⇨ POLARIS

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Days 102 - 109
Where: Polaris
What: With the Ringmaster kidnapped and the rest of the carnival imprisoned, characters find themselves at the mercy of a Winter Fae called the Mother of Invention.
Warnings: Graphic experimentation in places.

TRIALS & TRIBULATION↴ After a day of cleansing and processing, where all the belongings and attire of their old lives are stripped away and replaced with something newer and more form fitting, the former members of the carnival will find themselves let loose into the Farm for the first time. A sizable green area, filled with orchards growing inorganic looking fruits and field ready for tending, the Farm is where they will be spending their days for the forseeable future. Food and drink are no longer needed, and so every day is an endless cycle of work. Technicians are seen only when necessary, and when being taken from your place of work to your lonesome cells at night. Every day, there are new postings on the "Production Board", where various dire sound scientific trials ask for subjects. The majority won't be forced, at least not yet, but the system is at work to push its participants to the brink and force their hand. After all, volunteers make the best subjects. ► PRODUCTIVITY: As explained elsewhere, characters will be forced to compete to attain enough Productivity Point to be considered Satisfactory. There are literally not enough points to go around for everyone to attain this, which means that at least some people will be deemed "Below Expectations" by the end of the first four-day cycle. What this means has yet to be discovered, but the Technicians have grimly warned against it. Productivity involves many tasks, including orchard picking, tilling, planting, harvesting, watering, maintenance, and more. Any task you can think of that would take place on a plantation is applicable here. Beyond that, the Production Board awaits you, offering precious Productivity Points in exchange for your cooperation. How you become Satisfactory is up to you, but it's every person for themselves. Only one person can turn in the credit for harvesting or preparing fields, and while you can certainly try to help others by letting them take credit for your work, it's a sure fire way to fall behind the herd, especially if you are already in a low Classification. Fruits and fields will miraculously grow overnight, and will be ready for a new day when you are. You've been told not to eat anything you harvest, but right now you aren't hungry anyway. ► POLARIS BY NIGHT: During the night, you are left alone to your thoughts and maybe an annoying roommate. Solo or in pairs, the entire night will be spent in small sleep pods, as shown on the locations post. Is it possible to sneak out? It doesn't seem like it is, but who is to say? The real question is if you want to dare to try. There is one hour of rest before and after seven hours of darkness. Even if you don't usually have to sleep, you'll find yourself oddly weary and inclined to rest. Supernaturally, almost. ► PARTICIPATION: Sometimes participation in experimental trials is manditory, sometimes it isn't. You are free to handwave your character having been pulled aside for minor examinations, such as blood tests or aura scans. Each time, you will be pulled into a separate part of the station and analyzed by a Technician and heavily automated machinery. Anymore more complex than basic check-up level tests will be posted about in a section called "TRIALS" in the body of the post below.

Comments

[starseedling]

"I don't know," he says in a wavering voice, curling his arms and wings around himself more nightly. He does know, really, he still remembers it very clearly, but its a whole bunch of things he doesn't want to put words to.

"They made me do a trial," he explains, a bit more clearly, but it doesn't explain even half of it. "I can't do this..."

[whattaprick]

Trial. Lambert's really growing to hate that word. It comes with far too many unpleasant associations for him to shake off, so he can pretty much, for once, understand exactly how Steven feels about it. Trials are terrible, and they suck, and you don't want to talk about them, because talking just makes you remember them vividly, even if you're no longer the helpless child you used to be.

So he won't ask Steven to talk, at least not now. He only kneels a moment longer, looking him over with a frown, and comes to a decision.

"Let me see?" He's never really good at being gentle with children, so the question comes out gruff, but that's all it is -- a question. If Steven doesn't feel up to it, he doesn't have to.

[starseedling]

Steven spends a few moments wiping off his face before he uncurls or turns around, because he's been doing a full ugly cry for the last however long. When he manages to clean himself up however little, he slowly turns so that he's sitting on his butt, showing Lambert his hand that's missing a finger.

"There was... all this stuff..." he says, touching his chest and gut with his other hand, "But... they took my gem. It's not there anymore and I don't know how I'm gunna get it back."

It's less obvious than the finger, but the space on his belly where there would usually be a bump is now suspiciously concave.

[whattaprick]

Lambert's frown only deepens.

"They took your gem?" Shouldn't that be impossible? If he's a gem, isn't his gem part of who he is? Then again, a few people are walking around without a tail and who the fuck even knows what else goes on in those trials. The Ringmaster bringing people back looks like a fairly modest miracle compared to whatever else goes on around here. He looks the missing finger over, but of course, it must be healed as well as any other injury Polaris inflicts.

He isn't sure what to say, but he does also know kneeling like this for a prolonged amount of time, so he sighs and rises to his feet, going to sit by Steven instead.

"... Did they think your gem was related to the Rose?" What with Steven's general color scheme, not knowing anything about gems biology, it's a fair assumption to make.

[starseedling]

"I think so..." he says, sounding more shaken as he tries to remember it. "The Rose Queen... put something in my heart, that... made me turn all crystal and stuff. And the trial... I think they took something out of the same place."

