Carcosa, pt. 2

[polymods]

✖ 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

Comments

[kyley_b]

"Don't you have brain powers or something?" Kyle asks. Sparkles, having finished his pee, trots around his ankles.

"You couldn't just, I dunno, make him see you were telling the truth?"

[extrasensory_problems]

"Yes I have brain powers." Carter says, touching his lip briefly to see how bad the swelling is.

"But it's kind of hard to concentrate on using them when you're getting the shit beat out of you."

[kyley_b]

Kyle scoffs. "You had time before he hit you! Fine, whatever, your powers suck and we will never rely on them, obviously."

He looks around. "The hell should we go now? We can't go back that way."

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter pushes his hair angrily out of his eyes, "Of course my powers fucking suck! Why do you think I never use them?! It's not like turning on a fucking light switch Kyle!"

He looks down at Sparkles who is now sniffing some garbage.

"Fuck if I know."

[kyley_b]

"Well how am I supposed to know?" He follows after the dog huffily.

"C'mon, Sparkles." He points down the alley, still away from where they came. "We're just gonna walk to the street, then I'm finding my way back to the friggin Temple. You can come, or not." He pauses. "You ought to, your lip is busted."

[extrasensory_problems]

He's tempted to stay where he is and sulk but there is still a chance that Eddie and his men could follow them and he doesn't really want to get shot.

"Yeah fine. Lead the way Sparkles." He says and follows behind Kyle quietly. Eventually they reach the street and two cop cars roar past them in what would seem to be the direction of the pet store, their sirens piercing the otherwise quiet night air. Carter winces at the sound and dully wonders if the temple will have some kind of Aspirin he can take when they get back there.

[kyley_b]

They walk in silence a while, stopping when Sparkles stops to sniff things or to piss on them.

"Look," Kyle says finally. "I know it wasn't actually your fault, okay? I just don't like almost dying. And like... I dunno, I guess I figured you'd be more... Capable? Than me, I mean. You've got all the martial arts shit and brain powers. I've got nothing."

Sparkles stops to take a dump on the sidewalk.

"Oh, for... You stupid dog, I don't have shit bags!"

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter shrugs, "I'm not a superhero Kyle. I try not to use my powers that much because they tend to fuck things up more than actually do any good."

"I got into martial arts as a way to help balance myself and my powers." He explains, watching as Sparkles takes the time to squirt two drops of urine on everything. "I can fight but it's usually in a sparing type situation, I don't normally go around disarming guys with guns."

When Sparkles decides to take a shit Carter snorts and laughs.

"Just leave it. Maybe we will get lucky and by some twist of fate 'Jimmy' will step in it."

[kyley_b]

"Maybe because you don't know how to use em," Kyle suggests with a sigh.

He frowns at the little dog. "God, you suck, Sparkles. C'mon little dude, let's get off the streets."

[extrasensory_problems]

"Look no offence but I'd rather not get into the reasons why I don't know how to use my powers." Carter says, rubbing his head and trying hard not to sound snarky. "My head already hurts and it's....complicated."

"Let's just find somewhere to drop Sparkles and go back to the temple."

[kyley_b]

Kyle looks at the dog. It drools.

"...let's take him with us."

[extrasensory_problems]

"Sure, why not." He bends down and gives Sparkles a little pat on the head, "You're a good little dog aren't you?"

[kyley_b]

Sparkles stares at Carter. Sort of. He's a little walleyed.

"He's a piece of crap," Kyle opines. "So obviously we should look after him. That lady was clearly a fucking mess."

[extrasensory_problems]

"Yeah she seemed pretty out of it." Carter agrees, "Makes you wonder why the hell she brought this little guy with her."

He pauses and finally looks Kyle in the face, "She didn't hurt you did she?"

[kyley_b]

"Because she's Paris Hilton before Paris Hilton?" Which just reminds him of Butters, really.

"Nah, not as much as that guy did. Besides, I've had worse." He offers Carter a little smile. Clearly he's not about to hold a grudge. "You still suck, though."

[extrasensory_problems]

A ghost of a smile surfaces when Kyle mentions Paris Hilton, it even grows another inch when he tells Carter that he sucks.

"I know." He says and then admits, "I'm glad they didn't hurt you."

[kyley_b]

"Dude, me too. I already got shot and blown up this month." He thinks. "With Ryan Reynolds. Who isn't actually Ryan Reynolds, by the way. He's Deadpool." A name Carter might recognise.

[extrasensory_problems]

The name sounds kind of familiar but only vaguely, but the fact that Kyle was shot at is a little worrisome.

"If this shit keeps happening we should like, come up with a code word we can use that's like a sign for us to just fucking bolt."

[kyley_b]

"Besides, 'RUN'?" Because just yelling run seems to be working so far. Sparkles whines and Kyle snickers. "Dude. 'Sparkles.' That's our code word."

we can end it here

[extrasensory_problems]

Carter laughs, "Yes! That's perfect."

He bends down and scoops ups the tiny little dog, giving him a little pat on the head before looking at Kyle, then nodding towards the temple which is now in view.

"SPARKLES!" He yells and the two boys take off running, laughing the rest of the way there.