[closed] hello darkness my old friend

[kingsroads]

Who: Strange & Syrlya
Where: their trailer
When: evening of Day 52
What: surprise, Strange is kind of cursed.

Strange makes it a point to get back to their trailer before Syrlya after dinner. It helps that he didn't really eat much to begin with. His mind's swimming with potentials of the mirror, aspects of a spell he's working on, and the faint hope that's growing even stronger that maybe, just maybe this Silver Mirror would be able to break the curse he was under.

So, when Syrlya arrives, Strange is sitting at his desk chair, idly tapping a pencil on the edge of the desk while staring off into space slightly. It's only when the door opens that Strange looks over and blinks back to attention.

"Syrlya," Strange says, with a nod. More and more people know of his curse but a part of Strange still feels intensely awkward talking about it on something like a public radio channel. He'll talk around it, of course, but it's a bit too personal and the story's a bit too long for everybody to know. "I believe I owe you an explanation."

His face plainly says that this isn't going to be much of a happy story.

Comments

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya closes the door behind him, not particularly quietly so he isn't surprised when Strange notices. He looks at least, less annoyed, even if he rests his back to the door and folds his arms.

"Seeing as you are almost begging to experiment with a dangerous magical artifact, yes, you do." Does Syrlya actually have the authority to say that? He's not the Ringmaster or even a supervisor, and yet the tone he takes is commanding enough it would be easy to assume by anyone who doesn't know better.

"What has you so hurried to assess the mirror personally?"

[kingsroads]

Strange knows Syrlya doesn't have the authority to say that. As he's neither Lambert nor the Ringmaster, Strange is of the opinion that he doesn't have to explain himself to Syrlya if he doesn't want to. But, of course, he wants to, if only to try and get Syrlya off of his back and on his side.

"I am cursed," Strange answers, with a frown. "It doesn't affect me here—the curse only is in play back in my world. But it almost killed me and, most importantly, keeps me from Arabella. The curse is a curse of eternal darkness. I want to examine the mirror myself so I can try to use it to lift my curse."

And that right there is the reason why Strange wants to see the mirror so badly. He knows Syrlya's going to ask more questions, but might as well get the main reason out first.

[chronosynthesis]

Arabella is... probably someone important to Strange, but that's the less important part of 'cursed' and 'almost dying'.

Syrlya absolutely has further questions, starting with "Explain this curse to me. What eternal darkness is. Poison? An illusion?"

This light and darkness stuff is even more vague than Creation and Void. If even specific terms can be wildly different across worlds, who says 'darkness' isn't just as similarly unrelated?

[kingsroads]

"It's a tower of night that constantly surrounds me. No matter where I am or what I am doing, that pillar of darkness blots out the sun and stars. Apparently the tower was visible to those outside it though obviously, I never saw it for myself." Considering he was stuck inside it and all that. Bit hard to view the outside of something when you're inside.

"As for what was killing me, I assume it was the curse itself. The death of the enchanter helped stabilize it in a way where the curse still exists, but isn't actively killing me anymore."

This just opens up more questions, which Strange is prepared to answer.

[chronosynthesis]

"So your curse is... external, literal darkness." If he's getting that right. Now, a curse lingering after the death of the caster, that's not strange at all. Actually, he can think of very few instances of intense curses that won't linger after death.

"You assume it was the curse killing you? Does that mean you aren't actually certain how your curse functions?" He's at least trying to control the incredulity of his voice. Not that Strange doesn't understand what the hell he's cursed with, but that he's guessing at solutions before figuring that out first.

[kingsroads]

"I couldn't ask how the curse functions when it was cast," Strange snaps slightly, giving Syrlya a frown. He's trying to keep his voice level as well, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. Pity it's not entirely working.

"It's sloppy magic anyway. The fairy who cursed me probably named something like 'the magician' or 'the English magician' as the target of the spell. When a fellow magician stepped into the curse's vicinity, it drew him in as well."

[chronosynthesis]

"Shouldn't you figure out the nature of your curse before you attempt to throw solutions at it?"

Syrlya knows exactly how catastrophic pursuing a solution without understanding the problem is. Of course, what's happening to Strange is on a much more personal scale, but magic is volatile and he can think of a dozen horrible ways Strange could make this worse on himself.

