lostcarnival | ⇨ CONFLAGRATION

Entry tags:

⇨ CONFLAGRATION

Who: The Ringmaster, Peridot, Amethyst, Shima, Tyki, Childermass and Ignatius.
When: Day 68
Where: THE CENTER OF THE (OTHER) MOON.
What: The Ringmaster has recruited the help of a not-so-elite group of carnival members to help her deal with the imprisoned Ignatius.
Warnings: Weird egg stuff.

THE FIERY ONE↴
When you meet up with the Ringmaster at the portal she's in her humanoid form, but that doesn't last long. After a brief period of waiting, she will take you back to the carnival grounds, still fresh and partially undefined from her rebuilding. It's familiar, but as if details have been left out - like a painting that's not finished yet. The sky isn't right, and and the forests are oddly barren.

She'll assure you she simply isn't finished with it yet, but that this has taken precedence. Soon, she'll be turning into her dragon form and whisking you all away, up into the second moon. The flight happens almost instantaneously - first you see the carnival grounds, then the sandy oceans of the moon - then, you see nothing.

It doesn't last for long, though. A ring of glowing stones light up the new space you're filling - a cavern carved out of the center of the moon itself. Unlike the moon with the Blue Rose, however, it isn't perfectly spherical, and gravity goes straight down. There is a rough, uneven floor you can walk on steadily, with boulders and rocks scattered about. The Ringmaster's current dragon form fills about half of it.

In the center of the room there are two man-sized eggs. One glows brightly with an inner light, radiating heat. The other does as well, but less so. There's an impromptu nest of rocks around them, preventing them from falling over.

The Ringmaster seems unsure of how to start.

"So," she begins, uncertainly. She is till hunched over in dragon form. "This... is a bit complicated."

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"A rogue wyld fae, I imagine," Childermass answers, turning to look down at Peridot. "The Count did say they can punish us for her crimes just as much as they could her directly."

But then his attention flits back up, first to Shima, who is doing admirably well. He'll have to tell him as much later, but until then, his gaze will resettle on Ignatius.

"We're a persistent lot, have no doubt of that." Since they are, irrationally so at times. "We'll figure something out, but perhaps we should give you some time to adjust without an audience first..."

Edited 2018-06-14 04:30 (UTC)

"Fear," he says, loudly enough that he speaks over Childermass's attempt to give him a break. "Instability. Both of the Courts are still struggling with the aftermath of what your master started." He gives the Ringmaster a pointed glance. "And she... you. You're the only ones they can touch."

Going after the Summer Maiden is too risky, and going after the Winter Queen... That's something else entirely.

"One of your men... felt the need to share with me that the Winter Queen is untrustworthy. As if we didn't already know." His words become clipped with his obvious stress. "We've known that since before she ever ascended."

That's more the kind of answer she was expecting. Sure, the carnival changelings themselves might represent a 'rogue wyld fae', as Childermass so eloquently put it. But then what does that represent to the rest of the fae?

She's distracted from further contemplation by what Ignatius says next. One of their men...? What the heck is he talking about? She glances around, first at her companions and then back at the Ringmaster, to try and get a sense of whether they might have more of a clue than she does.

"Lambert," the Ringmaster rumbles, her muscles tensing. "He was acting outside of my orders. I had no desire to prolong this conflict with the Summer Court, and I have no desire to punish you for the commands of your Queen."

She's quiet for a moment, and then:

"Or, the general ignorance of your people."

Tyki continues to lounge there on his side in an almost disinterested way. None of this war stuff mattered other than the fact they were swept up in it. He could save, help, or kill Ignatius personally depending on what the Ringmaster wanted. This change he was undergoing wasn't mercy. No, it was far from it. This cave was better than a stomach in his opinion but if Ignatius preferred death then he's sure he can find some way to piss off the right person in the carnival.

