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Closed Masque Carnivalia

Celest blinked as Annie crashed, having too many drinks to stand. She almost laughed when Logan said she "had a few drinks," because it was obvious that she had more than just a few. She kept this to herself, though, and looked over at the popcorn machine where Connor was pushing his face against the machine to get a look inside. Her own stomach rumbled softly at the sound of hot dogs and popcorn.

Celest gave Connor a confused frown as he mentioned her owing him a ferris wheel ride, but as soon as she remembered being there a day before, her eyes widened. "Wh-what? You... I thought you were joking... I don't really... want to go on it," she insisted, wrapping her arms around her waist tightly and looking away from him. "I don't like heights..."

The Lucario girl silently cursed to herself. She had completely forgotten about Connor promising her a ride on that wheel! Not like she wanted to go the first time around, but the thought of the ride just was even less pleasant now. Sure, she would have Connor going with her, but... Heights were not at all her strong point. Just something about being so high up made her nauseous and dizzy.
 
"Aw, come on!" Connor pleaded to Celest. "I'll be right there with you, and worse come to worse, I promise I'll buy you some expensive food once we're out. I know I'm kind of an idiot, and I guess I could see how you thought I was joking, but really, it'll be fun!" He really didn't have any arguments that seemed valid against Celset's apparent discomfort for heights. But he really wanted to do this. Plus it didn't hurt to have a little more alone time with her.

He sighed, looking up at the clouds and thinking, Please just change her mind, God. Or gods. Whichever it may be. Just wiggle your little finger and throw me a bone. He looked back at Celest, one eyebrow raising itself. "If you really don't want to, then at least operate it for me. I want to, and just thought it would be more pleasant if you went up with me. But I can go alone, to."
 
Celest stared at the dirt intensely, weighing her options. Sure, it would be nice to have some more alone time with Connor and all, but... Not on the top of a ferris wheel! She'd be freaking out the entire time, more than likely. ... But, then again, she felt at ease with Connor. And it seemed as though he really wanted to go.

"... Okay, okay, fine," she murmured almost inaudibly, looking up at him, her red eyes fearful. "But... I-I better not fall..."
 
Connor laughed, and very suddenly wrapped his arms around Celest in a tight and giddy hug, lifting her off the ground just a little. "I promise, nothing's going to happen! We'll be fine!" Ferris wheels had never been one of his favorites. They were slow, had stupid music, and there was always a kid way above you who dropped his ice cream on your lap and made people think you wet your pants.

But he figured it was the best choice in this case. He pulled Celest's hand with him as he made his way to the ferris wheel with the dumbest grin yet on his face. It wasn't far, from where they were. But in the back of his head, he wondered, What if something does go wrong... And what if I can't fix it? What the whole thing comes crashing down and...
 
Celest looked back at Logan as they left, feeling a bit guilty for leaving him with Annie like this, but soon faced forward again, letting Connor drag her along to the ferris wheel. She felt her hands shake a bit at the thought of being up high, and she shivered as a cold wind whooshed by. It was well past morning now, and the rain had ceased falling. The sky was still a pearly gray, however, but it shined brightly down on them, inferring that the sun was striving to break past all the clouds in its way.

The Fighting Carnie felt her stomach churn as she saw the ferris wheel in the distance, towering high over all the stalls and trees and such in Masque Carnivalia, proving it was the tallest structure in the carnival. She nervously glanced around her, wishing something would happen to stall for time, but as she and Connor neared the wheel, her hopes died out. She stared unsurely at the wheel for a long time, her hands still trembling.
 
Connor looked up at the wheel now that he was at the base. He smiled, and pulled Celest with him to the controls. He hovered his finger over the buttons and lights before finally being able to make out the word "Start/Stop." He laughed, and instead of pushing it, pulled Celest over to the wheel. He looked at wheel, and found most of the doors were still opened on the... what were they? Carts? Well, whatever they were, they were open. He finally let go of Celest's hand once she was in the 'cart,' and quickly ran back to the controls.

"Alright, I'll have to jump in after I start it, so I'll have to ask you to leave the door open for now." He smiled. Plus if this screws up, you'll have a way to get off. He thought. "Just sit down and lemme' know when you're set." He beamed.
 
