lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

HOME GROUND↴

At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment.

Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply.

The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it.

► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling.

► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Okay." He trusts him, really, but it doesn't stop him from being a bit scared still, or from shivering as he tries to calm down. He still can hardly believe they aren't trapped in the jail cell, that this isn't just a dream he'll wake up from. That maybe his dream was reality, and this was the dream...

"Was the dream about something specific?"

Maybe if he can make the dream sound silly it will help make Susan feel less afraid.

It's a long moment before he nods, and another long moment of silence before he finally starts to talk.

"I was flying, I think... Like when. When we were -" He cuts off there with a shake of his head before continuing. "But then they were chasing me, but then, he caught me and he wrapped me up, in his body, and-" Yeah, it doesn't make sense, but obviously it's upsetting to him and he shakes his head as he falls quiet again, shoulders shaking again.

Yeah, that sounds pretty terrifying. Worst of all, talking about the nightmare had made Susan upset again.

"Sorry. We really are safe here. Just the two of us."

He hadn't even gotten to the worse (and probably more nonsensical) parts yet, and even though he knows it isn't real, he still can't stop his sniffling.

"I-I know... Us, and Fluff, and Zap, a-and Holly and Stanley..." And absolutely no snakes.

Edited 2017-11-16 04:49 (UTC)

Lauren hesitates, not sure what to say for a moment. He doesn't know if his words will help or if they are right or wrong. He wants to say something though, and so he does, without thinking about it first.

"It's okay to be scared about what happened. If you need to cry, I won't think any less of you."

He shakes his head a little, still trying to keep from crying.

"I don't want to cry, I-I don't like it, and, then you cry..." Even as he says it he can't help himself, but at least he can try not to cry harder.

"You might not want to, but it's okay if you do. That's all I meant." he answers, holding Susan closer.

"I don't mind crying either."

He shakes his head, even as he keeps crying against Lauren. He can't stop himself, honestly, he's too tired to fight it any more. He may just end up crying himself back to sleep at this rate.

Lauren let's him. He lets Susan cry, holding him to remind him he wasn't alone here.

"It's all going to be okay." he murmurs that and other platitudes. They're phrases that have little in the way of actual meaning, simply soothing sounds meant to comfort despite their lack of content.

And they are comforting, really, in their own way; even if it's silly, just having Lauren there, just having the comfort of actually having his brother holding him instead of being out of reach, having it be just the two of them here, Lauren whispering to him, it's comforting just in how normal it should be. It doesn't slow his crying, but it helps to comfort him, at least. By the time he does eventually slow and then stop his crying, he's worn himself out, not quite asleep but close.

He doesn't say anything as Susan's crying slows. He hears his brother's breathing start to slow, and only after a moment does he pull back to look him over. He wipes the tears from Susan's face with his hand.

"You really are the bravest person I know."

He smiles a little, tired from waking up, from crying so much, from still recovering, but finally calm. He shakes his head as Lauren wipes his face.

"You're braver."

That makes him smile back, though he doubts Susan's words as being true.

"What makes you say that?"

"You stayed strong for me. You always do, no matter what happens." Because Lauren is a good brother and a good person.

"That doesn't make me braver." He answers back after a moments thought. "Only older."

"It does too. You could be older and still not do that."

He laughs, softly. "Not if I had you for a brother."

He laughs a little too. "I don't need that much of being looked after."

He presses his forehead to Susan's for a moment. It was true, really. His dumb little brother was growing up. He was already pretty capable. There wasn't much he needed Lauren for anymore.

"You don't need it. But I do."

Edited 2017-11-21 05:09 (UTC)

He smiles, still happy for it even if he doesn't need it.

"I know... I'm glad you do it."

Lauren laughs again, before pulling away and getting comfy.

"I'll remember you said that."

Next time Susan gets mad at him for trying to tell him what to do that is.

He snuggles close to get comfy himself, careful of his injuries, one arm wrapped around his brother. Maybe after all that he can get to sleep without any more bad dreams.

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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