lostcarnival | ⇨ FAERIE TALES

"My wings never make any noise," Joker hums, even as his legs tense to launch himself into the air after keeping up with the boys at a trot. It's a lie he says with every bit of confidence, rising up so that he can be at his fastest. "Me and Tyki are the quietest flyers about."

At least with Tyki, that's sort of true, considering the other man's powers. And more importantly-

"But with Steven's heart guidin' us true, I know for a fact that we'll get right ta the place he's held captive with no one else but that dreadful Queen in our way." Can't make the story too easy, after all, or it's no story at all. "So cheer up, Zaka~."

Hrk, that familiar warmth starts to creep within him and he's quick to stunt it discreetly. The kid's in distress and that's all the motivation he needs to keep going. Though at Gon's comment he'll turn his gaze towards him with a soft snort, "Oh? So we weren't moving with haste and discretion to begin with?" Yet he understands. If they are getting closer it is best they all understand how things should be handled. Last thing they wanted to do was walk into a fortress loud and drawing attention.

Tyki's own footsteps are quiet, his Power to Choose activated to keep him about an inch off the ground just in case, so footsteps aren't heard in general. "We can handle anything if we stick together and coordinate as his lustrous knights." And not attack separately for no reason.

"Of course I had my D-Wheel completely prepared before this, it's the smoothest and most quiet ride around now." is what Yugo declares to roll with narrative's need for stealth at this stage.

Because no one needs to be telling the exact truth here with story magic backing them all up.

"And there's nothing it can't drive over."

They will move quickly and quietly with the power of their narratively enforced stealth, the motorbike unthinkably soft and the beat of wings near imperceptible. Soon, they will find themselves coming upon roses, growing from the walls, the bookshelves, and the grassy earth that has taken over the floor.

Glowing red roses lead the way, and vines strangle out most of the doorways leading inward. Yet, none of the rose guards seem to be present, at the moment. None of them are lurking in the shadows like they were before - it's almost like all of them are on holiday. Maybe they're just all conveniently in the wrong place.

Still, those vines are getting in their way. They can feel the path to Steven leading through them.

Edited 2018-05-27 01:44 (UTC)

Unusually quiet and unusually serious, Amethyst frowns, drawing her whip from the gem on her chest with a soft chime.

"I'm no good at stories or nothin'," she says, "but say the word and I can whip right through these."

Everyone else has the narrative of our journey covered, so Yuya doesn't speak up. It's when they reaches what he expects, a blockade, that he shifts his staff and reaches out to touch the vines. He glances to the others, briefly, furrowing his brow.

"The Rose Queen tried to keep the knights out, but one of them knew a spell." It's just belief, isn't it? He just has to believe. "It was the spell to banish the magic of the Fae. Maybe alone he couldn't clear a path, but... together, the knights are stronger."

If Yugo can embellish his bike, surely Yuya can embellish his magic. He has the power of his staff, so with his free hand he touches the vines and he extends the one gripping his staff out to the others. "They just had to focus together."

With a little handholding, if his real spell is the basis. And if that doesn't work they can try hack and slash.

There is little they can do except keep their guard up, and their pace swift- watch for danger, and chase the pulse that Steven takes them on. Even so, as the vines begin to get in their way, he bites back a growl. Reaching with his soul to at least, perhaps, give Steven the pulse and slight feeling that he won't have long, Gongenzaka brings his attention to the vines.

...He does not have something that can cut through this, but Gongenzaka looks to the others. Amethyst has the right idea, after all. "Hmm! Indeed, I, the man Gongenzaka, should think that between our combined power, and weapons all of us carry, that this should take us through fine..." he declares firmly, faith unwavering as he looks back to the vines.

He sort of wonders, actually, if he should pull out the object Yuzu lent him- he knows that at least one of them can breathe...some sort of 'flame' after all, even if it's plasma.

"Was there any doubt?" Joker asks as he comes in for a landing, settling right besides Yuya. Almost casually, he tugs up the sleeve of his right hand. Still so new to him, he sometimes almost forgets to use it.... but not today. Today, he's been thinking of nothing but it. In the oppressive gloom of the roses and their thorns, it almost seems to glow all the brighter.

"I'm Steven's and all of yers Guardian Angel, after all~." Yes, it's most certainly glowing brighter, the myriad of colors shifting and twisting almost like flame burning off the limbs. "There's a reason Eden's own had a flamin' sword, y'know... And my own will help weaken troublesome weeds like this so that we can tear right through!"

