⇨ HOME AGAIN

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone!
When: Day 68 - Day 72
Where: Carnival grounds.
What: Everyone makes it back to the carnival after their adventure in hell. The Ringmaster makes a new lake to celebrate, apparently.
Warnings: A notable absence of torture.

TO HELL AND BACK↴ The rescuers and the liberated captives will emerge from the portal like bats out of hell. Much like their previous return, this arrival will be met with a flurry of medical activity as everyone gets their injuries seen to, particularly those that had been held prisoner within Morningstar's hell fortress. It will still be night when they arrive, and the rest of Day 68 will be clouded over completely, for the benefit of the new vampires as they get settled in. After the immediate panic is dealt with, the Ringmaster will disappear into the forest until the morning of Day 69. It will be raining off and on during her absence. ► RECOVERY: Unlike the last time, the Ringmaster will be supplying the carnival workers with some healing potions from her private hoard, given that most of the healers are already wounded or spent. Damage caused by iron poisoning will not be cured by healing magic or healing items though, unfortunately, and those who have spent a lot of time in contact with iron will take at least a week to fully recover. However, regular healing remedies like bandages and herbs may help speed things along if the patient is suited to them. ► A BRAND NEW LAKE: On the morning of Day 69, the Ringmaster will return the forest to announce that she's built a new lake into the carnival grounds, only a short trail's distance from the backyard. Unlike most of the forest, this area won't just lead you in circles when explored, meaning that it can actually be modified and developed as the workers see fit. The water is always clean and just the right temperature for swimming, though it gets a bit cooler the deeper you swim. At the far side of the lake, there is a warm, stone pathway leading up the side of the mountain, that will eventually take you to some bangin' hot springs. Brought to you mostly because the Ringmaster doesn't know how to say sorry with actual words. At least it gives you something to play with while you try to shake off the trauma. ► FRUITS OF VICTORY: On Day 70, all the workers who came to hell for the rescue mission will be given a gift from the Ringmaster. Each of them will receive a bright green, glowing seed, about the size of your thumbnail. She will tell you that, when planted, the seeds will swiftly grow into a small citrus tree, which will grow fruits with regenerative properties. More details about these plants will be written up in a separate post, but for now your characters can ogle them and decide if they are going to plant them or not. ► TAKE ME TO CHURCH: Staring on Day 71, the Ringmaster will be starting to work on removing the vampirism from those infected with it, which apparently involves a lot of... meditation? She will take the newbie vampires out into a shady area of the forest and encourage them to look inside themselves and attempt to separate themselves spiritually from their demonic beasts. How well you character masters her teachings over time will determine whether or not she is ultimately capable of stripping out your demon soul and returning you to life. Of course, not all demons are made equal, and some will be more difficult to separate than others...

Comments

[periphrasing]

Peridot lifts herself off of Amethyst's side, sitting up with a deadly serious expression on her face. That sounds like a load of crud to her, but fine, she'll roll with it just to get this thing resolved:

"Okay, fine. So do you really not want to be friends with kissing anymore?"

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst won't look her in the face. She's been thinking about this a lot -- but she was kind of figuring Peridot would just want to break it off after what happened.

"Look, it's just... it's complicated, OK?"

[periphrasing]

...Peridot just growls at her, a low, irritable rumbling in her throat. Apparently she does not find that to be an acceptable answer.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst glances back at her nervously.

"I... kinda, yeah. Not 'cause of anything you did," she adds quickly, holding up her hands, "just... ugh. It's easier, if we don't gotta deal with this."

[periphrasing]

She stops growling. Her ears droop.

She looks downcast, glancing away at some fixed point under the table. "Well that's... not really what I was hoping to hear," Peridot says.

[drrdrrdrr]

She hugs her arms to her chest. "I know," she says.

[periphrasing]

"I don't understand how this option is any easier," she continues, frowning. "It seems to me like the easier option would be to just return to the status quo."

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst can't pretend she doesn't super want that. She stares at the table. She wants that real bad, but... deciding to do this thing was real easy when it was just deciding to make out with Peridot sometimes. But now... all of this has made her realise she's in way too deep. One way or another it's going to end, and it's going to hurt really, really bad when it does.

She doesn't reply.

[periphrasing]

Peridot stares at her agitatedly, waiting for Amethyst to say something, anything in response to that. When she doesn't, she snorts with annoyance, picking up where she left off and offering further prompting:

"I mean, I still don't even understand the logic behind this decision. You said you're... worried you're going to hurt me, or something? Or is it because you still feel bad about that thing you told me about, that night in the hotel room? Because I don't care about that! It's fine, I was just kind of.... confused, at the time, because it didn't really fall in line with what I knew of typical Earth relationships but... I don't know, maybe we don't need to stick to the Earth relationship formula!"

