The Vandals Carnival 2} Cassus, Zydeca, Pompom, Razzor, Snacks

Cassus played by CC, Zydeca played by Orange, Pompom played by Link, Razzor played by Leng, Snacks played by Kiki

Something new. He wanted something new. Looking around the carnival, he found this was definitely something new. Cassus constantly wants to try something new, go somewhere different, find a new interest. When he heard this well known "fighting ring" carnival came to the city, he instantly caught interest. Maybe not for fighting, but for other things. He doesn't fight for fun anyways. He came here looking for bodies. Look, he has a lusus to feed. It's natural troll instinct to keep for lusus healthy. After all, who knows what they're capable of when desperately hungry? He looked curiously around the slightly less busy carnival, since he didn't come here at a busy time, lost in thought as usual. For a ceruleanblood, he really doesn't pay attention to his surroundings.[/container]

Zyd was always uneasy when it had to come all the way to the carnival. A sufficiently enterprising highblood could simply nab it and throw it into the ring, and it didn't fancy the idea of that. But right that second, the sun was nearly rising, and trolls of every caste were spilling out of the main tent. The brawls were over for the night, and the bodies were probably piled already.
One-- and possibly the only-- benefit to being out here, was that hardly anyone else dared showing up. Not if there were easier pickings elsewhere, which was almost always true. But a very specific troll was rumored to have died tonight, and Zyd needed to confirm it. And bring back proof. Apparently the client didn't rig the fight themselves, which was out of the ordinary but not unheard of. Some twisted sense of honor, of a 'fair chance.' Zyd shook its head, pushing the thought away. It wasn't here to philosophize, it was here to collect.

Cassus snapped out of his trance and saw the trolls leaving. He looked at some injuries some had sustained. Some of those people even looked happy. Do others really love fighting that much? For no real reason? To kill for just the fun of it? He finds himself accidentally philosophizing. Somehow, he quickly snapped out of it this time and focused on waiting for the crowd to die down. He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to fight like them.[/container]

Still slightly accustomed to the modalities of the carnival, Zyd knew where it was going. Walking around the main tent, ignoring the stalls dotted about, it was headed to the back. There was a more sophisticated body removal process in place besides just letting them pile up, but there were a few hours before that happened.
Some ceruleanblood almost seemed to be following it. Hopefully that wouldn't be too much of an issue.

Completely unaware of Zyd's path, Cassus slipped in the main tent and started looking around again. He took in the surroundings, as he'd never been in a tent. He grimaced at the smell of... sweaty trolls? Blood? Death? He couldn't really guess. Nonetheless, it smelled awful. He spent a little bit more looking around before walking in the general direction of the back. He wanted to at least explore a little before the carnival left the city.[/container]

A pair of glowing eyes silently observed.

Now fully behind the tent, Zyd gazed upon the bodies. All lowbloods, barring a couple olivebloods. Maybe a single blue, if it was really looking that hard. And it was looking that hard, searching for some bronzeblood, broken horns. It didn't help that most of the trolls in the pile had the same affliction, likely caused by desperate fighting for one's life. Unlucky bastards.
It didn't want to get into the pile before it knew precisely who it was looking for, so it walked around it, slowly, trying to ascertain beyond any doubt the troll its client was asking after. It was looking for a ring.
Not that it would ask, but Zyd could see the story easily enough. Some forbidden flushed feelings, likely vacillating to black, inevitably leading to the lowblood's death. Happened all the time. Why its client wanted the ring was a mystery-- a memento? Some kind of twisted keepsake, to remind them of what could only be their fault? It didn't matter, really, Zyd would be paid regardless.

Cassus was walking towards the back before he felt a presence. He stopped walking. Not a strong one, so maybe a lowblood. He didn't want to get into any conflict as of now. Maybe he could come back later? No- he should just wait a little right here. He could probably talk his way out of a fight. Maybe he could gauge the troll's actions before walking into sight. He stepped a little closer.[/container]

There she was. The bronzeblood, that is. Buried under the other bodies. The ring was nowhere to be seen-- tucked away under the other trolls in the pile. Oh, well. Zyd grabbed the arm it could see, dragging her out. A couple others were dislodged in the process, tumbling down the sides of the pile. More blood oozed out of the whole mass, shades of brown, yellow, and red all mixing together in a half-dried sludge.
Rolling her out flat on her back, Zyd reassessed the situation. Definitely the one, all the descriptors matched, discounting the slash and cut wounds she'd clearly sustained in the fight. And there was the ring, still on her finger. It was a wonder it hadn't fallen off.

