⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everybody!
When: Day 64
Where: The Camping Grounds
What: While the Ringmaster attempts to purge the carnival of magical tracing spells and deal with the angry fire fae in her belly, everyone else is getting sent on an emergency camping trip with some unusual local fauna.
Warnings: Camping.

CRYPTIC CAMPGROUNDS↴ You're given about three hours to prepare, after the Ringmaster tells you her plans for the coming week. There is a vast selection of camping equipment at your disposal, and the means to take along enough food for the length of the stay. The wilderness of the planet you're left on is nearly idyllic, but some people just don't like the great outdoors. ► CRYPTOZOOLOGY: As it turns out, the carnival won't be alone here. There is a varied ecosystem of cryptids to be found as well, living in relative peace and mostly reacting to the newcomers with curiousity. More details can be found on the plotting post. You are free to NPC the cryptids as much as you need to, as long as you stick to the behaviours described. ► DREAMSHARING: There is a player plot going on which will allow characters to share dreams! These are specifically more dreams than nightmares, and the mushi-adept characters will be here to help. ► CHILLAX: There isn't any plot twist for this setting, so this is mostly an opportunity to decompress from the last plot and get ready for the future. The Ringmaster will show up occasionally to help with needed medical treatments and check on things, but won't stick around for long.

Comments

[whattaprick]

Ugh, he just had to ask that, didn’t he? Hopefully Strange is getting all his satisfaction out of making Lambert squirm (not literally, since that hurts) as he puts his arm over his face, muttering mutinously but honestly:

“No. Not like this.”

[kingsroads]

And for like the first time during this whole conversation, Strange smiles. Trying to navigate awkward feelings, nights of thinking about that person, simply enjoying their company, finding that moment when you realize that you'll do so many stupid things for this person if it'll just make them laugh or make them smile? Been there, done that.

"Want any tips?"

[whattaprick]

“How to get rid of a True Fae’s curse would be a start.”

Yeah, sorry Strange, Lambert wasn’t going to let both of them wallow in the mush for too long. The witcher sighs.

“Don’t suppose that’s anything you learned about while you were with Ignatius, did you?”

Look, he’s trying to look on the bright side of this.

[kingsroads]

Strange shakes his head, realizes that since they're both lying in the dirt it might be hard for Lambert to see that, then clarifies. "No, it wasn't. I mostly learned new and exciting ways to kill people."

There's no venom in his tone as he describes Ignatius. It's just said in a matter of fact tone of voice, like he's describing a particularly boring movie he saw. Though, the fact that they're discussing Ignatius means that they're inevitably going to end up with more yelling. Can't they go back to the mushy stuff?

He pauses for a moment before continuing. "He told me about the Ringmaster and how she killed the Winter Queen."

[whattaprick]

“Great,” Lambert says, with no inflection. “I hope you’re ready to use those for the Carnival. Too bad Fae don’t need to breathe.”

Because if Strange is bent on staying a nightrunner? You can sure as hell bet Lambert’s making him use what he learned. No sense wasting it.

“Did he leave out the part where there’s a chance the Winter Maiden tricked her into it?” Lambert asks, with no surprise. Yeah Strange, everyone knows about the Winter Queen business.

[kingsroads]

"And what's your reasoning for that?" Because based on the frown on Strange's face, he's downright skeptical of Lambert's conspiracy theory. Interested and willing to hear it out, but amazingly skeptical.

[whattaprick]

“Aren’t you the one supposed to be good at politics, not me?” Lambert asks. “The Winter Queen dies at the hands of a nasty Beast. Terrible tragedy, but Winter needs a Queen. Luckily, the Winter Maiden is right there to take up the job, and rule Winter as she sees fit.”

Lambert pauses. “Except something doesn’t add up. Did Syrlya show you what he found in the library? The Summer Maiden and the Winter Maiden were working together to change the Courts... with the Great Beast. They were friends.

“So if the Winter Queen’s death was something they all planned together ... why is the Beast hiding from the court and the Summer Maiden in exile? Sounds like someone got greedy, doesn’t it?”

Lambert waves a hand. “I met the Beast when I was in Portland. She had a reputation for killing fae even then — the Winter’s Claw, or something. Guess that part turned out to be true to life. But if you met her... you’d wonder how she did it. She wasn’t exactly bright. And she lost badly when she attacked the Rose Queen’s gardens, and she couldn’t plan her way out of a box. Hard to believe she could take down a Queen without some help.”

