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👻🎃🤡
✖ 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.
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.
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.
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.
The kind of jams that last all night.
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.
concert and candy
"Only humans? I thought everyone enjoyed a good bit of music." Well. Maybe not everyone, but he's not counting anyone dull enough to think dancing a waste of time or music nothing more than noise. They really don't deserve it.
"Perhaps not so much as you, though," he adds, gaze doing nothing to conceal laughter, as he glances over Connor again, and the very bold choices he's made with his attire.
no subject
"I haven't heard a lot of music. I didn't know if I'd like it or not. I wanted to like it, so I guess I do." He smiles widely, gesturing at Anders to start dancing with him, getting back into the groove of the music.
"Mhmhm." He closes his eyes, tilting his head back as the sound washes over the crowd. He doesn't even care that the look he caught from the other man was barely concealed amusement, he's too far gone under the influence of the blue cotton candy and the beat of the song. But then he suddenly remembers something, eyes snapping open to find Anders again.
"Have you seen my tattoo? It's brilliant."
Turning so his back is visible now, Anders will see the very large Cyberlife triangle and logo splashed across his skin. How else will people notice it if he doesn't go shirtless?
no subject
"Really? What sort of rock did you live under?" There's less judgement than curiosity in his question, but he finds that admission rather relatable, after all.
Connor's excitement over his tattoo, on the other hand, Anders can't exactly share. He screws up his face as he considers it, eyeing Connor's back with confused skepticism. "...Is it?"
no subject
He stares at Anders though, baffled. "I lived in a closet at Cyberlife. There were no rocks in it." He smiles again. "And no music, either. But that's okay, there's music now!"
Connor swirls back around, craning his neck to look over his shoulder at the bright blue tattoo imprinted there. He catches Anders eyes again, questioningly. "Isn't it? It's a beautiful shade of blue, and it lets everyone know I'm an android so they don't have to ask, and triangles are pleasantly geometric. What's not to like?"
no subject
"I do like blue. But... It's so boring." Just a few shapes, nothing exciting there. Maybe the android bit is a tad interesting, but only because Anders has so recently learned what that even means. (Making it seem even less sensical to have the word tattooed on oneself, at that. He'd never go around with "human" plastered across his chest. It's self-explanatory, already.)
"Why not get something more colorful? Or creative? Like mine." Pulling up his sleeve, Anders shows off an expansive tattoo winding up from his wrist - depicting an enormous tiger grappling with a bloodied suit of faceless armor. A scene far more worthy of temporary adornment, in his opinion.
no subject
He stops dancing again to stare dolefully at Anders. "Boring? Boring?" He steps closer to peer at the tattoo Anders is showing off, poking at it experimentally as he studies it intently.
"Alright, I'll give you that it's pretty interesting, but what does it mean? My tattoo is a recreation of my old Cyberlife jacket. It's perfectly straightforward and self-explanatory. I don't understand yours."
no subject
There were days when that stupid cat was the only person I saw. Except for it not being a person. Still. I liked him. Poor Mister Wiggums.
Why 'poor Mister Wiggums'?
The warmly lit hall vanishes, briefly, a memory within a memory recalled - there's hardly any light in the dungeon, and Anders remembers himself as little more than a shell, in his solitary confinement, hollow-eyed and filthy. He presses his face to the bars, trying to find the right angle as he peers toward the sounds of steel clashing and horrible shrieking and something unnatural's guttural roar.
He sounds as light as ever as he relays that memory to his companion, and the kitten in his lap bites down on his hand.
He became possessed by a rage demon - but he did take out three Templars. I was never more proud.
"—But maybe I don't get it, since I don't know a lot about androids. That's all sort of new to me."
no subject
Anders doesn't seem to have noticed his minor distress as he carries on talking, but Connor finds that he can't go back and pick up the thread of their conversation. What was happening in the real world while he was caught up in the memory is a complete blank to him, disturbingly so. Instead of replying to whatever Anders is saying, he blurts out a slightly nagging question instead, staring at Anders warily.
"Who's Mister Wiggums?"
no subject
A similar wave of disorientation washes over Anders; although the cat hadn't been far from his mind (he'd been thinking of him when he got this silly tattoo painted on, after all), he hadn't mentioned him anywhere in his brief answering spiel. It was just some made-up improvisation on the image's meaning, of course, no hint of the truth - but Connor appears to have seen through to some aspect of it, regardless.
Which is alarming, considering the implication.
"He was a cat," he answers, haltingly. "The tower mouser, at Kinloch. I was quite fond of him, but - how do you know that name?"
no subject
He continues to stare at Anders, trying to convince himself that the man truly isn't responsible for what just happened, for whatever it was that Connor had unwittingly experienced. That he isn't another android. But no, unless he has some impressive cloaking technology, he appears to Connor's scanners as he always has, another normal human. So how- wait.
Keeping his eyes on Anders', he reaches out carefully to grasp his arm, looking away only to examine the tattoo there without touching it again.
"I saw something. A warm hearth, and a woman, with pointed ears and wearing armor. There was a cat, an orange tabby. Someone was holding it- you were holding it, I think it was your perspective? -telling a story to the woman. A rage demon, possessing the cat, maybe? Poor Mister Wiggums."
He finally looks up to catch Anders' eyes, questioningly. "It was a memory, wasn't it? One of your memories." His gaze wanders to the tattoo again, as if it could come alive and answer all his questions.
no subject
"Why are you seeing my memories?" And then, a touch more defensively, "You'd better stay out of my head."
no subject
"I- I don't know. I don't know. I touched your tattoo and all of a sudden I was inside of a memory. One of your memories. I didn't mean to, I promise!"
He looks a little panicky, so he puts even more distance between them. "I won't do it again!"
no subject
"I don't know what that was, either, but... Maybe you shouldn't just go touching anyone else, for a while."
I have no idea how I missed this I'm so sorry
"I won't, I won't, you're right, that wasn't a good idea. I won't."
Connor has put enough distance between the two of them that other people are beginning to fill the gap. Maybe that was his intention all along?
no subject
Or at least an easy out. As dancing strangers filter into the open space between them, Anders turns to retreat into the wall of concert goers behind him.