lostcarnival | ⇨ POLARIS AFTERMATH

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⇨ 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

The Wyldlands might not be fun, but it's better than being stuck in Polaris for the time being. Shura isn't actively avoiding doing light work and seems keeping an eye out for potential trouble, but she isn't really volunteering to do anything important. So the usual for her, really. But the changes to her legs have her moody, and she'll eventually leave the main camp to seek out some solitude, finding a spot off the ground in a tree. She's not sulking. Absolutely not. It's just that she now has the time to process what's happened and she is definitely unhappy.

It's not hard to find her since she's not hiding, and she'll call out to anyone who spots her. "Don't go too far, now~ Might run into somethin' that feels a little hungry, yeah?"

Alternatively, if someone happens to be older--"Y'know what? I can't believe no one thought to pack something fun to drink in that egg space."

Or maybe something else, she's in the mood to tease and annoy anyone who will give her a reaction.

Alphys isn't big on the great outdoors, but she wanders out into the Wyld while testing out her implants. The scale-like protrusions on her head rise and compress as she meanders, feeling faint traces of magic through them.

"Uh?" She looks up as she hears someone calling out to her. "O-oh, I wasn't planning on going far..."

Heh, lucky her, this was was fun to tease.

"All on your own, Bubbles?" Shura shifts, leaning forward to peer down at Alphys. "Nyeheh, it was pretty stuffy up there, wasn't it?" That stuff on her head's new. Maybe she was in the same mood as Shura was.

The implants flatten against her head with indigence. "T-that's not my name!"

But then she sighs and the implants relax a little. "I was just, I-I dunno, practicing with these?" She reaches up and taps one of the panels. "If I'm stuck with them, I should at least figure out how to use them, y-you know?"

Too bad, she's stuck with it until Shura finds something worse.

"Those?" Shura echoes, cocking her head. "Ah, they got you too?" Though maybe she had volunteered for a trial... Well, regardless, the important thing was trying to figure her new additions. "What are those for, anyway?"

The panels seem to... droop? Almost? "I didn't really want to do any more tests... but I was afraid of what would happen if I dropped a rank. T-these aren't so bad, I guess..."

Definitely not as bad as getting killed over and over again like the first trial she was in. Shudder.

"I think they make it so I can sense magic better. But I can't figure out what kind of magic I'm sensing."

Well, it wasn't like Alphys was the only signing up for things out of desperation.

"At least it's somethin' almost practical. Guess now's as good a time as any to try an figure out how it works." And with that, Shura hops down from her perch on the tree, gracefully landing on the soft ground. Sure, she could have down that pretty easily on her own without her new legs, but she can't deny that it's just a be easier like this.

"You talk to someone who's into that kind of thing?" A fellow nerd, Shura means.

It's only when Shura hops down that Alphys finally notices her legs. She gawks for a moment before realizing that she asked a question.

"Buh... I mean, n-not yet. I guess I could ask somebody up there?" She gestures up to Polaris.

It's the kind of reaction Shura knows she'll have to get used to. That or see if she could learn some kind of glamour to hide the metal. Or maybe she'd just have to wear opaque stockings for the rest of her life, whatever worked best.

"Ah, well, it ain't like we got much to do but fool around with that kinda thing. Can't help ya myself, though."

Can't or doesn't want to because she's too lazy??

Alphys' eyes dart around, trying to find a place to look that's not directly as Shura's legs. "T-the least they could've done was tell me how to use all this!"

"Tell you! Why, you think they'd give you a hint? It's more fun if they get to watch you fumble about~" Even if they weren't sadistic, they still had to get the most information out of their little experiments!

But jeez, Bubbles, be less subtle. "If you wanna look, you may as well. It ain't like they're normal anymore."

Rin is out foraging for more edibles for Hinawa's big feast when he hears Shura call out to him. He's carrying a large basket in his new wing-hands.

"Huh? Bah! I'm not afraid of anything out here! ... Probably... What are you doing up there?"

"Oh, you're not? That's good~ I thought I heard somethin' make a funny noise a while ago, so be careful~" Is Shura teasing Rin instead of answering his question? Of course!

"Eeeehhh.... what kind of funny noise...?!"

Distraction; success.

"Oh, you know--it sounded like somethin' was grumblin' and groanin'. You didn't hear it?" She says, as if it wasn't Rin making noise a moment ago.

