polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2021-10-01 03:00 pm

👻🎃🤡

POLYMYTHOS: THE CARNIVAL

✖ 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

helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
She'd never seen young mutant kids trying to show off their moves. That could be a serious thing when not everyone was even humanoid.

"And are you good at that?" he asked, smiling at the question. There was an urge to reach out, to touch her, to know the skill. But he resisted.
detectivemiracle: (021)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"Mm, probably not!" Chloe laughs, her ponytail bouncing a bit as she moves to the music. "I quit that a long time ago, too. Wasn't what I wanted! So why'd you learn so many instruments? Just for fun? Because you could?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"Didn't learn them. Not really," David answered. "I know things people around me know. Or I did. People around me just happened to be talented."

And David's talent just happened to be being something like a mirror to the people around him. in a way, it really was a good thing, because it meant he could be more, and he was responsible enough to manage it.

"Like, I can break dance, but I never learned."
detectivemiracle: (034)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
“…huh.” Chloe stops her strange bounce-dancing for a moment to think about that. “That’s your superpower? I’m not sure I’d want that one. Super strength, sure. Laser beam hands. But… that?”

Her brow furrows slightly. No, it doesn’t sound like something she’d want. Even with all kinds of potential knowledge opened up to her.
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"I was born psychomimetric. I passively and telepathically copy the knowledge and skills of those around me. Not like, powers skills, but skills like 'dancing' or 'cooking' and the like."

Though he knows people with super strength and... Fuck, he supposed in a way Trevor had laser beam hands.

"It's a lot."
detectivemiracle: (162)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
“Right. Your superpower.”

She’s always going to call it a superpower. It’s wayyyyyy easier than… whatever that word was he just used.

Still.

“I’d feel weird about it,” she continues, still mellow, and pretty oblivious to any offense she may cause, frankly. “Lucifer - he’s good at the piano. Really good. And he sings. If I could, what, touch him? And be as good as him at music? I’m not sure that’d really feel like me, you know? That’s his thing, not mine. He taught himself, he loves music. It’s part of what makes him… him. And there are things I’m good at that he’s not, and it’s probably a good thing that we have those different skills.”

She shrugs expansively. “I did steal his mojo once, though. Kind of. On accident. It was… interesting!”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"My mutation," he agreed. Because yeah, he didn't think of it as a super power. But geez, people always had trouble with psychomimetry as a word. That was just how life went.

"It's like that, but it's also not. A lot of what I take back home, it becomes a part of me. Like my brain is some big storage warehouse, filled with boxes and boxes of stuff that I can access if I need. It's weird but it's also nice at times."
detectivemiracle: (064)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
“Eh.” Chloe isn’t sure it’d be nice, but - “I guess if you’re a superhero you need to save the world from supervillains sometimes. Might be useful then?”

Still. She rather likes having her own, unique set of skills and knowledge. Even with its limitations.
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh it wasn't nice. BUt it was useful. And he'd used it many times to help and protect people he cared about.

"Yeah. And when you really need to build a holographic training center for your friends in a cave under your school," David answered with a wide smile.

Yes, that was absolute something he had done.
detectivemiracle: (033)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
“Sounds… sure, why not?”

Chloe is, frankly, baffled at the very notion. Being high as a kite doesn’t completely turn off her mom brain, that’s for sure.

“That’s a lot of responsibility,” she simply says, tilting her head back and closing her eyes for a moment. Reminded of the responsibility she’s planning to take on back home. Nerve-wracking.
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm told I've been like an old man since I was sixteen," David answered with a shrug. Maybe not all the time, but it doesn't bother him. In fact, he's still smiling quite happily. "Sorta makes me lucky."
detectivemiracle: (006)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
“I’ve been told stuff like that, too,” she murmurs. “But I didn’t miss my high school prom because I was saving the world.”

“I was just doing a commercial in Pasadena.”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, I missed mine because the school got blown up. Again," David answered with a shrug and a peaceful smile. He should care more about that, right? Oh well.

"Commercials are a bit more stressful."
detectivemiracle: (008)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
“Your school blew up?”

Shit.

“Maybe I should pull Trixie when we…”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
What? David laughed and shook his head.

"If her school isn't a school for a marginalized racial group that also has super powers, not likely to be a problem for her. Let it be, give her a chance to live."
detectivemiracle: (124)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
“She’s in public school,” Chloe confirms. Just regular old Los Angeles public school. “But her mom is dating the devil,” she points out. “The celestial stuff… it get dangerous sometimes.”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Has the celestial stuff ever come after an innocent like her before?" David asked.

That would be bad, a little girl getting hit for Lucifer's sake. From what little she explained of the man, he worried the man would blame himself.
detectivemiracle: (112)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
“Not… directly,” Chloe says, thinking a bit. “But I’ve been targeted. And Michael - “ she spits that name like a curse - “I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Michael? There's only one name that could connect to that.

"As in the archangel and Lucifer's brother?"

Shit, of course. If Lucifer exists then perhaps angels exist too. That's... messed up.
detectivemiracle: (208)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
“Twin brother,” Chloe confirms, her face twisting in abject disgust. “He showed up, when Lucifer was in Hell, pretending to be Lucifer. He might’ve even convinced me, except that he’s a terrible kisser.”

She pauses a moment, to let that sink in. “And when that didn’t work, and Lucifer came back - he kidnapped me. Broke into my home and took me. Trixie wasn’t with me that night, otherwise I don’t even know what would’ve happened.”

So much stuff that she wouldn’t otherwise be telling a near-stranger, if not for that damn cotton candy.
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Twin brother? David's jaw would drop if he wasn't so cheery on his cotton candy. Speaking of, he was munchy and so he popped another piece in his mouth and let it melt on his tongue.

"You've been kissed by Lucifer and the warrior the archangels? Geez, your life is very different. I feel normal for the moment."
detectivemiracle: (021)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
“I only kissed Michael under false pretenses!” Chloe points out, eyes widening.

“But oh my god, you’re right, my life is totally crazy. I try to keep Trixie away from it, I really do.” She puts her hands up to her face with a dramatic sort of groan. “It doesn’t always work, though…”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
That's true, but still, it's something that someone has to point out.

"I'm sorry. None of this can be easy for you. YOu're going through trauma, and they put your kid at risk.

And there likely isn't anything a mortal can do about that. Other than accept the vacation she's unofficially gained.
detectivemiracle: (007)

[personal profile] detectivemiracle 2021-10-05 07:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Chloe shakes her head a little. “It was my choice, to have Lucifer in my life. I chose all of it. I just worry about Trixie because she didn’t. I want her to be safe, and have a normal childhood. That’s all.”

She squints. “Does that make me selfish? Keeping all the celestial stuff in my life even knowing it might put her in danger?”
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2021-10-05 07:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"Childhoods are very, very rarely 'normal'," he told her with a shrug. Even the 'normal' people he knew proved that to be true.

"You're not selfish, to want to have something for yourself. But the fact that you worry over her safety says you're a good mom. What you do with it is up to you though."

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