[OPEN] how long is forever?

[atouts]

WHO: Childermass & anyone.
WHAT: Childermass returns from his unfortunate vacation in the Matrix.
WHERE: The carnival, Trailer #19, the cookhouse.
WHEN: End of D32, on into D33.
WARNINGS: Mentions of torture, will update if anything else comes up.

[ D32, by the tree phones; closed to the first person to find him ]

Why he'd been released after giving so little information, Childermass can't be sure.

He wondered if they had picked up anyone else, someone more likely to talk about the carnival than he was. Perhaps that had made it less useful to keep at him, when someone else was more chatty, although if that were the case, they sure didn't mind trying to keep on "convincing" him. After all that effort, just to have him wake up back in the zoo, intact again, for the most part (the memory of broken fingers still has him rubbing his knuckles, often and uncomfortably). Part of him — the sensible, forever cautious part — wanted to stay and find out, to know, but the rest of him was exhausted. Caution be damned, he needed to get out, so that was exactly what he did.

Funny how only a few days ago he was telling Mr. Strange how bizarre it was to already consider the carnival home, but stumbling to the nearest phone and finding himself back among the trees, with that mad circus up ahead, is a relief. Back at last, after nearly five days of missing, he'll let out a sigh and lean heavily against the same tree the phone is hooked up to.

Now here's a man who looks worse for wear, but at least he's still standing, right?

[Late D32-D33; open to all]

Afterwards, whatever it is that comes afterwards, Childermass will be wisely leaving his supervisor a note about taking a day off to rest — if that's no problem, of course — and then holing up in his trailer to, for the most part, sleep. It won't be very restful, though, so more often than not he'll be found up with tea, trying and failing to write for any real length of time, or spending an awful lot of time staring at ceiling from where he should, but isn't, sleeping.

Basically, trying to avoid everyone, but he'll probably answer the door if someone shows up, assuming they're polite about it at all. Considering the door isn't actually locked, the odds on that might be against him.

Or, failing all attempts to get some actual rest, on the day after his return, one might find him having, by some miracle, made his way to the cookhouse. If only for some coffee and to — again — get absolutely nowhere with writing in one of his various memo books.

Comments

D32

[waitingforplayer2]

It's been impossible not to notice his disappearance.

Chiaki's been spending every morning before work searching the Matrix, looking for any trace of her friends. She isn't a very good spy and she hasn't really come up with any leads. She's sitting at the base of a tree eating some crackers before work when John shows up.

"John!" She nearly drops the package in her hurry to scramble over to him. "You're okay!"

[atouts]

Later, he's seriously going to pretend he didn't give a small jump at her shout. He was fine with taking a moment and enjoying a bit of peace and quiet before carrying on, but apparently he's missed the fact that he isn't here alone. Chiaki earns a startled look, even if it's only a short-lived one. Seeing who it is, he'll go back to leaning his weight against the tree again.

At least that way, he can almost pretend like standing is an easy and simple task to do.

"Miss Nanami," he replies as calmly as he can, which isn't hard. He almost always sounds calm. Here, it's a little strained, but still calm enough. "So I am. How long have I been gone?"

[waitingforplayer2]

"A couple of days... maybe?" The honest truth was that she missed him a couple of days ago, but he might have been taken before that. "I've been looking for you... I think the Nightriders, too. We were really worried!"

He looks somewhat the worse for wear. "Um... we should get Zecora to look at you."

[atouts]

Rationally, that would be the best thing to do. For reasons he can't quite explain, however, the very thought of going to see Zecora seems awful. While he will consider it, for all of a second or two, Childermass ends up shaking his head.

"No," he can say that adamantly. "That won't be necessary. I'm tired, but not hurt, as hard to believe as that might be."

As though to try and prove it, he'll push away from the tree again and stand up straight. He's still going to keep himself steady with one hand on the trunk, just in case, but his legs do hold. At least he isn't going to fall over, which is probably a relief for both of them.

[waitingforplayer2]

Chiaki puts out a hand to help steady him if he falls her way - although at 4'3" she isn't sure how much she could do.

