lostcarnival | Closed

Now this is interesting. As the barrier forms, Strange makes a little 'hmm' of approval, watching intently as the spell shapes itself. He can see Yuya's magic inherent in the thing but is a little surprised with he sees his own as well.

Squeezing Yuya's hand again, Strange tries to pour more of his own power into this, attempting to boost Yuya's magic and strengthen it as much as possible. After all, since it seems this barrier is a combination of theirs, he isn't going to half-ass it.

He'll boost Yuya's magic for as long as it's needed. Strange knows that he's a more powerful magician than Yuya (it's not bragging if it's true!) so he'll magically support Yuya for as long as the kid can take it.

It only takes a minute. Yuya can't see the magic at work, but he can feel when the barrier settles and the spell is complete. He pulls his staff back and opens his eyes, giving the trailer a once over and a wide grin.

"There!" He sounds just a bit proud of himself. "Nightshade's not getting in here that easy!"

"It's an impressive spell," Strange remarks, perfectly fine to fuel Yuya's ego a bit. Because he's right, it is an impressive spell. And Yuya's got the makings of a talented magician, so Strange is going to continue to enable that.

"When you ward other trailers, try to find a magic user to help." To Yuya, it looks like Strange is just staring at nothing but for Strange, he's examining the magic inherent in the spell itself. "This spell is mostly your magic, but there's a little bit of my own in here as well."

"Yeah. I guess it was like that in Portland, since it was four of us casting it together. The more people you have that want something, the stronger that will is, right?"

That was the theory of the spell, anyway. Yuya certainly took it at its value, because he's not studious enough to try and break down the complexities of the spell. Maybe he should put out the offer over the radio, if anyone else wants some extra security... although some of them, it won't matter until they're safe again. Yuya can't predict what might be happening, and it bothers him--almost worse than the fae, that he at least knows something about. What what would CY-Ren do...?

He looks back up at Strange, loosening his grip. "Yugo's missing, too." Again. "Nobody's heard anything from them yet?"

Strange shakes his head. "I tried to scry for them directly after the concert, but I couldn't find anything."

Thanks, Void. And that's another thing that just pisses Strange off more than he wants to admit. Just once can his scrying not be interfered with via fae magic, shadow magic, or whatever the hell the magic used at the concert was. Just give him this one bit, universe.

"I've no idea how to even start searching for them. I imagine the magic will rebuff any sort of tracking spells as well."

Yuya shrugs, leaning sideways a bit against his staff. "If it were me, I'd just start looking on foot."

It's really the only method of chasing after his missing friends he's had, anyway, what with the lack of actual access to magic in his world and all. He has a half a mind to genuinely skate all over Wismuth for any sort of clues, if it weren't probably a bad idea to do it alone.

"I think she took them on purpose. There was something really wrong when she kept playing, and Yugo walked off like he was in a trance." Maybe if he talks about what he saw, they can come up with more of a solution--or at least, a better guess what CY-Ren's plan is.

As Strange wasn't there at the concert, he's only got other people's stories to tell him what happened. Those stories are a mish-mash of different details that all add up to something downright confusing. Shadow creatures, mesmerizing music, and Nightshade for some reason.

Why was she there in the first place...it's something that Strange still doesn't know.

"What did the music sound like to you?" Strange leans against the wall of his trailer as he asks that, hands going back into his pockets. "I've got a feeling the enthralled will think the music sounds completely different than what it actually was."

"Like pop music." He shrugs, then pauses to try to remember the lyrics. It was really hard to pay attention to the songs in the middle of everything else.

"You didn't know... something, now you've fallen under my spell," he tries to keep the same beat as the song, hooking his arm around his staff and waves his hands for emphasis. "What's wrong with a little competition? Uh... something about failing the audition? And that's when the stage fell apart."

Honestly, it was pretty confusing even having actually been there. "I felt something in it, but I pushed it away. Yugo said it was calling him, and he wouldn't react to anything else."

A part of Strange wants to point out that the 'fallen under my spell' bit is kind of hilariously on the nose. But now's not really the time. Still, that only further cements to Strange that it was a great idea to not go. If Yuya could feel it, then he certainly would have been snatched away as well.

"There must be something that unites the people taken. Because if I'm honest, the fact that some of them were kidnapped in the first place is downright baffling."

People like Childermass and Lavellan make sense, but Connie? Tanyuu? Why on Earth would someone choose to kidnap them? It had to have been an accident or some sort of unifying factor that none of them could have predicted. "And that Noa girl...she should have given us a more thorough warning."

That, at least, he's certain of. Strange can't help but scowl as he mentions Noa. At least in his mind, the blame for most of this calamity rests squarely on her shoulders.