His eyes widened in slight surprise. Are they looting the bodies? I mean, he was planning to do basically the same (but worse). It's still surprising for him when other trolls act maliciously, even though it's common behavior. He felt himself getting nervous, but not from the apparent corpse robber. He decided to wait to see what they do next before making his prescense known. This stranger could be actually dangerous, if the corpse thing didn't prove that enough.[/container]

It had to take a step back. All of last night's blood was soaking into the grass, mingling with the night before's highblood special. Slowly swirling colors pooled around the pile, lazily stretching to further ground. It was thankful to barely have a sense of smell, what little it was getting was already nausea-inducing. Somehow both pungent and sweet, the scent of death and blood was doing its best to penetrate the nostrils of anything nearby. How could there even be this much blood? A loose limb, falling from the pile, was answer enough to the question. Most of the bodies were near-impossibly mutilated. It was a wonder the bronzeblood hadn't been. Zyd's head began to spin, it walked away from the pile to recover.
Once it gathered itself again, it moved back to the pile.
She was as saturated as everything else was, though it seemed to be mostly in her own blood. It just needed to get the ring. The ring. Just, kneel down (there was blood on its shoes already,) grab her hand (it was so cold, and sticky, and stiff,) and twist the ring off (it was as bloodied as everything else, dried onto her skin.) It wiped off the ring as best it could with an edge of its shirt, and slipped it into a pocket of its bag. She was missing an eye. It considered dragging her back to the pile-- wouldn't that be the better option? Flies were lighting on everything, including both her and itself. Yes, dragging her back seemed like a good idea. Grabbing her arm, it managed to move her back to the pile. Mission accomplished.
It managed to get a few paces away from the bodies, before throwing up.

A winding key fuelled a wicked grin. Attentive, knowing. The wayward puppetmaster watched the show.

Cassus finally stepped into the back, his eyes immediately landing on the pile of bodies. He cringes, mostly from the smell. The corpses look horrible, for sure, but his lusus does worse. He chooses to not look at them and instead at Zyd. Again, ew. But the obvious disgust from Zyd means that it didn't do anything to the corpses for fun. That's... good? Cassus stayed where he was standing, waiting for the stranger to recover, and covered his nose and mouth. Bluh.[/container]

Well, that was going to leave a bad taste in its mouth. Moreso than the business itself already was, at least. Gross, the ground was still bloody where it-- Zyd decided to look away before indulging in another extremely narrated sequence. Suffice to say, it threw up again.
This time, it was smart enough to just keep moving away from the pile. Look at anything else, the horizon, the lights. Alright. Okay. It was fine. And it had the ring. It would definitely have to wash these shoes, though, of all manner of fluids-- Wait. What was that?
It turned around, tearing its glasses off, entirely ready to blast whoever walked in on it. Not like there would be any witnesses, unless the ghosts of all these bodies counted, legally speaking. "WHo are you!" It tried to sound fierce, failing almost miserably-- having a throat full of bile will do that to you.

Cassus was silent for a couple of seconds, slightly amazed at how quickly it recovered. He eventually uncovered his face and found his voice, "the quesztion 'who arre you' isz szo confuszing. do i sztate my name? my purrpose of being herre?" He kept his gaze firmly directed towards Zyd. Anywhere else is an eyeful of horrendously disgusting fluids.[/container]

Okay. A highblood. What... could that mean? Why was there a highblood here? Why they were being so smart was no question-- came with the territory. All Zyd had to defend itself was words, and if it came to it, psionics. "ALl of the above, wiseguy," it sneered, eyes exhibiting their usual continuous flashing.

Ignoring the last snappy remark, he moved some hair out of his face and took a shallow breath. He could almost taste the death. Again, ew. "namesz caszszusz. i wasz curriousz on why szomeone wasz meszszing arround nearr the corrpsze pile. i sztill am. now, who arre you?" He tilts his head questioningly. It's hard to tell if he meant to be a smartass with his never-faltering poker face.[/container]

"ZYd," _it said, suddenly very aware how its hands, shoes, all of it was somewhat covered in rapidly drying, sticky blood, "THat's what you can call me." The glasses stayed off-- not that Zyd couldn't use the psionics with them on or anything, it would just be a shame to destroy them. It was very purposefully not answering the second, implied question, not particularly wanting to give away its business.

He frowns, but lets the avoidance slide. It isn't really his place to ask. "okay, zyd, arre you alrright? you juszt thrrew up."[/container]

What was the deal with this highblood? Why did he seem so concerned? At least he didn't seem, too dangerous. Yet. "SUre, I'm fine. WAnna come over here with me, have a good time sorting through dead bodies? NO, I'm not alright! I'M covered in blood, and now I'm talking to some highblood who's back here for fuckall reason!" That would probably do it. Get the other all mad, keep it from questioning Zyd's own motives, run away. Easy as that.

