lostcarnival | this is a robbery [closed]

Entry tags:

this is a robbery [closed]

Who: Childermass, Lambert, Cole, & Yuya.
When: Sometime later during the Harbinger invasion.
Where: The Wishmuth Museum of Art
What: The Harbinger of Fortune has his eyes set on ruining an exhibit opening for the museum's more lucrative patrons...
Warnings: Lambert's ass, Cole's TMI memory theater, and Yuya possibly wishing he'd chosen to team up with two completely different Guardians at that point in time tbh.

What would have otherwise been a quiet gathering of Wismuth's elite, to ooh and aah over the Wismuth Museum's newest additions, has ended up going a more poorly than anyone could have ever planned for. It all started with requesting to see the invitation of one man, having strolled into the reception in an indolent, uncaring manner. No one recognized him. No one was surprised when he told them he did not have one.

Surprise only came when the shadows all around them sprang to life before anyone could try and eject him.

Now the museum is surrounded by the flashing lights of cop cars and news vans, the radio and TV all announcing a strange hostage situation to add to the rest of the bizarre and dangerous events taking place in Wismuth these past few days. Not that the police can get in contact with the hostage-takers. Not that they can go into the building itself, either! The few who have vanishing just like everyone else who'd been in there before, considering their sole contact having been a short-lived emergency call from a security guard and then... nothing.

Overall, it's a mess all around the locked-down streets bordering the Wismuth Museum of Art.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As Lambert yells at him, Cole just stands his ground, still holding onto the knife as he looks over at Lambert's general direction from under his hat. It was a good idea. He didn't know before, but he knows now. And the next time he runs into Childermass, things will be different.

"And then what? I can make him forget, but I can't remove. It's deep and dark, seeping through the self, warping thoughts and muddling minds."

So trying to make Childermass see he was happy and see he was loved didn't necessarily work. But what would they have done with him if it had? Just dragged a knocked out Harbinger back to Noa with a here you go, this is your problem? That wouldn't work and they all knew it.

"We. Aren't. Dating," Lambert grinds out, never mind that he only has the barest grasp of that term. And then Cole's speaking up again and really, it's hard to split two targets of his ire!

"The Ringmaster's fixed people before, she could fix this!" Let's never mind all the other times she hadn't. At any rate, the desire to chuck disinfectant at Cole's head is only rising. "And that doesn't change what you did being fucked up!"

Shouting while sewing is a terrible idea, especially when your hands start shaking. Lambert yanks thread so tight it almost breaks through skin and swears again, louder.

Edited (now with the right icon) 2018-02-25 06:16 (UTC)

Yuya scrunches his face, but he's not going to ask what Lambert would call it while he's about five seconds from exploding. It definitely looked like dating, anyway. Either way, it's a stark contrast to Lambert's moody claims he made in the balloon.

"I told you to ask permission..." he mutters, but doesn't look directly at Cole. Instead he presses the towel back to his face and starts walking around to the side of Lambert's bed. Partly, he needs disinfectant, partly he's worried about what their fighting is going to escalate to. He's decided, right now, he'll intervene if necessary to calm them down.

Even if he's a little bit on Lambert's side.

"The stone crawls up my spine, I can barely move, I can barely walk, what good am I now?"

"Cole, stop," Nigella starts, realizing that the likelihood something's going to get thrown at his head again is pretty high. She floats over to rest on his shoulder, looking at the spirit with a little frown. But Cole's still staring in Lambert's general direction, fist clenched as he downright glares at Lambert.

The Ringmaster has fixed some people before. But not all of them. They all know that, Cole doesn't need to specify it more than he already has.

Lambert didn't think it was possible to hate Cole more, but in this moment, he does.

"Shut up!" He yells, leaving off the sewing to get to his feet, flame and smoke jetting past his lips to punctuate every word as he takes a step forward. "You think just because you can look into people's memories, that makes you right? You don't know me, and you don't know him! Get OUT!"

Move fast Cole, because that sure is a bottle being flung at his head there, and if he's not stopped somehow Lambert's just going to come right up to him and punch him. Even under the anger, the hurt and humiliation roils -- for himself and for Childermass both. Those moments might seem stupid to other people, but they were important to him. Lambert's never been a very private person about he feels, but about Childermass, about them? As much as he'd always thought Childermass's own worries about Strange finding out were ultimately unfounded, it's startling how protective he feels about all those private moments, every time winning a smile or a laugh out of such a taciturn man had felt like a victory.

And now he just feels like a fool.

