[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]

"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."

[kingsroads]

British stuffiness mixed with class sensibilities mixed with faeries mixed with magic yields a damn confusing combination. Sorry, Ash. "You're right on both accounts: I'd rather not plague the countryside with demons and I have little use for respectability. It stifles creativity and limits magic to a small subset of it's true potential."

[amusicaladventure]

"I'm willing to bet all that 'respectability' would go straight out the window as soon as they realized someone else was better than them." Most mages were like that, especially stuffy and pompous ones, in Ash's experience -- they couldn't STAND being beaten at their own game.

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but grin a little at that. Yep. Ash has the right idea. "I suppose there's at least one trait shared by magicians in multiple worlds: arrogance."

So says the most arrogant magician of them all.

[amusicaladventure]

Ash was not immune to that trait as well -- her magic let her do effortlessly what most people would struggle to do, and she was more than a little cocky about the fact. And well aware of her own attitude, as she giggled into a hand. "Oooh yeah. Big time. Soon as one of sees someone doing something they can't..."

[kingsroads]

"They they instantly get huffy and grumpy, demanding to know how you did it while berating you for your methods in the process!" Strange finishes, with a small little laugh. It was refreshing to see that they shared views on this as well.

[amusicaladventure]

"And CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL, MADAM!" Ash said, springing to her feet as she belted out the words in a pompous tone that came from her diaphragm.

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but laugh, grinning wildly at Ash's...impression? Well whatever it was, it was obvious that duels happened to her on a regular basis.

"It was less of duels where I came from, but plenty of arguing." Strange gets to his feet as well. In a mimicking tone, he continues, "I don't know why you keep talking about faeries, Mister Strange, it isn't respectable and English magic is supposed to be respectable and we're bringing it out of the Dark Ages that you seem so keen to keep it in et cetera, et cetera."

It's obvious he's doing an impression of someone back from his world. It's also obvious that his impression is terrible.

[amusicaladventure]

Well, not REGULARLY, but they'd occurred a fair more than once...

"Wow, really? No one thought they could put you in your place by squashing you like a magical gnat?" Ash snorted, quite unladylike. "Although to be fair, they probably weren't hoping either your body would be their victory prize, or that they'd Red-Sonja you and you'd swoon for their manly prowess at besting them."

There was a mental image for him to chew on as she leaned back against the great conjured cat. "Though the way you say it maybe dueling was too Dark-Agesy for them."

[kingsroads]

Well. He was certainly getting an image of Ash's world that he hadn't expected in the first place. Strange had a quintessentially British way of magical conflicts: even though he liked showing off, don't make too much of a fuss.

"It was a bit too Dark Agesy. We mostly solved our problems through the press. Norrell wrote an article about some aspect of magic, I wrote a rebuttal piece a few weeks later, so on and so forth."

[amusicaladventure]

To be fair, they weren't that way with most mages, but in blunt turns, Ash was a couple miles of leg and a couple more of curves, and that tended to make people susceptible to such things think with the wrong brains.

"Okay, that is pretty classy, actually. Please tell me they were full of droll, biting wit, you know, 'I must surely have misinterpreted the distinguished gentleman's argument as he cannot have been so blind as to make a mistake of a magnitude comparable to polishing the floor with an overripe banana'."

[kingsroads]

Strange snickers, obviously enjoying this. "Of course! 'While I understand how the distinguished gentleman might come to this stance, I cannot help but find his overall summation to be erroneous, full of mistakes, and simply idiotic when compared to the current state of affairs'."

[amusicaladventure]

Ash giggled into her fingers, then looked up over them brightly. "See, now that's the kind of duel that makes a girl swoon. If you don't call her an idiot during it. Maybe there IS a little something to all that talk of classiness, I like that a lot."

[kingsroads]

"If you ever need any help with that sort of pretentious academic nonsense, I've got plenty of experience. I wrote a book back home, you've got to be versed in that sort of thing to write a book in the first place."

There's a hint of pride in his voice as Strange talks about his book.

[amusicaladventure]

"Awww, and let me guess, you don't have a copy here or anything." Ash outright pouts, a bit dramatic in her sulky look and crossed arms.

[kingsroads]

"Alas, I don't." Strange shook his head, mirroring Ash's dramatic sulk with a dramatic sigh of his own. "I've been contemplating writing another, but that would be a memoir—there's not as much academic insulting in that type of genre."

[amusicaladventure]

"You could write it all like an elegant rebuttal. To life itself and everyone who stood in your way!" Ash said, shaking a fist dramatically.

[kingsroads]

Grinning still, Strange mimicked writing with a pen as he talked. "Chapter Eleven, a rebuttal against forces beyond my control. Followed of course by Chapter Twelve, a different rebuttal against the beliefs of certain English gentleman as detailed by my time in a faerie carnival. How does that sound?"

[amusicaladventure]

"Perfect," Ash said, eyes shining as she brought her hands together. "I'd read it."