⇨ 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

[moonfang]

Zangetsu watches the proceedings with disinterest, shrugs, and makes his exit past the Prince back into the ballroom. Sorry card boys, he doesn't know you well enough to put his neck out any further.

But he doesn't go too far as he takes a drink from a passing waiter, keeping his senses trained on Gongenzaka's spiritual pressure.

[npcarnival]

The Prince looks at Yuya blankly for a moment, and the outright ignores him. Instead, he moves closer to the ledge, raising a hand to beckon a few of the nearby suits of armor.

"Take the ones who have been marked by our new acquisition. Including the beast hanging from the remains of the balcony."

Perhaps Gongenzaka isn't hiding as well as he thought.

[betheman]

He is relieved, for but a moment, when he hears nothing in reply to Yuuya. As much as Zangetsu already walking away irritates him after all, there is little to be done, and the ignorance in Yuuya's direction at least gives hope that perhaps one more of them is getting out of this.

Or one, over all. Gongenzaka stiffens despite himself, and he can feel his blood run cold. He finds himself using that spell of his, as an after thought-will he find that same poison, he wonders, tainting Yuugo? Tainting him? Or does the Prince simply see, somehow, through the eyes of the manor, living and breathing all that goes on within it. It would perhaps explain, he thinks, how so many of them had been taken as it were. How Sans, who could teleport, was taken...

He can do little more than grind his teeth. Moving downward is not an option. He is too far up, and too weak to even move his vines. The poison has been spreading, after all, infecting his natural system of vines and roots. Spreading up and through his side, into the vines of his mane, his tail...

It is difficult to breathe, he thinks, holding the image of his own soul in his mind just for a moment.

But when the moment passes, he is quiet. Let them come, then. If Yuuya can go free for now, then they have done at least that much more than expected now.

[hippocarnival]

"He's not a beast!" Yuya snaps back a little too quickly, cringing when he does. But the Prince has no place to talk like that.

He knows he's just been ignored, ans his mind is racing for the first solution he can find to fix this. It's too clear in his mind, what happened to Reira, what might happen to them. Would he finds them dressed like servants with that same expression of fear in their eyes? Would they be trapped? He can't let that happen. He can't.

Still holding onto Yugo's arm, Yuya shuffles closet to the edge as of he can block those suits of armor from reaching Gongenzaka. But his gaze holds onto the Prince.

"Stop! If you won't let me talk, then--then let me earn their freedom!"

What else can he do?

[bananaspeedrider]

Yugo is not a thing to be yanked around between two grips and yet here he is. The teen has as much of a clue as Gon on how the Prince knows the taur is hanging there, but he reels on Yuya (perhaps surprisingly) with-

"DON'T YOU DARE!!!!"

They all heard loud and clear who's getting arrested and who seems to be going free. And he'll be damned if he lets what's practically family attempt bargaining with the fuzzy asshole.

[betheman]

And naturally, that's what it takes. Gongenzaka does more than speak. He moves-he Forces himself to move, straining as he tries to get his paw over the edge, a growl threatening to pass from his jaws. The stealth gem is turned off-well hidden within his vines and fur, but inactive, and with a booming voice he tries anything he can to even slightly get Yuuya in his sights.

"DO NOT!" he calls, what fur remains unpetrified standing on end. "YUUYA...! This is no debatable matter! And at the very least, if one of us may go free, they MUST!" Gongenzaka roars, unwilling and unable to say outright what he means.

One, at the least, must tell someone else what is happening. Fill them in on the details that fall beyond the realm of 'a fight began'. If neither of them can do so, then at least HE can..!

(But more than that, even if they had spoken of this just before, even if they had agreed to allow it... ...He cannot let Yuuya take this fall for him)

"I, the man Gongenzaka, shall greet my punishment fairly...no matter how our host sees fit to deliver it," he adds, a bitter edge to his tone. He has no illusions that this will go well. And no amount of 'fairness' will be able to apply, he is certain.