[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

[dirthena]

Ah. Childermass. Her expression brightens slightly at his voice and the dispelling of magic -- he's not an unknown, but someone she thought she got on rather well with, all things considered. "Please, just Lavellan," she says, echoing what she told Strange. He is not what she expected from someone who had sounded like he had experience here among the Carnival -- but she has seen a range of changes, and so what little there is she still attempts to take in stride.

"Of course," she replies, on both accounts, casting a look around them at the gathered mages. If they use magic, then that is what they are. Not magicians, or whatever Strange had called himself. "I must admit I'm unused to being surrounded by so many. It's not a common thing where I'm from." Both magic and being allowed to gather in such large numbers -- the only thing she can think of that would be similar was Arlathvhen. And that was very far away from this place, in time and space.

[atouts]

"You'll get used to it," Childermass says with a shrug, attention drifting off and away to the rest gathered here. Some actual magicians, some suddenly finding they can do magic, others simply curious. Not wholly unlike his own experiences back home, now that magic has returned to England. Not as much showing off there as there is here, though. Not even close.

"The magic of the carnival is faerie magic. It changes people the longer they're surrounded by it, which does include them picking up a spell or two on occasion. Then, of course, you have the lot who were magicians long before ever stepping foot in the Ringmaster's realm. Seems to me there are many worlds with a fair share of them about."

[dirthena]

Mages showing off seemed to be standard, even if Solas, Vivienne, and Dorian did it in their own ways. Dorian was flashier, Vivienne made no pretense not to be dangerous and deadly, and Solas was noticable by how unnoticeable he was. That made a lot more sense in retrospect than it did at the time. Of course a man who was used to magic surrounding him would know the exact amount of energy he needed to use to cast and nothing more, who would find it so natural it was like breathing.

Which puts her into mind of the problem facing his world, and her attention back on him. "I don't doubt I will. It's a pleasant change," she admits. Better this than be locked up in towers, at least." Anything is better than that. "That, or those from worlds where such things are common are more likely to find their way to a magical carnival, faeire magic or not." And believe that they can work in exchange for something, if that's how they joined.

[atouts]

"Could be," Childeramass replies after a moment of consideration. He finishes doing a sweep of the room, idly noting who's there, who isn't, and turns back to look at Lavellan again. "That magic calls to magic. It seems to have worked that way in England when there weren't even enough of us to count on a single hand and I know well that I sought this place out on purpose rather than by accident. If the rest can say that..."

It's not really for him to say for sure one way or another. He doesn't know everyone's story, why they ended up at the carnival's gates, why they chose to stay (or, just as likely, what they broke or cheated at).

"Well, you would have to ask them about it."

[dirthena]

Magic calls to magic. It's an interesting theory, and she crosses her arms in thought, looking out at the number assembled. "Your England must be an interesting place indeed. Some of it sounds familiar -- your magic mirrors, for instance -- while other times it sounds far too fantastical to believe. Only a handful of mages in an entire country." A shake of her head, and a small, worn smile. "I can see why Strange is glad to have returned magic to it."

Even if she wonders what the consequences to that were, if any.

"I'm not sure most would be forthcoming about it," she says, musing on the thought. "I understand some are not here by choice, like I was." Although Cole said that the Ringmaster tried to help, and did the best she could.

[atouts]

"Some by choice, the rest by bad luck," Childermass admits. It's true and he isn't going to try and candy-coat it. "Or because they make poor decisions. Whichever it is."

Sneaking in, stealing, picking a fight, breaking something that didn't belong to them. The fact that it was a faerie carnival didn't change that those particular people chose to do those things, but then again, Childermass isn't really much for pity and sympathy for the foolish. Though that few share the sentiment, well, that much he does know, and so he'll just leave it at that.

But back to the topic at hand, the one the entire group has gathered for. In this case, English magic, he supposes.

"So Strange has told you about the King's Roads?" He asks that, curious enough to change the topic. "He had pictures of them drawn, for his book, but he is the only one who's seen them in hundreds of years."

[dirthena]

That gets a small huff of laughter, and she shakes her head slightly. "I willingly gave myself over to this -- I can't imagine having it forced upon oneself." While she's not pleased about the eventual changes that will overtake her, it will be worth it. She has to believe that. To have one forced into service, to have the changes forced upon them on top of it; she'd have gone mad.

"He has. For a moment we thought we shared the same world, separated by time, due to it. There are roads behind mirrors in my own world -- the Crossroads -- that my People created back before magic was cut off from Thedas. They are not truly taking one to a separate world as I believe Strange was attempting to get across, for as I've come to understand the Fade is simply a natural part of our world as anything else in it. The roads simply allow for quicker travel across the waking world."

And not... whatever Strange had implied his did. But she could have listened in error, and this once was a time where she'd have no problem with someone trying to correct her.

[atouts]

Of which Childermass cannot, not really. He knows more than his fair share about English magic and what magic he's since encountered, he's able to figure out as he goes, but the King's Roads? He only has stories to go on. Stories and Strange's own explanation, own thoughts on them in reality.

"I am not sure how Mr. Strange explained it, but England's own Roads were built in some space between the world of man and that of Faerie, or that is how it's meant to be, I believe," he can only make an educated guess and that's it. If they really do overlook Faerie, it's not like he has any way to prove it. "Whether you could call it a natural part of England or not, I do cannot say, but they were used similarly, getting from one place to another quickly."

So it's probably whatever Strange had implied.

"Are yours behind every mirror? I would think it would be an odd spot of trouble to accidentally end up on the wrong side of the world through your own dressing room mirror..."

[dirthena]

Strange, how similar the two were. Lavellan isn't sure what to make of it; could there be some relationship between their two worlds after all? No one knew where humans came from, she knows that much -- just across the sea, and most likely after the Veil was put in place. Humans, after all, seemed unable to be able to function where it was thin. Something to think about, at least, and her expression indicates she's mulling it all over as she's silent for a moment or two.

"Strange." For no other word would seem to do. "Not every mirror, no. Just the ones called eluvians. They open by a key, although what works as a key varies from mirror to mirror. Sometimes it's knowledge, other times it's an object or a phrase." She has no real understanding of how they were used in Arlathan, but she can make a guess. "I assume that there were some commonly open to use, at the height of the elven empire, and others that only a privileged few could use. But they all went through the Crossroads in the end, which is a place not quite in the waking world and not quite in the Fade." So the same in between space of two worlds, again.

[atouts]

"It all sounds very similar, doesn't it? I wonder if the Raven King might not have wandered through at some point," Childermass muses aloud in return. Then again, it can't be that uncommon, can it? To think of a way to travel magically, to hook it all up to one space between, somewhere with room for roads.

"But we may never know, I suppose. They do sound at least more secure than what Mr. Strange does. I've had to take my mirrors down to keep him from strolling in whenever he has a question."

[dirthena]

"Perhaps, but we would have known him by a different name." She does wonder, however, and she waves a hand. "Unless he has a fondness for secrets, knowledge, and bears, I'm afraid if he did we have no record of it." Strange that the same thoughts could happen in different universes -- a way to cut short travel, to use what space one had. For the Crossroads weren't only to get from one place to another in the waking world, but also the Fade.

Lavellan laughs at that, for she can see Strange doing exactly that even though she's talked to him only once. "No, one would just simply lock them out, as I understand it. But I can only imagine that's a rather unsettling habit of his. If one tried to walk through it when it was facing the floor, would he simply have to push himself up off of it?" Amusement colors her tone, but also some curiosity.