#forever fall usera

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

Now that the Ringmaster has been distracted, the Antlered Entity can enact its plan without interruption any pesky gods.

"Alright friends, you may be wondering why I've gathered you here today."

It stretches its. . .

It stretches.

"Well, let's just say that I've got a little favor/gift I need to do for a friend, and it requires you all to..."

It snaps, and they are all swapped with a few residents of Now or Never.

The Troupe are dropped high up, Usera clinging onto nearby poles and tethers to slow her descent, Kyra grappling onto Usera, Lux freely splayed out, wildly laughing; Lumen flailing, unused to the sensation of falling, the last two, cursing, land.. hard on their stomach.

There's exactly five seconds of taking in the desolate cityscape before all hell breaks loose.

"OKAY OW???

The ground here is... Hard. Don't like........."

"Why is everything grey!?!?"

"Grey..."

"All these... Structures, what..?"

"I cannot see..."

"What was that... Thing!?"

"Thing..."

"So many of those.. Magic, I presume, they depict..."

"It's dark... Dark...!? The pages, I can't-"

"HEY! Where's the dickhead go?

I think we broke something........."

"Guys!!!! They have Supernovae too!"

"Guys......!"

The chatter dies down as a... Thing emerges. It's mechanical and segmented, rusted and bug-like, top heavy, with a distinct human face; or... What was a human face. It's been ruined, revealing mechanical circuitry beneath the viscera. This thing was human; yes, but it's as if something corrupted it from the inside out.. There's even the tatters of clothing on some of its many protruding horns.

This creature does not roar in boastful might, no, it.. rumbles. Its voice cracks the concrete beneath their feet, shatters windows in structures surrounding them, shakes their very souls as it presses in-

Leroy and Yorel have already scambled away, not daring to look back; Kyra close behind to frantically guide Usera away from debris; Lux running backwards, utterly fascinated, with Lumen silently urging her to hurry.

Sadly, with one alerted, others quickly follow, making the demigods constantly skid and backtrack, jump fences, duck under collapsed sectors, all the while avoiding large spotlights from the sky...

"A st- stage."

---

The entirety of the gang land on the floor, thankfully, though in a pile. On top of Zelda. They scramble, panicked, to their feet and... Stare in baffled confusion.

"What?"

"Is this wood?!"

"Ohh!! Like for puppet shows!"

"For ac- act.. actors to put on a on a per- performance. Ance."

"Depths, look..!"

"Ffffrick."

"Who are they?!"

A twisted audience coldly takes them in, none quite right in appearance.. Too many sets of eyes, a mouth misplaced, a nose gone completely- it's like something tried painting people from memory, only they smeared the features at the end for the hell of it. They begin to whisper to each other, muttering complaints of heckles and pointing and laughing an-

Zelda's already in front, mechanical legs clicking restlessly. Everyone slowly backs away, maintaining eye contact like terrified animals- the sheer number of "people" is petrifying, after all. Hand signals are exchanged between the four and, just like that, they make a run for it. Zelda hoists Kit onto her back, Caspian holds Astrid's hand, both in the back. They catch their breath only when their surroundings have visibly changed, that and their spectators can no longer be heard.

From here, they wander. Quite literally everything here is foreign- Zelda's database doesn't even recognize it- and exploring this new frontier is oddly exhilarating? The floors were wood before, wood! And now it's.. soft. Isn't that something?! They'd forgotten what it felt like to be cushioned rather than broken. And the walls? The ceiling? It's almost too much to look at, but it's so lovely they can't bear to stop.

Everything is patterned: Everything. One second, flowers- Kit calls them out periodically- another spiraled nothing's, sometimes eyes: a show in and of itself. But looking up it's.. biological. Something's up there, docile? At least something they can't feasibly fight. The shimmer of its scales- a snake's according to Zelda, whatever that is- is... Beautiful. Everything here is.

