⇨ 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

[sensibleness]

Knowing Jonathan, 'bored of the ball' may be sooner rather than later, and Arabella will have to remind him that to leave sooner would be risking the ire of their host ... or normally it would. She doesn't even know who the host of this ball is! The puzzle of that, at least, keeps her from easing Jonathan's hands off her waist, which means it won't be hard at all for him to steal another kiss like the utterly shameless, hopelessly married man he is.

She'll let him have a good five seconds or so of that before she places a hand to his chest and gently nudges him back, smiling and knowing that she shouldn't be encouraging this, but ... she doesn't know a single other soul here, it feels like!

"Where all the other dancers can see?" she teases, gently. "Don't you think there are enough rumors about you already?"

[kingsroads]

He briefly pouts like a small child as Arabella pushes him back. Come onnnn, why stop the kissing? Still, at Arabella's teasing, Strange simply shrugs.

"Truth be told, I'd rather the rumors be these instead of the normal rumors that cling to me both here and back home."

Because he knows of those rumors spread back home, even if Arabella might not. Strange was mad. Strange killed his wife. Strange summoned the tower himself, deliberately to attack Norrell. And he knows what people must whisper about him in the carnival, or what they might think about him. The man's dangerous, he's summoned how many fae now? He can't keep out of trouble. Just how much of the Portland Strange is the real Strange?

Strange isn't the sort of man to put any stock in what others think about him. But it would be nice if one of those rumors could just be replaced by something like 'he's a sap' or 'he loves his wife way too much.' (It doesn't occur to Strange that people already think he's a sap who won't shut up about his wife.)

[sensibleness]

Of course, they're from different times, so the rumors Arabella knows, they're the more benign ones, relatively. Of the feats Jonathan Strange carried out in the peninsula, of his friendship and rivalry with Norrell, of what falling out may have caused him to quit London so abruptly ... though their different views on magic are not quite a matter of public record, their difference in temperament and joviality most certainly is.

Smiling wryly, Arabella reaches down to set her hand over Strange's, shaking her head and searching his (odd, changed, but still his) face while her fingers curiously feel out the shape of his claws.

"If you had stayed in Shropshire and never become the king's magician, you wouldn't be a subject of rumor to begin with." Of course, there were plenty enough rumors about young master Strange to begin with -- country folk gossip just as much as any court -- but at least those would be kept to ordinary things! She dislikes it, how freely people can speak of him and how some assume a kinship they don't have (like that toad, Drawlight) merely because of moving in the same circles, but all the same...

"I can't imagine what they'd say about you joining a carnival," she sighs, leaning against his chest. It's funny, now that she's thinking about it -- it feels like it's been a dreadfully long time since they could be together like this, in public but not the center of attention.

[kingsroads]

"If I had stayed in Shropshire and never become your magician, then you'd have to put up with me running an estate. I'm not sure what would be worse!" Oh, Strange knows that given enough time and effort, he would be alright at running an estate. After all, nothing forces one to adapt like circumstances beyond their control. But he knows he would have hated it and complained and Arabella would have hated his complaining.

And at Arabella's question, Strange frowns slightly. Because it's not just a carnival, is it: it's a faerie carnival. And she needs to know. If he doesn't tell her, then some other soul will mention the faerie bit and there'll just be another argument between the two of them. A problem, as Strange desperately wants to dance and be with Arabella and just not think. Arguments require thinking, words volleying back and forth like a game of badminton.

"Oh, I dare say they'd call me irresponsible, mad, someone who never thought things through, not respectable, the usual." As Arabella leans against his chest, Strange reaches his arms around her, to pull her closer towards him. "The thing is, I don't really care what they'd say—only what you'd think."