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst... looks at her slowly, wary and confused and kind of surly the way Amethyst gets when she's upset.

"You... how d'you mean?

[periphrasing]

"You know! Like. Maybe we don't need to do this thing the way that humans would!" Peridot exhales. It doesn't really feel like she's getting her point across here, but how else to put it...?

Another sigh. "Look. I've been approaching our extra-intimate friendship like I've been retracing the steps of a scientific experiment. I've seen humans interact with their "significant others" in the past, and from my observations I had extrapolated a certain understanding of how these things are supposed to work. It was necessary at the start in order for me to understand, because we just don't do things like this on Homeworld. There isn't time for this kind of fraternization. But the more time I spend away from all that..."

Peridot curls up on her seat, drawing her knees up towards herself as she stares down at her hands, fidgeting them together. "You and Steven, and Garnet and Pearl... You all taught me that Earth doesn't have to have rules like that. So... maybe I don't care if you want to kiss other people or whatever. As long as you still want to kiss me."

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst blinks, her cheeks flushing a darker purple underneath the tiny gems freckled across her face.

"Geez, Peridot..." This is sort of mumbled, more of a placeholder while she's embarrassed by emotions than anything else. Her hands curl into fists, pressed against the seat. "Yeah I still want to kiss you. I just... I thought you wanted to be... y'know, regular human relationship dating."

[periphrasing]

Peridot's heart flutters when she hears that. Good. Maybe there's still hope for fixing this thing, then.

She starts to loosen up a little, knees relaxing. "Well I mean... It'd be nice to indulge in some aspects of human dating," she admits. "For example, I would very much like to be able to refer to you as my girlfriend without you getting all weird about it."

[drrdrrdrr]

The flush in Amethyst's cheeks deepens. Part of her likes that! Part of her really really does. It's just...

"What other, uh... Aspects?"

[periphrasing]

She pauses, mouth opening slightly, and then frowns.

"Honestly, that's... the only one I'd really thought of," Peridot says, scratching her head uncomfortably. "Everything's been pretty nice, otherwise."

[drrdrrdrr]

"... Oh," says Amethyst, and bites her lip. "I mean..." She pulls her knees up to her chest. "I guess we could try that."

[periphrasing]

Peridot sits up a little straighter, eyes wide, fixing Amethyst with an incredibly intense stare.

"So... Does this mean we can go back to 'cuddling' now?" she asks slowly.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Hell yeah," says Amethyst, with immense relief. She is so ready to be done talking about this.

[periphrasing]

Peridot flashes a broad, sharp-toothed grin and proceeds to shuffle back over, nestling up against the other gem. Amethyst. Her girlfriend. She can scarcely keep from snickering with triumph, or relief, or maybe both? It doesn't matter. She's gonna press a cheek against her shoulder and wrap her arms around her waist, grinning like a horrid little goblin.

"Full disclosure: I might fall asleep on you," she adds.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst leans into her, letting her legs flop back over the edge of the seat and exhaling with relief. There's a little itch at the back of her mind from the unconfronted certainty that it's not worth it to pursue this when it's going to suck so much to eventually lose it... But short-term laziness ultimately wins over, and she's just glad to not have to be Confronting Feelings any more for the time being. She can just deal with all that later, right.

"Maan," she says, "it's not even like I want to kiss anyone else all that bad, it just kind of happened..."

[periphrasing]

It's funny. Working things out with Amethyst already has her feeling a thousand times better. It has LITERALLY cured her depression.

Peridot cocks her head, blinking up at the other gem briefly. "Ehh, I understand," she says simply. "That party dimension did weird things to all of us. I mean, even I was affected by it! Me! And I don't even like parties!"

[drrdrrdrr]

"Pfft. Didn't you guys just stay in your room the whole time and watch TV?"

[periphrasing]

"Not the whole time," Peridot says, a little indignant. "Steven showed me the pool, and during that time, I achieved COMPLETE and UNQUESTIONED MASTERY over the water slide!" As she talks, her face is kind of sliding down Amethyst's arm veeeeeeeeeerrrrrryyyyy slowly as she relaxes more into her position. "Also, in my defense, that was the first access to Camp Pining Hearts that I've had in over a complete Earth year, so. Obviously, I had to make sure to take advantage of it."

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst snickers. "Yeah, exactly. All of that stuff is just stuff you woulda done normally, ya nerd."

[periphrasing]

Peridot opens her eyes again suddenly and frowns, staring vaguely into the distance. She can't decide if she wants to impart this information or not...

"Well. Not exactly," she says hesitantly. "Um... You know that night that we argued? After you left, I may have kind of... sort of... kissed Lapis? A lot. I kissed Lapis a lot."