lostcarnival | ⇨ POLARIS AFTERMATH

Entry tags:

⇨ POLARIS AFTERMATH

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Papyrus is in the middle of rigging up a tarp over some bedding, just in case it rains one of these nights, when Reira calls out to him. He doubletakes at the sight of her arms and the new fuzz seemingly growing from them, mostly because holding her arms like that looks like maybe it's uncomfortable...?

Once she gets close enough for him to recognize them as the flower sprites, and see she's just fluffy with friends, he relaxes - until she asks that question.

"Err." Papyrus considers one of his forearms, turning his hand over as he looks more carefully at the metal coating all of him but the protruding crystals.

"I'm not... I'm not sure. I could ask Sans, but..." He trails off, unhappy about the idea of bringing it up to his brother again. Not after that first anguished expression, once Sans had stopped pretending to be a good mindless technician.

"I don't want to push him about any of this. Why do you ask?"

Ever the considerate one, Reira refuses to shake the little sprites off. This will be an interesting conversation...

Especially since her words to Papyrus don't seem considerate at all. "Oh! ...I just wanted to know. ...do you think magnets will get stuck?" She presses, wide eyed and keen.

Maybe the little sprites will even join in the conversation, communicating in some dancing sways and sprays of pollen. For now, Papyrus puts the fluffs to the back of his mind.

"Would magnets...?" It's not as though he particularly expects Reira to be considerate, she's more likely to flinch back and flee after realizing someone's hurt by their words... and he's still used to abrupt abrasiveness from other people, too.

The biggest worry is the sudden visual of the magnets holding up pictures, still on his fridge back at the carnival, now stuck to himself. The notion of it itching to try pulling them off is a strong one, and he shudders a little.

"I hadn't even thought to try... I don't know, but they might, depending on what this is." He leans down to grab a knife that's been used for something or other in improving the camping area, and moves it around in his hand to demonstration. "Normal metal hasn't stuck to me."

Well, she sort of thought it was funny honestly.

It's not as though it's hard to pull off a magnet...but. "Umn! I don't think all metal works with magnets... ...Otherwise, you could stick forks to fridges, and pots..." She tilts her head in thought though.

"...We should check, I guess. ...Umn... ...Does the metal mean you can't come apart anymore though? We were going to see if you could put your head in places, right?" She's pretty sure that was what they were talking about, at least. The best of look-out plans!

A mild magnet's a harmless thing, and Reira's right that pulling one off would be very easy - for her. For Papyrus...? If she's right about the magnets sticking to him, then pulling a magnet off his arm will just mean there's a magnet stuck to his fingers instead. Static electricity, except magnetism.

Thankfully, though they don't know it yet, he isn't particularly magnetic.

"Oh no! Don't worry, it still works," and Papyrus pulls his skull off like it's nothing. Now that he's made some degree of peace with himself again, the utility Reira suggested in the first place seems a lot more reasonable and appealing.

He holds it between his hands, swiveling it around in three dimensions to show - all of him is coated in metal, even the spaces within joints - before bringing it back to a comfortable rest.

"Ah!!" Well! Those eyes of wonder are going to...Continue to be eyes of wonder! Wow!!

"So we can still try things!! ...Umn. ...If that's okay, I guess," she adds, hurriedly remembering what she's learned about tact as she looks down. She doesn't manage that for long however, her eyes shifting back to glance up at the skeleton while she waits to see- or feel- his response.

He smiles a little, confused by her mix of enthusiasm and worry but affected by it - he's still an approval-motivated skeleton, after all - and wanting to alleviate her worry.

"Of course we can!" Papyrus reassures her, shifting his grasp on his skull so it's easier to hold. "I don't have any plans besides campsight maintenance, for the next few hours. And that's hardly as essential... as testing out how to use this, 'in the field'."

Besides. His first reactions to all this had been discomfort and avoidance, respectively speaking, and this kid had tromped right in, curious and enthusiastic about it from the start. Even about something a little unsettling, like separating off parts of one's body. What kind of cool friend would he be not to reassure her right back?

