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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As 9S mentions the Aquisitioner, Strange can't help but shake his head, grinning slightly. As far as he's concerned, they've finished talking about all the secret bits (and have proceeded straight to gossip), so Strange starts to walk back towards where the other carnival members are.

"I should have suspected as much," Strange remarks, with a wry tone of voice. Still, the android deserves an explanation for Strange's reasoning, so Strange will give him one. "For a while, Mister Childermass took it upon himself to keep track of my every move. He needn't do so anymore, but old habits die hard."

Of course, it could be other reasons. With Childermass's skillset and shadow affinity, he'd be wonderful at sneaking around and finding out information about this place that others couldn't. Lambert knew that much—so it's only logical to include Childermass in the process.

Gossipping is 9S' favorite pasttime after hanging out with 2B and learning new things about humans. He'd learnt that the Commander is a slob who leaves dirty clothes everywhere after talking with 6O, so who knows what juicy secrets he'll learn about the Acquisitioner from Strange.

"Why's that? He didn't trust you?"

9S' guess on the reason is that the guy must be good at sneaking if he's the head of obtaining things, so it would make sense to include him in on the shared map. Odd that the others who work under the Aquisitioner haven't been included. Maybe Lambert doesn't trust the rest. Either way, this isn't the place to discuss that.

"But you're so reliable!"

Strange can't help but laugh a little at that. Reliable? Him? He's been called plenty of things but not that! Still, he'll happily accept the reliable comment as Strange continues talking.

"He wanted to keep me safe. I needed to do something back in England and I couldn't do it if I was dead. Ergo, Mister Childermass took it upon himself to keep me alive and safe. A week or so ago, I returned home to do what I needed to do. He needn't worry about me anymore but, like I said, he's probably still in the habit of watching my every move."

Gossipping has become one of his favorite past-times as well, considering that it's how Strange received a majority of his information about the fae. So as long as 9S wants to gossip about others, Strange will happily join in.

"He must really care about you if he's willing to go that far..."

There's back and tea is fully underway. 9S strongly resists the urge to groan at the idea of eating more food. He likes a good dinner as much as anyone else, but without a way to effectively burn the energy, it just makes him uncomfortably restless. He never thought he'd see the day he'd want to reject the prosepect of trying new food.

"I haven't met him myself, but over the radio he sounds... I dunno. Kinda like a guy who doesn't know the meaning of fun."

A bit like the Prince, in that regard.

Oh yay, it's tea time. While 9S looks put out, Strange just looks so pleased, as he looks around for a few seats for them to sit in. Gossip shall continue while seats are scoped out.

"He knows how to have fun, he simply chooses not to. At least, not when others are watching. Watch him when he's out with his dog—he spoils the animal to high heaven!"

He doesn't say anything about the first part. Because though they are friends and Strange considers Childermass a fellow colleague and magician...that doesn't change the fact that he knows Childermass tried to keep him safe for purely selfish reasons, not out of any sort of goodwill for the other magician. Strange can't blame him, though. He might have done the same.

Strange, you're weird!!

Oh! Dogs! He knows about dogs! Those four legged furballs that are kind of dumb and apparently don't get along that well with cats? He's seen plenty of videos about them.

"Really? I'll have to keep an eye out..."

9S tilts his head towards one of the outer tables. It's a decent spot that would have a pretty good view of most of the carnival attendees without making it obvious they're talking about their workmates.

"That table over there?"

"That table looks like a good spot for me," Strange remarks, with a nod. And so, the two make their way over towards the table.

Thankfully, as they sit down, a servant wheels over a tea trolley. The servant stays only a moment, however, leaving the trolly to go help clean up a mess on the other side of the room. Strange doesn't seem to mind and takes it upon himself to pour the tea. Setting out two teacups and saucers, he has to ask,

"How do you take your tea, by the way?"

Er. 9S only manages to keep the uncertainty from his expression, but he's not quite able to keep it out of his voice.

"Plain, as is...?"

Are there other ways to take it?

It then occurs to Strange that 9S might not ever have had tea before. After all, if he had questions about marriage then he certainly has questions about tea. Hmm. How to explain some things. Well, Strange starts by pouring himself a cup, talking as he does so.

"Plain is perfectly fine. Others add sugar, milk, things like that. I've grown fond of lemon during my stay at the carnival."

Picking up a lemon slice, Strange squeezes it in his tea, before setting the lemon down on his saucer. A moment later, he moves his cup in front of him.

Strange is a perfectly good example of a fine human being and 9S trusts Strange's opinion about things far more than he probably should.

So 9S watches Strange pour out a cup of tea and add the lemon before mirroring the same actions and pouring tea into his own teacup.

"But you didn't use lemon back home?" Speaking of lemon, 9S carefully squeezes lemon into his own cup. "What did you add instead?"

"I used sugar until my tastes changed. Recently, I've picked up a dislike for overly sweet things." Or, more specifically, he's picked up a severe dislike for one certain fruit, that has kind of leeched over into a rejection of things that taste too sweet. Give him something savory over sweet any day.

Unfortunately for 9S, lemon plus unsweetened tea means that the end result is going to be a bit more tart than the android's expecting. Still, Strange puts his cup up to his lips and takes a little sip, trying not to scald his tongue. Perfect.

"Is that something that normally happens?"

Mirroring Strange's action, 9S takes a sip of his lemon-added tea.

