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.
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lostcarnival2017-10-13 06:00 pm
no subject
That should be how it went here, right? People looking at Cole, too many eyes, help, hide, forget. But he doesn't remember how he even got here in the first place. While that would normally be worrying to Cole, the memory fog wins out this round and he glosses over that information to return to staring at the bird on Lambert's head.
"Why isn't it moving?"
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He's not sure how the servants could have missed someone who clearly sticks out like a sore thumb even in this group of oddities, but far be it for him to criticize whether the Prince's servants know what they're about!
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"Unseen and unnoticed. I can do that. I'm good at being quiet."
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"Is that how you got here? Sneaking in?"
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And Lambert's right: he wasn't here before. He can't do anything about the past. Not about what happened before, not about what happened to this Lambert, not about what happened to the real Cole.
But he is here now. And now is different. "Can you use more of me now?"
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But he can't remember exactly why that is. Lambert casts his gaze out across the room, frowning.
"I don't know," he admits, finally. "Maybe ... maybe Childermass might."
An acquisitioner's in charge of the sneaks and the thieves, after all, and the magician spends an absurd amount of time tinkering with shadows as it is. But Cole probably doesn't fucking know who Childermass is, because he's not from the Carnival. So much for that idea.
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Cole definitely doesn't fucking know who Childermass is. But he's having a grand time anyway!
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Childermass's name might feel like a dance, but he probably wouldn't dance. Not with Lambert, anyway.
and thus Cole starts going on the train to punchtown
Oh. Ohhhhhhhh.
"You should ask him," Cole states, in a matter of fact tone. "He might say yes."
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"He could also just dump me in the lake." As he's so fond of threatening, though he has yet to follow up on that even once (without including himself, anyway). "If the prince even has one."
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Of course, this is only from the bits that Cole can glean from Lambert's mind as he has no idea where Childermass, the man with a name like a dance who drops people in lakes even is. But even from the small tidbits gathered, Cole can tell that it wasn't on purpose. Just a planned surprise that went a bit off. It probably wouldn't be a fun surprise anyway. There weren't any presents or songs.
"Besides, you should have had a candle burning. Outside of the water, of course." Cole might not know what a shower is, but even the spirit knows that it's silly to shower in the dark.
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"How did you -- are you reading my mind?!" Lambert is definitely not whispering.
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"I thought you said we had to be quiet," he asks, still confused, looking up at Lambert's hat as if he expects it to fly away at any moment.
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"What are you?" is what he'll manage to hiss out eventually, needle-sharp teeth bared. He should have realized it sooner; this isn't human, whatever it is, but it's not fae, either. "If you're one of the Prince's--"
But no, the servants of Heartstone Manor are all dressed rather conspicuously, aren't they? The Prince doesn't appear to be of the opinion his employees should be wearing color.
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Cole had just gotten used to the idea of his place in the world. To have it yanked out so quickly from underneath him and shaken up again was more annoying than he'd like.
But, that's not what Lambert was asking, was he. "I'm different," Cole simply answers. "Like you."
After all, this also wasn't human, whatever Lambert was.
surprise, it's me, the ghosts of threads long past
Still, at least he doesn't seem as ready to punch Cole as he did a few moments earlier. He doesn't know how he got here, he said that already, and if he's neither the Prince's nor the Ringmaster's ...
He pauses to rub at his forehead, exhaling. "Whatever you are, don't do that again."
spooky scary
Lambert was a loud person in general. Shining bright and strong, pay attention to me and what I'm saying so you don't dig too deep, don't think too hard. It's a loud to hide the quiet, to make you ignore the quiet.
But witcher...Cole doesn't know that word. He just knows that's what Lambert is and it has something to do with the necklace around his neck. "And I might be one. Does having an important necklace make you a witcher?"
After all, he has the amulet that Solas gave him. An amulet to prevent him from being bound, a necklace that's just as important to Cole as Lambert's medallion is to him.
no subject
It's vibrating, of course. It's never stopped humming since they got here.
"A lot of things make someone a witcher." A lot of pain, a lot of blood, but the enchantment of the ball smothers those memories, smoothes out the edges so Lambert's left frowning at an empty space where he knows something (anger) should be before he brushes it off. Wherever his train of thought was going, it's gone.
no subject
Alright. So he's a spirit and a witcher! That makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the hole in Lambert's mind where something should go, some emotion that Cole can't place for whatever reason.
"You should be more," he idly murmurs, giving Lambert a frown.