lostcarnival | what shall we do with the brainwashed magician?

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what shall we do with the brainwashed magician?

Who: Rita, Yuya, Lambert
When: Sometime after Yuya's network post.
Where: Training Yard
What: Trying to sort out how this whole power of friendship thing is supposed to work.

This whole Guardian thing has Lambert out of his depth, for the most part. There isn't an enemy to stab (or well, there is, but he's pretty certain the rest of the Carnival would disapprove of that particular solution and he doesn't want to deal with that headache) and if there's a curse to break here, it's one that's got to be overcome with friendship and feelings.

Being not particularly adept at either, and having had one attempted turning go sour, Lambert decides it might be better if someone with a clue about magic came up with a plan. As it is, he can at least offer insight on a couple of the Harbingers, and maybe that will give them something to work with.

Right now, he's smoking in the training yard, leaning against one of the obstacles and waiting for Rita and Yuya to wrap up whatever conversations they have going. His leg's still healing, but since he's in pants instead of his Guardian outfit for once, it isn't visible. Last thing he wants is Rita yelling at him again.

Regardless of which of them show up first, the greeting is the same -- a grunt of acknowledgement followed by a flick of his cigarette.

"So, you really think this friendship thing will work?"

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Rita shows up in her normal clothes as well, with Francis tagging along behind her. She meets Lambert's eyes briefly, nods to return the greeting, then folds her arms and glances away.

"I wouldn't say I'm convinced," she answers honestly. "It's true that some forms of brainwashing can be overcome with willpower, and giving someone a strong enough push in that direction might help... but it really depends on the kind of magic involved, and we don't know nearly enough about the Void to say for sure."

She shrugs, adding, "Yuya seems pretty sure about it, though." For whatever that's worth. It sounded like he had some special reason... but it also sounded like he'd rather she didn't pry into that.

Sorry, Yuya, when you're late you lose your right to get to tell Lambert to shut up!

"Might be because he's done it before. Apparently someone called Zarc destroyed the world where they came from -- don't ask me how they fixed that -- and was ... reborn less evil. Something like that." Leave out the part where it went into someone else for a bit and he also tried to destroy the world again, that sounds weird. He hadn't pressed Yuya for an explanation at the time he'd been patching himself up, but now that he thinks about it, it had come up then, too.

"He said part of that person was purified, but he didn't say how. Seemed pretty excited about it, though."

Yuya does in fact rush in late, having taken extra time to field all the questions he and Noa could on the radio, and give Noa a proper farewell as well. As such, he's too late to make out what exactly Lambert's telling Rita. They do about appear to be talking, though, and so when he spots them across the training yard he picks up the pace and waves his hand over his head to get their attention.

"Hey, sorry it took so long!"

A puzzled look crosses Rita's face as she listens to that story, in no small part because the question of how could the world be destroyed if there's apparently still a world there is sitting on the tip of her tongue, but Lambert stops her before she can ask it.

"Purified... what, with good feelings and friendship?" She's a bit incredulous at that, but it's already clear that Lambert doesn't quite know the answer.

She seems like she's about to say more, but that's about when Yuya arrives, possibly in time to hear that last comment of hers. Rita turns her head to look at him, then steps slightly to the side to allow him to join the conversation. She doesn't know if he caught them gossiping, but she doesn't look particularly worried either way.

"Was starting to wonder if we'd lost you."

Lambert definitely doesn't look worried about being caught gossiping, but he'll take Yuya's arrival as his cue to nod and get back to what he considers to be business.

"So, let's hear it. You got a plan?"

He looks to Rita as he hears her incredulity, but there isn't a lot of time for him to find it suspicious. Especially since Lambert puts him front and center.

"Uh, well... kind of?" He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Not a specific plan, exactly. Because, I think it's going to be different for each of them? But we just need to get them to stop, long enough to listen, so we can reach out and remind them of the things that made them happy."

He shrugs. "If they remember how much they don't really want to end it all, because they have things to live for... I think we can save them."

That's not too different from what he said before. Rita's still unsure about it (for one, it sounds embarrassing to actually talk about those kinds of things), but if they're going to turn this into a concrete plan, they should start with...

"Hmph... so the first thing we'll have to do is stop them, either by restraining them or beating them until they can't fight anymore," Rita says, perhaps too casually, then she seems to realize something.

"Right... we should share what we know about the Harbingers' abilities, too. Going in as a team and having that information should be the advantages we need to take them down safely."

