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✖ THE CARNIVAL

Ⅰ. ARRIVAL & THE TEMPLE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
You can see the lights of the Ferris wheel from the water, and by the time you pull into port you can smell popcorn, cotton candy, grease, sawdust. Music drifts on the air, interspersed with screams from the rides.

The carnival is in town.

Not just any carnival, either - the carnival. The one to end all others. Every circus you ever read about or saw in a movie, with striped tents filled with acrobats and sideshows, midway games complete with carnival barkers in straw boater hats. But it's also every shitty fair that ever rolled through your hometown, with unreliable looking men with greasy mullets smoking as they jockey the Wild Mouse, the Gravitron, the Zipper, the Corkscrew. There's a constant stream of 80s hair metal playing underneath the roar of the rollercoaster tracks, blending somehow with the traditional piping organ of the carousel.

Experienced Travelers will know by now that every island has its own temple, and this one is no exception. It’s not in the carnival proper, though; if you step away from the lights of the midway and tents, you’ll notice dozens of old wooden circus trailers, arranged in a circle, growing tighter together the closer to the center you walk. The trailers are functional living places, with built in beds - sometimes one, sometimes two - and a small table and an old wood burning stove with a cooking top just big enough to boil a kettle on. There’s a toilet, but if you want a shower you’ll have to go outside and find a tent set up at the outskirts of the makeshift trailer park where there are tent showers set up, locker room style.

The clearing in the middle of the parked caravan is completely empty except for a solitary midway game: a towering high striker. It must be at least twenty feet tall, surmounted by a round, red bell. A wooden mallet is leaned against a sign next to the game that reads, predictably, TEST YOUR STRENGTH.

Step right up.

Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

3. The island temple is accessible to all. The High Temple is only accessible to new characters this month - it will re-open to all others next month.

4. The Test your Strength game can be played by anyone. How well your character does is entirely up to you, but the game does not necessarily measure physical strength.

5. These residents of the island are normal humans. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

6. Any food found on the midway is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities.

7. Have fun!

Ⅱ. HALL OF MIRRORS
When it comes to amusements, the Hall of Mirrors has always been second-fiddle to the Haunted House. But the line for the former was shorter, so here you are. The guy working the door has weasel eyes and is smoking. He gestures for you and whoever is behind you to enter together; "No singles. For safety."

The lights are a dull neon, cycling from deep blue to cyan to purple and back again. You find that your outstretched fingers will bump against smooth, clear glass as often as not. The mirrors reflect the maze back into itself over and over, disorienting and strange.

Some of the mirrors are convex, some concave, and as you pass them your reflection warps and bends alongside that of whoever you're stuck inside the maze with.

At some point you will realise that the reflection looking back at you isn't quite right. It's still you, sure, but it's not how you really look, not on the outside.

Looking back at you from the cold glass is how you perceive yourself. Perhaps that's stronger, perhaps uglier, perhaps as a sniveling child or an ancient hag. And this reflection is going to follow you from mirror to mirror as you desperately try to find your way out.

One of you spots an exit sign, bleeding red light. Only catch is that it's behind a pane of glass. And another. And another. You could break your way through all of them, certainly, but it's not as if there's anything laying around for you to use to do so. Just yourself, which might work in action movies but tends to cause a lot of physical damage in the real world.

Above the glass someone has placed a sticker that reads, “who are you really?” in black sharpie. Answer it, and the glass will swing open. Don't, and well...

Guess you'll have several years worth of bad luck.

Notes:
1. Yes, characters can bash their way out of the maze, but it is real glass and will cut anyone who isn’t invulnerable. There is a first aid station run by extremely unreliable carneys on the premises, so hopefully they can patch themselves up enough there.

Ⅲ. THE CAROUSEL
CW: childhood trauma
Old fashioned organ music and a million flashing lights draws you to the carousel. It's a vintage delight: huge, with ornate animals carved out of wood and lovingly hand painted. There are horses, of course, but also lions and leopards and birds and rabbits and wolves... any animal you could want! In fact, you'll see an animal that looks perfectly YOU. You just have to climb up on it for a ride.

Settled on your mount, the ride begins to move. To your surprise, it begins to move backwards. You can't seem to ungrip the pole you're hanging on to, so you're helpless to escape as the ride spins again and again.

When it stops and you step off, you will be younger. You will in fact be the same age you were when a formative event happened to you.

