IC CONTACT for lostcarnival

[whattaprick]

✆CHANNEL FREQUENCY: 843.77425 (personal);
DESCRIPTION: Half the time he forgets this thing even exists, or how to turn it on and off.

✉MAIL BOX LOCATION: Next to trailer steps.
DESCRIPTION: The concept of a mailbox is rather foreign to Lambert, who's not exactly what you'd call big on personal correspondence. But there's a wooden crate you can probably drop shit into ???

BUG LAMBERT TO MAKE YOU SHIT: Given time and the right ingredients (which he'll usually ask people to provide) he can make potions (with potential side effects), oils, and bombs. You can bother him more about that in person.

Comments

[atouts]

[ All Childermass can do to that is shrug. It's not as though he disagrees, but he also has no idea what was up with that entire debacle. ]

He was always somewhat popular for his parlor tricks and wild fortune telling, though only God knows how that translates into... that.

[whattaprick]

Hmm. Quick fingers and creativity?

[ There, now we’re all thinking about Vinculus having sex and it’s terrible. ]

You’ve a way with the cards yourself. Must be how you got one of those lovely wives to fall in love with you.

[atouts]

[ He really didn't want to think of that... Thanks, Lambert. ]

Or anyone looks better compared to an absent Vinculus.

[whattaprick]

Don’t sell yourself short. You’ve plenty of redeeming qualities.

[ By now, Lambert’s finally gotten rid of armor and belts, meaning he’s just standing in front of Childermass in a shirt and pants ... but he won’t stay standing for long. Hesitantly, giving Childermass a chance to pull away, he reaches out to gently tug him up to his feet so they can stand face to face. ]

[atouts]

[ More like face to chest but ya know. Childermass allows it, being pulled up to stand, and once there, he just looks up at the witcher, loosely hanging onto his hand. ]

Lambert, you should get some rest while you still can.

[whattaprick]

[ Guess what, Lambert’s completely ignoring that to pull Childermass fully into his arms, shoulders sagging as he feels the relief from the stress of the past few hours finally sink into his bones. ]

You scared the shit out of me. [ It’s a quiet admission mostly directed into Childermass’s hair, not without a heavy sigh. ]

[atouts]

[ Childermass, not much of a hugger. In this case? He'll tolerate it. Considering how much other touchy-feely bull he also tolerates from the witcher, that's probably not even surprising, but still. He breathes out a sigh and leans in against Lambert. ]

I'm fine, Lambert.

[ Physically, anyway. 100% alive and definitely not dying magician right here. ]

[whattaprick]

[ Lambert exhales, and his arms tighten around him for a moment, like that small gesture is enough to ward a host of ills off — the Rose Queen, the fae blood in Childermass’s veins, everything else out there. ]

Isn’t pissing the fae off in stupid ways supposed to be my thing, not yours?

[atouts]

It ended the Elysium, didn't it?

[ As if that was his goal. In part, it was, but he would have taken the courts squabbling or the Rose Queen being foolish or even the Count being able to return everyone for the price of the Silver Mirror's location. Any of that. ]

[whattaprick]

And all it almost cost was you.

[ His voice is tight and controlled, but the rapid thud of his pulse betrays him — as does the way his embrace tightens again, tail lashing behind him as he manages a strangled laugh. ]

Weren’t you done collecting scars?

[atouts]

Good thing it didn't leave one.

[ Which isn't the point Lambert is trying to make, he knows. It's with a sigh that he finally just leans against Lambert and raises his own arms around him, if not quite as tightly. ]

I'd forgotten he could do that... but I'm not going back out there, back out into the library. You won't have to worry about that.

[whattaprick]

Good. Now all I have to worry about is the million other things on my plate.

