lostcarnival | ⇨ FAERIE TALES

"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."

With the thorns pulling out of the way, it's only a short time before they reach the final destination. They come to a round wall of roses, thorns deadly sharp, that guards a central area of the garden - it's core, as it turns out. As those last vines are either ripped away or move of their own accord, they'll finally be able to see what they're looking for.

The vines here are crystal, as if made of faceted glass. They will be very familiar to anyone who has seen the Blue Rose. Within them, there is a circular patch of grass and soil, with a small pool of water off to one side. In the middle, there is Steven.

His arms, wings, and feet have all been rooted into the earth, his skin transformed into the same crystal as the roses around him. Blue rose blossoms sprout from his body, and his gemstones have completely lost their pink hue, now a facsimile of the Rose's colors. Though he is too tightly bound to fall over, he looks like he's in a trance, his eyes half-lidded and glowing too brightly to see his pupils. All he's wearing is a simple, over the shoulder chiton.

He strains his body, as if trying to pull against his entrenched limbs, but he can't escape. His own body is rooted deep into the ground, betraying him.

Honestly, it really is a little too late to try and figure out much of a plan now, deep in as they are and with everything subject to change at a moment's notice. Improvisation is the best thing they can do....

...And all of that completely leaves his mind the second the last of the thorns have parted out of their way and he sees Steven.

He can't tell what goes through his heart, only that it seems to go utterly cold with despair and white hot with rage at the same time, and his steps stutter to a stop for a half second before he lets out a shaky breath. No time for that. It's exactly as the Ringmaster said over the radio, about the Blue Rose acting up.

Grabbing whoever looks like they're going to bolt off first- not that he doesn't understand the feeling, twisting like acid in his gut- he looks right to the boy. "Steven," he says quietly, keeping Tyki's words in mind, "We're here for ya. Ya can hear us, I know ya can... and we're gonna get ya out of here. Make no doubt about it."

Yuya had expected this, a little bit. He saw the state Steven was in, but it's something else the way he's actually rooted into place.

Unsurprisingly, he's quick to lung forward with his free hand outstretched before Joker grabs his arm and forces him to stumble to a stop. He doesn't look back, but he does bring his voice lower when he actually speaks.

"Steven, we're here."

Edited 2018-05-27 22:44 (UTC)

"Steven!!"

Amethyst very nearly manages to make a break for it, but Joker's reflexes are quick enough to grab the trailing end of her whip -- and yank it back hard, sending Amethyst spinning back and eating dirt on the ground just behind him. The whip disappears in a shimmer of purple light.

"Ugh..."

Gongenzaka sucks in a sharp breath at the sight of Steven, but he does not move. After a few seconds to collect himself, he instead summons to his side his daemon- who mutters some narration to herself as she turns to keep watch away from them all. 'Summoned to his side,' a few others might hear her whisper, 'The familiar to the great guardian held watch, and not a single harmful presence could escape her notice,'

...They cannot, after all, risk getting caught while Steven is like this. With Marishi taking guard, Gongenzaka thinks to his healing scroll- but without time...

...His eyes widen. "...In it's own manner of speaking, even magic is a poison, is it not?" He declares, the announcement more statement than question. "....If our 'Angel' and others see fit...I, the man Gongenzaka, believe I can heal at least something." If they can even just clear Steven's head a little, or ease some of his pain, that will help right? As it is, surely this could be the sort of excuse the story can use to boost such healing. The thoughts die on his very lips, however. And as his own daemon hisses and whispers of connections between themselves, Gongenzaka voices why.

"The wall-" he hisses, attempting to keep his voice low for the others, even as he braces himself. "She is HERE-!"

Edited 2018-05-27 23:36 (UTC)

As soon as Gongenzaka has proclaimed it to the group, the Rose Queen reveals herself. Thorns bending out of her way, she steps out of the wall of roses behind Steven, gaze falling upon the group hatefully.

"How dare you," she snarls, gesturing a hand and forcing the vines closed along the path they entered from. Steven gasps as she does, as if her taking control of the roses has been in direct opposition to his own efforts. His eyes have opened, the fear clear on his face.

"Go," he pleads, suddenly. "You have to go...!"

"No!" yells Amethyst, scrambling back to her feet, terrified by the appearance of the Rose Queen, but absolutely unwilling to back down. "Steven, no, we're here to save you--!"

Edited 2018-05-27 23:48 (UTC)

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