⇨ 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

[destiny_key]

"Everything," is the vague answer he gives, followed by, "A bunch of stuff."

But then, that's not much of an apology. It sounds like he's not sure what he's sorry for. He starts again.

"For disobeying you. And getting caught. And then... everything after that."

[pipers_son]

Good. So they are on the same page. Letting out a small breath, Joker falls silent and lets his gaze drift up to the top of the tent.

"Everythin' after was outta yer control," he says, unable to stop himself from sounding a little tired. "But... There's a reason the Supervisors are around, alright? Things like that, where there's thin ice and everyone is worried about each other.... S'why we're around. But... we can't do anythin' if no one listens."

[destiny_key]

"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry," Sora repeats, voice quiet. Honestly, he's so used to doing everything himself. When no one else was doing anything, he rushed in. That was probably the biggest mistake.

[pipers_son]

Well.... There's no point in really pushing when he sounds like that, and has "mementos" from their time in the manor to never be able to forget. Joker lets out a long sigh and carefully pats his hair.

"Just remember. That's the best thing ta do from here on out."

[destiny_key]

Sora nods silently, then moves forward to hug Joker, as awkward as it is from their lying down positions. He almost wants to apologize again, but at this point he'd just be repeating himself. And besides, he's sure Joker already knows.

[pipers_son]

Oof. Well, at least he's flexible. It means Joker has found he can be comfortable in a great deal of positions. So he lets his hand rest over the boy and breathes out slowly.

"S'gonna be okay."