"... Yeah." Yuya can't exactly disagree with that. Maybe they also shouldn't have involved themselves in the first place, but it sounded so serious if CY-Ren wins... and Noa is kind of outmatched. His head droops a little as he looks down at the ground, brow pinched in thought.

Until his stomach gurgles, surprising him and snapping him back to reality. "Uh--" He puts a hand to his stomach like that's going to silence it, face turning pink. "Is there still tea...?"

"Hmm?"

...oh shit, he forgot about the tea. Almost instantly, Strange's expression shifts from confusion to recognition as he makes his way back into the trailer, leaving the door open for Yuya to let himself in. Strange makes his way over towards the kitchenette unit. Without really thinking, he puts his hand on the teapot, brings it back with a little yelp, then smiles. Yep, still warm.

"Do you want any sugar or lemon? I'm afraid I don't have any milk at the moment."

Yuya indeed follows him inside, placing his staff right back in the same place and closing the door before he makes his way into the kitchen--and winces when Strange nearly burns himself.

"Uh, plain is fine." He has no idea what tea he's even about to get here, but that's fine. Anything good for a stomach that skipped breakfast. He slides into a chair without thinking about it, but knowing Strange... there probably isn't a lot of surface available on the table, unless Yuya caught him on a clean day.

Reaching up to the cabinets, Strange pulls down two teacups and saucers. He pours some tea into both of the cups, before Strange opens the fridge and pulls out a slightly sad looking lemon that looks like he sliced it a few days ago. That is squeezed in one of the cups. Taking both of them and both saucers, Strange walks over to the table and offers Yuya the cup without lemon.

There really isn't a lot of surface available on the table, especially since Syrlya's taken on temporary nightrider duties and doesn't have as much time to make Strange clean. The table is scattered with books, all with various bookmarks in and pages dog-eared. There's a stack of papers on the table as well, with various spells and theories scribbled on them as well as a few that look like Strange attempting to practice writing out legalese and horrifically detailed contracts, of all things.

"The tea's earl gray, by the way. Would you like anything to eat as well? I've some fruit, some sweets, and some more salty snacks I've picked up from Wismuth."

Yuya mutters a thanks, taking the tea in one hand before carefully pushing the papers out of the way so he can set it on the table. He's at least going to try not to spill anything on any of Strange's documents. "Salty's good."

Does salty even go with earl grey? Yuya doesn't appear to care.

He grabs one of the half-written contracts curiously, squinting as if that'll help with reading it any. It's less interesting to look at than the notes with the ugly doodles, but that it doesn't look like Strange's usual notes is exactly why he's curious.

"What's this?"

Something salty, he can do that. Strange heads back to the kitchenette and makes his way directly to one of the cabinets. He rifles around for a moment before Yuya's question draws him again out of the cabinet.

Strange pokes his head out from the cabinet to look at what Yuya's looking at. He squints at the paper for a moment before his expression brightens. "Oh! For solstice, the Ringmaster gave me a quill that can be used to write powerful binding contracts. Obviously I'm going to use it, but I need to work on actually writing the contracts before I can get any real use out of it. After all, I don't want there to be any loopholes."

In all his explanation, it doesn't occur to Strange that though he finds the quill amazing, Yuya might find it creepy as hell. After all, most people don't seem so chipper when they talk about magical contracts. Walking back over to the table, Strange sets an opened bag of potato chips smack on top of one of the books. There's no dip: apparently Mr. 1810s hasn't gotten the memo about things like french onion dip or spinach dip. Content that he doesn't have to get anything else, Strange finally sits down.

The Ringmaster gave it to him? That, at least, doesn't leave Yuya completely faithless about the quill. But his face scrunches up a bit and he looks up at Strange.

"So you can make deals like the Fae do? What do you need it for?" These gifts seem personal, so surely the Ringmaster didn't just throw it to him randomly... but also, aren't making contracts (bindings) with fae (changelings) the last thing Strange should be doing?

Yeah, he's a little skeptical.

It's being compared to the fae that makes the smile on Strange's face falter a bit, as it shifts to a small frown. Okay, technically it is like the fae, but there's something about that comparison that makes Strange a bit uneasy.

"I don't know," Strange admits. "The note attached said something along the lines of 'so that the next time you make a contract, you'll be on the winning side.'"

Both his contracts with the Ringmaster and with Nightshade ended up being fairly useless in the end: each fae gained more than Strange did. But to give him something that's expressly designed for writing out contracts must mean that the Ringmaster thought he'd sign a contract with someone else, right? Which is another thing that the more Strange thinks on it, the more mixed his feelings become. "I suppose she thought it was likely I'd sign another contract with someone so might as well give me a leg up."

It probably makes Strange uneasy for the same reasons it does Yuya, which is why he points it out.

