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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.
no subject
"A fight? With who? Or what?" without leaving the bed he strikes a match and lights a candle on the little table in their caravan. It's not enough to read by from all the way over here but it casts enough low light to let him get a look at his boyfriend.
"Yeah, we got your ass inked, you tried to give me a handy on the roller coaster and then said something about eating rabbits and fucked off," he wraps himself around Kyle and hauls the blankets up over both of them. "You're not as hairy. But you're not as happy either. What the hell happened, babe?"
no subject
He sighs gratefully when Quentin pulls him close, but then the rundown of his exploits has him groaning.
"Oh my GOD, I'm so sorry" he laments. "Fucking... I was so scared this would happen some day but then I always seemed fine when I was around Carter and he's from New Jersey..." He pauses.
"Wait, we tattooed my ass?!" His eyes go wide. "And you--! You got one! I remember touching it and seeing... a bird? Something exploding?" He shifts so he can see Quentin's eyes.
"What did I get?"
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"Wait, I thought it was because you were bit by a werewolf... a werewolf from Seaside Heights or whatever I guess," he shrugs. "Carter did this to you somehow?"
He's just settling again when that revelation startled Kyle back into some anxious state. "Yeah it's a whole thing..." he mutters, dismissing the massive chest piece that pokes just slightly out of the tee shirt he wears. "You ahm... you got a little..." he draws the shape in the air with his finger and it leaves a slowly dissipating pink trail. "Omega," he grins a guilty grin.
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Kyle stares, and then starts giggling. "I. Oh. Oh my god. I bet because I've had this song in my head for ages... here, listen." He puts his forehead o Quentin's and thinks.
"Your name on my ass tattooed," he says. "Oh my god you must think I'm so fucking clingy."
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If there's a way to take Quentin from irritated to adoring, it's this. Kyle's unexpected effort at sharing positively warms Quentin's heart and so does that song when he brushes away the ambient thoughts to hear that tune and that voice alone. Soon enough he's giggling along with Kyle.
"You are clingy," he snickers but before Kyle has time to get neurotic about it Quentin grabs his face and kisses like he's trying to perform CPR. "I had no idea how much I'd be into that, but I am very into it," he says grinning his dopey grin and kissing Kyle again.
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Kyle blushes red, but before he can start apologising Quentin is kissing him. Tired and embarrassed as he is, he has no problem finding the energy to kiss him back. He smiles back, hands coming up to brush over the sides of Quentin's head.
"You'll have to show me your tattoo again," he says softly before his lips part under Quentin's to welcome his tongue.
no subject
Thankfully, kissing Kyle even harder is a good way to push those feelings away.
"You're so fucking stupid cute," he mutters almost like it makes him angry and he enjoys that all the same.
Reaching down his back he drags his tee shirt up over his head and grins stupidly at Kyle. For having just called his boyfriend clingy for his tattoo he can't wait to see what sort of remarks a piece like this earns him.
no subject
Kyle pushes Quentin to arms length so he can see it, really see it. He stares. He reads.he grins.
"KYLE 4 LITERALLY EVER?" he asks, giggling. Then he slings an arm around Quentin's neck and hauls him close. "And you got yours first," he muses in a low voice. His fingers brush over the letters... and he freezes as his mind is once again flooded with memories that aren't his.
Kyle gasps, eyelids fluttering. "Quentin," he says. "Quick, touch my ass!"
no subject
He hyuks uncontrollably when Kyle laughs at him. He can't even think of a time he was rendered so speechless, let alone so happy to be so.
And only when that rush of ideas and images comes to Kyle's head again does he even remember that they discovered this once before. Something happens when those tattoos are touched.
Wild eyed and excited at the prospect he blindly gropes for Kyle's ass until he's bestowed with visions inspired by that Ω.
no subject
Kyle watches Quentin's face, excited that he's figured this out.
no subject
It's dizzying in a way that makes him glad they're already lying down. And then it's embarrassing in a way that makes feel stupid just to catch Kyle's gaze directly. He wraps his arms around the man and buries his face against the crook of his neck instead.
"You're such a sap," he chuckles, knowing that's a blade that cuts both ways.
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"That's what yours did to me, you know. Like... you really are nuts about me."
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"You're cute and funny and even if you're a werewolf who ditches me to turn a petting zoo into a buffet once in a while, I've never liked somebody in a way that didn't seem... I dunno. One sided I guess," he shrugs and snuggles against Kyle's shoulder. He already feels warmer than he did when he climbed into bed, Quentin thinks.
no subject
"I feel like I've spent the last ten years waiting for somebody to look at me and say, 'I like you, Kyle.' And now you have, and I can't imagine wasting time on anybody BUT you." His body, exhausted from both the night before and the change back, is indeed warming up.
