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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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( Chloe is frowning right along with him. A game of skill was one she thought would be a good choice. Only the game doesn't want to follow her plans. )

I'm sorry, Sephiroth. Those clearly should have fallen too.

( She isn't one for going full 'I want to speak to the manager' mode but this is supposed to be a nice time and she doesn't approve of underhanded tactics ruining it. Time to address the worker running the booth. )

Excuse me. I don't think the game is set up correctly. Could you check it, please?

( They get a look and a shrug from the guy then he tinkers with the bottles. Whether he cares he's been rumbled or if it's for show is anyone's guess. )

[Sephiroth is quietly astounded because he clearly made a mistake, and then she apologized to him, and that doesn't make any sense.

And then the booth worker, even though he gives her that look, he doesn't argue it. He checks the bottles.

Not that he's really changing anything about them, but in watching him handle the bottles, Sephiroth understands the problem: they're different weights. He adjusts his next throw accordingly, and this time he knocks them all down.]

There.

[Is he smirking? Maybe. Almost. ...he has no idea there's meant to be a prize involved.]

What an excellent shot! ( She can't help her megawatt smile. Or the brief round of applause.

The booth worker looks to Sephiroth expectantly, waiting for the kid to pick out his prize. Again, Chloe steps in. )

Let's give him a moment to decide, shall we?

( Then she goes back to Sephiroth and gestures to the stuffed creations on offer. ) Has one of the prizes caught your eye...? You can pick any of them.

What?

[Well, they're both waiting on him, it's what's expected, so he quickly scans the prizes overhead and points to the only one that's black. The booth worker retrieves it for him (though Sephiroth could probably have reached it more easily), and now he has... a plush dog. It's cheaply made, and a little angry-looking, and he's not sure if he actually wants it in the long run, but...

Hold on. He turns aside to Chloe and asks quietly:]

...do I return this later?

( Her own voice is hushed, not wanting to cause him any embarrassment. ) It’s yours to keep. When you win at the games, you get to choose one of the prizes. There might be different ones on offer at some of the other booths.

( Though Sephiroth with the plush dog is kind of cute. )

[Sephiroth looks out at the other booths in sight. Most of them are of a kind, but that's still a lot of prizes, and he's pretty good at winning things.]

You mean, I could have all kinds of unnecessary things.

[They're stupid, and pointless, and Professor Hojo would hate them.]

( That sounds more like the Sephiroth she knows. How sad that such thoughts seem ingrained in him at so early an age. It makes her wonder what sort of childhood he had. Or how much of one he had. )

I suppose it depends what one considers ‘unnecessary.’ Sometimes it can be nice to have a memento of a nice time. Or to have something simply because you like it. Or because you chose it for yourself.

[That's nice, Chloe. He's not really following. He shows her the dog, as if she's unaware of exactly what they're talking about.]

You can't use this to do anything.

[Except make Hojo mad. That's something.]

You said this is an island. Can we get back to Midgar?

( Smiling a little, she makes a note to dial back. She understands such concepts can be challenging. )

You don't have to take the prizes if you'd rather not. It's just the typical exchange.

( She hesitates a moment. Isn't that a question? ) I think we can get back to where we're from, yes, if not right away. ( Again there's a minute pause. ) Do you want to go back?

[He shakes his head. Not right away is fine, though he may not be picking up on the length of time implied.]

Not yet.

There's just no point to winning these things if-- [He hesitates, but reminds himself that she's too nice to be Shinra, and he hasn't seen any Shinra around, so he can't get in trouble for it. Still, he lowers his voice a little.]

...I want to put a bunch in Professor Hojo's lab.

( How interesting. Are these intended to be gifts for this Professor Hojo? Or something less benevolent? Either way, it gets a conspiratorial smile from Chloe. )

Then I think we should try to win lots of them, don't you?

( Even if it's unlikely they'll be going back to their worlds any time soon. Even if it won't be this boy going back to his world anyway. )

[And she gets a tiny smile in return.]

Yes.

He's going to hate it.