Connor led her over to the cart- or seat, whatever it was called- and softly pushed her in, telling her to keep the door open, for he was going to have to jump in after he pushed the button. She nodded stiffly and slid into the seat, shivering as they cold surface on the worn plastic and metal cooled her skin. She nervously held onto the side of the cart, shaking like mad now, but only to cause the faded red side to crumble from her pure, unrestrained power she gained upon becoming the Fighting Carnie. She instantly pulled her hand away from it, resting them both in her lap, careful not to touch the injury on her stomach. Most of the bleeding had stopped by now, but it still was painful to irritate even the slightest bit.

Celest cautiously looked back at Connor, then past him. The fog was thickening a bit, and the wind was picking up. Her cheeks flushed to a rosy pink as she rubbing her hands together, hoping for even the smallest amount of friction to warm her body.
 
"Alright, let's do this!" Connor laughed. He sat with his finger above the button for a moment, then audibly shouted, "Click!" He heard the whirring of machines as the wheel groaned to life. When he slid into the seat, shutting the door behind him, it was moving. Slowly, yes, but if it was going fast, then something would have been seriously wrong.

When he slid into the seat next to Celest, he didn't know if she was freezing or if she was that frightened by this thing, so he immedately was giving her and awkward hug so as not to irritate her wound. He smiled as the Ferris Wheel's horrible music sputtered to life, then died down, the speakers shot from years of inactivity and exposure. "Geez, this thing is slow even for ferris wheel." He mused. They were hardly farther than where they started.
 
Celest flinched at the sound of him flicking the switch, and as Connor quickly slid into the cart by her, she relaxed the slightest bit. She was still terrified of the ferris wheel and cold from the damp weather, but she warmed up as he wrapped his arm around her, careful not to touch her wound. She was instantly clutching onto his shirt, staring blankly but fearfully off in the distance, and shrieked as the soft, eerily distorted music slowly filled her sensitive ears. It soon died out again, though, and she was shaking even more, despite the fact it hardly even moved at all.

"W-well, I guess it doesn't even work," she remarked hastily, dying to get out of the cart and avoid the ride up into the air, "I guess that means we better get off. R-right? Right. Let's go-"

But as soon as those words escaped her lips, the ferris wheel slowly began to start moving again, gradually lifting them higher and higher into the atmosphere. Celest mentally cursed to herself, her blue tail flickering back and forth anxiously. She wanted to get off, damn it. Why couldn't the world let her have something she wanted for once? Was it just that cruel to some people?!
 
Connor stared at the carnival slowly growing more distant as they rose. "Hey Cel," He started, putting a little more weight on her. He puffed out a tiny little flame from his nose. "You think those masked guys are here somewhere? I mean, did they just abandon us, or are they controlling more in this place than we thought?" He stared at the clouds. A few little beams of light were breaking through the clouds.

"You know, nevermind. It's not important." He decided. He ended resting his eyes on Celest, and a smile crept onto his face. "Thanks for dealing with me, though. I know you don't care for heights, so... Thanks. Ferris Wheels aren't my first choice, not the greatest thing in the world, but I think since we're here, we might as well." He smiled, and tightened his grip on her opposite shoulder a little. "Relax. Nothing's going wrong. Just focus on the clouds."
 
[Hey, look, a good thing about Celest! *Confetti*]

Celest tensed as he pushed more weight on her, but she managed to at least tough that out and rested her head snuggly under Connor's chin. She distantly heard him ask her something about the cloaked men that brought them here, but she was too focused on getting off to realize he was talking to her. She did, though, glance up at the clouds as he told her to pay it no mind, and forcefully closed her eyes as they went up more and more.

Connor tightened his hug and told her not to worry and just focus on the clouds. Well, that was easy for him to say. He didn't seem at all flustered by the height nor the fact that the wheel could crash down or stop working at any given time, and she took in a deep breath of air.

And, surprisingly and unconsciously, she softly began to sing, something she hadn't done in a very long time.

"Tell me your secrets... Ask me your questions... Oh, let's go back to the start... Running in circles... Coming up tails... Heads on a science apart..."​

Celest's voice was mezzo-soprano, meaning it was in between alto and soprano. She sang the song half the original speed it usually was due to her shaken-up state of mind, and it had a small twinge of vibrato hidden within it, giving her voice an almost natural beauty to it. Celest didn't really consider it a talent or a gift, though, seeing as her self-confidence was always low and shallow, and guessed that everyone could sing like she did. However, where she was now, she didn't even notice she sang at all. It came out of the blue, but internally, where she was replaying "The Scientist" in her head, it calmed her a bit.
 