Edited 2018-02-25 07:01 (UTC)

Yuya jumps, dropping the towel in favor of grabbing Lambert's arm tightly to hold him back--not that Yuya can, at all, with muscle alone. He's just hoping the intention will get through to Lambert.

"Both of you stop! You're hurt," he chides Lambert gently, but his tense expression is on Cole. He doesn't want Cole hurt either, but this isn't helping. Arguing about who was right or wrong here isn't going to help at all, so he really hopes Cole listens, this once, and leaves. He'll be fine on his own, won't he?

Yuya's stomach twists a little at thinking so callously, but... Lambert is sore, and Cole doesn't listen.

"That's not helping, Cole."

For a moment, it feels like Lambert's about to wrench himself away from Yuya's grasp, but after half a beat, he just ... stops, shutting his eyes and breathing hard. Anger isn't something he's used to trying to restrain -- his muscles tremble and shake with unspent adrenaline, the need to pick a fight, because that's all he knows how to do. He knows the Void isn't something that can be stabbed or beaten out of people -- and that means it's not something he can help with.

Some Guardian of Freedom he is. He can't even free one person.

Cole ducks and the bottle crashes into the wall above his head. Some of the glass lands on his hat. Cole's tense, looking at Lambert and Yuya like he's ready for something else to happen, like he's anticipating Lambert to actually attempt to punch him. That tenseness still remains even after it doesn't happen.

He should leave. He desperately wants to stay, to make the two of them forget and start this whole thing over, but he knows he can't. It's best for both of them if he goes. Which, great job spirit of compassion. You really bungled this one up.

So, Cole leaves. When Lambert and Yuya's eyes are off of him, even just for a second while one of them blinks, he vanishes. And Cole doesn't stick around. He's got iron he needs to take care of, after all. So, he walks out of the medical tent and over towards the trailers.

The tenseness leaves Yuya shortly after Lambert stops. He can't stop the yelling, but at least he can hold back a physical altercation.

It surprises him a little when he blinks and Cole just disappears, but when he's gone there's only Lambert to worry about now. Yuya's grip loosens, but his hands stay gently latched to Lambert's arm as he looks up at him, reluctant to break the uneasy silence but his expression still knit in concern.

Lambert's still gritting his teeth, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Witcher senses aren't so easy to fool, but when he feels Cole retreat rather than stay, he exhales sharply, then tugs his arm away from Yuya and marches back over to where the medical supplies are kept.

A bottle of disinfectant is retrieved in short order, as he seats himself again and takes up the task of sewing himself up.

"Get that cleaned up and put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding," he says, shortly, not looking up at Yuya. "I'll take a look at it after."

"... Okay." He retreats, turning back to the cabinets for another towel and a smaller bottle if disinfectant. He seats himself near Lambert, gently patting his face dry again before pouring some disinfectant on the towel.

That's even less pleasant to have on his face and he lets out a long, drawn out hiss of pain as he presses it to the wound. Not even hard, but it still stings all over.

In the meantime, Lambert will take his own advice, elevating his leg and using Yuya's discarded towel as a compress, now that all the jumping up has started the bleeding again. He won't talk much during then, but Pig trots forward from where she's quietly been watching the proceedings, leaning against Lambert's other leg. He doesn't look down, but at least his shoulders lose some of their tension.

He looks up at Yuya as he hisses, cocking his head as he assesses what he can of the wound from here.

"If you wait around for a medic, you can probably keep that from scarring." Says the guy with huge scars on his face. Don't be like Lambert, Yuya.

"I don't want a scar," he mumbles pitifully into the towel. Despite the pain he very dutiful about cleaning the wound. Just with a lot of pained complaining.

He does look up, eventually, absently watching Lambert as he deals with his own wound. Looking at his face, really, and the way the emotions change on it. Lambert's never been so raw when Yuya's seen him.

"... We're going to save him, you know." He doesn't feel he needs to specify who that is. "But you're worried, right?"

"This isn't the first time his head's been messed with," Lambert answers flatly, not looking up. His ears are more expressive than his face is, distress pinning them to the sides of his head. He checks his own wound, makes sure it's stopped bleeding, and takes up needle and thread again.

"Happens enough times, one of them's got to stick, like Portland did."

"Got to stick..." What, the brainwashing? The rescuing? Yuya wonders about both of those--they'd never allow the former, the the carnival's track record is terrible for the latter. He's not sure how to console that.

Yuya wonders if it started there, or if Portland just happened to reflect what they already had... his own relationships had been all mixed up.

But he doesn't ask that much. Instead he presses the towel back to his face, asking instead, "you're close, aren't you?"