...And tries not to make a face at the taste.

"Here, Strange. You can have mine."

9S pushes his cup and saucer towards the Englishman. He can't recall there being anything in the primer saying that giving people unwanted food or half consumed drink is impolite!

"What, tastes changing? It usually happens somewhere between childhood to adulthood. Mine only changed so recently due to, ah, extenuating circumstances."

There's a story behind the vagueness. But Strange is being amazingly vague in the first place because spoilers, the story involves him going crazy, and that's probably not the sort of thing to bring up in polite conversation. (Plus, he wants 9S to think he's an amazing awesome magician and nothing ruins someone's mental image of you faster than 'who has two thumbs and went crazy.')

He's not turning down that second cup of tea, though Strange still isn't even halfway done with his first.

Wow Strange! You can't just drop a juicy piece of half-information like that and not expect 9S to ask about it!

"Extenuating circumstances?" 9S leans forward, clearly interested. For a moment, he forgets himself, putting his elbows on the table as he leans his chin on steepled fingers. "Like what?"

Congrats Strange, you played yourself. Because he's just now realizing there is no way he can get out of this line of questioning with his dignity intact or without 9S asking him more questions. There's a pause while he hems and haws before fuck it, truth time.

"When I made myself mad, some of the symptoms involved hallucinations. One of the more persistent ones was pineapples."

There is just so much to unpack in that statement so have at it, 9S.

Uh...

...

......Huh.

Is this why Strange had mentioned the topic of madness as something he had experience in when they first met?

Nevertheless... "Er. Pineapples?"

9S sounds distinctly dubious.

And Strange just shrugs!

"Pineapples," he repeats, as if this is a perfectly normal symptom and not something that's a little...well, mad. "And cats, though I can figure out where that set of visions came from."

He's just talking about madness as casually as one talks about the weather or a particularly interesting fashion choice someone is wearing.

"Umm......"

(unsure)

Strange, you're saying really... strange... things.

"So, uh," wow where to even begin? "why did you make yourself mad? Isn't that something people usually avoid?"

Welcome to humanity, 9S. Sometimes they make really fuckin boneheaded decisions. And example #1 is Strange, who pauses and frowns for a little bit before answering. Poor 9S doesn't need the whole story dropped on his head: thought his wife died, mad people could see fairies, went mad to try and successfully summon a faerie to bring back his wife from the dead, and so on and so forth. But he at least should get an abbreviated story.

After all, considering that Strange arrived at the carnival and made some terrible decisions while he was bugfuck crazy, it's not something one could ignore as easy as an embarrassing clothing phrase.

"It is. However, in my world, certain magics could only be performed when one is mad. I became mad in order to be able to cast those spells in the first place and because I thought I had nothing to lose."

What.

"That sounds crazy." How is any of that logical? "I don't understand. Why would there be such a cost to magic? Wouldn't being mad make it harder to do something like that? Madness often causes erratic motor functions and the like..."

Wait, nothing to lose...?

9S' expression shifts to mild horror. "Strange, you didn't try to cast that expecting to die, did you?"

"God no, of course not," Strange quickly adds in, trying his hardest to reassure 9S. "After all, I couldn't cast the magic if I was dead. But I was so focused on the spell itself and achieving the results that I didn't care what happened to me."

Besides, that cruel voice in the back of his head reminded him, it was later that he expected to die, after he were cursed. Then he truly had nothing to lose.

9S stays silent for a long moment.

The second time he'd met 2B... she had thanked him. For uploading her data to the Bunker before they detonated their black boxes and destroyed themselves.

An action he doesn't remember doing at all; he must've not had time to upload his own data, prioritising her data upload over his.

But it's an action he could see himself doing, especially now that he's gotten to know 2B for longer. As far as he's concerned, 2B's well-being always comes first. Always. It doesn't matter what happens to him, as long as she's well.

...So he can understand Strange's feelings.

"That spell..." 9S threads his fingers between each other. "It had something to do with Arabella, didn't it?"

And Strange can't help but smile, a small gentle little smile. Because 9S is right. The spell had so much to do with Arabella. And he's so pleased to hear that 9S understands, that the android can see why he would do so many drastic things, just for the woman he loves.

It wouldn't surprise Strange if 9S had experience of the sort. Perhaps his crush wasn't on Rita after all.

"I thought she was dead," Strange explains. "The spell was to bring her back to life."

If 9S were human, he would've inhaled sharply.

Like he'd said to Rita, humans only get one life, and that's what makes it precious. But he can't judge on wanting to undo that. Androids do it all the time.

"...Did it work? You don't seem mad, but you're not sad, so..."

If the spell worked, Strange is supposed to be mad right now... but if he's not mad, then it didn't work? But he can only imagine that losing a loved one would be sad... Wait.

"...Unless she wasn't actually dead?" Strange did say he thought she was dead.

Good guess. Because Strange nods at that: 9S guessed correctly.

"I buried something that I only thought was my wife." Which isn't a worrying statement in the slightest. "Arabella wasn't dead, only kidnapped, captured by one of the fae—and don't worry, he wasn't one of the fae that the carnival's had to deal with."

Strange just has shit luck with regards to faeries. Throughout this conversation, Strange is trying to keep his tone as level as possible, despite the fact that all of this is still a bit of a sore spot for him. He continues with a shrug and a simple, "I doubt I'll ever see him again."

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