lostcarnival | ⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

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⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 119 - Day 126
Where: The Summerlands
What: Ignatius and Gild portal everyone to the Summerlands, with hopes of appealing to the Summer Maiden for help. Meanwhile, the carnival gets the chance to relax in luxury as only tentatively welcome guests. Here is the location write up from the last time the carnival visited. Since then, of course, some things have changed.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

THE SUN RISES↴

After taking the time to rest, Ignatius and Gild will be able to pool together their energy to portal the carnival (and the airship) to the Summerlands. Those still in Polaris will be left to their own devices for the moment as Gild intends to ask for the Summerlands aid in relocating them, hopefully as soon as possible. With the effort the carnival put into sorting things out in there, however, they should be fine on their own for a little while, at least.

They will arrive in the flowery fields at the base of the mountains, and soon the Summer Fae will notice their presence. Since the last time they visited, however, the atmosphere has changed.

► YOUR ARRIVAL: As the Summer Fae discover the group's arrival, it will quickly become apparent that there is a tension present that wasn't there any of the other times the carnival has visited. The Summer Maiden comes to greet the group personally, with an entourage of armed Summer Fae. They are not at all aggressive unless provoked, but there is clearly a wariness that is new. They seem uncertain about Ignatius being here, and while Gild will be able to do a lot of the talking and smooth things over, the Summer Maiden will deflect having a serious conversation about affairs until the carnival has taken time to 'rest.' It's more likely that the Maiden needs a moment to think over this new information before dealing with it.

► SUMMER CITY: After the Summer Fae become aware of everyone's presence, and the initial uncertainties are accommodated, they will invite you into their city. There are stairs that lead up the sides of the mountains, but thankfully there are also magical means of getting up there as well. The Summer Fae will be willing to help workers with the injured as needed, offering herbal remedies and healing magic to those that want it. You'll also be invited to join them for dinner, but it feels like more of a formality, and no one is obligated to take them up on it.

► SUMMER PEOPLE: The fae here will do their best to entertain these new visitors - but it doesn't seem that much happens here besides day after day of peaceful meditation and relaxation. It is not uncommon to see Summer Fae spent days doing exactly the same thing, whether that be enjoying the weather, listening to music, or dancing - the day and night periods may be similar to earth, but when you don't need rest it can all blur together just the same. Some of the fae work on feats of agriculture or craftsmanship, and while there is no particularly need to work in this place, they take pride in the fact that they do.

► FAMILIAR FACES: One very different thing about the Summerlands this go around is that there appears to be a small settlement built at the base of the mountains, filled entirely with the former residents of the Manor. Alyss and Reyna will explain that they set up a place to live down there with the Summer Fae's help, and that the fae seems to be trying to remain hands off except when they are needed. The Manor folk overall seem to be doing well, though there is some tension regarding their place in the Summerlands - they are clearly seen as refugees, and while the Summer Fae do their best to help them, the arrival of the carnival and the request for even more help with refugee aid seems to be making things awkward.

► OF THINGS TO COME: The Summer Maiden will remain distant for the first few days, but according to Gild and based on personal observation, it will seem that the news that the Ringmaster has been taken and the idea that even more desperate mortals are requesting to come here are putting her at significant ill ease. She's not rude or dismissive, but she seems reluctant to address the situation head on, though she has said that she will hold a meeting with the carnival later in the week to discuss everything in more detail. None of them seem particularly angry or resentful, but they seem to regard the carnival as an ill portent of things to come.

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If it's shadows versus mirrors, Strange will gladly take the immediacy of shadow transport. He nods at Childermass before taking his hand. Lead on, shadow man!

And they're gone before anyone can even think to say 'hey' or 'goodbye' since it only takes one step into the shadow of a drapery and they're both plunged into darkness. They're only in there for a fleeting few seconds but the darkness has a different quality now, not just an empty nothingness but as though it might be watching them go by.

Then they're out again, stepping into the light of firefly lit lamps strung up around some random garden in some spot not far from where they were having dinner. He lets go of Strange then, turning to eye him again.