He's watching the others until Ignatius mentions the bit about sharing information. One of theirs did? He pipes up because he wants to know, "One of ours?" He wants to consider that person is Strange but then Tyki didn't like to assume. The Ringmaster answers and his gaze tracks back up to her. Ah, that idiot. Who share information with the enemy?

"Good input," he says to the Ringmaster. It seems they are giving her a little more confidence, "But I suppose you're free to sit here and wallow in such upsetting news. Not that it'll do you any good." He expected a warrior to fight, to push forward, or at least adapt. This was just disheartening.

Lambert. Of course. Peridot recalls all too well the Ringmaster's concerns about the vengeance that Ignatius might wish to seek upon the people who were present during that incident, and she is very much eager to steer the topic away from the Nightrider as a result.

Instead she shoots something of a disapproving look at Tyki, flattening her ears. "Regardless of any conscious intent, we basically just tore down and destroyed the life that he's been living for thousands and thousands of years. I'm not advocating that we force pity on him that I'm sure he doesn't actually want, but you could at least try being a little bit less cavalier about that."

"Right, right," he responds, quick to adapt to a situation when need be. She has a point but he's perfectly fine with letting her have her the moment, appearing sympathetic or at least somewhat on the same level. She's still a supervisor and he appears more docile to her consideration instantly even if it means raising a hand in silent surrender. Whether or not it is a con on his end, her words do carry weight.

That is, if sympathetic was what she's aiming to be, then so be it. He's neutral to any forward progression of this and he was here to help the Ringmaster. "My apologies. I do not mean to downplay this as nothing." But thanks for drawing him into the line of fire. "It's just as it was said, this was not something planned as it was outside her orders. It's going to be an adjustment."

For all of them.

Edited 2018-06-14 06:09 (UTC)

Snaps his fingers and points at Peridot, well said! Then as Tyki offers his apology, Shima takes a moment to turn over Ignatius' words, and what it was the Ringmaster wanted to accomplish. She'd wanted him understand there's more to this. To meet others eventually.

Shima flaps his hand a little, sure that the last thing Ignatius cares about is trying to adjust. "Not that making sure ya didn't bite it was some accident, trauma or no. Ya seem like a 'better ta die' sort, so ya might not appreciate the reasons much, but hey, maybe ya being here will still indirectly benefit the Summer Court too, even if you're stuck."

He crouches, looking directly at Ignatius now, "Fear 'n instability.. the Carnival's feeling that too. Especially seeing as we're the preferred target." He tastes the 'we' there a little, and it doesn't quite come naturally, but he continues on, shifting into a hypothetical, "But so, the Courts hunt the Carnival down and take the Blue Rose," waves a hand, "find all the Miracles... Now their only targets are each other and they're thinking there's a means ta win. I don't know if that sounds like the stability the Courts are looking for?"

He stands again, wandering a little as if in thought. "Pointing out the Winter Queen's untrustworthiness... Really, it's a shame the Courts aren't too hot on ah... I think it's called truth 'n reconciliation? Whatever we represent, whatever the Ringmaster might be responsible for, if ya still care about the Summer Courts, ya might consider that what's going on here instead is the best option for making something good happen.

"Like she said, the Ringmaster isn't looking ta keep fighting. We want stability just as much, maybe more since we got some determined enemies that want us dead if we can't achieve it."

Phew.

Edited 2018-06-14 14:23 (UTC)

Ignatius's gaze is lingering on Tyki hatefully - at least until Shima starts talking, with words that are hard to ignore. For what it's worth, he listens. He's not beyond reason, even if he has plenty of doubts. If anything, it feels like bending to what they want out of him would be a betrayal in itself, to be twisted so easily.

They can say whatever they want to him. It doesn't prove anything.

"Of course I care about the Summer Court," he snaps, as if that's a ludicrous thing to phrase as an 'if.' He leans forward onto his knees. "It's all I care about."

