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
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Yet... it feels so right, and so natural, to do exactly that. He doesn't know what to do about any of this, and people told him to stay safe and not interfere. So shouldn't he listen? It's practically an order.
He reaches forward to gingerly take her hand. It would be nice to get to dance properly...
And then, he flinches.
"Connie..."
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Whenever she tries to fight it, it's like her head fills with gas and she can't breathe or think and she can't stand, the not thinking. If she just dances, if she has a good time, then she can still be her and she doesn't have to feel like she's dying.
"Please, Steven!"
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It felt so similar, back at the Celebration. It had been so relaxing, so tempting to just drift off into his own world. So much so that he'd spent days without checking in on his dad, so compelling that they had nearly forgotten each other - and when he found his dad again, the vampires had almost gotten to him. It was almost too late.
He wishes that his dad was still here. Greg would know what to do, he always seemed to know what to say. What had he done before? Steven hadn't noticed that something was wrong until Lars came and helped him, and Lars is gone, too. But...
Connie is here. Connie is still here with him, and he can't let her down.
He sniffles, wiping away a tear that had managed to escape onto his cheek, thinking about all that. His other hand tightens around hers. They're already bad on the dancefloor, but he's not dancing.
"Connie... We... We have to stop. Something is wrong."
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Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.
"Dance! We need to dance! Or eat food! Or make small talk!" Even though she hates small talk.
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Impulsively, he reaches forward and wraps his arms around her in a hug. Maybe that will make this easier, somehow. To know that he's here, even while all this fae magic is still messing with her head.
"I know it's scary," he says, more softly. He can feel the suppressed panic inside of her. He kind of feels the same way. "But... But we have to think about it, okay? Like Garnet said. We have to see what's wrong so we can make it better."
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"I can't do this, Steven," she insisted. It wasn't something she could defeat.
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"You can! I know you can. You can do all kinds of stuff you never thought you could." Like sword fighting and dancing with him and helping him protect Earth. "And... And I need you right now, Connie. The real you."
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"Steven," she said, as seriously as she could.
"Let's-" The cloud was creeping in, in every direction, but- "Can we, look at the sky together? Maybe... your friends want to enjoy the party too!"
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"Y-Yeah, sure!"
He takes her hand, and this time it's him leading her away from the dancefloor. Soon they are back over at the window, blasts of blue lasers and orange flame lighting up the courtyard below.
"Oh... oh boy," he says, putting his other hand to his forehead.
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...or are they creating a lightshow?
"Wow, Steven, think we can get closer to that? It looks so pretty!"
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Of course, this is about the time that the Prince is approaching the fallen balcony and that he starts addressing those at its edge. Steven freezes completely, abruptly putting an arm between Connie and the fae ahead.
Slowly, he tries to prompt her to take a few steps back.
"Oh... Oh no..." he mumbles, eyes wide.
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"Who is...?" She started to ask, before she realized that she already knew the answer to the question someone. "The Prince," she whispered. The host of the ball. The master of the manor.
She was seized by anxiety, and any progress she'd made a moment ago was immediately reversed, guilt washing down on her for her attempts to undermine her master's wishes.
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He reaches over to wordlessly take her hand, leading her away. He can't bear the idea of risking her to him - the thought that he might do something to hurt her, if she really is under his power. He quickly pulls her along the wall, trying to get her out of sight as quickly as possible.
"It's okay, Connie," he says softly, trying not to make a big deal of it despite the fact that it definitely feels like a big deal to him. "We'll figure out something else."
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"We- we can talk to the Prince! Maybe we can convince him to pardon your friends!"
i didn't even see there was two tags to this omg
"Connie no, he won't listen! This is... This is all some kind of game for him," he pleads. "I know how fae like this work... he won't pardon anybody unless you give him something in return..."
Which, don't. For the record.
i didn't number them cuz i was lazy