⇨ INTERLUDE: BACK TO THE MOON

[ringleaders]

Who: Steven, the Ringmaster, Lambert, and everyone he invited to the party.
When: Day 8?
Where: THE CENTER OF THE MOON.
What: In an effort to determine the meaning of The Starlight's prophecy, Steven is going to try talking to the Blue Rose. Also, a bunch of other guys are here to watch.
Warnings: Some possibly dangerous weirdness.

THE BLUE ROSE↴ Once Lambert has assembled the group, it's just a matter of picking a time and date. When the time arrives, the Ringmaster will meet them in a clearing similar to the portal that lead them to the moon's surface, only a bit different in execution and tone: this one is more secretive and intricate by far. She'll gather everyone around, telling them she is going to take them to the Rose. And then she does. One instant, the group is in the forest - the next, they have appeared within a large, orb-shaped room carved from stone. There are no entrances and no exist, there is only the smooth rocky exterior with empty air inside of it. The gravity pulls outward, meaning that you can walk the stone 'floor' in circles, gazing towards the center of the empty space from all angles. Any further away from the floor, and gravity will lose its grip entirely, like a space of zero gravity in the center of a cavern-sized globe. Which makes sense, because this is the carved out center of the moon. In the center of the orb, there is only one thing: the Blue Rose, floating in place, with a tangle of glass-like thorns surrounding it. The air is thick with a feeling of simultaneously hot and cold, like a flame on a cold night, or a winter's breeze on an overheated body. The Rose casts an eerie blue light over it all, the only light to be found. "This is it!" the Ringmaster declares once she's verified that everyone has teleported in safely. "If you jump high enough, you'll end up in the float zone... though, if you aren't participating in the actual discussion with the Rose, I'd recommend you stay grounded for now."

Comments

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya's eyes roll up the vines as they retreat rapidly from Childermass's blade, recoiling more strongly than he's ever seen it react to. It's completely subconscious when he grabs the stem and cracks it, just as easy as the first time, because he's staring mutely at the vines, and then Childermass.

He floats back a little once he has the close, drawing his arm away to put distance between the flower and Steven. He's struck for a moment, before the calls below snap him back to awareness and he looks to see how Steven's faring instead.

Absently, he tries to press his will onto the Rose to slow its growth further, to stop.

[atouts]

Meanwhile, Childermass, on seeing the vines retreat and Peridot retrieves Steven, well, all that's left for him to do is put the damn knife away, cross his arms, and float disapprovingly in the float zone.

Like, he already knew this was probably a bad idea, though he at least won't say it out loud.

Yet, anyway.

[whattaprick]

Rita's statement isn't something Lambert is going to argue with, and he's not going to contest Strange's words, even if he has no idea how the magician thinks a disenchantment spell might help with this.

As Peridot brings Steven back down, his gaze snaps up to track her ... meaning he's right there to notice as she promptly drops like a rock when she forgets about the shift in gravity. Witcher reflexes kick in and he's already moving, lunging forward to catch them before they can hit the platform. With his wings and his general rotundness, Steven is the far harder body to get ahold of, so he ends up having to cradle him with both arms while his tail whips out to grab Peridot, wrapping around her middle to arrest her fall.

The force of impact has Lambert landing on his knees, painfully, but he doesn't cry out. Instead, he lowers Steven to the ground as gently he can, then rapidly begins checking that his vital signs are stable, ignoring the vines under his skin for now. Strange, he assumes, can make his own way over.

[starseedling]

Steven is breathing, and his heart is still beating, though it is moving at a rhythm that sounds somehow offbeat and unnatural. Regular heart dysfunction or a magical thing? Hard to say. For now, Steven is pretty solidly unconscious.

As the light from the Blue Rose has faded, some odder after effects have become apparent. The gems in Steven's body, most notably his belly gem, his horns, and the freckles on his face and arms, look like they'd started to shift color. Right now, they are left as a mixture of both pink and blue, with the blue lining the edges as if creeping in from the outside.

[kingsroads]

Strange is still muttering the spell as he runs over to Lambert and now Steven. He's got an odd expression on his face, like he's desperately trying to push past some of the helplessness and fear that still lingers and focus on the magic instead.

As he looks over Steven, Strange frowns. Transformative magic. Or something like that. Hell, his magic is worth a shot. He holds his hands over Steven as he finishes casting his spell-breaking incantation, the one he ended up using on the bicorn and that he's been practicing ever since.