Strange is also seeking out some solitude. Both Polaris and the Wyldlands are solidly in the camp of 'it's okay, I guess.' He's a bit tired of trying to explain the status quo to everyone in Polaris and wants some time to his own thoughts. So, the Wyldlands it is. As he hears Shura's voice and her complaints about booze, he looks from where he is up to her in the tree.

He can't help but laugh a little, giving Shura a small shrug. "Lambert uses alcohol in some of his vile witcher potions. You think he'd have planned ahead and packed some of that!"

But then again, in Strange's mind, Lambert hasn't done much planning recently at all. But this is a train of thought that he's come out to the forest to try and ignore, so he focuses his attention elsewhere.

"Stay up there," Strange responds, looking up at Shura. "I'll join you." Though he's not going to climb the tree himself. He knows he can't climb trees all that well and his desire to not break into thousands of tiny pieces outweighs Strange's unwillingness to admit he can't do something. So, he poofs into his smoke form and starts snaking up the tree trunk, floating over towards where Shura is.

"Anyone! Anyone coulda thought about it!" Herself included. But really, it was ike a lot of other things--she didn't want to get involved if she didn't have to. But now she was definitely going to add something to drink once they got out of this place. The minors could get some candy or whatever else would keep them busy. They all needed something after everything that happened.

But wait--he's coming up there with her? Hey, hold on, she didn't invite him---too late, he's on his way up. Fine, she'd take his company, scooting over to make room for him on the branch. It wasn't like she had much else going on.

"Isn't comin' up like that a lil' dramatic?" But she will casually call him out on not climbing up like a normal person.

"When am I not a little dramatic?" Strange points out, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He is well aware of some of his flaws and 'being a dumb dramatic show-off' is one of them. As Shura scoots over, Strange solidifies and turns back into his human form, sitting on the branch next to Shura.

This is nice! It's certainly higher up than expected: after one look down at the bottom of the ground, Strange decides that nope, he's going to focus his attention elsewhere. Instead, he looks over towards the tree line.

"This is a nice view," he'll admit, as he looks over at the various trees of the forest.

"Ah, you're right~" Of course a dumb magician wouldn't want to climb up a tree like a sane person. Of course, Shura hadn't exactly climbed up the usual way, but she could just jump, which was easier than climbing.

With him settled, Shura follows his gaze. "It ain't bad. Rather be somewhere nicer, but it's better than bein' stuck in Polaris the whole time."

Air, fresh, real air. Even if it was the Wyldlands, it was refreshing.

He knows what she means: Strange gives Shura a little nod. "Nothing shows you all the little things you took for granted like being stuck inside for a few weeks."

There were already a few things that Strange didn't take for granted: light being one of the most important ones. But the actual sky, real grass, a constant breeze, things like that he didn't realize he missed until they were gone.

"It doesn't help that Polaris is just so...clinical. Our stay might have been easier to bear had the Mother of Invention believed in using color." If you joke about things, that means they don't affect you, right? Right!

Nothing shows that you're completely unaffected by a traumatic experience like making terrible jokes about it! "Mm, a little color, or maybe even somethin' to eat every once in a while! No wonder we had to revolt, it was just so boring!"

Boring and absolutely awful. Shura stretches her legs out long in front of her, the metal catching the light for a brief second before she pulls them back. "You'd think she'd be tryin' just a litte since she got such an unruly lot."

Like a bird or a small child, Strange's eyes are briefly drawn to the shine of Shura's new metal legs, before he focuses back on the conversation. Well. That explains just what the hell happened to her in Polaris. He won't talk about it if she doesn't want to.

"Unruly is putting it nicely," Strange teases, with a little smile. "We had...what, three or four of us in Theta by the end. And only after a few weeks! I suspect that's a new record."

"Oh, I'm sure there have been others who just gave up early. But that's borin', don't you think?" Admittedly, so was doing all of that manual labor, but at least they could try to avoid being hungry that way. "Even if we were screwed, might as well make as uch trouble as we can on the way out."

"Have I ever told you that I love the way you think?" Strange responds, with a cocky sort of grin on his face. Make as much trouble on the way out? That's his line of thinking. "Because I feel the same. It's useless going down without a fight."

Shura leers back at him. "You just like it so much 'cause I'm not scoldin' ya! 'Course, considerin' what we're going to try after this, I think you'll have plenty of opportunities to make people mad."

shura | ota

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