lostcarnival | ⇨ THE MASQUERADE

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⇨ THE MASQUERADE

Who: Everyone! Attendance is mandatory.
When: Late Day 65
Where: The Celebration
What: The Masquerade arrives, and so does the carnival's enemies. For more info, check out the Draculas 101.
Warnings: Further party hell. Also, vampire violence, mind control, etc.

THE HOST & THE HORDE↴

The time of the Masquerade arrives. You've been given free reign of the place up till now, but a few hours before the party commences the Host will inform you that your presence will be required, and will assist you (forcibly, if need be) to sort out any last minute costuming concerns you might have if you've left it until now. When masks and outfits are sorted, you'll be left to your own devices until you are summoned on the evening of Day 65.

The Masquerade will start off normally - relative to everything else in this place, at least. Everyone in the Celebration will be called in for this event, centered in a grand hall with side rooms offered to those that need them for whatever reasons might come up. The food and drink is especially ambrosia-esque this evening, and the music will stir your soul, even if you're not usually a music person. Enjoy it if you can - the peace won't last.

► MASKS: Though the masks seemed only mundane before, once within the Masquerade atmosphere, they will magically begin obscuring people's identities beyond what a normal mask should be able to do. When a person is wearing one, it would be supernaturally difficult to figure out who they are - maybe you forget what their voice should sound like, or maybe the other details escape you. Of course, it's possible to figure out if you look for it, based on general shapes and personality traits, but unless you know someone well it could be a challenge. Of course, you can just take your mask off and remove the enchantment entirely - though the Host will hassle you if they notice you going without. Stop ruining the party!

► TEMPTATION: Though it's felt easy to be whisked away by the draw of pleasure and luxury during the rest of the week, that feeling will seem to come to a head at the actual party. If you are aware of what needs to be resisted then it's possible to fight back and ignore it, but more than ever it feels all too easy to just dance your life away. Nobody seems to be dying from it, at least, or 'burning out' any faster as a result - it's mostly just extremely distracting from other concerns. Like vampires, for instance.

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE↴
It's during the latter half of the party that things will start to go bad. Though it will go unseen by the carnival, the Masquerade has gained an additional set of guests - the vampire's of the demon lord that has been chasing them for the last several months. The Host doesn't discriminate, and anyone is welcome to attend the Celebration, provided they don't start a fight.

Right. About that.

► THE KINDRED: The vampires don't like to play fair, which means that they are going to be attacking with stealth and trickery - taking advantage of the way that the party has dulled the alertness of many of the carnival's workers. They'll be using that lack of inhibition to lure individuals into places they can be attacked or turned in private - their primary goals are to capture the Supervisors and to turn as many of the Ringmaster's workers as possible before escaping back to their dimension. Some of their targets will be gone before anyone has a chance to notice.

Remembering that they will be avoiding big public confrontations, so if anyone starts one of those it will probably by the carnival members striking back. This is going to wear on the Host's patience extremely quickly.

► COLD IRON: Oh, right, and they are definitely bringing iron weapons - as pure as they could get. They'll have things like iron collars or shackles to try to trap people with, as well as iron daggers and guns with iron bullets. They'll have to be on the down low with, but they are going to exploit that weakeness as much as possible. Those that have only been in the carnival a few months will mostly just feel discomfort at the touch of it - as if they are touching something that is slightly too hot or too cold. Veterans that have been around for years will find its touch to be burningly cold - the type of temperature that would threaten to destroy flesh after prolonged contact. Those that have been here for up to three years will take it the worst. See the Transformations page for more details!

► TURNING THE TABLES: Being turned is a mixture of pleasure and pain, and is often hard for mortals to mentally reconcile as it happens to them. Being drained by these vampires is simultaneously impossibly satisfying and extremely terrifying - once they've started in on your, the way it overwhelms your mind and body can make it nearly impossible to stop them without help. Once you are dead or dying, they will feed you their blood - at which point your body will go through a painful transformation as the demon spirit takes its place inside of you and your dead body is violently resurrected.

As soon as you wake up, freshly changed, the bloodlust will set it - it will be extremely hard to control, and at first all you will think about is wanting to sate that hunger. Combined with your sire having direct control if your mind through your blood connection, new vampires will be mostly incapable of doing anything but following the whims of the rest of the vampire pack and seeking nourishment. This blood lust will begin to fade after they've fed. Killing isn't necessary to feed, but it can be hard to stop yourself, as a neonate vampire.

