lostcarnival | ⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

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⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

Who: Everybody!
When: Day 64
Where: The Camping Grounds
What: While the Ringmaster attempts to purge the carnival of magical tracing spells and deal with the angry fire fae in her belly, everyone else is getting sent on an emergency camping trip with some unusual local fauna.
Warnings: Camping.

CRYPTIC CAMPGROUNDS↴

You're given about three hours to prepare, after the Ringmaster tells you her plans for the coming week. There is a vast selection of camping equipment at your disposal, and the means to take along enough food for the length of the stay. The wilderness of the planet you're left on is nearly idyllic, but some people just don't like the great outdoors.

► CRYPTOZOOLOGY: As it turns out, the carnival won't be alone here. There is a varied ecosystem of cryptids to be found as well, living in relative peace and mostly reacting to the newcomers with curiousity. More details can be found on the plotting post. You are free to NPC the cryptids as much as you need to, as long as you stick to the behaviours described.

► DREAMSHARING: There is a player plot going on which will allow characters to share dreams! These are specifically more dreams than nightmares, and the mushi-adept characters will be here to help.

► CHILLAX: There isn't any plot twist for this setting, so this is mostly an opportunity to decompress from the last plot and get ready for the future. The Ringmaster will show up occasionally to help with needed medical treatments and check on things, but won't stick around for long.

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On the one hand, he should go back to practicing and training. On the other hand, food. There's a brief internal battle before food brain wins out and Strange nods.

"If you don't mind my company, I'd love to join you. Do you have a spot in mind or shall I conjure up a campfire right here?"

Hopefully Yuya does have a spot in mind because for all Strange's yammering about being in the peninsula, his outdoor skills are shaky at best. Any sort of campfire he conjures up will be 100% magical and also 100% not exactly follow proper outdoor safety guidelines.

Unfortunately for both of them, Yuya has entirely too much faith in Strange's campfire abilities. "Can you do that? Maybe make a pit, and I can grab a bunch of sticks."

A pit is controlled, since there's only so many rocks around. It's probably fine (maybe he should have read more of that boy scout book Lambert gave him).

And thus Yuya and Strange set the entire forest on fire.

But a pit! He can do that! It should be simple enough—maybe he'll make it square just to show off a little.

"I can do one better," Strange remarks, looking a bit too smug for his own good. "I'll make a pit and make some benches for us to sit on." What's the use of being the greatest magician of the age if you can't occasionally use your magic for stupid shit?

"Okay!" Yuya grins wide, and carefully backpedals to give Strange the space to work. This is obviously the most legitimate use of magic as far as Yuya's concerned--it's got to be good for something besides fightng.

He spreads his arms wide. "Show me what you've got!"

Like the intensely hammy man he is, Strange dramatically gestures in front of him. The ground rumbles for a moment before a large pit starts to form as the earth caves in on itself. The pit is only two or so feet deep but it's close to perfectly square. At the same time, two benches of earth raise themselves off from the ground, in one of the corners of the pit. One's slightly higher than the other, as if Strange was trying to take his and Yuya's relative heights into account while doing the magic.

He missed this feeling, doing magic just to show off and just because he can. Strange puts his hands back to his side and gives Yuya a triumphant little smile like he expects to be praised or complimented. Tell him he's amazing!

Yuya claps energetically as Strange turns, genuinely impressed with the display. He's some of Strange's performances, so he already knows his attention to detail, and that care is what makes it fun every time.

"It's great!" Yuya gives a thumbs up before dropping the marshmallows and sticks on a bench and scrambles to gather some wood. "Have you ever done this before?"

He means the smores.

"I don't think so," Strange admits, as he sits down on the taller of the two benches. "I know the theory, of course. And I saw some people roasting marshmallows when we were on the moon. But I don't think I've ever done it myself."

Granted, the theory Strange knows is 'stick something in the fire and wait for it to burn.' It's the introduction of graham crackers and chocolate that he still doesn't know about.

Yuya runs back and forth until he's dumped a decent amount of wood into the pit. The he scoots to the edge of the other bench, pulling open the bag and offering Strange a roasting stick before he fixes his own. "I only brought marshmallows, but that's the idea."

He waves his stick above the pit, waiting for Strange to light the fire before he continues.

"So... how are you feeling?"

With a snap of his fingers, some of the wood inside the pit lights up. The jury's out on how long it'll stay lit thanks to Yuya's lack of campfire making skills but it'll work for now!

