lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: PROLOGUE

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: PROLOGUE

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: Any time before the start of the event.
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Once you've submitted your AU summary, you can use this post to do some CLOSED THREADING to play out some character interactions that happened before the event start. This means that memory regains will not be in play yet. Open top levels are not allowed - these threads are intended to sort out closed interactions between planned backstory connections, during the week leading up to the actual event start.
Warnings: Could be anything.

PORTLAND, AS YOU KNEW IT↴

The shift went unseen and unfelt. One moment you were one person, and the next, another. This before all that, though, in the new life that you remember living here in Portland. No memories of your true self have arisen yet, and at the time this was the only life you knew. Did these events truly happen at all? Or do they only exist in memory?

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The fight goes on for hours, and for most of it the hedge feels endless. No matter how far he pushes, how hard he struggles, there is nothing but tangles of deadly thorns, as far as he can see. Were it not for his ability to bypass the thorns unharmed, he would have been torn to pieces ages ago, his scant clothing and supplies already ripped away and abandoned to the thorns.

Exhaustion gnaws at his body, threatening to consume him whole, erasing any memory of a world outside of this pain - any memory of who he was before this, or who was still waiting for him. It's only his tenuous grasp on those flickering memories that keeps him pushing forward, pushing his body and mind to the breaking point... until, finally, the bindings of the hedge break, too.

Steven finds himself collapsing into the trees and bushes of the real world, cold and naked and alone. Eternity has finally come to an end, and that realization of fragile hope and temporary victory is all that keeps him moving, continuing to walk, to crawl, as far as his body will take him. As close as he can get to safety, and as far from the place he just left.

He succumbs to exhaustion on the edges of the rose gardens, shaken by the sights of a city he barely remembers. Did he ever really live here? Does his dad... still remember him, too?

He wraps his small, petaled wings around his shoulders, sinking against the shelter of a building wall. The cool air of the September night bites at his skin, but he doesn't stir.

Please let this be enough.

Edited 2017-05-25 04:41 (UTC)

It's by sheer coincidence that Ginko wanders by that night, staring up at the sky or just idly watching his surroundings. He's not paying much attention to where he's going, and not expecting much out of the ordinary to happen.

Safe to say, he's definitely not expecting to find a naked winged child curled up on the ground.

"Wh-- hey, are you alright?!" Ginko crouches down next to Steven, already pulling his coat off to drape over him. "Where... where did you come from?"

He has one guess, looking at the texture of those wings.

The wings look like they've lost some petals from squeezing through the vines. The simple act of having the jacket draped over him is enough to bring some relief, cutting off the cold air that's been sapping away what's left of his strength. It causes him to strive for consciousness again.

He only sort of hears what Ginko is saying, but it sounds so... gentle. Not like when his mom has spoken gently, in a way that he knows has hidden barbs. It's someone, another human, or something like it, and they're helping him. That realization in itself is enough to bring him to tears.

"Please help me," he says frailly, looking up and trying to focus on his saviour, even as his eyes still look foggy and dim. "I don't want to go back..."

She'll be so angry, once she knows what he did. He can't bear to go through that again.

...Shit. Yeah, that sounds like a changeling situation, alright.

"Don't worry. I can get you to someone who will help." He makes sure Steven is wrapped up in the coat, then scoops him up, cradling him against his shoulder. Jeez, this kid is tiny; Ginko can't imagine he's much older than he was when he and Axel got away.

He starts down the street, back to where he left his car, keeping a more careful eye out, now that he's actually got a reason to. He keeps speaking quietly to Steven, more to reassure him than because he's actually expecting an answer. "You're going to be alright; my friend can help you out, he's got connections for handling this kind of thing."

Steven presses against Ginko's body as soon as he's been lifted, desperate for the warmth and for the comfort of such genuine compassion. He's still crying a little now, because he's started and he can't seem top stop. Ginko arriving is the first real sign that he might have actually gotten away. The sensation is overwhelming.

