lostcarnival | HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

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HELL OF A HANGOVER PT. 1

Who: The people who escaped!
When: Very early Day 66 to Day 67
Where: The Carnival
What: The Ringmaster brings everyone she can back to the carnival after getting kicked out the Celebration, a bit worse for wear. Those that have resolved their threads at the Masquerade can start trickling over here as they sort things out.
Warnings: Angst, mostly likely, as well as potentially graphic injuries.

RETURNING HOME↴

About 45 minutes after the conflict with the vampires begins, the Ringmaster will finally show her face at the Masquerade - and immediately be mortified by what she sees. Though initially mostly confused by the fact that there's been problems over the week, and characteristically obtuse about what's going on, as soon as she realizes the severity of the threat she will launch into action. If the Host managed to miss the combat already going on, they won't be able to miss the Ringmaster tearing up the joint and looking for her people. She's quick to scoop up those that have managed to gather in the dining hall - but unfortunately her arrival seems to be the vampire's cue to retreat.

Her attempt to challenge the Host about this will result in the being finally losing their patience and banishing all the vampires and all of the carnival workers from the premises, forcing them back to the portals they arrived from and launching their remaining belongings out with them. The Ringmaster will be pretty fucking pissed off when they return (once again) and will tell everyone to take the time they need to recover, but to stick together and stay safe for the time being. She has a plan to chase down the carnival members that have been stolen, but it will take time.

► BEER PONG: Apparently the Ringmaster spent the entire week playing a nonstop game of beer pong, against several dozen of the Host's bodies. She hadn't quite won yet when the Masquerade began, so she was late. Whether or not she was caught up in the same spell as everyone else is up to interpretation, but the answer "definitely probably." She won, for the record.

► MISSING: Upon doing headcounts, it will turn out that all the supervisors are missing, as well as several regular workers - a few of which will have been spotted as freshly turned vampires during the fighting. Whether that was the point of the attack or not is unclear, but it's pretty clear that the Ringmaster is a little bit devastated about it - particularly about the supervisors. However, she will refuse to talk to anyone long enough to get into too many details.

► THE PLAN: The Ringmaster will announce that she intends to get everyone back - it's just a matter of figuring out their way back to the dimension they've been stolen off to. She guarantees that she will find it, but that it may take some time. In the end, the workers will have a total of two days to recover and plan - during the evening of Day 67, she will be leading a rescue mission to get them all back. You don't have to come, but lives do depend on its success.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Couldn't sleep," is at least an honest answer, even if he doesn't go into all the various reasons why. Mostly it's the pain, but he's hardly any less guilty of the same crimes as Strange. Keeping what they knew to themselves, regarding the sigil, the vampires, but he also realizes they couldn't have known.

The Ringmaster was supposed to have taken care of it, yet her enemies found them all the same.

He turns back to the cabinet, picking up another bottle and squinting at the fine print in the barely lit lighting of the tent. He, too, knows this is likely only going to end in a very one-sided shouting match. Childermass doesn't have it in him to argue back if it comes to that, but until then, he carries on as he had been before Strange showed up. What else is there to do?

"If you are looking for something to help you there, I do know Zecora keeps potions specifically for sleep, whether you feel up to it or not. It would only be a matter of finding where she stores them."

Strange looks around for a moment, looking over at the table, scattered with various bottles, papers, and—ah ha. A candlestick, complete with halfway melted down candle. Taking the candlestick, Strange mutters something under his breath before the candle magically lights itself, a small flickering flame illuminating their surrounding area. One candle shouldn't be enough light to wake someone up and if it is, he'll just blow the candle out and be on his merry way.

He takes a few steps closer to Childermass, holding the candlestick so that the other man's at least got a bit more light.

"I'm afraid I'm looking for something to relieve pain. Those vampires were stronger than I realized." As such, Jonathan 'no muscle tone, can't throw a punch' Strange got tossed around and pushed around a bit. And look, it's both on their minds. That conversation over cards, when Strange learned about Arabella's true fate from a hella drunk Childermass, that's the elephant in the room and might as well address it.

