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[polymods]

✖ THE CARNIVAL

Ⅰ. THE TEMPLES
There's a subtle shift in the music you will hear drifting on the wind this month - gone is the calliope that screams just a little too loud, replaced instead by circus music that sounds cheerful and bright. The thrill rides are still undercut by rock music, but it seems less sinister. Any time you venture out, you'll find the people milling about are smiling, and none of those smiles seem like screams turned upside down.

The Caravan Temple remains - 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.

Access to the High Temple is also available to all Travelers this month.

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. Your character will revert to their true age if they were affected by the carousel last 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. Have fun!

---

Ⅱ. CONCERT AND CANDY
CW: alcohol and drug use, sax music.
It wouldn't be a carnival if you didn't eat like a garbage disposal.

There's corndogs, deep fried mars bars, popcorn, donuts, funnel cakes, cheese fries, lemonade, burgers... Go on. Eat like you have a personal vendetta against your gastrointestinal tract. And of course you ought to help yourself to some cotton candy, because what's a fair without cotton candy?

There's pink and there's blue. Whichever colour you choose, you'll find that you start to feel a little funny after you eat it.

The pink cotton candy will fill you with a sense of pleasant euphoria. You'll find it easier to talk to people, and you'll find them just so much more pleasant than usual. You'll be empathetic, and just filled with love for life. You might even want to hug people, even if you're not usually the touchy feely type. You just feel so good.

The blue cotton candy will also make you feel good, but it's more mellow than the pink - you don't want to run around hugging people so much as you want to just chill out somewhere. You'll feel very relaxed, very open to talking to others about deep subjects like whether or not Kubrick really did fake the moon landing, man. Everything seems just a little more amusing, a little easier to handle.

To make things even better, there are outdoor concerts at night. No matter what band is on stage, you find yourself really enjoying it, even if the music isn’t usually your thing. There are kegs of beer set up around the edges of the concert area and you’re free to help yourself.

All that cotton candy and cheap beer might impair your judgement a little. Maybe... enough to get a tattoo? Calm down, they’re temporary. There’s a stand called Pirate Pete’s on the midway not far from the concert where a guy dressed as a pirate - Pete, presumably - will be happy to draw whatever you want on your choice of body part.

Whatever you wind up getting, you’ll find that whenever you or someone else touches it you’ll experience a vision of a memory associated with the imagery of your tattoo. So if you get a snarling wolf, you might experience a memory of a time you treated someone savagely. If you get ‘Mom’ in a heart, maybe you and whoever else happens to brush against it will see a memory of your dear old mother. Gosh, this could get revealing or embarrassing fast!

Fucking Pete.

Notes:
1. Any food found on the midway is consumable by non-human entities. The cotton candy will likewise affect anyone who is not human.

2. I still believe.

3. The memory can be one that your character has repressed or forgotten.

---

Ⅲ. TUNNEL OF LOVE
CW: potentially sexual content
Maybe it's the cotton candy, or maybe you're just really captivated by the swan boats, but you find yourself drawn to one of the cheesiest rides in the place: the Tunnel of Love.

You can't ride alone, of course - this is the sort of thing meant for two! The guy running the ride ushers one of your fellow travelers on with you, then wolf-whistles, imitates a cat noise and a bed squeaking, then purrs, pants, barks, howls, twiddle his lips and says. “Hubba hubba!”

He ignores you when you glare at him.

The inside of the tunnel is surprisingly pleasant - it does not, as a matter of fact, smell of stale water or unmentionable bodily fluids. The water you're floating on is crisp and clear, like a real spring, and alongside either side of it are miniature rolling hills of what looks like real grass. The lights are low and pinkish, casting a soft glow over everything.

And they're playing one of your favourite songs on the speakers! Whatever that may be.

As you ride along, you'll start to think that your companion is just incredibly witty and intelligent and good looking. These feelings may be sexual or romantic, or they may be perfectly platonic - the result either way is that you really, really think this person is just the absolute greatest. You might find yourself telling them things you never would normally. Or doing things you might not otherwise…

Of course, the second you're off the ride you might find all of those fuzzy feelings depart. Better hope you didn't do anything TOO embarrassing.

Notes:
1. Only for characters of age havin the intercourse, please.

