lostcarnival | ⇨ DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

When they initially arrive, Gongenzaka does not say much of anything-partly because he's feeling just a little bit ashamed about earlier still-but partly because, upon seeing the floral corpse, he cannot help but stand more warily to face away from Steven and everyone. His ears twist and swivel, and his aura glows quite literally off his body as he tries to feel out for presences other than their own.

He almost loses the focus required for the spell, when his eyes pick up Steven's words instead. "KGH-" Choking, he turns his eyes toward Steven, now looking at him from over the rest. (Pushing through a crowd when you're a giant is sort of rude, if not mean, after all) "People..!?" How lovely.

"...Steven...people, or no, we cannot stay here. If those things were people..." And he wouldn't doubt it possible, unfortunate as it is, "...It does not change that they may return." He's certainly ready, and willing, to fight- but it would be much better if they could get out of here.

Even with this new knowledge, there's not exactly any regret in Joker even though his face makes a good play at it. "Zaka's right," he quietly tells the boy, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. The hand with his blade, the one that went right through a creature's head, doesn't sheathe it.

"Can ya get up? We'll use Lion ta get us all back ta the carnival." Hopefully that will work, at least.

The color drains from Hinawa's face. They were people. It seems that awful man of the manor wasn't the only fae who did such horrible things. And poor Joker, she can't imagine what he must be feeling right now.

"We'll help them," She says, trying not to let her voice shake. "There's not much we can do now, but soon, we'll find a way to help them."

Anyone with good eyesight will see that some of the creatures are still watching them from the vines growing around the room, either perched up about or hunkering low in the shadows. The entire area feels oppressively dark, even with the roses casting red light to combat it.

Worse, the vines are still growing. Even the entrance they just came in through is looking increasingly impossible to bypass, even if it wasn't for the creatures looming there in wait.

Steven takes the candy from Tyki with a murmured thank you, though he doesn't eat it so much as stare at in in his hands as the others offer reassurances. He's managed to wipe away most of his tears at this point, and his expression is settling into something more wary and determined than heartbroken. He realizes that this situation isn't as unfamiliar to him as it could be.

He stands up, resting his other hand on Lion's mane. He's starting to sense that Lion was hurt somehow, so he presses a smooch to Lion's forehead, which rolls out into a sparkling, healing aura. Lion yawns with obvious relief.

"I don't know if Lion can carry all of us," Steven says uncertainly. Especially with people like Gongenzaka present. "But..." He looks off into the thorns. "I know my mom's the one that did this."

His Tease are still on high alert in the air with the one tucked in his hair at the side of his neck visibly rubbing against skin occasionally when a Tease dies somewhere else. At this rate he might have to consider making more. Steven takes the candy and he's back up on his feet, giving the boy space with everyone else crowding around him. He looks off towards the creatures watching and keeps up his controlled poker face of a rather calm individual.

"I don't need to be carried and I can carry anyone that can't run," he begins with another draw of his cigarette to further calm himself, "But there will be no side trips, no extra plans. We are returning to the carnival as ordered no matter how we have to get there. Everything else will come later. If you run off on your own I won't hesitate to leave you to ensure everyone else's safety." ....with the exception of Joker.

He would be a piss poor 'deputy', if he acted as though the worst was truly over. While the others discuss matters, Gongenzaka alternates his focus- though a bit of magic doesn't hurt as well. "...We are not entirely alone..." He growls, voice kept low for the others and only the others to hopefully hear. His body stiffens with anticipation, and his eyes look to the vines.

"....Steven. Whatever must be done, it must be quick. If this is Her work, it does not seem that she intends to give us much relief..." To be more clear- "If you can, take who you are able-I, the man Gongenzaka, shall follow, along with anyone else. But after all..."

Well, after all, Steven had said 'Mom', hadn't he? "..It will be you that they are targetting in that case, correct? ....We cannot let them reach you, if that is the case..!"

The Rose Queen. It's not surprising, given the other Summer Fae are here. Yuya's grip on his staff tightens and he holds his breath briefly to steady himself. Right now he needs to push back the terror and grief so that they can get out of here.

Yuya takes a step aside as Steven stands up, but he stays close to him. He offers him a reassuring smile. "We won't let her get you or anyone else that easy."

He'd reference Portland, but that actually went poorly so he'll let vauge optimism hang between them instead. He looks between the creatures and the vines growing around the entrance. "We should really go now."

The fact that they were ordered to go back to the Carnival, the way that Tyki tries to command it like he's in charge here, both rub Susan the wrong way, but he knows that going back is the safer option and so he keeps it to himself for now.

"Are the plants even going to let us go? They're trying to trap us." At least that's what it looks like, with the way the vines are only growing to block the path they came. Honestly they should just fight, or at least fight as they go, but he doesn't voice that now. Not when everyone is still trying to just leave.

