HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

[ringleaders]

Who: The people who escaped!
When: Very early Day 66 to Day 67
Where: The Carnival
What: The Ringmaster brings everyone she can back to the carnival after getting kicked out the Celebration, a bit worse for wear. Those that have resolved their threads at the Masquerade can start trickling over here as they sort things out.
Warnings: Angst, mostly likely, as well as potentially graphic injuries.

RETURNING HOME↴ About 45 minutes after the conflict with the vampires begins, the Ringmaster will finally show her face at the Masquerade - and immediately be mortified by what she sees. Though initially mostly confused by the fact that there's been problems over the week, and characteristically obtuse about what's going on, as soon as she realizes the severity of the threat she will launch into action. If the Host managed to miss the combat already going on, they won't be able to miss the Ringmaster tearing up the joint and looking for her people. She's quick to scoop up those that have managed to gather in the dining hall - but unfortunately her arrival seems to be the vampire's cue to retreat. Her attempt to challenge the Host about this will result in the being finally losing their patience and banishing all the vampires and all of the carnival workers from the premises, forcing them back to the portals they arrived from and launching their remaining belongings out with them. The Ringmaster will be pretty fucking pissed off when they return (once again) and will tell everyone to take the time they need to recover, but to stick together and stay safe for the time being. She has a plan to chase down the carnival members that have been stolen, but it will take time. ► BEER PONG: Apparently the Ringmaster spent the entire week playing a nonstop game of beer pong, against several dozen of the Host's bodies. She hadn't quite won yet when the Masquerade began, so she was late. Whether or not she was caught up in the same spell as everyone else is up to interpretation, but the answer "definitely probably." She won, for the record. ► MISSING: Upon doing headcounts, it will turn out that all the supervisors are missing, as well as several regular workers - a few of which will have been spotted as freshly turned vampires during the fighting. Whether that was the point of the attack or not is unclear, but it's pretty clear that the Ringmaster is a little bit devastated about it - particularly about the supervisors. However, she will refuse to talk to anyone long enough to get into too many details. ► THE PLAN: The Ringmaster will announce that she intends to get everyone back - it's just a matter of figuring out their way back to the dimension they've been stolen off to. She guarantees that she will find it, but that it may take some time. In the end, the workers will have a total of two days to recover and plan - during the evening of Day 67, she will be leading a rescue mission to get them all back. You don't have to come, but lives do depend on its success.

Comments

THE KISSING BOOTH (HEALING FOR ALL)

[starseedling]

Steven managed to avoid getting seriously hurt during that whole mess, but his head is still fuzzy with the lingering psychic impressions of that place, and with the elf drugs he’d accidentally taken hours ago. Whatever that was, it definitely seems to last – he’s not hallucinating anymore (mostly) but his head feels bogged down and heavy.

He has a skill that is needed here, though, so he’s determined to offer it for as long as he can. His saliva has fairly powerful healing properties, and with Zecora out of the picture he’s not sure what other healers will be available. He plops himself down by the medical tent, still wearing his dress from the party and with his mask tossed off to the side. In its place, he seems to have some small rose buds and leaves in his hair, which is new, but he doesn’t really have the energy to notice. The white fabric of his fancy dress has managed to get torn up a little, and splattered with someone else's blood.

He yawns and curls his legs up to himself, his tail curling around his ankles. Steven looks totally out of it, but if anyone injured comes by the medical tent he’ll offer them his healing abilities. He may or may not tell them that it involves kissing, licking, or spitting on their wound first.

NO HEALZ NEEDED but he's hanging out, so you know ... healers gotta stick together

[whattaprick]

Unfortunately, Steven's solitude isn't destined to last long, because at this point an angry-looking man with scars on his face is storming towards the medical tent, clearly bent on some purpose. He's also wearing tattered finery from the masquerade, albeit in much worse shape than Steven's, because of being in combat ... even though the black cloth and heavy embroidery hides the worst of it, he's still very clearly bloody, though little of it is his own.

