lostcarnival | ⇨ DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

Peridot can be impulsive and clumsy sometimes, but she's also definitely not dumb enough to try to take on a fae all by herself.

However.

Nightshade getting caught up in her own vines like a dog running hitting the end of it's lead is objectively hilarious. The gem looks mortified for all of two seconds before this blunder happens, and then she bursts out into peals of snickering, nasally laughter.

"Wow. I had no idea fae were capable of being such clods," she cackles, flashing sharp teeth. "Thanks for the laugh. I'm just going to leave you dirt-munchers to it."

And then she breathes a huge fireball directly at Nightshade, turns back into a bat, and attempts to fly away.

It's all defensive stuff, meant to keep the people near him safe.

He looks briefly panicked as Peridot flies in, but Nightshade obviously thinks that book is more important than a fight. It must be important, then, and he can't let her have it.

Peridot's lobbing a fireball is a chance if he sees it, and he can't waste the opportunity.

Instead of verbally responding to Gongenzaka, he briefly scrambles before grabbing a sizable book from random off the shelves. He reels his arm back and with all his strength throws it at the book caught between Nightshade and Frost in an attempt to dislodge it.

Nightshade isn't really surprised by the sass. She's far beyond that at this point. So, in turn, she also isn't surprised by the fireball. It really fits in with the rest of her day.

"Laugh it up, chuckles!"

She takes the few moments that Frost is staring vacantly, and presumably waiting for her to be struck so that he can run off laughing, and uses it to grapple him with the vines - she yanks him in front of herself to block the fireball, and then hurls him bodily in Peridot's direction. The vines helpfully extend to match.

Meanwhile, the book just sort of hits Nightshade in the head. As a High Fae, that's more confusing than it is painful.

"Hey - what?" she says, putting her other hand to her forehead.

Oh God.

Why.

If Yuuya had simply said, perhaps, that he didn't have anything, that'd have been fine. Understandable really, they were sort of in the same book. But instead a book is flying through the air, while another book (+fae) is flying in another direction, as he slowly turns to Yuuya with a look of absolute dumbstruck horror on his face.

Marishi is doing the same.

"Did you SERIOUSLY-"

"RUN-!" Gongenzaka hisses, snatching Yuuya under his non-metal arm and turning to charge up the nearest wall or shelf. Marishi is not far behind-though it's probably not that hard to figure out where a book came flying from, honestly.

Well, it hit... something. Yuya didn't expect her to use Frost as a shield with him glued to the book-- he underestimated the flexibility of her vines, though he probably shouldn't have.

Thes not a lot of time to contemplate that before Gongenzaka holds his arm around Yuya, and being four times his size has no problem hauling him away. Yuya yelps and squirms regardless, pointing emphatically.

"Wait, Gongenzaka, the book!" As he completely hyper focuses on the detail he thinks is most important at the expense of the whole picture. Like that he just hit Nightshade with a novel.

Meanwhile, Peridot is absolutely not expecting to have a pixie thrown at her. It spooks her pretty badly, judging by the yelp she lets out. Fortunately, being tiny and already airborne puts her at something of an advantage that she wouldn't normally have while ground bound on two feet. She chitters and twists out of the way, yellow wings fluttering.

She really just should run away, because that would be the safest thing to do. But there's a wide open opportunity here to throw a wrench in their enemy's plans. Whatever these two are fighting over has got to be important, right?

One shot, she tells herself. That's it. If she misses, she gets the heck out of here and resumes searching for Lapis.

She zooms in and grabs onto the book with her weird bat feet and blasts some fire at the forces binding it, hoping to free it so she can make off with it herself.

Unfortunately, Peridot's fire breath isn't enough to stick up against Winter ice. Frost has hit the ground a few times at this point and finally rolls to a stop, just in time to have a bat try to take the book.

"Oh... He is going to be so upset with me," Frost sighs fondly, before gesturing with a hand and blasting Peridot with icey shrapnel. Shockingly, Nightshade's vines let go and start to withdraw.

"Forget it!" she shouts. "I've already read it, anyway!"

Then she literally spits acid out of her mouth, heading right for the book and anyone near it.

Well...this is not going well.

