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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It takes Sora a while to notice Doll in the nearby chair. He's been keeping the blankets above his head, making vague attempts to sleep and trying to stay warm, but he won't pretend that he's not been avoiding talking to anyone either.

Their gazes meet across the room, but he doesn't make any move to get up. Is he even allowed out of bed yet? Actually, he doesn't care.

Slowly, Sora pulls back the blankets, shivering slightly at the loss, and gets up to move to sit in the chair next to Doll. But he still doesn't know what to say, so he stays silent.

Doll sees Sora is coming towards her, and her stoic look breaks. He's coming over, she doesn't know what to say, she's irrationally afraid he's going to take a swing at her again. So she just sits with her eyes turned away.

The pair sit in silence for a long time, Sora occasionally glancing at Doll, but never quite finding the words he wants to say. There are a lot of words to say.

"I'm sorry," he starts quietly, after a while. It's a start, anyway.

It is, and she's glad for it. Doll can't think of anything to put in the silence even though she wants to say something. When Sora breaks the silence, it's a relief, though she has to bite her lip for a second.

"Likewise," she says with a nod. "I didn' mean ta put ya in that spot, I jus'... wanted him back."

"No, I get it," Sora replies with a shake of his head. "I was... kinda the same. I... didn't want you to take him away, I guess. Even if I didn't really realize it at the time."

"Ya like 'im a lot, yeah?" Doll forces out a shaky smile. "Even like y'were, ya wanted ta take care of 'im."

And he did a much better job of protecting Joker than she had. That's something she can't ignore, no matter how much she tells herself she could have distracted him if Psi hadn't shown up.

"Yeah. Like... I don't think you were here, when we were in Portland. But I have all these memories... I know they're not real, that they didn't really happen. But I still remember them."

"That other me... his life wasn't that great. But Joker was like... the only one who cared. Like a dad. I know it's weird," he adds, "Like, I have a Dad, and he and Joker are nothing alike. But, like, I dunno. Joker still feels like a dad. Y'know?"

Well, Sora never claimed to be good at explaining things.

"I was there. I jus'... wasn' 'round a lotta the carnival." And isn't that just how it is all the time? She tries and tries, but she's always the one needing rescuing, the one who is the one to worry about, the one who can't do anything to help. "Kept ta m'self."

Doll swallows and clears her throat. "And it's not weird. That's jus' how he is, Joker. No matter where he is, or who he thinks he is, he's always takin' care 'a folks."

She's not special.

"But he needs somebody ta take care 'a him, ya know. Much as he won't say it."

"Yeah. He does."

Sora pauses, thinking.

"Guess that's us, huh?"

"It's you," Doll corrects, and the admission almost makes her sick. But it's the truth, and she has to face it no matter how much it hurts her to think she's not doing anything for Joker at all.

"I wouldn't've gotten past ya, Sora, I know that. I wasn' able ta do anythin' for 'im. You 'n Ginko, you got 'im covered, yeah?"

"No!" Sora quickly blurts. "I mean, yeah, but... but who cares if you can't fight? Joker needs you, too! You're his family."

"He needs me for what? He's got a family here. I don' do nothin' but worry him, 'n make 'im sad."

She shakes her head and her voice goes firm and direct. Like when she's performing. "That's not th'point though. I can' do what he needs sometimes, 'n I need ta know that someone can 'n will. Alright?"

"He'd be sad if you weren't here," Sora insists, turning to face Doll properly and grabbing her hands. "He needs you because you're you. Sometimes, just being there is enough, isn't it?"

Somehow, this conversation seems backwards, but he's on a roll now.

"I mean, I'll definitely try my best too. You were right, that Joker's really important to me, and I want to help him as best as I can. But he's important to you, too, so you can't just give up, okay?"

"No, he's sad I am here. Wouldn't you be worried about a friend, or a family member, who was here? Could have just as easily been me in that dungeon."

The difference was that Joker just pretended to shrug it off when it happened to him. When it was Doll, it was the end of the world, and she let him have his feelings. There was nowhere for her worry and care to land, though, with Joker. It would always be that way between them, and so she had to find other routes for it to get through.

"I tried. We had a-- a big fight when we landed in Greysol, an' it prob'ly jus' made everythin' worse. I've said everythin' I can think of, and none of it got through." She squeezes Sora's hands and bites her lip hard, to keep from feeling so helpless and desperate. "Yer diff'rent though, yer not his 'precious little sister'. 'M not givin' up I jus'... gotta go a diff'rent way if he's gonna be safe."

"I..." Sora starts, and then pauses, trying to organize his thoughts. "I'm... I'm sad that my friends aren't here. I miss them. I'm glad that they're not caught up in all this stuff that's happened, but... I don't know if I'd like them here or not. Because then, at least we'd be together. If we're together, I can protect them better."

He pauses again, squeezing Dolls hands back.

"But I understand. That you have a different way of doing things than me. And I get what you're saying. But I really think... even if he doesn't show it, Joker's glad you're here. Because you're his family," he grins. "And I'm glad you're here too! I'm glad we're friends."

Sora's declaration of their friendship takes Doll by surprise. She hadn't expected that from him at this point in the conversation, or after they'd had an altercation-- as weird and backwards as it had been.

She smiles back at him and nods enthusiastically. "I'm glad we're friends too.

"C'mon,"she wipes her eye quickly and nods towards the tent opening. "Can I getcha a cuppa tea then?"

"Sure!"

But then, he stops and looks around at the medical tent, like he's only just remembered where they are.

"But, um, I dunno if I'm allowed to leave yet..."

Doll looks around at the healers, seemingly tending to everybody else and not paying much mind to Doll and her scraped knee and elbow. She looks down at where the tent meets the ground, then back at Sora, then back at the gap.

"Come on, real quiet-like," she says, sliding off her chair and creeping towards the proposed escape route.

Sora stares after her, not moving. He looks back at the healers, then back at Doll. Does he want to leave? He's not even wearing shoes...

Not to mention what happened the last time he snuck out.

He bites at his lip, still looking back and forth and trying to decide whether this is a good idea or not.

Doll tilts her head, clearly not quite getting why Sora isn't following along. He seemed fit enough to her, surely a bit of a walk would do him some good?

"We'll only be gone a couple'a minutes, jus' ta the mess 'n back. Tea's good fer ya!"

He looks back one more time at the healers, before nodding back at Doll. Standing up, he snatches his shoes and tiptoes after her.

"Okay. Just a quick trip."

"Real quick, promise!" Doll says with a big grin, holding the tent edge up higher for Sora. "How d'ya take yer tea?"

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⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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