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

You might wanna wait til it's set up for you.

[It could be a chastisement, but there's no real irritation in his words, at least not yet.

Probably he'd be saying or doing something different if it were obvious she were injured, but she didn't seem to be. The lessons that get taught from being a little too overconfident were important ones!

Just so long as they didn't end in real injury. Which was possible, this wasn't Easy Mode he had it put on. He's just lucky his current spot seems to be stable enough to stay where he is for the moment.]

Mnh?

[She has a good excuse for that, other than, well. Not realizing she could do that.] ...............The world isn't made for little people though, it's made for adults.

[When the heck are the gaps she encounters going to be her sized, Ichigo, that's her question. Better to make sure she's Ready.

That said, once she's standing up, she dusts herself off and looks back at the other.] .....Does that mean you set this up though?

Depends which world, doesn't it?

[Not gonna win that one, short stuff.]

Besides, jumping in while someone's already on the course is dangerous. Not just for you but other people. Whether or not you might out in the world doesn't matter.

[He missed dealing with Nel. Sure she was childlike and ridiculously dense most of the time, but when she wasn't she was an incredible person.]

The controls seem to be over there. Mind the lasers if you're going to fiddle with it.

Most worlds where adults are fighting are made for adults. [Anyway.] I didn't know someone was on this one. I've just been going around it more than once.

[In other words, this thing got set up while she finished, and she Looped Around Anyway because no one actually told her how the damn course works. She looks toward where he's pointing, and moves to carry on.]

....You're not supposed to stop things half-way, [she decides, jogging ahead.]

Most worlds where adults are fighting also don't have obstacle courses. You weren't on it when I began, hours ago.

[Because he'd know. She doesn't have magical no-reiatsu powers.]

So in the future be more careful. Spend a few minutes looking.

[And he's going to make sure she's OFF the course before he continues, because getting people mauled through not paying attention isn't something he does.]

....

[They must have really been missing each other, then. ~~or maybe you're just slow to get from the end to the start, kid~~]

...That doesn't mean you make it easier, [she decides in the end, disappearing into the next challenge. Even if obstacle courses aren't in those worlds, making it easier just because of that seems dumb. If this is to prepare someone for the worst, then bring on the worst!

....she says before avoiding the heck out of Death March.]

[He's going to try death march later. Not yet. Maybe after dinner. It's there, he has to touch it.]

Education and training doesn't work that way. You work up to it, at a setting designed for you. It's not meant to be a real world equivalent.

[Because real world equivalents won't have most of the crap in this place to begin with. Realism is very obviously not the point of it, and Ichigo was fine with that.

He hops off his platform and takes a leisurely stroll through a set of panels that aren't moving. Weave-poles he suspected, just without the pole. It's a good way to avoid the flying laser bots.]

They aren't? [She doesn't really go to school. And hasn't. And on top of that, her dueling knowledge was programmed, so....

She continues on through, doing as well as ever now that she's not trying to speed ahead.] ...Why not?

It's supposed to make you ready for it, right?

It makes you ready eventually. But taking someone who's a newbie and tossing them in the deep end is more likely to drown them than help them.

[Mind the fire. And the laser robots; she's moving more than he is and is a far more tempting target.]

ANYONE can learn to succeed, but if you kill off three fourths of them because you tossed them into the hard stuff immediately, you got a whole lot fewer people to work with. And maybe a lot of maimed survivors. What doesn't kill you doesn't always make you stronger, kiddo.

Hmnnh.... [She's a tempting target, but she's still dodging those lasers. The occasional 'miss, she has her duel monster companion take.]

...A lot of people don't care about that, I guess.

...Definitely not anyone that had me, before.

Just cuz some people do it in screwed up ways doesn't mean that's the right way or the best way. You'll get more out of doing it right.

[This obstacle course was definitely not made for a leisurely stroll. It made it way, way easier. Maybe death mode would be easy at a walk too.

He reaches the edge and simply hops out; he'll do his runs without interruptions. Plenty of people didn't care about doing things the right way, there always has to be a quicker route! .. Which he usually used!]

Mnh....

...That doesn't change that no one told me until you did, though.

[So, well. Thanks for that?] ....Hey.

[She glances back, calmly ignoring the fire spout streaming a foot ahead.] ..........................You can show me where you make the 'settings' then though, right? ....Since I didn't know you could do that.

[It is, you see, rather difficult to act on what you 'learn' if you don't get the right details.]

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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