lostcarnival | ⇨ THE WINTER COURT

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⇨ THE WINTER COURT

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.

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Rita had been right the first time. Rising to the bait was probably not the ideal decision, and his gut turns when he sees her leaping to attack Frost. His first concern is just her putting herself in too close of a proximity to the Queen, and then it only gets worse.

He'd never have dreamed of directly pushing back against the might of one of the Queens, but right now there isn't really a choice. He lunges past the defensive line and grabs her hand, standing against the ice but, much like Rita, having little defense against all the Darkness and Death.

But that's never been the sort of thing to stop him. Lighting up with as much power as he can manage, a defensive aura against the elements, he tugs her back into his arms and back behind the defenses of the others.

Sans was already trying to draw the Death out of the icicles, but blast of power from the Queen is enough to overwhelm his senses. Wings spread, he gets knocked back, but shortly after everyone is already summoning their defenses, and he spreads the light of Life across the group and blends his magic with theirs.

And then Papyrus suggests that they just wait her out and he can't help but let out a mildly hysterical laugh.

"Change her mind?" he asks. "Well I've got the change, and you've got the mind, so what else are we missing?"

The idea of trying to directly impact the Queen seemed ridiculous given all their experiences up to this point, but maybe that's just it. Growth and Decay was supposed to represent developing forces - who's to say they couldn't make these developments go faster?

And even more than them, they have the Miracle herself right here. He looks in the Ringmaster's direction.

Peridot drops back into the protection of the group when the Queen's maelstrom kicks up, yelping with surprise. She hasn't worked out much in the way of defensive capabilities with her new magic yet, so unfortunately the most she can do is just kind of hide behind everyone else, and try to radiate some heat against the cold.

The Ringmaster had been so focused on trying to reach into the Mirror and Rose and discover their secrets that she was distracted when Frost finally drew enough ire to send this meeting into chaos. She feels like this is what he wanted, somehow - even if he perishes, he'd always been trying to manipulate them. It seems extra clear now, after everything. She can't afford to try to weigh blame - they aren't done yet.

She no longer has the luxury of hesitation, though. She's never seen a Queen let loose like this before, and even if they don't die, the destruction could be passive. She brandishes her Miracle weapons, her own wings burning with a red aura as she spreads them around her people.

"Winter!" she cries out. "Stop! You wanted me to come back? I want you to come back! If you're in there, I'm finding you!"

The rest of what happens is intuitive. Responding to her will, the give bestowed uniquely upon her from all three of the Miracles - the ability to choose. With the others holding a defensive barrier, she taps into the power of all three.

The power of Fire and Ice fills her with the power needed to act.

The power of Light and Darkness gives her access to this shattered mess of a soul.

The power of Growth and Decay inspires it to find the ways it has changed.

The union of all three floods with the room with its power, drawing on the forces of everyone present. Red and white flame combats the darkness as the Ringmaster plunges forward with the Rose Sword for one final strike.

Steven can sense the Ringmaster's will, then. She wants to fix things. He gets that, and he wants nothing more for her to be right.

As the Ringmaster taps into her power, he projects all the force of Fire and Ice that he has access too, powering her strike with his own magic. His defenses fall away as he pushes forward with all his strength. They have to make this count.

Gongenzaka as well, his very soul pouring into everything, finds it in himself to channel that spirit toward what they need. Toward the Growth and Decay that now flows through his own being, and from there into the collective power the Ringmaster is thrusting forward.

His eyes shielded by plant matter, and one hand digging at the ground, he holds Yuuya close and focuses.

This is more out of Syrlya's expertise, generally, to trade magical energy... but there's a familiarity to the Blue Rose's ability of such a thing that he thinks he can work with the theory of it. Like Steven, he tapers off some of his spellwork to funnel the magic to the Ringmaster instead.

With the Ringmaster's bright fires rushing out around them, the threatening pressure seems to lighten ever so slightly. It's enough for Papyrus to take stock, and shout back at his brother.

"We're missing her, of course!" He doesn't bother to specify which her he means. The Winter Queen, choosing to change her mind, or the Ringmaster, bearing in to force the issue... Either is applicable.

Instead he doubles down on offering encouragement and hope - the silver lining on the edge between light and shadow - and pushing it to the both of them.

Rita finds herself pulled into Ignatius's arms, and for a few brief, desperate moments, she latches on to him, taking in the warmth of his embrace, and of the feeling of Life around them...

But once she has her wits about her again, she quickly pulls away. She's alive, but there's no time to celebrate. This isn't over yet.

