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

Sherlock | Open

[thevictoriandetective]

[Medical Tent]

Sheer anger is what's keeping him from completely passing out for a week. Well, he'd passed out several times between the dining hall evac and the medical tent, he can't quite remember if someone brought him here or he crawled here on his own. But he was aghast they had just...left. The others--Gon, Sora, that one kid that got blitzed, Snake--he'd failed to save them. He was angry at the situation, but mostly at himself. If he hadn't lost his blasted mind the entire week and gone on a massive bender, maybe he would have been able to. His mind at 100% could have figured out something...he ignored the fact that the poisons in his blood was what had probably saved his life. Though apparently it made him an attractive treat, because he probably got more vampire bites than any other poor person.

He sighed and lay back, wincing at any movement that jostled his ribs. His forked tongue flicked out, which was gross because he could practically taste the regret and pain in the air. Irvine had done a number on his mind, too. He'd supresssd his beastial instincts ever since he'd been turned into a chameleon by the Ringmaster, he never wanted to be swept away by such powerful, simple animal thoughts. And Irvine just broke that container open. Sherlock hadn't realized the depth of how strong were, festering and growing, hidden in his Mind Palace. Right now all he wanted to do was find a nice warm hole in a tree to curl up in. And maybe eat a whole pig. He shivered, grabbing an extra blanket from the cot next to him and huddled up underneath.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, he berated himself. He'd been enthralled, bitten, while still on various substances, it was a wonder he didn't just...lose his mind entirely. The snake part of him was far more stable than the confused, beleaguered, furious, aching, dizzy human part.

His hand knocked against his face as he grabbed a pillow and considered sleeping for a month and avoid the inevitable withdrawal. Even if he'd been able to bring anything back wth him, he would have flushed it. He hated himself for falling so far.

Wait a second. His blue eyes shot open as he felt his face. What...--

A frantic grab for anything reflective. A medical tray would do. And--

--oh, that was just brilliant! He groaned and lay back, rubbing his...er...snout? Much like the snake mask he'd been wearing, his entire face had turned decidedly more snake-like. He gathered up the courage to inspect his reflection, his jaw was...could be unhinged? Like a snake. Of course. The lower half of his face was more like a snake's, not as pointed, but a similar shape. He growled, and threw the tray on the ground, where it clattered.

He didn't look even remotely human anymore. Not that he'd deserved to, after what he'd just been through. He curled up again, shaking slightly from the withdrawal.

[starseedling]

At some point after Sherlock arrives in the tent, Steven will be over to see what he can help with. The boy has a decent amount of blood on him, but none of it is actually his - just left overs from hugging grievously wounded people earlier.

He's very tired and it shows, but he tries to look Sherlock over a little anyway.

"Are you hurt?" he asks softly. "I can help heal you..."

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock's startled and hisses, immediately on the defensive. It takes him a good moment to remember--

A. Where he was--

And,

B. That he wasn't in danger from vampires anymore.

A moment passed before recognition dawns in his eyes, and he lays back, looking as apologetic as someone with snake features could look.

"A bit, yes. If you don't mind."

He pauses, trying to think. Everything was sort of muddled together. He had vampire bites on his neck and wrist, but he didn't care about that. "It's my ribs, I think they're broken."

[starseedling]

Steven swallows, and nods. He can see the blood, and it concerns him, but he'll focus on the ribs first. Looking over Sherlock's torso very tentatively, Steven will try to peel back the shirt enough to get at the skin, using a claw to cut the fabric if necessary. He can see the beginnings of bruising beneath, though he can only imagine that it'll get worse without treatment.

He leans in close, as if analyzing the injury, but then gives the side of Sherlock's ribs a careful lick or two of his tongue. The act is followed with some sparkles of light around the area, and the absence of a great deal of the related pain - at the very least, the bones will be back in place, even if they will be more vulnerable and fragile for the next while.

The neck and wrist wounds will heal up a little too, though not as much as the ribs.

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock has no idea what to expect, but when Steven suddenly starts just...licking his scales, he yelps.

"WHAT--"

But the sparkles are an obvious tell of what it is. Magic. And the next obvious tell is when that pain finally is muddled. He squints at Steven, confused--his mind is not at 100%--but...hey, whatever works.

A slight huff as he stills and allows Steven to continue, looking in fascination as his wrist heals.