"What's happened to him now?" As much as he wants to sound uncaring about the whole ordeal, he can't, not really. Strange would see through it, anyhow, and so he'll just sound worried right alongside sounding tired. "Is something wrong?"

As they step outside into the light of the firefly lamps, Strange turns to face Childermass. He's keeping his expression a deliberate neutral and trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible as well.

"Nothing's wrong," Strange quickly clarifies. "But I doubt he's told you this and...well, it's something you need to know." Lambert can keep all the secrets he wants, but when has Strange ever done something purposefully secretive? He's not going to start now. Before Childermass can press for clarification or start to ask him what he's talking about, Strange just keeps on talking...though he does sound a bit guilty about this revelation.

"Some of Lambert's more recent scars are my fault. We signed a contract back in Shabon that specified I should kill him if he fell under the Huntsman's control—his idea, not mine. Obviously I did not succeed, but I managed to get a few nasty hits on him."

More specifically, Strange tried to claw Lambert's eyes out. But Childermass doesn't need to know that much and Strange isn't telling him unless he asks.

Edited 2018-11-28 04:32 (UTC)

That's a revelation that gets a whole lot of... nothing. Childermass stares, mostly, almost like he's confused by what Strange is even trying to say. That won't last long, of course.

"So you promised to kill him," he says, flatly, "After he promised to kill you." Back in the library, back when Ignatius was still the enemy. "And you both failed miserably."

"We signed a blood contract in Shabon," Strange clarifies, as he's got a feeling Childermass might not be getting the whole of this scenario. Of course, the phrase 'blood contract' is a sign of just what a dangerous idea it was

"When I asked him to kill me after Portland, it was a verbal agreement." Strange pauses before he admits his worry. "And honestly, I still have no idea why he chose me for the deed."

"Because no one else would be willing to sign a blood contract, I imagine," Childermass assumes. Which is stupid, considering there are several people among their lot who would kill Lambert for a laugh, no contracts involved. He takes a breath as if meaning to say something else, struggling with it, at a rare loss for words.

In the end, he just throws his hands up in the air.

"Fine. I don't care," he says, turning away, though not leaving. He's going to find the nearest bench in the garden and sit down heavily on it. "It's not as though me knowing even matters. You'll do it again. I can't even tell you not to, you'll just do it and so will he and that's the end of it."

That's Strange's point exactly. Why not ask one of the other people who could actually do it, why not ask one of the people Lambert trusts enough to be mercenaries? Why him?

As Childermass sits down, Strange moves to lean against the closest tree to that bench, close enough that they can still talk but far away enough that he's not right next to Childermass.

"Do you honestly think so little of me?" He's a bit hurt, but Strange continues. "I am the one with the quill. He'll have to pry it out of my dead hands before I let him sign a contract of that nature again." And Strange is serious about that. He didn't want to do this in the first place!

"Should I not?" Childermass asks, honestly, seriously asks, giving Strange a look of disbelief. "You didn't have to sign any damn contract with him. He couldn't have forced you. He never wanted to kill you and you no doubt felt the same way when it was his turn to ask and yet here you are, telling me this..."

He gestures vaguely, meaning just all of this, all of that.

"Still happened."

"He was the one who asked me," Strange points out, slipping a little bit into needlessly defensive. "He asked me, not Zangetsu or Tyki or any one who could actually do the job. I thought..."

But he trails off a little, defensiveness building itself back up. He doesn't want to talk about this! But he's got to talk about this because if they don't talk about this now, then it's not going to ever be talked about.

"I thought it was nice to be needed again. So I said yes because I'm an idiot who can't say no and won't turn down a friend." It's something that both Shabon and Polaris have made crystal clear to Strange.

"I did ask for something in return, for all the good it did."

"Perhaps you should learn to say no," Childermass can't help but be a little waspish over it but, then again, he's used to being either the voice of reason or the outright negative one in most cases. Not everyone can be that way. "Before I'm stuck cleaning up another mess."