Facing the Ringmaster, Rita holds out a hand, closes her eyes, and focuses. She focuses on the power of Fire and Ice pulsing within her heart, and draws on it, pushing it outward to fuel the Ringmaster's blade. Once she establishes the path for the energy to flow in, she clenches her hand into a fist, pushing herself to muster up more and more of that power.

The child of the group can only watch- there is no might of miracle, or power that can be provided, even if they will it. But Carly presses onward, and despite herself even manages a tearful smile. Willing all that she has to give beyond their protection to the Ringmaster's own strike.

"Khh...We have your back..!" she insists, holding firm. "Let's show her you have hers..!" They're all here- and they're here for the Ringmaster's choice!

Oh, so it's time for the Spirit Bomb now, huh? Well, it was a Zanpakutou's job to keep the order, in a roundabout way. His new power of possession made lending his power even easier. Life, death, and the precarious balance between -- he funnels it toward the Ringmaster's blade in a whirl of brilliant white and deepest black energy, wreathed in red.

---

Meanwhile, the Queen freezing his fire is enough to knock Rin back with a cry of pain, like she had hurt him directly. He grumbles and sits up in time to see the Ringmaster preparing an attack, all three miracles directed forward with a single purpose.

He collects himself, pulling on the maelstrom of elements made stable within. His hand-like wings spread wide, new "membranes" formed between the fingers of shards of ice, flares of fire, wisps of wind, and crackles of lightning.

"Set it right, Ringmaster!"

Edited 2019-03-06 23:43 (UTC)

Peridot's right there along with everyone else, putting whatever essence of fire and ice she has to spare towards boosting the Ringmaster's efforts. She's crouching on all fours, claws tense against the floor, teeth gritted in concentration as she focuses on directing the magic.

"Peri-Power to the rescue!" she grinds out, heat and electricity shimmering around her body.

The Ringmaster moves and Lambert sends his power after her. ‘Balance’ has never been his watchword, so it he errs more on invoking Light than Darkness, trying to carve a path for her way forward. As always, he’s found a way to make something borrowed his own, and the warmth of Creation laces through it, willing strength and determination to her.

“Go kick the crap out of her soul!” he calls after with cheerful, vindictive enthusiasm — literally or figuratively, in this case, either one works. Sometimes, you need to be willing to serve up some real tough love to get things done.

Alphys is momentarily distracted by how anime all of this is. If the carnival had an opening theme song, this would be the part where it got a reprise. She doesn't want to be left out, so she lends the Ringmaster her power, too.

"Mew mew... uhhh.... sparkling miracle blast!" That's a cool enough attack name, right?

The Rose Sword strikes, and with the intuition of the Mirror, and with the power of the Ringmaster and everyone backing her, it cuts deep into the Winter Queen's soul. Those waring parts, the turbulent storm of contradictions, is hewn in two. Yet, it doesn't destroy. Instead, it divides, and it purifies. The Ringmaster reaches for the parts of this storm that she recognizes, freeing it from the clutches of such terrible power.

The doomsday of Winter elements that surrounds them starts to break apart and fade, all of it gathering together at the face of the Mirror Shield. Those chaotic spiritual energies that have been left behind linger like a hateful specter, and the Miracle of Light and Dark is able to gather them up into the safety of its own inner realm. Holding up the Shield, the Ringmaster channels the exorcized spirits away, leaving a very different creature at her feet.

The Winter Queen falls, her physical form shimmering and threatening to break apart, and then solidifying again. She hits the floor in a heap, her pure white hair draped over her like a veil.

As the storm passes, the throne room is left in ruins. In the Ringmaster's hand, the Silver Mirror shimmers with the wild and vengeful soul it now contains.

The throne room falls silent, until the Winter Queen finally stirs. Bedraggled and frail, everyone there will be able to feel that she's missing a significant portion of the power she had before. The presence here is almost unrecognizable from the one that was here before.

Determined. Rebellious. Disciplined. And now there's something more... immediate and crushing regret.

The Queen pulls her hair away from her face, and her expression is one of pure shock and incomprehension. Like she is suddenly missing some vital sense, the world she is in now in no way matches the one she was living in a moment ago, and for the last eon that she can remember. She struggles to sit up, clumsily slipping on the icy floor.

"No," she says, her voice cracking as she touches her face, like she doesn't recognize it. "Oh, no, no..."