[kingsroads]

He doesn't fully believe this. In Strange's mind, this seems like a lot of reaching, of Lambert trying to find an answer to shift the blame off of the Ringmaster. But Strange isn't so certain that's what happened.

"Or the Ringmaster planned this herself to try and speed the process along, and the Summer Maiden went into exile since she was ashamed of the Ringmaster's actions. I did see Syrlya's story. And, from what I saw of it, I doubt the Summer Maiden has the capacity to even think of killing someone."

Strange read Syrlya's story: as soon as conflict was introduced or things moved even slightly towards violence, the Summer Maiden folded like a sheet of paper. And he remembers the general atmosphere of the Summerlands. Could the Summer Maiden plan an assassination attempt? He doubts it.

"Besides, I doubt there's much planning involved in eating someone." Because that's Strange's conspiracy theory as to what happened to the Winter Queen: she got ate. "You just need to be at the right place at the right time."

[whattaprick]

“Strange,” Lambert says, dead serious. “When at any point in the time you’ve known her has the Ringmaster really planned anything?”

Sorry, RM, but it’s true!

“The Count said that’s what she was accused of — killing and eating the Winter Queen. But if she did eat her ... what’d she do with all that power?” Because that’s what the Ringmaster’s feeding habits end up as — fuel for more.

“With all the power she had, she could have struck down at least one of the Courts she hated so much. Done more damage, hurt them more permanently. Instead, she just killed the Queen and ran? And how’d she even get into the Queen’s palace in the first place? We know fae are masters of their realms.” He frowns, then plunges on.

“There’s more to it. Frost was in the Athenaeum ... remember that asshole? He said he was a witness to all of it, because he served the old Queen directly. And he was a smug little shit about it too. If it wasn’t for the Elysium I think the Ringmaster would’ve been happy to eat him. You trust him to tell the truth? I don’t.”

He’s skipping over details as he rambles, leaving out important parts, but there’s the air of someone trying desperately to puzzle out the details and get a clear sense of the story here. With a soft wheeze, he forces himself to sit up, tail curling in agitation behind him.

“Maybe it doesn’t matter,” he admits. “The Ringmaster doesn’t seem to think it does, and maybe Winter doesn’t really care about the Queen either, and the truth is whatever people want it to be.”

[kingsroads]

Strange still isn't certain about Lambert's theorizing. All in all, there's nothing behind this except gut feelings, outlines of people's personalities, and a whole bunch of hope. Is it really too hard to accept that what happened actually happened? The Ringmaster got impatient, took matters into her own hands without thinking it through all the way, and is paying the price for it.

"You've got a well thought out theory. But it's just that: a theory. If you want the Courts or the Ringmaster to believe you, then you'll need actual proof." And based on the frown on his face, Strange isn't entirely sure Lambert could find the proof in the first place. How do you find proof for something that happened eons ago?

"Even if you are right, then it won't change anything. We've already obtained one of the Miracles and it wouldn't surprise me if Eden is our next stop. If the Courts can't hunt us for the Ringmaster's actions against the Winter Queen, then they'll hunt us for our actions in gathering these weapons."

There's always going to be a way to scapegoat the Ringmaster and justify their attacks on her. Strange thought Lambert would have known that already.

[whattaprick]

“I don’t expect it to change them,” Lambert snorts, looking at Strange. “Why do you think we took Ignatius? They’d chase us either way, find another reason to call us monsters. Might as well try to take whatever advantage we can get while we’re at it. Protecting ourselves isn’t always going to be pretty —getting the Rose fucking wasn’t.”

He’s absolutely bracing to be yelled at again, but maybe at least Strange can understand now—

“The Ringmaster could run and hide forever, Strange. She already has. I don’t want that.”

[kingsroads]

Strange understands his reasoning a little bit. But he really doesn't believe that Lambert had any sort of plan when he took Ignatius. When has Lambert ever planned anything? Or at least, anything more complex than 'find a way to hurt it.'

"I think you took Ignatius because you realized you couldn't stab your way out of this," Strange simply explains, as he frowns in Lambert's direction. "It'd have been better if you ran: you've only made things worse this way."

It's harsh but in Strange's mind, it's the truth. It's a lot easier to hide from a fae and pretend you're dead when there's an entire multiverse to look through, not when he's literally on your doorstep.