2. If your characters want to get naughty, they may discover that these swan boats have a little glove box containing condoms, lube and the like. You could also just fill the former up with water and throw them at that guy running the ride when it's over.

---

Ⅳ. HAUNTED HOUSE
CW: violence, blood
You might be on carnival island, but it’s still October. It’s time to get spooky! And what better way to do that than to take a ride through the haunted house?

A bearded fellow in half-assed clown makeup and an Uncle Sam costume loads you onto a small rail car with at least one other person. It rolls forward along the bumpy tracks into darkness. Not that it stays totally dark for long - sickly lights illuminate animatronics and mannequins posed alongside the track. There are foam cemeteries and giant rubber spiders galore.

As you move further and further into the attraction the better the decorations get. Those rubber spiders now look awfully real, and that bat that just dive bombed the car sure seemed legit.

Suddenly the car jerks to a halt. You peer around in the gloom, and then lights go up.

One bathes a coffin in red. Another illuminates a gravestone in green. The last is a facsimile of the moon itself, pale and silver.

Before you can do more than wonder what the heck is going on, one of these attractions splits open and a monster leaps toward you. A vampire, a ghost, or a werewolf respectively. If you’re quick you can get out of the way and run for the exit.

If you’re not?

The vampire’s teeth sink into your veins. The ghost’s cold hand wraps around your heart. The werewolf’s claws tear your flesh.

You’re lucky in that it doesn’t kill you; somehow you manage to get away and stumble outside, where you swiftly discover that the rest of your month is going to be pretty goddamn strange as you transform right then and there into whatever monster attacked you.

That’s right, for the month of October you may have to figure out a way to deal with cravings for flesh and blood, or how to get anything done when objects just fall right through your glowing hands.

You may be understandably upset about this. If you return to the Haunted House and accost the guy running it, he’ll tell you that the only way to break the curse is to admit to why you see yourself as that monstrous archetype. Now piss off, he ain’t got time for your jackassy questions.

Notes:
1. To return to their natural state, your character must reveal a personality trait or incident that would correspond to the monster they’ve turned into. For example, a person turned vampire might talk about how they feel they drain other people’s energy with their problems, or that they feel drained by other people’s. A ghost might not be able to let go of the past, and a werewolf might have anger issues. Interpret as you will!

2. The monsters can abide by any monster rules that you like. Is your vampire a Twilight vampire or a Dracula? It’s up to you!

3. The horror ride guy is weirdly impervious to harm.

4. All characters will return to normal at the end of October.

The kind of jams that last all night.

Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

Well yes, Sephiroth really had hit upon the core of the problem with David’s world. There weren’t more people that felt like he did.

“I would offer to teach you, but I don’t know that I know how to. Happiness is fleeting. I’ve had it more the last few days, but I’m not the greatest teacher at that, even if you are a very agreeable student.”

[unkindled_madness]

It's a problem in Sephiroth's world, too, for now.

"I wasn't aware it was something one could teach. But I don't believe I have been very amenable." He's usually resistant to things others claim make them happy, but he feels relaxed enough right now that it doesn't seem so impossible.

"What might you suggest?"

[helpdesk_hero]

“Alright, first lesson I guess is this. Appreciate the world around you and all of the beauty it offers as it is. The now is fleeting, and so much is fragile. But if you let yourself enjoy the moment, you might just find something that might make you smile.”

For David the moment included offering a warm smile to Sephiroth. Offering that lesson? That’s him enjoying the moment that was there. The moment that would make him feel better.

[unkindled_madness]

Another time, he would have dismissed that for trite drivel. But coming from David, surely there's some sense in it. After all, he's appreciating things more at the moment, and it's nice.

"I do feel at ease here," he admits. "It's a pleasant ride, and agreeable company... Perhaps that's a start."

[helpdesk_hero]

See, he’s wise, far beyond his years. He smiled and nodded.

“Me, I’m going to enjoy the beauty of the scenery,” he noted. And his eyes didn’t move from Sephiroth. What about that, huh?

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth lets out a quiet laugh, noticing that.

"Am I scenery now?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Well you're the most captivating sight I've seen all night. Which no doubt you've heard a hundred times before," David answered, chuckling to himself.

[unkindled_madness]

He shakes his head.

"Most aren't brave enough to say it to my face. My reputation intimidates them."