Amethyst squints sideways at Joker. "I don't understand any of what you just said." She strings her whip taut between two fists. "But okay, cool, I can't fuse with any of you guys but we can, what, use the power of teamwork anyway, right?"

Well, if everyone else has this right now and the story is focusing in a progressive manner he can't really complain. It allows him to steel back onto his heels and watch everyone else at work. He hovers a little higher off the ground and walks his way over with his hand pulling back to urge anyone behind him to group up with them.

Just for a moment, does he look back at Gon that seems to be a driving force and over towards Yuya who responds accordingly. Tyki's pleased at the synergy of the group and nods along to acknowledge anything they've said. He snorts at Joker's usual flair but his attention is lost when Joker presents his arm. He's trying not to focus on it and for some reason he's mildly bothered by it.

Thankfully Amethyst breaks his concentration and he'll move closer with a lean down towards her in a gentleman sort of way, "Exactly. Your whip has never been more sharp or true. It can tear down even the strongest of walls."

"That's what I like to hear," she grunts, and puts all of her formidable arm strength into lashing her whip at the crowding vines.

Oho, that's a thought that Yugo hasn't revisited in a while. "Thanks boss, but you're not the only one that was a Guardian... I've still got some of that left in me too!"

Yugo will... think of what means soon, but not now. Call it foreshadowing or something. He takes position near the vines where the least people are standing in the way (in other words MOVE) and then lets loose with his plasma breath... wait doesn't that thing also do the-

*PWING-FOOOOSH*

Suffice to say, he is not only keeping his distance the moment it appears Yuugo is joining in, he is sliding on the Crown of Flames that Yuzu lent him, slipping the stone out from his mane and setting it at his brow as she'd instructed him.

Better safe than sorry, and plasma Totally Counts as Flames (to be protected from).

With the combination of forces, there's no stopping it. It's nothing like their experience before, with it taking ages to chop through even a single vine. Now, the vines and thorns are torn asunder, clearing the entrance way with a single stroke.

The pathway is unveiled, allowing them to travel deeper and deeper into the gardens. Each doorway will be revealed in a similar manner, with a mixture of flames and whip cracks. Every room they go further, the foliage will grow thicker, with thorns filling more and more space and making it difficult to bypass even with their boosted power. Even if they can strike them down, it still takes time, and perhaps more than they'd like.

This really is taking far too much time, and Joker doesn't like it. Certainly, he didn't think this would be over in a heartbeat (and if it did, then he's pretty sure it would be for all the wrong reasons), but this much time...

While they're tearing through more vines, Joker steps back to reach for his belt. Feathers has been rather stressed throughout this whole experience, so Joker had wanted to keep him out of the fray for as long as he could.... but he should be fine. He's been spending the last while before this getting pampered to hell and back.

"Her weeds are rather sharp," he comments, "but I know some feathers that are sharper. He could distract them as well, of course. They rather fear 'im, with how fierce he was against them before." This is huge bullshit, but it's fine. "Draw their attention, weaken the forces crowdin' us...

"But I'm open ta other ideas, as long as we're speedy."

Yuya's too aware of their progress slowing down as the vines get thicker and thicker. He tries to tell himself not to get impatient, that of course getting through the Rose Queen's garden wouldn't be easy. But it feels like every second is risking more and more. Yuya pours all his focus into weakening the magical power of the vines, but even that feels like too little.

He's glad to hear Joker feels simiarly, and more firepower certainly can't hurt. But they all have to contribute, and what else can he do?

He glances up as they reach the next wall. Steven said something in the dream. Can their story reach him from here...? "The Prince reached out to one of the Knights, and said that he would help them get to him. Creation would continue to protect him until they arrived, but how would the Prince know when to act if nobody told him?"

He waves a hand vaguely up high in the air, like that's going to get Creation's attention. "So the Knight asked Creation to give him a sign! The Prince must still have some power left, for he said it in the dream."

"Hmm! Indeed!" Gongenzaka agrees, nodding. Focusing, he conveys the message best he can, so that they can get things to play along. "For even apart, the strength of such a bond between friends is undeniable- the passion of those who come to save, and of the one who must be freed, shall surely pull away the walls that divide them..!"

He does not shout, but his voice carries a commanding air to it, his aura shining once more as he radiates all he can into the strength of his belief and his words.

