lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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.

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"That's for certain. I stepped into this carnival in the first place because it was something different." He hadn't meant to stay but it worked out in the end. Now after the Prince and that Manor he wonders exactly what he got himself involved in.

Tyki though firmly believed in choice. This was his choice even if he had been cheated by both fae, "Yes, I could do with a little less right now. I don't know how much progress is being made towards fixing the petrification but even after that there is no telling how much rest anyone will need."

Also... there is the mental recovery. Tyki doesn't want to admit that having his 'choice' taken away from him affected him more than physically torture would have. He's experienced having his Noah taking over his body before and becoming something else. The Prince only repeated that in a different way.

"We've been talking among ourselves and have a few ideas going," Strange reassures, giving Tyki a small smile. Nothing's set in stone yet. But between Strange, Mari, Rita, Lambert and that new medic guy who Strange still has trouble remembering his name (North?), he's certain they'll come up with something. They've got to.

"I'm certain we'll have a cure sooner rather than later. Many hands make light work and so on and so forth." Strange removes one hand from the water to make a dismissive sort of hand gesture. It's at that point that he looks at his fingers and realizes they're starting to get a bit pruney.

...but it feels really nice in the water.

"Well, if there are any collective minds that can figure this out I'm sure you're help is most beneficial," he says as he further feeds Strange's massive ego. He himself wouldn't be much help so he's letting others do the work as usual. He'll be a team player another day.

"There is also the means of too many hands make a mess of things but I'm sure that won't be a problem with this. A lot of people are suffering." He pours another glass of wine and gingerly rolls the liquid in the glass, "People are far too determined."

Yeah, Tyki is going to be in this water pretty much all day unless he gets too bothered. Then, it is just the matter of cheating with his power to hide and not let the water touch him for a while like his water tank at the Big Top.

Aw yeah Tyki, feed that ego. Strange can't help but preen a little as Tyki calls his help beneficial, smiling a little for the other man. Though, back to the other point.

"To be honest, a part of me wonders how much of this is people wanting to cure the suffering and how much is people wanting to give a metaphorical 'up yours' to the Prince." Strange shrugs slightly as he returns to looking at his pruney hands. "Everyone involved wants to help, of course, but the desire to metaphorically prove themselves over the Prince's magic is strong as well."

And yes, he knows the Prince is dead, but who's to say someone can't give the metaphorical middle finger to a dead guy?

Tyki is a horribly enabler and he will always feed that ego even though he probably shouldn't. In his defense he is a rather good conman and knows how to fluff people appropriately but then he also knows how to break people down.

"Had I the safe option of proceeding I would've been there personally to shove his heart up into his throat so he actually knows how it feels to have one..." he says a little colder than he likely should. The cheeriness returns instantly with a bright smile, "Likely the latter of both possible options."

The Prince took something precious away from him concerning his own self centered ego. He took his choice. "I'm afraid I would've killed him even if the option was to keep him alive. Everyone is glad he's dead."

Strange can't help it: he frowns a little at Tyki's declaration of war. Not that he's ashamed or horrified of it. No, if the Prince hadn't died, then there would be a line of people waiting to take their chance at him. But would any of them succeed? Strange doubts it.

"He is a True Fae," Strange carefully responds, with a little frown. "Killing them are harder than most know. Even I couldn't kill a true fae under my own power."

He just found a way around it, giving someone else the power to do that and asking them to dispatch the fae who had held Arabella captive back in his world.

"It's for the best that Childermass and the rest were able to obtain the Rose. As chaotic and terrible as everyone's current state seems, it could have gone much worse."

"I understand that now," he says without hesitation. He knows he likely couldn't have killed a True Fae on his own. Still, it would've been nice to at least make him suffer a little for what he did. The Prince could've done all sorts of things but he had done the one thing that really ticked Tyki off and normally Tyki was never angry even at his enemies.

Also, he realizes how little control and choice he has when it comes to fae in general. It's daunting.

"Oh? So it was boss, err, Childermass. That man deserves a break. I have a lot of respect for him even if he made me peel potatoes and wash dishes yesterday as punishment." Because dear god a noble of his position should never have to unless he's helping out by his own choice, "He didn't have to come get me yet he personally sought me out to free me." Maybe for selfish reasons but he appreciated it.

"Everyone is alive and returned... and Sans has his name back." Which is the only person he really feels bad about with this whole ordeal.

Strange can't help but laugh a little: both at Tyki's punishment and at his assessment that Childermass deserves a break. The first is a bit amusing, the second is so true. Childermass really does deserve a break.

"I have a feeling even if you gave Childermass the opportunity to take a break, he wouldn't know what to do with one." Childermass isn't a workaholic. But he's someone wound so tight and who's always so busy that does he even know how to relax to begin with? "The only time I saw him properly relaxed and enjoying himself was under special circumstances."

Which Strange is happy to gossip about with Tyki if the other man so chooses. That little smirk on Strange's face tells Tyki that there's plenty of gossip to be had.

"And the worst part? I wasn't allowed to use magic or any of my powers at all." So he had to do the traditional boring way.

But that matter is less opportunistic or interesting compared to the information Strange is offering. He knows little to nothing about Childermass and while it would take the fun out of it to learn everything it does have him interested. "I questioned for a short while if he had any emotions at all but that much was evident later on." He knows the look of disappointment, slight fear, and boredom at least.

Look at how interested Tyki is to learn especially if it was delicious dirt, "Oh, do go on. I wouldn't miss this little story for the world."

And Strange is perfectly fine being a gossip, especially since he considers this matter relatively innocuous. After all, it's neither secret nor entirely salacious. "We were at a place called the Celebration. There was something about this place that wormed it's way into your thoughts, making you want to relax, have fun, and in some cases get drunk. Poor Childermass fell victim to it and spent most of our stay there getting drunk and cheating at cards."