[helpdesk_hero]

“Well, I’m not aware of your reputation. Just that you look, well, divine. Silver hair, green eyes, graceful with your every motion… It’s a whole thing.”

Still, he supposed he knew that it happened back home too. Someone so beautiful that only the most confident ever dared approach.

[unkindled_madness]

"I am not divine." Look, there are literal gods here. "You're the one who has evolved past humanity. And you carry it well."

[helpdesk_hero]

Loki and Thor are not gods. Just haughty Asgardians.

"I haven't evolved. I was born this way. My parents each. Carried half the needed gene and I got the luck of the draw. And I carry it the way I do because I 'pass as human'."

[unkindled_madness]

"Chance is no reason to dismiss it." Here he actually turns towards David, his arm moving to the back of the seats and almost brushing David's shoulder. "You know what you are, no matter who surrounds you. It... cannot be a simple thing to live with."

[helpdesk_hero]

Almost brushing but not managing has David's heart in his throat and he didn't know why that was. It just was.

"No, it isn't. There is a level of self awareness one has to adjust to. And a need to restrain oneself I suppose."

He looked away, half shy at all the compliments.

"When one knows what they are, it is easier to fear oneself, or know why others shouldn't want to be near you. Even if they can't see it."

[unkindled_madness]

Well, that's familiar, again. But he doesn't dwell on the words, or the unease they could inspire. It's enough to feel a commonality, and let the reason slip away.

"You're a good man," Sephiroth states, convinced of it in the moment. "And responsible enough, I think."

[helpdesk_hero]

A good man. He has no idea how important those words are. They are a spark of warmth blooming in his chest. They are enough to make David smile so wide it could only be called beaming.

"Thank you. I don't hear that enough."

[unkindled_madness]

And Sephiroth does not commonly make anyone smile--certainly not like that. It's fascinating, and... maybe he should learn how to do it more often.

"It would seem not. ...you're welcome."

[helpdesk_hero]

Maybe he should. As it was David nodded. And this was where he’d hesitate, where he’d remind himself that Sephiroth very much didn’t want David touching him in particular. But with stuff like that, he’d always hug his friends. So he moved to offer one.

It was slow enough, and telegraphed enough, that surely Sephiroth should be able to avoid it.

[unkindled_madness]

He might be a little slower to recognize it for how rarely it's happened in his life, but he could avoid it.

He doesn't.

He hasn't forgotten, but it just doesn't seem like such a problem right now. It's only skills, isn't it? And maybe the gesture will be all right, coming from someone he actually likes. It doesn't occur to him to return it just yet, but he lets it happen.

[helpdesk_hero]

Hey, even an unreturned hug made the strange sensation in David’s chest start to flutter more. The hug is tight (for an unenhanced human compared to a SOLDER), and then it’s gone, with David pulling back and still smiling.

“You’re pretty cool, Sephiroth.”

[unkindled_madness]

It's over more quickly than he expected, before he can really process how it feels. It didn't seem bad.

"...and you say that, even having spoken to me several times."

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah, he had. And he laughs at the observation. It just sounds so funny to him to have someone call him on that for a change.

“Well let me dismiss some of my normal modesty and point out that I am a genius. And a good judge of people.”

[unkindled_madness]

"Then I suppose I have no choice but to take it for an accurate observation, seeing as you are a genius."

And it's an opinion that isn't informed by his reputation.

[helpdesk_hero]

“Good to hear. I like it when people don’t argue against my intelligence.”

He smiled, his hands moving to settle on his lap.

“Then we’re agreed. You’re cool. And charming. Seriously, people in your world are clearly missing out if they aren’t flirting with you, even if you’re not interested.”

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth blinks.

"I know you remarked on my appearance, but... is this still flirting?"

Has he been flirting? He doesn't know how. That's not a skill anyone could learn from him.

[helpdesk_hero]

Really? Doe he not know? David tilted his head to the side, considering.

“Yes. Typically if someone takes the time to compliment you repeatedly, while paying attention to you, hanging on your every word, smiling a lot, and laughing even when your jokes aren’t funny, it’s flirting. Has… has no one flirted with you in person before?”

Yes yes, he’d heard the man keep pleading reputation, but what could lead to someone that looked like this being like that?