lostcarnival | what's cooler than being cool? ice cold

Entry tags:

what's cooler than being cool? ice cold

Who: everyone!
What: hey wait a minute, why's it suddenly cold oh for fuck's sake Strange...
Where: the carnival + Alola
When: all of day 76!
Warnings: none, will edit if needed

the Carnival
Surprise, it's now winter.

Starting from the early hours of day 76, the Carnival is covered in snow, the temperature rapidly dropping from 'nice' to 'freezing.' Patterns of frost cover everything and icicles dangle from most buildings. Try to be careful as you're walking around, patches of the ground are frozen over and incredibly slick. Nobody be that dumbass who tries to stick their tongue to the ferris wheel, you're just going to regret it later. Enjoy the fact that almost anything that used to be a liquid is now frozen solid. All in all, it's like someone flipped a switch from summer to winter--there was absolutely no sign something like this would happen in the first place. Why not ask around to see what's up? Or, just enjoy the change of weather and pelt your friend in the face with a snowball, that's also an option. The Carnival re-enacting the plot of Frozen lasts all day, though things finally start to melt and/or magically vanish once dusk settles.

For all you vampires who've slept through most of this, the effects of winter still linger a bit after the faerie's vanished, though in slowly diminishing form. The temperature's a bit warmer and some of the liquids have started to melt, but it's still a bit uncomfortable. It's hard to clean up an entire magical wintery hellscape by yourself, okay?

Alola
Due to the way the Carnival drops people in Alola, it's entirely possible to miss the fact that something weird's going on at the Carnival. Still, some of the winter wonderland manages to seep it's way into the tropical paradise. For most people, the changes are noticeable but easily dealt with. The temperature drops to something more chilly but not downright freezing. Occasionally there are small flurries of snow, but they'll end up melting fairly quickly. Locals are downright confused, mentioning that really, it shouldn't be this cold, this weather is weirdly unseasonable.

Also, what's that weird little ice fox that keeps showing up? More and more ice Pokemon feel a little bit braver thanks to the cold temperatures and are willing to venture out into areas that ice Pokemon might not normally live in. Go train all your fire cats by having them beat up the sentient ice cream cones, everybody.

( ooc: here is the relevant ooc post! This is an open mingle-style log, so feel free to create your own threads, tag around & have some fun! )

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"Well, that might still be useful, if Pea smells candles in a place where there aren't supposed to be any. And being able to speed through checking the candles might be worth looking into, if we're not having any other luck finding it." It's a lot of long shots, but it's more shots at fixing this.

Jimmy does stop when Strange stops to cast what he assumes to be some sort of location spell. Without very good results, it seems. "Anything I can do to help? Besides helping you look, I mean."

"Not that I can think of. I'd suggest scrying magic but as you haven't met the faerie himself, I doubt it would be much use." And after this debacle, Strange is firmly on team 'let's be as specific as possible.' Jimmy can tell he appreciates the question, though. Aside from the glare whenever his magic doesn't work, some of the hostility is just slowly vanishing from Strange's overall demeanor.

"How are you coming along with practice, by the way? I know the past week or so has been chaotic."

What with hell and everybody coming back from hell and some people coming back from hell as vampires.

"No... Not really. Running around all day and I get back to my bunk and pass out." Jimmy winces at telling Strange that, but it has been all kinds of crazy. "And that's on top of getting the hellbats set up in the smokehouse out back." He pauses, glancing towards the back door. "How resilient is this candle?"

He can't help but wince. Strange has been keeping away from the hellbats, but he can just imagine how tough it would be to wrangle them into something even remotely resembling domesticity.

At Jimmy's question, he shrugs. "I assume more resilient than expected due to the magic. The faerie will want to keep the candle burning and in one piece as long as possible, so it wouldn't do anything to mess things up."

Jimmy nods. "A quick peek into the smokehouse, then. That's where we ended up housing them... I should probably check on them anyway. Give them an extra few scoops of wood chips." Probably while Strange is searching the kitchen. "But first is getting everyone fed."

