lostcarnival | ⇨ DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

Impulse is telling him to save his own skin though he's never ran from a fight. Nothing has ever really been like this but he's felt mortal blows before. Dying didn't frightening him but he'd rather not be enthralled for any length of time. If death was the end result then so be it. His family would just never understand.

It's why he's stepping away again towards the area Feather's is working on. He doesn't even need Joker's cue anymore towards action. He's fishing the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one with a strike of his match. Then he's going to glance up at Feathers and summon a Tease into his hand. If the bird isn't causing alarm then certain Dark Matter won't either. It's explosive but time for subtly is over. It's why Dark Matter will gather around his hand, wrist, and arm before firing off towards the hole Feather's is making.

The last time they ran into a big and important fae, the Ringmaster gave Papyrus some simple instructions: keep quiet, stay out of sight. She'd said he was a big personality and fae... tended not to like that. Everything he saw around the Manor confirmed it.

So the moment the Rose Queen shows up, Papyrus goes quiet and lingers off to the side. He listens, watches, looks for signs of an escape route. Keeps a hand on his radio, because if things break out or more people get pulled under, he wants to call out that that's what's happening so people like Lambert and Sans know what to look for.

And, maybe most of all, he focuses on where the bird is digging and tries to get a hold of Lauren's soul, difficult as it is when the human's out of sight and there's all that dirt between them. Because if Papyrus can, he'll ping him blue and pull him up the moment that hole is big enough - the Rose lady probably won't give him time to climb out.

Steven has a plan in mind when he stepped out into the open, but now that it's actually in action... it's not really going how he intended, at all. He'd wanted the others to clear away so that he could hold her attention, so that maybe they'd have time to escape.

Right now... they're all just putting themselves in more danger by trying to put themselves between them.

He's torn between actions. One is to stay hiding, and let them do whatever they're trying to do - to try to shield him from her at the potential cost of their lives. The other is to push ahead with his own plan, regardless of their intent. He can't really see what's going on past Yuya and Hinawa, but he can feel the Rose Queen approaching.

He forces down the panic rising in his chest, and puts his hands between Yuya and Hinawa, using his considerable strength to push them out of the way. He steadies his voice to speak.

"D-Don't get in my way," he says, more forcefully than is characteristic. "I... want to see my mom."

Yuya is pretty easily pushed aside, looking at Steven with surprise. But he won't hold him back--instead he looks nervously between the Rose Queen and Steven, shoulders tense. He's not entirely confident she won't just grab him and run.

He won't stand in the way, but he doesn't start moving away, either.

She's not your mother, She almost says, but all that comes out is a confused "hmm?"

There is, clearly, more to this story than she's aware of. It all has to do with Portland, the place she doesn't remember. Between the Rose Queen's apparent love for her child, and Steven calling her "mom" she just... can't keep them apart any longer.

It's complicated.

As Steven pushes forward, he momentarily becomes the Rose Queen's entire world. Nothing else going on strikes her as relevant - not the frantic signalling or attempts at distraction. Not the sound of Tyki and Feathers destroying her vine barriers. All she sees is Steven.

She closes the distance between them, putting her sabers into the earth at her sides. She comes down onto a knee, so that she can better look at him - he's different than he was in Portland. There's more than the human and faeish blood she's familiar with.

She puts her hands on his face, taking in what she sees with fond red eyes. He wants to see her, he said. She hadn't imagined he would ever come to her on his own.

"Steven," she says softly, and in that moment her love seems real. "My child."

Complicated indeed, but he can hardly do anything when the two ARE reunited. Instead, his ears twitch toward what lays behind..and casting a rather despairing look to Yuuya, and the others, he streaks a subtle vine down and out to tap the nearest of their legs. While the Queen is distracted, now- if it's as strong a laser focus as earlier, this might work. He jerks his head again-use him for cover, then go behind and get to that hole! And in the meantime..

"...Are you certain about this?" He asks quietly, turning that worried, pathetic gaze to Steven. "...What you are doing, now?"

The Queen, no doubt, could not care less about whatever he is saying. But Steven at least...he'll hear, even if he is not in a position to answer, won't he?

