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
You did nothing wrong. Their rules aren't-- you don't belong to anyone.
[He looks past Julien briefly, to the brightly-lit party within. Forces himself to look away, to fight down the longing in his heart to go dance! go find someone to dance with! ask your friend to dance!, and look Julien in the face.]
It's better I'm here. If I hadn't come, I might never have known what's happening. It's better that I know.
[It's why he'd become a Champion; because someone else had seen in him that it was better that he knew. That, provided a threat to face, one with a name and a body against which he could move, he was at his heart a protector.]
no subject
There's a great leather collar around Julien's neck, but lower down, and he's arranged his feathers to mostly hide it. It upsets some people, he's found, and he can't take it off as easily as the hood.]
Oh, Brandon. I wish you were with me, but I don't, you'd hate this so much. I wish I was more like you sometimes. You're just... you're so good. So solid. I've always admired that. Even when you've been kind of a jerk.
[He has the horrible feeling that this is the last chance he'll have to say things like that, or at least, he dearly hopes it is. Julien can't believe in any way out, and other people shouldn't have to be here.]
this time with the account i actually intended to login to
He breathes out a short laugh, equal parts frustrated and bemused, his forehead pressed back to Julien's.]
I don't need you to act like me. I'd rather you acted like yourself.
[He rebels in every fiber of his being against this sense of finality, against the idea of a last goodbye. He tightens his grip slightly on the back of Julien's neck.]
You've given up. How can you give up? I've seen what you're capable of doing, when the chips are down-- I've seen you fly in the face of defeat and just-- sweep it aside.
[He's not the world's best speaker, but it comes from the gut.]
I couldn't do what you've done before. And now, now you're calling it quits--?
lol I was gonna say!
[He hasn't struggled with bird shape as much as the other version of him has, but that doesn't mean everything's been easy. Julien still tends to try to isolate himself and wait for death.]
I'm only really brave for people I love.
[Julien leans in hard. Anyone else would be pushed back unless they braced themselves.]
Maybe it's not quits. But it's not... there's no simple, triumphant way out here. There's choosing death or something kind of worse - don't make me tell you what's worse, I've been there, I've seen it. Or there's just. Trying to survive and hope for a chance.
no subject
What's going to happen to you? If nothing changes. If I leave here and you stay. Will you keep... changing?
[He means the rock Julien showed him, the pink granite on his fingers and his legs. The way he says it warns that he's listening for bullshit.]>
no subject
Yes.
Everyone in service to a True Fae changes. When they grant you something, when you survive something big, when they're punishing you. The Prince especially, he's got this poison. This corruption. If you're good he doesn't turn it on you so much. There are a lot of people who earned his displeasure who look about as human as I do, but they can't speak anymore.
[He knows this is terrible. He feels this is terrible. But he fucked up. He has to serve. He's helpless.]
I really wanted to see you again and tell you about how I was an angel somewhere else. It's a better story.
no subject
...When you get out of here, you can tell me.
[Impossibilities stack, it seems. You take one glance behind the curtain and then somebody shoves you from behind right through it, into a goddamn three-ring circus of bullshit. He's learned the ways of a few impossibilities, the ones surrounding the Champions, the aliens, the white tree sinking lightning-tendrils into his father's mind. But none of that even touches any of this.
Brandon feels as blind as he did the day he woke up and tore his bedroom door off its hinges, the day someone first used the word wyrm in front of him, the day Julien left him a human and came back a talking bird. Does it ever get easier? Do impossibilities ever end?
He remembers something Julien said.]
Julien. The Ringmaster-- you said it offered you a favor. One big favor. [He draws back just a little; the better to see into Julien's face.] What was it?
no subject
[He has no idea that her shape is completely under her control, and so is being horned after coming back to life. Julien manages to look at Brandon, though with how close they are and how widely set his eyes are this means he's slightly cross-eyed.]
This uh... [Brandon is either going to not believe this is possible or see it as another giant sacrifice Julien made. Not that Jules had been wrestling a little with having been given the multiple-bodies power and had wanted time to figure things out for himself, and by the way yes absolutely let's use this chance to help home too.] I asked if she had a way to just. Keep things from other dimensions off of Earth. She said she could do that.
But that's like, that's just if I stayed with her for the full year and day she wanted. That's how long a contract is with that one.