival would be bad, yes. Though now she's got him wondering what exactly her powers are...

At that question, 9S can't help but scowl, kicking at the ground with his boots. "Found out about a bunch of stuff back home from my fake partner at the ball."

That's about as detailed as he'll get, for now; Lapis might not be one the same dead alien race, but she isn't exactly an ally.

"...I heard the stuff on the radio. Sorry your people treated you like crap."

[mirrortide]

Lapis watches him kick the ground, and knows she's hit a sore spot. Surprisingly, she has more tact than Strange when it comes to this sort of thing. "Not good news, I guess." But she continues on, because it's not any of her business. What is her business, however, is what 9S heard on the radio.

"Yeah, we Gems aren't exactly the nicest species in the universe." She gives a helpless shrug. "Kind of jerks, actually." Look, Lapis knows it, and she's not going to say Gems aren't mostly assholes. "I like Earth more than Homeworld, to be honest." It's... nicer.

[dressedtothe]

Well, duh. It's because gems are aliens!

"Yeah?" Well, Earth being a better place to live is pretty much a given. He can at least agree that Earth is pretty rad. "What's the Earth in your world like, anyway?"

Colour him curious. He's had a taste of what a human filled world is like back in Greysol, and it only makes him yearn more for the restoration of his own Earth, to see Earth as it should be, filled with humans.

...Even if it is an Earth without YoRHa.

[mirrortide]

"It's... nice?" How does Lapis even begin to describe it? "Everything is always changing, especially the humans." She'd seen when she had first gotten to earth, and she's seen them currently. Their technological advancements aren't anything to sneeze at in such a short time.

"I couldn't really tell you about the human cities, though. I live in the country." Which is probably for the best of everyone. "Mostly it's just really full of life, I guess."

[dressedtothe]

"The country?" The heck's that supposed to mean? "There's multiple countries on Earth. You're gonna have to be more specific."

Full of life, huh...? He's a little envious.

[mirrortide]

"It's not a country, it's called a country side. It's mostly farmland and barns, but it's pretty big. And sparse, I guess?" Lapis kind of gestures with her hands, but it's clear that she doesn't quite understand what a country is to begin with. "It can be anywhere. I think."

[dressedtothe]

"Farmland and barns?"

That's land that humans would constantly dig up for some reason, isn't it? 9S looks pensive.

"What, so you spent all your time there digging holes or something?"

[mirrortide]

It suddenly occurs to Lapis that despite all of 9S's loyalty to humans, he doesn't really know all that much about them. Weird.

"Sort of? But humans don't just leave the holes. They put seeds into them, and they grow. Lot's of different kinds of plants grow. "It's how humans get a lot of their food." Though Lapis and Peridot seem to think it should have been how to grow soldiers. "... Steven had to tell us the last part, though. We had no idea at first."

[dressedtothe]

Huh.

He would make some snipe about how of course they wouldn't know, being aliens, but... he didn't know that, either.

"Steven..." 9S hums. "He's the, uh, hybrid, right?"

The thought of an alien reproducing with a human... Why would a human, you know, with an alien? Gross. 9S can't quite keep the disgusted look off his face.

[mirrortide]

It's unfortunate Greg isn't here to field that question anymore, 9S.

Still, Lapis sees that look on his face, but she manages to stop herself from calling him out on it. Steven is Steven, no matter who his parents are. "That's right. Half human, half gem. If you wanted to know how that works, I really have no idea. You should probably ask Peridot."

[dressedtothe]

Is that really unfortunate, tho.

This time, 9S overtly sticks out his tongue. "I don't want to know about gem reproduction, and I really don't want to know how human gem relations even works."

Except he totally wants to know.

But the less he has to do with Peridot the better.

[mirrortide]

Childish? Lapis is great at dealing with childishness. By which I mean not at all.

"Don't worry about how Gems reproduce. We're made, not born." She repeats his action, sticking out her tongue and... blowing a raspberry. Your move, 9S.

[dressedtothe]

His move is...

...Getting distracted by this new bit of information.

"You're made?" He supposes that makes sense; from what he could tell when he scanned Lapis and Peridot, they're not biological, too. "How?"

[mirrortide]

That's a win in Lapis' book.

"A bunch of goo gets put into the ground, and then we come out fully formed whenever we're ready. Different Gems need different environments to form, but that's something Peridot would know more about."

[dressedtothe]

"Goo?" 9S looks disgusted, his face contorting at the mental image. That sounds so weirdly biological. Goo, fluids, blech.

So if he wants more information, he's going to have to ask Peridot? Great. Just great.

"Why Peridot? Isn't her speciality machinery?"

[mirrortide]

"Honestly I'm not exactly sure what it is. It's more like a slurry of... stuff. That we put into the ground." She shrugs. "Peridot is a certified Kindergartner. She's got a lot of experience in growing Gems. Not that she isn't good with machinery, though."

[dressedtothe]

What the hell is a kindergartner? But for once, he doesn't ask the question; if he keeps on doing that, Lapis is gonna think he's stupid. And he can't have that!!

"What about you, then? What are you good at? You mentioned sinking this place if you used your powers."

He's asking because it's best to know what your enemy can do, and not at all because he's deathly curious.

[mirrortide]

"Lapis Lazuli like me are terraformers." Which means it would have been Lapis' specific job to fuck up the Earth for Homeworld! Good thing she was trapped in a mirror for 5,000 years. And also has probably considerably mellowed since then. "We use water to do it, so most of my fighting ability to begin with needs water."

[dressedtothe]

"Wait, there's multiple of you?"

Somehow, he never considered that Lapis was both a name and a role designation. It's uncomfortable, realising they have something in common.

[mirrortide]

"There's multiple of every Gem. Not here, which makes differentiating us easier, I guess? It's probably easier for you that there's only one of each of us here." No doubt there'd be a bunch of confusion with how similar they all look to each other.

[dressedtothe]

9S doesn't want to say that having multiple of the same role and models is a lot like androids; the less in common he has with Gems, the better. So instead, 9S just says haughtily, "I'd be able to tell."

[mirrortide]

"If you paid attention, sure." There are a few differences, after all. The biggest one would probably be gem placement on their bodies? Maybe slight differences in hair and build. "Most of the time there's just no point, though."

[dressedtothe]

Please, he's always paying attention.

"Why isn't there any point?" 9S presses.

They're still individuals, aren't they? Even if they have the same roles. It's not like they were all exactly the same person, were they?