⇨ 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

[ringleaders]

This trial ends up starting later Day 104, as it takes a while to get all the necessary volunteers. All subjects are taken in at the same time, but they are dealt with in separate, air tight containment chambers. All subjects will be brought into their chamber and disrobed, with their body suits peeling off and leaving them naked, becoming flat disks of material on the floor. The subjects are sprayed down with another coating of the strange cleansing vapor from before.

Then, they are instructed to lie down on the medical bed, at which point a white, semi-transparent top layer melds around their bodies, holding them down completely for the procedure.

At this point all technicians will clear the containment chamber, and it will be locked down. Cleansing spray will once again be sprayed throughout the room, and then a series of mechanized procedures will begin. Overall, it's hard for the subject to tell what's going on. There are a lot of uncomfortable tingling sensations, and a weird tugging at their soul. Towards the end of initial examination, it feels like some kind of net is being pulled back and fourth their their spirit, splicing it and then allowing it to fall back into shape.

With the initial readings secured, the mechanisms shift into a new mode: one where additional deaths will be applied, in order to view the affect on various spirits. In Gongenzaka's case he basically just... leaves his body. He is in his body, he dies, and then he is floating above it in spirit form, able to see the containment chamber and his corpse below. However, even if he tries to bypass the containment chamber walls, he can't escape that way.

He's scanned again, and the feeling is even worse this time, and he has the misfortune of remembering it clearly. Eventually, his body is restarted and his soul is pushed back in. Then, after another scan, he is killed again, and scanned again.

This time his soul is pushed back into his body while it's still dead, which has unfortunate results. Gongenzaka will feel his spirit attempt to take over his dead body, and it is deeply unpleasant. He will regain some limited sensation and only partly be able to control the shuddering corpse, and eventually he will be expelled again.

After a few trials and even more scans, his souls is pulled into something like a soul jar and removed from the area completely. He'll have more accurate memories of this than anyone else, but he still won't completely understand what happened to him while trapped in soul containment - it almost feels like his body comes alive while he's too far away to reach it, but then it falls out of sensation once more.

The end of the session gets hazy, despite everything. Gongenzaka will awake on the medical bed, his bonds released. Once his bodysuit is reapplied, he will be sent straight to his resting cell, and will only be sent back to work the next day.