⇨ 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

susan | ota

[wild_magic]

[prompts to follow; if you want to do something else, toss a wildcard at me or hit me up on plurk (moirallegiance)]

the first night; closed to lauren

[wild_magic]

From the moment he'd heard the announcement, Susan was unhappy with their new destination. After the way things had gone at the Celebration, he just couldn't trust being dragged to a new place, pulled away from the Carnival, and even though Lauren had convinced him to play along for now, he still wasn't pleased.

The castle looked kinda cool, at least, when they'd gotten a tour, and he tried to not complain about anything and just go along with it for now... Although that was a bit hard when he realized that he wouldn't be staying with his brother, but with someone else. He knew objectively that Lauren could take care of himself, that everything would be okay... But that's what he thought before the vampires, too.

As soon as he realized he'd be forced away from Lauren he told Fluff to go with his older brother instead of staying with him, so that he could at least keep an eye on him. But of course as soon as he got into his room he only waited a few minutes before turning his radio on right to his brother's channel.

"Lauren?

finally tags this

[mylastchance]

"Susan." The response is immediate. Late though it is, he can't sleep. He's too anxious, about his roommate, about this realm, about the sorts of trouble Susan might get into without him. He'd given Stanley, his pet rat, to Susan, telling them both to look after each other. Likewise, Fluff had come with him. It was something small, exchanging familiars so they could keep an eye on the other, but it was something. Still it didn't ease Lauren's anxiety nearly as well as hearing his brother's voice did.

"I'm here."

took you long enough

[wild_magic]

Even though he knew Lauren was fine, Susan is still relieved as soon as he hears his brother's voice. Actually hearing him is different from knowing from Fluff that things were okay, and even though he still isn't happy, he does relax a bit as he pauses to think over what to say next.

"How's your room?"

its because ur so rood

[mylastchance]

He hesitates, but his roommate is obviously in the room with him so it's not like he can complain about rooming with a girl without offending her.

"...Fine. A supervisor is my roommate."

[wild_magic]

"Which one?" Because some of the supervisors are actually pretty cool, he wouldn't mind them as roommates.

[mylastchance]

"Peridot." he says after a moments hesitation. Not because he dislikes her, just because he doesn't want have a conversation about someone who can literally hear everything he is saying.

"How about you?"

[wild_magic]

Oh. So not one of the cool ones. That's too bad.

He shrugs, although Lauren can't see it.

"They aren't here yet. Just me and Zap and Stanley."

He pauses, thinking over his next words.

"Is everything okay, over there? Nothing's going to jump out and attack you or anything, right?"

[mylastchance]

He laughs at the thought, just a bit.

"You're not saying that because there's a monster in your room is there?"

the second day - charades

[wild_magic]

With how limited his previous social interaction has been, charades is something Susan has never played. Honestly, though, he's rather enjoying himself; he either gets to act out doing things and have everyone's attention on him, or he gets to call out crazy ideas of what other people are acting out. What's not to like?

Lauren, sitting next to Susan, was content to quietly sit and not actually play, hoping his brother's enthusiasm would make his lack of participation less obvious. It had worked up to a point, but somehow someone had noticed.

Which is why Lauren was standing silently and awkwardly in front of the group, not actually acting anything out.

Of course that doesn't stop Susan from shouting out various ideas of what his brother is acting out.

"A tree? Oh, or maybe a statue!"

the third day - reading and contemplation

[wild_magic]

For anyone who knows Susan, it probably isn't a surprise to see the boy already fidgeting within ten minutes of entering the library. Having to sit still and quiet while reading or thinking just isn't his thing. Speaking in his head to his familiar keeps him occupied for a few extra minutes, but after that he's back to fidgeting, looking around the room at everyone else instead of reading, or moving around as he tries to follow the rules.

It's just too hard though, and soon enough he's leaning in to anyone nearby, trying to see what they're up to instead.

"What are you reading?" At least he remembered the being quiet part, even though his whispering isn't the quietest around.

[mylastchance]

Lauren glances at Susan before looking back to his book. He's quiet for a moment, and expression of deep confusion covering his features.

"I don't... Know."

[wild_magic]

"Then why are you even reading it? You should just... Find something better to read." Which he gave up on like eight minutes ago, but still. Maybe there's actually some hope for his brother.

[mylastchance]

"I guess?" He just doesn't want to be the only person still looking for something to read. He didn't even know if it was okay to change books or not. Everything here seemed weird and confusing. He flips his book over, looking at the cover before looking over his shoulder towards the shelves.

