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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
Sephiroth listens intently to Hawks' explanation. He really does sound in earnest, like some of the younger or newer recruits to SOLDIER, the ones who joined in hopes of becoming heroes. Their enthusiasm is naive and misplaced, but there remains something almost charming about it. Sephiroth has never spoken up to disillusion them. Sometimes, SOLDIER does save people.
"It did," he answers. "It's been nearly two years now, counting my time here. It was... a more honest thing, in the thick of it." Does he sound like he misses it? A strange thing, to miss war. "I think I was better suited to dealing with the enemy than the media, or public expectation. I imagine fighting 'villains' would have more appeal as well."
no subject
Hawks himself is of two minds about the whole thing. If he wasn't a hero, he doesn't know what he'd do, either. But he's at least personable in a way some heroes don't manage to be.
"You gotta get a manager or something to do the PR stuff for you, man," he says, back to easygoing, though he's tempered a bit thinking about the reality of war. What they're doing now at home, fighting the League of Villains, it's not a war with soldiers, but it's still got the gravity of it. People have died. More people will die. He doesn't like thinking about that.
"You seem like you'd be good at fighting villains. It's not like being a soldier, though. We don't kill anyone unless there's no choice. It's part of what sets us apart from villains, I guess." Hawks knows it's not always cut and dry, though. He's spent enough time making nice with the League of Villains to know that. He doesn't like doing it, not because he's worried about danger, but because he's just not a deceptive person by nature. He doesn't like lying. Sure, he lets people think he's maybe not as smart or perceptive or capable as he is because it gives him an advantage. But outright lying? Being a spy? He hates that whole gig.
no subject
Especially if heroes apparently don't kill people. A brief, wry smile as that occurs to him. Failed step one.
"If you don't kill your villains, then what do you do with them? Imprison them?" On the one hand, it seems soft, to allow your enemy to live. On the other hand, he would rather someone try to kill him than imprison him. So maybe there's something to be said for it as a deterrant.
no subject
Well, and back home, they do have the Nomu, which seem kinda like monsters. Not much is totally outside of Hawks's realm of imagination at this point.
"Yeah, we imprison them. There are special prisons to keep people in if they have some really out there quirks or they're very dangerous. We have laws, y'know, so while heroes get some leeway on some laws that civilians wouldn't, killing people is still illegal."
He shakes his head, though. "I dunno if it's always the best to do it like that. There are some people who are pretty dangerous, and even imprisoning them…is it really the safest thing for society? I'm not always sure." This kind of attitude is part of why his ScryWatch is yellow and not green. His moral centre isn't exactly the same as every hero's, but he's not generally upset about it.
no subject
Sephiroth prefers to maintain a hard distinction between monsters and people, giving himself a clear side to exist on. Even a metaphorical designation of monster, well-earned though it might be, can make him question his already dubious relationship with humanity.
"I'm not certain I'm qualified to speak on social good. It is my understanding that you allow an enemy to live either because it serves some purpose, or because they're no longer a threat to you."
The reason Sephiroth arrived with a yellow ScryWatch is because he hasn't technically done any murder yet, not because he's exactly against it in all circumstances.
no subject
He'll have to reconsider his assessment. He's not sure if Maleficent was from Earth or not. And now that he thinks about it, maybe Anders isn't either. He makes a mental note to start asking people if they're from Earth.
"I don't really know all the reasons we let villains live. If they're determined to kill a bunch of people and they have the potential to do that, or they're highly at risk of escape…I don't know. They'd be a threat if we hadn't caught them but plenty of people, once they're caught, they're not really a threat. The ones that still are, they gotta lock those ones up better."
He thinks of All For One locked in a maximum security cage. If that guy gets out, they're in trouble.
Hawks, too, has yet to commit a murder, though he will eventually do so to save the lives of other people. As it is now, though, he's definitely never come close to doing something like that. In his line of work, though, it's something he's thought about. What would he do if he had to make a call? There's too many factors for him to know that yet.
"Some villains can be reformed, so that's one reason. Some of 'em, I don't think they can."
He shrugs, shoulders and wings both moving with the motion.
"That's grim, though. Tell me something cool about your world! There's gotta be something, right?"
no subject
"Your assumption doesn't surprise me. I've only met a handful who aren't from Earth, so I expect we're easily missed." As if he's used to going overlooked.
As for something cool, though... Hawks is essentially asking not only for something cool from his world, but something that Sephiroth thinks is cool. And Sephiroth, perhaps contrary to appearances, is a nerd.
"...on my Planet, there was a race which preceded humans, which called themselves the Cetra. They possessed the ability to speak with the Planet, calling up magic. It's an ability we've learned to mimic, with modern technology."
Anthropology is cool, right?
no subject
"I guess it's just easy to assume some kinda familiarity," he says with a nod. "But even different Earths sound really alien from each other."
He listens to Sephiroth's cool fact. Speaking to the literal planet? That does sound pretty cool.
"You can talk to the planet? Does it talk back?" It's a dumb question, half-teasing, but he is genuinely interested.
no subject
Sephiroth shakes his head at the question, taking it seriously. "Humans aren't directly capable of it, so I wouldn't know. We use something called materia, which acts as a conduit between ourselves and the Planet. Whether it actually possesses sapience or whether the Cetra spoke to it in a more metaphorical sense... I believe the research is inconclusive.
"Surely you have some manner of study into the life of your own planet...?"
no subject
He nods along to Sephiroth's explanation. So it might not be literal, but it still meant something to the Cetra, and to humans like Sephiroth.
"I mean, we have history and geology and archaeology. People who study plants, animals, evolution...I guess that's kinda the same thing. No one really describes it as talking to the planet itself, though. I wouldn't have thought of the planet as alive so much as a place that supports the wild abundance of life on it."
no subject
Sephiroth considers Hawks' reply. "Hm. Perhaps, lacking the knowledge of the Cetra, it is an area of study yet undiscovered on Earth. Planets support life because they are alive. The relationship is symbiotic."
no subject
"Symbiotic, huh? Yeah, I guess that's probably a good way to look at it. We couldn't live on just any planet, after all. That's probably true where you're from, too, yeah? Not all planets could support all life." He's just musing out loud, but he's always been a talker.
no subject
"Indeed living planets seem rare. Though I'm told at least one version of Earth encountered aliens." There's an implied question of whether Hawks' world has, too. And, of course, Sephiroth still isn't sure exactly what Hawks is. He wouldn't have guessed alien, but you never know.
no subject
He raises an eyebrow and laughs a little. "Aliens? Man, sometimes I think aliens would be cool as hell and sometimes I think we're probably better off without. Got enough goin' on without them." That's not a direct answer, but Sephiroth hadn't asked him a direct question.
"You're not from Earth, but you're human, yeah? You guys got aliens or whatever?"
no subject
"But, we don't have aliens either." A shrug and a wry smile. "At least, not as far as I know. I suppose they may not all favor violent invasion. It's hard to say."