whattaprick: (crap did i break a nail)
Lambert ([personal profile] whattaprick) wrote in [community profile] lostcarnival2017-02-10 01:41 pm

[open]

Who: Lambert and YOU
Where: The Carnival
When: During the downtime between Atlantis and their next world.
What: Any Witcher worth his salt knows the first thing you should do when you're in an unfamiliar environment: get the lay of the land.

1. not the nurse you're looking for
[ You might have come into the medical tent looking for supplies or something else. If you were looking for Zecora, prepare to be disappointed because there's a scarred man scowling heavily as he clatters around the place, not working on anything in particular.

He doesn't seem to register there's someone else around -- or is he just straight up ignoring you??? ]


2. by the woods

[ With the carnival no longer water-logged, Lambert's taken a walk of the perimeter, even stepped into the edge of the woods, but he hasn't tried to press any further, although he's stood and looked at it for some time.

There's no sense letting his skills get rusty, so he mostly spends the time-- night or day-- sparring invisible enemies, steel sword flashing as he weaves it through the air.

When he's not swinging a sword around, you'll find him sitting on the dirt, legs folded under him and eyes closed. ]


3. getting to know you?

[ Lambert doesn't normally care about getting to know people, but he also normally doesn't stay anywhere longer than a few months, either. And that's at Kaer Morhen, where he can always get blind drunk and fuck off into the woods and kill some drowners if he needs to let off some steam instead of dealing with the other Witcher.

If he's going to be here for a year and a day? He's going to at least need to know names.

So wherever you are, whatever you're up to, you might notice a newcomer watching you for a few moments before he speaks up. ]


So what do you do around here?

4. wildcard!
[ If we discussed a previous scenario or you just want to do something not covered here, go for it! I'll match whatever prose style you go with. ]
atouts: (041; eight of pentacles)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-14 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
He'll never step foot into the medical tent again.

"Some very good friends of mine pointed the way out to me." Which is a very uninformative way of saying his tarot deck had a hand in it, especially since he isn't so inclined to bring them up easily. "What in the world is an ekimmara?"
Edited 2017-02-14 06:22 (UTC)
atouts: (006; l'amoureux)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-14 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
A kind of vampire?

There's more of a reaction to that, beyond what's so far been a fairly careful mask of disinterest, even in spite of the questions. It isn't even much, only a raise of his eyebrows, but it is there. That someone who tracks vampires just happened to wander into the carnival... That's interesting. He won't say so out loud, but it is.

"I planned on it," he says, shrugging and taking a second or two to drink, consider his next question. "And you? You don't seem the sort who would take well to being tricked."
atouts: (010; la roue de fortune)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-14 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Lambert's going to find it to be only increasingly annoying to get longer or even, in this particular case, real answers out of Childermass. It isn't a dislike for the man or anything that keeps him from answering a few of them truthfully, but that if there's information he won't be sharing with Strange, then it's only fair to leave everyone else out in the dark as well.

So to what he asked for, he'll say, "The location of a vast but very much lost treasure trove left behind by a pirate king. You wouldn't know him, but he died a very rich man. Secretive, too, as no one's found where he kept all he stole since his death."

It's utter bullshit, but the problem with that is Childermass has one hell of a poker face. Even if there is a hint of amusement behind it, he still manages to sound entirely serious. Though, since he's hardly given a true answer to that, he'll at least keep from turning the same question back on Lambert.

"You'd normally be trying to stop this, you said?" He'll finish drink number two and pour a third, not feeling any sign of a buzz or being tipsy whatsoever yet. Seems the necklace works after all. Good to know. "And you track vampires. Does most of what you do involve dealing with the supernatural?"

In a more violent way than his deal with the Ringmaster, of course.
atouts: (036; two of pentacles)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-14 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh? Had I known I was in the presence of a baron, I would have gotten one of the better bottles from the kitchen."

See? He can joke. It just happens to be dry and deadpan through and through. It is a ridiculous story, one he didn't expect Lambert to believe in the least, but he isn't about to change it (until he asks again, then it will definitely be a different, entirely fabricated reason).

What he was before the carnival, though, now that does take some consideration. How to put it? He's still reluctant to go around claiming to be a magician, so that's out, which leaves, quite simply, "I was in the service of a magician prior to the carnival, thankfully the sort without monsters being involved."
atouts: (003; l'impératrice)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-15 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, that laugh earns itself an arched eyebrow, as if he himself hadn't thought it that funny, but whatever. If he found it funny, then it was. Suggesting Norrell would have him under a magic contract, however, is apparently what Childermass finds hilarious.

His laugh isn't much like Lambert's at all, more of a soft, amused huff of air before he finishes his third round of whiskey. Yeah, speaking of that particular magician? He's pouring out another one and he isn't being stingy this time.