"Is there something better?"

[wild_magic]

He shrugs a little as he peers at Lauren's book.

"You could try mine? It says it's about a battle or something." Which sounded more interesting than the other choices, but... No, it really was just boring.

[mylastchance]

He sighs, letting his book drop the table as his shoulders slump.

"I don't care about a battle that happened on some world I probably know nothing about."

[wild_magic]

Susan frowns down at the books before looking back at the shelves.

"I'll see if I can find something about... Animals or something."

And unless Lauren stops him he sets his book aside and goes to do just that.

[mylastchance]

He looks to Susan in confusion as he says that, but his brother has already gotten up and wandered off towards the shelves of books lining the room. Lauren debates wandering after him for a moment, before picking up both of their discarded books and making his way towards the half-elf as well.

roommate wildcardin', lmk if anything doesn't work for you

[dressedtothe]

9S had mixed feelings about going the Manor. Sure, it looks nothing like anything he'd seen before and it seems to be promising him plenty of new experiences. But the strict 'follow the rules' the supervisors had set out and the prospect of not being allowed to chatter away freely sure is annoying.

But he'll sit down and shut up if that's what he needs to do. Besides, it sounds like he's already going to have his hands full mapping out this place. Lambert's orders. Though he would've done it anyway.

When he's finally lead to his assigned room, he quickly realises that someone is already there.

"Um. Hi." This is another human child, right? "I'm 9S. It looks like we're going to be roommates...?"

9S is dressed as ordered, though the sword held aloft at his back by a ring of light has its blade covered in an ill-fitting scabbard, the sheath clearly hanging off the hilt of his sword by two cords. A robot friend hovers by his shoulder. For once, his eyes aren't covered, instead his 'blindfold' tied around his arm instead of his face.

[wild_magic]

Luckily for everyone involved, Susan has already had a chance to talk to his brother and relax a little by the time his roommate arrives. He looks up when the door opens, pausing in petting his Pichu, but when he sees it's someone he doesn't know yet he even manages a smile. He does like meeting new people, and everything seems to be okay so far...

The boy stands and brushes off his clothes - still his Carnival wear, not having taken the time to change yet - and nods in greeting.

"I'm Susan. And I guess we are!"

[dressedtothe]

At the smile, 9S mirrors it with one of his own.

"Great!" He steps right in, box bot following him silently. "Nice to meet you, Susan."

His gaze flickers to the Pichu. But what is that animal he wants to know.

"Does your pet have a name?"

[wild_magic]

Pet? His immediate thought is of his familiar, but she's not in the room. Then that means...

"Oh, that's Zap! He's named that 'cause sometimes he zaps people on accident. Or himself. He's friendly though." Even if that description doesn't quite make it seem like that's the case.

He glances at the robot following 9S, but he doesn't have enough of an idea of what a robot even is to tell if it's a pet of some kind too, or something else entirely, so he doesn't ask about it. Instead he changes the subject elsewhere.

"Are you new in the Carnival? I don't think I've seen you before." And he's seen almost everyone.

[dressedtothe]

Zap... zaps people? 9S looks a little apprehensive at that. They... might have some problems, if that's the case.

He'll bring it up later. For now, 9S nods; Susan's hit the nail on the head. "Yeah. I joined a bit before the Carnival's last stop. I'm with the Nightrunners and repair crew."

Except he hasn't really done much repair work, on account of completely avoiding Peridot. She can talk all she wants, but it doesn't change the fact she's an alien.

"What about you? What do you work as?"

[wild_magic]

"I have a few jobs... But it's all in the "treasurer's" department, except we don't have one of those right now. But mostly I have to talk to people, so, it's pretty fun." He's not very good at actually describing his job though, apparently, but whatever. He's never gotten a complaint about it so he must be doing it right.

"I don't think we're supposed to be talking to people here, though. It's probably not 'proper', but that's annoying."

[dressedtothe]

Oh boy is he glad that someone else is annoyed by it all, too.

"Yeah, no kidding! I don't understand the point of half the rules we're supposed to follow."

As he talks, 9S walks towards the unclaimed bed and floats his sword forward so he can take the ill-ftting scabbard off it the copper yellow blade, the same ring of light keeping the sword aloft forming around his right wrist.

"I mean, if someone's there, doesn't it make sense to talk to them? Otherwise, what's the point?"