[OPEN-ISH]

[starseedling]

Who: Steven, Greg, Peridot, Zecora, and OPEN.
Where: The Doctor's medical tent.
When: After the attempted agent kidnapping of him and Peridot.
What: Steven gets shot with a gun, and has to go to the doctor. It's upsetting.
Warnings: Gun wounds, the left overs of violence.

When they port back into their real bodies, it's like everything's started all over again. The hit his body takes from it is instantaneous - and now there is a pain in his mind along with it that hadn't been there before. It's like the echo of what happened to him in the Matrix has overwhelmed his mind, and that his mind has inflicted it back to him. The mind makes it real, or whatever. He's just glad that he's not a full gem, for a solitary moment, because if his mind did this to him now, he doesn't want to consider what could have happened to his physical form if it was entirely reliant on it.

He staggers down onto the grass, the exit wound in his back burning, and blood bubbling out of his nose. Transitioning through realities has just made everything even more confusing, and he doesn't take much initiative besides letting Peridot carry him. They're back at the carnival. But they're not home.

It isn't until they've made it to the medical tent that the adrenaline has faded and things start to hurt for real. With some of the shock beginning to pass, the pain and fear is quick to catch up with him. He really wants someone to hold him, but he knows that he has to have his injury looked after first. He doesn't even consider trying to act tough, this time. Instead, he whimpers and starts to cry a little once he's laid down, too confused and scared to reason with himself or do much about anything.

[The open portion takes place after he's been patched up a bit and is resting, for anyone who wants to check on him.]

Comments

[fragileandsoft]

In the bright side of things, news of a bleeding child gets attention. It doesn't take too terribly long for someone to contact said child's father.

It takes considerably less time for said father to burst into the infirmary tent, pale faced and wild eyed.

"Steven?!"

Greg is by his side in an instant, grasping for Steven's hand. There's blood, oh there's blood and his son is bleeding.

"Steven. Oh my goodness. Steven, I'm--Steven, I'm here, I'm right here, it's okay, I got you."

[starseedling]

The bleeding has slowed a bit already, because the wound is being tended to, but Steven still looks a little bit pale and washed out from general exhaustion. He looks really sleepy and disorientated, despite the tears prickling at his eyes, and can't really focus on Greg properly even when he knows he's there.

"Dad..." he manages, tightening his fingers as much as he can without flexing his shoulders at all. "Dad, am I okay...?"

He genuinely has no idea at the moment. Did he stop bleeding? He doesn't know. Someone else is taking care of it.

[fragileandsoft]

Greg lays a hand on Steven's unhurt shoulder, resisting the urge to squeeze him tight.

"You're fine. You're gonna be okay. The doctor's gonna patch you right up, you'll be good as new."

He looks around the tent, eyes begging for confirmation, as well as an explanation for why his son has been shot.

[periphrasing]

Peridot's there, but she offers no explanation or reassurance. In fact, she's eerily silent, seated in one corner with her knees drawn up and her tail wrapped tight around her feet. Only her eyes are visible over the spikes of her knees, and very briefly, she glances at Greg.

Her ears fold back. She averts her eyes down to her feet. "I'm sorry," she creaks, shivering. "I didn't do anything..."

Didn't. Not "couldn't".

[starseedling]

He blinks heavily, pushing a few stray tears out of his eyes. He knows that the Doctor is here, that she's looking after him, and that Peridot got him to safety, but he can't stop being scared.

"It really hurts," he mumbles, talking through what he's feeling as it comes to mind with no real sense of purpose. "It shouldn't hurt like that." He's been smashed way harder than this before, and it never really hurt. He thought it had, but not like it hurts like right now. He's never had anything hurt this bad before.

[otoko]

[It is worrying, the state of things. Gongenzaka sits for some time outside the tent, looking rather like some strange guardian beast with his arms crossed sternly over a now bloodied shirt. (He did not carry the boy on his back after all, as much as the idea could have been there. That would have been dangerous, he was certain.)

But the fact that others are getting shot at-chased after, hunted down...he wonders-or perhaps even assumes-that Steven and Peridot may not be the only one to have experienced such an encounter.

He is patient, however. Waiting until Zecora approves visitors, briefly raising a hand to stop anyone from going in too early-but once he is allowed in he all but jumps to his feet, hoofs clopping in a way not unlike his old geta as he enters.]

....How do you feel? [He finds himself asking, despite knowing that the answer cannot be good. Physically, there may be very little now that Zecora is done of course. But otherwise?

He can't imagine anything else but 'horrible'.]

[starseedling]

[He's been dozing a lot, and while the pain has definitely receded a great deal, his head still feels pretty fuzzy. This is possibly an intentional result of medication, or just inevitable exhaustion, but everything feels sort of distant and surreal.

He blinks up at Gongenzaka, and then glances away, lifting up a hand to rest over where the hole had been before.]

