⇨ 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

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout flinches, eyes widening, a second before her arm is grabbed. Dazed by the goings-on, she doesn't react in time. Under her long skirt her brass toenails clack loudly as she works to keep her balance through the spin. Jasper may get incidentally thwapped in the thighs by her tail. Centrifugal force and all.

She finds a moment and jerks free, clicks a step back, looks the gem up and down. Mostly up, Scout's only near six feet, and more than a bit of that is long, long legs. Her tail lashes behind her, whapping hard on the floor.

"You could just ask," she says, and quickly, theatrically, raises her arms and flicks them open, frowning. "I'm a really good dancer, I'd have said yes."

[stompadour]

Unfortunately, on top of the eight feet of regular height, Jasper has an extra two feet of hair (and ribbons and flowers). There's a lot of up to look. For her part, though, she's pretty used to looking down – and also pretty well protected from inadvertent thigh thwaps by the multiple layers of skirts and crinolines and hoops she has on. (Not what she would have picked, but it DOES make her look bigger and therefore more imposing.)

Jasper frowns down at her.

"We're all here to dance, why would I need to ask?"

[stillwinningthehardway]

Well, one good thing about this: Scout's totally forgotten about what was bothering her before this. Something she forgot? It can't be that important anyway, and if it is, it'll come back. She knows how to dance and scan the room and consider things all at once, a proper Jedi is multitalented.

"It's called common courtesy. Being polite, you know? You don't even have to phrase it like a question and it's fine. Like this. Dance with me." Leveling a challenging smile up at Jasper Scout jerks her chin, indicating her own arms. She's holding them out, waiting for them to be taken.

Hopefully this isn't a mistake. Again, though: she's a very good dancer.

[stompadour]

Jasper considers this for a second, and then snorts derisively – but takes Scout's hands in her enormous orange ones. "I don't see what difference it makes."

(She is not a very good dancer.)

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout will probably regret this. Here she goes.

There are multiple people with the Carnival who're bigger than her, but she's still solidly built. Few people can just... haul her around. It's an unfamiliar sensation, and one she's not thrilled about.

"Okay, I'm not a doll. You can move with me, do a balance thing," she says evenly.

[stompadour]

"A what?" says Jasper, stopping where she's standing and looking dismissive and offended.

[stillwinningthehardway]

A toy designed to engender tenderness or sadism, depending, but Scout has that feeling that that's not going to sound remotely familiar here. "A... limp thing you just carry around! It's more fun if we move together."

She casts a critical look up at Jasper. "If you're capable of that, I could probably teach you tango." Maybe. Is she that good of a dancer? She sure as hell wants to be.

[stompadour]

Jasper looks back at her equally critically. "'Tango', huh." A pause. Ordinarily this is where she'd insist she doesn't need to learn anything from anyone, much less what appears to be some kind of organic creature, but... Well, she is here to dance. Something in the air is making her less argumentative, and she's already made the decision not to worry about it.

She jerks her head in a brusque nod. "Alright. Go on, then."

[stillwinningthehardway]

"Okay. A big thing in tango is keeping your torso still and moving at a stalk, short steps and long ones. The follower tries to match the leader's legs perfectly." Her legs are pretty long, it's hard to tell with the skirts of the dresses in the way but Scout thinks she can manage. "Go on, try that, I'll keep up."

She also knows more about dancing than her player ever will so if this isn't really a thing, uh.

[stompadour]

From the skeptical squint Jasper gives her, she clearly doubts Scout can in fact keep up with her, but -- she gives it her best shot, and makes a cursory effort not to just haul Scout along with her as she goes.

[stillwinningthehardway]

Long, leg-concealing skirts kind of hurt the effect, but despite the haze in her head Scout is sharp, and looking down and frowning fiercely mostly matches the huge Gem's steps, keeping their legs close. "Okay. Not bad. Just keep at the stalk, we can try revolving now."

Her partner's at least making an effort, she has to outdo that. She has to be best dancer.