lostcarnival | [closed] hello darkness my old friend

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[closed] hello darkness my old friend

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.

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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.

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."

"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.

"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?"

"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."

"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.

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.

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?

"So before we had any eye on the Blue Rose to begin with." Comforting that they aren't pursing them over that. Syrlya can understand long-standing grudges, and as long as they aren't initiating active conflict that is... at least a little less of a concern. Not enough for him to put out of his mind, but it's likely not an indication the Winter Court is any more an immediate risk than the Summer Court trailing them.

"They may still not have an idea that we have it, then." The Summer Court might not have known had Steven not touched it. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that.

He reaches to take the papers back from Strange. "Papyrus found something related to the Huntsman as well. Normally, I would not think much of other people's personal lives when our purpose is to study the miracles, but..." Well, it's another name that tangles with the Ringmasters.

"You said your Wyld Hunt has to do with the Fae, correct?"

"I hope you're right." But based on Strange's frown, he's not as hopeful as Syrlya is. Aside from simple gossip, it wouldn't surprise him if Summer Court had a few spies on Winter's side and vice versa. Especially with something that powerful, news must travel fast.

Strange gives up the papers as Syrlya reaches for them. He's still listening intently to Syrlya though, frowning as he mentions the Huntsman. How curious that they were just talking about and now here's the Wild Hunt again, mentioned in people's notes.

"Though yes, my Wild Hunt is related to the fae. Granted, I've never seen one myself. Unlike yours and Lambert's, my Wild Hunt is only the stuff of stories and legends. The fae ride through the sky on black horses with black dogs at their side. They're chasing game of some kind—I don't remember what the legends specified, but probably a deer. To see the Wild Hunt means that something calamitous will soon happen."

He's frowning as he talks, like he's trying to recall information that he hasn't thought of in ages. After all, there were very few texts on faeries that he was permitted to read. Strange's information is a cobbled together version of old wives tales, what little texts he's read, and legends of old.

"So it is still different..." Syrlya hums, his brows knitting momentarily as he looks over a couple paragraphs of the story again.

"The Wyld Lands appear to be the residence of most Wyld Fae in the multiverse. At least, for the Ringmaster's people. It looks like she ousted the Hunstman from their station of power in it." Some sort of tyrant, presumably. He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "They have no relation to either Court, but... perhaps it doesn't mean anything."

At Syrlya's summation, Strange shakes his head. "The same phrase has shown up in three radically different worlds in three slightly different ways. The Wyld Hunt and all it's related terms must mean something, I'm simply not sure what or how it relates to us."

The same term showing up twice can be a coincidence. The same term showing up three times is worrying. The same term showing up four times means that something must be happening that's multiversally important or greater than Strange, Lambert, and Syr realize.

"Between three very different groups of people," Syrlya adds on as a reminder, mostly because he's still of the opinion that the naming convention is mostly coincidence.

"Given the Ringmaster's current record of antagonizing Fae, this Huntsman will likely be someone we should keep an eye out for." So maybe he didn't find information on a miracle, but a warning is just as useful all things considered.

"I wonder..." Strange trails off for a moment, before he starts hypothesizing. "The Wild Hunt of my world has the fae chasing game. Our third Miracle, as Shima explained, is a beast. Perhaps the two concepts are related."

It would make sense. A beast fleeing in the wild, a Huntsman to chase after the beast. It's the purpose that eludes Strange at the moment. After all, there's hunting for the sake of hunting and hunting for the sake of food, but he doubts that applies to an object of great power. Hunting for the sake of prestige, maybe?

"Can I see your papers again? I want to double-check something about that Huntsman."

"It would be too simple that any of the miracles did not already have the claim of anyone else." He's having much the same thought as Strange as he offers the papers back to him. He assumes killing the beast woukd be ill advised, but it doesn't mean the Huntsman didn't tame it or has an eye to.

"Wood and rot. What do you suppose it does?"

