lostcarnival | ⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4 PT2

Ignatius grabs Taako by the legs only a short moment after, his hand burning the skin it touches at a rapid pace. In one graceful movement, he'll swing Taako into the air, and then slam him down onto the stone.

Then he turns his burning gaze to Axel, saying nothing. Only staring.

Edited 2017-07-30 00:43 (UTC)

Axel's there, to catch Taako, and to push the fire as hard as he can away from his skin. It's probably not much, but...

... Actually it responds better than expected, and the feeling is familiar. It's hard, he can't keep it off long, but hopefully Ignatius lets go soon. "What happened to one-on-one?" he snaps. "You'd sink to that level, Ignatius?"

Fuck.

Taako is completely helpless to stop him or get away-- and then he's swung into the rock at full force, and it knocks the wind out of him, the pain dizzying. Something, several somethings, inside of him snaps, his shield enough to dampen the damage so that he isn't killed but not nearly enough to spare him the paralyzing pain of the impact.

It's all he can do to fall limply into Axel's grasp, his arms wrapped around himself, his breathing ragged and pained.

"Fuck! ... o-okay... tha... that was... fair enough..."

Ignatius lets go of Taako, and in turn will grab Axel beneath the throat, lifting him into the air. His touch doesn't burn against the changeling, for obvious reasons, but it's still a bit uncomfortable even by fire elemental standards.

"You are a worm," he says. "And you should stay on the ground like one."

Then Axel is getting throw down as well, before Ignatius starts striding back towards the center of the courtyard, raising his arms in challenge. He seems very pleased with himself.

"Does anyone else have anything to say?" he demands, for his own amusement if nothing else. When is that stupid crow going to come back? This is getting tiresome.

Steven is watching all of this, very tensely. He desperately doesn't want to be noticed, to be focused on, but so many people are getting hurt and he doesn't know what to do! First Psi, then Rin, then Taako and Axel... the stress of this is enough to make him pop.

Yet, there is a feeling growing deep inside of him that seems to counter that. A feeling of anger, of injustice, but not one that is wild enough to deprive him of reason. Somehow he just wants to act, to take back what is his. To make this right, no matter the cost.

He slowly starts to stand, his hands clenches at his sides, his expression becoming passionate and angry. He looks to Peridot.

"I'll be back," he says, and then moves to starts going to each injured person and applying a healing kiss. He'll start with Psi as he's brought back to the circle by Sans, then... well, he'll go from there.

Yuya looks around frantically as Taako and Axel are taken out next. He catches Steven running out of the corner of his eye, but even these couple Fae are wiping their defenses and there's no sign of the Count or the pendant. He can't let them just destroy all the work they've done.

While Gon is meditating Yuya moves around him, looking up at Ignatius. "We're trying to take the Severing down for everybody. That's what the Summer Court wants, isn't it?"

He doesn't say why, even though he knows. If he can get them to back down at least until the Count arrives... "Making things harder for us is just making things harder for yourself, too! It doesn't make any sense!"

The longer this goes on, the more annoyed Nightshade is getting while watching it. Seeing Ignatius flex and shout challenges is the last things he wants to do, and she still isn't sure of the utility of them being here. She's really getting tired of being on this planet. Can't they all just go home not?

She gives Strange a weary look, rubbing her eyes in exasperation, before fluttering off ahead to address those hiding within the ritual circle. She is mainly just ignoring Ignatius's posturing for the moment.

"I'm tired of this, so... hand over the roseblooded changeling to me now, and... I will guarantee your safe passage out of this place."

It's the only reason she's actually here, anyway, and it's stupid.

"And how will you do that?" Carly chooses now to speak-as her temper rises inch by inch, watching all of this with her own irritations. She has her fire ready, and she addresses the fae with narrowed eyes. "You need the one you're after for the same reason we're here-to make the connection for the ritual. As it stands, we have more pieces than you do-and..."

...This is something she points out with a rather nervous swallow. "...Not only do you not have all of your pieces... ...but if the Count returns, what does that mean for you?"

