⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 170 - Day ???
Where: Heartstone Manor
What: The carnival arrives at the Heartstone Manor. Do your best to play along, and try not to get too far ahead of the schedule with threading if you can avoid it, in case something that would affect your character happens early on.
Warnings: Individually marked! Could be a lot of things.

BEAUTIES AND THE BEAST↴ When the carnival arrives at the Manor, everyone will be taken into the Throne Room to greet the Prince for the first time. He will be lounging on his throne, and will take a look at the guests that the Ringmaster has brought before eventually dismissing everyone so that he can talk to her alone. After that, they will be given a brief tour of the Manor by some of the servants, and then brought to their rooms to start picking out clothes for tomorrow. On the first night they will be permitted to wear regular clothes, but starting the next morning the dress code will be enforced. There will be a number of servants helping guests with clothing, and making alterations to suit the non-humanoid features they may have. The tailors work with fabric by hand, but their stitching is impossibly quick and accurate, with changes being made to complex clothing at unbelievable speed. Some guests may note while working with them that one of the seamstresses has wooden mannequin-esque hands instead of human ones, and another has two sets of arms. The arms are one of the most obviously inhuman traits that they'll see while first touring the building. Come the morning of Day 171, the daily routine will begin. ⇨ THE DAILY SCHEDULE ⇦ ► FIVE MEALS A DAY: Between breakfast, lunch, tea, supper, and evening drinks, the meals you are required to attend are frequent and long. Each meal (except drinks and tea) will have multiple rounds, and use all of the fancy cutlery. It will be difficult to keep up for those that are untrained. The food will vary greatly, but will generally to be palatable to those that are into whatever kind of food it might be. Some of them are odd delicacies that are very much an acquired taste, however. People who cannot eat will be given a pass once the Ringmaster explains it, but will be looked down on for it. ► DAILY ACTIVITIES: There are scheduled activities for every morning and afternoon, and everyone is required to attend. Descriptions of each activity are provided on the "Event Descriptions" tab of the spreadsheet linked up above. There is only one hour of free time scheduled per day, after supper, and beyond that the servants will almost constantly have you on the go. The Prince and Ringmaster will not be present for most of the activities, but they will be there for every meal. If you character refuses to follow the schedule or makes a huge mess out of proceedings, make sure to report it here. ► AFTER CURFEW: At 11PM, everyone is expected to return to their quarters and spend the rest of the night there. Wandering after curfew is unacceptable by the Prince's rules, and if you do it there will be the chance of discover. Based on your character's stealth abilities, there will be dice rolling to determine if they are discovered or not, and by whom. Make sure you report any after curfew activity to the mod post here. This can also take place as an investigation if they are actually looking for something instead of just farting around. ► ROOM AND BOARD: The servants will remain upbeat for most of the time the guests are here, unless something is done to provoke them. They will be present at every activity, and there will be a variety of different individuals. One frequently spotted character will be the butler, a man with dark hair and small, sharp horns. He seems to be the main organizer of things. ► ODDITIES: Even beyond the obvious, there is something off about the Manor. Doors, windows, and other household objects will sometimes move seemingly without cause, and other times there will be banging sounds in the walls, or mysterious voices heard at a distance. It feels like you're being haunted. If you have a moment to wander the corridors, then you'll sometimes see open doors abruptly slam shut the moment you lay eyes on them, and wall sconces turn off or on. It's weird, man. ► THE HUNT: The Hunt activity will have its own event post, and some sign ups for those that will participate meaningfully. There will be some dice rolling to determine who hunts the most impressive game, and rewards handed out accordingly. Before that post goes up, however, you can do some investigations for the start of the event, if your character is interested in looking into the specifics of the contest and overall context. MAKE SURE THAT ALL DECORUM VIOLATIONS ARE REPORTED HERE.

Comments

[kingsroads]

"An agreeable arrangement to me!" After all, that gave him plenty of time to mull things over and decide precisely what he was going to guess about Tyki next. Besides, Tyki was right: this did make the game interesting.

"I do wonder, though. Have I told you yet about the reason I joined the carnival? It's purposeful, so it might not be as fun for you to guess, but we might as well keep the playing field equal."

[prazerbutterfly]

"Good, good." He's done with his sandwiches and scones for now. He eyes the sweets being passed around and while it isn't really his preference he takes something a little more simple. Skinn would absolutely die for these if he was still alive. Ah, now he misses his niece.

Thankfully Strange is here to pop his curiosity back into the playing field. "No, I don't believe you have. A gentleman's trade it is then. Go ahead."

[kingsroads]

Strange politely refuses most of the sweets. However, there is a simple shortbread cookie among the offerings so, not to seem rude, he takes one for himself.

"What, no guesses?" he teases. "I'm guessing yours, I thought you might wish to guess my reason."

[prazerbutterfly]

Then again most of his family here would likely be a big disaster unless the Earl was here to reign them in or he himself kept tabs.

"Hmm, you've mentioned some things that give me some idea what you might have joined for." He had mentioned the word 'research' more than twice he's talked to him. Joker also filled him in on the word 'experiments'. "I could cheat and say it has something to do with magic but that would be the easy answer. I can't see you looking for that greater power but perhaps you are looking for something that you can't find yourself and she's helping you?" One wouldn't research and experiment if they weren't looking for something.

[kingsroads]

"Of a sort," Strange explains, giving Tyki that much. It is a certain spell that Strange doesn't know himself—though the contract's a bit useless now that he's discovered that the spell he's searching for won't be any use to him at all. It's all thanks to secrets and misunderstandings that he made the contract in the first place.

"Care to guess what that something is?"

[prazerbutterfly]

He mules it over a little more as he considers what Strange could be looking for. He was never quite sure what was going on in the man's head and the delicately eats his sweet and savors it at the same time. He was a man that liked to indulge.

"Is it a person? You do seem that type."

[kingsroads]

"It involves a person, but the request itself is not for a specific person." Which yes, this is just Strange specifying and being a little pedantic, but the point is to be pedantic! After all, this is a guessing game. Let's have Tyki guess as specifically as possible.

[prazerbutterfly]

He's going to cheat and try to guess again. Do call him out on it if it is not allowed, "A way to find a person then?" He does want it to be a game. He doesn't want it to end so quickly yet his interest is peaked now.

[kingsroads]

Strange isn't the sort for setting rules to begin with. The way he sees it, they had a guideline for the guessing game about Tyki's secret. That guideline doesn't apply to this game of guessing Strange's secret. Besides, he doesn't want this to end so quickly either. This back and forth, this tete-a-tete with Tyki is more fun than expected.

"I'm afraid scrying was one of the first spells I've ever learned—and I've become quite adept at it as well!" So nope, not finding people. Strange isn't stopping Tyki from continuing to guess, though.

[prazerbutterfly]

He wanted to give Strange time to investigate and think. He didn't want him to guess at random without any thought to it. It would spoil everything that way. He's cheerful as his mannerisms threaten to drop and he sets the rest of the sweet down onto the plate as he chews and raises a brow.

"Scrying? That sounds awfully like spying, Mister Strange. If not a person, then something. Is it a spell or information?" He remembers from a few minutes ago how well Strange seemed to know fae.

[kingsroads]

It is spying. However, Strange is keeping mum, giving Tyki an annoying little smile as their conversation continues.

"It is. Though whether it's spell or information, you'll still have to guess—though it could be both, I suppose!"

[prazerbutterfly]

He won't really like the fact later that Strange can spy on him any time he wants. He does like his privacy sometimes especially if he's doing something he doesn't want people to see.

"Cheeky little... Ahem, information about a person then." Because he's going to take that bait even if it is wrong.

[kingsroads]

"Of a sort. I'll give you this much: the information involves a person, though I am not asking about a person."

This is very legalese and rule lawyery. But he's technically right. After all, Strange is asking about a spell to raise someone from the dead, not the Ringmaster to raise someone from the dead herself. Besides, it's a fun game to be as cryptic as possible—he can see why the fae enjoy it.

[prazerbutterfly]

Strange, don't cheat for him though he very much appreciates it.

"Interesting. Then it is information about something that happened to a person." Or, it could be the condition of a person but that would be similar to being about the person.

"Just what mess do you get yourself into, Mister Strange?"

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but laugh at that, giving Tyki a wide grin. What kind of mess did he get himself into? Far too many. It seems that his life was nothing but going from one mess to the next, a running series of bad decisions.

At least it was never boring.

"I'm afraid we'd be here all day if we talked about the messes I found myself in," Strange casually remarks, smiling still. "And you'd leave the conversation with a terrible opinion of me!"

[prazerbutterfly]

This is why he liked Strange. He could often make him laugh without trying and he was fun to talk to. Tyki may be a simple man but conversations like these were worth having.

"Mister Strange, I can tell you that I met you with a bad impression. The stories I was told before ever hearing your voice should naturally shy the wary away. I am not so easily swayed. We don't have nearly as much time here as one would normally at this kind of party. Our host keeps a strict schedule."

[kingsroads]

Strange can't help but grin at that. Because honestly? He's damn curious as to what stories Tyki's heard about him. Oh, probably freezing the carnival, but what else? Something involving Portland? What about that horrible Exeggutor in Alola?

But, Tyki's right. They don't have that much time to sit and gossip.

"In that case, I'll have to find you during our next period of relative downtime and you can tell me what stories you have heard. After all, I should be able to defend myself!"

[prazerbutterfly]

He's heard about Portland but not freezing the carnival or about any Exeggutor. Though he has heard about 'accidentally summoning a fae.' He's just not sure which event that relates to.

"Don't sound so proud, Mister Strange. From what I hear you are quite the troublemaker. In any case, I look forward to our next meeting. As always."