polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2021-06-01 03:00 pm

Carcosa, pt. 2

POLYMYTHOS: CARCOSA

Carcosa


Ⅰ. CARCOSA
You Are Still Here.

Another month, and you’re still in the city of Carcosa! Isn’t that just wonderful?

You still have access to the city’s temple and the High Temple.

The side effects you may have suffered from throughout the month of May are now at an end - if you had a pesky mask glued to your face the whole time it will now fall off. You might need a little moisturizer, but otherwise you’ll be just fine.

You could sit around inside the relative safety of the temples, of course, but why not get out there and explore the city some more? Come on, grumpypants!



Ⅱ. SPEAK EASY
CW: Optional alcohol consumption.
What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at 1 AM? That's right - the best damn pet shop in town! Sidle up to the back door of Curly's Pet Shop and a panel will open enough to reveal a pair of eyes. "What's the password?" you'll be asked. Whatever word first comes to your mind, well, that apparently is correct because you're let in at once.

The front of the building definitely does indeed house fish and birds and kittens, but the back room is definitely not a good place to find a new animal companion; you find yourself in a crowded little room with low lighting and a small bar crammed into one corner. There's seats and some tables, and most importantly there's a band playing jazz music across from the bar.

Why not take a seat and have a drink? It's probably not paint thinner. Probably. Maybe you'll spot some of your fellow Travelers and you can sit and have a chat. Make a new friend who can hold your hair back if you party too hard.

And you better hope that the place doesn’t get raided!

Notes:
1. The drinks are all era-appropriate - you’re not getting Redbull with vodka here - and even if your character has non-human physiology they will work the same as they would on a baseline human. That’s right, your magic or your healing-factor or your vampire blood is no match for these Gin Rickeys!

2. If Curly’s does get raided while you’re there, you can run and hide or choose to engage with the police, who are armed and not too shy about opening fire if you go on the offensive. As with the rest of the regular residents of Carcosa, the officers are human and can be killed. Killing them may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. (Is it beneficial to personal growth to kill in order to save someone else, for example? You tell me!)

3. Did you want a pet from the front of the building? Well, just remember that baby turtles and alligators might SEEM like a good idea, but they grow up! Also any animal you take will not travel with you to the next island. So sorry.



Ⅲ. EXPRESSIONISM YOURSELF
CW: Optional paranoia, hallucinations.
If you wander the streets at night, you may find yourself getting turned around. You'll find that the streets have lost their many lights, and the beautiful and delicate art deco architecture has given way to something much more stark and heavy. The buildings are block-like, but they curve in exaggerated ways that hurt the eye if looked at too long. All are in blacks and whites and greys. Nothing looks quite real, but you can walk along just fine. Probably better not to go off alone, though.


Periodically you will encounter that pesky sign of some sort painted on the walls. If you follow the sigils, you will eventually be led to a long staircase that winds down and down until it finally terminates in a large white room lit by a few electric lanterns. There's black paint there, with brushes. Maybe you're feeling creative?

Notes:
1. You’re pretty sick of this stupid sigil, aren’t you? In fact, you consider yourself QUITE the detective and have been searching after its meaning! Or maybe you played Call of Cthulhu a lot in college, you nerd!

Painting the sigil on the wall will cause you to feel disoriented and paranoid until you leave the white room. From that point on you can discover a copy of a play entitled The King In Yellow anywhere in the city you choose. Reading the first act of the play has no effect on you, however if you choose to read beyond the first line of the second act you will spend the rest of the month suffering from periodic hallucinations, often of a tall man in a pallid mask.

2. While there is no compulsion to paint, choosing to work out any of your character’s issues through art therapy can be reflected in your Scrywatch colour if it is significant enough.



Ⅳ. AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER
CW: Optional gun violence, injury.
Art? Theatre? Music? BAH! Boring!

Maybe your tastes are a little more on the dangerous side? Whatever this island may be, it seems to offer plenty of opportunities to get into the seedy underbelly. Maybe you feel the need to steal a car, rob a bank, transport some illegal hooch for a smiling fellow in a yellow fedora. Grab your tommy guns, kids, it's time to outrun the Feds!