"You need rest. Here... hold onto me. We'll get you back to your trailer."

She can't promise she won't send Zecora his way later anyway.

[atouts]

He's not sure how much she could do, either, which is why he'll wave the hand away at first. If she's going to help him along, well, she probably can't, but sending her away might just end with her getting Zecora anyway.

"Here, I'll lean on your shoulder, if I must," which he hopes he won't have to, much, considering she's tiny. Even before she'd shrunk, the height difference had still been over a foot. It's only more ridiculous now. "And perhaps we'll find some other help along the way."

Just, you know, not Zecora.

[waitingforplayer2]

"All right." It's something, at least. She offers her shoulder as they make their way slowly towards the Carnival.

"What happened to you?"

late D32

[kingsroads]

Strange saw the note about Childermass taking a day off to rest. So naturally, he's going to just leave his duties as well to go bother Childermass. First he attempts to just move in there via mirror...but no, that's not working. Strange has a sneaking suspicion that Childermass removed the mirror entirely. Well fine then, he'll just walk there instead.

Once he reaches the door, Strange starts to mutter some sort of spell of unlocking...but oh. The door's unlocked. There's a pause and then, in a bundle of maniac energy, Strange just pushes open the door and just frowns in Childermass's direction. There goes the quiet.

"Where were you?" Strange exclaims, in a tone partly worried but mostly annoyed. Glaring, he points an accusatory finger in Childermass's direction...and hey, Strange has claws now. Small claws, only about an inch long, but claws all the same. "I've been looking all over for you!"

[atouts]

His suspicion would be correct about the mirror, though it isn't gone entirely from the trailer. It's only been taken down, out of the bathroom, and set face down on the table. There's something heavy on top of it, though what it is, even Childermass couldn't say for sure. Some random object the Doctor had stored about, most like.

Mirror business aside, when Strange barges in the old-fashioned way, he'll find Childermass actually having been doing what he'd originally intended to do: resting. Apparently that won't be happening now, since now there's a madman in the room. All it takes is the door opening to get him back up, so he's already grimacing and pushing himself back up to sit so he can properly give Strange one of his more unfriendly stares.

He considers getting up. He considers it for all of two seconds before rubbing the bridge of his nose — he can already feel a headache forming, he swears — and sighing.

"Not tonight, Mr. Strange. Ask me again tomorrow."

Oh, he notices the claws, but to ask about them now would only be inviting him to stay longer.

[kingsroads]

It's cute how Childermass thinks that'll be enough to get Strange to leave. He simply rolls his eyes as he walks over towards Childermass's bed, sitting down directly besides it. It's when Strange is closer to Childermass that he notices how awful the man looks. Whatever he was doing in the Matrix, it certainly took a lot out of him.

He's still aggravated as he talks, but his tone is softened slightly. "Tomorrow you shall simply try your hardest to avoid me. So no, I'm afraid it must be tonight."

...but the man is tired. It's odd, seeing Childermass this out of it. He's tired, aggravated, and not moving. Strange can't help but think back to when Childermass was shot—this is like that, though somehow different.

"But first, is there anything I can do for you?"

They aren't friends yet. But dammit, Childermass obviously isn't in top form and if Strange can do something, then he's going to do so.

[atouts]

At least a bullet is honest. It had actually happened, had stuck, rather than become some nightmarish memory with barely any mark to show for it. That bothers him the most. He can still remember it all, he swears he can still feel the pain, but did those past five days really happen? If they had, why fix it at all? But he can't find the will to dwell on that question, all the why this, why that, and so he'll just focus on Strange instead.

And he isn't the only one comparing this to when he'd been shot. It's eerie and he's already half-expecting to be told off for getting himself abducted, which means when Strange asks if there's 'anything he can do for him', Childermass actually looks puzzled, because that isn't a question he's used to hearing, not unless he's the one saying it.

"What?" No, really, this is never how this conversation goes, but he'll gather his wits again in another second or two to add, "Ah, no. No, there isn't."

