21 | In Which Howl Tries a Messy Bit of Magic [Dictated/ Action]

[strangewonders]

[There's a bit of clanging metal and what might be muffled cursing as the journal starts recording, and after a moment, a black smudge appears on the page as Howl picks up the journal. Anyone out on the lawn would see the wizard wrestling sheets of corrugated metal and other odd bits into a sort of a teepee shape, with no apparent regard for how messy he was getting in the process]

Well, that was fun, but I'm grateful to be back. I wonder how long we'll be allowed to continue uninterrupted before we're whisked away again. These little vacations are becoming rather frequent.

[And then he's apparently back to knocking things over, or whatever it is he's doing out there with chunks of construction materials]

Comments

dictated

[bezazzled]

Are you okay over there?

[beastisbeauty]

[Banner was coming in from the gardens, when he noticed the commotion. He approaches carefully, not certain what he's seeing might be.]

Um. Hi. Would you like some help?

dictated

[strangewonders]

Hm?

[There's a bit more clanging]

Oh, yes. Quite.

[strangewonders]

[Howl doesn't even seem to take his eyes off his work to see who he's talking to, though he does gesture with one hand to the rusty bit of scrap that's fallen onto the lawn]

If you could prop that up here, that would be incredibly helpful.

[bezazzled]

Are you sure? That's an awful lot of ruckus going on over there. What are you even doing?

[beastisbeauty]

[Bruce does as he's asked, not really understanding what the other man is trying to accomplish.]

How's that?

[strangewonders]

I'm sure. Just working on a spell that's a bit... involved.

[strangewonders]

Wonderful.

[At which point Howl actually looks up]

Oh, hello. I don't believe we've met.

[beastisbeauty]

Ah, no, no, we haven't. My name is Bruce Banner. Good to meet you.

[strangewonders]

Howl Pendragon. I'd offer to shake your hand, but I'm afraid I'm a bit of a mess at the moment.

[He shrugs a little by way of apology]

[beastisbeauty]

That's all right. [He grins.] Do you mind, if I ask what you're building?

[strangewonders]

It's a transportation spell, actually. I've been going through a list of various spells from home to see which work here and which the castle neutralizes.

[bezazzled]

What kind of spell sounds like that? Don't spells just need a wave of the wand and some fancy latin words?

[strangewonders]

It's a transportation spell.

[He makes a slight tsking noise]

If that was all it took, anyone could do it.

[Nevermind that where he's from, nearly anyone could with a little practice]

[bezazzled]

[Suddenly things just got a lot more interesting.]

So what does it take? And where are you going? Is it a one-way spell or roundtrip?

[strangewonders]

It depends on the spell. At least with the magic I know.

[Since he now knows of a few places where things operate differently]

I'm just checking this will work, so not far. Just off into the woods a bit. This version is one-way, so I'll have to walk back, I suppose.

[bezazzled]

Better not go too far! Hey, how do you know where you're going, anyway? It's not like you can steer the spell while it's in progress. [A GASP] What if you teleport inside of a tree?

[beastisbeauty]

Oh...wow. [That fills him with questions and he's not sure where to begin.]

Does the castle block a lot of your spells? Where are you going to try and transport to first?

[strangewonders]

You determine the location before hand. It's all a bit... technical. And do you really think I wouldn't make sure there are failsafes? It's fine. I built one of these for a king once.

[strangewonders]

It seems to block anything that would allow you to escape its influence. I tried to send myself home, and it simply didn't work.

[He shrugs a little]

I was just going to take this out to the woods, for a test. Eventually, I might be able to extend out to the Outposts.

[beastisbeauty]

Does that worry you? That it can affect your magic?

[bezazzled]

Okay but what if hypothetically you did all the calculations or whatever and picked a spot to teleport. But then someone walks into that very same spot the exact same moment you teleport? What then?

[strangewonders]

They'd be knocked over, I imagine.

[strangewonders]

When I think about it too much, yes. Which is why I try not to.

[bezazzled]

So you won't merge two people into one? That's kind of lame.

[strangewonders]

No. I could merge two people into one, but that seems pretty unnecessary, don't you think?

[bezazzled]

Only if you can't unmerge them after.

[beastisbeauty]

I'm sorry. That was a stupid question.

[strangewonders]

I'd be a pretty shabby wizard if I couldn't.

[strangewonders]

No, it's fine.

[He waves a hand dismissively]

There are things about this place that bother everyone, I'd wager. I can't imagine too many people didn't have better things going on in their lives before a magic castle whisked them away.

[beastisbeauty]

Yeah, I imagine not. I miss my team and my friends. I was actually doing good, finally.

[strangewonders]

[He arched an eyebrow slightly]

Sports team, or...?

[He wasn't above snooping a little]

[beastisbeauty]

[Bruce laughed, shaking his head.]

No, sports are not my thing, at all. I'm on a team called the Avengers. We're...a response team. We keep the world safe.

[strangewonders]

How very aggressive sounding. More like soldiers, then?

[beastisbeauty]

[Bruce laughed, shaking his head.]

No, not really. It's hard to define us. We don't have ranks. We just...work together. Mostly. If someone or something attacks, we stop them.

[strangewonders]

Interesting. It's not garden variety type threats you're tackling, I take it.

[Because wasn't that what armies were for?]

[bezazzled]

Have you ever merged two people?

Heh, merge. That's such a fun word to say.

[beastisbeauty]

No, not at all. [Bruce chuckles.] Our first mission was stopping an alien invasion, lead by the younger brother of one of our team mates, Loki. We had to stop the invasion and recover an item called the tesseract, an energy source.

[strangewonders]

Aliens? Sounds tricky. Personally, I try to stay as far away from any fighting as possible.

[beastisbeauty]

[Bruce sighs, nodding.]

I would to, but it just...isn't really an option.

[strangewonders]

[He arched an eyebrow slightly]

Running away is always an option.

[And clearly he feels no shame in it]

[beastisbeauty]

You can only run so far and you can't really run from yourself. Sometimes, you have to take the hand you're given and use it to do as much good as possible.

...

Yeah, I could have stayed in Calcutta or ran, but then Loki might have won and the entire human race would have suffered.

[strangewonders]

If it's a last resort, I suppose.

[He shrugged a bit]

I still prefer things my way.

[beastisbeauty]

I prefer things your way, too. I just recognize that sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice preferences for others.

[strangewonders]

Oh, of course. Sometimes it's unavoidable.

[beastisbeauty]

Yeah. Really, though, at least fighting with the Avengers gives me something positive to do.