lostcarnival | HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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.

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?"

The trademark gem sparkles come and go as he sees the bite marks close, and a moment later he's yelling "LARS!" with tears in his eyes and just wrapping his arms around the older boy's midsection. This mostly just result in him kind of falling on top of him and the cot, but that's okay, because he's alive and he didn't just die right now!

"Lars, it's okay," he repeats again, pointedly, his face buried in his chest as he hugs him pretty much relentlessly. "I-It looked so bad but it's okay..."

It's only then that Steven actually starts crying.

Lars grits his teeth and grunts when Steven falls on top of him. He feels almost annoyed, because he's tired, cranky and confused, as Steven tells him it's okay again. But more context is revealed pretty soon after, and Lars's posture and expression softens a little.

Especially when Steven starts to cry.

"Geez," he groans tiredly. As he feels Steven's tears soak through his ruddy dashiki, Lars combs his bony fingers through Steven's tightly curled mess of hair.

He's right, Lars knows—Lars knows he came pretty close to death. He knows it must have looked bad, because he was pretty sure he was going to die. His chin dimples, and he wraps his arms around Steven in full, the movement slow and tired. He looks frustrated as his eyes sting with unfallen tears.

"Stop... bein' such a baby, man. You're embarrassin' me."

This was definitely a good way to get even more blood on his clothes and fur, but he's not even paying much attention to that right now. Even though this is probably the most blood he's ever seen in his life, including when he got shot not that long ago. It's genuinely terrifying, and gross, and he doesn't like it but there are things that are so much more important.

He hears what Lars is saying, but he doesn't really react - it's a mixture of knowing, deep down, that Lars is just being Lars out of obligation, and because Steven himself isn't really capable of not being a baby at the moment.

"A bunch... a bunch of people aren't back yet. And Peridot isn't back yet. And I thought you were gone, and..." He's crying enough that it's getting in the way of forming any complete sentences.

True, Lars can't really wholly understand Steven through his messy crying, especially since half of it is muffled against his body. He blinks, some tears falling, and he keeps his loose hold around Steven. He's not good at this kind of thing. He doesn't think he's successfully comforted a person in his life.

Now, he kind of wants to be the sort of person who can do that type of thing, at least for Steven. How many ways had Lars been wishing he were more in the face of this kind of adversity, lately? He'd never felt it before.

Before, he was fine with being weak. It was normal, and a standard he was into. But now, it just makes him feel useless. Back home, it was alright. This shit wasn't about him; he wasn't privy to Steven's dangerous shenanigans.

"It's cool," Lars hiccups a little, sniffling. "I'm... I'm pretty slippery, so I'm good." He rubs Steven's back a little, almost as a tactile distraction for himself. "And with everyone else, just give it some time. I get bein' scared, though..."

He pauses, sniffling again.

"This place is friggin' messed up, Steven."

Steven doesn't really know if he thinks it's that messed up, but that's probably because he's used to it. Not this stuff, exactly - not usually this bad. But he bets this was what it was like, back in the gem war, back when his mom had been trying to save the earth. People died. People disappeared. They got hurt, and he can imagine how maybe Rose Quartz had been hurt by that, like Steven feels right now.

She felt real love for those around her. She felt real sorrow when they were hurt.

Feeling like he might share that feeling with his mom would almost be heartening, except... he's not really sure what he's fighting for right now. Except the safety of his family and friends, maybe. Maybe that's all it needs to be?

"It's okay," he says again, finally. He sniffles. "I'm here for you, Lars."

Lars feels his gut twist weirdly when Steven says that; it's expected from someone like Steven, but also somehow just so unexpected from anyone. And it's no surprise; he knows he's a jerk who has a hard time getting close to people. His shoulders tense with a held breath, which shudders out at the same time a set of thick tears roll down his cheeks.

It's crazy to him that people can really love him like this.

One arm still loosely around Steven's torso, Lars raises his other arm to rest across his eyes. His fist and teeth are clenched, eyes tightly shut as fat tears continue to stream in ebs down the sides of his face, towards his ears, his nose beginning to run.

"I know," he pushes out tensely, his voice breaking in a little sob after he manages the words.

HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

so uh

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