"So we need to figure out who's got abilities that can bind, or who can hit hard enough to knock them down." Yeah, unfortunately for Yuya, he's stuck with two people who are firmly on Team Punching.

"They can still use whatever magic they had before, too," Lambert adds, then nods at Rita. "Does that book of yours have anything we can use?"

Yuya's expression slowly sinks. Okay, fine, he can compromise.

"I could catch them in something sticky... but, uh, some of them might be less willing to listen because we hurt them? Thats why I was asking people about what they know about them personally."

He rocks back on his feet, hands on his hips as he considers something. "They might all come out at once, but maybe if we can drag some of them away from the concert..."

Rita cups her chin, considering how she could use her book.

"I can freeze them with ice magic, but if we're going for minimal harm, I wouldn't recommend it. Other than that..."

Rita reaches to her chest and draws out her Spark. Papers whirl around her as her clothes disintegrate and reform into her Guardian uniform. The pages then bind together with a flash into the form of her orange-jeweled book.

"I can use this to share what I know about the Harbingers, their powers, or anything else," she explains as she flips through the pages. There's also the option of just talking about it, but this is quicker and more precise.

"Splitting them up would mean splitting us up, too. And there's still CY-Ren to deal with." Rita transforming leaves Lambert blinking and shaking the bright spots out of his eyes, but when she describes what she can do, he nods.

"We need a way to tackle them one at a time. We can trap them, or we can fool them. Use their overconfidence against them..." he muses, frowning. "Do either of you have anything that could put people to sleep, maybe?"

Yuya perks up at the sight of the book. He remembers, and she's got the right idea that it's convenient.

"I saw what Steven and Yugo can do, too. Cam we share what we know with you through thay book?" Or is it one way?

He scratches his head, trying to put many pieces together at once. "I can make bubbles that calm people down... I can probably make them sleepy, too."

"One at a time, all in one evening... It won't be easy," Rita says with a frown. "But if this works, and we can convince some of them to side with us, it could shift the odds in our favor." But that's still a pretty big if as far as she's concerned.

She looks up from the book at Yuya's question, then glances to Francis for the answer. He nods, prompting her to give it a try.

Rita holds a hand over her book, and three blank pages tear themselves out from the tome and float in front of her. She presses her hand against one, and several lines of runes appear. She then sweeps her arm, directing the pages to float within reach of the other two.

"Go ahead and touch it. I put everything I know about the Harbingers' abilities on that one. If you touch one of the blank pages and concentrate, you can imbue it with a piece of your own knowledge." Hypothetically, she could add, but she has a strong feeling it'll work.

Touching the rune-covered page will cause one's mind to be flooded with information, but not so much that it's overwhelming. Included is the knowledge of Childermass' cards as Rita observed them being used: to cause malfunction in bank machines, summon a ghostly-looking Baker, and cause a scaffolding to break and fall. There's Lavellan, conjuring illusions of shadowy beasts, Connie, using mysterious orbs to sabotage traffic signals, and Papyrus, putting people to sleep. Though the other Harbingers are unnamed, there's also knowledge of a street that was covered in webs of dark string, and a woman who was possessed by a mushi.

Lambert frowns at the page as it flutters close to him. This is magic, sure, but worse -- it's magic he still doesn't understand. Guardian abilities seem to run off intuition and feeling more than they do on any logic or formula, and it makes it hard to trust.

He reaches out, tentatively, to touch a page himself, feeding what he knows of the Harbingers he's encountered into it. What little he managed to pick up from the encounters with Mari, Childermass, Carly, and Steven, and from what other people have told him. Sentient produce, seemingly random acts of destruction, cards to trap a person and cause a burst of wind, as well as leave the cut on Yuya's face, the strings that Rita saw.

He also puts in some of what he knows about what abilities they have besides what the Void granted them. Steven's healing and shielding, Carly's fire and light and shapeshifting, Papyrus's blue magic, Childermass's shadows and cards and the new, monstrous form he seems to have acquired.

He keeps his eyes shut during that, and when he opens them, it surprises him to see that the blank page is now filled. Only then will he reach out to touch the one Rita's filled herself, jolting slightly as his mind fills with the information on it.

Yuya takes far less time trusting Rita and her magic book, being someone who relies on his intuition more than his brain. He touches the page without hesitancy, though his gaze wanders at first.