Quick is definitely best, and Jimmy starts by giving Pea some cold chicken on a paper plate. It may not be the best in the long term (his book has a recommended recipe for the best food for rock types, Jimmy just hasn't had a chance to make any yet,) and muffins and coffee for himself and Strange.

"Eat up, I'll get the bowl and the brush, and then we'll be off again."

Strange is already casting a spell, muttering under his breath the spell of disillusionment as Jimmy sets out the food. It quickly becomes apparent that Strange is only eating when Jimmy's watching him. Any moment where the other man turns away or pays attention to the dog, Strange'll start muttering again, changing the spell around, trying to see if a different variation or a different way of phrasing things helps reveal anything he's missed.

It's during one of those moments where Jimmy is watching Strange that he actually goes for the coffee. He takes a sip of the coffee and frowns a little. It's colder than expected. Which, granted, he should have realized, it's cold as hell, but that's still a bit of a disappointment.

"I believe I'll stick with the muffins," he can't help but add, with a frown. Of course, his muffin is only half-eaten right now.

At least Strange is eating something. Jimmy will take it, even if it's just half a muffin. Jimmy himself will opt for the cold coffee and the muffin. After a sip and a grimace at how chilled it is (cold enough to be kind of gross, but not cold enough for an iced coffee.) Maybe Strange had a point.

"This candle? What's it look like? Anything unusual about it? And.... what did you call up that did this?" He turns back to face Strange as he asks. "And why?" You don't call up something like this without a reason.

"I summoned a faerie. I don't know the specifics of the creature, just that it has an ice affinity and that it wasn't the faerie I was trying to summon in the first place." To Strange's credit, he does look a bit guilty about the fact that whoops, he straight up summoned the wrong faerie.

And now that he's answered the first question, here comes the point where Strange gets a bit cagey! There's obviously a lot more to this story, there's plenty that he isn't actually telling Jimmy (why would he summon a faerie in the first place?), but Strange becomes a bit more intent on finishing his muffin than actually answering the second question. You can't talk if you have food in your mouth, after all, and the simple question of 'why' has such a long answer that really, Strange isn't sure he wants to bother Jimmy with.

Jimmy nods slowly, a small frown on his face. He's not buying it, but mostly because Strange doesn't strike him as someone that would be that reckless with something he took so seriously.

"That... Why would you summon another faerie here?" Strange looking for ways to dance around or avoid answering completely is not a good sign."No, really, Strange. Why?"

"I tried to summon the one who kidnapped my wife." And then it all just starts coming out. As Strange explains to Jimmy, his tone is equal parts sadness and straight up tiredness. It's already been a long day and he's very cagey about giving Jimmy an actual explanation.

"I thought Arabella was dead. It turns out that she had been kidnapped by a faerie and what I thought was her, the thing I buried, it was something else entirely. I tried to summon the faerie that took her to win her freedom--I ended up summoning the wrong one." Was it a risky move? Yes. Was it far too dangerous? Also yes. Does Strange care about those things? Not in the slightest. It was Arabella. He'd do anything to keep her safe.

Any irritation Jimmy might have felt at the plummeting cold snap melts as he hears why. It's not that Jimmy can relate. Jimmy is in that exact same position. Just playing out on a much longer scale.

"I'm... I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?" The silver lining of Mrs. Strange not being dead was a lovely accent for this massive pile of crap. Not dead, sure. But God only knows where she was. "Besides helping you find the candle, I mean."

"I'm afraid not," he remarks, with a shake of his head, "though I appreciate the sentiment."

Because really, what could Jimmy do? He was learning spells of scrying and banishment, after all, neither of which would be much help in finding Arabella. She was in an entirely different realm to begin with and magic crossing realms was damn hard. The only reason Strange could do it this time was due to the effects of the potion. No, he appreciates the sentiment, but as for what Jimmy could actually do, it was slim to none.

