lostcarnival | ⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

Entry tags:

⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

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.

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At least when Yuya pokes himself with lettuce he quickly jerks back and sets his fork back on the plate. Okay, don't eat and talk at the same time. This time he has to actually heed that advice.

Yuya's expression scrunches up as he tries to piece that together, and he looks down at Foster's place to gauge the amount of food he has (or hasn't) grabbed. "I thought it was the opposite that was rude?"

'Hasn't' is really the key word here. There's a little food there, but it's somewhat obviously been put there more to disguise the emptiness of the plate than to be eaten at all. In fact, it hasn't been touched.

Chicken isn't a very vegetarian choice.

"That's what Lambert said," Foster agrees without much resistance. Then he glances at Yuya meaningfully. "But this is much more discreet."

Discreet? Yuya glances up and down between the plate and Foster again. Everyone's chatter after Lambert and San's announcement had gotten all very busy, and he hadn't been paying attention to all of it, but he's sure he heard a few people mention not being able to eat. He hadn't been thinking much about it at the time... but he remembers his conversation with Blue, and now Foster.

"Are you--" He almost says okay before he realizes, no, that's absolutely the wrong question. His smile isn't anything happy.

"Is there something else you'd be, uh, more hungry for?" He furrows his brow, hoping that makes sense. It's hard having to talk around the subject so they don't look rude to the Prince, and if there's an issue why can't they just bring it up to begin with? What a hassle.

Foster's superficial, placating smile wavers just slightly, threatening to disappear completely in the microsecond between 'are you--' and Yuya's belated catch.

He's right. That is definitely the wrong question.

But not for the reasons he thinks it is.

Fortunately, he changes course...

To.

Um.

Honestly, Yuya?

It doesn't sound very much like you're talking about food.

Even with the context of the very literal meal they're both sitting at, that just sounds like the lead-in to a porno. Which gives Foster a real moment of consternation, as he now has to guess whether Yuya is trying to break the rules (idiotic, reckless, wasteful, unthinkable) or if he wants Foster to [CENSORED BECAUSE ????????]

"..........."

.... hm.

Hmmm.

"No."

Yuya is gonna get really sick of that word by the time this is over.

Yuya continues to watch Foster with his brow pinched in concern, which is probably an expression Foster is getting just as tired of.

"Oh." He absently stabs his fork into the salad again. "Okay."

He turns back to his food to pay it enough attention to actually eat it, but now he's so much more conscious of what Foster isn't eating. But with the servants and the prince right there, he doesn't want to ask the most blatant question and single Foster out. It'll have to wait.

He's already tired of that look, but after another second or two of smiling at Yuya somewhat pointedly, he takes that as a real surrender and moves on to ignoring the teen.

One thing about waiting: it does prove Foster's point about discretion.

While Foster certainly isn't winning any favours with their host using his tactics, it's a lot less terrible than the fork-slinging, drool-dripping, claws-in-his-salad horrorshow it would have been otherwise.

At one point, Foster does get up and excuse himself to the restroom, but if Yuya doesn't feel like following him--it's a little conspicuous to immediately try to follow suit--he'll get his chance after the meal, as they're on their way to the next activity.... archery, apparently.

It's up to him.

Yuya stays in place for the rest of the meal, trying to focus more on his manners and which fork to use--he frequently starts grabbing the wrong one before he looks aside to the person on his other side.

But once they're all excused and shuffled along to the next activity, he tries to casually slide himself beside Foster. To talk. "Have you ever done archery before?"

....oh. Is Yuya now his minder?

Foster stifles his irritation and instead forces a laugh. It comes out grating and contemptuous. "I've never even fired a gun before."

He raises his paws again--he's just going to keep doing that until Yuya stops asking him stupid questions that can be answered by looking at them. Even with thumbs, those curved claws and thick, short fingers are barely cosmetically handlike.

"Not that it matters, hm?"

What did you expect, Yuya Sakaki?

He can't do anything useful. You'd be better off worrying about yourself.

"Neither have I." Yuya tilts his head as Foster displays his big bear hands. He's never done archery, either, so he's not sure if that will cause significant issues for Foster, but...

He shrugs with a smile. "Do you think you can't? You won't know until you try--maybe having claws instead doesn't make a difference at all!"

Yuya's trying really hard to be as positive as he can about this. Feeding into everyone's anxiety won't do anything but make everyone even more anxious, he knows this. If he can be calm about it, then maybe that will filter through the same way.

The sheer improbability of that possibility aside, there's a bigger insult embedded in Yuya's entire approach.

His native response is anger--or what passes for anger, in him; the instinctive pushback, the knowledge that someone is wrong and the need to correct it. Contempt for Yuya, for his reality-blinding attempt at positivity. Envy, because the ability to live such a blatantly lie-coloured life is something he's resented to increasing degrees for years.

