B1, Day 2 [public channel]

[whattaprick]

[ There are a lot of things people need to do right now: help the Prince's servants get resettled, get started on figuring out who can work on a cure for the petrification, deal with the trauma of dying in a hopefully healthy and non-self-destructive way, show the new people the ropes of what the Carnival has to work with.

Instead, in the morning of the second day since the Prince was defeated, anyone on the radio gets this: ]

So, I've been wondering.

[ The Nightrider's voice, for those who recognize it, has definitely been better. It's a low, hoarse rasp, and the pause at the end is not just for effect, but to actually catch his breath. ]

Just how old is everyone here, anyway? Here, I'll start. I'm ... pretty sure I'm almost sixty. [ A beat. ] ... Maybe.

[ Why did anyone let this man have his radio back again? ]

[ ooc; Lambert's flat on his back in the medical tent for this, feel free to bug him in person and threadjack each other at will. ]

Comments

[mirrortide]

It wasn't magic. It was me losing my form and being shoved into a mirror during a war because they thought I was the enemy and so they tried to get me to reveal information I had no way of knowing about, and then I was left forgotten, only to be picked up by the rebel group and shoved into their Pearl's Gem, because at that point my Gem was cracked, so I guess they thought I was useless.

[remember when peridot said she had a lot of baggage.]

[kingsroads]

[ strange is just now realizing the level of baggage involved. Dang. alright, don't be terrible, you got this. ]

I assume you tried telling then you weren't the enemy?

[ he might not got this. ]

[mirrortide]

You can't exactly talk when you're stuck in a mirror. [Though Lapis did eventually find a way.] It didn't matter, because they wouldn't have believed me anyway.

And I was an enemy to the rebel group that eventually picked me up. [and she kicked their asses too, thanks.]

[kingsroads]

Of course you can, you just cast— [ Wait. Magic. He's about to suggest magic, don't do that, it's not Lapis's fault that the gem world is a bit backwater and magicless. ]

Anyway, terribly sorry to hear about the whole 'getting stuck' thing. It's more of a chore than people realize.

[ look, Peridot! He's being sensitive! Be proud of him! ]

[mirrortide]

Yes. It is. Because it's not just about getting stuck, right? It's about being used over and over again hoping that eventually someone will think that you've done enough time in your prison and set you free, but no they just keep asking you to show them random things over and over again, and you're left in isolation for thousands of years, forgotten about.

It's. A chore.

[You can practically hear the passive aggressive :) at the end.]

[kingsroads]

Well what would you want me to say? Terribly sorry that you were stuck somewhere for thousands of years, such a pity that the state of magic in your world was too pathetic to do anything to help?

[ You can definitely hear the aggressive >( at Strange's words as all attempts at 'don't press the buttons too hard' and 'Lapis has issues with these things' fly straight out of the window. ]

[periphrasing]

THAT'S your idea of sensitive?!!

[kingsroads]

I'm TRYING!

[ not fuckin hard enough it seems. ]

[periphrasing]

Not very HARD apparently!

[DEEP BREATHS, PERIDOT. You're supposed to be DEFUSING the situation...]

You know the way you phrased that it makes it sound like it's her fault for getting stuck, right?

[whattaprick]

Whose fault was it anyway?

[starseedling]

[Steven has been listening to this conversation, growing increasingly uncomfortable and nervous. Until Strange just goes off on her and he can't hold himself back anymore. He wails.]

MISTER STRANGE, NO...!

[kingsroads]

Steven, my England gained magic, lost magic, and gained it back again in the span of five hundred years or so. I honestly don't understand why your world never received magic strong enough to free her in the first place!

[starseedling]

[Hwhuh?? WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING. Maybe we're all a little high stress right now.]

It... it wasn't ABOUT whether anybody COULD free her or not!

They just didn't!

They left her in there alone and for thousands of years nobody even thought to let her go! Until I did, with my normal hands, and without any magic, because I wanted to!

What does magic have to do with anything?

[whattaprick]

Isn't that even worse?

[kingsroads]

[ this is strange. It always comes back to magic.]

Had she the necessary spells and knowledge, she could have easily freed herself. The fact that she didn't even have anything remotely close to those tools is the truly disheartening part.

[mirrortide]

[STRANGE YOU'RE A DEAD MAN. YOU BETTER HOPE PERIDOT CAN KEEP LAPIS FROM KICKING YOUR ASS!!!]

[stompadour]

This is ridiculous. If this human had his pathetic essence reduced to its feeblest, most powerless state, would he be able to free himself from something designed to keep him that way and consume whatever worthless energy he created? Obviously not.

[starseedling]

See? Jasper gets it!

[Things nobody thought anybody would ever be saying.]

[stompadour]

I don't need you to agree with me, Rose.

[mirrortide]

His name's Steven and you'll call him that!

[Lapis is feeling particularly volatile today!]

[kingsroads]

I can and I will!

[ is this going to be how the carnival as a whole finds out about the whole 'Strange is kind of cursed' thing, quite possibly. ]

[stompadour]

Prove it.

[kingsroads]

I am under an enchantment back home—one that came damn near close to killing me. But I survived it, I pulled through, and I defeated the one who cursed me to begin with. Admittedly, I haven't freed myself from the enchantment yet, but when you compare my one year to Lazuli's thousands of years, I still have time.

Childermass can verify my claims.

[ Childermass who's gonna be taking Strange's radio away in the next five minutes, enjoy this brief talk cause it sure isn't going to last very long. ]

[starseedling]

[And that's when it clicks.]

Mister Strange!

[And he's pleading, now, that edge of frustration gone in favour of a sudden desperate need to fix things.]

You... It's not the same thing! Lapis couldn't do anything, but... but just because you're scared doesn't mean you can take it out on her! Please!

[kingsroads]

I'm not scared! [ he snaps. (he's a bit scared.) ] It's hardly my fault that Lazuli was imprisoned for so long and didn't do anything about it.

[ and thus one of the fundamental problems of this dumb fight is revealed: Strange still doesn't really know how gems work. ]