"What the Queen wants is for her ancestral heirloom to return home, and for the risk of a nation destroying revolution to finally be put to rest. She wants her progeny to return home. I'm not of the opinion that the Great Beast is interested in destroying the Summer Court - if she was going to do that, she could have gathered an assortment of followers that were far more practical to her cause."

Most of these people? Not warriors. Not even soldier material.

"...But I do believe she would strike at the Winter Court, out of vengeance. Even if it was never the plan, it's hard to see this quest of yours going in any other direction."

Stars she hates to keep drawing the comparison but Ignatius is sounding more like Jasper the more he talks. It would be wearying to listen to, if the stakes weren't so high. She literally just dealt with trying to talk someone down from this kind of entrenched loyalist mindset just the other day. It didn't go super well then, and she's not confident that it'll go super well now... But also, in a way, her failure with Jasper makes her even more determined to try and succeed here.

That last bit though... From her limited knowledge of the situation, what Ignatius is saying doesn't quite track.

"Vengeance?" she pipes up, frowning with confusion up at the dragon and then back at Ignatius. "Why would the Ringmaster want vengeance on the Winter Queen? I would think it would be the other way around."

Childermass is happy enough to stay quiet for a time, even if he does give Tyki a sharp look for his previous words. Peridot scolds first, however, and so he leaves it at that. Then, back to listening, considering. The Summer Court has its own problems, their goal from them obviously the Blue Rose, but as for Winter—

"She could not even bring herself to kill the man who went too far against her wishes," Childermass has to bring up, again Lambert becoming a point to make, that the Ringmaster could have easily killed him and forced him to return through an egg as well. "If we strike anyone," and yes, the we is important, "it won't be out of vengeance, for all that some amongst us may feel otherwise."

Then Peridot is speaking up again, asking that. It's something, maybe surprisingly, maybe not, that he can answer, though his will be vaguer than if it came from the source (who happens to be massive and nervously hovering over them right now).

"The Winter Queen betrayed the Ringmaster's trust, back when she was still the Maiden," he adds as an aside, turning to look back down at Peridot. "So it is a fair enough assumption to make..." Which brings him to looking up, up, way up towards the Ringmaster herself. "Whether you care to expand upon that or not, I leave it to you."

Ignatius look at Peridot, and then turns to pointedly meet the Ringmaster's gaze. His expression is flat but unyielding.

"Oh?" he says, with obvious insincerity. "How did she do that? Perhaps the distribution of blame was not exactly even..."

The demand for the Ringmaster to fill in the blank is clear.

It's hard to gauge the Ringmaster's reaction, but she does turn her head slightly away in hesitation. Is Ignatius really suggestion what she thinks he is?

"...The Winter Maiden participated in the Queen's murder, and then she blamed all of it on me," she says, her voice clipped with her lack of desire to say any of it. "We did it together... but she didn't want it remembered that way."

Peridot's scolding ends and he can respect that didn't drag out. Her heart is in the right place and she seems to have more understanding of the situation than he does at the moment. His left ear cranes back gently. He can't see Childermass' sharp look but he's more attuned to the man at times than he likes to admit. He's sure it's there and his ear flicks once before he makes the decision to stand up. He meets Ignatius's gaze no longer as Shima takes over. Dusting his pants off, he steps back with the others to listen. He was here to help and the last thing he wants is to ruin this. Plus, information is now flowing and he's interested in that. It doesn't stop him from sitting somewhat to the right so he can listen clearly.

Shima is doing great, more than he realized he could. He's curious why he's not a conman and a thief instead. Ignatius also seems to have a level head despite the situation he's in. He nods along with their assessment, taking in ever word, "If.." he mimics, because that was a big if and the chances are it would be her ultimate wish, not theirs.

He still believes, even as she speaks now between the two of them, that her hands would have to be tied. "As no murderer would."

Edited 2018-06-14 15:34 (UTC)

And then, Ignatius laughs. It isn't a happy kind of laugh - it's the kind that comes from a dark piece of humor, where you can only laugh or cry. He wipes something from his eye, though whether its an actual tear or he's just making a show is unclear.