Which is exactly why he's looking at Strange so sternly. He likes him enough to not want to see him blow himself up. "Otherwise, you are doing little more than guessing."

[kingsroads]

Strange is taking this an entirely different way than what Syrlya's thinking. Of course Syrlya doesn't think he can do it. It's not his fault that his magic keeps being rebuffed by things like the Void and the fae in general. But this is an opportunity where he's certain nothing would get in his way or stop his magic. Of course he'd take it.

He's matching Syrlya's stern look with a defiant one of his own. Screw everybody else, Strange knows he can do this.

"I know enough about the nature of the curse. It surrounds me in perpetual darkness, it's targeted to a vague term, and it's preventing me from returning back to England. Besides, I can identify magic. Combining my magic with the magic of the Mirror should make this easy."

[chronosynthesis]

"That is assuming that your curse and the darkness that the mirror manipulates are the same form!" He gestures wide in the air before pulling off the door and walking closer to where Strange is seated. "The only sort of darkness we have mention that the mirror has control over has to do with the spirit."

He presses his hand against the desk, leaning sideways as he puts his other hand on his hip. "And if what you need is a catalyst, there are many forms of that that are not as dangerous and untested as the miracles."

[kingsroads]

"And what's the likelihood we'll run into one of those catalysts? I've got less than five months left at the carnival, the miracles might be my only chance." Never mind the fact that taking up another contract is technically an option. Strange isn't even considering that at the moment.

He's still sitting, a wiry bundle of tenseness, as Strange looks up at Syrlya. "And honestly you, of all people, have no right to judge me on this matter. You took up the Blue Rose without even an idea of what it could do!"

[chronosynthesis]

"My contract was for a catalyst! Do you really believe the Ringmaster cannot find another one?"

Syrlya grits his teeth, pointing at the back of his head. "There was no choice, and you saw what it did! You want to use it with purpose without a full understand of it or your curse, and that is going to get you killed if not worse!"

He takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I am not judging you, I am warning you to take more care instead of deciding to use an artifact more powerful than any of our standards before you know if it is even going to work."

[kingsroads]

"I'd have to contract her for that—and before you ask, that isn't an option."

Despite the fact that it seems a bit nonsensical, Strange sounds firm on that point. No more contracts for him. He's still scowling but he's looking away from Syrlya for the moment.

"I don't care how much it changes me," he grumbles. "I can turn into smoke, I'm already inhuman enough as is. And I don't care if it kills me. I've worked out an arrangement with the Ringmaster so I have an egg like Sans did. All I care about is breaking the curse."

[chronosynthesis]

"And is Arabella going to care?"

That's a low blow, Syrlya knows. Whatever their relation, he obviously cares about her enough to have being with her forefront to his curse-breaking situation. But it's obvious attempting to reason against him being stupid about it is failing.

Syrlya's expression is utterly unimpressed, but he still waits for an answer.

Day 54

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya doesn't sleep in the library itself, returning late in the evenings when he's too tired to keep reading so he can rest in a bed proper. He's back at the trailer a earlier today, sitting at the kitchen table with a couple briefly-borrowed books and, most importantly, a story etched onto a couple loose pages.

His radio is beside him, dialed down so he can hear any urgency without getting distracted by too much idle chatter as he squints at the next. He barely looks up when he hears the door open, offering only an absent, "Hello, Strange."

[kingsroads]

When Strange returns to their trailer, he's also got a few books, and a messenger bag just bursting with papers. As he closes the door behind him, he looks over at Syrlya with a nod. "Hello as well."

And that's all Strange wants to say. He's still in a bad mood, having gotten into fights with half the damn carnival at the rate. But his curiosity is overtaking any sense of him still being a grudgey child. Strange unloads a few things from the messenger bag onto the desk: stack of paper, blood red quill, blood red gemstone about the size of a golf ball, before curiosity gets the best of him and he turns to Syrlya.

"Did you find anything interesting?"

[chronosynthesis]

"A story of the Ringmaster," he says in an idle tone, as if this is just the weather. Now that he's confirmed it with her on the radio, it puts it in a little different of a light.

Syrlya rests his chin on his hand. "I am deciding if it is worth making a copy of."

It is, after all, her personal life. But there are small clues that might be worth being able to re-reference, as the Scribe put it, rather than attempting to prod her about an event she doesn't care to remember.

