⇨ 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

[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.

[soft_focus]

Well this is A Lot. A lot of a mess, a lot of people getting upset (expected), and really just. A lot.

Softly- though perhaps not quietly- Reira peers forward and around at everyone when Childermass brings up the miracles. It looks like there won't be a Big Fight at the least given Ignatius stepping down- which in turn makes her feel a bit better about actually saying anything.

"They can break a soul," she starts, thinking back to how everyone split in pieces at Shabon with the Silver Mirror. "So...why wouldn't they be able to fix one?"

Well.

She personally wonders if the issue will be getting the Queen to let them, at this point.

[lordofthering]

As foolish as it may be, it's really only the rest of the carnival's commentary that is cluing the Ringmaster into the idea of using the Miracles to fix this. She'd just never conceived of doing something like that - tampering with people mentally and spiritually has always been against her principles, believing in their own freedom to act. She's always had such a hard rule against crossing that line, that even stepping past it to heal was a reach for her to make.

Gongenzaka had mentioned the possibility of trying to fix it, but Childermass takes it one further and mentions the Miracles themselves. The Ringmaster looks at him, surprised, and then down to the Sword and Shield in her hands. Could these really do it? Could they break past whatever is plaguing her former lover and friend?

Could she ever be like she was before?

The Ringmaster is obviously a bit dumbstruck, but she also trusts Childermass's perspective implicitly. She holds out the Shield uncertainly, probing its energies for an answer.

"I've never tried something like that before," she says. "But... these are the Miracles, aren't they? Who's to say there's anything they can't do."

She doesn't manage quite the level of confidence she's striving for, but she tried.

[atouts]

Well, considering Childermass's initial perspective was 'ice her'... At least he's trying to see the other side here. If the Winter Queen is completely broken, that explains a lot, even if it doesn't forgive it. He focuses back on the Queen, regarding her soul again, how twisted and shattered it has become.

"And not just you and the other two. We're all Miracles now, aren't we? If you cannot quite understand how to make it work, perhaps we can."

If he can just instinctively peer at a soul, someone might be able to see more or a way to do this. Something, anything.

[periphrasing]

Listening to her talk, and considering all she's done, it's hard to view the Winter Queen as someone who is deserving any sort of kindness, but... Well. People deserve second chances, right? She herself wouldn't be here now, if Steven hadn't given her one. And the plan of using the miracles makes enough sense... surely it can't hurt to try, right?

"Yeah. We'll back you up," Peridot says to the Ringmaster with determination, flashing an encouraging grin.

[whattaprick]

“Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” Lambert’s always been better at breaking things than fixing them, so hopefully nobody’s looking to him for any advice there.

The main thing, he thinks, is whether the Queen will even let them close enough to try anything. She hasn’t answered Yuya’s question yet, and he doesn’t know if she hasn’t fallen so far she can’t even remember what she wanted to do to begin with, but he’ll offer his own contribution to the muttering, if quietly.

“She said the Queens recycle the same souls,” he says, brows furrowing. “Isn’t that just ... just the same thing as being reborn?”

[lordofthering]

The Ringmaster looks surprised by Lambert's suggestion, but then she narrows her eyes, thinking about it. She hadn't really thought about it that way, but...

"I suppose it is," she says, and lifts the shield with more authority. That can certainly change one's opinions on things.

[npcarnival]

The Winter Queen's reaction to their discussion is hard to place. On one hand, she isn't moving towards violence, and seems more bemused and uncaring than aggressive. On the other hand, they are openly discussing doing something to her with the Miracles.

As much as she may have accepted that is where this is going, there is a certain faerie pride that cannot allow it to pass easily.

"If you destroy me, the Winter Court will fall," she says. "With the elements unbalanced, the Void will consume all."

"You can't seriously be making it this easy for them!" says a familiar voice - just who everyone wanted to see. It's Frost, appearing in the room like he's been there all along. He still has the burn wound from Rita and Ignatius's combined attacked, but he doesn't seem to be letting that stop him. "How pathetic," he says to the Queen. "Even for you."

"I will take no criticism from you, Frost!" the Winter Queen snarls. "You failed to bring the Beast back to me!"

"And so what? You'll simply let them make you subservient? To use their new toys to bend you into what they want? You could at least fight back! If you can't have the throne, you can at least assure it's destroyed! Permanently!" He grins, holding out a hand to her. "Isn't that what you want? Revenge?"