You're a kid at a carnival! How fun! Well, maybe you're not that young, and it's probably not very fun at all considering that now your trauma is fresh.

The only way to become your proper age again is to get on the carousel and get it to run forward. Depending on your age, you might not be able to figure any of that out, but surely one of the other Travelers can help you. You'll definitely need someone to man the carousel controls. Oh, and be careful not to knock it into overdrive...

Notes:
1. If your character does not get back on the carousel and ride it in reverse, they will revert to their actual ages at the end of the month.

2. Please be especially mindful of content warnings with underage characters. A reminder that the game does not allow explicit sexual content with minors.

3. You do not have to regress your character to childhood - if a very formative event happened at age 20 for example, you can choose that route instead.

4. Speeding up the carousel while it is moving forward will result in, you guessed it, aging your character UP. Obviously you can ride it backwards again to fix this, or again the aging will be reversed at the end of the month.

Ⅳ. COULROPHOBIA
CW: clowns, suffocation
Who can possibly resist the big top? Not you! You're ushered into the tent and you take a seat in the stands, where you have an excellent view of the huge ring before you. The excitement in the air is palpable, and even if you're the grouchy type you'll find yourself a little bit thrilled.

It's a little surprising when the lights go up to the sound of screaming guitars. Mist belches from hidden foggers, and flames shoot from near the center of the ring. The lights stutter red, blue, green. The whole thing is a lot more rock show than it is Ringling Brother's.

At any rate, even if the ringmaster looks like a reject from a trailer park metal band and the music is liable to burst some eardrums, it's still a circus. There are trained horses and riders, contortionists, and a score of talented trapeze artists. It's all sparkling and impressive and terrific fun.

The trapeze artists take their bows, clearly ready for a break. And if a break is needed at the circus? You know what happens next, don't you?

SEND IN THE CLOWNS!

The clowns spill into the ring, all sorts of them! There's Harlequin and Pierrot, Auguste and Tramp. There's Bozos and Ronalds and Clarabelles and Krustys. Hopefully no Gacys, but there's so many of them that it's hard to know for sure.

One of these clowns - the one you hate the most, of course - approaches you in the stands. With comically exaggerated movements, it leans close to you and whispers...

Well. It whispers horrible things to you, really. It recounts to you some instance in your life where you delighted in the suffering of another, a moment where you really and truly were happy that somebody else was hurt. It's not a moment to be proud of, for sure, but as the clown tells your own secret shameful joy to you, you start to laugh. Really laugh - soon you're bent over double, tears running down your face, absolutely howling with laughter.

Your stomach hurts, and you're running out of breath. Very soon you won't be able to breathe at all.

Eventually, one of your fellow travelers won't be able to resist asking you, "What's so funny?"

The only way to stop laughing is to tell them. Otherwise you're going to pass out right where you sit, a creepy clown leering over you the whole time. Maybe your fellow traveler will be nice enough to drag you out of there if that happens, because if you're left alone? Everybody knows clowns get so much scarier alone in the dark.

Notes:
1. What happens if you really do get ditched with the clowns? Great question. Maybe they make you one of them. Maybe they eat you. Maybe you just wake up in the Big Top dressing room and see all the clowns smoking cigars and taking their floppy shoes off to film Clown Foot Erotica.

It wouldn't be a party without some jams.

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

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A crying child is a beacon to Chloe. She goes over to the young man, face filled with concern. As she looks more closely at him, there's a familiarity to his features. So she doesn't alarm him by looking worried herself, her expression softens and her lips curve into a gentle smile. She stoops a little so they're more on eye level. Stranger danger is a thing and she doesn't want to upset the poor boy any more.

"Hi. I'm Chloe. Things look scary for you right now but don't worry, I'll help you." She gives a sincere little nod. "What's your name?"

Carter looks up warily at the lady who has approached him, scrubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Carter." He says and tilts his head to the right, his tears slowly drying and his panic subsiding as he notices that she has a different type of 'feel' to her. His brows crease a little as he touches her with his powers, something the adult version would never do without permission.

"You're not human." He states bluntly but there is no fear in his eyes, only curiosity.

Oh. Oh. That explains the familiarity. And gives a whole new dimension to him calling for his mother, considering he's mentioned growing up in foster homes. Since he seems to have no idea who she is, Chloe's particularly careful not to let any of her feelings show. There's just the warm smile.

