⇨ CONFLAGRATION

[ringleaders]

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."

Comments

[lordofthering]

The Ringmaster growls.

[worldlyafflictions]

It's good that Ignatius is taking things in despite himself, though Shima's not sure about letting the focus linger on the Ringmaster's wrong-doings. So he adjusts his prayer staff against his shoulder, subtly jangling the rings to redirect the groups attention with an idle shift of posture.

"Well, we can get inta more details 'n whether it was worth it or not later, maybe without Mr. Unwilling here, or with, if the Ringmaster wants him ta hear it." He looks back over at Ignatius, "But I think ya've got the idea by now that if the Carnival does anything about the Winter Queen it won't be outta vengeance. Sounds like if it happens at all it'll be because that's the only option ta set things where they need ta be."

"For now that ain't on the table even if we wanted to. We aren't practical for fighting, like ya said. Not ta say we aren't looking for a change. Something you'll be dealing with too, unless ya wanna leave all your firepower ta us and off yourself with those new claws, 'cause we're not gonna do it for ya."

[atouts]

And on that note—

"I believe that should bring our first meeting here to an end," Childermass speaks up again, gruff voice rising to be a little louder than usual. He glances around at the gathered group, then up towards the Ringmaster. "Ignatius will need time to recover and we, time to consider what's been said."

It's his second attempt to end this, though perhaps not prematurely this time. If the Ringmaster is growling, well, they don't need her to decide to bite Ignatius' head off after all.

[periphrasing]

Childermass speaking up brings Peridot back to attention again.

"Wait-- So we're just going to leave him up here like this?" Peridot says nervously, eyeballing Ignatius briefly. She knew that was the plan; it's not like this is unexpected. But now that the time for leaving approaches, there's something about this that still doesn't quite sit well with her.

[prazerbutterfly]

"Why not? We took effort to make this look cozy for him even if the Ringmaster was probably right that the cave was decent enough. May as well let him stay here and have time to think."

It's not trust he's extending but he kind of feels like a jerk unintentionally from earlier. "Chains would be cruel at this point for Ignatius and putting him back in her stomach would not be preferable for either of them." He glances at Ignatius and then the Ringmaster, "But I don't want to assume?"

[npcarnival]

Ignatius gets to his feet, actually steady enough to stand firm this time. He may have lost muscle mass in the transition, but he's still oppressively tall.

His red eyes settle on Shima dangerously, watching him until Peridot speaks. He glances to her uncertainly, and then looks away. He knows he has no say in this. He considers the idea of pleading with them, but abandons the notion quickly.

[lordofthering]

The Ringmaster looks around, and then back to Ignatius. She's unsure.

"I'm not sure what else to offer you, Ignatius. You know what's happened now, so you must understand why we can't let you go. Nothing I allow you besides you freedom is going to help much, it seems."

Despite growling a moment before, she still sounds sympathetic. Like it or not, she knows that allowing Winter to take over was a mistake.

[worldlyafflictions]

Shima's nerves will catch up to him later, but for now he has the cheek to actually grin back, somehow almost more friendly than smug, entirely because he doesn't think Iggy is a bad guy when he's not taking petty digs at RM's wounds.

[npcarnival]

"No, it won't," Ignatius admits, his arms crossed over his chest. He looks at the other side of the room, apparently resigned to being trapped there for the time being. The idea of ever returning home seems increasingly distant.

[prazerbutterfly]

Tyki stretches out against the Ringmaster's scales, having slipped back into a rather casual mood again, and he's lifting his hand off her now that things are progressing towards completion in order to give her some space. At least for now anyways.

"But he is right," to which he thumbs back towards Childermass as he's reluctant to say anyone's name in front of a fae, "This is as good of a compromise to end things here for now." Since Shima was getting sassy, the Ringmaster had been growling, and moods were flopping back and forth wildly.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Geez," says Amethyst quietly, slouching against one of the Ringmaster's enormous scaly forelegs. "No one's gonna, like... stick around to keep him company or anything?" She considers this for a second. "Okay, I guess he doesn't want that outta any of us, but he could probably use some entertainment up here, right?"

[atouts]

"We could always spare the karaoke machine..." Childermass says wistfully, if only if it meant never seeing it again. Sure, that's basically a distant memory at this point, but one can never be too careful. That said, Amethyst isn't wrong about it. The real question is does Ignatius even want anything? Besides his freedom? Besides his domain back?

He'll look back towards the High Fae, quirking an eyebrow quizzically.

"Is there anything we could get for you? Something to read? Something to drink?"

Or food or pants or... He's kind of doubtful Ignatius would want anything reasonable from them, but there's no harm in asking.

[worldlyafflictions]

It's tempting to add a 'no need ta be shy~' in there somewhere but he figures he got his jab in when there was a reason for it and any more mocking isn't needed now.

"Or save requests for company 'n stuff for next time if ya want," shrug. "Nobody's gonna be popping in randomly or monitoring ya otherwise for now, I don't think," he gives the Ringmaster an inquiring look there since he's not sure that's true, though he figures that's one way to give him space, "I mean, other than noticing stuff like unauthorized contact 'n breakout attempts."