IC SUGGESTION BOX

[lordofthering]

A real suggestions box hanging outside of the Ringmaster's "office."
Slot takes paper letters and perhaps very small animals.

Comments

[kingsroads]

I listen to people! I listen— [ no, wait, he's sinking, pause for a moment while Strange pushes himself back up from the water. ] I listen to Arabella, to Lambert and Childermass. I listen to you.

[ except he just did a wonderful job getting into a fight with the Ringmaster, which Strange has just now realized. A look that's plainly 'aw fuck' flashes across his face. ]

At least, most of the time I do.

[ what a shitty justification. ]

[lordofthering]

[It's not like it's the only time, either! She used to think it was cute, but in such dire straights its started to feel less so. She scowls at him.]

Oh, you do not! Almost every time I, or anyone else, has ever spoken to you about magic, you contradict them! Seemingly apropos of nothing!

Even after everything you've seen, you still like to imagine that everything plays by the same rules as that kiddie pool of a world of yours! To take all of the magic in a Pillar of Creation and to give it to a single person so that they could kill a High Fae? Do you have any idea how insane you sound?

[kingsroads]

I don't know what the fuck a Pillar of Creation is!

[ aaaaand then a bit of the insight hits. Right. He doesn't know what a Pillar of Creation is. And he didn't even bother to ask about what a Pillar of Creation is, this isn't something that could arguably be RM's fault as well (because Strange will go to his grave saying that the petty gem argument was at least partly Lapis and Peridot's fault). ]

So I suppose this is me asking. What exactly is a Pillar of Creation and why would it be a bad idea to give all of it's magic to one person?

[ And look, he's tired of almost drowning, so don't mind Strange as he awkwardly starts doggy paddling towards the edge of the lake. ]

[lordofthering]

It is one of the wells from which all of Creation flows.

[She's still irritated, and it shows, but she is explaining at least.]

You could spend centuries studying the ways that Pillars interact with the rest of reality and still have no idea where to start. Creation chooses its champions, and not the other way around.

[She gestures vaguely.]

Metaphorically speaking, though, it is very much like a pillar... in that if it crumbles, it may allow for the entire roof to fall down.

[kingsroads]

[ Strange is listening as he swims towards the edge. And at least now he grasps the importance: if a Pillar of Creation is that powerful, then shoving it's magic into someone would overpower them at best, destabilize all of Creation at worst. ]

What exactly do you mean by Creation? It sort of sounds like you're describing...well, everything.

[lordofthering]

[She puts her hands on her hips.]

It sounds like that, because that's exactly what it is. Everything that has ever existed is part of Creation, and without Creation all of it would cease to be and would never be again.

[kingsroads]

[ Well fuck. By this point, Strange is able to touch bottom, so he stands up and starts walking out of the lake. ]

On the bright side, I now know how terrible my plan sounded, [ Strange can't help but remark, slightly apologetic. Though the fact that Creation is literally everything...the more he thinks about that, the more he realizes just how shitty this situation is. ]

That girl, Noa, she said that CY-Ren was planning something the world couldn't recover from. I thought she was being melodramatic, but if that's the case, [ urrrgh he hates to admit this, something which shows on Strange's annoyed expression ] then I need to worry more about stopping CY-Ren than Nightshade.

[ he'll still try and figure out what Nightshade's up to, of course. That paranoia's still there. But Strange is smart enough to realize that saving all of existence takes precedence over petty revenge (even though he STILL REALLY WANTS IN on that petty revenge & blasting Nightshade to hell). ]