Of course, it works best with that dumb physical trigger. So, as he finishes casting the spell, Strange leans in to give Steven a small kiss on the forehead.

[starseedling]

The spell ripples through Steven, and while it doesn't make a mark on the new blue pigment or the vines still penetrating his skin, it does cause Steven to shiver and shift, whimpering softly. His eyes open part way and then close again.

His skin is cold, but his forehead is quite hot.

[anti_nonsense]

With Steven removed from the immediate danger, Rita folds her arms, pondering to herself.

"What the hell just happened...? It's like it was trying to magically spread its roots inside him, like a parasite of some kind..." But this might not be the time to hypothesize.

She approaches Strange and Steven, looking down at the changed color in the latter. "We should get him to a medic for an examination. I'd like to perform a full magic analysis, too." That can wait until he's somewhere safer, though. Also, by we, she definitely means someone else should carry him.

[periphrasing]

Thanks Lambert, and sorry Lambert, Peridot's not stopping to see how you fared with having that sudden weight dropped on you. She scrambles free and directly to Steven's side as fast as she can, wide-eyed, pupils contracted to pinpricks, the tuft on her tail puffed out in alarm.

The discoloration in his gem is by far the most alarming thing. She starts to reach for him, but hesitates significantly when she sees that. It calls up terrifying memories, a certain orange gem in a kindergarten, blue-green splotches spreading across her form.

That particular affliction hadn't been literally on the gem, though. This is obviously something different, albeit equally mysterious and worrying. She grips his shoulder nonetheless, and says nothing. Rita's words seem to fall on deaf ears, and she looks at a loss as to what to do here.

[whattaprick]

When Steven flinches, Lambert frowns.

"Better not do that again," he tells Strange. With Peridot at Steven's side and the boy as stable as far as he can tell, he moves away to retrieve his discarded belongings, the bracers scooped up with his tail and spreading the hoodie out.

"Help me fold his wings away," he tells Peridot, simply, before he uses the cloth to bundle to carefully bundled Steven up in his arms -- and looks at the Ringmaster, head cocked slightly. She probably has to clean the mess up here, and put the Rose away where it belongs, but medic or not, she's healed before.

"Can you do anything for him, or will fae magic make this worse?" He asks, directly.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya looks down at Steven with a pensive frown as he's surrounded. The Rose is passive enough that he feels this is enough space between them, and carefully detaches it from his own hand before leaving it to float in... well, there really isn't much of a presentation to it here, is there?

He shakes his hand absently before drifting down, back to the gravity zone and the floor. He stops beside the Ringmaster, because Steven's probably crowded enough, but he's still listening to the conversation.

[lordofthering]

The Ringmaster takes that as an invitation to approach, looking over Steven with more scrutiny. She brings a claw to the base of one of the crystalline vines still hanging from his arm, and casually flicks it off - the vine breaks off, leaving nothing but Steven's undamaged flesh beneath it. So, it wasn't piercing him. Not really.

"It's not an enchantment," she says, partly in Strange's direction and for his benefit. She breaks off a couple more vines with her claw as she speaks. "It's a change. The same way you lot change appearances based on your contact with my magic, this looks to be the effect of high exposure to Blue Rose."

She glances up in Syrlya's direction.

"But it can't be that simple. Syrlya had prolonged contact with it when it was first retrieved, and it didn't do anything but heal his arm..." She looks again to verify. "And, I suppose, those blue roses he sprouts sometimes."

But those were normal roses that just looked like the Blue Rose. This is difficult to diagnose.

"My best guess is that he isn't damaged... his body must be stressed from something like this coming on so quickly."

[kingsroads]

Thank God that the Ringmaster's explaining things. Because as he sees that his magic doesn't really do anything, Strange panics slightly, immediately trying to wrack his brain for any other spell that might help in this situation, looking over at the rest with a 'what the hell should I do' kind of expression. He only calms down slightly once the Ringmaster starts talking, giving a sensible explanation for all of this...except that one question she's got.

"As for the difference between Steven and Syrlya's reactions, perhaps it has something to do with the way carnival members were changed after Portland?" Which granted, some of the people in the room don't really know the specifics about, but that's not Strange's secret to blab. He's at least assuming the Ringmaster knows what he's talking about (and if not, hey guess what RM, you're about to learn some fun new info!)

"If not that, there is magic placed on Steven that has not been placed on Syrlya. The magic is placed on myself as well if that helps any." Something that even less people know about but this is a problem, Strange wants to find an answer, and considering this secret involves him (and Steven just went through some major shit) he's perfectly fine blabbing about it.

