⇨ THE WINTER COURT

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone willing to come.
When: Day 142
Where: The Winter Palace
What: Whether you've ascended to godhood or been blessed with temporary protections, it's time to confront the Winter Queen.
Warnings: ???

THE BEGINNING AND THE END↴ Once everyone has made their decisions, the Ringmaster will take those that have chosen to ascend to an isolated place within her realm. As it turns out, that end up being the core of the two moons, combined into one impregnable space. This might be a bit explosive, she warns. Can't be too careful. With everyone together, back in her partly humanoid form, she will bring out the Blue Rose and the Silver Mirror - both in their sword and shield forms respectively - and begin her work. Her wings, now feathery and glowing red with power, spread around the group, and they will feel a stirring in their body and soul. The space becomes blinding, like overwhelming light and darkness all at once, burning and freezing all at once. Life and death, all at once. You bleed into the ether, become one with it, and then reform - only you've brought something back with you. The domain of one of the Miracles has bound itself to you, body and soul. Though it is the Miracle's legacy, the power is now yours, to do with what you will. No other force will command you. Once it is done, the moon has become an eclipse, it's corporeal form melting away. You will find yourself floating back down to the surface of the realm, changed but empowered. Your body may appear different than before, or it may be the same - regardless, you are something fully new. You have the same memories, the same desires, the same hopes, but they have come together to create something else. You are born again.

Comments

[atouts]

"No one will punish her, that's what. No one ever punishes royalty."

Childermass moves a step over, firmly placing himself in front of the Ringmaster rather than off to one side. He doesn't have to worry about being vaporized by some shitty High Fae anymore and he's most certainly not going to forget that.

"The Winter Court is broken because you broke it. Admit it already. You drove the Ringmaster and the Summer Maiden both away with your schemes. You either ignored it when all of your other followers were killed or you ordered it yourself. You refuse to create a new Winter Maiden. Why? Do you fear any child of yours will have the same greed for power that you had?"

Although during his little diatribe, he's reaching out with his own senses, now empowered beyond that of a mere human or changeling by the Silver Mirror. He could feel the Void before thanks to Wismuth but now, he feels, he may be able to pinpoint it much more clearly if it's around.

If the Mother of Invention could be filled with it, one can't help but wonder if it's been leaking into the rest of the Court, right?

[flashover]

Wow. This lady gives a whole new meaning to "icy bitch". Rin can sense the hurt in the Ringmaster, and he places a hand on her arm, giving her a sympathetic look. It seems like the other Changelings have "sassing the Winter Queen" covered -- so he'll run backup.

"Don't let it get to you. She's just trying to make you feel miserable, just like her."

[textsfromhotland]

Alphys just buries her face in her hands (but peeks through a small gap in her fingers) Oh my god you guys stop yelling at the extremely powerful fairy queen.

[insidescoop]

Carly's fists are clenched, but her words do not go to the Queen- as much as it's clear her anger is directed in that direction. "For someone who thinks she got the short end of the stick Ringmaster, she seems pretty keen on taking most of the blame off herself too, don't you think?" First it's 'you should have stayed', then it's 'You should have listened'...for all the Queen speaks of both deserving punishment, the others are right as far as Carly can tell- it seems more like that's falling on the Ringmaster if anything.

[npcarnival]

With the power of Light and Darkness, it's fully within Childermass's power to discern the nature of the Winter Queen's soul. There's everything you'd expect to be there - a flurry of everything Winter represents: ice, darkness, decay. Yet, that is only her magic, her potential. What ends up sticking out far more is not the type of power she has, but the way it's aligned. It isn't the Void, but it's something that beckons to it - it is the essence of self-destruction.

Her soul is tempestuous, in a way that won't make sense to Childermass's perception. Most souls would have their own combination of Light and Darkness, as all consciousnesses do, but this one seems fragmented. Like broken glass, with parts out of place, parts missing, and shards of Darkness and Light that don't seem to match together.

Rebellion and control. Change and tradition. Hatred and remorse.

It's like puzzle pieces that could never fit together in a way that would be whole.

[npcarnival]

"We're all greedy," the Winter Queen says. "I know that full well. Every member of the Winter Court is filled with the same sickness I have."

Suddenly, the Winter Queen laughs.

"What does collateral damage matter? I have no love for what we are, but it is simply a way of being. I never realized that before, but now... now I do. I thought I would take you away, simply because you're what the beast wanted. Isn't it amazing? How you can simply... inflict yourself upon others?"

