⇨ DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone out in the library.
When: Day 59
Where: The Athenaeum
What: Towards the end of the visit, we are visited by a series of worrisome NPCs, who may or may not be illusions. There will be at least 5 NPC toplevels posted overall, all happening in a similar time period ICly (in rough chronological order), so not everyone needs to be in every thread.
Warnings: Possibility of very real danger to anyone who participates. Remember that Sans has told everyone to travel in groups, so if you aren't, you'll probably get a scolding later.

TURNING THE PAGE↴ As the carnival continues to explore the Athenaeum in the pursuit of more information about the legendary Miracles, the tension is thick with the knowledge that the Summer Court could be in pursuit any day now. On Day 59, a series of threatening encounters will begin manifesting - but are they real, or an illusion?

Comments

[npcarnival]

The Count meets Childermass's gaze, somehow against his will. At that moment, Childermass will be overwhelmed by the blood's authority over his person, and acknowledge his father's command of his body and spirit.

The Count commands him to turn into shadow and come to his feet. It's not hard to guess what will happen then.

[atouts]

Which leaves Childermass going tense in Lambert's grip, eyes drawn forcibly back to the Count.

The Rose Queen's demand had startled him but there isn't any time to worry about it, the command taking control... almost. He lingers in place for a second, staring, struggling, knowing he must go but not wanting to. How many times has the Count done this to him before, he wonders, uncertain of the answer with how distant memories of Portland are now.

[flashover]

The crows and shadow dissipate, and the ceasefire is over. Rin has his sword drawn before anyone can stop him, surrounding him in blue flames and giving him an even more draconic look, befitting a changeling of the Great Beast herself. Childermass was in trouble -- and they couldn't afford to lose him!

"Yamantaka, I need your flames!" he addresses the spirit hovering around Shima's staff directly, his pupils flaring bright red and his irises burning like brilliant blue suns. As soon as he feels Yamantaka's energy, he unleashes a coiling blast of bright blue flame from his sword, not toward the Queen or the Count, but at Childermass. A boost for a certain black, incapacitating flame.

[whattaprick]

The Count's command immediately has Lambert turning to Childermass, hand already raised as his fingers flick through the motion of his spell.

"STOP!" Panic and fury lend his voice volume and he puts as much force behind it as he can. The last time he tried to use this to overcome a Fae's influence, it didn't make much of a difference, and he has no idea how strong the Count's hold on him is, but he has to try.

[worldlyafflictions]

Shima had been readying his spear, but Yamantaka's flame swirls up from where he'd been lurking, looming now around Shima as he takes Shima's intention and answers Rin's command, his fire feeding into Rin's blast.

"--When the heck did ya learn ta do that?!"

[atouts]

A second's hesitation is enough, even without Lambert's panicked spell casting, though he may want to step back to avoid what's coming. Blue and black flame, striking Childermass in the back and going straight through, not entirely unlike a lance, though that it will leave the faint smell of singed cloth and feathers is unavoidable. No singed flesh, however, which... is probably good?

Regardless, it has him giving a pained jerk in the witcher's grasp, a gasp, and both Lambert's magic and the Count's command falling apart against his mind because, well, basically everything just goes dark. Unconsciousness is a blessing right now, just try not to let him hit the floor.

[bananaspeedrider]

Meanwhile since no one else seems to be moving for the guy that's been visibly injured and snarking now and then, it's just now in this hurried second that Yugo thinks that maybe he should be the one to help if no one else is.

The teen speeds his D-Wheel over to Herbert and expertly drifts to a reckless-looking stop next to him. "Oi you...! Get on!"

Hurry up, hurry up. Right up onto the tail of the bike. And hold on tight.

[whattaprick]

The burst of flame is something Lambert's seen before, though not in this particular blue and black combination, and not for a while -- not since the Celebration, where it felled vampires and left them inert. Childermass doesn't hit the floor because Lambert shifts his grip to catch him, but there's no time to check Childermass's vital signs. He's not moving and that means he's not going to the Count. That's enough, for now.

That doesn't fix the problem that without Elysium, there really isn't anything holding the other fae at bay anymore. There may be an order forthcoming from the Ringmaster, but Lambert, at least, knows exactly what the fuck he thinks they need to do.

"RUN!" While his bellow echoes through whatever part of the library they're in, he's swift to follow it with a more personal call, urgent and harried, for the other person here that he cares for the most-- "Peridot!"

[scientificist]

Oh thank fuck. Herbert was honestly wondering if he was going to manage to get out of this, what with Jasper gone and everyone scattering.

He doesn't say thank you, but he looks grateful in an exhausted sort of way as he carefully leans on the bike and swings his least injured leg over it. And then.....puts his feet on....Yugo's legs? And holds onto his shoulders because honestly this is a confusing bike and he's never been on a motorcycle before.

[bananaspeedrider]

As long as it doesn't get too much in the way of Yugo's driving, Herbert is allowed to do whatever it takes for a grown man to awkwardly stay on this bike. Which includes hanging on to any part of the teen's jacket or his crystals for dear life.

