⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

"As long as you're having fun and not passing out, why not?" Lambert shrugs. That's the extent of medically recommended exercise and token adult reasonableness he has to offer there. If he could exercise himself, he'd probably be doing the same thing, but as it stands, he's likelier to fall off and break his neck. Now that would be a hell of a thing to end up in the medical tent for.

"If you're really serious about it, mix it up when you're feeling better. Doing the same thing again and again only helps when you can do it properly." He nods towards some of the other, simpler exercise equipment meant more for focusing on single skills. "There's only so much strength and speed you can build without giving your body time to repair itself." At least, he amends mentally, without having the benefit of potions that repair those muscles for you. But he still remembers Triss Merigold chewing out the witchers for letting Ciri train that long and hard, and he's not keep on getting a repeat of the experience.

[soft_focus]

"Ah..." Well, that's a happy sound-or at least, probably happy, given the smile that came with it. It's the sort of permission she didn't really expect to have, even if she's not immediately running to the entrance of the course. After all-

"Umn! Then... ...I'll make sure to find someone to watch, before I go again! Like you said!" Well, at least she can hold onto suggestions in the short term then-long term will have to take some time to prove itself.

"....Thank-you!"

[whattaprick]

Least she looks like she's in good spirits, now. Of course, if he ends up having to pick her up off the ground because she's worked herself to exhaustion when she shouldn't have, he might have reason to rethink being a little more careful what he tells kids they can do. Lambert waves her off lazily.

"S'fine. Just don't get banged up -- the new medic isn't much of the caring type." Not that Lambert was either, during that extremely brief stint of being a nurse. Oops. "Is that all?" He's not going anywhere anytime fast, but he is considering moving.

[soft_focus]

The child nods. She'll keep this in mind about the medic-not that she understands why 'caring type' would matter, since a doctor would be a doctor either way...right?

Well. "Umn-yeah. I finished, and now I have to have someone else here so... ...Thank you again," she decides, before moving to leave the grounds.

Until next time, she supposes.

[whattaprick]

"See you around, Akaba," Lambert calls lazily. She seems driven enough that she'll find her way around here one way or another, supervised or not, but only time will tell. If she can't find anyone else to keep an eye on her, he decides, maybe he'll actually spare a few minutes for it if he sees her practicing again.

But that's all speculative, at this point -- he's already stayed out too long, and now his trailer seems an impossibly long walk away. Time to call for a ride. Lambert reaches for his radio, already filing the encounter away in his mind.