lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

Entry tags:

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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.

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Although visitors weren't turned away in the couple of days following their "rescue", it wasn't until about the third day that they were really able to stick around for long. Susan in particular was sleeping often, if not always well (which honestly only increased his need for sleep when it happened), but by the third day... Well, he wasn't quite up to wandering the Carnival again, but he's starting to feel a bit of cabin fever.

Anyone coming by Trailer #17 may even see Susan on the steps outside their trailer, watching his Pichu play around while he pets his cat. He still looks exhausted, and what bits of his left arm that can be seen are still stone, but at least he's here and upright.

Or maybe he's gone in by the time you're here, but he opens the door with a smile on his face when anyone knocks. It's better than when he wouldn't even get out of bed for visitors, so. Improvement?

Thankfully for both of them, Strange is in a marginally better mood than he was yesterday. He's walking back to his trailer, having ~~stolen~~ obtained some food from the cookhouse. At the moment, he's contentedly munching on an apple, only paying slight attention to where he's going...when he spots something yellow out of the corner of his eye, in the distance.

Well, might as well look! After all, Strange doesn't know how to leave well enough alone to begin with.

As he walks over to the yellow thing, Strange can't help but raise an eyebrow (a Pokemon?) before the expression falters a bit as he spots who's Pokemon it is. Ah. It's Susan. He...honestly has no idea how this conversation will go but he might as well give it a try.

"What's the name of that one?" he gingerly asks, with a little nod towards Pichu. "I might have run into it's cousin when I was in Alola."

The little Pichu is excited to see someone, so as Strange comes closer it approaches him inquisitively. Of course Zap moving towards him makes Susan see who it is...

He looks surprised when he sees him, and his eyes widen slightly before he looks away, down to his Pichu instead. Of course the little Pokemon doesn't seem to realize things are awkward at all, and instead just looks curiously up at Strange.

At the question Susan takes a moment of fidgeting, biting his lip a little, before he looks up with a slightly unsure expression. He thinks he can do this, probably... He just has to pretend everything is okay.

"He's a Pichu. His name is Zap, 'cause he zaps himself on accident sometimes."

"A fitting name," Strange admits. As the Pichu looks up at him, Strange bends down slightly so that the little creature can get a better look at Strange. All the while, he's deliberately keeping a distance from Susan and deliberately trying to keep his hands visible at all times. Because Susan's at least trying. The last thing Strange wants to do is mess this all up in such a way that it would make Susan regret he tried in the first place.

"When I was in Alola, I spent all my time with various ghosts. One of them looked remarkably similar to that Pichu. I believe his species was Mimikyu?" Fun fact, Strange barely remembers any Pokemon species names in the first place.

"It had ears like Zap, though the thing was a bit larger. And it looked like it was wearing a sackcloth, of all things."

"I don't think I saw any like that... I don't think we saw any wearing any sort of clothes, either. That's weird." He tries to imagine what it must have looked like, but instead just shakes his head with a small smile as he looks to Zap.

"Zap sounds cuter, anyway. Except he doesn't like it when you say he's cute." Not that the little Pokemon is paying too much attention to the conversation, instead walking around Strange to check out the new person before scurrying off to play with some random thing it found around, a rock or something like that.

"Well then, I'll make certain to call him cute out of earshot." Because Susan's right, it is pretty cute. Strange stands still as the Pokemon walks around him and then watches Zap scurry off for a moment or two. He still needs to talk to Susan. And now that there's not the Pichu as a distraction or an icebreaker, he might as well do so.

"I truly am sorry that what happened in the Hunt happened in the first place. If there was another way to obtain the manor's name, I would be the first to suggest we do that instead."

But as it is, they were pressed for time, couldn't come up with other ideas, and needed to act as quickly as possible. The Hunt seemed to be the only option they could come up with that they had even the slightest chance of winning.