Even if he doesn't remember precisely how he cheated, Strange knows that Childermass definitely cheated in some way, shape or form. Just one card game with the man told him that much.

"Of course," Strange continues, with a shrug, "he got in such a bad place that he told me something I wasn't supposed to know which caused a bit of trouble down the line. I doubt he'll let himself get that drunk ever again."

Tyki is a person who did like gathering information face to face instead of secretly or behind someone's back. Something as harmless at this he wouldn't necessarily use against anyone but it was still something he wanted to hear. Strange was earning that nickname of Mister Knowledge easily. This is the first he's really heard of Celebration other than the name of it here and there.

His eyes narrow at that in a mischievous air at the mention of cards. Tyki used both his Power to Choose, the counting method, and his sleight of hand to cheat. You don't just cheat at cards. It's something one has to graciously learn over time. Now he's even more curious.

"So fun Childermass comes at a cost of being a bit of a troublemaker on accident," he says with a smooth tone of something hidden. Tyki, being the Noah of Pleasure, knew more personally on the natures of indulgence, vice, and sin. There was always a breaking point, "No, he doesn't seem like someone who makes the same mistake twice."

"He isn't," Strange responds, with a shake of his head. The fact that Childermass ended up that bad off during the Celebration was a surprise in itself. Strange knows the man well enough to know that getting that drunk, to the point of revealing secrets, most likely won't happen again.

Which is a pity. If there was anyone in the carnival who needed to loosen up and relax, it was Childermass.

And once again, Strange looks at his fingers: they're amazingly pruney at this rate. Urgh, he might as well get out of the hot springs, he's been in there for far too long already. "On a different note, I've no idea why you aren't shriveled up. You were in here before I and I already look more wrinkled than I wish."

He files that little information away silently as he processes it. Childermass always seemed to have his cards stacked to his advantage and he wondered if it was something deeper that made him organize in such a refined manner. These were questions he'd probably ask the man personally.

Tyki might try eventually to relax Childermass given he was a man that often encouraged others to indulge.

"Maybe your age is starting to catch up to all that knowledge you've collected," he says with a lazy grin and a tone that betrays the fact he's only teasing and not insulting, "But he pats his chest gently and reveals his lack of pruned fingers, "Or maybe it is the source of my magic that keeps me young and healthy."

"I'm only thirty-seven," Strange responds, with a wry smile. At least, he thinks he's only thirty-seven. Aging's gotten a little bit weird thanks to trips into faerie and being stuck in the darkness. He stands up in the hot springs, swearing slightly as the cooler air hits his chest. And, very carefully, Strange starts to climb out. His trousers cling to his skin thanks to the water of the hot springs.

"I've got what, forty or so years left? Plenty of time for my age to catch up with me!"

Though, as Tyki shows off his lack of pruned fingers, that only cements it in Strange's mind that Tyki is somehow using magic: a magic that Strange just desperately wants to learn more about.

"Hmm, I would've pegged you at twenty-seven," he says with an all too flattering of a tone. Tyki had stopped aging once he had become a Noah. He'll be blessed with these good looks for years upon years to come. Try to ignore the way he eyes up Strange's body again at the odd mirror pieces and he'll just go for another glass of wine with a warm chuckle.

"Well, don't let it catch up too quickly. From what you've told me you tend to almost cut that too short. Fae and all." Oh, it's magic alright given how much Dark Matter is coursing through him and how his power pretty much keeps him young and immortal until he's killed off by something weaponized.

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Mister Mykk." Because that's what this is: pure flattery. The gray in Strange's hair might have turned reflective but it's still there and it's still gray. He might look less haggard now than he did when he was trapped in the darkness, but there's still a few signs of tiredness around Strange's expression.

Though, at Tyki's words of caution, a wry smile plays on Strange's face. He grabs his shirt that's hanging from a tree, but still keeps it at arm's length. "Thankfully, I've a little something that should help me out if I get in too much trouble."

Granted, his little something is a rebirth from the Ringmaster, which is the last resort to end all last resorts, but the point still stands.

"I would disagree. Flattery got you that lovely desk of yours," he says with all small grin. He did shameful things to get Strange that desk and he's rather proud of it. He'll sip at his wine one more time before letting it float there against his fingertips.

He kinks another brow at that little tease of a hint and while Strange is always so knowledgeable he's not sure if he'll share, "An ace up your sleeve, Mister Strange?" This is normally where, in his world, he would pry for this information in order to be able to cover all his bases should he have to kill this particular human. Right now, it's just curiosity.

He slips his feet in his shoes, without putting on any socks. By now, Strange looks almost ready to head out. Granted, he's still shirtless, but there's something in Strange's demeanor that tells Tyki he's about to leave. After all, he's not walking long. Unlike other people, all Strange has to do is find a nearby puddle and use that to transport himself back to his trailer.

"Perhaps you'll learn it eventually, Mister Mykk. But not today." He can't help but smile a wry little smile, one that's 100% Strange being a shithead. This is going to annoy Tyki: he just knows it. But, the man can stomach a little annoyance.

"Enjoy the rest of your soak."

Be glad he's not one of those types to pop in every day asking him if that was the day he gets to learn. It's something he's going to file away for a later date or if things start looking grim. Besides, learning everything in one sitting was never fun. It kept the anticipation of their little game going and he would love to always keep things in an interesting position.

He'll hum in amusement at being denied either way. His hand is up with a small wave as things are looking more final by the moment and his head will thump back against the stones behind him as he closes his eyes. He might just take a nap.

"Do have a good day and thanks for the interesting story, Mister Strange."

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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