⇨ FOURTH WALL EVENT! (OPEN TO ALL)

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone and the 4th Wall Visitors!
When: Day 175
Where: Heartstone Manor
What: THE 4TH WALL BALL BEGINS! This is where unapped visitors can post and roleplay. Please read the rules and setting info below. For more information and visuals refs, read this. Questions can be asked over here.
Warnings: Individually marked! Could be a lot of things.

THE GRAND BALL↴ Heartstone Manor is a giant, spooky castle floating in the middle of a twilight filled void. It is the home of a Wyld Fae calling himself The Prince - and despite his name, he is a bestial creature crammed into a gentleman's clothing, completely obsessed with replicating the ideals of old timey human society, much like the 1800's. The Prince and his many servants all dress in a manner appropriate to to the 1500's - 1800's, and decorum and beauty are held sacred above all else. All the workers of the carnival are currently staying there, in the hope of enabling a successful diplomatic venture between the Ringmaster and the Prince. The Grand Ball is being thrown by the Prince to honour these guests, but his manner of doing this is going to come as a bit of a surprise. THE RULES↴ Powers are all partially nerfed for 4th Wallers. They can be used in small to moderate ways for the sake of RP and narrative flavour, but 4th Wallers shouldn’t generally be using any powers in a super disruptive manner. No using powers for fighting with NPCs (yet), causing general chaos, or otherwise making your character a burden to the Prince. If they try, they’ll find themselves unable to do so. Your character isn’t sure how they got here but they think they’re okay with it. Your character won’t remember how they were captured by the Prince at the start of the ball. They’re just kind of here and in formal wear, and something tells them it’s probably fine to just enjoy the ball. They are wrong. In-game characters won’t initially remember how they all ended up at the ball either thanks to a temporary amnesia effect, but they will be able to be concerned about the fact that other people (possibly people they know) have shown up, and the fact that those other people are probably the Prince’s captives. Weren’t they doing something else at the castle before this, though? It’s hard to remember. This is all very confusing. 4th Wall character who aren’t apping in were possibly never the real deal in the first place. There are a mixture of genuine captives and spooky replications created with magic – this is to provide some flexibility regarding 4th wall character’s states in game, as well to allow more than one of each character to be played. If there are multiple people playing the same character, then whichever one has an app accepted will have been the real one. No doubles of in game characters. (Taken list here.) No AUs, no CRAUs, and nothing else besides characters that have full source canons or are original characters/fandom OCs with no bearing on the canon plot. If you tag in with a character who breaks these rules we reserve the right to remove them. THE SETUP: 4TH WALLERS↴ With incredibly foggy memories of their recent past, your character will find themselves at a grand ballroom dance, filled with a mixture of normal humans and odd looking humanoids that have strange features like wings, horns, tails, fur, and the like. They have vague memories of being dressed for the occasion, but are not sure by who or why. Most disturbingly, they will find that, at first at least, they don’t really care about the details. It seems like a pleasant event, doesn’t it? Why not enjoy it. This effect is definitely some kind of mind control, so you can feel free to have your characters be a bit confused and conflicted about it. Ultimately, they have been charmed to participate in the dance, so they will feel like riding the wave is the best thing to do even if that wouldn’t normally be their cup of tea. If your character has resistances to some forms of mind control, they are still overruled in this circumstance. They may discover people they recognize (castmates) or even duplicates of themselves (somehow?), and these can all be treated as canonly occurring and played out as such. This event is canon for Lost Carnival, so it should be played seriously and respectfully – not that silly shenanigans aren’t also bound to happen. All characters are required to dress in formal attire appropriate to a period area – specifically anywhere from the 1500s to 1800s. The Prince prefers if people are heteronormative in their clothing choices, but if you want you can probably get away with your ladies wearing suits or men wearing dresses as long as they look presentable otherwise. THE SETUP: MANOR GUESTS↴ You find yourself at the Grand Ball without really remembering how you got here. The last few days are a foggy blur, and though you can remember some of the important stuff you were dealing with, it will feel less important right at the start. Of course, as the night goes on, memories of how the carnival reached this event will become more and more clear – as well as the inevitable worry and stress that comes with it. For most people, there will have absolutely no memory of anything that happened after the morning of Day 175. Did the boating trip ever happen? Possibly not. Even as the night progresses, they will still have no recollection of how most of Day 175 went, which is probably disturbing. The Mod has contacted those that are exceptions to this privately to tell them what they will remember. The people lost to the Manor’s security earlier in the week will be here too, but not as guests. In fact, all of them will be dressed in the black attire of a Heartstone Manor servant and will seem pretty okay with that fact. There are parts of them that look changed – and their dispositions are definitely one of them. How else could they possibly be working for the Prince now? Updates to the event situation will be posted down in this section below. People can react to these posts as the circumstances change, and may new top levels based on them. It is possible to try to sneak away from the ball, but Manor Security will be trying to hunt you down. There is no mandatory outcome planed to this event, so character decisions can and will have a major effect in where the plot goes from here. THE ACCOMODATIONS↴ MUSIC AND DANCING: There will be music playing the whole night, and most of it is so good you feel practically compelled to dance to it. It's possible to resist, but why would you want to do that, you party pooper? FOOD AND DRINK: There are circle tables set up with fine silverware, and upon sitting down you will soon have a waiter come back to ask for an order. You can request basically any European cusine and it will be made for you. You will also be given drinks, most of which are alcohol, no matter your age. Fae don't care about children. BALCONY STARGAZING: There are balconies that are connected to the ballroom in multiple locations that you can step out onto to get some fresh air. You'll see the courtyard of the Manor down below you, but everything beyond that is black, as if the castle is floating within a twilight void. (Because it is.) One small change is that there are stars out tonight, probably added to the sky for the occasion. ALL NIGHT LONG: The ball will go on far into the early morning. Or, at least, until everyone fucks it up.