Cassus blinks. He wasn't used to being yelled at. It didn't really make him upset, though it was loud. "i gueszsz that wasz a dumb quesztion on my parrt." chirrp. "it doesz szmell terrrrible." He looks visibly more annoyed as he reminds himself of the terrible smell. "the blood isznt even the worrszt parrt."[/container]

He didn't even seem too bothered. What was this guy after? Probably planning some kind of sneak attack. Well, then, Zyd would have to play his game. It replaced its glasses, obscuring its eyes once more. Just play along, see where this goes. "WHat's the worst part, then."

He shrugs and spares a second's glance at the pile of bodies. "prrobably the sztate of the corrpszesz. they muszt've died horrrribly..." He loses his straight face again and frowns. He really does feel bad for those trolls, but he shouldn't be saying all that to the lowblood. "...the woundsz arre groszsz to look at."[/container]

"ALright, I'm not here to play your games. NO highblood would feel pity for these bodies." It was practically radiating contempt, though suddenly swept up in a thought.
Pity, it had said. Pity and hatred were the only two troll emotions, as an old refrain went. At this point no one believed it, or at least believed it to be a gross oversimplification. But the bronzeblood, rotting in the pile, did her matesprit not take pity on her? However shortlived it must have been? It shook its head again-- no philosophizing. Only the most important question-- why was this blueblood here?

"what gamesz?" He studied the goldblood's face. Why is it so mad? "arre juszt having caszual converrszation, arre we not? bonding overr dead bodiesz szhould be the beginning of a beautiful frriendszhip." He lets out another slightly eerie 'chirrp'. "i dont mean harrm, if that'sz what you'rre thinking."[/container]

Well, now Zyd was just confused. Granted, the highblood hadn't been directly confrontational yet, but... why was he here? "YOu know what, never mind. WHy don't you just tell me why you're here, and we can go from there." Did this guy have a bird or something on him? There was some weird noise... Or maybe it was part of the carnival. Who could tell?

"hmm... boredom." It wasn't TECHNICALLY a lie. He just changed his intentions. "i tend to get borred a lot. i came herre forr szome enterrtainment. and then i hearrd you. i wasz fairrly interreszted. becausze a troll voluntarrily touching corpszesz isz fairrly out of the ordinarry, wouldnt you szay?"[/container]

Zyd shook its head. "DEpends on who you're talking to. ANd the show's over for the night, so you decide to come back here? ANd not just leave, like a normal troll? GOt a dead friend in here or something?"

Cassus goes quiet temporarily. He knew that was a weak excuse. At least he now knows Zyd isn't stupid. A smile forms on his face. "ahh... you got me. but im not a norrmal trroll. i prrobably would've come to the back even if my intention wasz to szee the szhow. being curriousz isz my weakneszsz."[/container]

"COme on, cough it up. YOu here for blood? PArts? YOu know I can't tell anyone, you might as well be honest." It crossed its arms, pretending not to smell the rapidly-growing stench of dead troll. The sun must be rising by now. The ground was soft under its feet, saturated with blood.

Cassus' smile broke out into a grin. He tilted his head. "how do you expect me to do that when you haven't even told me yourr full name, orr why YOU'RRE herre? i don't think i will cough it up, thanksz."[/container]

An entirely fair point. Zyd decided to give up the intimidation act-- it was a stretch, after all. "I Told you, you can call me Zyd. I'M just here to pick up a memento. SEe all these bodies? LOwbloods. I Knew some of 'em, too. PAys to have something to remember them by." Almost barely not a lie, and certainly plausible enough.

"would you rreally go thrrough that much trrouble forr mementosz? you werre verry diszguszted a little while ago. you rreally don't have to lie. i will prrobably be able to szleep tonight without knowing." He stops smiling. It's true, he doesn't need to know, but Zyd went through all that trouble for... one object? He doesn't really know what it stole. Was it for personal reasons? Greed? He at least wanted to know Zyd's motive.[/container]

Zyd rolled its eyes-- not that anyone would be able to tell, on account of the glasses and generally weird eye anatomy it has-- and fished the mostly-unbloodied ring out of its pocket. "FIne, fine, you got me. I'M being paid to deliver this ring to one of these dead troll's matesprits. OR, used-to-be matesprits, I'm not sure. ALl I know is, I'm also not going to ask about it. THat good enough for you?" It let the news sink in, before pocketing the ring again and continuing. "NOw, spill. WHat are you here for."

