⇨ 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

170-172

[periphrasing]

[MEAL TIME (171 or 172)] [CW for... Disgusting discussion of food? Emeto maybe?]

You may have heard about this already by now, but gems? They don't need to eat. And Peridot? She physically can't eat. At least, she never used to be able to, and it's a real hassle getting herself into a state where she can do it now.

Point is, it's sort of a big ordeal for her, and she's been fretting about it pretty hard since it was announced that they would be coming here. Sure, maybe the Prince will understand if the Ringmaster just explains her situation, but man she does not want to get singled out here. So she's making the effort, tweaking her bat transformation spell to try and give herself... something that'll pass as a stomach, at least to hold chewed up food long enough to give the illusion of eating.

As it turns out? Food is actually pretty rad. Taste is a whole new sense she's scarcely gotten to experience until now (save for her time in Portland), and she is intoxicated by it to the extent that her enthusiasm is actually putting her table manners in jeopardy. Unfortunately for everyone else, this means you may get treated to the sight of a bossy little green gem greedily stuffing her mouth full of a frankly LUDICROUS number of biscuits at tea time, pausing only to snicker delightedly about it. As far as dinner is concerned... Did anyone tell her its rude to wipe sauce off of her plate with her fingers so that she can lick it? Or that she shouldn't be eating the bed of lettuce that roasted pheasant is resting on?

PROBABLY NOT.

[CROQUET]

So this whole affair has been incredibly stuffy so far, so it's a massive relief when the whole group breaks to play some kind of earthling game. It only gets better, in Peridot's opinion, when she lays eyes on the mallets.

Things promptly gets worse again when it is explained what the mallets are actually for.

"This is such a load of muddy, cruddy, uninspired DIRT," the engineer hisses to you. "Did humans seriously come up with this? Ugh. Leave it to a bunch of Earthling CLODS to take a sport that involves mallets and make it COMPLETELY BORING by putting in a rule that prohibits you from hitting the other players with them!"

[ARCHERY]

Peridot hasn't touched a bow or an arrow before in her THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF LIFE, someone please show her how to do this nonsense because she is getting frustrated up to the point where she's about to let out a stream of extremely inappropriate space rock swears.

[FREETIME/WILDCARD]

If you want to grab Peridot off schedule, she can be found either in her room or prowling around the castle halls, grumbling to herself and fidgeting with some kind of remote control. Spooky.

dinner time, 172

[kingsroads]

Strange is just quietly horrified. That's a garnish, Peridot, you don't eat the garnish. He's far enough away that he doesn't want to yell across the table but close enough that he can make eye contact with the gem. So, Strange just stares down Peridot as he eats his food, cutting his pheasant with knife and fork. If she makes eye contact, he's just going to slowly shake his head, hoping that his mental message of 'stop that RIGHT NOW' comes across loud and clear.

Otherwise...well, he's going to have to find a way to talk across the table, to one of the supervisors, to find a way to tell her to eat differently. It's a triple crown of rudeness that he's not entirely sure how to navigate.

[periphrasing]

She's actually pretty bitter about being put at the end of the table with the other supervisors? If she'd had her choice, she'd have chosen to sit closer to Strange so he could help keep her on track better, and she could quietly ask questions. Instead she's stuck sitting WAY closer to the Prince than she's comfortable with, and she has no good way of talking to the people who know better than her.

That said, even in the throes of her food frenzy, Peridot is wary enough of making a mistake that Strange's direct disapproval automatically stops her in her tracks, one hand still on the lettuce. She makes a confused face at him and jerks her head slightly, as if to say, but this is food, right? Why would they put it on the platter if they didn't expect you to eat it!?

They really should've come up with some way to talk to one another ahead of time, in the event that they wound up seated far apart. Now they've got to rely on meaningful eye contact and pantomime. Ugh.

[kingsroads]

They really should've come up with some way to talk to one another ahead of time. As is, all Strange can do is shake his head and hope that Peridot gets his message. No, that's not food and no, don't eat it.

He's almost finished with the pheasant on his plate...maybe if he serves himself a bit more, Peridot can at least mimic what he's doing and know what not to eat. Thankfully, there's a dish of bird close enough to him that he doesn't have to ask someone to pass it or reach over someone. With very deliberate movements, Strange reaches over towards the bird, picks up the serving utensils, and cuts himself another piece of pheasant. Obviously his attention's on the knife and fork and bird but whenever he gets a moment, Strange deliberately looks over to Peridot, with an expression like see, THIS is how you do it.