Campsite maintenance? She assumes that's just little things like keeping it tidy, so whatever. It's good that he's an approval motivated skeleton however, because Reira seems to be an optimism-charged little girl. Or at least, when it comes to continuing the conversations on happy notes.

So she nods rapidly, and then thinks for a moment. "Mnhhh... ...What should we try first though? Is there something you think you would want to try?" It's his bones, so she feels it only polite to ask what he wants to do first.

Papyrus considers the question with a little more dramatic seriousness than it maybe needs, to go with the theatrical pose his skull's still in. "I tried wiggling my tail around like a snake... but I don't have any experience being a snake, it didn't work at all." He thinks, anyway. The tail wasn't caught, and had been in pretty much the same area he'd left it, as though lacking sight or familiarity with the motion had made it too difficult to figure out how to move.

"But hey! This was your idea in the first place. What sorts of things did you suggest, back then...?" That conversation had been an initial tipping point for him, but that didn't make it any more pleasant to try remember the details.

Well, this warrants serious thought. For starters- "...I don't think your tail normally moves like a snake, so you're probably right about why it didn't work. ...You'd have to move it like a tail." This is incredibly unhelpful advice!

As it is.

"Umnn.... I don't think I said anything other than making things float, but..." She blinks- and then beams. "...Could...you make your skull float?"

It is, regrettably, unhelpful. For starters, normally tails just drift back and forth, giving too many hints about feelings. A very different thing from locomotion.

The skull idea is at least workable, and Papyrus looks down as if expecting to look down from where his skull normally is to where it currently is. Then realizes his mistake, feels a little embarrassed, and coughs.

"Well! That's... not something I thought ever about. I don't have that bone with me... But, I wonder if maybe blue magic...?"

He holds his skull up a bit, again reflexively expecting to see what he's doing, then closes his eyes and focuses on grabbing at his own skull and tugging slightly up. Sure enough, his skull floats up out of his hands.

"Oh-!" Well, there's the good blue magic doing its work! Reira's patience through the emotions pays off, at least when it comes to seeing that sight. She quickly reigns herself in however, trying to at least somewhat shrink her smile.

"Umnh-! ...What does it feel like, to do that..?"

"It... Oh, this is very strange." Papyrus glances all around. "It feels... like it usually does, when I use blue magic! Except, I'm both floating, and not floating, at once. Which I suppose I am, I can still feel my body, over there. But I can't seem to reach the rest of me with the magic..."

As he talks, the motions of his jaw shift something about how he's balanced, and he slowly swivels back to look more upward then toward Reira. His body reaches out a little clumsily to try and adjust it back to looking Reira's way, and his expression and emotions get a little more queasy. This will take some practice.

"So it's like two places at once...." she repeats, only to jump as the body section starts to try and turn her way. "AH! And you can still move both!!"

Barely, anyway. "...You could be in two places.."

"And without one being very happy and one very sad," Papyrus says, a little cheerfully, with one hand just sort of cupping the back of his skull so he doesn't go drifting again. "In two places in a whole different way! It's a big improvement, even if it's confusing."

Plus, there's the complication of how he doesn't hear his voice coming from a strange direction, or anything. His body is there, no argument, but most of his senses are centered in his skull.

"Yeah!!" A vast improvement indeed!

"...Is it hard to tell where both pieces are right now though? ...Would part of you get lost..?"

"Umm... A little bit, ma... yes." Papyrus promised he'd try not to lie when he's feeling unhappy or scared, so he catches himself from prevaricating with maybes. That doesn't mean he knows what he wants to say, though.

To buy time, he shifts his head back onto his shoulders as it ought to be, tilts it back and forth to make sure it feels right, and considers.

"I couldn't see, or hear, or anything, except through my skull... It's scary to send my whole body off anywhere. I could try with something smaller, and tie a bell on it!" So even if a wandering hand gets lost, it could ring for help.