"It depends on if the plants can stop a lion from making a portal back ta the Carnival," Joker says warily, placing his hand on Steven's shoulder. "If he can make it through, then Steven, Hinawa, and someone better at fightin' should go with 'im."

The rest of them, well.... Joker gives a lopsided grin. "We're a little tougher and can make our own way back, I'd like ta think." He nods to each of the rest of them: Papyrus with his blasters, Lauren with his plant magic and Susan with his fire, Tyki. And now there's Yuya and Gongenzaka, too.

Him? Well, he has a bird and a knife, it's fine.

"If Lion can come back for us, it'd be ideal, of course."

Papyrus dallied a little behind the rest of the group, when they all trickled after Lion, because nobody was yelling like a fight was happening again, and if he's going to help many people avoid walking on these viney pathways, he needs to get the blasters cooperating with his incredible hammock-carrying plan again.

Not that they're not cooperating with him, but... After being used in that fight... They still feel half-active, mouths tipped with a little bit of light. Almost as if they were imitating those flowers? It isn't like his blaster have personalities in the sense that Sans' have. ...Or, maybe, not yet, but enough time with the Carnival could change that. A conundrum for later.

Well, as the others talk and worry about the flowers' identities, Papyrus pulls fraying ropes from the two blasters' mouths, and hooks them around the skulls in a few other locations. It's a little lopsided, but it should work. Give people something to hold onto above the ground, besides Lion and Tyki and Gon, and whatever else is letting them move quickly.

"In the meantime, we'll just have to wriggle through their trap! And hurry, before they grow it further." That's assuming the halls beyond this chamber aren't filling with the vines, too, but there's no sense expressing that kind of pessimism. "If they won't, or can't, even talk their plans to capture us... Then we don't need to be mannerly either! No sticking around for a fight. Let's just pick rides and go!"

With his back to the rest of the group Lauren, still in lion form, growls at the plants that look over them. He doesn't like this. The enemy wouldn't be so close if they didn't think they had some advantage over the rest of the carnival. They had run scared only moments early, so why did they now stay so close? He has a bad feeling something more powerful is coming their way, and his tail flicks warily behind him. They have to move, now.

Moving towards Susan he catches his brother's gaze before tossing his head towards the vine covered entrance. A little firepower to clear their way would certainly help with the vines growing as high as they are. And of course it'll be easier for both of them to clear the vines if Susan rides on his back.

As Steven thinks, Bud carefully pulls the candy out of his hand and starts to eat it. Steven doesn't even seem to notice. He looks up to the rest of the group, and then at the creatures still lurking in the shadows.

"I don't think they can see me," he says. He's not sure if it will help, but he's going to try anyway. "They ran right by and didn't react at all. I think... it's because of the ward the Starlight put on me."

Steven hops up onto Lion's back, and his two Pokemon follow, seating themselves on his mane. He looks determined now.

"So... if this goes wrong, I can probably hide longer than you guys can, okay? I'll try taking Hinawa and... who else wants to come with me?"

Yuya looks surprised to hear about the ward, but it's definitely a good surprise. He glances around their large group again before pointing to himself.

"I have a shield and the warding spell. They won't work if I'm moving, but if we get stuck then I can protect people. If we can avoid splitting up..."

Well, that would be ideal. He's not sure if splitting up is a good idea, but if they do ge should probably go with the group he can protect best.

'Mom,' huh? He's heard about Steven from a few others but he didn't know it was that bad. It's just something he files away for later without acknowledging it outloud. Chances are someone else might or at least consider it. He gives no reason to doubt his own words. If anyone wanted to run off he'd let them without a moment of hesitation. Everyone had a choice and choice was something he strongly believed in. If a kid wanted to go rescue someone, so be it. He wasn't going to stop them.

He glances over at Joker when he speaks and nods along with his words. It was better to get the ones that couldn't fight out of harms way or at least the ones that couldn't take an intensity fight of large number. Joker was also one he would consider getting on Lion but he had a feeling that opinion wouldn't matter.

"If anything works, I doubt we'll get more than another shot or two. Don't try to be a hero and just go if you feel you should." Then again, there is a shot it wasn't going to work anyways. He's not confident even his own power would work in navigating this maze of thorns. He would like to not have a repeat of the manor in going through a wall and either getting stuck in it or in some sort of trap.

Susan is also thinking that Joker should probably go, since he's not a fighter from anything he knows about him. But at the same time he likes Joker, and if he really wants to stay... Well, Susan isn't going to say anything about that. He's definitely not going back on Lion though, his decision only made clearer by climbing onto his (still lion) brother's back when Lauren gets his attention.

"Me and Lauren have to stay with everyone else. That way I can try and burn through the vines if they get in the way."