[kingsroads]

Okay, that's something interesting. Petty fights can be put on hold for the moment. Strange stops unloading his messenger bag and instead puts it straight on the desk as he walks over towards Syrlya. He bends over, trying to get a look at the loose pages to see what's on it.

This is despite the fact that it is definitely her personal life and he probably shouldn't be prying. Nope, Strange is being nosy and definitely trying to read the papers themselves.

"Well go on, what does it say?"

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya looks up at him, raising an eyebrow and pausing before offering the papers to Strange to look at himself without having to lean over Syrlya's shoulder. "About her first meeting with the then-Maidens of the Courts. Apparently they sought her out to attempt to turn the direction of the Courts."

It's not terribly related to the miracles, which is another reason besides it being personal to her that he hasn't just blasted it onto the radio. Still, it's got pieces he thinks may be valuable.

[kingsroads]

Considering how quickly Strange snatches the paper and starts to read, it's pretty obvious that the dumb fight they got into is slowly starting to fade from Strange's mind. Gossip about the Ringmaster is a good alternative. He takes the paper and quickly reads it over, eyes widening and expression changing at the interesting bits. When he finishes reading, he looks up at Syrlya.

"She would get caught up in a competition like that," Strange can't help but laugh a little. Ooh, look at me, I'm the Ringmaster and I'm big and powerful and can deal with all sorts of problems. He can pretty clearly see her doing something like that.

But back to a more serious matter at hand... "I knew that she did something to get the courts to hate her—some form of rebellion or something like that. I didn't know it involved both Winter and Summer Maidens."

[chronosynthesis]

"The Summer Maiden is quite far from the rest of the Fae, isn't she?" In retrospect, of course there was a reason for that. It's just a shame it came to that instead of truly turning the tide of her people.

"She did not wish to say much about what happened, but apparently that Winter Maiden is the Queen now." So that lives a little clearer picture how well that 'rebellion' went. The story even calls it ill-fated.

[kingsroads]

"That's to be expected," Strange explains, with a frown. "Fae hierarchy has three tiers: the Queen is the current, well, queen, the Maiden is the future queen, the Crone is the previous queen. I've no idea how it's decided when the Maiden becomes Queen nor why Winter became Queen but Summer didn't, but a change of guard like that is typical for the fae."

That still doesn't explain what happened in the rebellion or how terribly it went. It's just a little slice of fae hierarchy 101.

"What I found gave me the impression that the Winter Queen was under a depression or malaise of some sort. I wonder if that has anything to do with the rebellion?"

[chronosynthesis]

"I was wondering if her change of title between then and now had to do with this rebellion, yes." The Summer Court has been their most active threat, but he realizes they have little understanding what the Winter Court's relation with the Ringmaster is.

He leans back in his chair a little, curious. "They seem to be, if not the embodiment of her 'darkness', at least a symptom of it. But I do not know enough about the Ringmaster's relation to the Winter Court to make a guess about that."

[kingsroads]

"I can answer part of that: the relationship isn't good. You weren't here when I summoned Frost. He's a tiny little Winter Court fae, about this tall." And Strange makes hand gestures as he talks, trying to vaguely show Syrlya how tall Frost is: he's tiny.

"He works for the Court and, specifically, someone who hates the Ringmaster. The fact that he was close enough to be summoned was a bit of concern for the Ringmaster."

A bit of concern in the sense that she wrote that Strange might have possibly doomed the carnival, but that's a little hyperbole! That was just her trying to make him feel guilty, right? Right.

[chronosynthesis]

A bit of concern then is a lot of concern now for Syrlya. The Summer Court knows what they have and is tailing them, who's to say the Winter Court isn't doing the same?

"How long ago was this?" Dates will... well, not completely assuage him even if it was a while ago, because someone who dislikes the Ringmaster was already quite close to begin with. But it at least might mean it's unrelated to their ownership of the Blue Rose, and they have the element of surprise against one Court.

[kingsroads]

He frowns a little as he tries to think back. Strange's strengths lie in magic, not internal mental calendars.

"I summoned him in Alola so...four or so months ago? Probably longer. It was definitely before Portland, when most of our trouble with the Summer Court started up."

Which now that Strange thinks about it, is interesting in itself. Have they always had fae trouble and they just didn't know it?