[atouts]

"Would I have not already seen fae who managed to change their way of being, I might agree, but now that's nothing more than a lazy excuse," Childermass says before shifting back before turning to look at the others, Ringmaster included. "Her soul is a mess, broken and missing in places."

He focuses on the Ringmaster once he's let everyone else in on his creepy soul-peeping there.

"Would consuming too much power do something like that if it were done the wrong way?"

[moonfang]

Zangetsu looks at the Queen, then back to Childermass.

"Wait, you can actually make sense of that hot garbage?"

The Red Beast's blessing had given Zangetsu's senses a boost, but souls were still more Silver Mirror stuff. To him, her soul reads as some sort of horrible white noise -- something is very wrong there, but what, exactly, is a mystery.

"Though she's clearly nuts."

[periphrasing]

"Maybe the old Winter Queen is still in there somewhere, and she's slowly driving her insane," Peridot snorts unsympathetically, to no one in particular.

[spaghettimonster]

"Huh? But it's never worked like that when the Ringmaster... eats other fae..."

Papyrus trails off, squinting with concern towards the Ringmaster as though she's about to start springing their past foes out of her head. And then he remembers; the Ringmaster's not just a fae - she's a miracle, too, one whose powers of change might give her an edge when it comes to things like consuming others' powers.

Maybe there was a reason Ignatius sounded so incredulous at the idea, before.

He focuses on the Winter Queen, on her soul. Monster magic has so much to do with souls - one of his favorite techniques targets it - and the new powers in him go far further. And it gives him some insight; like Childermass says, the Winter Queen's soul is a contradictory, jangling mess. As though someone divided her, just as many of them had divded in Shabon, then crushed the pieces back together unwillingly.

"She... does feel pretty messed up," he finally concludes.

[betheman]

Gongenzaka looks to be wondering whether or not he should be trying to sense out for the Queen's soul himself at this point- with Zangetsu's exclamation, it's not feeling like a great idea. But it's Papyrus' trailing statement that causes him to blink in abrupt understanding.

Or at least, apparent understanding. All of their thoughts right now, are merely theories for the most part after all. "...That is how the Ringmaster does so," he notes, eyes widening. "But the Winter Maiden was not the Ringmaster- and we have already been told that the move from 'Maiden' to 'Queen' has never taken this path," he adds more firmly.

"So then- who is to say that in defying it, such damage could not happen?"

For all that they are making these theories though, they are still...well. Right in front of the Winter Queen. "...What the question is, is how to reverse such damage, is it not?"

And, he thinks somewhat bitterly as he looks at the Queen, whether or not she'll let them try that.

[whattaprick]

Lambert has been mostly quiet up to this point, but the way the conversation’s turned has him raising his head, eyes narrowed. Sure, the Ringmaster does it and it’s fine, but maybe highlighting that she inspired the Queen to do the same isn’t the best idea — not in front of the Queen, anyway. Childermass’s questions may cut to the question of Winter’s succession and his scrying may have revealed what might be the underlying cause of her problems, but he has a much more personal one for her.

“You said you wanted her to stay,” he calls, stepping a little farther ahead of the rest of the Carnival a bit, fingers curling in on themselves. “Did you even ask her? Or did you just assume you didn’t have to?” His voice tries for steady but his tail betrays him, the filaments starting to glow with a light that tries to fight against the cold isolation of this room, instinctively wrapping his friends in the ambient warmth of Creation.

Also, Lambert just really hates the cold, even if he can’t really feel it anymore. He’ll let the rest of them work on figuring out the details, but he reaches out for that sense of a fractured soul and suppressing a flinch at the conflict there. He may have gained the affinity for light and shadow only recently, but he knows something fucked up when he sees it.

[lordofthering]

"I don't know," the Ringmaster says quietly, conscious about the fact that they are discussing this all within plain hearing range of the Queen. "Consuming each other's power is a Wyld Fae thing... the Courts never practiced it." She swallows. "Maybe that was for a reason."

Just another way she managed to screw this all up, she thinks. She looks at Peridot, and then Lambert, obviously concerned, but she doesn't add anything to that. She's increasingly unsure of if logic will matter.

[npcarnival]

Ignatius has been uncomfortable since the moment they arrived, and upon entering the throne room it's only gotten worse. The more the Winter Queen speaks, the more his frustration and strain is evident. His fists are clenching, and his hair is burning and misting more heavily than usual. His white scales glow faintly, as if charging with ambient energy.

