⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

"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."

[kingsroads]

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.

[whattaprick]

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."

[kingsroads]

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.

[whattaprick]

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.”

[kingsroads]

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?"

[whattaprick]

"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."

[kingsroads]

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."

[whattaprick]

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."

[kingsroads]

"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.

[whattaprick]

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.

[kingsroads]

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?"

[whattaprick]

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.”

[kingsroads]

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."

[whattaprick]

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."

[kingsroads]

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."

[whattaprick]

"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."

[kingsroads]

"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."

[whattaprick]

Who isn't Strange getting into a fight with these days. Lambert props a chin on his hand, glancing over at Strange curiously.

"If he's fought with you, it's not just because you got a lot better at sounding like him, is it?" He holds a hand out for the ring, palm-up, expecting that Strange is done with it for the moment. "I'll tell him, but I'm not sure that's going to make him any less mad."

[kingsroads]

But he wants to keep playing with the toy fun magic ring! Strange sighs, a little too dramatically, before giving the ring back to Lambert.

"Part of it is because I never respected him as a supervisor. But that wasn't about him. If I had been transferred to Engineering or Diplomacy, I wouldn't have respected Peridot or Joker either."

There's a pause before Strange admits, "He also didn't take kindly to my idea of summoning a Winter Court fae in order to ask about the Silver Mirror. But I'm not an idiot, nor am I mad. I'd ask around and do some research to see which faerie would be useful before attempting to summon them."

And Childermass even thought that the Winter Court would be the best option to give him information on the Mirror! In Strange's mind, this is just Childermass being petty and grumpy because he's an idiot who paints all the fae with the same brush.

[whattaprick]

Lambert frowns slightly, turning that over in his head. There's something about the phrasing that nags at him, and it takes him a moment to work out what it is.

"You just told me that it didn't matter that something wasn't about you," the witcher reminds him. "But you still felt crappy about it."

As for the whole summoning fae idea, Lambert just ends up grimacing. "You really think they'd know anything? Didn't they basically barely believe it existed before we dug that story out of a magic library?" He leans back, crossing his arms.

"If you want to know how to actually use it, hell, you might be better off trying to find Lilith."

[kingsroads]

Hmm. That was right. Strange's expression shifts a little, as he frowns and realizes what Lambert's saying.

"I doubt it will matter," Strange sighs. "I think Childermass still believes I'm the same Jonathan Strange who first arrived at the carnival. I'll apologize or explain myself, but I doubt he'll listen."

Lilith though...that is interesting. Strange still frowns, though it shifts to a more contemplative one. He'd have to rework a spell but summoning a nephilim shouldn't be as hard as summoning a faerie—and he's done that one plenty of times!

"I'd need more information on Lilith before I attempt to summon her," Strange continues talking, assuming that Lambert wants an in-depth explanation of how summoning works. "After all, summoning just on a name wouldn't be thorough enough."

[whattaprick]

"Impulsive, doesn't listen to him, obsessed with summoning things?" Lambert guesses. "You're right, that doesn't sound like you at all."

Teasing aside, he'll add in a word of caution, even if her worries it's not much more effective than pissing in the wind.

"I've been wondering this for a while, but why do you want to keep summoning things? If you just wanted to talk to something far away, wouldn't just figuring out a long-range communication spell do the same thing? While being a little less risky?" He tips his head to the side. "Or is there something about summoning you're really into, like ... knowing when you're calling on something they have to listen to you?"

[kingsroads]

"We both know the Jonathan Strange who first arrived at the carnival would have already done the deed and wouldn't be talking it over," Strange grumbles, a little under his breath. He knows that Lambert's teasing, but he can see that he's changed. Why can't others?

As for Lambert's question...Strange pauses for a moment, frowning before he continues talking. "To start with, summoning is magic that I know and that I'm good at. There's so many variables in magic that if I want to do something as risky as contacting someone from across worlds, I want to have the spell as solid as possible. Second, you're right: it forces them to listen. If I do a long-range communication spell, that could easily be dissolved or ignored. At least with summoning, they have to pay attention, if only for a moment. And finally, it just feels right."

Which Strange knows is a stupid reason but hey, magic's occasionally dumb.

[whattaprick]

“And believe me, I’m grateful you haven’t tried,” Lambert assures. Still, he toys with the ring a moment longer before he puts it away.

“How many of your problems has summoning something actually fixed or gotten you what you wanted?” He’s not being mocking here, it’s a genuine question. He hasn’t exactly been keeping score of Strange’s victories or anything, after all, and he tries to clarify what he’s getting at—

“Killing things feels right to me. I know it, and I’m good at it. It’s how I like solving problems. But I guess ... since coming to the Carnival, I figured out that’s not the only way to do things.”