Zangetsu may have killed Strange that time but it had been Childermass who had sent him, a decision he never wanted to make, a burden he'll just have to shoulder even if the outcome was, in some wild way, a decent one. Strange certainly doesn't blame Zangetsu for doing what he did, that much is a small relief.

"So? What was it? What would be worth bargaining away a life?"

"To protect you," Strange simply responds, as he turns to look directly at Childermass. "Originally, it was simply a favor, to be determined later. With the terms of the contract, I wasn't able to kill Lambert while we both were relatively powerless. So after our conversation in Polaris, when it looked like you had entirely given up on the world, I charged Lambert with keeping you safe and alive as long as we remained under the Mother's thrall."

Again, for all the good it did. That idiot got himself demoted practically the same day Strange charged him to do this! Why didn't Lambert ever think? This leads directly into another point, something that Strange knows they're going to talk about whether Childermass wants to or not.

"England still has need of you, certainly more than it has need of me."

A waste of a favor, which Childermass won't say. Lambert would have tried to protect him regardless, though they would both agree how useless that would be from Theta. It does get Strange a puzzled look, though, that he would make the effort at all and for what? England?

He breathes out a sigh and sags forward, arms resting against his knees. He'll hang his head, the absolute picture of a man who's just too tired for this right now. Not that he can avoid it, or should.

"England is better off without me," he says quietly. "All I could bring back now is myself, cursed and hardly even human anymore. What a waste."

"Then what would you do? Leave magic in the hands of the rest of us? Norrell is too set in his ways, Segundus has barely interacted with his fellow magicians, and I am too reckless and impulsive. Your presence can act as the counterbalance the three of us desperately need, and that's before the fact that you are a talented magician in your own right."

He hates seeing Childermass so defeated and distraught like this. Strange pushes off from the tree that he's leaning on and starts to pace a little, moving towards the area in front of Childermass, as he desperately tries to continue the pep talk.

"As for your other points, curses can be broken. And you are not the only person in England with questionable humanity," said as he gestures towards himself.

"Your curses can be broken. The Ringmaster couldn't even tell me what to expect with mine," Childermass counters. He looks up again, if only to watch Strange pace about. "And for all I know, you shouldn't be returning to England, either, not when you may as well be the Silver Mirror itself... All we'll do is put everyone at risk. What would we do if the Rose Queen found our world? Or the Winter Court? We can't fight them there, not with a handful of magicians with more spirit than sense."

"Just because the Ringmaster had no idea of the solution doesn't mean there isn't one," Strange quickly rebuts. "And your list of hypotheticals are just that: hypothetical. What would we do if the Winter Court decides to leave you alone, as they've done so far? If we killed the Rose Queen before we went home? If I become Miracle enough to kill a fae myself? If you worry about everything, you'll drive yourself mad."

He's leaving the point about how he shouldn't be returning to England alone. It's obvious he's going to do it anyway. The longer he's away from Arabella, the more situations he's thrust in where Strange can't help but wonder if this is the end, the more frayed and unwound he gets. What will happen later, he's not sure, but he's definitely going back to England.

"It's not me I'm worried about the Winter Court coming to look for, it's you," Childermass points out immediately. The Count isn't at all inclined to bother him when it's inconvenient and he hopes it stays that way but if Strange is full of Mirror, well, that's something else.

"Their long lost Miracle has bits of it clinging to a mortal, you're just another weapon for them to reclaim. So Summer or Winter, one is bound to come looking for any reason, for either of us. With so many different Earths, ours may as well be too irrelevant to bother with until we lead them there." Though he does have to admit, "And yes, I know it's all hypothetical, but who are we to take that risk? They've already found us twice before now, they're going to find us again."

"I'm willing to take any risk for a shot at happiness." This is the person who drove himself mad and got himself cursed in order to try and save his wife. Of course Strange wouldn't simply settle down and accept things.

"You say they're bound to come looking and you say they'll find us, but why? Why hadn't they gone looking for the Blue Rose before then? Or the Silver Mirror? With a few exceptions, the fae are lazy idiots. I'm willing to bet that as soon as we slip off again, they'll mark us down as a lost cause."