I'm okay...

[It's not very determinant, but it's there.]

[otoko]

[...If it weren't for the injuries, it would feel like he was 11 again. It almost does, really-unable to feel certain about what to say, unable to know what to do...and honestly just wanting it to be over, and done with, because seeing someone this upset and this distant hurts.

...The most he can do now is what he did then, for someone else.] ...With Zecora's magic, it should at least cease hurting soon, [he observes, ears twisting back as he takes a seat. At this size, it seems more like someone's still standing beside the other...but he's trying.]

...However, with what happened... [He swallows.] ...You should know that Peridot is fine; so far, no one else has come in injured, as well.

[....He doesn't know the other's name, Gongenzaka realizes. Or at least, that's what he assumes.

It wasn't the time for introductions after all.] ....I am Gongenzaka Noboru, [He announces quietly, bowing somewhat. He speaks rather like someone from those Lonely Blade movies, if Steven were in the mood to notice.] ...And I, the man Gongenzaka, apologize that we must meet under these circumstances.

[starseedling]

[Steven nods a little, acknowledging Gongenzaka's words even if he doesn't super know what to say to them at the moment. He's usually so down for enthusiastically engaging just about anyone, that he doesn't even know what to do when he's feeling so low energy.

He just feels defeated. He's fairly certain it will pass, he intellectually knows that it should, but it's weird. He doesn't like it.]

I'm Steven.

[His voice is quiet.]

I think this is my fault anyway.

[drrdrrdrr]

He's been in the medical tent for a little while already by the time Amethyst hears about it, but she's scrambling over there immediately and slamming through the entrance in a frankly disruptive fashion. Nobody try to impede her she's Busy

"Steven?? Is Steven in here–?" Oh. He is. And he sure looks covered in blood. Amethyst's face falls, her one visible eye going super round, and she barrels over to where he's lying to get a better look. For a second she looks like she's going to put a hand on his arm – then she bites back a Steven-inappropriate cuss and curls her hands back against her chest. "What happened..?"

[starseedling]

Steven is still fading in and out of consciousness, weighed down with exhaustion, even now that much of the injury has been stabilized. The blood is still there, and some of the pain is still there, if only a fraction.

He notices when she comes in, though, his eyes cracking open slightly as a purple figure looms overhead.

"'Mmethyst?" he mumbles.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Steven!" She looms overhead a bit more vigorously, just leans right up into his business as if she needs to get in really close to be able to tell how OK he is or isn't. "Steven, what happened? Are you OK??"

[starseedling]

"Someone... shot me?" he answers, sounding sort of unclear on the details himself, even though he was there. "I tried to use my shield but it broke..."

He's going to be thinking about that one for a while.

LATER, IN THE TRAILER, WITH GREG

[starseedling]

Steven doesn't have to stay in the medical tent for very long after Zecora has worked her magic. He's still healing, and he needs rest, but it's something that he can do in his comfort of his own 'home.' He most likely gets taken back while taking what is turning out to be a long series of naps, sleeping off the energy needed to heal and blocking out the many bothersome thoughts that come with being conscious.

He thought that things were going to be different.

It's a reoccurring thought, every time he's awake for too long. He'd been hoping that he could separate himself from everything back home. He'd been hoping he could move without that weight. Even more than being hurt, though, he's wounded by the fact that in the moment, everything that had happened to him was still dragging him down. He couldn't address it, and now he can't hide from it either.

He doesn't know what to do. He wants to be different, here. He wants things to be different.

And with that reoccurring thought, his body seems willing to oblige. Soon after Zecora's healing, changes have slowly been shifting into being - the fae kinds, that they've all been told to expect. He's barely noticed, but thin, mossy fur has begun to spread over his shoulder and around his ears, starting like a layer of velvet and gradually thickening. He can feel the discomfort in his spine of something growing, and a dull ache in his skull.

He doesn't really pay attention, and immediately following his injury, everything seems to fall into a despondent haze. He hates acting like this, he hates his own feelings, but for now it feels inescapable.

[fragileandsoft]

It's bruising, Greg thought when he first noticed the color. There were still plenty of blues and purples lingering after the worst of the damage was sealed. It's the healing magic, he corrected as the green spread further out from the wound. Zecora's magic had taken a strange and unfamiliar shape, and it was just continuing its course as Steven continued to heal.

It's infected, he thought as it thickened and grew out from the skin. Something's gone wrong, something's been done to him that no one expected or recognized at first look--Zecora's magic, or magic inside the offending bullet, or any number of things could have set something insidious and dangerous inside of his son and was spreading as a disease.