The Hunt. It's something he's been trying to avoid thinking about, especially now, during this conversation. But it's something they have to talk about, isn't it? No matter how much he doesn't want to. Because when it comes down to it, he doesn't want to be scared or upset forever, he wants to move past it. He wants to be able to talk to him normally again, to not have nightmares, to not keep dwelling on it.

It's hard, though, at the same time. He may not have the clearest memories of the entire event, but the ones he does have are hard to ignore. He can remember being grabbed, being held, being stabbed through the chest. He remembers struggling, and being in pain. And all of it is associated with Strange right now.

"It's... I don't know, if it's okay. But I understand. You guys had to do the best you could to save everyone. To save us. Especially before he hurt the rest of us like he did to Sans." Because as someone with a front row seat to that mess, it was honestly terrifying, and he can see trying to save them from both imprisonment and that fate as a pretty great goal.

That still doesn't necessarily mean things are okay, even if he gets it.

"It doesn't have to be okay," Strange simply responds. Because Susan's right. It doesn't have to be okay in the slightest. These things linger, sticking to the thoughts and feelings for longer than one would like. That was how Portland was for Strange. That's how the Hunt might be for Susan.

There's an awkward pause before Strange starts talking again.

"If you do not wish to see me or talk to me for the next however long, then I shall respect your wishes. I simply want to hear it from you instead of Lauren."

Because for all of Lauren's 'Susan doesn't want to see you', Strange has no idea if that's even true or not. Or, if it's changed in between the few days between that argument and now.

"I didn't want to see anybody, really. Not just you." Of course Strange was the worst one, but still. He doesn't want him to think it's something against him, when it really isn't. He bites his lip as he thinks of how to put this next part, before just going for it.

"Lauren just... He thinks he knows what's best for me. And I guess he's right most of the time, since he raised me and everything? But... That's why he said that, and he was right then, but if I just don't see or talk to you then I won't stop being scared. So it's okay to talk to me."

"That's good to hear," Strange admits, giving Susan a small little smile. He's trying to be reassuring and honestly, truly hopes that he lands somewhere in the vague area of that. "Because truth be told, I'd like to talk to you. You're a fellow magician and I enjoy your company."

Surprising no one, the metaphorical twelve year old likes hanging out with the literal twelve year old.

He finally looks back up at him with a small smile of his own, although he glances away after a moment. He can't help being a little scared still when he sees him, but... He can do this.

"I like it too. Your magic is pretty cool, and you're more fun than most of the other magic users I've met."

He thinks for a second before continuing. "Just don't surprise me." Or, you know, stand over him with a knife, but he's pretty sure he doesn't have to say that part since that's not a thing normal people would do. Or people like Strange, either.

Strange can't help but laugh, a small little utterly charmed laugh. More fun than most of the other magic users? Well, that certainly says a lot about the magic users that Susan interacts with.

"May I tell you a secret?" Without waiting for an answer, Strange continues. "You're also more fun than most of the other magic users I've met."

After all, so many of them seemed to view it as a tool, something dangerous, or a means to an end. Susan was one of the few who could see the simple joy in casting a spell or performing magic. "But I shall try my hardest not to surprise you. I promise."

That finally has Susan grinning at him, practically beaming as Strange tells him the same. Most people would say he's reckless, or that he needs to be more particular, or that his magic just isn't right, but here he's being praised for it, and it honestly makes him happy.

"Magic is just so fun, I don't see how people can't be fun with it. That's why I want to learn your magic too."

Susan's happiness is infectious. Strange continues to grin, matching Susan's smile with one of his own. Because this right here is why he likes talking with Susan and why he's so glad that they're approaching something close to normal: the kid's just so much fun to do magic with.

"If you want, we can go ahead and start practicing now. I haven't anything to do at the moment." So why not, let's go ahead and do magic, let's do this thing.

He has to think about that for a moment, and then he looks a bit more hesitant after.

"Does your magic need lots of... Moving around and stuff?" Because even though he doesn't want to admit it really, he's not doing amazing on the whole injured and sick front. Things that require too much getting up or moving are not really a good idea right now, no matter how much he doesn't like that fact.