The words catch her off guard simply because they're unexpected. The smile remains and she peers at him in an 'aren't you astute?' way. She's been told she doesn't have a psionic signature, though it isn't something the adult Carter has brought up with her. Children aren't so restrained, and he's also mentioned a period where he struggled with control.

"You're right, I'm not. I'm an android. See?" She shows him the LED at her temple, currently blinking blue. The colours probably don't mean much to anyone who isn't from her time and place but she aims to project calm regardless.

His eyes light up when she shows him the small blue light at her temple, excited that he was both right and that she's an android, because androids are cool.

"Cool! I know about androids from sci-fi movies and stuff." He smiles and it's here that you can see who he will grow into, that smile is exactly the same.

"Do you have emotions and stuff? Do you sleep like regular people or do you have to sleep in a big computer slot?"

He isn't fleeing in the opposite direction. That's a good start. If anything, he doesn't seem that far removed from his adult self. Maybe these are a few of the dorky sci-fi nerd questions. Not that she minds them at all.

"I bet you know all kinds of cool android stuff. But to answer your questions, yes, I do have emotions. I don't have to sleep in a big computer slot or anything like that so yes, it's similar to sleeping like a regular person."

"You're better than Data then," he says. "He's from Star Trek and he didn't have emotions, you're also prettier than he is."

"Do you have super strength? Lots of androids on TV can lift cars and stuff."

"Oh, thank you. You're very sweet. But no, I don't have super strength." Carter is pretty adorable as an adult but he's an even more adorable child. And she should be trying to solve how to return him to his adult state instead of getting caught up in a cute kid being a cute kid.

"Have you been having a good time at the carnival? Did you go on some rides? Get a couple of tasty treats?" Clues are bound to be somewhere.

He would be pleased to hear that she thinks he's adorable in either form but when she asks if he's having a good time his eyes grow a bit troubled and he shrugs, shuffling his feet a little. He doesn't want to admit that he was scared or crying right before she found him so instead he focuses on the subject of treats.

"I don't have any money for treats." He says slowly, not wanting to come right out and ask if she can buy him some. That would be rude and his mother raised him better than that.

Poor Carter. Maybe she can repay him a little for the friendship and understanding he's shown her. Part of her thinks they should really get this age regression sorted out but would a dose of fun in the meantime be so bad? Well, possibly. Even so, she can't look at those eyes and be all 'let's puzzle out the island's mysteries.' They may very well come across something useful if they venture through the carnival.

"Would you like to come and find some with me? I've never been somewhere like this before so I don't know what's good. Why don't we sample a bit of everything? Maybe even look at some of the rides?" Nothing looks that safe or that sanitary but if it will make him happy, she'll pray to the Ancient for him to stay in one piece and escape food poisoning.

His eyes light up and he breaks into a wide grin, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the food stands.

"Okay, yeah! Sure! I'll help pick out the best stuff for you to try."

Yes, because it's her that he's doing this for. Poor pretty android, he can't let her go on without tasting all the treats. That would just be mean.

Happy to be tugged along, Chloe lets him take the lead. When they reach the nearest food stand, she surveys what's on offer. She recognises most of the foods listed, though not necessarily in the various combinations that they come in. Apparently anything can be fried if one really wants it to be. It's... an adventure all in itself.

"Are we going for sweet or savoury first?"

Carter thinks about the choice for a moment, his young face taking on an almost comically adult look of consideration. Finally he nods to himself and looks up at Chloe.

"Savory I think. You should always have your meal before dessert."

He is the most precious thing and Chloe can’t help but smile. “That’s very responsible of you.” That she sounds impressed isn’t entirely for show. Given the chance, she thinks plenty of kids would dig into those desserts straight away.

“Let’s see…” Her gaze drifts from him and back to the menu. “There’s… cheeseburger donuts…? Pickle dogs…?” Incredulous, she looks to Carter for his opinion. “What about a regular hotdog?”

He wants to take credit for being responsible but really it's all because of his mother, she taught him well, but he doesn't want to talk about her right now in case he starts crying again.
He doesn't want to cry in front of the pretty android lady.

"A regular hotdog sounds good," he says and then after a pause he adds. "But only if I can get sauerkraut on it."

