[Open]

[hippocarnival]

Who: Yuya and you!
When: S2:D28-32
Where: Carnival Grounds
What: Yuya wakes up with a couple new changes, and general carnival shenanigans
Warnings: Proooobably none?

[Balance Beams]

[Yuya woke on the 28th with no trace of Creation in him—just a little reminder on his face, of tiny stars around his cheeks and  eyes that shine in the light gold of his soul color (and his other fae mark looks lighter as well.

He has a new appendage.

He’s not exactly happy about it—a thin, lizard-like tail in iridescent orange scales that’s about as along as he is tall. His tail isn’t big, so it doesn’t shift his center of gravity too much. Still, it’s just enough that Yuya notices it when trying to practice for the upcoming performances. He’s left slightly off center, and that’s not going to do in front of an audience.

So he’s taken to long hours in the big top, using the only inches high balance beams with very thin widths to try and orient himself with his new tail. Sometimes it flails wildly or Yuya teeters one direction or the other with his face pinched in concentration. He makes it to the other side easily, but it’s not as smooth and refined as he’d like it to be. If you’re walking by, try not to get smacked in the face, the legs, the anything.]

[Magic "Practice"]

[Alternatively, now that he no longer has his Guardian abilities, Yuya’s back to fairly typical magic practice. He’s got his staff out by the training area, using the glowing crystal at the end to draw various patterns on the ground.

Smiley faces, that is.

This is absolutely practice. It’s rune drawing practice or. Something.

They don’t last more than a couple minutes, but there is a constantly moving pattern of smiley faces (smiley suns, smiley flowers) going across the open field.]

[Wildcard]

[Hit me]

Comments

magic practice

[kingsroads]

[ In his time at Wismuth and hitting up a remarkable amount of children's arcade places, Strange has amassed a few shitty prizes. There was one decent one but for the most part, it's pixy sticks, tiny little army men, and bouncy balls in his coat pockets. Today he's got a bouncy ball that he's been fiddling with for the past few minutes.

He pauses for a moment as he spots Yuya practicing his magic. Or, in Strange's mind, he spots Yuya having fun with his magic. Really, what magical application did smiley faces have? And Strange instantly knows of a way to make this actual practice. ]

Shields at the ready!

[ And then, without any more warning, he chucks that small little bouncy ball at Yuya's head. ]

Balance Beams

[everybodypanic]

[Jinx was there as well, at the Big Top and practicing her upcoming performance. Diving and rolling through some hoops might not seem like much, but it will seem more impressive when the hoops are on fire come the big day. She really, really wants them to be on fire. But she'll save that for later.

Practice is easy enough and she takes a break after a while.

Heading off, she feels a certain something smacking the side of her head.]

Ow! Hey what the hell was-

[Tail. And Yuya.

But mostly tail.]

Did you... always have that?

[hippocarnival]

Huh? [Yuya looks up from his drawing, his reaction delayed in his attempt to actually notice Strange before he even heads the actual warning of 'put your shield up'. Which means he gets bumped in the head, and he jumps back a step.] Hey!

[He looks down at the ground, crouching to pick it up and look the toy over.] A bouncy ball...?

[He realizes, suddenly, that Strange probably isn't going to wait to throw something else at him, and then his attention snaps up and he holds the hand and ball out to project a smaller shield.]

[hippocarnival]

Sorry. [Yuya slowly rights himself, pulling his tail to the other side of the beam as he looks over his shoulder at Jinx.]

No, it just... grew in other night. Grew out? [He looks at his own tail, expression uncertain. It's still weird, he didn't feel anything until he woke up in the morning.]

[kingsroads]

[ Strange isn't waiting. He takes a few steps forwards, walking towards Yuya, before throwing his second tiny projectile (another bouncy ball) at the barrier. It ricochets off, hits Strange right in the forehead, then bounces back on the ground.

Which, okay, he should have expected that. That projectile is going to stay on the ground for now as with one hand, Strange reaches into his pocket and chucks the third and final tiny projectile (a tiny army man) at the barrier. His other hand is being used to lightly poke at where the bouncy ball hit him and to check to see if he's bruised. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Needless to say, bouncy balls and green army men don't stand a chance against Yuya's shield. And from behind it, he looks awfully amused when Strange manages to hit himself instead.