He gives Yuya a sidelong look.

"It's.... probably better for everyone that I'm not very good at it," he laughs in response.

Yuya's positive expression sinks a little bit. "Uh, we're probably just shooting at targets or something? It doesn't have to be a competition."

Yuya likes friendly competition and all, as long as it's fun. But Foster's dour approach to it is not even on that line. "Why not just try your best and see? Even if you're not that good, at least you did the best you can."

"That's not what I meant," Foster replies, but doesn't especially elaborate. Yuya can figure it out for himself, if he needs to.

Instead, he stops in the middle of the hallway, mere yards from the door to the outer yard where their assigned recreation of the hour awaits, blocking Yuya's path.

".... tell me something. Why are you talking to me?"

Yuya stops before he runs into Foster and looks up at him. He stares blankly for a moment, like he doesn't understand the question.

"We both work for the carnival, so what's wrong with getting to know each other?" He briefly bites his lip. "Right now I want to ask you something, but I also just want to know you better anyway."

"What's wr--no. No, no, no, no." Adhering to the rules, tolerating Yuya, stress, hunger--saliva runs down his lip, more obvious now that he's facing the teen. The fraying ends of his act are giving way, but he catches them, seizes them desperately with his claws and tries to hold them, hold himself together as he frankly hasn't in a very long time.

"We're not--not the same. I am here to be used--to be spent and discarded, to be expended and cast aside, trash! Not to be employed." As his words get harsher, his tone grows emphatic in a completely different way... it's perversely aspirational.

"There's nothing--no one to get to know," he informs Yuya contemptuously, factually.

"I'm nothing."

Yuya flinches at his self-degradation, though that's partly in reflex of almost being spit on. He's heard this from Foster before, at least a less detailed and emphatic version of it, and he stares at Foster with reluctance and sympathy.

He doesn't interrupt, but as soon as Foster finishes he shakes his head. "I don't want to use you, that's--weird and awful! And that's not how the Ringmaster does things. We're coworkers, not servants."

She wasn't like other fae who kidnap and torment people. Not like Portland. Even if Foster believes that of himself, of course that's not what his contract is for, right?

But he doesn't want to get in this argument with Foster again, and not here. So he switches gears to the question he meant to ask. "What are you going to eat off you can't eat at the table?"

"Weird? Awful?" Foster echoes, lifting his head to regard Yuya with cold disgust. "What's weirder, to make use of what is made freely available, or refusing to lift the tool placed in your hand for your explicit use?"

He raises a paw, flipping his wrist in dramatic gesture, as though to make his point with physical force--or as though to discard, physically, any interjection Yuya might have hoped to make.

"Why would the Ringmaster care about that? As long as you follow her rules... it's exactly the same! Who cares if we're people... or just a person-shaped object? As long as you do your work." He narrows his eyes, which are brightening dangerously as he gains more and more momentum, a thin string of saliva hanging from his chin. It's as though despite his anger, this is exciting for him.

"As long as you serve--her, your contract, it doesn't matter. As long as you keep her happy!"

Yuya bites his lip just short of breaking the skin. Foster stops him from interjecting just yet but the more he describes the Ringmaster, Yuya shifts impatiently on his feet as he feels a wave of defensiveness bubble up in his chest.

"That's not true," he says it sharper, just a breath about Foster finishes. "That's not true at all! It does matter. She definitely cares more than just our work."

His hands ball into fists, but he takes a deep breath to keep from shouting. He counters Foster's expression with one of certainty--and aggravation. "I won't use you like a tool. I won't ever do anything like that."

Foster stares at him.

He doesn't say anything--just stares down at him, the sting of drool hanging from his chin, eyes and face impassive. He doesn't react to Yuya's defence of RM, doesn't blink when Yuya makes eye contact--red eyes full of misplaced conviction and moral fortitude.

On some level, he's actually pretty unhappy--what is he doing wrong, that no one will listen to him? What does he say wrong, that no one will take him at his word, what does he have to do to make them understand how easy it is? Why is he rejected every single time?

But externally, he just stares at Yuya, and eventually says one entire sentence.

"Then you have no reason to be talking to me."

And with that, he turns to leave--out the door to the archery yard.

He doesn't even wipe the spitl from his face.

Yuya's left starting at Foster as he turns away. It's all he can to for a moment, watching Foster walk away again. At least, until a servant nudges him to get a move on--they had waited at the back for the stragglers to get moving. There's a schedule, after all.

Yuya lets out a breath and heads out to the archery field, to be fitted with a bow and instructed.

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⇨ HEARTSTONE MANOR

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WAS THAT INTENTIONAL..........................

Jgdhssgh NO IT WAS NOT

FACE IN HANDS

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Is Yuya getting sick of this move yet.

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