[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

[kingsroads]

As Syrlya pushes off the desk, Strange stands up, to better see him eye to eye. None of them understood. Not Childermass and not Syrlya...he can only imagine the rest of the carnival would chide him for being foolish as well.

"Foolish would be letting someone else try. We both know that out of all the magicians in the carnival, I'm the one best equipped to wield the Silver Mirror and I'm the one most likely to figure out what it can do."

At least, Strange is certain he the one best equipped to wield it, due to his affinity for reflections and the fact that he's wielded a ton of magic before.

[chronosynthesis]

"The best--" Syrlya looks at Strange, incredulous, eyebrows raising.

"I'm sorry, is that what you think? That you deserve to do as you please with the mirror because... what, because you use mirrors as a focus more than anyone else?" He sounds doubtful.

"You have absolutely no idea the amount of power and danger in those artifacts. There is a reason we are not experimenting with the Blue Rose further."

[kingsroads]

"The reason we aren't experimenting with the Blue Rose any further is because of what happened to Steven. And, if I may be frank, I suspect part of that is due to Steven himself over the Blue Rose."

Having a conversation with Steven that basically boiled down to Steven admitting that yeah, he doesn't know how his magic works sometimes, has definitely shaped Strange's thoughts on this matter.

"We need to study and experiment with it, just as we need to study and experiment with the Mirror." Just ignore the fact that Strange wants to experiment on himself. "How else are we going to use them?"

[chronosynthesis]

"Do you think the Ringmaster is collecting these for our use, or hers?" That's part of his hesitation in pursuing them. They're trusting someone already extremely more powerful than them to keep multiple powerful magical objects that they can barely equip themselves.

"If there is anyone you have to convince to allow you to use it, it is her."

[kingsroads]

"Can't we be collecting them for both of our benefits?"

The more they talk, the more Strange is calming down, going from 'pissed and ready to haul off and punch Syrlya' to 'just pissed.' He's still sulking, still a bit angry about all this, but no longer the bundle of energy ready to fight everything that he was a few minutes ago.

"And I'll convince the Ringmaster once we have the item in question. I just wanted to explain to you why I need to use the Mirror in the first place."

[chronosynthesis]

Strange's insistence only causes Syrlya to believe less and less that he should wield the mirror. Pride with ignorance is a dangerous combination, but Syrlya's more worried about his refusal for alternatives.

He looks unaffected by Strange's sulking, brow pinched critically as he regards him. "You do not need to use the mirror, you do not have enough of a plan for that. You just want to."

[kingsroads]

It's a dangerous combination of Strange's normal arrogance, impulsiveness, and complete lack of a regard for his own safety mixed with a burning desire to break his curse and see Arabella again.

"I need to have my curse broken. If we had another option, I'd take it." At least, he thinks he'd take it. "But the mirror's the best chance I've seen yet."

[chronosynthesis]

"I understand that. But be careless enough and I promise you, you will find a fate worse than your curse." Syrlya continues looking at him coldly for a moment... and then he lets out a sigh and his shoulders sag a little.

Strange isn't seeing the severity and the lack of foundry his plan has. Syrlya doesn't intend to sit back and watch him hurt himself over it, if it comes to it. But trying to prevent it to begin with is proving to be a lost cause.

He shakes his head, turning on his heels to go for the door.

[kingsroads]

"I'm not careless," Strange grumbles, as Syrlya heads for the door. He's got various half-formed plans on how to interact with the mirror itself. Strange just needs to finagle out one of them into some actual plan. "Besides, we still need to find the damn thing."

He'll let Syrlya leave. After all, they live together. They'll run into each other again soon enough.