The storm has passed. Reira ducks under her arm as it blows across the air, eyes squeezed tight until there's nothing to hide away from. And then the wind dies down, and they're left with ruins. Ruins, a collapsed 'new' Queen....and their lives, really. They're all still here.

They're all alive.

And now the Winter Queen stands, and it doesn't sound like she's going to be 'alright' despite it. Reira takes a small step forward, if at least to see easier. And despite the situation sending nothing but anxious fear through her, manages to speak. "Are you..."

Ah- no, she obviously isn't alright. She can't ask that. So then... "...Ms. Queen...?" she starts, swallowing. "...We... ... ...Is it ok...to help you?"

It feels like she needs help. It feels like at the very least, it should be offered, especially after this, and especially when that sense of a crushing reality coming down upon them is only now here. They came here to talk, and from there 'fixed' her.

But that doesn't mean she doesn't need help.

The minute after everything quiets stretches on, before Yuya's hands stops glowing and all of his magic flickers out when he no longer needs to push it. His knees buckle as he slumps wearily against Gongenzaka, fingers tangling in his fur to keep himself upright. That took a lot out of him, but despite it he tries to push himself out of Gon's hold to see what's happened around him.

"It worked...?"

“... depends on how you define ‘worked,’” Lambert mutters, straightening himself and stepping over to stand beside Childermass, hands curling by his side like he’d like a sword, but sensing that’s likely not the point right now. He knows others will likely take a closer look at what’s become of the Winter Queen, so his attention turns away from the discomfort in front of him, sharply looking around for any sign of what’s become of Frost ... if he still even remains.

More importantly, though the Queen herself seems diminished ... where did all that power go? It couldn’t have just disappeared that easily, could it?

Frost is still there... sort of. More accurately, what remains of Frost is there, crumpled on the floor and obviously dying. Not long after it ends, he will manage some frail, spiteful tittering despite his imminent mortality, though for the first time he seems genuinely disappointed and distressed.

"You stupid bitch," he wheezes, the magical form of his body torn and bleeding aura into the air. "You couldn't even die right."

The Winter Queen looks in his direction from her own crumpled place on the floor. Yet, it doesn't seem like her thoughts are quite clear enough to process it.

"Frost..." she says, with a muddled but obvious sense of betrayal. "You..." She looks at Reira and then shakes her head. "No, don't touch me." She's defensive, but something about it seems more self deprecating than offended.

Ignatius cautiously moves forward, looking at the fallen Queen. He ignores Frost entirely because he doesn't care at all if that little rat perishes.

"This seems familiar..." he comments, mostly to the Ringmaster. "Though I see you spared her the part where you swallowed her alive, first."

He's joking. Mostly.

"I guess," the Ringmaster says, mostly just staying standing where she is. She can't even make eye contact with Winter right now. There's far too much going on inside her own head. Some things can't be fixed with magic swords and shields.

Speaking of which, though, it seems that the power that left the Winter Queen is now housed within the Silver Mirror - the perfect containment vessel for a soul. It practically shines with the Winter magic held within. Lambert will be able to sense that intuitively, though his connection to the Miracle.

Gongenzaka rolls and coughs, similarly weakened by the strain and focus and falling more or less limp while breathing. "Hahhhh....hahhh... ...the...'easy' part, at least," he manages, looking toward Reira and the Queen. "...Which leaves unfortunately....the hard part..."

The Queen, 'sane' but left with the weight of her actions.

It's something Reira isn't entirely unfamiliar with...but as she looks up to the Queen, it only means she understands that request more than ever. Hands folded together, she looks down- and then looks back to Yuuya, quietly pleading for the other to come over.

She suspects she's a bit easier to talk to now- but what's more important is knowing what to talk about this time.

"It's in the Mirror," Childermass states what will be obvious to Lambert already, though not everyone here will have the same connection that they do to that particular Miracle. He drops his own field once the magical storm has ebbed away, giving the Winter Queen a far less charitable look than others may offer.

"I suppose she's simply the Maiden again, without the Queen's soul. I wonder if the rest of the Court will realize something is amiss."

"Uh, correct me if I'm wrong," Beau says, pushing herself to her feet unsteadily now that the rush of temporary power is fading. It feels as if a lot of the power in the room was pulled along in the wake of the Ringmaster's final attack, there.

"But wasn't that supposed to be... Isn't it a bad thing if there's no Queen soul? No offense," she briefly directs to the recovering Winter... Queen, Maiden, whichever, before turning back to the rest of the ex-Carnival. "Stuck in some phylactery thing isn't the same as being in the reigning Queen, right...?"

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