polylogs | Carcosa, pt. 2

✖ 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?

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No one is incapable of illusion. Simply because you don't possess as a magical power does not mean illusion is everywhere.

It's here on this island. It is in people's hearts.

The lies we tell ourselves?

I didn't realize we were getting philosophical.

[ loki shrugs. ]

Considering our colour codes and the way this place is set up, I think a certain amount of openness towards philosophy is necessary.

It has its place, but I don't intend to waste much time reflecting on my apparent mediocrity.

[ who . . . says that about themselves . . . ]

No, it seems you've come to those conclusions already.

[Um, no way would Sephiroth have ever concluded he was mediocre. He gestures to the yellow on his wrist.]

Did you miss the explanation provided by our captors?

[ hmm. he squints at it. ]

I wasn't paying attention to the rest of the spectrum. Yellow is mediocre then?

Evidently.

It hardly strikes me as accurate.

No. It was probably designed to elicit a reaction.

[ interesting choice of words though. his symbolized "outrage" and loki had dismissed it mostly because it meant nothing. whose outrage? why?

of course he couldn't dismiss it entirely. there's something unappealing about the colours and how much their captors know of them. ]

Probably.

[Which is why, even if the colors lack any true meaning, they're still worth keeping track of.]

Have you witnessed anyone's changing?

Not yet.

There isn't much impetus to changing at the moment.

I can think of a few easy ways to test the requirements for backsliding.

[He's eyeing the other patrons, because those ways are definitely murder.]

...but somehow I doubt these people are behind any of it.

[ ah, he hadn't thought of backsliding. perhaps he's losing his touch.

or maybe a part of him just doesn't want to. he's lost everything else. he doesn't want to lose anymore. ]

No. This may be a dead end.

Hm.

[He contemplates the last of his drink, and downs it.]

Then you may as well take your ease.

And yourself?

[ not that sephiroth ever seems to be at ease . . . ]

[Dryly, because it's stating the obvious:]

This place is a little crowded for my tastes.

Soldiers work in close quarters. Isn't that your experience, usually?

You think this is comparable, somehow, to a battlefield?

Of course not. But soldiers aren't on the battlefield all the time. There are barracks, close quarters, traveling . . .

[ he is a prince, but he is a prince well acquainted with war. ]

[There's less of all that when you have the privileges of a command position, but Sephiroth isn't going to mention that. Instead he shakes his head.]

That only means I can tolerate it, when I must.

Ah. That's fair.

[ loki knows how to make use of company, to ferret out what he needs but he can't say he always enjoys it. everything in degrees. ]

[Sephiroth nods slightly and starts to get to his feet.]

I trust you can manage without me.

I'll be sure to let you know if anything changes.

[Sephiroth isn't sure how genuine that really is but- no need to be rude.]

...I appreciate that.

[ loki waves it off. right now, they're all in the same situation. ]

You're welcome.

(no subject)

unkindled_madness - 2021-06-07 02:55 (UTC) - Expand