He drops the contract on the table and digs some potato chips out of the bag, popping them into his mouth at once. "Well, I hope it's not going to be for contracts with fae."

Because of all the questionable uses, Strange has absolutely the worst track record with that one. Yuya has a lot of faith in Strange in a lot of things. Taking care of himself with the fae? Not that one.

He blows on the tea to cool it before taking a long, slow sip.

Okay but the only way to fix an awful track record is to put a few wins in there, have you thought of that yet, Yuya.

Strange takes a sip of his tea before addressing Yuya's point. "If I do make any contracts with a fae, it would just be a quid pro quo sort of thing. You answer one question, I answer one. I'm not going to make an offer of allegiance or an alliance of any sort while I've still got half of my year here left."

One, Strange really doesn't want to piss off the Ringmaster as he genuinely likes her and enjoys her company. Two, Strange has a feeling ditching ship entirely would nullify that rebirth agreement with the Ringmaster and honestly, that paranoia is just running rampant, he wants all the safeguards he can grab onto. Of course, this doesn't imply that he won't make an offer of allegiance or an alliance period. Who knows what the hell will happen once he leaves the Carnival, might as well keep a few options open.

Stop while you're way behind, Strange.

"You shouldn't even when your year is over, either." But that's just Yuya's opinion. Any real, trusting allegiance shouldn't require fae-like contracts and, honestly, the tricky nature of the fae means you're probably never walking into a deal you expect with them, anyway.

Yuya knows there are good fae who don't do that. But there's those that will, and it takes far too much to turn the tables back around.

"You've got six months left?" Yuya doesn't expect him to extend his contract when he has a wife to return to, unless it's to actually ask the Ringmaster's assistance with breaking the spell. "... Do you think the Ringmaster would let someone stay around after their contract is done without starting another one? But they could go home whenever they want."

Neverrrrr.

Strange definitely isn't extending his contract. He's arrogant enough to think he can break the spell himself and impatient enough that he doesn't want to spend another year away from Arabella. As for Yuya's question, however, Strange can't help but frown. He's got a good idea why Yuya would want to stick around: Yuzu and Reira arrived after him, didn't they.

"I don't know," he answers. It's an honest answer: he just doesn't know. "Maybe you could work out an agreement with the Ringmaster, but I doubt she has anything prepared to deal with people who want to stay at the carnival without making the typical contract."

Some do, he knows that much. Sans, Carly, people like that Strange doubts will ever return home. But to the best of his knowledge, they just keep making contracts, one after another.

Yuya hums, considering that. "Maybe I can just ask for a contract that's less than a year?"

That seems like a more likely solution, there's no reason the contracts have to be a year and a day, that's just what she chooses because she's not trying to enslave them all. There's also no point in pretending that Yuya's not considering this for himself, because at the current rate he's going to leave before all of his friends. And that doesn't sit right with him, given everything.

His gaze rolls up to the ceiling as he mentally counts down the weeks. "I still have... almost seven months, I think. Seven and a half? If I ask, I bet we can figure out something."

Strange frowns slightly as he thinks. "She must offer the year and a day for a reason," he rationalizes. It probably has something to do with numbers and the importance of the numbers and things like that. Hell if Strange knows, through.

Still, Yuya's right: he has seven months left. Hopefully they'll be able to figure out something in the meantime. If not...

"There should at least be a way to let you talk to them. I know of spells that let you talk across realms, surely we could find a way to craft an item that does the same."

Yuya rests his cheek on his hand, elbow on the table. "It's not that. I just don't want something to happen to any of them because I wasn't here. I have to make sure all of them make it home."

Mostly, he wants to make sure Gongenzaka makes it home. Surely they'll protect each other, but Gongenzaka will have the longest time alone after their contacts end. And while he trusts his best friend, he wants to personally make sure that Yuzu makes through this. He can't bear losing her again.

He's staring blankly ahead for a minute before he snaps suddenly out of his reverie. "Uh--but I'd still like something like that to talk to the friends I made here!"

Friends like Rita and Strange, that he probably won't see again when he leaves.

As Yuya stares ahead, lost in his thoughts, Strange takes a moment to eat a few chips, drink some tea, just get lost in his own thoughts.

Despite the fact that their conversation's swapped, he still can't help but think of Nightshade and what the hell he's going to do about her. Because of course Strange is going to be the one to do something about her. Practically speaking, he's the only one who can summon him. Of course it's going to be him.

It's Strange's turn to snap out of his thoughts as Yuya starts the conversation again. "Hmm? Well, I'm always working on at least a few magical projects, perhaps I can add that to my list. I've got the radios to study and I did manage to craft a reflection-based spell that let me talk to Arabella, though the duration of that was shaky at best."

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