Connor blinked, looking around. He actually looked around the ground, to see if someone was down there, and it took him a moment to realize that Celest was singing. He blinked again, hunching over so he was staring straight into her face. "You're singing? You never told me you could sing." He grinned. He wasn't familiar with the song, but he knew Celest was probably doing a good job. He looked at her again, and said, "Sing louder. I can't hear very good when it's so quiet."

He thought about her constant mood. Her low self-confidence. He was still perplexed by it all. She could sing like this, but she still viewed herself so poorly. She might not even get louder for him because she probably never showed anyone her voice. She probably didn't even know she was good. "Louder." He whispered.
 
Celest blinked, lifting her head. She gave Connor a confused tilt of the head, and wondered what he was talking about. Singing? She didn't recall singing at all. Unless... Oh, crap! Did she really start singing to it, too? The Lucario girl thought it was only playing in her head, not aloud! Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment as she pulled away from Connor, looking at her feet. "... I wasn't singing," she lied, though by the pitch of her voice it was obvious that she knew she was.

"Louder," Connor urged, staring straight into her eyes. Celest stared back for a while, fidgeting uncomfortably, then finally sighed shakily, looking at her palms. She didn't really want to sing, but... She just never got what she wanted, did she? Besides... If Connor was telling her to sing louder... then that must've meant he thought she was at least a bit good, didn't it?

"I was just guessing, at numbers and figures... Pulling the puzzles apart...
Questions of science, science and progress... Do not speak as loud as my heart."​

Celest sang just loud enough for him to hear this time, skipping over the chorus and going on to the next verse.
 
((You know what, screw reality, I'm bored and Annie is waking up.))

Annie couldn't do anything other than groan from over Logan's shoulder. The big oaf didn't have in the most comfortable position, but she didn't want him to put her down. She had never felt this bad in her life. "Logan..." She croaked. "Don't ever let me drink alchohol again." She let her neck go limp, and her head bob against Logan's back.

"Don't put me down... I'll... I'll kick your ass, I swear... Once I stand up, I'll kick your ass. Oh, god... Logan, I swear I... Wait... I didn't do anything stupid, did I? I didn't, like, striptease the mice or anything, right? Ugh, no, don't tell me." She slumped over once more. "I think if someone stabbed right now, I wouldn't care... It'd tell me I'm still alive, dammit. Logan!" She started suddenly, still slurring a little. "Throw out the booze. Shatter the bottles on the ground. Get rid of them. I don't ever wanna' see another damn one."
 
Connor felt his lips part a little, and form into a smile all on their own. He closed his eyes, and listened intently to Celest. The arm that was around her pulled a hand up to it. He opened his eyes after a minute, and nudged her head in his direction with her own hand. "You can sing louder than that. It's beautiful, so even if anyone else hears it from all the way down there, they couldn't possibly mind." He could guess well enough; from how little she increased the volume, she really didn't think she was a good singer. He planned to change this of course.

He began to question just what else she could do that he wasn't aware of. Next, he'd discover that she had some relative who was loaded with dough died and didn't want to pass all the money to her bastard of a father, so gave it all to her, and on top of everything, she'd also be rich. Huh. I guess I won the universe. Not bad for a first girlfriend, if I do say so myself. Not bad for a last girlfriend, either.
 
Celest felt her body relax a bit as Connor purred that her singing was "beautiful," and that he knew she could sing louder. This was rather shocking to her, truthfully; when she had sang in the past, unaware that her father had been in the room, he would shout in her face, barking that her singing was the worst noise he had ever heard in his life. Celest physically flinched as she remembered him smacking her sharply across the face with a loud snap, telling her to piss off and actually do something productive. Her shoulders tensed again as she pulled away from Connor, gawking shamefully at her feet. She felt as though she should continue with the song, but... She didn't want to anymore. The thought of her abusing parent made her too demotivated to go on with it.

Instead, Celest busied herself with untying and tying the shoelaces of her Converse Hightops. Then, as she straightened herself up again, she dreadfully remembered where she was, and fearfully looked at the side of the cart, feeling her whole body begin to shake. She balled her fists up uncomfortably, pressing back against the seat of the cart as much as she could, and closed her eyes, trying to rid the thought of being up so high in the air. She scarcely noticed her palms starting to bleed from the pressure her fingernails were applying to the skin, and ignored the warm, crimson blood dripping from her palms. It will end soon, she repeated over and over in her mind, though she became more and more hopeless as the ferris wheel slowly progressed to the highest point of the ride. Celest heard herself squeak in fear.
 
