⇨ 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

[criticallyfucked]

Yes. Of course. Just standing is useless; he's not permitted uselessness now.

Foster does make it out of bed and onto his feet--though he has to pause there immediately, because the room tilts and warps, his vision goes dark, and he feels the haze devour him.

Things come back after that brief period of violent Nothing, but the experience has effectively knocked the breath out of him.

"Ah... hah...." It's just... hard to breathe. But he's done it. He's up.

He's already turning to walk--somewhat more successfully, at least--dragging his right set of claws down his face as he makes his way unevenly toward the door.

He may have forgotten in the process that he's not entirely dressed.

[soft_focus]

Oh god no- Well at least he has something on, but that's still not really good. Especially not what just happened. It leaves her wide-eyed, and honestly a little scared, and-

"Hey!!" she quickly shouts. "...If you're not able to move right... ...You have to do the things to make you healthy enough, otherwise you can't do anything the way it's supposed to go!" How can you possibly work properly if you can't walk! Get food or. Whatever it is you need. Or something.

"..........Also you're supposed to wear shirts." She knows this, at least.

[criticallyfucked]

Reira, Foster is mostly in the market for an entire new existence--except that thanks to the Ringmaster, he's already found one. Which is partially why he's so motivated to wipe out on the trailer floor. He does not actually end up face down on the ground, however; the episode passes and the world returns to some form of physical stability, even if he does not.

"I'm fine, everything is... everything is fine!" He announces, extremely unconvincingly. But he... is still upright, so maybe he's not wrong?

The reminder about shirts gives him pause, though... and slowly, he raises both of his paws (ha) to stare at them, clearly bemused.

How... how is he supposed to put on a shirt. With Taako out of the trailer.

[soft_focus]

"............" .............. "....No it's not." But hey. Hold that thought while she scans the floor for some kind of shirt. If no one else is here, she can probably figure this out right? YEAH....

".....What parts can you do with the claws?" she eventually asks.

[criticallyfucked]

"...it is!" Foster has mostly shoved his clean clothes under the bed, and if Reira bothers, there is a very clear trousers-to-tops ratio. In fact, there are only trousers (pyjama bottoms and simple slacks) and tops. No socks, and no underwear. Hopefully she doesn't think about that one too much.

"Oh--I mostly just get stuck sometimes. But I can tear my way out. It's just one less shirt."

Basically, shirts are not impossible if they're just pullover; buttons and zippers are a disaster, but those are generally associated with a class of fashion than Foster can muster.

The way he's feeling now, though... well, it's...

...he has a few shirts. He can probably get it right before he runs out of them. But the problem was never how finite his shirts are to begin with.

"...what am I saying? It doesn't matter. No one cares."

[soft_focus]

She's already looking for a shirt right now-one that doesn't have things she's sure need claws, at least. If he can get it on, that's what's important. Surely, they can find Taako-or he can find him, rather-when the shirt has to come OFF.

She just hopes he doesn't get stuck, like he notes is possible. That would....be not good. A bit not good. Regardless. "........If it doesn't matter, why were you wearing shirts before?" She hardly knows the reason, but....

...Didn't someone order him...to wear clothes...?