[ Lambert shifts his grip in turn, sliding clawed fingers gently scratching into thick, dark hair. ]

I keep feeling like I should be pissed at you, for acting like this doesn’t bother you. [ Anger, at least, is a familiar way to process things. But there are other familiar ways to process emotion too. The fingers in Childermass’s hair slip away, resting on the side of his jaw, then tipping the magician’s face up to look him in the eye instead. ]

But it’s hard to stay mad at someone in that damn shirt.

[atouts]

[ He lets Lambert tip his head up but all that greets him is a dry look. ]

Then maybe you should think twice before ruining my shirt next time. [ This one had been front and center and easy to grab. Regardless, if Lambert was hoping to move on to a kiss, he's going to be disappointed when Childermass launches into the actual reason they'd been talking before in the first place. ] You need to take Zangetsu with you when you hunt Strange down.

[ Remember that part, Lambert? ]

[whattaprick]

[ Lambert frowns, less at the thwarted kiss and more the implications there. He can’t really complain too much with Childermass still pressed against him like this. ]

Yeah, you already told me that. Because of the soul thing, right?

[atouts]

Precisely. Should it come down to killing Strange, Zangetsu thinks he may be able to grab his soul and run. It's something his kind is able to do.

[whattaprick]

His kind get stronger by eating souls.

[ It’s a bit of information Lambert remembers Zangetsu telling him, once, a while ago. ]

Hope he doesn’t accidentally eat some of Strange’s.

[ If he does, his tone says direly, there’ll be hell to pay. ]

[atouts]

He won't.

[ Childermass doesn't have the time nor the energy to fret about that. He's trusted Zangetsu before and he'll do so again, no matter how horrifying the man is.

He may not show it, but he takes his job seriously enough. I've had him steal a servant before without eating him, now I'll have him steal a soul.

[whattaprick]

Back at the Manor?

[ That’s news to Lambert. He studies Childermass a few moments longer, ears twitching gently, before he shrugs. ]

I’ve already talked to him. I hope we don’t have to use him. [ Since that would, by necessity, imply that Strange would have to be dead. Will things really come to that? Lambert isn’t sure. ]

[atouts]

[ The servant happened to be Tyki but it was for the best, really. ]

As do I... [ Only Childermass, being Childermass, already has that feeling it'll come down to that. He won't say so. He won't ask Lambert to leave the killing to Zangetsu. At that point, it's really out of his hands, but other things... Right now, what he can have in hand is Lambert (or in his arms, at the very least), and so he prompts again, ] Can we please rest now? I'm not sure how much more of this I want to think about.

[ Which is a rare thing for the magician to ever admit. Even after hours of being out, he's still tired, for plenty of other reasons. ]

[whattaprick]

[ Lambert can’t actually remember when Childermass ever asked him, in earnest, to ‘please’ do anything. It’s enough to make his expression soften, still cupping the magician’s cheek. ]

Yeah, we can. [ As far as keeping him from thinking, there really is only one way Lambert knows to do that for sure. He leans in to close the distance between them, pressing their mouths to each other to give the magician a slow, full kiss. ]

[atouts]

[ Not really something Childermass would list under 'rest' but that doesn't mean he won't return the gesture. ]

[whattaprick]

[ It's a kiss that lingers rather than deepens, Lambert's arms still wrapped around him, though after a few long moments, he finally pulls away with a sigh, starting to tug Childermass after him. ]

Come to bed? [ Even low and rough, his voice manages to sound coaxing. ]

[atouts]

[ Of all the questions... ]

That is where people tend to rest, Lambert.

[ Sure, he knows what the witcher is really asking for, but the joke's going to be on him when Childermass actually does just doze off. ]

[whattaprick]

Resting's not the only thing people do in bed, in case you forgot.

[ As if he could, with Lambert for a lover. It'll take some coordinated effort to get both their shirts off and to tumble into the sheets to twine around each other, but once they manage that, Lambert will at least spend whatever conscious moments they have left kissing Childermass, a bit of urgency slipping into his motions despite his best intentions.

He almost lost him today. The kiss is as much to reassure himself as anything else... ]