[atouts]

And there goes Strange, talking up a storm about things he'd more or less hoped to keep limited knowledge. It's a little inevitable at this point, he supposes, seeing how Lambert blew the second part of that with the supervisors earlier. So, no, he won't glare and tell the man to shut up, he'll just sigh and make his way out of the float zone.

Slowly.

Getting stuck up here was a hell of a lot simpler than kicking his way back down and dropping back out into normal gravity. He actually goes back to crow just as he gets there since fluttering down is better than falling on his face, thanks. Then it's back again, dusting himself off and grumbling at the other magician, "If you're going to ask me to go back up there and test your theory, you're about to be gravely disappointed."

[whattaprick]

"So, what -- just bed rest and he'll be fine?" Lambert looks dubious, though at which part of the proceedings is sort of hard to tell. All of it, probably. He's remarkably out of his depth here.

He'll watch the Ringmaster break off pieces of the plant like its no big deal a moment longer, as people start yammering on about possible magic theories about this, and glances at Peridot and Rita. "There's a vial of red phoenix fruit and a dose of healing draught in the pouch on my hip. Your call if you want to use them."

Given the choice, he knows what he'd dose Steven with, but he'll readily acknowledge his judgement isn't what anyone should go with for substance ingestion. And sure, the Ringmaster said Steven wasn't damaged, but he's not certain which of those would help his body cope with recovering from stress, either.

[lordofthering]

The Ringmaster sighs, putting a hand to her head. It seems like she's going to have to bring some people up to speed.

"Steven is a Summer Court faeblood, yes," she says, seeing no point in keeping that bit a secret. Being ashamed of it is kind of ridiculous, anyway. "And the Blue Rose is an intensely powerful artifact of faerie creation, containing the magic of both the Courts." She speaks as if quoting something. "'In the days before their eternal feud, they combined their efforts to create wonders beyond either's imagining... Bearing the marks of the Sun and Shade, the Flame and Frost, the Wood and its Rot - these wonders were possessed by both Courts, and neither.'"

"The Blue Rose, it seems, is the embodiment of the 'Flame and Frost' portions... though, curiously, it has manifested as a plant. A rose, specifically. The Summer Court is often represented by heraldry related to plant life, but... it's not quite as straightforward as it sounds. Plants are... well, they can be a type of being, like Syrlya for instance. However, it's not actually plants that the entire Court has dominion over, it's just that plants identify more strongly with the Summer Court's dominion of 'growth.'"

"Summer is growth, Winter is decay. Abundance and scarcity. Decay is all part of a plant's lifecycle too, but a plant doesn't want to decay. It wants to grow. The Winter is a cruel necessity... the need for death to enable new life to take place. This is also the reason for Summer's relationship with fire... fire wishes to grow, but past a certain point, all that can remain is the ash of Winter."

"Wyld Fae are unrelated to all of this, of course. We can embody both sides of an element, unbound to a Court. My mother, for instance, was a phoenix - both the rise of flame and the rebirth of ash."

[periphrasing]

As an aside...

Peridot is only kind of half listening to basically everything that everyone else is saying. The conversation is registering, but she's not really processing it, with most of her attention focused on Steven. She does help Lambert out when asked, because acting under direction is something she can still manage, but this... This is like the Matrix all over again, where Steven is hurt, and she's just blue-screening.

Lambert's suggestion snaps her out of her trance momentarily, but only so she can look up and stare at him blankly. Seriously, she might be an even worse person to ask about substance ingestion than he is, because ingesting things is not something she has a lot of experience with.

"The last time something like this happened, I just shook him and yelled at him a lot until he woke up," she hisses quietly, so as not to interrupt the Ringmaster. "Why don't we just try that?!"

[anti_nonsense]

The ways some of them were changed after Portland... Rita’s gaze briefly wanders to Childermass when she hears those words. Then Steven is the same...?

She listens to the Ringmaster’s explanation as she considers the vials at Lambert’s hip, then selects the red phoenix fruit juice. Peridot gets a doubtful look from her. “Uh, yeah... Let’s just try this first,” she insists, then goes ahead and puts the vial to Steven’s lips.

The alternative, as far as Rita’s concerned, is to leave him be and let him rest, but it would be ideal if they could get him to tell them what he experienced and how he feels before letting him sleep it off.

