just gotta ignite the light and let it shine

[whattaprick]

Who: Everyone who's stupid enough to show up for this, because legal drinking ages are for people from a different century/planet.
When: Afternoon/Evening, Day 30
Where: Lakeshore
What: Local Carnival workers get wasted and set off fireworks by the lake.
Warnings: Carnival shenanigans, ie. booze, drugs, and people getting set on fire probably. Put any tag-specific warnings in your headers!

So, Wismuth happened.

Lambert's pretty willing to bet a good chunk of the Carnival is pretty happy to act like Wismuth didn't happen, but he also doesn't really care about what sorrows people are drowning or not tonight: he knows he needed this drink, and after he'd slept off the immediate exhaustion that came with running around Wismuth for nearly two weeks with the power of Creation more or less constantly burning through him, he's ready to something, anything to feel like himself again.

Fast-forward to the lakeshore. There's a huge bonfire going, a box of assorted fireworks that's been 'liberated' from wherever the hell engineering keeps their supplies, and probably a crate of wine that's going to disappear sooner rather than later. Anything else, someone's going to have to bring themselves.

[ ooc: This is a mingle log! Bring your own entertainment, food, questionable substances etc. ]

Comments

Strange | ota!

[kingsroads]

1: SOBER STRANGE
For all of his whining during Wismuth, Strange is in a surprisingly good mood! Creation noticed his efforts, everybody's back to the way they were (or will soon be back to the way they were, thanks Sans), and his constant fae paranoia has gone from overbearing to a gentle nag in the back of his thoughts. Strange's contribution to the food and drink fund is a bottle of sunlight ambrosia, half a bag of potato chips, and a dozen hard boiled eggs, half of which he's going to eat himself.

For the most part, Strange is flitting around, going from conversation to conversation. "You should be enjoying yourself," he chides, as he pushes a glass of wine onto a different carnival member. At one point, he's stolen the bowl of Peridot's disgusting food concoction from Lambert and is just eating half of it himself.

Though there are moments when he's looking over the lake itself with a small little frown, obviously thinking hard about something.

2: SLIGHTLY HAMMERED STRANGE
Strange paced himself! It's in the late evening, after the sun's gone down that he's had enough to be drunk. To his credit, he's stayed away from the faerie ale. To his detriment, Strange pretty much drunk an entire bottle of wine (and a bit of the ambrosia, and a sip of whatever liquor other people bring). Still, that's moderation!

Needless to say, the drunk person shouldn't have a firework. Strange is holding a sparkler, with a small little smile on his face. It looks very pretty as the sparks reflect off of his eyes and hair, but it's also a drunk person holding a sparkler so that's a point of concern right there. He's also somehow lost his waistcoat and the top few buttons of his shirt are undone.

"This is lovely," he'll admit, "but we need something bigger." Wait a moment. "I can make something bigger!"

Alternatively, there's a puff of deep purple smoke just hanging out near a tree as Strange attempts a magical version of sobering up via hanging out in smoke form for a bit. Don't mind the smoke, it's just hanging out in an weird not-smoke like fashion.

1 ISH

[starseedling]

It hasn't been enough to make him go back to his trailer, but Strange may notice after a while that Steven seems to be actively avoiding him at the party. He's trying not to make a big deal of it, but if Strange comes to join a group that Steven is hanging out with, Steven will quietly wander away not long after. After it happens repeatedly it's probably pretty obvious it isn't a coincidence.

If Strange wouldn't do anything about that in particular, then it will probably go on like that for the rest of the night. If he does want to stick his nose in it, Steven at least doesn't have it in him to flat out run away if Strange approaches him directly.

[kingsroads]

The first time Strange inserts himself into a conversation that Steven's having, it's an accident. The second time, it's on purpose. Considering that both times ended with Steven bowing out and not saying anything to him, he catches on pretty quick that he's being avoided.

So naturally, the smart thing is confrontation. And really...he has no faith in how this is going to go. Anything above 'disaster' would be considered a victory. But it's a small carnival and they work in the same department. Strange has to be the adult here and at least try to address the awkward situation.

Strange walks up to Steven during a brief moment when Steven is alone, wallflowering it up. Clearing his throat, he starts to talk. "I assume you've spoken to Peridot already? She missed you, of course."

[starseedling]

Steven is sitting down by the water when Strange approaches, thinking about the ocean. Despite his efforts to be chill, his ears push back when Strange speaks, as if reacting to a harsh sound.

