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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ringleaders) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lostcarnival2017-10-13 06:00 pm
no subject
"And that just shows how little you know, Papyrus. About anything," he snaps. All he can think about is how clueless Papyrus is, right now. How ignorant, how selfish, how deluded. It's not the removal of rose-tinted glasses - it's switching over to seeing pure red.
"Did you really think you managed to stay king on your own? Do you think I don't remember? I remember all of them. Every timeline. I remember working my ass off behind the scenes so you could go around smiling at people and giving them bad food."
"And that human. Who do you think solved that little problem? Because you sure as hell didn't have the guts to do it yourself."
no subject
There's a family resemblance, and memories of arguments, people simmering with complaints that he'd cheerfully choose to believe what he likes instead of doing something more worthwhile, like learning all he can. Achieving something. It stings, it hurts. It's the kind of anger out of fear for another's wellbeing, painful-but-caring words that he hardly ever hears anymore... held back too long, and thrown like a gauntlet at his face.
And then. That human.
Papyrus flinches back, taking a half-step away before he catches himself. There's no question which human Sans means. The second human, the one Papyrus never met, whose sighting heralded some of the worst days of his life, and certainly the worst of his reign. Months and months of work and worry, striving and encouraging, making a bright visisble example of himself doing things, in the face of so many who didn't even muster the effort to smile anymore. Those last couple days, when he'd finally heard genuine cheering and sincere hope again, what he'd worked so hard to rekindle... but. It came, not from happiness but, from monsters who cheered for him to murder somebody. And then, hiding in the garden, where nobody else would come to pressure him, hoping for an escape... until the way to the carnival showed up.
"How do you...? Even the reflections don't know about that!" he blurts out, already realizing the answer as he speaks. Papyrus hardly mentioned it to anyone, save the Ringmaster when they made his bargain. Sans, who didn't even mention Papyrus until he showed up, surely wouldn't have told anybody. Another simulacrum Sans shouldn't know anything about the last human.
...But Sans would know. This is his brother, changed by changed employment and some terrible new freedom (?) to be unkind.
"You... you don't say things like this to me. You never have!" Even as he says that, it sounds and feels false. "Except, except... when you were an angel. When you... weren't my brother."
His tail, already drooped as low as it can go, curls itself around his ankle and hides a slight tremble in the folds of his pants. He clenches his hands, holding his arms crossed and digging phalanges into sleeves. Confusion and shame are terrible feelings, and it's so much easier to push around them with anger.
"Is that why you're with the Prince now? You're angry with me?!"
no subject
It's hardly a fair game, with Papyrus. There's so much lurking inside of him - so much that he's been keeping locked away for almost half of his life. And now...? He doesn't have a reason to hold back anymore.
Didn't Papyrus hate how he lied?
He laughs, and its a sharp and ugly sound compared to Sans's usual chuckles and guffaws. Of course, even now, Papyrus would assume that it had to be all about him.
"Angel me didn't even know the half of it," he sneers, stepping forward as Papyrus steps back. "All these years, and you haven't learned a damn thing. You just keep on being ignorant, and then act like I'm the problem when I have a bad day."
"How do you think I paid for our house? Did you even care? Or how about the part where that asshole flower you were buddies with managed to kill you and me more times than I can remember? Or like how you kept acting like that kid was your friend while they went around killing other monsters? It's a lot easier to just pretend nothing is happening, isn't it?"
"You're clueless! All these years you've been buying the stupidest lies imaginable, and I'm not even convinced you were really fooled - cause I actually know what it feels like to face reality head-on. I know what it does to a person."
"Which is why I've spent so much time enabling your assinine fantasies, because like hell if you'd ever want to end up like me."
no subject
Things he's wondered, in fragmented and dismissed ways. Things Sistina asked, and refused to be reassured about, in quiet moments in Greysol... things he's never even wondered about, but others did think about, did deal with...
Papyrus stops retreating, fists balling at his sides. All that time he's pestered Sans to talk to him, and now he is? Okay. This is his brother, choosing to do something important? Facing reality, taking responsibility, and talking like this? Then Sans is terrible at taking responsibility. Either he takes none at all, leaving people in the lurch, or he takes so much on himself that he hates everybody! What's the point?!
"You're terrible--!"
He doesn't mean to stop there, he means to talk about responsibility... but just those two words are true too, aren't they? So true and unkind that he cuts off for a second, wavering, before pushing on. "Of course I don't want to be like you. Just listen to yourself!"
"You're mad at me, for not knowing things you didn't tell me about! When, you just said, you lied! To me! About them! You misled me, and then you're angry that I believed you!"
Not just believed him, but believed in him. That anybody could do and be better, if they tried. But this isn't trying; this is just shifting the blame.
"What did you expect?! What did you want?? I didn't make you do any of that... That was all you! You're the one making your own choices, aren't you??"
no subject
It's a momentary wave through him, through his body and brain, and ever so briefly he can feel a sense of crushing exhaustion and heartbreak. Maybe it shows in another shudder in his body, or in a twitch in his eyes, like he wants to fall to the floor but is suspended against his will.
But then it's gone, and the lingering doubt cycles back to anger, incapable of consciously acknowledging the fear that question raises in him. He's in control of his choices, right?
He doesn't know what's happening to him.
"Bullshit," he spits, forced back into line, angry like acid that burns him from the inside out. "I withheld information, but I'm not the only one you've left to rot. It's like anything outside your personal playground doesn't matter. Do you need someone to hold your hand through everything?"
"You..." he begins, and for a moment his voice shakes, "You didn't even realize he was gone."
The anger has been hot, but weirdly impersonal till now, like it was all about stuff Sans had already left behind. On this subject, however, pain can still be seen in his eyes, in the way he moves.
"Why is it that I remembered him and you didn't? Did you not care about that, either?" he demands. "About how we used to have a dad but now we don't?"
no subject
Oh, he thinks. This is what's been between them. Loss, and loneliness, and... grief. It is grief, surely; the same feeing he himself has felt about Undyne, when he lets himself acknowledge it.But for all he doesn't outright say what's happened, he remembers her, and Sans has been willing to play along with his letters and phone calls; Papyrus has never felt alone in missing her. Not... not like Sans sounds.
"You do? For... for a long time?" he wonders, shaking his head because no, that can't be right. It has to be since joining the carnival, since making that deal for bad memories.
"I thought, you said... if we stay, out here, everybody back home would forget us? Go on, like we never were... Isn't that what happened??"
It has to be, because then Papyrus is blameless. If it isn't, if Sans has remembered longer - remembered all this time - then Sans is justified in being so, so upset. Right, that Papyrus has never asked about it, has hardly thought about it. That it was just how things were, to him. Up until the time bad dreams became physical, at least. And even then, it took that other life, those scattered memories, for him to wonder, to suspect...
His gaze skitters around Sans' face, then drops to linger on the sword. For all that Sans has so many eyes to choose from, it's hard to make eye contact right now. Maybe because there's too many choices. That's it.
no subject
"And it's the kind of gone that's never coming back," he snarls softly, though his socket seems a little bit watery too. "Believe me! I tried." He laughs hollowly, with a shudder. "Some mistakes there's no fixing, and I should have known that from the start."
Suddenly, this stops being satisfying. Now that it's out, he's so disgusted by all of it that he can't bear to have it weighing on his mind, as if its still relevant. He bears his fangs more widely.
"And while I'm at it - you know who else should make themselves gone? You. I'm done here."
And then he disappears.