[kingsroads]

If Childermass is so taken aback by concern, that simply means that Strange must do it often. It's amusing seeing the other man a bit uncomfortable like that. Is there such a thing as petty goodwill, because that's the idea that Strange is floating right now.

"Good," Strange simply remarks, as he returns to looking over Childermass. Yeah, he doesn't believe that in the slightest. The man looks horrible, there certainly must be something Strange can do. What it is, he has no idea. After all, he knows the bare minimum about healing magic. In the peninsula, most of his efforts were taken up by putting out literal and metaphorical fires or making things easier for the men.

"That means I can properly ask you where the hell you've been. I haven't been able to find you, whether by magical or mundane means." Couldn't find Childermass when creeping via magic, couldn't find Childermass when hoofing it around the Matrix.

[atouts]

If Strange wanted to do something for him, he would go and let him rest, but that idea was dismissed before he even asked. For anything else, it seems too outlandish to ask.

"And here I thought you weren't going to spy on me," he says dryly, as even his unexpected stay in the Matrix couldn't quite strip him of his sarcasm. Though that he looked at all is almost heart-warming, even if he is glad he never found him. The last thing he needed was to lure anyone else to the agents.

Well, if Strange isn't leaving, he may as well adjust how he's propping himself up to something a little more comfortable before answering.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you," he admits. "I never saw where I was taken. I suppose wherever it was, they might have had it warded. Either that or it doesn't count enough as anywhere to be searched."

Because where does the Matrix exist? Is it a part of Earth? Heaven? Hell? Faerie? How do you search somewhere like that?

closed to Mari;

[atouts]

To be honest, this is the first thing he should have done upon returning. Tracking down someone in charge — the "can defend the carnival" sort of in charge — and discussing his disappearance, what the agents got out of him, if there was anything to worry about further down the line. It's the Nightrider that he settles on in the end, as Chiaki had mentioned she and her crew had been doing the searching.

If it had to be passed on to the Warden or the Ringmaster, he'd leave that up to her, and some sense of responsibility is what has him back up after a restless night. Tracking Mari down early in the morning proves to be more an issue than expected, however, as it seems she's still off searching the Matrix. He might be back, but he's only the first of three to have returned. For all he knows, she might not even know he's turned up at all yet...

Well, regardless, Childermass has no intention of returning to that world, ever again, not even to look for her, and so he'll be waiting by the trees with the phones, leaning up against one with his pipe in hand. He's letting the tobacco lazily burn without actually smoking, staring somewhat tiredly at the smoke twisting up into the air instead.

[motivenotfound]

Mari has actually gotten really into the performative identity thing. Switching herself up makes it easier to evade detection by Agents, but it's also very interesting.

Still, while she can see the appeal of being someone like Ryouji Kaji, there's just something innately joyless about the experience of being Rokubungi Gendo.

She's still shaking that off when she reappears out into the trees again, blinking and adjusting her glasses. It... takes her a second.

"Well, someone looks grim."

[atouts]

He should have been expecting someone to show up eventually, but her arrival still gives him a start. The way he turns to look at her is a little twitchy, but seeing that, yes, it's actually the Nightrider, is enough to resettle. Jumping at shadows, ridiculous...

"So I have often been told," Childermass replies, though he sounds more resigned than grim. Still, yeah, he probably fits in better at a funeral most of the time. Anyway, if he's going to be talking, it's time to dump the (already burned through) pipe tobacco out and put it out, then to put the pipe itself away. While he does that, he adds, "You're still looking for the missing workers?"

Is he really the first one back?

[motivenotfound]

She's not upset to be looking for them, she's upset to be unsuccessful. Nothing like spending hours and hours trying to accomplish something and getting jack-all to show for it.

She's not a fan. She wouldn't even be here now, in fact, not without something. She's keeping that to herself, though. No one needs to know how personal this has gotten for her.

"Ugh. Yeah. Soooo-rry, no prize for that one." She stretches both pairs of arms, clasping their fingers together above her and in front her before bending backwards and shutting her eyes.

