Even if it's a lie, say it will be all right, and I shall believe...

[sarkraticmethod]

At 1:30 in the morning, Aaron Barnam's El Camino pulls into the Kashtta Tower's parking lot and before Aaron can even think of getting out to see if the guy in the back needs a little help, he hears the thud associated with someone climbing out the back and then watches as Sark limps his way towards the door, still carrying April's body, a steady

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[the_vesmier]

The Vesmier is in the Tower - he'd come earlier, just before April's last message flickered onto his journal. He'd felt her project, just before she died - sharp and faraway, a knifepoint prick at the corner of his mind, without time to do anything about it

[neverinportland]

Juliet's trying not to lose it- one person dead and another one possibly bleeding to death and she has no idea what the hell just happened. She looks up at the Vesmier and gives him a small nod. "Thank you. Do you think you can carry him to the infirmary?"

Her eyes keep dropping to April, but her calm never slips. Later, she's going to have her own little breakdown, because, God, April. That girl had always struck her as such a survivor...

She can't worry about the dead though- not when there's one person still alive to concern herself with. She turns to Marshall and addresses him, "Marshall, if Owen or Andy come down here..."

"Yeah, I... Yeah," Marshall flounders and then deigns to nod, rather than speak.

[the_vesmier]

The Vesmier nods, kneeling to gather Sark up as carefully as he can. He's not used to carrying others - the dead, wounded, or healthy and hale - but he's not about to protest, and Time Lords tend to be a little stronger than they look.

There's blood getting on his clothing, but that's not terribly important. He brushes the surface of Sark's mind - nothing invasive, just a glance, a caress - but the mass of grief and pain is still so close to the surface and so tangled that he withdraws. Dealing with that can wait, assuming he survives the night at all.

[der_weevilkonig]

...which is when Owen comes running down the stairs, shirtless in pajama bottoms and with a pistol in hand. He could tell that there wasn't a shooting crisis on from the second floor balcony, but his current ensemble doesn't exactly boast a holster.

He slows when he sees Sark in the Vesmier's arms, April on the ground...

Well. This is what he's good at, isn't it? The dead and the nearly-so.

"What do we know?" he asks, tucking the pistol into the back of his trousers and stepping up to check Sark's pulse. Well, he's alive, at least. Anything else can wait until he gets to the infirmary, which he gestures the Vesmier to brusquely. Now it's time to check April.

[wedontjump]

Annie was awake as well, having made the mistake of going outside and lounging in the sun for an hour or so late this afternoon, and is thusly charged up and ready to go. She only just manages to remember to grab the light cotton robe she uses as a dressing gown to pull over her pajamas (a set that Gwen had bought for her, a light blue camisole and light blue pants covered in cherries).

She's downstairs quick as you like, rushing over to where Marshall and Juliet and the two... bodies... are.

"What happened?" she asks, worried. "Are they alive?"

[akablackkitty]

Juliet's working on getting Sark to the infirmary so that leaves a mildly shellshocked Marshall to answer Annie's question. He swallows and gives a small nod, followed by a headshake. "Yes... And no. Sark's alive.. I think. April..."

Be bites down on his lip, looking utterly devastated. Yeah, Annie, the situation kinda sucks right now- even Marshall's been driven to silence.

[wedontjump]

Annie presses a hand over her mouth, and looks back to the girl's body. "Oh... that's awful. Is there anything I can do?"

She realises that right now, there probably isn't. Sark needs (and is getting) medical attention, and April's body will need to be put in the morgue, and her effects given to... well, Sark, probably.

Still, she can ask.

[akablackkitty]

Marshall stands in silence for a few moments, wondering how to answer that question, before finally opening his mouth to speak in a much more awkward, softer version of his usual rambly voice.

"This might sound really awkward suggestion, but I'm getting that oh-God-I-need-to-be-held feeling, so if you can... You know.." He rather awkwardly spreads his arms.

MARSHALL NEEDS HUGS, ANNIE. GIVE HIM HUGS.

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn's been hiding in the Kashatta for a long while. He managed to miss the Carnival, but upon hearing the mission he rushes down to the lobby, even though he's not in Torchwood.

He stops dead, because those are bodies, that's April and that's Sark and it doesn't feel like it should. If they're dead...

His hands are shaking. "What's going on?" he demands. He looks to Marshall, even though he knows that the poor man probably has dealt with enough tonight.

[akablackkitty]

"I don't know yet," Marshall responds, his tone shaky. "They just showed up-"

This is about when two unfamilar people and one somewhat familiar person show up. Marshall doesn't give Mat's beeline for the upstairs much thought, but when the male of the two steps closer, he stammers something about needing to know who he is.

