⇨ POLARIS AFTERMATH

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 115-118
Where: Polaris/Wyldlands
What: After killing the Mother of Invention, the majority of the carnival has decided to take some time and sort out the Polaris refugees before heading to the Summerlands. This log covers miscellaneous post-Mother Polaris drama, as well as some light camping in the Wyldlands down below.
Warnings: Idk, stuff, I guess.

ADAPTATION↴ After the battle, the majority of carnival members will opt to remain in the secured section to Polaris, hoping to spend some time making sure that the rest of Polaris is liberated. Many of the staff are not capable of coming to grips with the fact that the Mother is dead so quickly, and the remaining Alphas are doing their best to keep Polaris under their sway. It will be a busy few days of changing minds and exploring the remains of the station. Thankfully, with everyone's powers intact and allies at their side, they finally have the advantage. ► SHIFTING STATES: Right off the bat, about 10% of the staff will immediately change sides upon hearing whats become of the Mother. They are actively eager to get away from Polaris, and will do whatever they can assist the carnival. This is mostly Gammas and a few Betas, who were working primarily under duress. Over the next day or two, those numbers will grow to at least 30%, with some of the staff managing to convince their colleagues to join them. About two days after starting, one of the Alphas will surrender to the carnival, encouraging those beneath her to support their cause. That leaves four Alphas remaining, and staff cooperation at 50%. ► CAPTIVE ATTENTION: The loyalist staff's main tactics are trying to create defensive points within the various test group areas, using the prisoners as hostages. Luckily, the carnival (and the staff on their side) will be in a position where it's possible to push them out with a mixture of convincing and force. Once prisoners start being freed, there will be even more force backing the carnival's efforts, meaning that it will essentially become a matter of cleaning up the remaining staff rather than any uphill battles. Most of this is being left vague intentionally, as most of this action is being handwaved. However, you can play out parts of it if you want and NPC technicians and rescuees. Other test groups can be filled with basically whatever kind of residents you like, since they are grabbed from across the multiverse. Most of the test areas are similar to B7. ► THE JACKPOT: Alongside cleaning up the staff, some members of the carnival have expressed interest in convincing the staff to help them with armoury issues as well as hunting down some of the Mother's most private loot. This will be handled in investigations, mostly through summary, because I don't have it in me for another megathread right now. Post your plans, and I will respond! However, know that I also don't have time to generate five million special items, so loot drops will be limited to my availability. Also, the techs aren't really blacksmiths so they generally won't really be able creating weapons from scratch or anything. Meanwhile, Ignatius is going to set up a camp ground outside of Polaris, mostly because he doesn't want to be there anymore. He'll keep a fire going and they can drag things from Polaris down there for camping purposes, and mostly Ignatius is just going to be chilling and making sure that the campground doesn't get assaulted by magical creatures. The Gilded Mark will create a portal between the campground and the station so that people can go back and forth as required. It also creates a handy escape route. You can even see Polaris from here, floating up there in the sky. How picturesque. ► WYLDERKIN: Apparently not everything in the Wyld Lands is a full Wyld Fae - there are also a lot of less powerful creatures called 'wylderkin' - apparently lesser forms of the Wyld Fae, who are more akin to animal level intelligence. They can be a variety of expected fantasy type creatures, such as flower sprites, weird bugs, and general prey animals they probably spend most of their time getting eaten by bigger dudes. All of them are sort of weird and fantastical, and none of them are exactly like earth varieties, though they may resemble them. They are more of a pest than a major threat in this part of the Wyld Lands, and Ignatius will scare away any that cause too many problems. ► FLORA AND FLUID: There are some plants that you can eat down here, that Ignatius will tell you about. Mostly weird berries and roots. There is also some pools of clear water, thought hey are filled with weird fish. Try not to bitten by any weird leeches. You can safely make up some of the creatures you find as long as they fit the general theme of lesser faerie creatures. This is just a rest stop.

Comments

[anti_nonsense]

Rita had finished conjuring a large wolf with horns and long fur and was just starting to form a mass of fire over her outstretched hand when she hears Yuya shout. She gives a start, then whirls around to see him, the flames dissipating as her focus is torn away from them.