He'll stop short, though, once he sees the boy sitting by the tent. It's an unfamiliar individual (individuals below a certain height threshold are just particularly hard for him to remember, and kids blur into the background for him, so he can't come up with a name.

"If you're waiting on the doctor, she's not here, kid," is what he'll settle on, finally.

Hellooo, nurse.

[starseedling]

Steven will look up at Lambert a bit spacily - he doesn't recognize the man either, even though Steven is the sort to try to remember every person he's ever met. It's mostly just because things have been so crazy since that guy signed on, there was never an opportunity.

At any rate, he isn't disappointed by what Lambert is here to tell him. He already kind of figured, due to the fact that Zecora wasn't already making the rounds. It makes him feel weird and uncomfortable that she isn't here, because she's been sort of a soothing presence in the carnival, with her history of having healed both him and his dad when they needed it.

"It's okay," he said, his mossy lion ears folding down with that twinge of worry and regret. "I know she's... she's not here. I just came so I could help anyone that turned up. I can heal people, too."

[whattaprick]

For all that he's supposed to be a nurse, Lambert's skills really fall to the martial -- so his initial impulse to head to the medical tent had been less to heal and more to try and identify any ingredients he might be able to break down into components to make more vials of black blood and maybe more bombs. When the kid mentions he's a healer, though, he'll tip his head to the side, considering.

"She didn't mention having another assistant." Though Lambert doesn't look much like healing is in his wheelhouse. If it was anyone else, he'd probably give a thought to comforting the obviously-distressed lion kid, but instead ...

"I could use some help looking for some things, if you know where she puts 'em."

[starseedling]

Oh... well, that's a misunderstanding. If he wasn't so tired this would be easier to explain, but Steven just slowly stands, raising his hands and shaking his head apologetically.

"I'm... Sorry! I'm not her assistant, I just... I can just heal too. I'm a performer, most of the time, but... since no one else was here..."

He frowns, looking genuinely sorry for his lack of knowledge.

"I don't know anything about Zecora's magic..."

so uh

[mossbuds]

Lars is eventually taken to the medical tent after his attack—and not too long after, thankfully. He's placed as carefully as is manageable onto one of the available cots, to which Lars is only partially responsive to. He just feels very weak, and very tired. The shredded lace from the Psiionic's dress is still tied tight around his neck, soaked with new and old blood. His complexion lacks its typical brightness and is somewhat ashy, and his breathing is slow and shallow.

He's not even fully comprehending of where he is—injury and blood loss aside, Lars was quite tired before he was attacked, and then his savior was attacked, which was also exhausting (mostly emotionally speaking). Now, he just... kinda wants to go to sleep.

[starseedling]

Steven is pretty tired to, but it doesn't stop him from immediately noticing Lars's bloody form being brought to the medical tent. Though he sways as he moves, Steven gets off the ground and follows in immediately after him, explaining in vague terms that the healer isn't here but that he'll help - someone has to help.

He's still feeling pretty messed up from everything that happened, and part of him is wondering if he has the strength for this. Still, with tears budding in his eyes from sheer shock and distress, Steven leans over Lars, his ears folded back tightly and his tail lashing with anxiety.

"It's gunna be okay, Lars," he says, voice quiet and strained, and then he leans in to kiss Lars on the jawline - right above that bloody wound.

[mossbuds]

Lars is kind of coming in and out of it, but when he feels Steven kiss him, he scrunches up his features with a familiar petulant scowl, weakly raising an arm to swipe at Steven. Which doesn't happen, because he's too anemic; his arm falls as soon as he raises it.

"Euch, what the hell, c'mon man," he mumbles, his voice raspy and spent. After all, he's unfamiliar with Steven's healing magic—but pretty delirious besides, anyways. "No one's...allowed near my friggin' dumb neck anymore, alright."

Then—all at once, the dull ache of his neck suddenly alleviates. His neck is so wet from the blood loss that he doesn't wholly recognize the wound is gone, at first. But the pain's been pretty awful the whole way through—that alone was pretty distracting and exhausting, but... now it's gone.

