lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

Entry tags:

⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 138 - Day 152
Where: The Summerlands
What: The Ringmaster brings the carnival to the Summerlands immediately after being freed from Portland so that everyone can take a fucking nap. Her included.
Warnings: Individually marked! Most likely discussion of torture and trauma in here.

DAYS OF SUMMER↴

You made it! And things are back to normal... more or less. Upon waking, you will be greeted with a clear blue sky and gentle breeze – the carnival has found itself situated between a pair of mountain peaks, with great fields of flowers extending in the distance. In the other direction, you’ll see mountain-top cities and tall waterfalls accenting vast swaths of forest.

Some of you will already know this place. It’s the Summerlands. You game here once to rest in safety nearly a year ago, and now you’ve come to rest once again.

► WAKING UP: Shortly after the carnival arrives, the Ringmaster will send out a somewhat cryptic radio message - but her immediate location won't be clear. Whatever items you had on your person at the time the Severing was broken will still be on your person, including whatever clothing. All of the animals and pets of the carnival will have returned to the grounds as well, though they are currently free from their designated living spaces. Things in the carnival will appeared to have naturally aged a month, as if the carnival was been sitting here empty and waiting while everyone was in Portland. The lawn needs mowing.

► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, they will welcome you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but they will not be particularly offended if they are turned down, for now.

► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will mostly enjoy the company of any carnival members that offer it - it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do.

► NEW ARRIVALS: Though the Ringmaster will not be offering much guidance for the first week or so, eventually the carnival will begin running for a few small performance sessions, off and on, as a thank you to their fae hosts. The carnival will also be open to receiving new arrivals during that period, and so there will likely be some newbies to train and get orientated as well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Strange's breath tips Yuya off faster than his words, and after a whiff Yuya's leaning back with his face scrunched in distaste.

He's not sure if this is really the best way to be in better spirits, but... as long as Strange is laughing, Yuya will hold his tongue to the obvious. "I didn't know you danced. You're having fun?"

If he's having fun, maybe that's what they need right now. After everything.

If it wasn't the Fae who did this.

"Of course I dance," Strange remarks, with a bit of a laugh. He leans back slightly, steadying himself with his hands as he doesn't really have a pillar to lean against.

"Back in England, Arabella and I went to various parties. It was expected, as I was a magician for the government and even more expected since my mentor wasn't the sort to attend those kind of events. Most of the parties and salons just involved idle chit-chat, people wanting to be seen talking with the right person. But a lucky few of them involved dancing."

His tone is nothing but nostalgic and a small smile lingers on Strange's face as he talks of happier times. One of the fae looks over to Strange with a questioning frown. He makes a waving sort of 'go ahead' gesture and they start back up the dance without him. Really, it's nice to sit for a while. Everything's still so spinny.

Edited 2017-08-03 04:14 (UTC)

Yuya shifts so he isn't having to look over his shoulder at Strange as he leans against the pillar. Alcohol aside, he does look awfully content. It's enough to elicit a smile from Yuya as well--everything has been so serious, especially with people worrying over him. He understands it, but it's nice to be surrounded with far more positive feelings.

He does still glance aside every so often at the Fae as Strange talks, but it becomes less suspicious and more enjoyment as they spin around.

"Who's Arabella?" His wife, of she's attending so many parties with him?

"She's my wife. We haven't been married all that long, less than ten years, but we've known each other since we were children."

Strange's mood softens even more as he talks about Arabella. It's obvious just from his tone and the slightly dopey smile that's planted on his face that this is a man madly in love and in serious danger of yammering on to Yuya about his wife for the rest of the hour.

"I wish you could meet her. It's selfish of me to say that as I don't think she would like it here all that much--but then again, she hated most things that put me in danger."

That's probably fair, nobody liked seeing their loved ones in danger. Strange is really, really obvious about how much he loves her, though. Even to Yuya, who generally puts such things to the back of his mind. That's a lot more adorable than he expected from him.

"Aww," his tone is only a little teasing. "At least it's not like you're missing for a year to her, right?"

