lostcarnival | Get Ready For the Show

Entry tags:

Get Ready For the Show

Who: All the performers, plus any visitors
What: Time to get back into the swing of things! Nothing says "I've recovered from trauma" like learning how to plaster a smile onto your face for the crowds.
When: D1 - D5
Where: The Main Tent
Warnings: None.... Probably

As the saying goes, "All play and no work makes Jack forget how to do his job". On the bright side...

Over the radio, Joker makes a cheerful announcement for all performers to start getting back into the practice schedule with new arrivals to show up on the first day back from the moon. On the first day, he'll be lenient. No one has to be on time, but he does want them to at least make an appearance and token attempt at practice. After that, well... Show up, or you'll have an aggravatingly cheerful stage manager paying a personal visit. He bothers because he cares.

To those who have become familiar with it, the tent is outfitted with all off the usual practice equipment, and new faces will be in for a treat. There are the usual acrobatics equipment: silk ropes, the high wire, trapeze swings. Daredevils will find all sorts of things to threaten their lives with, although they'll soon find that there are magical safety precautions in place which stop the Big Tent from, say, getting set on fire. And the magician stuff? Well.... Don't hurt yourself there.

Out of the love of his heart, Joker will make sure there are bottles of water nearby, so don't be afraid to work up a sweat.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Strange stares at the card for a moment, concentrating rather hard on it. There's an odd familiar feeling to the card, like he's seen something like it before. But it's a trampoline cat, how exactly could he have seen something like—

Ah. And then Strange finds it. It's not seen, it's felt. He looks over at Yuya with a wry little smile. ]

Did you know this card was magical when you obtained it?

[ Probably not, because the magic feels so much like Yuya's, who didn't really have much in the way of magic before the carnival. ]

[Yuya's brows raise, confused.] Eh? Magic?

[Could Strange sense spirits? That's Yuya's first thought, but he's never expressed anything about seeing them before. Maybe his magic sense is so good he can just sense the magic of the spirits themselves, even if they're not using it?] What kind of magic is it?

It feels a lot like your magic, [ Strange explains, as he gestures at Yuya's pendulum. ] Nothing active, of course, more like something that's been touched by a spell. I can try to remove it if you wish, but as there's barely any there to begin with, I don't know how much good it would do.

[ Yuya seems a bit surprised that the card is magic (at least, in Strange's mind he does) so perhaps he didn't know about the magic? Then again, why wouldn't he know in the first place? ]

[Yuya looks down at his pendulum. Oh. Oh. Rita didn't mention sensing any magic from them, so Yuya didn't realize there was enough to be picked up on.]

N-no, leave it! [He protests too quickly, flustering as he holds his hands out before Strange can do anything.] It's fine the way it is. Better, even!

[Which doesn't explain where the magic came from.]

[ That reaction is suspicious as hell. Naturally, Strange is going to try and bother Yuya further to find out why he's given a suspicious as all hell reaction. ]

So you knew the cards were magic! Well go on then, what are they?

[ Strange's tone is more smug than accusatory—and he can't hide his curiosity. Go on, tell him, he wants to know! ]

They're pendulum cards. [Yuya says, knowing full well that's going to mean absolutely nothing to Strange. At least being curious rather than accusatory keeps Yuya from getting defensive. He looks down at the deck in his hands, pursing his lips.]

They don't do anything outside the game. [Which is what he assumes Strange was hoping for. Without the context of the game, it seems like less of a big deal. Somehow, that works to his favor.] But they used to be regular monster cards, and now they're a different kind of card that... didn't exist before. But I didn't do it on purpose!

[ That means absolutely nothing to Strange. Strange just kind of stares as Yuya mentions pendulum cards. Still, hearing that they don't really do anything outside the game...well, he's still a bit confused but he can at least file this away as 'something not to worry about.' ]

How did you change the cards, then?

[ because creating something that didn't exist before? What the hell is going on in Yu-Gi-Oh world? ]

Magic. [It's said weakly.] It wasn't really... it's more like it happened because of me? But I didn't cast any spells and I don't actually remember it happening.

[His gaze drifts back to his deck, looking at one of the similar cards on top. They're really no good way to explain 'the evil other fifth of his soul really didn't want to lose a card game and took over and invented an entirely new set of cards to win, but could only do so with Yuya's unintentional assistance'. It was basically cheating.

And because Strange is probably going to ask 'what magic':] There's spirits in my world that have magic. Humans can't do anything on their own, and they usually don't interfere.

[ Strange is definitely about to ask 'what magic'. As Yuya continues talking, Strange shuts his mouth and listens. So, his world has spirits? How interesting. ]

You should talk with Rita about that, [ he states. And then, time to blatantly assume why Yuya was able to have his cards changed when others didn't. ] So if spirits can only do magic in your world, they must have changed the cards. If I had to guess, it was because of your latent magical sensitivity that they chose you over someone else.