Cassus' eyes lit up, taking a second to process that. Did that qualify as greed? Well, that troll is dead. Is it stealing? Aw, shut up Cassus. You can ponder the morality of this situation later. "oh- yesz. i szupposze that'sz only fairr." He chirrps before continuing. "i believe... body partsz. i came herre to get szomething that will szatiszfy my luszusz. he'sz one of thosze demanding typesz."[/container]

Zyd let out a low whistle. "ONe of those, huh? ALways seems to be you highbloods with the troll-eating lusii. WEll, at least you're here picking up bodies. THere's always some story floating around about someone luring in lowbloods to feed to their lusus, alive. SO you're not getting any complaints out of me." Its feet were practically sinking into the blood-soaked ground as it spoke. It could see the first light of morning through the bottom of the tent. Oh well.

Cassus, again, hesitated to speak. He tried avoiding that last part. "...yesz. it'sz quite tirring having a high matinence luszusz like him." He scratches the back of his head. "i wiszh he aszked forr szomething otherr than trrollsz."[/container]

A short laugh-- if they were going to be macabre, then so be it. "TRied humans yet? MAybe it'll like them better." It decided to move, away from the pile of corpses and closer to the highblood. The first couple steps practically squelched on the saturated ground, before evening out again.

"i wouldnt darre." He shook his head. "humansz arre leszsz corrrrupt than trrolls. my luszusz hasz to deal with that. i admirre theirr naturral ability to be kind."[/container]

"LEss corrupt, is that what you just said? HUmans provide me a good chunk of my business, you know, your opinion might change on them." It grinned, finally finding its way to firmer ground, within actual conversation distance from the highblood. "IT's all the same as far as I'm concerned, humans, trolls."

A faint wiring and clicking, nearly unnoticeable at first, but steadily, slowly, it grew. Louder? No... closer

"at leaszt not all of them arre con.." He notices the clicking becomes distracted for a second. "...ditioned to believe that murrderr isz okay." He looks around for the source of the noise, a smaller 'chirrp' than usual being voiced.[/container]

"YOu can't tell me you aren't hearing this. SOme fuckin' chirping noise, now clicking-- I Thought it was part of the tent or something, but it's starting to weird me out." It began glancing around, for whatever trap was surely about to be sprung. After all, what else could it be?

Cassus almost snorted at the mention of the chirping, but decided not to inform Zyd. For fun. "i hearr clicking too. it'sz getting nerrve wrracking." He said that, but didn't seem anxious at all. "wherre isz it coming frrom...?"[/container]

A slight staticy crackle echos eerily through the tent. A quirk of the intercom system shutting down for the day?

Creeping closer to Cassus, partially for its own safety, it spoke again; "YOu're, what, a blueblood? GOt any fighting skills? I'Ll be honest, I sure don't." _Apparently, now was the time to be making allies.

He gives Zyd a side eyed stare. "...will lying make you feel betterr?" Then he fully turns to Zyd. "juszt kidding. i don't have a weapon on me, but i can hold my own. and yoursz, i gueszsz."[/container]

"SUre, that works. I Have my psionics, at least, but they're not the most reliable." It slowly removed its glasses, just in case.

A faint laugh. Quiet, but near. A tall figure loomed--had it always been there?

Cassus looked around, blinking fast. His vision looked dark. Or saw something dark. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he's seeing things. He looked up again kept glancing around. "thisz isz farr morre captivating than i hoped forr. in a good way."[/container]

Zyd practically hissed its response, voice suddenly low. "EAsy for you to say, you aren't ring fodder." It took a stance at Cassus' back, mostly so they would both be able to watch the other's back. Looking to the intercom speakers, every tiny flutter of the tent, the suspense itself was practically deadly.

With a mutter and a whirr the number of tall shadows increased. By one, at least.

The amethyst glare of a flagitious silhouette pierced the fog of death. A menacing figure wreathed in wicked adornments grinned maliciously at its prey.
"anOtHER aCT tO tAKE tO tHE sTAGE?!" it sneered grimly, "sEEMS tHE sHOW hAS yET tO eND!"
The figure took a step forward, and then another. Light glimmered against its serrated smile as it emanated a barely-audible titter.

This was arguably the worst case scenario. This was all supposed to be an easy job, get the ring, get out, but no. Now it was stuck here with some blueblood, and more than that, it had been noticed by the infamous ringleader herself. Likely best not to speak at all, lest it draw more attention to itself. The news about the highblood being able to handle himself in a fight was sounding less comforting, now...

The second figure hung back to allow the first to have the spotlight. It lurked like a skeletal aberration, just out of discernable sight.

