lostcarnival | (no subject)

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Who: Jonathan Strange & Jimmy Novak
Where: Jimmy's trailer
When: shortly after Strange's network post
What: let's get drunk and talk about death!
Warnings: ...they're going to get drunk and talk about death.

Strange had no idea just what he had 'borrowed' from the cookhouse tasted like. It was a liquor, of some sort, and it had a high proof but honestly, he has no idea how you could make alcohol taste like whipped cream to begin with. This must be some sort of faerie thing. After all, the sweetest alcoholic beverages he's had were wine and champagne.

So, here he is, bottle in hand, as he approaches the trailer. Hopefully this would suffice for something strong, Strange really has no idea how strong or weak the alcohol actually is. It'd be poor form to open it before meeting with Jimmy, after all.

And then, for once, Strange pauses, thinks, and knocks on the door to Trailer #12. Occasionally he has moments of insight like 'don't just shove yourself into the trailer of the guy who you're trying to get information from.' He can summon up enough restraint to knock and wait.

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"I don't know what the fringe elements do because I wasn't in control when I met them. And technically, I didn't even meet them all! I wasn't in control of what my body said, what it did, or where it went. I only remember the two hunters because the angel was practically obsessed with them." Not that Jimmy wants to bring up the Winchesters, but they're tangently related.

"It's like... At the beginning it was like trying to overhear something being said on the other side of a crowded room. By the time we were separated? On the other side of a stadium. I can't give you that information because I don't have it."

That actually gets Strange to stop for a moment, pulling him out of his dreams and slapping him back to the reality of the conversation. Is that how it really worked? Was possession that...limiting? Strange had all these ideas of an angel and a human working together, sharing the same body and sharing the same knowledge. After all, there were stories of magicians and faeries working together, why shouldn't it be the same with this? To hear that Jimmy didn't know what the angel knew and could barely experience what the angel in his body experienced to begin with was...disappointing.

So he's going to change the subject before he gets further annoyed!

"Which two hunters? And hunters of what?"

Because with all of this talk of angels and magic and summoning, Strange has a feeling that these hunters don't hunt deer or fox or whatever it is people hunted these days.

"Mostly? Anything supernatural that decides that killing people is a good idea. Shapeshifters, witches, demons... You name it, and there's a hunter that's bound and determined to take it out. They lived out their car, probably had enough arrest warrants to wallpaper your living room with, and were generally kind of sketchy all around." No, Jimmy doesn't have the best opinion of the Winchesters, but who can really blame him? A demon blood junkie and his brother who was pining over his BFF do not a good first impression make.

"So, when you get this pamphlet finished.... What then? Do I read it and see if I can get anything out of it?" Granted, Jimmy was going to read it anyway, but it's a little different if you know there's going to be a quiz at the end of it. "Because that... doesn't sound too bad." Especially if it can give him a little extra in making sure the angel stays gone after Jimmy's done. (And if Jimmy doesn't go into this with a plan, he's going to be all kinds of screwed.)

Strange can't help but wrinkle his nose at the idea of hunters. Mostly because of that whole 'killing witches' thing. He wouldn't consider himself a witch (he is a magician, thank you very much) but his understanding of witches basically boils down to 'someone who has magic' which technically counts as him. And on another note, if these hunters killed shapeshifters and demons, it's entirely possible that they'd think killing faeries would be a good idea, which knocks these hunters down a few more notches in Strange's book.

"I suppose so?" Strange responds, with a little shrug. "My experience with regards to summoning is all with faeries, so I'm sure some parts will have to be adjusted with regards to angels. But if you're looking for specific information with regards to rules of summoning in my world, simply tell me and I'll try my best to explain it."

"Summoning.... Angels?" Jimmy looks at Strange thoughtfully. It hadn't quite hit him before. ".... If you can summon angels, can you banish them?"

Because wouldn't that be useful, when you're trying to convince an angel that he needs to take his whisperings of sweet nothings elsewhere?