Whether she interprets that as what he's going for or not is a whole different story. Maybe after dinner they could come up with a code over drinks.

I made a new icon and deleted one to make room for it just for this tag

[periphrasing]

Why don't you use your fancy abilities to ask the wood of the table to send her a message or something, magic man. That's what this poor gem is half hoping he'll do, anyway.

Peridot just continues to stare at him, and then back at the bird, and curls her lip. Honestly, the lettuce seems much more appetizing to her than the pheasant does? The idea of eating the flesh off of something that is so easily recognizable as a dead animal is kind of extra weird and foreign to her, anyway. She slumps back in her chair, defeated. This is stupid. She's going to look for something else to eat. Something she can just shove in her face without any fuss.

Her attention falls on a bowl of roasted potatoes next. It's interesting, because she's grown potatoes in her garden before but she's never actually eaten one. So sure, this seems like a safe bet! She spoons some out onto her plate and then stabs one with a fork, holding it right up to her face to peer at it curiously.

croquet

[puddingemote]

Who is this small, green alien and why is she so mad? It takes Tamaki a moment to remember this is one of their supervisors.

He scrunches up his face at the idea of hitting each other with mallets. That doesn't really sound like his idea of a fun time.

"Probably because that would really hurt. And most people don't want to hurt their friends."

[periphrasing]

"Well that's why you wouldn't face off against your friends, obviously," Peridot replies with an aggressive eye roll. DUH, TAMAKI. "You team up with your friends and assault your enemies!"

[puddingemote]

Tamaki actually considers that for a moment. That might make sense (besides that fact that you'd still be arrested for assault), but don't people usually play games with their friends? And more than that...

"What if I don't have any enemies?"

[periphrasing]

"Then you don't play the game, obviously!" She actually gestures aggressively, swinging her mallet out in a broad arc when she throws her hands up. C'mon Tamaki, WHAT'S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?

meal time 171

[pipers_son]

And this, ladies and gentlemen and other assorted folks, is why he specifically eyed the gems during their far too brief etiquette lesson back in the carnival. This is exactly why.

It's made even worse by two facts. The first is that all the supervisors have to sit together, and with the people most likely to be annoyed at their bullshit. (That is to say, their boss and the Prince.) The second is that etiquette says there's not really an easy way to address this sort of nonsense. You can't exactly say "Stop being a tit" in the presence of royalty, especially not that of the fae nature.

Still. Someone has to do something about this, and he is one of those sitting next to her. So Joker subtly tries to brush his wing against her tale or some other thing, hoping to at least get her to pause.

[periphrasing]

Well it works, thankfully. Peridot freezes and looks over at him, casts a quick glance at the Prince and the Ringmaster to make sure they are otherwise engaged in a separate conversation, and then leans in with a serious expression to find out what he wants.

"MMmmmphgh?" she grunts anxiously through a mouthful of food, ears laying flat against her head in her concern.

[pipers_son]

The whole thing would be kind of funny and endearing if their lives weren't on the line. As it is, Joker takes care to discretely bow his head down a bit as he takes his next bite, both to make it easier for Peridot to hear him and to hide his own attempts at quiet conversation.

"Chew, swallow-" Because, as a man who worked with Amethyst, he knows exactly how gross Gems can be. "And then slow down, alright? Yer drawin' attention ta yerself."

Something that, quite honestly, he's pretty sure no one wants here.

[periphrasing]

It probably doesn't help that Amethyst is one of her biggest inspirations when it comes to doing human stuff like this.

But yeah. Peridot, for once in her life, absolutely does not want the spotlight on her here. At least, not for this. There's a low, upset grunt. The engineer's ears droop and she stares shamefully at the table. She looks pretty embarrassed! Best to do as her colleague suggests, though. So she tries... Aaaannd runs into another obstacle.

Her mouth is too full to chew properly.

The gem clenches her jaw a few times. Makes some agonizingly slow attempts at mastication (and inadvertently making some gross wet noises with her mouth in the process). Then she looks back to Joker in abject panic.

ARCHERY

[insidescoop]

Carly is of mixed opinions on archery. On the one hand, Kyuudo exists, and while it might not be nearly as big as sword arts, it was big enough growing up that. Well. She sort of vaguely remembers a thing or two.