Comments

Susan | OTA

[wild_magic]

He may not remember the events leading up until now, but Susan does remember another party with dancing and festivities, one that went downhill quickly. It makes it harder to enjoy himself, although the music and food and even just everyone else being there put him at ease, even as he tries to puzzle it out, tugging on the ends of his sleeves (still so different from the simple tunic he's used to, and something this fancy is never something he'll be comfortable in). As long as he keeps his brother in sight everything should be okay, though... So maybe it's okay to have some fun.

dancing
Even for his age Susan is on the short side - it's his elven genes, his mother's side of the family showing through in his features. Finding a dancing partner just isn't going to be easy for him, even if he was so inclined.

But that doesn't stop him from standing nearby and watching the dancers, swaying to the music as he tries to make sure he can still see Lauren. And he probably wouldn't even object if someone did try to dance with him... Although who knows if he'd be any good at it.

eating

And what's the point of a party if you don't eat? Sure he's still on guard in case they suddenly get attacked, but he can still take some time to sit down and have some food. He doesn't even know what to ask for, honestly, only eating whatever a waiter will recommend for him. He's not quite sure about the drinks, though, only having had small amounts of alcohol before - although he isn't turning it down, either.

[mylastchance]

"Anything good?" he asks, coming to stand beside his brother as he looks at the food on the tables. He doesn't mind parties, but he is a bit on edge after what happened the last time he did any dancing.

[wild_magic]

He shrugs a little as he looks up at his brother.

"I don't know, there's too many things!" He takes a sip of his drink, making a little face before going for another.

"What're you gonna have?"

[mylastchance]

He shrugs. He isn't sure honestly, but he isn't worried about it. No matter what complaints he has about this place the food is tasty. He reaches over to take Susan's cup so he can have a sip for himself.

"Don't care really. Maybe that roast beef they served the other day?"

[wild_magic]

Susan lets his brother take the cup, thinking about it.

"That could be good... Oh, but maybe we could just have desserts, instead?"

[mylastchance]

Lauren makes a face at that idea. He likes sweet things, of course, but savory was definitely he preferred. Of course, then he's making a much different face when he takes a sip of Susan's drink and realizes it's alcohol. It's not like he's never had alcohol before, but it definitely isn't what he was expecting. He sets the glass down abruptly, making a disgusted face.

"What are you drinking?"

[wild_magic]

He shrugs a little and takes the cup back, sniffing at it again.

"I don't know, it's just what they gave me." He can tell it's alcoholic though, but if he just takes little sips it isn't bad. Like the little sip he's taking now.

[mylastchance]

He sees that and looks at Susan as though he's crazy.

"Stop drinking that!"

