lostcarnival | ⇨ JAILHOUSE ROCKS

Who: Everyone who IS imprisoned, brainwashed, or infiltrating.
When: Day 175, 11:30PM onward.
Where: The Prince's shiny new fortress.
What: Those that have been imprisoned by the Prince languish in their underground cell, while those that are under his control continue to do his nasty bidding. Also, Foster might be here? We'll see how that goes.
Warnings: General fuckery, maybe torture.

THE LAIR OF THE BEAST↴

As the fortress comes into being, the Prince has been reaching far across his realm, beckoning his servants back to him and corralling as many helpless hostages as he can manage. In the case of the unfortunate carnival members who made the mistake of crossing him during their stay, they are being locked away in the most secure inner sanctums, held as collateral against their former master. Those freshly captured haven't yet been bent to his will, but they can certainly be neutralized. Carted away by security and pulled deep underground, there feels like there is little hope of them escaping on their own.

► GROUNDED: The Prince's dungeon is a simple one - in place of cages and manacles, there is only natural stone. A claustrophobic cave somewhere deep in the earth, those within it will soon be completely cut off from the outside world. All the prisoners will have been injected with manticore venom at some point or another, which will be slowly turning parts of their bodies to stone, and if that wasn't enough they have also been partially encased in the stone walls and pillars, as if phased halfway into the rock and left there in various positions. It is an enclosed area, and all the prisoners are within talking distance of each other - which is a good thing, because there isn't a lot else to do with their powers mostly bound and their bodies becoming less and less capable of movement.

► CONTROLLED: Those of the brainwashed that manage to return to the fortress will be set to work guarding and attending to these hostages, along with the help of some of the long term Manor servants. They still need to eat, right, and that can be difficult when you arms are stuck in a cave wall. Otherwise, there may come a time when the Prince calls upon them to do something more specific - and there's also the chance that the new prisoners will fall victim to his power and succumb to his control as well. With the poison in their bodies, it's only a matter of time before they lose themselves.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like Susan Lauren only has one appendage trapped in stone. Unlike Susan, it's his feet. On the one hand, he can sit. On the other, Susan can't. He makes himself stand whether he wants to or not, just because he feels bad if he can be comfortable while his brother can't.

"You in there?"

He glances to his brother before nodding, silent for a long moment again before speaking up.

"Yeah... Sorry." For what, he doesn't know. For not talking? For getting them into this mess in the first place? For dragging Lauren into it? He's not really sure at this point.

Lauren laughs weakly, not sure what Susan is apologizing for either. It's just a strange thing to hear Susan say. Susan never apologizes, not even when he should. Yet he usually finds a way to make amends for Lauren's own faux pas. He shakes his head.

"You don't need to be."

He's sure that isn't true, but he doesn't argue it. There's tons of things he could be apologizing for right now, and maybe should be, but he doesn't have the energy right now to do it.

Instead he ends up looking away again, not wanting to meet Lauren's eyes and see that he's disappointed or something.

"Are you okay?" Or... As okay as he can be. Not dying at least. He's sure he's okay but he needs to hear it. Probably not the first time, either.

He laughs again.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

That almost gets a smile out of him, but then he shakes his head again.

"I'm fine." Definitely fine. 100% completely fine over here.

He wants to turn, to look at his brother, but he can't because his foot is pointing in the opposite direction. So he bends over backwards instead.

"You don't sound fine." Then again, neither does he, because it's hard to talk normal when blood is rushing to your ears.

Edited 2017-10-27 03:20 (UTC)

Susan doesn't laugh at that but he does finally get a smile at him.

"You're gonna hurt yourself doing that."

He smiles before flipping back up to a stand.

"When did you start caring about stuff like that?"

Edited 2017-10-27 03:26 (UTC)

"Maybe when we got stuck in here and you can't heal yourself."

Lauren frowns, before leaning his weight against the wall. Susan please let him cheer you up. He wasn't going to die just from doing a back bend. He's more concerned about things like getting food and water personally than his lack of magic healing spells.

"Right."

Susan lapses back into silence again after that, not really having anything more to add to it unless Lauren does. He doesn't want to be here, he wants to just go home more than before, and knowing that it's his fault Lauren is here too... He just doesn't like it.

If Lauren doesn't break the silence again in a couple of minutes, then he can hear the familiar incantation of some of Susan's spells as he quietly says them again, hoping that maybe he can make them work, somehow.

Lauren sighs as he hears the phrases. It's not like it's irritating to hear, rather it's their inevitable failure to work that's irksome.

"Stop."

Surprisingly, he actually stops as soon as Lauren says that, although he doesn't stay quiet for long.

"I just thought, maybe if I tried again..."

"We'll get out. We just have to wait."

He bites his lip, not having a response to that. He's glad Lauren seems so sure for once, and it does help, but... He still can't help but worry.

He awkwardly peers over his shoulder to look at Susan, trying to tell what he's feeling.

Susan is looking down at the ground again, and vaguely kicks at it with his free foot. He doesn't want to get in an argument with Lauren. He just doesn't want that, and now it would be even worse with other people watching, anyway. He wants to believe Lauren's right, but right now, trapped like this, unable to fight, unable to do anything, his arm hurting from... Whatever weird thing they did, it's hard to believe it. He wants more than anything to just hug his brother but he can't even do that.

"Hey." he says, trying to get Susan's attention. "I mean it."

He sniffs quietly, not saying anything at first, but then he finally nods in response, although he still isn't looking to his brother.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. They saved everyone last time. I'm just...," he trails off, not wanting to put his fears in words.

He switches to elvish, not wanting to embarrass his brother.

"I know Susie. It's okay."

It's kind of awkward, but he reaches back with his hand to try and grab Susan's own.

Edited 2017-10-27 04:26 (UTC)

He actually laughs a little as Lauren tries to reach for him, although it probably sounds a bit off with how he's trying to keep from crying. He reaches out his hand too to awkwardly grab it at this angle.

"I'm scared."

"I know." he repeats, giving his brother's hand a slight squeeze. "But we're going to be alright."

He squeezes back before letting his hand fall to his side again.

"You're sure?"

"I promise." he says, answering in common this time, however briefly. "I love you."

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wild_magic - 2017-10-27 04:44 (UTC) - Expand