---

Put back in their proper places, one group tells a tale of utter terror, of senseless cruelty with no end. The other? A warm space of comfort and wonder. They almost miss it.

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

The young Thespian startles hard.

She snuck up on him and even got in his blind spot, fuck, gods damn it, they shouldn’t have yelled-!

Yew thrashes for a moment in her grip, his acid shifting to hands before he realizes that.. she isn’t holding them that hard.

He barely feels it regardless. Why can’t they feel the texture of her hands? Or fully get the pressure or effort she’s giving??

Either way though, she doesn’t seem malicious.

“I’m- I’m Yew! I’m the newest.. Thespian?” A lone salmon flame meets bright purple ones- both seemingly in confusion, “… I don’t know why I thought you’d know that…?”

“Uh- it doesn’t give you a warning when someone new joins the ranks?” their voice wavers in fear, they’re talking to a real Thespian! But, well, he’s also one of them somehow so-??

Yew’s getting off topic- he found someone! Someone absolutely terrifying yes, but someone who can guide them!

“No- that- it doesn’t matter now! please! I really need your help uh.. miss..?”

- Yew 🎣👁️‍🗨️

"You.. How queer, I should know... I should..."

The Thespian's head tilts and... Doesn't stop. It's upside down and, now, it's very clear it isn't attached to her shoulders. She wearily pulls away. It is corrected.

"I have been dubbed Usera.. You, and that warning is exactly why I am here. It is sensation more than word, one could describe it as painful- a sharp flash like... A paper cut." Usera is guided to tap a finger to the bottom of her mask, its clack is hollow.

"Though aid? You wish for aid? Quite common, that is, everything wants, and your..." A recent page, ink still fresh.. "Oleander. A... Foe? Partner? Sibling..?" A splotch of ink where the web meets.. meets..? "Who are you..?" She shrinks back, voice shaking, tentacles writhing and knocking things over. "This is not right," again, repeated,

"This is not right!"

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

Yew almost drops the apple juice, not expecting it to be in a glass cup. He’s given one whole second before the Ringmaster whooshes past him.

“Gah, hold on!” He’s forced to abandon the drink on the closest table as he rushes to keep up. Drops of acid splashing on the table in his haste, burning a hole through the wood that he barely registers.

They can’t be left alone here, they can’t-

“Ringmaster! slow down!”

Did he already mess up? Was this a punishment? Or is this how it always acts?

A part of them screams and claws and consumes him that he messed up the moment they talked to Oleander about the Circus.

That this was divine punishment for not being fast enough to stop it.

He shoves the thoughts down just in time to make a sharp left turn, and take in his situation.

They’ve lost it.

They have lost the Ringmaster and have no idea where they are right now.

The walls are bathed in rich blinding hues that sear into his brain. It’s suffocating, this place is suffocating them with no logic to its patterns nor any form of escape from that god.

There are still snakes coiled in the ceiling. All starring and mocking and laughing-

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…!”

Despite the wash of colors and nausea threatening him, Yew keeps moving. No longer running though, that was impulsive of him, they would never be able to keep pace.

But there was a silver lining to all of this, this place was not the woods. While the forest was sparse for company, a Circus has to have performers.

“OLY! Oleander!! I’m-“ Yew coughs, he knew it was a long shot to hope it was just out wondering around but, “I’M HERE! Yew, newest Thespian!! Fresh blood!” … nothing.

“Gods, FIRST DAY HERE! I NEED A MAP! ANYONE!! Please! Please, this needs to be worth it.”

- Yew 🎣👁️‍🗨️

His voice echoes through the empty palace, giving back only what he so desperately gives it. The lights flare, now cackling at his expense, before abruptly turning off. The darkness is stifling, it's absolute, unrelenting, terrifyin-

The distant sound of a door opening jolts them back to attention.

"Compose yourself, young one."

A calm, older voice resonates as Yew's yelling did earlier.

"It's understandable to be frightened."