"Like, a particularly bothersome one that you really need to convince to go away?" Jimmy has no way to know if Strange's magic will even work on angels from his world, but he's not going into this unprepared.

"I suppose so," Strange remarks, with a little frown. "Logically, it would be taking the components of a summoning spell and just reversing it. Tying the presence of the angel to something more solid than a candle's flame so that when you remove the object from your presence, it removes the angel."

Granted, he hasn't ever done that sort of magic before, but it seem simple enough. Swap things around, take aspects of the spell and reverse it...perhaps he could take the more slightly complex spell he used to summon the king back to his palace and rework those elements for less of a chance of error. He's lost in thought for a moment before he realizes wait, Jimmy's still there, might as well actually say what he's thinking.

"Give me some time to fiddle with the requirements and I believe I might be able to come up with the basics of a banishing spell." Says the man who believes that he can do anything with regards to magic.

"That.... That would be amazing." Being able to tell the angel no, and then be able to shove him off this plane of existence for a while? Sign Jimmy up!

Jimmy starts to say 'if' then looks over at Strange and immediately changes his mind. "When you get a banishing spell worked out, is it possible you could teach me to cast it?" He's trying to avoid looking too enthusiastic at the thought of being able to do that, but with the rest of his plans, it dovetails so well.

Likewise, Strange is trying to avoid looking too enthusiastic. Because actually getting interested in magic is one thing, but wanting to learn magic? He's just straight up pumped that Jimmy wants to learn in the first place. The longer he stays at the Carnival and the longer he deals with all sorts of people, the further Strange gets in his conviction that if you want to learn magic, go ahead and do so.

"It won't happen overnight. I might need to ask the Ringmaster to bring some books about magic from my world to the Carnival. But once I iron all the details out and figure out how best to cast the spell in the first place, it should be easy enough to teach you."

Because Strange, in all his ego, is straight up assuming that he'll get the details worked out eventually. Why wouldn't he?

"Until then, I can teach you some spells I already know, if you wish."

"That would be great." Jimmy smiles. Being able to tell the angel 'no' and have enough weight behind it to banish the angel for a few minutes so he could talk some sense into himself was an amazing opportunity.

"I'd assume we'd be starting with relatively safe magic first?" Jimmy's got a sneaking suspicion that nothing is ever really safe about magic, but smaller spells would be less likely to get him exploded. Again.

"Oh, of course," Strange responds, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Strange's idea of 'safe' might be veeeery different than other people's, but even he knows to not start Jimmy off with horrifically complex magic. "The first spell I ever cast was a spell to see what my enemy is doing. I think it would be quite useful for your situation."

After all, Castiel was obviously Jimmy's enemy--at least, in Strange's eyes it was obvious. Until he learns how to banish the angel, the least he can do is spy on him.

"After that, we can progress to scrying or a more general sort of elemental magic. Hopefully then I'll have at least the rough outlines of the spell completed."

"That sounds like an amazing opportunity. And if you're willing to teach, then I am very interested in learning whatever you want to share." Honestly, this is a huge opportunity. If he can go back with options, and buy himself more time by banishing the angel? Hell. Yes.

"I.... should probably apply for a solo trailer. I've got a roommate, but I think Joker's keeping him working on a new routine or something. I never see him. It'd probably be easier for any late night reading or practice."

"It probably would be best. I've got a roommate as well, and practicing can be a challenge." Of course, Strange's roommate is Lars and rooming with Lars can be a challenge just by itself. Teenagers, man.

"I'll also talk with the Psionic to see about getting some of the supplies needed for your education. Things like mirrors can easily be borrowed from the big top, it's the basin that might be a problem."

Or, at least, he'll get all the necessary supplies once the Celebration, vampires, inevitable rescue trip to hell nonsense is all done. Thanks, vampires.

"And of course I'm willing to teach," Strange adds in, with a small little smile. "At least in my world, it's tradition for someone who wishes to learn magic to become the pupil of a more experienced magician. I just never thought I'd actually be the more experienced magician in the first place."

