[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

[pipers_son]

Oh, whups, it looks like he’s gone and given the guy ideas now. Well, Joker muses as he watches Strange hustle about and dig through his own mess, he guesses it couldn’t be helped. Besides, an obvious thing like that would have been thought of eventually. He just… sped it along. Or something.

Listen, he’s running on fumes, here, he shouldn’t be dealing with people like this right now without a gameplan.

Joker is about to make a move for the door, not wanting to stick around longer than he has to now that it’s been established that this has been a bit of a mistake, when Strange turns to him again. Carefully, he reaches up and tries to use his pinky and ring fingers to snag the pen out of his mouth while doing his best not to drop his papers. “Well, I suppose it ain’t any trouble,” he says dryly, trying to rub it against the shirt he’s wearing so that he can at least pretend it’s clean. “Any plans ta return it?”

[kingsroads]

"Perhaps," Strange simply responds as he takes the pen. Flipping one of the papers on the floor around, Strange starts scribbling something. If Joker peeks at what he's doing, he'll see that A: Strange's handwriting is absolutely awful and B: his scribbles are about potential ways to tweak the spell to summon someone specifically. After all, it had to have been done before. He simply needed to figure out how.

"You might not want to leave just yet, by the way. Part of the terms of the summoning-" There's a pause as Strange shakes the pen, as if that'll make more ink somehow come out. He returns to writing as he speaks. "Part of the terms of the summoning ties the faerie's appearance to the flame of the candle. Once I blow it out, you'll be returned instantly to where you were."

[pipers_son]

Well, Joker does love being a nosy bastard, and he really does want to make sure that he gets that pen back. So he definitely looks over it, trying not to (hypocritically) tsk at that atrocious handwriting. Yeah, he’s definitely gone and given this guy ideas. Oh well. He guesses he’ll have to do his duty and maybe warn everyone else. Or at least his own workers.

Once Strange starts speaking up again, he looks back at him with a raised eyebrow. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. “Ya don’t say,” he hums. “Well, that’s handy at least. Although, y’know, ya might want ta ask for volunteers for this kinda thing before doin’ much else.”

[kingsroads]

"I didn't know if it would work in the first place," Strange simply remarks as he continues to scribble about the spell variation, obviously lost in thought and enjoying it so much. There's a lot of question marks and a lot of names that Joker won't recognize to begin with (Martin Pale, Martin de Chepe, so on and so forth). "There's no use asking for volunteers if the spell doesn't do anything."

He pauses, looking up at Joker with a wide smile. "Of course, I'm grateful that the spell did work. I'd be a horrible carnival magician if I couldn't perform the magic I'm used to doing."

[pipers_son]

“It would make me doubt if yer cut out for this line of work, yeah,” Joker replies with a grin of his own. “But I was thinkin’ if yer gonna start experimentin’ with it now. Better for people who ya work with and know it might be comin’ ta summon instead of somethin’ else when yer still messin’ about with things, don’t ya think?” At least, that’s what logic dictates, but, hey, what does Joker know. He doesn’t really mess with magic unless he really has to. Best leave that to the professionals.

[kingsroads]

There's a pause where Strange listens, thinking and mulling over Joker's logic. It does make sense...however, Strange isn't entirely sold on it.

"The problem with that is if I tell someone that I might perform magic, they'd be expecting something. I don't want to disappoint people if the spell fails."

[pipers_son]

“Pick someone sensible then who won’t expect one thing or the other,” he suggests, which is probably a riot coming from the guy currently wearing a shirt with a print of a cat shooting laser beams out of its eyes.

“I mean, it’s only disappointin’ if they’re invested, yeah? Some of those who’ve been around a while can be pretty easy goin’. Just don’t ask Sans.”

[kingsroads]

"We're in Faerie and you expect me to find someone sensible?" Strange remarks, with a wry little smirk. The most sensible person he knows is Childermass and Strange already knows he's going to run that poor man ragged with his...well, his everything.

[pipers_son]

Joker can’t hold back his own smile twitching up. “Ya would be surprised,” he snickers. “Just about everyone who isn’t the Ringmaster comes in from other places, after all, from England ta elsewhere. Ya might actually get lucky.” Someone, he’s sure, has to be sensible but also not too sensible to refuse helping with summoning, right?

[kingsroads]

Now that's interesting. Some of the older arrivals...well, Strange had assumed they had always come from Faerie, poor souls that the Ringmaster had drafted in via contracts or actually hiring them. "In that case, where did you come from?" Strange asks, before he can stop himself. There's a pause before he continues. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course. I'm simply curious."

[pipers_son]

“England.” Winking, he steps away from Strange and looks around for a place to sit down. It looks like he’s about to be a part of a conversation he wasn’t necessarily asking for, but that’s fine. He has his work with him, after all. “18…. 89, I think the year was? At least, when I left.” His shoulders roll up in a shrug, as loose as the grin on his face. “Ya didn’t ask the ‘when’, but I’ve found it’s simpler ta add that in with how long I’ve been around, ha!”

[kingsroads]

The room's cluttered. There's papers strewn in a lot of the chairs but there's at least one other kitchen chair blissfully free of mess.

