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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!

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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.

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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]

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?

[unkindled_madness]

Well, later he's going to be concerned that people don't actually find his rare jokes funny.

"I don't typically engage in conversations like that, no. They aren't appropriate in a professional environment."

It's also entirely possible he's just walked away from people attempting to flirt with him, but now he's thinking over some of his interactions on the islands, wondering if he's missed something.

[helpdesk_hero]

Was it a joke? Had the man told a joke? If so, uh oh. But hey, the word play was top of the line.

“Well, now you have the chance to experience all sorts of things that aren’t appropriate in a professional environment,” David told him, voice bright. And then he realized how that could be taken and he… Well, there was no getting around how he was blushing from embarrassment.

“Maybe you’ll run into it more, you know, now that your’e here. People won’t be able to help but notice.”

[unkindled_madness]

He hasn't really told any jokes in this conversation... but he does sometimes! Occasionally. They're easily missed.

He definitely looks amused by David's embarrassment. He is following that line of thought.

"I'm quite all right with it if they don't. I don't think I would care for it from most people."

[helpdesk_hero]

Someone should get a magnifying glass then, so they can catch the small, easily missed things.

“And what happens to those that you wouldn’t care for it from? Maybe a…” his eyes looked back away from Sephiroth and out to the water that stretched on either side of the ride around them, “sudden and unexpected dip?”

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth follows his gaze. Maybe he does have a slight reputation here.

"I suppose Deadpool told you about the sharks? That's likely a bit excessive for anyone else."

[helpdesk_hero]

Reputations from Wade hardly count. But he chuckles at the question of the sharks.

“Yes, he did. And I don’t think it’s excessive when it’s him. I’ve wanted to punch him, but I just know it will do nothing.”

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth shrugs. They've already spoken of his aspirations to find a way to actually kill the man.

"Regardless, I haven't seen anything lurking in this water. It might even make for a pleasant swim."

There's a joke for you.

[helpdesk_hero]

A pleasant swim. Here? David doubted it. But he was chuckling anyway.

“Didn’t you hear? We’re supposed to keep our hands and legs inside the ride at all times,” David answered. “Do I have to keep yours occupied to keep you from jumping in?”

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth hears that as something of a challenge. So while he has no intention of jumping overboard--

"Do you really think you could prevent me, if I wanted to?"

[helpdesk_hero]

“Nope,” David answered, smiling as he let his hand touch Sephiroth’s wrist. “I don’t think I could. But sometimes the battle is worth having.”

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth enjoys a good fight, but at the light touch against his wrist, he really doesn't think that's what David is referring to.

"...well, you do have me curious as to your strategy."

[helpdesk_hero]

“Sometimes force comes without need to stretch one’s muscles. Sometimes it comes from the will alone.”

That’s what he’s saying. Of course surprise will be useful in a pinch too, but for now, the light touch clearly has the man’s attention.

“And sometimes words work as well.”

[unkindled_madness]

"I doubt even you could will me to do anything." He has a strong will himself, you know.

"And persuasion takes time."

[helpdesk_hero]

“Yes, but some things are easier than that. And a bit more compelling too,” David answered, leaning forward a bit, his hand on Sephiroth’s wrist gaining a little weight to it as he leaned forward.

[unkindled_madness]

Sephiroth sees where this is going, and he closes the rest of the distance himself, rather than be passive this time.

He doesn't know why (it's the cotton candy), but David's touch hasn't put him on edge as he's used to. There's no instant repulsion. Maybe it feels... good? He doesn't realize how touch-starved he is, he chalks it up to curiosity, but maybe it's worth exploring further.

He's kissed before, but not much, and not at all recently. Accordingly, he's not very good at it.

[helpdesk_hero]

Well he definitely wasn't expecting the man to lean in to meet him. Not that David was at all upset with this turn of events. With the man moving to meet him he does his best to stabilize himself, which he does with a hand coming up to cup Sephiroth's cheek.

With his mental walls up, he doesn't even get a trickle of knowledge, just the pleasure of the warmth of another's skin under his hand, and the delight of lips against his own. His heart was racing now, just from this little touch.

Good or not didn't matter apparently. Just that it had happened. And he was still left smiling when he pulled back.

"So, how did that rate on distractions?"

[unkindled_madness]

It's a lot of touch for Sephiroth, with the hand against his face, too. It's the most he's allowed anyone to touch him in ages.

"Oh, I... certainly preferred it to swimming," he says, lacking the vocabulary to describe it. "I haven't done that in a long time."

[helpdesk_hero]

A lot of touch but when David lowered his hand, he damn well was smiling.

"Oh, it's okay. I understand swimming is like riding a bike," he answered, smiling at the other man. A light joke to try and make the man not feel uncomfortable about the kiss and how long since his last time.

[unkindled_madness]

He really wasn't uncomfortable about it. The length of time was both a choice and a fact.

The joke, however? Confusing. "...I've never ridden a bike."

He's not sure what the comparison means.

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh dear. Well, maybe his world didn't have bicycles.

"Ah. It's a metaphor back home. A suggestion that an action that, even if long removed from, will still be remembered by the muscles, and handled with the inherent abilities one has inside."

There was always other options, or course, but he thought he should point that out.

"I just didn't want you feeling self-conscious over the kiss."

[unkindled_madness]

Oh, it does. Sephiroth is just a weirdo who has never ridden a bicycle.

"I don't." Feel self-conscious, that is. "A kiss was your intention, after all, wasn't it?"

If he misread the situation, that's... different.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Oh, it most definitely was," he agreed, ducking his head shyly and smiling. It really had been what he wanted. "I hope it was at least good for you."

[unkindled_madness]

"Yes. Which is unusual. But then, you are unusual."

He means that as a compliment. He dislikes the majority of people, so that's what's usual.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Have been for a good many years. I've learned to take pride in it," he admitted. Then his hand came up to brush Sepiroth's cheek. "Like your eyes. But the ways I'm unusual are far less beautiful."