Blinking, Lars pushes Steven off him by the shoulders (which is to say, that's his intent—instead, he just kind of feebly rests his palms on them), eyeing him skeptically.

"Wait. The heck did y'do?"

NOT INJURED JUST DUMB, SORRY STEVEN

[perverses]

The last thing anyone in the medical tent needs or wants is some dumbass bursting in while yelling, "H-hey! Those guys or vampires or... or whatever! They did something to my head! Someone's gotta fix this!"

But that's what they're all going to get anyway and he will never be sorry for it. Apart from having a massive headache by the end and feeling like he could use a few hours of shut-eye, Shima hadn't fared too poorly during that mess. The worst, he thought, was his mask must have given him a rash because he couldn't stop scratching his forehead. It isn't right up until his scratching catches the edge of something — something that hurts to stick your finger into, apparently — that has him checking a mirror and then...

Well, long story short, he is now bursting into the medical tent in a panic and yelling a lot, arm thrown across the offending forehead in question.

[starseedling]

Steven was just sitting on a cot, half nodding off from sheer exhaustion and lingering chemicals, when the screaming causes him to nearly flip backwards over the other side of the thing. Falling onto his back for a moment, he's quick to pop up again, looking alarmed but mostly just confused?

"Oh! Oh no... what happened? I... I can fix it, I think!"

[perverses]

"Th-there's like a big tear and—" Wait, hang on. Shima kind of freezes mid-panic to focus on who exactly he's talking to here. Startled plant kid? Startled plant cat kid? "A-ah, what? Isn't there a real doctor or nurse in here?"

[fragileandsoft]

Even with the worst of the damage healed and taken care of, Greg still feels pretty shaky and ill. It could be the blood loss, or the leftover adrenaline, or even the exhaustion. Whatever reason, that's not why he's in the medical tent.

A hand rests gently on Steven's back. "Are you doing okay? Don't think anyone will mind if you catch some Zs on a cot." He wants to carry his kid back to the trailer, or even the van, someplace that's personal and private and theirs. Once his son decides he's going to help people, though, there's not a lot Greg can say to convince him otherwise.

[starseedling]

He really should be taking a rest, even if there could be more use for him. He's never had to heal more than one person in a day before, and some of these wounds have been pretty severe. It takes up his energy in a way he hasn't had to experience in the past, and he's still dealing from the lingering illness of the time he'd been spending with that group of elves, and the stress that place had been putting on his head.

He's already nodding off a little as Greg checks on him. Though, he's quick to look up as soon as he realizes there's someone there - but no, it's just his dad, there to see if he's okay. His look of worry softens into a tired smile, and he leans into Greg's side.

"I'm okay," he yawns, his tail lazily flicking back and forth. "I'm just... just a little sleepy."

[fragileandsoft]

Steven looks up, and for just a second panic chokes the breath from Greg. His son has so much blood on him, dark and drying, and it takes a moment for him to realize none of it is Steven's. In fact, a fair bit is Greg's, he'd wager.

That doesn't make him feel any better.

"It's been a long few days."

Greg tries to mask his shaking voice with a yawn, but there's a tremble in his hands as he holds on. None of this is how things should be. None of this is how his son ought to be living his life. Here they are regardless.

[empty_vessel]

The medical tent (though it probably isn't appropriate to call it a tent anymore, as more stragglers keep coming in and the grounds keep spreading,) is bustling. There's people filling in for the missing Supervisors, head counts, and a whole lot of running around. Jimmy's skirting the edges as a glorified gofer, but he's more than happy to do it.

Seeing the exhausted kid curl up in the corner, though, Jimmy takes a detour and drops off something for him to eat. It's not much, but there's a bottle of juice and a sandwich wrapped in cellophane for when Steven wakes up again.

[starseedling]

Steven doesn't stay asleep for long. He nods off for a few minutes every once in a while, but he hasn't gotten comfortable enough to sleep - especially with so much anxiety from other people the air. So, it's not long until he wakes up and finds the food there waiting for him. He can't help but smile, touched, no matter how tired he is.