Ma...maybe? Ah- Reira likes the more direct answer anyway, and so she nods. Not knowing what to say is fine, as long as there's not any lying...

Also, that sounds kinda creepy. "Mnhhh...that definitely doesn't sound good at all...bells could help practice, but if you have to do it secretly, you wouldn't be able to use them then either..."

This is quite a dilemma. "...Could you tell where you had a bone that you made, instead?" she wonders, blinking. She doesn't know how this works. Is he aware of where his (Magic) bones are???"

"Bones that I made..." Papyrus pulls such a bone into existence, and holds it in his hands as he considers it for a long moment. Finally, he shakes his head. "It... I know it exists, but... I don't have a directional sense on it. Finding stolen bones would be so much easier, if I did."

It would have changed so much about his old rivalry with that one dog, or some of the other neighborhood dogs.

But this gives him an idea. Carefully, he removes his left arm down from the elbow, and tries pressing the magical bone against either half of the joint. It doesn't quite stick or flex the same way his own bones could, not suddenly a part of his body, but there's a little more something there than any other object would be.

"If only I thought to try this before I was metal?" Coated in metal. Same difference.

"Yeah!" Reira cheers, only for the cheer to fade a bit as Papyrus explains. "Mnnnhh...I guess it would," the girl admits. And yet, it's only ever hard to locate stolen ones. Darn!

Her excitement regrows though, when it seems Papyrus has an idea coming together. With visible interest she watches as one bone is swapped out with another, and quietly she gasps in awe. "Woaaaaah..." Ah- "Mnh...I guess it's sort of obvious now, yeah... ...But it's something you can do!" she continues, beaming.

Except wait hold on.

"....The problem was not being able to see though, wasn't it..? ...You can't make another skull..."

"Hmmm." Papyrus considers the half-attached bone, and guides it with his other hand into seeming to move around. It's connecting just enough not to fall off, but it's not tethered to his soul in whatever way makes a bone part of him.

"If I knew how to make a basic bone that connected, maybe I could make another skull... But, that's scary, too. What if it started thinking for itself, instead of being an extension of me, and then I had to dismiss it...? Unless."

They've already seen exactly that, haven't they?

"Sans' blasters became their own creatures, sort of. Maybe, if I ask him how he did that..."

"Mn.... ...They did?" Oh, hold on. She knows what he means, now- "Oh! The dogs? ...I guess if they were dogs that were connected, they'd listen to you, but still see..."

...

"...And then you'd have a dog head somewhere." Amazing. Amazing.

"That... Those are what I mean, but," one detail in particular rubs him the wrong way, and Papyrus shakes his head emphatically. "I wouldn't have a dog head anywhere!"

He turns away and gestures into the air, and a large single blaster forms a few feet in front of it. It's slightly more angular than Sans' blasters' heads, with long fangs, but no particular sign of personality or life behind it - it just floats there.

"These wouldn't be dogs," he clarifies.

"...Not dogs?" she repeats, blinking confusedly. The blaster is summoned quickly, and she blinks once more as she looks to it. Long fangs and... Ummmm...

"Is it...a cat then?" she tries, looking over the skull and walking around it. She can't be sure what it is or isn't after all.

There's a whole lot of things in the world that aren't dogs, thankfully. Though at least most wouldn't get much out of chewing his legs directly. An upside to all of this.

But he spreads his hands, staring at her reaction. He's astonished, Reira.

"I'm astonished, Reira! You don't see it...? In Eden! I had a very appropriate form, there." Mostly, it's the fangs in common. A floating skull, lacking all musculature, skin, and fur, doesn't bear much resemblance to the real thing.

how about early 117? late enough for curious, early enough there's time to go

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

this thread keeps going nowhere i expected, a domino chain of brainstorming

lmao FOOD FOR THE MOMSTER I GUESS

yeah, likely that remnant is hopeful: at least he's willing to do experiments with reira

no subject

no subject