⇨ NPC MEET & GREET

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 76 - Day 78
Where: The Carnival
What: A gaggle of NPCs have arrived at the carnival to help with the acquisition of the Silver Mirror. There is an investigation thread for casual NPC interactions, and the rest will be handled in expositional megathreads.
Warnings: Nothing in particular!

HERE BEHIND YOU↴ As promised by the Ringmaster, near the end of the week there will be a number of guests arriving. All of them have encountered the carnival before in a variety of ways - you may have met them, or they may have been before your time. Either way, there are here to help. They owe the carnival a favour, after all. They are around for specific reasons, which will be carried out in the form of a couple conversational megathreads, but beyond that you are free to ask them questions in the investigation thread. ► THE DWARF FAMILY: This trio of dwarves (pictures here) are the heart and soul of the Worldwalker Caravan, aka the merchants that came to entertain the carnival during their solstic vacation on the moon. Brunis is a master tinkerer, Brauni is a master blacksmith, and Bal is a master chef. All of them are capable of creating amazing things, and if necessary they may be willing to do a few commissions for the carnival. ► SHIMMER & SCALD: A pair of escaped Winter Court changelings who used to belong to a fae called the Mother of Invention, and are now part of the Worldwalker Caravan. Shimmer is the more vocal of the two, and was apparently one of the Mother's top scientists before she fled. For obvious reasons, neither of them want the Winter Court to win the day. ► RAPH THE NEPHILIM: Mostly known for the fact that she was the brewer of the healing draughts that the carnival bought on mass from the Caravan during solstice. She uses her angelic powers to create and restore angelic artifacts, and knows a bit about angelic history. She's also had more direct experience with the Nephilim lifestyle than most. ► MOSS THE CHANGELING: Another changeling seeking refuge within the Caravan, she mostly gave the impression of being from the Summer Court. Unfortunately, whatever she went through seems to have traumatized her, leaving her so socially anxious that she struggles to carry on normal conversations. For those that met her, seeing her come out to the carnival in such a small group may come as a surprise. ► ALYSS & REYNA: A rabbit girl and a fox girl who were first encountered as starcrossed lovers under the tyrannical rule of the Prince. The efforts of the carnival helped to free them and the rest of the Manor servants, and instead of seeking refuge in the Summerlands, they chose to travel with the Caravan. They are mostly here on a social call, eager to say hello and lend what aid they can to the people who saved their lives. ► PRUDENCE & DAMIEN: The odd ducks out, these two are actually not from the Caravan at all! Instead, they are from Portland, in the version of earth that the carnival was trapped in for a month almost half a year ago. They were allies with the carnival during their efforts to break the barrier trapping them, and now, somehow, they've arrived at the carnival. Prudence is notably another nephilim, and the holder of a powerful angelic artifact called the Hand of God. Damien is her partner in crime and a warlock, or something.

Comments

[bananaspeedrider]

Eyyyyy guess who's also coming around to greet Pru and Damien?

Though it might be weird for them to see the Guardian that briefly trained under their wing not... very... angel-ish at all (aside from the angelic aspect within his soul) these days, one would still sense it's the same guy.

Yugo just wants to make sure there aren't any hard feelings about accidentally taking the Hand of God with him before the Ringmaster managed to sent it back.... And if the apology note that went along with it didn't get lost in the "mail".

Also he'll inquire if his warlock, that one girl he granted Guardian power to, ended up alright (she was probably fine).

[npcarnival]

Looking annoyed at the memory of it, Pru will admit that losing the Hand even temporarily had been an enormous shock. But, she got it back in the end, so she supposes it was worth the end of the Severing.

As for his ward, they aren't really sure where she ended up. They got everyone out of the Winter Court's realm, but beyond that, they ended up having other concerns.

[bananaspeedrider]

Said ward did seem pretty fed up with everything and he briefly guesses she might've went back to normal life. But he's not here to keep talking about his old flame.

Instead Yugo will decide to ask out of curiosity if they can refresh his memory on things like Guardian protocol and duties, how they rank among the angels, and are they usually assigned by higher ups to a single random mortal rather than picking though their own desire as "Hugo" did?

Also how common is it anyway for angels to make the sort of contract he forged?

EDIT: [If most of this info would be better to ask from Raph, then Yugo would go find her to do exactly that.]

[npcarnival]

It depends on the guardian, really, since there was some variation based on the divine plan, as it were. As far as she knows, Guardians are assigned wards based on what is needed. Maybe some can just sense where they are needed.

Also, she has no idea what contract he is talking about.

[bananaspeedrider]

You know how demons constantly like making "deals" and contracts with mortals?

An angel doing exactly that, but without the intent to utterly screw them over. In his own personal case, granting some of his Guardian power to his ward in exchange for one small and simple thing. (They hooked up.)

... That's not an "illegal" thing as far as the heavens would be concerned right?

[npcarnival]

It kind of would be, yeah. If he is suggesting he gave a mortal power in exchange for sex?

Pru seems pretty disturbed by that.

[bananaspeedrider]

"IT WASN'T LIKE THAT...!!!!"

Yugo exclaims out loud, likely drawing attention to the conversation. He also looks completely and utterly flustered by the assumption, which has to be drop dead hilarious.

[npcarnival]

"Then what was it like?" Pru will demand, sounding increasingly like she needs to phone the police.

[bananaspeedrider]

Is Damien snickering in the background or taking all this seriously.

He'll semi-awkwardly explain that sure he made the offer to Reina in exchange for if they started dating, but it was mutual consent and they seriously never went intimately closer than kissing. Really. Honest.

But at the same time the Severing did rewrite peoples memories, so who knows if anyone could really say those were decisions he consciously made- but oh god please don't figuratively kill him.

[npcarnival]

Damien doesn't seem to find anything particularly funny about it. His hackles aren't up the same way that Pru's are, but he is definitely exasperated - he's facepalming as Yugo tries to explain himself, as if contemplating what a sinking ship this is.

Pru will irritably tell him that it isn't her job to enforce Angelic laws - but that doesn't mean she doesn't know sleezebag behaviour when she sees it. She doesn't know much about the rewriting aspect of the Severing considering she lives on that earth normally, but Yugo sure didn't seem ashamed of himself until she pointed it out.

[bananaspeedrider]

When she explains the implications in that manner and adds in name calling going on, the most Yugo coincidentally does is make a genuinely puzzled expression at the accusation.

But it's also only now that Yugo finally gets the hint that maaaaybe it would be better if he abandoned this train wreck of a conversation.

"Uh... well... I see what you mean there. Completely. And I'd never do something like that again to someone else! Anyway I think there was something the boss wanted me to check out before the next stop so I should go handle that...!"

And with that Yugo is out of here if he doesn't get stopped.