"I have all these gems parts, maybe they think its all the same thing... maybe it is the same thing now." He rubs his face again. "It wasn't diamonds before and now it is. I don't know how..."

[whattaprick]

As Steven's voice wavers, Lambert's just gonna awkwardly put a steadying hand on his shoulder. He's not sure how reassuring it is or how well Steven can even feel it, given it's through a shitty bodysuit and all that, but it's an attempt.

"That's the first time I've heard about that." Given the circumstances after the Athenaeum, hardly surprising, but oh well.

"But you know you're still Steven, right? A rock doesn't make you who you are."

[starseedling]

He can feel the pressure, which is enough, in this context. The words are a bit less comforting though, because it's hard to explain how a rock may actually make him what he is, regardless of that sentiment.

"It's different, for gems. Gems are born being like something because of what kind of rock they are. I'm sort of different because I'm half human, but..." He glances away. "Diamonds are the kind of gem that rules everything and makes it bad for everyone beneath them."

So, they are basically the fae of his universe.

[whattaprick]

The words prick at something in his memory -- something half-remembered from a dream he was never quite sure was real or not -- and Lambert frowns.

"Peridot said something about that," he says, slowly. "How gems are like the Court Fae. That diamonds make peridots make soldiers to invade other worlds, and she used to be one of them, until she changed."

He pauses. "You're not feeling like you want to rule everything and invade worlds, are you?"

[starseedling]

Steven nods, since that's pretty much how it is, yeah. Diamonds are really just like smaller tier fae, restricted to one universe. He can't think of many ways they are different.

"No," he admits, hesitantly. "But... it's not even like I think they're evil. They just... don't get anybody who isn't them. So they do bad stuff because it makes sense from where they are, even if it hurts other people..."

He exhales, voice wavering with tears.

"It doesn't even matter. They took it and it's gone and they'll probably break it or something and then I'll die." He buries his face in his hands. He's being a bit sullen now.

[whattaprick]

Okay, now the hand on his shoulder is going to shift to being a hand in his hair, giving it a good ruffle around horns.

"Probably only half of you." No, it's not really comforting, but he's never been good at that.

[starseedling]

Steven catches his hand, like he's going to try to prevent the hair ruffling, but then he doesn't really. Instead he just holds onto it, his expression softening a little, staring into the space between them as he apparently takes some comfort from it.

"I kinda wondered what would happen to me if someone took out my gem," he says. "One of the Rubies tried to cut it out of me before, but she didn't get very far because I threw her into space."

[whattaprick]

Lambert will end up just letting the hand rest there, since even he can tell it would kind of be a dick move to take it back now. Downside is, now his hand's stuck there. He'll live, though.

In any case, the witcher can't help snorting. "Just how hard did you throw her?"

He has a pretty different understanding of what the situation must have been at the time.

[starseedling]

It's only at that question that Steven seems to realize how what he just said is sort of misleading. He brings down Lambert's hand so that he's holding it in front of him.

"It wasn't actually very far to go to get to space since... we were already in space, basically," he admits. "I just kicked her out of my bubble for trying to stab me. But I accidentally let all the air out of the bubble too, so I ended up passing out anyway."

Not that most people wouldn't have suffered worse than 'passing out' from floating exposed through outer space.

[whattaprick]

Thanks to the Space Olympics, Lambert has a tenuous grasp of astrophysics, though that doesn't necessarily make Steven's statement make any more sense. He blinks, cocking his head.

"Isn't that usually fatal?" he asks. Like, all those safety warnings on the space station and the general fuss about airlocks gave the general impression it wasn't something to do.

[starseedling]

"I guess," Steven says, noncommittally. He frowns down at Lambert's hand. He tried not to think about the specifics of that experience too much, as doing so mostly filled him with dread. "I didn't wake up again until the other Gems found me."

He contemplates that for a moment.

"Normal gems can wander around in space no problem so I guess I only half died."

Which comes right back to the gem discussion!

[whattaprick]

Now the only thing Steven has to figure out is whether the extra half (extra third?) fae side of him can breathe in space or not too. Now that's a fun conversation to think about.

Lambert's ears flick as he thinks on how to respond to that. Tragically, whatever jewelry Steven helped him pick out is gone with all the rest of their belongings, but they're probably not the best things to have on his ears, anyway.

"Can you still feel it?” he asks, after a pause. “Your gem, I mean.” Not that gems should have any feeling at all, on account of being rock, but what the hell does he know about magic anyway.

why do you do this to me

[starseedling]

He lets go of Lambert's hand so that he can rest it over his belly again, frowning deeply. He can't see the damage like this, but it's unnerving as hell to feel the concave slope.

"It's like it's still there," he says, carefully. "It's just... not."

His tail curls around his body.

feelings betrayal

[whattaprick]

What is with Lambert frequently being around people who have experienced being separated from significant portions of themselves anyway. Awkwardly, he rests his own hand back in his lap, then shrugs.

“That’s a good thing, right? Just because it isn’t here right now doesn’t mean it’s gone.”