She's still pretty worried about that actually. Maybe if they're lucky though, the fae will knock each other out when that happens (that's a dying wish, honestly).

Strange matches Nightshade's weary look with one of his own. Yeah boss, they're stupid, he knows it. But as she flutters off ahead, he's close behind, trying to stay within a foot or two of Nightshade the entire time.

At Carly's question though, Strange can't help but raise an eyebrow. In a calm, collected tone of voice, he asks, "Do you even know how to use those pieces in the first place?"

Because honestly? A warlock, two wannabe angels, and a normal human. It doesn't take a genius to spot that Team Angel are playing this hilariously by ear.

"They do actually~"

Apparently not as much by ear as you thought, Strange. "We even have everything ripe and ready~" Also. On that note. "...And you're getting a time out when we get home, by the way!!" SHE MIGHT NOT HAVE AUTHORITY OVER YOU BUT SHE'S DOING IT.

Peridot has been more than happy to stay back for the time being and just, watch everything unfold with vague horror, since neither Nightshade or Ignatius are entities she came in here at all prepared to fight. She barely even knows who they are.

It's only when Steven is suddenly up and moving that she manages to tear her eyes away. "What--!?! Steven, wait--!" She reaches for him, selfishly, because logically she knows the wounded need his attention more than she needs the comfort of his presence, but her hand falls short, and she's left alone to watch the carnage unfold.

Nightshade grabs her attention next. It's only now that she's really looking at her while she's speaking that it clicks... this one exactly matches the description of the fae that took Amethyst. And now, it's trying to take Steven, too? When she only just got him back?

Hell no.

She's shaking; she doesn't really know what she can do to help, especially not against the likes of Ignatius... it's obvious what will happen if she uses her fire magic on him. She's scared, and still pretty far out of her depth... but she's not going to sit idly by while her friends are being threatened. She can't.

The iron poker, still burning dully with the remnants of the heat she'd laced it with when she'd launched it at the count, comes flying back to her hands. Peridot stands up, fangs flashing. Her hands have shifted to claws around her makeshift weapon.

"If you want him, you're going to have to go through ME to do it!" she snaps, hoping the trembling she's doing isn't giving away how terrified she is.

Yuya just doesn't even acknowledge Nightshade's desire for the changeling--he doesn't feel like telling her 'no' is going to go well, but... the answer is 'no'.

"We do know how to use it! And we'll make sure everyone can go home--I promise. But if you get in our way, it's only going to be..." His gaze slowly drifts aside to Peridot as she yells in Steven's defense. She's right, but he really hopes that doesn't piss Nightshade off.

Nightshade runs her hands down her face in increasing frustration. Ugghhh. If only she hadn't been stuck on this stupid planet, she wouldn't have to be dealing with this nonsense at all. Twenty five human years down the drain, only for this.

"I don't want him for the ritual, you dummies! I just want him because the Rose Queen wants him... for whatever reason! Presumably some sort of personal interest! I didn't ask because it isn't my place to question."

She points Steven out directly this time.

"So, just give me the changeling and you have two fewer problems to deal with. All I want is it to go back to the gardens and wait this out." She looks at Peridot pointedly, poison flashing in her eyes. "And despite me making this offer, a battle with me is not one you'll win! I'm practically giving you mercy, here!"

Rin lays there on the ground for a while, his snout crushed and skinned from being forced into the stony ground. That monster had shaken off his attacks like they were nothing. Which meant... there really wasn't anything he could do. He picks himself up, still bleeding from his face, and crawls toward the ritual circle. He waves off Steven when he comes close, but puts himself between him and Nightshade.

I'm fine, I'll be fine. Help the others.

Maybe he couldn't take Ignatius on one on one but he could at least protect the ritual site. And his friends.

"We're not.... we're not gonna let you do what you want... We... we won't let you!"

"Do you really want to fight here, then?" This is a dangerous gamble, but she'll take it. "...And risk jeopardizing the set up here?"

