The Carnival

Overview

The Carnival is an ongoing side plot in House+, the story of Jack and Bella, and how they came to be the Carnival Masters. While the Great Conquerer plot arc threw The Carnival way off course, it was all the better in the end. It gathered Solace and Sorrow into the same area, though a big enough one to draw out the mystery still, and allowed me to show off more of Jack and Bella's story. It allowed me ot more fully show how Jack loses his already feeble magic and gave him the motivation to seek out Bella now more than ever. For you see, Jack is obsessed with power, so of course he'd want to have the only other gang member with obvious powerful magic to be under his thumb. Before he had all the power himself, he didn't need someone else to be his enforcer. But then Sorrow saw through him and took his magic, hoping to protect Bella from his greed. The following will be a brief description of both the plot that has already happened and the plot that's yet to come. Read at your own risk.

Brother And Sister

Brenden and Bella arrive at the Carnival and speak to the Carnival Master, a young man around Bella's age. She stays silent, grumpy, while her older brother does all the talking. He manages to convince the Carnival Master, Jack, to let them join his little gang. Bella keeps to herself and keeps quiet for days before tragedy strikes and she low key *has* to open up and start talking to people. This part of the story is told in rhyme, because I thought it would be fun to rewrite the whole Night Before Christmas book specifically for this. And I was right. It was a lot of fun. And it made the story that much more dramatic. To summarize, Brenden saves Bella's life when a roller coaster almost comes crashing down on top of her. He pushes her out of the way, but gets caught beneath the rubble himself. Jack reveals he has magic when he uses it to lift the rubble long enough for Bella to pull her brother out. This traumatic experience leads Bella to discover her own magic. Unfortunately, she does not know how to use it well, so her healing spell fails and her brother dies. She opens up to Jack, who is also clearly upset over Brenden's death.

Of Solace And Sorrow

Next comes the Solace and Sorrow era of The Carnival's plot. A small, black bird comes crashing down to the earth and lands next to Bella while she is mourning. She takes the injured bird in and nurses it back to health. It essentially becomes a emotional support bird for her in the coming days. Later it is revelaed that this black bird is actually the Ashen-Phoenix Sorrow, who had been hiding from her older sister, Solace. Legend has it, Solace is destined to chase Sorrow wherever she goes, always arriving one after the other, no matter how far apart. It takes Solace days to find Sorrow, but when she does, it's because Sorrow finally had enough of Jack and decided to take his magic away from him. There is a more detailed explanation of Solace, Sorrow, and the world they came from on their own separate page linked at the top of this paragragh.

Future Carnival Plot

Written here is the spoilers of what's to come in my plot. Read at you own risk of spoilers.

So now we're left with a magic-less Jack and a newly magical Bella. Jack is obsessed with power and seeks to use Bella. So he asks her out. And they start dating. Eventually, she's so entwined around his finger, she'll follow his every command, no questions asked. Bella is unfortunately attention starved and so she'll take anything she can get from Jack, even if it's just orders and the occasional kiss. This is where the Main Gang finally steps in. The players will have witnessed the whole story, but the characters will have far less context. All the characters will see is a "loving" couple running a Carnival Gang together. Looking any deeper than the surface will show just how manipulative Jack is, and how clueless his girlfriend, Bella, is. The Main Gang's task would be to help Bella escape this unhealthy relationship, even if she doesn't quite see it that way. This would lend Bella to become either a more permanent member of the Main Gang, or the new Carnival Master, leading the Carnival Gang to better goals, to better places.

Bonus points to the Main Gang if they can get Jack angry enough to admit he was the one who pushed the roller coaster over on Christmas Eve. He was aiming to get rid of Bella so that Brenden would see Jack and the Carnival gang as his only family. For better or for worse, he failed. Brenden died in Bella's place, but Bella discovered her magic and became an infinitely more valuable pawn than her brother ever would have been.

Extra Lore

Now, you've met the Spirit Of The Carnival and seen the effects of the Carnival's Blessing. That's not just nothing, is it? How did that come to be? Well, the Carnival is a Spirit who has long forgotten her real name. She appears as an older woman with silver hair and a kind, wrinkled face. She does all she can to help those who stand within her Carnival Grounds. She is currently protecting all the Vegas fugitives, the people running and hiding from the Great Conquerer's army. For now, that's all she will do. Help and protect. But maybe, maybe one day she'll ask someone to help her find her real name once more. Maybe one day she'll want to remember her life in the spirit world, before she wandered through the crossroads and got stuck in a broken down carnival. Maybe one day she'll issue a side quest, a mystery for the Main Gang to help her solve. Maybe.