lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's tempting to let him fall into the water. Yet he knows better than to foul magic and while he realizes Strange could likely get himself out of his own created reflection, he's not going to test that theory. He's had enough trouble lately in his opinion.

The thick tentacles snake outwards towards Strange, with his reflexes at attention given how he was controlling them, to wrap around his waist just under his arms. The other set slip right under his feet against his shoes and push upwards. There is no swaying like last time nor any unsteadiness. Not even the usual squeeze is present from the earlier confrontation back on the moon. Strange would have to piss him off to voke that kind of subconscious reaction. Even the texture under Strange's hands have thicken around the flexible spines.

"I won't drop you," he says casually.

Thank God for those tentacles. Strange relaxes a bit as he feels the tentacles wrap around his waist and slide under his feet. Tyki has gotten better with these and, possibly, the tentacles have gotten thicker as well. Understandably, Strange doesn't know enough about Tyki's tentacles for comparison's sake.

"I wouldn't have turned solid if I thought you would," Strange returns, with a wry little smile on his face. And now that he's solid and it's not weird to talk, time to yammer about magic.

"Since the tree's trapped in the reflection, it wouldn't do any damage to the tree or myself if I were to fall in the water. After all, once I move out of the way, the reflection would stabilize. I simply don't want to get wet."

He's not exactly going to tell anyone else just yet what else he plans to do with these tentacles or else people would never allow him to get close enough. It paid to have a few cards hidden in his deck of odd powers.

"I don't know if I should be pleased you trust me that much or delighted," he says with every bit of amusement in his voice. His eyes lower to the water again and he squats down above the surface. Strange's words give him a little bit of confidence and he pokes the water with the tip of his finger to watch it ripple across the reflection.

"Mostly I wouldn't want to have to explain any mishaps to the Ringmaster. Still, I am impressed as usual by your magical prowess. How long do you think you could keep it in there? Indefinitely?"

"Probably not indefinitely," Strange admits. "I have a similar spell that I use for storing my pens and pencils and I need to refresh that one every week or so. Since the tree is much larger, I suspect it would last a few days at the most before the spell dissipates and we end up with a large tree in the lake."

Coincidentally, the spell's going to fall when everybody goes back to the carnival. But Strange doesn't know that.

He leans slightly on Tyki's tentacles as he moves to get a better look at Tyki poking the water. When it ripples, Strange smiles. There we go. A practically perfect spell.

"Huh, if I were to put someone or something in a wall they would stay that way until I decided otherwise. I suppose a reflection is simply more complex because of what it is," he muses. It makes him wonder quite a lot of the potential. He didn't have to maintain a spell or object once he let go of it. What was done was done.

His tentacles grow a little more taunt to ensure he doesn't plop into the water unnecessarily yet bend at his yielding reflexively. If Strange wants a better look, Tyki has no qualms about offering it.

"And, at the risk of pointing out the obvious, your power to choose is quite different from my magic." Strange magic requires building up spells, trying new things and changing arrangements until he finds something that works. To the best of his knowledge, Tyki's power doesn't do that.

He leans towards the water, getting that better view, before Strange turns back towards Tyki. "So! Shall we go back to solid ground now?"

Strange is not even thinking about removing the tree from the reflection. It's fiiiine, what's the worst that can happen when the spell breaks?

"Despite coming from generally the same time and place. It's interesting how much magic flourishes. It's welcomed in your world and yet you barely have any of it. It's blossoms in mine and yet it is shunned among just about everyone but those who have it." Both the Order and the Noah hid from the world unless they simply had a big mouth.

"Well, I do want to eventually turn back towards the camp, so that is advisable."

If Strange wants to keep the tree inside, he doesn't object nor try to persuade him otherwise. Not like it'll displace water or cause damage as it is. He just begins to walk back towards the shoreline on top of the water.

"Then we should head back," Strange says, as if this is the most obvious thing in the world. "And—" but before he can finish the sentence, he catches himself in a wide yawn. Strange looks a little embarrassed as he continues. "And probably get a little rest as well."

After all, it's late to begin with and only getting later. And though he won't admit it, doing an impressive feat of magic like trapping a tree in a reflection has made Strange a little bit tired.

"Yes, a good idea. You look like you can use a good rest. You've been through a lot lately," and a peace of mind could do him some good. He won't let Strange burn the tent down either so at least for one night he wouldn't have to worry about that.

Once on the shoreline he'll unwrap the tentacle from around Strange's waist and will keep the other steady so he can step off of it. There's one use of his power to choose that he hasn't used yet in all of carnival, not even to test it out. It's a danger and there is no way to use it without someone dying from it if caught in its path. From what he's seen, large uses of power like that drain energy quickly. "Let's put you to bed."

⇨ CAMPING GROUNDS

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject