[open] december will be magic again

[kingsroads]

Who: everyone!
When: the evening of D15
Where: A small meeting hall on the moon, close to the portal to the carnival
What: a whole bunch of show-offs meet up to show off their magic, people interested in magic come to learn about said magic, and other people show up to see if something inevitably gets set on fire. (aka mage club)
Warnings: none so far, will edit if needed.

The meeting hall is a large open space, with hardwood floors and a rustic decor. A few chairs and tables are scattered around, though there aren't enough for the amount of people who'll hopefully show up. Some food has been set out: mostly finger foods (tiny sandwiches, fruit, veggies & dip) though there are some savory options and plenty of home-baked cookies, courtesy of Rin. Drink wise, there's water, hot chocolate, hot tea, and a few bottles of wine because tipsy magic sounds like an awesome idea and this is what happens when the alcoholic makes the dinner menu. Aside from the food table and the few tables, there's not much of anything in the room: plenty of open space for showing off or getting out of the way of someone who wants to show off.

One of the doors of the meeting hall leads to the outside. There's a wider, 'backyard' sort of area with plenty of room for people to cast magic as large and impressive as they want. A fire pit stands outside also for warming your hands and other fire-based magic. Please don't set the building on fire.

This is all very informal. If pressed for details, Strange would have told anyone to just come whenever, stay as long as you like, and so on and so forth. The emphasis is on learning about each other's magic, displaying one's skills and talents, and helping anyone who wished to learn magic decide on a path for them to take.

Showing off is just a given.

( ooc: This is an open mingle log! Feel free to make your own top-levels & tag around! )

Comments

[periphrasing]

You know, a mage gathering sounds like a fun thing in theory, until you get there, hang out for a while, and then start to realize that you have very little to contribute to this event. And all this magic starts to make you feel like the few tricks that you've learned really aren't that impressive by comparison to everything else everyone can do. And then you start to feel inadequate and irrelevant and useless, and you kind of start to resent the whole affair to a mild degree.

That's the take that Peridot's starting to have on this, anyway. So she's less trying to show off and more just trying to make herself maybe a little bit less noticeable by putting on her bat guise. Celandine's comment has her pausing with her wings half raised, turning slightly to give the pair of them a silent, disgruntled scowl.

[whattaprick]

Ah, shapeshifting. Peridot's form is so much more compact and sensible than Lambert's own -- that's what Celandine's for, fuck if he can figure out how to pack himself into a smaller body -- but for someone who's keeping a sharp eye on the goings-on, of course, it's not hard to miss.

Celandine is undeterred. It's a pity she can't fly anymore -- one of those abilities she's lost, with Greysol -- but she'll scamper down off Lambert's arm to the table to get closer, so she can stay well away. Neither of them wants to find out what might happen if Peridot touches Lambert's soul out here.

"You could turn into a dragon again," Lambert suggests. "I didn't get a good look at it last time."

[periphrasing]

Her gaze flicks between Lambert and Celandine anxiously; they're two halves of one whole, sure, but Peridot's still getting the distinct feeling of being ganged up on now. Celandine's a second set of potentially judgy eyes, far as she's concerned.

"It's not really that impressive," the bat deflects automatically, and in doing so, surprises herself quite thoroughly. It is impressive, actually? It's very impressive? Why does she feel the need to downplay that!? She grimaces at herself, and changes tracks promptly: "I mean, I'm not surprised you didn't get a good look, given the circumstances at the time. That wasn't exactly the grand debut that I'd had in mind for revealing that spell."

[whattaprick]

"You could have it now," Celandine points out. "Everyone else is being a show-off, and maybe it will shut Strange up if he sees something he can't do!"

Because astoundingly, for being an overpowered protagonist of a fantasy novel, shapeshifting is one skillset Jonathan Strange has yet to attempt to surmount (assuming one doesn't count the smoke). As far as the rest of the Carnival is concerned, that's really for the best.

"Don't tell me you're nervous," Lambert adds. They are, in fact, absolutely ganging up on Peridot. Peer pressure is easier when there's more than one of you.

[periphrasing]

The bat grimaces unpleasantly and, fwoosh, it's back to regular Peridot again. She has her arms folded, shoulders hunched, and Lambert is the sole recipient of the look of ire for right now because he's the one who said something that has her miffed.

"I am not nervous," the gem protests, and her tail is doing that agitated twitching thing, same as it does every time she gets a little bit upset. "I just-- I don't particularly want to draw attention to myself right now, that's all!"

[whattaprick]

That's close enough to being nervous to make no difference, Lambert could point out, but he doesn't.

"With all of this going on, that's not going to be hard," he snorts, gesturing at the general babbling about magic everything going on, his new ears flicking back and forth at the sounds of the bustling around them. "See anything interesting so far, while you've been looking around?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot pauses, considering the question carefully. She's seen... a lot tonight, but one thing is really nagging at her:

"Well Foster was doing something horrifying with some mice," she starts, nose wrinkling.

[whattaprick]

Foster is horrifying in general, Lambert would argue, but rather than saying that out loud he just grimaces.

"That's necromancy for you. Raising the dead's always a messy business."