"I didn't ask the 'when' because I've found it easier to assume that everyone is simply from my future," Strange remarks, with a wry smile of his own. "I arrived here from the early 1800s--you're over fifty years in my future."

[pipers_son]

Sprawling out in the chair with a practiced adjustment of his wings, Joker laughs. “Well, usually it’s the same for me, so this is a rare treat!” Of course, that’s assuming they’re from his England or world at all. Most of the time, he’s found, it’s either plain-exotic like Japan or immensely so, like wherever Psi or Sans come from. “You’ll be in for a treat, then, whenever ya go back.”

[kingsroads]

"In that case, maybe you'll tell me what secrets the future holds?" His tone is slightly joking, matching Joker's, but it's obvious that 'not telling him the future' is a bit of a sticking point for Strange. Thanks, Childermass.

[pipers_son]

Oh boy. He can just imagine what’s going on there. Still, it’s none of Joker’s business until one of his performers hits someone or shoots another performer, so he just tries to ignore that little bit of bitterness as he hums thoughtfully. “History ain’t my particular strong point, so stop me if you’ve heard any of this before, but lessee… There’s the trains, quicker than horses and carryin’ a whole lot more… Oh, photography, that’s sometin’!” He waves his hand around a bit. “This box that makes a picture of ya, but more accurate than any paintin’. I hear it takes forever and a half, ‘tho, so ya have ta sit still.”

[kingsroads]

Photography...well now that sounds interesting. Strange's interest is definitely piqued as he listens to Joker describe cameras. The thing that Strange has the most experience with is engravings for a text (a veeeery time consuming process), so the idea of something that could provide an accurate picture sounds absolutely wonderful.

"And is it portable? If I were...I don't know, on holiday or something like that, could I take the box with me?"

[pipers_son]

"Yeah. I mean, ya gotta pack it like anythin' else, but ya can take it with ya places. There are even men who'll take pictures for ya, if ya can pay 'em." Oh, but that reminds him... Another grin.

"That's just back from how I know things. You'll probably see even smaller ones that take pictures better."

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but shake his head in amazement. He's not the sort to keep up with new and exciting technology...but man, this information about the future might make him closer to that sort of person.

"I doubt there's any way for my world to develop that technology faster?" said with a wry little grin.

[pipers_son]

Laughing, Joker holds his hand out and shrugs, a full body gesture that has even his wings moving to accentuate it. “Like I said- history isn’t my strong suit, and neither is technology or that kinda thing. If I knew, I’d probably tell ya.”

Messing up the stream of time is for people who aren’t Joker, who is trying to get away from England and that whole world as fast as he can.

[kingsroads]

It's annoying when you desperately want to know about your future but you're surrounded by either people who don't know much about the past to begin with, or just simply won't tell you. Strange sighs, a sigh that's deliberately sort of put-upon and a bit overdramatic.

"Watching and waiting it is, I suppose." And even though he's trying his hardest to seem jovial and calm, there's an obvious hint of annoyance in Strange's voice. He's terrible at waiting. "At least there's comfort in the fact that I'll encounter something like that eventually."

[pipers_son]

Unfortunate, but just how things are. Still, Joker takes what he’s said into consideration. A part of him almost wants to be helpful, say that the Ringmaster could probably help him with that, buuut…. Well. Childermass warned him about Strange specifically. Best not to give him too many ideas.

For now, Joker just asks something else. “So is it about the future that ya ended up workin’ here, or did ya do somethin’ else ta get the Ringmaster puttin’ ya ta work?”

[kingsroads]

"I suppose you could say it's about the future. My contract is for the knowledge of how my mentor performed a certain spell. When I return home, I wish to perform that spell myself. Doing so will certainly improve my future and my life back in London."

For a man who usually flits between things in a rapid manner, saying what's on his mind, it's obvious that Strange is choosing his words very deliberately. After all, the subject of raising the dead was taboo back home, only doable through black magic and even then, the beings brought back were monstrous. And yet, somehow, Norrell was able to bring back an Englishwoman from the dead with seemingly no ill effects at all.

That burned at Strange. He wanted to know how it was done so he could do it himself. And, if it took a year and a day to gain that knowledge...well, what's a year in the grand scheme of things? Not all that much to begin with.

[pipers_son]

That’s certainly a change, and Joker’s gaze gets a little more curious. In the end, however, the only thing he says is, “Well, best of luck ta ya then. Magic can be tricky, far as I know, so I can only imagine what has ya stumped.” He could add a lot of things, like how he hopes the magician doesn’t regret what he learns, but, hell. It’s already been done, hasn’t it? Best to just cross his fingers and wait.

Anyway, there’s something more important right now. “Anyway, think ya could let me go now? I got work ta be doin’, after all, and, heh, we’re short on help as it is.”

[kingsroads]

"Oh, of course!" Strange...has totally forgotten that he summoned Joker here in the first place, so the man's reminder spurs him to action. Walking over towards the lit candle, he idly starts chatting, explaining things to Joker.

"When I blow out the candle, you'll be returned to wherever you were before I summoned you. Hopefully you weren't in the middle of something important."

With a little nod in Joker's general direction, Strange blew out the candle.