"You should have told me about Arabella before the Celebration." It's said in a very matter of fact tone. Yes, there might not have been a good time for Strange to have learned about what was really happening back home, but dammit there certainly could have been a better time than what it ended up being.

It's more tempting than anything else to simply suggest raiding the cookhouse for a bottle of wine and doing pain management the old fashioned way, but Childermass knows that's a near week's worth of overindulgence talking and it turns his stomach. It would be too easy to fall back into that pattern, especially since it would suddenly make all of this no longer his problem.

He'll grit his teeth and keep searching instead, the process moving faster now that Strange has brought a candle over. He won't say anything more, giving no reaction to Strange's comment save for a brief pause. It isn't until he's found at least one bottle of something labeled as a painkiller — something mundane, just pills, which is good as Childermass wouldn't trust himself to know anything about Zecora's other potions — and extra strength, to boot. That in hand, he turns to offer it over to Strange.

It's only after that that he will say anything at all and all it is is, "For what little good it does you, sir, I would disagree."

His reasons and excuses don't matter to Strange, so he won't even try to explain himself further. He'll just be formal about it instead.

Taking the bottle, Strange pauses for a moment because his other hand's holding the candlestick, he can't really open the bottle with that. Gently, he sets the candlestick down on a nearby table before turning to bottle of painkillers. Thankfully, the Carnival doesn't have childproof cap technology so he opens the bottle fairly easily, as he continues to fuss at Childermass.

"And when would have been a better time to tell me? When I first arrived, mad and out of my mind? After that nonsense in the Matrix when I was shot? Sometime around now, when we're sneaking medicine from the medical tent in the dead of night after half of our company was kidnapped? No," and here Strange just sighs, glaring at the other man, "I've a feeling if you had your way, I wouldn't have learned about Arabella at all."

Sulking, he turns back to the painkillers...and there's a pause before Strange realizes something. Huh. He's got no idea just how powerful these painkillers are to begin with. Carefully, he slides some of the pills back in the bottle, leaving himself with just one. That'll work for now. He caps the bottle, then hands it back to Childermass.

The bottle back in hand, Childermass isn't as inclined to fiddle with it himself right now. It's almost without even thinking about it that he pockets the bottle instead, as though planning to take off with the entirety of it. Initially, he had not. He'd only planned on finding something that might work and pocket a little, but—

It doesn't cross his mind that he's done that, actually, since he only moves on to giving Strange a tired look. He may not be as drained as the other magician, but this conversation is not one he's been looking forward to.

"And you would be correct. Had I found you before you made your deal, it might have been different," he'll admit that much. By the time he'd found Strange wandering the mirror maze, it had been too late and he can't think of any way to void one of the Ringmaster's contracts. "Though I suspect even then, chances would have been slim. You have had the most unfortunate timing in this."

Strange can't help but roll his eyes slightly. Of course he's had the most unfortunate timing, no shit he's had the most unfortunate timing, he knows all that much already! He's no idea just how far ahead Childermass is in his future but Strange has a feeling that if he arrived at the carnival just a few more days in his future, things would be entirely different.

He pops the painkiller, swallowing it dry before he starts speaking again, a slightly halting tone in his voice.

"Your precious timeline's torn to shreds as is...at least tell me if I manage to save her." He's still angry at Childermass. He still so angry and hurt that the man thought keeping the truth about his wife from him was a good idea to begin with. But what really matters in the situation, at least to Strange, is Arabella. He doubts Childermass will actually tell him if Arabella's safe--the man's done nothing but keep secrets, why act differently now? But God how he needs to know if he'll save Arabella or if she's still trapped in Faerie at Childermass's time.

Childermass regards Strange for a moment, only a brief moment, though he finds he can't quite meet his gaze for long. Maybe there is some guilt there, in a man who is usually so bloody stoic towards the world around him. He isn't enjoying keeping secrets from him, but what else can he do?