"And to think," he says, with the same grim mirth, "that young fae died for that truth. And it was here, all along."

"...I can't tell if that means you actually believe us or not," Peridot says, staring blankly. There's a hell of a lot of information to process here.

"I do, actually," he chuckles. "It's what the Summer Queen has thought since the beginning."

"And is it also beneath her to ask or even believe a Wyld Fae? The Count of Crows certainly made it seem that way for Winter, though... perhaps those were simply the words of a loyal man, with no room to question."

"Bah," Ignatius says, swiping a hand dismissively. "His kind have nothing to gain from rocking the boat. I doubt he cares what the truth is, as long as his holds remain his own."

The Ringmaster speaks up again, reluctantly.

"...I didn't spend much time trying to convince the Summer Court, and the Winter Court wouldn't listen from the start. The Summer Maiden tried to speak for me, but was accused of defending me only out of personal interest. I don't think it really mattered, did it? Whether I did it myself or I did it with help, the fault was still mine."

"There is the truth you know," Ignatius says, his mirth fading, "and then the truth you say to maintain the balance. You were disposable. The Winter Maiden wasn't."

Peridot sits up a little straighter all of a sudden, looking at the Ringmaster indignantly. "What are you talking about? Of course it still matters!" she growls. "Why the heck should she get off free and clear when she's just as responsible for it as you are!?"

Continuing from that, she turns back to Ignatius, glowering fiercely. "If this 'balance' between the courts is so precarious, maybe you all need to reconsider your setup. It sounds like you have some serious structural integrity issues."

"Because that is how high society works. It takes a lot more to overthrow or dispute any issue with a position like that even with cold hard facts," he chimes in out of nowhere. It may be different with fae culture to some degree but it seemed almost the same to him.

From all the stories, all the books he read, and the information shared, Wyld Fae hardly seemed to have any standing compared to others. No matter what position the Ringmaster might've held that was gone. She was the scapegoat now and they were hell bent on finding her.

No hierarchy was perfect. It never would be. "Even those willing to help rarely do in order to hold onto what is theirs." Betrayal and deceit at its finest.

Ignatius doesn't even get a chance to respond to Peridot's accusations, because as soon as Tyki finishes, it's actually the Ringmaster that rebukes her. Her massive body shifts behind the group, raising her body so that she looms over them.

"Because fighting for myself would only get other people hurt," she snarls, though its more hurt than angry. "Who do you think took the brunt of my crimes? The Courts? No, the Wyld Fae."

"Disrespect has nothing on being seen as an active threat - as the thing that could unbalance the Queens if directed by the right hands. That is my only legacy in this struggle, and it's the only thing I've done in this carnival, too."

Peridot shuts down, because honestly who wouldn't with the Ringmaster looming over them like that? Her ears droop visibly. She'd thought she was being helpful by being motivational or something, because she hates seeing the Ringmaster acting down like this.

"Well-- Then. Why did you do it in the first place? Kill the Winter Queen, I mean?" she asks a little defensively.

She isn't trying to be intimidating, really, she's just upset - and she doesn't think anyone here really gets what all of this is making her realize. Maybe it would be easier for people to see if she was in her humanoid form, but looking like a Court Fae has always made a lot of things easier.

"Because I thought it was the right thing to do," she says, her voice strained. "But it wasn't. It never is."

A lot of this has been going right over Amethyst's head -- she isn't really up on her fae politics as in-depth as some people here, and it's giving her a little of the same feeling she gets when the gems start talking about serious stuff she wasn't around for. Like the grown-ups are talking and she isn't one of them.

"Oof," she murmurs under her breath. This is definitely familiar.

Except, well...

"Hey, uh, pretty sure it wasn't the wrong thing to do when you ate that Prince dude. Just saying. Or, y'know, with the vampires..."

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