There's so much more context that Yuya needs. But the whole story is very long and very complicated. There's no way to sum up 'well I thought my wife was dead and came to the carnival to try and bring her back but then my friend from my future told me that she was actually held captive in the land of faerie' without so many more questions raising their head and this conversation diving into Strange attempting to explain this entire bit of nonsense.

"That is a small comfort," he'll admit, still a bit lovestruck just by thinking of Arabella. "And truth be told, I'd rather I suffer though us not being together than Arabella suffer though it. Like you said, it's only a year."

It's a very complicated situation, but the way he talks about missing her only leads Yuya to the next most obvious question. "What did you join the carnival for, anyway?"

If he signed on willingly he probably knew that time wouldn't pass and he was secure here... but then, what was worth him being separated from his wife for so long even for that?

Then again, this is the guy who was letting a Mushi suck on his life force just to see what it'd do, so maybe he didn't need much of a reason at all.

There's a pause as Strange tries to find a way to answer this that'll satisfy Yuya's curiosity but keep him from asking more questions--which is really hard because he's having even more trouble thinking than usual.

"I asked the Ringmaster for knowledge of a powerful spell that was performed back home. Of course, I've now found out that I don't need that knowledge, but I don't regret signing on in the first place."

Meeting new people, exploring new worlds, pushing his magic to achieve things he never thought possible...it's worth it.

Edited 2017-08-03 21:32 (UTC)

Yuya's expression turns a little wry at that. He remembers how Strange's pursuit of powerful magic went in Portland.

"I didn't really think about what it was going to be like to be with the carnival for a year." He looks out to the dancing fairies. "I didn't think it was going to be that, but it's still worth it. And now that it's over things don't feel so bad."

Strange can't help but laugh, looking over at Yuya with a grin. His head lolls to one side in the way that drunk people do when they've mentally decided that their head's too heavy to remain upright.

"I don't think that any of us thought of things like...digital worlds or Pokemon or hell when we signed on for the carnival."

And thus Yuya learns that the carnival went to hell that one time.

Yuya stares at Strange as he laughs, mostly out of amusement--maybe a little worried because the alcohol is so strong but as long as he seems not sick, that's fine.

And Portland was pretty hellish for a lot of them, wasn't it?

Wait, the phrasing didn't sound quite right for that to be Portland. "What was that last one?"

"Hell. There was this whole business with the celebration but the long and short of it is that the carnival made a pit stop to hell."

And then, as if this makes perfect sense, Strange continues blabbering on, not realizing in the slightest that poor Yuya probably has no idea what he's talking about.

"We didn't perform there, of course, but there was all that nonsense with the vampires that needed to be taken care of."

Gongenzaka mentioned the vampires, but he didn't mention they were vampires in hell. No wonder he was so rattled about it

"The Ringmaster doesn't really pick a lot of safe locations, does she?" One of the fae offers a hand to the pair to draw them back into the dance, but Yuya sheepishly waves her off. Is this just how the fae are? Does she overestimate the power of mere mortals?

"If they always end up this violent, maybe we should change some things. A carnival is supposed to bring happiness!" Not traumatize half the workers.

"Some of those choices weren't her fault," Strange explains, with a dismissive wave of his hand, jumping in almost instantly to the Ringmaster's defense. "We went to hell out of necessity, not as a choice."

Though...Yuya's kind of right. The fae certainly have different morality and different beliefs on what's dangerous, something that Portland only further showed Strange. Still, he's got faith in the Ringmaster. She has their best interests in heart. And after all, it's no good having a carnival where all your performers are traumatized.

"To deal with the vampires?" Maybe expecting the carnival to bring smiles to hell is a bit much. Well, he can't blame Strange for defending the Ringmaster. He probably knows her better. And after dealing with the fae in Portland, she's definitely a leg up.

Speaking of those fae--"Uh, how are you doing anyway? I know not everyone held back." He seems in good spirits, but that doesn't say anything for his physical state.

He nods at Yuya's question. He's about to go on and give Yuya a very rambling and slightly nonsensical anecdote of their time in hell, before he changes the subject.