"well, hello. isz it juszt the two of you?" He took a step back. He was definitely scared, but did his best not to show it. It's a matter of pride. And he guesses Zyd would become even more scared if he broke down. "i don't think me orr my frriend herre wiszhesz to sztep on the sztage. wonderrful offerr, rregarrdleszsz."[/container]

The two of them? Zyd had only heard one voice. What did the blueblood know that it didn't? At least he was going through the effort of trying to establish Zyd as a friend-- the truth of the situation barely mattered, having the protection of a highblood could be extremely valuable.

The ringleader cracked her knuckles with a twisted smirk, taking another step forward. A severed wrist crunched wetly underfoot.
"i dONT tHINK yOUR wISHeS mATtER aNY mORE, mATE!" she leaned forward, purple gaze penetrating Cassus, "aFtER aLL, yOURE aLrEAdY pERfORmING! hAAhAA!"

He winced at the 'crunch'. God, that's morbid. "alrready perforrming? would you be szo kind asz to explain?" He subconsciously took another step back. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be answered.[/container]

Zyd slowly removed its glasses once more. They were kind of gross now, what with the blood from its hands. It didn't frequent the rings here too often, and really wanted to avoid a fight if possible. Trying to go up against the ringleader herself would be a death sentence, and it didn't even fancy its chances against the blueblood. Nothing had happened yet, though, no reason to start anything. Hopefully, there would be no need to shed any blood.
It took the same step back with Cassus. They needed to be on the same level here.

"hAAhAAhAA!" Pompom cackled with a unsettlingly sonorous clarity, "nO, pOPpET, i dONT tHINK i wOULD bE sO kIND!"
She stepped fully out into the light, the ominous glow illuminating her various gore-speckled spiked adornments. Her face, however, remained enshrouded in shadow, save for the haunting glow of her artificial eyes, and the wicked glimmer against her razor-sharp teeth.

The other figure hunched down like some sort of ghoul to pick something up off the ground, light catching on countless small objects dangling from its horns in the process.
It paused for a second when Zyd's glasses came off, then rose and finally stalked over to them with a clicking and whirring sound.
An overly tall and thin violet troll, its large branching horns covered in little dangling items. Teeth. His leg was what was making the sounds, as the gears in it turned. It also sported a antique looking speaker and a wind up key.
He gave Zyd a slightly manic grin and rubbed his skeletal hands together. "What lovely eyes you have."

Pompom extended a crooked finger to point at Zydeca, eerily hissing a malicious laugh. "i tHINK yOU hAVE sOMEtHING oF mINE, mATE!" she jeered, leaning forward slightly, "aND wE dONT tAKE tOO kINdLY tO tHIEvES arOUND hERE!

Momentarily ignoring the much taller and arguably spookier troll, choosing to focus on the ringleader (it didn't actually know her name okay it didn't ask,) it spoke up. "SOmething of yours? I Thought these bodies were free for the pickings-- ANd besides, I'm not a lone actor here. I Was sent, for a keepsake." It very likely wouldn't be worth it to lie, not if it valued its life. And it did, despite there being provable instances with evidence otherwise. It muttered a small thanks to the still-spooky and mysterious tall troll, not moving at all. Why was everyone piling on it all of a sudden, there was an indigoblood right there! The answer was obvious, of course.

A low, raspy laugh grew into full, bellowing laughter. Pompom held her stomach and tilted her head, glaring at Zyd.
"fREE fOR tHE pICkINGS?! yOU tHOUGHT wRONG, mATE! hAAhAA!"
She mimed wiping a tear away from her arid eyes, grin still plastered across her shrouded face.
"nO, nO! tHESE bOdIES bElONG tO uS! yOUR eMpLOyER cLEARlY wASnT vERY sMART! hAAhAAhAA!"
She stepped closer to the pair, flanking them alongside her violet-blooded compatriot.
"i lIKE yOU tWO, i rEALlY dO! yOURE hIlArIoUS! iTS aLmOST a sHAME tHAT wE hAVE tO aDD yOU tO tHE pILE!" she viciously mocked, leaning in to coldly stare at Cassus, "uNlESS, oF cOURSE, yOU cAN mAKE sPArING yOU wORTHwHILE?!"

Cassus very quickly pulls out a dagger from the pocket he was reaching into and held it towards Pompom. He lied about being unarmed. What kind of troll would go out unarmed? His faltering indifference became a mix of anger and fear. He didn't want to fight, but he certainly seemed to be asking for one. "get away frrom me."[/container]

The violet looked Cassus up and down a moment as he brandished his knife. He sneered in distain and focused on Zyd again, his interest in the flashing eyes was overly evident, as was his disinterest in anything else. "Perhaps we could leave this one's head intact? Yes? I am quite curious to see if its eyes will keep flashing if removed."