On one hand, it's clear that she's focused on nothing else but Steven, which is good for the rest of them.

On the other hand, she's focused on nothing else but Steven.

The decision he has to make isn't easy, but necessary. Still besides the Rose Queen, he reaches over to tug first at Hinawa and then at Yuya, both towards Gon. "A family reunion shouldn't have too many strangers about," he announces before leaning in close to the pair to murmur. "Both of ya better get out that bloody hole or I will knock ya out personally, so help me."

Joker, of course, doesn't plan on going anywhere just yet.

She snaps out of it as Joker touches her, and she realizes that big, hot tears are rolling down her cheeks. Real or false, fae magic or not, seeing Steven and the Rose Queen together brings all her own loneliness to the surface and she can only think about how much she misses her boys. How cruel of her to ever keep this pair apart, when she knows just how much it hurts to be away from your child.

Hinawa doesn't need to be threatened, she nods diligently to Joker as she rubs her eyes and takes Sunny by the hand. "We should let them have some time together."

Yuya's attention is so focused on Steven and the Rose Queen, he doesn't notice Joker until he's actively pulling him away. Yuya snaps his attention up to Joker, his expression flashing with irritation before he moves to jerk himself free.

He does take a few steps back, closer to Gongenzaka and to that extension the hole, but it's pointedly slow until he sees everyone else moving. He's sure he can cover the escape, but he's reluctant to go ahead and leave Steven to potentially sacrifice himself.

In a way, the Rose Queen has become Steven's entire world in that moment as well. It's not quite the same manner of longing and desperate want, but it's overwhelming enough that Steven doesn't even hear Gongenzaka's question. He doesn't pick up on Hinawa's acceptance or Joker's attempts to get the others to move, either.

It's like a two pronged attack against his mind - on one side, there's his own fear, powerful enough to freeze him in place. He has to push it down, using everything he can muster to prevent it from leaking out empathically and affecting the rest of the group. Yet, even more dangerous, is the forceful love he feels coming off of the Rose Queen - sickening sweet and enough to cloud his thoughts, to dig in deep and obscure the different between what is him and what is her.

He never met his mom, in his other life, as much as he wished that he could. He realizes now that he hasn't seen the Rose Queen since before he fled her gardens. So much as looking into her eyes brings it all roaring back. The pain, the love, all of it.

He misses his dad. He misses the Garnet and Pearl. He wants someone to care for him again.

Steven doesn't speak as he and the Rose Queen remain locked together. A faint dusting of tears in his eyes is all there is to show the battle inside of him, drawn in too deeply to move.

With Steven so yielding to her touch, she gently presses a kiss to his forehead. The boys body will slacken as she does, as if his muscles have been compelled to relax. Still, she pays little heed to what anyone else is doing. The mother and son seem completely entranced in each other.

She touches the crystal horns on his head, and the gem on his belly. They are both stained blue by the Rose, this she knows. She simply had no idea how beautiful it would be until she saw it.

However, there area few things she likes far less.

Moving a hand up to his hair, she carefully grabs a hold of one of his ears, drawing it out to look at. Next, she folds over one of his paws, looking at their bestial form with disapproval.

"What has been done to you?" she asks, softly. Steven still does't speak. "This is mutilation."

She sounds angry. Not at Steven, but instead the way he looks. At least, she's not angry at him yet.

He cannot hide his grimace, but he at least lightens it by the time the Rose Queen asks her question. Again, he glances toward the others- go on now, GO!

-before focusing to the Queen, and answering the question for Steven. He somehow does not feel his friend will be in the best mind for it, after all. "....If you wish to know of the source of such changes, Ma'am, and..." He swallows. He has not exactly had a grand track record on communication here, which means trying that much harder now. So, steadying his breath- "...If you would permit me to answer...then look no further than the one to whom you associated with myself-these changes see their source in the same being, after all." The Ringmaster, the Carnival.

Hopefully his wordiness contributes to this distraction.