And there's the important question: how are you feeling. Strange isn't the sort to lie, but he also really doesn't want to tell Yuya the truth. Oh, I'm feeling pleased that I'm alive, happy to be back, terrified because I've practically signed my life away to one of the Summer Court fae, and relieved that if I had to sign my life away, at least it was to Ignatius who isn't half bad despite the torture.

Yeah right. He's not telling Yuya that. So, instead Strange frowns for a moment, taking the roasting stick and spearing a marshmallow on it.

"Better, I suppose. Well enough to walk around, at least. Honestly, the main problem with rebirth is the fact that I was so damn tired at the start."

Yuya raises an eyebrow. He wasn't exactly asking about Strange's physical state, and based on Strange's pause he's sure he knows that. But then he deflects anyway, and Yuya looks a little skeptical before he turns back to the fire.

"About that..." This is an awful thing to start with, he knows that, but maybe talking about something hard first will be better for both of them. It's been gnawing at Yuya inside. "About what you wanted to tell Lambert to not forget that he needed to do. Was that to kill you?"

He never forgot Strange admitting how afraid he was of hurting someone else because enthralled by the Fae again.

There's a brief, confused look on Strange's face before he puts the dots together. "So you're the one who Steven was able to talk with."

Good. Yuya's a good kid and better Steven runs into his dreams than someone like Lambert or Zangetsu. That doesn't change the fact that he'd really rather not talk about this! There's an awkward pause before Strange admits, "It was. Back after Portland, I told Lambert that if I was enthralled to that extent ever again, he should kill me. That's part of why I took Ignatius's offer in the first place: I knew that if he enthralled me, I'd have someone to put me down before I hurt people."

For all the good it did him. He still hurt Lambert. And there wasn't any use for him to play the martyr when his torture turned out to be only slightly horrible, not amazingly horrible like it was in Portland. It's easier for Strange to rationalize away thoughts than scars.

That's a lot longer than Yuya expected, but it makes sense. Strange was always troubled by what happened in Portland, but going into Ignatius' service expecting to be killed...

"That's kind of an awful thing to make someone promise, isn't it?" Yuya frowns, bothered, but there's no actual judgement in his tone. Instead, his shoulders hunch like he's a bit ashamed. "You're friends, right?"

"We are," Strange explains. "He's probably my closest friend at the carnival. That's why I asked him in the first place."

He thought Lambert would understand. And he thought that Lambert, the man who prides himself on murdering things, who swears up and down that he's a killer, would actually be the one to do it. It never occurred to Strange that Lambert might fail or Lambert might not want to kill him.

"I trust him, even with the hard things."

Yuya nods slowly, his marshmallow dipping slowly towards the fire as he thinks.

"But even if it's because you trust him... it'd hurt him to do it, wouldn't it? Even if there's no other choice, if you have to--"

He jerks his marshmallow back as it starts to set aflame, shaking it to put out the flame before it burns worse.

"It's not that easy to hurt people you care about." Or watch them be hurt.

"It would," Strange admits. "And that might be why he couldn't do it in the end."

Why Lambert threw all sorts of different strategies at Strange and didn't just slit his throat and run. But the fact remains that Strange just selfishly hopes Lambert would have killed him, even if it was so hard, just so he wouldn't have to deal with the memory of trying to kill his best friend.

Strange's marshmallow is entirely on fire. But he doesn't seem to care. Instead, he's just staring off into space slightly.

He couldn't do it. Yuya's not sure if he would have been able to without help, in the end. Not without getting lucky, but it makes him no less sick every time he remembers firing that arrow.

He bites off half the marshmallow, staring dully at the fire in equal silence. He gets it, really. He gets both sides of it.

"... I made Gongenzaka promise to leave me to die if I said so." He says it a little hurriedly, like he won't get it out if he didn't. A little weight lifts from his chest, and he's finaly able to look at Strange again.

"It's awful, right? Making them hurt more, so we hurt less."

Because apparently actually dying is hurting less, sure.

Part of Strange just wants to sulk and dig his heels in even further. So what if it's awful! He never said he was a good person! He's not nice the way that Yuya or the others are, he's got a whole alternate self to prove that! But Strange knows that's petty and childish and he's supposed to be better than that.

"I'm not so sure," Strange explains, as he still stares off into space. "What would be worse? Acknowledging that you cannot do anything or the knowledge that you tried to save them and failed?"

Because that's how it's going to be, if the fae are involved again. In all likelihood, they're going to fail.

Yuya absently pokes at the marshmallow, shrugging a shoulder. "I don't know. Even if it feels hopeless, I can't... I have to try."

