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 - Party Time

This is all a little fancy for Miko’s tastes, but you know what? Right now she doesn’t mind too much. The dress and mask she’s picked out aren’t exactly her usual style, but they’re pretty cute, and the idea of getting to socialize and hang out with the anonymity this party seems to provide is pretty intriguing.

Miko can be found all over the central hall, trying out the food, dancing, and generally having a pretty great time. She might even make an attempt at flirting if she gets the impression someone is around her age, though with her it might be hard to tell apart from her usual ribbing.

B - Party Time is Over

So some things happened, and some mistakes were made, and long story short Miko sure did get turned. Whoops.

She can’t remember ever having been this thirsty before, but the drinks actually provided at the party don’t really hold much appeal at the moment. So, as soon as she can find someone who’s a little more isolated from the rest of the party, she’ll make her move.

Hope you’re ready to have your night ruined by a tiny teenager attacking your neck.

C - Wildcard

((Let me know if you want to do something that doesn’t fit into these prompts!))

It's getting worse, the thirst, he just knows it. Sora hasn't had a drink since that first one, and that was ages ago. It's already worn off. It's all he can do not to go after the nearest body just to sate his thirst. He doesn't want to hurt anyone else... but maybe just a taste would be okay?

Xabat, still following him and whispering in his ear, isn't helping him. "How about that one? I know you're thirsty, little one, you're going to have to give in eventually..."

Miko frowns and glances over at the two nearby. She doesn't know what that dude's deal is, but honestly, he's weirding her out. Who keeps leaning over and whispering like that at a party? Weird.

Clearly she needs to alert him to this. "Hey man, you wanna share with the rest of us? Or, y'know, stop being so creepy."

A totally appropriate way to talk to a total stranger!

"Ooooh, the young miss is feisty. Well, that'll serve you well. Hopefully," Xabat laughs. He turns back to Sora. "Bet she'll taste real nice, huh?"

Sora looks at the ground and digs his nails into his side. He's not hungry, he's not hungry, he keeps telling himself. It's failing.

What the fuck. What the fuck. Miko takes a step back; she doesn't look scared, exactly, but she's. Clearly unsure, and kind of annoyed.

"Dude, what are you on about? Whatever you're tryin' to say here, you should back the hell off." She frowns at Sora. "Hey, what's this dude's deal? He just following you around bein' weird or something?"

Xabat laughs again, patting Sora's shoulder. "Sweetheart, you don't know the half of it."

"I..." Sora starts.

"Ah! No time for that! Just go."

Sora freezes at the order. He's so hungry... He has to obey. So he looks at Miko, an apology written in his eyes, and in one swift movement, he's standing in front of Miko, and leans down to sink his teeth into her neck.

Miko takes a half-step back, barely starting to get out a sound of protest before Sora bites into her neck. There is no way this is for real. There's no WAY.

And yet it sure as hell seems to be happening. Miko grabs his shoulder, the beginning of an effort to push him away before that attempt just seems to... peter off. For one reason or another, and she sure as hell couldn't say why, she just can't.

Sora feels her pushing at his shoulder, trying to push him away, but his grip is too strong, his teeth are too far into her neck. It's far too late for him to let go, he can taste her blood, and it tastes -delicious-. He hates that it tastes delicious.

He told himself he'd stop this time. That he wouldn't kill anyone else. But he's so thirsty, and there's so much blood... He just can't stop himself. He'll keep going until there's nothing left for him to take.

She can't believe this is happening. It shouldn't be happening, it's like something out of a shitty horror movie - and yet here she is, unable to move or fight back as an ACTUAL VAMPIRE drains the blood from her body.

Eventually, as she loses too much for her body to be able to keep working, she starts to go limp.

It takes until the girl in his arms is completely limp before Sora comes back to himself, tearing his mouth away from her neck. He did it, he did it again, killed another person, and it's all his fault-

Xabat comes up behind him as he lowers the girl to the floor. "You know what to do, little one. You've seen me do it. And you better do it quick, I don't think that girl's gonna last much longer."

And he has, he saw Xabat do it to Snake. He has to turn this girl, because it's a choice between turning her or letting her die, and he can't do that. So he bites down hard on his thumb, hard enough to draw blood, and shoves it into Miko's mouth.

It takes a few seconds - for the blood to get into her system, for its effects to kick in. And then she starts turning, vampiric blood working through her body, reviving it.

As her consciousness starts to crawl back - in brief flashes, bits of awareness that vanish a moment later, but are becoming gradually more frequent - she can feel the process as it happens. It hurts, more than anything else she can remember, more than dying, but it's kind of great at the same time, whether through adrenaline or whatever weird magical effects are at work here.

She finally wakes up more fully, her eyes opening, wide with shock.

Sora watches in sick anticipation as the girl dies, and then comes back to life. On the one hand, at least she's not dead. But on the other, she's now cursed to this just like him. There's no 'good' choice here; just a less awful one.

Her eyes open, and Sora peers at her closely.

"You... Are you okay?"

That's a dumb question, but his brain can't come up with anything better right now.

"...Uh." Miko frowns, intent and thoughtful, trying really hard to process that, but... shit she's thirsty. And also, you know, just died and came back to life. "I'm... I don't know?"

"...Okay."

He doesn't really know what to say to her, honestly. He just brought her back from the dead. After killing her. What do you even say to that?

Joker's night was ruined like fifteen minutes ago, it's fine.

What's not fine is, swooping through the air, is the sight of someone lunging for someone else in that all too familiar way. The masks make it impossible to tell who's who, so he has no idea he's swooping down for a (literal) flying kick to knock Miko down to the ground.

Well that's inconvenient as shit.

Miko squeaks in surprise when she's knocked down. Her intended victim scrambles away, not apparently having any idea of what almost just happened but not wanting to have anything to do with the altercation.

Meanwhile, Miko scrambles backward, staring in dismay after her fleeing prey - then glaring at Joker and going to get to her feet so she can go after him. Rude.

The staring after her prey thing is good! It works just fine for Joker, who is immediately flapping upwards again. He recognizes this kind of vampire- at least, he’ fairly certain he does, masks being what they are. Even he can handle vampires like this…. With a little effort. Or a lot.

“Come on now- what does yer lot have against fun, ruinin’ a party like this?”

"Shut up!"

Miko scowls up at him behind her mask, then actually literally attempts to jump up and grab his ankle. GET DOWN HERE.

WOW RUDE.

Joker tucks his legs up out of habit, circus instincts kicking in hard. “Nah, don’t think I will! Why don’t ya just leave the party if yer so hungry, then?”

She doesn't even answer, because at the moment Miko doesn't have the eloquence to express that this is where all the people are so leaving would be kind of counterproductive.

Instead, she stands back for a moment, looking around for something to potentially throw at him - then, finding nothing, turns and bolts.

Frankly? Running away is much better than her going after anyone else. He purses his lips, watching to make sure she won't just immediately lunge after another person, before he twists in the air to head elsewhere.

He only has so much good will in him. His crew has his top priority, and it's them he needs to find.

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⇨ THE MASQUERADE

Miko Nakadai | OTA

C - HELLO MIKO TIME TO GET BIT

LMK IF THIS WORKS

IT FINE

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this icon feels so situationally inappropriate but here we are

lmao

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B

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