lostcarnival | the terrible horrible no good very bad week

Entry tags:

the terrible horrible no good very bad week

Who: Strange & OPEN!
Where: mostly the carnival, with a Wismuth prompt
When: D17 and onwards
What: Strange has had a run of shitty days/decisions and is coping like a champ (he's sulking)
Warnings: mild drug & alcohol use, Strange's general asshole tendencies

sulking at the training grounds
Over the past few days, Strange learned that the closest thing he could call to an enemy was back and she had poisoned his best friend, found out his other close friend was kidnapped and enthralled, got dunked in a lake, got his emotional support gem stolen, got dunked in the ocean, made a kid cry, discovered he had a fun new phobia of sentient pineapple beasts, got gum in his hair, and received harsh truth bombs from at least two different people. And only half of this is his fault! (Maybe five-eighths. Strange'll fight it if anyone says three quarters.)

To top it all off, apparently the entire universe is in danger of ending and Creation's decided to fix that by giving people fun magical powers but apparently the universe doesn't think he's good enough! Like what the hell, Creation? As if his self-esteem wasn't already weirdly low thanks to the fact that he got beaten up by plants and the previously mentioned harsh truth bombs.

So, Strange is coping with pyromania. At least four of the practice dummies are currently on fire and have been on fire for the past half hour or so. Strange is in the process of casting a spell to set a fifth ablaze. Anybody who remotely approaches the training ground is getting an amazing death glare courtesy of Strange, as well as a grumpy "What?"

sulking part 2
Alternatively, there's an abundance of purple smoke hanging out near the top of one of the game trailers in the gamer's circle. Can smoke sulk? Undecided, but there's certainly something sulky about this smoke. It's definitely lingering around the top of the trailer and not moving in a manner that's reminiscent of sulking.

welcome to the plot
For the most part, Star Guardians need to sleep too. As does Strange But considering that Strange lives a comfortable life as the man with the world's most erratic sleep schedule, his is variable as hell and he's wide awake at around ten pm, when most people should be getting ready for bed. He's wide awake as he bangs on the trailer door of each inhabited trailer, hoping that someone's in.

He doesn't waste any time. Whenever anyone answers their door, Strange bluntly asks, "Did you get those odd powers like what Noa has?"

Fuck it, he knows about pillars, he can still be useful.

wismuth
Staying at the carnival and not getting out of bed just sounds like a really good plan right now. Except Strange is a nightrunner and when you're rooming with the deputy nightrider, you can only wallow in self-pity for so long. Scrying can only do so much so he's hitting the pavement. As he walks the streets (wearing a slightly ridiculous baseball cap), Strange keeps his senses open for any sort of magic: guardian, harbinger, fae. He's already gotten his ass whooped twice, any sort of large spikes of harbinger magic he is staying the hell away from. But it's the smaller things, the after effects that he can at least try to dispel.

And so, that's why Strange is standing next to an ATM that's currently spitting out cash, muttering something while debating if he's actually got to put his mouth on that thing or not. Thankfully, the machine sputters to a stop and the spell breaks before Strange has to actually kiss the box.

"I don't even know what this is," he complains, to anyone listening. Foggy modern AU memories can only go so far and did not extend to ATMs. But look at him go, stopping the horrible...money spitter outer machine. Greatest magician of the age, everyone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Strange continues to maintain the temperature as Rita does her...thing. Okay? She's got a sword? Strange can't help but raise an eyebrow in skepticism at the spell followed by him smirking up a storm as Rita knocks things over. Still, as unorthodox as it is, it works. The door swings open to reveal what's inside.

As the door opens, a few boxes of ice cream fall to the floor: it turns out that the woman inside barricaded herself in as well. The freezer itself is only moderately cold instead of dangerously cold, thanks to Strange's magic. But now that the door's open, he grins with relief. The temperature of the freezer raises even more, getting close to room temperature, as Strange mutters his spell. Unfortunately, this makes the space around Strange and Rita a bit colder, as he magically shifts around the temperatures like it's no big deal.

The person inside is a young woman in her twenties. She's wearing the uniform of the ice cream store and is passed out on the floor of the freezer. Her eyelids flutter and she occasionally makes noises to suggest that it'll be easy to wake her up. The oddest thing of all is that there's constant snow around the woman, magically falling from somewhere above her.

"What the hell is that magic?" Strange can't help but ask, looking over at the woman with a frown.

The whip retracts back into the shape of a sword, which Rita switches to her left hand, as it doesn't look like she needs to keep it handy now. There's no apparent enemy inside the freezer; just this woman who looks about halfway to freezing to death.