"No, not at all. He saved those for anyone he considered a threat or wished to be rid of," is at least one answer he can give honestly. His former master's prickliness is hardly a secret to anyone at all. "And you can make up for asking twice by telling me about the magicians in your own world."
atouts: (019; le jugement)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-15 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
One day Lambert will figure out he was cheating on the drinking, but until then! It's not half bad, enjoying decent enough liquor without having to worry about losing his edge. All in all, a fine test of the necklace.

"Of course. What gentleman would ever get their hands dirty?" Or, as Lambert had put it, their magic.

Besides, with Childermass around, there had always been someone else to do that for him. No reason to add that part, though, so he'll go back to listening instead. Overall, it didn't seem too off for what he would have expected, save for that last part. At that part, he can't help but frown and lean forward again, resting his elbows on the table's top.

"But why would he do that?"
atouts: (013; l'arcane sans nom)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-15 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
"I'll make a note never to visit Novigrad, in that case."

It's an idle comment, seeing as chances are Childermass will never step foot anywhere that Lambert is from, but a good plan nonetheless. There's no telling where the carnival might land itself one day. Anyway, he leans back away from the table again, taking his glass with him when he goes, although at this point he's taking his time with his drink.

There's no real rush now that he knows he won't be getting drunk, so...

"And a gentleman in England is not necessarily also a nobleman," he does feel the need to follow up on that particular assumption. He doubts he would have ever been able to address Norrell as 'my lord' without stopping to laugh. "In my own time, that is, although I do not think that would make a great deal of difference to you."
atouts: (018; le soleil)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-15 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
"A country northwest of the continent, on an island," added in case 'just off of the continent' doesn't mean that to Lambert. "Used to be two separate kingdoms, one in the north, one in the south, but it hasn't been that way for a few hundred years now. We do still have a king, but it's parliament that decides what England does now, not him."

There's a lot more he could go on about, but he is trying to summarize, else they'd be stuck talking about the place all day. Not the worst fate, not at all, just possibly of little interest to the other man.

"And yourself? Where would you call home, Lambert?"

There. Back on track with the question total.
atouts: (032; knight of cups)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-15 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Extremely bureaucratic.

"Too mercenary for one place, is it?" He asks without really expecting an answer. Overall, even that isn't much of a surprise to Childermass, although the lack of at least a country or a kingdom is interesting. Was he just something outside of it all? Truly from nowhere at all? "Although you've lost me on what you mean by Path."
atouts: (013; l'arcane sans nom)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-16 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
"And if no one is paying, you just leave the monsters be and continue on?" Childermass asks after a moment of thinking on that. It's not as though he'll judge Lambert if the answer is, in fact, yes, he would just continue on his merry way, but he is curious to know.
atouts: (019; le jugement)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-16 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Only if you count certain people among the monstrous," he answers with a shrug. Faeries, too, or at least one he never met himself. What else might come back into England now that magic's returned, even he doesn't know, but that's yet to pass. "England has seen very little in the way of magic and its creatures for some time now."

And then he'll nod towards Lambert's glass.

"What was that you added? Seems odd you'd need to put anything more into whiskey."
atouts: (013; l'arcane sans nom)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-16 06:49 am (UTC)(link)
It won't, but that, too, falls into the gray area of what Childermass can and cannot say. Anything he tells the others could still make its way to Strange and so all he does is say, "What I do and do not hope matters little in that case."

In particular due to prophecies being involved. Those especially don't care for anyone else's opinion. Magic aside, whether it exists or doesn't exist or is coming back and bringing monsters, he'll raise his eyebrows some at Lambert.

"And I would say that it is rude not to share, but I already suspect rudeness is something you enjoy." Like before when he asked whether Witchers ignore monsters they're not paid to kill, there isn't really any air of disapproval here, either. More like a fact he's decided to state out loud.
atouts: (018; le soleil)

[personal profile] atouts 2017-02-16 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Depends on who you talk to," Childermass says without one damn hint of worry. Apparently, Lambert's warning either doesn't hold water to the man or he really does think he can handle it (which he does, actually, but that'll be the surprise). He catches the bottle Lambert slides his way and takes a moment to hold it up, get a good look at it, before giving a sort of half-shrug to himself — like saying 'all right, whatever' without actually saying it — and opens it.

Less goes into his drink than he saw Lambert pour into his own, of course. He'd been told the necklace can only handle so much poison and, with it hidden away as it is, he can't exactly keep an eye on it for any dangerous color changes.

"Used for alchemy how, if I might ask?"

Sure, he's about to drink literal poison, but he's also still going to carry on with the conversation casually as he closes the bottle again and slides it back to Lambert. It's only after that that he'll drink the rest of his whiskey, White Gull and all.
Edited 2017-02-16 14:52 (UTC)

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