Chloe orders him a hotdog with the requested sauerkraut plus one with ketchup and mustard for herself. When they’re handed to her by the kind of questionable carnival worker, she presents Carter with his. She regards her own with a mixture of intrigue and apprehension. There’s the feeling she could probably consume the food on the islands without any ill effects. It doesn’t always cross her mind to try. But this… This is a special circumstance.

She takes an experimental bite and… it’s good? Or she doesn’t want to immediately spit it out, at least.

“What do you think?” she asks him. “How would you rate it on a scale of carnival food?”

He looks up at her and nods happily, having already shoved about half the hotdog into his mouth already, and gives her a thumbs up.
He chews happily and swallows, knowing that its rude to talk with his mouth full. "It's good, not as good as the hot dogs back home in New Jersey but still good. Do you like yours?"

She gives him a beaming smile, pleased he likes it. Who cares about table manners when he looks so happy? She looks to her own hotdog then back to him, nodding. "I do. It's the first one I've ever tried, you know," she tells him, like it's a big secret only he's privy to. Which it kind of is.

Idly, she wonders how much food she might be able to take. Who knows the mysteries of magical islands? Then she wonders about the stomach capacity of a human boy, especially if there might be rides involved. Still, a young Carter seems to have a good head on his shoulders so he probably won't go overboard.

When there's sugary treats involved she's going to learn that the stomach capacity of children is vast and amazing. His hotdog is gone in a matter of seconds and then he is looking around curiously, trying to figure out which treat is the best for her to try. He wants to make her experience as good as possible, after all...she's never tried any of this before.

"If you're an android...that means someone built you right?" He asks, "Is that person like your Mom? Or your Dad?"

Where Carter wants to go, Chloe will follow. Sure, she's curious to try the various foodstuffs but it's more about him than her. If he gets the treats that will put a smile on his face, that's satisfying enough for her.

The question makes her take a moment's pause, and she nods. "That's right. Only the person who built me was still a teenager when he created me. He needed a special friend and so he made one." The age appropriate, and condensed, version of the story. "Do you have a best friend, Carter?"

Her question makes him pause and his eyes grow trouble, slowly he shakes his head. "No. He died a few years ago. He got killed by bad guys."

When he speaks next his voice is very small, "That's why we had to leave Xavier's school for mutants. My mom was scared that we would get hurt there like Sammy did."

“Oh Carter, I’m so sorry.” Though she isn’t sure if she should or not, she puts an arm around his shoulders in a little hug type gesture. He doesn’t know who she is, that they’re friends, but it’s Carter and so she can’t help but want to offer comfort.

“It’s okay if you want to talk about it and it’s okay if you don’t.” She takes her arm from his shoulders but stays reasonably close.

He doesn't really react when she puts her arm around him and when she hugs him it's like hugging a piece of stone, cold and unflinching. His eyes are cast down at his shoes and he seems to be struggling between feeling sad and angry. If she looks up she might notice that some of the hanging lights on the midway are flickering sporadically.

"It wasn't fair."

The blinking lights definitely catch her attention. She might not know all that much about his powers but those lights in conjunction with his demeanour does not seem like a good sign.

Ducking down in front of him, she takes both of his hands in her own. Calm as she is on the outside, the pace of her thirium pump has quickened. It’s a good thing her mind seems to be similar to white noise to telepaths as the last thing she wants to do is make the situation worse with any stray worried thoughts.

“You’re right - it’s not fair. Bad things can happen to the people we care about and it’s awful and doesn’t make sense. It’s okay to feel sad, mad and confused about it.”

The lights above them flicker again and for a moment there seems to be a strong high frequency sound that builds around them, a few of the normal locals pause, touching the center of their foreheads as if they have sudden headaches.

"He said he would protect us and he lied." Carter says, his voice shaking with anger.

How to calm a young mutant who may be on the verge of a meltdown is out of Chloe's areas of expertise. Apprehensive as she is, she goes with what feels right and scoops him up into a hug. She glances around them to see if any of the locals are reacting to them, just in case, then turns her attention fully to him.

"Carter? Try to breathe with me, okay? Feel the way I'm breathing and see if you can match it." Keeping him in the embrace, she breathes at a slow, measured pace. She doesn't need to breathe as an android, but it sure can be handy that she can simulate it.

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The Carousel

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ooc: he's gonna feel soooo bad that he shoved her later when he's normal age

poor mini carter, i weeeeeep

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