⇨ 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

[pipers_son]

"Good." That's all Joker has to say about that. The whole thing there messed with everyone's heads who had to go through it. Even him, although he'd rather not admit that to anyone soon. Yet even if he doesn't admit it, he can't deny the affects it's had on his relationships with other people, like Sora, or seen how it's changed friends like Ginko and the Psionic.

There's no point dwelling on it, so he doesn't.... Not like he gets a chance to when Tamaki drops that, and Joker jerks up. "Wh-" Well, fuck. That was a mistake, something he quickly realizes as his vision swims and he has to jerk his hand out to regain his balance.

"Aw- hell. Tamaki, lad, ya don't- it's not yer fault. Cor, I didn't know."

[puddingemote]

When Joker suddenly jerks, Tamaki holds a hand out as though to try and help steady him, but ends up not touching him at all. He's not sure he should. After a moment, he awkwardly lowers his hand again.

But then Joker says that, and Tamaki's brows scrunch for a moment before he realizes what Joker is saying.

"Did you forget? Sorry." He probably shouldn't have reminded him of it, in that case. Would it have been better to let Joker go on not knowing that he had a hand in his death? But that feels dishonest, somehow.

[pipers_son]

"Nothin' ta apologize for." Squeezing his eyes shut, he waits for his sense of balance to come back. Well, as good as it will ever come back with the state he's in. That might take a while yet.

If he's honest... He thinks he might remember it, but not in the way he remembers anything else. It's too disjointed, coming to him in dreams where all his senses are out of whack and the world is viewed too strangely. Still, better to say nothing at all.

Honesty hurts people something bad. This he knows as a basic truth of the world.

So instead, once he's sure he won't heave or anything, he says, "If I don't remember anythin', and if it was for everyone's own good, then ya did the right thing, Tamaki. Besides... Sometimes someone dyin' is a good thing."

[puddingemote]

Tamaki frowns a bit at that, because he's not sure how someone dying can ever be a good thing, unless they're someone bad. And Joker is far from bad, in Tamaki's view.

But it did save them all in this case, even if he thinks it's sick that the Prince ever made them do something like that. So maybe it wasn't completely pointless.

"At least you don't remember much..." He doesn't remember much of his double's death in Portland anymore, either; more of the details than actually being there. He remembers enough to know it was fairly awful, though. "I guess... everything worked out alright."

[pipers_son]

"Mmm. That's right." Another flop of a pat to Tamaki. He's losing some of the energy to keep talking, but he can manage a little more. "Just... think of it like huntin' any other animal, alright? Wasn't even me."

That feels true. It wasn't the worst thing he's ever had to deal with, right?

[puddingemote]

"Okay." He frowns a little. "I think I'm done with hunting, though. Even animals."

He feels that pretty floppy pat, and sighs, moving back away from Joker a bit.

"You should go back to sleep. I'll be around."

[pipers_son]

"Good idea," comes the sleepy mutter, even as there's a loose pat to Tamaki's arm.

"An' take care of yerself." That's the most important thing. More important than him dying, or the poison.

At least, Joker thinks so.

[puddingemote]

"Mm. You too, Manager."

And then he's gone, to let Joker rest.