Even when he's told to stand down, he's not sure he could hold himself to it. His patience would probably run out at some point. And he knows Gongenzaka is the same way. That's what makes it feel especially terrible to have done.

He worries over his lip. "Either way the person you care about is hurt, or... or gone."

Strange's marshmallow is a solid 50% charcoal at the moment: he's completely forgotten about the fact that they were roasting marshmallows in the first place.

"The only thing you have to do is keep yourself safe. We both have people we need to see back in our worlds. We can't accomplish that if we're dead or maimed."

Or contracted by multiple fae, the voice in the back of Strange's head points out. This only makes him continue sulking, as he draws into himself a bit more.

"But Gongenzaka is here." His face scrunches up in frustration. At least Yuzu's returned home, and he agrees with the sentiment. He doesn't really want to get hurt, but as long as he's here it seems more and more impossible.

And that's exactly the problem. "He already died twice, he lost his arm, I can't let him get hurt again!"

He grips his stick tighter, getting close to snapping it. "Things aren't getting any safer, and I can't... I--" He stops, swallowing down any further words.

Things aren't getting any safer. And they won't get any safer when the carnival inevitably goes after the Mirror. And they certainly won't be any safer now that they're holding a general of the Summer Court prisoner somewhere.

"If you don't want Gongenzaka to get hurt, then you'll have to protect him yourself." Strange doesn't know Gon all that well, but if he's already died twice and lost an arm, it sounds like he's too reckless for his own good. They can't throw magic at the fae to stop that problem. But perhaps they can throw magic at Gongenzaka to keep him safe—or, at least, get him the hell away from where the problem is.

"How large can you make your shield? And do you know any teleportation magic? It can't be object based, it would need to be you moving Gongenzaka yourself."

The problem with things like 'a cufflink that teleports you to someone's trailer' is that people have to make a choice to use it. In an ideal world, Gon's not getting a choice.

"I know." His shoulders sink a little and his grip loosens, before he finally rips the rest of the marshmallow in his mouth, thinking as he chews.

"I don't know any magic like that." They talked about it before, at the Manor. "But he's the deputy now, so he has more responsibility to keep the carnival safe. That's what he does--he protects people."

Protects Yuya, and Yuya knows he can't just tell Gongenzaka to neglect his ideals for Yuya's own selfish desires. People need him.

He looks up at Strange and attempts to force a weak smile. It doesn't hold. "I know I have to be strong enough to protect Gongenzaka. Like he does for me!"

His gaze drifts down and he puts a hand over his chest. He knows his feelings, but they're still so hard to navigate into words why it's painful. What he's really afraid of, why what he's done he's sure has really broken Gongenzaka's heart.

"... I'd pay any price for that, but I don't want him to do the same for me."

Edited 2018-06-14 17:37 (UTC)

Strange mulls things over for a moment. He likes solving problems. If he can solve this problem by making Yuya's shield bigger or convincing Yuya and Gon to make this arrangement magically binding via blood contract, then Strange would do that. But this problem is damn annoying and damn unsolveable.

"If you want to be strong, then let's make you stronger. Gongenzaka probably has too much to worry about right now thanks to Lambert's terrible decisions," which Strange is still bitter about. "You should be able to get a head start on him."

This is an awful strategy but look, it's at least part of a strategy.

It's objectively a problem, but not one Yuya's sure he's really looking for a solution to. They just mean that much to each other, and when the extent of it is put to the test Yuya's forced to face the reality of just how far they'll go. It's love, and it's also terrifying.

He never wants to actually have to face those words, but he's sure he won't get the choice. He purses his lips, then absently fishes for another marshmallow to impale onto his stick. Of course he wants to be strong. Stronger. Strong enough maybe he can protect himself and Gongenzaka. But the Fae are greater than he ever expected, and if he had to make the choice...

"Yeah," He finally says, after a long moment of silence staring at the fire, although it comes out weakly. "I will."

That reminds him, though, of the other thing he wanted to say, about the other person that means the world to him. "And... thanks for not letting Ignatius take Yuzu. Even if it hurt you."

Edited 2018-06-15 00:14 (UTC)

Well this just makes Strange feel intensely guilty. Because had he known then what he knew now? He straight up would have let Ignatius take someone else instead. The torture sucked but, at least in Strange's mind, it was survivable. And a little bit of guilt and shame over the fact that he's a coward would be better than yet another contract from yet another fae on his head.

Still, he is going to lie through his fuckin teeth and not tell Yuya that in the slightest.

"You're welcome," Strange responds, with a little nod. "I'm a nightrunner, after all. It's our job to protect the carnival."

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