Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ringleaders) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lostcarnival2018-10-03 07:46 pm
ringleaders) wrote in lostcarnival2018-10-03 07:46 pm
Entry tags:
⇨ 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.
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. |
Alphys | OTA
Days 102-105
Alphys knows this is bad. They're all captured, the Ringmaster is nowhere to be found, there's no telling what these people are going to do to them, but
but science.
Alphys spends most of the initial processing staring in awe at her surroundings. Everything here is so much more advanced than anything she's ever seen or even read about. The first night, she spends her time thinking of how to make a good impression. Maybe if she behaves and does well enough, they'll let her push a button.
Yeah. That'd be cool.
But the moment they're unloaded into the farm, she realizes that's going to be harder to do than she thought. Alphys has never done a day of manual labor in her life. Even her duties at the carnival are more cerebral than physical, and having lived underground up until joining means she has no idea what to do with any of this stuff. Needless to say, she spends the whole time tripping over tools, falling into holes, knocking stuff over, and generally being a nuisance. She mutters a "s-sorry" if she bumps into anyone, and it's not long before she looks completely exhausted.
"H-how long do we have to do this...?" She mutters to herself.
Experiment B: Day/night 104
And then this happens.
In an attempt to save face after being a total failure at farming, Alphys jumps at the chance to do some of the voluntary trials. Blood tests and aura readings can't be too bad, can they? Unfortunately, she doesn't read the fine print before signing up for this one in particular, and by the time she's released from it, well... let's say she had a bad time.
Alphys stays huddled on her bunk the entire rest of the day, occasional shudders the only sign that she's still awake. By night, she's sitting up, but she's staring intently at her hands as if she's expecting them to do something. If anyone approaches her, she shrinks back like a frightened animal, which is... not that unusual for her, but there's real, genuine terror in her eyes for a moment, and it's clear she's been crying.
Experiment C: Day 105
Unfortunately, she signed herself up for another test and even though this one involves less death, the methods involved start to feel frighteningly similar and she's essentially having a panic attack throughout the entire thing. When it's finally over and she's shuffled back to the farm, she doesn't even attempt to work, and can instead be found hiding out where she belongs: the trash. In the middle of disposing of any weeds or other refuse, you might just lift a lid and reveal the Anxiety Lizard in all of her 'glory', huddled up in a little ball.
"Oh, hi. J-just go ahead and toss that in here."
Experiment Wildcard
[For anything else and/or roommate shenanigans!]
105, in the right subthread this time
Well.
He can't say he's entirely surprised by this, just that he can't summon up the energy to show it as he blinks down into the trash.
"Alphys," he say after a moment, gently. "Ya have ta get outta the trash."
no subject
"N-no, it's fine!" She insists. "I, uhhh, I'm inspecting the trash today. Yeah. I'm the trash inspector. It's a d-dirty job but somebody's gotta do it!"
no subject
"Alphys, please don't lie ta my face like that."
no subject
"I'm not getting out."
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"So can I ask why yer not gettin' out, or do ya not wanna talk about it?"
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"I can't... I don't..." She tries to start a few times. "I can't do this."
The work. The tests. It's too much, and she can't fall back on her classic coping mechanism of 'run away and ignore it'.
no subject
Letting his body fall into rhythm to dull monotony, Joker continues to coax her. "What is it? Just let it all out, then."
no subject
She stares at her hands. "They killed me."
no subject
"Did it hurt?"
no subject
She's not entirely sure if what she felt was pain, but it definitely wasn't anything pleasant. She remembers it; she remembers the sensation of her entire body falling to pieces. She doesn't want to remember that, and she's not sure if she'd rather have stayed dead than have to live with that feeling in her head.
"I don't know!"
no subject
Joker keeps his hand where it is, hoping the warmth is at least some form of comfort. Even... as he's... still dumping in weeds. Listen... The job needs to be done.
"But it wasn't good," he says, offering her the words. Clearly, they aren't coming to her easily.
(no subject)
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Day 103, but after the trial signup was posted?
"I couldn't help overhearing you," Papyrus says in greeting, having just dodged as Alphys walked around muttering to herself. He pulls his broom up to him and adds, "I think it's... for another two days? The technicians mentioned four day cycles."
Of course, that leaves the question of how many four day cycles there will be. And whether they're back to back, or spaced out with other recommended activities. The carnival alternated between practice and performance and free time, but there's no guarantee this place works the same at all.
no subject
Wishful thinking, but she hopes maybe the next cycle will involve something other than back-breaking farm labor. "Maybe I should sign up for more trials. They at least let you sit down for those."
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"But I don't know if I can sign up... Sans said I've died before, but does it count if time rewound?" It's a real conundrum. "You might have a better chance than me."
no subject
What has she gotten herself into?
no subject
She's in good company; Papyrus read only most of it, missing the key final descriptor of Further resurrections may be required. He's going to get so distracted while going to a technician over the mystery of whether he qualifies for either group that he'll sign up by accident.
Day 105
He's never interacted with Alphys before, but he does recall seeing her at the trial involving their being under Ignatius' banner, and he remembers how utterly frightened she appeared at the time. He doesn't know what incited such a reaction in her, but he doesn't exactly blame her for it either.
Still, though, he sets the foliage back down in the much larger pile he brought with him. "...I'll, uh, let you get back to this in a moment." He offers her a smile. "Would you mind helping me out with this first, though? There's a lot here..."
He doesn't really intend on working her by any means; she just looks like she could use a distraction, and some picking-some-lighter-things-up-and-moving-them could offer that for a bit.
no subject
She's not exactly a master of small talk.
no subject
It's alright, Yuusei's bad at small-talk as well, and it thus takes him a minute to really try to speak to her again, helping her lift some of the foliage into the bin. "It's easy to keep my mind on one thing at a time if I can busy my hands. I guess I just got sucked into it."
He tries to think of where else he's seen Alphys previously.
"...we work together," he says suddenly. "Like, in the carnival. You're part of the armoury. And you worked under Peridot before we all got shuffled around, right?"
no subject
She lets out a sigh.
"I kinda wish we could go back to just being a carnival."
fun fact yuusei isn't listed on the old jobs spreadsheet currently
He dumps another bundle of plants into the bin and pushes down on it with his foreclaws to make more space in there. He definitely shares the sentiment she's expressing here.
"What was it like before all this? Carly and Yuugo told me about some things before I actually joined, but..." But it feels like they've been after the miracles the whole time he's been here. "I feel like I missed something, maybe."
no subject
She makes vague hand gestures at their surroundings. All of this.
"When I joined the carnival, I did it to get out of a really bad place." Not going to mention that it was a bad place of her own doing, shh. "And... now we're all stuck in an even worse place."
no subject
...that keeps him from asking about what Alphys' world was really like, though, given that she came here to escape something in it.
"We'll get out of this place," he declares with a calm amount of confidence. "We will, I'm certain of it." He just doesn't know when, or how. He doesn't confess this directly, but, "If we give up now, there's no chance of that."