It's this place, he finally realizes as he touches at the hard nubs of horns jutting out of his own skull. Steven hadn't been touched by the transformative magic yet, and Greg had dared to believe it was more of that hybrid anatomy protecting his son. Maybe it had; it took this wound for the magic to finally break through Steven's defenses. There's no way for Greg to know. He's as clueless about this as with anything about magic. Anything about this whole incomprehensible place.

All he can do is all he's ever done: wait. Too exhausted to focus but too anxious to rest, Greg paces by the bed and waits for Steven to wake properly, water and food waiting for whenever his son is coherent enough to take them.

[starseedling]

It's itchy, he thinks. He scratches at his neck while dozing, only to find something soft and furry there - and for the scratch to hurt more than he's expecting. It forces him awake, a jolt of anxiety going through his gut, even as he struggles to get a hold on himself.

He cringes and cracks open his eyes, trying to get up but finding his body too heavy. His butt hurts, absurdly enough, and it quickly becomes one of the most dominating things on his mine.

"Dad...?" he calls out weakly, scanning the ceiling in a daze.

[fragileandsoft]

There's a thunk and a clatter, before Greg rushes out from the bathroom. don't worry he was washing his hands

"Steven. Hey, kiddo, I'm here, it's okay. How're you--how're you feeling, are you okay? You need... water, or something...?"

[pipers_son]

It's after Zecora has worked her magic- literally, literal magic, fae carnivals don't fuck around- that Joker stops in. With his added duties, the general lack of people in the carnival anyway, and other such factors, he's looking a little ragged around the edges even with his usual paint on...

But he'd still made sure he could come over the second he'd heard what happened, shoving what he could onto who he could in order to get over as soon as he could.

All the usual boisterous loudness that is generally Joker's very presence has been tossed aside completely as he comes over to the medical tent. In fact, even his footsteps are near silent as he gets the go ahead from Zecora, ducking over to where Steven is resting. His voice is soft and gentle, like something practiced a hundred times before. "Hey there, lad. Awake?"

[starseedling]

"Joker!" Steven says, opening his eyes more fully. He scratches his neck uncomfortably, and then tries to sit up with a sudden abruptness, like he's forgotten something.

"I'm sorry..." he starts, heavy with weariness. "Did... Did in miss practice? I'm sorry, I got hurt."

[pipers_son]

A noise that even Joker couldn’t describe- half fondness, half beration- hops off of his tongue, and he gently goes to press the boy down. Just got shot, and he’s still thinking about his work. As if Joker couldn’t get more fond of him.

“Now don’t ya worry about that at all. Yer hurt, and that matters more than practice or any of the shows.” He tries to smile reassuringly down at him, smothering his own heart stopping worry down to where it can’t be seen. “I just heard ya got hurt and rushed over ta see ya. How do ya feel now that Zecora has taken care of ya a bit?”

[starseedling]

"It's kind of sore and stuff," he says, laying back at Joker's urging and not resisting that any further. He doesn't really want to, after all. "And... itchy? Is it usually like that?"

With bullet wounds? With Zecora's healing? Who knows.

sometime after he returns to his trailer and lapis finds out

[mirrortide]

Very suddenly, the door to Steven's trailer flies open, slamming loudly against the wall with the force used to open it. One extremely distraught looking Lapis Lazuli enters, and she barely even spots Steven before she's on him, scooping him up in a tight hug that may or may not be uncomfortable.

"Steven! Are you alright? I heard what happened- I didn't know! I just got here!" Her words come out fast and a little loud, but her tone is absolutely laced with concern for him.

[starseedling]

Steven was sleeping, so when Lapis blows right on in there it unsurprisingly scares the shit out of him. He jolts under his covers, looking towards the doorway with a horrified expression, but then she's already there and hugging him and he's lagging behind in processing exactly what just happened.

"Lapis?!" he gasps, not really managing to hug back but not objectively opposed to what's happening either. By now, the mossy green fur covering parts of his body has managed to establish itself, along with a set of lion-esque ears in the place of his regular ones. He's got a tail, too, but it's currently being crushed beneath the covers a little.

"Oh my gosh - you came to the carnival?"

[mirrortide]

"I did- I'm here. I didn't know- I just found out that you got hurt! Are you alright?" Lapis has very little idea about how humans work, but she knows how Gems work. "Is your Gem alright?" Not that he couldn't heal it, but.

Look, she's highly distressed right now, and she's not even going to let go of him to check. She's too busy more or less smothering him with a hug. "Greg just told me you got hurt."

[starseedling]

Aw no. He practically melts at hearing how worried she is, and he really wants to know what he can say to made her feel better, but he honestly isn't sure what he can say. Besides to just claim that he's better now.

"I-I'm okay," he says, stammering a little with nervousness and pent up emotions. "It didn't hurt my gem, but... it kind of shook me up all over because I guess I got hurt in the brain which made me get hurt in real life??"

He shakes that off - no, that's a bad way to explain this.

"I mean -! No, I explained that bad, let me start over."