Fun fact: Strange is not doing fine in the slightest, as shown by that whole drunk in the afternoon sort of thing. (Though regrettably, he's finding that he's shifting from 'fun drunk' to 'oh god alcohol was a bad idea drunk' the longer they talk.) Denial isn't just a river in Egypt and acknowledging the trauma that happened to you is for suckers.

"Yuya," he states, before saying the kid's name again because it's kind of fun to say and these are the things he's thinking about apparently. "Yuya, I'm fine. Perfectly wonderful. My chest hurts but that's only from Psionic's, erm, psionics. Besides, you are the one we should be worried about." It's said as he points at Yuya in a way that's a tad too dramatic, even for Strange's normal standards.

Unfortunately, said dramatic point means that Yuya can easily see the mirrored scratches marking up Strange's wrist.

Those scars catch the light easily, and Yuya's eying them as Strange gestures. But then her turns the conversation back around, and Yuya's distracted from his worry to defend his own health.

"I'm fine!" He pumps his fist in the air, though the energy is weaker than he means it to be. "They said I'm gonna recover and it's not physical, I don't need to stay in bed all day."

And, well, nothing more needs to be said for his emotional wounds. He's done his crying for today.

Considering that Strange regularly pushes himself out of bed and forces himself to get going when he isn't fine, this means that he should be able to realize that Yuya's doing the same thing. However, insight is for suckers, so he's taking Yuya's words at face value, though with a little frown of his own.

Though not physical...that's interesting. And then it hits Strange that really, he has no idea what happened with Yuya in the first place. Oh, Yuya told him that he was the catalyst, but Strange never really knew what being the catalyst entailed.

"What actually happened with that whole ritual nonsense?"

Yuya knows he should be in bed anyway, he just refuses to.

"Well.." Yuya brings a hand to his chin as he gauges how to explain it. "Since I was willing to do the ritual, the angels didn't have to drain all my blood." It's so much more effective when the person being sacrificed it willing, incidentally.

"So instead, my soul was used as a catalyst with the power of the Earth spirit. It was going to be with the pendant, but because the spirit was in Peridot she was able to join the ritual in its place. So Yugo took Pru's sword, did some sort of ritual dance, and then stabbed us."

Oh, so the Earth Spirit was in Peridot? That made sense. Something had to make her get large and scary, might as well be that. Though there is one more question that Strange wants to ask.

"Who's Pru? Was she the one I threw a fireball at?" She was an important looking lady with some sort of weird soul weapon and really, that's all Strange knows about Pru and her role with the angels.

Yuya nods, his gaze wandering from Strange's arm back to his face. His shadow, however, seems to lean over slightly like it's still trying to get a look.

"Yeah, she was leading the angels in Portland, I think? And she was taking them to break the Severing... which, uh, was supposed to keep the Summer Court from taking it over for the fae."

He purses his lips, because that's a harsh thing to admit to the guy who was just aligned with them, but... he thinks Strange should know everything about those people. "The angels are there to protect the world from being invaded, though, so now that they can reach heaven again they'll be strong enough to protect it."

If Strange takes offense at Yuya calling out the Summer Court for trying to take over the planet, it doesn't show on his face.

"The problem now is that if the angels can reach heaven, then the fae should also be able to reach faerie or Arcadia or whatever the name of that realm is. I'm afraid the angels are going to be in for a bit of a fight."

Which is probably a bit of an understatement.

"I know, but I believe they can do it." He has to have faith in the people he helped. "The Severing had to go anyway, so it's not like there was a lot of choice... for the Earth Spirit or for us. Most of us would rather be who we really are, and not who we were there."

"Trust me," Strange grumbles, with a roll of his eyes, "I'm happy the damn thing's gone and happier that I'm myself again."

Someone might still be a little bit bitter with regards to the Portland everything. That man was a terror and Strange is far too happy to put the Portland nonsense behind him and return to being...well, to being himself.

"I think most of us feel that way." Even though Yuya's life in Portland wasn't traumatizing, he'd take all the pain he really did go through for the stuff that he has in his... real life? More real than Portland, anyway.

And he suspects no one more than Strange is glad to be rid of that life. "... She didn't hurt you too badly, did she?"

Because brainwashing is pretty screwed up, you know. So is losing control of yourself.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject