[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]

"Or you could not jump from a really high place to begin with," said as if pointing out the obvious. There's a bit of disdain in Strange's voice (because his magic is awesome, thank you very much) as he continues talking.

"If I had to get to a high place, then I'd simply ask the trees or have the ground lift me up. That's just as useful as floating."

[puddingemote]

But where is the fun in not jumping from a high place? Live a little, Strange. (Not that Tamaki himself would do it without promise of something catching him, but that's beside the point!)

"You ask the tree? So the tree is doing the magic?"

[kingsroads]

"Not entirely. It's more of a conversation between myself and the tree. I ask the tree, the tree agrees, I perform the magic through the tree."

He's talking about all of this like it's a perfectly normal conversation and not something that would confuse most people. Strange sighs as he continues to talk, gesturing to a nearby tree as he does so. "It's very hard to do some nature magic, like moving a forest, without the agreement of whatever nature you're trying to move."

[puddingemote]

"Oh."

...

Yeah, he has no idea what that means. Tamaki looks utterly lost, scrunching his nose up in thought.

"It sounds complicated..."

[kingsroads]

"Not entirely. Mostly, it just takes effort and a lot of time."

He's assuming that Tamaki's keeping up with his conversation. After all, in Strange's mind, there's no reason why he wouldn't understand what he was saying.

[puddingemote]

Tamaki still looks just as lost as he did a second ago.

"So... trees can talk?"

What language would a tree speak, he wonders.

[kingsroads]

"If you know how to listen. I don't really hold conversations with them though, the most I do is ask and they respond."

Again, this is said with 100% certainty, the certainty of someone who's firm in his beliefs. Have fun puzzling that one out, Tamaki.

[puddingemote]

"How do trees talk if they don't have mouths? Do they speak the same language as you?"

The more Strange says, the more questions about all this Tamaki has. Apparently there's a whole world of tree communication he never heard of. Why doesn't anyone teach that in school?

[kingsroads]

"You talk to them through magic."

And there we go, that's the reason why no one teaches it in school: because it's yet another example of magical nonsense that's not unique to all worlds but Strange is treating like it is.

[puddingemote]

Tamaki scowls, folding his arms. "This is just a circle." Seriously, this guy isn't explaining anything. Why can't everyone just be like Steven? He's part alien, that explains everything succinctly, at least in Tamaki's view.

"Can you only do plant stuff?"

[kingsroads]

"I can do all sorts of magic," Strange continues, with a huff. Only do plant stuff, what sort of magician would he be if he could just do plants? His pride is pushing him to gloat a bit as he continues talking.

"I can manipulate water, earth, fire and other natural forces. I know a spell to see what my enemy is doing and one to travel through mirrors."

[puddingemote]

"Mmm. The fire and water stuff sounds cool." He wonders if he can make it fly at people like characters in anime. That'd be pretty awesome, actually. "Seeing enemies is okay too..."

But that last one... "If you traveled through a mirror, wouldn't you just hit the wall?"

[kingsroads]

"Not really. Back in my world, mirrors were the doorway to a different realm. You could travel from place to place that way. Here, it seems mirrors are a doorway to a different mirror."

Strange shrugs. He's got absolutely no idea why it works that way and why it even works in the first place. But hey, he's not complaining.

[puddingemote]

"A whole different realm? Like Alice in Wonderland?"

He's pretty sure there's at least one version of that story where she walked through a mirror to get there.

[kingsroads]

"Perhaps? I'm afraid I don't know who your Alice is."

Strange came to the carnival from 1817. As such, he's missed out on a LOT of pop culture references that will inevitably happen in the future.

[puddingemote]

"It's a story. A girl goes through a mirror. Lots of weird stuff happens."

The other kids at the orphanage used to say the guy who wrote it was pretty high. Tamaki thinks they're probably not wrong, but he kind of likes the idea of the story, anyway.

[kingsroads]

"Well if the only qualifications are going through a mirror and "weird stuff," then yes, I suppose it is like Alice in Wonderland."

He's not judging Tamaki's explanation, per se...but man, you could have given a few more details.

[puddingemote]

In Tamaki's opinion, he's already given an adequate amount of details.

"Huh. So it is like that." See? He barrels ahead. "Are there weird animals there? Like cats that talk? And hares that drink tea?"

[kingsroads]

How on Earth is that 'weird stuff'? Those are things from a children's bedtime story, they couldn't exist to begin with. Strange looks visibly confused as he continues.

"Er, no. There were some birds? But mostly, the interesting thing was the architecture."

[puddingemote]

And almost immediately, this is boring again. Architecture. Wow.

"Is that the only thing?" There has to be something else, for Strange to even want to go in, right?

[kingsroads]

"Well it was in a different realm," said in a 'duh Tamaki' sort of tone of voice. "That's interesting enough."

[puddingemote]

"So's this, and there's more interesting stuff here," said in an equally 'duh Strange' tone. "There's dreams that come to life and stuff, in the last place."

[kingsroads]

"I wasn't at the carnival for that stop," he admits, with a little frown. Which is a damn shame because it sounds awesome. "What was it like?"

[puddingemote]

"I wasn't allowed outside the gate." His bark is far worse than his bite; Tamaki isn't up for fighting anything, even if he claims he can hold his own, so he wasn't able to go exploring beyond the carnival grounds. It was dangerous, out in the Dream Realm. "But we all had to sleep under dreamcatchers. Dreams and nightmares would get caught in them. They said if they didn't get caught, they would get big and kill us."

Luckily, nothing too dangerous happened, at least not to Tamaki.

[kingsroads]

"Do you know if anyone still has their dreamcatchers from that world?" Because it sounds like an interesting thing to examine. Obviously they were magic of some sort, if they worked the way Tamaki said they did. But what kind were they?