He curls his arms around his chest, glancing at Strange for a moment before looking away again. He's never been very good at concealing his intentions.

"I know. She's the one that got me to stop being a Harbinger," he says.

[kingsroads]

"That's good," Strange responds, with an obvious tone of relief in his voice. The two of them had a pity party about how useless they felt. At least Peridot got to do something about that and help save Steven in the end.

Strange remains standing for a moment. He's got no idea how long this conversation will last or how good it's going to go. He won't sit down just yet. But what the hell to talk about now?

"She's a good friend. I'm glad you've got someone in the carnival who cares about you like that."

[starseedling]

Eugh. Strange is making this really difficult, saying things like that. It makes him feel really sad inside, and he's been trying so hard to stay upbeat. He doesn't want to feel like he did as a Harbinger ever again.

He wraps his arms around his knees. Part of him is already saying, look how nice he's being! It must have been a fluke, a mistake. It must have been your fault. It was because you started it. You should give him another chance.

His stomach turns.

"I..." he starts in a small voice, shrinking at the shoulders. "...I don't know if I can be your friend, right now."

That's what this is, isn't it? Trying to be his friend? Or had he just been misreading Strange's interactions with him before? Probably. Dumb.

[kingsroads]

"That's understandable," Strange responds, with a little sigh. After all, it's not like they've had the world's best interactions. Going from attempted kidnapping to dumb fights with the gems to blatant manipulation isn't exactly a good track record and Strange has enough sense to realize that.

"But we do work together and will likely encounter each other during performances. This whole...business won't change the fact that we are coworkers and I'll help you out with performance things if needed."

Is there a good way to say 'just don't make this weird while we're at work?' Strange can't think of a good way to say 'don't make this weird,' so that will have to do. So he awkwardly pauses for a moment, shoving his hands in his pockets as he thinks.

"And I am sorry about the suggestion I made. I didn't expect you to take it that badly." He's not sorry he made it: Strange'll swear up and down that trying to pit CY-Ren against Nightshade would have been a good idea. He's just sorry he made that suggestion to Steven.

[starseedling]

At least Steven has the benefit of being able to sense the general mood, so that he can know that Strange isn't secretly fostering anger or resentment at what Steven just said. The fact that he just accepted it makes it even more awkward and difficult in a way, though.

He's always so nice... except for when he's not.

"I, just..." Steven tries, feeling incredibly shitty, "...I thought you were going to be different. After the stuff you said when we got back from Portland. I thought you wanted to be friends. But..."

He shifts his position on the sand, his tail curling around him.

"Whenever something happens... it feels like you don't care at all." He's quiet for a few more moments, before: "When you said that to me... it made me really want to go after Nightshade myself, and... I couldn't get the feelings to stop. And I don't know what would have happened to me if I'd tried."

[kingsroads]

This conversation's going to last for a while, isn't it. So, Strange sits down on the sand, next to Steven. He props himself up on his elbows as he sticks his feet out.

It would just be so easy to explain this away with 'sorry Steven, I'm a terrible person, I know that about myself and hope you now know the same'...except Strange knows that there'll be more questions and justifications and that won't end up well at all. So, Strange pauses for a moment, thinking things over as he tries to find a way to explain this.

"I'm not good at thinking things through—Arabella reminded me of that almost every conversation we had." His tone softens a bit at just the thought of his wife before going back to the tentative tone it was before. "I'm especially not good at thinking things through once I've set my mind on something. And Nightshade..."

Well. That's a whole different set of issues. It's Strange's turn to hesitate as he grapples with his words, eventually settling on: "I thought CY-Ren fighting Nightshade was the best solution."

Is that explanation any good? He's not entirely certain it is. But hell, it's what Strange is going with. "Though what do you mean 'whenever something happens?'"

[starseedling]

Steven is inclined to be pretty generous when it comes to forgiving honest mistakes and misjudgments, and so Strange simply saying he didn't think it through would generally gain him more slack than he possibly deserves. Still... somehow it's harder this time. Maybe just because of how vulnerable he's been lately.

"CY-Ren wouldn't have fought her," Steven says, shaking his head a little. "She... was like how we were. There's no point in fixing problems when you're just going to destroy everything anyway."

He feels a little frustrated, trying to explain what he means.

"I just mean... whenever things are hard, or... something bad is happening. Usually things are fine, but when... when it really matters... I don't know why you do things. I felt like you were just lying to me about being nice so you could... I don't know."