[starseedling]

Steven doesn't stick to it very long, once he sees that things are healing. He pauses for a moment to check Sherlock's wrist, and sees that the holes are closing up, and then seems satisfied with his work. His healing doesn't work as well here as it did back home, but that's okay. It's still good.

"Is that better?" he asks, looking a bit more exhausted for his efforts. This is taking a lot out of him, even if he's determined to go on anyway.

[thevictoriandetective]

"Better, yes." He's still staring with a mixture of curiosity and shock.

Well. Apparently healing spit was a thing.

"--thank you," he added hastily. He glanced down at his wrist. The fact that it was actually working, no matter how slowly, was enough for him. Scientifically, he was wrestling with the possibilities, how on earth did the cells regenerate and knit themselves back together? Magic, obviously, but how!? His brain did not like to accept 'magic' as the answer. But he doubted that Steven was up for a debate on cellular regeneration. He looked quite tired.

He gingerly checked his ribs with the slightest of touches. Definitely better. Not completely healed, it seemed, but definitely better

Re: Sherlock | Open

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy's unfolding blankets and spreading them on cots, blissfully unaware of his own new fluffy tail wagging behind him as he works. He hasn't really had a chance to sit down yet, so it's still a pending surprise. The clatter gets his attention, though, and he turns around to see if there's anything he can do.

Scales. Lots and lots of scales. And a... "Sherlock? Is that you?"

[thevictoriandetective]

It may indeed be difficult to recognize him, his clothes, once Victorian finery, were a mess and stained with blood. He was one of the few reptilian-looking persons from the Carnival, though.

Sherlock's startled and defensive. He's hurt, and not in control of his faculties or his emotions. Plus, he's full of unbridled and uncontrolled snakey instincts. And that was before the added change, which only heaped more snakeish mindsets and behaviors on him.

He's really sorry, Jimmy, but he instinctively tries to bite the nearest thing to him. Which might be poor Jimmy's hand.

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy's never been so thankful for anything in his life as that blanket. He never saw Sherlock move. Instead of Jimmy's hand, Sherlock has a mouthful of wool blanket, but the relief doesn't last very long before Jimmy's hand starts going numb. Well, that answers the question of 'Is Sherlock poisonous now?' because it looks like he most certainly is.

It doesn't seem to be spreading that fast though, but Jimmy's still going to go have a word with one of the healers about getting treated for snakebite (and also warn everyone that Sherlock is extremely bitey right now.) And he comes back a few minutes later with a new bandage on his hand, to hopefully sit outside of biting range and warn folks off until word gets around about the biting.

"Well, it's nice to see you too."

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock manages to get some hold of himself when he gets a mouthful of wool, and by the time Jimmy comes back he's properly chagrined. Though he still can't stop feeling out of sorts and defensive. And for some reason, he was getting an odd sense of...it was difficult to describe, it was something he could see, but it was also a sense that--he closed his eyes, and realized he could still see a sort of heat-signature. Whoa. It was coming in fits and spurts, but he could sense Jimmy's re-arrival by picking up on his heat.

His instincts wanted him to hiss and warn this intruder not to come any closer, but he managed to fight it well enough to apologize.

"I...are you all right? Did I hurt you?"

He sounded quite embarrassed.

"My apologizes."

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy's sure to give Sherlock plenty of space when he comes back. He's not entirely sure what's going on with Sherlock, and getting too close would just end badly for everyone. "I'm fine. My fault for getting too close while you were still coming off everything. Are you alright?" Trying to downplay the bandaged hand as much as possible, even though they both know Sherlock will notice.

"Are you okay?"

I misspelled 'apologies' my bad XD

[thevictoriandetective]

"It wasn't your fault. I should have better control."

He focused immediately on the bandage, and his face falls. Well, falls as much as someone with severe snake features can. In any case, it's only yet another reason to chastise himself for being an idiot. He shuts his eyes a moment, 'seeing' heat, like he was viewing an infrared camera. Great. He couldn't even turn this off...he'd remembered vaguely reading something about snakes sensing heat through sensors in their snouts. But he didn't feel like inspecting his 'snout' at the moment, he'd rather pretend it didn't exist. Even if he could see it. He opened his eyes again.

"That's a broad question, and I'll give you a broad answer. No."

He was prickly, not because he was trying to be cruel, he was just so angry at himself...it would be better to just push Jimmy away before he could hurt him again.

[empty_vessel]

"Maybe, but it's my fault too for getting close without knowing what was still percolating in your bloodstream, if you'd been bitten or what would happen with your new changes." Jimmy winces, shifting in the chair to accommodate his new changes. "So it's my fault as much as yours, if anything."