He turns to look away, and the effort he is putting into keeping calm is obvious.

[hippocarnival]

It's probably not actually a surprise to the Winter Queen that she's totally screwed up on a soul level. Yuya looks around before taking a step forward to the Winter Queen. Just one.

"What did you want to change about the Courts? With the Summer Maiden and the Ringmaster, why you wanted to be Queen--what was it for?"

She's addled, but Yuya doesn't get the impression she's being dishonest right now. It's not exactly in the Fae's nature to directly lie, anyway. And maybe none of them know where her real feelings laid this whole time.

[npcarnival]

"It was for nothing," the Queen snaps at Yuya, raising her arms. "Don't you see that? We are all the same - it's the same blood in our veins. The Queens all have the same souls, cycled through perpetuity. What could the most feeble of the triad hope to accomplish?"

She narrows her eyes at Lambert.

"I did tell her to stay, but then... of course, then she refused to listen... after the deed had already been done. Cowards, both of them. Both running away to their own private realms, thinking that the rot won't be able to follow them."

[npcarnival]

"The only fae that say that are the ones who cannot stand the weight of their own actions," Ignatius growls, casting a sideways glance at the Winter Queen. "No wonder you and the Mother got along so well. You are practically of one mind. It's fae like you who are the true cowards - you cannot face the truth of what you have made yourself."

[npcarnival]

The Winter Queen narrows her eyes at Ignatius, and then something clicks. Her irritated frown turns into a cruel smirk.

"It's you," she says, stepping forward. "I remember you. The infant fae your Highness sent to invade my Court." She laughs. "How rich for you to speak of cowardice... I remember your pathetic pleas for my mercy. If only I could have the satisfaction of denying you and your helpless Queen again."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya shakes his head, looking at the Winter Queen more sternly. When she and Ignatius start to argue, Yuya moves to step between them, holding a hand out. It's really a signal to both of them, but it's the Winter Queen he faces sternly.

"That's not what I asked. I don't want to know the result, I want to know what drove to it to begin with! You remember, don't you, the reason you wanted to work with them in the first place? So what was it?"

What was her point in all of this? Is there something to save, or did she really have cruel intentions from the start?

[npcarnival]

While Yuya speaks, Ignatius seems to crack beneath her mockery, and makes a furious sound. Stepping forward, he thrusts out an arm like he's about to cast a spell.

[insidescoop]

Carly is about ready to snap about her own thoughts regarding mercy and excuses- but something clicks, and as Ignatius moves, she hurriedly moves amd reaches to try and grab at Ignatius' shoulder- an odd, strained sort of half yelp escaping as she does so.

"Wait- wait wait-!! We already know she's a mess, don't you think making us attack could be what she wants?!"

[impatientdefense]

"Those guys were saying it might be a trap," Beau mutters to the people around her. "Guess we found it."

She shifts her grip on her staff so it'll be easier to move, and glances around their surroundings. If the Winter Queen - or Winter Queens? whatever - have any minions waiting in the wings for an ambush, she'll be looking.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita, too, lunges forward with her arm out.

"Don't let her get to you!" she cries at Ignatius. "You're right... she's the coward. Making others do her dirty work... and now she's got the nerve to act like this was all inevitable, like she was powerless to do anything else, to be any better than this... It's pathetic!"

It doesn't take long for her rant to become less of an affirmation towards Ignatius, and more of an accusation towards the Queen.

"And now what? You want to provoke us? See if we'll charge into another trap? Or maybe you really have given up, and you're just waiting for someone else to end it all for you. Well, screw that!"

[atouts]

Leaving keeping Ignatius from blowing his top (literally) to the others, Childermass glances back at the Queen, though he's still pitching his voice low for just the Ringmaster and those immediately around him.

"Or the power the Queens hold is different than the average High Fae." It could be one or the other, perhaps even both. "I wonder if the Miracles could repair a soul..."

[npcarnival]

Carly's touch is enough to make Ignatius hesitate, but Rita is the one that seems to force him to step down from the edge. He looks at her, and the pain of facing the Queen is obvious, but he can't deny his kin. He lowers his arm, his fangs and fists clenching tight. Yet, she's right.

He nods to her slightly in acknowledgment, and almost as an apology for stepping out of line in the first place. As a military leader, he knows the cost of allowing one's self to be drawn out like this.

Instead, he steps a bit closer to Rita and stops talking completely, focusing on calming himself and reigning in his fire. He's not here to lead, he's here to support. He has to remember that.