Great, this was going even more poorly than expected. Zyd had to act-- mostly to save its own life, but partially to save Cassus' too. After all, strength in numbers. Or at least something like that. Placing a hand on the indigoblood's shoulder, it pushed itself ahead to stand in front of him, and address the ringleader directly. Just, one thing at a time, it had to ignore the equally-terrifying violetblood with a weird obsession with its eyes. It was going to have to do the talking here.
"PArdon my friend here, he's new to these proceedings." Frankly, it had no idea what the proceedings were either. But bluffing was its specialty. "WHat would you suggest, ringleader, that would make us worth sparing?" It was gambling. Trying to ascertain the exact right things to save its skin. And Cassus' apparently. Who would pull a knife of all things at a time like this?

Zyd's sudden calmness made Cassus calm down. Shouldn't he be trying to keep his cool, too? Cassus silently lowered his arm. He kept his eyes on Pompom. If this wasn't a super tense situation, he would've been stressing over the fact he needed someone else to step up for him.[/container]

Pompom quietly grinned as Cassus as he pointed the knife at her. She laughed drily, crossing her feet and imposingly extending her arms outward. She looked to Zyd.
"i tHINK tHERES a mILlION tHINGS yOU cOULD dO, mATE!" she said with an eerie nod, proudly joining her hands behind her back, "bUT wE wANT tO bE eNtERtAINED, aND yOURE tHE oNES oN sTAGE!"
The ringleader took a couple steps, circling the intruders.
"uNlESS, oF cOURSE," she began, gesturing back towards the wicked big top, "yOUD pREfER a dIFfErENT vEnUE?!"

Razzor stayed put, though was decidedly between the pair and the closest exit. He stopped wringing his hands and reached slightly toward Zyd, just wanting to touch but not actually moving close enough.. yet. His other hand went to his face and shook slightly, as if the excitement of getting a hold of Zyd's eyes was too much to handle.

Zyd needed to think. Needed to think fast. Cassus was clearly not going to be helpful... wait. Stage. Fights. Could they really stage the fight? No, the ringleader would surely be able to tell. Entertained, entertained. The night was practically over already, was that a loophole? It doubted it. Too obvious. Thinking, thinking. If only this indigoblood was useful. He could probably maneuver some kind of power. Of course, that wouldn't save Zyd.
"THis venue suits me just fine, ringleader. UNless my friend has something to say about it." Effectively, it was passing the torch. And regular old stalling.

Cassus' eyes darted from Zyd to Pompom's piercing stare. He's really off of his game today. First the knife, now his head's going blank. He's usually good at these kind of situations. No time for self pity, he has to at least save Zyd. What can he stall with? Is it trying to tell him something? What does he say? And why the hell is he shaking?
"...well, it'sz a carrnival afterr all. i can't think of anywherre morre fitting to put on an enterrtaining, if not murrderr drriven, act." He stops his hands shaking by stuffing them in his pockets, regaining his nonchalant confidence. "come to think about it, 'carrnival' and 'carrnage' arre szimilar worrdsz. weirrd how that worrksz, hm? i wonderr if that'sz why carrnivalsz arre the tarrget of horrrrorr szituationsz in media. maybe it'sz a coincidence."[/container]

"hAA!" Pompom scoffed, circling the pair like a vulture, "iTS nO cOINcIdENCE, pOPpET! wE iNvENtED cARnAGE!"
She stepped in front of Cassus, "yOURE rUNnING oN bORrOWED tIME! iVE hEARD a bILlION jITtErY mOnOlOGUES!" she laughed and cartoonishly winded back a fist, "iM a jAdED cRItIC! eNtERtAIN mE!"
With that, Pompom swung a heavily-choreographed haymaker towards Cassus' face.

Cassus quickly moved his head out of the way and then stumbled a step back. He looked up in surprise at Pompom, even though he was expecting some fighting to break out. "that wasz szudden. and drramatic. you rreally want a szhow, huh?"[/container]

Zyd jumped back at the first strike, despite knowing full well that it wasn't the target. The indigoblood could probably take a hit-- the point of the caste, really. But it knew that its own self was nowhere near as lucky in that regard. Its only strength would be dodging, and talking. Talking.
"A, Jaded critic?" It prepared for an honestly really shitty play on words. "YOu get very many jadebloods here? DIdn't seem like it, judging by the pile." This was supposed to be such an easy job.

