⇨ 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

[osteothropy]

And that's all there is. It's all that can be said. Yet, it's something he's been waiting for, for what feels like decades now. Just someone to give him condolences. For someone to mourn alongside him, even if it's for a half-imaginary person that they can't possibly know like they did before.

Sans curls into Papyrus's offered hug, accepting the offer more readily and desperately than he ever has before. Instead of just leaning against his side, Sans wraps his arms around his brother in turn, his tail curling close to their bodies. He's also been fine with Papyrus touching him above anyone else, but physical affection has never been something he eagerly sought out. Right now, though, it's something that he viscerally needs, if only to make him feel like he's still there.

"I'm sorry, too," he says quietly, closing his eyes. Papyrus lost something here, too, and Sans remembers the frustration of having forgotten so much. Maybe he's sorry for not telling him sooner. Even now, though, he's not sure what the right decision was.

Yet, Sistina's suggestion can't go unnoticed. Part of it makes him afraid - to know this is something Papyrus is considering. Maybe it's only fair, that they be on equal grounds, but...

"It's... it's a lot. I dunno if even she could. But..." He trails off. He doesn't know what to say. "Being down this rabbit hole... it's not a good time. Sometimes... you gotta be careful what you wish for."

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus finishes his one-armed hug, and rests his head on his brother's.

Before now it was strange, to feel the edges of grief and mourning when there's so little he remembers. Like those emotions shouldn't belong to him without a context.

And for all their time in Portland gave him more context, it muddled the feelings further. Tangling up avoidant shame, his human counterpart's defiance and avoidance, having wrecked his life in the months prior and continuing the lonely spiral... then wanting to reach out, sure it was impossible... waiting until he missed the chance, and that family was lost to him. Regretting it.

Now, though, there's so much more he gets. Remembering something of the person who's missing, the person he was to them... And grief itself, just imagining the feeling of family with the fear and loss in that time Sans was absent, present-but-broken...

It's enough to understand.

It's enough for him to consider canceling the very idea, saying 'never mind, it's no good' and sitting quietly as his brother tries to protect him some more.

Sistina nods her head, hidden beneath the edge of the bed, leaning against Papyrus' humerus.

"You're... not well. We can see that," and she pulls far enough away from the bed to look up at Sans. "I don't want that for us, but... isn't it worse because you're alone? You've... been alone?"

"There's months to go before I could ask, anyway," Papyrus offers, like the time until it could happen is reassuring; plenty of time to convince him not to. "And all of what you remember is... too much for me? All I really want is my childhood, our father."