*VROOM~!* Goes the D-Wheel to try and get as far away from the enemy Fae as possible.

[periphrasing]

From the moment Elysium disbanded, Peridot has mostly been letting the chaos unfold around her. She only has eyes for one thing: The fae on the other side of the room who is clutching two gems.

For a moment she thinks maybe-- just maybe-- she can do this. Just turn into a bat, take advantage of the hell breaking loose to snatch those rocks right out of that fairy's wretched little hands. For all she knows, this might be her only chance at it. Now or never.

Lambert brings her back to her senses. She turns at the sound of her name, sees him standing there holding up Childermass's unconscious form. One last desperate glance is cast back at the fae, and right then and there she swears she's going to get them back somehow. Both of them. Because not even Jasper deserves to get used as some sort of bauble for some stuck-up fae.

Growling, she turns around and, once again, takes on her dragon form. She goes to grab Childermass around the middle with her jaws, assuming that Lambert will catch on quickly enough and let her take him. Makes more sense for her to carry him like this than for Lambert to try to run away while holding up the other man's dead weight.

[osteothropy]

Wow, finally. After being completely useless this whole time, especially after missing his shot at stopping Jasper, this is something he can work with. His focus goes directly to that gaggle of Supervisors right over there. If there's one thing that Sans is good at, it's running the fuck away.

Sans appears, putting his body between Peridot and the fae. Splitting his jaw down the middle, the fires a blast of breath laser into the ground in front of them, setting it alight with blue flame. The next moment, he's taking Peridot, Childermass, and Lambert out of there.

They appear somewhere else, much closer to the carnival. The bookshelves are familiar and, for the moment, it is quiet. Apparently the shadows are clearing up.

"We're evacuating," he says, in a growl. "Don't wait up."

Then he's gone.

[whattaprick]

As soon as he sees Peridot shift, Lambert understands what she means to do, or thinks he does. His clothes singed from Rin and Shima's fire, still smoking slightly, he nods and levers Childermass up to help her secure a better grip on him -- if there are to be new scars on him for the experience, he'd rather that than whatever might ultimately be his fate at the hands of the Rose Queen.

Lambert shifts his stance, preparing to do some shapeshifting of his own, but before he can Sans is suddenly there, leaping beside them. He stumbles from the teleportation, looking around wildly to make sure Peridot and Childermass have come with him.

"What--" he starts, before Sans interrupts him and ... disappears, leaving them there. Great. However, upon actually paying attention to his surroundings, Lambert realizes he recognizes this place.

"I know where we are!" he snaps, galvanized back into motion by the prospect of relative safety close at hand. "We're near the Carnival -- come on!" He waits for Peridot to find her feet and get moving, impatient, before he leads the way back to the Carnival

[worldlyafflictions]

As Sans blasts a wall of fire between the fae and everyone else, Shima takes a last look at the scene before elbowing Rin and bolting, drawing from Yamantaka's strength and speed to tear through the aisles and leap over shelves, making his way toward the nearest exit. They put some good distance between themselves and the fae with no sign of pursuit, sprinting down hallways looking for familiar turns before Shima finds himself stumbling, his energy running dangerously low faster than expected. He's been practicing more with his familiar since his status as a double agent was revealed at home, but it hadn't really prepared him for the son of Satan borrowing an actively summoned Yamantaka, and wielding him with all his usual finesse of a thundering rhino.

"Your inexperience betrays you," Yamantaka grumbles to both Shima and Rin by extension. Which is real helpful commentary when Shima can feel his vision starting to swim.

The demon's presence begins to fade and Shima slows, grabbing onto the nearest wall-- "Oh crap--gonna. pass out.. Oku..mh...." --yeah, he's blacking out for a minute.

[flashover]

It worked. I can't believe it worked, Rin thinks to himself, gaping a bit. The plan he'd thought up in a split second, his command of Yamantaka, it all worked. It was sloppy as hell, but...!

Then, another flash of blue, and Shima's elbow in his stomach, and Rin is shaken from his thoughts. SCATTER! He sprints after Shima, leaping and climbing easily with his springy legs and flailing his tail and wings for balance.

"Finally, this looks familiar...!" They'd been wandering for at least an hour or two before this, seeing nothing but rows and rows of unfamiliar books. Then Yamantaka says something, and Rin rolls his eyes. "I didn't have time for-- ah! Shima! Shima...! Crap, are you ok?"

Rin manages to catch him before he hits the floor, at least. He's still breathing... Yamantaka was just a difficult demon to use, wasn't he? It had to be hard for a normal human like Shima to support something so powerful. It was really impressive, actually! Maybe it bumped Shima up a few places on his Cool List...

But they still weren't safe on carnival grounds. Rin sheathes Kurikara and puts it through his belt before getting Shima on his back, piggyback style. He coils his tail around the K'rik and he takes off running down the passageway. It's awkward, but carrying Shima's weight isn't an issue.