One of his hands reaches out of the coat to clutch at Ginko's shirt, as if he's frightened that he might be pulled away at any moment. It's so easy to imagine how this could be snatched away from him.

"I wanna go home," he whines softly, tears beading down his cheeks.

"We can get you home soon. Do you remember where it is?"

He likely won't be able to take the boy directly there, either way, but he and Axel can find the right place once he's rested some. ...And then they'll see how his family responds.

He just hopes they accept his changes more easily than Ginko's own family was.

Once he reaches his car, he opens the door and sets Steven down carefully in the passenger seat, keeping a hand on his shoulder as long as he can. But it's not like he can maintain contact while driving... hm.

"Okay, I need to let go for now. Um... do you like animals?"

He does feel a pang of anxiety at being put down, but he figures out what's going on enough to keep himself from reacting. It's a car. Right. That's a thing. He can... he can go back home that way. That is, if this strange man is telling the truth.

His thoughts are spotty, and he's only really just started to consider where his home actually is when Ginko asks about animals. That's a much easier to answer question, he thinks, and he stares up at him like a deer in headlights.

"Um," he manages, voice low like he's apprehensive about speaking. "Yeah..."

After years of seclusion, this is all so much to take in.

"Good. Hang on."

Ginko steps away from the door and around to the driver's side so he can reach into the back - which, if Steven looks, he may find is almost entirely taken up by a cage. Ginko opens up the door on the side, and reaches in with a reassuring murmur to get the attention of the animal inside.

A moment later, he turns to Steven again, now holding a still somewhat sleepy guinea pig. "This is Miu. Do you want to hold her? She doesn't bite or anything... mostly. I'd be careful if you have any plant parts."

Edited 2017-06-01 17:27 (UTC)

Steven finds himself scanning the streets apprehensively as Ginko moves to access his pet's cage. He can't stop feeling like someone is going to pop out at any moment and try to grab him - or worse, that something will cause him to wake up back in the gardens with no memory of how it happened at all. He's having to keep himself from hyperventilating, until Ginko comes back around with Miu.

Steven nods mutely in response to his question, reaching out to take her. It takes a moment for his words to actually sink in. Plant... parts...?

It's only them that he actually gives Ginko a closer look, and notices the strange texture of its hair. It's like... white flower petals. Rose petals. Steven's throat tightens with recognition, and it part of it is terrifying. Other changelings haven't been the most helpful to him, historically.

"Y-You..." he starts, feeling numb with alarm. "You're like... like me..."

...Well shit. In all fairness, Ginko probably should have anticipated this response; he'd just been too focused on getting Steven to safety to realize how suspicious he might seem.

An instant of surprise morphs almost immediately to... not guilt, really, but it's in the same general neighborhood. Ginko sighs and sits down in the driver's seat - at an angle, leaving the door open. It's not like he's going anywhere yet. He sets Miu down gently on top of the storage compartment between the two seats, where she sniffs curiously at his hand before turning to examine Steven.

"I'm not working for her, I promise. I escaped a long time ago."

It's not like Ginko simply saying he's not working for the Queen is enough to immediate assuage his fears, but the fact that his immediate response isn't to swoop in and bind him with some kind of spell is at least a little bit encouraging. Steven shuffles within the jacket that he's still using as a blanket, obviously uncomfortable, but trying his best to keep it together.

He finds it really hard to even speak at the moment, trying to sort out all of these emotions and worries. He tentatively lifts a finger to let Miu sniff, looking away from Ginko for the moment.

"Did she... hurt you, too?" he asks.

"...Yeah." Ginko lifts a hand to his face, and rests his fingers under his hidden left eye - or, perhaps more accurately, its empty socket.

"I was in her realm for... nine or ten years, I guess. Got away when I was around your age."

He starts better Miu, his stare becoming somewhat vacant as dozens of memories come to the front of his mind at Ginko's words. He doesn't completely know how long he was in there, but he knows that it must have been years. He had no sense of time, besides day and night, and he had never managed to keep track of how they passed. Things had been too scattered, after what she'd done to him shortly after his arrival.