[Definitely less than benevolent, but at least he's having fun?

For lack of a better place to put it, he stuffs the dog into the front of his robe and heads for the next booth.]

( Having to be in this chaotic carnival is worth it to have seen that tiny smile. It's even worth how displeased the adult Sephiroth will probably be, if he is able to remember this. )

You don't like him? ( It's asked with a gentle playfulness as opposed to probing. )

He's- incompetent.

[...that felt good to say. He's heard other people insult Hojo but doing it himself has always been risky.]

So, it's not like anyone's losing out if I make him waste his precious time.

Oh really? What's he so incompetent at?

( Is it underhanded to be learning more about him in this fashion? Maybe. At least she means well. )

[Insulting Hojo remains one of Sephiroth's favorite pastimes, even as an adult. This much is probably fine.]

He runs the Science Department. But, he's nothing compared to Professor Gast, and he knows it.

( The Science Department again. It strikes her as a bit odd that the one area keeps getting mentioned. Then, she doesn't know how things work in his world. She could be projecting too much of herself but something about it nags at her. )

Are these professors your teachers?

[He's a little more guarded about answering this one, but the fact that she doesn't know... What if he didn't correct her about the kind of professors they are?]

...sometimes. Not anymore.

( As it's only fair, and to avoid coming across as interrogating the poor boy, Chloe offers something of herself. )

I live with a scientist. He can't have been too much older than you when he founded his company. ( Though she hasn't asked him his age. ) Or I assume so. How old are you, Sephiroth?

Fifteen, I- [He almost says "I think" but that would be weird, right?]

...he's a scientist with his own company?

( Fifteen. Only a year younger than Elijah was when he founded CyberLife. Three years later, he would create her. )

He is. He created androids. That’s what the company does - produces androids.

( Technically, it isn’t his company any more. But the detail doesn’t really matter for the purposes of their conversation.

Spying a booth where the prizes are very large, incredibly bright and outrageously fuzzy, she points to it with a smile. )

What do you think to winning a couple of those?

Shinra makes robots, but they're not very sophisticated.

[He may not have read far enough in that conversation to get to the her being an android part.

He follows her gesture. Large, bright, and fuzzy. Good pick.]

Yes. They look unwieldy.

[It is the ring toss game, which is notoriously difficult, hence the large prizes they expect to be unwinnable... but Sephiroth does have superhuman reflexes. There might be some misses at first but he'll get there.]

They do? What are they like?

( Whether he read that far or not, she doesn't intend to bring it up. He's had enough bombshells dropped on him for the time being. This is his day to be a kid and have a taste of living for himself.

While he tries to beat the ring toss, Chloe is right there to cheer on the successes and commiserate the misses (making sure to keep it quiet and subtle, of course). His impressive skills shine through even at this age. Like some others she's met here, is he more than baseline human as well?

Curious as she is, it ultimately doesn't matter. He is who he is (and she secretly thinks of him as her friend). )

I know they have some for manufacturing, but I've only seen the military roboguards. Most of them have... a limited AI, they lock onto a target and attack.

I've destroyed a lot of those.

[He doesn't say it like a brag, just a fact to demonstrate the lack of sophistication. Needless to say, ring toss is a lot less dangerous than he's used to.

And the support Chloe is giving him, especially for something so trivial, is... weird. Or is this how normal people get treated? Neither the praise nor the commiseration get much of a reaction from him beyond a few awkward glances, because he doesn't know how to respond.

He's also at something of a loss once he actually wins one of the big ones. Where does he... put it...]

Ah, I see. You're a very talented young man.

( She doesn't expect any sort of response from him, nor is any needed. His message about value resonated with her deeply. It's one she continues to struggle applying to herself, although his words continually come back to her more than she'd like. More importantly, it's strengthened her resolve for making sure others recognise their individual, inherent worth.

She holds her arms out wide, ready to be the pack mule for the prizes. )

I'll carry as many as I can. You need your hands free for showing these games a thing or two. And possibly for a snack or two, as well.

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