[ it doesn't occur to Strange that Yuya might already know why they chose him over someone else. ]

Oh, I told her! [Yuya perks up, latching onto a topic that turns away from all the weird shit surrounding him. He doesn't want to lie to Strange, and it's not so much he doesn't trust him. But there's a saying about things better left unsaid, right?]

She was telling me about the spirits in her world, so I told her about mine. Did you know she's making those spirits herself with the blastia?

She told me about that as well, [ Strange adds in, with a nod and a smile. He can't hide the tone of awe in his voice: Strange is downright impressed by Rita's magic and dedication to her cause. ]

Though I do wonder. Your world has spirits, as does Rita's, as did Portland. My world...well, I'm not entirely sure about my world. But perhaps they're a constant throughout all worlds.

Maybe... [As constant as magic, if not more so?

Yuya holds his hand out to retrieve his card.] You can't sense spirits, can you? Just magic? Most people can't see spirits... at least, back home and in Portland they couldn't. But Rita's spirits can choose if they want to be seen or not.

[That's probably not the most accurate term for them but Rita discovered them, they're from Rita's world--therefore, Rita's spirits.]

[ Strange nods. ] I think I could see them in Portland and I did have a dream with a ghost back home, but I know those aren't the same as what yours and Rita's do.

[ They are also 100% Rita's spirits in Strange's mind. ]

Still, it might just be because my world's only been reintroduced to more magical matters. Who knows what the magicians of the future would have to deal with!

[Yuya's not sure how close those two types of magic are. But, more importantly:] You had a dream about a ghost? What was it about?

[Yuya's spiritual sensitivity is actually pretty untested and untrained, so something like that he only has the impression of stories to base it on. Maybe it was a premonition? A warning?]

I summoned the ghost so that we could have a conversation through the dream. However, another magician interrupted my dream so we didn't actually get to talk.

[ said in a matter of fact tone as if this all makes complete sense. Which hey, it does in STrange's mind. ]

[Spirits just poke him telepathically when they want to talk so sure, maybe there's special dream communion too. He's never tried it.]

So you were looking for her. Was the other magician your friend... uh, Mr. Norrell? [He thinks that was it. Yuya hasn't heard as much about him, since most of the magic study was about the magic itself (and the Raven King, probably) and not Strange's history.]

He wasn't. The other magician was a man named John Segundus. That was the first time we met, though we went in and out of each other's circles multiple times throughout the years.

[ Though never directly. It was always interacting with the same people or reading the same things instead of the two men interacting face to face. ]

Segundus was the one who inspired me to write to Norrell in the first place.

[John Segundus... John Childermass... Jon(othan) Strange...]

Is John a common name in England?

[That was obviously the important thing to take out of that.]

Why do people keep getting hung up on that? I'm sure you know of some people with the same name.

[ the answer is yes, John is a very common name. ]

[Yuya snorts, smiling a little.] Of course there's common names... but you're also all magicians and know each other, so...

[So it just kind of stands out as either really common, or a really huge coincidence. Also, Yuya comes from Anime Land where names are kept explicitly unique.]

[ Strange mulls it over for a moment, frowning, as he puts his hand to his chin in thought. ]

Well, I'm sure someone's got some theory out there about the fact that the man who brought magic to England called himself 'John Uskglass' and why a handful of people in the revival of English magic are named John. But that's all a bit too conspiracy theory for my taste.

[ Strange's money is on hugs coincidence. ]

[Common names are a more likely coincidence than, say, common faces. But when Strange names off yet another John, Yuya isn't totally sold on that. Still, he won't protest.]

That's the Raven King, right? [Yuya bases on the 'brought magic to England' thing. Absently, he remembers Lambert telling him that was a name Childermass went by in Portland. A pseudonym?] Is he why you wanted to do magic?

That is him, [ Strange explains with a nod. Though, that 'why do you want to do magic' question has...so many layers. Layers upon layers. Strange frowns for a brief moment, thinking, before he answers. ]

He's not why I became a magician but he's certainly part of the reason why I continue to do magic. Truth be told, Arabella was the reason I became a magician in the first place.

Does she like magic? [He sounds a little uncertain, mostly because her response to finding out Strange had joined the carnival was exasperation and alarm. He also hasn't heard any mention that she casts magic himself, and given how much Strange likes to talk up his wife that seems like something he'd mention.]

[ not in the slightest ]

She did at first. She wanted me to find a profession and magic, though unorthodox, counted. I became a magician to make her happy. It's only when I took an apprenticeship and became more of a magician that her feelings about magic started to change.

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