"Gah! Wh... what? Why not?"

[hippocarnival]

"I want to see it!" And then he bolts right past her so hr can get a closer look at the ice sculpture. There's a grin plastered on his face as he spins around it and realizes the detail.

"You made this? It's so cool!" Rita's an artist too??

[anti_nonsense]

Rita just looks bewildered, her face reddening slightly as she realizes what he's getting at.

"Uh... yeah. I just tried making it look like a monster I once fought back home..." Is it cool? Rita might have had some time to hone some art skills back in Eden, but she doesn't consider herself much of an artist.

"I guess my ice magic does feel... I don't know, easier to command lately. Maybe that's a factor."

[hippocarnival]

Even being magic doesn't really diminish Yuya's impression. His impression from Strange's fire animals is that it takes more than just a spell to make it look right.

"I don't know what those look like, but this is really detailed!" Has Rita come closer to inspect what she's making yet? It's so ornate for a target...

He looks up from the statue. "Is that because of what happened to Ignatius?"

[anti_nonsense]

"It's just a big wolf," Rita says with a shrug, stepping forward to join Yuya. Of course, it's normal in Rita's world for wolves to have things like horns and long tufts of feathery fur.

"And... yeah. When he changed, I felt something change in me too. My magic's been different since."

[hippocarnival]

"With horns." Definitely not normal in Yuya's world. But Rita's from a very different place.

"What about your fire magic? Is that different?" Ignatius' new ice magic is obvious, but Yuya wonders what happened to his old domain. Does that work the same, only with new additions, or does it behave differently?

[anti_nonsense]

Duh, Yuya. That's what wolves look like.

"It feels the same, but..."

Rita holds up a hand and conjures a fireball in the air. Rather than the red-orange flames of a normal fireball, it has a distinctly pale, white color. "It mostly just looks different, I think." It certainly leaves no room to doubt the effect that Ignatius has on Rita's own powers, however.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya moves away from the statue to approach Rita, but still at a respectful distance from the flame. It's changed color like Ignatius'.

His gaze flickers down to Rita's chest, where he saw a flicker of her new heart in her Delta uniform. Under the dueling armor, it's as hidden as with the body suits. "What about your heart?"

[anti_nonsense]

"Looks about the same as before," Rita replies, shrugging and allowing her fireball to dissipate into smoke. "It doesn't feel so hot anymore, at least."

It really is incredible, in a way. Her body adapted to it, after all... The implications are massive, she presumes, but they haven't exactly had time to look into it properly.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya nods, rubbing the back of his neck. He's worried about the longevity of these changes, but... he decides not to voice that right now. Not when the implications are so much worse for Rita.

"What about... everything else?" He glances back to the ice statue, their conversation letting it live far longer than the rest. "I mean, how are you feeling?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita gives him a sort of questioning look, like she's trying to figure out which part of her he's asking after. Then she shrugs, her expression lightening a bit.

"I'm fine. There's... a lot that happened, and a lot that I still need to do, but I'll be fine."

She turns her focus to Yuya. "What about you? I saw that you went through a trial, but..." She trails off, frowning. Even if it couldn't be helped, she wasn't able to say anything to Yuya at the time.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's asking after all of it, really, and his brow pinches a little as he regards her expression...and when it lightens, he takes her assurance to heart and smiles a little.

Until she asks after his trial. He pauses, initially considering just brushing it off as well... but decides that's far less honest, from him.

"Nervous," he admits, glancing sideways and absently touching at the spots on the front of his neck. "It was something to do with Creation, but... I don't really know what these are."

Or if they'll ever go away. The immediate future is hopeful, but if he thinks much further it suddenly becomes overwhelming with how much it may be changed. How uncertain it is. But that's a knot of worries that'll unravel into a mess of he thinks about them too much. Maybe just focus on one problem at a time.

"I don't think it's hurting me? It's just... everywhere."

[anti_nonsense]

Rita draws a little closer to Yuya, eyes following his gesture to get a look at those spots.

"I could try examining them from a magic perspective... if you want," she offers. She'll understand if he'd rather she not stare and prod at them, but Rita figures she might as well suggest it anyway.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya pauses, considering it. After a moment he draws his hand back and straightens up, looking at Rita. "No, that's... I mean, if I end up stuck with them I should probably know what they do."