When she straightens, she looks back at him with a more serious, alert look. This guy wouldn't be hanging around, asking about the search, unless he had a reason.

"So, what about you? Were you looking for me?"

[atouts]

"I was. Mr. Strange requested I at least inform you of my return personally." Hence the hanging around and looking tired for it all. He's the first of three to turn up. "Though I'm afraid I can't tell you much else about where the others might still be. I never saw where the agents took us."

She's tired okay

[motivenotfound]

Mari blinks. Slowly.

"Oh."

Wait.

".... oh. Ohhhhhhhh." Oh, shit. Oh my God. She grabs him without really thinking about it, massive paws seizing him by the shoulders, talons digging into the fabric of his jacket. She leans right in, eyes narrowed, searching his face for a couple of seconds. Then she leans in closer to sniff him.

Then she pulls back, all business.

"You need to tell me everything! Immediately. But not here." She lets go with one claw, spinning him around to march him to her trailer. Sorry, Childermass. This is now an official interrogation.

late d32 and starbucks

[pipers_son]

What had happened to Steven would have been enough to get Joker antsy enough as it is. He never likes it when any of his workers get injured, a fact which goes double when it's not in a performance and triple when they go missing. It's the last thing he's needed on his plate, frankly, and he's been rushing everywhere trying to fill up the gaps, make sure the rest of his crew is alright, and keep an eye out for anyone finding a miracle and coming back.

This all means that it's pretty late when he finally finds the note Childermass has left for him. Well, his sleep schedule is pretty wretched already; Joker has no qualms about flying over to the regular trailers. He only means to do a very brief and quiet check up on him, but he pauses as he comes in for a landing and still hears a bit of activity in the trailer. It makes him feel a little bit better about knocking.

[atouts]

What little sound there had been stops immediately after the knock, like whoever is in there is pausing and considering whether they actually want to answer or not. And that whoever — who is definitely Childermass — is wondering whether or not it's Strange back to bother him a second time.

But knocking isn't something the other magician is prone to doing, so it must not be, which means he'll answer. Eventually. The trailer door opens, Childermass giving Joker the same tired look that he's given everyone else thus far as he leans against the doorway.

"Suppose I should have expected you," he'll say after a few seconds of just looking at him. "You got my note?"

[pipers_son]

With what has likely happened to him, Joker won’t judge him for being exhausted. He just waits patiently, letting Childermass look him over, and gives a nod when he finally gets some words out of the man.

“Yeah, and ya don’t have ta worry- we’ll figure out a way ta make do until you’ve recovered, it wouldn’t be the first time.” Hell, he’s really already doing good enough instead of running on a skeleton crew like he had before all these newcomers got accepted in. “But I wanted ta know if ya might need anythin’, while yer recoverin’.”

[atouts]

Which is something that Childermass had already thought, that Joker wouldn't be too hard-pressed over being down a performer (or two, as he's since heard Tamaki was also missing). Still, it's good to hear it in person, rather than assuming it.

Wanting to know if he needed anything, though, earns a somewhat amused noise.

"The only thing I need is a way to keep Mr. Strange from barging in whenever he feels like it," he says, mostly joking. He doesn't expect it to be possible and for good reason. "But he has a way of getting in and out of anywhere as he pleases, so that's all just a bit of wishful thinking."

[pipers_son]

Joker also gives a dry laugh. “Yeah, I think I’m startin’ ta learn that for myself,” he replies dryly. Meeting the other magician in person for himself sure is different than just hearing about him. The people that exist in the world, sometimes.

“Still, at least that’s somethin’. But I would have expected ya would be asleep by now, instead of wanderin’ about.”

[atouts]

Learning to deal with English magicians is always an interesting lesson, even with a warning ahead of time. Pointless to say he told him so, though, so he shrugs and folds his arms across his chest, settling in to lean there against the doorway for awhile.

"You may really want to discourage him from using fire in his act, by the way," is the most he'll add in regards to Strange for now. "And sleep has turned out to be easier said than done, though that may be for the best if you wanted to talk."