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

Even with the body suit hiding the worst of it, it's pretty immediately obvious what was happening with Syrlya. The leaves of his hair have shifted to a gradient from their original purple at the roots to bold, familiar blue. The same icy done has overtaken his eyes, and the greenish hues in his skin. There's another bud starting around the base of his ponytail, and a curl of crystalline thorny vines circling and dangling a little at the end.

His expression is knitted in barely concealed pain, but he leans off the assistance of the Technicians and takes a step into the cell. He doesn't move further, though, and instead when the door is closed he tips back to knock his back against it, sliding down to the ground. He lets out a hiss, reaching for and then stopping before he grabs his left arm--before clutching it anyway.

He fixes his gaze somewhere ahead of him, on the ground, and when Strange speaks up he forces out a short, wheezing laugh. "I would... say I should have lied, but I am sure they would have tried something anyway."

It's not often pain brings him to black out, but he's sure he did for a second when it pushed through his arm.

In comparison to Syrlya, the only visible sign of the trials that Strange went through in the past few days is the eyepatch he's wearing. He recognizes the hallmarks of the Blue Rose almost instantly...and then also quickly puts together how the Technicians might have gotten parts of the Blue Rose to try and graft onto Syrlya or whatever the hell this is.

A brief part of Strange idly wonders if they'll ever promote him to Delta in the first place or if he'll just conveniently stay in the test subject stage the longer he remains here.

Strange hops off from the bed, walks over towards Syrlya, and offers an arm to help the other man lift himself up. "Here. Let's at least get you to the bed."

Syrlya looks up slowly, hesitating before grabbing Strange's arm to get to his feet. His crystalline arm hangs a little limply as he uses his back to the wall to push himself up, glad at least that his legs weren't affected in the ordeal.

"They took your eye?" Just don't mind if he focuses on Strange's problem over his own. He doesn't really want to admit to how weakened this has him, physically and mentally.

Strange shakes his head. "They took samples of my eye. I've no idea whether it will work or not once all this is done."

It's literally made of mirrors and magic is weird. Still, that's a future-Strange problem. There's a small pause as he looks over at Syrlya's new coloration. Hell. He might as well tell Syrlya this now, especially since Strange is fairly certain he's the first one to see Syrlya in this state.

"I suspect they also took samples from Steven. It wouldn't surprise me if...well, for lack of a better word, they tried to graft whatever they took off of Steven onto you." Which does make him wonder what poor soul is going to be stuck with bits of the Silver Mirror.

Syrlya sighs, his weight sagging briefly before he forces himself straighter. From Steven... that'd make sense, since she probably doesn't have the miracle itself. That just makes the effort all the more worrying, though.

"Thet planted seeds into my arm." He flexes his hand, but it's sluggish and jerky, like something's pinching his nerves and limiting his movement. It's not a far leap of logic to figure out what that want with that, besides simple curiosity.

He pulls his gaze back up to look at Strange firmly. "I can feel the Blue Rose, like I am connected to it. When the Rose Queen took Steven, it started to have a reaction, like it was trying to find its way out. To something else."

To someone its energy was intimately linked to. But why move it to Syrlya? Better results?

Strange can't help it: his expression shifts to a visibly excited and interested one when Syrlya mentions that he feels like he's connected to the Blue Rose. The Silver Mirror is, to the best of his knowledge, still in tiny little pieces that may or may not still be lingering near Shabon or the carnival members. But if he can call upon the power of the Blue Rose, then that's one more weapon in the carnival's arsenal.

He's standing near to Syrlya, ready to help support him if needed or catch him if the man wobbles a bit. Still, Strange can't help but ask, "Do you think you can draw upon it's power from here?"

"That may be what she wants." Let him draw on his power so she can use it--or draw it out. It makes him more reluctant to try. And if trying might cause it to consume him completely...

He shakes his head, moving to force himself to the bed so he can at least sit before drawing the affected arm in. "It has stopped spreading... for now. But I can still feel its pull. It's difficult to control."