He's not sure what MoI dying means for any of these, but given the tangible nature of how they were given them, versus suddenly growing tails from the Ringmaster's influence... well, Rita's probably stuck with that heart and Yuya's probably stuck with these spots. He just doesn't like admitting it.

He gives Rita a reassuring smile, though, to let her know it's okay. "If you could look at it, I'd appreciate that."

[anti_nonsense]

Well, Yuya seems sure, so Rita nods, then leans in close to get a look at it with her third eye. She can see Creation energy, sure enough, but what isn't so simple is trying to determine the effects it's having on his body.

So she holds out a hand, conjures her magic hacking interface, and tries to see if she can learn anything through a more technical analysis.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya stands still, trying to be patient as Rita reviews it with the interface. The mechanical component doesn't disrupt the magical one, at least, so she can probably see the effects in the spots littering his body: some sort of healing quality from Creation, that helps his body recover. Not enormously, not enough to take him inhuman. But enough to help.

Yuya shifts on his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. "So...?"

[anti_nonsense]

"Hmm..."

It takes a few minutes for Rita to parse the abstract-looking code on display. "There's something about Creation magic that's different from other kinds..." she muses as she looks it over. "It's less refined, more primal than most systems I've worked with... but in a weird way, I feel like I get it." Perhaps because of her time as a Guardian of Knowledge? It's hard to say for sure.

"These nodes... it looks like they're producing a healing effect," she finally reports. "Have you noticed anything unusual while recovering from that battle?"

[hippocarnival]

Yuya looks a little surprised at that, before his face scrunches in thought. "I guess... even when I was exhausted, after the trial it seemed easier to work through. Uh, but nothing inside me feels different."

Granted, he also spent the first few hours of recovering from the worst of it unconscious. The hard part is telling where Creation's protection ends and Yuya's refusal to cooperate with bed rest begins.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita sweeps her hand, dismissing the magic interface.

"If you don't feel too different, that's probably a good thing," she says with a small shrug. "Either your body's well-adapted to this energy, or the effect's small enough that it doesn't carry any significant side effects... or a combination of the two." Hopefully it'll stay that way, and Yuya can enjoy the benefits of recovering quickly without having any complications to stress over.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya looks down at himself. "Maybe it's because I was a Guardian before...?"

He doesn't have any better answers, but he's assuming if Herbert didn't say anything about a fast recovery, it's probably the latter. He just wishes they were maybe a little less noticeable.

"Do you think... this stuff can actually be reversed? Like the other ways we change?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita frowns, tension pulling at her expression.

"...I don't know," she says, somewhat bitterly. "I wouldn't bet on it. I don't know for sure that any of it can really be reversed..." She isn't optimistic about her life ever returning to normalcy, of any sort.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's expression twists uncomfortably. Maybe there's a way to hide it... he hopes there's a way to hide it. Maybe he should start coming up with excuses now.

"Right." He rubs the back of his neck. "We'll... figure it out. Not now, but..." Eventually. They all have to make decisions about where they'll make their homes, and Yuya's not letting go of returning to his.

Although it does remind him of something Strange said. Well, the dark and needy part of him. "Are you still going home when your contract is over? With 9S?"

[anti_nonsense]

"Hm? Yeah," Rita answers with a nod. "I'll have to go find him first... but that's the plan."

She focuses on Yuya after giving that response with a sort of questioning look. Is there some special reason he's asking...?

[hippocarnival]

Yuya smiles a little. "That's good... I still want to go home at the end of this, too."

It's reassuring to hear she hasn't given up on that. Or 9S. "Maybe one of the Fae in the Summerlands can help find him, or--let him know you're okay and you're coming."

[anti_nonsense]

"The Summerlands fae?" Rita wrinkles her nose a little. On the plus side, it's not nearly as negative a reaction as she once had towards them. "From what I've heard, they don't seem to bother much with matters outside their happy little paradise."

She heard some of their people talk about some fortuneteller who supposedly gave them advice once or twice, but that's about it, as far as Rita knows.