It's much closer now; in fact-

Turn to the left and someone is simply... There. She's tall; in fact, her surroundings seem to shrink away in compensation of her sheer size. Her mask is sharp, fanged; yet, sorrowful. As she nears, the glowing lights highlight more and more.

She gives the impression of a wilted flower- her long, scraggly hair; oversized drooping cloak; prying tentacles that.. hold her up. Yes, without them, she'd no doubt collapse.

The Thespian is lowered, hunched down to Yew's level. The purple flame behind her mask dances in contemplation as she takes him in...

"Peculiar. I am.."

It dims. Distantly, the vague impression of flipping pages is felt. She tilts her head.

"Who... Who are you, young one?"

Glarled, probing hands suddenly grip him by the shoulders. She seems dizzy with the effort.

"What are you doing here? This... This is not right. Who. Are. You."

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

The mysterious antlered entity stays around the circus, being sure to stick to a form that is slightly more comprehensible to those who are not gods.

"KYRA! I have a gift for you!"

It hands her a large manual with everything that one could ever need to know about forklifts.

"Have Funnn!!"

Bemused, she opens the book...

And proceeds to spend the next couple of weeks ceaselessly reading it through, absorbing all she can. And then rereading it to jot down notes. And then once more to double check her information is correct. And maybe once more for fun.

Honestly, she could be forklift certified with all this information...

Thus begins her test phase of various prototypes, all off in one way or another that has her sobbing with frustration and tearing it down. Her wings are literally bones by the time she has it right. The entire Troupe, who've slowly gathered to watch, claps at this accomplishment!

Usera catches her when she collapses.

And then finally, at long last, Kyra excitedly barges into the showroom.

"Ringmaster! I- I did it! The.. lift! The forklift, it's finally finished! I've grown to intimately understand their inner workings, they're miraculous! I could, if you so wished, even teach you how to-"

"What's that? You're rambling again, Kyra. From your appearance you seem.. frazzled. I suggest you leave, you can't be of sound mind and; frankly, you're wasting my time with this.. what was it you made? A toy?"

"The.. machine, Ringmaster. The machine.. you... Requested...?"

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"I've moved past that, dearest. The whole thing seems useless to any of my endeavors."

"Understood.. Ringmaster."

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

*sings several Cosmo Sheldrake songs for the Thespians*

Lux is the first to pause, stunned in place at the sound of song. She sits down in front of you, Lumen floating behind him. Faintly, she seems to be humming harmonies. Lumen claps a simple rhythm.

Kyra, too, stops by to inspect what's going on.. Giving a delighted gasp, she leaves and comes back with Usera. Both sit down as well, enthusiastically contributing delay throws.

Leroy and Yorel are the final addition to the sudden concert, compromising not to sit down but to stand off to the side. With how jovial the group is at this point- cheering between each song- they can't help but stomp. They're dancing, though Leroy would never admit it.

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

Give Kyra a relaxing beach vacation on a sunny island with Usera

"Look at this view! It's beautiful.."

"Such a thing is subjective."

"Okay, do you think it's beautiful?"

"Nothing compares to the radiant Thespian right in front of me..."

"Oh that-"

She somehow gives the impression of blushing..

"Gods that was a terrible line!! And it's subjective too!!"

"This is the exception: I've seen many faces, none compare to yours."

"I.. We don't even have ones.. Not anym-"

"The point stands, dearest. Nobody in all of creation has ever been quite like you.

"Nor like you."

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

*rotates USERA*

"What.. is the meaning of this? How are you capable of such a thing? This is.. most peculiar.. and I ask you to stop this instant."

She's limp for the most part, with her tentacles flailing to stop herself from spinning.

[saltvinegerandeverythingsinister]

Do Thespians have bones? Or is it just eldritch stuff inside all of you??

"My understanding is that our mortal forms are gone, bones and all. So, yes, I suppose our kind are merely.. 'eldritch stuff' as you called it."