Rin is approaching-and she looks from him, to Ignatius-an idea slowly forming. It is...an even bigger gamble. An even bigger risk.

But if Rin can no longer fight the other Fae, then she needs to make sure nothing else goes haywire. Before everyone else is even more injured.

She swallows, and calls out however- "...You wanted a one on one fight, right?" she asks, glancing back to Nightshade. "...If I agree to that, and everyone actually stays out of it this time, can you swear that everyone here from the Summer Court also keeps from interfering with those here?"

Yes she's pretending like he has say over what you do Nightshade.

Whatcha gonna do about it.

That force of cold rage is getting closer. It's a little easier to tell all that feeling of fury has an outside source, but that ... may not help much.

All right, so he does have to say 'no'. "We can't give him to you. He's a person, and--and he's not really her son anyway! He has his own home and family! And--Carly?"

He just stares at her as she starts another fight. He still knows enough about Portland that Fae deals are dangerous, and if it's strung the wrong way--it won't help them at all and she'll get hurt. "Are you... is that a good idea?"

Steven has been trying to heal people, but as soon as Nightshade calls him out directly... he sinks down again, his eyes going wide and his wings tucking in nervous. His glance passes over the people surrounding him, one by one, an intense paranoia plaguing him.

If he went, she would go... he... he knows it can't be worth it. It's not! He needs to get out too, for his dad, and for his family! But... are any of these guys going to try?

His fingers wrap around the fabric over his belly, and he swallows. He's trying to focus on this feeling of cold determination rather than the fear that threatens to overwhelm him. No one is going to listen to her, he tries to tell himself.

He's safe. He's okay. Please.

... Ok. Now that feeling is getting creepy. Zangetsu knows better than to tangle with elementals -- how the heck do you fight fire incarnate? -- so he's sitting this one out, for now.

(He'll go in for a cheap shot if he thinks he can pull it off. He hasn't seen an opportunity.)

But for all the fire and bluster of the elemental, he feels cold. His skeletal dragon head looks around and sniffs the air. It feels good to be able to sense energies, souls, again.

And whatever that was, it was mad.

"I hate to break up all your faerie drama, but does anyone else feel that? No?"

Though, now that he thinks about it... he can sense energies again. He can pick up on souls. Unfortunately, he has no clue what the Count's energy feels like. So he closes most of his various eyes and tries to feel beyond the raging inferno and the sickly sweet nectar-smelling souls, past the icy fury below, past all the souls milling around...

Ugh. It wasn't going to be easy. This would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Or... more like finding a needle in a needle stack. One specific needle. That he's never seen before.

Edited 2017-07-30 02:36 (UTC)

Taako... well, he's not in great shape, but he's at least able to pull himself to a sitting position, an arm still wrapped around his chest. He watches the situation closely, trying to piece together what everyone is talking about; is Steven supposed to be somebody's kid...?

His gaze moves over to Steven; he doesn't know the kid terribly well, but he seems like a sweet boy, and he did just ease Taako's pain by, like, a lot. And, right now, he's looking pretty fucking upset by the idea of what these guys are saying to him, about him.

He can't stand yet, he still hurts all over, but he does steel himself enough to speak:

"... you know you can't just... like... take somebody's kid, right...? Like... I know that's kind of what fae do, but, you know..." He smirks weakly, making a sound that might have been a pained laugh otherwise. "We're not fae, and, uh... nei-neither is he. Far as I know, anyways... so, you know. What I'm getting at here is, uh... no."

Peridot glares right back at Nightshade, something feral flashing across her eyes. Her grip on the poker tightens, her heart pounds frantically against her ribs; she knows she can't win this fight on her own. Other people are stepping in to Steven's defense as well, but it just doesn't feel like enough. Not with how angry she is at this fae, how raw and real the threat it poses to this changeling who is actually the single most important person in Peridot's entire life.

She needs to protect him. Normally, she trusts Steven to protect himself, but here in Portland, things are so backwards... Glancing at him now, he seems even more scared than she is! Ugh, if only she wasn't so small and useless...!

