lostcarnival | ⇨ POLARIS

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⇨ POLARIS

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gongenzaka feels ill, rather frankly. He knows already that he was pulled aside in a manner that Yuuya likely saw- the only comfort perhaps being that they never specified beyond 'a trial' and thus didn't reveal that he had, in fact, signed up for one. But what followed was indescribable.

Or maybe it was slightly describable, as 'Not Great'. Actually it was extremely 'not great'. He still feels nauseous at the reminder of how it felt to try and 'come back' for just a moment, parts of his dead body twitching only to find himself thrown back anyway. And then there was being separated completely. And then...

...Then it was hazy, whether because he tried to block it out (he wouldn't have been surprised), or because of something else. Regardless he wasn't sent back to work, and he's glad for it.

Instead he's laid on his bed, doing his best to maintain some sort of breathing exercise to calm himself down. Maybe by the time whoever is sharing with him arrives- there's a bunk up there after all- he'll be entirely calm.

...Maybe.

Yuya doesn't know he's to be locked with Gongenzaka until he sees him laying on the bed. After he was dragged aside, this feels like fear come to life. Did they hurt him?

He rushes to his side as the door closes behind him, putting a firm hand on his shoulder and speaking quietly. "Gongenzaka."

By the time Yuuya arrives, Gongenzaka is on his back- his hooves meeting the bottom bunk while his head rests on a pillow, arms across his front as he calmly breathes in...and out....in...

His ears twitch, and his nose does as well, before he cracks open one eye. Immediately, he jumps up. "Mnh-! Yuuya..!" Tired as he is, he can spare energy enough for this. "...Yuuya..! I, the man Gongenzaka, must apologize..! I did not realize they would take so much time..!" After all, there's no doubt that the last words he'd said were 'I shall see you later', or similar.

"What happened?" There's obvious worry in his tone as he leans over Gon, looking down at him with his brows knit tight.

That's really the most pressing question. He doesn't trust them not to have hurt Gongenzaka.

"Aaauh...it was a more..thorough scan regarding my soul," he replies, dodging the topic of the trial details. Hopefully Yuuya never saw the posting...

"They stated that due to the extensive work involved, I was to rest for the remainder of the day." And he isn't even lying... "...What about yourself? ...How did you fare, once I, the man Gongenzaka, was gone?"

"Better than you if they're doing things to your soul," he purses his lips once he says it, clearly not assured at all by that explanation given the state it's left Gongenzaka in.

His hand shifts slightly to touch the side of his face instead. "How much does it hurt?"

"Auh- Th- That is not necessarily the case you know..!" He protests, grimacing. "...As it is, I, the man Gongenzaka was merely fatigued," he huffs, the denial of pain perhaps more from stubborn insistence now. "Rest is helping considerably, and I am unharmed." ...Physically anyway.

Yuya's expression twists painfully when that's Gon's response, and then he turns his face away and pulls his hand back. Fatigued from some sort of soul test probably isn't minor, and his panic only assumes the worst of it. He hates this, he hates it so much.

"You mean it?"

Well, by now...

He finds he actually does. He looks Yuuya in the eye and therefore nods. "Auuh. I, the man Gongenzaka, have absolute faith that rest is all that is necessary now."

...Nnnnowwwww....

"... Okay." If Gongenzaka insists he's fine, Yuya can't really argue with it. He's reluctant to leave, but... if he disturbs Gonenzaka's rest, he might interfere with the recovery.

He turns slowly to climb up the ladder and haul himself onto the top bunk.

Okay, indeed.

...

Ah- "...Mnh- Yuuya?" he asks, watching the other start to climb. "...You... ...do not wish to perhaps sit with me for a short time?"

Yuya stops halfway up, turning to look at him. "Oh, uh... I didn't want to get in the way if you need to rest."

He was trying to b courteous to the fact that Gon doesn't feel well, anyway.

Blink.

"...Yuuya. ...How would you be in the way?"

PLEASE SIT WITH HIM.

Because he's clingy and distracting, he knows this.

"Well, I..." He doesn't put the words to the idea, though. Instead he comes down the ladder and crawls into the bottom bunk next to Gongenzaka.

"Yeah, if that's what you want." He flashes a crooked grin.

"HMN! Of course!" To that end, the minute Yuuya is in range, he's going to find himself snatched over in the other's arms. "If anything, to see you here after today is what I would want most..!"

Yuya's snatched up immediately with a briefly surprised sound. He blinks rapidly, settling against him.

"Okay, okay," he smiles a little more strongly. There's still a weariness in his gaze, but he holds a brighter expression as well as he can.

"I'll be right here."

The response, in turn, is just to see about making it more comfortable for the two to be laying there. The beds were made for one, not one + a wee bit extra.

He'll manage though. "Indeed..! And if you feel it is time to sleep, then you may certainly take the upper bunk. But it is far easier to speak face to face, mn?"

Or he might just sleep here, if Gongenzaka doesn't try to move him.

He's not going to fight any attempts to make them comfortable, but since Gongenzaka mentions speaking he rolls himself so that they're properly face to face.

"Did you want to say something?" His tone is curious, if Gon has any purpose for it.

Spoilers.

He won't.

"Auh...not precisely," he will admit, coughing a bit. "...I, the man Gongenzaka, do not have much to speak of at the moment, so..."

His defense is what he's thinking of Sucks, and beyond that he's just sort of been sleeping. Sooo...

"Eh, but you were the one talking about how this is easier to talk face to face..." So Yuya assumed it was because he wanted to talk, and not just to stare at his face or something.

"W-Well..!! It is true, is it not?"

Smooth, Gon. "...Besides, we do not have much time to simply be together, like this, recently, and so..."

He may be blushing.

He's definitely blushing.

That causes a pang in his chest, and Yuya's gaze drifts down. "No, I guess we don't."

They don't have the freedom for it. They can't live normal lives here. But Gongenzaka hasn't given up on them escaping, so he feels like he can't just say that.

He swallows, determining himself not to have another breakdown. Which is easier said than done, while his hands absently curl against Gon's chest.

Gongenzaka goes silent, realizing all too late that he has said the wrong thing. Quietly, he holds the other, unsure of what to say for a bit.

Eventually...

"...We are here now, aah? ...Together, at least."

It's hard not to say the wrong thing when so much triggers Yuya's fears and doubts right now. He shakes his head, trying to desperately wave those thoughts away as Gon pulls him closer.

"Yeah, we're together. And we'll stay together, right?" Gongenzaka isn't someone he can leave behind, nor someone he could bear to lose. If everything else from home will be gone... then he definitely can't lose this.

So he looks up, leaning in and stopping just short of actually pressing his lips to Gongenzaka's. He wishes he wasn't so nervous.

"What I said before..."

It is easy to wrap his arms and forelimbs around the other, curling and adjusting on the bed to be more comfortable. Gongenzaka doesn't move back or away, staying still enough for Yuuya to bring his face close.

"In the Farm?" he asks initially, blinking slowly. "...Or, perhaps... Shabon..?"

NIGHT 104

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