⇨ 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

[spaghettimonster]

"Oho!" Papyrus directs a sly expression at her. "Take that wish, and hold onto it. By the time we're done with this job... it'll come true!"

And then they'll be leaving this to go to the next task. But they can linger in the room and bask in the citrus cleaning scents as they like, first.

[pullingamiko]

"Yeah, I know, I know. But that's gonna be in forever." She makes a face. "And right now, it's still this same amount of gross. Ideally the half-grossness would be the starting point."

[spaghettimonster]

"Well... It would be, if we cleaned it twice as often," he admits, and shivers at the notion. Bones faintly rattle and the tip of his tail thuds against one of the stall dividers. "But it's the worst task! I'd feel bad, giving it to one of the cinder spirits... yet I barely bear to do it more."

[pullingamiko]

"...Would the cinder spirits care? Like, can they smell?" She stops what she's doing for a moment, frowning more in thought than disgust now.

[spaghettimonster]

"I... Hmm." Papyrus sits back, considering the question. "I don't know! They've... never complained about it... but they don't really talk about themselves! At... all? As bad as the manor servants, in a way..."

[pullingamiko]

"Huh..." That's kind of a concerning thought, but... she can't imagine that the Ringmaster would do things the way the Prince did. She considers that for a few moments.

"...I guess you could always ask them."

[spaghettimonster]

"Hey! I could." Papyrus brightens. Maybe they're just all a little shy or standoffish. But if he asks enough of them, either one will surely answer... or he'll have some understanding of whether they can.

"That's a good idea, thanks!"

[pullingamiko]

She beams, apparently glad to have provided some kind of help - even if she has no idea if it will work. But it might, who knows!

"No problem! Hopefully that'll clear some stuff up. Like if they can smell or have opinions or any of that."

[spaghettimonster]

"And who knows, maybe everything smells like smoke to them. I could trade with nary a sense of guilt...!"

Not that a sense of smell is going to keep him from bringing along Miko, or Foster, or any other troublemakers foisted upon the janitorial staff as punishment. Those guys get to clean the worst of it and get some valuable life experience. Mostly the experience of having Papyrus' company as the best part of the moment.

[pullingamiko]

"Exactly! The more you know, the more you can streamline this stuff." And Miko will just... keep hoping that it will turn out they can't smell after all. Because then they won't have to do this anymore.

--Wait, crap, no, she still will because it's a punishment. Dammit.

[spaghettimonster]

"Doing this efficiently, getting out quickly... Streamlining this is one of my dreams. But, only a dream" Not that he really values the drudgery of it, of course, but... he pays as much lip service to it as he feels he ought. "If only steam could help. Saunas are cleansing, but too much sauna makes moldsmals."