⇨ 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

[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?"

[betheman]

Gongenzaka's ears, and eyes both snap to Frost, and his expression both sharpens and sours.

"...For one accusing her of subservience to us, you seem to feel you have a fair amount of say yourself, Frost," he growls lowly. "More than this....what makes either of you feel that our intent is to destroy, rather than restore, when we have clearly come to talk?" All they've spoken about is healing the damage of the soul after all- wouldn't that in itself somehow leave a Queen in its wake?

[moonfang]

"Oi. Pipsqueak," Zangetsu says, jumping from Gon's back as he does so. "Shut the fuck up. We ain't here to talk to you. Sit your scrawny ass down."

[hippocarnival]

"Don't try to twist things!" Yuya snaps up at Frost. "We're trying to talk because we don't want to kill her or take her off the throne! We want to talk because the Ringmaster and the Summer Maiden still believe in her. Her soul is hurt, isn't it?"

He looks to the Winter Queen, pursing his lips. "It's painful, isn't it?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert’s head snaps up as soon as he catches sight of Frost, his lips curling back on a snarl.

“Can’t we just destroy that little shit instead?”

Sure, they might have agreed to try not to kill the Winter Queen, but this guy’s been the biggest pain in their collective ass.

[atouts]

"Would that we could," Childermass mutters, shooting an unimpressed look Frost's way. "But she may take it as an act of aggression, even if he is a treacherous little insect."

[periphrasing]

"Counter-point: An "act of aggression" is absolutely warranted wherever he's involved," Peridot growls, electricity crackling ominously between the new spikes running down her back and tail. With her new power, she could easily take Frost now, she's convinced of it. It's extremely tempting to make a go at him.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita's own anger seems to ebb away upon seeing the effect of her words on Ignatius.

That calm is gone in an instant when Frost rears his head, however. "You...!" she hisses, hands balled into fists and rage flickering in her eyes. She's tempted to attack right then and there, but with her own words from moments ago still fresh in her mind, she can't bring herself to do something so blatantly hypocritical. So she grits her teeth and stays where she is.

[npcarnival]

Frost doesn't seem to be listening to them. Instead, his attention is completely on the Winter Queen herself, his fangs showing as he eggs her on.

"Fine, then!" he says. "If you can't protect yourself, I'll do it for you." Before the Queen really has a chance to react, Frost is revealing more of the very same black ice shards he used to nearly kill everyone not long ago. He whips them towards the group with the same level of precision as before, but of course, this time circumstances have changed.

The Winter Queen seems stunned, looking towards the carnival while not quite knowing how to react.

[flashover]

Sorry Frost, not this time.

Pulling on the power of the Blue Rose now dwelling inside him, Rin throws up a huge conflagration, a wall of searing blue flame that fills the throne room. They come so easily, and burn with such intensity, it's a little frightening! The flame dances around the Queen and the Carnival, bringing only a comforting warmth. But for Frost's shards, it's a different story.

"Ok, I think it's time we shut that little pixie up for good."

[insidescoop]

HIII-H!!

[Carly's immediate action, go figure, is to try and defend. Specifically she does this by thrusting up a wall of flames as best she can muster, silently loading it with as much light and heat as her very magic can draw from. Whether she alone could possibly pull that off is certainly questionable- but she isn't alone, and she's far from the only one who can make a fire wall. So...

Hopefully the others react similarly? At the very least, Rin seems to have shared her thoughts on this though.]

[betheman]

[Gongenzaka gives a half snarled roar not unlike when he was imprisoned in the Manor, as the incoming attack materializes and is launched.] NO-!

[Yuuya still stands somewhat ahead- and without thinking he rushes to curl around the other, willing his vines around them both as a make shift cocoon. That alone no doubt would mean little to the ice...but then again, he does have the power of growth with him now, and the fire from the others is no doubt intended to protect them as well.]

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya twists, his form shattering as the ice hits a clone left in his place and he stands a couple feet to the side.

There are others focused on defense, so Syrlya makes a move to neutralize the threat. He drops to one knee, hand to the ground with focus.

Crystalline vines grow from the point, rolling along the ground before many of them shoot up quickly in an attempt to capture Frost and render him unable to attack or flee again.

[anti_nonsense]

There goes Rita's restraint. The sight of those black shards spurs her to action.

"Not again... You won't get away this time, you freak!"

Through the wall of blue flames conjured by Rin, an elemental made of white fire bursts forth and flies at Frost, fire whipping around her vaguely humanoid figure. In this form, Rita holds out a fist, charging it with more of that magical fire, and aims to slam it all into the pixie as she launches herself at him.

[periphrasing]

Despite her eagerness to put the hurt on Frost, Peridot sticks to the defensive this time, adding a crackling barrier of electricity to Rin and Carly's fire wall. Branches of lighting sheer off and target any wayward icicles that they can reach, hopefully destroying them before they do anyone any harm.

[textsfromhotland]

Alphys shrieks and covers her head as Frost attacks, but when she doesn't immediately die, she looks up to see everyone else throwing up shields.

"Ohhhhh my god-" She breathes a sigh of relief before realizing oh wait she can do this too. Holding up her staff, she summons up her new powers. "Mew Mew... MAGIC SHIELD!"

...Yes, she's going to give all of her new tricks anime attack names. Her contribution to the shield looks like floating bits of glitter dispersed in between the electricity and the flames.

[spaghettimonster]

Him again. Those again. Last time, the icicles tore through everyone's defenses, and proved really deadly - if it weren't for the Ringmaster's power restoring them. The change most of them have gone through just might make the difference, there...

But in this split second to decide, he isn't certain enough. The surest approach is to dodge the attacks, and keep Frost from making more.

So Papyrus shoots into the air, spreading crystal wings to hold him aloft above the icicles - freeing up his blue magic to grab for friends who haven't acted yet. The new dimension to his magic splits his focus, and for once he feels multiple souls at once. He reaches for people who haven't moved yet, ready to ping them blue and pull them out of harm's way.

[soft_focus]

Is Reira's shield going to do diddly? No, but it was better than sitting and gawking and in a weird way felt better than just standing about. When she feels herself ping blue however, she finds her current shield position a bit silly- what with now launching up to wherever Papyrus feels is Safest. "Oh-!"

.... "...ok..." Her shield is still up, mostly because she has quietly entered a strange foggy state of shock as she floats about.

[whattaprick]

While others put up shields and launch attacks of their own against the pixie, Lambert has ideas of his own, slower to react as he is. It's impulsiveness that drives it, really -- he steps forward and his form blurs to light, though instead of launching himself after Frost, he's going for popping up beside the Winter Queen's throne, tail glowing with light and waving agitatedly. It may put him out of the immediate defensive range of the Carnival, but he's confident, now, that things are different.

The Queen's evident surprise that things have taken this turn doesn't bode well. Provided he actually makes it there, he'll flank the Queen, though his eyes are fixed on Frost, watching the fae with bared teeth.

"Still sure he's on your side, your majesty?" he quips.

[moonfang]

"Alright, that's enough of that fuckin' little bastard!"

Through the wall of flames and glitter and electricity, Zangetsu blasts toward the pixie. His hands are talons and wreathed in life-enhanced energy, and he swats the black ice intended for him out of the air.

He dashes to Frost's other side, across from Rita. Both his arms bubble and boil and shift into giant mouths with gnashing, shark-like, obsidian-black teeth.