Instead of answering right away, he leaves the doctor's cabinet behind and picks up the same candle Strange had set down. It's only to blow it out, however, before it's set back on the table.

"Perhaps," he says after he's plunged the tent back into the same near darkness from before. He turns to go, brushing past the other magician as he does and adding with a sigh, "It may very well be just that, so do not expect me to say anything that might only make it worse."

It's the non-answer to end all non-answers. Do I save my wife is met with a resounding 'maybe.' It's entirely Childermass and entirely aggravating all at the same time. And really? He should have expected this. When had the man ever given him a straight answer? Even now, with something that Strange views as a really simple question, Childermass refuses to answer.

Though really, in his desperate optimism and clinging to hope, Strange really wants to interpret 'may very well be just that' as 'totally is just that.' But surely Childermass would have actually told him if he saved his wife, wouldn't he? Maybe?

As the other man turns to leave, Strange clenches his fist, nails digging into his skin as he turns to look at Childermass. Oh no. He's not going to let Childermass leave just like that. Strange follows him towards the exit, still trying to keep things quiet because again, medical tent, but also trying to show Childermass just how annoyed all this secrecy's making him. "I don't see why you're so scared of actually telling me what happened. Is it truly that bad or are you truly that stubborn?"

Strange can translate that however he chooses, though it is the timeline Childermass had more in mind than Mrs. Strange. It could be changed, it could not be. He will never know until he sets foot back in England. Will he even notice, if it has? Will he remember the different past, if he finds a new present?

But that's a very long rabbit hole to get lost down, just thinking about it, and he just doesn't have the energy for it right now. So when Strange follows him to the entrance and, provided he continues following, back out through the flap — if this becomes an argument, he may as well put them outside now. It's only outside the tent that he'll stop again and turn back to answer.

"Must you keep asking why?" His rough voice snaps, patience finally wearing thin. "I know my own future does not mean anything to you compared to that of your wife's and that is as it should be, but you cannot expect the same of me."

He does continue to follow Childermass out the back, through the flap, further away from the tent. Once they're further enough away and Childermass turns on him, Strange's glare just hardens. It's true, though. Not once in their time here has Strange asked Childermass about what happens in Childermass's future. Is it a bit callous? Maybe? But then again, if their positions were swapped, he's not so sure Childermass would want to know about his future to begin with.

"You knew she was trapped in Faerie," he accuses, in a low voice. "I understand that you might know the full scope of Arabella's situation, but you certainly know more than I do!" Which still manages to cut him to the core. He should have been a better husband. He should have been more attentive to the matter, he should have done something to prevent her from being kidnapped.

"If you have no idea if I've rescued her or not, then say so. Otherwise I've plenty of reason to assume you know, but you won't tell me."

The struggle here is he does know. That he does want to tell him he's saved his wife, too. It would give the man some peace, even if there's not much to do for peace of mind, the way he's gone and messed himself up. Would Strange improve if he knew? But at what cost, if he told him?

Childermass looks away, around them, searching uselessly, perhaps, for the carnival to give him an answer or at least something to focus on besides the other magician. In the end, there's, of course, nothing. It's pointless. He has settled on an answer in that time, though, and when his gaze lands back on Strange, he closes the distance between them with a few short steps. There, he asks, words quiet and urgent, "The box. Do you have the box yet?"

That's the important part. That's the key. He won't explain what the box is or what he means by it (he isn't even sure how he had come by it in the first place, so he can't even say that much), but he needs to know that first. That's the decider, that's what he'll gamble this on. If he already has it, then...

He doesn't have it.

As Childermass asks about the box, Strange is just downright confused, something that's 100% apparent on his face. A box? Is he supposed to have a box? What sort of box, would there be anything in it? He wracks his brain, trying to think of what box Childermass might be talking about, if there's anything back in Venice that he owns that would be box-shaped and if there is, would Childermass know about it to begin with.

