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

"C-carly...?"

Between the bright light coming from her form and the bleary state of his eyesight, it took a bit for his mind to catch up and tell. The blankets should warm up soon enough once they have time to trap some heat, especially since having magical dragon breath means a core that can never get too low in temperature.

Soon doesn't feel like it's coming fast enough. "What's... wha..." is his unfinished question out of pure puzzlement.

Carly gasps when she hears the sound-and when she hears it she turns for it, and stares at the teen on the bed. "...Yuugo-!" she starts, catching herself before she shouts too loud. "...You're..." Awake? Half awake..?

Perhaps he's only dozing in and out, she can't properly tell unless he says more after all. As it is....

She finds it almost hard to say much more.

"Nngh... what happened?" Because memory can be a fickle thing sometimes. Though it seems that Yugo's properly awake now, at least.

Enough to even make a single shifting movement as if perhaps trying to sit or get up, but failing at it.

"Ahh-!! Back down, lay back down," she insists, hurriedly pushing at his shoulders. "We...had to make a deal with the Prince to get you back before killing him, but you're still poisoned..."

Anyway, Lay Down, idiot. "....Do you remember anything..?"

He's in no condition to disagree or do anything reckless, so in the covers Yugo stays especially upon receiving such a firm nudge.

"... Yeah, one minute we were all stuck in that cave and... and then..."

If Carly's hoping he doesn't remember past that point, for a few seconds it seems like he truly doesn't- until his eyes widen as something dawns back unto him.

"... I was that giant snake..."

Ah.........

".........Yuugo..." Carly is quiet, and hesitant to push. And yet... "....Yuugo, do you remember what happened..?" she whispers, nervous.

His face crinkles together into a grimace, but he also sniffles.

"I'm sorry...!"

Not that he can recall anything of what people said to the snake, but enough that tears start beading at his eyes and making their way to his pillow.

"I could barely figure out anything of what was going on, but I shouldn't have gotten in that mess in the first place...!"

"Shhh!" She shushes him almost immediately, a hand moving to his face. "Yuugo....Yuugo, that's enough..! You did what you could to help, and you did a good job while you were at it..! You..." She smiles, albeit with an obvious forced edge to it. "...You kept Yuuya safe too, you know? And that whole thing meant we were able to eventually stop the Prince, so..."

...Her eyes are wet. Tears are certainly rolling, but... "Don't cry, neh? ...You don't need to cry, ok..?"

It's different somehow... being aware of trying to kill someone he cares about with no way to stop himself.

Yugo's not innocent of being too rough toward strangers and rushing recklessly at those who've earned his hate and ire. Losing himself because of Zarc was frightening to recall yes, but there was no chance of that here.

"I.... hnng.. but I still...!"

Not having a lot of loved ones before the carnival doesn't exactly instill much fear into the boy about being someone who would dare hurt said people. Especially if it amounted to just a single person kidnapped to a faraway place.

"There's no still!" Carly protests, pulling herself over to give him a hug. "....You did the right thing, okay? ...And what happened after that wasn't your fault. ...Don't you ever tell yourself it was your fault, ok?"

He's being held close and Yugo manages to clutch onto her clothes with whichever is his more free hand- though not quite being careful with those claws either.

"Okay..." he says faintly, yet also clearly.

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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