⇨ THE SUMMERLANDS

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[kingsroads]

"Obviously," Strange responds. Normally, he'd try and puff himself up and boost his own ego...but he had witnesses. Lambert saw him wipe the hell out a lot, no need to try and seem like he had it all under control when there's someone who's saw him.

"But with enough practice, I was able to gain control of turning my limbs into smoke and then I expanded it to turn my whole body into smoke. Keep up the work and study and you'll be able to do the same. And, of course, if you want a practice partner, simply ask."

Said as he points at himself. Hey, might as well have the people who can turn into elements help each other out.

[soft_focus]

Witnesses always muddy it up, don't they.

Reira seems to consider Strange's words with relative eagerness, particularly when he mentions practice partners. The screen light is a positively sunny glow, and Reira herself nods furiously. "Mnh..! Okay! Can we practice right now, even..?"

want to thread out the practice or handwave it?

[kingsroads]

"If you want to practice now, I don't mind." Magic is always one of Strange's favorite things. That, and he wasn't really doing much before Reira came up to show off. He takes a few steps away from Reira before giving her a little smile and a nod.

"Now, show me what you've figured out so far."

I'd say thread out a little bit! we can fade it out if it becomes necessary

[soft_focus]

Practicing now definitely seems rather ideal- and Reira eagerly bounces a bit in place before taking a deep breath to focus.

...

...It doesn't take long before she's opening her eyes, because, erm. Nothing is happening. "...It's not working anymore..."

Primarily because she's thinking about it, of course.

works for me!

[kingsroads]

Hey, 'almost nothing' still counts on the 'show me what you've figured out so far' bend. Strange nods a little as he looks down at Reira. This ties in with his experiences: the first time he accidentally turned his feet to smoke was in a sauna, when he was absolutely relaxed and not at all thinking about the state of his feet (which annoyingly turned out to be a reoccurring theme during the spa day).

"Don't worry," Strange reassures Reira, "this tells me enough for us to start. Instead of concentrating on your form or on your magic, I want you to think of something calming instead. Something relaxing, like a familiar scent or a nice summer's breeze."

[soft_focus]

"Something calming..?" The tense focus drops as she repeats Strange's advice, and she frowns, looking to the ground for a moment. Unsurprisingly, telling a small child to think of something 'calming' is a bit trickier to get results from, compared to an adult. What would be calming? Nice smells and breezes do not come to mind.

The girl closes her eyes, humming a bit as she considers it. "Umnnh... ...petting things can be something calming to think of too, right?" she asks, as if what she should think of would be affected by Strange's own opinion.

[kingsroads]

Strange shrugs! "If that works, then do so. Whatever you think is calming, think about that."

What he's trying to do is get Reira to relax, get her to focus on something else instead of turning her body into air. Maybe if they find that feeling, then she will have something to pinpoint and focus on should she want to turn into air.

[soft_focus]

"Mnh...okay..." Just think about petting cats then...

It takes a bit- she catches herself in a feedback loop of 'think of this to Think About The Magic', but eventually she manages to settle on just thinking about when she found Tyki earlier in a sunbeam. The distraction- even if it's not entirely relaxing- is enough. Reira rather slowly starts misting into that cloudy, windy state- unaware that it's even happening.

[kingsroads]

As Reira gets caught in the feedback loop, Strange simply waits, idly leaning against a nearby tree to prop himself up as he watches her. When she starts misting into that state, he can't help but grin.

"Now, I want you to slowly open your eyes," Strange instructs, keeping his voice relatively level. "Don't try to move, just slowly open your eyes and look down at your feet."

[soft_focus]

"Mnh...okay..." Slowly, Reira begins to open her eyes. Looking ahead of course, is nothing- though seeing in this state is a bit odd. Hazy, as if she's a little blinded. It's a confusing state of being-

Looking down shows why. Her feet are...well. Not really feet. They're sort of misting, and- "I'm doing it again..!" she chirps excitedly, the rest of her very quickly starting to re-solidify again. "I'm windy..!"

Not for very long if you don't calm down!

[kingsroads]

At the same time that Reira notices her feet misting, Strange notices that she's starting to solidify.

"Keep thinking about that calming feeling!" he quickly continues, keeping an eye on Reira as he does so. He's a bit worried that he'll have to catch her if she falls over...thankfully, she's tiny enough that he's not worried about her breaking any of his inside mirrors.

"Have your mind focus as much on that calming feeling as possible. Don't think about the fact that you're windy, just focus on the feeling instead."

[soft_focus]

"EH-!?" That quick order- however patiently it may be put- does not help. Though she does at least try to get back to thinking about petting cats again. It's far more flimsy this time- she keeps drifting off into the thought of how great it is that she's succeeding at it, which of course reminds her she's supposed to be thinking about the calming cat petting.

At least she's not entirely solid, even if it's clear she's going back and forth a lot more right now. "Umnhh....I'll try..."

[kingsroads]

Strange takes a few steps back, carefully watching Reira as she starts to focus on the feeling. He's not saying anything else right now: poor kid's about to topple over as it is. But he will stand and watch, hoping that everything sorts itself out in the end and she's able to stabilize.

[soft_focus]

It definitely takes some time to get that sorted out again- but bit by bit, the spell stops going so 'back and forth' and starts going back to the state it was before she noticed. Slow misting out into wind. This time, provided she's not interrupted, she should successfully find herself nothing but a cloud of pale and chilly 'green'.

Hooray? Well, Hooray for until she focuses on everything again

[kingsroads]

It's only when Reira's fully turned herself into a cloud of mist that Strange starts talking again.

"Now," Strange gently starts, as he looks over at Reira. "Keep holding onto that feeling. Don't let that calming feeling out of your mind but slowly open your eyes and look at yourself."

[soft_focus]

"Mnnnh...okay..." It's easy enough to keep holding onto the feeling when her eyes are shut. Unfortunately opening her eyes is another story. This is partly because...she doesn't especially have eyes, right now, she's all mist. Even just talking brought back a brief impression of a face, since she sort of required a mouth to do it.

So naturally when she thinks about opening her eyes, things start to fluctuate a bit again. "Mnh-!" She almost exclaimed 'I did it' again, but she's very quickly remembering that no, she's not supposed to think about that, she's supposed to think about petting cats..!

...

Welcome to teaching small children, Strange.