He slings his staff over his shoulder with a grin. His tail swishes slowly behind him.] It's definitely too strong for that now, Mr. Strange.

[kingsroads]

I can see that much. [ Strange is good humored though, as he bends down to pick up the various projectiles. ] I'll have to try fire the next time.

[ he is not joking in the slightest. Though, the cocky grin on Strange's face tells Yuya that he doesn't plan on outright charbroiling the kid. But hey, if you can shield against a rock or a bouncy ball, that's the next step: something more dangerous. ]

I like your tail, by the way. New addition?

[hippocarnival]

But that's what Rita always throws at me! [No more fireballs, please. She's beat him to the more dangerous department.] What about water?

[Water can be dangerous, right. He just doesn't want any more near singes.

Yuya drops his shield, looking down at his tail at Strange's prompting.] Yeah... [He arcs it experimentally, then makes a wide swing from one side to the other. The movement is pretty smooth and flexible, like it has significantly more joint than normal.]

It feels weird. [Like, seriously, his spine is basically elongated. Maybe it wasn't painful, but he can still feel it.]

[kingsroads]

Ice would be better. Unless it's a large amount of water, there's really no need to dodge it.

[ He could theoretically make it hail, that might work. Strange is already thinking of more ways to idly test Yuya's magic and this barrier in the back of his mind as Yuya shows off the tail. ]

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, of course it feels weird. You've had this for what, a few days now? The first few times I turned into smoke felt damn odd, but now it's like second nature.

[ aka no shit it's weird Yuya, you literally grew a tail overnight. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya scrunches his face, tail flicking with irritation.] But it's still weird now. I didn't want to grow any limbs!

[Whine whine. Yuya juggles the bouncy ball in his hand before tossing it back to Strange.] Here--when do we move onto the next lesson?

[Because Yuya's pretty confident in his barrier now, having field tested it. But also, he's finding himself kind of missing all that power from being a Guardian. Even if not everyone found it impressive, it worked in the end didn't it? He could do so much more for people with it.]

[kingsroads]

[ Surprisingly, Strange catches the bouncy ball and drops it back in his pocket. As for Yuya's question, he shrugs. ]

When we move on all depends on what you want to learn next! I'm afraid my magic isn't all that good at defense, but we can cobble something together if you want to keep with your current skillset.

[ of course, if Yuya wants to learn how to control the weather or do something offensive and flashy, then Strange is also 100% for that. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya pauses to think about that, putting his hand to his chin in exaggerated thoughtfulness. Being a Guardian has given him a feel of what kind of magic he could have beyond his current limits...

But then he looks back at Strange curiously.] You don't want to learn more defensive magic?

[If it's a weak spot, why not improve it? Given everything they go through, it's a little surprising with him already being an accomplished magician that he's not already expanding into that.]

balance beam

[whattaprick]

"You're overthinking it."

Lambert, unsurprisingly, has chosen the prime asshole moment to pipe up from somewhere behind and off to the side, right when Yuya's particularly struggling with his balance. The witcher's grinning, his own tail lazily waving back and forth, as he watches Yuya. Who knows how long he's been standing there, anyway?

[hippocarnival]

Yuya jumps at the sudden interruption, flailing his arms as he plants both feet flat on the beam and catches himself before he falls over. He sighs on relief once he's steady before looking around for Lambert.

"I'm not thinking about it, I'm feeling it." As if that makes any more sense. "What're you doing here?"

[whattaprick]

Makes enough sense to Lambert, really. He runs on instinct half the time. When Yuya asks that, though, he simply shrugs.

"I was looking for Strange. See if he's up for sparring practice."

[hippocarnival]

"I haven't seen him." Not today, at least--maybe everyone is still recovering merely from Wismuth. Yuya, though, has a lot to make up for before performances with this trail. Besides, he doesn't feel all that bad in the end of it.

"I've been here all day so far, so... maybe he's in his trailer?" His tone is quizzical, he's definitely just guessing.