[kingsroads]

Strange pretty much has no idea how to explain this. Why do you do the things you do, well because he's him. How else would he answer this? He certainly doesn't have enough insight into his own personality to give Steven a good explanation. Strange mostly knows his flaws because people & prophecies helpfully spell them out for him.

"To be fair, other people also act poorly whenever we've got a terrible situation," said with a pointed look at Steven. Talking about you, Steven 'cries at the slightest hint of emotional distress' Universe. "And I've no reason to lie to you about anything."

Steven's frustration is making Strange a bit frustrated as well. He frowns slightly, leaning back on his elbows.

"Besides, I didn't know that about CY-Ren," Strange points out. "Nobody knew much about anything those first few days."

[starseedling]

Steven just looks at Strange, completely failing to comprehend the implied diss. He would never really consider crying to be 'acting poorly', so he's got zero clue what's being referred to. He tilts his head a little, frowning.

"Just because other people are doing it doesn't make it okay..." he says, trying to understand. "I don't mean... making mistakes and stuff. Just... You're really nice to me most of the time, but then you get so mean..."

Which he is sort of familiar with, from other people he's known. He just knew those people a bit better than Strange.

[kingsroads]

How do you respond to this? Terribly sorry that I can be cruel and petty, I try not to, but it happens sometimes? Everyone's a little bit mean, it's just your misfortune you've hit the worst of it? Strange is trying to keep his voice calm and trying to explain this in a way that makes sense for Steven, but a little bit of aggravation can't help but crawl into his tone. He barely talks about things like feelings in the first place, he's got no idea what to do here.

"If I may say so, you get so sensitive. Other people are fine arguing with me and they don't take it as personally as you do. I argue with Childermass and Lambert all the time and neither of them seem to mind it."

Of course, the obvious thing here is that Lambert argues right back and Childermass is just permanently resigned to Strange's bullshit. Still, Strange doesn't seem to connect those dots just about yet.

one.

[dirthena]

There's a face Lavellan hasn't seen in a while. Coming back to the carnival is an odd thing after spending so long away from it, but she's settling in as best as she can. And she likes Strange well enough -- he's a friendly face, and willing to spend plenty of time talking to her about just about anything so long as she continues to ask him questions.

A familiar feeling, really, but she has the distinct impression this friendship won't end with Strange deciding to end the world. She hopes.

Flashing him a smile -- this time with sharp pointed canines -- Lavellan accepts the glass of wine. "Is that what we're doing? I thought the point of this was to get as drunk as possible." Which may or may not lead to enjoyment, depending.

[kingsroads]

Lavellan! Here and in one piece and decidedly not brainwashed at the moment. Her presence has just lifted Strange's mood: she's smart, he likes her, she tolerates his questions, and she's someone undoubtedly fun to talk with (and talk with, and talk with, and talk with).

"At least where I'm concerned, enjoying yourself and getting drunk go hand in hand." Fun fact: Strange is a bit of a lush. "Though if you want to get rather drunk rather quickly, Lambert's still got a bottle or two of faerie ale. The thing taste like you're drinking rubbing alcohol, but it does the trick."

Taking a shot of something that's borderline 100 proof will do that to you.

[dirthena]

"Oh no," she says, holding up the hand to wave him off. "I've already run into him once with that -- I'd prefer to wait until I don't need to do anything else in the evening this time." There's people she needs to talk to, after all. But her lips twitch up and she takes a drink -- he's probably not wrong about being able to enjoy herself when drunk.

Although -- "You know, I can't actually remember the last time I got extremely drunk. Perhaps after that dragon with Iron Bull--" She was too furious with Solas to drink after that, and fury was always better than trying to drown her sorrows completely. "It wasn't really a good look for my last profession."

[kingsroads]

"It wasn't really a good look for my last profession either, and here I am now." Granted, being the Inquisitor is a lot tougher and a lot more of a public image than being one of England's magicians. But being in the public eye and regularly talking with ministers meant that Strange could only be a social drinker, not the bottle a day lush of his youth.

Though Lavellan's statement opens up plenty of questions for Strange to prod and ask her about. "I'm assuming Iron Bull was one of your fellow...Inquisition-mates? Damned if I know what you call someone in an Inquisition." Inquisitioners? Camp mates?

[dirthena]

"Being a magician, wasn't it?" It's a guess more than anything -- it's all he seemed to talk about, so she can't imagine what other job he might have. Lavellan would argue that being First would amount to the same thing, only it was the mage part that made one qualified for the job.