The hole is enough and he's gauging the size. It's enough to fit through himself but he's not leaving without Joker. Or at least not until he makes some stupid decision he cannot counter. You can't save everyone and that was a firm belief he had. It makes him frown to see everyone still standing around. He's not entirely unaware of the situation going on, his ear still bent back to listen to their conversation but his hearing isn't that that good.

Steven was an odd case. He hadn't been bad to talk with at the party nor did he really stand out as one of those kinds of kids. He just knows that Joker isn't going to leave without him unless there was a good reason. He looks back towards the others, his fingers pointing towards the hole with an almost demanding stare. Get. The Hell. In the Hole.

Except he's looking at Gon and reminding himself that Zangetsu likes this one. Now to weigh whether he cares or not to make it wider given he's over there talking to Steven like an idiot instead of staying out of the way like Joker has insisted.

The bird's hole in the wall is getting big. Plenty big, Papyrus could've slipped out minutes ago...

But, he really doesn't want to leave anybody behind. He'd felt guilty, those days when people were captives and some were because he'd raced ahead instead of stopping to help. And he'd felt worse, doing what they'd done to save everyone. With that hole in the wall everyone has the chance to make a break for it; except Lauren, still stuck in the dirt.

On the plus side, it seems like everybody is distracted. Enough so, he hopes, that they'll ignore a skeleton as he shuffles along the edge of the area and moves over next to Susan and pitch in. It's not like this dirt is frozen or anything, and carefully piercing it with bones should loosen things up enough to get it moving faster.

So that's Hinawa, out. Susan is still digging, fruitlessly, and Joker has no doubt that he'll keep doing it until they knock him out, and Papyrus doesn't seem to be making any headway either... He's about to gesture to Gongenzaka, so that he'll get Yuya out of there....

And then he opens his mouth. To encourage the Rose Queen to direct her anger to the place that they all currently live at.

When (if) he gets back to the carnival, it's decided: he's going to sleep for at least a week from all this.

It takes a lot of willpower to only breathe out slowly, regaining his jittery nerves, and he somehow manages. "I think it's time you take your leave with everyone else, Gongenzaka," he says firmly, eyes flicking over to where Feathers is tiredly perched near the vines. That's... approximately big enough... if they kick him through, maybe.

They should just kick everyone through, honestly, but really- an forgotten party hits him again, and he carefully tries to make his way around 'mother and son', trying to glance through the hole Steven had come through. Is Lion...?

Digging isn't working. He isn't good at it, anyway, but even if he was, he just isn't big enough or strong enough to dig like this, not to get to Lauren, but what else can he do? His magic isn't helpful here... Except maybe one thing.

He's not as good at shapeshifting as Lauren, having to use a spell to do it instead of just doing it naturally, but he can still do it, and animals are much better diggers. Living in the forest, the first animal that comes to mind is a badger, something he's seen around before, and so he only pauses his digging a moment, still ignoring everyone else (except Papyrus), so that he can cast his spell. Of course he's trying to be a big badger, so he can dig faster (because that's kid logic for you) and although he definitely is large for a badger, as large as a medium sized dog, he could still be lifted by the others if they try.

For now though that isn't on his mind, and all he does is set back to digging.

The thing about what Gongenzaka was thinking when he said that, is that one, he was pretty sure Steven would have said it Anyway, and two, if he didn't, the Queen probably knew anyway. It was information that was obvious, and at the point they were at as is, chances were there was going to be an attack. And soon.

Gongenzaka has vines rising from his back, and he does not move initially- the hole is...larger, in the corner of his eye. But still risky-for him, anyway.

"...I, the man Gongenzaka, could say the same to you," he warns, gently cooling one vine over to try and grab the other somehow. "We both have our duties, do we not?" Hint hint. You're the supervisor, and Stage Manager, certainly-

But security means protecting everyone from the Carnival-including that Supervisor.

"Quiet, you wretch," is all the Rose Queen hisses at either party speaking to her. Her gut is turning with disgust at the moment, and she doesn't want to be interrupted.

