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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When Lambert mentions the third Miracle, Strange's smile immediately turns into a small frown. Without thinking about it, he reaches over to cross his forearms over his chest, hand grabbing his arms as he does so.

"I think we should leave it alone. We don't even know what the hell we'd do with it if we find it. Besides, I don't want any of you to be changed like Steven and I have."

Sure, Carly and Syrlya have also been changed. But that was due to the Mother of Invention: Strange knows that there's just something fundamentally different about the way him and Steven have been changed in contrast to the other two.

“It’s not like the other Miracles,” Lambert muses. “At least not if you believe what we read about it. It has a mind ... which means it has memories. Memories that must go back all the way to the Queens who made it.”

He shrugs, absently. “Though even if I wanted to find it, it’s hard to figure out where to start. I asked the Gilded Mark about tracking it, but she says it’s just a title, and something that strong can hide itself if it wants to.”

"She doesn't need to track it," Strange explains, with a little shake of his head. "The Miracles are connected. When Steven and I were in Polaris, part of the Mother's tests on the two of us involved testing the connection between the two Miracles. I remember that feeling when they pressed on the connection between the two. If I perform enough magic and draw upon enough of the Mirror's power, it should be able to find me. Likewise, I might be able to find it."

The more Strange talks, the less he likes this idea. His expression shifts from a small frown to a bigger one as he draws his arms closer to himself. Learning about the Miracle by talking to people is one thing. Being bait is another.

“Damn. I wish I’d known more of the details before,” Lambert presses his knuckles against a temple, exhaling. “Was pretty obvious they were screwing you with the Mirror’s magic, but not that that’s what they were trying for. Would have looked a little harder for anything related to those experiments, or ones they might have planned to do ... but not much we can do about it now.”

He shrugs, wry. “With how these things work, you’d probably need both of the actual Miracles to look for the third, anyway. We’re still just changelings. It’s not the real thing.”

"As far as we know, the Silver Mirror is still shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces," Strange reminds Lambert. "At the moment, I might have more of the Mirror's magic than any actual Mirror fragment."

It's not like the Blue Rose which is sitting pretty in the moon. Strange has a feeling that the Ringmaster might have been collecting the shards, but he honestly has no idea how many she might have gotten before...all that happened. Which again, is a feeling he's not entirely sure how to deal with.

"Probably more like thousands," Lambert sighs, then snorts.

"Don't know if you've noticed, but you've gotten a lot better at imitating other people. Wonder if that's the Mirror too."

Strange has not noticed. As such, he frowns in confusion.

"I can honestly say I haven't thought about my ability to imitate people before this moment." A little pause before, "Is it really that noticeable?"

"Might not be the best person to ask for an objective opinion on that," Lambert demurs, but he grins shittily anyway.

"I've only seen you do it a few times, but I've also seen you trying to do an impression of someone else before you threw yourself into a fae artifact." He gestures at Strange.

"I don't know if it works with someone who isn't actually here, though."

Strange frowns, putting his hand to his chin in thought.

"What about this. I'll do two impressions, one of someone who is still with the carnival and one of someone who's left. You have to guess who they are and then rate them on which one's better."

He asks, knowing that Lambert is not an objective source. Still, he's here, he brought this up, he's gonna get roped into these shenanigans.

It's a dumb game to play, which mostly means Lambert's absolutely down for it.

"All right," he laughs, leaning back. "Let's see what you've got."

Let's see...Strange screws up his face in an expression of absolute boredom and annoyance before he starts talking. "I don't even want to be here. I hate the carnival, I hate everybody, I'm just going to glower and be unhelpful and be useless."

It's not the best impression and there's still a hint of his British accent but it's definitely Lapis. It's also not the nicest impression either, but Strange hates Lapis so that's to be expected. He breaks character, quickly adding in a "And now for the second one," before he pauses, mulls over what to say, then starts talking again.

"I hope you clods realize that it is entirely due to my incredible metallic powers and superior gem intellect that we managed to escape from this situation in the first place. You can thank me later."

This impression is a creepily accurate one of Peridot. Strange can't do anything to change the actual pitch of his voice, but he entirely loses his accent, parrots Peridot's vocal inflections, and mirrors her facial expression as well. Turns out that yes, the more time Strange spends with someone and the closer they are, the easier it is to impersonate them.

Now that is fucking uncanny right there. Lambert whistles lowly, leaning back slightly in his seat, and looks Strange over.