Shuddering slightly from the cold, Rita enters the freezer, kicking aside a few boxes to clear the way. She crouches down beside the woman. "I don't know, but it looks kind of familiar..." She can't pinpoint what it reminds her of, though.

"Hey, wake up," she urges the woman, gripping her shoulder and giving it a shake. "What happened here?"

"It's familiar to me as well," Strange murmurs. Though what exactly that magic is (aside from Harbinger as hell) he can't place. He's letting Rita bother the poor woman and find out what's up: Strange is just working on making the freezer less cold.

The woman stirs slightly as she comes back to consciousness. "What...I—hey!" She's suddenly a bit more active, looking around the room, obviously a bit panicked and confused though still amazingly dazed. "What the hell, it's supposed to be cold in here! I need it to be cold!"

Strange tries to look as innocent as possible.

"It's already plenty cold in here!" Rita snaps at the woman. Fortunately, it's not that bad at the moment, and with Strange's help, the layer of snow lining the freezer even appears to be melting slightly, though new flakes continue to plop down from above (the ceiling??).

"There has to be some explanation for this..." she mutters, then promptly waves a hand, conjuring an interface to examine the magic that apparently has some kind of hold on this woman. This is done, of course, with no regard for what the woman in question might think of seeing some obvious glowy magic shit right in front of her face.

"But it's not cold enough!" the woman snaps back. She gets to her feet, still dazed and trying to blink back confusion. However, as soon as the glowy magic shit starts up, she stops dead in her tracks, looking at Rita's interface with an expression of disbelief.

"We're magicians," Strange pipes up, explaining to the woman. He recognizes that 'what the hell is going on here' look, having been the recipient of that look plenty of times in his early days as a magician. His hands are still in front of him, but he can explain while casting the spell. "My name is Jonathan Strange and this is Rita Mordio. I'm keeping you from freezing to death while Miss Mordio looks to see what's wrong with you."

What's wrong with her is Harbinger boosted mushi. Thanks Tanyuu, you're the best. The woman gives Strange a bit of a frown, then starts looking around the freezer, obviously searching for something.

Rita didn't expect Strange to give such a direct answer... but considering her preference for direct approaches, she's actually just fine with that. The woman takes it better than expected, too... if she's paying much attention to them at all.

She grimaces when the woman stands suddenly. It's hard to analyze someone when they're moving around! But, as it turns out, an in-depth analysis isn't needed. After only a glimpse at the data on display, Rita suddenly recoils in surprise.

"That's... not a spell," she breathes, glancing to Strange. "It's more like... it's alive?" Which is disgusting, actually. It's basically a magic parasite? Wait... where has she seen this before?

"A mushi!" she declares as soon as she realizes it. In the meantime, the woman's search goes unimpeded.

"But Ginko's not a Harbinger," Strange responds, with a little frown. "Who else—"

But his statement's not going to be finished as the woman finds what she's looking for: an ice cream scoop. Not even a moment later, she downright throws it at Strange's head. With a little yelp, Strange quickly poofs into purple smoke as the ice cream scoop sails harmlessly through him. This means he's spared a nasty bruise but unfortunately means the spell is broken. The room is slowly starting to get colder.

"If he's the one who's making it warmer, then make it stop!" she complains, looking over at Rita but pointing in Strange's general direction. "I need it to be cold!"

Ugh. Mushi. Rita would've been happy if she never encountered those creepy things again. What's more, she's reasonably sure that she's never seen this particular kind before.

What she does know is that it must be what's causing the unnatural snowfall, and what's influencing this woman's irrational desire for cold... Does that mean it's the mushi that needs to be cold?

"No," Rita tells the woman firmly, though her body shudders from the increasing cold. "We have to get you warmed up. Come on, let's get out of this stupid freezer."

Strange is hanging out, as smoke, near Rita's ankles. This woman threw something at him, he's not turning solid unless he has to! Which also means that, thankfully for everyone, he's shutting up. While Strange can talk as smoke, he finds the effect so profoundly weird that he doesn't normally do so.

It's battle of the stubborn as the woman looks over at Rita, crossing her hands over her chest and standing still. "I told you, I'm not leaving. This freezer's probably the coldest place in the entire mall, I'm staying put!" She seems bound and determined to not move and is giving Rita a 'just try it' sort of glare.

"Yeah, well, we're never going to fix this if you stay put!" Rita snaps, then looks to Strange for help convincing her, and... oh. He hasn't reformed yet. Coward. Rita gives an annoyed kick at the smoke around her ankles. She can't tell where his eyes are (if they're anywhere), but he better not be looking up her skirt.

