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

[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.

[starseedling]

Steven swallows, nervously. He's clearly overwhelmed. Digging out bullets is way different than spitting on stuff and having it heal automatically, and Steven has gone pale at the idea, looking like he might throw up.

"I... Um. Lambert is... he's somewhere around too?" His voice is high and strained. He pauses to get himself together. "I... I don't know if he's ever taken out bullets before." He looks at one of his claws, thinking about it, and then clenches his fist shut, shaking his head a little.

Oh man this is giving him the jitters way worse than he expected.

[flashover]

Dang... Rin didn't want to stress anyone out! Especially not the literal only person in the medical tent. And the poor guy looks like he's about to lose his lunch. Rin waves his hands and puts on a smile.

"Ah... It's fine! It's fine. If you're not comfortable, you don't have to do anything. I'll figure something out." He looks around at the supplies and grabs a bottle of alcohol and some gauze.

"If you can just find me a knife or something, I can at least get the ones out of Kuro. Mmm... and maybe a mirror?"

[starseedling]

"O-Okay..." he managed.

For a moment, Steven kind of wishes that he'd actually worked in the medical tent before, so that he'd know where anything was. He gets up, swaying a little as he does, and then starts rifling around through Zecora's stuff in a nervous fumble.

There's some stuff like knives around there, and Steven grabs a long thin one. He comes over and holds it out to Rin, covering his eyes with his hand as he thinks about what it's going to be used for.

Sorry, Rin. He's kind of a baby.

[flashover]

Rin looks at the knife and nods, taking it. It should work fine. He can't help but smile slightly at the fact that the kid has his eyes closed.

"There is something you can do, you know. I'm gonna need someone to distract Kuro; he's kind of a big baby. Can you pet his face and scratch behind his ears while I do this?"

The giant cat shifts uncomfortably, but presents his injured flank to Rin and looks at Steven with large, somewhat fearful eyes. He's purring, but not the purr of a happy cat. No, this is a cat that is trying to comfort himself. Being elephant sized doesn't change that.

"Ok... now how did Yukio do this...?" Rin pours some alcohol over the knife and then burns it off with a quick "fwoosh". Clean now, right?

"Alright, Kuro. I'm not gonna tell you when I'm gonna do this, so just focus on our new buddy, ok?"

The cat lets out a mournful mewl and looks at Steven expectantly.

[starseedling]

This is the saddest thing ever. Steven has never been so bad to get to pet a giant cat before. He nods to Rin, his eyes a bit watery, and then comes forward to focus on Kuro... oh boy. This is bad. He doesn't know if he can distract someone from what Rin is about to do.

But he gently touches Kuro's face, petting his fur, and soon enough he finds himself nuzzling the big cat in some kind of primal feline consolation. He starts to purr a little himself, his empathic power subconsciously sending off gentle waves of compassion and comfort.

"It's okay, Kuro," he murmurs. "He's gunna fix you up."