"Well, wood is life and rot is death...maybe it's something that straddles the boundaries? It could turn people into vampires or something like that." This isn't a very good explanation and Strange knows it. Still, in his defense, he's entirely spitballing and just spouting off theories.

"Truth be told, I don't have the slightest idea," he says, as he takes the papers from Syrlya. Strange continues to talk as he scans the story, looking for something in particular. "And I don't know where I'd guess to begin with. After all, I don't think any of us expected the Blue Rose to be a weapon."

Syrlya shrugs. "Anything can be a focus of magical power. The Blue Rose was created, not a natural phenomenon."

Actually, most prominent focuses he can think of are created. They're really a specialty of magicians than a proponent of naturally occurring magic. He gestures to Strange. "Just the same as mirrors."

"True," Strange admits. After all, the main reason why mirrors are magical in his world is because of the actions of John Uskglass, the Raven King. "It's simply that—ah ha!"

It looks like Strange has found what he was looking for. There's a bit of a grin on his face as he reads: "In the rise of the Great Beast’s power, she had turned away the forces of the Huntsman, and thus gained much attention among the beasts of the Wyld. Granted, all this is hypothetical but if the Huntsman is hunting the Third Miracle, then perhaps he wants to find it to stop the Ringmaster and regain control of the Wyld Lands."

At least in Strange's mind, it's a pretty good theory despite the fact that it is 100% baseless speculation. And man, does he look smug with himself for coming up with that baseless speculation theory.

"Do you believe she still has control while we roam from world to world?" The Wyld Lands were her home, and yet it doesn't seem like they've made any stops there recently. If ever. He can't help but wonder if she's as distant from that now as she is the rest of the Fae.

Still... "But I suspect you are right that the third miracle and the Hunstman are entwined. It seems as though we have found so little of it, compared to the mirror." Was there just less information?

"It might be that our hearts led us to what would be easiest to obtain? After all, mirrors aren't mobile." The frown on Strange's face plainly tells Syrlya that he knows his theory is a little terrible. But hey, the method of 'use your heart to search for what you want' is equally terrible. This place really needs a classification system.

"As for your first question, I do believe she still has control. Prince excepted, we haven't dealt with any Wyld Fae as we have the Court fae." But again, Strange is frowning in a way that tells Syrlya he's not so sure about this. All this is theorizing which he absolutely loves, but which he knows won't really give him answers.

"The Wyld Fae are more independent, to my understanding. And she does not appear to have angered them." He rests his cheek on his hand. "If she has so much control, why can she not call upon allies to help? It sounds as though she had more influence than simply being a friendly figure."

There's definitely a piece to all of this they're missing, but since it doesn't relate directly to the miracles Syrlya isn't thinking too deeply about it. It's just easier to identify the holes when Strange brings up the theory, first.

Strange sighs in aggravation as he looks back at the paper. Because true, true. Why haven't they dealt with more Wyld Fae? Why is the Summer Maiden the only fae that seems to actually care about the Ringmaster? There's so many holes here and so many threads that seemingly go nowhere and it's honestly a bit aggravating.

"I wonder if we'll ever know the full story," Strange sighs. He doubts it. But for someone like Strange, not knowing things is downright awful.

"That depends if you can pry it out of her." Syrlya gestures in the air. "Or be very lucky in this library. Something tells meir it'sa very long story."

Which doesn't mean it doesn't have value, but much of the Scribe's work seems to be in snippets, rather than an organized whole.

"And considering that the Ringmaster's secretive at best, I think the library's our best chance." Which again, isn't all that good a chance in the first place.

Strange sighs as he leans back in his chair slightly. "A week or so after I first arrived, some vampires placed a magical sigil on the edges of carnival territory. Obviously this was bad news and obviously this would put us in danger, but the Ringmaster kept it to herself and to her supervisors instead of telling everyone." A fact which, based on Strange's frown, he's not too pleased about. And then, because he has a feeling he knows what the next question will be... "I only know about the sigil because I spied on the meeting. Still, that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in her ability to be open about these things."

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[closed] hello darkness my old friend

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