[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

[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.

[amusicaladventure]

"If your world ended up with one guy having so much power of magic, maybe that's a good thing that all happened," the catgirl mused. "That sounds like a recipe for disaster. People with too much power... cause some serious trouble."

Her own species being the most relevant example.

"But man, you're in a dangerous position too if magic's coming back and people are just -- diving into that pool. Is that why you're here in the carnival?"

[kingsroads]

"No," Strange replied, with a little shake of his head. "I'm here for a different reason entirely."

For one who's been so open with the conversation, it's odd that Strange has turned a little cagey. After all, the reason he's here is to find out how to bring someone back from the dead. It's been done back home and Strange plans to do it himself...however, he knows that the subject can be quite touchy. Ash seems like a wonderful young lady and he's truly adored this conversation. He just doesn't know how she'll react to that knowledge.

[amusicaladventure]

"But no harm in learning a little while you're here?" Ash wasn't gonna push. Everybody had something awkward or uncomfortable about them, and when magic got involved that tripled at least. She wasn't exactly proud of the monkey she signed up to get off her back. "Especially running into other people who can do different magic."

[kingsroads]

"No harm in the slightest!" Strange answers, with a little laugh, thankful that Ash isn't pushing and happy to change the conversation. "I plan to use my time here to study magic as much as possible. After all, I have the opportunity, why not take it?"

[amusicaladventure]

Speaking of studying... "So do you have any analytic capacity in your magic?" She'd never bothered to get into the metathaumaturgical aspects of her own ability, but she had to admit the conversation was making her curious.

[kingsroads]

Strange...has absolutely no idea what she's talking about. Sorry, Ash. "I'm afraid you'll have to give me an example of what you mean."

[amusicaladventure]

"Breaking it down, perceiving the flow of magical energy from point A to point B, identifying the type of magic... you know, that sort of thing." She made a vague sort of balling-up gesture with her hands, as if that added anything to her description. "Like if there was an enchantment on an object, would you be able to identify the enchantment?"

[kingsroads]

There's a pause as he mulls her words over. "You know, I honestly don't know if I could do that. My world had such little magic to begin with and neither Norrell nor I were in the habit of enchanting objects that there wasn't really any opportunity to test that!"

He frowns, thinking still, trying to remember any instances when he had to identify magic. Nope, coming up blank. "I know there used to be magicians who could identify magic and could see when a spell was placed on someone but I honestly don't think there are any back in my England right now."

He is 100% wrong about that assessment.

[amusicaladventure]

"I'm not sure how you could learn that associatively, either," Ash mused, fingers drumming on her elbows as she thought about it. Her own magic was half-instinctive, half-intuitive, and never really needed to be 'learned' after all. "Hmm, so how do you figure out a new spell then?"

[kingsroads]

"Sometimes it simply comes to me. But most of the time, it's combinations. Once you know the basics of things, it's simple to reassemble them in different patterns. And thankfully, the magicians of centuries past provided me with the basics."

Despite the fact that Strange had a surprisingly good grip on intuitive magic, he's not the sort to downplay study. After all, that's half the reason he's the magician he is today.

[amusicaladventure]

Maybe a more dedicated music mage would have an analogy there about how every song just consists of notes in a different order -- but Ash had never so much as studied musical theory and composition. "So it's constantly building and experimenting? That sounds like a pretty dangerous way to learn, if something you think is gonna have one result comes up with another."

[kingsroads]

The problem here is that things that are pretty dangerous are pretty much Strange's bread and butter. So, he simply shrugs at that, not really caring about that fact that Ash thinks it's dangerous in the first place. "Dangerous it may be, but that's how it's done! At least in my world, magic is achieved through trial, error, and ingenuity."

[amusicaladventure]

That sounded... scary and dangerous, actually. Ash folded her arms, fingers rubbing her elbows as she looked down and away -- remembering, for just a moment, her own young days of 'trial, error, and ingenuity'. And how people had gotten hurt.

"Kinda sounds like a recipe for a demon invasion, as soon as someone blows a summoning spell."

[kingsroads]

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. With a few exceptions, English magicians do not practice summoning spells anymore."

There's a very sarcastic tinge in Strange's voice as he elaborates. "They aren't respectable."

[amusicaladventure]

"Plaguing the countryside with demons is pretty unrespectable, yeah." What a weird place he came from. "I'm kinda inferring you don't agree though... I mean, with the position, not the flooding-with-demons part."