Some of the information is the same as Lambert. Steven's fruit animals that seem to follow his guide and the sunflower turret. Childermass's cards, and the sensation of being tapped in one. His massive crow form, creating wind and fire elementals too.

There's also Yugo, whose small dragon companion is now a massive dragon familiar that shares his plasma breath. There's the magic knife that he uses, which doesn't cause any physical injury, but did fill Yuya with hate and anger and caused crystals to grow over the wound temporarily. That effect melted away when Yuzu arrived and reminded him how unlike himself that is.

Basically it's all about how Yuya got his ass repeatedly kicked, but it gives them some more depth on what being on the receiving end of many of their abilities is like. Once he fills it, he waits patiently for Lambert to finish with Rita's page before he reaches to touch it himself.

When they're done, Rita casually places a hand on each of the newly inscribed pages... though the information she absorbs leaves her with a bewildered look on her face. There's the absurdity of the fruit monsters, the news that Childermass can turn into a monstrous bird, the disturbing thought of Yuya being consumed with hatred, the completely irrelevant yet mildly interesting knowledge of a Harbinger with cat ears...

But even though some of it strikes her as shocking or bizarre, the information fills a few gaps in Rita's knowledge, and she's satisfied. Mostly.

"...Right," she begins, brushing off her reaction from just moments ago. "Now that we're all up to speed, we should have an easier time dealing with them. But if we're going after them one by one... where should we start? I'd suggest Childermass, since we all have some idea of what to expect, but..." Would emotional appeals really work on him...? Maybe they should start with someone... softer.

"He also isn't under CY-Ren's influence anymore ... at least, if what Cole did to him worked. He might not even be there." Which is worrying from another perspective, but one less Harbinger to deal with is one less Harbinger to deal with!

"We could try picking someone with less willpower." ...And Lambert realizes he's forgotten someone else in his Harbinger rundown. "What about Shima?"

"I don't know who Shima is. Do you mean his Spark is weaker, or is he easier to convince?"

Lambert probably means 'pick off the weak', but let Yuya be hopeful that he's thinking along the same lines Yuya is. Although...

"If Childermass isn't at the concert, then where are we going to find him?" They can't just lose him in this world.

"Isn't he that pervert?" Rita offers vaguely. She only met Shima briefly before, but she also heard some of the discussion about him over the network. "For the record, I'm not touching a plan that involves smutty magazines."

The question of where Childermass would be is a good one, besides. "Hmph... if he's not helping CY-Ren, I suppose he might turn his attention to matters he finds more important..." Whatever those are. Childermass was never all that outspoken about personal gripes or issues around her, though Rita doesn't doubt he has plenty. "But even if he's not actively participating, I would think he'd want to keep an eye on the other Harbingers' big move..."

Lambert can't help snorting a laugh at that assessment of Shima. "If it distracts him, why not? We can't afford to turn our noses up at anything that gives us an edge. Though since Okumura's from his world, maybe he's got other ideas."

All he has to contribute on the matter of Childermass at the moment, though, is a scowl.

"We're not old enough to buy them, anyway," Yuya offers to Rita, if she needs any more excuses to not be part of the smutty magazine plan. Yuya can't really argue the merits of using them, though, which is why he didn't shoot down the idea when he heard it over the radio.

Yuya laces his fingers behind his head, eyes rolling up to the sky. They'll probably have every other Harbingers gathered in one place at the concert, but since Cole wiped Childermass' attachment to CY-Ren, he's kind of gone rogue. His brow furrows briefly with worry. "He might, but... he's kind of sneaky. If he doesn't want to be found there... but maybe we can find him before the concert?"

Yeah, Rita will take any excuse to keep herself out of that plan. Besides, it sounds like there are people around who know Shima far better than she does, so they can go ahead and deal with him.

"Hmm... Is there anything we could do to draw him out of hiding? Something he'd want...?" No... that doesn't seem too likely, for someone who plans to end everything. "Or something to piss him off, or a score he'd want to settle..."

“He’s not much of the type to get pissed that easy,” Says the man who pisses Childermass off on a regular basis.

“He had to run away from us before. Maybe he’d come after one of us again just to even the score,” Lambert nods at Yuya. “But holding grudges isn’t really his thing, either.” Lambert crosses his arms, frowning heavily.

“He cares about magic,” he says, finally. “He said telling fortunes was the first magic he could ever do, so it can’t be a coincidence they’re what he fights with, right?”

