lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

9S shakes his head. "No, she didn't have the virus. We had just finished a mission and were preparing to return to Earth to gather more information."

It all seemed so long ago. In a way, it kind of was, with his memories being as short as they are.

"Everyone was still fine back then."

9S said there was no cure... Maybe that could change. But even if not... there's time to prevent infection. Isn't there?

"What if the two of you sever your connection to the Bunker before the virus starts spreading?" Rita might not fully appreciate what that connection is like, or what it means for an android, but if everyone connected to the Bunker ends up infected, that seems like a way to potentially evade the virus altogether.

"2B said I was fine. That I wasn't infected when this all happened. I must have disconnected myself from the Bunker for some reason. So... yeah, you're right."

Maybe by then, he'd already discovered Command's secrets and was looking to scatter and run.

"The other option... I think if I got to 2B before she's too badly corrupted, I'd be able to destroy the virus before it takes hold seriously."

Why hadn't he been there? 9S hadn't been entirely satisfied with 2B's explanation.

9S flexes his right hand. It had been cut with shards of glass from when he shattered the drink of water during the ball, but that particular injury had long healed. Now it's just the skin on the palm that's melted off, as well as the burns and scorches all over the back of his hand.

He was already disconnected? That's not something he'd do normally, is it...? Rita can't be positive of that, though.

"Maybe, but... it'd be ideal if she could avoid infection in the first place, right?" Rita has a feeling 9S would have tried to cure her quickly if he could. But for some reason, he couldn't. If he goes with his instincts on this, he could end up repeating whatever situation led to her demise the first time around.

His damaged palm catches her attention, and she gives it a long look as she thinks. "Are you... able to heal that?" She's not sure exactly how 9S's body handles minor injuries. It could be tricky, but maybe they'll need to find a way to synthesize the material that makes up his skin...

"Yeah..." 9S agrees. It'd really be best to not be infected in the first place.

9S follows Rita's gaze to his hand.

"Oh, this?" 9S lets out a thoughtful hum as he turns his hand over. "The nanomachines can handle the burns," the fact he has better mobility in his fingers than when he passed out is a testament to that, "but I think my palms are gonna be stuck like this. Can't repair something that's missing, after all." He shrugs. "It's not a big deal. It doesn't hurt and I don't need skin to still be functional."

He'd much rather look like the humans he's modelled after, though.

"...Though I guess it could be really unsettling if people saw what I look like underneath. But we have skeletons here, so it might not actually be that weird?"

"The skeletons are plenty weird," Rita argues, almost reflexively. Not that she's trying to say 9S looks weird, but they certainly do.

It is a little unsettling to look at, though. But that's more because Rita knows that she's the one who inflicted that damage on him. And because it's hard not to picture how painful those injuries would be for a human.

She shakes her head. "Maybe it's not top priority, but if it can be fixed, it should be. Besides, skin serves a protective function, doesn't it? It might be fine to go without for the short term, but exposure to the elements could cause problems after a while." Regular maintenance might keep those problems at bay, but this is the only body 9S is going to have for a while... or possibly for the rest of his life. It should be treated with as much care as any human body.

9S looks at both his bare palms. "I suppose that's true."

Dirt would be able to get into the joints now. He looks back at Rita.

"What about you? Is there anything I can do to help? I don't know much about human medicine, but..."

He just wants to be helpful, especially when Rita is clearly injured.

Rita rubs her fingers lightly against her throat, considering it. She's not one to ask for help, usually... but they can help each other right now.

"This should heal with time... but until then, anything that can soothe the throat would be nice. Water, tea, soup..." Now she's remembering how hungry she is. She'd managed to put it out of her mind for a while. "Could really go for a proper meal, too. Slim pickings back in the dungeon, if you can believe it." They had onions. Rita refused them.

9S glances over at Pod 153. "Pod?"

He doesn't even have to finish his command when the robot bobs and says < Commencing food retrieval > before hovering towards the door, claw-like hands manipulating the door handle to open it and leave.

Huh.

"I'll get you more water," 9S says, getting to his feet without waiting to hear Rita's response. He's a little unsteady compared to his usual gait, but he manages to hobble his way over to the kitchen sink and fill a glass before returning with it in hand, careful not to spill it.

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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