Still, as the questions don't have anything to do with the events of the past few weeks, Lavellan grins and nods. "I heard that the rank and file just referred to those I personally recruited as 'the inner circle', for better or worse. But the Iron Bull -- he'd most likely stress the the -- was one of them. A qunari from the north." Until he wasn't anymore, but Lavellan wonders if going into the deals of the Qun is too much for right now. She's just started drinking, after all.

[kingsroads]

"Being the king's magician," Strange specifies. "Granted, I worked for the government more than the king and the army more than the government, but you can see why certain standards of respectability had to be upheld." And Lavellan could also see why Strange couldn't be a big ol drunk half the time.

He listens to her explanation with a little nod. Well, those that she recruited? And an inner circle? Lavellan must be more important within her Inquisition than she let on. Then again, she's probably just now learning that Strange was more important within his government than he let on.

"With a title like that, I like him already. Though, what's a qunari?" He's terribly mispronouncing 'qunari' but hey, Strange is making an attempt.

[dirthena]

"Oh, certainly," she says, with a small grin. "Although I've never had to worry about working for a King before -- the Dalish don't have anything that approximates shemlen royalty. Orlais has an Empress, of course. Had." Before Lavellan let her get stabbed. "Now they've got an Emperor, for all the good that'll do them." Because Briala's the one with the strings.

Anyway, Strange didn't ask for the details of Thedas politics. He's asking about the qunari. "Qunari," she says, correcting his pronunciation. He tried. "Technically, anyone who follows the teachings of the Qun is qunari, but outside of their islands, everyone uses it to describe a particular race. Tall, grey skinned people who have horns." You're welcome, Strange. Thedas is weird.

[kingsroads]

Strange can relate. At Lavellan's comment about the emperor, he can't help but laugh, a short little slightly bitter laugh. "Considering that England's current king is absolutely mad, the sentiment's familiar."

Poor bonkers George III. But the conversation shifts to the qunari. Strange smiles and pays attention, though he can't help but raise a little eyebrow at Lavellan's description. Tall, grey skinned people who have horns. Well. Okay then.

"And I assume the Qun is a religion of some sort?" Follows the teachings sounds religionish, at least. "A religion and a race of tall, grey skinned people who have horns. Your world never ceases to surprise me."

[dirthena]

"Oh, he's not mad. He's just being blackmailed by an elf. It's a scandal of the highest order, of course, but all the shemlen are too scared to do anything about it." Lavellan says, and then stops. Hm. Lambert's drink seems to have had more of an effect on her than she thought. She gives Strange a small raise of her glass before taking another sip.

Oh, right, the qunari. "More of a philosophy. Something I don't know much about, in truth, but neither do most people. They just sit in the north, giving Tevinter hell and scaring all of the other nations just by existing and gaining converts." A pause, and because she remembers how Strange reacted to the idea of Circles, decides she's going to tell him about the saarebas. "They chain their mages up, sew their lips together. Sometimes they'll cut out their tongues if the qun feels like they need to."

[kingsroads]

Surprising nobody, Strange reacts poorly. His eyes widen, his grip on his glass tightens and he starts yelling. "That's absolutely barbaric!" Something which he's certain Lavellan agrees with him on, but that hasn't stopped Strange from yelling and complaining before.

"From a magical standpoint, that makes no sense and from a moral standpoint, it's beyond the pale! Honestly, between the Circles and the Qunari, I think the Dalish are the only people in your world with sense when it comes to magic!" And this is what happens when you get all your worldbuilding info from very biased sources. Very angrily, Strange takes a sip of his own drink, fuming all the while. If that Iron Bull showed up here, Strange would give him a piece of his mind!

[dirthena]

She hadn't expected the yelling, but she probably should have.

"Magic in our world works differently," Lavellan reminds him, although she completely agrees. "They're afraid of magic just as much as anyone else, although if you insist upon treating your mages as weapons I'm not sure what the Qun expects from their population." For she understood that much, although she grins -- pleased that Strange is willing to give the Dalish, in her opinion, the correct amount of credit.

[kingsroads]

Strange is ready to continue yelling about things and passing judgement on entire philosophies he's never met. Chaining and mutilating magicians, how short sighted of them!

"And about that! Why would someone be afraid of magic in the first place? It is simply a tool or an art. It would be like chaining up all the carpenters or poets! If anything, they should be afraid of the individual magician himself."

Strange is saying all of this with so much passion. Restricting magic and limiting what one can do with it is a very obvious pet peeve of his and, given the chance, he'll argue and yell for hours on end.