"Don't you 'the book' us..!" Marishi hissed as they ran, bolting up the shelf. "These are fae! We need a plan-"

So the one half starts, but Peridot seems to be trying something again-and from atop the bookshelves, it's rather clear it isn't working. Gongenzaka grimaces enough just watching the bat swoop in. But watching Nightshade go in on top of things?

He growls, and makes to run. "Yuuya...this time, if you could use a shield, it would be best..!"

That is about all the warning Yuuya is getting as Gongenzaka pushes off the shelf to leap into the fray- Marishi scattering into dust, and his own repulsor arm aimed toward Nightshade and her oncoming strike.

....

God he hopes this works. "HAAAAAA-UUH-!" One repulsor blast, fired! (If he can at least land a foot on that book, maybe they'll stand a chance!!)

"PeridoooOOOH!" Yuya latches onto Gongenzaka with one hand as he leaps through the air, shoulders tensing as he braces himself for impact. Gongenzaka isn't a terribly smooth ride.

He's a little dizzy coming down, but he hears Gongenzaka. Right, shield, protect them all and the book, good idea!

After Gon fires off his repulsor, Yuya follows up with pushing his shield outward, trying to keep all of them safe under the dome.

She should have just flown away while she had the chance.

The bat squeaks in pain and is blasted backwards by Frost's attack, the force of it sending her flying so that she hits the floor a few feet away. Everything else that happens after that-- Yuya and Gon both showing up with guns blazing, Nightshade spitting acid in their direction-- barely registers, because she's preoccupied by the extremely unpleasant experience of having freaking ice shards skewering her unfortunately organic form. That's big the drawback of her transformation spells: she can actually bleed in this form. Which she sure is doing right now, hints of crimson staining her pale green fur where the ice has embedded itself.

PERIDOT HAS SOME REGRETS.

Edited 2018-05-12 05:51 (UTC)

It's actually to Peridot's benefit that she gets blasted away - with that blast of acid coming, it seems that Yuya and Gongenzaka have the chance to defend one thing... Peridot, or the book. They make it to Peridot first, shielding her from the splashback caused by the acid blast being disrupted by the repulsor slipping past. Drops of acid shower everywhere, but it isn't enough to stop it.

Instead, the acid hits its mark, which happens to be Frost and the book. Frost manages to shield most of his body between the sheets of ice that form his wings, but the paper of the books yields quickly beneath the acid, the entire thing turning toxic within moments.

Frost yelps and dislodges it from his hand, mostly just trying to get out of the way. The books drops into the puddle on the floor, beginning to turn into purple mush.

"See you later, 'clods'," Nightshade laughs, flashing them a middle finger before turning into a cloud of purple spores and flying away.

He has about two, maybe three seconds to consider how poorly that just went. On the one hand, the fae are certainly backing off. Well. One, anyway, and aside from likely causing him mild burns, it's probably good he was holding Yuuya on the opposite side the whole time. As it is, Frost is still there, having backed away from...

The book-! "Sh-shoot-!" He shouts, releasing Yuuya and turning to look at the puddle. "Mngh...And she claimed to have already gotten what she needed from that..."

So...that doesn't bode well, if it was important enough to fight over. That said- Frost is still there, and perhaps easier to chat with. So, he addresses Frost.

"You," he starts, narrowing his eyes. "What was the purpose of the book Nightshade has now destroyed?" Does he expect a straight answer, no, is he going to try anyways, yes.

"No!" Damn. Yuya reaches out futilely, though he doesn't try to actually grab the book. That seems like a good way to get burned, but now they've gone and lost it.

He looks up at Nightshade as she starts to retreat. He doesn't have a way to stop her, but... they'll have to tell the carnival. Whether it was coincidence or her pursuing them, he's not sure. But she'll definitely know they're here now.

So he moves to force himself out of Gongenzaka's grip, digging his claws a little insistently so Gon knows to loosen his grip. He can handle interrogating Frost, so Yuya's going to check on Peridot. "Hey, are you--do you need help?"

Peridot lets out a pained sounding wheeze and struggles to right herself, snarling when Nightshade makes her getaway. "That's... My... Word," she hisses, though she knows there's no way the faerie is actually listening to her anymore. She gives up on moving and flops back down, laying still until Yuya reaches her side.