He's coming up with nothing. Strange honestly has no idea what sort of box Childermass is talking about in the first place.

"I'm terribly sorry," Strange starts, 100% serious in his tone. After all, whatever this box is, it's obviously important to Childermass and Childermass might be disappointed when Strange tells him the truth. "But I've no idea what you're talking about."

It's not disappointment that will show on his face, only a very brief flicker of worry and then he's stepping away again, settling on what course of action to take. He must be callous, it seems, to Strange's desperate plea and if there's anything Childermass excels at, it is that.

"Then I will not say anything more," he tells him, resolute this time. If he had already had the box — already had Lady Pole's finger, to be more exact — he has no doubt it would have found its way to him one way or another, Arabella's fate known or not. He does not, so he will say no more. "I wish you a good night, Mr. Strange, if you can find any good in it at all."

Doubtful, but hey. He can't just turn and leave without at least making some vague attempt at politeness, though he is definitely turning to go once he has.

And as he turns to leave, Strange turns to follow Childermass because look, he introduced a new element in the already complex story of his future, Strange wants to at least make an attempt to find out what this box is and why it's so important in Childermass's eyes. That vague attempt at politeness will be rewarded with yelling.

He's making the attempt to follow even if he's pretty certain this will end up with Childermass not telling him anything, Strange yelling for a bit, and both men returning to their trailers later, Strange to sulk, Childermass to...do something. It's annoying how repetitive this is getting.

"Can't you stop being so needlessly secretive for once in your life? What on Earth does a box have to do with all of this?"

"To better decide what point you are at, nothing more," Childermass will at least answer him with something, rather than simply saying nothing at all as they leave the medical tent behind. At least they won't have to worry about waking anyone up now. "I only have so much information to work with."

"Well then ask me. If you want to know what I was up to in Venice, if you want to know what I was doing before I arrived here, ask me and I'll tell you all you need to know."

And then once Strange tells Childermass everything about his situation, maybe Childermass can let slip a few more details about the future. It's highly doubtful, of course, but he's just living on hope with regards to all this future nonsense.

It's undoubtedly a bad idea to show interest, but Childermass does slow down when Strange says that, then outright stops a step or two later. He looks back at Strange, that he's obviously torn between wanting to know or just keep going a more pronounced expression than he normally ever has.

It's always been among those glaring pieces of information he never had. That and what happened within Hurtfew after he left, but he assumes the latter will forever be a mystery...

"Why would you?"

Of course, he isn't about to ask without being suspicious first. Why share with him when he won't share in return?

"Because I've nothing to hide." It's said as if it's the most simple thing in the world. He made no attempt to be secret or hide his movements in Venice. Granted, he may have been a little circumspect about his end goals, but the Greysteels had to have a slight idea about what he was up to. And Childermass knows part of the results already: his madness. He couldn't hide that when he first arrived even if he wanted to.

Besides, if it's not all public knowledge in Childermass's time, then it'll probably be public knowledge soon enough. A mad magician with plans to free his wife from faerie can't stay under the radar forever. And, because if he tells this information to Childermass then maybe, just maybe the man would be more likely to share information himself.

What happened, in the end, wasn't news to Childermass, although whether everyone involved was at all inclined to speak with him is another story. He's pieced together quite a bit, but what Strange actually did in his own time in Venice? Still a mystery, aside from having been in contact with the fairy who'd caused so much trouble and getting the box. How, he may never know, but—

"Of course. You never do, do you?" He says as much with a sigh, not at all expecting an answer to that question. Strange is not only an awful liar but too honest for his own good. He turns back to face him rather than just looking back over a shoulder. "All right, then. What were you been up to in Venice? Before finding the carnival?"

Edited 2017-03-12 20:40 (UTC)

"The long and short of it was that I was trying to drive myself mad. I came upon that plan when I was in England, shortly after I was arrested for breaking into Norrell's house." Which...oh yeah, he's still kind of a wanted man, isn't he. Strange frowns a bit, as if that's the first time that's actually occurred to him (because it has) before he brushes it off and continues.