"Uuhh... right," says Amethyst awkwardly. She really does not want to have to keep carving through endless vines, but boy this is not her forte. "And, I guess, there's no way any of this stuff... can stand in our way..."

Tyki does not join the fray with the others. Anything he can think of or can do at the moment is loud and possibly destructive. If it came down to it he could assist but for now it seemed they were capable on their own. It's slow going and time is ever their enemy right now.

"See, you got it," he says to Amethyst, giving kind and gentle words. She had such a fiery spirit and they are certainly not one of pity. "We must be close given how thick these vines are becoming."

Tyki right - they are close. Yet, to Steven, they've felt a million miles away.

He's so far away from everything right now, like he's outside of his body while still being awake. Not that it really matters, when he can barely move as it is. With nowhere to escape to, physically or mentally, he's allowed himself to get lost in it all - the familiar feeling of the Blue Rose's will flows through him, and it's easy to forget that has a will of is own.

It isn't until he feels Creation rise up inside of him again that he's startled into remembering himself. Suddenly, he knows. There are other people here, too.

Somehow, he also knows they need his help - like he can feel them asking even if he can't hear or see their presence. He mumbles something out loud before realizing that no one will hear him. He wants to scream for their help, how is he supposed to help them? Yet, he feels like he has to.

He wants to cry, because he feels like he can't. It seems impossible, like it will only result in him getting hurt. But... he can't ignore their calls, either.

He allows himself to feel out the extent of his fingers, rooted into the ground below. It's a part of him, right now - he's one with the gardens, so why can't he control them? It should be something he can do. He just needs to make them listen.

'Please, please, please,' he thinks, closing his eyes tight and reaching out - if not with his own hands, with a borrowed pair.

The thorns will begins to shift, pulling aside and towards the walls. It's slow, but they are definitely moving, and seemingly in an effort to make the path easier to traverse. Soon, they'll be at the center.

"Whoah -- did that really work??" Amethyst runs forward as the thorns begin to part, boggling at them in absolute disbelief. She's ready for something to attack her, for dashing out in front to have been a mistake as it so often is with her, but she catches herself as she hops over a retreating vine, cupping one hand to her mouth:

"Uh, I mean, obviously it did and no way any gnarly plant monsters are gonna get my butt poofed right now unless I'm doing something real cool and heroic!"

It takes a second, and then Yuya is elated.

"He knows!" He's almost bouncing on his feat. He can't rush far ahead of the group given the constant blockades, but he's quicker to move forward to the next one, and the next one.

Briefly he turns back to Amethyst, smiling despite the situation. "That won't happen anyway, because we're all going to look after each other and Steven. Everyone's getting out of here, no problem, okay?"

He sounds confident, although it's hard to tell if that's part of telling the story or not.

Phew...good. They have only a little further to go, and then-

Gongenzaka pauses, and looks to the others with him as they carry on forward. "We must form a plan for swift escape- particularly once Steven is in tow. I, the man Gongenzaka, have no doubt that an even quicker pace will be best..."

He finds his eyes lingering over a few when he says that. Tyki certainly seems capable, and Joker can fly...but Yuugo also has a bike, one they could no doubt get Steven on...

...He'll leave the floor open to ideas. "Gathering the start of a plan before we reach Steven will make it yet easier to move the instant we have him, aaah?"

"Well if the Rose Queen shows up... we've got plenty of options for keeping her distracted, yeah?"

Because they all know that in a straight fight, most likely book magic or not- the Fae tends to kick their butts in that regard. Also they can't depend on this narrative being so simple, surely.

"Options that don't involve people letting themselves lag behind obviously." Yugo glances at his card spirit companion, then shifts his gaze toward Yuya and Gongenzaka as if they're most likely to catch what he's suggesting.

"Who we have here still isn't all we've got."

Tyki's all for a well thought out plan but talking now seems almost too late. Not that he'll voice such an assessment given how he doesn't want to play it into the narrative on accident. There's just something about talking about the start of any plan within the possible middle of a well thought out fortress that kind of irks him. These vines are parting for them now and they are carrying forward with blissful ease, but most of the people here should know those vines and thorns could just as easily close in an instant. They had last time, trapping them all inside with the Rose Queen. Not to mention last time there were eyes and ears everywhere. Sure, there wasn't any now but that could easily change as the vines did before.

He knows there wasn't any time to scout out this place, build a plan, and locate Steven beforehand. These small things felt like something they should've announced before heading out. "The knights and Guardian Angel had enough sense to keep their voices down."

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