Razzor seemed to calm himself ever so slightly, maybe the horrible wordplay sobered him, or maybe he just liked hearing his own voice.
"Blood? Caste? None of that matters here, you magnificent eyed idiot. Entertainment reigns supreme! And you, both of you, get to take part! You should feel honored! Ecstatic! Enthralled!"

"even if that werre the casze, i dont think it'sz norrmal forr szomeone to get excited to fight szomeone they don't want to fight." He shook his head and let a quick glance slip in Zyd's direction. They're starting to get less patient. Cassus knows they won't put up with the stalling for much longer. "obviouszly, you two arre morre murrderr drriven than otherrsz. isz enterrtainment the only thing that mattersz to you both? it szeemsz you'rre quite deszperrate forr it. nonetheleszsz, i'm glad thisz place doeszn't carre about casztesz. i would be happierr to be herre if i wasz happy in the firrszt place."[/container]

Pompom let out an exaggerated groan, allowing the momentum of her swing to carry her past Cassus and leave her facing away from him.
"bLAH bLAH bLAH! yOU fUCKS aRE sTANdING ovER a pILE oF cORPsES, aND yOU tHINK wE wANnA hEAR yOUR mIRTHlESS bABbLING?!"
She turned to once again face Cassus and Zyd with a growl. Despite her annoyed grunts, the grin remained on her face.
"pICK uP yOUR fISTS, oR mY pET wILL bE pICKING tHEM uP oFF tHE bLOOdY fLOOR!"

Snacks lifted their head out of a nearby pile of bodies at the sound of Pompom's voice. They then dove their head back in, just to reemerge with a blueblood's leg in their mouth. and a wagging tail.

Know what? Maybe right now wasn't the time to negotiate. But Zyd, as has been expressed painfully clearly, was not a fighter. Whatever the fuck Cassus was going in about seemed like it had happened days ago, already, and they were both getting nowhere. Some fucking-- another goldblood? In the body pile? What the fuck. What the fuck. Zyd had just been dragging stuff around in there, and didn't notice any other (living) troll. This was all going farther and farther downhill. Fuck. The ringleader clearly wasn't letting them go without a fight.
Zyd reached up to sock Cassus right in the face, and absolutely book it out of the tent. If only there weren't 3 other trolls around who would be at least semi-dedicated to stopping it.

"My eyes!" Razzor exclaimed in dismay as Zyd tried to get around him to head for the exit. He made an attempt to wrap his long thin arms around the shorter troll. He wondered if he could get away with just a small examination before the fighting happened. Surely it would be alright? Just a little peek.

Cassus, too disoriented to focus on the chaos of Zyd and Razzor, is more interested in the corpse pile. What the hell?? A troll in the corpse pile? Did they come back to life? Or were they there from the beginning? Surely Zyd would've noticed someone alive in there, unless the troll is that good at hiding. He should really be more concerned with the other happenings, but he only pried his stare away from the troll when Razzor tried grabbing Zyd. His eyes? Cassus should've expected everyone here being insane. But god, this whole thing is INSANE.[/container]

Pompom stared intently as Zyd punched Cassus and made a run for it. Leaning forward slightly, she cackled, staring at the fleeing goldblood through glowing, purple eyes as Razzor attempted to grapple it.
"yOU cAN rUN, cOWaRD!" she exclaimed, stepping closer to Cassus and cracking her knuckles, "bUT iF yOU dO, yOUR fRIEND hERE pAYS tHE pRICE!"

"YOu got one thing right!" Zyd shouted back, ducking under Razzor's wild grab and stumbling in the process. It had the ring, all it needed was the ring, and fuck all this clown fighting ring shit. Fuck the indigoblood, fuck the creepy eye guy, fuck the troll in the pile, fuck all of this. "I Am absolutely a coward!"
It was running. The tents suddenly seemed huge in comparison to it, and any path looked winding or full of obstacles. Fucking clowns and their inability to just let people escape. This was bullshit. It did at least have a little distance, so it turned around to face the others. "FRiend? IS that what you just said? ALl I know about this asshole is that he steals bodies for his lusus, and he'd probably sell me down here for his own life. FUck him." Well, that wasn't a very good speech at all. But when you're running on panic, sometimes you just say words with less regard of what they mean.
The small amount of distance it had between itself and the other trolls was at least enough that it could at least blow something besides its own face up. Not that psionics were Zyd's first choice, yet, but it was getting pretty close.

