⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[kingsroads]

Now that they're closer, Strange's eyes are drawn to the scars on Lambert's back and he just blatantly stares at them. He can tell the signs of freshly scarred over wounds thanks to his time in the peninsula. And that's what these are. Multiple small and jagged scars as if...as if Lambert was flung backwards into a wall covered in sharp icy spikes and jagged protrusions.

Oh damn. Strange knows precisely how Lambert received those scars. Incapacitate before a swift kill. That was his strategy while brainwashed, and now Strange is viewing the results of his actions. Still, there's a little part of him that hopes this is some sort of ritual nonsense and not his brainwashed actions, so he has to ask. So, Lambert's grin is matched with a concerned expression from Strange. He's still wearing his bathrobe, but it's loosely tied around him.

"Did I--" Did I do that, he wants to ask. But he stops himself at the last minute, choking down the words. Strange asks instead, "Those scars on your back. Are those from Portland?"

[whattaprick]

This may come as a surprise to Strange, but Lambert doesn't actually spend a lot of time thinking about his back, much less remembering other people can look at it too. His expression turns briefly quizzical -- he has a lot of scars, Strange, which ones are you talking about -- before comprehension dawns.

"What these?" He reaches his hand over his shoulder, absently touching the few scratches he can reach, like he'd already forgotten they were there. In a sense, he has -- they look nastier than they are, and his only concern is if the scar tissue could limit his range of motion.

"Yeah, from the Count's castle. Fucker should've sucked it up and dodged that move. Could see it coming from a mile away." There's nothing but irritation in his voice for the person he'd been, and little respect for the fact that he'd already been injured and working at handicap to start with. That was thanks to his own stupidity too.

"Least he managed not to break his spine."

[kingsroads]

Strange takes a few steps closer, trying to get a better look at the scars. They were already healing so they couldn't be that bad? Or they were already healing because Steven and Zecora healed them. But on the other hand, Lambert was uninjured enough that he could punch Strange in the face at the end of the ritual fight, so perhaps they weren't as bad as they looked (which looked worse than they actually were, thanks to Strange's massive guilt about the whole thing.)

"You had barely regained your witcher magic and he didn't have any combat training," Strange points out, willing to cut Portland Lambert a little bit of slack. Honestly, the one moment where Portland Lambert was a bit of a badass came as a massive surprise to everyone involved. "Whereas I had at least a little bit of training from the carnival. Besides, I fought in the peninsula." Which barely involve any sort of magical combat to begin with but details details

Without thinking, Strange reaches up and idly traces one of Lambert's Portland scars with his fingers. He's hurt more people than he thought himself capable of since arriving at the carnival, though most of them were vampires. But here, confronted with the consequences of his actions right here physically in his face...he's massively uncomfortable about all of this.

[whattaprick]

"Shouldn't have been there in the first place. I'm surprised he wasn't dead by the first week--"

Lambert cuts off there, because of all the reactions he could have expected, that light, gentle touch on his back isn't what he was expecting, even if he saw Strange telegraphing it a mile away. Strange won't get a chance to do it for long, either, as he almost aggressively shrugs his hand off, a motion that also means turning to face the magician fully.

The witcher opens his mouth to say something, expression doing something with the furrow in his brow and the way he wants to tell Strange to stop looking at him like that -- but it's promptly interrupted by the re-arrival of the fae there to douse them both in scents and who-knows-what treatments, tittering.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but you'll have more than enough time together after your treatment!" One of them tsks, and Lambert huffs in amusement, stepping away from Strange and turning back to table he's supposed to be getting on.

"You heard the lady. Time to take it off." The moment very thoroughly broken, he settles in to wait.

[kingsroads]

Strange recognizes Lambert's expression and is about to get ready to defend himself or defend Portland Lambert buuut the faeries return, effectively killing the mood. The mood's killed even further when one of them raises an eyebrow and gives Strange an 'aw yeeeeeah, you go and get that man' sort of look to which Strange can't help but blush in embarrassment and annoyance.

It's also at this point that Strange realizes this small little moment of bonding happened when Lambert was buckass naked. He flushes even redder and quickly turns around, so as not to see more of Lambert's junk.

"I am, I am," he grumbles at Lambert's teasing. However, the robe stays on until the very last minute when Strange has to take it off so the body wrap (whatever the hell that is) can start.

And...hold the phone, he recognizes one of those smells. "Is that chocolate?" he asks, downright confused. Truth be told, he's had more chocolate in the carnival than he ever had back in England, but it's a distinctive enough smell in the aroma of smells he can't recognize.

[whattaprick]

By then, the witcher's already planted face-down and ass-up on one of the tables, tail curling lazily over his legs while one of the fae drape a towel tactfully over his lower half, his tail twitching lazily.

Strange's interjection, though, is enough to make him look up, peerily lazily over at where the fae are vigorously stirring something in bowls. The smell is certainly unique, Lambert's experience with chocolate is almost purely limited to what he's been able to consume in the Carnival and his fractured Portland memories thereof, and what he does remember is that it's something that goes in the mouth, not on his body. Consequently, his expression is just about as confused as Strange.

He doesn't get much of a change to ask any questions before warm, wet, something is being smeared all over his back, his fae attendant tutting under her breath while his tail tries to rise in alarm.

Do hold still, it's perfectly fine! Lambert would quite like to object that there's nothing fine about being turned into a candied dragon, but he only squirms a little more before he manages to mutter a response.

"And what is this doing for us, exactly? Except making us smell like dessert?"

[kingsroads]

The faerie launches into an in-depth answer that involves a lot of phrases about exfoliation of the skin and removal of dead skin cells and targeting your pores with a micronized invigorating chocolate scrub followed by a detox cream application. It's all very impressive and a little pseudoscience gobbledy-gook.

Strange is kind of buying it. Detox? Well, he certainly needs a detoxification of some sort after Portland, this sounds wonderful as is! And he doesn't think he's ever had his skin exfoliated before (whatever that means) so logically he must be overdue. And the way the warm chocolate mixture feels on his back and the way the faerie's hands press down as she makes certain to smear the chocolate mixture on as much open skin as possible feels downright amazing.

"Whatever it is, it's certainly relaxing," Strange admits, stretching out further on the table like a cat trying to get comfortable. And then for like the fifth fucking time in the past few hours, Strange's feet turn to smoke. Eventually he will get the hang of this.