"Venice was an acceptable climate and far away enough from England that I doubted anyone would come looking for me. While there, I devoted myself to the study of madness. Even if the faerie hides itself from the magician who summoned it, the faerie can be seen by a madman. I met a family there, they Greysteels, who directed me to the company of a madwoman, Miss Delgado." There's a small hint of affection in Strange's voice as he talks about the Greysteels. At least Flora was a wonderful source of companionship in a time when he desperately needed it. She probably had no idea how wonderful just her being there was to him.

"Once in Venice, I met with Miss Delgado. We came to an agreement. I gave her her heart's desire, she gave me an object representative of her madness. The initial effect was...quite strong, but I managed to brew the object down to a tincture I could take to induce more reasonable periods of madness. Under the influence of the tincture, I summoned a faerie: a distinguished looking gentleman with a green coat and hair the color of thistle-down. We briefly talked and I told him I would summon him again the next day to discuss the terms of our arrangement. The next day, before I could summon him again, I stumbled upon the carnival."

Strange finally pauses, as he looks over at Childermass. There it is, all laid out on the table, the story of what he was up to. "I think I've told it all fairly well, but knowing me I've inevitably missed a spot. If you have any questions, ask them."

Okay, that's a lot to sift through, but this is Childermass here. He can manage, picking out the one exact detail he finds of any real importance. Sorry, Greysteels and Miss Delgado, he does not actually care about any of you. The faerie, on the other hand, fits a description he's seen — thanks to Lady Pole's demented little embroidery project — and heard before.

"The gentleman," he starts, closing the distance between himself and Strange with one or two steps. "The faerie you summoned, did you ask him for anything before he left the first time?"

Edited 2017-03-13 00:18 (UTC)

"Not entirely? I proposed an alliance between the two of us to work together and bring that spark back into English magic, much like the Raven King's in times of old." Norrell's had his grip on English magic for long enough. At least in Strange's eyes, it's dusty, boring, and desperately in need of livening up.

There's a pause as Strange mulls Childermass's question over, obviously trying to cast his mind back to remember precisely what happened a few months ago. He squinches up his mouth in a frown as he thinks, seemingly unaware that Childermass has come closer. "He seemed tentative about the idea of an alliance. So, I gave him a few days to think it over and also most likely to research me and my deeds. I did not ask him for anything, aside to consider my proposal." Pause. "Well, I did ask him for a pinch of snuff but told him to disregard it before the request could be granted. I hardly think that counts, though."

"That's all?"

Of course, it has to be, Strange would have shared anything he could recall. Childermass won't sigh over it, that the other magician is likely just one or two days apart from where it might be simpler to tell him what happens. It's frustrating, though.

"And what were you planning to say to him when he returned? Had you thought of that yet?"

"Back home, I was going to ask the faerie to bring Arabella back from the dead." It's obvious to them both why that wouldn't be a practical solution to him now. Strange's face falls a little bit as he frowns in thought. What was he going to ask the faerie now, now that he knew what he knew?

"I suppose now I shall ask him to take me to where Arabella is trapped, or at least provide me the location or name of the faerie who trapped her there in the first place." There might be complicated fae politics or whatever preventing the gentleman from actually doing anything. But Strange is certain that if he at least has the name of the creature who trapped her in the first place, he could find a way to save his wife. Just don't ask him how he's going to do that much.

That, that's what he has been fearing so much. Something has changed. Childermass still has no idea how he came to have the box with Lady Pole's finger in it, only that it must have been in Venice, and now that may never come to pass. He moves to reach out and grasp Strange by the shoulder, but the urge to shake the damnable madman is one he can quash. It won't help, he knows that.

"No," he tells him adamantly. "You must still do what you had planned before, ask him what you planned to ask. Don't you understand? This is why I refused to say anything before. We have no way of knowing if what do won't change how everything is meant to end!"

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one brief scene rewatch via netflix later....

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