"Upside of working in the kitchens? I can probably borrow something from there. It won't be pretty, but it'll probably work. Even if I start out learning scrying in a sauté pan." And that gets a laugh out of him from the absurdity of the image.

"But thank you, for agreeing to give me a shot. I have no idea if I'll be any good at it, but you never know until you try, right?" And Jimmy's got a hell of a lot of motivation to try.

It gets a laugh from Strange as well. Scrying out of a saute pan? Well, it could work, one would just look absolutely ridiculous.

But at Jimmy's statement, Strange can't help but smile, giving the other man a small nod. "I don't really care if you end up good or not: you want to learn. That's reason enough for me to try and teach you." Strange is someone who enjoys pushing the limits, taking magic as far as it can go just to see what it can do. The fact that Jimmy's got even the slightest interest endears the other man to him more than Strange realizes. He takes another sip of his water, finishing off the glass, before continuing.

"I'll write out that spell and find all the necessary ingredients before our first lesson."

'That sounds like a plan, and I'll be there, with or without saute pan." Jimmy smiles again, before a thought occurs to him. "... Is there anything I should do on my end, to get ready?"

Pop culture won't help him at all, but it never hurts to ask if there's any prep he needs to do.

"Not that I can think of," Strange responds, with a shake of his head. "I suppose my only advice is try not to get yourself killed or turned into any sort of animal between now and then."

It's very hard to teach magic to something that can't speak in the first place.

"Well, something here seems bound and determined to turn me into a goat, but I'll do my best to avoid going any further down that road than I have to." Jimmy pulls on the side of the knit cap and a long brown ear tumbles out. "Put on the hat at first to try and hide it, since I didn't know yet just how.... extreme some of the changes got here." There's a sheepish look (ha) at Strange at that one.

"I've a feeling that no matter what the change, faerie won't terribly inconvenience us. " Strange widens his eyes slightly, his mirrored eyes catching the lights of the trailer. And then, without flinching, he lightly taps one of his eyes with a clawed finger. It's faint, but the noise is audible, the click of a finger tapping on actual glass.

"My going theory is that my eyes are actual mirrors now, and yet I can see out of them as easily as I could before the change."

"Probably not. As long as we aren't aggressive about how dense we get about things." Jimmy tries to grin a little at that, thinking of the many, many things Sherlock has gotten himself into. And with such amazing variety, too. Never the same frustration twice.

"...... I feel less and less embarrassed about just getting ears and horns the longer I stay. No offense, but I'm getting the feeling I got off super easy with my first change."

Edited 2017-03-13 09:22 (UTC)

"None taken," Strange responds, with a shake of his head. "Technically, my first change was my claws. I don't know how I would have coped if I grew something like a pair of wings a week or so after arrival."

There were so many people here who weren't entirely human anymore: horns, wings, extra arms, extra eyes. It was distracting at first, but now...now Strange had to admit that he was growing used to the idea. He supposes that only goes to show just how used he's gotten to this place in a month or so.

"I'm... honestly kind of glad I never got wings. I think I would have reacted badly." Jimmy grimaces, figuring that it would have ended about as well as the tentacles in Atlantis started.

"But this..." The grimace fades into a tired smile. "I can't thank you enough for this chance. I honestly can't." At this point, he's getting close to embarrassing himself, but this is giving him a chance to tilt the odds in his favor.

"Don't thank me until you actually learn something," Strange responds, with a little tease. Getting up from the counter, he pushed his chair in.

"As for our first lesson...give me a few days time to scrounge up all the necessary ingredients. We can meet wherever for practice, so perhaps the big top? There's certainly enough space there for us to practice."

Except the Celebration and vampires and going to hell happens so that first lesson miiiiight happen further along than they expected.

"Fair enough. I'll see you in a couple of days, then." Jimmy stands as well, to see Strange out. "And I do mean it. Thank you for the opportunity." It's gushing a little, but he doesn't care.

And after Strange leaves, if Jimmy decides to engage in a little bit of celebratory dancing, well, that's all up to him.

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