You may think this is heaven -- it’s not that at all...

[playonforever]

On the midway, tucked between two tents - or rather, rearing up between them - there is a building that looks like a wooden palace. It's almost four stories tall and exploding with color. Across the front run depictions of heroes of the Wood, fae and humans, fighting monsters and mostly winning. Statues, perfect in likeness to the things they

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[w_for_wizard]

Harry lost Murphy a while back, somehow, in the crowds of the midway. He shouldn't have lost her, not when they were both making sure to stick close, not be separated... But in a crowd of mostly fae, it probably shouldn't be surprising that they managed to draw them apart anyway.

There's a flash of blonde hair near that massive wooden building, a silhouette he recognizes, and Harry hurries toward her, shouldering roughly past anyone who gets in his way. "Murphy!"

She disappears into the funhouse before he can catch up, and Harry pulls up short of the entrance, clenching his jaw and trying to think clearly through the blaring carnival music and the worry for Murphy's sake. Something's wrong here, he knows that, and maybe the smart thing to do would be to circle around the back and wait for her to come out... But if something's wrong, he can't help but see that as all the more reason to go in after her. Especially considering what might be in that building

[playonforever]

The attendant laughs. At a distance, she looks like a boy. Up close, it's easier to tell it's a girl in baggy clothes, with close-cropped gray hair and a donkey's ears.

"Too slow, mate. She's inside already!"

[w_for_wizard]

Harry glares a little, and growls again, frustration and concern winning out over caution. It usually does.

He stalks up the ramp toward the entrance, knowing as he does that he's going to regret this. "What's inside," he demands flatly as he reaches the attendant. What drew Murphy inside is probably the better question, but he doesn't expect an answer for that one, if this girl even has an answer...

[playonforever]

The attendant gives him a shove that's entirely too strong for someone so small, straight into the nearest car. The bar comes down to pin him there as the attendant grins, white eyes sparkling with horrible amusement. A masculine voice, filled with echoes of itself, rumbles out one word.

"You."

[mutings]

In between everything that was going on at the carnival, it was easy for Nill to slip away from anyone who might have been watching after her. She wanted to explore the area on her own, and just standing around the midway wasn't entirely her idea of fun. All of the sights and sounds were intoxicating to the girl, she hadn't ever experienced anything like it before. So she tiptoed through the lit up and noisy area, eventually finding herself standing before something that resembled a castle from one of the stories that Bishop had told her

[lovethissuit]

Peter is just about to strangle something. Really, and truly he is.

Neal's not back for twenty four hours before running back off again without so much as a freaking carrier pigeon. Damn it, they had literally just gone over this. The conversation they had to the effect of why something like this was a tremendously bad idea is still pretty clear in Peter's mind unless it was an exhaustion-induced hallucination. ...Or unless this whole thing is just one big nightmare.

So when he realizes Neal's gone haring off again, and when he sees the full moon hanging in the air and the invitations falling and the lights twinkling, Peter knows exactly where he's gone off to. And although he's still practically falling on his feet and scabbing over from demon bites and more tired than he's ever been in his life, he still makes it to the carnival, never mind his vision swims from time to time and his knees are quietly shaking

[playonforever]

The attendant - a middle-aged, handsome man with a trim beard and pale white eyes - chuckles and offers a hand to help her into the car. "Of course, small one. This is for it and its friends. All of it."

He gestures to the carnival as a whole before moving to snug the lap bar of the ride down. "Hang on. It's a bit scary at first, but the end is worth the fear."

[mutings]

Nill eagerly climbed into the car and wiggled as she settled in, grasping hold of the lap bar as it was pulled down. There was still a good bit of room between her body and the bar, and she frowned down at that, and was paying so much attention to the bar that she didn't really catch what he was saying about the ride being scary.

It was a nice looking castle. The prospect of it being scary didn't even enter her mind.

[saveme_barry]

Nathan hadn't bothered with any of this weird carnival crap last time it'd come around, but he'd still been freaked out enough by the whole nature of the wood to want to reach out and make contact with anything else unless he absolutely had too. Now though? Well, time had come and gone, there'd been aliens and demons and candycorn and he'd sort of gotten used to the fact that everything here, whether it was good or bad, came with a major serving of weirdness on the side, and after being locked in a cabin for a week and a bit (thank you Agent Pete) Nathan thought he deserved to get out and do something stupid for a bit.

So it was that he wandered up towards the fun house, "What's all this shit about then?" he asked the attendant cheerily, not bothering to wait for an invitation to ascend the ramp and drop into one of the waiting cars.

[playonforever]

"Fun, innit?" The boy perched on the rail is probably half Nathan's age, with an oversized top hat and a tail. "What else?"

He rubs his nose and jerks his head at the ride, his grin a little mocking. "Go on then. Betcha it's too scary."

[saveme_barry]

"Well not having been on it, I wouldn't fucking know, would I?" Nathan points out helpfully, before glancing into the ride, "Anyway, these things are never fucking scary, they're just full of effects that looked a bit shit thirty years ago and smoke machines."

Nathan glances at the boy, his own expression equally unimpressed, "Except yours was probably designed by Harry Potter or some other voodoo magic cunt, right?"

[playonforever]

The attendant rolls his eyes. "So go, yeah?"

At the insults, his grin widens. "Harry's only magic is the wand." He snickers, clearly amused at his own innuendo. "Go on. S'free. Won't tell."

[whateverthemess]

Murphy reaches the top of the ramp and eyes the cars leading into the ride with distaste. This is not going to be fun. How not-fun, she doesn't know, but... If the start of the evening is any indication, she's going to be wishing for enough booze to put her out before the night is over.

She turns to the attendant - and freezes.

White eyes. Safe as houses.

"Motherfuck," Murphy snarls, and jumps into the nearest ride car.

[painhumbles]

Gabriel bristles in the direction of the attendant and follows Murphy to the car, glowering over his shoulder as if he's worried about leaving his back to the bastard for too long. It's not like he didn't anticipate this, but there's walking up to the guy and then there's walking right into his trap.

And yet his tip-off came from someone who claims to hate the guy... You can never be so sure with these fairies.

"Nothing could possibly go wrong with this," he scoffs, yanking the lap bar down and making himself comfortable. This is going to suck. He might as well make the most of it and brace himself.

[playonforever]

White Eyes stares at Gabriel with a kind of disgusted fascination, his form warping and shifting from a child into the lanky, skeletal, shadow-clad creature that Murphy saw once before. No one on the Midway seems to notice the change, or even the funhouse now.

When White Eyes speaks, it's in that bass-drum echo of a voice. "Whose hand have you taken, mule?"

[whateverthemess]

Murphy freezes again, looking from Gabriel to White Eyes with even more of an 'oh fuck' feeling than before.

The car rumbles forward, but she can't shake the feeling that he's watching them until the funhouse doors close, and even then. Murphy shivers, then gives Gabriel a sharp look.

"What was that about?"

[sheskatherine]

Katherine had made a note to stay at least somewhat away from Damon during the carnival, even if he had missed her, she reasoned that this would be more logical, they could explore more apart then they could together. In actuality, she just wanted to get away from him.

She had chosen to avoid the previous carnival when it was here and it showed in how she looked at everything, taking note of everything. After a bit she found herself in front of building, smirking slightly at the architecture that made it look like something fit for a queen and that simple detail was all it took to allow her to move closer to the point where she was standing in front of the attendant.

"You all certainly have a flair for the dramatic."

[playonforever]

He - a tall, thin creature with dirt-brown skin and goat's ears - whips his cap off and bows with a grin. He looks up at her with white, almost pupil-less eyes. "Dramatic's fun. Take a ride?"