The fact that someone did that for him at all is enough to renew some of his helpful energies. No matter how bad things are out there, the carnival is full of people who will care for each other, and he loves that a lot.

He picks up the juice box and sticks in the straw, and sleepily starts having a drink. It's pleasant and familiar compared to everything at the Celebration, and he hadn't realized quite how thirsty he was until now.

[dontpokethat]

As it happens, Ginko is actually awake when Steven gets to him, even if he's still visibly tired. He frowns, his tail flopping weakly.

"You sure you shouldn't be taking a rest?"

[starseedling]

"I will in a little while," he says - he's not sure what will count as a 'little while' right now, but it will come eventually. Soon enough. He leans on the edge of Ginko's cot, his hand resting on his crossed arms. "Are you okay? You don't look good."

This isn't very energetic by Steven's standards, but he's trying. He leans over to get a better look at him, and then covers his mouth with a hand.

"Oh, Ginko! You got bit!"

[dontpokethat]

"I'm... alright, in a manner of speaking." He smiles a little, hoping it's reassuring. "I didn't get turned, at least. Just going to need to rest for a while."

[flashover]

It isn't long before Rin, astride an elephant-sized twin-tailed cat, makes his way to the medical tent. His feet are healed up from their... transformative ordeal, but he still doesn't know how to use them. Besides, Kuro needed medical attention, too. Rin's mask is long gone, and his clothes from the party are torn and bloody. Kuro doesn't look great either, but... that's mostly because he's disgustingly hungover. He slides off of Kuro and limps along awkwardly on his new feet, looking around.

"Uh... is there anyone here who can take out bullets?"

[starseedling]

Steven looks sort of shocked at Kuro and Rin's arrival, but not for long. Big, weird looking cats are pretty much his thing, after all. He stands up in alarm as soon as a bullet is mentioned, though, a familiar twinge in his shoulder and anxiety in his gut.

"I... I don't know, I..." He wants to help but if he heals the wound now will it just leave the bullet inside. "I can heal the wound but... but I don't know if that would take the bullet out too!"

He doesn't know how to do surgery at all.

[flashover]

"Uh... well, actually, healing isn't the problem..." Rin says, shaking his head. "Kuro might need a little help with that, but not me. I just need someone to dig these bullets out that I can't reach." He jerks a thumb, indicating his back. "And Kuro won't let me dig his out either, he says I won't do a good job! But..." he looks up at the cat, frowning. "If there's no one else around, you're gonna just have to deal with it."

The cat lets out a sorrowful meow.

"Are you... the only person here?"

Because this little greenman-looking kid doesn't exactly strike him as a medical professional.

[puddingemote]

Tamaki himself isn't injured, but he comes by the medical tent anyway. After hearing Steven was inside helping, he appears bearing a small tray of food. Sandwiches, to be more exact, and some soup - he's no Koel, but after taking turns cooking for his group back home, he can handle basic food preparation.

"Do you want something to eat, Stevicchi?"

SORRY FOR THE DELAY, SUCKING LESS NOW

[starseedling]

He had a sandwich earlier, but unsurprisingly he's still hungry. He's been using a lot of energy tonight, and his appetite is forming accordingly. The soup in particular looks really good - something warm to make him feel a little less worn down.

He's obviously very tired but he gives Tamaki his best smile anyway. He manages to brighten a bit at his friend's appearance.

"Tamaki! Wow, thank you," he says. He definitely takes the soup and will probably eat more. He yawns into the bowl, before he can manage to pick up the spoon. "Haha, sorry, I'm just really sleepy I guess."

it's all good

[puddingemote]

It's a simple soup, with some chicken and noodles, but it's warm and comforting, at least in Tamaki's opinion. He hopes it helps Steven feel a little better.

"Mm. You've been working hard." Said as Tamaki looks around the tent, observing the people who have been brought in and are sleeping and recovering. It's pretty impressive that Steven can work here like this, even though he's younger than Tamaki. "So you should eat." Take care of yourself, too.