Now that's interesting. A lot of Strange's magic involves moving around or waving his hands but that's not required. At least, not to the best of his knowledge.

And so, he shakes his head. "It all depends on the magic. We can find some sort of spell that you can cast while not moving. What sort of magic would you like to learn?"

He nods, then, okay with that. Most of his magic needs some kind of gesturing, but nothing too crazy; he doesn't know a lot about other magic though, so he's glad to hear that it isn't going to be some kind of barrier to learning at least something simple now.

But as to what sort of magic... He has no idea. He wants to do something cool, obviously, but most cool magic takes some time to work out how to do, so he isn't expecting being able to do that right away. But then he isn't quite sure exactly everything that Strange can do, so...

"I don't know, really, I guess. What's the easiest spell?"

"Well, the first one I learned is a spell to see what my enemy was doing. The problem with that one is that it's limited to one realm. As long as we remain in the carnival, we can only view people in the carnival. It's a bit of a nuisance when your enemy's in a different realm to begin with."

Which Strange knows is the case. After all, he's acutely aware of who precisely his greatest enemy is and likewise, is acutely aware that the likelihood she'll ever come to the carnival is slim to none. Still, it was an easy enough spell. What if they changed a few of the variables...

"Perhaps we could change it to see what your brother is doing instead?"

Spying on Lauren, A+ suggestion Strange.

"I don't even know if I have an enemy... But seeing what Lauren is doing is a good idea! That way, I can always know what he's doing!" Right now he knows his brother is just doing some boring druid thing or something like that, but in the future it could actually be useful... Along with being cool.

"We'll need a mirror and something dead—just flowers or plants should work. And I've a hand mirror in my trailer if you don't have anything in yours."

Because obviously Susan's going to see the magic now. Why would he do something like 'wait until he feels better' or 'take it slowly,' Strange thinks both of those are silly ideas.

'Something dead' is a little alarming to a child raised to think necromancy is basically the worst possible thing ever, but the clarification that plants are okay and the fact that they're only using some kind of divination spell (plus the fact that Strange is involved at all) make him put his worries aside. And so instead he doesn't comment on it, nodding as he tries to think.

"I don't think we have anything like that, just a normal mirror. I can get some dead plants, though."

"You grab the dead plants, I'll grab the mirror from my trailer, I'll come back and show you the spell to spy on Lauren. Do we have a plan?"

A plan that Strange hopes Susan's smart enough not to casually mention to Lauren later. Strange already knows most people get a little...sensitive about the whole 'casually spying on others' thing, and Lauren especially would be sensitive about it. It's not lying, per se. It's simply not telling Lauren.

"Yeah, that sounds good!" And that gives him a chance to usher Zap inside too, so the little Pokemon doesn't get too far away, and to make sure Lauren isn't going to just show up suddenly or anything. Not that he'd tell Lauren to stay away because then he'd just be suspicious, but... He doesn't really want to tell him he's learning magic from Strange, not right now at least. Maybe later he will. Much later.

It's about five or so minutes later when Strange arrives back at Susan's trailer, having got distracted by a variation of a spell he could use to try and work with the Prince's stone which obviously Strange had to write-down and doublecheck with his notes. Eventually, he walks back to Susan's trailer, small mirror in his hand.

Strange also isn't going to tell Lauren that he's helping to teach Susan magic. Sorry, Lauren.

As he walks up to the trailer, he takes a look around to see if Susan's still outside. If he isn't, he'll go up to the door and (for once in his life) Strange actually knocks.

After being in his trailer for so long these past few days, Susan is definitely outside again by the time Strange returns - there's no way he's staying in there longer than necessary. After getting Zap inside he immediately goes back out to try and find some... Dead grass or a stick or something, before going back outside his trailer, standing now as he waits for Strange - and as soon as he sees him he smiles, genuinely, even if maybe not quite as enthusiastically as usual still. He is sick, after all.

"Okay, what do we do first?"

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

recovery and visitation [d3-d5, ota]

d4!

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