the terrible horrible no good very bad week

[kingsroads]

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.

Comments

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya's striker is still straight in the middle of the goal, so even while he's distracted enough it only bounces off with his lack of moving it around. That does, however, spring his focus back to the game. He gives the puck, leaning against the side, a critical look before he kicks the back of it with the striker and sends it forward. It's a pretty bad hit, honestly, while he still tries to get a feel for it.

[kingsroads]

As Syrlya is about to learn, Strange is equally bad at air hockey. He doesn't do anything subtly in real life, he's not gonna do anything subtly in a game. He makes a far too dramatic and needlessly large arm motion as he knocks the puck back towards Syrlya...with enough force that it rebounds off the edge, back to Strange, and he's quickly got to knock it back to Syrlya's side again.

He's probably going to lose at this.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya doesn't even get to hit the puck as it bounces back to Strange's side, and he realizes immediately what his grand gestures are going to mean for guarding his goal.

When it comes around again he braces his free hand to the table just deflects it, keeping his striker close and moving it minimally. But when he blocks it, he tries to push it back to Strange the opposite side of where he's thrusting his arm, trying to push it around. His aim is a little off, so it takes a couple back and forth before he gets a good shot.

[kingsroads]

Strange counters the first few times Syrlya pushes the puck towards his end. But when Syrlya gets that good shot, when his arm and the puck are in opposite directions, that's the one Strange misses. The puck sails right past him, thunk into the goal. Syrlya: 1, Strange: 0.

Taking the puck out, Strange pauses for a moment before setting it down. This part should be easier. He's quite good at billiards and hitting the air hockey puck with the striker from a stable position is closer to that than hitting a moving air puck. Taking his fingers off the puck, he hits it in a decisive manner, again with a lot of force behind it. The puck quickly ricochets off the side of the table and bounces towards Syrlya's goal.

[chronosynthesis]

If Strange is taking a minute to actually make the strike, he's probably trying to calculate a good shot. Syrlya waits, staring with hard concentration at the puck. It moves quick with how hard Strange smacks it, and Syrlya just barely smacks it against the side to keep it from going into the goal. It awkardly bounces side to side, almost to the middle, before he stretches across the table to bump it towards Strange.

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but grin as the puck almost goes into the goal. And that small smirk is still on his face as he parries Syrlya's shot, sending the puck back towards Syrlya's side. This shot has less force behind it than the other one, but considering that Strange seemingly has no concept of restraint, it's still a bit more powerful and wild than expected.