"Yes yes a coward! Admitting you have a problem is the first step to realizing how utterly meaningless you are! Pathetic! Useless! Unworthy lump of flesh! Good for nothing more than a chew toy at this point if not for your lovely eyes!"
Razzor howled his insults in frustration ad missing his grapple, but he didn't give chase.
"How betrayed you must be feeling that your dear friend has run and left you to suffer the consequences." He sighed with mock pity. "Look at him, I'm sure he'll be using some sort of lovely psionics on us all very shortly. Oh! I can't wait! How glorious! Perhaps we'll all die! But what if he hurts his pretty eyes? Oh we can't have that! I can't have that! Snacks, my sweet lovely minuscule 'friend', if you would, just this once, and perhaps again later, do me a favor and fetch? Fetch! FETCH!"

At the final "fetch", Snacks darted out from their pile, chasing Zyd at a terrifyingly high speed. They bit its leg, pulling it down towards towards them and the ground. They tightened their bite, letting out a quiet laugh, and started yanking Zyd back towards the others. There was a weird amount of hidden muscle there, because they were able to pull it all the way back, walking on all 4s, and walking backwards.

Holy fucking shit was that another goldblood? Not that Zyd was about to try and convince them to let it go, they were clearly deranged, but this entire situation just got to a whole new level of weird. And terrifying. And it could only think of one thing to do, which was blast the shit out of everything.
That would be so messy though, and extremely obvious, and it would have to move again, and Thresh would probably be disappointed... were all thoughts racing through Zyd's head as it was being dragged back by the other troll. But one thing was trumping all of those-- it was going to fucking die if it didn't act. It had dropped its glasses when Snacks grabbed it anyway, so it didn't have to worry about those. And this was about point-blank range, even given Zyd's propensity for launching itself backwards whenever it tried to use its psionics.
So it took a nice blink, tried to focus on Snacks specifically, and psionic'd. On a scale of 1 to 20, you could say it scored about a 15.

Snacks got thrown back almost all the way to the pile of corpses where they came from - they lessened the blow, somewhat, yet their horns got stuck in one of them, leaving them unable to lift their head and chase Zyd again (along with the shock from being blasted half the length of a football field.)

Razzor was caught in the blast as well and was knocked off balance, landing in a heap at Pompom's feet. He trembled there a moment, before breaking out in manic cackling. He tried to get back to his feet but his gleeful shaking made it hard to find his footing again.
How he loved seeing psyonics in all their forms! The flashing bright ones were especially fun so he was having quite the time getting himself under control enough to function.

Fuck. Fuck. Ow. Zyd was dazed, laying on the floor a small distance away-- before quickly coming back to its senses and jumping to its feet. Looked like the other goldblood was out for now, and... Whatever that other guy was up to. The ringleader didn't seem affected, but it couldn't worry about that-- all it could do was run. Again.

"hAAAAhAAhAAhAAhAAAAAAA!"
Pompom laughed uproariously, loudly clapping as chaos raged on around her. Joyfully skipping over to the corpse pile, she grabbed Snacks by one leg, and pulled it out of the mound of corpses. She swung the feral goldblood over her head, sending out a stale scatter of coagulated blood.
"tHE cROWD rOARS fOR tHE gRAND fInAlE!"
With a wicked laugh, she tossed Snacks in the direction of the fleeing Zydeca.
"gO fETCH!"

It turned back to see Snacks flying through the air, and only one thought passed through its mind. Why was its palmhusk buzzing so much? With any luck it was Thresh, he'd be able to get Zyd out of this jam... probably. At the very least he could help, and that would hopefully be good enough. Regardless, it kept running. How was this tent so big?

Snacks landed on top of Zyd, knocking it over, still confused - but nonetheless, grabbed its arm as tight as they possibly could, their jaw practically locked into place. Zyd could keep running if they were strong enough - Snacks is extremely small and light . . .

Zyd could deal with this. Gold blood immediately began spilling out of its arm, but it was beyond caring about that. Maybe this tiny guy could be a good bargaining chip. Yeah. It grabbed Snacks with its other arm, effectively holding them like an angry cat, and finally reached the entrance of the tent.

Snacks tried their hardest to tug them both back, giving distressed glances towards Pompom and Razzor, but their jaw was locked and they couldn't let go and their legs were too short to even reach the ground. They grabbed onto Zyd, any part they could reach, and just kept trying to tug. Ow.

Ow was correct, and Zyd hissed at every tug Snacks managed to get in. There wasn't any point in slowing down, though, as far as it was concerned it was this or almost-certain death. And now that it was out of the tent, getting off the grounds would be way easier, and once it was in the city proper, no one would be able to catch it again. It silently swore to never take another too-good-to-be-true job again, while effectively kidnapping Snacks. It was gone. It could only hope that indigoblood proved entertaining enough for the ringleader, that she wouldn't seek revenge.

Continue?