He does smile a little at the 'no'. "Fair enough. Basic needs, then. Are you hungry? Cold? Is it too noisy in here? Start with the basic things we can change." If Sherlock's hungry, there might be a kitchen run in the future, all Jimmy's got with him are sandwiches.

[thevictoriandetective]

The wince and shifting on his seat isn't lost in Sherlock.

"You have new changes too?" he deduces, pointing a claw at him. It was mostly a guess, but Jimmy's train of thought seemed to focus on changes, which, while it was obvious that Sherlock had a fairly big one, meant he must have been thinking about changes too.

"I...don't think I've eaten in some time," he said quietly. Blast, Jimmy, why do you have to be so ridiculously kind? It was impossible to really try to push him away, the guilt would be unbearable. Sherlock would have to settle for just being curmudgeonly then. He was a bit cold, but that also might be because of him coming down off of whatever he'd been on. He'd probably be out of sorts for a week or two, especially since some of that stuff...who knew what it even was. Certainly not anything from his world. Either way, between not taking care of himself and all of that, and the many vampire bites, and his injuries--it was a wonder he was still alive, much less not a gibbering ruined shell. No wonder he was being bitey.

[empty_vessel]

"Ah yeah. Picked one up. All the smoking I did back there came back to bite me on the ass. Literally." Jimmy smiles thinly and shrugs. "I picked up a tail. Kind of goat-y, I think. Matches the rest of the set. Kind of surprised that I picked one up over something so small, relatively speaking. But considering the reasons behind quitting, I can understand it." And judging by the bulge in Jimmy's inner vest pocket, the cigarettes are still there.

"But, you haven't eaten. Probably haven't had much of anything to drink that isn't alcoholic too, right?" Jimmy carefully offers a bottle of water, just starting to edge into biting range, but far enough away that it hopefully won't hit the 'BITE THE THING' reflex.

[cellphoneangel]

Castiel didn't bother to call out in the medical tent as he had other places. This is the one place where there are more than enough present. The tray hitting the ground leads him to the noisemaker. He says nothing, only stands at the end of Sherlock's. There's no coyness or shyness in the angel's open study of the man in the fetal position.

"You dropped your tray."

Interacting with humans can be difficult for him. They're full of oddities that angels doesn't possess, meaning 'free will'. Add in that he's not the best with reading facial or body cues, and it get a little harder.

"The snake attributes aren't terrible. You wear them well. Your scales look healthy enough and in good color. You aren't shedding your skin either. If this was an accident, it could have been worse. Popcorn?"

At least he offered.

[thevictoriandetective]

Sherlock growls, his instincts still causing him to bristle at anyone trying to approach him. He turns over to look, at least he isn't too snappish this time.

"Really? I thought--"

At least his deductive reasoning and skills were coming back, fortunately he hadn't completely fried his brain over the past week. It was a welcome relief, he had been somewhat worried with all that he'd been through and the magic and the bites he would have lost or deleted something--he was a bit...afraid of losing more memories. After what happened to him as a child...and of course he actually couldn't remember a lot of the previous week...

This was...odd.

It was Jimmy, but...

...not?

Warning bells clanged in his mind, especially after the whole vampire debacle he wasn't sure what to expect next. This...he was carrying himself differently, the way he spoke...it as all different.

"Jimmy?"

[cellphoneangel]

"No."

There's a stillness to Castiel that humans don't possess. Humans blink, fidget, and the million other tics. Folded their arms before them or hands behind them. Reason #2535 Angels Suck At Pretending. Would help to have an imagination for something like that versus living in a body that wasn't their own.

"Is this due to the Carnival?" he asks, looking over Sherlock's scaly skin and then back to his eyes. It changes everyone after all, even his kind. "Or was it the vampires? I'm still getting caught up on everything that happened. The Ringmaster was upset."

Meaning she hugged him.

"Very upset."

[thevictoriandetective]

No.

NO!?

Sherlock's brain worked very fast. He had already seen that he didn't have a bandaged hand and the strange stillness and--Jimmy had told him about what happened to him. Sherlock had taken it all with a grain of salt, because Jimmy also sounded very, very insane, but clearly something had happened to him--and right now, this Was. Not. Jimmy.

And who else could it be but--

His brain ground to a halt and he just stared. Maybe it was a vampire trick--but they were at the Carnival--

"That's it. I took too much. That's the only explanation," Sherlock held his head. A mad sort of laugh. "Of course. I knew it would catch up with me someday."

