[ota] have to believe we are magic

[kingsroads]

WHO: Jonathan Strange & you!
WHERE: various points around the carnival
WHEN: Days 33/34
WHAT: actually doing his job + failing a bit at magic + accidentally succeeding a bit at magic
WARNINGS: n/a!

in the main tent: showing off some
To the surprise of everybody, Strange is actually doing his damn job. Granted, his damn job of a magician instead of his damn job as a mercenary with the Nightrunners, but he's staying in the carnival for now, trying to keep an eye on Childermass as best he can. After all, Strange knew in theory that Childermass knew how to rest, but he wasn't entirely sure if he knew in practice.

So here he is, in the main tent, actually practicing. Sometimes you can find him just staring at a candelabra, as if staring will magically make it do something. Other times, Strange is actually working magic, as a giant top made out of the dirt floor of the tent spins around the stage, or animals made of straw prance around the area.

The most notable thing about all this? Strange looks downright relaxed as he works his magic, possibly the most relaxed he's been since he first arrived.

anywhere: like the one thing childermass is better at than him
Something's weird about that patch of shadows out of the corner of your eye. It almost seems like it's trying too hard to be shadows. The stillness is unnatural and you can't shake the feeling you're being watched. It's not changing with the light, instead the shadows remain just shadows, no matter what. Occasionally, facial features can be made out in the shadows, that of a tall, wild-haired man, concentrating very hard on not being seen.

And then the shadows sneeze. Whoops.

"Damn," Strange can't help but swear to himself as he suddenly becomes visible, peeling himself off the shadows of whatever building he's up against. He sniffles a bit as he carefully rubs at his nose with clawed hands. "I still don't entirely understand how he manages to do it so well."

trailer 29: sorry y'all his bad
Strange is in his trailer (which honestly, is a bit of a mess, with stacks of paper on too many surfaces, this is what you get when you give the eccentric a closed space.) He sits at the table, a candelabra in front of him. Match lit, Strange mutters something under his breath before he lights the candle.

What he muttered was a summoning spell, something to summon a faerie. After all, it worked back home, why not see if it works here, while they're in faerie. The worst that could happen was that it didn't work, after all (Strange has very low standards for 'the worst that can happen') So, as the candle is lit, you find yourself randomly in this guy's trailer...and wow, is Strange a bit confused at your arrival.

"Hmm. It wasn't supposed to bring in workers."

( ooc: so because I thought it's hilarious, I kept Strange's ability to summon fairies except, surprise, it's weird in the carnival and he's equally likely to have summoned someone tainted with faerie magic aka characters in the game. This'll default more to veteran characters/characters with more changes but if you want your character to have been pulled out of what they were doing to appear in some rando's trailer, I am all for that! drop me a pm or plurk @allikateor if you have any questions! )

Comments

[kingsroads]

"How interesting," Strange can't help but muse, with a little smile. "Where I'm from, magicians are as varied as they come! Aside from us all being human, I doubt there's a unifying factor like that."

Of course, Strange knows a sample size of three (possibly four) magicians. It's a large, over-sweeping statement for an incredibly small sample size and he is seemingly unaware of that fact.

[amusicaladventure]

"Oh, I just meant for music magic. I've seen all sorts of magic in my time. Most catpeople tend to be witches or warlocks, for example." Hopefully neither of those two terms had some horrible connotation in Strange's mind -- they occasionally were loaded terms.

[kingsroads]

There's no evidence that the terms have horrible connotations. Instead, he laughs. "Where I'm from, no serious user of magic would call themselves a witch. It's all a bit too children's story."

Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, there were plenty of children's stories with evil witches harming innocent people via dark magic.

"The preferred term is magician."

[amusicaladventure]

"Hey, children's story or not, it's a legitimate branch of magic, characterized by a predilection for enchantments, charms, transformations, and illusions." She might not be one herself, but the potential was in her blood -- she had a cousin or two who'd taken up the path. "'Magician' is a real generic term where I'm from. Could mean all sorts of different magic."

[kingsroads]

"So your world's magic specialized by the type of spell one is best at. How does the study of magic work? Are there texts? Schools?"

To his credit, Strange is legitimately interested as he asks every question under the sun. After all, it had been hundreds of years since the England he knew had enough magic for there to be specializations.

[amusicaladventure]

"Eh," Ash said again, with the same degree of semi-agreement. "Me, I was born with it strong enough that it came out naturally, so I learned as I went -- but mine's also real simple to use, because whatever I'm playing determines the effect. Total straight line from intent to result. But there are schools for witches and warlocks. There's other magic done with traditional master-apprentice system. Technomagic just seems to require being really crazy in a way that SCIENCE!" One upthrust finger punctuated that all-caps word -- "results. Some people know it naturally, especially if they have a strong magical legacy like dragon heritage..."

Ash understood curiosity, and had no problems sating it.