Edited 2018-03-07 14:33 (UTC)

Yuya hasn't considered they might be targeted again, and he's weirdly hopeful it's true. It's make finding Childermass so much easier, right? And he couldn't catch them as easily as he thought.

He nods once. "It's his Spark, so it's definitely important to him. Maybe if you ask him for a fortune he'd do it...?"

Yuya doesn't sound totally confident in that suggestion, given they're on bad terms right now. But he's throwing any solution out there, and maybe Childermass will surprise them.

Rita frowns. "Hmm... when I ran into him, he didn't seem that interested in fighting me until I pressed him. Not sure he'd be that eager for a rematch."

As for the fortune thing... She doesn't have much to add to that. Rita wasn't familiar with his fortune-telling, and until recently, she never thought much about that sort of magic at all. Prophesy was supposed to be firmly in the realm of superstition and entertainment... or so she once thought.

“Strange said he tried to recruit him.” The idea alone makes Lambert snort, but he’s thoughtful anyway. The idea of yelling at Childermass to read his fortune in the middle of a fight is ridiculous, but so is having a talking motorcycle. No real stones to throw, there.

In any case, he shakes his head. “Childermass is just one Harbinger. What about the rest? And what about CY-Ren?”

Yuya's face scrunches up and he folds his arms. "There's as many of them as there are us, right? This is why I asked everyone in the carnival... if we're going to convince them the Void is wrong, we're going to need to understand them."

They need a lot of help, but the concept is the same--get them to listen, and give them a reason to believe in creation. Yuya just doesn't know all them well enough to have a strategy for everyone. "I think I can reach Yugo, and... I was talking to Noa about CY-Ren. I think we can save her, too. She's just as hurt as the rest of them."

"I heard something like that, too. I suppose there's no reason she'd be that different from the others, but... hmph."

Well, whatever. If CY-Ren can be saved, then good. If she can't, fine. The others take priority as far as Rita's concerned. And as for them...

"I don't know Lavellan well or anything, but she told me a lot about her world, so... I think I understand what her values are, to some extent. Cole should be able to help on that front, too." Of the remaining Harbingers, she might be the one Rita has the best chance of getting through to... if that's even possible.

"She's also been a Harbinger longer than any of them," Lambert answers, cynical as ever. "Void's had a lot of time to sink its claws in. I say we're better off spending time focusing on our own."

He nods at Rita -- she's got the right idea, even if he reflexively scowls at the mention of Cole. Ugh. Cole... "Is there anyone else from the Carnival who knows her? Even someone who isn't a Guardian?"

That's about the reaction Yuya expected about CY-Ren. He won't even bother contesting it, just resolve to give his support to Noa to help brig her around and stop all of this.

At Lambert's question, Yuya shrugs. "I didn't hear anyone on the radio mention her. But if Rita thinks Cole can help her, I'll believe it."

After all, her head is significantly less in the clouds than Yuya. She's approaching this with far less hope more pragmatics. " It didn't work with Childermass, but I think what he can do can help some of them. Otherwise, Creation wouldn't pick him."

Edited 2018-03-08 21:31 (UTC)

Rita raises an eyebrow at Lambert's response to Cole's name, but she goes on to offer the first answer that comes to mind: "There's Solas. They know each other from home, so maybe he'll have some ideas on how to get through to her."

She's not so sure that Creation knew what it was doing when it picked its Guardians... but as far as Rita's concerned, Cole's useful, and there's no reason he wouldn't cooperate with a plan like this.

If anything, mentioning Childermass again just makes Lambert scowl harder. Yeah, that damn well definitely didn’t work, and he isn’t eager to try that particular method again, but if it’ll work on other people? Why not.

“The medic? Worth a shot. He wasn’t at the last concert, but maybe we can make him show up at this one.” No sense in letting themselves be outnumbered, as far as Lambert’s concerned. Though on the subject of people who aren’t guardians being in attendance, he falls silent, thinking. There are definitely more than a few people to worry about. Team Blow Up the Stage and Foster, for one.

"If he believes he can make a difference... if he's a friend, then it's just up to us to keep him safe so he can reach out to her, right?"

Yuya knows they'll have a lot of non-Guardians in attendance, probably, given the turn out from last time. They're vital, as friends and to help protect the audience, but it'll be much harder for them to defend themselves. Hm, they've got a lot of work cut out for them, but Yuya's ready for it.

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what shall we do with the brainwashed magician?

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