[wild_magic]

He puts it down, although he pouts at Lauren.

"But I'm thirsty, and that's what they gave me! That means it's what we're supposed to drink here, and we're supposed to follow the rules."

AND LATER, after talking to reira

[wild_magic]

Susan still didn't have a firm idea of what was going on, but he knew that it wasn't good. Originally it started out as trying to figure out the weird forgetting, to see if he could pinpoint exactly what was wrong, but now... Now he had to somehow convince the younger girl to come with him secretly or something, or do it magically, or figure out if there was some other cause, or something - and he had no more ideas.

So it was time to go to Lauren for help.

He finds his brother at one of the food tables, and quickly goes to sit next to him. Lauren can probably tell he's still kind of agitated.

"I need your help, something's wrong and I don't know how to fix it."

Re: AND LATER, after talking to reira

[mylastchance]

Let's be real though agitated is Susan's mood at least 50% of the time. It's not shock Lauren doesn't take him seriously straight from the get go.

"What is it?" he asks, not even bothering to look up from his food as he continues to stuff his face.

[wild_magic]

Of course his brother doesn't care. Susan makes a face and just keeps going.

"There's this girl, from the Carnival, and she says she broke the rules and now she belongs to the Prince, and we have to save her!"

[mylastchance]

He actually does look to Susan then, but he mostly looks confused rather the concerned. He chews for a bit before talking again, because, you know, manners.

"Who?"

[wild_magic]

"You know... The short one, who works with the animals!" That he somehow never got the name of. Oops.

[mylastchance]

His eyes widen for a moment.

"Reira?" he asks, suddenly looking around as though she's somewhere nearby.

"What rule did she break? Does the Ringmaster know about this?"

[wild_magic]

"Um... She didn't say. Only that, she broke the rules, so now she belongs to him instead of the Ringmaster. And that she has to stay with him, but that she's okay with it because he's stronger than everyone." He's a little confused by it all, honestly, but it's what she said. It takes him a second to continue.

"She's really scared though. You can tell if you just look at her. She said, if she doesn't listen she gets hurt... That she's only alive because she's doing what he says."

[mylastchance]

He looks around, confusion and concern suddenly switching to the same agitation Susan showed earlier.

"Where is she?"

dancing

[sworntothesword]

Susan would find an appropriately sized dancing partner with Connie, a bitty 13 year-old.

"Would you like to dance?" Connie asked, coming up behind Susan. She wouldn't usually be so forward in a strange setting, but she was feeling uncharacteristically motivated today!

[wild_magic]

Susan was surprised to see another kid around his age when he turned around, given how few there were in the Carnival, but it's a pleasant surprise. It only takes him a second's thought before he nods with a wide grin.

"Yeah, okay! I've never done it before though, only watched it. So I might not be any good." Not that he'll let it bring him down - he's still grinning even as he says it.

[sworntothesword]

"Dancing is really about having fun, right? If you divorce it from the rules and traditions that dominate the time period and setting the ball is attempting to emulate, that is."

If you don't then it's definitely not about having fun.

"If all else fails we can just watch what other people do, right?"

[wild_magic]

He's a little confused by all of that, and it shows as he furrows his brow while thinking, but he nods slowly.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can figure it out. It should be fun."

1/2

[sworntothesword]

She sees the furrowed brow and decides to elaborate.

"Well, you see, the church was frequently against dancing in most of its forms outside of highly regimented and non-suggestive public displays, so the primary purpose of dances was to vie for social status and provide opportunities for politically advantageous marriage of children who have recently come of age."

2/2

[sworntothesword]

Oh shoot, she's totally ruining this, isn't she?

"That isn't to say that that's the purpose of this ball! We can have a fun dance while only borrowing the aesthetic rather than the function!"

[wild_magic]

The church? He's not really sure which church she could be talking about, or honestly what any of the rest of it means, since his world is so different, but after a moment of thought he laughs a little and smiles.

"You're kind of weird. Come on, let's dance!" And with that he's reaching for her hand to try and pull her to the dance floor.

[sworntothesword]

"Weird in a good way or a bad- oh!" She lets herself get pulled out into the dance floor, leaving her concerns behind (haha just kidding she just pushed them down into herself to worry about later).

"My name is Connie," she said. She opts to take his hand and put the other on his shoulder as they start to dance to the song the band was playing.