"Relax, tiny, I'm with the band," Aaron says by way of explanation. He looks to Vaughn, because he seems a much more reasonable, less twitchy sort of person. "You work here?" He asks.

Marshall will be Weiss in this scenario and... Just be ignored.

[stillaboyscout]

Vaughn exhales heavily at Marshall, then turns to Aaron, because he has no idea who the hell this guy is, but he looks...

It doesn't matter. Vaughn just wants answers.

"I don't," he replies, "but I know them both. What the hell happened. Are they..." He stops the words, bites them back and just lets out the rest of his breath.

[nogettingback]

"The girl was dead when we showed up," he gestures to Buffy, shaking his head. "The guy was very close to it- I didn't get his name, but that little punk'll take your fingers off, even when he's bleeding to death, that I can tell you." He chews on the inside of his lip as he watches Juliet and the Vesmier taking Sark away. He's more highly strung from the whole event than actually worried.

Note that he hasn't explained what the hell just happened. He's not really sure- half of it he can't believe and the other half he has to struggle to recall.

[guardsintheory]

The three kids from the Gauche had stood outside for a moment or two, after Sark hit the door. Mat was, after all, feeling more clingy than usual with Buffy. On the other hand... this is the Gauche.

This is where Nate is.

And once he really weighs all that in his mind, he strides off for the door without a word, practically running. Buffy and Aaron are welcome to follow. But he's going to beeline into the Tower and up the stairs, towards Nate's room.

He wants to see his brother. NOW.

[reluctantxangel]

Nate would usually ignore Torchwood announcements, but since he's awake anyway, he decides to wander to the lobby to see what the hell's going on. He's only partway down the hall when he sees Mat, and stops to stare at him for a moment before racing down the hall to wrap him into a hug.

"Mattie! ...what're you doing here?" He'd be concerned about Mat's ward, except Mat's... well... conscious and here and everything. So it's got to be something... else going on.

[guardsintheory]

Mat buries his face in Nate's shoulder, clinging so tightly. "We went to the carnival and I looked in the funhouse mirror and then my reflection swapped places with me and I was stuck in the mirror for two weeks and then a girl got killed while we were there and GOD I miss you!"

He is... perhaps a bit spaztic right now.

We think he's allowed.

[reluctantxangel]

He's totally allowed. Nate pulls him closer, pulling his wings forward to wrap halfway around him too. "Missed you too. I'm glad you're okay. Did you just say you got stuck in a funhouse mirror?" Somehow, all of that got said in the exact same tone.

[superiorspectre]

The moment the message comes over the intercom, Suzie's up and out of bed. It only takes a moment for her to grab a pair of jeans, and then she's heading down at a run, still barefoot.

This... can't be good.

"What happened?"

[akablackkitty]

And, once again, Marshall is the one who might actually have an answer to that question. He is at this moment, holding April's body in preperation to take her to the morgue.

"I'm not sure what.. What happened yet," he admits. "Sark just showed up and he's hurt bad- Juliet, Owen, and the Vesmier just, uh, took him to the infirmary. He blacked out as soon as he got in the door. April..."

Well, that much is really obvious, isn't it, considering she's laying in a broken, limp heap in his arms. God, this can't really be happening, can it?

[shealone_stands]

Buffy doesn't really... know any of these people, but with everyone all distressed and freaking out, she can at least offer what information she does have. "They were at the carnival. They were being attacked by... a bunch of people. Demons and vampires and these... horse... things... I only got there after she was already..."

Buffy bites her lip. She's used to people dying. Finding bodies when she gets there just a few seconds too late. She's not used to dealing with the family and friends.

[superiorspectre]

Suzie turns towards Marshall, and freezes when she sees who he's carrying.

Oh, God.

April's dead. Sark's injured. And Suzie's just... staring. There's a long moment when her brain just stops, and she can't seem to do anything but stare at the body, at April... April, who told her she wasn't allowed to die. April, who called her jiejie on Christmas Eve...

What about you, mèimei? She learned that much Mandarin, at least. Why are you allowed to die, and I'm...?

She turns to Buffy, trying to remain composed. "I see. ...Thank you." Her voice sounds distant. That has to be shock, she thinks. Maybe it hasn't quite settled in completely.

And then she looks at Marshall again. "...Are you all right taking her to the morgue, or do you want me to...?" That, she can do. She'll just be in the way if she goes to the infirmary right now, but... She can see April safely put away.