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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.

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.

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Chloe doesn’t feel particularly confused, honestly. Mostly it just sounds - “That sounds like a horrible realization to come to,” she says sympathetically. “Your entire life predetermined by someone else. The illusion of choice.”

Again, she can weirdly almost relate. She’d been afraid, for a time, that that was her life, as well. Engineered for a purpose. Her actions only leading to what someone else had planned for her.

“It’s when you realise that things you believed with absolute certainty aren’t true. When you can’t justify the things that happened to you any more.” More head shaking follows. She’s aware she’s more talking for herself at this point. Saying things out loud because she can. Maybe it does help. Only it’s all close to the bone.

“Thank you for letting me ramble on. I didn’t mean to bend your ear quite so much,” she says with a self-conscious smile. “How have you been doing?”

“You’re welcome to bend my ear,” Chloe says with a faint smile. “It’s not like I don’t have time to listen. While we’re stuck here, we’re all each other has.”

She holds out her hands vaguely. “And, for what it’s worth, I think you have every right to be angry about it. It’s not always bad or wrong to be angry.”

“You know, it’s kind of funny… I think we’re quite alike in some ways, as well as sharing a name.” Usually the android is playing the role the detective has taken on and so the sentiments echo ones she’s given herself.

“And I do know you’re right, about the anger. Logically, I know you’re right. It’s just… quite an adjustment to make. Feeling it, I mean.” Particularly without that little voice inside her telling her how foul and loathsome she is for having the gall to experience any form of discontent.

“Maybe we are,” Chloe says thoughtfully. And, though it’s not really something she relishes talking about, she offers up something else.

“Not too long ago, I found out that… that I’m a miracle. That God… I guess you could say He engineered my existence. Not the same as you, at all, I’m sure, but… I kind of had to grapple with suddenly thinking I was made for a reason.”

How curious. She never would have guessed they could have that sort of thing in common. In a way, it makes her feel better. Less like an oddity, selfish as it is.

"Do you mind if I ask what you were engineered for?" It's asked carefully, and with the acceptance of not getting an answer. She knows how those kinds of questions can be. "I think it would be far harder, though, going through what you have," she murmurs. At least she'd always known she was created for a purpose, regardless of whether she could fulfil it or not. "How did you manage it?"

"I... don't think I'll ever know for sure," Chloe admits. "I didn't get around to asking Him and honestly, I don't know if He would've told me even if I had."

God - from what Lucifer has told her, anyway - was always pretty enigmatic.

"But, uh. It's pretty obvious I was put on Earth to meet Lucifer. I'm - immune to his abilities. The only human who isn't affected by them."

"I can understand that. I don't know God, but I do know a man who likes to take on his role." She offers a small smile, avoiding making the moment too light and thus seem dismissive. Chloe doesn't want to brush aside anything the detective has to say.

Ah. That puts a whole new spin on things, considering she and Lucifer are together. Their circumstances aren't a perfect mirror of one another but she feels a burgeoning kinship with the woman who shares her name. It might be a leap of her own logic but she can imagine some of the questions Chloe may have asked herself.

"But you chose to be with him?" she asks, almost states, softly. The connotations of it aren't lost on her.

“Eventually,” Chloe says with a faint laugh. “After grappling with it for a while, and realizing that it was my choice.”

She sort of glances down, scuffing her foot in the grass absently.

“The thing is, Lucifer’s abilities are all about desire. He draws desires out of people, and people are drawn to him because of it. He’s kind of like a mirror, people look at him and see their own desires reflected back at them.”

And then she glances back at the android and smiles. “But not me. When I look at Lucifer, I just see him. The good, the bad, the obnoxious. I’m pretty much the only human who can. God didn’t manufacture my feelings for Lucifer. He just let me see him, the real him. I’m the one who decided I liked what I saw.”

It all brings a soft, and undeniably relieved, smile to the android's face. Any engineering aside, she chose. The importance of it cannot be understated.

"I can't imagine anything better than truly being seen," she murmurs, before she realises she's voiced the thought aloud. She blushes, cheeks tinging blue. Not only might the remark have been a tad too personal, it also conjures images of Connor. Her fellow android on the island, who said he's always seen her.

"It takes quite a person to make peace with knowing what you know. To be able to accept and own your feelings as yours. I can see why you're a miracle."

Chloe doesn’t miss that reaction. Not a bit. She’s a detective, observation is what she does.

“I think it’s something most people want - someone who truly sees them,” she says carefully. “I think not having someone like that can be very lonely.” She knows Lucifer was, though he would almost never admit it. “And, you know, this gift - it goes both ways. I got a best friend out of it. My partner. My… soul mate, I guess you could say. I get to know an incredible man who’s kind and generous and funny.”

"Oh, yes, I completely agree. What you said about Lucifer being like a mirror... I think that can happen in general. People projecting their desires onto others in the hope of finding what they're looking for." It could just be her frame of reference, however. The lonely part she doesn't address. It's quite canny of the detective to bring it up. Perhaps nothing needs to be directly said.