So she looks to the only other counsel she has here: her cat, who's sitting comfortably outside of the freezer. Francis simply gives a pointed glance at her book, and raises his paw as if to demonstrate a point.

Oh. Maybe that'll work.

Rita calls her book over, tears a page from it, and focuses to infuse that page with her knowledge: specifically, the fact that this woman's in danger, she'll likely die if she stays cold, and she needs to be warmed up. Then, she thrusts that page at the woman. Touching the page will transfer its information directly into one's mind, allowing them to know it with as much certainty as Rita does.

Points for Francis: the mascot character is more useful than the sidekick. As the page is flung towards her, the woman reaches out, as if to catch it. As soon as her skin touches the paper, however, she pauses for a moment, blinking in confusion as the information is transferred to her mind. There's obviously a conflict of interests. Obviously it's important not to die. But at the same time, she just desperately wants to be somewhere cold.

"But where else would I go?" she mutters, frowning slightly. "I've got to be here, the cold feels amazing." Still, she's at least listening to Rita, though she isn't moving just yet.

"I can try something, if you want," Strange pipes up from Rita's feet. The effect is odd, like his voice is simultaneously reverberating from all of the smoke. "Though I doubt you'll like it."

It's an improvement. Looks like she's starting to listen, at least.

But... there's no doubt that trying to drive the mushi out with heat is going to be incredibly uncomfortable for her. Still, isn't there a way to get her to move, other than plain old violence? Rita ponders that, when Strange interjects.

Rita looks down with an uncertain squint, adjusts the skirt of her dress (seriously, he's not looking up, is he!?), and asks, "What do you mean, I won't like it?" Whatever it is, she has a feeling he's right.

Since the room's getting colder, the woman's getting a bit less confrontational. She's still refusing to move, but it's obvious that she's giving Rita's suggestion some thought. Though, occasionally her being lost in thought is interrupted with a frown, as she watches Rita and Strange with a critical eye as if this will somehow explain just what the heck those two are doing.

In smoke form, Strange slithers upwards, stopping right near Rita's face. It only takes a few seconds for Rita to start to feel a bit woozy and dazed. At that point, the smoke wafts away and the slightly nauseous feeling vanishes. Still in smoke form, Strange whispers to Rita,

"I've made people pass out before, but only under certain circumstances. Otherwise, I could certainly help in causing a scene to try and coax her out that way."

Scrunching her face, Rita waves a hand at the smoke, but fortunately Strange leaves it at a short demonstration, and her head quickly clears.

"You don't have to show me that way!" she hisses at him.

She then stops to consider the woman once again... and seems to reconsider rejecting the idea outright. "Actually... it might be worth a try," she admits. It's true, Rita doesn't like it, but not only is the woman's cooperation an issue, but warming her up might be extremely uncomfortable... if not outright painful. If she's knocked out, maybe she won't have to feel any of it.

Knocking someone the hell out is a go! Except, unlike when he knocked out the severely poisoned Reira and Sans, Strange's poison plus the mild hypothermia and slight dazed condition of the woman isn't enough to knock her out entirely. It's enough to throw her for a severe loop, however, as she staggers forward, with her hand to her head. She tries to move and get out of the smoke, but Strange is still there, just engulfing her head in the purple smoke and making her woozy and nauseous as hell.

"I can't cast in this form," Strange explains, as he continues to just linger around the woman's head. "You'll have to do the magic yourself."

Because whatever Guardian plan Rita's got to help save the day, it probably involves magic. After all, this is Rita.

Setting her sword aside, Rita puts one hand around the woman's back and grabs her arm with the other, guiding her out of the freezer as she stumbles around. She gets the woman to sit down on the kitchen floor, then gets started on casting.

"Here goes... Get ready," she tells the others, though it looks like it'll be up to Rita to handle things if something goes wrong.

If it's warming they need, there's no need to turn to Guardian magic; her fire magic is enough. Rita conjures four pillars of flame that hover around them without touching the floor or ceiling. It doesn't take long for the air to start warming up until it feels much like a sauna.

As Rita guides the woman out of the freezer, Strange still hovers around her head, while simultaneously trying not to get any smoke near Rita or Francis. The woman herself is moving in a slow, sluggish manner, like just the simple act of moving is hard.

The room starts to heat up. This poor woman is in a cocktail of pain right now, with the dizziness of being passed out combined with Strange's poison smoke and the mushi's intolerance to heat. She grits her teeth and lets out a moan of pain, curling in on herself.