That's when she feels the presence of something reaching out to her, brushing up against her soul and warming it, like a friend who takes your hand comfort you when you're at your very lowest.

It makes her an offer, and she can't accept it fast enough.

She steps forward again, bristling, radiating raw power. White fur is starting to grow over her whole body, her beast's spirit surging within her. And Peridot is still there, she's still in control, but she's also just... something entirely different, at the same time.

It's sort of like fusion, in a way.

The poker is let go, but instead of dropping, it hovers in mid-air next to her. "He is NOT. GOING. WITH YOU!!!" she snarls, her voice strangely distorted, and on the last word the poker streaks towards Nightshade like a bullet.

"Uh..." is all Nightshade can manage, at first. She looks to Ignatius, and Ignatius looks at her - both of their other focuses are distracted by the fact that this werebeast has suddenly started screaming and and rippling with energy.

The energy of the Earth Spirit.

Nightshade actually raises her hands, fluttering back a bit. She's about to say something when the iron goes rocketing in her direction - and, she just barely managed to float out of the way, feeling the burn as it passes.

She scrambles behind Strange's body, using him like a shield.

"You'll have to go through him first if you want to use that, sweetie," she says, but she's obviously unnerved.

Iuliael had tried guarding the place these fae came through, but he's Iuliael. A couple of Iggy's lackeys had completely occupied him. Even now, when there are a lot more questions involved, he's a seraph and fire is part of his nature, so they hadn't been able to hurt him as badly as they might have, but he's scorched and several sets of eyes are seared and oozing and fixed in position, not appearing and disappearing. He's angry and uncertain and has only two ideas, both desperate, but he's so angry and afraid and he heard enough to know he has to try something and now, now, he has to try now!

Flattening and spreading into a kind of disk he flows across the ceiling like a rayfish and draws a hand above his own surface and making a line of white light form across his diameter. Open! It opens like an eye and becomes a window into murky darkness, ringed with light; past it his winged and eyed substance makes him resemble an ophanim, a wheel-shaped angel.

Out: rowboat! A small aluminum boat appears, filled and dripping with a couple hundred gallons of water that surge out into the air as it just drops on a trajectory that ought to hit the fae lord. With a terrified shriek the angel drops after it, trying to slam the portal to his inventory over Ignatius like a cup over a spider. As a shield the portal's fine but some of him is uncovered around the whole edge, and something's only in stasis if it's entirely inside, entirely submerged in this pocket dimension.

~~Well, Carly is sure stuck standing in shock at Everything again~~

Gongenzaka has been doing phenomenally well, keeping his focus. Chaos reigns around them, even within the limits of the circle, and yet he does not so much as budge.

At least, not until the Earth Spirit makes itself known. He tries, at the very least, to give the feeling that he's on its side as his soul continues to brush through things in search of what it feels like. But while the sensation reminds him of what that spirit IS, it makes it difficult to search for where that fragment is.

He needs what feels like the Earth Spirit, that Isn't the Earth Spirit, and it's a little tricky to focus on that thread.

He is doing as best as he can, however...searching desperately with his heart and spirit for that small fragment.

Strange just looks downright worried as the poker flies towards Nightshade but then quickly breathes a sigh of relief as it misses her. Of course it would. She's amazing like that, she could easily dodge a poker.

He doesn't move as Nightshade scrambles behind him. Strange is still a bit winded from the laser blast to the chest but Strange just looks far too delighted at Nightshade's request. Wonderful! She can't be mad about that whole laser thing if she's asking him to protect her!

"I'd be happy to get rid of this pest for you," Strange says, as he turns towards Peridot, with a smirk. With a gesture of his hand, a gust of wind flows in Peridot's direction. It's nowhere near as powerful as the Count of Crows's, but it might just be powerful enough to knock her over.

He 100% underestimates the power of the Earth Spirit and also is 100% underestimating just how much strength he has. Despite what he thinks, Strange is not going to win this fight.

Edited 2017-07-30 03:37 (UTC)

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