"Or it may simply be that she views you as a useful science experiment," Strange counters, with a frown. "As I assume that's how she views the people with tails, people who died, or people from Portland."

Strange isn't being snotty when he says this: it's more of a matter of fact tone of voice. They don't know what the Mother of Invention's goals are, just that there's a whole host of possibilities and it's no use trying to guess what specifically she's after.

As Syrlya walks to the bed, Strange shadows him, ready to catch him or offer an arm or do whatever's needed to help Syrlya be steady. Once he's sat down, that's when Strange sits down next to Syrlya as well.

"The Silver Mirror was different," Strange admits. "It didn't want to control me or overwhelm me like it seems the Rose wants to do with you and Steven. It was just...there." A pause, before he continues. "Still, you've fought off the Rose's influence before. I'm certain you can do it again."

They don't know what her goals are, and that's exactly why he's worried. It's hard not to assume the worst.

"It wants to grow, like any plant." And Syr is a being made of magical energy for it to feed off it. It's true, he was able to handle it before, but...

"It's stronger, now. Even from this far away." He flexes his fingers, drawing the affected arm up slowly to look at it--but of course, through the body suit he can't see anything.

"What did they do to you?"

"That makes sense," Strange murmurs, with a little frown. "When Steven and I were taken in for testing, they did something that involved the connection between the Blue Rose and Silver Mirror. We both were there and whatever they did, I could feel the pull of the Mirror's magic. It was only when we were separated that they collected samples."

Which is a very clinical way of putting it and involves Strange actively not saying where they got the samples from. He's admitted that he's got mirrors in his brain and heart to Lambert. He's not sure he wants to explain that to Syrlya, of all people. As he talks, Strange idly goes back to twirling some of his hair around a finger. He's not paying that much attention to what he's doing: there's a period of about ten seconds where the flame is pretty much directly touching the palm of Strange's hand, though he's not at all paying attention to that and it doesn't seem to bother him.

"That was yesterday, of course. Today they turned me into fire."

Syrlya doesn't need to hear the details to get a mental image what probably happened with him and Steven. If they were able to pull something still strongly connected to it, and not just afflicted... well, Strange spent 3 days in that mirror.

He continues looking at his hand as he tests the movement. "Was the fire from Ignatius?"

The Miracles, the power of a true Fae... how many of them can actually take being abused with that level of magic? There's something cold in Syrlya's chest, that he isn't confident in his ability to survive. Will it spread when he tries to use his magic again?

"At the start it was," Strange explains. "They put this...battery, I suppose? They put this thing in a container with me. It got hotter and hotter until—" what's a nice way to say I set myself on fire "—until I activated the fire form. It took me a while to stabilize, but I did in the end."

Strange mulls it over a little bit, trying to think of the best way to phrase what he's thinking. "I think it might be both of ours now? Because I think I might be able to turn into fire on my own."

Just, you know, when they're in an area that actually lets Strange use magic.

Syrlya's expression twists with sympathetic pain as Strange goes on, looking up at him.

"Can you feel it right now? If it has changed you line the mirror, or... any other way that fae, magic alters us." He doesn't look terribly different right now, but these suits...

Strange shakes his head. "If it has, I can't tell. Maybe if I access that shape again things would be different, but I can't do that right now."

And he's definitely been trying. The idea of being fire is...oddly freeing in a weird sort of way. Already he can tell it feels a bit more comfortable than his smoke form and that if he could just access it, he'd be able to do some useful things with it.

"Because they have our magic restrained..." He pauses, and then cringes a little. "In that case, I will not be surprised if there is a follow up, for further inspection."

They won't have any field inspection, after all.