[whattaprick]

“The plan was for Rita to use the Athenaeum’s magic to fight Ignatius, win you back fair and square, and get out of there.” All too obviously, that didn’t work. “He knew we wanted you more than what Rita was worth to him, so he wouldn’t take it. So, we improvised.”

Bet Ignatius really regrets that now.

“I didn’t expect holding him down to work as well as it did,” Lambert shrugs. “If he’d looked like he was breaking out? Yeah, I would have cut and run. For once, we had the advantage over a fae. If it had been Nightshade or anyone else, I would’ve done the same thing.” Lambert pauses, amends more honestly: “All right, I would have tried a lot harder to kill Nightshade. Point is, I thought he’d be useful, alive or dead.”

[kingsroads]

"But you didn't think of the aftermath." It's said as a fact. Because in Strange's mind, Lambert didn't think of the aftermath at all. He just did this because he could, not because it was a tactical decision.

"There's only a handful of High Fae in the entire multiverse—only a few thousand. That's enough that if one of their number goes missing or worse, dies, they'll notice. The Summer Fae already loathe us due to the Ringmaster's actions against the Queen and the fact that we have the Blue Rose. And now that you've tortured one of their generals, I doubt it will be long before the Queen decides enough is enough and sends the entire force of the Court to kill us."

[whattaprick]

Lambert shrugs.

“I knew there’d be consequences. I wanted to do something different. Too bad you weren’t around to tell me that was stupid, right?”

You know, on account of being dead.

[kingsroads]

"I'd have thought it would be obvious that torturing and binding someone was a stupid decision," Strange snaps back.

Unconsciously, his hand goes to his wrists as he rubs the mirrored scratches.

[whattaprick]

The small tell has Lambert gritting his teeth all over again.

“Seems like it works out for them well enough,” he snaps back. “So what else did he do besides teach you better ways to kill people? Did he have a good rummage through your head too? I’d say you should get captured by the Rose Queen too so you can say which Summer Fae is the best at torture, but I think we can just ask Steven!”

[kingsroads]

The flames in Strange's hair start to burn brighter as these idiots go right back to yelling at each other. He sits up from where he's lying on the ground, mostly so he can glare at Lambert better.

"Do you even care about what he did, or are you looking for an excuse to justify your actions?"

[whattaprick]

“Of course I care!” Lambert bellows, startling Butcher again, who looks like he’s wondering if he should be stomping on Strange again.

“But you’re clearly fine, right? Fine enough to tell me you’re going to quit if I do something you don’t like.”

[kingsroads]

"You bound him, Lambert. I can't let myself get comfortable with that."

At least in Strange's mind, that carries a much heavier implication than just something he doesn't like. He doesn't like the training course, and yet he still does it. But binding someone like that is beyond the pale.

[whattaprick]

“We restrained him from killing us,” Lambert snarls. “Or would you rather he burned Rita and Syrlya to the bone?” ... Do Sylvari even have bones? Doesn’t matter.

The witcher shoves an arm at Strange, tugging a bandage back to reveal ugly, healing (and peculiarly somewhat scaly skin).

“Obviously, I should have bound you too!”

[kingsroads]

Strange doesn't move as Lambert shoves his arm in his face. He winces slightly, but he doesn't look away, forcing himself to stand his ground and not let Lambert's horrible looking wound distract him.

"And then what? Would you have hurt me like you hurt Ignatius? What's your justification for that?"

[whattaprick]

“He’s our enemy! He’ll always be our enemy because of what he is and what he was made for! He said as much himself!” Lambert gesticulates.

“Obviously, you forgot that too!”

[kingsroads]

"Well he isn't mine!" And then all of Strange's issues with regards to Ignatius start to come pouring out. At the same time, one of his fists sets itself on fire again.

"I can't see the only person in this damn carnival who actually respects me as an enemy!"

Lambert's going to punch him for this but fuck it. He's already asked the Ringmaster if he could see Ignatius at some point, might as well get all this over and dealt with before that happens.

[whattaprick]

“That’s it? That’s all it takes? He sets you on the rest of us and would kill us if he could and he’s not your enemy because he respects you?”

Lambert’s voice is thick with disbelief. He can’t believe this — wait, yes he can.

“Then maybe you should get out of the nightrunners, after all.”