⇨ 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

[moonfang]

Zangetsu frowns. The trials were rough, that's for sure; but neither of the ones he had participated in had any lasting effects on him. At least, not physically. His whole spiritual body had hurt for a day or so after the death trial, and the bit with Ignatius had given him a headache like you wouldn't believe.

But he still had both his eyes and all his limbs.

He puts his curiosity about the eye aside, for now, and thinks back to the trial.

"Ah... Well..." he counts off on his fingers as he lists names, "It was me, Beau, Yuusei, Rita, Alphys, and Peridot. We were all in the same room, butt-fuckin'-naked, in a kind of semi-circle. Then they zapped our souls. Probed. And just like that, I could sort of hazily feel them all..." he frowns, tapping his capped claws against the wall of the cube.

"Not the same way I can usually feel souls. We had... a connection? And finally I felt what we were all connected to -- it was definitely Ignatius. I felt him as clearly as the ones in the room. I suspect that they had him locked up and chained down just like we were, and they were probably pokin' and proddin' him, too."

[kingsroads]

He definitely needs to talk to Rita about all this. As much as he trusts Zangetsu's testimony and as thrilled as he is that Zangetsu is telling him this, it's a simple fact that Rita has a more intimate connection with Ignatius than anybody else in the group. She could shed more light on this situation.

"That trial was for people who made contracts with Ignatius, correct? They were probably trying to...to act on the magical bonds of the contract or something like that." Having put himself through a fair number of stupid magical contracts in his life, Strange has a vague idea of what he's talking about.

"I doubt the Mother of Invention would explore the magics of a bound contract with her changelings." Too much can go wrong, too many people could get hurt, possibly on the Mother's side as well as the changelings'. "Having a fae and his changelings show up here must be like Christmas for her."