👻🎃🤡

[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!

---

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

Comments

[neverwither]

Well, anything you like, really. There’s sightseeing, of course. Enjoying the landmarks, architecture and beauty spots. You could visit galleries, museums, go shopping. Sample the local eateries and try new cuisines. You could hike trails or dive in the sea… It’s all rich with possibility.

What sort of thing do you think you might like to do?

[unkindled_madness]

[Like he's going to go shopping.]

Museums, perhaps. Or... mountain climbing.

[He did like Wutai's landscape, enemy territory though it was.]

[neverwither]

Those both sound like very fine plans. Now all we need to do is unlock the secrets of interdimensional travel and many a world will be your oyster.

( It’s not mocking in the slightest. What a wonder it would be if that one of the Ancient’s secrets could be revealed. )

[unkindled_madness]

[He may not know what an oyster is, but he thinks he takes her meaning.]

Indeed. It's clearly possible, so I intend to make it possible for myself.

[neverwither]

Maybe it’s what happens at the end of all of this? Maybe you can choose to go home or you can choose to go anywhere… It could be fitting for the idea of being an active agent in shaping oneself and one’s destiny. Travellers who could continue to travel.

( A long shot, probably, but an android can dream. )

[unkindled_madness]

I believe I'm already qualified to decide that.

[He doesn't want to wait around on someone else to grant him permission.]

And I don't believe the Ancient should be allowed to continue what she's doing.

[neverwither]

You don’t think a case could be made for the ends justifying the means?

( A brief flicker of distaste appears on her face as she realises she sounds like Elijah. Granted, it’s a standard enough question for philosophical debate, but it’s one she’s heard as a statement for all manner of justifications. )

[unkindled_madness]

[He raises an eyebrow, because that isn't the sort of argument he would expect from her.]

What ends, exactly?

Where is the proof to her methodology? If any of us are becoming measurably "better," how much can it be attributed to her?

[neverwither]

I’m not necessarily certain how much can be attributed to her, as such. But I would say that her methodology, dubious as it may be, can create a space for those changes.

Perhaps it’s hard for me to see it objectively because… if it hadn’t been for this space and the people within it, I don’t think I would have been able to break through my wall. And really… it comes down to choice, doesn’t it? Not to be here, I know that, but what you do with it.

[unkindled_madness]

It could be a choice, though. She could make it that way. There is some benefit to having distance from... everything. Many might choose this, or some version of it.

[neverwither]

Would you have chosen it?

( It isn’t facetious - she’s genuinely curious. Her own relationship with choice has been… questionable at best. )

[unkindled_madness]

Not this, specifically.

[He glances in the direction of the noise and lights of the carnival. Definitely not this.]

But the opportunity to visit an entirely different world, leaving my life behind... perhaps.

[neverwither]

You’re a lot braver than some.

( Far more so than Chloe, obviously. That goes without saying. )

I suppose… all I’m really trying to say is that I can see the logic in what the Ancient does. If someone could be helped or pain could be relieved, I can see why she would do this and perhaps not factor in any sense of right or wrong. Perhaps those things aren’t a question for her. At the end of the day, the notion of not being able to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped still stands, I think, as we haven’t been made to do anything, not really.

[unkindled_madness]

Brave?

[It might be brave if it frightened him.]

...well. I suppose if you'd prefer to think of it that way. My approach doesn't seem especially popular.

[He just wants to kill one (1) ancient being and take her power. Why are more people not on board?]

[neverwither]

Yes. Brave.

( She’s aware she often comes at things from a different perspective - not just with Sephiroth but in general. She still sticks to her opinions on some matters regardless. )

This might seem like a silly question but what is your approach, exactly?

( She suspects it might involve fighting, or something of that ilk. Which feels a little mean, but if the shoe fits… )

[unkindled_madness]

The Ancient is our captor, and therefor our enemy. We ought to kill her.

It seems very simple to me.

[Perfect fit, that shoe.]

[neverwither]

( On the one hand, yes, that does seem very simple. On the other... hmm... )

...Is there a chance she might be serving as a proxy for you?

[unkindled_madness]

[He throws her a quizzical look.]

I don't see how.

[neverwither]

An available enemy that could be fought and rendered powerless.

[unkindled_madness]

[Chloe may be onto something but he's not following.]

If anything, it seems I could use a proxy for her. She isn't precisely available.

[neverwither]

Perhaps there's a point being made about not being able to fight your way out of things. Or, on the larger scale, that we can't rely on the methods that may have worked for us in the past.

( The methods that are perhaps seen as something that has held them back or kept them stuck rather than growing. )

[unkindled_madness]

There is nothing reliable in waiting on someone else to grant us our freedom.

[That's a thing that can keep a person stuck, in his opinion.]

[neverwither]

But there’s also nothing to guarantee that killing the Ancient would grant freedom or power.

[unkindled_madness]

I agree.

It may require coercion instead.

[Sephiroth no.]

[neverwither]

Do you think there might be anything she would want other than the idea of our betterment? For whatever reason she might want it, it might truly be all the interest she has in us.