"Were you... her..." He pauses, remembering asking Rita the same question. Was Ginko also her child? Does that mean they were related? He's not sure. "She... She was supposed to be my mom."

The betrayal there is obvious. He had expected a lot thing of her that simply hadn't been true, up to including any expectation of love or compassion. She had been gentle, even affectionate at times, but... that only made everything surrounding it worse. Her kindness was harder to bear than he cruelty, because it forced him to know how they could both exist at the same time.

He scoops Miu into his arms, then, holding her carefully. It's clear that he needs to hold onto something, desperate for physical comfort.

Miu sure doesn't seem to object to the attention, and readily plants her weird little hands against his arm. Ginko turns to face Steven more fully, surprise passing over his face.

"...Your mom?" That... is unexpected, actually. "What do you mean, supposed to be?"

"She's my mom," he says again, his tears starting fresh as he stares down at his feet. "She... She and my dad... I thought she would..."

He closes his eyes with a sob, still mechanically holding Miu regardless.

"All she did was hurt me. She took me away from Dad, and she did all these things... I was so dumb. She doesn't love me. She never did."

Edited 2017-06-04 05:48 (UTC)

"You weren't being dumb."

The answer comes pretty readily - not scolding, but insistent. "There's nothing stupid about expecting your mother to love you. ...I'm sorry she hurt you. You didn't deserve that."

And, well... he might as well address the other question here. "I'm not actually related to her, myself - I don't know if she wanted me because of my parents, or if I was just unlucky."

He's known so little about how things usually worked before all of this happened - his dad had been sparing with frightening information about changelings, and he's still not sure why. His mother had always seemed like a distant figure - too busy and powerful for normal stuff - but the cruelty involved was never mentioned. Maybe he just didn't want Steven to think badly of her. Maybe his dad really thought she was okay.

He wonders what his dad is doing now, without him.

"I didn't know it was like this," he says quietly, his voice still breaking with hurt. "I didn't... think that this was what being fae meant."

It's worse knowing that the Queen captured people who weren't even connected to her, too. It just seems to cruel. No one could really deserve this, could they?

...It's at times like this that Ginko wishes he were just a little better at talking to people. There must be something more he can say to help, but... whatever it is, he can't think of it.

Dammit.

"...Well. In any case, you should be safe from her now. There are places you can go where she won't find you." He looks Steven over with a concerned frown. "...Are you ready to go? If you're not, we can wait here a little longer."

They should probably get going before too much longer, just to be safe. But they can probably afford to wait a little more.

Steven glances outside of the car one more time, trying to convince himself that this will be okay. It's difficult, but... why would Ginko give him the option, be so patient, if he was going to try to hurt him? Steven swallows and nods.

"We can go," he says, his eyes watery in the nighttime city lights. "I don't want to be here anymore."

Ginko nods; he gets up to go close the door on Steven's side, then walks back around to get back in the driver's seat, sitting in it properly this time.

He pulls out of the parking space and starts toward Axel's store.

Axel's outside, smoking something of dubious origins when Ginko pulls up. He smiles, relaxed and gentle, at his old friend, but when he spots a small frame in the passenger seat the look becomes a little confused and concerned. Regardless, he waves, and gestures to the alley next to his store, moving out of the way.

Currently, he's wearing a glamour, not a particularly heavy one but one that's hard to see through nonetheless. He's got a talent for them; even one he puts on just to come out and smoke is at least halfway decent. However, when he exhales, there're sparks in the smoke.

Ginko waves back to Axel and gives a small nod of acknowledgement before he parks. He steps out of the car and goes to open the door on Steven's side.

"Axel is an old friend of mine; we escaped together. I never would have been able to get away if it weren't for him. You can trust him."

Granted, he doesn't particularly expect the boy to be ready to totally trust anyone just yet, especially not changelings. But he hopes that the fact that Axel is another escapee, rather than still being under the Rose Queen's control, might help.

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⇨ The Tourist Trap: PROLOGUE

STEVEN'S ESCAPE

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i'm gonna drop this in here then quix can go