Connor saw Celest visibly flinch, tie and untie her shoes, and squeak when she looked over the edge. She was clenching her hands, and Connor didn't notice the blood dripping from them. He wrapped his arms around her to avoid the wound, and gently pulled her in towards him. There was a soft breeze, and Connor shifted a little so Celest could rest her head on him easier.

"Alright, you don't have to. I've got the rest of my life to listen anyways." He said, resting his head on the back of his seat. They were finally reaching the high point of the wheel. "You know what? I think my family will like you. My little brother especially. He's kinda' like me, but a bit smarter. He's only nine, to. He'll probably want to spend time with you, show you his hockey medals. Funny, I used to tell him he was even more annoying than me. Now I can't wait to see him again. He gives me a big stupid grin, and it's like looking in a mirror."
 
Celest let Connor draw her closer to his body, not at all minding the warmth he emitted. She relaxed again, snuggling her cheek under his chin, and let her dark hair fall loosely in front of her face. She felt her ears prick up a bit when Connor mentioned he would have the rest of his life to listen to her sing, and the Fighting Carnie briefly wondered what he meant by that. Upon coming up with a rational answer, however, she felt her face flush at the thought. Though she liked the idea... It still was a bit foreign and strange to her at this point in life.

The Lucario girl fidgeted as Connor went on, saying that his family would accept her. This came as a suddle shock to someone like Celest, who was used to dealing with two fully grown brutes that constantly scolded her for not being good enough and getting pushed and dragged around like a rag doll. So to have a family that actually cared for her was a thought that would surely tickle one's fancy, but Celest was hesitant. She was only familiar with the pain and fear caused by her family members, so compassion and love was alien to her. Celest looked down at her feet as Connor stated that his younger brother would like her company, more then likely, and was like a miniature Connor, essesntially. Just a bit smarter. "... He sounds a lot better than my own brother," the girl whispered, "I would exchange them in a heartbeat..."
 
Connor lifted his head from the back of the seat. "You already have, Cel. Remember? They're not part of you anymore. They're just ghosts of the past that will fade in time. If they ever come back to haunt you, I'll take care of it myself. If you see them on the street, they'll only be able to glare and think angry thoughts, and you can smile at them, knowing you've won." He softly cradled one of her hands in his once more, ignoring the blood aside from the fact he avoided the wound after he felt the warm dripping on his hand.

He sighed, letting Celest's very scent seep into his mind. Yes, she smelled like rain, mud, sweat, and blood, but at the same time, he was entranced. As they reached 10 o'clock on the wheel, he closed his eyes again. "I wonder what it is that made me so curious about the girl huddled up in the tent at the carnival. At the time, I told myself teaming up was survival tactic, and I needed to put a smile on your face. But that wasn't true. It couldn't have been the sole reason I was so interested, or I'd have stopped paying you so much attention." He simply smiled, wishing he knew what Celest was thinking.
 
Celest thought about what Connor was saying about her family. He said that he would take care of them if they came back to "haunt" her, but Celest was not very faithful that Connor could hold his own against a gun, because she was sure that's what her father would resort to in order to get revenge. He had done it before, indirectly, if hiring a hitman counts.

The Fighting Carnie remained silent, though, because secretly, she feared they wouldn't even make it out of the carnival alive. So, in a way, it was a good thing, she supposed: she wouldn't have to see her father's face ever again. But, in a way, it was also a bad thing: they were away from society, away from education, away from everything. It was as if they were in their own little world, far away from all the Earth's troubles and problems. ... But, then again, the Carnies had their own to deal with here in Masque.

Celest looked back up at Connor as he mentioned how he was perplexed as to why he even bothered so much to help her out in the first place. It felt like so long ago now, when she met him, but in reality, it was less than a day ago. ... Or maybe two days? Celest hadn't taken the time to count how many days they had been there, but a day or two seemed reasonable. ... But it didn't explain how they clicked together so quickly and easily at the very start. Why did the Lucario girl even let the Blaziken man near her? Sure, she was touchy and hesitant at first, and yet, she still let him lead her away in the end. Did that really make any logical sense?

... Or were Connor and Celest... just simply meant to be, perhaps? It seemed like a fairytale, if one pondered over it; they had suddenly been whisked away at the Black Parade, changed into Pokemorphs, and fallen in love. It was almost too surreal to be true. Even Celest couldn't properly process it in her mind. So instead she said nothing, staring almost unsurely into Connor's eyes.
 
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