[whattaprick]

“Probably,” Lambert agrees. He seems disinclined to leave just yet, watching Yuya as his own tail flicks thoughtfully.

“How long have you been in here?”

[hippocarnival]

"Eh... since after breakfast?" After he woke up with the initial fright of suddenly having a very long tail. Falling out of bed taught him quickly how fragile it is, too.

He turns back to finish crossing the beam. For any normal person it's perfectly fine, but Yuya can feel the points it's a little unsteady, and moves his tail quickly to re-balance. He hops off once he makes it to the end, turning to jog up to Lambert instead. "I'm not going to fall during performance, so I need to get used to it now."

[kingsroads]

[ And Strange shakes his head. ]

Not really. I'd rather broaden my knowledge on the magic I already know than start something new. Maybe then I could find something in that school of magic that serves the purpose I want. [ Why learn shields when you can learn things like 'more mirrors' and 'bigger fire'? That makes sense, right? Hell, reflections are amazing, who knows if Strange can manage to bullshit some defensive magic out of that. ]

Besides, if my reflexes are fast enough, I can turn into smoke before anything hits me.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya, who knew exactly 0 magic before he joined the carnival, can't really relate. Nothing he currently knows how to do is applicable to a lot of the danger the carnival seems to intercept.]

But what about protecting someone else? [Strange said it before, that there's a dearth of people woth magic that can keep each other safe when things go south. So obvioisly he's aware of the issue there, and what if Yuya can't? Or Lambert?]

[kingsroads]

If I'm quick enough to stop the problem then I won't need to protect anyone else.

[ Because of course in Strange's mind, he's the one who's going up against the problem and he's the one who the job's going to fall to. ]

Besides, I am getting better at disenchantment. There we go, that's protection. [ no it isn't, that's fixing the thing after the fact. ]

[hippocarnival]

[That is absolutely fixing the thing after the fact.

That's sort of an... egocentric way of looking at it, though. Not in that Strange anticipates being the one to face down the problem, but that he assumes the problem isn't going after anyone else he knows first. Maybe Yuya's perspective is different because he was the weak kid who needed to be protected, instead of someone standing up for themselves.]

I want to keep learning magic that can stop my friends from being hurt or enchanted in the first place. [Because, ultimately, Yuya wasn't a magician because he particularly cared about magic. Yuya was a magician because every other month one of his friends is nearly murdered or gored.] The shield won't work against everything... I need to figure out where else I'm weak, and learn a spell to make it stronger!

[kingsroads]

[ Whereas Strange knows that almost every one of the problems he faced is kind of his fault. Getting cursed? Summoning Frost? That business with Nightshade? All his fault. So of course the problem is going to go after him, he's most likely the one that caused it in the first place. ]

The shield won't work against everything but if you play with the theory and mess around with the bones of the spell, then it might work against more than it currently does. [ Cause that's what he'd do. Alright, something doesn't work, let's poke around and keep trying it until it does work. But Yuya's the student so preventative magic it is. Strange frowns for a moment, thinking. ]

Still, if you want something that can keep someone from being hurt, I know a few surveillance spells that might work. There's scrying, of course, but there's a more basic version to simply tell what your enemy is doing.

[hippocarnival]

The spell you always try to use to find people when they go missing, right? [Keyword being 'try', because Yuya's failed to see it work once someone was actually kidnapped. Unfortunately, the plot wins out. He can't really blame Strange for not competing with Fae and Harbingers, but...

His enemies, though... Yuya general tries not to make enemies, but he understands the sentiment.] If my 'enemy' is always someone like the Prince... what if they just hide them again?

[kingsroads]

[ Okay one, rude. Strange can't help but frown a little at Yuya's choice of words. The spell he 'tries' to use, the spell he succeeds at using, thank you very much. ]

That spell works perfectly well in the carnival. It's hardly my fault that half the time I'm scrying for people kidnapped by fae, [ he grumbles. Of course the spell doesn't work then, he'd be outclassed! But back to the point at hand, ]

The spell to see what my enemy is doing is a more targeted version of my general scrying spell. It has the same limitations as the scrying spell—I can't view across different realms, for instance. But it's easier to cast and closer to your skill level.