"It's not many men who would let Were-Kyley-B into bed the morning after he ditched them," he points out. "I'm still so sorry about that. I owe you a proper handjob."
no subject
He chuckles against Kyle's chest and looks up at him from there. "Not gonna lie, he's not like my favourite person," Quentin admits. "But he is you. I checked. And I'd take that version of you over none of you at all any day."
Plus, it's not just your fault about the handjob. I don't think I could have kept focused enough to stay hard," he admits bashfully.
no subject
"It was a dumb fucking idea, but I can see why we tried it. Although I couldn't do anything so public normally," he says, sounding apologetic. "I like things a little safer, I guess. Like in a bed, away from people." He kisses the top of Quentin's head.
"You still taste good. Except now there's no chance of me ACTUALLY trying to eat you. Literally, I mean."
no subject
Speaking of Kyle's hair he twirls a lock of it around his finger as he watches his boyfriend talk about his sexual preferences. It's all very adult, Quentin thinks.
"You're the funniest. You're like the horniest dude I know, but like. In a wholesome way? I dunno. It's cute," he snickers and pecks Kyle's cheek. "I like voyeury stuff. Sometimes I think I like exhibitiony stuff, but it might just be a fantasy thing. I'd probably be stricken with performance anxiety in real life."
no subject
He looks a little less upset when Quentin touches his curls. "I know, the hair is the WORST," he agrees.
"Voyeur-y, huh? Like how so? Like, uhm. Watching someone jack it?"
no subject
"EVERY night?" His eyes go wide a minute. Then he takes a breath and composes himself. "Ok. That's ok. I can deal. I'll just adjust my sleep schedule a little and be up when you get home. We can shower together," he decides. "How does it get fixed anyway? Can I help?" Maybe the first time in history Quentin's uttered those words with no ulterior motive.
"Yeah. That's hot. Or like watching someone's fantasies in their own head. Flipping through their spank bank like it's a copy of Playboy," that's probably confessing more than what he means to point out, but oh well.
no subject
Kyle looks miserable, but at Quentin's surprisingly supportive reaction he relaxes a little. "Thanks," he says softly. "And I dunno. I think I'm gonna go back to the Haunted House, look for clues. I'll always accept your help, dude."
Kyle's eyebrows lift. "Whose fantasies have you been jerking off to, Q?"
no subject
"It's ok, babe. We'll figure it out," he promises wrapping his wiry self around Kyle in some kind of full body hug. "We'll unwerewolf you, Kyle. Or we'll fully werewolf me too. Either way, we'll make it work."
"None! I mean. Not for an age. Look, you can't give a preteen boy all these brain powers and expect him to just not go looking at people's weird and intrusive thoughts. But I haven't in forever. Honest. Not even yours."
no subject
"You'd werewolf yourself for me? Wow. You'd put up with the itchy hair, that's impressive." He's testing, but also genuinely touched.
"I'd argue about what an invasion of privacy that is, but then I remember how fucking awful that age was, so I'll give you a pass." He smooches the top of Quentin's head and touches his ass. "Would you want to see mine?"
no subject
"Oh man, I forgot about the hair..."" he admits. "But it's not twenty-four-seven hair, right? You're not hairy now. So I could probably deal. And at least we'd be hairy together. So yeah. I'd werewolf myself for you if it came to that," he promises.
"Oh, it's undeniably hugely unethical. But it made me feel... I dunno. Less weird I guess. So it didn't really dawn on me that I probably shouldn't until I was older," he shrugs a bit, not like he's wildly regretful. Perhaps a bit apologetic, but more than completely prepared to call it what it was. "Of COURSE I wanna see yours! I get a little glimpse at them every time we fool around but," he taps the middle of Kyle's forehead lightly and grins. "I would love to live right there in the thick of it for as long as you'd let me."
no subject
"Everybody feels weird at that age, yeah," Kyle says, nodding. "I sure did, anyway."
He wiggles his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? I think I'd be okay letting you take a look, if you want to."
no subject
"Exactly! It's was just a weird pervy phase. I got over it. Voyeurism though... never got over that exactly."
"Fuck yes I wanna," he grins. "Next time I've got your pants off I wanna get all up in that sexual psyche. Show me your slutty thoughts, Kyle," he snickers.
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