[periphrasing]

She cocks her head at them both. "Necromancy," she repeats with a frown. "You're familiar with this type of magic, then?"

[whattaprick]

"If he was in our world, the other sorcerers would probably kill him for using it," Celandine chirps, sounding all too cheerful.

Lambert shakes his head. "I've never seen it done until I got here, but I've read about it." Witchers are all secret nerds at heart.

[periphrasing]

Peridot looks surprised for a moment, and then wrinkles her nose thoughtfully. "So it's forbidden where you come from or something? Why? And what's the use in it anyway?"

[whattaprick]

"You can't see what would be useful about bringing back something that ought to be gone forever under your control?" Lambert asks, raising his brows as though he's challenging Peridot's imagination (or lack thereof).

Celandine tuts at Lambert's teasing, glancing Peridot's way and shaking her head. "It's sorcerer's business," she says firmly. "If there's a specific reasoning behind it, we don't know. But ... I suppose it can't be different from any of the usual reasons something's forbidden."

[periphrasing]

Peridot listens to Celandine with a thoughtful hum, and then clarifies to Lambert: "I just thought dead organics tended to smell after a while. I assume this 'necromancy' must correct that somehow, though."

[whattaprick]

"The smell comes from the rotting," Lambert says, looking at Peridot slightly askance. "You've never seen a dead body before?"

Then again, for beings made of light, decomposing bodies probably isn't exactly something they encounter on a regular basis, so he shrugs and continues.

[periphrasing]

Nope, but they're something you encounter on a regular basis when you've been the carnival for a long, long time!

But, wow. ROTTING. Right. And now she just looks nauseated. "Of course I've seen one. Actually, I've seen several," she says huffily. "There were a whole bunch of them left over after those cloddy vampires invaded the carnival the first time around. I just didn't go out of my way to go around SNIFFING THEM."

[whattaprick]

"Then they must not have been out that long." Is he being insensitive about dead former coworkers? Sure, but Peridot wasn't among them, so that's probably what counts! "You wouldn't have missed it, unless you didn't have a nose."

There are other fun facts about what happens to the body at the moment of death, but he'll spare her the details for now. Instead, Celandine pipes up:

"But we're not here to talk about bodies, we're here to talk about getting alcohol into them!"

[periphrasing]

Peridot, being more than happy to drop the topic of dead organics, readily latches onto that. "Oh right," she says, growing cautiously excited. "I want to try it! I mean, it'll give me something exciting to share with Amethyst. How do we start?"

[whattaprick]

"Well, you could start by changing back into a bat, for a start," Lambert suggests. "And then we're going to need to find you something to drink out of."

Bats usually skim the surface of the water to drink. Even feeling mischievous as he is, Lambert knows that's not a good idea for Peridot to attempt. At best, it's alcohol up her nose; at worst ... well, there are a lot of worsts.

[periphrasing]

Easy enough. Another shimmer of green light and, ta-da, Peribat is back. She squints up at Lambert with beady little eyes, as his features suddenly become a lot less clear.

"Alright. Now point me towards this 'alcohol' that you're so fond of."

[whattaprick]

"I'd be happy to escort you," Lambert smirks, holding an arm out, the body language clear: he's inviting her to hop on for a ride. He judges that as hilarious as the results may be, he doesn't actually know what faerie ale will do to a bat, so it's best to stick to something simple. Wine's made of fruit, bats like fruit, right? It makes sense to start there.

[periphrasing]

Peridot squints harder at the blobby shape of Lambert's arm... flicks her ears... wiggles a little... and makes an attempt at a jump.

She gets about half an inch in the air and then plops on the ground again. DID YOU KNOW... most bats can't take off from the ground?

[whattaprick]

Lambert sighs while Celandine giggles softly, and takes that as his cue to simply scoop her up in his hand, letting her find her footing before he heads over to the refreshment table. Once he gets there, Peridot gets deposited onto the tabletop with little ceremony, and he reaches for an open wine bottle to pour some into a bowl.

[kingsroads]

At the same time, a slightly tipsy Strange is walking over because booze, booze is great, he wants more booze. As such, he reaches the table at the same time Lambert and Peridot do, spots the Peribat, watches Lambert pour the wine, then comes to the right conclusion.

"Don't drink that one," Strange chides, as he shakes his head. Reaching over for a bottle of white, Strange offers it to the two of them. "Here, this one's sweeter."

[periphrasing]

Peridot definitely mutters something about how she totally would've gotten it right eventually when Lambert picks her up.

She has one wing-thumb hooked over the edge of the bowl and is sniffing it with her little pig nose when Strange walks up, drawing her attention away from the sharp smelling liquid. "Oh, mister strange!" she chirps. "You're right on time. Hopefully what you have there smells better than whatever this is..."

[whattaprick]

"Could have said that before I'd already poured one out," Lambert rolls his eyes, but takes the bottle anyway.

"You should try both and see what you like better," Celandine pipes up from the floor. There's more than a little mischief in her voice, likely thanks to the generous alcohol sampling she and Lambert have been engaging in the whole meeting. They're both quite the pair of merry little enablers.

"She's got a point," Lambert muses as he pours a measure of the white wine out. "There, see how you like that."