lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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⇨ 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.

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At that description - the mention of dying - Ginko's throat tightens up. For just a moment, his thoughts go to the forest again - to what happened there, to... to how much Joker remembers of that. He seemed so unaware of where he was, of who he was, at the time, Ginko really can't be sure.

But that's not what Joker is talking about, and so it's not what Ginko should be focusing on. On the other hand, he... isn't sure how much he can even say to that. The whole thing sounds horrifying, even without what came next. In the end, all he manages is a quiet, "...I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to deal with that - either time."

"Ha." The sound almost seems too small in his chest, leaving him hollow when it's gone. "S'what I chose ta do either way, huh? It's funny- I thought this time if I wasn't captured, I could go do somethin' or change how things were. Didn't turn out anywhere near how I wanted. Storm was too strong for me, and I guess there's no fightin' stone."

The whole time, he's trying to go for his usual casual and disaffected voice but it's... just falling flat right now. Eventually, he turns his face away and his wings quiver slightly. "Fuckin' hell."

"You didn't choose to get kidnapped, Joker." His tail thumps on the ground, as if to punctuate that point.

He leans forward a little, his ears tilting back. "...You know you don't have to try and keep that up with me." He's already seen and heard too much from Joker to be fooled.

"Can't help it." They leave him in a quiet broken laugh, shattered glass rolling in his mouth, and his wings tremble again. "It's- "

Nature. Easy. Safe.

He doesn't say any of that. What message does it send about him, that he's so much more at home in the skin of a liar than actually being honest for once in his life? Here he is, being offered a chance to just talk and explain how he's hurting, and he still tries to lie- to himself. To Ginko.

"It's habit," he finishes weakly after a moment, head bowing slightly for all that he's aware of the way Ginko's seat shifts on the other side of him, closer.

Another moment of silence. Habit. He supposes he can understand that.

"Guess that's a habit to work on breaking, then. I can try and help, if you want, though--" He hesitates, frowning slightly, as he remembers something else. "...I'll need to talk to Psi about something first."

"Psi?" That familiar name finally draws Joker's attention back, revealing the exhausted vulnerability stretched across his face that's visible even in his brief confusion.

"What about him?"

"Well... he's told you about his species' romance, right? What he was originally interested in with me, and, I guess, what we have now, is moirallegiance. It's... apparently based around mutual support, helping each other with personal problems... stuff like that."

As he speaks, he reaches up with one hand to rub somewhat sheepishly at the back of his neck. "The thing is, I... want to keep helping you with this stuff. If there's anything I can do. But I... don't know if that would mean I'm being unfaithful to him. So I'll need to talk to him, and... I don't know. Figure out what to do. If you'd prefer, I can keep from saying it's about you specifically."

Oh. Oh, shit, right- Without thinking about it too hard, Joker pulls away and his good leg shifts back down onto the ground so that he's no longer in danger of toppling over at the slightest shift. Twisting with some sort of emotion too jumbled for him to tell apart- shame? embarrassment?- he smiles a bit and jerks his shoulders up.

"Right, right! My bad. Sorry. I shoulda remembered that from the start or-" Or he wouldn't have burdened Ginko with his past in the first place, even if he did think they might die. Ah, best not to say that, however. "I meant ta ask how ya were doin' anyway instead of just talkin' at ya."

Okay wow that is an unexpected AND far-from-preferable reaction. Ginko straightens up where he's sitting with a started flick of his ears.

"--Hey, don't worry about it. I went to talk to you to begin with, if either of us messed up here it's me." He really, really hopes he didn't mess up, but he supposes talking to Psi about this when he gets a chance is better than keeping this... pale tryst or whatever it is going without a word.

"And I really do want to help you out - I just want to make sure Psi isn't being left totally in the dark."

"It's fine, I was lookin' for ya anyway..." Still a bit twitchy for how much he's trying to hide it with a casual smile, Joker curls his hand in his lap. He's trying his best, he's uneasy about intruding. Ginko and Psi- they're both good friends of his. Sure, they're both messes, but they deserve to be happy. With even the hints he knows of where they're from....

If he messes that up, he won't forgive himself.

The best action is to just keep moving forward, and Joker nods to him. "I mean it when I said I wanted ta ask how ya were, by the way. It's a bit hard ta know what's goin' on when yer stuck in a cave, and a lot is blurry. I don't even know how the Prince got taken care of."