[kingsroads]

Man, how he wishes he had a pencil to write this down. Strange is just listening with rapt attention. Technomagic? Magical legacy? Dragon heritage? This is all just so amazing and so interesting and he can't help but think that his world's only scratched the surface of magic.

"How interesting. Where I'm from, if you're properly inclined, you can feel the magic, but bending it to do what you want takes study and practice."

[amusicaladventure]

She was a terrible example to learn from, when her world was a little like the carnival in macrocosm: people wandering in constantly, all from different walks of life. "Some people are like that. I knew a guy once who basically said it was like an itch -- he HAD to study or it would have driven him crazy, always feeling it and never being able to do anything with it."

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but laugh at that, grinning at her example. Yeah. That's totally him. "It's like hearing a tune playing in the back of your head. You can't help but finish the notes."

Once he discovered he could do magic, he never really stopped.

[amusicaladventure]

Ash giggled into the back of one hand. "Not a bad analogy to use on a music mage. Yeah, especially if it has a little bit of a literal physical effect on you."

[kingsroads]

"I wonder...do all magicians feel this way? That sort of compulsion to perform magic, no matter what the type." Strange pauses, giving Ash a little shrug.

"After discovering my magic, I can't imagine life without it."

[amusicaladventure]

Ash tilted her head back and tucked a hand beneath her chin to think about that, her tail curled behind her. "I don't think so. There are kinds of magic you can learn without needing special talent or a natural gift, so no one would have the physical need to learn them."

[kingsroads]

"But people would still learn them. They still have that impulse to learn magic, even if it's purely mental instead of physical." He's having a grand time talking with her, keeping things light and airy as he does so. It's been ages since he could debate magic with someone who could hold her own.

[amusicaladventure]

Ash was enjoying the conversation enough that she had totally forgotten to flirt -- which was saying something, because she was used to most conversation being dominated by her physical attributes and playing off that fact. A real intellectual discussion... that was rare. "I think that's not any different than anyone else who has a desire to learn something, though. So really magic wouldn't be much different from any other art or science in that respect."

[kingsroads]

"If we extend the art analogy further, then it makes even more sense. Some people are born talented, others gain their talent through years of work. Likewise, if you told two different people to paint a tree, the results would be as different as if you told two magicians to hide an object. The base result is the same, but the details would greatly differ."

Strange talks with his hands as he talks, as if weighing the two choices on his hands.

[amusicaladventure]

"But sometimes people with a talent don't really feel the same drive to work at their specialty the same way someone with little talent but a real hunger to learn does." Speaking from personal experience there? Why yes, obliquely. Never having to practice or work to improve means her actual interest in music is low, for a music mage.

[kingsroads]

"I'm afraid I'm intensely unqualified to speak on the subject of talent versus study with regards to magic. My world has...I'd say three proper magicians total. I'm sure all of us had some innate talent, but we refined our art though study."

Then again, he definitely knows that three is an absolutely awful sample size. Strange at least has the good grace to look a bit sheepish as he admits the tiny number of magicians he knows.

[amusicaladventure]

"Wow... really?" She leaned in slightly, as if she could figure out what made him different, or his world, just by close scrutiny. "Why so few?"

[kingsroads]

Strange simply shrugs. "It's been over a thousand years since magic flourished in England. The reason that it's happening now...I'm not entirely sure."

[amusicaladventure]

"Wow." Ash couldn't even imagine it. A whole world without magic? "So I'm betting you don't have magical creatures or anything like that either, huh?"

[kingsroads]

"There are faeries, though I doubt they'd appreciate being called 'creatures.' Aside from that? Absolutely nothing." It's said very matter of fact, with a simple shrug.

[amusicaladventure]

"That's crazy-weird. I'm used to faeries being some of the most magical sorts of all -- like a canary in a coal mine of magic. If something was weakening it they'd be the first to go..."

[kingsroads]

"If it clears things up, the faeries didn't live with the rest of us humans. There's our world, with England and the continent and all the other countries, and then there's the realm of Faerie, accessible only through mirrors."

And even then, not accessible for a good long while.

[amusicaladventure]

"Ohhhh, that kind of arrangement." No need to explain further. "That'd do it. You think they're sort of a 'keepers of magic' thing, letting magic back into the world now?"

[kingsroads]

"Not entirely," Strange explains. He frowns a bit as he thinks, as he tries to put his words together before just launching into an explanation.

"Part of the reason magic vanished in my world was due to the disappearance of John Uskglass, a magician from my world known as the Raven King. Uskglass had kingdoms in both England and Faerie. He ruled over England for over three hundred years but one day, simply left, disappearing into Faerie. Once he left, magic started to fall into disuse. Some spells simply vanished, some spells fell out of use, until nobody used magic at all. England was like that for around two hundred or so years before the restoration started."

He shrugs, before continuing. "So the realm of Faerie does play a bit into why it's vanished, but the fair folk themselves don't distribute magic like coin from a banker." He hopes that makes sense. It's a bit of an infodump and he doesn't want to confuse Ash too much, but magic's weird, yo.