There's so many instances of the carnival doing something or getting something simply because it was there. If the Summer Court really wanted the Blue Rose back, they could have murdered the Prince. If the Winter Queen really wanted the Silver Mirror back, she could have gone after Lilith.

"Because they suddenly don't have another fae or someone on par with their own power to fight with over it." At least in the sense of Lilith, she could likely cause the Winter Queen some trouble. The Prince, well, perhaps they really were too lazy to try with that one.

"Besides, maybe..." Childermass looks away again, back down. He doesn't want to look at Strange when he admits this. "Maybe I don't wish to return to England anymore. What's there to gain? More strife? All I have ever wanted was for magic to return, for my king to return. One has happened but not the other. What if he is truly gone?"

"He's not gone," Strange insists, shaking his head. "Where he is now, I do not know, but John Uskglass has returned to England. I saw him!" And, throwing caution to the wind, he continues talking.

"And if the Athenaeum was correct, so have you! You simply don't remember."

More accurately, it should be 'if what Lambert told Strange he saw in the Athenaeum.' But one, too long, and two, there's no reason for Lambert to lie about something like that.

Childermass looks up again, this time scowling at Strange for the audacity to claim something like that.

"What do you mean I don't remember? I would not forget meeting John Uskglass," he says adamantly. "I could not. It's all I've ever wanted."

"Who said you had the option to not forget?" Strange is just as adamant as he talks, matching Childermass's frown with a stony stare of his own.

"I believe you are enthralled and forced to forget the memory. And, with your permission, I would like to try and break this enchantment on you."

Does Strange know for certain that Childermass is enthralled? Nope! Is Strange confident that he could break a spell placed by John Uskglass himself? Not at all! But magic messed with Childermass's memory somehow, so he's certainly going to give spellbreaking a try.

"Don't be ridiculous," Childermass starts, bringing himself up to sit straight on the bench. He's right back to giving Strange a look of utter disbelief at this point. "Even if I were enthralled, you... It's arrogance to think you could break it."

But. There's always that 'but', one he's leaving unsaid. But what if he's right? Why would Strange make something like this up? Has he gone mad again? Madder? He shifts uncomfortably where he sits, looking away, around, searching for some other answer. He could just vanish into shadow in a huff.

Only he won't. He brings his attention back to Strange and gets to his feet, hands curling into fists at his sides.

"Fine. Go ahead, try. There's nothing there to break but if it'll keep you from harping on about this later, get on with it."

Edited 2018-11-29 03:02 (UTC)

"Perhaps it is arrogance," Strange admits. "But it's foolish to not even try."

As Childermass looks away, Strange maintains the eye contact, staring at him as if the staring will somehow cause Childermass to make the right decision and to agree to at least letting Strange make an attempt. When Childermass does agree to it and does give Strange the go-ahead to try, he sighs a little in relief, weight coming off of his shoulders as Strange visibly relaxes somewhat.

"Thank you," he says, with a little nod. "May I have your hand please? You know my dispelling is unorthodox, and I suspect you'd prefer the hand to the lips or cheek."

What part of you is he gonna smooch, birdman.

Childermass wrinkles his nose just at the thought of that and, yeah, definitely holding his hand out for Strange to take. Less awkward the route, the better.

Strange takes a deep breath. He's trying to go as slow and methodical as possible with this. He turns on his third eye, as the flames on his forehead, hand, and forearm come to life. He stares at Childermass for a moment, trying to focus on anything remotely resembling the magic of the Raven King (which he has no idea what it looks like) or magic of their world that doesn't belong to Childermass (which he might have a grasp on). There's something that looks vaguely familiar so Strange focuses on that: it's the best shot he has and sticks out, in an odd little way.

He continues the creepy staring as he murmurs the incantation and, taking very deliberate care not to set any part of Childermass on fire with his flames, takes Childermass's hand up to his mouth as he presses a light kiss on it's back.

Hopefully the act of kissing the hand serves as the trigger. But again, Strange doesn't know if he's grabbed the right spell or if he's powerful enough to even do this.

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