[starseedling]

The red vial going in easy, and it only takes a moment for it start taking effect. Steven's body jolts slightly, as if awakening in surprise. Thankfully, his wings being bundled up mean that they don't just suddenly extend and hit everyone nearby in the face, though his tail flops around anxiously.

As soon as he manages to open his eyes, there are already tears on his face. His vision takes a moment to clear, to realize he's not in the dream world anymore - as he sees Peridot, Rita, and Lambert there with him he is finally able to realize that he's free again.

Still, he can't keep himself from choking out a sob, curling into Lambert's arms and cuddling against his body for reassurance. He doesn't know what happened out here. Did he do something bad?

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, still sniffling and crying.

[periphrasing]

Peridot watches on as Rita takes the initiative here, and, oh hey, it worked! Color her surprised. Good job Rita.

"Steven--!" the engineer starts to chirp with relief when she sees him begin to stir, except... Oh.

Hm.

Stars. This is kind of weirdly uncomfortable to watch? Peridot's tail lashes, and she cuts in promptly and loudly: "What the heck are you apologizing for?!"

[whattaprick]

Aw, shit.

Everyone in the room who isn't Steven gets to watch the witcher's face briefly freeze in mortal terror and panic for a split second, before -- something peculiar happens. Before Portland, Lambert might have had a memory of doing something similar, putting Ciri back to bed after a bad nightmare, but the motions to soothe her had come clumsy and awkward then, unpracticed at comfort. He probably would have dropped Steven out of sheer panic.

But now Lambert has the benefit of years of memory of patching up his sisters's scrapes and injuries, of the front of his shirt soaking up endless tears (and sometimes violent ones). So it's automatic that his arms shift to hold Steven's weight more securely against him, one hand splaying over his back that isn't occupied by wing and rubbing in absentmindedly comforting strokes. He just needs to cry it out, he thinks absently. Get it out of his system.

"Peridot's right, you know," he says quietly. His tone is light, but his expression doesn't quite manage not to look deeply conflicted, but his attention is on Steven and not on anyone else. "You're not the one who should be apologizing. I'm sorry, Steven." He should have known better. Never mind that no one actually knew what the Rose was going to do, but 'freak out and try to own Steven' was certainly on the list of possible similarities he'd considered.

[starseedling]

It's hard for Steven to know if he's surprised by an apology from Lambert. On one hand, he doesn't really see how it's Lambert's fault, either. On the other, he never knew Lambert well enough before to comprehend how unusual this is for him. He tends to assume that everyone has the capacity for compassion somewhere.

"I... couldn't handle it. It was too much for me," he says, trying to explain through his tears. "It was like when I spoke to the cluster, but... it's not like a person. I couldn't reason with it."

The cluster is a reference only Peridot will understand, but at least it will benefit her grasp on the situation. Steven still has no idea what happened in the real world during all this.

"I think it wanted to fuse with me..."

[periphrasing]

As Steven explains himself, Peridot gradually looks more and more sympathetic. It's no wonder he's so freaked out; 'cluster' and 'fuse' being used in such proximity to one another is enough to paint an extremely vivid picture for Peridot, and it's one that she absolutely is not a fan of. Her reaction is an openly visceral one, she actually flinches back a little and grimaces in disgust at that last sentence, literally hissing with displeasure.

[kingsroads]

Thankfully, Steven wakes up. As Rita pours the vial, Strange gets out of the way, standing off to the side to give a bit more space to Peridot and the rest. Someone's got to be the asshole to continue probing Steven about the Rose and based on how Lambert's cuddling Steven ('ooooh witchers don't have emotions' that is entire bullshit) it's most likely going to be Strange or Childermass.

"Fusing seems like a good way to put it. Your magic and it's magic were starting to merge together." But Peridot's disgusted about something and Strange doesn't really get why. "Although, what cluster are you talking about?"

[periphrasing]

"A cluster that the specifics of which aren't actually relevant to the current situation," Peridot cuts in a bit too quickly. She folds her arms and drums her claws impatiently. "Normally I'd love the chance to lecture you all at length about gem things, but now isn't really the time or place for it. Suffice to say it was an entity that Steven and I faced down together back in our home universe, under rather similar conditions as this."

[starseedling]

"It's... thousands of shattered gems all stuck together, but..." Steven hiccups over another sob. "I could talk to them. They listened to me."

He presses his face against Lambert's chest, frustrated and sad.

"The Rose didn't care about anything. It just wanted to grow, and to be strong. I was outside my body again, and I felt it try to fuse with me, but I couldn't make it stop. I couldn't do anything."