And now he's hiding things again. Ginko doesn't say anything this time, relaxing a little once he's sure that Joker is, at least, not planning to bolt. He can guess Joker might be worried about messing things up between him and Psi, but... the fact is, if Ginko wanting to help other people is going to be a problem, it won't matter if it's Joker he's trying to talk to or someone else. He can't ignore other people just to focus on one person's problems.

...Maybe he didn't think this through.

Relationship insecurities aside, he gives a slight shrug. "I'm... doing alright, I guess. As well as could be expected."

...Hang on, though.

"Do you... not remember anything between when you were in the cave and when we got back here?"

'As well as could be expected'. Ha. Isn't that true for all of them? It's the best that can be asked for at a time like this one. It'd be great if they could all be just dandy after it but... That's ignoring the trauma. From being on edge for days on end, for worrying about those taken from them, from realizing that their very minds have been tampered with.... To other things, like waiting in the cold and dark.

At Ginko's question, his mouth twists a little and he glances away with his hand goes to curve around to the back of his neck uncomfortably. "...Like I said. S'a blur. The poison was.... a hell of a thing, Ginko. Still is. Sleep wasn't much good. After a bit, I'm not sure what even actually happened."

"...Right." Ginko's gaze drops to the ground as he thinks. So, Joker doesn't remember the challenge. He doesn't remember the forest, he doesn't remember... he doesn't remember what Ginko and the others did.

Maybe that's for the best, but Ginko can't stomach the idea of not giving Joker a choice in the matter, one way or the other. "If there's anything you want to know, I can... tell you."

The hesitation in his voice might speak for itself.

Dulled and exhausted as he is, Joker's senses still pick up on something being wrong with that hesitation alone, before Ginko says anything else. Frowning, shoving his own pain and issues to the side with well practiced ease, he leans closer.

"....Yer not as alright as ya tried ta tell me ya were, are ya? Is it because of what happened?"

Well shit. Ginko tenses a little out of sheer habit but doesn't lean away, instead just glancing over at Joker with a small, wry smile. "I said I was doing as well as could be expected. I wasn't lying."

So yeah, no, he's not doing great. But the last thing he wants is to make what happened to Joker, what Doll had to see and participate in, about himself.

Of course. When it comes to this area... Him and Ginko are just way too much alike. Sighing, Joker reaches up to thumb at his antlers before his hand falls back down again.

"Ya can tell me about it, if ya want," he murmurs. "If it's weighin' on ya like it is. Whatever Psi says, it ain't fair if I just keep spewin' all my nonsense at ya and not hear any of yer hurtin' in return."

...He does hesitate, there. Not because he doesn't want Joker to know so much as... well, there is the matter of Psi.

But Psi was there. It's not as if Ginko is going to be telling Joker anything the Psionic doesn't already know.

"...I'll tell you if you want to know. When it comes down to it, this... has more to do with you than it does with me. I don't want you to have to listen if you don't actually want to."

Joker's eyes sharpen at that, and his hand curls against the armrest of his seat. "It doesn't matter what I want," he says shortly, a sentence that means a lot more than just what it does in the moment, here and now.

"If yer gonna be so affected, if all sorts of other people are, then it'd be bleedin' foolish ta be in the dark."

The first part of the answer is out of his mouth before he even thinks about it, and comes out a bit more insistent than even he might have expected. "It does."

Don't give him that, Joker, they both know you'd jump on him in an instant if he said anything like that.

But he takes a breath and looks away, his brow creasing. That second part, at least, makes sense. Ginko isn't the only one bothered by all this; it would be best that Joker have some idea of why Doll and Tamaki and Psi might be acting a little odd, too. "...Do you remember when the Prince sent us all out on that... that hunt?"

Joker's lips thin, eyes still sharp, and it takes some determination to keep himself from saying anything else. If they go onto that kind of talk, they'll be here all night. Besides, he shouldn't take up anymore of Ginko's kindness before he's had a chance to talk with Psi. It wouldn't be fair.

Instead, he focuses on the conversation ahead. "I've heard about that, yeah." It's been a bit hard to not have an idea of it, after all. It is the carnival, in the end. They're chatty bastards.

"Mm. Well, there was... the first one, back before everything really fell apart, of course. And then there was... the second time." He takes a breath before continuing. "The Ringmaster made... a deal with the Prince. It was the only way out, but we'd have to complete a 'challenge', which was... the second hunt."

And then another pause. One more, before he makes himself say it. "The 'prey' were... they were all carnival workers he had captured. Turned into animals. The agreement was that they'd be brought back if we succeeded in... in killing them all. Then the Ringmaster used the deal to free everyone."

He figures the details of the deal aren't necessary. That isn't the problem.

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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