Naturally, you could wind up injured having all of this fun, but surely you could get some help from your fellow Travelers, either directly or by having them haul you to some sort of underground doctor. These doctors do exist, although it might take a while to get referred to one by a local.

You might also find yourself under arrest and stuck in an old-timey jail cell for a month. What fun!

Notes:
1. As was stated in the first prompt, the regular residents of Carcosa are normal humans. Killing them is possible and may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. Any weapons you find are era-appropriate.

2. You can break out of jail if you’re resourceful enough.

3. The underground doctors aren’t working in a real hospital for a reason. In fact, some of them might be less doctors and more, well. Vets.

You still jamming to that Carcosa playlist?


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

unkindled_madness: (irritated)

i

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-06-05 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[That space where he's wedging himself? That wasn't supposed to be an additional seat, it was part of the necessary bubble between Sephiroth and the person now on Jack's right. Sephiroth shoots him a glare and shifts away as best he can, checking to make sure the stranger didn't manage to sit on his hair.

He should just give up on this place and leave, but he's being spoken to, and Sephiroth has just enough propriety to listen until curiosity takes over. It's... certainly not the sort of remark people usually make to him, or the way people typically speak to him. If he thought he could be mistaken for anyone, he might have thought that was what had happened.

It still takes him a second to respond.]


...is that some sort of Earth delicacy? [He doesn't know what turtles are.]
shapeshistory: <user name=bungalows> (Nike)

i love when dw doesn't give me notifs : ' )

[personal profile] shapeshistory 2021-06-10 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The glare is water off a duck's back, really--he's used to glares, used to Looks, capital L, especially when he does things like this. All that matters to Rackham at the moment is the fact that he has a beautiful glass of alcohol in his hand and this whole place has the distinct feeling of illegal to it. Truly and utterly home.

He does glance over when the phrase that includes 'earth' is uttered, really taking him in--long silver hair, despite not looking old at all, is the thing that stands out the most. If the statement that he isn't from Earth wasn't a giveaway, his look certainly is, and Jack takes a half-second to let his eyes rake over him with curiousity before returning right back to his usual candor. He slips into the conversation like they'd always been chatting instead of accosting the gentleman only seconds prior. ]


Quite. Soft, a little musky on the aftertaste. Almost as divine as pineapple. [ His eyes narrow slightly, trying to figure out if the other has that in his world. ]

You certainly look like you're enjoying yourself. [ The sarcasm is palpable. ]
unkindled_madness: (arms folded)

always classy, that

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-06-10 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[Sephiroth is, at least, no stranger to being stared at. He's learned to ignore it.

There's a slight furrowing of his brows at the mention of pineapple--confused by the comparison of eggs to fruit, although it may read that he doesn't know what pineapple is either. He's not going to mention it, so it's difficult to say.]


...I didn't really come here to enjoy myself. [It's obvious, so there's not much point in pretending otherwise.] I was hoping to learn something.
shapeshistory: <user name=bungalows> (Moncler)

[personal profile] shapeshistory 2021-06-20 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A single brow quirks up on Jack's face, the barest hint of a smile forming on his features, teeth sticking out slightly. ]

The proper way to play cards? [ His tone is light, conversational, ever the social butterfly. ] How to drink properly?

[ Maybe there's something else to it, sure, and Jack casts a glance to the other's wrist, trying to get a glimpse of the other's bracelet, just to check the colour. ]
unkindled_madness: (arms folded)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-06-20 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't play cards, and I know how to drink.

[Does he though? Does he? If there's a trick to it beyond "don't drink too much," he isn't aware of it. He doesn't do this, socializing in bars, but if these locals are actually up to something, he wants to know about it. He fails to clarify that, though.

Sepiroth notices the glance, but he isn't trying to hide it--though as a lefty, it is on his right wrist rather than his left. It's yellow, for what it's worth.]