There's a prolonged pause as Strange thinks. He's lost in his own mind as he idly twirls that still on fire curl around a finger. Of course there's going to be a follow up test for further inspection. If they're grafting parts of the Blue Rose onto people, then they probably will be grafting Silver Mirror parts on people as well. And, Strange can't help but notice, that in comparison to other people who've had limbs removed, their bodies changed, magical hearts shoved inside their body, etc. etc. he hasn't really had things added to him. Just removed.

He's got an idea about why that is, he just wants to clarify something first.

"Pardon me for asking this question out of nowhere, but do you know if the Technicians or people who are in Delta rank have to do trials as well?"

Syrlya shrugs. "If they do, I doubt it is the same as being simply a test subject. I haven't asked the Technicians many questions." Nor has anyone reached Delta to his knowledge.

He assumes Strange has a reason for asking, so he looks at him expectantly.

Strange sighs before flopping down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he frowns.

"If they don't have tests, then those 'further inspections' you mentioned are inevitable. Because no matter how hard I try, I'm never going to make it to Delta. I'm the only one here who's been affected by the Silver Mirror. Why would the Mother of Invention promote a wonderful little test subject out of harm's way?"

His tone is a little despondent. Sure, it was easy to think that he'd be able to work his way up before this. But now that he sees that part of the Blue Rose has been attached to Syrlya, it's not a hard guess to assume that they'll attach bits of the Silver Mirror to people. And they're going to need more Silver Mirror samples eventually.

Edited 2018-10-16 00:55 (UTC)

Syrlya watches Strange with a slightly conflicted expression as he talks. And at first, he doesn't have a response to that.

Then his expression softens a little. "Then work with us, Strange. We all want to get out of here... and I do not intend to leave anyone behind."

Syrlya's having this pep talk with so many people. Strange, he's feeling less faithful.

Strange continues to stare at the ceiling for a little bit. For all of Syrlya's talk about how he's a leader, Strange hasn't seen much of it in action. He doesn't know how Syrlya would do in a crisis situation like this and doesn't want to put all of his hope into something that may or may not go south.

Besides, didn't Syrlya say that he could feel the influence of the Blue Rose? That's a potentially bad sign right there.

"Maybe," Strange compromises, sounding really tired as he talks. "But there's something Lambert asked me to do first. Let me do that and then we'll see how things fall."

"You know, I'm already working with Lambert," he replies with a wry twist of his smile. After he shook him to please take charge (until that goes south too).

He didn't think he could do much at the time, so Syrlya's glad to hear Lambert taking his position to direct others with ideas he has. "What did he ask you to do?"

Now it's Strange's turn to give Syrlya a wry smile as he shakes his head. "It's better if you don't know." Because the idea is dangerous as all hell and he suspects Syrlya will want to give Lambert and Strange a piece of his mind if he knows the details.

"Besides, this isn't the first thing Lambert's asked me to do that he hasn't told you about," Strange teases a little, to try and shift attention away from the fact that he dangled something in front of Syrlya's face and is now metaphorically playing keep-away. "Has he told you about our second contract?"

"I talk to him about our job, not his personal relationship with you." Not everyone's a nosy fuck.

"I didn't know there was a first contract, but I have not asked." He raises an eyebrow, assuming Strange wants to tell him.

"The first one was simple enough: a joint offer of protection." This is a fancy way of saying 'making Strange and Lambert actually think about their actions before doing something.'

"The second one..." The second one is still active. And Strange knows that the second one means he'll have to kill Lambert at some point. Why are they so bad at contracts? You'd think that 'write in a point where the contract's null and void' would be simple, but no! They keep making stupid mistakes!

Maybe he can coax Syrlya into helping without really telling him the details in the first place. "The second one's a bit more complex. And I'll need your help with it once we get our magic back."

Syrlya's a little curious why they needed a contract for that, until he considers Strange's tendency to just go off the rails. He won't actually pry on that though.

"You will have to tell me what I am helping with before I promise anything." Because sorry, Strange, his trust in you isn't strong enough to go along with whatever plan without informing him about it.

Edited 2018-10-16 02:28 (UTC)

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