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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Is that really unfortunate, tho.

This time, 9S overtly sticks out his tongue. "I don't want to know about gem reproduction, and I really don't want to know how human gem relations even works."

Except he totally wants to know.

But the less he has to do with Peridot the better.

Childish? Lapis is great at dealing with childishness. By which I mean not at all.

"Don't worry about how Gems reproduce. We're made, not born." She repeats his action, sticking out her tongue and... blowing a raspberry. Your move, 9S.

His move is...

...Getting distracted by this new bit of information.

"You're made?" He supposes that makes sense; from what he could tell when he scanned Lapis and Peridot, they're not biological, too. "How?"

That's a win in Lapis' book.

"A bunch of goo gets put into the ground, and then we come out fully formed whenever we're ready. Different Gems need different environments to form, but that's something Peridot would know more about."

"Goo?" 9S looks disgusted, his face contorting at the mental image. That sounds so weirdly biological. Goo, fluids, blech.

So if he wants more information, he's going to have to ask Peridot? Great. Just great.

"Why Peridot? Isn't her speciality machinery?"

"Honestly I'm not exactly sure what it is. It's more like a slurry of... stuff. That we put into the ground." She shrugs. "Peridot is a certified Kindergartner. She's got a lot of experience in growing Gems. Not that she isn't good with machinery, though."

What the hell is a kindergartner? But for once, he doesn't ask the question; if he keeps on doing that, Lapis is gonna think he's stupid. And he can't have that!!

"What about you, then? What are you good at? You mentioned sinking this place if you used your powers."

He's asking because it's best to know what your enemy can do, and not at all because he's deathly curious.

"Lapis Lazuli like me are terraformers." Which means it would have been Lapis' specific job to fuck up the Earth for Homeworld! Good thing she was trapped in a mirror for 5,000 years. And also has probably considerably mellowed since then. "We use water to do it, so most of my fighting ability to begin with needs water."

"Wait, there's multiple of you?"

Somehow, he never considered that Lapis was both a name and a role designation. It's uncomfortable, realising they have something in common.

"There's multiple of every Gem. Not here, which makes differentiating us easier, I guess? It's probably easier for you that there's only one of each of us here." No doubt there'd be a bunch of confusion with how similar they all look to each other.

9S doesn't want to say that having multiple of the same role and models is a lot like androids; the less in common he has with Gems, the better. So instead, 9S just says haughtily, "I'd be able to tell."

"If you paid attention, sure." There are a few differences, after all. The biggest one would probably be gem placement on their bodies? Maybe slight differences in hair and build. "Most of the time there's just no point, though."

Please, he's always paying attention.

"Why isn't there any point?" 9S presses.

They're still individuals, aren't they? Even if they have the same roles. It's not like they were all exactly the same person, were they?

"Because Homeworld doesn't really see us as individuals. You ask for a Lazuli, you get a Lazuli, doesn't matter which one. A Quartz is a Quartz." Lapis gives a shrug. "But here there isn't any point in differentiating since there's only one of each of us."

Edited (thank god i noticed this when i came back to check something) 2017-12-17 03:21 (UTC)

This is hitting too close to home. Gems... it's almost as if they're androids.

At least he had personality data to differentiate himself from the other Scanners. But nothing to differentiate him from all the other 9S models in existence. The 9Ses that came before him... were they really different individuals to himself?

Stop digging, stop prying! a part of him -- maybe a part of him that misses 2B -- tells him.

"It'd be better if stays that way." 9S eyes the shredded practice dummy. "There's more and more of your kind arriving here."

He hasn't met them personally, but it's not hard to tell what these new arrivals are. Nevermind the conversations on the walkie talkies.

"No kidding. Some of the ones here need to leave as far as I'm concerned." She's looking at you, Jasper. "And before you say anything, believe me, I'd rather not be here too." Because she knows that 9S would have a comment because she's an alien. She's not dumb. "First chance I get I'm out of this place."

And it's unlikely that even Steven or Peridot could talk her out of it, honestly. This place sucks, as far as she's concerned!

Yeah! Go away!! All of you!!!

Except... if the Gems are here in the Carnival, it means they're not back on Earth, messing things up.

9S has never felt more torn in his life. "...You should bring your friends with you."

Because... maybe they're not so bad. Even if Lapis is a buttface. And the conversation over the radios is still fresh in his memory. It's no good to be alone.

"I'd love to. The problem is I don't even know if they want to leave this place." Which doesn't make sense to her? They're trapped here and awful things keep happening, and yet for some reason they want to stay.

"Why?" He doesn't understand. "What's here that isn't available back on Earth?"

Other than a safe space away from the problems back home... mostly.

"It's not even that. They just like it here or something weird like that."

She can't fathom it, honestly.

"That's so weird. The facilities and technology here is so backwards."

He can't believe he's agreeing with Lapis. 9S kicks at the ground, not wanting to acknowledge their shared thoughts.

"Even if you liked the people here," which he does, sort of, "they'll leave after they finish their contract."

"I know! But apparently Peridot would take on another contract just to stay here with me." So she's not alone. "But that just makes me worried, since now I'll finish my contract before she finishes hers." And... Lapis doesn't know if she could stay here still. She doesn't want to take on a new contract, but she doesn't want to leave Steven or Peridot alone.

9S rubs at his chin thoughtfully.

"And then the Ringmaster would have an endless cycle of contracted workers."

That's almost devilishly ingenious.

"I just want to go home. More than anything." But... She doesn't want to be alone when she does it. She doesn't want Peridot or Steven or even Pumpkin to somehow move on without her, because time works differently when you're in the Carnival. She doesn't want them to come back to Earth changed while she hasn't.

She doesn't want to get left behind again. She doesn't want the world to move on without her.

Even though she doesn't say the rest of the thoughts, 9S understands. Even though he's lived for a mere pittance of the time Lapis has been alive, he understands the pain of loneliness. Even though she's a gem, 9S' chest aches with sympathy.

"Maybe you can ask the Ringmaster for your contracts to end at the same time?"

For a moment, he forgets Lapis is even an alien.

"If not... maybe talk with Peridot about her coming home when her contract is over." He shuffles, awkward. "It's... easier being apart for a while when you know you'll be reuniting."

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