"It's wonderful. Even if there is an element of predetermination, it doesn't diminish what you've both found. As you say - it's a gift." A strange swelling of emotion she can't quite name or place rises in her. She's so very pleased for Chloe. That's about as much as she can clearly identify.

“It definitely wasn’t inevitable. God can take credit for tossing us together, I guess, but the rest was all us. For better or worse.”

That’s how she prefers it.

“Anyway, I’m glad that you can, you know. Experience the full gamut of emotions. Even if some of them are messy. Lots of them, even.”

"Everything feels quite messy, to be honest," she admits quietly. Internal disarray aside, there are also the wider implications stemming from her actions. Ones she isn't sure she's ready to acknowledge yet.

"My household... Mess isn't something we have. My creator - Elijah - he's a stoic man." It's a kind descriptor for a man who values his own brand of reason and logic above all else. Who largely shuns feelings as irrational. Almost primitive. Unless they're somehow of benefit or interest to him. "It's an added challenge to navigating that gamut, I suppose."

“Everyone has to learn how to deal with emotions,” Chloe says with what she hopes is a reassuring smile. “It doesn’t come naturally to anyone. Emotions are big and confusing and sometimes they hurt. If it helps: you’re not alone. They’re like that for everyone.”

She is reassuring. Chloe makes sure to give her a smile to prove that she's doing a good job and that the efforts are very much appreciated. If everyone struggles, she isn't so much of a separate entity in that respect. And that's nice to know. There's enough about her that removes her from the human experience without that being one of them.

"Thank you. You're so kind to listen to me like this." Maybe that kindness will extend a little further as another issue is playing on the android's mind. "It's not just me, though. I have a friend here - Connor - who's going through similar. I've promised to be there for him and I want to be, very much so. That's what worries me about being a mess - that I won't be together enough to help him."

"If having your shit together was a requirement for giving advice, almost no one would be qualified," Chloe says with a faint snort. "I certainly wouldn't be. If anything, I'd say you and your friend are lucky - you're able to go through it, and learn, together."

“You seem very together to me,” she tells Chloe sincerely. Though she does appreciate the sentiment.

Looking down with a slight smile, she nods. “Yes, I think I’m very lucky. He’s a very special person. And one day I might even be able to convince him of that.” She laughs softly, putting a bit of distance between herself and those particular feelings.

“Although… If no one really has their shit together then we’re all going through it and learning together, right?” This time the smile says that should Chloe ever need someone to lean on, the android will be at the ready.

Chloe glances down and away for a moment, clearing her throat. "Trust me, I don't have it together. Maybe it's from being a parent: you learn to act like you know what you're doing, because your kid needs you to."

For all that she appears to be an open book, there's a lot that she hasn't - can't - wouldn't - tell anyone. There's a howling void inside her where Dan used to be and it's too, too much for her to talk about with anyone.

But she doesn't miss what Chloe says about Conner, and it hits very close to home. She glances back up. "If there's one thing I've learned about loving someone who doesn't love themselves, it's that you can't force them to see themselves the way you see them. All you can do is... keep loving them, and be patient."

"If you're able to act that way, I'd say there must be some element of truth to it." While she isn't a mother, she can understand having to put up a veneer so inner struggles and maelstroms are never seen by another. Not that she applies the logic she can so readily trot out for the detective to herself, of course.

For a moment Chloe's eyes widen, about to protest that it really isn't like that between the two of them. But loving a friend is a thing, isn't it? Yes. She knows that. Everyone knows that. "Yes, you're right. I'd never want to try and force it as then it could be that someone parrots it to try and make you happy. But it's hard to watch someone be so hard on themselves, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Chloe agrees, almost sadly. "Especially when they hurt themselves because of it."

Chloe's quiet for a little while, considering. "Maybe we can be a mirror for them. I don't think that's quite the same as trying to get someone to see themselves the way we do. More... just a reminder that what they might see isn't reflected back in everyone."

"Maybe," she agrees, thinking of the way she lashed out at Lucifer the last time they spoke - the way she took his admission and threw it back in his face, blaming him for Dan's death. She's a little ashamed of what she said, of course, and whenever she sees Lucifer again, she owes him an apology. She just hopes she didn't damage him further.

"Sorry," she says after a moment, trying for a faint smile. "I - sorry. I'll... leave you to it."

Judging by the detective’s sudden eagerness to leave, she suspects she’s struck a nerve or said something she shouldn’t. Chloe reaches out to put a hand lightly on the woman’s arm.

“You don’t have to go. Stay, if you want to. Whatever it is, you don’t have to talk about it. You just don’t have to be alone with it.”

She offers a little smile. If she needs to go, needs the space, Chloe won’t stop her, but she won’t give the impression that the company is no longer welcome, either.

Chloe smiles faintly. "Thanks. I appreciate the offer. I think I do need to be alone for a bit, though. I'll see you around."

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