She looks a lot worse than she feels; there are a lot of tears in her wings from the ice, and unfortunately wounds of those sort tend to bleed a lot. "Yuya...?" Peridot says blankly when addressed, squinting up at him. From her position she can't exactly see Gon, but she can hear that he's here too. Good; they can clean up this mess while she gets back to dealing with the whole reason she's out here in the first place.

Remembering her mission, the bat shakes her head at Yuya's question; with a new burst of energy she starts trying (and failing) to sit up again. "I'm fine! It's Lapis-- Lapis is the one that needs help! I need to find her!" Peridot splutters frantically.

Frost seems a little dazed, at first, but its quickly shaken off as a barely suppressed smile rolls across his face. That smile turns into barely repressed laughter, and then uproarious laughter that is not repressed at all. Frost definitely seems like a guy that likes to laugh.

Before he can really get into it, though, a crow swoops out of nowhere and decks him across the top of his head, causing him to sprawl forward in the air. The crow lands beside the melting book, scolding him with a disapproving caw.

"Oh please, have mercy," Frost titters, raising his hands in mock defense. Another crow appears, smacking him in the head again. Frost straightens himself up. "There's nothing we need in there, anyway. I just enjoyed getting the flower riled up."

The crow on the ground pecks at a bit of the cover that is not yet melting, and then flutters its wings dismissively, before taking off and flying away. Frost doesn't seem very interested in the carnival members still lurking, merely dusting himself off, instead.

It's about this time that a skeleton shows up - not Sans, though, it's one of his dogs. Roman charges onto the scene, boney toes slipping across the stone as abruptly comes to a stop at Peridot's side, chattering noisily at Frost and the melting book.

Since that probably won't work, they quickly move to trying to pick up Peridot into its mouth. It clearly has the same thing on its mind that Sans told everyone to do - escape right now.

Yuya reaches to try and help Peridot up with ab expression of concern. She looks light (haha) anyway. "What happened to Lapis?"

Oh, no. If Nightshade is here, did someone else from the Summer Court get her? Or the Winter Court?
He looks over his shoulder at Frost, ready to question him. And then he sees the crow and stops.

Which means oof he has any grip on Peridot, he'll lose it to either Roman or Peridot's own struggle. "No way... are you with the Count of Crows?!"

Peridot tolerates Roman carrying her like that for all of two seconds before she starts chittering and squirming to be let go, bapping the dog in the nose with her wings. "Let go of me you stupid-- RRRRRHRHRHGH--" She starts to glow, and changes back into her regular form so she can just. Fall out of Roman's mouth, before struggling to her back to her feet. The blood's all gone now that she's changed, but she still looks pretty messed up. Almost like she just got pierced with hundreds of tiny ice shards!

AND... Did he just mention The Count--? Peridot snaps her attention over to Frost and the crow, and she shudders. Dots are starting to connect, but fear for her friend is keeping keeping her from putting all the pieces together. She can't worry about the Winter Court right now! She looks between Yuya and Gon both.

"On the radio-- Lapis is in danger, something dragged her underwater and-- she's not coming back up," she babbles quickly, voice cracking.

Edited 2018-05-13 02:48 (UTC)

Presumably, Yuuya has this-that's the initial thought at least. Gongenzaka doesn't want to take his eyes off Frost- looking toward Peridot and the others means doing that and-

And then the crow comes, and Gongenzaka practically feels his blood run cold. Yuuya's guess is as good as his- Crows and Frost? At the very least that's the Winter Court, which means both courts are there, and-

He bites back a growl, and accepts that he's not going to be looking where he's talking. Not without help- Marishi is appearing at his side again, dust cascading from the leaves to take form before she speaks. "If something dragged her under, and it was no 'story', then it means we have greater issues at hand," the cheetah explains, her tone betraying Gongenzaka's worry. "Peridot-do you know exactly where Lapis was?" There is a pause, before Marishi adds- "...It might be easier to grab her when she's calm, you know." Nice to see you though.

While the daemon speaks, Gongenzaka takes his radio from in the bushes-still transmitting, and this time closer to his face for him to speak.