"Keeping an eye out for that candle would be the most helpful thing you could do right now anyway."

Jimmy frowns worriedly at Strange, but nods. "Alright then. Let's go find your candle. But if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know." He can't help but wonder if this is what Amelia went through when he vanished, too.

"Was this faerie any help? Or did it show up and jerk you around?" The latter's kind of assumed, given the amount of snow falling.

"The latter." It...is pretty obvious that it's the latter, considering that the carnival is still frozen and everything's still cold, but Strange is specifying anyway.

"It didn't even tell me that I summoned the wrong faerie--which is to be expected, I suppose, but my point still stands." Faeries were always supposed to be capricious, fickle, and self-serving and really, this just 100% helps further confirm Strange's opinions of them. At least he'll be better prepared the next time he summons one.

Jimmy nods. "Even in my world, the classical representations of the Faeries have them being fickle bastards who'd screw you over purely because it was funny." He doesn't think Tinkerbell really applies here, fairy or not. "Sometimes there's the claim of 'teaching someone a lesson' but when your thinking is pretty non-euclidean, it doesn't translate well."

"But, let's see what's in the kitchen, and then get going." A few more minutes of poking around gets him a pair of big mixing bowls and checks the supply cabinets while he's in there.

Strange has stopped eating now, but is instead muttering various things under his breath, casting spells of revealing, spells of disillusionment, spells of all sorts to try and see if any of them actually help. It's very much throwing things against the wall to see if they stick, which is a problem as nothing's really sticking.

And hoo boy does that make Strange slightly irritated. After Jimmy's finished poking around, Strange just sulks, leaning up against the cabinet with a frown.

"It's not here."

Jimmy nods, not really surprised at the candle not being here. Iron is a thing for faeries, and with as much steel appliances and utensils being present in the kitchen, the candle must have been stashed somewhere easier to get to.

"Alright then, we'll keep looking. It's got to be here somewhere, right? And we.... probably want to find it before the Ringmaster finds out. God only knows what she'd do." Probably banish the faerie and turn Strange into something unpleasant, is Jimmy's first thought.

"I'm afraid she already knows," Strange responds, with a weak little laugh. "She's the one who forced me to clean this up in the first place."

Something about dude, you made this mess, clean it up yourself, have fun dealing with all this nonsense. Still, Strange isn't too concerned about what the Ringmaster will do, mostly because they're...not exactly friends, per se, (is anybody here the Ringmaster's actual friend to begin with?) but Strange certainly gets along better with the Ringmaster than other people do.

"Well, that's something, then? That you won't have to worry about her turning you into something because you surprised her with four inches of snow in the middle of June?" Was it June? It was some time in the summer, anyway.

"But it'll be okay. We'll help, and more eyes will make sure it gets found faster." That's what Jimmy hopes, anyway. God only knows where the fae hid it. Having to stay lit limits the hiding places a little, maybe. "It works like a normal candle, right? It cant' stay lit underwater?"

"I've no idea. The faerie put an enchantment on it, after all, and there's so many things one can do with magic."

Strange isn't ruling anything out, mostly because again, magic is a thing, that candle could be anywhere--which is slightly interesting, but mostly way too worrying.

"That's... that's great." Jimmy sighs heavily at Strange's answer. "So it could be literally anywhere, including at the bottom of the lake." He's really, really hoping that he's wrong on that one.

There are thoughts briefly entertained of handing Strange a snorkel and a rock and telling him to start looking, though.

But Jimmy's got his supplies, and Strange is done eating, so he reaches down to give Pea a quick scratch before nodding. "Ready to start looking when you are."

"Then let's begin," Strange remarks, with a small nod. "You're the one who's making snow cream so you pick where we shall look first."

"Let's start with the main area, I can help sweep off the games and events, and you can keep looking." No idea if Strange has even checked the main thoroughfare yet, but it's a start.

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what's cooler than being cool? ice cold

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