► CLOSING TIME: Before the party is officially over, the Host will have had enough. Before you can pursue all of the vampires or take back the people they've stolen, the lot of them will have escaped back to their dimension, and the Host will have kicked the entire carnival out for participating in so much violence. If you want to make any final moves before you go, this is the time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A: Partying!
Jamie didn't want to be here before and he really, really doesn't want to be here now. There's nothing objectionable about the masquerade in concept, except that for some reason it's mandatory for everyone to attend, and in light of his growing concerns about this place the forced attendance doesn't sit well with him at all. An elaborate leather outfit and metal mask are chosen for him, and now he's here, hugging the walls and nibbling morosely on some of the food on offer, simply because it keeps him from thinking too much about how uncomfortable he is.

B: Poor life choices!
At some point in the evening, Jamie feels something like a very gentle tug at the edges of his consciousness, something prompting him to look in a certain direction, head over that way, follow this corridor to a side room. It's quiet here, and pleasantly dim, and there's no one else around. Jamie feels the tension in him begin to unravel, bit by bit, and he pulls off the irritating mask and closes his eyes.

The hand over his mouth catches him by surprise, and before he can think to struggle there's a stabbing pain in his neck that's both the worst and best thing he's ever felt before, and he wants it to stop just as badly as he wants it to continue forever. He twitches in his captor's grip, whimpering in pain and confusion as all the strength leaves him and he slumps back into an unpleasantly clammy embrace. Something flows into his mouth - he recognizes the scent of blood and tries to pull away, but he doesn't have the energy to do anything but swallow the coppery fluid as it trickles down his throat.

He's lost in some black eternity of ingesting blood while he grows colder and colder and colder. It ends eventually, and there's another interminable period of feeling like his body's been packed in ice, but his natural reflexes aren't kicking in to help alleviate it. He's not even sure what this feeling is - has he been paralyzed? Drugged? Or maybe he's -

Something foreign shreds and claws its way into the core of his being, ripping apart the essence of himself and pulling the tatters around it until they've melded together into something Other. This, too, seems to take a very long time, and the pain it brings is indescribable.

Outside the room, the noise of the ongoing party drowns out his screams.

C: Predation!
His return to the festivities is as quiet as his brief exit. He ghosts through the crowd seemingly looking for something, prowling like an animal. At some point during the evening, you may find yourself with the faint, inexplicable urge to look into the shadows behind this pillar or that decorative statue, and find yourself facing Jamie, unmasked and staring at you very intently. And...seemingly bleeding from the corner of his mouth?...

Alternatively, the pull you feel may be much more compelling. Once his newly-turned prey has wandered off to feed, Jamie's sire emerges to do a little more hunting of his own. Tall, sturdily-built and intimidating, Irvine nonetheless moves with a fluid grace that belies his bulk, carefully investigating the partygoers in search of ones that meet his master's specific criteria. Turning one pathetic carnival initiate isn't nearly enough for him; the night is young, and he's eager to add a few more notches to his belt.

[Irvine is an adult vampire and is available to turn or nearly turn your character, fight them, etc etc. He relies mostly on subtlety, but isn't at all afraid to get physical if needed. Let me know if you want him, Jamie, both or either.]

Already, Greg's gotten pulled aside by the Host a couple times for pulling his mask off. Forget the party, he needs to find someone! This is hard enough without this awful enchantment muddying his perception.

It makes it especially easy to notice, however, when someone else has taken their mask off. Or perhaps that's simply the urge to pay attention speaking. Either way, even if this isn't who Greg was looking for his attention is certainly piqued. Particularly by that distressing dark smudge at the lip.

"Hey--you're--it's Jamie, right?"

Greg slips his own mask, a weaving of leaves and creepers, up onto his forehead again. The whole situation has made him agitated and pretty impatient, but his concern overtakes the rest.

"Are you doing all right? Did something happen?"

"Mr. Universe?..."

His voice is faint and uncertain, his head tipping to the side to regard the man in front of him as though he's trying to process conflicting pieces of information. This is someone he works with, someone he likes, someone who's full of all the warm delicious blood he could possibly want -

He frowns slightly, as though there's some distant part of him that finds this idea maybe just a little distasteful, and peers up at Greg worriedly. "It's - I dunno, I feel kinda...weird..."

Well, it's not a lie, anyway. He thinks he can practically smell Greg's blood, hear it pulsing through his body, and the thought of it makes his stomach roil as his gaze zeroes in on Greg's throat. The blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth increases a little, a small but steady trickle that drips from his chin.