"...As those listening have no doubt realized at this point; Nightshade is not the only one here. Fae from both courts are present-including 'Frost', as well as at least one crow." And who knows 'who' or 'what' that crow WAS. "Both were fighting over a book. The book no longer exists," he adds, grimacing and continuing to look toward Frost. Waiting-waiting, to see if he intends to do anything else. "...Unless any among our number can salvage text from melted material... ...More importantly, Yuuya and myself are uninjured- Peridot is..."

"Slightly."

Well, 'slightly' injured it is. So there's that.

He can go on about more later. For now- Frost-watch from his eyes, and Peridot with the other set of eyes. But at least he's finally releasing the button on the radio.

Now people can do the right thing, and Yell At Them.

Frost floats there, staring at them, as if he's waiting for them to do something. Instead, they just start talking among themselves, as if the danger has somehow passed. It's almost comical.

"You're not very bright, are you?" Frost asks, cocking his head slightly. Then, he moves too quickly for sight, zooming in a circle around the three of them, and leaving an icy trail behind.

Appearing overhead, he snaps his fingers. A wall of ice emerges from the floor, boxing the four of them inside of it and extending into a crystalline dome overhead. The temperature drops.

"Pleasure making your acquaintance!" he calls through the ice, and then zooms away, leaving them inside an icey prison.

"I, the man Gongenzaka, am looking at you, am I not?" the deputy snarls in reply, only to stiffen.

After all- it appears he suddenly isn't. "SHHFFFF-T!"

"Oh... ....So much for multi-tasking," Marishi grumbles, watching her other half stiffen further with irritation. Things are not going well. They are not going well at all, and now it's looking a lot like a number of his mistakes have piled on on top of the other and- "Deep breaths..! You could at least see how thick it is!"

The radio is clipped back into his jacket, and he groans into one hand. "MNNHHhhHHhhh..." At least he's fluffy and generally warm.

And, speaking of that, he's heading toward Yuuya and Peridot-specifically Yuuya. "...It may be wise to get on my back, for now... ...You are hardly dressed for this sort of chill..." he grumbles, cracking a few knuckles in anticipation of what they should probably try next.

Roman, who has been just about to make another spirited attempt at dragging Peridot away, begins to whimper upon seeing the wall form. They jump up, clawing against the ice with their paws, making upset skeleton dog sounds, punctuated by worried howls.

"Hey!" Yuya takes less issue with being ignored and more with the ice wall forming around them. He rushes forward, pressing his hands against it as he watches Frost fly off.

Well, he didn't verbally confirm it, but Yuya's pretty sure that crow has to do with the Count. Yuya scowls, smacking his fist against the ice once. It doesn't do anything, of course, so he leans back angs looka at Gongenzaka.

"I'm more worried about getting out of here." He looks to Peridot after that. "Sorry... um, you can breathe fire right?"

Not to doubt Gongenzaka's punching skills, but he's hoping there's a weakness that still applies here.

Peridot is scarcely listening to any of them. Not the humans, not the daemon, not the skeleton dog. No, she is much too busy trying to process just how much she fucking. loathes. PIXIES.

None of this was supposed to happen! She wasn't supposed to get caught up in some stupid petty squabble between two lesser lackeys of the Summer and Winter courts! She just came out here because she wanted to help her friend, because coming to Lapis' aid was-- is-- literally all she cares about. And now Lapis is still out there somewhere (or so Peridot thinks), probably terrified out of her mind somewhere, while she's trapped here inside a shitty snow globe, having just thoroughly been owned by yet another garbage fae. Considering all this, maybe it's a bit more understandable why the engineer is just standing there in deadly silence, her posture rigid, shoulders rising and falling shakily as a barely contained temper tantrum bubbles under the surface.

Yuya asks a simple question. Peridot politely responds by letting out a long, inarticulate goblin shriek of abject fury before morphing into an acid-green dragon the size of a Honda CRV, launching herself head-first at the ice wall, ramming it once with her horns and then slashing with heated claws and blasting it with the most powerful fire she can muster in a maelstrom of Righteous Friendship Rage.

On the bright side, she will start the beginnings of a crack in the ice wall with that righteous fury. On the not so good side, her fire breath is going to kind of fill the cage with a flash flood of heat and flame.

Hey, she's making progress, though!

Edited 2018-05-13 04:36 (UTC)

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