[OPEN] we were strangers on a crazy adventure

[whattaprick]

Who: Lambert and YOU
When: In the time the Ringmaster gives them to make up their minds.
Where: In the newly-reformed Carnival.
What: Bother him about recent events and about the choices ahead.
Warnings: Lambert's potty mouth, references to past violence, etc.

The Carnival has really seen better days.

That's Lambert's first thought, at least, surveying what's left of his material possessions. Now that it isn't stuffed away in drawers or hidden in boxes, it mostly amounts to a not-inconsiderable amount of jewelry and various novelty clothing, as well as some of the Solstice presents he received with less military applications. Pig and Butcher have been left free to wander around as they please in the stripped-down Carnival while Lambert lazily flicks through his belongings -- a book here, a necklace there -- and sorts through it all. Perhaps surprisingly, for the amount of time they've been with the Carnival, there isn't too much.

When he hears someone else come up to him, he speaks without looking over his shoulder, the flat joke varying:

"What do you think the chances are of her bringing back the springs right now?"

"Seems like a good time for a nap, doesn't it?"

"So, you made up your mind about becoming a god or not yet?"

Comments

[whattaprick]

“Does it?” Lambert gives her a little grin, ears twitching while the skeletal curl of his tail behind him is almost playful.

“And what makes you say that?”

[soft_focus]

"Yeah. We're going to be able to travel easier this time, I think," she starts, nodding firmly.

"More power, too," Penuel adds with more bluntness.

"Everyone seems to feel better too, since we helped the Ringmaster. Now we're doing something, but it doesn't feel like the 'end'."

[whattaprick]

“Was pretty close to it for a while there,” Lambert snorts, but concedes the point. “I guess you could do worse than traveling with a carnival full of people with the power of miracles. Though I don’t think this is what the Ringmaster had in mind when she started us looking for all this.”

[soft_focus]

"Yeah." Immediate agreement is there. As much as it's followed by quick shrugging. "...I don't think anything people have in mind ever happens though. ...That's just how things happen."

"Unpredictable," Penuel echoes.

"But we're doing better now, definitely..!"

[whattaprick]

Lambert can’t help but smirk. “You’d be surprised how easy it is to forget something that obvious,” he tells her. “Really just shows you people aren’t as smart as they think they are, eh?”

[soft_focus]

Would she? Would she really. "...no...people forget lots of things..."

The answer is no. She's at least kind enough not to say that she agrees on the last point as well though. Instead, she focuses on that first one. "Umnh- but, we do have a lot of people to remind each other though, right?"

[whattaprick]

“Sure,” Lambert agrees. “For as long as the Carnival keeps hanging together, anyway. Hard to imagine going back to business as usual after all this...”

[soft_focus]

"...It probably wouldn't be 'usual', but it'd be a lot of people who go back to having fun more, at least."

If he doesn't expect this entire carnival to take a vacation the instant they can, well.

She would hope he expects it because she's pretty sure that the minute anyone can relax again, that's Exactly what they'll do.

"Sometimes it's okay to not be 'business as usual', as long as it's something that isn't bad I think."

[whattaprick]

“Wisdom from the mouths of babes,” Lambert laughs, not unkindly, and gives Reira a fang-filled smirk.

“What about you?” The witcher poses the question directly, brows raised. “What’s your ‘usual’ going to look like, after this is all over?”

[soft_focus]

Good question. She gives it some thought. "...I... ...don't know." Bugger.

"...I don't want to leave- because...it feels more like home here. More than where everyone says my home is supposed to be. ...But even though we'll probably move to nicer things, and a different 'usual', I don't know where I'll be allowed to stay after."

...

"...Do you think the Ringmaster will still have animals that have to be fed?"

[whattaprick]

Home is not a place. Yeah, Lambert can sympathize with the sentiment.

"Kind of depends on how it all goes, doesn't it?" Lambert muses. "But I think she'd have a place for you, if you asked for it. Whether you wanted to keep feeding animals or something else."

this seems like a good way to tie it off <o<

[soft_focus]

Well, if Lambert thinks as much...

She feels a bit better about that then. Reira nods, and smiles a little more certainly. "Mnh....yeah. ...I guess we'll see."

Here's to the future.