It's working though. The warmer the room gets, the quicker the snowcloud above her head starts to vanish. The Harbinger magic starts to dissipate as well as the mushi vanish. And Strange, the big coward, actually solidifies at this point, turning back into his fully-clothed self. He's standing next to the woman and watching all of this with a small frown.

"I think it's doing the trick." But Strange obviously doesn't like the fact that it's paining the woman so much.

Rita nods, frowning. It's working. It doesn't feel good, watching someone suffer like this, but it's working and they just have to see it through to the end. As the snow cloud fades and the woman's pain seems to subside, Rita uses her third eye to look for more signs of mushi or Harbinger influence, but as far as she can tell...

"It's gone."

Strange can probably tell, too. The pillars of fire, no longer needed, dissipate into smoke. Francis, while no one was looking, took care of getting rid of her sword and now seems to be contentedly sampling some half-melted ice cream from an overturned container.

"... We should probably get out of here." Before the woman starts asking questions, or someone else comes in and sees the mess. Then again... if Guardians have a peculiar tendency to be easily forgotten or ignored by the public, Rita might be fine. But she'd rather not chance it.

Rita might be fine but the jury's still out on the member of the team who isn't a Guardian. Understandably, Strange doesn't want to be hanging around when someone else shows up. So, he gives Rita a little nod.

"Might I suggest we head to the food court? I doubt this woman will come look for us but it is the most crowded there. Plus, I'm feeling a bit light-headed."

That's what happens when you hang out as smoke for a minute or so.

"You're lightheaded?" Rita echoes in disbelief. After he gassed the woman and Rita (a little), he should be the last one complaining about that.

"Well, whatever... guess we can go try and blend in," she adds after a pause. Rita waves her book over to herself, closes it, and places a hand on the orange jewel on the cover. The book disintegrates, and the jewel turns into a ball of light that quickly returns to its place in Rita's chest. When it does, there's a brief, bright flash... and her clothes are back to normal.

Gesturing for Strange to follow, Rita starts on her way out of the kitchen. Francis, after licking the ice cream off his paw, hurries to catch up with her.

"It's turning into smoke that makes me lightheaded!" Strange complains, as he follows Rita out of the kitchen. Once they reach the door that separates the kitchen from the rest of the mall, Strange jogs ahead of Rita. This is solely so he can reach the door first and he holds it open for Rita and Francis, complaining all the while.

"When I'm smoke for under thirty seconds, it's perfectly fine. But anything longer than a minute and my head starts to go a bit funny. I've been working on seeing how long I can stay in that form. I'm up to two and a half minutes before I feel so odd that I have to call it quits—though I am working on staying in that form longer."

All of this is said as if it's the most casual thing in the world.

Rita gives him a weird look when he goes out of his way to open the door for her. It's an odd reminder that this obnoxious old man is also sort of a gentleman. Sometimes.

"Hmph... so there are limits to that form of yours. That'll be good to know, next time you decide to run your mouth too much." Rita's still salty over how few hits she was able to land on him, back at the training yard.

They step into a hallway marked for employees only, then out into the food court proper. Some of the commotion seems to have died down with no visible developments to gawk at, but many people still loiter about, content to stay nearby just in case something else exciting happens.

The next time he runs his mouth? Strange frowns for a moment before he connects the dots with what Rita's referencing. He gives her an ironic little smile before the mild teasing starts back up.

"Yes, but I wonder what will run out first: my endurance or your patience?" Strange knows that it's his endurance but hey, might as well give Rita a bit of shit while he can.

When they're in the food court proper, Strange makes a beeline for the obligatory greasy pizza place that every food court has. There's a few people in line so, he starts to wait, assuming that Rita's going to wait with him.

Well... Rita doesn't have anything pressing to do right this instant, nor did she eat before running over here... so whatever. She'll stick around for a meal.

There are a few pizzas sitting on display, some with slices missing, presumably having been sold to other customers. Rita looks over the labels. Pepperoni, veggie, cheese, meat lovers, Hawaiian...

"What's 'Hawaiian'?" she whispers to Strange.

Strange is looking between the veggie and cheese pizzas, deciding which of those two he's going to pick out, when Rita asks her question. He whispers back, so as not to embarrass Rita too much,

"It's an island in the Pacific. I've no idea what it has to do with pizza, as I haven't been there myself—"

But then he cuts himself off. Because there's pineapple on that Hawaiian pizza. He went literal months without having to possibly deal with pineapple and now he's encountered it twice in a few weeks? Strange's expression shifts to a frown, as he shudders slightly and gives the pineapple pizza a look.

"Don't get Hawaiian, it looks disgusting."

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