“Can you even hear yourself? That was like night and day.”

Strange frowns a little. He's not normally self-conscious, but he's certainly self-conscious about a thing that he didn't even know he could friggen do.

"So the Silver Mirror gave me a fun party trick as well as turning my insides to mirrors. How...useful?"

"Better a fun party trick than a shitty one," Lambert shrugs. "Slap it together with the right illusion and it could come in handy one day."

Strange nods...and then gets the idea of a really fun party trick almost instantly. That frown goes into a wide grin almost instantly as he looks over at Lambert with a blatant 'I want to cause some trouble' smile.

"Can I borrow that ring of yours? The one that lets you shift forms."

Edited 2018-12-18 18:49 (UTC)

Lambert raises his brows.

"Am I going to get it back, or am I going to have to pry it off your dead body?"

You know, whenever whoever Strange is about to impersonate or trick kills him.

"And it doesn't actually let you shift forms. You're still going to have glass for bones under it."

"I have a simple solution for that problem," Strange counters, big dumb grin still on his face. "Give up the game and don't get punched."

And then, he poofs into his fire form and floats in the air for a moment or two. Obviously, don't get punched is a shitty plan. But Strange at least has a little bit of hope in his ability to shift into a fire form before someone breaks his arm. And even with magic nonsense powers, it is pretty hard to punch fire.

Lambert sighs, but whatever, it's the Summerlands. How much trouble can Strange really get into? (Don't answer that.)

"Don't make me regret this," he warns. He's already regretting it, though, even if he's at least curious what the hell Strange is planning. It takes a bit of rummaging to produce the ring from among his many layers of cloth, creepy thing though it is, and holds it out to tiny flame Strange.

Strange shifts back into human form, takes the ring, and puts it on his finger. It's a little loose, but not loose enough that Strange has to worry about losing it. And Lambert's going to regret this even more as Strange gives him a very shitty grin and uses the ring to look like Lambert, right before he blacked out during his fight with Strange in the Athenaeum.

"This is fucking weird," Strange starts talking, as he focuses on imitating Lambert. It's even more uncanny now that he looks like Lambert. "I know this thing lets you look like someone you defeated, but what's the rule on that? Does it have to be in an actual fight or can it be an argument instead?"

It’s uncanny, no doubt, but Lambert can’t focus on how good the imitation is. Instead, his gaze locks onto the glistening gold of horns and scales, and he goes quiet, the wry amusement from earlier fading. He forces himself to look as long as he can before he looks away, ears folding back.

“The Ringmaster said you have to beat someone in combat. Wasn’t real specific about what counted.”

Strange looks over to say something to Lambert again...but then notices that Lambert's not looking at him. Ah. Right. He's looking like Lambert before Polaris. Strange instantly feels completely awful and drops the illusion entirely.

Idiot. They had that entire conversation when Lambert was hiding under the illusion, right after Polaris.

"Norrell and I did have combat of sorts...though it was more along the lines of the two of us slandering each other in the press. Without a doubt, I came out on top of that."

Hearing Strange's voice instead of his own does get Lambert to look back up at him. He's a little annoyed with himself for having difficulty with it in the first place, but there's no doubt that something relaxes slightly in the set of his shoulders, some slight strain easing from his face.

"In that case, I don't think it works that way. I've only ever been able to take on the shape of things I beat face to face."

Strange continues to try and rules lawyer Lambert's solstice present as he gives the ring a frown. This is partly him being anal for the sake of being anal, partly him really wanting to piece out what the hell the limitations are.

"But what counts as beating? Does the other party have to be aware of the fact that it's combat? Because I knocked out Sans and Miss Akaba, but neither of those were actual fights."

"Sometimes it counts sparring too, even if that's not 'real' combat," Lambert offers, shrugging. He doesn't have anything useful to offer here.

"Can't turn into anything that doesn't have a mind, don't think it was made to turn into anything that wasn't at least a little human shaped. Can't go too big or small, either."

"That still leaves me plenty of options."

Strange muses, as he looks down at the ring. Can't go too big? Well, that takes the Mother of Invention out of the equation. He's looking down at the ring with a wistful expression in comparison to the happy one he had earlier: now he's actually thinking about some shit.

"I hate to impose, but can I ask you for another favor?" And before Lambert can ask about what the heck the favor it, Strange continues. "Tell Childermass about my mimicry. We got into a fight and he accused me of mocking him—now that I know about this thing, I suspect I was mirroring him unconsciously."

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