⇨ 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]

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.”

[kingsroads]

"Summoning him brought the Raven King back to England." And Strange's voice takes on that slightly reverent, slightly awed tone that he normally gets while talking about the Raven King. Even now, after all their dealings with the fae and his growing relationship with Ignatius, Strange still is at his core a big ol'Raven King fanboy.

"Even if that was the only win or the only good thing that came out of summoning something, it's important enough to me that I'll always keep summoning as an option."

[whattaprick]

“What if it had less to do with the summoning itself?” Lambert asks, thinking out loud. “What if it worked because it was the Raven King, and it’s what he wanted to begin with?”

As always with the Raven King, he knows he’s treading on sacreligious ground even voicing an opinion that’s less than total adoration of him, but... after a moment, he sighs, shaking his head, waving a hand.

“Childermass said everything in the Raven King’s book happened the way he said it would... but I can’t help wondering if it’s more likely the Raven King was really good at predicting things, or better at making them happen.” He uses a finger to bat away a stray wisp of light floating nearby. “Some of that kind of power would be nice, right now.”

Either predicting the future or mapping out its course. Lambert would take one or both right now.

[kingsroads]

Treading on sacrilegious ground and voicing the dangerous opinion that it wasn't Strange's magic and his power that got something done, but it happened of the Raven King's own will. Strange can't help but frown, obviously not so sure about Lambert's interpretation. But, then again, he knows that Lambert doesn't much care for the Raven King in the first place and certainly doesn't care for prophecy: two points that they'll always disagree on.

"I thought you weren't one to believe in prophecy," Strange muses, as he looks over at Lambert. "Of course, if you want to predict something, we have the means to do so already: Childermass. His cards might be esoteric, but I believe in his ability to read them."

[whattaprick]

“I’m not,” Lambert agrees. “And it doesn’t work like that. He could try, but fortune-telling never answers the questions you want it to, anyway. How do we get the Ringmaster back? How do I keep my friends and the man I love alive through whatever’s coming next?”

He snorts, suddenly struck with black humor.

“And assuming we do survive all this, how do I live as long as a faeblood without becoming one? Guess it’s pointless worrying about that right now, though. All we can look at is the problem in front of us.”

[kingsroads]

How long indeed...Strange can't help but frown a little at that, not due to the implications of Lambert becoming immortal but the implications that he, as someone who really doesn't want immortality, is definitely going to be the one to die first.

"I'll piece out that magic later," Strange flippantly responds, as if immortality is no big deal. "I brought all of magic back to England, summoned the Raven King, and am mastering the power of one of the Miracles. Granting you immortality should be easy!"

[whattaprick]

If Lambert has any reservations about Strange casting spells of immortality on him, he doesn’t voice them. Instead, he puts a hand to his chin, as though contemplating the thought.

“Maybe it should wait until after I’ve started getting some gray in my hair,” he muses. “Think it’d make me look a little more dignified, right?”

[kingsroads]

Strange gives Lambert a grin that's purely 'you walked right into this one.'

"Lambert, I don't think anything will make you look more dignified. At least, not after you open your mouth." This is just Strange being a shit for the sake of being a shit, teasing him as friends do. He knows that Lambert has a laundry list of undignified things Strange does that he can throw at Strange for ammunition if needed.

[whattaprick]

“While you don’t have a hope of looking dignified even before you open your mouth,” Lambert fires back easily, after feigning being in deep thought. It’s a bit true though. While Lambert has come out looking a bit of a freak, Mr. Crazy Hair On Fire has a relatively ordinary sort of unkemptness that waxes and wanes according to how much attention he’s able to devote to his personal hygiene, personal servant or no.

It’s nice, being able to joke around like this again, he supposes. Even if it’s just for a little while, just here, a chance to act like everything is back to normal, that they haven’t grown apart because of what each of them believes.

“You know,” he says, suddenly. “No matter how all of this ends, I don’t regret meeting you, Jonathan Strange. I hope you know that.”

As much as he owes the Ringmaster for the opportunity to change himself, he supposes Strange was at some point certainly part of the motivation to.

[kingsroads]

Well. That is sudden. Strange's expression shifts from something a little confused to a big, slightly soppy smile as he looks over at Lambert.

"Thank you," Strange says, turning to give Lambert a genuine smile. "I don't regret meeting you either. You've been a close friend to me and my time at the carnival has been better with you in it."

He was a dear friend at a time and place where Strange could count those he cared about and who cared about him on one hand. He'll always love and appreciate Lambert for that. Emboldended by a case of the feels, Strange just continues talking.

"And you're more than just a witcher. I know that I've criticized some of your recent choices, but at least they were choices. The carnival is full of people who are willing to go with the flow and very few people who are willing to stand up and change the course. You at least try. And I appreciate that. No matter what I do or what path I may take, I want you to remember that."

Because Strange knows that as soon as he gets the chance, he's leaving. And he hopes that he doesn't have to tell Lambert that otherwise he is literally going to start crying.

[whattaprick]

Trust Strange to take a simple sentiment and spin it out into something sappy and embarrassing.

“All right, enough of that,” he says firmly, making a face and pushing himself to his feet. “I can’t tell if you’re flattering me or warning me, but—” he holds up a hand to silence any protest, “I can’t listen to all this without a drink in me, so save all the sap for later — if we’re still here when this is all over.”

If they even get the chance. Lambert doesn’t have any illusions about their odds, but it doesn’t need to be said.

[kingsroads]

It's a little bit of both. Strange opens his mouth to clarify, but then Lambert holds up his hand and Strange silences himself. He frowns a little at Lambert's last statement. If we're still here when this is all over. Yeah. He knows what that means.

"Or if we're both still here in the next week or so," Strange responds, with an awkward little frown. He doesn't want to say it. He really doesn't want to say it. "Perhaps we should get that drink now," Strange sighs.

[whattaprick]

Lambert thinks it over, then shakes his head.

“Not right now. I’m supposed to be meeting Childermass soon.” To keep working on a spell that won’t do what he wants it to, is what he doesn’t say, but he gives Strange a smirk nonetheless, like his worries aren’t weighing him down. We’ll find the time to get that drink.”

Though they never do, at least not for the rest of their stay in the Summerlands. Lambert’s too preoccupied with magic, trying to think of a way out of the corner they’re in, and trying to navigate the difficult new patterns of his relationship.

[kingsroads]

"I'll hold you to it," Strange says, giving Lambert a nod. But he doesn't. As their time in the Summerlands goes on, Strange draws further and further into himself, retreating from the rest as he thinks about what he now knows he has to do and just how the hell he's going to do it.