Cole's memories are no mistaking it, and that definitely isn't all Portland. But Lambert denied it in the Summerlands. "Are you hiding it?"

Lambert pulls a face. In all honesty, he'd really rather not discuss it, but unlike Cole, he actually likes Yuya. He's silent for a few moments, considering how much to say, and then reluctantly answers.

"As close as he gets to anyone." He still remembers Pythia's voice murmuring softly, a hushed admission: he doesn't like to get attached.

"It's ... private." And then, almost defensively: "Strange doesn't know." He knows Yuya and Strange talk a lot; he hopes he takes the implication there.

"I won't tell anyone." That includes Strange--it's not the first bit of privacy he's kept from him, even if he'd be interested. Not out of lack of trust, but respect.

He lowers the towel from his face, expression crinkling a moment from the lingering sting. "It still looks pretty close. But that's a good thing, right?"

He thinks he can understand how hurt Lambert is right now, if someone he loved turned against him, called him pathetic... "He makes you happy?"

But it would help, maybe, to remember why it's not true.

"Does it matter?" In answer, Lambert scowls. He doesn't like being put on the spot like this, and it shows.

"Why don't you just ask Cole?" he asks tartly, his attention still on his stitches. He's flushing, all the same.

Yuya frowns a little. "You wouldn't want me asking Cole about you, would you?"

Yuya doesn't really need a confirmation, given the way Lambert blew up at him. And it's not like Yuya doesn't agree, it's invasive. If you want to understand someone... you have to take to them directly.

So he leans over in the air, still regarding Lambert. "It does matter. It's different when you're really close to someone, being around them and... being afraid of losing them."

He tilts his head and smiles. "If being together makes you happy, I'm glad. Because it's just nice to have someone there like that, isn't it?"

Lambert just looks increasingly flustered and put upon with every word that comes out of Yuya's mouth, instinctively leaning back as he leans in, except there isn't actually that far he can actually go. And when he catches himself retreating, he scowls again.

"Anyone ever tell you you're too nosy for your own good?"

"No." Surprisingly. An idiot for reaching out to certain people, sure, but he hasn't regretted it so far. It's not always easy being open, but he likes it better than when he kept himself closed off from everyone.

He's briefly amused at the way Lambert is lagging back, but it does stop him from leaning closer. Though it doesn't put him very close to begin with.

"I have friends like that, too. It'd hurt a lot if I had to face them like Childermass."

He leans back in his seat again. Lambert doesn't have to verbally confirm anything, his reaction is answer enough. "I want to believe we can still reach them, no matter what the Void made them believe. If it's true, I think you'll reach him, too."

Lambert grimaces but doesn't do more than grunt in response to the first part. No need to encourage Yuya, that's for sure. As to the second, though...

"Or we could just beat CY-Ren," he points out. In case there was ever any doubt what team he's on... "As far as I know, none of us got any healing powers, and we already saw how trying to--" His expression sours further. "Appeal to his heart worked out."

"Well, it wasn't a very good way of doing it." Yuya props his chin on his hand. Lambert's uncomfortable just talking about it, and if Childermass feels similarly... That was probably less reassuring, more embarrassing.

"If you want to reach someone, you have to understand them first. And you have to be open yourself. Cole just... sees pieces, but not everything."

And he's pushy, but Yuya doesn't voice that part. "I don't know what she did to them, but... they're not like themselves now. Can't we remind them who they really are?"

"That'd mean knowing who they really are in the first place."

How well does he know Childermass, at the end of the day? A man who says so little about himself even at his most open, with his own soul outside his body?

"Apparently that Guardian said Harbingers get their power from their Sparks, like us -- just messed up. That you should be able to purify them ... not that she knew how." He scowls. "But I know we can't just run into that concert like last time."

Yuya doesn't know. He doesn't know Yugo or Steven as well as Yuzu knows him, but he doesn't want to believe they're doomed to fail as they are. There has to be a way.

But the rest of that catches his attention and he snaps up quickly. "Purify..."

Their sparks are part of their soul, that's right. Souls can be purified.

He stares at Lambert, almost looking though him as his mind runs rapidly though the possibilities. He's almost excited, sitting up, but he's also nervous how to explain why he believes it so much.

He lets out a breath. "Part of Zarc was purified. It's them that's been changed, right?" He puts his hand on his chest for emphasis. "They can be brought back. It has to be possible."

Does Yuya know where he's going with this? Absolutely not. But it's more concrete than just hoping. He stands up suddenly. "Where's Noa?"

It is probably way too late for Yuya to chase after her tonight, but he is ready.

Edited 2018-02-27 04:46 (UTC)

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