⇨ 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

lmk if you need this tag tweaked

[whattaprick]

Well, now there's an interesting reaction. Daemon and witcher both glance curiously at Yuya, both pairs of golden eyes scrutinizing his face thoughtfully before looking away. Yuya may be able to keep his expression steady, but this close, a little concentration is all it takes to heart his heartbeat and breath accelerate.

The fact that she says 'she,' though, suggests Yuya's not as surprised as he could be -- and that he already knows who might have told them. Celandine considers a moment, but it won't be until Lambert gently lays a hand on her back that she answers.

"You mean Reira? She's not very good with explaining things for other people, so we didn't really understand. She did say you asked the Ringmaster to make a contract to take Zarc out, and that she ended up using her own to ask the Ringmaster to give him another chance." She yawns, flopping down on the bench with her body stretched out.

"Bit of a strange thing to ask for, we thought. Since he did try to destroy the world and all."

[hippocarnival]

Of course it was Reira. Who else would? Who else already had?

Yuya worries over his lip, drifting his gaze just enough that he doesn't have to look either of them in the eyes for a moment. "She... thinks he can change. And be forgiven." He shrugs mechanically, the gesture less from his uncertainty and more to deflect the depth of that question. He looks at Celandine, deciding to settle his attention on her instead.

"I asked the Ringmaster to save her, but I didn't really specify how to do that... she was able to take Zarc out of Reira, and it was her decision if she was going to kill him if Reira didn't sign her own contract."

He sighs heavily. He really wishes that had been a contract that the Ringmaster had denied.

[whattaprick]

"Some people can't change and shouldn't be forgiven," Lambert answers, flatly. There isn't any amusement in his tone; wherever he's pulling the bitterness behind that sentiment from, it's clearly very personal. His daemon bristles slightly at his tone, looking up at him uneasily, then looks back at Yuya.

"She said she took him into her soul," Celandine offers, looking perhaps understandably uneasy at the thought. She's tiny, after all, tinier even than Reira. The idea of taking anything into her is laughable. "I thought you said your world didn't have any magic."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya flinches. "I said there was a little magic," he mumbles, looking down at the ground. "It's not like you or Mr. Strange, where you can do magic. I don't really understand it, but people can't just do magic."

He reaches to scratch the back of his head, pulling against his hair as he does. "There's... spirits, and they can do things that are probably magic. 'Natural energy', but it's not normal." It's the best way Yuya has to explain it, because he doesn't consider himself a spiritual person and never looked that deeply into it before. It was just impossible to ignore what was going on, or explain it as anything else.

[whattaprick]

"What's Zarc, then?" Lambert cocks his head. "One of those spirits, or something else? Anything and anyone strong enough to almost destroy the world can't exactly be something you call 'normal,' can it?"

[hippocarnival]

"Zarc... is human." He's pretty sure that didn't change. "But he got power from them, I think. The spirits, because he can talk to them and most people can't."

Yuya shrugs helplessly. He realizes normal isn't the best term. Common, maybe. "But I don't really know how it works beyond that! I didn't even know it existed until recently."

Maybe it's just that he can't remember, either, but he wonders if he ever actually understood what the monsters were capable of, or if he just let them guide him because he heard what they wanted.

[whattaprick]

Sounds like Yuya's situation back home is more fucked up than Lambert realized. He shifts his weight on the bench, leaning back a little with a quiet exhale as he considers what Yuya's said so far.

"I didn't even know you were allowed to make a contract to mess with someone else's contract like that," he says at last, turning his head to look at Yuya and mustering a smirk before his expression grows serious again. "You think it's going to be a problem for the carnival? This whole ... whatever it is." Situation. Whatever.

It's interesting. And it gives him a few ideas of what he'd want to wish for himself, if he decides to renew it.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's expression twists a little wryly. "I asked the Ringmaster to save her, but not to get rid of Zarc. So I guess what Reira asked for isn't against my contract at all."

It's definitely an example why specific phrasing matters in dealing with the fae, however. In retrospect, the way he delivered his contract was short sighted.

He falls quiet as he considers it, but then shakes his head. "No. The Ringmaster has him now, and Reira's contract means he'll be reborn as a baby so he can't do much until he grows up."

[whattaprick]

"Sounds complicated," Celandine says quietly.

"Sounds like the most magic bullshit I've ever heard," Lambert says, grimacing and waving a hand. "If the Ringmaster's got that sorted out, then I'm not going to bother worrying about it."

Though that doesn't appear to stop Yuya from worrying about it, himself. Still, there's nothing Celandine or Lambert can do about that.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya sighs, dropping his chin on his hand. Complicated magical bullshit is about right.

"Yeah, it's nothing the carnival has to worry about. We have enough going on as it is!" He's almost getting used to the turmoil, and he's not sure how her feels about it.

"... This isn't how I thought things were going to be, but I don't regret it. Even if I knew, I would have signed my contract anyway."

[whattaprick]

That ... makes Lambert laugh out loud, hands on his knees, and Celandine even joins in, though her own amusement is quieter than Lambert's raucous cackle.

"It is kind of false advertising, isn't it?" he says, once the amusement dies down. "You'd think a Carnival would be all fun and games, but we should have known better than that."

[hippocarnival]

Lambert's laughter is infectious, and Yuya can't help chuckling as well. It's not really funny, genuinely, but acknowledging the absurdity of it makes it feel a little lighter that they spend as much time navigating mortal danger as they do performing.

He's reminded of something else, during the ball, and peers at Lambert out the corner of his eye with a wry grin. "You didn't tell me you could turn into a dragon too."

There's barely contained excitement in his voice, because yeah, that's still cool. And he saved Yuya's life that way.

[whattaprick]

"He didn't tell anyone," Celandine chimes in. "Only the Ringmaster and the Warden knew. He only learned it during the Summerlands, and he wasn't very good at it until I showed up, so it was too embarrassing to talk about."

"It's not embarrassing," Lambert says sharply, huffing indignantly. The nerve! "It just didn't make sense to let people know about it." Not much use in a trump card everyone knows about ... and yeah, all right, one that isn't as reliable as it could be, though that's all on Lambert's own difficulty grasping magic this complicated.

[hippocarnival]

"It's not," Yuya agrees immediately. "Of course you're not good at it when you're learning, that's why you practice!"

Yuya isn't terribly ashamed at being bad at something. It was perseverance and hard work that made all the difference... and made up for not being naturally talented.

"That's still pretty cool." Dragons are always cool.

[whattaprick]

Lambert isn't often used to being less than competent, is the trouble. It's been a long time since he was any sort of student ... and he's too sharply aware of the difference in magical ability between him and the magic users here. Explaining all of that isn't necessarily something he even has the words for, though, nor the inclination.

Instead, when Yuya repeats himself, he ends up just kind of laughing, and leaning back.

"I guess they are," he agrees. "Not so much when you're on the wrong end of their fire, though."

[hippocarnival]

"Yeah," His gaze drifts down, a little more tense. "I guess so."

He loses focus, briefly, before he shakes his head to send the thought away. He forcibly relaxes, content to let the silence sit between them again.