She finishes looking Steven over. The lack of general commotion means that the others are far from her mind, besides some minor annoyance at having to hear them talk. Her sabers sink into the earth, disappearing to be recollected at another time. For now, she uses her arms to gently embrace Steven, lifting him into her arms like any mother would.

"Leave this place," she says to the others, half turned to regard them. "If you will not swear yourself to me, the only other option is death."

Yuya hasn't been watching the progress of the hole, so he's not worried about nobody fitting through. What he is worried about is Steven, and he sucks in a sharp breath when she lifts him.

Joker and Gongenzaka's slight argument doesn't register to him, but Gongenzaka grabbing for Joker does. He clears his throat to catch his friend's attention and jerks his head to Steven, hoping that's enough to get what he means. If they're going to run, someone has to help him. And he's putting his trust in Gongenzaka to do it if Steven can't free himself.

That's when Yuya turns to the viney exit, his retreat slowed as he goes by Joker. He keeps his voice to a low murmur. "Everyone needs to leave. I can cover the exit."

That's including Joker, and Yuya gives him a pointed look before heading to the opening and standing beside it. If they all run, he can at least shield their exit and pull in the rear--he wills himself to be confident in his ability to do that much, so long as someone gets Steven and they go.

Edited 2018-05-15 19:11 (UTC)

"You heard her Highness. It's time to leave," he says in the most polite way he can manage. His fingers twitch at his side, rather close to taking corrective action. Joker lets him get away with a lot right now and he's sure that he'd allow a little violence in order to prove a point.

At Yuya volunteering to go last, he snorts gently and bids the others to proceed inwards. He's not leaving until Joker leaves himself but he's not above dragging him with him if he needs to. He's not going to wait around for others.

"Obey or be thrown out. That's all the warning I'm going to offer." Tyki always smiles, grins, or is full of cheer. He's not right now, patience running thin.

Steven has no reaction to the rest of them being told to leave. He can feel the emotional atmosphere of the room, in an abstract sense, but his thoughts are all muddled and all he can think about is the dull contentment he feels from being in his mother's arms.

His arms are wrapped around her neck in an embrace as she holds him, and it doesn't look like an act. Something has gone terribly wrong with him mentally, and whatever plan he had has failed miserably - at least in terms of him getting out of it.

His tail swishes back and forth sleepily as the Rose Queen waits for the others to leave.

Yuya doesn't get a chance to walk past Joker. Instead, Joker reaches out to grab his ear- with the wooden hand- and drag him close. He refuses to look at the boy, instead frowning up at Gongenzaka with thin lips. But there's no time to argue- no time to do anything, and he hates that the most. They could have had a chance, but instead-

Those thoughts can happen later.

"Ya heard Tyki," he announces loudly. "Yuya, you first. Papyrus, Susan, Tyki, you three next, and then myself." Hopefully that's enough to have Gongenzaka be alright with it, because he wants to storm his way over to the hole with Yuya in tow. "Gongenzaka, please get people through the hole whether they want ta or not."

Mostly, he means Yuya or Susan. Possibly both of them. Belatedly, he calls back over his shoulder. "Please allow us a moment, my lady, for there are a number of us." And they're a majority of jackasses.

And one more thing...

"We'll see ya again, Steven." That's a promise.

Joker doesn't succeed in grabbing Yuya as he dodges and only looks more incensed as he bids Steven farewell. His chest is tight at the thought of leaving Steven in her grasp. He knows better what she did, he knows the way Fae enthrall people, he remembers how even with the Ringmaster they struggled through her realm...

"Let me go through last. I'll follow." He manages, at least, to keep his voice steady. Yuya's intention isn't to throw himself into the fire. This is the Rose Queen, after all, he won't win against her power.

But he's not totally faithless in Steven.

Yuya's resisting. That's fine. Tyki's not going to push the issue just yet. He's walking away from the hole and making his way over towards Susan and Papyrus. Not to go out of order, or disobey Joker, but he's done with this and he's reaching down to grab the both of them.

"Both of you leave together then." Either Papyrus is coming with him or he's getting gently dragged in the right direction. Susan on the other hand will get snatched by whatever means necessary and forced towards the hole. "Either way, we're leaving."

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