On the other... "Phheeeeeehhh....this looked a lot easier on TV...." she moans quietly, looking to her fellow supervisor. "Are you having any more luck just pulling the string..?" Because honestly forget aiming, if they can't even pull these things back far enough they're goners.

[periphrasing]

"I can barely get the stupid arrow to line up with the bow!" Peridot hisses with frustration. Indeed, when she tries to pull back on the string with her stubby little arms, the arrow keeps flopping sadly outward. "Why do I get the sense that this weapon isn't exactly designed for people with claws!?"

[insidescoop]

"Mnnhhh, even without claws, it's hard.... ...Oh!" she looks at Peridot, before holding her bow near-one finger pointing ahead, where the arrow would go if there. "You're supposed to rest the arrow on the bow hand though! Otherwise there's nothing supporting it, I think!"

WILD...CARD....???

[textsfromhotland]

It doesn't take very long for Alphys to zero-in on the remote control. Technology! The first she's seen since they got here!

"H-hey boss," She tries to act casual. "What're you w-working on?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot gives a jolt, like she hadn't expected anyone to just walk up and address her like that. "W-WHAT, NOTHING, I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING--" she starts to babble defensively, until she sees who it is and immediately relaxes. "O-Oh. It's just you, Alphys," she sighs with relief, and then glances around shiftily. "Thank the stars for that... For a second I thought you might be one of those servants."

[textsfromhotland]

Alphys jumps back and babbles incoherently herself until Peridot calms down. "O-oh jeez I'm sorry I didn't mean to- y-you don't think they're watching us, do you?"

wildcard - roomies

[mylastchance]

Accepting they weren't going to be choosing their own roommates was irritating. Lauren actually couldn't remember the last time he'd gone to sleep without knowing where Susan was, or without knowing he could get to him if he needed to. Exchanging familiars helped to lessen his anxiety, though he was slightly worried the presence of his brothers giant fluffy magical cat would bother his roommate.

When he sees said roommate any concerns he has about the cat fly out the window. At least momentarily. He's pretty sure she's an alien. That's not really a huge deal though. Everyone at the carnival was weird in some way. Still, he was also pretty sure she was a girl and that was a very big problem if they were supposed to be rooming together. Boys and girls just-! They just needed to have their own rooms for reasons! Sharing a room with a girl was just awkward and maybe cruel? Or maybe with alien girls it wasn't?

The mini panic attack begins! Fluff the cat ignores both of them and jumps onto one of the beds, where she immediately begins to bath. Lauren is just staring at Peridot like a deer in headlights.

"...Evening."

[periphrasing]

In stark contrast, Peridot could care less about sharing a room with someone who identifies as male. Probably has something to do with gems being mono-gendered, and the term "male" meaning very little to them except in the most abstract sense. There's nothing loaded about it, no association with the word other than that it's a thing that humans sometimes use as a pronoun.

She pauses in the doorway and looks Lauren over, tilting her head slightly. "You..." Hmmm. "You don't look familiar to me. What department do you work for?"

[mylastchance]

It feels a bit like she's studying him or something. He realizes it's probably just his own nerves making him feel that way, but he can't completely make himself believe it. Was she upset to be sharing a room with him because she didn't know him? Would she be annoyed by the cat? There was just too much unknown about this. He looks away, fidgeting from his nerves.

"Um. Performance."

FOOD

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi's eyebrows slowly raise as he watches Peridot eat in growing dismay. She starts to eat the garnish, and even he (a troll) can tell you aren't supposed to eat that, when he finally steps in.

"Hey. Peridot. Thinking about slowing down there? At all?"

[periphrasing]

Peridot pauses, swallows a big old nasty mouthful of food, and frowns at Psi with vague consternation.

"I thought the whole point of eating dinner was to show the host that we appreciate the effort put into serving us a meal," she says, basically paraphrasing something Strange had told her a mere few days before. "So what's the problem?"

[dorkypantsuit]

He pauses, thinks for a moment on how to explain this to someone who had no idea of what eating normally entailed. He's at a loss. He doesn't know what gem thing he can compare it too, he basically knows nothing about gems in the first place, other than that they aren't actually organic. So he just ends up telling her the truth.

"You look really gross."