Lion growls, seeming to grow impatient as the seconds tick by. All he knows is that Steven is waiting for one of them to join on the ride, and that every moment they spent hesitating is another moment that Steven is being left in danger, and another moment where Lion might get attacked by those creatures again.

He gives Joker a pointed look, as if demanding that he fix this.

Wordlessly, Joker tosses Lion a thumbs up before shifting his thumb so that he's more pointing it against his knuckles. Rapidfire, he points it across each member of their little group, muttering something under his breath in time with the gesture. It only takes a second before his hand jerks to a stop, and he steps forward.

"Alright! Yuya!" He pulls his hand away to smack it hard against the boy's back, hopefully hard enough to shove him towards the large pink cat. "Yer 'mo'! We're havin' ya protect everyone, so we're countin' on ya~." Twisting on his heel, he smacks his hand against the knuckles curled around his knife.

"Susan, burn the vines down if ya can now please! Everyone, stay together so that it's harder for 'em ta steal us away from the group! One way is as good as the other, so let's go already! We're wastin' daylight!" Ignoring the fact that there's no daylight here...

Hinawa looks more and more concerned as everyone discusses splitting up. As much as she wants to argue, she knows there's no point. She's no fighter and would only slow the others down at this rate, and they're quickly running out of time.

"They're already displeased with us," She adds. "Being aggressive will only make things worse. I don't want anyone to raise a hand against them unless absolutely necessary."

Yuya stumbles forward with a grunt, looking between Lion and Joker. Being officially tasked with the protection makes him grin, and he offers Joker a thumbs up before moving to get into Lion. "Right! You can count on me."

He balances himself, fumbling with his staff before just resting it sideways on his lap. It soundslike they're getting a plan and getting out of here, so he's hopeful.

There is a bit of surprise from Gongenzaka, as Yuuya is set upon the lion. He then, however, simply nods, and smiles, giving a brief thumbs up of encouragement. "We shall see you later then...! And until then, we shall count on each other's efforts..!"

And with that...well, he turns back to face the plants more readily. Come at him, roses! He's big, he's glowing, and he's ready to fight! (Even if plant against plant is a poor match up...)

Oh good, Joker is finally doing something about all this. He was rather close to just grabbing someone by the back of their shirt and forcing them onto Lion. The creature seems impatient in general the way it growls and seems to demand someone force their hand. Everyone's optimism is rather cute concerning how much they were being watched right now. Were this more subtle he might have more confidence in it actually working. Well, he can always be proven wrong.

Susan and Lauren seem to have vine work handled so he doesn't offer his Dark Matter right away. Joker knows it is there more than the others and he's prepared to use it. "If your fire fails I can add my power to it. Otherwise I'll stay roughly in the middle." He thinks he's the fastest of the group but he's never sure. Gon was rather sizable and he's sure he could power through just about anything.

He does glance towards Hinawa and lifts a brow, "How noble but that might cost us a second we don't have." Not that he's going to stand here and argue. He'd rather get moving already.

Susan is always ready to use his magic, and so now that everything is settled he nods when Joker asks him to burn down the vines. He grins widely at Tyki's offer with a shake of his head.

"Don't worry, I've got this! I'm an expert at burning things down." Of course that probably only makes it more alarming, but at least he isn't giving examples; the only ones he can even think of are definitely not going to inspire confidence in anyone. The time he burned their house down, the time he burnt a vampire to ash, the time he attacked the Ringmaster and burnt her clothes off... Yeah, he'll just leave his assurance at that and focus on launching his fire bolts at the vines blocking their path instead. Hopefully he can actually burn enough down they can pass through without inciting another attack.

Steven summons his shield and nods very seriously, determined to protect everyone, too. He knows he's a liability with the way things are, but he doesn't want to let that prevent him from doing the best he can. Bud chitters apprehensively, while Lil preemptively loosens his vine whips, in case something comes up.

Lion, on the other hand, is just going to gratefully stalk plodding along, relieved that they can finally get moving. He'd rather be portalling out of here immediately, but for the moment he will be patient.

"If we keep together... they might be too scared to do anything," Steven cautiously suggests.

Susan's flame attacks make powerful strikes against the vines blocking the archway - yet, somehow, they are not as effective as they usually would be against plant matter. The plant life seems resistant, somehow - strengthened by the faerie magic, perhaps, so that what would have been devastating under other circumstances is ending up a bit grueling to get through.

Worse, the creatures are getting agitated. Looking at Susan in particular, three of them lash out with whips. Fire or no fire, they want this destruction to stop.

The first whip will almost certainly get a hold of Susan's leg, but the second will be possible to wriggle out of, if you don't mind a few cuts. The third Susan will be able to blast away entirely with fire, sending the creature sprawling as well.

Edited 2018-05-14 20:37 (UTC)

-CASHES IN ON THAT PRESENCE- thanksath-

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