"You're bleeding."

He draws closer, instantly anxious. Something's happened, a kid is hurt and everyone's partying instead of paying attention because no one notices anything important around here and he has to help--

"C'mon. Let's--we can find the doctor. Let's get away from all this mess. How do you feel, can you walk?"

That dazed, strange look in Jamie's eye may catch Greg's attention, but he chalks it up to illness, or... something. Something's wrong, he knows that much.

Greg moves in a little nearer, the rush of blood inside him all the more noticeable, and if Jamie were still capable of it his breath would catch in his throat. As it is his pupils dilate and he gapes a little, his mouth red and slick and more blood escaping from where it's pooled behind his teeth to cover his chin and spatter his clothes and the floor. He's suddenly aware of how hungry he is, so hungry he feels sick to his stomach.

"I think - I think I'm gonna - "

A shudder ripples through him and he retches, but nothing comes up aside from a little bloodspray from what fluid is still in his mouth. His head snaps up to fix Greg with the kind of look a starving dog might give a rabbit, pupils slitted in red eyes, lips curled back to expose canines that are much, much longer than belong on any normal human. Which, to be fair, wouldn't be all that unusual among the carnival employees.

It's much more noteworthy that Jamie utters a bestial snarl and lunges with unnatural agility straight for Greg's neck.

Oh no, oh no something's really wrong, he's been hurt and he's bleeding bad, he's gotta do something--

Greg pitches another step forward as Jamie retches, but the alarm bells finally start ringing. Yes, something's definitely wrong here, and the kid's certainly sick, but... the eyes snap onto Greg, full of mindless hunger, and Greg has a split second to react.

His skin goes rough and gray as the magic he's learned surges through him. Joints stiffen and his senses dull, just a bit, but the stoneskin holds out against the attack as it's meant.

"Augh--Jamie!" His voice is rough through his changed form. It takes effort to get his arms up and try and pull his attacker off. "S-snap out of it!"

Clawed fingers scrabble for purchase on unexpectedly rough hide as Jamie all but climbs up Greg, drooling blood and aiming a killing bite at the man's jugular. Instead of...whatever should be the normal sound for demon fangs puncturing human flesh, however, there's just a dull thunk as his sharpened teeth meet Greg's craggy skin.

Jamie recoils, startled. Chomps again. Thunk.

He shoots Greg a look of utter betrayal, as though he cannot believe the audacity of the guy protecting himself this way from a lethal attack.

In this moment of distraction Greg manages to pry Jamie off, an act which elicits a screech of indignant rage. "I NEED YOUR BLOOD!" he shrieks furiously, writhing and thrashing in his captor's grip. "WHY CAN'T I FIND YOUR BLOOD?!"

This sort of primal and violent rage is the last thing Greg expected to see here; wanton pleasure and hedonism, sure, but nothing like this. Certainly not from a coworker, from a kid who'd been fine just a few days ago--was it this place? Is this what happens when you indulge too much? ...No, that doesn't seem like a logical progression of events but this is weird and he's confused okay.

"I'm sort of using it!" Normally his voice would be awkwardly pitched with stress, but in this state it's all a gravelly rasp.

Greg's grip on Jamie tightens--not painfully, just trying to hold him in place. "Would you hold still--listen to me! Darn it--" Holding Jamie off the ground, he looks over the party. "The doctor's gotta be around here somewhere--masks can't hide four legs. I'm getting you to help, just try and calm down!"

Amidst Jamie's snarling, clawing and bloody frothing as he's held aloft, there comes a gentle but insistent mental nudge around the edges of Greg's brain: put him down.

It's faint but lingering, little more than a notion at first but steadily developing into an almost-audible mental voice - compelling, but perfectly calm throughout.

Just set the kid down. Nothing wrong here. No sense in making a big deal out of this, right? Let him go, he's not going to hurt anyone.

It's not really clear at what point the other being arrives, seemingly melting out of the shadows to stand a few paces away and gaze serenely at Greg and Jamie. He's a large man, in excess of six feet and sturdily built, hair and clothing clean but nondescript. As he observes the confrontation with his hands tucked nonchalantly into his pants pockets, he catches Greg's eye, lifts his eyebrows and offers a little smirk.

Spoiler: he's the guy talking in Greg's head it's him he's a vampire.

Jamie, OTA

C

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C. Jamie or Irvine or both!

i'll have jamie nibble on him for now and bring irvine in shortly, if that works

Yup, sounds good!

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Predation (Attempt)

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