He rolled his eyes at Not-Jimmy.

"The Carnival, obviously." He should know, being a hallucination and all. Not a very high quality hallucination, then.

[cellphoneangel]

The fact that Sherlock goes to denial so quickly is impressive. Most humans take a little longer, show more shock and sputter for a time. Make some display of just how silly it all is. While Sherlock works through it, Castiel only watches him dispassionately. Comforting or enforcing who he is doesn't figure in his thinking. Sherlock will believe or not.

"I need to talk to Jimmy about him telling other humans about me."

A nod answers Sherlock before Castiel vanishes from the foot of Sherlock's bed and reappears sitting on the one beside him. He reaches down to pick up the tray Sherlock dropped and sets it aside.

"It is better than bat given the circumstances. Some healer or another might be able to do something for you."

But not the angel sitting at his side.

"What happened with the vampires?"

[thevictoriandetective]

This hallucination was stubbornly persistent and was displaying annoying signs of being real. Which was worrisome.

Except the vanishing thing. That was proper hallucinatory behavior.

But why would a hallucination need to know something he himself already did? After all it was coming from his brain...

Sherlock focused on Not-Jimmy, the nuances were obvious now that he really paid attention. Despite the fact that he hasn't been able to trust his brain for the past week...well, maybe his brain just took what Jimmy told him and made it real. His brain was certainly capable of doing something this involved.

Still, no reason to be overly rude.

"Well, clearly they must have planned this. When we were at that...I don't remember what it's called. Party dimension, whatever, there was a masquerade, and that's when they started attacking. Stealthily, at first. They picked so many off..." A slight break in his voice. Blast. Gon, Sora, Snake... Despite what people thought about his arrogance and coldness, Sherlock cared more than he ever let on. "We were fighting them outright when we got tossed back here. I'm not sure who exactly they took, besides the few I encountered. They turned them, some of them, I don't know..."

[cellphoneangel]

That stillness persists as Castiel sits there watching Sherlock. When Sherlock's words dry up, the angel nods.

"I wasn't aware of any danger to all of you when I was. When did you notice that things had gone wrong? What did these vampires look like and act?"

Perhaps it's Fate, perhaps someone suggested Sherlock to Castiel for his ability to process information and deduct the truth of a situation. The small break in Sherlock's voice is noted but not acted on. Even if he knew best how to comfort a person besides an embrace, he isn't sure Sherlock would appreciate it anymore than Cas does surprise-hugs. So far, Sherlock is the first person that seems detail oriented enough to tell him what Cas feels he needs to know.

"When you were fighting them, what weaknesses did they display? What areas of them were most vulnerable?"

[thevictoriandetective]

"It's a bit difficult to pinpoint exactly when..." was this his guilty mind berating him for his bender? If he hadn't been on all that, he might have done much more good. He could have actually helped people. "They blended easily amongst the crowd. Weren't too different from ordinary humans, but they are..I don't know. More aesthetically inclined than most people?" Beautiful, was what he was trying to say, because he was embarrassed he'd been taken in by a woman--vampire--who looked too much like Irene Adler. "I think some had red eyes though. Or maybe that was the new vampires. I...some of it's a blur. We had masks, and it was difficult to focus on physical attributes until they were off. Suppose they were enchanted."

Psh. Enchanted. What was his life even, now?

"They were very difficult to fight. Silverware bothered them though, anything silver. I think the only thing that really worked was tearing them apart or decapitation."

Sherlock's forked tongue flicked out, sensing the lingering flavors of popcorn in the air.

[cellphoneangel]

"You believe in magic and vampires but not angels."

Castiel watches Sherlock but it's more looking through the detective instead of at him. The guilt that fills the human isn't picked up on. It's the information he hears, not the pain buried within.

"They don't sound like the vampires of my world specifically, but things blur in a place like this. There's many species that use glamour or spells to draw victims in. Hypnotism isn't unheard of. Silver. Good. That will help."

There's not much thought in him offering Sherlock the bag of sugar-salted kettle corn. Castiel has something of a sweet tooth when the mood takes him. A blink, and his dark blue eyes focus on Sherlock.

"The fact that you remember anything is good, as is you living. Those of my world do not leave survivors. I am glad anyone was left alive when I arrived here earlier." He pauses before going on. Sam would have done it. "We will get them back. In the mean time, I am Castiel. Who are you?"